Page 79 of Homebound
The Perali were yet to make their appearance out of the fog. But they would, no doubt about it.
She shook her head. “They will kill you.”
“If you stay, they will kill you, too.” His voice conveyed utter non-committal.
“I’ve had a good run,” as she said the words, she realized she meant them. “My only regret is that I can’t get you to safety, Simon.” She smiled sadly. “All that yogurt I fed you will have gone to waste.”
She traced his beloved alien face with her eyes drinking the image in, his features coming into sharp focus under the intensity of her regard. He was beautiful. He had a long smooth neck and divine hair. His tattoos, visible in the opening of his shirt, were dancing. She longed to place her palm on his skin, right on top of them.
“How many of your hearts are beating?” she asked, to distract herself from the impulse.
“Three.”
She smiled wider, lost in the moment. “Are you angry?”
“All that wasted yogurt? I’m livid.”
His large hand enveloped her tight fist gripping her makeshift weapon. It was the first skin-on-skin contact Simon initiated and Gemma felt a thousand tiny shocks tingling where they touched.
“You would go against a pack of Perali to protect me?” he asked in his quiet voice.
“Do you have to ask?”
“But you don’t even know me.”
“I guess it doesn’t matter.”
He braced his free hand against the chair and rose to his feet.
“Give this to me.” He pulled the pipe out of her grip. She tried to resist, but this Rix invalid wrestled the steel pipe from her with astonishing ease.
“Simon, what are you doing?” Her hackles stood up and even though she couldn't see them, she knew the Perali were advancing.
“I’ll take them on for you.”
“Don’t be ridiculous. There’s four of them!”
“You were going to do it,” he pointed out.
“I’m healthy. I’m strong. Well, as much as a woman can be.”
He gave her an assessing look. “It isn’t much. And we are out of time.”
Whirling around, Gemma saw the Perali closing in from the floating foggy haze. One laughed at the terror he read in her wide eyes.
Her head whipped back to her alien. “Simon!” was all she could utter.
He brought his face within an inch on hers, closer than she’d ever been to him. His breath fanned strands of hair around her face. His overly large brilliant eyes were fathomless, dark, and so near that she could see deep into them like into a murky lake.
He did have three pupils. All vertically slit, one was positioned in the middle of the eye, a larger one, and two smaller ones were on each side. They blended well with his black irises, but this close she could make out the different texture of the pupils and the alien sight held her spellbound.
His face hovered there, almost close enough to kiss, and then he took a step back tossing and catching the pipe in his hand. His tattoos vibrated smoothly.
“Go stand by the chair,” he ordered.
She wanted to argue but one of the Perali got perilously close reaching for Simon. He turned away from her sharply, braid flying, surprising the Perali with his sudden move. Surprising Gemma, too. She stumbled back several steps.
The Perali’s outstretched arm that was trying to get a hold of Simon took the brunt of a downward chop he applied with lightning speed. The dry crack of breaking bone was followed by a howl of the arm owner. The attacking Perali clutched his arm, stunned, and Simon used the opportunity to promptly punch him in the face with his left hand once, twice, before taking hold of his hair and skewering him with the pipe through the throat.
