Текст книги "The Alien’s Bond"

Автор книги: Kira Quinn

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CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

“How much farther are we going to hike?” Darla asked as they crested yet another rocky hill.

They had been walking all day, stopping only to rinse off the blood of the animals they had fought and Heydar subsequently butchered, and then once more for an afternoon snack of wild greens and a few pieces of dried meat from their packs.

As for water, Darla had been worried about drinking directly from the small stream they had washed up in, no matter how clear the water seemed. But Heydar informed her that the pigment she now bore in her skin would negate any digestive issues from mildly contaminated water.

The nearly white ink in particular was supposed to be extremely powerful. That the Oraku had supplied him with any at all for a newcomer’s designs was almost unheard of. But Darla had the pale ink interwoven all over the runes on her body, accenting them and increasing their power.

At least, that was what it was supposed to do in theory. In practice on a new species, there really was no telling exactly what the end result would be.

In any case, it was warm out and she was thirsty, so any qualms she had about drinking from the stream quickly evaporated with her first sip. They filled their water skins and kept hiking, making as good progress as could be expected as the terrain grew more uneven.

And now as the sun began to lower and dusk fell over the land, they finally reached the crest of yet another exhausting climb. Even with the help of her strange new runes adding to her strength, Darla’s legs and feet were aching.

Heydar gazed at the sky a moment, then pointed off in the distance. “There.”

Darla squinted and followed where he was directing her. “What?”

“Your vision runes have not yet formed completely. There is a gap in the trees, and not a natural one. A section of the Raxxians’ ship landed there, and seemingly intact judging by the lack of burning trees.”

She squinted and looked harder but still couldn’t see a thing. And did he just say the runes were somehow going to enhance her vision? But he hadn’t marked anywhere on her face or head. The only rune there was the one the Raxxians had placed behind her ear. He had touched that up a bit, but other than that there was nothing above her collarbones.

I guess I’ll find out, she mused.

One thing she had learned as they trekked across the wildly varying landscape was not to doubt Heydar’s eyes. Or his ears. Or any of his senses for that matter. He had exceptional situational awareness, and if he said he saw what looked like part of the downed ship, then that was what was most likely what it was.

He looked at his human companion, sizing her up. She had managed to keep up, which he had not expected. More surprising, she had also handled herself well in the face of danger. She had done well today.

“Come,” he said. “It will be dark soon. There is not much in the way of shelter, but we have our bearings now. We will head lower to a less exposed location and set up camp for the night.”

He began trekking down the slope, but now at a more casual pace. He was looking for a good spot to settle in, not trying to cover as much ground as possible. He picked up some small sticks on the way, bundling them under his massive arm as they walked.

“Here will suffice,” he said twenty minutes later, dropping the wood atop a mostly flat stone in a level patch of relatively open ground.

The area was a mix of reddish dirt, lush trees, and rocks ranging in size from small to large, the latter providing shielding from wind and creating a little pocket of safety for them to have a small fire. In addition, the rock would absorb heat, ideally giving some back as it cooled overnight.

Heydar dropped his pack and animal skins and began setting up the wood, arranging it with the smallest kindling at the bottom to help ignite the larger pieces above. He then snapped the lone long branch lying nearby into manageable lengths with his bare hands, making it look easy.

“Hey, if you want to give me the matches, I can get the fire started if you want to look for some thicker wood.”

“What are matches?” he asked, crouching before the pile and adding a few more pieces.

“What are matches? You know, to make a fire.”

Heydar looked up at her, amusement sparkling in his gold-rimmed eyes. He held up his hand, pointing to a small rune tattooed on the underside of his wrist just below his palm.

“What’s that?”

“Watch,” he replied, holding his hand over the kindling. A second later the small shavings began to smoke, bursting into flames a moment later.

“Holy shit! You can make fire with your hands?” she blurted, looking at the small tattoo inked on her own wrist. It was nowhere near as complex as Heydar’s, but the location was the same.

