Alien hope, p.20
Alien Hope, page 20
She did not seem to notice my preoccupation with her nudity. She placed Keir in a shallow stone bowl with a flat bottom attached to the side of the stone slab. Then she slid off what I now realized was a Deep Sky-style bed.
“Come on. Let’s go over to the hot spring,” she said. She held out her hand and, like I was accepting the most precious and sacred invitation in the world, I took it.
A slight bloom of colour hit her cheeks when my hand closed over hers. She gave a gentle tug, then led me to the other side of the cave.
She need not have taken my hand at all. So beautiful and half-naked and beloved was she that I would have followed her anywhere without her even asking me.
In a way, I already had. Was that not exactly what I’d once done, when she’d tried to leave me behind?
We reached a steaming pool at the end of the cave. Steam wafted upwards, and the water had a pleasant, mineral scent to it.
“I wonder if I should only use the Vrika’s blood to clean you, or if this is alright,” Abby pondered, frowning at the hot water.
“When I arrived here, Gahn Errok was in the hall waiting to speak with me. When he saw my wounds and I turned down his offer to see a healer right away, he told me that the heated springs of this mountain have some mild cleansing and healing powers.”
“Maybe one of the naturally occurring minerals has some antiseptic or anti-inflammatory properties,” Abby said. “That’s good, then. We can save the Vrika’s blood for after you’re clean and just use it on your wounds. When I get a chance, maybe I can analyze the water in a lab.”
I stared at Abby as if in a dream, lost in her beauty and brilliance. My father had always discouraged me from feeling pride, but I felt pride, now. Pride that this glorious creature was mine. That she’d chosen me when she could have had anyone. And pride that I now had a son, a little warrior of my own to teach and to train.
“What is it?” Abby said. She squeezed my hand. “Are you alright?”
My tail was shattered and swollen. I could hardly breathe under my cracked ribs. The few scales that remained along my chest were stained black with my blood.
My body was a ruinous collection of wounds. Some of which, like my tail, I would not entirely recover from.
I squeezed her hand back, gently, then used my other to cup her lovely face.
“I am now.”
Her eyes fluttered closed, and she nuzzled her cheek against my hand. If I had not already spilled seed tonight and lost so much blood, my cock would have been urging out of my slit right about now. But instead, I felt a mere lick of heat, the echo of a throb.
“Come on. Let’s get you in the water,” Abby said, her eyes opening.
Once again, I did not want to let her go. But I also did not want to waste too much time. The more I looked at Abby, the more I noticed traces of exhaustion on her face. She needed rest, just like I did.
“You can sleep,” I told her gently before turning and lowering myself into the water. I hissed when my limp tail knocked against the pool’s stone, sending pain shooting up to my spine.
“Are you serious? No way!” Abby said, sounding indignant. I turned back towards her just in time to see her whip off her tunic, crouch, and slide into the water after me. My hand shot out to steady her instinctively, even though the water was not too deep here. It came up to her shoulders and a little past my waist.
Normally, I loved water. I loved the sluice of it against my scales. Loved floating, swimming, sinking. But right now, I despised the water and its thick, billowing steam. Because I could no longer glimpse the jaw-slackening beauty of Abby’s bare form.
“Do you want to find somewhere to sit?” Abby asked. Her skin and the little hairs that ringed her eyes had grown dewy with moisture, making her glimmer and glow.
“No,” I said. “I am tired, but standing is better for now. My tail is broken.”
Her eyes widened.
“Oh, no. Shit! I’m so sorry. We shouldn’t stay in here too long, then. The heat won’t be good for any swelling happening there. How do you heal that kind of injury? Can we, like, set the bones or something?”
“I do not believe so. There are many small bones in a Bitter Sea tail. I believe quite a few have been crushed. I will have to try not to move it, and rest, and let it heal on its own. I will likely not be able to use it as I did before.”
“I’m so sorry,” Abby said again. She swallowed, her slim throat bobbing with the movement and drawing my gaze. “I hate that you’re going to live with this injury for the rest of your life.”
