Chapter 10 #2
I stuck my head out the door and was surprised to realize that out in the open, squarish area with the broken water fountain, the lights had dimmed.
A look at the cavernous ceiling above me said it all, the glowing crystals there were cracked and some were broken.
It didn’t look like the rest of the ceiling was damaged but black scorch marks surrounded some of the ones that had gone out completely.
Some kind of power short maybe? Not a surprise considering the damage Iave had done at the entrance into this place.
There was no sign of Iave himself but I thought I saw signs of his passage in the dirt and dust on the floors.
Much more of it than had been visible in the tunnels and I wondered if that was because there had been actual things here to degrade and turn to dust. Like furniture that had rotted, or worse, dead bodies…
Iave suddenly appeared, just when I was contemplating if it was wimpy if I readied my bow and held it when I started searching for him.
I had to say that it probably was, there was nothing here but relics and dust, but I couldn’t shake this uneasy feeling that something could be lurking in the dark.
His dark scales made him blend well with the gloom in this large room.
There was still enough light to see that he was wearing a deep frown, his mouth set in a grim line.
The ax he wielded was strapped to his back, the black blade gleaming above his right shoulder.
I liked how he looked, his thick body gleaming and bulging with muscle, his tail moving him at a languid pace along the dusty floor.
Then his eyes met mine across the distance and I felt a connection zing through my body like a shot.
There was no denying how irresistible he was and how strong the chemistry sizzled between us.
How would I know what was real? How could I trust that he wouldn’t mate me and abandon me?
Or worse, started to resent me for being bound to a human, not a female of his own species.
“Kalani,” he said and he held out his big clawed hands when he reached me.
I thought he just wanted me to grab them so we could talk but when I looked down to put my fingers in his, I realized he was holding some shiny, metallic objects.
It was his tail that curled around my legs, sneakily gliding up them and tugging me closer so I was forced to take a few stumbling steps forward.
“I found some presents for you,” he said, pushing the shiny things closer.
I wasn’t sure what I was looking at, and why he thought I might want them until I took a better look.
At least three more flashlights, two similar objects that I thought might be lighters, and then there was something that definitely looked like a laser scalpel to me.
These must be items that were scattered all over this place, things that hadn’t decayed with the passage of time.
Iave must think I was a magpie or something, in love with all things shiny.
Or maybe he hoped that I knew how to use them.
I was certainly extremely happy to have a light plus some backup in these caves.
Now that I thought about it, all these objects were handy to have, even the laser scalpel, which could function as a weapon in a pinch.
It looked eclectic but really, it was quite thoughtful.
Just not the typical kind of present a guy usually gave a girl he was courting, but then again, when had I ever cared about that?
“Thank you, these will come in handy,” I said while I started stowing the various items in the cargo pockets on my pants.
Plenty of space to store things for easy access and it felt nice to have things in them again too.
For my short stint in jail and subsequent execution, they’d taken all my things, my identification, my dog tags, my pocket knife, and other odds and ends, all gone.
“Did you find an exit?” I asked, leaning a little to the side so I could take a look around his wide shoulders myself.
There were a dozen tunnels to pick from that led off this central entrance space and I had no clue which one would lead us to a way out.
This perpetual gloom and darkness were making me crave the strange purple light on the surface of the planet.
Iave shrugged, “I think we need to talk about something first.” His voice was surprisingly gentle, and my stomach dropped painfully at that tone.
This was the bad news voice, he wanted to talk about Naomi’s death, and that I hadn’t been able to keep my promise to her.
I looked down, avoiding eye contact but he flicked his tail up, lifting my chin with the very tip while he curled his arms around my middle to draw me against his solid body.
With my senses full of him and the spicy musky scent that clung to him, I felt grounded; I wasn’t alone right now, and I wasn’t the only one carrying this responsibility.
A look in his deep gray eyes was enough to tell me that he found this difficult too and that just made my stubborn heart grow a little softer toward him.
“What do you want to talk about?” I asked even though I already knew what he was going to say.
“We knew that they took her alive that day, but they wouldn’t have kept her breathing long.
