Chapter Nine
Serenya
My breath caught as I stared at the commander.
Kael.
What he had said, the way he looked at me, was too much for the state I was in. I couldn’t focus enough to figure out what he meant, because it couldn’t be as simple as he made it sound.
“You need to lie down.”
I couldn’t argue. The room was moving as if I was on a ship at sea and I could feel the sweat trickling down my spine.
I wanted nothing more than to crawl into bed and forget everything for a while, but I couldn’t do that with the commander of the Morrak fleet in my kitchen, and he clearly wasn’t going to leave until I’d done what he wanted.
“We can sit in the living room.”
He was slow to pull away, and I immediately regretted the loss of his hand on my cheek. The roughness of his skin somehow made him feel real, and with my fever he was cooler than me.
He stepped back and gestured for me to pass him.
“Lead the way.”
I didn’t miss that he grabbed the glass I’d poured for myself before he followed me over to the couches. They were rarely used and stiff, but it still felt good to take my weight off my feet and let myself sag onto the armrest.
I probably looked terrible, I felt terrible, but Kael watched me the way he had since we met, with an intense, predatory interest.
“Where is the medicine you need?” he asked as he placed the glass of water on the table beside my hand.
“It’s in the—”
I had leaned forward to stand again, but a growl cut me off, making me sit back and look up at the male standing in front of me. It was the same sound he’d made in the kitchen, and my body reacted the way it had before.
My nipples tightened, skin tingling, and dampness grew between my thighs.
If I hadn’t already been flushed from the fever I would have blushed with embarrassment. I had no idea why I reacted that way to a noise that was so similar to a canine’s warning, but there was no denying it.
“You will stay there. Tell me how to find it.”
I opened my mouth, but it took a second for my brain to process and come up with words.
I wouldn’t have expected the whole brutish-male act to be my thing, I was supposed to be a strong, independent woman, but coming from him, there was warmth pooling between my thighs and a clenching low in my belly.
“B-Back the way we came, first door on the left. In the mirror cabinet. Red and white bottle, second shelf.”
I wasn’t sure he could read English, and after the revelation when I asked if he wanted ice in his drink, I tried to make the directions as simple as I could for an alien not familiar with our ways.
Learning to live with an alien in a desert on a different planet was going to be a challenge, but I found myself more excited about the prospect than worried.
Kael strode away with a self-assurance I envied, his tail swaying behind him. He had to duck through the doorways, and I found myself giggling. The sight of him in the old colonial home that had been in my family for generations was so odd, there was nothing to do but laugh.
But soon I would be the oddity. The weird thing somewhere I didn’t belong.
I hoped the Morrak were more open-minded than Humans.
The thought sobered me until Kael returned, every bottle that had been in the medicine cabinet that had even a spot of red and white in his arms. I tried to smother another giggle, but when he arched a brow at me, I couldn’t contain it.
“I have done something amusing?”
The deadpan tone combined with his harsh features made the comment funnier than it should have been, and I had to cover my mouth and look away to get control of myself.
The rattle of pill bottles pulled my attention to the end table as I smoothed my expression. Not wanting to seem rude, I looked into his silver eyes and offered a smile.
“No. I appreciate your thoroughness. Thank you.”
His lips twitched like he might smile in return, but a chime from the door had his head jerking toward the front of the house, his tail raised as his markings glowed brighter.
Even though it wasn’t directed at me it sent a shiver down my spine, freezing me in place when I should have been going to answer the door.
A beep near his waist was followed by a guttural spill of consonants, and his posture relaxed. Pressing his thumb to a little square on his belt he responded in the same rough language before looking down at me.
“My warriors are here. What do I order them to pack?”
I shifted my weight again forward before another warning rumble made me lean back.
I was clearly still restricted to the couch, and even while part of me rebelled at him thinking he could control what I did, another part was grateful someone had stepped in to force me to rest since I wouldn’t have on my own.
“My room is up the stairs on the left. I already packed the bathroom besides what I’ll need in the morning, so they just need to gather what’s in the bedroom itself, and in the attached closet.”
At his blank look I cleared my throat and tried to think of a way to simplify the directions for someone who might not know what a closet was.
“Top of the stairs, first door on the left. There will be two more doors inside. The first will be open, leave it alone. The second will be closed. I need the things in there, as well as what’s inside the drawers and on the shelves in the main space they enter.”
I had been taught Common as a child and spoke it as fluently as English, but I was questioning my language skills until he gave a sharp nod and moved through the house once again.
