CHAPTER ELEVEN
___________________
Jillian
––––––––
FIN WORKED TIRELESSLY for hours without a break, widening the hole he’d made the night before.
We didn’t need to clear the entire rock fall, just enough to make a tunnel to crawl through.
But every time he tried to increase the size of the opening, more rock slid down from above.
It seemed as if half the mountain waited poised, ready to fill the gap.
He passed another stone back to me, moving it effortlessly even though the weight of it when he let go dragged at my arms and made my body want to tip forward. I said nothing. This wasn’t even the largest of the rocks—those he moved completely by himself.
I stepped to the side of the cave, but didn’t have far to go. We were running out of room. Even though I’d tried to pile the rocks as high as possible, they rolled and slid all over the place.
Billy bleated from behind his partition, and I called out to him, “It’s okay, sweetie. We’re going to get out of here soon.”
Maybe.
Fin’s naked torso disappeared back into the hole he’d made, blocking the small amount of sunlight it let in. His jacket still lit the small space, but nothing looked as good as natural light.
Everything he had said about this being a living planet had really hit home.
I’d only been on Sagittarian One for a few months, and even though they’d been lonely, the world itself was beautiful.
I missed people, not the Chandra. The fleet’s old flagship had been turned into Chandra Station now that we orbited a planet, but that hadn’t changed the fact that living there meant being surrounded by plastic and metal and artificial light.
Fin emerged from the hole with another large stone. The familiar clatter of rock falling on rock sounded. But this time, instead of the cave growing darker, it became lighter.
I stepped to the side to squint around his wide shoulders. “It’s opened up!”
He threw the rock towards the pile and brushed past me, diving into the hole again, shoving it wider with his body. His arms were hidden from view, but his back muscles flexed and bunched—he was clearly moving a lot of weight around.
When he slid back out, he spun to face me. “You will climb out now.”
“But Billy—”
“I will lift him to you.” Without letting me delay any longer, Fin picked me up and hoisted me to the hole.
I bent at the waist and wiggled forward, using my forearms to pull me along the rough rocks. Thank goodness for my jumpsuit. Eventually, I got my hips and thighs inside and pushed far enough forward for my head to clear the other side.
I gulped in air even as I kept moving, small rocks hitting the back of my head as my passage disturbed the mass above.
I didn’t trust the opening, not completely, and Fin’s insistence told me he didn’t either.
My muscles, already burning from two days of hard labor, protested, but I fought on, shoving forward until I tipped down the outside slope for a few meters before pulling myself to a halt, even as the loose rock around me continued to slide.
The openness of the valley barely registered as I climbed back up to the hole. “I’m through! Send Billy.”
Another clatter of rocks as gravel slid. I eyed the slope above me uneasily, my heart skipping as a jolt of fear ran through me. Billy and Fin still needed to get out!
A loud bleat, and Billy scampered through the opening and into my arms.
“Now you!” I yelled at Fin.
More rocks slipped and fell from above. One sliced into my forehead, and I jerked, Billy squirming in my arms. I backed away from the hole to give Fin room and sat the goat-lope down.
Please, please, let Fin be okay. I couldn’t find him—and whatever this was between us—just to lose him immediately!
His sword and scabbard flew out. Then a hand grasped the edge of the opening and pulled, but the rocks shifted. Fin grunted. Was that pain? Had something bigger collapsed inside?
I climbed closer, gravel slipping and sliding under me. He’d risked so much making sure I got out first—and Billy too!—that I wanted to do anything I could to help.
Fin’s other hand emerged, and he heaved his body forward, the muscles and tendons of his fingers standing out in stark relief. One shoulder cleared, and a spurt of rocks fell, hitting the back of his head. Instead of pushing through, he stopped.
“What are you doing! Keep going.”
“I am stuck.”
Fin’s hand disappeared, and the entire mass of rock moved.
What the hell?
A guttural yell echoed from the opening, and the top half of Fin’s body shot out.
God, just how strong are these guys?
A rumble filled the air, changing my awe into horror as the rocks right over the opening moved in a gray blur, covering Fin’s legs.
A couple of tiny pieces struck my calves, then a larger one hit in a flare of pain.
He grunted and pushed with his hands, but the unstable surface didn’t provide any purchase.
I moved farther up the slope and began to dig at the rocks on top of his legs, tossing stones to the side with repeated crashes.
Billy bleated an alarm and dashed higher up the slope, even though none of the rocks came near him. His little hooves were surprisingly steady on the uneven ground.
Fin grunted and strained, and horrible pictures of his legs crushed and bloody filled my head. “Hold still,” I choked out. “You’ll hurt yourself.”