“Among other things,” he said, blowing the small fire until it surged into a full blaze. “This particular rune channels a few types of power. It takes time for the pigment to develop and grow into the full design. Yours is just the starting point we all begin with, but in time it will grow stronger.”

“And I’ll be able to start fires?”

“Among other things, as I said.”

Darla looked at her wrist, studying the rune and the faint lines traveling from it up her forearm, connecting to the patterns highlighting the natural curves and muscles of her body. She had felt stronger, sure, and she could understand alien languages. But this? Making fire out of thin air? It made it all seem more real. More tangible and not just some abstract concept.

Heydar rose and walked over to the bundled furs, unwrapping them and removing two disjointed legs from the animals they’d fought. He took two lengths of wood and drove them through lengthwise then set them up to roast over the flames.

The smell was amazing, and Darla found her stomach grumbling with hunger. It seemed she was going to be surviving on a meat eater’s diet for the near future, though she preferred plant-based most of the time. But in a survival situation she’d take whatever she could get. And these things had tried to eat her, so it really was only fair the tables be turned.

Heydar let them roast a long time, rotating the meat periodically but letting the outside burn a bit, ensuring the internal temperature was enough to cook all the way to the bone. Char could always be cut away, but an unexpected bite of raw meat could spoil an otherwise tasty meal.

While he tended the fire, Darla sat atop a pile of leaves she’d gathered to use as cushioning and leaned against a sloping rock, letting her aching feet relax, savoring every minute of it. When Heydar finally rose from the cooking flames at least half of the stress in her body had ebbed away and Darla couldn’t help but wonder if it was at least partly the itchy new tattoos working their magic.

“Here,” Heydar said, handing her a whole leg.

Darla accepted it, and it was at that moment that she realized he had skinned the leg but the clawed foot at the end of it still remained. The sight of it reminded her why she tried to avoid meat, but her body needed nutrition and she’d just have to make do.

“How pleasant,” she said. “With presentation like this, it’s no wonder you don’t have a mate.”

A glare of anger flashed across his face, gone as quickly as it had arrived. He turned and walked away to eat on a small boulder across the fire.

Aww, shit. That didn’t play out right. “Hey, look, I’m just tired and talking shit, okay?”

The alien turned and stared at her a moment. “Talk shit? I have no desire to discuss your toileting functions.” He climbed up onto the rock and sat down, crossing his legs comfortably and tucking in to his meal with gusto.

Okay, I guess that bit didn’t quite translate, she realized. “What I mean is, I’m sorry. I sometimes let my mouth run when I’m cranky. But we’re eating now, and the food’s really helping, even with a foot still on it, so thank you.”

He stared quietly, assessing her with that piercing gaze. “You meant no harm, and this has been a stressful experience, I understand,” he finally said. “I do not hold your comment against you.”

“Thanks. I didn’t mean to be a dick.”

“Hmm,” he mumbled, pulling free a mouthful of meat with his teeth.

The two ate quietly for a few minutes, but as their initial hunger was sated, conversation began to flow. It seemed to Darla that Heydar wasn’t quite the strong and silent brute that he came off as. And to his surprise, the alien had found his human companion was far more capable than he’d initially given her credit for.

There was a significant amount of cooked meat left at the end of their meal, which Heydar collected and buried in a wrap of thick leaves from a short but wide plant growing nearby, sealing it all up in a tidy bundle.

He licked his lips and fingers, sucking the remnants of tasty fat from them with his forked tongue. Darla watched, enthralled, as his split tongue did its work, cleaning his flexible digits.

“I will dispose of the rest far from our campsite,” he said, standing up and gathering the bones.

She couldn’t help but notice the bulge swinging against his thigh, barely hidden by his trousers, the outline of his girth clear through the fabric. Fed and rested, that flare of heat in her belly was returning, and with a vengeance.

