Chapter 7
SEVEN
Hara
“Nervous,” grunted K’il, the druble leader, as he eyed Ethan. “Don’t like it.”
“I’m sorry,” I placed a hand on Ethan’s arm as we walked through the druble’s labyrinth inside the mountain.
Ethan remained tense, his head swiveling as he assessed possible threats.
I tried to assure him that the drubles were safe allies by my body posture and casual conversation with K’il.
But Ethan did not relax, and I could feel his stiff warmth at my back.
Back at the river, K’il had been ready to order his guards to kill Ethan, as he thought the human meant me harm. While I’d convinced him Ethan and I were friendly, he still didn’t trust the human. I kept my hand in Ethan’s, because that seemed to be the only thing keeping him somewhat calm.
The cave system opened up into a large cavern where more drubles emerged from their rooms to ogle the visitors. Some I recognized and they greeted me warmly, but Ethan was met with wariness and some disdain.
Drubles were avid gardeners, and most of the herbs I used came from this valley.
The Kaluma were not a novelty to the drubles.
We worked closely with them and often had a Kaluma warrior stationed here to learn how to properly use the plants.
In fact, some of my education had been here.
At the time, K’il’s late father had been the druble leader.
K’il led us over to a cluster of rocks carved into seats. When I tried to sit down in a seat separate from Ethan, he grunted and tugged me into his lap before locking his arms around my waist. Seemed he still didn’t trust the drubles.
I patted Ethan’s hand in what I hoped was reassurance as K’il sat down with his guard spread out around him. He plucked some nuts from a nearby stone table and crunched them in his teeth. “Not dangerous?” He gestured to Ethan.
“Well,” I hedged. “He can be, but not to me, and not to you.”
“Been ready to fire,” K’il eyed Ethan’s gun.
“Because he thought we were under attack.” I waved a hand at my current position. “He’s protective of me.”
“My father’s favorite,” K’il said. “Must make sure you’re safe.”
“I’m safe,” I assured him. “I promise.”
K’il swiped at his eye—drubles had no eyelids like me and Ethan, so they had to clean debris from the hard exterior of their eyeballs. “Why here?”
When I had trained here, it had taken me awhile to get used to their shortened speech.
I didn’t want to lie to K’il, but I wasn’t sure how he would react to me telling him that a human from Earth wanted to collect it.
Of all the bounty that grew in Druble Valley, the numba was one of the least valuable.
But if Ethan needed it, then I’d help him get it.
The drubles could grow more. “We’re here to collect some numba. ” There, that wasn’t a lie.
K’il crunched another nut. “Stay here?”
I glanced back at Ethan. My back hurt from the wittow tossing me. And Ethan could use a wash and proper food. I turned back to K’il. “That would be nice, if you don’t mind.”
He gestured to a guard. “Kaluma room.” Then he pointed to us. “Two.”
The Kaluma had our own suite here in Druble Valley. No one was stationed here now, which meant the suite was available for Ethan and I to use. I rose with a smile and grasped K’il’s hand. “Thank you, for being understanding.”
He grunted. “Don’t trust yet.”
“I know,” I said. “But I’ll keep him in line. He listens to me.”
K’il sighed. “See that.”
Ethan had risen with me. He stood at my back, still eying the guards like they were going to shoot us any moment.
“Come on,” I said to him, even though he couldn’t understand me. I grabbed his hand, and he followed me as a guard led us toward the Kaluma suite.
It was only when we were alone behind a closed door that Ethan let out a long breath. He ripped off his gun strap, dropped it on a table, and collapsed into a chair with his head in his hands. “Fuck, what a day.”
I went to his side and knelt between his spread knees. He dropped his hands and studied my face. His forehead was streaked with dirt, and his eyes were red-rimmed. He looked exhausted. But he smiled for me. “That spider thing tossed you, and you still look like a million bucks, Goldie.”
I didn’t know what a million bucks was.
“Don’t do that again, though. Don’t take on a creature the size of a Range Rover when I got a perfectly fine gun, okay?”