I kept digging, abrading my fingers in my haste. My breath came in pants as my heart raced. But no matter how fast I went, more rock just kept sliding down onto his legs. The landslide was infinite.
Spots of blood dotted the stones I flung aside, but I kept going. My left hand cramped, and I used it like a club to bat rocks out of the way. Nothing would stop me!
I slipped, the stones I stood on moving beneath my feet as I pivoted to throw another larger rock aside. My palms slapped onto the ground as my whole body slid down away from Fin.
“Jillian!” He went mad, grunting and straining and tearing at the side of the mountain like a man possessed.
But it worked! He moved forward a few centimeters, then gave a mighty heave and spilled out of the rock pile, sliding down the mountain until he stopped beside me.
He was head down to my head up, but we turned toward each other to meet in the middle.
I clung to the wide strength of his shoulders and buried my face against his neck.
Trembles wracked me, and his hands were gentle as he stroked my back.
When I’d calmed and caught my breath, he said, “I am well.”
I lifted my head to get a look at his legs. They were nice and thick with muscle, no squishing to be seen.
A grin stretched my cheeks. “You Varool really are tough. It’s not just a bunch of talk.”
“Talk?”
“You know, bragging, exaggerating.”
His lips pursed. “Such is little better than lying, and Varool—”
“Don’t lie,” I interrupted, kissing him.
___________________
––––––––
Fin insisted we return to his outpost because he had better medical equipment. But it didn’t take much to convince me—I didn’t want to be alone after all the trauma of the past two days.
And I especially didn’t want to leave him.
The climb back up had been endless, and I certainly would have loved a hot shower, but I got something even better.
Fin walked me into the bathroom and ran a medical scanner over me, then injected me with whatever it prescribed.
The relief was almost instantaneous—I hadn’t even fully realized how much I’d been hurting until the pain faded away. “What was that?”
He read the symbols on the small display. “Analgesics, anti-inflammatories, and healing boosters.”
Fin cleaned my hands, being especially gentle with my abraded fingers, before covering them in a clear coating. Then he took care of the cut on my forehead the same way. “That is a temporary bandage that will stay on for around two days. Leave it in place until it sloughs off naturally.”
When he handed the silver rod to me, I scanned him and gave it back. He read it with a grunt and shoved the end into his neck, not flinching when it hissed.
He left me to get clean after showing me how everything worked.
My hair needed little help to fall out of the last of the braid, and the dark-brown strands waved in the air as the sound waves hit them.
The vibrations of the sonic shower made me tingle, but it would have been a lot more fun with him there.
Why didn’t he stay? He certainly seemed into me.
No man went down on a woman for that long without being interested.
I flushed. God, it had been so hot, watching the way he’d loved eating me out. I’d never had a guy treat it as anything more than a chore, but Fin...
I turned to get my back clean, a frown forming. Why hadn’t he let me do the same for him? He kept saying things were different for the Varool, but how different?
Once clean, I hurried to finish up. He had brought me a silky tunic in dark brown. The top hung to my mid-thigh, but was probably a normal length on him. It was the softest thing I’d ever felt against my skin, and my hand kept stroking it.
When I walked back into the main room, he stood in the galley area, moving with practiced efficiency, using a small square device to prepare the ration packs. When I tried to help, he waved me over to the comfortable chairs. “You will eat. Healing takes fuel.”
I picked at my food while he got cleaned up. The meatloaf was even better like this instead of as an improvised stew, firm and a little chewy and very satisfying. But it felt wrong to eat before he got to.
He emerged wearing a pair of trousers that matched my top. The thin material clung to the muscles of his legs, and the color complemented both colors of his skin.
When he gathered a few more items from the kitchen, I got a good look at his back. The bruises made an odd pattern when combined with his stripes, but if they bothered him, he didn’t show it. I still wasn’t convinced he felt as much pain as a human. Or he really is just that tough.
Fin joined me on the comfortable chairs and ate heartily. Billy downed two whole servings of porridge and drank a fair bit of water before curling up on the floor by my feet.
When I finished, Fin pressed another dish into my hands, insisting I eat more. So I worked my way through my own dish of porridge, the spicy taste of it reminding me of the smell of Fin’s skin. A huge yawn overwhelmed me, and I tried to hide it behind, but he saw it anyway.
“Come.” He stood and took my hand to lead me into the bedroom to the very bed where I’d imagined him.
Once we lay down, he pulled me to him, wrapping his large, warm body around mine. I fell asleep cradled in his arms, not knowing what the morning—and the return to reality—would bring.