“Fortunately I’m not in such dire shape,” he said, reaching across her to pluck out the antiseptic.“We’ll have to wash these cuts out and then apply the healing patches.The damn creature emitted a nasty ink and I wouldn’t want to leave any residue on the wounds.”
Amellia had to take deep breaths a few times as she worked to take care of him.Several of the injuries were deep and especially nasty.Hagan bore her ministrations stoically, only wincing when she poured a second bottle of water over the worst cut before applying antiseptic and the pretreated healing patch.The nanos imbued in the pad should start work immediately to repair the damage and reknit the tissues.
“Let me get your clothes—you’re shivering,” she said as she shoved the supplies into the kit.
“There’s a med blanket in the go bag,” he said, making no move to rise yet.
“You should have told me.”
He shrugged “You had to have access to the wounds.”Flexing the arm which had been the most severely torn up, he made a sound of appreciation.“You did a good job.I notice an improvement already.Thank you.”
Amellia handed him the blanket, which expanded immediately and he tugged it over his shoulders.
“Now for your clothes.”She assessed his feet and ankles, where the marks of the sea beast’s tentacles showed in angry red.“Will you be able to wear your boots?”
“I’ll leave them off for now,” he said, wiggling his toes a bit.“By the time we get to wherever our third task is, I should be able to manage them.”
He caught her wrist as she turned to go to the car and tugged her closer.“I’m lucky to have you as my partner.”
She was off balance and he caught her close, kissing her full on the lips.Surprised, Amellia kissed him back and as he sought to deepen the caress, she willingly parted her lips for him.She looped her arms around his neck, attempting to be mindful of the wounds she’d recently dealt with and they clung together.Hagan tasted like the best dessert she’d ever had, or maybe the most delectable drink, she couldn’t decide which.There were spices and flavors she had no name for acting like a drug on her system and she couldn’t get enough of him.Any embarrassment over sitting on his lap fully clothed while he was basically naked fled immediately in the face of the emotion and attraction they shared.
The kiss ended and he rested his forehead against hers.“I’ve gone about this all wrong, Amellia Taneek, but I swear to you if we survive the dawn and you’ll give me a second chance, I’ll never stop trying to please and cherish you.”
“We do seem to have skipped right over a number of steps,” she said with a shaky laugh.“I guess that’s what an alien love curse can do to a couple, but I’m not sorry.”His body felt so good pressed against hers and she hated to move but the clock was ticking.He slid his tail around her waist and helped her to stand.
“We must go,” he said regretfully, releasing her and struggling to his feet, making a fresh grab for the med blanket, which had slipped off during their little interlude.
“I’ll drive if you want.”She pulled his clothing from the groundcar driver’s seat where he’d left the garments folded and handed them over.
“It might be a good idea if you don’t mind.I can rest and regain my strength for our last effort.”Hastily he yanked his shirt over his head and put on his pants.“Digging up roots, right?”
“Right.And driving is no hassle, not with the autopilot.”Amellia slid into the driver’s seat as he made his way to the passenger side and as soon as he was seated, she initiated the drive.Retracing their route away from the beach was a simple matter and then she let the autopilot handle navigating to the forest where they hoped to harvest the last item.At his suggestion she allowed the autopilot to go airborne and increase the speed substantially.
“Tell me about the mandrajoo pines,” he said.
“I’m checking the databases now.”Amellia frowned as she watched the tiny holos scroll past.“Wow, there are a ton of legends and superstitions about these.I had no idea.Oh this is pleasant—one tale says if you touch the root knot you die.Since we’re already under a curse maybe we can catch a break on the prohibition.”
His laugh was good natured.“I mean, fair is fair, right?Assuming the gods are watching over us tonight.How is a person expected to harvest these things?”
“Tie a living animal to the root knot and then walk away—” She broke off.“Nope, nope, nope I’m not going there.It’s all ridiculous and disgusting nonsense.We’re going to assume we can dig this piece of wood up and cart it off barehanded.”She flicked away the information flow.
“Maybe with gloves.I have a pair in the go bag.”
“Of course you do.I like a man who’s prepared for every eventuality.”
“I honestly wasn’t prepared for this,” he said.“Not the curse, not the challenges your aunt laid out for us?—”
“And not prepared for us to be an instant couple?”she asked with a sideways glance.
Awkwardly he leaned over and kissed her.“Oh I was hoping for that development.Not under these circumstances, however.Were there any other useful tidbits?”
“Leaving out a bunch of superstitions, the root knots are usually a foot or so underground and each tree may have dozens, which is good because it means us cutting one out shouldn’t damage the tree.”Out of the corner of her eye she saw him checking his wrist chrono.“How are we doing for time?”
“Not good.”He shook his head.“My battle with the sea creature delayed us badly.”
“We’re close to the mandrajoo grove now and then we can go straight to Cheline’s shop.”
“And I’ll be redlining the engines all the way, I give you my word.”
