Chapter 5 #2
A greenhouse could mean vegetables and fruits year-round, supplementing what I enjoyed eating.
It would solve Naomi’s laments about the lack of ingredients, or it might, if we could figure out what else was edible around here.
I was sure we could ask the Shaman for help on that.
If we warned the mated males that humans needed a more diverse selection of foods to stay healthy, they’d be first in line to help with this project.
I was all fired up when that damn Zsekhet interrupted my thinking process and scared the shit out of me.
Where had he come from? I thought everyone was asleep but no, there he was, holding out a fur to me and snarling and hissing at me with a fierce look in his eyes.
So typical, why was I always his target?
Why didn’t I get the easygoing, golden retriever version of him?
When he carefully draped the fur around my shoulders, I had to admit that it was kind of nice though.
I had been freezing cold and the fur helped, it was thoughtful to notice and offer it to me.
I should say thanks but all I wanted to do was snap at him for scaring me when he snuck up on me.
This guy really brought out the worst side of me but honestly, it was kind of a relief to just rant at a person when they couldn’t understand what I said.
To let off steam and not worry about whether he liked me or not, he didn’t, I already knew that.
By the time we parted ways inside Outcast Haven, I felt warm from the fur and from being mad at him.
I felt excited at all the plans running through my mind, and when I curled up in my ‘nest’ bed in my apartment, I fell asleep in seconds; dreaming of all my ideas.
Now I had to find out if I had the courage to pitch my plan and call for a Clan meeting.
That morning I was wide awake at first light, energized and restless despite only sleeping for a few hours.
I raced from my apartment dressed in the leather leggings I’d made for myself yesterday and then stumbled to a halt when I saw something gold from the corner of my eye.
Was that Zsekhet again? He was the only gold male around, so it had to be him.
This early, only Reid might be awake yet, but everyone else was still asleep.
I didn’t see anyone on the walkway that surrounded the pit and road spiraling down into the mountain, to where more rooms and apartments remained uninhabited for now.
The flash of gold had been right by the door to the control room, Corin’s domain.
When we first got here, a hologram had played some kind of recording near that area, but Corin had disabled it.
If that was Zsekhet, why was he sneaking around and looking at the nerve center of this place?
If he messed up our plumbing and running water I was going to be so freaking mad, that was the only thing that made living here bearable.
Then another thought struck me. None of the Naga males except Krashe and Corin showed any interest in the technology that ran this place.
They might use a laser scalpel, flashlight, or lighter, but beyond that, they didn’t know or even want to know much about the ancient relics that could be found here.
Zsekhet had acted the same way, so if he was taking an interest in secret, was he spying?
I felt so ridiculous for thinking it, but once the thought had struck me, I couldn’t shake it.
Spies… That made me think of the UAR and how they’d betrayed me, pretending to rescue me before they shipped me off to this place.
My first thought was to hide in my apartment; I didn’t want to get involved.
When I glanced at all the closed doors between the control room and my apartment I knew I couldn’t do that.
Everyone was asleep, if I didn’t find out what was going on, no one would.
I hadn’t been able to think of this place as home yet, as final, but I’d be damned if I let anything happen to the others here.
I didn’t like Zsekhet, maybe this was why, my intuition had been telling me all along that he was hiding something.
Ducking low, I jogged closer and then ducked behind a section of the balustrade that curved around the pit.
The door had been left open and I could peer inside to see just enough of his tail to know it was definitely him.
I couldn’t see his upper body, but the screens were lit up and data was scrolling over them.
What was he doing? If this was a guy who knew his way around technology, I’d suspect him of having plugged in a device to steal all the data from the control center.
Or maybe he was uploading a virus or something.
But this was a male from a species that had completely devolved, regressing back to the stone age in many ways.
He wasn’t supposed to know how to do either of those things.
Sitting on my haunches, I watched like a hawk as he fiddled around inside the room, and then, just as I heard the first sounds of others stirring, he just left.
He didn’t glance at where I sat, calves cramping from my weird crouch.
He just closed the door behind him and went outside, the dawn light painting his silhouette with violet shimmers as he paused at the carved gate.
I held my breath, my belly clenching hard with a sudden burst of arousal at seeing the way he looked.
Such wide shoulders, such a strong, agile body.
He was the only Naga I knew who also had a set of proud black horns on his forehead, curling into the air.
He was really beautiful and sexy. Absolutely too good-looking to be good for his ego.
“Whatcha doing?” Kalani suddenly asked from right next to me.
I jumped in the air, stumbled, and nearly took a header over the edge of the balustrade.
The woman grabbed my arm to help steady me, a grin on her face that lit up her dark brown eyes.
“Spying on Zsekhet, huh? He is a very fine male to look at.”
I blushed, fire shooting along my cheeks, straight to my hairline.
I was probably as red in the face as my hair was right now, but this was serious.
Even if I had been ogling the sexy curve of his muscled back; I’d caught him spying!
When I tried to explain all that to Kalani she frowned thoughtfully while staring at the door to the command center.
“Are you sure you aren’t looking for reasons to dislike this guy?
I know you’re a private person, but we all know you lost someone you loved.
This isn’t about avoiding any feelings he stirs in you?
” Kalani was gentle as she spoke to me, but still, her words seemed to cut like blades.
Was that what I was doing? Projecting things on Zsekhet just because I thought he was kinda sexy when he wasn’t glaring at me?
I closed my eyes and pictured that moment at the campfire a few nights ago.
He’d offered me the tip of his tail with this taunting look on his face and it had made me so incredibly upset.
