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BOOK: No Way Back
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“I think we’ve got a problem with the air filtration,” Jake said between sips. “My shoulder bashed into the control panel during the scuffle and now I can’t adjust the temperature. It’s getting damn cold in here.”

With a hunk of meat in one hand and his mouth full, Drum scooted over and popped off the dented panel cover. He made guttural noises while he chewed his dinner, and Jake wasn’t sure if the sounds related to the meal or the unit.

Whatever was wrong must have been serious because Drum set the meat aside to tinker with the motherboard using a stone sliver he picked up from the floor. Jake let him work in silence for several minutes. Finally, Drum grunted, picked up the remnants of his meal, and sat back down. “No point in putting the cover back on. I don’t know how long that fix will last.” He shrugged and ate with gusto.

“Thanks for the meal,” Jake said, patting his full stomach. What would they do to pass the time now?

Drum sat cross-legged with his back against the opposite wall, licking his fingers. “I must tan the animal hide.” He retrieved the Tygess pelt, unrolled it, and set about scraping it clean. “Tell me about Earth.”

For the next few hours, they talked in fits and starts, mostly about Earth’s latest planetary wars. From above, muffled roars and cries interrupted their conversation now and again. The sounds cast shivers across Jake’s shoulders. Fortunately, Drum’s work fascinated him. He’d never seen anyone tan a hide before. Hell, nobody on Earth did anything by hand anymore.

He watched Drum dig a hole in the floor and mash a smelly grayish mound in it. Jake was certain whatever it was, it used to be part of the animal. “You’re not going to eat that, are you?”

Drum’s shoulders shook with his chuckle. “No. I’m going to tan the hide with it.” He spread the gooey mixture over the flesh side of the fur pelt. By the time the light sticks dimmed, Drum had finished his work and set the hide aside to cure. He chatted while he washed his hands and came back to sit near Jake again.

Strange how comfortable Drum made him feel. It seemed impossible they’d only met a short time ago. As a rule, he didn’t connect easily with others. People, especially females, tended to shy away from him as soon as they learned he worked with insects. Poor conversation topic, he guessed. Drum’s attachment to him gave him a warm feeling at the same time his inner stellar beacon beeped
danger, danger
!

He tucked his hands behind his head and relaxed against the wall. Unless Drum gave him a reason to mistrust him, he’d enjoy this new friendship.

“Tell me more about your people’s connection to Earthlings.”

A warm smile spread across Drum’s face. “We lived together a long time ago…”

The account Drum shared sounded like a fairy tale. Two distinct races merging into a new race without warfare, learning from each other, loving one another. Over time, he supposed, any nasty truths in the tale had been lost or embellished. Either way, the two of them shared some similar DNA.

“So how did the Alishons end up here?”

Drum shrugged. “No one knows for sure.” He wrapped his arms around his folded legs and rested his chin on his knees. “Do you have a family, Jake?”

“Not of my own, if that’s what you mean.” He dropped his arms and drew a pattern in the dirt with his fingertips. “My mother died in a foreign raid. My father remarried. I have two half-sisters.” He looked up at Drum. “How about you?”

“I am the eldest of eight. I have four living half-siblings, all much younger, and a brother who was born in the middle of the pack.” He shrugged. “My mother’s second mate has stronger genes than my father.”

It took a moment to follow what Drum was saying. “Your mother has two mates? At the same time?”

“It is permitted when a couple has a low fertility rate.”

“I take it mortality rates are high on your planet?” He shuddered to think how many the carnivores had killed.

“Yes.” Drum glanced away, a forlorn expression on his face. At a loss for words, Jake sat in silence. Was there something else that stymied the population growth --poor diet, an incurable disease? He longed to know more about the civilization on Alishontakawa, and yet he feared getting too close and staying much longer than he intended. His unprecedented attachment to Drum worried him.

As time passed only a few strips of dim light illuminated their space. A shiver rippled across Jake’s shoulders as a light stick faded to black. Once all the lights went out it would feel like a coffin in here. A picture of the quarters assigned to him during his first flight to Jupiter came to mind. Although he could stand up on that particular space cruiser, the room had been as narrow as this place with less air circulation and a couple of shipmates rutting in the bunk above his. Now those were some sleepless nights!

