Page 59 of Gravel and Grit

“It wasn’t your fault, and I’m not about to let you think otherwise. There was no way we could have predicted they would show up in town.” She hesitated, but finished, “Besides, I knew there was a possibility they would track me down when I got on the radio.”

Zaek pulled his head back slowly, his eyes narrowed and his gritted teeth making a muscle tick in his spur-lined jaw.

“Don’t give me that face, Mister! I thought they were going to kill you. I did what I had to do, and I’d do it again. You would’ve done the same, if not something even more dangerous,” she retorted.

His answer was to growl, but he didn’t argue with her statement. He did, however, let his displeasure be known in a… different way. He brushed his thumb over her clit and pushed his fingers deeper inside her then curled them so they were pressing on that spot that made her toes curl. She sucked in a hitching gasp and spread her legs a little wider, stretching her jeans tight around her thighs.

Suspecting where he was going with this, Mira narrowed her eyes right back at him and reached over the console, sliding her palm up the thick length of his rigid cock through his form fitting suit, being sure to add a little twist when she reached the sensitive head.

He groaned low in his throat and admitted defeat, withdrawing his fingers from her pussy and leaning back in his seat so he wasn’t hovered over her anymore.

“Tricksy female,” he grumbled, adjusting himself with his left hand and licking her wetness from the fingers of his right.

Neither of those things did anything to calm the needy pulsing between her legs, but she smirked victoriously anyway.

“I am… displeased you were hurt,” he said, clearly understating how upset he was that she’d been injured. “But, you saved my life. I thank you, my heart.”

“You’re welcome,” she whispered, her arousal disappearing as she thought about what might have happened if she hadn’t acted when she did.

“I saw how many you took down at the cabin. You did very well,” he purred, gazing at her proudly.

She snorted, but a smile curled her lips at the praise.

“Go to sleep, Batman. I’ll wake you up when we get there.”

He echoed her snort and murmured, “I am much fiercer than he.”

When she glanced over his skin was already turning to stone, his eyes closed as he relaxed back into the reclined seat. Within seconds, he was as still and silent as a statue.

3 8

MIRA

They arrived in Colville just before the sun rose. After abandoning the car on the opposite side of town from the Greyhound bus station, they hid in an alley and dressed in concealing clothes to hide their appearances from any cameras.

Zaek checked her leg, humming in approval when he saw the skin was closed over, then examined her hand and ribs next. Those were still painful, but he wrapped them carefully and said they should be healed in three or so days, faster when his gland refilled and he gave her moredassa.

Once he was satisfied with her stabilizing wraps, Zaek pulled his wings into his back, which let her conduct her own examination. Pulling down the neck of his suit, she saw that his shoulder was mostly healed. The skin was a raw looking, lighter grey than the rest of him, but it wasn’t a hole, which was an improvement.

He peered down at her over his shoulder, a soft smile on his lips, as he waited for her consenting nod, before he dressed in a hoodie, loose pants that would hide his tail, and a long coat over the top. Being the beginning of winter meant his layers wouldn’t look completely out of place, and the beanie and sunglasses he pulled on concealed his horns and eyes. There wasn’t anything they could do about his grey skin, not with the camouflage function on his suit broken, but the hood was oversized and threw his face into shadow. Mira would be the one interacting with any people, anyway.

She dressed in a turtleneck sweater, a winter jacket he’d acquired for her,

and her own beanie to conceal her distinctive hair, then added sunglasses and gloves just in case.

They made it to the station while the light was still faint, helping conceal Zaek’s otherness, but the inside of the nearly empty station was brightly lit.

He held back, lingering in the restroom. Mira got to the counter just in time to buy tickets for the bus headed for Maple Falls. She didn’t try for a bus crossing the border into Canada since neither of them had a passport, but Maple Falls was farther away from the men with guns and closer to a mountain range they planned to use to cross into Canada.

Zaek got more than a few stares because of his size as they boarded and headed for the seats at the very back, but once they were seated they were mostly ignored.

They used the almost seven-hour ride to rest, plan, and heal her. Healing her entailed both of them squeezing into the tiny bathroom and having super sneaky sex.

Well, they attempted to have sneaky sex.

The occasional thump and bang of her feet against the door as Zaek held her up and fucked her hard and fast was probably noticeable, but he kept his mouth sealed to hers to muffle her moans and his growls. Thankfully, the bus was nearly empty of passengers, so there was no one seated close to them to overhear their low-voiced conversations or notice them creeping into the bathroom. Any of the four times they did so.

When he tried to tempt her into a fifth round the minute she woke from her nap, she clamped her thighs together and politely refused. He may have super-alien stamina, but she didn’t. Mira was positive if she had one more orgasm her brain would melt out of her ears.

---