Or because he’d always needed to do everything himself?she wondered, the thought appearing suddenly. Perhaps he’d never had anyone that could take care of him, at least not since he’d left the Golden City.
“Stop, just let mehelpyou,” she ordered, her voice firm, catching him around the wrist and tugging him to a stop. “I’ll be quick. Where are they?”
His expression was grim, his lips pulled down into a frown. Then his shoulders sagged slightly, resigned, probably from the determination he heard in her voice.
His chin jerked. He raised his clawed finger—the same one he’d used to brush back her hair—towards the wall of chests near the crops. “The first one.”
Erin nodded and moved down the stone. It didn’t take her long to reach the base’s floor and, with a single glance at the main tunnel entrance, she quickly strode to the chests, trudging through heavy water with effort. She found the tunics, fresh and dry. She was tempted to bring the whole chest, but it had to have been over fifty pounds of solid metal, not to mention the weight of the material inside. Instead, she grabbed bundles, wrapping them, hunching her body over them so they wouldn’t get soaked from the rain, and then shoved them underneath her own tunic.
Then she turned and jogged back towards the cave, splashing water in her wake. She probably looked ridiculous and the cut on her foot ached as she went. In no time at all, she ascended the cave’s entrance and saw Jaxor there, frowning, hovering on the very edge, as ifworriedfor her.
He seemed relieved when she was next to him again but she hurried inside, pulling the tunics from underneath her soaked shirt. The outer layer of one was wet, but the ones underneath were, mercifully, completely dry.
Erin smiled, pleased, looking back at him. He ducked into the cave and she motioned for him to sit, though she frowned when she saw all the blood on the furs. She would have to wash them out in the rain later.
Now that some of the adrenaline from thekekevirattack was beginning to wear off, she noticed howcoldit was. Especially with her tunic soaked through. There was a small area in the cave that she assumed Jaxor had used for fires before. They would need one soon if they were going to be stuck in the cave for most of the day.
Jaxor repositioned himself. Just as Erin suspected, the wound was still bleeding through the stitches, but not nearly as much. She snatched up the pot of salve off the ground, dipped her fingers in. But just when she reached out, she froze, thinking it was probably best that he did it.
“Maybe you should…” she trailed off. “Unless you want me to.”
Jaxor studied her. She swore she saw a challenge in his gaze, one that made her spine stiffen and her fingers twitch forward. But at the very last moment, he grabbed the little pot and smeared the salve over his own wounds.
When he was covered, Erin took in a deep breath and, after ripping one of the tunics into one long strip, wound it around the middle of his bare chest with his help, knotting it at the end.
“There,” she said, rocking back on her heels, surveying her work. Dark blue blood was already dotting through, but hopefully it would begin to clot soon with the pressure from the wrap. “Are you in pain?”
“Not more than expected,” was what he replied, almost wryly. Reaching out behind her, he dragged over the nearest chest, metal scraping on the stone. It was the chest that she knew contained food rations.
She watched as he fished out a dark bottle. The neck was slim and long. The bottom was round.
When he saw her looking, he rasped, “Luxirian Brew. FromOtala.” At her blank look, he added, “The strongest of them all.”
Realization hit her when he uncorked the bottle and lifted the neck to his lips. “You’re drinking at a time like this?”
After a healthy chug, he noted, “This seems like the perfect time to drink,rixella.”
Erin paused, cocking her head to the side. Well, he had a point there. He was in pain after thekekevirattack, they were rained in for the foreseeable future, and neither one of them seemed to know how to act around the other, despite a mutual attraction and a mutual dislike.
Maybe itwasthe perfect time to drink. Hell, she didn’t remember the last time she’d had a drink.
Erin sighed, sitting down in front of him, shivering.
And when Jaxor held the bottle out to her, those blue eyes knowing, Erin took it without hesitation.
“Cheers,” she murmured and then took a swig.
Chapter Thirteen
His human female was a happy drunk, Jaxor realized as he watched her without hesitation. Erin was flat on her back, smiling up at the ceiling of the cave, talking about something he didn’t understand. Something called a ‘show’ on ‘tv.’ Apparently, she liked this ‘show’ a lot and had been recounting an ‘episode’ in full detail for the better part of the last hour.
“And then he goes, ‘Through concentration, I can raise and lower my cholesterol at will.’And Pam asks, ‘Why would you want to raise your cholesterol?’” Erin was laughing now, full body-shaking laughs that filled Jaxor with something warm and unfamiliar. “And he responds, ‘So I can lower it.’”
She peeled off in another bout of laughter. Meanwhile, Jaxor had no idea what ‘cholesterol’ even was but she obviously found it very amusing.
“God, I love Dwight so much,” she said, her words slightly slurred, her eyes bright when she turned her head towards him, as if to ensure she still had his attention. As if he could ever look away from her, though he had no idea who this ‘Dwight’ was or what she was even speaking of.
Jaxor wondered about the tolerance of humans when it came to Luxirian Brew. She’d had a couple sips, at most, but was the Luxirian equivalent of a couple bottles deep.
