Chapter 15 #3
What was I saying? Fruits and vegetables took weeks or months to grow and ripen, not hours or days. And yet here they were, growing right in front of my disbelieving eyes.
I leaned against the doorframe and scrubbed my face with my hands. “Ardruc.”
Somehow, that single word was a full sentence to his ears. “I know,” he said, urging me forward. “Sit down. You need to eat. I will make us breakfast.” When Forux snuffled, Ardruc added, “And you as well, of course. Stay with your mistress and I will bring your bowl.”
I dropped into a chair at the one remaining table and rested my chin on my hand as Ardruc busied himself in the kitchen, moving back and forth between the food storage units and the preparation station. Forux curled up at my feet, his chin resting on the toe of my right boot and eyes half closed.
“I would have predicted Forux would be beside himself with all this going on,” I mused. “Instead, he’s acting like it’s just another day at Nova Cal. And he’s never this relaxed while he’s waiting for breakfast. Do you think he’s still under the influence of that strange dust?”
“He seems perfectly alert,” Ardruc pointed out, stirring something in a pot on the cooktop. “Does he usually alert you to threats?”
“Yes. He always has.” I rubbed the bridge of my nose. “The other night, he tried to attack that kora that burned me, and he definitely growled at the one that communicated with us. But now look at him. Not a care in the world, though he’s empathic and feeling all my worries.”
“Perhaps he is remaining calm for your sake.” Ardruc glanced over his shoulder at us. “Is that possible?”
“It’s definitely possible.” I bent and scratched Forux behind all of his ears. “Thanks, friend. You’re helping.”
He licked my hand and snuffled.
In less than ten minutes, Ardruc delivered Forux’s bowl of warmed meat.
As my little arval ate happily, Ardruc placed a mug of coffee and a plate in front of me with a bit of a flourish.
The coffee smelled wonderful, and the plate contained three thin cakes, each rolled around a filling of what appeared to be diced red bano fruit and cream, topped with sliced fruits on top.
His own plate had the same food, but six of them instead of three.
“What is this?” I leaned over and sniffed. “It smells good.”
“A dish I learned to make on Bacora.” He sat down across from me. “They are called crepec. I believe the dish originated on Earth. I did not ask if you preferred meat as part of your breakfast. I apologize if so.”
“No, this looks good.” I eyed my plate. “It’s a lot of food, though. And Forux might think everything’s fine, but I’m too uneasy to have much of an appetite.”
“You must eat,” he said earnestly, picking up his utensils. “For energy, and so we can think and reason. A few bites, at least.”
I cut off a small section of one crepec and put it in my mouth. Oh, all the gods above and below. I closed my eyes and moaned.
Ardruc chuckled. “You approve?”
“I do.” I opened my eyes to find him smiling. Really smiling.
I couldn’t think of a single time that he’d smiled since my arrival. He’d half-smiled at me a few times this morning, but nothing like his expression now. Even his eyes seemed to sparkle with something like joy.
Was he smiling because he’d cooked for me and I liked what he’d made? Because I probably had a goofy, almost blissful expression on my face after tasting something so delicious?
I paused with my next bite halfway to my mouth.
Because I was his true mate, and that meant he needed to make sure I was safe and warm and never went hungry?
A true mate. Someone he craved with all his body, hearts, and soul, whose scent and presence had upended his life so completely. And that someone was me.
I’d never been that important to anyone, except maybe my parents—at least until my mother discovered I had no interest in physics and my father became so immersed in his art that we scarcely saw him more than a few times a week when he emerged from his studio, and then a few times a year when he began traveling the galaxy looking for inspiration for his increasingly enormous art installations.
I’d loved and been loved, but this was different.
The moment Ardruc had revealed the truth and let himself look at me with all the tenderness and care he really felt, I’d felt something stirring inside me.
Yes, I was still angry about how he’d treated me, but I couldn’t pretend that anger prevented me from recognizing how comfortable I was beside him.
That comfort didn’t erase the last four months, but it offered something unexpected: a kind of security. A footing, almost, or a home.