“I’m going to get some shuteye,” he said, lying on the hard-packed dirt floor and folding his arms beneath his head for a pillow.

“Rest will help you heal.”

“Yeah, well, there’s nothing else to do.” He closed his eyes and thought about the two male engineers going at it almost every night. Huffing and puffing, moaning and groaning, their skin had slapped in one-two time. Unable to see them, he’d pictured them in his mind. Sometimes he thought the erotic sounds would drive him mad, but he’d stubbornly refused to give up his sleeping quarters. He’d become an expert at silent masturbation, a talent he might resume when the lights finally blacked out here, because right now, there was only one thing he wanted to do with Drum. And he’d never had sex with another man before.

I can think of plenty to keep you occupied, my friend
. Drum watched Jake fidget and twitch and finally drift off to sleep. A powerful urge to comfort him skimmed through his body. Beneath the self-sufficient, intellectual outer shell he sensed a man reaching out for companionship. How long before he opened up to him?

He sighed. They had plenty of time. It could be weeks before the herds passed by. The grasses grew thick and lush here, attracting the grazers. The more grazers, the more Wallabusk, and the more scavengers. They didn’t need any more surprises like the visit from the young Tygess though. His gaze shifted from Jake’s peaceful face to his ankle, and he mentally kicked himself once more for leaving Jake open to attack. They should’ve changed the dressing before he’d lain down. Now Drum hated to disturb him. Silently, he crept closer, grabbed an illumination stick, lifted the med pad on Jake’s ankle and examined the bite marks. A dim yellow-green glow illuminated the wound. Several layers of skin had been stripped away, leaving a raw open wound. The med pad helped speed the healing process, but the skin would tighten up and itch by morning.

He replaced the blood-soaked pad with a clean one, gently pressing the edges so they sealed around the wound. The scratches on his legs were minor. No fresh blood dotted his shirt above the puncture wounds in his belly. Drum wanted to lift the shirt hem
so
badly, but Jake stirred, pulling his knees up. His eyes moved rapidly beneath his eyelids. He’d wake him if he tried to examine the wound now.

The scuffle with the beast and the swift butchering afterward had worn Drum out, too. He hadn’t told Jake about the trampled grass ringing the opening to the pit and the warning shots he’d fired to keep scavengers away while he worked. Now that his adrenalin levels had returned to normal, exhaustion set in.

He stretched out alongside Jake, close enough to feel his heat but not touching. As tired as he was, sleep eluded him.

The room was frigid. His fix to the air regenerator had failed. Before he even looked, he knew the temperature circuitry was fried. The temperature choice was High Cool or nothing at all, in which case they’d suffocate. Shutting off the air and opening the hatch in the middle of the night was not an option. Besides, he feared if he turned the unit off, it wouldn’t come back on again.

He glanced over at the animal pelt, scraped clean and smeared with mashed brains. It needed to soak overnight before the final step in the process --softening.

Body heat would have to suffice for now.

Too bad
, he thought with a wicked smile.

He set the light stick near the vent where the cold air slowed the chemical reaction, thus dimming the luminescence and making the light last longer. After his eyes adjusted to the low light, he tracked back to the water tank and quenched his thirst. Now that he was up, he was too wide-awake to go back to sleep, but why sit over here when Jake needed warmth?

As subtly as possible, Drum snuggled up to Jake’s back. The sleeping man sighed softly as Drum spread his warmth around him like a cocoon. The tenseness in Jake’s back relaxed and his breathing slowed into a more natural slumber. Drum felt warmer despite the cold air sweeping over his back.

The urge to wrap Jake in his arms pulled at him. The smell of Jake’s hair, his skin, the fabric of his sleeveless shirt all mixed into a heady scent that quickened his heartbeat.
Arrgh!
When could he run his hands through his hair, lick the salt off his skin, slip his hands beneath his shirt and feel the hard curves of his chest? When could he hold him tight and slip his stiff cock into Jake’s tight ass?

He’d never had to practice restraint before. He and Suva had shared many lovers, each one willing to please. No attachments, no stirrings in his heart, no gut-wrenching worry that he might disappoint. He closed his eyes and envisioned Suva.
My love! You never told me the
transformation would be so difficult. Jake is attracted, I know. Yet, he is not like
other males seeking release, eager for my mouth, begging for my penetration. He
controls his cravings. For what purpose, I do not understand. I dare not pressure
him, yet I must. Before he is yours, he must be mine. When will he accept me?

