Page 4 of Craved By the Alien Warlord

Since this ship was smaller than the one the Vandalls used to bring me here, it offered only one spacious open area. I noticed a cage with squawking black birds in one corner and a brazier with a lit fire at the end with a small opening at the top to let the smoke out. I still shuddered at the thought of a primitive fire aboard a wooden ship in the middle of the ocean, but the cold surrounding us justified the risk. At least the brazier was deep. Short of the boat capsizing, I didn't see any way for the fire or embers to get out, and if the boat capsized we would have a whole new slew of problems to contend with. Still, I didn't like it.

Behind the brazier was a bed of furs, and I narrowed my eyes, looking for another. If the barbarian expected me to share the bed of furs with him, he would have another thing coming. My tingling clit seemed to have a different opinion, but I was prepared to ignore it. I soothed myself with the idea that we would probably take shifts sleeping, since I assumed one of us would have to stay at the helm.

Closed trunks stood against the long walls, holding provisions and extra clothing.

A contraption I had seen Uthar's men use before stood in another corner. I didn't know the name for it, but its purpose was to make seawater drinkable. A funnel hung underneath the contraption to fill a carafe with with clean water.

There wasn't much to our surroundings, and I hoped that learning each other's language would keep Kendryx and me busy enough not to get onto each other's nerves too much.You could do other things, my traitorous body suggested, egged on by the sight of Kendryx pulling off his shirt for whatever reason—it wasn't that warm down here.

Almost the entire hull was underneath the waves. On the other side, seawater reached all the way to the ceiling, bringing the temperature down no matter how well the Vandalls had insulated the ship.

Next, Kendryx worked on the binding on his breeches. God, was he going to take those off too? I quickly turned with a flaming face, hissing, "What the hell are you doing?" before I remembered he didn't understand a word I said, and frustration rose back up inside me.

I heard him opening a trunk, then the rustling of clothes, and when I turned a few minutes later, he had changed, and his old clothes hung by the brazier, which was when I remembered him wading through the icy-cold water earlier, twice.

I tried to tell my heart to still and my mind to forget about the image of Kendryx's shirtless torso, but I worried it was now etched into my memory forever. Christ, that man was ripped. I had suspected it even underneath the clothing he wore but seeing it didn't help. The deep copper-red tone of his skin only enhanced his many muscles, making him appear incredibly exotic and desirable.

He pointed that he was going back up and, for lack of anything better to do, I followed suit. After spending some time below deck where the temperatures were more favorable, the cold and the wind on deck hit me more than before.

Kendryx busied himself by one of the many built-in cupboards along the railing and pulled out two long sticks, and it took me a moment to realize they were antiquated fishing poles. I approached him curiously and watched him prepare the lines.

From a bucket, he pulled out something gross looking and even grosser smelling and attached it to a sharp-looking hook. While he was working on it, he pointed at several things, giving me names, but since I had only ever read about fishing, I had no idea what those words translated to in English and shook my head.

With a sigh and making it look incredibly easy, he swung the fishing line far out into the ocean before he handed the pole to me. He mimed a tug on the line and showed me how to pull it back and how to use the little roller thingy he called a hexo—spool—before he got to work on another line.

I was just about to yawn, indicating what I thought about standing there with a pole in my hand and a line in the water, when a violent tug against it nearly ripped it from my fingers. Involuntarily, I shrieked, gaining Kendryx's attention.

I tried to yank the pole back like he had mimed, but I could barely hold on to it as it was.

Kendryx stepped behind me, his legs spread wide, and his arms reached around me to grab the pole above my hand. He laid his other hand on top of mine over the spool and began to turn it while tugging the pole back.

He allowed the pole to move forward again before he tugged it back, spooled, and repeated the process.

I leaned against him, feeling the rhythmic beat of his heart, and was utterly fascinated by it and what we were doing. When he leaned forward, I felt his hot breath against my ear, creating goosebumps that rose down my spine and arms. It made my stomach flutter and tuned all my senses to him as if he was everything that mattered in the world.

I wasn't sure how often we repeated the process, but my knees were getting weak and not from the exercise. There was something sexual about us bending over, straightening, and bending again, like a long-forgotten dance.

His biceps bulged more the tighter the line grew, just as a giant fish broke through the surface with such power, he nearly jumped into our boat.

"Chrissy… Net!"

Those were the only words I understood him saying and was grateful for our word exchange earlier. I let go of the pole, trusting that he had a much better grip on it than me, and took a fraction of a second to admire the hard bulge of his biceps, just enough time to cause sweat to run down my back from the image of those arms around me, holding me, before I ducked underneath them. There, by the open storage door, I saw the net and grabbed it. Guessing what he wanted me to do, I leaned over the railing, stretching my arm and holding the net out as he maneuvered the fish on the pole.

The thing was huge and ugly. Black with what appeared to be spores at the end of its fins. Just then, the boat hit a hard wave and bobbed so violently, that I almost lost my balance. All I could do was grab the reeling with both hands to stay on my feet. Kendryx noticed, and instead of directing the fish to the net, he swung the line overhead and tossed our dinner into the boat, where it moved aggressively back and forth, still tethered to the hook.

I was so fascinated by the ugly creature that I didn't even notice Kendryx pulling his humongous sword from behind his back. I only saw a blur of steel move through the air before the fish's head came off.

Speechless, I stared at Kendryx, who cleaned the sword on a rag. What he just did required extraordinary strength and precision. The fish had been wiggling about, and the boat was moving up and down harder than before. His hand eye coordination was incredible, and I realized that if all his warriors were even half as good as him, the Terran Confederation was in trouble. Especially if I was forced to use their weakness against them.

"You have to teach me this," I pushed out, still amazed by what he had done, but at the same time, I realized he didn't understand a word I said. I pointed at his sword then him and me, and mimed swordplay with my hand.

He gave me a dubious look.

I grinned and stretched my hand out for his blade.

He shook his head, but held the sword out to me, handle first, while he carefully gripped the sharp end. Reverently, I placed my fingers around the hilt, and my arm dropped the second he let go. God, that thing was heavy. I barely caught it before it hit the ground.

This time it was him grinning.

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