“Keir is safe. You are safe. That is truly all I care about in this world.”
“Well, I care,” she replied, rather stubbornly. Her reaction, her fierce protectiveness over me, made my snout pull into a smile. I am battered and bleeding and the luckiest male who ever existed.
Abby cupped steaming water in her small hands, then began to gently pour it over the ragged gouges on my chest. The wounds stung, but the hot water was also soothing. She repeated the movement over and over, tender but methodical, making sure every wound, even the shallowest of scratches, was rinsed clean. Once the caked blood was cleared away, we could both see the extent of my wounds. Abby’s frown deepened.
My chest, once hard and whole and shining with scales, now looked like muddy ground someone had run their claws through. Pulpy and wet. I lost more scales than I realized.
Fresh black blood streamed from the deeper wounds. Abby swore under her breath, a word from her language I did not know the meaning of but that she usually used when she thought something was going wrong.
“Hold on.” She waded back to the edge of the pool and hauled herself out.
I may be badly injured, but at least I get to see this, I thought appreciatively as the firelight licked over her naked, dripping body. She hurried over to the bed, took a brief moment to check on our sleeping son, then bent over to grab something from the floor. She faced away from me as she bent, giving me a perfect view of what it would be like to rut her from behind.
I swallowed a keening growl of need, palming my groin.
Abby hurried back to me, sliding into the water with a jar held up above the steaming surface.
“Vrika’s blood,” she said. Carefully, she poured some of the glowing white liquid onto the wounds on my chest. There was near-instant pain relief, at least where those wounds were concerned. Just like Kell’s milk, and the Lavrika’s blood of the Sea Sands, the Vrika’s blood was speeding my healing. We both stared down at my chest, watching as the bleeding slowed, then stopped.
I was quite lucky the wounds were on my chest and had not gone too deep or too low. If the enemy warrior had clawed me much lower and ripped off the scales of my abdomen, below the protection of my ribs, he could have easily pulled out my guts. No amount of Vrika’s blood would have saved me from an injury like that.
Abby gave a shaky sigh, one of relief, I realized.
“Good. It’s working. At least we don’t need to worry about more bleeding. There’s still some left if we need more later.”
She placed the jar on the stony edge of the pool and then gave me an appraising look.
“You just stay still. I’m gonna clean the rest of you off.”
As commanded, I stayed motionless as Abby circled me slowly. Her soft hands began to stroke me, cleansing the remaining scales on my arms and back. Her touch, and the slip of water over my scales, both eased and ached.
When she reached the back of my neck, I bent my legs, sensing she was trying to reach something she couldn’t. A groan escaped me when her wet fingertips slid over the more sensitive scales along my neck and snout. My eyes closed.
She circled around to my front once more, continuing to stroke along my snout. I opened my eyes, not wanting to miss a moment of her face before my own. The expression I saw there nearly sent me to my knees. It had taken time to learn the nuances of her foreign face. But there was no mistaking the look upon that face now as she gazed up at me.
It was one of pure and tender adoration.
I reached up, catching her wrists in my hands, and surged forward. My snout met her mouth, and with a small gasp, she opened to me. Sweet and wet and soft. So welcoming to the ardent, searching tips of my tongue.
A desperate growl rumbled in my healing chest, making my ribs twang with pain. I ignored my complaining ribs, overcome with the dizzying sensation of Abby’s silken tongue meeting mine. Her taste flooded my senses as my hands released her wrists, moving to grip the plushness of her waist.
Now that the bleeding of my wounds had been stemmed, there apparently was more blood available to go straight to my groin. I could not stop it. Abby was so lovely and naked and her mouth was so wet, so needy, and all I could think about was how it had felt on my cock. My shaft swelled, threatening to emerge.
But I remembered the signs of weariness I’d seen on her. And with a will I did not even realize I was capable of, I pulled back.
Her flushed face, swollen mouth, and glazed eyes almost snapped that will in two, like a brittle piece of bone. Before I gave in to the base needs of my body, I hoisted her up and out of the water, placing her bottom gingerly on the stone.
