Chapter 12 Dana
“And stay out!” I gave the last bugs a shove with my magical weapon of bug destruction before dropping the plants at the entrance to stop the creepy crawlies from even thinking about coming in again.
I had to admit, that was fun. When they’d first arrived, I’d freaked out. The things were almost the size of my forearm, and they were really interested in me. I wasn’t sure if they were just curious or if they were hungry, but when one of them took a bite out of my boot, I stomped it.
Instant.
Regret.
The galaxy’s most putrid odor had exploded into the cavern, burning my nose and threatening to knock me out.
So I figured if I danced around them for long enough, they’d give up and leave me alone. But they were persistent. Another one had just latched onto my boot, making me shriek and kick, yeeting it across the cave when Gnnar squeezed himself through the crevice and leaped to my defense.
He probably thought it was silly that I was freaking out over a bunch of creatures I could squash. But I was just glad he returned with magical plants.
I turned to see Gnnar watching me with the goofiest grin on his face.
Oops. I hadn’t realized my frantic attack on the bugs had an audience.
“What?” I said defensively. “They tried to eat my shoe!” I stuck my foot out, showing him the chunk of bio-plastic dangling pathetically from the sole, then pointed at the crushed bug on the ground. “And they stink!”
He replied in a jovial tone and winked, then said something that sounded like a question.
“I have no idea what you just said, but if you look that hot doing it, yes.”
Gnnar went to the mess of plant stuff at the center of the cavern and started separating the contents into two piles. The first was of the spindly plants with the needle-like leaves I’d used to banish the bugs. The other pile looked like giant bean pods.
He used a handful of the repellent plants to shove the dead bug to a corner, then scattered the herbs around the cavern, stepping on them as he went. A clean, fresh scent, almost but not quite like the generic “lemon-scented” cleaners everyone at the colony used, filled the air.
I brought my hands to my nose, and my skin smelled faintly of it. This scent had a more herbal component, smelling pleasantly bitter.
I suddenly remembered a factoid I thought I’d never use: antidotes were often found near the poison. I wasn’t sure how valid it was, but at least in this case, the repellent grew near the pests. I sure hoped they worked on the little biting gnat-like bugs too. They were so annoying. We had those at the colony, but never in the numbers I’d witnessed last night.
Gnnar took the remainder of the plants and started a small fire. The fire smelled sweet and clean, with just a hint of smoke, which was surprising. I’d always thought any open fire would smell disgusting and kill my lungs. But the best part was that it warmed up the cave. It was already mid-morning, and while the front of the cave was warm from the heated air coming in, the back of the cave was still cooler than was comfortable. I bet during the summer, these caves were the only respite from the blazing midday sun for the animals here.
That fire would’ve come in handy that first night. It had been fucking freezing. I’d lost my jacket to the Harbinger, and the blankets we’d taken from the research facility were thin, so I’d relied on Gnnar’s body heat to warm me.
The second night hadn’t been much better. Because while it had been warmer, a bunch of tiny flying bugs came out to nip at us. I was small enough to hide under a blanket, but Gnnar, not so much. Luckily, they disappeared when the sun rose.
I sidled a little closer to Gnnar, curious about what he was doing. For the first time since he returned, I noticed the pair of dead lizards he’d brought back. Each of them was the size of my leg if you counted the chubby tails. I watched as he descaled and gutted them.
Was that for lunch and dinner today? I think I’d rather pass. I’d had the last one of those premium meal kits already this morning, and it was plenty. Those were the equivalent of rich people’s prepacked lunches. With real meat!
With my decent job, I was able to purchase protein patties and other items made with meat products regularly, but an actual, unaltered piece of meat was for holidays and special occasions only. And I was so worried about messing those up with my limited cooking skills that I usually spent a little extra and went out to a restaurant for that.
Somehow, the lizard Gnnar was cutting up with a piece of extra sharp rock didn’t look as appetizing. Though, if I had to be honest, the cows they’d brought over from Earth and hybridized so they could survive here didn’t look particularly like good eating either. Neither did chickens. Those survived perfectly fine here with absolutely no modifications and had even escaped into the wilderness and established populations there.
But as the meat started sizzling over the fire, and the rich aroma of cooking food filled the cavern, my stomach decided it was interested after all.
“Have you tried them before? What do they taste like?” I asked, only to remember that he could no longer understand me. He said something back to me that sounded like nothing more than a series of growls and rumbles. I still had no idea what he said, but his low, grumbly voice was having an effect on me again.
And we weren’t even touching!
He moved, and at first, I didn’t know what he was doing, but then I realized he was setting up an area for us to eat with several flat boulders to make a table. He rolled some of the vegetation tightly into a stick and then lit the end before jamming it into the crack on the top piece of stone.
Hey, would you look at that!
This was as close as we were going to get to a candlelit dinner. Or lunch. Did people do candlelit lunches? I didn’t care. I’d take it! He was putting in the effort, and I appreciated it. In fact, I was grateful for everything he’d done to make this place more comfortable.
“Gnnar?” I asked as we waited for our food to finish cooking.
“Dana.” He reached over to drape an arm around me and pulled me close.
“I’ve come to the conclusion that you don’t have a mate because, according to Penny’s book, being bonded meant you can’t physically get it on with someone else. I assume that also means for the rut. But you don’t have a girlfriend, do you?”
I knew he couldn’t understand me. He just cupped my face in his warm palms and pressed his forehead to mine. Someone with a girlfriend back home wouldn’t do that, would they? No, I decided. He wasn’t taken; he was fair game.
He stirred the fire and turned our roast, which had developed a crispy skin and smelled divine. Who needed simulated bacon when we had rock lizards on a stick?
Judging by the grin on his face as he cleaned off his hands with one of our packs of water, lunch was ready. Instead of ripping me off a piece Gnnar pulled me into his lap and held a piece with some of the crispy skin to my mouth.
“I can feed myself,” I said, with a chuckle, trying to take the meat from him.
But Gnnar insisted on feeding me.
Penelope’s story took place before Nova Vita ended the trade agreement with the Kadrixans. In the book, they’d held big dinners to welcome the new batch of women, which were, in essence, like giant speed dating sessions but with attentive alien warriors and amazing food. But the utensils didn’t fit the smaller female hands, which meant the warriors had to feed them. It was a Kadrixan courting ritual, but it also encouraged the females to release their brainwashed fear of the warriors.
Technically, I didn’t need this courting ritual because I was already spending Gnnar’s rut with him, and I never really believed the whole Kadrixans-were-demons thing, but I decided to enjoy it anyway. To be honest, I liked the attention. Gnnar made me feel special and cared for. Protected.
But it wasn’t long before the fuzzy feelings were replaced with something else a little more carnal. The heat was back. Fed and rested, I was more than happy to oblige.
I didn’t wait for him to jump on me; I jumped on him.