Don’t go there, Dar, she chided herself. He may not be as bad as you thought, but he’s still a prick. Okay, a prick with a rather impressive one. No! Bad, me! Bad! What is wrong with me? I swear, ever since he put that pigment stuff in me, I’ve been hornier than ever. Not cool.

Heydar trotted off with his bundle as Darla’s dirty thoughts fought hard against being forced from her head. She was still thinking back to seeing him nude in the bathing pool, especially his impressive cock, when he abruptly returned. She fought back a blush, glad it was getting dark out.

He gave the campsite a quick once over, nodding his satisfaction. He had also taken the remaining bundle of uncooked meat and stashed it somewhere safe, far away from their location and out of reach of animals, but two of the pelts the meat had been wrapped in remained.

There was only so much they could realistically eat before it went and spoiled on them, and he had been planning on hunting along the way anyway. Carrying all that meat would slow their pace, and it would possibly go bad, so the remainder had been left behind, a free meal for other creatures lucky enough to stumble upon it.

Eat what you kill was a rule Heydar lived by. No waste and respect for the hunt. But that had been a case of self-defense, and the rules were different in those circumstances.

“Come. It will be fully dark soon,” he said, carefully extinguishing the fire. “The rocks will radiate heat for a while, but it will become colder. Here, this will help keep you warm.”

She felt a tingle of anticipation as he moved close. One that was quickly quashed when he wrapped one of the dead animals’ skins around her. At least it was furry side in. And he had done a good job of cleaning off any remaining nastiness from the other side. Regardless, the Four Seasons this was not.

“Oh, this is so gross,” she said, already looking forward to washing in the stream they had seen from their vantage point high above.

“It will retain your warmth through the night,” he said, lying down beside her. “Unfortunately, we are more exposed here. I had hoped to find a cavern to shelter in, but no such luck.”

He was close to her but not touching. Regardless, she could feel his intense alien heat radiating from his body. She curled up under the skins, little spoon to his big one, absorbing his warmth through her back as she drifted off to sleep, wondering what the new day would bring.

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CHAPTER NINETEEN

Darla woke with the sun. She’d never really been a morning person of the up-at-sunrise variety, but here, out in the open instead of a house, things were different. On top of that, having fallen into nature’s sleep rhythm of down when it’s dark and up when it’s light, she’d found the early wakeup perfectly natural. In fact, she even felt rested, despite the lingering aches in her body from the prior day’s exertion.

She shifted, realizing Heydar had moved closer to her in the night. He felt warm, but not the usual blast furnace hot that seemed to be his normal state. She realized why when she turned to look at him.

A thin layer of frost had coated the pelt covering her along with the ground and plants. Heydar’s fur, however, was unfrozen. It seemed his natural body heat had been the one thing keeping it that way, and Darla was glad he’d given her some of his warmth as she slept.

Even so, it was definitely cold out. Colder than she’d expected given the prior day’s trek in the sun.

Heydar’s violet eyes opened, sensing her movement, and waking quickly but without alarm. He stared at her a long moment, then stretched and rolled out from under the furs. Standing tall, he again stretched, his muscles clearly visible through his clothing as he put them through a series of poses, finally finishing with a satisfied roll of the shoulders.

He turned to his companion, a look of relaxed calm on his face. “Come, little one. We should begin our day.”

“It’s freaking cold out,” she protested.

“Yes, as I had said it would be. Once you start moving your body will warm quickly, and this is our opportunity to cover some ground before the day’s heat replaces the chill.”

She knew he was right, but getting out from under the fur was as hard as any lazy Sunday in winter. Reluctantly, she forced herself out into the cold air. Darla hesitated a moment, then did nearly the same series of stretches and mobility poses as Heydar had done. Interestingly, she really did feel warmer, but also something else.

“Your runes are taking hold amazingly fast,” he said, watching with curiosity. “The movements you just performed are specifically linked to the pigment in your system, activating it all to start the day and put your body in a comfortable state of equilibrium.”

