Chapter 14
“Why are you taking the female out?” Captain Jzulyk hadn’t hidden his distaste for having the humans so close.
“One of the teachers has agreed that her class could benefit from the experience. I am simply taking her out to make sure she finds a suitable location to teach them some of what she knows. It’s also part of a test to make sure she truly is what she keeps claiming.”
“It’s dangerous to give them access to our small ones.” He turned to Kyvar. “Do you not agree? This is a security concern. They have proven to be crafty enemies, and it’s likely that they have planted these humans to gain inside information on us.”
“I disagree.” Kyvar’s wing twitched, a testament to his irritation. This hadn’t been the first conversation like this between the captain and us, besides the ones we’d had among ourselves when we initially captured the humans.
“They’re being constantly watched when they’re out of the house and they aren’t allowed access to anything they could use against us.
Security isn’t an issue.” I braced my hands on the desk.
It was getting close to the time I’d told her I would take her out, and I wanted to get her.
I’d found myself thinking about her. How she’d calmly but strongly responded to Jyyl the other day.
How she’d listened so intently when I answered her myriad of questions and asked intelligent follow up questions. She was not what I expected of a human.
“Vorazyr.” My captain always used the same tone whenever he was trying to sound reasonable and convincing. Today it grated on my nerves. “It’s a bad look for you to be personally involved with them. Send a guard. They shouldn’t be wasting your valuable time.”
“I hear you.” He’d been a good captain for many years, ensuring my warriors were disciplined and well-trained, but he was overstepping in thinking he was allowed to tell me how to spend my time.
“You bring up good points. But I am the Vorazyr and if I decide I need to be there personally, I will do so. I do not appreciate my decisions being questioned.”
A tick worked in his jaw, but he tapped his wings in acquiescence.
I got to my feet, itching to get Jacqueline and show her the areas I thought would be good to take the small ones on a short excursion.
What she didn’t know was that this teacher was the only one willing to cooperate because she believed her students should expand their minds as much as possible.
Some parents had taken their children out of the class, but I’d spoken with most of them and they’d been ok, knowing that I would personally ensure their children’s safety.
Jacqueline was waiting for me and after a quick greeting she stepped out with a small pack. I pushed the bar into place to keep her brother and Tatiana secured.
“You only wear that.”
“What?” She tilted her face up toward me, brow furrowed.
I gestured at her clothes. “You never wear the dress.”
“You know what clothes were brought to me?”
“I know everything concerning you.” My voice came out gravelly and low.
She swallowed, gaze trailing up my face and over my horns before coming back down to connect with my own. I wondered what she saw, what I looked like in her eyes. A monster? I didn’t like that thought.
“Pants are more practical,” she finally said.
“Are you always practical?” I wondered what she would look like letting go, without shouldering burdens or having to learn something, just free. I itched to reach out and cut that band holding her hair back.
“Are you always so intense?” she shot back.
A smile curved my lips. “So defensive, dhysa.”
Satisfaction warmed me when curiosity lit up her gaze. “Dhysa?”
“What would be the translation?” I considered it. “Something like, ‘pretty little female.’”
Her eyebrows rose in surprise.
I lifted my arm, “come, let’s not waste time.” I was pleased when she immediately stepped to me, not wary, not hesitant. Before I took off, I leaned down and pressed my lips against the shell of her ear. She shivered, a reaction I found I liked immensely. “Wear the dress sometime.”
She gasped and latched onto me when I abruptly launched us into the air. I smiled.
With the tender bundle in my arms, I swooped down. She made a little noise in her throat and clutched me tighter, burying her face in my neck. My wings jerked as the caress of her soft breath tickled me and I worked to steady myself.
There were two close areas on the canyon floor I thought would work for what she suggested, and I took her to both.
She walked around, finding examples of what she could use to explain practices and beliefs of other cultures, and she even drew pictures to show what she thought a similar plant on Earth would be.
She had meticulous attention to detail and even practiced what she’d say in the intergalactic language and how she would demonstrate it for the children who couldn’t possibly understand her.
I had admiration for very few, it took a lot for me to think someone was worth being viewed so highly, but as I watched her appreciation warmed my chest at how she’d adapted so quickly, thrown herself into whatever work we assigned.
