Page 9 of Hunter's Valentine

Chapter 6: Mur’k

Having Sara in my shuttle was sheer torture.

Her scent was driving me crazy, and I was willing to bet it had already seeped into the sleeping mat so that she would haunt me even after she was gone. How would I sleep tonight without taking myself in my hand?

That had me thinking of the strange, human mouth-mating ritual we’d shared earlier. I regretted initiating it, but not because I didn’t enjoy it. On the contrary, I’d enjoyed it far too much. It was all I could think about now—that and continuing my explorations of her body and burying my face between her legs.

She was currently in the pilot’s chair, poring over the updated map on the screen, which meant it would be covered in her scent as well—especially since she’d removed her outermost layers of clothing and left them in my sleeping nook.

She was surprised that we had kept and used one of their map programs, which confused me. Why wouldn’t we? It was more work to map the area ourselves, and our time and energy were better spent hunting the scourge.

“Is this date correct?” she asked, pointing to the numbers at the top of the map.

“It is the date all humans working with hunters follow. Hunters use it because Xarc time is confusing on other planets. Why?”

“Just that it says today is February 12. But we have today as February 26 at the bunker.”

“You can correct it when you return,” I said.

“I guess I didn’t spend Valentine’s Day alone again this year after all.”

“What is this vale-and-tines day? Is it like your Christmas?”

Humans had many holidays, and I hadn’t bothered to keep up with them all.

She chuckled. “How do you know about Christmas?”

“The humans who work with our hunter groups celebrate it. I do not understand it, but there is much food. I enjoy food.”

“You and me both. But no, it’s not like Christmas.”

She explained how Valentine’s Day was when lovers showed affection with words and gifts, and how children also made cards with hearts on them to give to their friends and family.

“Hearts? But isn’t that messy? Where are they getting the hearts?”

She giggled, the sound bouncing merrily off the shuttle walls. “Not actual hearts. It’s symbolic. I wish I had an example to show you. I’m not good with explaining.”

“Will access to yourinternethelp?”

“Yes! Don’t tell me they got that back up!” Her eyes were wide with excitement.

“How does an internet fall down? Do you mean your satellites?”

“I mean, it’s working.”

“We saved what we could and use it as a reference guide to the locations, animals, and other things we come across. But there are many useless recordings.”

Her scent filled my lungs as I reached over her to pull up their internet. The last video I’d been watching popped up and started playing. I immediately moved away from the page.

“Did you just try to hide a video?” She eyed me suspiciously, then quickly went back to the page.

The video of the young feline attacking a fake bird on a string started playing again.

“Aww! That’s so cute. I miss cat videos.” She shook her head. “Sorry, the way you were acting, I thought it was porn or something.”

I made a face. “Videos of humans fornicating do not interest me.”

I looked at the screen, then at Sara’s smile as the next video started playing automatically and several kittens pounced on each other.

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