“You mean these stretches make the aches go away? Like, more than regular yoga stuff? Why didn’t you tell me sooner?”

“It is nothing quite like that,” he said with a chuckle. “But they do drive power to your limbs and force your blood and core energy to flow unobstructed.”

She gauged her body, feeling more in tune with it than normal. Or maybe this was going to be the new normal. Time would tell.

“I am feeling pretty good, yeah.”

“Good. Then you will be better braced for a wash in the stream ahead on our trek. Gather your things. We leave immediately.”

So much for a relaxed start to the day, she grumbled to herself, shoving the few items she had taken out back into her pack and slinging it over her shoulder.

The trek downhill moved quickly. This was a different bit of terrain from what they’d dealt with the prior day and the craggy rocks and steep drop-offs required a bit more care than before. Darla’s legs felt good, but her quads still burned from the effort. This time, however, it was in a good way.

Her footing felt more secure as well, and her ankles did not seem to be at any risk of twisting despite their speed. Whatever the runes were doing, the difference was becoming more noticeable.

The stream running at the base of the hill was relatively small, but the water flowed clear and smelled fresh to her enhanced senses. The vegetation was dense and lush, the burgundy leaves and deep green stems growing strong closest to the life-giving liquid. She crouched down and took a sip. Delicious.

“Hey, do you think—” she began to ask, turning toward her companion.

Heydar was already stripping off his clothes, his rippling muscles gleaming with a fine layer of sweat from the descent, every inch of him pumped from the effort. Darla felt her breath catch in her throat when he whipped off his trousers, tossing them on the dry shore, and strode into the water.

He was even more beautiful than her mind’s eye had remembered. And watching him vigorously rub all of his body in the crisp water, she couldn’t help but feel a fire blossom between her legs.

None of that. This is just a practical bath, here. Just scrub off the sweat, and grime, and whatever nastiness was on those pelts, she reminded herself, then quickly shed her clothing as well, stepping into the flowing current.

Heydar ceased his washing abruptly, staring at her with an unusual look. Darla felt her cheeks flush and turned from him, crouching down and submerging in the water.

“Your skin is healing well,” he finally said, a slight huskiness to his voice. “I have never witnessed anything like it. At this rate, the itching should be gone in no time, from what I have seen.”

Darla felt unusually hot even submerged in the cool water. And you’ve seen it all, haven’t you, buddy?

Heydar turned from her, quickly finishing his scrub then climbing onto the banks of the stream, water running off of his sculpted ass in rivulets. Darla marveled at the utter perfection of that ass. It was the sort of thing master sculptors would have memorialized in marble back in the day and it made her mouth water.

Then he turned toward her, locking eyes with her for a moment.

His cock was mostly flaccid as it swung between his legs, but there was clearly a stirring engorgement taking place as he stared at her. Shrinkage from the cold was most definitely not an issue.

The water flowing down from his chiseled abs was slowly dripping from the tip of his manhood, the ridges encircling his length becoming raised before her very eyes.

There was a sparkle in his gaze when he turned from her and began pulling his clothes back on. One that made her stomach flutter with a not entirely unpleasant sensation.

Darla finished her rinse and stepped out of the stream, her nipples hard in the cool air. A little steam was actually coming off her body as she shook off most of the water and began dressing. The runes may have helped increase her ambient temperature, but there was something more interesting at work here.

“You are ready?” he asked, circling around to her as she pulled her pack onto her shoulders.

“Yeah, I’m good.”

“And refreshed, I hope.”

“Something like that.”

His lips creased in a little grin as he nodded his approval. Then, without another word, he turned and began trekking over the rocky terrain, his powerful legs handling the uneven ground like massive pistons.

Darla hurried after him, her strides shorter, but her balance no less sure than his. They made good time following the general direction of the stream. They had seen its course from up high the previous day, but eventually it curved from the way they needed to go. A short while later, they came to the base of their next obstacle.