We stood in an open field splattered with patches of vibrant colored flowers, surrounded by jungle foliage. Jacqueline walked to the edge of the field and studied the foliage. When she reached out, my attention snapped to the plant she was near.
“Jacqueline don’t—” I flapped my wings, propelling me toward her rapidly, but I was too late.
The plant extended its neck forward and snapped at her, catching her hand. I slashed through the thin stalk and it released her and fell to the ground. She sucked in a breath, wrenching her hand back.
“I need to remember that everything here wants to kill.” she grimaced.
The sweet smell of blood hit me. “Let me see your hand.”
She hesitated, which irritated me. I had no reason to be angry when she acted wary of me. No reason whatsoever.
When she finally gave me her hand, blood had bubbled up from a deep gash on her palm. We couldn’t have that festering. I slid out a med kit. “Sit.” I gestured at a flat rock, elevated above the ground.
She settled herself and I slid in behind her, reaching around her to grip her wrist, tilting a flask of water to rinse the cut.
Her breath hitched, and I became painfully aware of my thighs cradling the curve of her hips, her back melded to my chest, her soft hair smelling sweet and nutty, tickling my jaw as I leaned over her. My cock stirred. I ignored it.
The blood that ran from the wound was a rich red, and she gritted her teeth as I washed it off. Unlike my hands, strong enough to grip and tear apart, hers were soft and fragile. Her skin was like silk.
“I’m going to put szythar paste on.” I murmured in her ear. She shivered against me and my cock throbbed in response. “It will numb the area while protecting from infection.”
“Thank you.”
I spread the grey paste onto the wound and pressed a pavy leaf onto it to seal it.
“A leaf?”
“Wait a few minutes and watch.” It would seal itself to her skin better than any synthetic bandage.
She slowly relaxed. I had a strong urge to purr as she melted into me. I froze at the impulse, and then violently shoved it down. Whatever feelings I had toward her, I needed to remember who she was. And I never purred for females. It was too intimate. It meant too many things.
“I thought of something.” Her hesitant words pulled me from my concerning thoughts.
When she didn’t say anything for a long moment, I gave in to the urge to touch her and caressed her hip.
My cock pulsed with desire at the contact.
Her body tensed at the touch but then relaxed again and I wondered what it would feel like to press against her, to have her softness conform to me.
“I wonder if there were more of the Consortium officers than we knew about on the ship. They all mostly stayed in another part of the ship we didn’t have access to, so what if there were others that had their own mission when we landed? ”
I stiffened at her words as a familiar flush of anger spread through me.
What she said made sense. The question was, what did the second team do in my territory?
When I didn’t respond, she twisted around so she could see me.
My grip tightened as she attempted to move away when she saw my thunderous expression and I wrapped an arm around her waist in response, pulling her more firmly against me.
I didn’t want distance between us. Her warmth and softness were comfortable.
I frowned at that thought. My instinctive response to her was becoming a problem. A weakness I couldn’t have.
“Arrazyl?” her voice was breathy and uncertain, and her pulse quickened. Whether it was from fear or excitement, I wasn’t sure.
I took a calming breath—she hadn’t done anything wrong. In fact, she was trying to help. “It’s something to keep in mind. Thank you for sharing your thoughts with me.”
She remained tense and my first instinct was to comfort her.
I froze as I realized Jzulyk was right. I shouldn’t be involved with the humans.
It was causing me to forget my duty as Vorazyr to protect my vorpyrren from the humans.
All of them. Whatever I was feeling for this female, it made me weak. And I didn’t allow weakness in my life.
I withdrew from her and stood. “Did you get the information you need for the field trip?”
She tilted her sweet face up toward me, eyes questioning. “Yes, I did.”
“Then come, we’ve been out here a while, I’m sure you’re hungry and tired.”
If my abruptness confused her, she didn’t comment on it. This time when I grabbed her I turned her, so she was facing away from me so she couldn’t press herself to me, cling to me.
As I rose high in the air, I smelled her fear.
She would have been more comfortable facing me.
It didn’t matter. I hardened my heart. I refused to allow this female to control me.
I didn’t know when I’d started letting softness for her invade me, but what I was certain of was that it was dangerous and I was putting a stop to it. Now.