7. Sten

Chapter 7

Sten

T aylor’s gaze flicks back up to my face and her cheeks turn pink. Blue eyes look bright and watery. She bites her lip and stands her ground. “I…I apologize. I didn’t mean…”

I turn off the water and grab for my towel. For some reason I’m not quick to wrap it around my hips and turn from her gaze. In fact, my cock thickens under the heat of her stare, and I don’t mind her perusal of what I have to offer. I feel I am silently giving her permission to study my Hyrrokin physique.

I’m not pleasure mating this female.

She’s here on Tarvos briefly and is not someone who could want to be my bound. What if I mate with her and discover she’s the one I want as my bound and then I can’t keep her?

Pleasure mating with females while I was younger and away at university was good times. There were a few I thought would become more, but they never went further and always ended, usually with the female leaving me for someone else. I live in the wildlands, far from intergalactic trade and transport and vacationing species. Thus, it was difficult to find females who wanted to pursue anything that might lead further than a flirtatious flame from across the room. None of them wanted to be tied for a lifetime with a male who lived “in the middle of nowhere.”

It’s also difficult to find a pleasure mate or bound here within my own community. I’m considered the most eligible bachelor in Fire Creek because both of my brothers are mated I now own the Sandstone ranch. My parents have retired, constantly on vacation somewhere exotic or back at home in their small house in town, pampering new grandchildren given to them recently by my other two brothers. I’m ready to find the female who is my bound, but that Hyrrokin has not surfaced. I know all the females in the county and none are my future mate.

My two brothers and my friend, Burl, have mated with human females. I’m still amazed that so many human females have happened into our lives. And here is another? Normally I would only consider taking a Hyrrokin as my future bound. I’ve always loved the curve of a female’s tail and the shine of horns in the sunlight. How could I mate, or even simply pleasure mate with a being without flash flame?

But ever since the transporter station in Fire Creek was installed, the appearance of other species, specifically humans, has increased tenfold.

I glance again at her beautiful features and feel slightly regretful at everything I said to Taylor Dumas, the Librarian, yesterday, concerning the primitive nature of her species. And what I left unsaid last night.

Moments tick away and the water is off and she still stands there, not leaving. I assume staring at my ass and the twitch of my barbed tail.

I can scent her arousal in the breeze.

“Why were you out here like this? Anybody can see you,” she suddenly challenges. “It isn't like you don't have a cleaning unit in your own bedroom.”

I glance over my shoulder. “I do this often after a morning ride. Didn't expect anyone to be out here. No one has ever invaded my privacy at this time. You are the first.”

She huffs and stomps off, back through the trail from when she arrived.

I chuckle and pull on my pants, my buckle, and look towards the ranch and then back the way she left. I shake my head and follow her. Who knows what mischief Taylor could get into. I can't leave her alone because I can't trust this human to do anything correctly.

I arrive at the shed and see that she's already inside rummaging around. I open the door and stomp inside behind her.

She doesn't even look up and continues to work. I find myself missing the laughing, good-natured Taylor I was with last night, in the library.

“There are boxes in here that were sent ahead of time, stamped by the antiquities Council.”

“You haven't opened any of them?”

She's again dressed differently this morning, still in Hyrrokin traditional dress but a new color.

I look away, because I continue to find her appearance pleasing. It's very irritating, because even while part of me wants to take her to my bed and make her mine, another equal part of me still wants her gone. We had a good talk last night, but we were also both drunk. And this morning, all my reasons for being irritated at the arrival of this Librarian are flooding back.

“My friend from college, Hugsen, called me late last night,” I say, knowing this is completely off topic but this problem sits like a stone on my chest, creating a barrier between myself and this human. “My friend thought he was hired for this position. I didn’t realize how much he needed the currency for his family. I promised something that he made financial plans for but will not get.”

She pauses. “Who is Hugsen and what does he have to do with this project?”

“Hugsen is a Hyrrokin archeologist I promised this job to, but then you arrived instead.”

“Ah.” Taylor opens a box. “You know, you should be angry at yourself, not at me, that this happened. What did I do? You did all of that.”

I let out a grunt of gray smoke. “I do not like making promises that I do not keep.”

She shrugs. “It’s easily fixable.”

I blink. “How can I fix this error now that you have arrived?”

She takes a few objects out of a box, then pauses. “I can’t do all of this myself. I am only handling a part of this mission. There will still need to be local archeologists, historians and ecologists involved in this project. There will need to be locals who understand all the cultural and ecological ramifications. The artifacts will not stay with me and will be returned. This project could take days or years. It's my job is to restore and make sure it gets cataloged in the giant intergalactic library, and the resource is shared amongst the whole four sectors and archived in our standard format.”

