Chapter 3
THREE
Hara
I rubbed the soreness out of my legs from carrying the human on my back all the way to the waterfall.
I knew the poultice I placed on his wounds would likely put him under again, and his body needed the rest to heal.
He still slept beside me, but fitfully. He seemed to be fighting it, twitching often and moving his lips.
His eyes fluttered, and I braced myself for him to wake again.
I kept glancing at his body. Since he’d fallen asleep again, I’d pulled him from the water and placed him on a soft patch of grass.
I still couldn’t believe I’d found a human male.
I never thought I’d see one in my life. The human females back at our settlement never talked much about the males on their home planet.
And I had never given them much thought.
I nibbled on my lip as I slid closer to him.
He twitched again and mumbled something in his sleep that my translator implant didn’t pick up.
Then he settled. His hair was short, nearly shaved to his scalp.
The Kaluma males rarely kept their hair that short.
I ran my palm over the strands, and they tickled my scales. The human didn’t move.
He was completely nude except for a black device strapped to his wrist. I tapped the screen, but it remained blank.
The pack he’d had on his back when I’d carried him here sat nearby.
I wondered why he was in Torin. I assumed he came here on the smoking pod back in the clearing.
The females had all been abducted—had he intentionally come here?
I should call back to Sherif immediately and let him know what I’d found.
I should call for support. I could be in danger.
But I couldn’t bring myself to do any of that.
There was something about the human that made me want to keep him a secret for just a little longer.
Once I notified our pardux of his existence, I was sure they’d never let me see him again.
I was a single Kaluma female after all. They’d want to protect me from this male.
And all I could think was that this male…
this human… needed me for protection. Already, his wounds were healing.
The water had healing properties from the cliff’s mineral deposits, and my herb poultice was a recipe I made specifically for our settlement’s human females.
Unlike them, this male had some hair on his chest, and an interesting black design marked onto his skin that covered one shoulder and stretched across his upper back.
I touched the mark, but it didn’t feel any different than the rest of his skin.
It was like the matz of Kaluma males, but dark as night.
I told myself not to stare between his legs, at his soft cock and balls, but he was so unlike a Kaluma there.
Smaller for now, since he was soft, and I wondered how big he was when hard.
I couldn’t believe that I was imagining it.
Even the thought of a Kaluma cock, with its blooming head and pulsing vurs sent my stomach churning with disgust. But this cock was just different enough that I found myself curious.
I reached for it, just to see what I felt like…
He groaned, and I snatched my hand back as I rocked back on my heels.
He fought sleep and won. With a grunt, he pulled himself upright and shook his head.
His eyes opened, and I found myself once again entranced at the warm brown irises there.
They reminded me of Zuri’s. His skin was a little paler though.
Finally sitting, he bent his legs and braced his arms on his knees before turning to me. He jolted, as if surprised to find me there. “Damn,” he cursed as he ran a hand over his scalp. “Thought maybe I had imagined you.”
He sighed and squinted up at the sky before glancing around us and letting out a little trill of triumph when he saw his pack.
“Oh thank fuck. I’m tired of freeballing it.
Need some pants.” Some of his words were new, and I couldn’t be sure of the translation.
He yanked out a piece of fabric and shook it with a snap before eyeing me.
“You didn’t drug me to have your way with me, did you?
” I stared at him, and he grinned. He had a few crooked teeth that gave him a curious look.
Then he blinked one eye rapidly. I remembered one of the females had taught me the gesture.
A wink. Except I couldn’t remember what a wink meant.
“Can’t say I’d complain if you did. Next time, do it when I’m awake though, all right? ”
I didn’t know what he meant by have your way with me. Hurt him? Why would he want me to wait until he was awake? I shook my head as he shoved his long, muscular legs into his pants before pulling a pair of boots out of his pack as well. He shoved his feet into them and didn’t bother with the laces.
He stood slowly, wobbling slightly, and I rose with him. He glanced down at his body and prodded at the wound in his side. “So you got some fancy-ass plants here that can heal a hole in my body in hours, huh?” He shook his head with a laugh. “Shit, no wonder he sent me here.”
