Page 11 of Veras
“How did you switch from a dragon to a man?” Why hadn’t I asked sooner? How the hell had he been a beast one minute and an alien the next? Interstellar travel had permanently suspended my disbelief.
“How do you make thoughts in your mind? How do you make your…heartbeat? Is that what you call the organ responsible for fluid distribution? Interesting. You must explain this process to me later. I…” His words trailed off as he gazed out into the jungle, constantly monitoring for danger. The alien sounds, exotic chirps and roars intensified when he stopped speaking.
I stopped, too, glancing around frantically. What had he heard?
“Why aren’t you walking? Did I not say we were in danger and must move quickly?” he asked as he tugged me behind him.
“I thought you sensed something,” I huffed, completely confused. “You cut off mid-sentence.”
“Did I? I must have slipped into speaking like my people. For some reason, you do not feel alien.” He speared me with his intense eyes, and everything inside me melted. “I have been alone a long time.”
I’ve been alone, too.
“Yes, you have.” He squeezed my hand and tugged me along beside him at an impossible pace. “Where did I leave off?”
“I don’t know. You were talking about my heart and shifting, not really giving a clear answer.”
“Truth. Maybe it’s a type of protection. I am not allowed to reveal anything about my people. We were… reclusive.” Before I could ask a follow-up about the use of past tense, he continued, “But I will share some with you. There is nothing you can do withthe information anymore.” We rounded a bend and descended a long tunnel. “We can take on any form. I had been trapped inside this animal form, thebrutoo, for manysonas,so the transformation back was difficult. And long. That was why I placed you high on a ledge so you wouldn’t escape me.”
Time or numbers never translated well, usually coming through as the original word, so I figuredsonasmust mean years. “And can you heal with your tongue?” I pressed my hand against my side and felt a twinge of pain.
“I heal with theGlrtsstlllloroggg.I believe you call it Oro. It lives in my system, so the fastest way to access it is through my bodily fluids. I healed you this way. Did I mention it was quite ferocious, the dirt—”
“I swear to God! Enough. I’ve been enslaved for years. I didn’t have access to a shower. It’s not my fault.” Heat crept up my neck and cheeks.
“Yes, little General. So, you’ve said. I don’t know how long a year is, but it must be quite long.”
“A year is how long it takes for our planet to fully orbit around the sun.”
“One sun? Much more common, yes?” His hands wrapped around my waist and lifted me over a boulder in our path.
His scent wafted over me, and my body responded without thought. I was wet, my thighs slick at the constant bombardment of his alien pheromones.Irresistible. The irony that he smelled like my every dirty fantasy, while I repulsed him, pretty much summed up my luck on this hellhole.
“You could never repulse me. I am fascinated by you, True.”
He said it in such a matter-of-fact tone, I didn’t know what to say except, “Thanks?”
“How do you measure time?” He took in a deep breath, the slits on the sides of his nose, fluttering.
I snapped my thighs shut when he set me on my feet again.He has no equipment. He has no equipment. I chanted to cool my throbbing clit. Although he did have that impressive tongue… The idea only made me gaga little bit. Tongues reminded me of the stinky Aavvee appendages. Oh, God! Is that how bad I smelled to him? “365 days.”
“How long is a day?”
“Twenty-four hours.”
“How long is an hour?”
“Sixty minutes.” I held up my hand and said, “Before you ask. One minute is 60 seconds, and a second is this long.” I clapped and counted off, “One Mississippi. Two Mississippi…”
“I understand. Let me do the calculations in reverse so I get a sense of your years.” He canted his head back and forth until he jerked his chin up in an alien… nod? “By your calculations, I have been gone from my home for close to one hundred years.”
“What?” I gasped. “How old are you?”
“Young. Only one hundred and fifty of youryears.”
“Damn.”
“And you?”
