“Rest, young human. Let your lungs clear.”
Dad grumbled and tugged at T’raat’s shoulder. “That’s enough of that. You should get out of here.” So much for Dad being understanding.
“Please, Dad. Let him stay,” I begged as my eyelids grew heavy. “Please?”
“I will keep her safe,” T’raat assured. “No harm will come to her under my watch.”
To my surprise, Dad begrudgingly agreed. “Fine.” He stalked off, and T’raat turned back to me.
“Rest,” he crooned, his voice strangely hypnotic. “Rest and recover.”
Chapter 2
T’raat
I watched the human girl—Leigh—sleep off the effects of thehurrmexhaust. Guilt weighed my hearts as I worried over her still form, not letting me rest. How could I, knowing I was the cause of her physical distress?
When she woke at the first rays of starlight beaming through the window, I rejoiced. She survived the night!
“How are you feeling?” I asked her as she opened her mouth wide and took in a large gulp of air. A yawn, my nanites informed me. Her back arched as she stretched her arms over her head, an alluring sight that strained the fabric over her two human breasts. Though limited in number, her teats did not suffer for this. They were both round and full and firm, all excellent qualities in a teat.
“T’raat! You’re still here,” she said, and her plump, red lips spread in a smile. It pleased me that she found joy in my presence.
“I would never leave you unguarded when you were not well,” I said. “That would be most … impolite.”
Her smile faltered. “Is that the only reason you stayed? Manners?”
I paused, trying to decide how to answer. Harrison waited outside the door; I could hear his human heart beating on the other side. “You are … not unpleasant to look at. It made my watch easy.”
She smiled to one side of her mouth, an oddly appealing sight despite the asymmetry. A smirk. “I’m glad you find me pleasant to look at,” she said. Her high voice had dropped in pitch, and her lids hooded her blue eyes.
A sudden pounding on the door startled us both, and I leapt to stand between Leigh and her door’s attacker. Had an enemy gotten past her father?
“Leigh, you had better not be encouraging him in there!” Her father’s voice, though muffled by the door, was quite loud. I winced at the volume of it. “Iwillcome in there if need be.”
“I’m surprised you haven’t already,” she said to the closed door, her tone once again quite different.
The range of human emotion expressed in their voices amused me. It would take some time to decipher it, but I noted that Leigh’s voice towards me held lighter tones, while her speech towards her father was often clipped and tight. Harrison’s tone seemed to ever be gruff and threatening, and I wondered if that was a difference in the males of their species or if it was a product of something else.
The metal ball on the side of the door rattled. “The fucker locked it!” I heard through the wooden slab.
Leigh turned to me. “You locked out my dad?” she asked, and her tone had returned to its lighter pitch. She let out sharp bursts of breath and sound in a staccato pattern, which mynanites told me was called laughter. “You actually locked out my dad.”
Laughter was … good? It signaled amusement, at least, which I would prefer over something negative. “He threatened us with the blade last night. I thought it prudent to slow him should he decide to make good on that threat.” I pointed at the locking mechanism I had found in the door’s metal parts. “Once I realized I could stop his entry by turning that little latch, it only made sense.”
Leigh sat up and threw her arms around me, squeezing me. I froze, uncertain what the proper protocol was for this.
“You’re sweet to worry, but Dad wouldn’t actually hurt me, and I’m sure he wouldn’t hurt you, either, as long as you didn’t do anything wrong. He’s mostly harmless if you don’t count butchering cattle from time to time.”
I paused to allow the nanites to process her words.“Hekills those beasts by himself?”My eyes widened, and I gaped at the closed door. “Your father is mighty.”
More laughter followed, and Leigh’s lips pressed to my cheek before she let me go. “You’re silly,” she said as she sat back.
I did not understand what was humorous about my reaction. She just informed me that her father has slain the large beasts and cut them into pieces, and she reacted as though my shock at such brutality was … funny. “Does he not fear their retaliation?” I asked. “A beast that size could easily murder him for such an affront.”
She lifted her shoulders and lowered them quickly. “It’s not a big deal. They’re pretty docile animals, and it’s not like they have opposable thumbs. Once they’re in the barn, they’re pretty easy pickings for him. Besides, we only slaughter the older ones who don’t give milk anymore.”
“He kills their elders?”