He was sent here? By whom? Many of his words weren’t translating well.
He spoke rough, way rougher than the females back at the settlement.
For the first time, a stroke of fear bit into me as he strapped a weapon to his back, a gun that he must have fired at the varins.
I ducked my head and took a step back, retreating to the same Hara who knew how to cower to the former pardux.
Maybe this had been a terrible idea. Maybe—
“Hey, Goldie.” His voice was soft. Who was he talking to?
I looked up quickly before looking back down again.
But he spoke again, and his fingers twisted together with a snap.
I lifted my chin. He stood with his hands on his hips, body littered with poultice-covered wounds.
“Goldie,” he said again. “I’m talking to you. You understand me, you said?”
I nodded.
“I’m not going to hurt you,” he said slowly.
Carefully. “You know what those words mean, right?” I stared at him as he took a step closer to me.
My body told me to flee, but I held my ground.
He pointed to the scabbed scratches on his face, and the particularly deep wound in his side.
“All these. These hurt like a motherfucker. And that’s the opposite of what I want to do to you. ”
I held his gaze, and even though I didn’t know what a motherfucker was, I nodded. I wished I could talk to him and explain my fears. Just blurt them all out in a way I’d kept locked inside my chest like a festering wound. Something told me he’d get it.
“Did you carry me here?” He pointed to the waterfall.
I nodded.
He let out a low whistle between his teeth. “That’s impressive, Goldie. And you know about plants? You a doctor here or something?”
I didn’t know what a doctor was. Again, I wished I could talk to him. Although I wasn’t sure what I would say. There were translator implants back at the settlement. I could take him there… I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. This was insane thinking.
When I opened my eyes, he was watching me, hands on his hips. He blew out a breath and swiped at the moisture on his forehead. Sweat, the humans called it. I ticked off some of the reasons I could remember that caused humans to sweat—heat, stress, and physical exertion.
“You have a family and stuff, right, Goldie? A home?”
He meant my settlement. My fellow Kaluma. I nodded.
He smiled, but it was a little sad. “I’m glad you have that. So you can… go back now. I’ll take care of myself from here.”
I should have been relieved. I should have called this for what it was—a good deed. I’d saved a life. But as the human pulled his pack onto his back, the thought of walking away from him soured my gut. It felt wrong.
Ethan
Her hand shot out, and her fingers closed around my wrist. I went still, unsure what to do. She took a step closer, and I shifted nervously. Maybe I should have been afraid of her. What if she ate humans like me? She had the teeth of a carnivore, that was for sure.
Or what if she nursed me back to health only to sacrifice me to the gods for more rain for their crops?
But her voice came to me again in my dream. Trust me.
I cocked my head. “What’s wrong?”
She glanced around us. At the trees swaying in the breeze. The water trickling into the pool. Somewhere, an animal let out a chirp. She shook her head and flapped her arms. It took me a minute to realize she was simulating wings. Was she worried about those ostrich things?
I patted her hand. “I’ll be fine. They got the jump on me back there, but, hell, I wasn’t even wearing pants. I’m prepared now.” I smiled at her. “Thanks to you.”
That didn’t seem to appease her. Her grip on my arm remained. Tightened. Did she want me to go somewhere with her? As much as I wanted to throw caution to the wind and follow, I had a mission to finish.
I turned to face her. “Look, Goldie. I’m here on this planet for a reason. I meant to come here. And I need to get somewhere, as fast as possible.”
She shook her head, hair fluttering around her shoulders.
The scent of sweet syrup swirled around us.
Just like my dream. Her hand shook slightly.
I didn’t understand what she wanted. I sighed and tapped the button on the side of my watch.
With a blink, the screen came to life and projected a holographic image into the air, a topographical map of Torin.
I pointed to a spot marked with an X. “I’m going there.
And I’ll be fine. I was a boy scout.” I grinned, but she wasn’t even looking at me.
Her big eyes studied the map. She didn’t seem alarmed by the technology, and she had that nifty translator implant, so her species had to be relatively advanced.