Base zero, p.8
Base Zero, page 8
part #2 of Captured Earth Series
He doesn’t know how erotic this sort of thing is, Sam. He’s an alien. Not human. Not a man.
Alien.
An alien male.
I gulp down another ball of air at that thought just as Ga’Var swipes his tongue around my ankle one more time.
His tongue is thicker than a human’s. Heavier. Coarser.
Longer.
I can hardly see it in the dim light, but Lord, can I feel it.
My fingers grip into the mattress as I force myself to keep still.
This isn’t sexual.
Nothing about this is sexual.
He wants nothing from me.
He’s simply trying to help me.
I repeat those words in my head. Saying them over and over and over again and they help me focus on everything except the alien tongue rubbing against my skin.
Still…there’s a flutter in my belly that I cannot control.
When Ga’Var finally lifts his head, I think he had finished and a huge breath shudders through my chest, but he only moves higher, his tongue coming in contact with my leg.
I inhale sharply.
Even with his suit no longer over his skin, I can hardly see him
“A few more wounds,” he murmurs.
Thank the gods he doesn’t linger. Two swipes of his tongue and he is finished.
I get the sense that he lifts his head and is looking at me.
“More minor wounds, all over your body.” His voice is low and in the silence of the camper, it feels like his words travel through the air, stroking against my skin. “Your skin is very…fragile.”
I don’t move.
If he’s thinking about putting his tongue anywhere else on me…
“I could lick those for you too.”
I’m shaking my head as I sense movement. “No. That’s okay. You’ve helped me already.”
And that’s the truth.
Now, instead of the throbbing pain, it feels like I added aloe and tea tree oil over my skin, cooling it.
He’s leaning over me.
As my eyes adjust to the tone of his skin, I can see him more clearly, and a gasp lodges in my throat.
Ga’Var is…
The Vullan never walk around without their suits covering every inch of their bodies. Sometimes, Fer’ro removes the suit from his face and head, but that’s about it. The others don’t.
But Ga’Var…
The edges of his ridges are a slightly lighter color than the rest of his skin and, like chevrons, they create patterns across his body.
I find myself lingering on the ones that run down his cheekbones to follow the sharp line of his jaw.
Ridges. Ridges everywhere.
I wonder what they feel like. Whether they’re as hard as they look or more like leather.
I certainly didn’t feel them when I was on his shoulder, even though they run in lines across his entire body.
I don’t know how long I stay there looking up in wonder at the alien before me but it suddenly hits me that he is not moving.
I can’t really see his eyes, but I know he is focused on me and I squirm a little underneath his gaze.
“Better?”
I jerk my chin toward my chest. “Yes… Thank you.”
Another beat passes and my cheeks grow warm, but Ga’Var doesn’t move.
Still hovering above me, I wonder what he sees when he looks down at me.
There’s a sharp intake of air as he inhales and there’s a soft sound that escapes his chest before it is suddenly cut off.
It sounds like the trill of a pine warbler…but different.
Deeper.
The mattress suddenly shakes as Ga’Var eases off it and moves away.
“Rest now.” His voice moves through the dark as if he is everywhere in the little camper at once. “I will stand guard.”
I don’t know how he expects me to sleep after everything that’s happened today, but I nod anyway and scoot back on the bunk.
Resting my head on my arm, I stare into the darkness in his general direction.
“Sa’am…”
“Yes?”
“I have shown you myself bare but I will not try to mate with you.”
His words leave me speechless.
I’d never suggested that we—oh God…
Maybe he’s still hung up on that misunderstanding about the word “fuck.”
“That’s not—”
“You are far too small. I do not think the experience would be a good one.”
My mouth falls open as my eyes widen and I stare in his direction.
What…
The…
I slam my mouth shut.
I don’t know what to say, so I don’t say anything.
Shame fills me from where my thoughts had been heading earlier.
“So there is no need for you to worry—”
“Ok! Got you.” I speak so hurriedly I almost bite my tongue. “I’m glad that’s settled then. Now we can focus on getting the hell out of here and back to Base Zero.”
Ga’Var doesn’t respond and I don’t know if he does one of those clicks in his language or if he’s just suddenly gone silent on me.
Maybe that’s for the best.
But now I have a problem.
As the silence settles around us, all I can think about is the fact that he’d been considering mating with me…
I can’t stop thinking about that and the feel of his tongue against my skin.
Chapter Twelve
SAM
My eyes flutter open slowly and then I’m fully awake, breath thundering from my chest as initial panic sets in.
But I’m okay.
I’m alive.
I’m…safe.
Still in the camper.
Still in the spot where I fell asleep on the cot.
As my breathing evens out, I rise my sleepy gaze toward the front, fully expecting to see the large alien looming there.
But I’m only greeted with the dim interior of the camper.
