However, his body gives him away because we are pressed together and the length of his erection is hard against my stomach. My lips part as I stare up at him. I need more than what he’s offering.
What did he say? It’s my choice? This is not the time to be worrying about this thing between us. We both look away and he lets me go like I burned him.
“It’s fine, I don’t need help.” Harding swings down and lands nearby. He pulls his gun and moves to secure the area.
Eskar pulls the knife from the almost invisible sheath on his thigh. I don’t know what the blade is made of, but it is black like his uniform. No wonder I missed it. The obvious bulge in his pants is unmissable. An image of him naked in the water flashes inappropriately through my mind. I do not need this lust drug he’s given me at a time like this. It’s distracting.
My gaze keeps drifting over to him. I need to get busy and put some distance between us, so I’m not breathing in his scent—which really isn’t helping.
“I need the med kit. It’s one of the bags.” There should be three of them near the fire.
The forest chatter has returned. I hadn’t realized how noisy it was until there’d been deadly silence. Emboldened, I walk toward the fire and call out Ava’s name. I expect her to step out of the shadows, with a fresh kill in hand, or a captured light.
I turn around, taking in the damage. “Ava?”
To the side of the clearing, a creature is dead. Dark blood matts its white fur. Even though it attacked, I’m still saddened by the creature’s death. We are the interlopers.
“I’ve found Calloor,” Harding calls.
I run over, but one glance tells me there’s nothing I can do but give him pain meds. I can’t reattach body parts and we don’t have any blood or blood-sub—which only buys time. I swallow hard and shake my head, I have to ask Harding to do the worst part of my job so I can help Wraight. “Can you sit with him while I find the med kit?”
Harding closes his eyes and draws in a breath. He knows he’s keeping Calloor company until he dies. I almost expect him to refuse. Calloor can be a dick, but this isn’t a good way to die. Then Harding sits and picks up the hand that is attached and starts the useless reassurance that I’ll be back in a moment.
I turn away. Eskar is only a few steps behind me, like my own personal guard. If I can find the bag, I can at least give Calloor a shot of pain med that in his state will make sure he sleeps and never wakes. My vision blurs, and a hot tear spills down my face. “How did you survive for so long?”
Eskar touches my cheek, and the tears freeze. “Not everyone did. But those that lasted a hundred days were changed. Little things at first.” He holds the frozen tear on the end of his finger, before bringing it to his lips like it is the sweetest candy.
I stare at my tear melting on his lips. “You can freeze water.”
“I am water.” He concentrates for a moment, then shimmers. And while he looks the same, his skin has taken on a glasslike quality. Even his hair looks different.
I hesitate, then reach out and touch his lip. I expect him to feel cool, the same as he always is. But the change is something else. His skin is still rough, but it’s harder, like he is made of frost and ice. Only his eyes are the same. This is the man who was in the water, breathing for me. Who saved me. “Being here did this to you?”
“Yes…I’m old, no longer truly Paohl, and with no future, only more of the same. You changed that.”
“I will change.” If we don’t leave, we’re going to die or became water like Eskar.
Harding stands. He walks over and scowls at me. “What the hell have you been doing?”
“Learning our fate,” I snap.
It’s only then Harding looks at Eskar. Eskar shakes off the change and returns to what I think of as his normal. But is it? Or is he changed even when flesh?
Harding’s gaze narrows. “What have you done to her now?”
“Nothing. I was explaining how the planet changes those who are stuck here.”
My changes have already started. Since he stung me, I no longer feel the cold. How long until I am made of frost?
Harding looks at me. “What is he talking about?”
“The Paohl that survived one hundred days were changed. They can become water.” That’s how he’d saved me. He’d seen the crash and moved through the frozen river without fear of drowning. When he saw me, he knew he’d either claim a mate so he wouldn’t be alone forever, or he’d die from losing his barb.
And I only have three days to decide.
“That’s not possible.” Harding shakes his head.
“Look around.” I turn and take in our wrecked campsite. “We crashed for no good reason. False life readings. Eskar who should be dead but is still young.”