When?

Unable to resist touching him, Drum held his breath and slowly rested his hand on Jake’s cool thigh.

Jake bucked awake. “Wha --huh?” He sat up and glanced around wildly, his gaze resting briefly on Drum, then blinking at the light stick behind him.

A perusal of Jake’s body led Drum to the small wet stain at the tip of the long bulge in his underwear.
What have you been dreaming about, Jake
?

He imagined teasing him through the cloth, dampening his shorts more with his moist lips. Would erotic nibbles on his shrouded cock make Jake’s erection grow? Or would he shove him away?

The risk outweighed the dare. Jake would come to him. Eventually.

“What are you doing?” Jake scowled at Drum’s close proximity.

“Keeping you warm. The thermostat is stuck on High Cool again. You will get sick without my warmth.”

Jake rubbed his arms. “I was sleeping just fine.” He rolled over onto his side and tucked his hands beneath his armpits. A loud sigh puffed into the silence. “If you’re cold, you can press your back up to mine. Just don’t get cute with any ass bumping.”

“Grouchy when you wake up, aren’t you, Jake?”

He grumbled something Drum didn’t catch and drew his knees back up. Goosebumps raised the hair on Jake’s arms and legs.

“We’ll both be warmer if you’d let me sleep with my chest against your back.”

“I won’t be able to sleep with your dick pushing at my crack,” Jake groused.

Neither of them would, he supposed. In a few hours, it would be morning. Maybe then they could open the hatch and let in some light and warm air. In the meantime, they’d have to suffer with the cold. “All right. Back to back it is.”

For some strange reason, he felt like a Siamese twin joined at the spine, connected to his other half. The limited contact soothed Drum, but the cold kept him awake for a long time.

He must have slept for a while though because he woke with the circulation cut off in one leg.

Sometime during their rest, Jake had rolled over and huddled up to him for warmth, his legs curled around Drum in a spoon position. Jake slept with his arms crossed over his chest, and his elbow dug into Drum’s shoulder blade. One heavy leg draped over his calf, pinning him to the floor.

As much as he enjoyed the comfort of Jake’s body, he had to move. He couldn’t feel his toes. Besides, the position made him uncomfortable. He should be curled around Jake, warming
him
.

Any hope he could extricate his leg without waking Jake died when Jake’s whole body jerked.

“Hmmnnn,” he mumbled grumpily and then… dead silence. Drum played dead while Jake inched back from him. After giving him a few moments to compose himself, Drum stretched out on the floor, working the cold kinks out of his joints.

“Is it morning?” Jake murmured.

“I think so.”

Jake sat up with a groan and shifted to rest his back against the wall. “I feel like shit.”

Drum shuffled over to the water tank and filled the drinking bottle. Although he couldn’t see him, he felt Jake’s gaze burning into his back.
When, Suva
?

Chapter Four

“Any luck making it warmer in here?”

“No.” Drum had spent all morning beating the Tygess hide until it was soft. The green fur pelt wasn’t big enough to keep two warm, so he spent the afternoon tinkering with the air regenerator. He could think of much better ways to spend his time. If Jake would let him warm him up with body friction, they’d both be flushed with heat and happy. “I’m ready to smash my fist into the circuit board. Maybe that will fix it.”

Jake smiled, apparently appreciating his frustration, and Drum smiled too. Any amiable sign from Jake warmed him through and through. “It’s going to be another cold night, Jake.”

Was that a small shrug he saw lift Jake’s shoulder?
Interesting
. Jake had lashed sticks together in a weave pattern to use as a screen for the hatch, and now he jammed the ends into the walls around the opening. Drum doubted it would stop an animal, but it might slow one down. At least, it allowed warm fresh air to flow inside the cold room.

“Too bad there aren’t any big rocks around to heat up.” Jake’s fingers sifted through the pile of stones he’d gathered. “These will heat our toes and that’s about it.” He cocked his head, listening to the thumping sounds above the pit. “Maybe we’ll get lucky and the animals will move off sooner than you expected.”

BOOK: No Way Back
5.18Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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