“It can be, yes.”
“But it did get a bit crazy after you left.”
“Oh? How so?” he asked, curiosity burning bright in his surprisingly clear and attentive eyes.
Margot felt her heart flutter at the intensity of his gaze. “Uh, there was something out there last night.”
His expression remained neutral, but she caught a whiff, afeelingof his energy tensing, if that was even a thing. Whatever it was, calm as he was on the outside, he was not the same on the inside.
“Tell me, what happened?” he asked in an even tone.
“Some animals were really getting into it. Sounded like one hell of a fight.”
“But you were not a part of the situation? Nothing attempted to break in?”
“No. Nothing like that. Why? Does that sort of thing happen around here?”
“It shouldn’t, no. But one can never be too careful.”
“Amen to that. But what happened to you? You said it would be a day or two, not that I’m complaining.”
He grinned, that invisible tension easing up. “I took a shortcut.”
She waited for him to say more but he just left it at that.
“Uh, okay. Well, I’m glad you’re back. Did you see any of Gromm’s people while you were out there?”
“None. Though I did not travel in the direction of the wreck.”
He picked up his wrapped parcel and placed it in the food storage area, then headed to a small cabinet built into the far wall and took out a container holding a salve of some sort. He pulled his shirt off slowly. It was dirtier than she remembered it being when he left. But then he had been running, and at night. It was entirely possible he had gone crashing into something in the dark.
The trio of parallel pink lines on his flank he rubbed the salve onto caught her attention.
“Those are scars.”
“Clearly.”
“Fresh scars.”
“Yes.”
“But I saw you at the waterfall. Those weren’t there yesterday. Those are new.”
His smile faltered, but only slightly. “I had a run-in with a Sweessik.”
“A what?”
“Sweesik. Nasty beasts, and quite aggressive for no reason whatsoever. It attacked me despite my efforts to avoid it. It managed to clip me in the fight, but I won, obviously.”
“Obviously?”
He nodded to the parcel he’d brought in. “Yes. We eat meat tonight. That is, unless your kind is herbivorous, in which case I will, of course, refrain while in your company.”
He’s actually willing to play vegan for me if I don’t eat meat? Jeez, he’s got more social grace than most humans I’ve known.
“Thanks for the offer, but don’t worry. I’m an omnivore. Wait, I should qualify that statement. I’m an omnivore on Earth. Here, I don’t think it’s such a wise idea to make a blanket statement like that. Not until I know what sort of culinary distress I might be getting myself into.”
Braxxos chuckled, his eyes crinkling with amusement. “Then meat it shall be this evening.”
