Serpent of the Abyss by S.J. Sanders
Chapter 28
In the tight confines of Daskh’s tail, Lori lay against his warm scales, her brow furrowed as she glanced at the male holding her captive against him. Although pacing had helped relieve her of some of her anxious energy, she didn’t understand how she was so comfortable being literally tied down by the big alien’s tail. Slengral enjoyed curling his tail around her body as they slept, but even he didn’t wrap his tail around her as if he were terrified of letting loose of her for even a moment.
That she found it sweet was almost insane. She wasn’t supposed to get attached, nor was she supposed to worry about them or snuggle with them. She should be keeping her mind on the prize and preferably ten feet between their bodies. She hated that she wasn’t the badass heroine of her favorite vintage vids, crawling her ass out of the shaft—while she was strong enough for giving regular massages to clients, she also knew that she lacked that sort of upper body strength. She could barely manage the vibration of her heavy mining equipment.
Lori wondered yet again, for what had to be the hundredth time, what the hell the recruiter had been thinking. Nothing about her appearance screamed manual labor. In an emergency situation like this, she had nothing to go on. She lacked the raw strength to beat back hostile aliens as she dragged herself from the damn pit of the mine. She possessed a strong sense of self-preservation instead, and that was what kept her at Slengral’s side. Or so she insisted to herself. She even denied her attraction even when it burned restlessly through her all because of that damn clause in her contract. A contract that was starting to get more and more difficult to care about the longer she spent with him.
Waking up next to him was a special kind of hell too. Every day, when she woke to his arms and tail wrapped lovingly around her, it made her heart melt a little more, triggering the need shot through her like a live wire at the intimate contact. She knew that he could smell it, and the fact that he kept to his promise and did not try to seduce her again just made her want him more.
It was sick and twisted that she desired him. He was an alien! So why was it that when she looked at him, she found something more beautiful about him to admire? The graceful way he held himself, his calm caring nature around her… even his dominant assertiveness drew her more firmly to him. A life being surrounded by a dating pool of humans and her every interaction being scrutinized by Darvel Exploratory left a bad taste in her mouth.
Even if she never followed her desires, she knew that she would spend the rest of her employment with them, regardless of where she was stationed, carefully monitored.
According to United Earth psychiatrist’s union, she knew she shouldn’t feel this way. She was told all her life—drummed into her even in the public education system—that humans who felt romantic or sexual impulses toward aliens were mentally unhealthy. It was a perversion at best. So why did she want to lay in Slengral’s arms and feel his tail wrapping around her? Why did she want to explore his lower body to feel for the vent that would reveal his sex? Why did she want to beg him to sing to her and let her forget everything she had been told and all the worries she had over the repercussions? It was insane to want it with the feverish need that she felt. It was her dirty little secret that she wanted to be his mate.
Even the fact that she enjoyed the warmth and affection from Daskh would be considered unnatural. It was hard for her to keep that in mind when he was such a big teddy bear. He made her feel safe and warm, and cared for. She craved his touch, and being surrounded by him. If she felt a small spark of something more when he was pressed against her just right or when he smiled at her when he offered her a small treat brought down from his cave, she pretended that she didn’t. Her feelings about Daskh confused her, muddying her understanding of how she felt toward Slengral even more.
Perhaps she was simply getting too familiar and too comfortable with the aliens. The medics would likely say that she was suffering from some sort of syndrome after being locked away for so many days with the aliens. There was some sense in that, she supposed, because she didn’t feel like her cool, rational self from just weeks earlier. Where was the woman who did only what she had to in order to accomplish her goal? That woman—the old Lori—wouldn’t be infatuated with forbidden fruit. It wouldn’t have even mattered to her which of the aliens was around her as long as she was safe and working toward getting back to the colony.
Instead, she was actually stressing out for no other reason than because Slengral had been gone longer than usual. Far too long. She couldn’t pretend to be unconcerned, and Kehtal was far too observant. His eyes were always watching her, and it gave her a secret, shameful thrill knowing that his eyes heated with interest whenever no one was watching him. But she saw… she knew. She also suspected that the observant male knew that she wasn’t stressing over her colony, despite the fact that he had spoken of it with Daskh in a low voice, preserving her little illusions she had built for herself.
Her breath expelled in a miserable sigh as she studied the fine, closely meshed scales of Daskh’s skin. The truth was shameful to admit, that while she often voiced concerns over the colony, it was not the fate of her fellow humans that had her pacing anxiously through the main room of the cavern, cold sweat slickening her skin. That worry was only compounded by the strange sounds coming from outside the nest. She had tried to pretend not to hear it, especially when the males made no mention of it, but her skin prickled with the awareness that something was wrong.
She leaned her cheek against the dark scales, enjoying the slight texture to their warm, silky surface. She had touched a snake at a zoo once as a child, and it felt much like this but cool to the touch. Like Slengral, Daskh actually felt warmer than any human, and so hugging his tail felt like she was snuggling with a large electric heater. It only just barely made the wait bearable.
“Do you think Kehtal will find him soon?” she whispered, unable to stand not asking for a moment longer.
Bright green eyes turned down toward her and warmed to a deeper hue of forest green.
