Alien Slave (30 page)

She wept more, her poor body limp in
his arms but for the tremors. He didn’t fault her for her plunge
into weakness. Naked and alone, she’d battled the lingering effects
from her recent illness to find them, to save Krijero. The bottoms
of her bare feet mixed mud with blood from cuts and scrapes,
showing the rigors of her journey.

Gelan realized something else. Dani
hadn’t tried to run away, even knowing through Krijero’s handheld
where their ship was hidden. That meant she cared, at least for the
Imdiko. Hope flared strong in his chest, along with a greater
emotion. He hugged her closer. When her face tilted up to look into
his, he kissed her with feeling.

“
I’ll start a fire and then
we’ll get you cleaned off and fed. Don’t cry, my little love. You
did very well.”

She managed a ghost of a smile at his
heartfelt praise. “I did? You really think I did?”

The childlike plea for approval moved
him. He answered her with another kiss. The way her body seemed to
melt against his as she responded sent a surge of emotions through
him: protectiveness, reverence, and a desire to be the man she
turned to for everything.

Call it what it is, Dramok. Don’t be a
coward.

Fine. This self-absorbed, impulsive,
childish creature had caught him as surely as he’d captured a
number of criminals in his police work. As crazy as she drove him,
he’d seen the giving, sweet nature that lay beneath the protective
barriers she’d erected after a lifetime of betrayal. He loved
her.

It was scary feeling this way for Dani.
It probably meant a lot of pain in the future. But even given the
trouble she had brought and the trouble she would no doubt continue
to bring, he couldn’t deny how right she felt in his arms and in
his heart.

* * * *

Night fell like a bat’s wing over the
rock plain, shutting out Dani’s sight beyond the circle of fire
Gelan had built. The wood was wet from the rain, and there was
plenty of smoke, but Dani didn’t mind. Fire and shelter in any form
was a boon as far as she was concerned.

She’d been thrilled when Gelan had
brought her into the shelter. In the first hours of waiting for her
and Krijero’s arrival, he and Wynhod had made a lean-to much like
the A-frame Krijero had constructed the night before. The biggest
difference was that one side of the shelter was the rock formation.
A thick webbing of branches and leaves leaned against the
protuberance, and they’d put a mat of more leaves on the ground
around the fire. It was a cozy shelter, and Dani fought off sleep
despite her aching exhaustion. She wanted to know Krijero was
okay.

Gelan stood just outside the shelter,
looking out into the inky blackness. Dani knew his eyes saw better
than hers after dark, but she couldn’t imagine his gaze piercing
the pitch well of LXS-42’s night. There were stars in the sky, but
they were unimportant sparkles, a scattering of glitter in thick
velvet. They offered no light to see by.

Animal sounds were not so prevalent on
this barren land, and silence spun out as heavy as the night. Dani
knew Gelan listened for his clanmates, but the oppression of
unmitigated quiet wore on her nerves. Desperate for the
companionable rumble of the Dramok’s voice, she said, “It is so
nice to finally be dry. Any sign of them yet?”

He seemed not to be irritated by her
distraction. “Not yet. I hope — hold on, I see movement. It’s them.
Stay here, Dani.”

The big man vanished into the night, as
if oblivion had swallowed him. Dani pouted simply to pretend to
herself she wasn’t afraid in her sudden unwanted solitude. “Oh gee,
Gelan, and here I was about to step out to see if I could get my
nails done. Big goofball.”

She stood on her swollen feet, now
clean and gently wrapped in the sleeves of Gelan’s formsuit. Those
sleeves were coming in mighty handy, she thought as she limped to
the shelter’s opening. At the rate they were tearing pieces off the
men’s formsuits, they’d be as naked as her in a couple of
days.

Dani stood just outside the shelter,
listening for the returning men. Her heart skipped lightly, and she
realized she was almost happy. Wynhod wouldn’t have returned
without Krijero, so now they were all safe and reunited. They would
soon be on board the Kalquorians’ shuttle, leaving this craphole of
a moon behind, along with those stupid Tragooms.

