AllFreeNovel
Share Us
How was I to remove myself from his lap if he purred me into a state of puddled goo?
It was probably exhaustion ruling logic at this point, but I managed to drift off into a somewhat restless sleep as the wind whistled around us.
My hair smacked against my face, and the air was bitingly cold on my cheeks, but my clothes were warm, and the other males on deck were huddled down to protect themselves from the wind, so they didn’t bother me—or the chained male.
I wasn’t sure how long we were flying, but when I woke up, my stomach was aching painfully for food, and my mouth was so dry it was difficult to swallow.
I wiped at my eyes as I sat up, avoiding the male’s eyes as heat rushed to my face.
Had I not been so thirsty, I likely would have drooled on him, and wouldn’t that have just been horrifying.
I didn’t have the chance to feel embarrassed for long or even move off his lap before the boat rocked violently, throwing us both to the side.
The cold air froze the scream in my lungs, but my eyes opened wide as the flying monster pulling the boat through the air dove down sharply, sharp enough that the male I sat on gritted his teeth and held himself upright as much as he could with the angle, attempting to brace me with his body.
My hands bit into his shoulders, and the males around me held onto the railings on either side of the boat as we dove sharply down from the air.
With my fingers tangled into the short fur of the male’s shoulders, I watched with a mix of trepidation and anticipation as I caught the first signs of civilization.
Along the flat planes of solid ice below, there sat a network of small, crudely built huts for several miles.
They were scattered across the ice, leading into the side of a mountain.
The mountain had an opening that was easily several hundred feet tall and almost as wide. Even though we were descending at a rapid rate, I could see little, tiny cat people entering and exiting the enormous cave in large and small groups.
For how very little life I’d first encountered on this planet, I was surprised to see so many of them.
There had to be nearly a thousand bodies meandering below.
We flew over the most populated areas and landed very heavily in a space that seemed to be cleared exactly for this purpose—landing a monster.
The moment the boat settled on its skis, catmen—andcatwomen—flooded the area from all directions, grabbing onto ropes to anchor the boat and then climbing aboard to immediately empty it of its cargo.
I hadn’t realized the belly of the boat was filled with sacks of supplies and barrels of liquids. I hadn’t seen anyone go below deck, not once.
Preoccupied with studying the female cat-people, I didn’t realize the male I was sitting on was growing restless.
The females looked very much like the males, only they covered up their top halves, whereas the males bared their chests.
The females also did not carry any weapons on them, and they had strange, smudged markings all over their faces and smeared into their fur.
When two females climbed on deck and stomped over toward me, I finally noticed my temporary seat was growling something at me but also caging my body against his with his thighs.
All too late, I realized he was trying to keep hold of me as the females reached for me with fierce scowls and unforgiving strength.
I yelped as they began to tug me away from the male, their claws biting through the leather tunic to scratch at my skin.
I didn’t understand what was happening or what their intentions were, but that had been the way of things for me since I’d ended up in this place.
I wanted to take all that I’d experienced so far and trust that these cat-people wouldn’t hurt me but with that language barrier and their rough treatment, it was very difficult to trust that they weren’t about to kill me or worse.
And the only male that I had any kind of connection with was acting as if something terriblewasabout to happen to me, which, of course, put me on high alert.
I mean, why weren’t the females listening to him as the males did?
Why weren’t they obeying him as he very clearly barked at them to release me—at least it seemed that was what he was saying but I had no way of knowing for sure.
Hell, he could have been telling them to have a nice day for all I knew, but I seemed to be reading their body language—especiallyhis—pretty well and so I was confident he was not happy about me being taken away.