And then I’d been so furious that I let him get to me that I’d become determined to heal, to be my old self again.
Because I knew that the old me would have given him a run for his money.
Maybe Kalani was right, maybe this was just more of my scars talking, maybe that whole thing in the control center was all between my ears.
I was grateful when Kalani cupped my shoulder and said seriously, “But we’ll play this safe.
I will talk to Iave and Zathar about it, okay?
They’ll keep an extra eye on him or demote him back to the aspirant camp if needed.
” I tried to picture that happening but it didn’t give me the sense of relief I thought it might.
Maybe I was getting used to having Zsekhet and the other two newcomers in the caves around.
Aks and Xorare were just very calm and quiet males compared to the Zsekhet.
I still couldn’t pronounce those names, but Aks was an older male from Thunder Rock who’d lived in the wilds for years on his own as an outcast. He was quiet but happy to hang around company, hard-working to fix up anything that he could.
While Xorare was much younger and once from Copper Tooth; he was equally as quiet and hard-working.
When Zathar proposed to vote the two into the caves, the males had picked an apartment they shared together, and I had the sneaky suspicion they were more than just friends.
They were safe, easy, while Zsekhet was not, so why did it make me upset to imagine him gone?
Shaking the thoughts from my head, I turned to face Kalani more fully.
“I have a proposal, I need to speak with Zathar about it, will you translate?” As soon as the words were out, there was no backing down, and that felt good.
It felt so good to have a project to focus on, I wanted that.
Being busy again might help me to move on, and working on a project so similar to my old skills was like getting back in touch with an old friend.
“Sure hon, what’s your plan?” Kalani said with a wide grin, “And after, you’ll join me for another workout.
Yes?” She bumped my shoulder with a fist, “Min-Ji promised to join us when we do. We’ll work her over good.
” The badass former space marine was a good one to have on your side, I loved how she seemed to enjoy mother-henning the hell out of all of us, even Vera.
I wanted to groan at the idea of another workout, my muscles still ached, but I was excited about it too.
All that excitement fizzled out when Zathar listened to my idea a short while later and then instantly started whistling to call everyone together for a meeting.
I had not expected things to move that fast, this felt a little too much like I was about to give a presentation to a boardroom full of investors.
We gathered around the fire pit just outside and since it was still early morning, everyone was there.
The males hadn’t split off yet for various construction or hunting tasks, and Zathar and Iave hadn’t even gone down to the camp to train with the aspirants and assign them their tasks for the day.
Everyone there also meant Zsekhet, and he sat down on a log across from me with his bulging arms crossed over his chest. The giant dragon had also landed on the purple grass and laid himself down in a curl behind Zsekhet, one giant, golden eye focused on me as if it too was interested in my pitch.
Vera sat down on my other side and curled her arm through mine, mimicking what Kalani was doing.
I had a feeling the two were trying to make sure I wasn’t going to bolt, and that really ticked me off.
Had I been that much of a weak scaredy pants the past three months?
Yeah, I had been. I winced just thinking back to how many tears I’d shed the first week alone.
They didn’t know why, because I hadn’t told them, it didn’t look good.
Taking a deep breath, I took the plunge as soon as Zathar nodded my way to get started.
“I want to rebuild the greenhouse. We humans need more vegetables in our diet. We need a better source for that, one that can sustain us even in winter.” As I spoke, Zathar quietly translated my words to the other Naga so they could follow along.
The words had barely left my mouth before Naomi leaped upright, proudly balancing on her legs and raising her arms. “Heck yeah! That is an amazing idea. And a proper kitchen too! I can’t keep cooking over open fire all year, what if it rains or snows?
We’d freeze our toes off.” She plunked her ass back down in Krashe’s lap and lifted her foot to show off her wiggling bare toes.
When some of the males exclaimed in horror, and Xorare leaned in to study Naomi’s toes with utter fascination, a smile tugged at my mouth. My nerves calmed and I felt myself relax into the situation. This wasn’t so bad.
Soon we were brainstorming ideas and I found my passion for architecture again as I debated with Krashe on how we could go about it, Corin pitching in with an excitement that matched my own.
Our enthusiasm was hampered only by those willing to translate for us.
We could go to Artek, the Shaman, to study his greenhouse, then make our own plans and search for parts.
Corin knew of several ruins around these mountains that might be good starting points.
Voting for my greenhouse idea was unanimous, but what followed next made the hairs on my arms stand on end.
As Krashe, Corin, and I were suggested to split off to work on this together, Zsekhet suddenly interfered.
He started hissing and growling in furious tones and Vera’s eyes went huge in response.
“What? What is he saying?” I demanded, certain that he was trying to bash my idea and put a stop to it all.
Of course he would do that, because he was an asshole and a secret spy and he didn’t want me to be successful.
“Uh…” Vera said carefully, her eyes turning gentle when she focused on my face. “Look, he’s just pointing out some issues. But we’ll still do it, make the greenhouse. We just need to hammer them out.” Then her eyes went even bigger and she winced.
I spun to Kalani and glared and the marine grinned at me with a shrug.
“You’re not going to like it but it’s perfect.
He says he needs to be part of your team, his dragon can carry all the parts you need.
And he’s suggesting we speak to the Shaman about solving our language divide.
” To emphasize her point, she tapped behind her ear, right in the spot where most people had translator implants.
Everything seemed to grind to a standstill around me, but my thoughts were racing.
I’d hidden the scars behind my ears with my hair all this time.
I’d been dreading this moment from day one, and that dread outweighed any worry about having to work together with Zsekhet when I thought he might be up to no good.