Ga’Var is not here.
I rise a little more, rubbing my hands over my eyes to get rid of the sleep.
It’s morning. Daylight comes into the camper in little streaks of morning sun, lighting up the dust particles that swim in front of me.
I’m moving off the cot before I remember my swollen leg and I end up putting some weight on it as I lift myself.
An automatic hiss and wince leaves my lips before I freeze.
The pain…it didn’t come.
Looking down, a sliver of shock, or maybe fear, runs through me.
My ankle…no…my entire leg.
It’s…covered.
My hand moves up to my face. I’d gotten so used to not feeling the “mask” there that it hadn’t been the first thing I’d thought to check once I woke up.
But now that my fingers are moving over my skin, I can feel that my face is clear.
Had Ga’Var moved it while I was asleep?
Gulping, I look down at my leg once more.
It’s covered in the same black ink that coats Ga’Var’s entire body.
I move my leg, testing it.
It doesn’t feel heavy and I can’t tell the ink is even there.
Just to be sure, though, I take a tentative step toward the storage box set against the side of the camper.
In the darkness, I’d thought it was a table, but I assume whoever owned this before used it for both.
My steps are cautious, awkward, as I try not to put any weight on my bad leg, but what’s surprising is that my leg isn’t hurting half as bad as it’s supposed to.
It feels sort of…numb.
I reach the storage box and pry it open with both hands.
The scent of dust and old life waft upward and I turn my head away a little, stopping my breath as the scent passes.
Inside are a few things.
Blankets. A kettle.
Books.
Books!
I reach for one without even thinking and as soon as I grasp the spine and turn the cover to face me, my cheeks grow warm.
It’s a…romance novel…I think.
Two beings are entwined on the cover only…the female is human and the male is… I can only describe him as a monster.
Not human.
Something different.
I stare at it for a few moments.
I’m definitely reading this…but maybe not so any of the other women can see…or any Vullan.
I don’t want them getting any ideas.
Not that it matters anyway.
Ga’Var doesn’t talk much, but he certainly said a lot last night.
I’m not the Vullan’s type.
Not that I wanted to be.
I set the book down and my eyes narrow as I stare at the rest of the contents of the storage box, annoyance riding at the back of my neck.
How dare he, anyway?
I never said I wanted to fuck him or anything.
My frown deepens as I move a huge blanket out of the way and continue digging.
There’s a utility knife in here and another book. This one less interesting. It looks like a biology textbook and I push it out of the way.
But the thing that catches my attention is the little Polaroid that slips out of it and falls to the bottom of the storage box.
My fingers tremble as I lift the picture.
The happy faces of a couple stare back at me. Grins on their faces as they stand in front of this very camper.
Something clutches inside me and tears threaten to leave my eyes when I spot, at their feet, a small cradle.
They dated the picture.
Just three months before they came.
They’d left for camping just three months before the world ended.
And now…
I have to pull my gaze away and gulp back my emotions.
Sliding to the floor, it takes me a few moments to allow my tears not to fall.
I don’t want to think about what happened to that family…or to that poor innocent baby.
I pray that if they were unlucky and got caught, that the machines gave them an easy death.
But I know that’s just wishful thinking.
Those who got instant death were only those who died in those first few moments.
Everybody else…
They’ve tortured everyone else.
Letting out a deep breath, I reach down to tuck the picture into my dress pocket when I realize my dress is so torn, it is hanging off me in rags.
I have no pockets.
The waist of my panties will just have to do.
I tuck the picture away and rise, dipping my hand into the storage box again.
There’s a mirror in there and I grab it, wiping my still wet eyes as I bring it up to look at my face.
My reflection stares back at me like a stranger.
My cheeks are sunken, my eyes wide with dark circles around them.
My curls hang in a tangled, dirty mess around my head, and my lips are chapped and dry.
I run my tongue over them as I look at myself, my free hand moving to touch my skin.
Well…at least the mask isn’t there anymore.
It’s like it was never there.
That prompts me to look at my leg again.
I’m just stretching my hand toward it when the camper door suddenly opens.
GA’VAR
Sa’am is awake, and she has moved from her resting spot.
I sensed the moment she rose from her slumber, but waited for her to exit the shelter on her own.
Only, she didn’t.
As I swing the door open, ready to enter the small space and find her, my gaze falls upon her.
She is sitting on the floor, right in front of me.
“Sa’am?”
There is fluid coating her eyes, but she looks less in pain than she was the night before.
Sa’am glances up at me, her hand pausing mid-motion and that causes my gaze to fall at what she was stretching toward.
I cannot move as I notice my symbiotes covering her leg.
I did not order them to heal her there.
Since trying to get them to return to me, I have not communicated with them.
This is independent of me.
It shouldn’t be possible.