Another box is opened. “We’re on a mission to categorize and update all the reading material of any type, anything that's written down on a wall, a petroglyph on ancient paper, scrolls or crude tablets. However, it is even if it's in print books that are only a hundred years old. If a species has a written language that has survived, we are there to restore it. It's a big job, because there's so many planets and it all must be standardized, which is why it's done from a central facility on Gravian.”

“Again, how do I fix this error I made where I promised this paid job to Hugsen?”

She frowns at an object that appears to be broken and tosses it over her shoulder. “How about we just invite your friend to work with us? I do need someone to work with that's local. You can still hire him. You seem to like him so much, I'm sure I would like him too.”

I stare at her, stunned. I can literally feel the imaginary stone that’s been pressing against my chest, dissipate and float away.

She looks me up and down, then meets my gaze. “This is what has been upsetting you this whole time? This is the real reason why you’ve been irritated with me?”

I don’t respond, but I do bend down to help her open the other boxes.

“I don't need your help in this shed,” she grouses.

“I am doing this with you.”

“You're only doing this because you don't trust me to do it by myself.”

I smile down at her. “True, I don't, but I'm still here, so deal with it.”

She blows out a breath.

I open a nearby box. “What is all this?”

Taylor looks over my shoulder at the contents and then pushes me aside. “These are the monitors and this is my handheld scanner. And these”—she opens another box—“are mobile tech so that I can immediately start activating repairs and put a barrier around artifacts that will protect it from the elements and keep it intact until I can get it back to the lab on Gravian.”

“This technology won't harm what I found?”

“No, we have used this on countless other artifact retrievals with one hundred percent success. I've done this many times on large batches and it always works. And I'm going to be truthful with you; the cache in your cave is considered small.”

“Small, meaning that's why they only sent one small human?”

She rolls her eyes. “You still think I'm not worthy?”

I grin. “I’ve now upgraded you to reasonably worthy.”

She tosses her hair over her shoulder. “I’m kind of the best at what I do. That's why they sent me.”

“I believe that.”

Her shoulders soften. “You do? Even after how I behaved when we first met?”

“Your drunken, formal apology last night helped matters greatly.”

Her cheeks pinken. “Yes, well then… are we going to go to the cave today?”

I look at her. “Today?”

“Yeah, let's get started. Why wait? I'm dressed. You're dressed. Look. The equipment is here. I've got it. It's a nice day outside. Let's do it.”

I look her up and down again, noting her soft curves, lack of tail or horns. “We cannot get to that mountainside as easily as you think. It is not accessible by vehicle.”

“Hovercraft?”

“No, we have to arrive by riding beast,” I say. “And then the last part is traveled by foot on a rocky trail.”

“Oh.”

“Can you sit and ride a riding beast all the way to the cave?”

“I don't know what a riding beast is, but the name itself seems to explain it. Yes, I can do this.”

I look her up and down, noting the firm set of her plush lips and jawline.

I grin. “Follow me.”

At the barn Taylor eagerly approaches the beasts in their stalls, squealing with delight and loving the look of them. Her excitement for this mission is infectious. She is genuinely excited to start our journey to see these Hyrrokin artifacts, which is nice because I haven't shown them yet to anyone else. Part of me wouldn’t mind finally seeing someone else’s reaction to the interesting crates I only briefly opened in that remote cave one moon cycle ago.

I give her Leeta, the gentlest riding beast. Taylor sits her beast well and takes the reins with more authority than I’d first assumed. In fact, she looks good on her beast. I tell Tilden vaguely of my destination and how long we plan to be gone, not giving details of the cave yet, because I’m not ready to share. This could be a large thing we have found, or it could be nothing. Today I will find out.

I find I’m curious to see what Taylor thinks because she is indeed the professional when it comes to identifying the historic value of these tablets. The Librarian’s equipment can time and date stamp what I have, which is indeed highly valuable and it’s a proprietary tool, only used by Librarians from the Antiquities Council. I am now having to admit she is indeed the exact being I needed and maybe Erid’s need to call in the Librarians wasn’t as wrong as I’d first assumed.

Taylor is lathering her colorless skin with some sort of lotion.

“What are you doing?”

“I have to apply sunscreen.”

I tilt my head, trying to understand this odd human behavior.

“My skin isn’t like yours, which is probably naturally protected from the sun. I get sunburned easily.” And then she puts a hat on her head. “Now I’m ready.”

We start on the main trail heading northwest to the mountains. I slow down Thunder, my beast, and ride side by side with Taylor, while the trail is wider, before it narrows.

“I haven't shown this cave to anyone yet. You will be the first to see it after me.”

