Her heart jumped in her chest and she twisted around to gauge his expression.
He turned her in his arms, clutching her in an embrace tight enough she wondered for a few moments if he was trying to crush her.
As abruptly as he’d seized her, he released her, almost shoved her away, glaring at her furiously. “You little fool! You nearly got yourself killed! You loathe me so much you would risk death to escape me? It scared me out of ten years of life when I saw you climbing the cliff! I could not even think for several minutes and then I realized you would fall if I startled you and I did not want to take a chance that you might and I might not be able to catch you so close to the cliff.
“I could do nothing but move below you and hope that I could catch you if you fell!”
Annika merely stared at him uncomprehendingly since she didn’t have a clue of what he’d said, but shewasstruck by his body language.
If he’d been human, she would have interpreted his behavior as that of someone who cared what happened to her, somebody she’d scared with her recklessness.
She studied his taut, angry face, his furious gestures and suddenly she knew what he was saying—the gist of it anyway.
How did she feel about it?
She wasn’t certain, but she felt the urge to soothe and she yielded to it. Moving close in spite of his obvious reluctance to have her anywhere near him, she slipped her arms around his waist and looked up at him. “I’m sorry.”
The angry tirade ceased the instant she embraced him. He stared at her with a mixture of anger and bafflement, but she felt the tension go out of him. He lifted one hand and touched her cheek, lightly stroking it. “Saw-ry?”
She nodded, lifting one hand to touch his cheek as he had hers, a light caress. “Sorry. I wasn’t trying to kill myself and I didn’t do it to scare you. Well, honestly, I had no idea you were still close enough to see me and it wouldn’t have occurred to me that you would care enough to be upset that I looked like I would fall any minute anyway.”
She thought about it. “You cared enough to save me the first time—well twice. I should’ve had more consideration,” she added contritely. “But Ineedto find the men that were with me! I have to signal the people at home that I survived. My family will be worried sick if they’ve heard about the crash.”
But then what she’d said actually registered, triggered memory.
They hadn’t crashed on the plateau! If they had, she wouldn’t have been falling when she stepped out—not unless it was on the edge of the cliff and she could see that clearly enough to see there was no wreckage.
She pulled away from him and began trying to communicate with a combination of words and gestures.
His expression became closed and she wasn’t certain if that meant hehadunderstood and just didn’t want to take her to the crash site or if it meant he hadn’t understood.
He studied her for many moments and finally looked away, not as if he was looking at something but rather thinking. When he looked at her again, she realized he’d made some sort of decision.
He opened his arms to her and waited.
Annika looked at him with dismay because it immediately leapt to mind that he intended to fly with her.
But maybe he intended to take her to the crash site and that was the only way?
For a handful of seconds she was torn between the desire to try to communicate with home base and the complete loathing of the possibility of his brand of flight. Finally, swallowing against a knot of terror, she moved close to him and looped her arms around his neck. He lifted her up and guided her legs around his waist and then clamped his arms around her.
Instead of taking off immediately, he hesitated long enough that Annika looked at him questioningly.
The smoldering look he gave her sent a wave of heat through her and a flicker of doubt, made her wonder if she’d completely misunderstood the gesture.
A wry smile twisted his lips. He took several running steps and then leapt.
Annika felt her belly try to crawl into her throat as they went over the side of the cliff.
She was still preoccupied enough with that look, however, that she more than half expected Zhor to simply head for the cave and the bed waiting there.
Instead, they whizzed past it—or at least past the opening shethoughtwas the one they’d been occupying.
His spiraling descent made her so dizzy she closed her eyes, trying to control her stomach, but she could feel that they were continuing to drop and then she began to worry that she was so heavy Zhor couldn’t do anything but try to control their fall. Finally, however, he slowed almost to a complete stop and she opened her eyes in time to see that he had settled on what looked like a huge tree frond!
“Are you out of your fucking mind!” she gasped in horror, refusing to let go when he tried to put her down.
He bounced.
