“You’re awake!”
A light turned on, illuminating the basement softly, and Dottie threw herself at me, wrapping her arms around me before planting several loud kisses on my cheek.
I grunted and opened my mouth to ask what had transpired while I was out, but my tongue was so dry it could barely form the words.
“Here. Drink.” Dottie shoved a bottle to my lips.
I drank deeply, finishing the water in one gulp, and sighing audibly as the liquid hydrated my parched throat. Much better.
“I’m so glad you are awake.” Her arms tightened around me, the mess of furry limbs and warm, purring bodies wedged happily between us. Her breath brushed my neck, ragged and uneven. “You were so still, and I was so worried that you wouldn’t wake at all, even though Kaj’k told me you would.”
“You were worried for me?” Warmth filled my chest as I lifted a hand to cup her cheek. It was too dark for her to see me, but I could see the outline of her face in the low light. I followed the cute little curve of her adorable, upturned nose to her trembling lips. “Does that mean you care for me?”
“Of course I do, you big lug!”
She pulled herself into my lap, and most of the felines scrambled off, awake now and ready to explore. All except for a gray and white striped one, who tried to burrow between our bodies for warmth. I carefully removed it and placed it next to the mother cat, who stared back at me, demanding to know why I’d returned it prematurely.
Dottie clung to me, trembling ever so slightly. I could smell the presence of tears, though she tried to hide them. She let out a soft sniff. Realization that she’d been terrified of losing me had my chest aching. And if I hadn’t already spoken to many hunterswho’ve experienced this around their females, I’d have thought something was wrong with my heart. My chest was rumbling again, and this time the vibration actively soothed the painful feeling.
“I am here,” I murmured against her ear. “I did not die.”
She inhaled sharply against my throat, and she held on even tighter. “You better not have. You still owe me a date. This one doesn’t count anymore.”
I grinned. “Of course. I have heard that dinner and a movie is a popular human choice.”
“Hmm, how about dinner and dancing? They turn the big gym in the community center into a dance hall every Saturday.”
I have seen humans dancing in many videos, sometimes with partners, sometimes by themselves, but I’d never done it before. “I do not know how to dance.”
“I’ll teach you. It’s fun. And I’ve seen the way you hunters move. You’d be a natural.” She was more relaxed now, her body soft and melting into mine. “You know, Kaj’k said you were the overseer and the most capable hunter on the mothership. He was so sure you wouldn’t need his help.”
I stilled. It wasn’t quite right, and I was suddenly overwhelmed with the need to tell her the truth. I let many of the hunters believe what they wanted because it gave them hope. But Dottie was my—well, I wasn’t quite sure what she was yet, but if I were younger, I’d want her to be my mate. And as such, I could keep no secrets from her.
“Dottie, I… Kaj’k may believe that, but it’s not true. I did not become an overseer because I was the most capable. I ended up at my post because I’d failed as a hunter.”
I told her how I’d been charged to keep the young hunters safe that fateful day, as they made their first outing into the alien planet in their search for the scourge. I told her of the storm and how I’d tried to find shelter and keep the group together. And how, despite doing my very best, several on my team, including myself, had ended up grievously injured.
“My best wasn’t enough. When my team found me after the storm, the scourge had already gotten there first. My team had to drive them away despite their own injuries. I was lucky they only took chunks of me, which I could regrow. I did not wake for many days, even after the medical bed could do no more for me. And when I did, I found myself unable to use my arms and legs at all, so bad was the nerve damage from the scourge toxin.
“I was useless. Completely useless for months, but the overseer at the time had taken a liking to me, and as I slowly regained basic mobility, I started to help him around the ship. And when Lor’k went on his final battle, he named me the new overseer simply because I was the only one who knew how to complete the duties to the mothership. He had trained no others. There was no valor in it. I only had my station because I’d failed at the right time.”
Dottie had a frown etched on her face. Did my story of failure disgust her? I was not what she’d thought I was.
Krux! It was hard to pour a lifetime of doubt and insecurity out for the only person whose opinion I truly cared about.
“So you’re telling me you were hit by a freak storm, and you managed to get almost every one of your charges to safety?”
“One was blown away, and we never found him. The rest were injured.”
“Right. And that was the last thing you did before the storm took you as well.” She tilted her head. “Tell me, Ror’k. Have you spoken to these hunters since?”
“I have. Very often. Kaj’k was on the team. He sustained only minor injuries, but he was one of the lucky ones. It doesn’t change the fact that I was named overseer because I could offer nothing else to the contingent. You see me now after many decades of healing. But for a really long time, I could not walk without aid. If Lor’k hadn’t taught me all he knew so I could run the mothership, I would still be useless.”
“Kaj’k said you trained an entire generation of warriors.”
“Training young hunters before they left the ship was part of my duties as overseer. It was difficult at first because I could no longer perform any of the movements. But eventually my mobility returned, if not my strength. I often wondered if I was setting young hunters up for failure.”
“They turned out fine. Strong. Brave.”
