Chapter 10
“We…we didn’t mean to peep. Not peepers. Cold,” the male said.
“Hungry,” the woman added. “So hungry.”
“Who are you?” Gwen asked again, this time consciously lowering her voice since they were both shivering and looked as if a strong wind would blow them over if they didn’t topple under their own steam first. She reached for her trews and her bra and scrambled into her clothes while keeping an eye on the couple.
“Sheera,” the young woman whispered, the glacier-blue of her pupils a mere pinprick.
“Leeam,” the man replied, tucking his arm around the woman’s trembling shoulders.
“You don’t resemble your depictions.” Ellard, as a feline, didn’t mind others seeing him in his naked form.
“We require food to look that way,” Sheera said. “Thank you for gifting us with your sexual energy. We thought we might die. So sorry we peeped. We don’t normally do that. Against the rules.”
“Our faces remain the same, but we change our hair, clothes, and accessories as the mood suits.” Leeam gave a shrug, but it held little oomph. “It’s fun.”
A flash of heat flooded Gweneth’s cheeks, and she had to restrain herself from rubbing at her embarrassment.
This couple, and they didn’t seem very old, had spied on her and Ellard.
While she was glad they’d provided food, getting past the voyeur part was more difficult. “I can’t believe you spied on us.”
“We followed you from the plants,” Leeam said. “You are our best hope of escape.”
“Why couldn’t you return home?” Ellard asked. “Your uncle is worried. Everyone is searching for you.”
Sheera bit her lip while Leeam hung his head.
“We didn’t mean to cause trouble. We wanted to collect some special stones so we could give them to the dragons to make into a ring for us.
We’ve been here before with our families.
We come during the hot weather and have a picnic.
It’s not difficult to flash from home to here and return. ”
“Why couldn’t you do that this time?” Ellard asked.
“There is some kind of force field, and we can’t move past it,” Leeam said. “We’ve tried, and it saps our strength.”
“Our ship disintegrated after we hit something. I never saw what happened because I blacked out,” Ellard said. “What else can you tell us about the area?”
“The dragons fear it because the rocks or something under them gives off an attraction that can kill them.”
“You spoke to us earlier, whispering of danger. What have you seen?” Ellard barked the order, stepping into bodyguard mode.
“The plants. They sensed our presence and almost ate Sheera.”
“What about the thing that howls? Have you seen that?”
“No, it sticks to the other side of the Red River,” Liam said. “We’ve heard it before if we stay late collecting the stones, but we’ve never seen it.”
“Good info. Wait.” Ellard frowned at them. “What about the plants? Have you seen them before?”
“No. The clearing where we first saw you is where we relax and share our energy. The plants are new.”
“What about the birds?” Gweneth asked. They hadn’t seemed dangerous, but they were big. One kick from them and the recipient might not live.
“They were here before. They eat plants and fruits.”
“That’s a relief.” Ellard tapped his chin with his forefinger, a gesture Gweneth was coming to recognize as his thinking monitor. “Why did you warn us not to climb up to the flat hilltop?”
“The force field trapping us here seems to originate from there. We feel the power bleeding from it.” Leeam shuddered. “We have to fight the urge to climb the hill.”
Another howl echoed through the forest, and Gweneth glanced at Ellard. The creature seemed much closer than earlier.
Ellard reached for her hand and squeezed in reassurance. “How did you manage to help me with Gweneth?” he asked Leeam. “Picking her up, I mean.”
“Sheera had the idea. You needed help.”
“But you almost wiped yourselves out helping us.”
Sheera gave a shy smile. “You have already repaid us by gifting us with energy. We’re still not as strong as usual, but at least we won’t die if we stay with you.”
“I’m not sure how I feel about voyeurs, but I’m glad we were able to help,” Gweneth said.
“You are beautiful together,” Leeam said, his tone sincere. “I hope we can find benefactors of your caliber once it comes time to leave our families.”
“What was the special stone for?” Ellard asked.
“Sheera and I love each other. We wanted to prepare a gift for a benefactor, someone who will shower us with sexual energy and help us start our own tribe.”
The more she learned about the Incorporeal people, the more fascinating they became. Living ghosts. She wanted to ask more questions but decided to save them for the next cycle. “Ellard and I should rest now. Can you sleep too?”
“We will blink out to conserve energy,” Leeam said, showing more animation than earlier. “We can still communicate via voice in this form.”
The two popped out of sight.
“Thanks for reminding me you can see everything I do,” Gweneth said.
A tinkle of laughter pulled an unwilling grin to her lips.