We heard those Bitter Storm sentinels, their Warlord had her and he executed her.
She’s dead, Kalani. It’s time we start thinking about our own safety.
” Iave spoke quietly but it was as if he’d shouted the words for all the impact they had.
I flinched in his grip and if not for his tail, I would have wrenched my gaze from him too.
“I know, I heard them. I know we were too late, we don’t need to talk about it.
” My words came out a little heated and that was to cover the painful feelings.
It felt like a betrayal to have it end this way, and it felt like a betrayal to myself most of all.
I was the tough girl always looking out for everyone else, and to fail at that?
What did that make me? “We should be doing more until we know for sure! We should have done more to start with.”
The words left my mouth and I immediately wished I’d be able to take them back.
That wasn’t fair to say, and from the way Iave’s expression turned dark and grim, I knew they’d hit their mark.
His dark blue scales shimmered across his sharp cheekbones, turning to obsidian black as his face flushed in anger.
“If I’d managed to take Naomi with us into the water, we probably would have drowned, all of us!
I was injured, the water was so cold it paralyzed you.
Is that what you would have preferred? All three of us dead?
” He knew that’s not what I wanted. He knew I was grateful that he’d saved me and at a great cost to himself.
That didn’t take away the fact that if we hadn’t abandoned Naomi, she might have lived.
My mouth felt a little dry and I swallowed roughly to regain some saliva.
“I’m sorry I said that, that’s not what I meant.
It just feels wrong you know? Like we failed her and I’m not used to failing the people I promised to protect.
” It didn’t feel comfortable to share something like that, but it was far easier to say than expected at the same time.
Iave might be a big, surly grump who preferred silence, but when he started talking, it was surprisingly easy between us.
Give or take a few fights here or there.
His expression softened and he stroked the side of my face with the tip of his tail.
No longer forcing me to look at him, the touch had turned comforting instead.
“I know a thing or two about that,” he said, his voice rough and husky as if he was as choked up with emotion as I was.
His gray eyes were the ones that flicked away now, but only to a point over my shoulder as they grew distant; seeing something in his memories.
“Do you want to talk about it?” I found myself saying, that itch to pry rising. I wanted to know everything there was to know about him; I wanted to know what made him tick. More than anything, I wanted to know what caused the forlorn look in his eyes. Who had he lost and failed in his mind?
His eyes snapped back to my face, his mouth turning from the grim line into a half-smirk with a sad edge.
“Did you want to talk about Naomi?” When I shook my head in answer he nodded, “I don’t want to talk about my family.
” Now my curiosity was only spiked even more, family?
That was the first time I’d ever heard him mention one, and it wasn’t hard to connect the dots. They were dead too.
“I’m sorry, Iave. I’m an orphan too you know…
” I found myself saying, admitting something that I rarely shared, not since I’d been out of the group homes and rolled straight into basic training.
I didn’t have any memories of my parents.
I didn’t even have the name of my father on my birth record.
Just a junkie mom that had abandoned me the first chance she had.
He didn’t say anything, but he pulled me closer until I was tucked against his chest, his head resting on my hair.
He rumbled softly, on the edge of speaking but not quite.
For long minutes the two of us just stood like that, soaking in each other’s warmth and nearness.
The contact was all about comfort, about being there for each other without any kind of sexual element.
I was pretty sure the last proper hug like that had been more than half a year ago for me when Camila and I parted ways.
If I had to guess, I’d say that for Iave it had to be even longer.
I had no doubt that the Naga males on this planet were as touch-starved as many men back on Earth.
A hug was a very different thing from a slap on the shoulder or a fist bump, and by Iave’s own admission, I knew he was close with his two friends and that was it.
“Hey, what do you say we forget all this heavy talk for a while?” I suggested, my heart thumping in my throat at what I was about to do.
I shifted my hands from their demure spot on his chest to the back of his neck, letting the long strands of his straight black hair brush over my knuckles as I drew him down to me.
“I think we can both use a little distraction. Right?”
Then I raised myself on my toes and pressed my mouth to his.