He was looking down at her with an expression she couldn’t read. Did he understand her? If he did, it didn’t seem to make any difference since he kept a firm grip on her hand as he led her across the cavern.
He stopped in front of another wall of vines, this one with slender blue leaves. He gently parted the leaves to reveal clusters of small, white berries hidden beneath them.
“Eat skara,” he said triumphantly as he freed a cluster and offered it to her.
“I really don’t think that’s a good idea.”
He seemed to understand her hesitation, and he popped two of the berries into his mouth.
“Skara good.”
He offered them to her again, but she shook her head.
“Just because they’re safe for you, doesn’t mean they’re safe for me.”
After all, he was a native of Mars. Or was he?
All of her earlier questions came rushing back.
Who was he?
Where had he come from?
How could he be here? How could any of this be here?
She was standing in an underground cavern that shouldn’t exist with a male who couldn’t possibly exist. A huge, naked, undeniably real male.
A rush of dizziness washed over her and she swayed, her knees threatening to buckle. A strong arm wrapped around her waist. The last thing she remembered before darkness took her was the unmistakable sensation of being pulled securely against his chest.
CHAPTER SIX
He looked down at the small female in his arms, his thoughts a confused mixture of protectiveness and a wrongness that kept scraping at the edges of his awareness like sand against scales.
Her skin was too smooth. He kept noticing this, running his thumb across the back of her hand where it was still clasped in his. No scales, just soft, vulnerable flesh that seemed designed to be damaged. How did she survive? How did any of her kind survive with such inadequate armor?
Her kind.
Another thought that seemed both right and wrong. Their differences were obvious, but it felt as if she belonged to him. That she washis kinddespite those differences. He sighed and carried her back to the soft patch of moss next to the water vines, studying her sleeping face as if it would reveal the answers he sought.
The odd shell she was wearing had opened slightly at her throat. Another wrongness—her clothing. It covered her completely,sealed her away from the air and earth. Unnatural. He longed to remove it, to feel her soft skin against his, but he suspected she would object.
He cradled her closer and tried once again to remember.Why am I here?And perhaps more importantly,who am I?A few more memories tried to surface, but they were only scattered fragments, most of them tinged with unmistakable sorrow. Perhaps it was better not to remember.
He wasn’t sure how much time passed before her eyelids fluttered open. A smile curved those soft pink lips as she looked up at him, but then her eyes widened and she pushed herself upright.
“Oh my God. I can’t believe I actually fainted. You… you didn’t have to hold me.”
She was trying to push herself away from him, her efforts no more effective than a bantha cub, and he found himself smiling.
“Good,” he said calmly, and she gave him an exasperated look. He might not understand her words, but her expressions were clear enough.
“No good.”
She tried to wiggle free again, but given her position, all she succeeded in doing was rubbing her soft little ass across his cock. His body immediately responded to the sensation, and her eyes went even wider, a wave of pink creeping up her neck and over her face.
“What are you… You can’t… I mean, we can’t… I mean, no. No!”
He reluctantly lifted her free, although he kept one of her hands tucked in his. Her mouth dropped open as she glanced down andsaw the effect she’d had on his body, but this time he wasn’t sure about her expression.