Worry that they’d pack the wrong things stirred in my chest, but I shrugged it away.
I could always take care of anything they missed once they were gone, and if they took anything they shouldn’t…
Well, my father could afford to replace it.
Decided, I snagged the bottle I needed and shook out two of the pills, swallowing them with a mouthful of water. If what I’d understood was correct, the Morrak didn’t have cold drinks, and an ice-cold glass of water was something I would miss.
I heard the front door open and then more of what I had to assume was the Morraki language.
It was harsh and full of almost growled words, but I didn’t know if that was because it was Kael speaking to underlings, or just the language itself.
Either way, it wasn’t long before there were boots stomping up the stairs.
If I stopped and thought about it long enough, having a bunch of strange men, men who weren’t even Human, pack my personal things would have made me uncomfortable.
So, I refused to think about it. As crappy as I felt, it was nice to be able to sit back and let someone else worry about all the knickknacks and books and clothing that still needed stuffed into boxes.
It would have taken me another two to three hours, but with multiple people working at it, I doubted it would take longer than an hour.
Kael appeared in the doorway again, ducking through as he held my gaze. As odd as it was to have strangers going through my underwear drawer, at least he was where I could see him, and where I knew he wasn’t the one doing it.
Something twisted low in my belly at the thought of Kael looking at the little bit of lingerie I owned. Since my fiancé leaving me I hadn’t had reason to wear any of it, but if I was supposed to become his mate, maybe I’d be wearing it again.
I bit my bottom lip to keep from grinning, the room rocking side to side as Kael moved across the room.
He was surprisingly silent for someone his size, and even though I kept expecting a lamp or decoration to go crashing from his tail, he seemed perfectly aware of where it and everything in the room was.
It had to be his warrior training, and I had the sudden desire to see him in a fight. I wasn’t the type of person who enjoyed watching violence or sports, but the idea of watching him in action…
My thighs clenched and I shook my head, wondering why I was thinking those things. My brain throbbed, I was sweaty, and my stomach quivered any time I even thought about food. It made no sense to be getting aroused over thoughts of a stranger.
An alien.
Did we even have the same parts?
I grabbed my glass and took a mouthful of water, as if that would cool my flaming cheeks. At least I could blame the heat burning them on the fever if he noticed.
“You’re swaying.”
With the ridges and hard angles of his face, even a slight frown made him look intimidating, but for some reason, I wasn’t scared of him.
Even after my thoughts at the clinic, I couldn’t believe he was a danger to me.
I knew how people could be one person in public and another behind closed doors, but Kael didn’t strike me as that type.
Determined, unyielding, even firm, yes.
But not cruel.
Not without reason.
“I took the medicine. It should bring the fever down soon.”
It was all I could say since he wasn’t wrong.
He moved closer but he still didn’t take a seat. There was a whole other couch facing the one I sat on, but I realized it might be uncomfortable for him with his tail. Plus, his size might have made it more of a perch than a seat.
“Do you have anyone you need to contact?”
Confusion had me frowning at him until he clarified.
“To tell you’re leaving?”
I paused, trying to think of anyone besides my father who would be affected by my departure, and my shoulders slumped as I realized there wasn’t anyone.
I had been friendly with my classmates at the university, but I couldn’t call any of them close.
None had even messaged to see why I hadn’t attended graduation.
“No. There’s no one.”
I couldn’t meet Kael’s gaze. I didn’t want to see the pity there that I’d seen from so many others.
“You should lie down.”
The thought was enticing, but the couch was too firm, and the fabric was scratchy, even through the slacks and blouse I still wore.
“I will once the packing is done.”
A thought hit me, and I sat up straighter, forgetting the depression I’d started to slip into.
“You did tell them to leave the bed alone, right? I need my sheets and pillows to sleep on tonight. Plus, it’s not like you’re going to have the same kind of bed for me to put them on. You’re so big, your bed has to be massive.”
A giggle escaped before I could stop it.
With the way the world was moving and my head throbbed, and the way my emotions were swinging back and forth, I felt more drunk than sick.
Even the nausea was more in line with having drunk too much, like I was somehow intoxicated and hung over at the same time.
Kael’s brow quirked, his lips twitching.
“I’ll go be sure they don’t touch your nessha, veyrari. Drink your water.”
He disappeared again as I blinked slowly, trying to figure out the meaning of the new words. My eyes were gritty and dry, my eyelids heavy, and closing them until he returned seemed like a good idea.
Sipping my water and then setting it aside, I let my head rest on my arm, listening for footsteps as my mind drifted in the haze of fever.