Gelan’s voice carried through the
Stygian night. “Dani, get inside and off your feet.”

“
Is Krijero okay?” She
squinted, as if squishing her eyelids together would afford her
night vision.

“
I’ll live,” came the
Imdiko’s weary voice.

Despite her aching feet, Dani almost
jumped for joy. Instead, she went with good sense and returned to
her spot in the shelter. A moment later Gelan entered with Krijero
draped in his arms. Wynhod, looking tired but at ease,
followed.

The Dramok and Nobek immediately set
about tending their injured clanmate, working to settle him on the
ground as comfortably as possible. Dani wanted to throw her arms
around the Imdiko to welcome him, but the strain on his face told
her of his pain. She kept back, though it was hard.

“
How was your day?” she
asked with Pollyanna brightness.

Krijero laughed at her deliberate
silliness. “Long, painful, and boring.”

Dani glowed in the warmth of his gaze.
She blew him a kiss. “I’m glad you’re here.”

“
Thank you,
sweetling.”

Gelan was busy unwrapping the haphazard
splint of branches and vines that circled his booted foot. “Let me
have a look at that leg.”

That was accomplished with a lot of
pained gasps and fist clenching from Krijero. Wynhod helped Gelan
get the boot off, and Dani moved close to see how bad off the ankle
was.

“
Good wrap,” Wynhod said as
he unwound the cloth she’d put on. “You’ve had experience with
field dressings?”

She shrugged, pleased she’d done well.
“My first.” She followed that modest admission with a glare at
Krijero. “Let’s make it my last, okay?”

His ankle still looked like it wanted
to be a sausage, she thought. Gelan gently probed it, making
Krijero hiss with pain. “Wiggle your toes.”

The Imdiko complied with a growl. His
misery was obvious, and Dani felt sorry for him.

“
No break that I can find,”
Gelan reported. “Though it’s hard to tell for all the swelling.
Possibly a fracture, but I’m betting on a bad sprain. You’ll have
to let us help you to the ship.”

“
Someone else has problems,”
Wynhod commented, his gaze taking in Dani’s wrapped feet. “I guess
we’re lugging both of them on our backs tomorrow.”

Krijero blinked at the sight of Dani’s
black-garbed feet. “What happened?”

“
Nothing too bad. If there
was a rock on the ground, my big feet found it.” Dani grimaced at
her awkwardness.

He sighed. “I’m sorry. My clumsiness
has made the situation worse on everybody.”

Gelan rewrapped his ankle. “Try not to
worry about it. I wish we had a pain inhibitor to give
you.”

Krijero laid back, his eyes closing
heavily. “I’ll be all right. I wouldn’t mind getting some sleep
though.”

Wynhod scowled at his clanmate. “He
dragged himself about five miles from where Dani left
him.”

She was horrified. “Krijero! You should
have stayed put.”

His voice was a thick mumble. “I kept
thinking about you running into Tragooms. I’ve never been so scared
in my entire life.”

Gelan gave her a look she couldn’t
quite read. “She ran the whole way here to get help.”

Krijero pried his eyes open for a
moment to look at her. His hand crept up to touch her face. “Thank
you, Dani. I knew I could trust you.”

Wynhod stared at her for a moment
before turning his attention back to Krijero. “Get some sleep, if
you can. I’m going to see if I can hunt up something bigger than a
bug for dinner. Dani deserves a hero’s feast.”

Hero? Me?

Before Dani could properly react, the
Nobek had disappeared into the night once more. Gelan continued to
wrap Krijero’s ankle, his brow creased in concentration. As for the
Imdiko, despite his face being pinched with pain, he closed his
eyes and almost immediately began to snore lightly.

The clan was safe. Dani finally
relaxed.

She wallowed in wellbeing for a few
minutes, watching the exhausted Imdiko escape his pain in the
refuge of slumber. Gelan finished wrapping his foot and slid over
to sit next to Dani. She didn’t protest him pulling her into his
lap.

