Page 76 of Rok's Captive
JUSTINE
The heat won’t go away.
Even naked, my clothes washed and drying on the stone, the fever underneath my skin persists still.
Hours have passed since Rok fled—hours of me curled on the cold stone beside the pool, shivering despite the fire burning under my skin. I’ve tried drinking water, splashing it over my face, even submerging myself completely in the cool pool.
Nothing helps.
The fever (if that’s what this is) ebbs and flows like a tide, sometimes receding enough that I can almost think clearly, other times surging with such intensity that I can only lie still and wait for it to pass.
During one of the calmer moments, I manage to explore the chamber more thoroughly. It’s larger than I initially thought, with high, smooth walls worn by centuries of what must have been water flow. It’s hard to imagine this vast surface of dust having any water at all.
When I return to the chamber with the pool, I find the remains of what might have been a fire pit—ash and charred stone suggesting that someone, or something, once used this place as shelter.
I also find what Rok left behind in his frantic exit—the animals he’d hunted. Three strange, lizard-like creatures with spiny ridges along their backs and scales that shimmer with an iridescent blue-green sheen. They’re about the size of rabbits, but with longer, more sinuous bodies and no visible eyes that I can see.
Despite what they are, my stomach clenches. A sharp reminder that I haven’t eaten anything substantial in days. The leaves Rok gave me were better than nothing, but barely. My body is running on fumes, and I can feel my strength ebbing with each passing hour.
“Shit,” I mutter, prodding one of the dead creatures with my foot. “I don’t suppose you come with cooking instructions?”
I have no idea if they’re edible, let alone how to prepare them. Do I skin them? Gut them? Cook them whole? Are there poisonous parts I need to avoid?
With a sigh, I slump back against the wall. Then another realization hits me like a punch to the gut.
My bag. My supplies. They’re all back in the first cave, abandoned in our hasty escape from those other aliens.
“Perfect. Just perfect.” My voice echoes off the stone walls, mockingly hollow. “I have post-sex fever and I don’t even have my emergency protein biscuits.”
I close my eyes, exhaustion washing over me in a wave that threatens to pull me under. I should stay awake, should try to figure out what to do about food, about the fever, about Rok…
I don’t even know if he’s coming back…
The thought makes me curl into myself, and I close my eyes against the sudden pain that possibility creates.
I don’t know how long I sit there like that, trying to remain alert, all the while exhaustion pulls me under.
The moment sleep claims me, it drags me down into a dream that burns brighter than the fever in my veins.
__
His hands are everywhere,leaving trails of golden light across my skin. I arch into his touch, desperate for more, for relief from the burning need consuming me from within.
“Rok,” I gasp, his name a plea on my lips.
He growls, the sound vibrating through me where our bodies touch. His mouth finds mine, and I yield to him, opening beneath his assault like I was made for this, for him.
“More,” I beg, my nails raking down his back, feeling his skin grow hotter beneath my touch. “Please…”
He pulls back, his eyes blazing gold, his glow so bright it hurts to look at him directly. But I can’t look away. Won’t look away.
I gasp at the sensation of him pressed against me. The hardness of him. How perfect he is. Perfect for me. As if the universe looked into my deepest thoughts and carved a cock that was made just for me.
“Yes,” I breathe, tilting my head back, exposing my throat to him. “Please, Rok. I need?—”
__
The moment he pierces me,that wide thick girthy thing spreading me wide is the moment the dream shatters.
