5. Chapter Five

Chapter Five

K rull

The deafening roar hits my ears before the crashing water sweeps down the street outside. I rush to the window, peering out through the darkness at the churning floodwaters rushing below, carrying debris that smashes against buildings with the force of a battering ram. The metallic pounding echoing through the building must be trash bashing against the metal shutters.

“Oh, my god!” Mara cries out behind me. “Is it… is it very bad?”

I glance back at her pale, frightened face. “It’s intense out there. But this building seems stable. Between the solid construction and those shutters, perhaps…” Having no idea of the building’s structural integrity, I don’t want to give false hope.

Mara moves hesitantly to the window beside me. She peers out for only a moment before letting out a strangled gasp and turning away, the acrid scent of her fear spiking .

This brave female was handling the earthquake and looming tsunami relatively well. But seeing the raging destruction below makes the danger real.

Perhaps if I were alone, I’d be more tuned into my own fear, but my attention is focused on helping the little human through this cataclysm. Terror bleeds from her pores, and I feel her panic rising. Before she spirals too far into shock, I sweep her trembling body against my chest, wrapping my arms securely around her.

Mara doesn’t resist or flinch from my touch. Instead, she melts against me, hands clutching my shoulders. I lift her easily, one large hand splayed across her back while the other cradles her thighs. I carry her to the far corner of the apartment, wedging us both into the tiny space and bracing my back against the shuddering walls.

“It’s so loud.” She nestles closer, pressing her head against my pec as though she’d burrow under my skin if she could.

“The building’s still standing.” I try to reassure her with the only true thing I know as my palm circuits from her waist to her nape, trying to provide comfort.

Mara clings to me, presses her face tight to my neck, hands fisted almost desperately in the fabric of my coveralls.

“Shhh, I’ve got you,” I rumble, rubbing her back gently as I curl myself around her smaller frame. “It’s alright, just hold on to me.”

My protective instincts surge even as my body thrills at the feel of Mara tucked so trustingly against me. Fear still taints her sweet scent, but now I detect notes of something richer, warmer. What’s wrong with me that at a time like this, it lifts my spirits to think my presence is calming her? It also stirs my blood and makes me want to shelter and soothe her even more.

“H-how can you be so calm?” Mara’s voice shakes almost as hard as her slender frame.

Squeezing her gently, I duck my head, so my lips nearly brush the delicate shell of her ear. “I’ve got you, Mara. I won’t let anything happen to you. I promise.”

She shivers, somehow pressing even closer. “Aren’t you scared too?”

“Yes,” I admit, smoothing my calloused hand down her silky brown hair. “But right now, I’m focused on keeping you safe.”

“Krull…” Mara turns her face up to mine, brown eyes glinting in the candlelight. And for a moment, something hot and electric thrums between us, even through the fear.

Then the floor beneath us groans loudly under the assault of the raging water and debris outside. Mara startles, burying her face against my throat once more. She’s shaking badly again, and I resume my steady murmur of reassurances. Embracing her tightly, I will my strength into her as the tumult continues outside.

On and on it goes, my brave human female clinging to me as her home, and possibly the whole city, is battered by forces beyond our control.

I bend my head, brushing my lips over her hair, her temple. “You’re being so brave,” I tell her. “This will pass soon, I promise. Just hug me tight. I’ve got you.”

I purr for her, though I probably shouldn’t. Orc males purr for their females. It’s intimate and usually reserved for mates. It just feels right to comfort her like this.

The Mara I met when I arrived would pepper me with questions about it. What am I saying? That Mara wouldn’t be in my lap, clutching me for dear life in the first place. This Mara, though, the post-tsunami Mara, seems to be drawing comfort from it.

At last, the awful sounds subside. Mara gradually stills in my arms, her ragged breath and pounding heart slowing.

“Is it… over?” she whispers.

“Sounds like the worst has passed.” I rub her arms briskly. “But let’s stay put for a little longer to be safe.”

Besides, it seems we’re here for the duration. There’s not much we can do but shelter in her little one-room apartment.

With her held tightly in my arms, something stirs inside me. It’s an emotion I’ve never experienced before. Although it reminds me of the tender feelings I have when I hold one of my friend’s children, this is combined with other things—affection, protection… possession . I may have been raised on Earth, but sometimes my orc DNA surges to the forefront.

With Mara tucked against my chest, we stay frozen in our tiny corner refuge, holding tight to one another while the last rumbles fade away. As an eerie silence settles over the ravaged street outside, my heartbeat edges toward normal even as my mind races, wondering what new level of hell is threatening just around the corner.