Page 27 of Monstrous Heat
I kissed the tip of her nose. “Don’t worry about them yet. Let’s tackle the threats one by one, yeah? So humans first. I’m going to make sure the smugglers left the area. If you need to call someone to let them know you’re alright, do so. I trust you, baby. Tell them whatever you need to if you have someone who may worry.”
She shook her head. “Only my friend, Holly. I might let her know that I’m alright so they can call off any search parties that might be trying to find me.”
Her stomach rumbled, making my eyes narrow with concern. Her blood sugar smelled low again. “Eat another banana. I’ll scout the smugglers first since they had weapons, and then I’ll procure more supplies from the village. I won’t be long.”
I strode to the door but paused, looking back at her one last time. My little human mate smiled bravely at me. “No beans this time.”
“I’ll see what I can do.”
15
NATALIE
Istood frozen a moment like a deer in headlights. Nervous energy pumped through my veins but there wasn’t a whole lot I could do. I didn’t have to pack up a tent or grab my things. He’d already done that. The clothes I’d been wearing yesterday were destroyed. I didn’t think I had time for another shower, though I’m sure that I could probably use one. My nose had evidently adjusted to my stench.
Or rather,hisstench. Though if I stopped and thought about that too long, I knew what would happen.
Grabbing my larger duffle bag that Kroktl had retrieved from camp, I pulled out fresh clothes, deodorant, and a brush. My hair was a mess, but I did a quick tidy and pulled it back into a ponytail. Dragging on clean shorts, I paused a moment, studying my legs and ankles. No scratches. Even after running through all kinds of underbrush yesterday. Even weirder, no bruises or scrapes on my knee, even though I clearly remembered falling.
My joints and muscles were still sore, but not from falling. At least I wouldn’t get a nasty infection, but unease niggled. It hadn’t even been twenty-four hours yet. I wasn’t a fast healer. Had being with him done something to my DNA? Had he healed me? But when?
At least I felt a little more like myself once I was back in real clothes. Natalie Whit, graduate student from Crystal Springs, Texas.
Not the alien dinosaur’s sex babe. Though that had a nice ring to it.
Snorting at myself, I quickly went through all the things he’d brought from camp, thinking I might need to discard some things or repack it. But he’d done an excellent job making it all tidy. I held the coffee cup he’d accidentally stolen, weighing whether I should leave it behind, but I decided to keep it. It might be useful until we got to a new place. A safer place.
Which made my jittery energy skyrocket even higher. I needed todosomething. Something productive. I glanced around the shack but I had no idea what was his versus what had been left behind by the previous owner. I didn’t want him wasting time shredding up a bunch of old clothes that smelled like another man.
With a sigh, I grabbed my phone and flopped back down on the bed.
Three missed calls, all from Holly’s number. Oh no. I’d forgotten all about her, stuck with Dr. Sleezeball. I clicked on her number.
“Nat? Thank god you’re alright! Where are you?”
“Sorry, I’m fine. I didn’t hear my phone. Are you okay?”
“Dr. Snyder is pissed. He got a call last night about some issues, and then again first thing this morning that you were missing. What happened?”
Hesitating, I tried to decide how much to tell her. I liked Holly well enough but I wouldn’t exactly call her a friend. We were acquaintances. We got along in class but hadn’t really done much work together until this trip. We’d linked arms metaphorically to endure Snyder’s skeevy vibes but I didn’t know much about her background.
Deciding to play it safe, I said, “Tomas and Jairo left me at the dig site. I tried to get back to camp on my own, but I got lost.”
“Why didn’t you call for help? Are you back to camp now?”
“I didn’t have a signal. I found an abandoned hut to sleep for a few hours and noticed that you’d called. My phone’s about dead.” A lie—but she didn’t have to know that. “I just wanted to let you know I was okay.”
“But you’re not back at camp?” She repeated slowly. “With Snyder?”
“No. I haven’t seen him. I’m still out in the jungle somewhere.”
Silence hung between us, and it dawned on me that maybe she was going through the same mental gymnastics as me. Could she trust me? She didn’t know me either.
“Something happened last night,” she finally said. “He was angry but tried to play it off as no big deal. At least it kept him from trying any funny business with me.”
“I was worried about you being alone with him.”
“Yeah. Me too. But he ended up on his phone most of the night. I could hear him talking through the wall.” Another long pause. “Then the news this morning that you were gone really set him off.”
