Chapter 18
I couldn't feel disappointed as I stepped out of the car onto the familiar roof. After a glorious excursion shopping, he'd brought me back to the penthouse loft. I hadn't been ready to go back. I didn't realize how much I was craving seeing and doing until I was back at the spot we had been before.
I'd spent enough time sitting around in a box.
At the same time, without me being able to tell him what I wanted to do, he had taken me shopping.
I loved shopping. Back at home, I shopped by digging through racks at various thrift stores.
The place he took me was the complete opposite of what I was used to.
Attendants brought out tea, small candies, and countless racks of outfits to try on in a private, luxurious dressing room while he lounged patiently.
It was absolutely glorious.
I smiled and looked off the edge of the roof at the city that surrounded me.
The air whipped around me, but it wasn't as strong or as cold as I expected.
I looked up in the sky, the translucent hexagonal shimmer barely visible as I stared at the huge planet that loomed overhead.
I could see a section of a continent change color as I watched, shifting from purple to white with a moving gradient.
It was utterly fascinating.
One thought fluttered through me, an antithesis to the fear, anger, and anxiety that had plagued me since the moment I had been sucked into the air off of the beach.
How lucky I was.
What a unique and wonderful experience this was, even if it started out hellish and horrible.
I had nothing to complain about at this moment, other than my own ignorance.
I turned to look for Zale, only to find him already beside me. As my eyes landed on him, he held out his hand, reaching towards me.
I didn't hesitate.
I reached back.
He took my hand and pulled me behind him, his elbow circling up and over his head as he turned his back to me. He reached back with his other hand and held it out, palm up, fingers back towards me. I reached out and put my other hand in his.
He pulled me up and towards his back.
As I bumped up against him, he lifted straight up, pulling my whole weight up with just the power of his triceps. His tail brushed against the inside of my thighs as he lifted me. My legs wrapped around his waist.
He set my arms around his shoulders and let go.
I clung to him like a spider monkey, a grin spreading across my face.
I was wearing a yoga style outfit that I had picked out from my shopping spree.
This particular set had an inner flap for the tail hole, which hid it when a tail wasn't pushing through, so my butt crack was out of sight.
The rayon-like fabric was both soft and firm.
My bare arms pressed against the fur on the tops of his shoulders as he strode towards the giant staircase of platforms. I could feel his muscles shifting between my legs. He was so strong, a predator made out of brutal muscle.
This wasn't an alien man who sat around doing nothing with his body.
This was an alien man who trained.
I nuzzled my nose against the space where his fur met his bare skin, feeling the softness of both, breathing in the rich scent of the forest and a home that anchored my heart to a memory of something long lost.
He hesitated, missing his stride for a moment.
I felt all of his muscles stiffen, and he lurched back into motion. As we reached the doorway of the corridor, it slid open, revealing the drop to the platform below. One of his arms snaked around, supporting my thighs and holding me against him.
He rumbled a baritone song at me, then he jumped.
I giggled as I rode him down.
I didn't think I would ever get tired of this. It was like riding a leopard as it leaped through the trees, silky and smooth as he moved. I clung to him as he carried me as if I weighed nothing.
He didn't stop at the penthouse suite.
He dropped down another level, then another, then another.
Before I knew it, he moved through an archway into a room with a massively high ceiling. I gripped my knees tighter around his waist and used that to lift myself so that I could peer over his shoulder.
A shit tonne of eyes stared back at me.
My own eyes widened as I took in the sight in front of us. We were standing at the entrance of a large movement training room filled with cat elf aliens of various sizes and shapes. A good number of them were smaller than the others and more delicate, with wider hips and narrower shoulders.
Zale sang something out, and suddenly the room was in motion as they all resumed their activity.
In one corner, a series of heavy bags made from thick, layered rope hung from the ceiling, swaying as a few aliens pounded on them. They weren't just punching them.
They were switching between hitting with closed fists, slashing with their fingers out, or stepping back and leaping onto them with full-body grabs. There were gouges in the layered rope bags from where they had clawed through them.
On the ground next to the bags was an array of pouches of various sizes. As the aliens lifted them, straining, it became clear that they were heavy weights.
Across from the rope pummeling bags and weighted pouches, an arrangement of balance beams, small vertical posts, and bars stuck out of the wall. It appeared to be a parkour course with impossible leaping distances between the poles.
A jungle of ropes hung from the ceiling at the high end of the poles so that those who got to the top could leap and crawl along the ceiling.
There were a few vertical poles in one corner of the room that looked like they were intended to be a part of the parkour running course. Those were small enough in diameter to take a spin around, though I doubted that was what they used it for.
A running track outlined the edge of the room, and in the remaining space lay a sparring circle, where two of the aliens were having a dance battle, and an open floor that was perfect for stretching.
I grinned wider.
No, that wasn't dancing. Their movements were different from the stocky, stationary movements of human fighting.
Their hand-to-hand combat had a lot more leaping.
I unwrapped my legs from Zale's waist and dropped down to the ground.
The floor was padded.
I bounced on it for a moment, finding it springy as well.
I stepped around Zale as my head moved on a swivel, taking in the entirety of the room. Then I looked down at my bare feet. No one here had shoes on either. I didn't bother waiting around for Zale to try to communicate to me why he brought me to this room or who all these other aliens were.
All that mattered was that I could finally move freely.
I bounced up and down on the balls of my feet for a moment, then bent straight over, dropping down to reach for my feet. I hung there for a few deep breaths, really feeling the stretch. I rolled back up my spine to straighten and glanced over my shoulder.
Zale dragged his eyes back up to my face.
He was totally checking out my ass.
I grinned again, a big toothy smile.
His ears flattened slightly before he returned the smile, teeth and all.
I did a quick quad check, lifting one heel to my butt and grabbing my ankle with my hand as I made sure every part of my body was feeling comfortable and ready to go.
I couldn't wait any longer.
I took off at a jog.
I moved around the jogging track, starting off with a slow, steady rhythm. I checked behind me to see Zale following at my pace. Ears and eyes swiveled to follow me as I moved around the room and sank into my body, feeling the comfortable, familiar movement. I ignored them all.
I took note that the aliens on the jogging track moved off of it to other stations as I continued, their eyes falling on the alien man who paced behind me.
After a lap, I let my legs stretch out, moving into a sprint.
Next lap, I went back to the slow, steady jog until my heart rate and breathing got under control.
I continued until my entire body felt warm and full of life, noticing that it took a significantly longer period of time for my heart rate to drop back down at a slower pace than usual. I slowed to a walk and looked around the room.
The two aliens who were in the ring had stopped and were taking a break by a small waterfall fountain near the weighted sacks. They leaned over the bubbling water, drinking straight from the top of the fountain.
I turned and darted for the sparring ring.
When I got to the edge, I turned to face Zale, who was still with me. His head tilted to the side as I grabbed his hand and pulled him into the ring, my heart pounding in my chest and not just from the energetic run.
What I was doing was dangerous.
I didn't have a way to communicate well with this man.
What we had between us was dialogue based on our observation of each other, a connection that was built off of what we presented to each other at each moment in time.
Our interpretations of each other's actions were based on our own individual upbringings, the socio-economic conditions of our life, and the rituals and customs of our species.
I had interpreted him taking out the aliens who abused me as a protective gesture.
It could have a huge range of different meanings that I could have no clue about.
He could have done it because they had tried to cheat him on the sale, and he was showing me what he did to people who cheated him.
It could have been because his species was protective of children, and my size, in comparison to him, made me appear like a juvenile.
It could have been a threat, a warning, or a promise of what he would do to me in the future.
I wasn't a fighter.