“Ga’Var. You’re here.” Her hand pauses, and she doesn’t touch her leg.
I am thankful for that.
I don’t want to scare her, but I do not know what to expect.
My symbiotes have never acted on their own before.
We are one unit.
“Looks like I slept all night. Wasn’t my intention at all,” Sa’am continues, and she makes to rise.
I reach out to her, but she’s already doing it on her own.
I can’t help but fasten my gaze on her leg.
It had been swollen the night before. Now, the swelling is noticeably less.
My ba’clan are…healing her.
“Thanks for doing this too.” She gestures at her leg. “It feels like a cast. It doesn’t hurt so much anymore.”
I meet Sa’am’s gaze, glad that she is not yet aware of how to read Vullan mannerisms.
“As long as you are getting better.”
Which is the truth. The only problem is, I have no part in it.
This isn’t my doing.
My ears flick as my ba’clan pulse against me.
A comforting tone, but unlike before, I can hardly feel the section of myself that is on Sa’am.
There is still a connection, but it is not nearly as strong as it should be.
I suddenly wish my womb mate was nearby.
I could ask him questions.
Adee’ra could tell me what to expect, too.
For, my ba’clan are doing something impossible.
The same thing they did for my womb mate and Adee’ra.
Sa’am is becoming a host for a new colony…which makes her…my mate.
Only…she can’t be my mate.
The ba’clan are supposed to join you with a female that will be most suited to you.
Sa’am doesn’t even reach my shoulder.
How is she supposed to take me, much less bear my young?
Each thought sends bolts of fear through me and my ba’clan bristle in agitation.
Sa’am’s eyes become even bigger as her gaze lands on me.
“What is it?” she whispers, her gaze darting outside the shelter, around the forest, and finally up above us.
Her fear scent begins to build, as the flicking of her gaze becomes more and more frantic.
“Do we need to run?”
I reach toward her and grip her shoulder, steadying her.
“No.”
That one word seems to calm her a bit and the heaving of her chest slows down a little.
“Then what is it? Your blades look like they’re rising. That only happens when you’re about to fight.”
My ears flatten against the side of my head, and I pull my gaze away from hers.
I have never once smelled Sa’am’s arousal, even though I am sure she is a fully grown female, albeit a small one.
That could simply be because she is not attracted to me—or any of the other Vullan.
Which is understandable. Her mating instincts could be gone in times like this.
“What is it Ga’Var?”
I cannot meet her gaze.
I want to…but how…
How do I tell a female whose world is being torn apart that I am here to turn it upside down even more?
Chapter Thirteen
SAM
Ga’Var has gone silent again and I sense there is something he wants to tell me but…can’t?
I don’t push it. He will tell me when he is ready to. Though, I have a bad feeling about it.
He leads me out of the camper to the outside and I notice he’s pulled a log in front.
There’s also a Dakota fire hole that he made. One where the fire is put into a hole in the dirt.
I don’t ask how he’s managed to make one. I don’t have the slightest clue how to make a fire from nothing, but what catches my attention is the thing roasting on top of it.
I almost choke on air as my gaze lands on what can only be the squirrel Ga’Var caught the day before.
“Good?” he asks. I glance his way.
He’s wearing his suit again, over his entire body and I wish he’d take it down so I can see his face at least.
We’ve been through enough together now, I don’t mind seeing him.
But I don’t know if he’s wearing the full-body covering to hide his energy signature or not.
That prompts me to look at the transparent circle on my wrist.
Still blinking red and blue.
I clear my throat, looking at the roasting squirrel.
“I did it the way I saw you do the sea creature.”
I don’t get what he means until he continues.
“You slice it open and take out its innards. Then you scrape off its skin.”
The way he says the words has me caught in between being horrified to almost laughing at how disgusted he sounds.
“You did it like I do the fish.” I almost smile at the ingenuity of it. “I didn’t realize you’d been watching me so intently.”
“I have always been watching you, Sa’am.”
I blink at him, the laughter dying in my throat as he moves around the fire.
“Is it done now? I think it has gone through a proper second death.”
He pokes at the squirrel and glances up at me.
I have to blink several times to clear my mind.
“Y—yea, I think so.”
Despite that I don’t want to eat the little creature, the scent of the meat is making my mouth water.
Ga’Var takes it from the fire and stretches it toward me.
But I can’t take it.
It is far too hot.
“One sec,” I say to him as I hurry back toward the camper.
I’m sure they had plates or something of the sort in there. What I wouldn’t do for a fork too.
I hobble a little as I walk but with this cast of sorts, my ankle doesn’t protest too much.
By the time I find an old ceramic bowl and a fork though, the squirrel meat isn’t as hot as before.
Ga’Var places it in my bowl anyway, eyeing the utensils as if they are some weird alien weapons.
