Page 8 of The VaDorok's Unexpected Mate
His ears flicked toward her, a look of surprise coming over his face. “What?”
She nodded encouragingly. “All that you said—do you promise that is what you intend to do once we arrive at your... ah... den?”
Kull’s brows lowered faintly in a look of confusion. “You... desire this?”
She gave a decisive nod. “It sounds perfect, actually. All I want is peace and somewhere I can feel safe enough to actually sleep” She laughed tiredly and rubbed her eyes, trying not to wince. Her eyes throbbed, and the surrounding skin was tender. She had to look like the walking dead with her eyes swollen from days of minimal sleep. It was no wonder he was worried that she was trying to mate-him-up. “I swear I won’t need anything more than that. I won’t get in your way. You probably won’t even notice that I’m there most of the time.”
“That is unlikely,” he muttered cryptically, his face contorting briefly in a grimace.
He scrutinized her, his eyes intently studying her face. Katie remained still, allowing him to see every hint of exhaustion, fear, and vulnerability, even if it made her uncomfortable doing so. Finally, he sighed, the sound heavy and drawn out. His reluctance was hard to miss, but it was easy enough to overlook when he nodded in agreement.
“Very well. So long as you do not expect more.”
Turning from her, he lowered himself into a crouch on the snow in front of her. She stared at his back blankly until he growled impatiently, making her jump reflexively. She felt a pinch of regret at the look of guilt that crossed his face. It wasn’t his fault that she was a different species and growls sounded hostile to her.
“Climb onto my back,” he quietly instructed.
“Oh. Okay,” she mumbled as she approached the thick fur and the long mane dangling in front of her. It wasn’t as convenient or sheltering as when he carried her against his chest, but she wasn’t about to complain if it meant she could stop walking for a while. She might even be able to get a little warm. “Just... let me know if I accidentally pull anything.”
As gently as possible, she wrapped her arms around his neck and clasped her knees against the sides of his torso. She felt his large hands grip her under her thighs to support her weight, and for a moment she was amazed at how easily her legs fit into his hands. He really was big everywhere. Good gods... it was a good thing she had sworn off males and sex. If he was proportional everywhere, she doubtedthatpart of his anatomy would fit easily. Then again, Sara appeared to have no complaints, and she certainly wasn’t living like a nun with her alien. Given how close Sara was with the large male, Katie was pretty sure that they were doing more than sleeping beneath the furs. She just couldn’t even imagine how the other woman accomplished it. The thought of trying did intrigue a tiny corner of her mind that she chose to ignore. Despite that, shiver ran through her, and Kull grunted in annoyance.
“I will not drop you,” he grumbled, misinterpreting her reaction. “Just hold tight as I stand.”
She nodded and tightened her grip. When she was a kid, she once sat on a camel. She remembered being terrified by the way her body had pitched forward when the large animal stood. Clinging to Kull’s back like a tick, it suddenly gave a profound sense of déjà vu as his body rocked forward with the shift of his weight before straightening. Her heart leapt violently as her body shifted forward slightly despite his hold so that she was staring down at the nest of his horns pointing dangerously back at her. She dug her fingers into his fur and swallowed back her scream. Thankfully, he stood quickly enough, though her heart continued to hammer in her chest for several minutes. To her surprise, he didn’t immediately start forward. Rather, he stood in place for several minutes, allowing her heart to creep back down from her throat.
Kull cleared his throat gruffly. “Are you ready? I will cover more ground if I run, but I will try not to jar you much. Just say something if you need me to stop.”
“Okay. I’m ready,” she replied.
True to his word, he started forward with a gentle jog, his strides gradually lengthening in a rolling lope as he struck once more upon an open path through the woods. To her surprise, despite how nervous she was, she found herself being slowly lulled into a relaxed state with the swaying and rocking of his body as he ran. She was surprisingly comfortable. Although her back was chilled from the wind, her front was quite warm, and before long she had buried her face in his mane, blocking out the cold air whipping around him. He ran until the sun began to sink low in the sky; only then did he stop, waking her from slumber as he ducked into a carved out opening in the earth. At first, she thought it was a cave, but it quickly turned out to be more like a small, dug-out shelter with scant room for a fire, baskets with stored supplies against one wall and a pile of rolled up furs that he quickly made into a kind of bed for them.