It hadn’t seemed like much from afar, but the rocky cliffs blocking their progress were taller and steeper than either had expected. Heydar scanned the area for a quicker route, but it was apparent that attempting to circumvent the geological formation would add many hours to their trek, and that was time they simply did not have to spare.

Heydar slipped his pack off and secured it to a length of rope from his waist. It would ride a few meters below him as he climbed, not obstructing his movements. He crouched down low.

“Climb onto my back. I will carry you.”

Darla’s stubbornness flared up strong. “Like hell you will. I can climb, I’ll have you know. In fact, I flashed a five point nine—okay, that was indoors, but still, I’m saying I’m not helpless, here.”

He looked up at her quietly for a moment, disarming her with his calm gaze.

“I did not say you were. But if the others are to be found, we must not delay. My reach is far greater than yours, and your tattoos are not yet fully settled.”

“Yeah, but—”

“I would very much like to see your climbing skills one day,” he interrupted. “But this is not the time. I am sorry, little one, but we cannot afford your pride right now.”

She hated that he was right. Not that so much as admitting that he was right. In any case, she knew what had to be done. Others were out there, and they couldn’t wait for her to play on a rock wall.

Darla climbed up onto his back, wrapping her arms around his chest, her legs locking her in place. He felt like he was cut from granite beneath her touch. Warm granite that moved with cat-like prowess.

Heydar stood up, hefting her weight as easily as breathing. “Hold tight.”

He reached up and grabbed a handhold and started his ascent. Darla was quietly amazed at just how fast he was climbing. He would reach the summit in a fraction of the time it would have taken her on her own. She squeezed him in her arms, holding him close, her breath hot on his neck. She noticed the fine hairs standing on end every time she did, along with faint goose bumps that accompanied them.

Darla’s pack shifted slightly, causing her hips to slide. She adjusted quickly, her leg slipping from around his waist, moving lower and rubbing his cock as it did. She felt the beast twitch to life under the pressure and start to rise, elongating and thickening as it pressed back against her touch.

Heydar, the seemingly indestructible hunk of masculinity actually twitched, a slight shudder running through him as her leg flexed against his stiffening length. Securing his grip on the rock face, he reached back with one meaty hand and shifted her position higher on his back, locking her legs in place and cutting short whatever the hell had just happened.

He continued climbing without a word, and Darla found herself equally silent even as her swelling clit pressed against his body as she wrapped her legs tightly around him. The one who needed to focus on the climb, lest the plunge to their deaths, was free to pay attention, but his passenger was getting an entirely different experience out of the ride.

Darla bit her lip, forcing her body not to quiver from the sensation, the electric shocks of his body against her clit with every movement sending flashes through every inch of her until she thought she would cry out in pleasure. But somehow, she managed to control herself.

Barely.

Heydar hauled himself over the edge at the top and quickly moved back a safe distance so Darla could dismount. It was a good thing, too. Her legs trembled when she set foot on the ground and her crotch was damp with more than the sweat from his laboring back.

She looked around, taking in the yellow-orange scrub brush and more woody branches of the smaller trees that grew on the rocky peak. Heydar, however, was not wasting any time.

The alien pulled up his pack and donned it in a flash, then began trekking up the slight rise to the true summit. Darla shook off her arousal as best she could and followed, but her legs still felt rubbery for the first several steps. Finally, she regained control over her body, but the warmth in her belly remained, diffused but not gone by any means.

“There,” he said, pointing off in the distance. “Can you see them? The clear spots in the trees over there?”

Darla scanned where he pointed and this time her eyes picked up on the target. “Yeah, I see them,” she said. “No smoke.”

“Fires would have burned out by now if they were not caused by Raxxian fuel. This is a good sign. Come, we have our course,” he said, then began the descent down the sloping back side of the cliff.

Unlike the steep face, she would not need a ride for this. And given what had happened last time, she honestly wondered if she could handle another.

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