His voice was quiet and gentle, but his
words made her freeze. “How close did you come to attempting escape
instead of finding us?”

Her temper flared bright in an instant,
fed by ugly shame. “What makes you think—?”

Gelan’s frown shut her up in an
instant. She scowled and looked away from his face. “Okay, so it
crossed my mind for a moment. But only for a moment.”

“
You didn’t obey your
impulses this time.”

“
Yeah well, it hasn’t worked
out so well for me in the past.”

“
So what made you decide it
was a good idea to save Krijero rather than take the opportunity to
get away?”

Dani shifted uncomfortably, wishing she
could walk away from the interrogation. Gelan had to have an answer
for everything, it seemed. Darn cop. Her tone grudging, she
muttered, “He’s a nice guy. For a Kalquorian. And I owed you guys
for saving me from that quickmud stuff and not abandoning me when I
got sick.”

Gelan cupped her chin and tilted her
face upward, forcing her to look him in the eye. His expression was
a strange mix of compassion and intent. The look said, I won’t hurt
you but I won’t let you get away with anything either. She didn’t
know whether to feel comforted or afraid.

“
Truth, Dani. The whole
truth.”

She didn’t want to tell him. She tried
to jerk her head out of his grip, but he held her easily. She spoke
in a childish whine. “Look, a girl has to have some secrets,
okay?”

“
No. You will tell me
exactly what is going on in that pretty head of yours. You keep
nothing from me.”

His gaze held her as much prisoner as
his hand on her chin. She couldn’t get away.

“
I don’t want
to.”

“
I’m not giving you a
choice.” He showed her his fangs.

“
What, you’ll drug me to
make me tell? That’s not fair.”

He smiled, his fangs folding away. He
suddenly looked for all the world like a doting parent dealing with
an irritable child. “This isn’t about fair. This is about knowing
what’s going on so I can take care of you. Why didn’t you run away
when you had the chance?”

Dani huffed to let him know she didn’t
like giving in to his demands, but she didn’t want to be at the
kind of mercy his bite would place her in. “I want to stay with
you. I like being with your clan, even if your people did blow up
Earth in that stupid war.”

She waited for him to laugh or worse
still, reject her. He did neither, his face softening while his
hand left her chin. His arms tightened around her, holding her
close to his big, wonderful body.

When he did smile, it was with quiet
joy, not amusement. “Thank you for that. I know it wasn’t easy to
expose yourself.”

“
Yeah, so what?” She was
going to have her pout no matter how gorgeous he was or how good
his body felt against hers.

“
So I want you to stay with
us too. All of us do, but it will only work if I know what’s going
on with you at all times.”

Dani’s heart fluttered. “What if I
screw up? Then what?”

He kissed her forehead and rubbed his
lips along her skin as if to erase the lines of worry there. “Then
we find out why you did what you did and see what has to happen to
keep you from ‘screwing up’ again.” He regarded her with
seriousness. “People make mistakes, Dani. You won’t be discarded
simply because of a flub here and there.”

“
You won’t sell my contract
to someone else no matter what I do?”

“
Is that what you’re afraid
of?” He shook his head. “You’re ours, Dani. It might not always be
easy on any of us, but people worth having rarely are.”

She swallowed against the ball of tears
that rose in her throat. “You think I’m worth having?” To be
important to someone else…

“
I thought so even before
you put yourself on the line for Krijero. Your actions today only
prove how right I was. You’re not going anywhere. We’re keeping
you.”

He punctuated that statement with a
kiss. Despite the parental tone of his conversation, there was
nothing fatherly about the way his mouth moved on hers, his tongue
slipping past her lips to stroke its twin. Dani melted against him,
her body pliant to his desires. Gelan’s growl let her know he felt
her surrender.

He lowered her to the leaf-covered
ground. He continued to kiss her with demanding passion as he
stripped his formsuit down to his boots. Dani shivered with delight
to feel his silky skin against hers.