Page 13 of Sheltered in the Storm

When he finally spoke, his voice sounded strained. Maybe I’d offended him with my tone. At the moment I didn’t care.

“I started to say that I do not advise making suddenmovements.” Vos’s arms loosened and the bed moved as he made room for me. “Turn slowly.”

As motivated as I was to see him, I did as he suggested and rolled from my left side to my back and then to my right side very gingerly, making sure I stayed fully wrapped in the blankets. He’d presumably already seen all of me there was to see, but he wouldn’t be getting any more peeks if I could help it.

My first clear view of him by lantern light explained a lot of things—including the sensation of being wrapped in more than the usual number of arms and why his clothes would not fit me.

But most especially I saw why I recalled the shadowy silhouette of a sea creature.

Vos’s body was humanoid, with a wide, muscular torso, long white hair and lashes, dark eyes, and purple skin covered with green-and-white circles. His flesh had a lovely iridescent sheen that caught the dim light and seemed to glow. His hair shimmered.

On either side of his chest, gills fluttered as he breathed, though he seemed to breathe through his nose and mouth as well. My gaze moved from the gills to two pairs of long, multicolored tentacles on his upper and lower back. These were no doubt the extra “arms” that had cradled me so gently but firmly.

Colors and patterns rolled through his skin, along with pulses of bioluminescence. The waves of light moved across and down the length of his body to his waist, where he’d wrapped a blanket around himself.

I couldn’t tell exactly how tall he was at the moment, but he was at least two meters tall versus my very reasonable one-point-seven meters, and so solidly built he must easily tip the scales at twice my weight.

He watched me look him over, as if waiting for some kind of reaction. I couldn’t help but fear him, but I tried not to show it. He could tear me in half as easily as he’d dispatched the men in the boat.

Since he seemed to be waiting for me to speak, I said, “So, you’re Fortusian.”

“Yes.” He blinked, clearly bemused. Maybe because I didn’t recoil or seem shocked.

I would never have admitted it, but it helped that he was both breathtakingly muscular and devastatingly handsome.

“You are not horrified by my appearance?” he asked, his brow furrowed.

“I was stationed on Fortusia for two years,” I explained. “Your people combine humanoid DNA with DNA from animal and plant species from across the galaxy.”

“Yes.” His tentacles reached for me, as if they wanted to wrap around my blanket cocoon again, but he drew them back. They quivered in what might be agitation.

Part of me wanted to tell him it was okay to hold me again because he made me feel warm and secure, and the other, more logical half of me remembered a bloodbath created by those same tentacles.

Also, there was the fact I had a squad and a shitty, useless squad commander back on Outpost 60 who all probably thought I was dead. I was a lieutenant in the Alliance Defense, not some rich tourist wandering the cosmos without responsibilities. I had no business wanting to be held by a gorgeous cephalopod man on the fourth moon of Jakora.

I needed to send an SOS to the outpost and request rescue. If I didn’t do so immediately, the Alliance Defense brass would consider me a deserter. I’d be dishonorably discharged and thrown in prison.

Vos stilled his tentacles, except for their quivering tips, which swayed in my direction. The movement caused his blanket to slip. I glimpsed more bare purple and green skin before he drew the covers up over his hips again.

“Why the hells are you naked in bed with me?” I demanded.

His bioluminescence pulsed more quickly. “I have nottouched you in any way other than as a medic,” he said, a bit stiffly, as if hurt or offended that I might think he’d taken liberties while I was unconscious. “On my honor, I swear this.”

“But you’re naked,” I persisted. “Maybe you have no clothes that fit me, but don’t tell me you don’t have clothes for yourself.” My eyes narrowed. “Were you expecting sex from me as a thank you for saving my life?”

Now he seemed to swell with disgust. “Of course not.”

“Then why?”

“It is…difficult to explain.” His tentacles plucked at the bedding, but I wasn’t sure what emotion caused their restlessness. “I swear I will never touch you without your permission and you will not be subject to the sight of my body without covering. Will you drop the matter—at least for now?”

His obvious discomfort and evasiveness made me a thousand times more curious, but the note of pleading in his voice diminished my suspicion and mistrust. Whatever the reason for his nudity, he seemed…self-conscious about it rather than being up to no good.

“Okay,” I said with a sigh. Despite my misgivings, I was curious about him. “So, back to your biology. If you don’t mind me asking, you have three hearts, four tentacles…and I’m assuming camouflage and color-changing abilities?”

“Yes.” His tentacles reached for me again. This time, he let them rest on top of my blankets, and I let them stay there. “Also, I have accelerated healing abilities. I can survive extreme temperatures and at vast ocean depths.”

“How strong are your tentacles?”

---