Page 12 of Hunter’s Harvest

Nope. Not worth it. No amount of good sex or devoted love was worth losing my heart again. I barely survived it the first time when I’d lost my fiancé and all my family and friends in one fell swoop. Sure, I had Kim now, but I didn’t know that at the time. I’d thought I lost her too.

And I might be losing Charles, Vince, and Marisol, even now. The thought made me want to scream even though I had tried not to get too close to everyone. I sure hoped Marisol was safe. The memory of her flying out of the shuttle had me moving faster, following behind Var’n and numbing my brain to how tired I was.

It worked… until it started raining.

Ugh. Not raining, pouring.

The rain blurred my vision, but I trekked on, refusing to give up. Then I stepped on a particularly slippery rock, and I watched in slow motion as the ground came up to meet me.

Chapter 6: Var’n

I caught her before she hit the ground.

“We should stop,” I said, already knowing her response.

Sure enough, she protested and said something that must have translated to “keep going.”

I grumbled. The truth was, I didn’t want to stop only because of the rain slowing her down. The rain also dulled my senses too. It messed with my ability to hear and dampened my ability to smell. But I didn’t want to admit my limitations.

So I focused on her and how slippery the trail had gotten, and the fact that she was starting to shake from the cold. Also, the world had gotten dark quickly, and humans had horrible night vision.

“We stop now,” I said.

She demanded something, her hands on her hips. Despite shaking, she was still a formidable sight. “itsnotlikeweca—”

Several beams of light swept over the trees, the bright beams cutting unmistakably through the rain. Her eyes went wide. Then I heard the male voices, muffled by the rain but clearly angry. And they were coming this way.

I pulled her into the trees and found a hollow just big enough for the two of us to hide in. She pressed up against me and stayed quiet. But it was my chest that threatened to give us away. Her closeness had started it rumbling again. She pressed a hand urgently to my chest, glaring at me, as I tried desperately to stop it.

I took deep breaths, trying to calm myself. The rain, once an enemy, had turned into an ally. It hid the sound of my rumbling chest from the band of males coming down the road.

Nellie frowned in concentration, listening in to the conversations as they walked by. Her lips were pressed in a tight line, and I wondered what was upsetting her.

We stayed in the hollow of the tree for many long Earth minutes even after the males had left. She stayed there with her forehead braced against my chest, breathing slowly. And for a moment I thought perhaps she’d fallen asleep, until she spoke. The only word I caught was “asshole,” which I’d learned a while ago was not actually used to describe a body part, but as an insult.

“It is safe to move,” I said. “What did they say?”

“They’re angry,” she said, keeping the words simple. “They want weapons and ammo. Not sugar and oranges.”

I did not know what shoogar or aurngess were, but I understood weapons and ammo. They’d just been at the crash site and were disappointed with what they found.

“They return tomorrow. Isssurcabinsafe?”

I frowned.

She stabbed a finger at my chest. “Your home. Safe?”

She was worried about my home. “My cabin is protected. I hooked the power source to the door and windows. Forced entry will trigger a shock. It will take them many days to break into it if they tried, and by then I will be back.”

She nodded, satisfied.

Since the humans had just left the crash site, it meant our way forward was clear. I scooped her up into my arms, and she stifled a squeal against her palm. We started toward the crash site, making good time now that I did not have to slow my steps for her. I should’ve done this at the outset. It was much faster. But then, we might have bumped into the enemy group.

She grumbled, and I caught something about owning legs and walking, but she let me carry her the rest of the way anyway.

By the time we reached the broken back half of the ship, the sun was already setting. She inhaled sharply when she saw it.

Inside, the space smelled of strange males, and everything had been moved around from the last time we’d been here. There were rinds of orange fruit scattered all over the floor. They smelled even more fragrant than the intact fruit.