“You haven't told anyone about this?”

“I've told Hugsen and then Erid, who told enough beings, obviously. That's it.”

“No one in your family?”

“No.”

“Didn’t we…didn’t we mention who I was, at least once?”

“I didn’t, did you?”

Her brow furrows. “No, I guess I didn’t. None of the other employees here on the ranch know that I’m the Librarian sent here to assess the artifacts in the cave you found?”

“No.”

“Where did Roda and Tilden and the others think we were going?”

“I told them I was teaching you how to ride.”

“Why do they think I'm here?”

“They think you're another human mail-order bride.”

She gasps. “Didn't they know in the transporter station that I was from the Antiquities Council? I came from Gravian.”

“That was my cover. I didn't want anyone to know that you were a mail-order bride, so I told them to not tell anyone that you weren't a Librarian. I told them to use the cover story that you were a Librarian and not a mail-order bride.”

She looks at me, still confused. “Well, won't they then tell everybody that I'm a Librarian from the Antiquities Council?”

“No,” I laugh. “They will tell everyone that you're a mail-order bride.”

“And you think that this is better than them thinking the truth, that I am, in fact, a Librarian?”

“It'll be embarrassing when you leave immediately, but it's better than them knowing about the cave and spreading that information far and wide, bringing treasure hunters.”

“I’ve dealt with treasure hunters before and they are not pleasant. There shouldn’t be any on this mission though. You didn’t find actual treasure, right? Only scrolls and books?”

“Yes, nothing of real value beyond academics. But I want to make sure we stay safe and so do the Hyrrokin in this county. I don't know how this is going to play out either. And I didn't want anyone to be disappointed when you leave tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow? I will only know when I can leave after I’ve assessed the situation at the cave.”

We are both quiet for a moment, processing this information. And then I see her lips twitch. “Everyone I met thinks I’m here to be your bride?”

“To be my bound. The news spread like wildfire. I have a feeling that my parents and brothers are going to show up here tonight, at the latest, tomorrow, or maybe tomorrow morning, if we're lucky. But by then, I will be returning you to the transporter station.”

She bites her lip and looks away. “You know, if you want me gone quick, I have to take the artifacts with me and work on it in my lab, on Gravian. If you don't want it off planet, and you'd rather I worked on it here, and we bring in more staff, local and from the council, and we could work on it here. We sometimes do set up a mobile lab on site. I was going to offer that to you because I could see how upset you were at the thought of beings who are not of your species, touching and working with everything. So I thought you would feel more comfortable if I stayed and maybe even taught a team of people here how to do this, and we all work together.”

“That does make me more comfortable,” I admit.

“If you want your friend involved as a paid member of the team, where he’s truly involved, then I would have to stay on planet and this would take longer. If I do this quickly and leave, it will be harder to have Hugsen involved.”

I nod and move forward.

We continue to follow the main road out of the ranch onto the fields that compromise Sandstone pastureland, and then immediately turn East onto another narrow trail that allows space for us to ride closer again. Taylor continues to surprise me how well she is with the animals and the riding beast.

“You've never been on a riding beast of any kind before?” I question.

“No, I haven’t. I’ve had to get to very remote locations, but usually we're always able to use a hovercraft and then walk a short distance to locations. How much longer do you think this will take, grand total until we get back?”

I look at the suns. “I believe we will return to the ranch at sunset. This will take all day,” I warn her.

“I can do it,” she says, cheerfully. “I'm tougher than I look. Because I'm overweight beings always think I'm not strong enough, that I probably don't have the stamina because I maybe I never exercise, but I do.”

“What are you talking about it? What is this word? Overweight?”

“Well, that's what I look like. My appearance. I am not an average weight for a human.”

“Overweight,” I say confused. “Similar to how much this horse weighs, or how much a nanco of liquid gold would weigh, and your species monitors that amongst yourselves too?”

“Yes, because we don't all weigh the same. Some humans can weigh too little, some are average, some can weigh too much. That doesn't happen to Hyrrokin?”

“No, our bodies must be set. Generally, we are all about the same weight that is equal to their height, unless there is a sickness.” I look at her. “And I think you are very small and delicate.”

She laughs, “Believe me, no one thinks that about me back home.”

“In fact, you look very much like some of the other human females I've met, so I guess I thought all humans look delicate like you.”

“Oh, well, some are even more”—she puts up her fingers and does air quotes—“delicate than me, believe me. I'm even a little tall, taller than the average human female.”

“Well, I think you're delicate. If you remain on this ranch longer, you will see me trying to feed you every Hyrrokin delicacy because I think you're too small and you need to be healthy and eat more.”

She smiles wide. “I wouldn’t mind that in the least.”