“It will not be much longer,” he assured her soft, his deep voice pitched just right to rumble through her pleasantly. “Kehtal is quick and strong, he will find him quickly.”
Gods, she could listen to him talk for hours. It was a shame that he was so big and broody, preferring to listen to her babble instead.
“Yeah, well, he’s been gone for a while,” she pointed out.
“The Aglatha is large, and it takes time to fly into the mouth when one is being cautious, but of any male I know, Kehtal can get around obstacles and locate missing and injured Seshanamitesh better than anyone else.”
“I hope you are right.” She hesitated for a moment before admitting, “Those sounds out there gave me the creeps. It makes me worry about him more if there’s something sneaking around in the shaft.”
Daskh’s ridged brows rose, his ear ridges fanning forward. “You heard it?”
Lori rubbed her palms against her upper arms and frowned. “Yeah, hard not to. It was very quiet but not like the natural sounds of the cave system that scared me before.”
Daskh turned toward her, palming her cheek in his giant hand. “Do not worry. Seshanamitesh are formidable. Slengral will be well and will return soon with Kehtal, and I will protect you here in the nest in the meantime.”
She didn’t share his certainty about that, but the tension within her loosened slightly at his assurance. She knew that their hide was a lot tougher and more flexible than human skin. Whether or not they guaranteed any degree of overall safety in this world she wasn’t able to judge or trust.
“At least the sounds have stopped,” she observed quietly.
She only hoped they didn’t start up again. Despite how tiny and harmless they sounded, they frightened her more than anything. They were too insidious, as if they were trying to seek out something within the cave and invade it.
Hugging Daskh’s tail to her, she watched the entrance, waiting. The male holding her sighed, and the tip of his tail playfully flicked her cheek, surprising a snort of amusement from her. That amusement died, however, when she noticed that he had reached over and grabbed the long spear-like velkat and was firmly gripping it in his long fingers.
She cleared her throat and looked pointedly at it. “I thought there was nothing to worry about.”
His mouth widened in a broad, fanged grin. “And there will not be as long as I have this with me. Just in case it is needed.”
“Not making me feel better here, big guy,” she observed dryly, a tiny shiver stealing over her. “Slengral has one of those with him, right? And Kehtal took his?”
“Yes, they both have their velkats and are capable hunters who know how to use them. Do not worry, hithana.”
Lori squinted up at him, her attention diverted. “You keep calling me that. What does hithana mean?”
Obvious embarrassment swept over the male’s face. “It is an old word that I am certain not many know the meaning of anymore.”
She poked his tail with her finger, her nose wrinkling. “Don’t give me that. Out with it. And it better not mean something unflattering.”
Daskh looked away, his crests lifting and flattening. He was really embarrassed.
“Please tell me it doesn’t mean ‘something the cave monsters shit out or vomited up,’” she added, her lips quirking. “I’ll find a way to get back at you if it means anything like that. I can be pretty inventive with pet names too, just so you know.”
He glanced down at her again, his interest piqued and embarrassment already forgotten. “I would enjoy this thing you call a pet name if that is what is meant when referring to a special endearment.”
“Well, they can be pretty special endearments,” she agreed. “But first, out with it. What exactly are you calling me?”
“You must promise not to tell Slengral,” he said quickly. “I am certain he does not know its meaning since he has never shown any reaction to it. He would be displeased that I am calling his mate by such a name.”
Lori wiggled forward in fascination. “Oh, this has to be good. Fine, I promise. Now spill.”
Daskh sighed. “Very well, female. I will tell you, since I have your oath. I spoke the truth when I said that it is not remembered by most males. I do not think any male of my acquaintance is familiar with it. Not even Kehtal, for all his knowledge. It was a special word my mother called my father. They had a unique mating, before he died and my mother was forced to raise me alone in the shinara until I came of age and the other females drove me out,” he quietly shared.
Her heart constricted. “Drove you out?”
His crest flicked in affirmation. “When a male reaches his juvenile years at around twelve season cycles, he is no longer permitted to live in the shinara. No unmated male is when he comes into his hormones. Some younger if their mother dies when they are small, and they are forced to leave with their father, if their mother had mated the male who sired them.”
Lori’s mouth dropped open, trying for the life of her to imagine a small child struggling to survive. He gently brushed the curled tip of his tail against the back of her neck.
“Do not be sad, Lori. Our world is harsh, and the shinara does what they feel they must.”
She drew in a sharp breath through her nose. “A harsh world is exactly why children should be raised until they’re adults and capable of surviving on their own, and even then still loved and cared for as adults.”
“Our males can be brutal,” he reminded her softly. “The females protect themselves as they have for generations since they retreated into their solitary lives in the shinara.”
“So they’ve sold you to keep you exactly where they want you. It sounds like the worst kind of mind games,” she snapped back.
He regarded her steadily, his head tilting subtly. “Perhaps there is truth in what you say,” he murmured. “I did not tell you this, however, to upset you. I just wished to explain why it is important and so rare to hear. Hithana means ‘undying sweetness of my heart.’”
Lori’s breath escaped her in a startled puff as she stared up at him. “Oh,” she whispered.
What else was there to really say? If there was an appropriate response, then her mind failed to supply it as the big lout smiled down at her in the toothy manner of his species.