I also didn’t know what Range Rover was.
He reached out and sifted a strand of my hair between two fingers. “But you vanished, just disappeared, and then reappeared. What the fuck was that?”
I held his hand, and then I blanked. As soon as the clicking of my scales began, he sucked in a breath and jerked in his chair. He blinked at the space where he’d last seen me, where I still was. Just… invisible.
He waved his other hand, and his fingers brushed my shoulder.
“What the fuck?” he whispered. “You can camouflage?” He felt around my body.
“I can sort of see a vague outline, but you mostly just blend in.” He shook his head with a weird laugh.
“Fuck me, this is insane. Come back now. I want to see you.”
I let my scales click back so he could see me and exhaled slowly. Our hands remained clasped, and he squeezed once. “There you are. Can all your kind do that?”
I nodded.
“The, uh, males?”
I nodded again.
“How big are your males? Bigger than me?”
By a lot. I winced, and that was really all the answer he needed. “Fuck. They’d kill me, wouldn’t they? For even breathing your air?”
I ducked my head, and he leaned back in his chair. He didn’t let go of my hand. “Good thing they aren’t here then.”
A knock came at the door, and I rose to answer it. K’il’s mate, I’lly, held a whole platter of food, steam still rising from the cooked grindle, fresh-caught from the river. “Hara. Miss you,” she greeted me.
She’d been young when I’d trained here and had a raging crush on K’il. I’d learned from another Kaluma they’d eventually mated, and I’d been so happy for her. “I see you won your mate over, after all,” I said as I took the food tray.
She swiped at her eye. “Happy.”
“Good, you deserve it.”
“Need more?”
I assured her we had all we needed and then shut the door behind her.
I carried the food to Ethan, and we both ate ravenously.
Afterward, he leaned back in his chair and took a good look at the Kaluma suite.
A large sleeping palette took up the entire left side of the room, and to the right was a small desk next to the washing station.
He stood up and walked over to it, running his fingers along the edge of the basin. “What’s this?”
I joined him and depressed a lever in the wall. From the ceiling, a steady stream of steaming water filled the basin, which was large enough to hold a full-grown Kaluma male. Ethan’s eyes widened. “Is this… a bath?”
I nodded, and his jaw dropped. “Can I use it?” He rubbed at his chest. “I don’t even know the last time I had clean balls. I probably have a rash.”
I pointed to the water, as if to tell him to get in. He stripped without warning, kicking his boots off and shucking his pants in one long motion. I stepped back and ducked my head. I’d seen him naked before, when he’d been injured and unconscious, but this felt different.
I only glanced back up when I heard a splash, and a long, low groan that made my scales tingle.
“Holy shit, Goldie. This is the life.” He dunked his head under before resurfacing.
He scrubbed his hands down his face as the dirt sluiced off him.
“Wait, I should have asked if you wanted to get in first. I’m not being a gentleman. ”
I shook my head. I didn’t need to bathe. I’d taken a good splash in the river. That had been enough. I pulled up a chair beside the bath and grabbed a jar of soppin. I poured some in the water, and the room immediately filled with the flower scent.
“Is this soap?” He poked at a bubble on the surface. “Thanks, Goldie.” I rested an elbow on the edge of the basin while he leaned his head back. “I’ll get out soon and we can leave. Just another minute. Maybe two.”
I shook my head and pointed to the sleeping palette. He eyed it. “That’s… you want to sleep here?”
I nodded. I wanted real rest. I wanted… I wanted more time with Ethan before he collected the numba and left this planet.
He blinked, and his brow furrowed. He didn’t seem happy. Did he not want to spend time with me? I tried not to be hurt. I looked away, and then I felt his wet fingers on my chin. “Hey, look at me.”
I did, and he was no longer frowning. “That’s fine. We can stay here for a night. Get some rest. Whatever you want, Goldie.”
He was no longer on guard now. He was clean, and fed. So his eyes held none of the earlier tension. They were nothing but warm embers in the dim light of our room. The water clumped his long, dark eyelashes. Water dribbled from his full lips.
