Chapter 6 Zoey

I was kissing a Xarc’n hunter!

Sometime between the first instant I saw him and now, I’d lost any wariness of him. Maybe it was when he’d so valiantly announced he’d slay the scuttlers for me and keep me safe, or perhaps it was when he’d shared his very delicious cookie with me. Either way, he wasn’t some terrifying alien warrior anymore. He was… Harb’k.

Harb’k of the perfectly sculpted body and masculine, forest-like scent. Harb’k, with the low, rumbly voice that turned my knees to jelly. Harb’k, who loved bacon and wanted meat cookies.

Now add Harb’k, the ridiculously damned good kisser to that list! I didn’t know these aliens kissed.

Strong hands pulled me close, and I was instantly surrounded by the heat of his body. Firm lips pressed against mine, plundering my mouth. I could feel the points of his fangs on my lips, but he was careful not to nick me. Lust filled my belly and bubbled up to where we met.

A questing tongue parted my lips, seeking entry. With a shaky breath, I opened my mouth to him. I clung to him, my fingertips digging into the strong muscles of his shoulders.

God! There was so much of him. So much muscle. So much masculinity. Everything was so intense, fierce.

He thrust a thick tongue into my mouth, and the movement had me imagining him thrusting somewhere else. Wetness dampened between my legs, and I moaned, surprised at my body’s reaction. It had been years since I’d reacted to anyone like that. It had been constant survival, and I couldn’t trust anyone outside my little group, not even when we visited Sanctuary or the small settlement that was what was left of Las Vegas.

My moan was drowned out by his purring, which was no longer the soft drone it had been before but an insistent, needy rumble that I felt right through to the tips of my toes.

The world spun around me, and I was suddenly dizzy with desire. I felt weak like I couldn’t hold myself up even though I was laying down. But Harb’k was there, his strong arms supporting me. I clung to him as the world threatened to spin away.

A hand slid up my back, the fingertips skating up my spine. They slid into my hair and pulled my head back, exposing my throat. I didn’t feel any claws, even though I swear I’d seen them on him earlier. Harb’k gave my bottom lip a final nibble before trailing a line of kisses down my jaw.

Was this still PG-13? At this point? I decided I didn’t care.

Every touch of his hands and lips drove me wild, and it felt like I was so crazy with need that I couldn’t even breathe. I hadn’t felt passion like this for a very long time, and it was addictive. I wanted more. I wanted everything.

Oh my god. What was happening to me? Was there some sort of alien aphrodisiac in that cookie?

No. I knew that this feeling wasn’t from some artificial chemical. This was all me.

It was Harb’k who pulled away first. I was simultaneously glad and disappointed he hadn’t tried for more. My body was alight with lust, the type I’d forgotten all about.

His golden eyes were almost glowing as if he were burning up just as much as I was. He almost looked as if he was in pain that he had to stop, and he made a soft groan as he adjusted his position.

His erection tented his loincloth, and it looked painful. A little voice in my head urged me to offer him a hand, and I had to tell it to hush. Harb’k was doing such a good job keeping this PG-13, and I wasn’t going to make his job harder or break our agreement.

Instead, I turned around to face the wall and pulled the blanket over myself. “Goodnight, warrior. Dream of bacon.”

He only grunted in reply.

I closed my eyes and tried to go to sleep, but sleep was elusive with a massive Xarc’n hunter next to me. After a whole lot of no sleeping, I turned around and found Harb’k also awake, his golden eyes tracing the demarcation between the darker and lighter purple on his hand. He noticed me looking and tucked his hand away.

“You cannot sleep.”

“Neither can you.”

I stared up at the ceiling and stretched. “You asked why I’m here, but you never told me why you are here.”

“I am on Earth to hunt the scourge.”

“No. I mean, why are you here right now? I’m sure Heather told you to make sure I am safe, but why were you in this area to begin with? To the best of my knowledge, this is not your usual hunting grounds.” I did because my group moved through here often.

“I am looking for anomalies. Strange-looking scourge. Or ones acting differently.”

“Like that time a few months ago when they all just stood really still and stared at the sky?”

“No. Different. But that is why I am looking. The scourge hijacked our mining ship and used it to send DNA to Earth. What you saw was the scourge on Earth waiting for the shipment. It destroyed one of our motherships.”

I stiffened. “Destroyed?” Holy hell, that was bad news.

“Do not worry. We prevented the shuttle from touching down on Earth. But some of the humans working with us suspect that tiny fragments of it might have reached the planet. There are hunters watching every suspected location.”

