Page 11 of Gravel and Grit

“Open sesame?” he muttered with a chuckle as he yanked the screen off the wall, used his claws to cut the main power wire behind it to reset the system, then twisted it back together.

The doors opened with a soft swish and he carefully situated the screen back in place so it wasn’t immediately noticeable that he’d broken their toy.

Folding his wings tightly so he’d fit, Zaek stepped inside, pressed the card to the scanner, then selected the button for the lowest level. The tracker would tell him when to stop.

“Macero-cursed humans and their tiny fucking bodies,” he growled,

hunching over when the tips of his wings scraped the ceiling of the little box.

As he descended, he listened to the steady beeping of the tracker in the bag slung over his chest, waiting for it to speed up. He was damn near at the bottom of the seemingly endless shaft before that happened.

Pressing the button for the next level down, he listened hard while the elevator slowed to a stop but, thankfully, didn’t hear anything on the other side. He clicked the flashlight back on and stepped out, scanning the hallway.

Other than a camera recessed into the ceiling in the corner, that he quickly disabled with the claw tip of his left wing, it appeared empty.

Unsheathing one of his knives, he wedged the blade between the bottom of the door and the tracks. The doors would stay open in case he needed to make a quick getaway, and the security measures wouldn’t allow anyone up top to recall the elevator and ambush him on his way out of this level.

That done, he stalked down the hall, his tranq gun raised, and his ears trained on the hallway in front of him.

He knocked out every camera he passed, turned to stone to trick the tiny sensors, and flew over the cute little lasers they mistakenly thought were invisible as he turned down one hall then another. And another. Nine turns later and he still hadn’t found the beacon. The damn place was built like a maze, but he kept track of where he was going so he wouldn’t get lost on his way out.

Finally, the tracker made a single, loud beep, echoed by a corresponding ping coming from the other side of the thick metal door to his left.

Unfortunately, it was answered by a gasp. A human gasp that, unless he was mistaken, was distinctly feminine.

Fuck. So much for remaining undetected.

He was out of time. He’d already been down there far too long, and his chances of being caught by a hell of a lot more than one measly human increased with every minute he stood there.

Grumbling at his luck, Zaek prepared himself to be screamed at and called a monster. Still, there was no reason to scare the poor fool anymore than necessary.

“Why go crashing in when knocking works just as well,” he reasoned, raising one fist to rap on the door while his other aimed the gun at what would be neck height on an average Earthian.

He heard a clatter and the squeak of wheels on the floor before a surprisingly pleasant-sounding, if audibly annoyed, voice asked who the hell

would be knocking when the other door was wide open.

“Hmmph. Should have checked for another entrance before announcing my presence,” he groused under his breath.

“Yes. You should have,” he answered himself dryly.

“Too late now.”

8

ZAEK

The door swung open, revealing an alarmingly small female and wafting a scent over him that literally made his mouth water. His trigger finger froze, refusing to obey his command and tranq the tiny woman.

Zaek felt the base of his horns heat and a peculiar tingle start in his mouth as he took her in. As wholly disconcerting as he found that singular, distinctive reaction, he couldn’t stop himself from scanning her quickly, but thoroughly, from head to tiny little feet covered in sensible, flat shoes.

She had a mess of long, black curls that looked to be home to at least three pens stuck haphazardly within them. Her wild mane framed a face dominated by large, shockingly bright blue eyes, currently staring up at him in stunned disbelief. Her full pink lips were parted and, worryingly, she didn’t seem to be breathing.

She reminded him of one of those adorably fluffy angora bunnies, and he had the almost unbearable urge to pet her.

Clearing his throat and dismissing the odd and completely unexpected attraction he felt for the miniature female, Zaek rumbled, “Hello Earthian.

You have something that belongs to me.”

---