TWENTY-TWO

- sedona -

I giggle as I twist out of Kuvier's arms and dance away, taunting him as I go. "Come on, slowpoke, catch up."

"I do not poke, nor do I do it slowly," he quips, lunging at me. I just manage to skirt out of his reach at the last second.

He's definitely letting me get away; I have no doubt he could catch me easily if he wanted to. But, he lets me have my fun, giving a playful growl as he dramatically prowls after me.

"It means that you're too slow. Can't catch me." I wiggle my hips a little bit, glancing over my shoulder with just a tad of pretend seduction.

Kuvier's eyes flare despite the lack of seriousness in my sultry gaze, and I suppose that is when he decides that he is done playing. He pounces on me, wrapping a wide arm around my middle and yanking me up against him. My back presses into his chest and the air turns from playful to charged in a second. He hasn't touched me in that way since our little excursion the other day.

I'd been waiting for a break in the weather to ask him to take me out again, but the snow hasn't stopped. In fact, it's almost getting worse. So these moments, a few feet away from the crate, are the only outside time I'm getting right now.

Kuvier nuzzles at the base of my throat, breathing my scent in deeply. He plants a kiss on the side of my neck, and I can't help the sound that escapes me. My neck is my hotspot and he figured that out when he was fingering me in the snow. Now, he seems to love to kiss and bite at that place on my body most.

"I will always catch you, ti khesi," he murmurs gruffly into my ear.

"Sedona!" Both of our heads snap up at the call and we look to see Sabrina standing several feet away waving me towards her.

Kuvier sighs and nips at my neck before letting me go, knowing I have to see what Sabrina wants. I don't know why or how, but the other girls have come to rely on me heavily. I feel like the mother and leader of our group at times, and the responsibility is a lot.

"Are you hungry?" he asks me as we approach the fire where everyone is gathered, as usual.

"Not really, but the other girls probably are."

"I will prepare them something." I give his hand a grateful squeeze and we peel away from each other, me sitting down between Amari and Sabrina at the fire as he goes further into the crate to go through our pile of food.

"So, Samra has some news," Sabrina announces to me as I settle in. My brow arches and I look at Samra who just gives me a sheepish smile.

"What's up?" I'm curious to say the least.

"Well, when I woke up this morning, I just randomly decided to look around the wreckage, and I found this." She pulls out a tangle of wires and metal pieces. Noting the confused look on my face, she jumps to add, "It's a telecommunicator—an alien iPad basically."

"But it's trashed," I respond cautiously, pointing out the obvious.

"Yes, but I'm a technological engineer," Samra declares importantly. "Well, I was on Earth anyway. I think that if I just…" She launches into a spiel that uses so many engineering terms that I get lost immediately.

"Long story short," Krissy butts in, interrupting the monologue with a roll of her eyes, "she thinks she can fix it and make it at least put out a signal to connect with any ships that pass by."

I look between Samra and the other girls for a moment before speaking. "Have we considered that the ships that pass by could put us in a worse situation? Xiomara, how friendly are other aliens to humans?"

Xiomara winces as she answers. "It depends on the species, but in general we are seen as lesser sentient life forms."

"See," I say, my voice almost an aha , "we could be inviting new kidnappers our way. That puts us and Kuvier's people at risk. Then what?"

"So you'd rather be stuck in the Ice Age with Manny and Sid over there?" Krissy retorts, throwing a thumb at Kuvier and Enikk who are diligently chopping up meat.

"I'd rather not be recaptured and sold into alien slavery." My voice is as cold as the ice that surrounds us. Krissy is really starting to work my last nerve with the way she talks about Kuvier.

"Look, we get that you've shacked up with Tall, Dark, and Hairy, but the rest of us—"

"You need to watch it," Xiomara warns Krissy harshly. "Kuvier has done a lot for us. Both of the guys have. It's thanks to them and Sedona that we're all even alive."

Krissy, always quick with a retort, scoffs from where she sits by the fire. "How is it thanks to them? She was too busy with her man to even wake us up when we all crashed."

My cheeks flush with indignation, but before I can respond, Renata steps in, her tone sharp and commanding. "Krissy, enough."

"Besides, what Sedona chooses to do with her affection and her body is her choice," Amari adds with an indignant sniff. Despite my original dislike of her crying, Amari has turned out to be one of the girls I am becoming closest to. It is very much a big sister-little sister relationship, but I don't mind.

Krissy glares at all of us but wisely says nothing more. I keep my composure as I break the short silence.

"I am fine with trying to find a way back home, but I don't want to end up in a worse situation. We need to do this cautiously if we're going to try."

"This is all based on if I can actually get it working," Samra replies with a sigh. "It's alien tech, so that's a big ‘if,' but I'll try my best, and I'll be safe doing it." I give a nod and ignore the glare Krissy shoots my way.

I've gotten to know all of the girls pretty well, considering we've been attached at the hip for days. Of all of them, Krissy is the one I can't stand. She's snobby, bratty, and rude. Sabrina once told me, in confidence, that she's caught Krissy crying several times. I know she had a fiance and a life back home, more of a life than I did, so I try my best to recognize that her rudeness is just her lashing out against her situation.

But, I'm growing tired of being her punching bag.