Chapter 14 Robbie
ROBBIE
I touched my lips, still feeling the press of his against mine.
What the hell had I just done? I’d kissed him, that’s what.
Okay, sure, he’d kissed me first, but damn!
Okay, I needed to not let things get weird now.
We were both adults. He’d swooped in and saved my bacon, so it was natural I was crushing on his hot ass, right?
And he definitely was interested in me, too, or he wouldn’t have just initiated all that with me. But now what?
Luckily, Gree-Gree seemed to know what to do next, as he hefted himself out of the pool, extending a hand out to me.
I took it, happy for the assist climbing out.
These guys really needed to invent pool ladders or add steps or something.
He took me over to the bench in the alcove where we’d left the basket.
He prowled the length of the alcove, drying himself with quick, impatient swipes of a towel that looked more like a woven tablecloth than the terrycloth towels I was accustomed to.
The water had made his fur puff out, and in the torchlight, it looked almost silver at the tips.
When he turned, I saw his pupils blown wide, the blue ring around the black gone molten and sharp.
His ears were pointed forward, tracking my every movement, and his tail had started up a slow, hypnotic twitch, like a snake considering a strike.
I rubbed myself dry with the other towel, careful to not jostle my bad arm, then wrapped it around myself as I tried to not stare back, but my eyes kept returning to the line of his neck, to the way the fine fur followed the roll of muscle over his shoulders, to the way every inch of him seemed made for violence but also for warmth.
Maybe that’s why I couldn’t stop shivering.
My body was stuck in the moment from earlier, where the world had narrowed down to the heat of his hands and the rumble of his chest. I wanted to say it was just the aftermath of being rescued, the endorphin dump, but I wasn’t that good at lying, even to myself.
Gree-Gree finished drying and stood over me, towel slung over his arm, pupils still pinned directly to my own.
He crouched down until we were eye level.
His nose twitched, and he sniffed at my neck, slow and deliberate, drawing in a lungful of air like he needed it to live, and it was in short supply.
I felt every hair on my body stand up. The only thing I could think of was how animals back home did that to figure out if someone was a threat or a meal or a friend, or…
well, a mate. I swallowed, my pulse thrumming, and he made a pleased chuff in the back of his throat.
Then he did it again, this time at the crown of my head, and I caught myself holding still for him, the way a cat would when another cat was trying to decide whether to lick you or bite you.
I half expected him to start grooming me again, maybe actually licking me this time, but instead he took a deep, slow breath and let it out in a sound like a diesel engine downshifting.
Another of his people walked into the alcove, this one a little shorter, with deep blue-gray fur and a braided silver cord around one ear, completely naked and obviously fresh from one of the bathing pools, as he was wet.
Gree-Gree’s head snapped up, and in a blink, he was standing between me and the stranger, shoulders squared, tail now lashing hard enough to thump against the stone.
The other alien stopped dead, ears flicking flat. “Grihhr.” The word was a quick, nervous cough of a greeting. He gestured to a basket with his things in.
Gree-Gree rumbled, low and handed the basket to him before pointing at the way out. The message was clear in any language: “Don’t even think about staying here.”
For a second, I just gawked at the two of them, trying to parse what had just happened. The bluish furred alien turned on his heel and vanished, presumably to go dry off and redress in another alcove.
Gree-Gree turned back to me, and his eyes were wilder than before.
He knelt again, crowding into my personal space, rubbing his cheeks against me, and I realized that he was scent-marking me.
Not just checking if I was okay or even if I’d be a good lay - he was making a goddamn declaration.
I didn’t know the customs here, but I’d watched enough nature documentaries to get the gist. My heart slammed in my chest, and for a second, I wondered if I was in danger, or if I’d just signed up for some kind of permanent arrangement without knowing it.
But then he reached out and cupped the back of my head, gently, thumb rubbing along the base of my skull. It felt so good I could’ve melted through the bench. He made a noise, softer now, and leaned in to press his forehead against mine, just for a beat, before pulling back.
I let out a shaky laugh. “You realize I have no idea what’s actually going on, right?”
He cocked his head, like he was trying to make sense of my words, so I said, “Rah-bee,” and tapped my own chest, then pointed at him.
“Gree-Gree?” I guess I wanted to see if he’d respond to the gesture and understand I was asking about more than simply our names, or if I’d just embarrassed myself in front of a seven-foot tiger man.
He made the rumbly noise again, and this time I was pretty sure it was a laugh.
There was an awkward moment while I tried to figure out if I was supposed to say or do something else, but then he took the towel from me, taking a large shirt from the basket and dropping it over my head.
I carefully slipped my arms into the armholes and laughed.
I looked like I was wearing a dress. Gree-Gree seemed to really like it, though, his fingers now grazing my jaw, his tail curled around my ankle, a heavy, comforting weight as he purred.
And that was when it hit me: he wasn’t just protecting me from others. He was claiming me. Like, for real. I should’ve been freaked out, but instead my stomach did a slow somersault and I realized, with a mortifying clarity, that I didn’t want him to stop.
He did, though, but only to pull on his clothes.
A faint noise from behind us made him glance around, ears pricking.
He stood, keeping a hand on my shoulder, and when another of his people passed by, what was most likely a kid given the size of him, he shifted to block the line of sight between us, his body a warm, impenetrable wall.
Even after the kid was gone, he kept the contact, his palm heavy and reassuring.
I stood there, pulse racing, watching him and trying to piece together what it all meant.
He was bigger, stronger, and - let’s face it - a hell of a lot more equipped to handle whatever this planet threw at us.
I bet he’d even give our kidnappers a run for their money if any of them survived and showed up.
I should have felt trapped, maybe even scared, given that once more, I had an alien taking agency over me, but I didn’t. I felt safe.