“We are very discreet,” Sheera whispered. “We do not gossip or even discuss our benefactors with each other.”
“Good to know,” Gweneth said.
“A snack before we go to rest would be nice,” Leeam said, and Ellard heard the humor in his suggestion.
“A kiss is all you get,” Gweneth said, trying to sound stern. She glanced up and caught the glow of Ellard’s eyes. “What?”
“It’s not often I see you nonplussed.”
“They watched us.”
“But they were discreet and didn’t appear until we had finished.”
“I was still naked.”
“Spectacular,” Ellard corrected. “Come back down here and let me kiss you.”
“At least we found them,” Gweneth grumbled. “That’s something. They’re so young.”
“We are not,” Leeam said, indignation crisp and combative in his reply.
“New rule,” Ellard said. “You need to be visible to take part in our conversations. The sole exception to this rule is while we’re traveling through the trees and trying to find a way out on the morrow. You may speak or advise us in that case. Is that clear?”
“Yes.”
“If Gweneth and I are in our chamber, and this shelter counts as a chamber, you will keep your opinions to yourself,” Ellard continued. “Is that understood?”
“So, if you are outside your chamber and we are visible, we may speak with you?” Sheera queried, and she sounded worried and close to tears.
“All we’re asking for is a little privacy or at least the illusion of privacy,” Gweneth said. “Do you understand?”
“Yes, we do,” Leeam said. “Please forgive our bad manners.”
“Yes,” Sheera added in her softer voice. “This experience has placed us off-balance. We are happy to abide by any rules you put in place.” She paused. “But you will continue to feed us?”
The bloom of silence trembled with urgency and fear.
“Of course we will,” Gweneth said. “Good rest to you.”
“Thank you,” Sheera whispered. “Thank you.”
Gweneth cuddled against Ellard and pressed a kiss to his throat.
Now that she’d had a chance to consider the matter, having the Incorporeal couple dependent on them gave her and Ellard a good excuse to make love again and often, which worked to her advantage.
There was always the chance Ellard might decide to stop with the lovely touchy-feely stuff, but now he’d think twice about putting a halt to their lovemaking.
She lifted her head and aimed at Ellard’s lips. He responded, a feline growl issuing from him before her mouth sealed off its escape. She sank into the kiss, enjoying the heck out of the physical contact. After all, they couldn’t let Sheera and Leeam die.
Gweneth groaned as she attempted to stand the next cycle. Every muscle screeched like a hell-horse in a tantrum. Finally, upright, she cautiously rubbed her hipbone. “I hurt.”
“Some of the aches will ease with movement.”
“I hope so.” No matter how much her muscles protested, they had to move, had to find a way off the planet’s surface and away from the rocks that caused the dragon glittery sickness and death. She tried a few steps and bit her lip. What she wouldn’t give for a hot bath to ease her throbbing muscles.
Sheera’s head bobbed in front of her, and Gweneth started, a naughty curse escaping before she could self-censor. “Fuck a duck.”
Sheera giggled.
“What is it? What’s wrong?” Ellard popped from their shelter with one leg in his trews and one leg out.
Gweneth pointed at Sheera’s floating head, the youngster’s humor no longer in evidence after witnessing Gweneth’s displeasure. “She gave me a fright. I didn’t mean to squeak, but that is plain creepy.”
“Leeam said we should try to conserve energy.”
“But we shouldn’t frighten them either,” Leeam’s disembodied voice replied.
“Damn straight,” Gweneth said and wagged her finger in her best Amme impression. “Don’t worry,” she said because Sheera looked as if she might cry. “We will become used to each other.”
“Which parts of the area have you explored?” Ellard asked, now fully clothed. “There is no point covering the same ground.”
“We morphed straight into the clearing then, once we freed ourselves from the plants, we decided to climb to the top of the flat hill since it’s the best vantage point.
” Leeam paused, and his hair and face blinked into view.
“The dragons do the best aerial maneuvers when they’re playing.
Not that they play near the mountains in this area, but I thought we might find someone to help. ”
“And you came up against the force field,” Ellard pushed the conversation in the direction he wanted it to travel.
“Yes,” Sheera said. “Except once we started climbing, the urge to get even closer was almost overwhelming. It felt…wrong, and I pulled Leeam back to the base of the hill and into the forest. This used up a lot of our energy.”
“Maybe one of us can climb up to get a good look,” Gweneth said. “I didn’t feel the urges Sheera described. Did you?”
“No.”
“Then that’s the logical next step.”
“No, we need to find water and food first,” Ellard said.