Page 14 of Treasured By the Hunter

Every touch of his hands and lips drove me wild, and it felt like I was so crazy with need that I couldn’t even breathe. I hadn’t felt passion like this for a very long time, and it was addictive. I wanted more. I wanted everything.

Oh my god. What was happening to me? Was there some sort of alien aphrodisiac in that cookie?

No. I knew that this feeling wasn’t from some artificial chemical. This was all me.

It was Harb’k who pulled away first. I was simultaneously glad and disappointed he hadn’t tried for more. My body was alight with lust, the type I’d forgotten all about.

His golden eyes were almost glowing as if he were burning up just as much as I was. He almost looked as if he was in pain that he had to stop, and he made a soft groan as he adjusted his position.

His erection tented his loincloth, and it looked painful. A little voice in my head urged me to offer him a hand, and I had to tell it to hush. Harb’k was doing such a good job keeping this PG-13, and I wasn’t going to make his job harder or break our agreement.

Instead, I turned around to face the wall and pulled the blanket over myself. “Goodnight, warrior. Dream of bacon.”

He only grunted in reply.

I closed my eyes and tried to go to sleep, but sleep was elusive with a massive Xarc’n hunter next to me. After a whole lot of no sleeping, I turned around and found Harb’k also awake, his golden eyes tracing the demarcation between the darker and lighter purple on his hand. He noticed me looking and tucked his hand away.

“You cannot sleep.”

“Neither can you.”

I stared up at the ceiling and stretched. “You asked why I’m here, but you never told me whyyouare here.”

“I am on Earth to hunt the scourge.”

“No. I mean, why are you here right now? I’m sure Heather told you to make sure I am safe, but why were you in this area to begin with? To the best of my knowledge, this is not your usual hunting grounds.” I did because my group moved through here often.

“I am looking for anomalies. Strange-looking scourge. Or ones acting differently.”

“Like that time a few months ago when they all just stood really still and stared at the sky?”

“No. Different. But that is why I am looking. The scourge hijacked our mining ship and used it to send DNA to Earth. What you saw was the scourge on Earth waiting for the shipment. It destroyed one of our motherships.”

I stiffened. “Destroyed?” Holy hell, that was bad news.

“Do not worry. We prevented the shuttle from touching down on Earth. But some of the humans working with us suspect that tiny fragments of it might have reached the planet. There are hunters watching every suspected location.”

“And this is one of them?”

“Somewhere here. The piece is tiny, and it may have burned up in the atmosphere. But it is pivotal that we watch for new mutations just in case.”

I shuddered as a mental image of the giant centipede-like bugs rammed rudely into my head. “I heard those long centipede bugs are a special Earth mutation.”

“They are. The humans who work with hunters call them centicreeps.”

I made a face. “That sounds about right. They’re hella creepy.”

“My job is to find any signs of mutation and stop them before it spreads.”

I nodded. “Yes, please do. And thank you.”

Harb’k looked thoughtful and a little amused.

“What?”

“I have never been thanked for doing my job before.”

That was kind of sad. I imagined many planets reacted as humans did, considering them the enemy.

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