Page 16 of An Alien for the Farm

Her body’s so small. Softer than I could have ever imagined. She fit right between my thighs and I almost groaned at the sensation of her there. I shouldn’t have; it was far too close. Far too inappropriate. She could end the job contract for my lack of boundaries. Some prey species don’t like to be touched—too scared of our claws. Some don’t like to be spoken to—too scared of our fangs. I’m glad she seems to be neither of those, and yet, I pushed my luck.

What drove me to do so? Only the gods could tell.

I’m overly aware as she moves, walking slowly around the yard. She can’t go back inside the lodge and she can’t pull at the weeds anymore. I wonder what she’ll do. As I continue clearing the roof, the debris piling up high on the ground, I try not to stare at her as she makes her way around the lodge. There’s an outbuilding several lengths away from the main abode and she heads there. When she disappears inside it, I catch myself just before I whine.

The fact it almost escaped from my throat has me standing still for a few moments.

Growling at myself, I focus on my work. What the frakk is wrong with me this sol? Thank the gods Varek isn’t here to see all of this. The other job he’s doing should last the entire sol, too, but if he was here, he’d bop me over the head. He’s the level-headed one. The serious one. The one that gets the jobs done fast and moves on to another, always keeping busy. And I’m the one always matching his pace.

Because we strive on these preoccupations. Fixing homesteads is an easy way to distract from other things missing in our lives. No real home. No mates. We didn’t have to stay on Hudo. We could travel the stars, but orbits of doing that only underlined one thing. Something’s missing and lives of adventure only filled that gap for a short time. Now, on Hudo III, we keep busy by fixing other beings’ problems.

It’s honest work. Hard work. No time for the mind to wander then.

But when a strange little female appears from nowhere, knocking my focus back, the mind begins to wander to things it shouldn’t.

My core-beat is steady now, only picking up a strange thrum when the female is near. My core-rhythm as silent as it’s always been. But I can’t deny that the little female has me wondering about that one thing that has haunted me and every displaced Kari since the war. Our core-rhythms are silent because there’s no kahl, no destined mate, to sync with.

For the majority of us, we Kari have no home.

Lifting my head, I glance down the dusty road. Not a thing but the soft breeze disturbs the grass-feed growing on either side. It’s so quiet out here, I’d think I’m the only one within my immediate proximity. Not even sound comes from the female in the outbuilding she disappeared into.

Clearing the last of the rotten fiber off her roof, my gaze shifts to the outbuilding again, brows furrowing at the silence. Should I check on her? Would that be going too far? What if she gets hurt again?

The sight of her blood flowing down her arm had made alarm run through me. I’d brought her flesh to my lips without even thinking. The way she looked at me…the way her lips parted slightly, her cheeks flushing a delicate pink. It had been hard to pull away.

I should ask her what species she is. Where she came from. I don’t want to pry, but as the hors pass, more questions arise in my mind.

More clicks pass until I’m simply balancing on her rotten roof beams as I stare at the outbuilding. I should go check on her. Maybe ask her some more questions about herself. Figure out why there’s suddenly an itch within me that needs to be scratched.

But I am simply here to work. Nothing more. I’m not supposed to interact with the employer more than necessary and I’ve already broken that rule in the few hors since being on this farm.

Still, an uncertain energy rises within me and I step closer to the edge of the roof, ready to jump down and go make sure the female is alright. I’m just about to do it when the large doors to the outbuilding swing open and I see her pulling a rotten bale of grass-feed behind her. She huffs, the bale obviously heavy from being soaked through with moisture. I frown, the tool I’m using hanging in my hand as I watch her.

“Need help, Liora?” I’m about to hop down, but she shakes her head.

“No. No, I’m good.” She huffs again and the urge to assist makes it difficult to stand still. She’s working hard again despite the wound in her palm. She pulls the bale a few lengths from the door, head tilting my way. There’s a slight smile on her lips and it sends a tingle through me before she turns and heads back inside the outbuilding.

A growl rumbles in my chest. She’s hired me to do a job. I should focus on it, and on it only.

Repeating this in my head, it keeps me sane as I finish preparing the frame of the roof. Stripping the entire thing takes a few hors, mostly because I spend half the time listening and watching for signs of the little female. Working underneath the hot star, I get the job done until the star starts to make its descent across the pink sky. All the while the female works, too, and I try not to keep track of her in the corner of my eye. Adding the waterproof membrane over the roof, I secure the brand new beams that will hold the weight of the new roof fiber. I’m adding the last bolt when I hear a soft voice down below. Hers.

A tingle goes down my back immediately, one I think will go away but only increases when I look over the edge of the roof to find the female standing down below.

“Looks good!” She smiles up at me and my core-beat skips. “Waterproofed now, right?”

I give her a slight nod, not trusting what will happen if I open my mouth.

There’s a smudge on her face, dirt, maybe mud, and her swaying garment has streaks of the same mud all over it. For hors, I glimpsed her as she cleared out the outbuilding. From the items she’s taken out, I can tell it was used to house animals. Maybe oogas or some other kind of large grass-fed thing. More than once, I wanted to tell her not to bother, that I can get to it when I’m finished with the roof, but the last thing I want is to make her reconsider hiring me. It’s clear that just like me, she wants to keep herself busy and the last thing I want to do is make her turn me away.

Frakk that. I didn’t want to intrude because I feared I would do more than intrude.

“Waterproofed and ready for new roof material,” I finally answer her question with words.

“Good,” she blinks at me and even in the dying light, I can see the rosy color rising in her cheeks. “You haven’t had lunch yet, have you? Or dinner. I haven’t seen you take a break.”

Is she about to offer me food again? Another purr rises in my throat. I’ve been getting increasingly hungry, but not for sustenance.

She glances up at the sky. “It’s getting late. Maybe you should stop for today?”

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