I ran a finger along the fabric of the shirt, feeling how soft and thick it was, how it smelled faintly of him even through the lingering sulfur. I looked up at him and found him already watching me, pupils huge and lips parted just enough to show a glint of fang.
He crouched down, inches from my face, and I saw the exact moment when he decided something. He leaned in, nosed at my cheek, and then he licked the side of my face. Not a cat bath, not rough or wet, just a gentle flicking rasp of the tongue, like punctuation at the end of a sentence.
My breath caught, and I laughed, half delirious. “You licked me so I’m yours, huh?”
He made the rumble again and set his chin on top of my head, arms bracketing me in on both sides.
It was possessive, yes, but not suffocating.
I leaned into him, letting myself just exist in the moment.
Whatever was happening here, it was out of my hands, out of my depth.
And for the first time since the car crash, since waking up on the floor of that ship, since realizing I was never going home, I didn’t feel helpless.
I just felt…wanted. It was wonderful. I took a shaky breath, and the world tilted a little.
Was this how crushes felt for people who weren’t absolute disasters at relationships?
It was both terrifying and incredible, like standing at the edge of a high dive and knowing you were about to jump, whether you wanted to or not.
He pulled away, and his tail loosened just a little, more a caress than a restraint. I could still feel where it had touched me, the phantom pressure of his fur brushing against my bare skin.
“Rah-bee,” he said, taking my hand in his while stuffing the cloth, soap, and towels into the basket.
He picked it up and led me back out. We walked the path back to his home, and I couldn’t help myself - I kept sneaking looks up at him, wondering what was going to happen once we were there.
The answer turned out to be pretty mundane.
He opened the door and led us inside. He shut the door behind us, latching it with a flick of his wrist, and then turned to face me.
For a second, we just stood there, the silence stretching.
I didn’t know what to do, so I simply stayed there, my hand still in his.
He let go first, going over to the table and pulling out the chair I’d sat in earlier.
I reached for him, meaning to touch his arm as a thank you, but I’d apparently lit things up again for him as he caught my hand and brought it to his mouth.
He pressed my fingers to his lips, lips that split in the middle like a cat’s, revealing a brief flash of white teeth, and then released it, almost shy.
My heart beat out a strange, uneven rhythm.
I realized that what I desired was to be wanted like this, even if it was by an alien cat with a warrior’s body and social skills that would get him arrested back on Earth.
I closed my eyes and breathed him in, the musk of his damp fur and the sulfur of the water and something else that reminded me of cedar smoke and earth after rain.
I ignored the twinges in my still tender arm as my hands found his shoulders, wide and solid and so alive it was dizzying.
He let go, finally, and busied himself lighting a small lamp.
The space filled with a golden glow, chasing the shadows to the far corners.
I sank onto the chair, knees shaking, trying to figure out what the hell my life had become.
I could feel the charge in the air, the way every movement between us mattered.
My palms were sweaty, my breathing shallow, and there was a hot, fizzy feeling in my chest that told me: this is happening, and you want it to.
“Rah-bee?” he asked me, his tone laced with concern as he knelt beside me now, eyes searching my face.
A voice in the back of my head told me I should be worried, that I should be questioning my judgment, but the louder voice, the one that had survived a crash, abduction, and near death on an alien world, told me to lean in, to see what happened next.
So I did. He drew back and made the chuffing sound again, but softer this time.
He pressed his nose to my temple, and I felt the warmth of him seep into my skin.
Then he picked me up, actually picked me up, princess-style, my bad arm on the outside, and carried me the last few feet to the door I was sure led to his bedroom.
It was kind of mortifying, but also…not.
It almost felt, well, tender. His arms were strong, and his fur so soft that I just sank into him, letting my head rest on his collarbone.
My body melted, all tension gone, replaced by that all-consuming sense of safety once more.
Inside, he deposited me gently onto the sleeping mat, then hovered over me, watching for any sign of distress.
Satisfied that I wasn’t dying and he hadn’t jostled my arm too much, he busied himself fetching blankets and tucking me in.
I watched him from the mat, wondering what he thought of all this.
Did he see me as a stray animal, a pet, a project to be fixed up?
Or did he want me, really want me, the way I was starting to want him?
I hadn’t misinterpreted his kisses and the way he’d looked and touched me, surely.
He turned and caught me staring. For a moment, the air charged between us, and I felt the old panic rise.
Yep, what if I’d definitely misunderstood everything?
What if, to him, this was just caretaking, and I was reading all the signals wrong?
Maybe they kissed their friends and family like that all the time, and were just super touchy feely?
But then he crossed the room in two long strides, knelt beside me, and set his hand, warm, firm, and steady, on my chest. His tail draped over my thigh, his face inches from mine.
He held my gaze, unblinking, and for the first time, I saw the vulnerability there, the question easy to read: was this okay?
I answered the only way I could. I reached up, touched his cheek, and let him nuzzle into my hand.
My heart pounded so hard I thought it might break through my ribs, but I didn’t pull away.
He made a happy little chirr, a sound so incongruous I almost laughed.
Then he leaned down, lips pressing to the corner of my mouth - a kiss, if you could call it that, but also a promise.
He pulled back, eyes bright. I smiled, shaky, and he smiled too, showing all his teeth.
Then he tucked the blankets around me, curled himself at my side, and let out a purr so loud it filled the room.
Yeah, okay, I wasn’t mistaken. I was overthinking it was all.
I lay there, staring at the flicker of torchlight on the ceiling, and realized that whatever else happened, I wasn’t alone in a way that I hadn’t been for a long time, even before the abduction.
The last thing I saw before sleep claimed me was Gree-Gree’s hand on my chest, steady and sure, and the possessive look on his face that said, “You’re mine, and I’ll never let you go. ”
And the wild part was, I wanted that, too.