It was so bad now that Commander Chaos was whimpering, and Maya sacrificed her own comfort so she could cover his ears. The poor pup had great hearing, and it must be horrible for him.
The flying menace decided they were not worth the perforated eardrums after all. It turned and fled, following its friends over the trees. The moment it was gone, the sound stopped.
Maya eyed her rescuer, unsure what to make of him. He’d just saved her from certain death, but that didn’t mean much.
“Today must be my lucky day,” said the male at the far shore, as he threw her a line. “Hurry up, female, before they come back. You smell awfully tasty.”
She eyed the line, unsure if she was jumping out of the frying pan and into the fire. But what other choice did she have?
Here goes nothing.
Ranek
A human female holding a furry creature in a bejeweled harness was not what he’d expected to find.
The female had brown skin, just a shade darker than his own, and warmer, as if it had been touched by the sun's glow, even when it was covered in mud. Her hair was swept up out of her face in a large, puffy bun atop her head, and there were black smudges under her eyes, remnants of her makeup.
She wore a simple outfit, and the uniform shirt had a company logo on the chest. Was that the company she worked for? Was she paid for the work? Or forced to work?
He squinted at his new companions as he hauled them in from the swampy waters.
Dragus R Us.
Dragus?
Those were the terrifying beasts that hunted the Reka 5 wilderness in packs. They’d caused Reka 5 so much grief in the early days that the colonists had erected giant fences around the different sections of the colony to keep them out. One dragus was no problem for a Tallean male since they weren’t that big and went only up to this human female’s waist. But dragus always hunted in packs, and where there was one, there were many.
Before this moment, Ranek had only ever seen these dangerous creatures in videos, and in every one of them, the creatures had been attacking something or someone.
But this creature before him was nothing like the beasts in the videos. For one thing, it was still a juvenile. It had several white patches of fur on its body, and its ears folded over halfway. It was furry all over, and the fully grown ones in the recording had fur only from the nose to the midsection, their lower half covered by thick, leathery skin.
Instead of attacking, the creature clung to the female, terrified, as if it believed the human was its mother. The human seemed right at home with it, comforting the little bedraggled mess of a creature.
The female was just as dirty now that he had a good look. She was caked in mud, but her sorry state didn’t detract from herbeauty and her curvaceous form. And the dirt and mud didn’t dull the sparkle in her eyes.
Since his entry into the outer planets, Ranek had met many human females, and there was one thing they all had in common: They were full of grit and determination. His sample was a bit skewed, however, since many living in Vosthea and Reka 5 had escaped slavery under Dominion rule.
He gave the rope one last tug, grateful that he’d thought to bring it along, then extended his hand out to the female. He expected her to throw herself at him, grateful for the rescue. To his surprise, she plunked the wet, muddy, and disgruntled ball of fur into his arms instead.
The creature immediately realized it was in the arms of a stranger and a predator to boot, and scrambled to get away. It bounded out of his arms and landed on solid ground before shaking its body violently in a bid to get dry, sending mud splattering in all directions. A large splat landed on Ranek’s chest.
Fuck. That was one of his last clean shirts. Well, clean-ish anyway.
“Argh!” The female slipped, sliding down the sloped surface of the bank again, and landing with a splash in the muddied water.
Ranek reached down, grabbed her arm, and hauled her out of the bog. She was lighter than he’d expected, and the momentum carried her against him, plastering more mud across his chest and shoulders.
She looked up at him, her eyes wide and filled with uncertainty. The moment caught him off guard, striking through the armor he’d worn for ages. Something in the way she clutchedto his shirt, mud streaking her face, pulled at instincts he hadn’t trusted in years. Protectiveness surged through him.
“Thank you,” she said, clearing her throat.
Ranek stood rooted to the spot, mesmerized, forgetting how to make words or even how to breathe. He knew there was a proper response for that, but all he could do was pull her closer to his body and hold her.
Despite the organic stench of the swamp gases, her natural fragrance still punched through. Now that she was so close, it filled his lungs.
Stars! What perfume was she wearing? It shouldn’t be legal, the way it made a male want to drop to his knees in front of her. A mix of floral notes and spice, it wrapped around him, making his body tighten in ways he hadn’t expected.
He wanted to snarl at the thought of other males catching even a hint of it. He wanted to keep it all for himself. His claws flexed, his chest ached, and for one insane moment, he considered burying his face against her throat and drowning himself in it.