“Rest now,” I croaked. With my chest wounds healing, other injuries were making themselves known. My throat felt sore from my enemy’s deadly grip.
“Yeah,” Abby panted. She hesitated, and I was glad to know I was not the only one who wanted this so badly. She, like me, was fighting her desire. Her desire for me.
She finally stood, holding her hand out for me once more. I hauled my aching form from the water and took it.
CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
Abby
We air-dried in front of the crackling fire, standing and leaning against each other. For a second, it was easy to forget the turmoil of this night. How everything had shifted so quickly. How Kohka had gotten so injured. Like this, quiet and holding each other in front of the merry, crackling fire, it was like nothing else existed except our little family. The outside world, the whole universe, disappeared into warm, blissful calm.
Once we were sufficiently dry, I had one last look at Kohka, checking if any spots needed more Vrika’s blood. My lips pressed against each other unhappily as I took him in in the fire’s light.
The Vrika’s blood had done its job. The wounds were no longer bleeding and would be fully healed in very little time. But the signs of his suffering remained obvious. Huge gouges of space along his chest had lost their scales, leaving him looking like some strangely violent patchwork of flesh and metal. Even of the scales he still had, many were cracked or bent. An entire wide band of scales around his neck had buckled inward from some sort of pressure. I grimaced.
“Does this hurt?” I asked, tracing a fingertip along a stripe of crumpled scales at his throat.
“Somewhat. The scales are pressing into my neck a little, and my throat is sore. But as the bruising heals beneath and the muscles strengthen again, that should force the scales back into their previous positions, much like my shoulder.”
His shoulder injury, the one from tackling a giant boulder with all his strength, had mostly healed. A few of the scales there looked a bit ruffled, not perfectly in place, but it wasn’t as bad as before.
I hoped his other injuries fared as well as his shoulder. I hated seeing him hurting like this.
My fingertips glided down his front, skimming over his newly healing chest.
“You’ve taken care of Keir and me for so long. Now it’s my turn to take care of you.”
“You do not need to-”
“Yes! I do,” I said, cutting him off, already knowing he was about to spew some nonsense about me never needing to worry about his comfort. “I want to, Kohka. I love you.”
His silver pupils expanded, and then he lowered his snout to my temple with a ragged sigh.
“I love you, kind little creature. My mate. You have saved me in ways you cannot even know.”
“We’ve saved each other,” I reminded him firmly. Who else had come to me when I was at my most afraid, my most broken, and made it all better? Who else had followed me, cared for me, moved literal chunks of mountains for me? Who else could have been the kind of mate and father Kohka had turned out to be?
We stayed like that for a long moment, just breathing each other in. But when I noticed the blush of dawn through the natural crystal window of this cave, I pulled away.
“We need to rest,” I said. This had been a hell of a long night, and I had no doubt Keir would be waking up wanting to eat or needing to be changed soon. “Let’s lie down.”
We walked together to the bed. With a weary but content sigh, I hopped up and snuggled into the furry hides. Kohka stood at the edge of the bed for a moment, looking down with a puzzled expression furrowing his brow.
I giggled when I realized that he’d probably never seen a bed like this before. Even in our old cave, he hadn’t slept in any hides. He’d slept on flat ground, curled up like a giant, reptilian cat.
“Just get on top and curl up how you usually do. No way are you sleeping on the floor.”
That would be too far away from me. Now that I had him back, I wasn’t planning on having him out of reach even while sleeping.
I scooted to the opposite edge to make more room for him as he got on. Thank God this bed was built for Deep Sky people. It was already a bit of a tight squeeze with both of us on there. A human bed, even a king-size, likely wouldn’t have been big enough.
I didn’t mind how crowded the bed felt, though. I snuggled inwards, and Kohka looped a heavy arm around me. When he made a muffled noise of pain, my eyes flew open.
“What is it? Your tail?”
His tail was laying flat behind him, looking swollen and oddly bent in places.
“Ribs,” he grunted.