Katie looked at it questioningly, at once both nauseated at having to share a bed with a male and too damned tired to care. Despite the fact that he had carried her most of the way, she felt too exhausted to do more than eat the dried bits of meat he fed her and crawl under the furs as Kull built up the fire. She lay there for a time, every muscle in her body tense, waiting for him to join her. When he didn’t immediately move from the fireside, she relaxed by degrees as the peaceful quiet of the cave, filled only with the sound of his quiet movements and the crackling fire, lulled her to sleep. She stirred, waking briefly when his large body sank next to her on the furs, but he did not touch her. He was nothing more than a large beacon of warmth and safety as he lay there between her and the entrance of the burrow, allowing her to sink into a deeper sleep.
The next day followed much like the first. She walked incrementally as much as she could but was less proud about conveying when she was tired and ready to be carried. There were no hot meals to warm her, though he melted snow and strained it to make some sort of tea from ingredients he kept in a pouch tied to his belt. Despite that, the dried meat kept her fed well enough, and Katie was grateful to sink mercifully into sleep every night. After everything that she had gone through at the laboratory, she appreciated being able to just rest without worrying about what may happen next.
On the third day, it was late in the day, the sunlight slowly descending between the trees when her eyes drowsily opened in response to the lack of movement as Kull suddenly grew still beneath her. His tail swished in the air, and her gaze shifted to his ears that twitched to catch strains of sound on the air. The trees swayed just up ahead, and Katie felt the muscles within Kull’s body tighten aggressively. Her breath hitched with fear when something suddenly broke through the trees and headed right for them. She squeezed her eyes tightly shut and burrowed her face in Kull’s fur, bracing herself for the attack, but to her surprise, the male swung her from his back despite her best efforts to cling to him and deposited her in the snow. She stared up at him in betrayal, her eyes shooting fearfully toward... another alien?
“Brother, you are finally back!” The alien shouted in excitement as they burst from the trees in an open run that startled her.
Far shorter than Kull, though easily having an inch or two on her, the alien barreling towards them possessed the whiplike leanness in body structure that she associated with youth and wore the same style of breach cloth and boots that appeared to be common among the males. The short spikes of developing horns on his head—something she’d noticed that the femaleslacked—also indicated that he was obviously just a kid. All the same, she couldn’t stop herself from tensing up, and it didn’t let up when he suddenly drew up short to stare at her in awe, his long tail curling around his hip uncertainly.
Nostrils flaring, he sniffed in her direction and made a face. “What is it? It smells weird. And it does not have any fur. It is kind of ugly, too,” he observed.
“Charming,” she muttered under her breath, though she dredged up a faint smile in turn so as to not let on just how much his comments stung.
“Ren,” the big male at her side gently chastised. “Be polite. This is Katie. She was abducted and brought here with many others. We will be providing shelter for her for the time being.”
“Really? Do we have to?” Ren made a face of disgust. “Females are boring. She is so small and furless, I bet she cannot hunt or play fyga.”
“Fyga is a game with a leather ball,” Kull explained quietly. “Ren is my younger brother that I have been caring for over the last several revolutions, and playing fyga is one of his favorite pastimes. Do not let him push you into it.” Raising his voice, he gave Ren a stern look. “She is not here to amuse you, Ren. Be respectful.”
A mollified look crossed the young male’s face, and he nodded. “Okay, Kull.” His tail suddenly twitched eagerly. “I checked the traps. There were a couple of burrah. I have already skinned and cleaned them for cooking.”
Kull nodded, a pleased smile softening his gruff features as he left her to join his brother. Clasping the smaller male fondly on the shoulder, they headed toward what appeared to be a cavern-like dwelling just ahead. Naturally, they just left her behind to catch up on her own. She shrugged to herself and trudged after them. She couldn’t demand to be pampered nowafter boldly saying that she wouldn’t make a nuisance of herself. At least the snow wasn’t so deep there.
Chapter 8
Kull pointedly refused to look directly at Katie as he moved about his den. Just having her there was putting him on edge. She looked good in his home—too good. It caused a sense of contentment to well up within him so quickly that he found it both overwhelming and very concerning. He immediately, brutally, crushed the feeling. She was a temporary presence. She did not belong there and never would.
