Page 30 of Beauty and the Alien Beast
He didn’t have a hair on his body below his eyebrows, from what I could see—which was a lot. Either he waxed diligently or Gladiators were just less hairy than humans. Combined with his sleek, short hair and the stripes and dots of black crossing his skin in a dozen places, it made him look both alien and like a beautiful piece of art. With great disappointment, I watched as he donned his loincloth, then his boots.
Teken’s every move looked painful as he went through his packs, digging out several boxes, a roll of cloth, and a length of silvery rope. I helped him as much as I could, taking each item and setting it aside in a pile for him.
He found another one of the headbands and put it on, then handed me a packet of dried meat. “For Brax,” he grunted.
At the mention of his name, the dog’s eyes slid open. Striding over to him, I patted the dog before feeding him the circles of dried meat.
I kept taking peeks of Teken as he moved around the cave, which was a little low-ceilinged for him, forcing him to crouch. With his four arms, he could get a lot done in a short time. He didn’t bother grabbing for clothes. Instead, he started setting up our hidden camp in just the loincloth and his boots. It was a look I wished he’d keep from now on, even though it wouldn’t be practical for wandering around in a jungle full of monsters.
I wanted him. But I also knew that Teken wanted me to be his “mate.”
Can I give him what he wants without losing my heart in the shuffle?
I didn’t have the answer to that question because I’d been ducking and hiding from serious relationships for so long that I didn’t even know if I had it in me to be either mate or girlfriend material. But I liked Teken more than any male I’d ever met. And given everything I’d been through at the hands of my abductors and we’d been through while dodging the catchers, I concluded that life was about taking chances. And guarding my heart was wasting precious time that I could be enjoying with my Wulfaen Gladiator.
So for however long I remained on this planet, I was willing to give Teken my all because my big, protective alien had earned it.
20
Teken
The fangvine almost killed me.Gods… it almost killed all of us.
I’d been so distracted by Ella and the catchers hunting us that I’d forgotten that the horrid fangvine became more mobile when a rainstorm hit. I was usually the master of anything the jungle threw at me, especially with a fleet-footed riding dog and being heavily armed and properly trained. Dodging slave catchers while protecting my mate in the blackest part of the night, however, made things a bit more difficult. And I had paid for my inattention.
The whole ride over to the caves, only Ella and my need to get her to safety had kept me conscious and hanging on for dear life.
Once we’d made it to safety, I thought two vials of nanites would be enough to take over the duties of some of my missing blood cells, stop the bleeding, and clean the wounds of contaminants, including that damned anticoagulant sap. But I was hurt worse than I thought, and I needed to shift into my Wulfaen to quicken the healing process.
I smiled just remembering how, eventually, Ella accepted my Wulfaen, and her bravery made both my Gladiator and inner beast joyful and proud.
I was still suffering from a headache and dizziness from the blood loss, and I was so thirsty. I set up the rain catcher just outside the cave mouth. It took three units of purified water before my belly filled and I didn’t feel thirsty anymore.
After a lot of struggling around our language barrier, Ella had assisted me with setting up the portable nest. It was a gift from the elders, a rapid-collapse model that allowed me to sleep in comfort. Normally suspended from the trees, the tented structure, with its heavily padded bottom and doughnut-shaped sides, now took up the back half of the cave. Its faint bluish glow helped make the place look a bit more like a camp and less like a desperate hiding place.
Brax stuck his head out into the rain and slurped at the droplets as he kept watch for us. It was still dark and he was camouflaged against the damp volcanic rock, so I knew he wouldn’t be spotted, especially now that I had taken off his harness.
I knelt stiffly to fill the purifier a last time for Ella. I could hear her humming somewhere near the nest. My thighs ached slightly as I straightened, turning to bring her a drink. I stopped short, eyes wide. My loincloth was getting almost painfully tight.
Oh gods, give me strength!
She had grabbed a bathing cloth and stripped down to get rid of the sweat and sap all over her. With her back to me, she stood, running the cloth over every curve of her magnificent body while I stared at her.
I looked down at myself, naked except for a loincloth and my boots—and the loincloth was doing nothing to hide my desire for her.
I wondered if she had found the view of my body just as distracting as what stood across the room from me now, lit by that soft blue glow, dark skin shimmering. Her easy, musical voice hummed tunelessly in time with the strokes of the cloth across her body. When she turned halfway and lifted her arm so her breasts rode high and her back arched, I wanted to go sprinting toward her and kiss her hard.
The clothes the slavers had left her in were revealing enough, but this… was a whole different level. She was so small and soft and rounded that all four of my hands itched with the urge to caress her.
How can she be so beautiful yet so strange at the same time?
She had only one set of hands, which were soft and fragile. I would have to be careful with her. Though, she had already proven that she was tough and nearly fearless.
Now how can I convince her we belong together when we only have a few dozen words in common?
Taking a deep breath, I turned to my armor, which needed treatment as well. The fangvine had made a complete mess of it, compromising my protective covering in several spots. If I did not repair the gashes, a lucky shot or a nanotech bullet would penetrate it easily.
Ignoring my aching erection and the sweet feminine humming and rustling behind me, I set to work laying the armor on a rock outcrop and grabbing my repair kit. The repair bots were small, spidery things, barely larger than the bond-filament thread spool they carried, but they started sewing up the slits in my armor as soon as I set each one in place.
