12. Sten

Chapter 12

Sten

A n odd human I’ve never seen before gazes at me with a stricken look. As if I’d killed her pet or stolen her favorite toy. Her eyes appear wet with unshed tears.

I feel guilty for what I said and I don’t know why. I truly have no idea who this female is and I don’t want some stranger touching me as if we are…

“Sten,” my older brother, Rake, scolds. “This is Taylor Dumas, the Librarian you were stuck in here with for the last diurnal. She’s been tending to your wounds. This female saved your life.”

“Or is she Sten’s fiancé? I’m confused,” Thorn says. “I’ve heard two different versions of the status of their relationship.”

The female shakes her head. “No, I am not his fiancé. I am simply the Librarian sent by the Antiquities Council.”

I manage to sit up because the blinding pain I’d felt earlier has now subsided. I feel for the injury on my head, between my horns and find a wound patch, which I assume my brother applied. “Thank you,” I tell Thorn.

“You need to thank her, not me.”

I glance at the quiet female. There’s a nag of remembrance. Images flash in my mind of this female arriving. I frown at her. “I remember you screaming and fainting at the transporter station. You’re that female?”

“Do you remember anything else about me?” she softly questions.

“No.” I look around at the walls of this cave and all the faces staring at me with worry. “I don’t remember how I got here or what’s happening.”

“Okay,” Rake says. “That’s enough for now. We’ve got to get the two of you out of here and down to the open ground where we’ve got a hovercraft waiting to take you to the med lab. Let’s go.”

I’m alone in the Fire Creek lab with Taylor Dumas.

My brothers and my parents and a whole group of Hyrrokin were here with me earlier, before I went under to complete the health plan. The shield is now gone and I’m resting and for some reason this beautiful, tired human is here with me when I awaken, and no one else.

“You are completely healed. How much do you remember now?”

She keeps asking me the same question. “I remember leaving my room and walking downstairs to my office and thinking of going into the library.”

“Was I there?”

I sit up to face her. “Yes, female, you were there. I asked if you wanted a drink and that is the last thing I remember. How long ago was that?”

“Two diurnals ago. Since then, we met up and rode out to the cave to find the artifacts you’d found and there was an earthquake. And…”

“And what?”

“You really don’t remember anything else?”

“No, did we find the tablets in this cave or are they destroyed?”

“Yes, we found them and the good news is that they are not destroyed. But we also…”

I stare at her because I’m having an odd reaction to this female. My body feels hot and ready to pleasure mate with her. Her lips and the curve of her breasts under her top are highly tempting. I don’t remember anything of the last two days, but on the other hand my body wants to touch hers.

She stares at me, questioning.

And I enjoy her natural scent in my lungs far too much, which is annoying because what I do clearly remember is that this is the female I was attracted to, but disliked. She was sent by the Antiquities Council and I disagree with their choice. I want Hugsen Blackstone on this project not some random human.

I stand up. “I’m ready to leave now. You must be tired.”

“I’m not tired. We slept a lot in that cave because I think we were both exhausted. I must’ve been tired too and trying to heal from bruising.”

I snort in response and stride for the door.

“Sten?”

I glance back at her, surprised at the obvious hurt and anguish on her soft features. There is no reason for this. “What is wrong?” I question. “Are you hurt?”

“No,” she whispers. “Not in the way you think.”

And then the door opens and my parents rush into the room and I lose sight of Taylor Dumas in the ensuing chaos of hugs and cries of relief.

Erid growls at me. “I cannot believe you went to that cave without me. You should’ve let me know you were leaving.”

I hand him a drink from my office cabinet. “How was I to know there would be an earthquake?”

“That’s exactly why you should’ve explicitly told someone you were going out there, because you need to expect the unexpected.”

“I don’t remember why I left.”

“The amnesia is still there? It hasn’t gotten any better?”

“No, it hasn’t. I can remember my whole life, I’m simply missing about two diurnals of knowledge, but it bothers me. It’s as if there’s something important during that time and I need to know but can’t.”

“Well, important things did happen during that time. I know that you rode out to the cave on your beasts with the Librarian. And then the two of you were stuck in that cave after the earthquake. She told us, which was confirmed in the med lab, that she used her med kit to heal a break in your arm and your leg.”

“She did?”

“Yes, didn’t you talk to her about this? I’ve already had a full interview with her about what transpired and have documented everything and sent it off to the Antiquities Council already. She behaved admirably on your behalf. I am pleased with the steps she took to keep you healthy until we could arrive to rescue the two of you.”

“We haven’t spoken since a few days ago at the med lab. She spoke to Roda and had herself moved to a cabin nearest the shed, I suppose to be able to work easier on all the artifacts that were being brought down to her makeshift lab in that shed.”

Erid leans back in his seat. “Taylor Dumas claims you saved her life two different times, when you pushed her to the ground and covered her body with your own. This is how you were hurt so extensively, twice, in the pursuit of using your own body as a shield to save her softer human form. This was her main reason for being so attentive to you, in response towards how you’d protected her. She then wanted to protect you too.”

I blink, slightly surprised that I’d go to such lengths to save the human.

He meets my gaze. “You must like her.”

My brow furrows. “No, that’s what’s odd, I don’t like her at all. I still find her annoying.” Which in fact is a half-truth. My body still yearns for hers. Last night I had a shameful, highly erotic dream of the two of us pleasure mating.

“Well, at the very least you should thank her for saving your life in response, before she leaves.”

I stand up and put down my drink. “She’s leaving?”

“Yes, she’s all done here and leaving for the transporter station later today. Didn’t you know?”

A growl rumbles in my chest and gray smoke billows from my nostrils. “No, I didn’t.” I march for the door and exit the room.