For fuck’s sake. I didn’t even know his ribs were bothering him.
I placed my hand on his snout, levelling my gaze with his.
“I am going to take care of you,” I said again. I wanted to make sure he really heard it. Truly believed it.
This time he didn’t try to tell me not to. He just gave a quiet rumble, bumped his snout to my forehead and said, “I know.”
CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
Abby
I wasn’t asleep for long before Keir’s wiggling and the beginnings of a cry woke me. I bolted upright, leftover anxiety and confusion from last night amplified by the lack of sleep. I sighed heavily, relaxing, when I saw Keir and Kohka both safe beside me.
Kohka was in a deep sleep. Good. He needs it.
I grabbed Keir from his little bassinet and started nursing him right away, not wanting his Mom I’m hungry cry to turn into a full-blown OH MY GOD MOM I AM STARVING cry. Kohka had excellent hearing, and he seemed extra attuned to Keir’s cries and movements. Often, at night, Kohka would wake up before I did when Keir stirred.
“We need to let Dada sleep,” I said, smiling tiredly down at Keir. “He’s worked very hard for us.”
When Keir was done eating, I burped him. Keir seemed pretty awake, his big dark eyes wide. Since it didn’t seem like he’d be happy to go back to sleep on his own in his bassinet, I got out of bed, walking around the cave with him.
The sun had fully risen, now, and the beauty of this place astonished me. I knew it was likely just as beautiful, if not more so, when drenched in the romantic, star-laced shadow of night. But I hadn’t gotten a real chance to appreciate this place last night. I’d been too worried about Kohka.
The cave’s entire interior shone with facets of indigo and sapphire blue, everything glorious with morning’s gold-tinged light coming through the natural window. I walked with Keir to that window, letting out a quiet gasp at what I saw.
The Deep Sky mountains and valleys rolled out across the landscape before us, a spiked topography of gemstones drenched in morning light. I knew I would miss our little cave, the place we’d called home for the past month, but this wasn’t too shabby of a spot to end up, all things said and done.
“This is going to be our new home for a while, sweetie pie,” I told Keir. I laughed when I saw his expression – a typical newborn look of frowning suspicion. “I know. It’s not what you’re used to. But I think we’ll settle in here alright. As long as we have each other and your dad.”
Keir responded with a gurgling squawk. His frown deepened, and I could sense a new bout of crying was imminent.
“Oh, dear. How dare I have stopped walking! Alright. Come on.”
I walked around the cave, doing so many laps I lost count, quietly talking and singing to Keir as I did so. Eventually, my perfect, angelic, little grumpy old man baby fell back to sleep. I placed him down in his bassinet and held my breath, waiting to see if he’d wake back up and demand to be carried around once more.
Thankfully, he didn’t. I breathed out, then glanced over at Kohka. Still sleeping.
I watched the two of them for a minute, feeling so content and happy and grateful. My boys.
I thought about joining them in bed. I definitely needed more sleep. But that hot spring at the other end of the cave was calling to me. It wasn’t often I got moments to myself like this, and sometimes sleeping during those rare times felt like a waste, even when I desperately needed the rest. So, instead of crawling back into bed, I walked across the cave and slipped into the hot spring.
I moaned quietly. The feeling of the hot water on my skin was a goddamn revelation. I hadn’t been able to appreciate just how nice it was last night when I was getting Kohka cleaned up. Yes, we had a hot spring back in the Sea Sand settlement, but I obviously hadn’t used it in weeks. So, getting into this hot spring felt like it was the first warm bath I’d ever freaking had.
I noticed some of the soapy moss stuff growing on patches of stone at the edge of the heated pool. I scraped some off, lathering every inch of my body. Man, it was good to get clean. I washed my hair next, massaging my scalp with the herbal-smelling suds and then rinsing. My hair’s getting long, I thought as I idly finger-combed the wet locks. What had been a pixie cut was now turning into a short, messy bob. Catalina had been cutting my hair back at the Sea Sand settlement. Wonder if anyone here knows how to cut hair. Or I could just grow it out.