A warmth started in my belly and wouldn’t cool.
His fingers drifted from my chin up to my mouth, and then he brushed a thumb across my lips.
I released a breath, and he snatched his hand away before submerging it below the water.
He swallowed and dropped his gaze. “Sorry, I just…” his jaw worked.
“You’re really beautiful. You should probably go on the other side of the room now. ”
But I didn’t want to. And for so long, I’d had to do too much of things I didn’t want. I unclenched my fingers from the side of the basin and reached forward to run them along Ethan’s arm. His head jerked up. Jaw clenched. “Goldie.”
He didn’t say no. I let my fingers drift across his prominent collar bone to his rounded pectoral muscles.
I scratched at the dark patch of hair there.
His breathing sped up. His eyes burned. I let my fingers drift lower, over the ridged muscles of his abdomen, until I felt the coarse hair surrounding his cock.
He shuddered. My finger brushed the shaft of his cock. He was hard. Of course he was hard. I should have known he would be, but that didn’t prepare me for it. The last time I’d seen his cock, he’d been soft. Safe. Harmless.
I snatched my hand away as memories I’d tried to bury hit me.
The heavy weight on my chest. The piercing pain in my core.
The heavy panting in my ear as I closed my eyes and pretended to be somewhere else.
A dull roar rushed through my ears. Something clattered.
Water splashed. I was on the ground. On my hands and knees.
Crawling. Why was I crawling? Sobs wracked my body. My spine hurt. I gagged.
“Goldie!” A voice cut through the fog. A familiar one. A safe one. I blinked my eyes open to find Ethan crouched over me, expression tight. I was in a ball beside the sleeping palette. My arm was bleeding.
He reached for me and I flinched. I didn’t mean to flinch. He drew his arm back quickly. He was still naked. His cock was soft. I stared at it, and he glanced down before drawing a blanket off the bed and draping it over his knees.
I glanced up then. Shame rushed through me. My chest felt hollow.
“What can I do?” he asked. His voice remained tight. Was he angry with me? I stared into his eyes. Anger was there, but I didn’t feel it directed at me. I couldn’t be sure why. Just an instinct. “Can I touch you to look at your arm?”
The wound was already healing. It was just a scratch. I wanted to able to let him touch me, but I didn’t trust myself. I’d lost my head there for a minute. I couldn’t even remember how I’d gotten here. So I shook my head.
The anger remained. His fists clenched. “Okay, I won’t touch you. Want me to get your bag? You can put something on that cut.”
I nodded.
As he stood, he knotted the blanket around his waist. He returned with my bag, and I slapped some paste on my arm, only so he’d stop asking about it.
He sat down on the ground a short distance away. He was quiet for a long time. I eventually stopped shaking. My hearing returned to normal. Mortification set in. What must he think of me?
“Who hurt you?” he asked quietly. I glanced at him. He sat with his back to the wall, wrists braced on his bent knee. “One of your males?”
I held his gaze. I couldn’t make my head move. I didn’t want to acknowledge that I was the weak female who hadn’t gotten over this while so many others did.
His jaw ticked. “Is he still alive?”
My head moved now. I shook it.
His nostrils flared. “Good. Motherfucker.”
I remember he used that word before with the Rogastix. So an insult then. I tugged at the edges of my skirt.
“Goldie?” His voice brought my head up. He watched me carefully.
“What happened to you, what he or they did to you, that wasn’t your fault.
I-I’m sorry if anything I did caused you to react like that.
I’ll be more careful. But don’t for one second feel ashamed.
Not of what they did, and not with what just happened. Okay?”
Every scale in my body fluttered. I almost blanked. My blood roared through my veins, and my head spun.
No one had ever said those words to me.
I crept forward, inch by inch, until I reached his side. He remained very still. I leaned down and brushed my cheek along the back of his hand. “Thank you,” I said.
Something told me that even though my words were in another language, Ethan would understand me.