Like Forux’s calm, Ardruc’s presence was reassuring, even as we faced so much uncertainty and the possibility the forest and korae of Hyderia might have us trapped.
And that brought up the biggest question of all: did I feel this way about Ardruc because of the circumstances and his pheromones, or because I really felt a connection with him? I honestly couldn’t tell.
What the hells was I going to do?
Well, for starters, I was going to eat these crepec, because they were delicious. And then we were going to try to figure out what was going on.
“Elena?” Ardruc asked, brow furrowed. “Are you all right?”
I used my fork to cut my crepec into smaller pieces. “I’m okay. Just lost in thought.”
He leaned back in his chair. “Have I said something wrong?”
“No, not at all.” I ate another mouthful of my breakfast. “What do you want to do next?”
He studied me for a few beats. “I suggest we finish evaluating the changes to the station,” he said finally. “And then attempt to make contact with the korae. What are your thoughts?”
“That sounds like a good plan.” I took a bite of crepec and chewed.
Ardruc watched me eat with a combination of concern and unhappiness, his breakfast seemingly forgotten.
Strange how after so many months of inscrutability he was letting me see his thoughts and emotions so clearly.
Had he forgotten to hide them from me, or was it a conscious choice?
He’d promised not to hide anything from me anymore. Maybe this was part of that vow.
I didn’t want to close myself off from him just as he was opening up to me, but I’d never felt less sure of my own emotions and perceptions as I did right now.
I needed something else besides Ardruc that made me feel secure so I knew I was responding to him for the right reasons and not just as the single lifeline available to me in the midst of a storm.
I had to be able to trust myself. If I didn’t, I couldn’t trust anything, or anyone.
“Let’s eat,” I said, giving him the best smile I could muster and making my tone light. “Food first, then mystery-solving and korae-contacting.”
Judging by Ardruc’s grim expression, I didn’t fool him one bit, but he did pick up his fork again and resume eating. The only sounds in the kitchen were the low hum of the machinery and Forux’s happy chewing. His appetite rarely waned for any reason.
“I made sure our last supply drop had plenty of meat for Forux,” I said between bites.
“But he’ll need more eventually, especially if we can’t get a supply drop.
We can live on fruits and vegetables and synthesized foods, but arvals are carnivores.
He’s never wanted to eat synthesized meat, and yes he can tell the difference. ”
Ardruc tilted his head. “He is clearly domesticated, but is he capable of hunting for his meals?”
I made a face. “I’m reluctant to just let him out to hunt.
We might not see them around much, but most of the animals of the forest are a lot bigger than him and some of them are predators.
I don’t know how long our isolation is going to last. It’s not an immediate concern, but I have to think of him too. ”
Ardruc set his fork down next to his empty plate and glanced at Forux before meeting my gaze. “In that case, if it becomes necessary, I will hunt on his behalf.”
I hadn’t been angling for him to offer, or even really thought about the fact Ardruc was as much a predator as he was a man, courtesy of his dragon DNA.
Our interactions had all been very professional—well, with the exception of the past day or two—and to me he’d always been Ardruc the Director of Research, not Ardruc the man and even less Ardruc the hunter.
But suddenly the intensity of his vertically slit eyes pinned me in place and conjured an image of him swooping through the sky, that bright golden gaze trained on his prey.
And though I would never have thought it likely, the image elicited an immediate wave of desire, even more so than the sight of him without a shirt this morning.
Oh, dear. I was turned on by the thought of Ardruc the winged predator. Pheromones? Or just my hormones?
I squeezed my thighs together and scooped up a big bite of crepec, hoping to hide my reaction.
Ardruc gathered up his dirty dishes and took them to the sink, opting to wash them by hand rather than use the sonic cleansing system. Maybe he wanted to conserve our resources.
I watched him cleaning up, the way his muscles moved under his tight shirt and the perfect curve of his ass and the glimmer of sunlight on the feathers of his beautiful wings. And that tail…
I took a long drink of cold water, closed my eyes, and exhaled.
Ardruc Husiorithae, have mercy on me.