CHAPTER SIX
___________________
Fin
––––––––
I AWOKE TO pleasing touches on my body and my zural heart racing, pounding in my ears even faster than my main heart. The earthy smell of rock dust filled the air, but underneath, a sweet scent teased.
My mate.
Even as my cock ached and strained, longing to be released, my mind rebelled. A human cannot be my fated mate! I needed to remove this temptation.
Pure darkness surrounded me, yet my hands lashed out, moving with surety as I grasped her wrists to hold off her explorations. One of my shoulders flashed pain at the movement, and I compartmentalized it. “What do you think you are doing, human? I did not give you permission to touch me.”
Her breath hitched, and after a slight pause, she said, “I was looking for a light.”
I grunted. It held the ring of truth, yet who knew with such deceitful creatures as the humans. Had she not just violated the agreement and ransacked my base, attempting to steal in the process?
After releasing her, I activated my wrist gauntlet, setting it to its brightest. The change from inky blackness made me squint, yet my eyes adapted quickly.
I tapped at the display, attempting to make contact with the computer system at the guard post. There was an unusual pause, and then the glyph for “no connection” flashed orange. “I cannot call for assistance. It appears the rock above us is too thick to allow a signal through.”
“Yeah, my tablet’s busted, so I’m a no go, too.”
The human knelt in front of me, her eyes blinking rapidly. One of the small undulates pressed against her thigh. Its thin legs shivered on tiny hooves, and it looked up at me with large, golden eyes. Its fur matched the gray rock surrounding us, and tiny nubs of horn topped its narrow head.
She followed the direction of my gaze and laid one of her hands over the small creature’s back, holding it to her. “It got trapped in here with us. I think it’s scared.”
“It probably sheltered in this cave.” It was the only possible explanation—there was no way the small animal could have survived being tossed about by the falling stones.
I shone the light over our environs. When the landslide first began, I had searched frantically for any means of escape.
The angle had been wrong to leap outward far enough to ensure hitting the river below instead of the lower slope of the mountain.
There had been a small spot of darkness on the mountainside.
I had gambled that it was a depression of some sort, and that bet had paid off.
We were in a cave, a small one. I would not be able to stand at full height.
A tumble of boulders and rocks blocked what had been the entrance, yet a dark passage seemed to open at the back.
“We should determine if there is another way out.”
She glanced over her shoulder. “Okay.”
“I require your assistance with something first.” My shoulder let out a throb as I let my mind acknowledge its distress.
“Help with what?”
“Putting my shoulder back into joint. I appear to have landed upon it poorly.” I did not clarify that I had done so in order to take most of the impact of our fall, sparing her smaller, weaker body the blow.
Her eyes went wide, and she reached for me, pausing right before she made contact. “You have a shoulder out of joint? Why aren’t you in pain? Wait—do the Varool not feel pain?”
“Of course, we feel pain. We simply have the training to ignore it when it is inconvenient.”
Her eyes did the strangest thing, rolling in their sockets. Was it a survival mechanism that allowed them to take in a wider view of their surroundings when in uncertain circumstances? If so, why had she not done so before now? I shook off the distraction. I did not need to understand the human.
“Okay, tough guy.” She rose onto her knees. “What can I do?”
“I need for you to pull my arm straight forward from shoulder height when I tell you. It will need to be a strong movement, using your body weight.”
She nodded, picked up my right hand from where it lay on my thigh, and raised my arm.
A pulse of pain flared. I breathed deep, willing it away, and began to relax the muscles of the area.
“Now?” she asked after a few moments.
“No. Compared to humans, Varool have extra ligaments and tendons.” Our scientists had made a thorough study of the other species. We knew of their weaknesses. “Just as it takes a great deal to injure one of our joints, it also makes it harder to realign one.”
“Oh.” She nibbled at her lower lip, worrying the plump flush with her teeth. Combined with her touch on my skin, the sight proved so distracting that I had to close my eyes to focus on the task at hand.
Slowly, the muscles relaxed, causing even more pain. Yet it was necessary, so I bore it. When it seemed as good as it would get, I opened my eyes and said, “Now.”
The human half-jumped, half-fell backward, the small animal bleating and darting out of the way.
Pain flashed, then relief as the joint moved back into the socket with a pop.
She leaned close, bringing the arm in and folding in across my torso. “I need some way to anchor this.”
Her smell rose from her hair, setting my secondary heart thumping. “Why?” My voice emerged as a hoarse growl as my cock swelled.
“You know. To make a sling.”
“I do not need a sling.”
She stopped rearranging my arm and met my gaze, her lips only centimeters away. Her surprised puff of breath brushed across my skin like a touch, and I suppressed a groan, though it still emerged as a strangled grunt.
The human backed away, her expression uncertain. The animal approached her, and she reached out to stroke its back.
I rose into a crouch, and the sheathed tip of my yedral blade dragged across the ground. After adjusting its angle, I moved forward, scooping my blaster from the ground. Odd that it had come out of its holster.
The human’s eyes darted to the weapon and then to my face, and she flushed. Perhaps it wasn’t quite so odd, after all.
I moved forward, keeping my head tucked low to avoid the irregularities of the rocky ceiling.
She got to her feet and walked ahead, able to stand straight. Her body blocked the light and threw a leaping shadow on the wall.
“Wait, human.”
She spun to face me. “I’m Jones, Lieutenant Jones.”
“I am Fin, a First Guard of the Varool,” I said. “And I will go first.”
“Why?”
I held up my forearm. “Because I have the light and can more carefully assess the terrain.”
“Oh, yeah. Makes sense.” Jones waved me forward.
The cave narrowed toward the back until it became little more than a crack. I turned sideways, determined to proceed as far as possible.
My chest scraped along the wall, protected by my uniform.
Then the passage widened, and I stepped through into another cavern.
It was larger than the other, the ceiling high enough that I could stand.
Specks of quartz and mica reflected light from the walls, and a small stream trickled from a crack in the back wall, hugging close to the stone to disappear into the ground a few meters away.
I shone the light everywhere, but no other exit appeared. “We will make no escape through here.”
Jones sidled around to stand beside me. “My people won’t expect me to check in again until tomorrow. Yours?”
“It will be two days before any alarm is raised,” I said.
The undulate ran past our feet, trotting over to the water and drinking.
Her gaze followed the animal. She licked her lips. “We’re going to be here a while. Do you think it’s safe to drink?”
“Here.” I unclipped the water bottle from my scabbard and handed it to her.
“Thanks!” She grinned at me, all animosity temporarily forgotten. That smile was a punch to the chest. Just as she had on the video, she suddenly looked Varool. My zural heart leapt, beating for its mate.
And when she gazed upon me like that, the thought no longer seemed so outrageous.