Page 18 of Captured
Chapter Ten
Juliet
I startle at the sound of footsteps in the darkened room. I blink the sleep away and push myself against the wall more, frantically trying to see what’s coming for me. The small circles the Drakian - Rakir - lit for me are still casting their green glow, but it’s faint and doesn’t reach very far.
My wrists hurt and my shoulders ache from the restricted movement, but fear pushes the pain to a remote place in my brain. My heart hammers so hard the sound of blood rushing through my veins drowns even the sound of footsteps as a towering figure emerges in the doorway.
I know it’s him before he gets any closer. It’s in the way he moves, that fluid grace that’s almost a dance. It’s hypnotic, really.
As Rakir gets close to me, his scent comes to my nostrils and the warmth from his body touches my skin. My belly quivers and things tighten inside me in anticipation of his touch. I’m vaguely annoyed at my body’s reaction, but I’m too taken by his face to really notice.
“Cold.” Rakir runs his fingertips along my forearm, his touch light yet comforting.
“Yes, I’m cold.” I answer, but without hostility. I’m done with that — at least for now. “I told you I needed clothing.”
Yellow eyes meet mine and something passes between us. Not an understanding, but close enough.
“Cold skin.” Rakir nods like it’s some amazing news to him. Is he ever cold? Ever hot? Under those scales, maybe he’s neither.
He doesn’t add anything, but he unlocks the shackles that keep me against the steel wall. I expect him to step away and keep me under close guard, but strong arms wrap around me as he lifts me in the air. Some remote part of my brain wants to fight this, wants to push him away and call him my enemy, but I don’t have it in me. Later, maybe, when I’m not so blessedly warm against his scales.
His scales.
The feeling of the smooth, soft scales against my skin is incredible. They’re warm and supple, yet I know for a fact that they’re as strong as any metal. It should scare me, make me think of all the horrible things he can do with those weapons, but it doesn’t.
It’s insane, but I feel safe right now. Warm and protected in the embrace of my enemy.
The comfort doesn’t last long. Too soon, we’re outside, the wind finding its way inside the protection of the Drakian’s arms and all the way to my skin. I shiver and nestle my face in the crook of his neck.
If it bothers him, he doesn’t show it.
My fingers tighten around his neck when he tries to put me down, but his hands are firm when he disentangles me from his body. There’s a fresh pile of leaves where he sits me down and the light from a nearby fire casts a warm glow. I hadn’t even noticed it.
It’s a nice fire, crackling and moving, the flames strong and contained at once. Beside the fire lay two long forms, slumped over in the telltale limpness of death.
“You hunted.” I speak low as I look over the creatures. Their skin is smooth and green, but doesn’t appear slimy like a frog’s would. They’re not large, larger than a cat, maybe, but not by much. Small animals, the first I witness on this strange planet.
“Food.” Rakir nods before straightening up. “Eat.”
He points at the creatures, then at me, then at the lake. I blink a few times before I understand what he means. He wants me to prepare those creatures so we can eat them. It’s the least I can do.
“I don’t know how.” The truth is simple. I’ve been raised in the sprawling cities of Earth where a person can walk days without ever seeing a tree. My food comes packaged and already cooked, portioned in factories far from where it grows and dies.
Rakir turns to me and points at the dead animals again, then at the lake. I swallow, understanding that I have no real choice.
I’m in literal alien territory here.
I nod, then move over to pick up the dead creatures. They’re surprisingly heavy as I bring them over to the lake and a sickening feeling settles in my stomach as I run my hand over their smooth, cold skin. I’m no stranger to death. I’ve given it plenty of times, but it was always so distant. From my fighter ship, death was a clean, blinding, flameless explosion.
Holding this animal’s body in my hands is just too real. My hands shake as my fingers slide on the smooth skin.
Others hands come from behind, black as onyx and steady as stone. Rakir takes the prey from me and I don’t offer much resistance. He grunts as I sit down on a flat rock and watch him work on the animals.
He moves in steady, quick motions. First, it sickens me to watch as he cleans the prey, then it doesn’t. I admire his confidence; the way his hands move like he doesn’t even have to think about it.
“You’ve done this before.” It’s not a question and Rakir just grunts. I have no idea if it means yes or no, or if he simply doesn’t understand. “You were on a royal cruiser when I shot you down. Why?”
He can’t be a member of the royal family. There’s no way one of the rich, reclusive Royals would travel alone in such a remote part of the Galaxy. Outside of their boundaries.
