Page 9 of Protected By the Alien Commander

8

Doshax

I scannedthe horizon with my scope. Nothing moved except the mottled reptiles by the vegetation, but they were eating the green plants and no longer chasing us.

I put the scope back in my pocket and turned to the female. My quills had risen again. My desire for her had never left, but now that I was not running, it had gotten much stronger. I wanted to feel her soft, smooth skin and mate with her, but this was not the time or place.

“Weneedtogetbacktomyshipandfriendstheyrecountingonme.”

Again, I wished we were near my ship and within range of its universal translator.

She pointed back towards the plants. Was she asking what those reptiles were? I shook my head. I had no idea what they were other than dangerous to us. Even if they did not eat meat, they were large enough to cause trouble.

I looked down at my wrist computer and tapped the crystal screen. The compass still could not get a lock on a direction.

Then I froze. It could not find my ship’s location anymore.

That was impossible. The beacon worked everywhere—in lightspeed travel, across star systems, and through jump gates. Even if I had been in the middle of the galaxy, my wrist computer should have shown the location of my ship.

One more thing to add to this planet’s growing list of oddities that I did not like. A feeling of unease grew—that my grandfather’s stories were true, and this was the abandoned planet Yazell. But, it couldn’t be, those were just stories to spook younglings. In addition, I did not care where we were as long as I made sure my men had crashed safely and the pirates were captured.

I pulled my bag off and reached in for a bottle of water, then frowned and looked at the female. She did not have her bag that held her bottle of water. My meager supplies would have to last for the both of us, for however long that would be, until we were rescued. And I did not know where either of our ships were. Herrex, this was not going well.

While drinking, I looked up at the violet sky. Still no air traffic, ships entering and leaving the planet’s atmosphere, or a faint glow from domes. I felt slightly ill at the realization that I could not deny reality any longer. This had to be the planet Yazell. There was no civilization, and technology did not work correctly. Thankfully, there had been no disappearances.

Yet.

I handed my water bottle to the female. She squinted her eyes at the bottle’s opening, then wiped it off with her dress, which was dirty from rolling in the stream. I shook my head and looked away. This was no time to be squeamish, and I needed to think, which I could not do while facing her. She was too distracting.

The planet had uncloaked right when our ships had died. There had to be technology working on this planet, which meant some sort of civilization. I had thought there was an IGS secret base behind the row of sharp pointed vegetation, but the giant reptiles coming from that direction proved that theory wrong.

Whatever this planet was, it did not change my mission. I would find my men, capture the pirates, and keep this female alive. And not just because I was attracted to her like a fireworm to fire. She was from a species that needed a caretaker at all times, with that soft skin and no natural defenses.

I turned back to the female, who was standing with her arms over her midsection. She looked in distress. I pointed to her. “What is wrong?”

She tilted her head, which was adorable. I pointed to her midsection and tilted my head, which I assumed meant she did not understand. I hoped mimicking her actions would help our communication. It worked, and her face cleared. She pulled up her dress to show reddened bites on her midsection. Did this female not know the danger of leaving bites untreated? Flaxx this lack of a universal translator!

We had to get to my ship and the standard issue IGS medkit. We could not go back to the healing vegetation, not with the giant reptiles gathered there.

The bright star had lowered in the darkening violet sky and would soon be below the horizon. It would not be long before we could not see. Night creatures would come out to hunt for food, and we needed to find shelter before then.

I looked around for anything to use for an overnight shelter. Not too far away were some dead, tan colored scraggly bushes. Thank the Goddess the IGS had made the previously useless decorative knife as part of their uniform. It has proven to be very useful in this environment.

Her light footsteps followed me while I walked the short distance to the bushes. I cut several down until there was a large pile. The limbs were twisted as if mutated by radiation. Another reason to get off this planet as fast as possible.

I pulled off my shirt to a gasp from the female. A glance at my chest showed no cuts or blood on my midsection, so I looked at her, then hid my smile. She was eyeing me with desire. If only I could take the time to honor her and give her pleasure… but preparing a shelter and standing guard came first.

I cut the shirt into strips, then snapped branches off the stunted trees. I tied them together at one end and stood them up as a tripod. It was the type of shelter we built on the Plains of Ocren during our annual pilgrimage. Except we used fabric. But here I placed the scraggly bushes in between the branches and tied them to the wood with the rest of the strips of my shirt.

The human female had watched me work at first, but after a while, she carried bushes to our campsite and helped make our shelter. I was impressed that she would risk damaging her soft and thin skin.

The shelter did not look like much, but it would keep out dust and smaller predators. It was not tall enough for me to stand inside, but there was enough room for her to lie down and I to sit. We did need to construct a covering for the entry. The female’s dress would have to be used.

I pointed to her dress, then to the opening in our shelter, and motioned cutting with my hands. She nodded and held out the bottom of her dress, which was stained orange and red from the dirt and her blood.

I held the fabric and was close enough to feel her body heat and detect a delicious scent. Her arousal. My quills shot straight up, to my embarrassment. I had never had such trouble controlling my body’s reactions around a female since I had been a midling.

I cut a wide strip of fabric from her dress. It was not big enough to cover the opening, but it would give me warning if something tried to enter. My flight jacket would have been perfect, but I was sure the female would need it to stay warm at night. She had no fur or thick skin to keep the cold at bay. Temperature changes in a desert could be extreme.

I crawled into the shelter after the female while I reminded myself that I could not get attached to her, though I feared it was already too late. I had only one more year left of my service to the IGS and had yet to find the pirates that had killed my family. In addition, I needed to find my men and get off this planet. I could make sure she survived and get her back to her ship, but that was it. I ignored the pang in my chest at that thought.

How could this female from an unknown species, so unlike my own, inflame my desires like no other female had?

Goddess save me. Being so close to her in this small shelter would be torture.