Page 20 of The VaDorok's Unexpected Mate
“Excellent!” The word burst from her so brightly that he startled and swung around to face her. She cuddled the durwa to her chest and beamed back at him. “So... what’s for dinner?”
Somehow, he felt as if he had been tricked. His eyes narrowed at her, and he grunted incoherently as he srt about making their meal. He did not miss how close she lurked and watched as he prepared it, and his irritation almost subsided in her obvious interest. And it nearly disappeared entirely at the way she enthusiastically ate the food he prepared for her, even while sharing bits of meat with her “pet.” It returned fully by the time they bedded down, and the durwa burrowed its fat little body between them to curl up against Katie’s breast with a content purr.
His brows lowered peevishly at it, but he could not hate it too much when he watched a peaceful look of contentment stretch across her face. Perhaps he could suffer with it after all. She may have tricked him but he understood why. His tail flicked against his leg idly as he watched them, his eyes slowly drifting closed as her even breathing relaxed him. He was barely aware of his tail drifting across her hip, certain that it was just another part of the dream that wrapped around him.
Chapter 16
“Do you usually hunt for such long stretches of time?” Katie asked conversationally as she fed a bit of old, tough meat the durwa. She was both entertained and slightly horrified at just how easily the critter could tear through something thicker than shoe leather.
Kull tensed as he peered over at her, his strange, spear-looking weapon held tightly in his hand. “I had informed you from the first that this would be the way of it,” he said slowly. “You agreed.”
She nodded. “I did. I’m just thinking that I should have at least something to keep me occupied throughout the day, though. We would probably both benefit if you remained here for a few days and taught me how to take care of things within the den.”
She didn’t mention that having him nearby while she was feeling fragile and helpless would make her feel better. She just wanted him to hold her hand for a bit and reassure her. She hadn’t anticipated that when she’d hastily agreed to his stipulations, but being stuck in the den all day with no one but Ren for company—who had lost all interest of conversing with her once his attempt to torment her had failed—had made her realize how much she just wanted someone to cling to. Someone who would tell her it was all going to be okay. And who would be a barrier against her paranoia that thought every little sound from outside—even the blowing wind—was an Agraak guard ready to descend upon the dwelling and take her captive again.
She clearly wasn’t ready to be on her own in more ways than one, but she wasn’t going to gain confidence by being helpless. She even enjoyed bantering with him in the evening and having him close as she drifted to sleep. All she needed was for himto help her push through her neediness and become confidently self-reliant again. And that started with learning how to survive on Dorok. So, she waited anxiously for his response.
His jaw tightened and flexed as he considered her request. Katie forced herself to breathe normally when she caught herself unconsciously holding her breath and smiled at him hopefully. Finally—with considerably reluctance—he nodded and begrudgingly set his spear-thing once more into the corner that his weapons and hunting gear occupied.
“That is logical,” he grumbled. “Especially if Ren is going to be unreliable. The first thing would be how to build a fire. You are thin and lack fur, so this will be the most critical thing for you to learn.”
Katie nodded eagerly as she sidled a little closer to get a better view as Kull walked over to the box filled with scraps of wood chips and shavings. He glanced down at it and then looked again, a fleeting look of surprise appearing and just as quickly disappearing from his countenance. Sighing, he bent and plucked Gremlin out of the box with a faint sneer before thrusting her little terror muncher at her.
“First and foremost, that thing—and, more importantly, its waste—does not belong in this box.”
She gave the box a confused look. It just looked like an oversized litter pan to her. She couldn’t imagine why they would be storing bits of shaved wood other than for the convenience of having it out of the way until it could be emptied.
“Gremlin needs a spot to do his business if you don’t want him doing it all over the house,” she pointed out.
His brow scrunched for a moment, and then a look of disgust descended over his face. She recognized that look. It was the same expression he’d worn when she’d been talking about Gremlin the previous day. He glared at Gremlin in a manner that almost looked threatening before turning abruptly from the binand walking a short distance away to retrieve a shallow, woven basket. He returned to the bin and regarded the wood shavings once more with disgust before neatly scooping the soiled bits of wood into the basket and thrusting that at her, too.
“For your pet,” he replied from between his teeth, and immediately covered the bin. “Kindling is useless if it is soiled. Any fire we build would have an extremely unpleasant fragrance.”
Kindling... fire? Oh. Oh!She winced apologetically and carried Gremlin to another corner and set her improvised litter box there before gently settling her into it to reinforce its new location to her. The durwa immediately hopped out, but Katie always trusted the process when it came to such things. Confident that she’d resolved one little mishap, she hurried quietly back to Kull’s side so that she stood practically at his elbow as he withdrew a handful of the kindling and headed for the hearth. At some point, while she’d been positioning Gremlin’s litterbox, Kull had extinguished the fire.
He pointed to the hot coals with one claw. “Technically, it takes very little effort to awaken a banked fire from this point, as the embers merely need to be fed and stirred up a bit. I can demonstrate later, but it is more important for you to understand the mechanics of how to build the fire to begin with.”
“Okay,” she gamely replied, and she followed him to the large hearth where she promptly squatted beside him as he lowered himself into a low crouch. She wished she had a notebook but settled for leaning in close to get the best view.
A large hand settled on her shoulder, its touch sending abrupt little tingles through her for just a moment before she was yanked back from the fire by the glowering alien beside her.
“Foolish creature. Are you trying to get yourself burned?” he snapped.
Katie returned his stare, affronted. It wasn’t like she was some kind of lemming. “Of course not. I just want to make sure that I can see exactly what you are doing. How am I expected to understand the exact process if I can’t see it up close?”
He snorted gruffly, and she could almost hear the silent repetition of what he called her drifting through the air between them. She wasn’t the sort to believe in psychic connections of any kind, but that was pretty damn clear. She frowned but settled back at a Kull-approved distance as he turned his attention back to the glowing embers.
“You will be practicing this one skill repeatedly throughout the day until I am satisfied that you have it right. That is how you will understand—by doing,” he replied drily.
Build fires all day? Nothing else?Her enthusiasm took a sudden nosedive as she stared at the different types of wood that he began to gather and place in front of him with dismay. Was it really going to take that long? She thought he might have been teasing her, but he didn’t even look at her as he intently set to work.Gods, he’s not joking.
With slow, methodical care, Kull built the fire, starting first with nothing but kindling and a small fire-starter that seemed to be nothing more than a two-part case that was abruptly twisted so that the flint and bit of metal in the opposite ends sparked. The kindling smoked with the birth of the flames, and Kull leaned forward, gently blowing on it to encourage it. Katie watched it with wide eyes and immediately grinned and clapped her hands at the first glowing of red flames flicking through the kindling. Kull put more of the smaller pieces of wood down and slowly built the fire up from there until they had a nice little blaze going. It took longer than she expected, and her fingertips were rapidly chilling, not to mention the grumbling complaint from her belly that reminded her that she hadn’t yet eaten.
Perhaps they shouldn’t have begun the lesson before breakfast. But she couldn’t complain too much now that the fire was slowly growing once more.
Actually, truth be told, it was quite cozy squatting there in front of the fire with him. Comfortable. She stretched her hands out toward the blaze to warm them, her thoughts turning toward breakfast. Some meat sizzling on the misshapen metal pan hanging nearby would be quite good—
Her fantasy was interrupted quite rudely as the fire was abruptly kicked over and stomped out of existence. Her mouth fell open, and her eyes dropped to the fire-starter that he thrust at her.