“And this is one of them?”

“Somewhere here. The piece is tiny, and it may have burned up in the atmosphere. But it is pivotal that we watch for new mutations just in case.”

I shuddered as a mental image of the giant centipede-like bugs rammed rudely into my head. “I heard those long centipede bugs are a special Earth mutation.”

“They are. The humans who work with hunters call them centicreeps.”

I made a face. “That sounds about right. They’re hella creepy.”

“My job is to find any signs of mutation and stop them before it spreads.”

I nodded. “Yes, please do. And thank you.”

Harb’k looked thoughtful and a little amused.

“What?”

“I have never been thanked for doing my job before.”

That was kind of sad. I imagined many planets reacted as humans did, considering them the enemy.

“First time for everything.”

But now all I could think about were all the possible new variants of bugs. “Now I’ll never get to sleep. I’ll be worried about new bug mutations all night.”

“I will help.”

Before I could protest, strong fingers were digging deliciously into my scalp, giving me the galaxy’s best head massage. I sighed, not believing what was happening. But I had to admit that with him here, I felt safer. A hell of a lot safer than if I was alone.

I closed my eyes, and this time, sleep wasn’t as elusive. It arrived with dirty dreams of a certain purple warrior. In the dreams, things didn’t stay PG-13. His kisses didn’t stay on my lips and neck and instead traveled all over my body.

The dream was full of sensations but lacked any details. I caught an occasional claw or a sexy fang, a pair of warm golden eyes. There was, however, a lot of hot, sexy purple skin, some a lighter purple than the rest. Everything was happening, but also nothing at all. So frustrating.

Just as I was about to catch a glimpse of what lay behind Harb’k’s leather loincloth, the morning sun rudely woke me. I groaned and stretched out on the bed and found it empty. He must already be on his way to scour the countryside for anomalies.

But as I stepped outside after my quick morning routine, I found myself staring at an alien craft. It was sleek, gray, and looked straight out of a sci-fi B movie. I’d seen them uncloaked from afar but had never been so close to one before.

Had it been here all along? This had been right outside the window all night, and I hadn’t noticed it. But then again, I wasn’t one of the fortunate people who could see through the cloaking.

A panel at the side of the vessel suddenly moved forward before sliding up to expose a door, and Harb’k stepped out.

“You are ready. Good.” He glanced over at the house on top of the “hill.”

Corey had been particularly generous when he called it a hill. It was only barely higher than the land surrounding it. Movement there had me cursing. The asshats were already up.

“Well, thank you for the company,” I said as I lugged my scooter down the stairs and set it on the pavement. “I’m sure we’ll mee—”

Harb’k was suddenly there, whipping my scooter out from under me. He slapped his palm on the side of his shuttle and a panel opened up, showing the alien spaceship equivalent of a trunk. He placed my scooter inside.

“Hey! Give that back!”

I found myself hoisted over a broad purple shoulder. I stifled a yelp, worried I’d give my location away to the three men by the big house.

I did, however, pound on his back with my fists. “Let me go,” I said through gritted teeth. My pack started to fall off my back from being inverted. “My bag!”

He caught my pack with the hand not holding onto the back of my legs and strode into the shuttle.

He deposited me and my pack onto a soft surface. “We will travel together. I will fly you to your destination.”

“You said you wouldn’t steal me away in your shuttle.” I put on my angriest face, but I was more surprised than angry because the idea of being dropped off at the next safe house in a hunter’s shuttle sounded a lot better than scootering there.

“That was last night,” he said plainly. “Today is another day. Your pursuers are on their way. They believe only I am here, but they will find you if you do not leave with me now.”

He did make a good point. Besides, I knew that pounding on the door and demanding he let me go wouldn’t be very productive.

I looked around. The inside of the shuttle was rather bare bones. I was on a sleeping platform. There was a large screen at the front, a pilot’s chair, an alcove at the back, a counter, and the platform I was sitting on. Along one wall was a shelf set into the shuttle walls with model planes on it. They were clearly of Earth origin and were the only thing that showed any personality at all.

He sat down on the pilot’s chair, and the screen lit up. “Shuttle, cloak, lift off, and turn on the external display.”

The shuttle rumbled to life, and to my surprise, the walls around me suddenly disappeared, all except for the section with the model planes. I could see the sky above us as the sun crested the horizon. Below us, Corey and his group were already driving toward the row of homes we’d just been in.

“I have an idea. He wants to steal your water, food, and energy. We will help. We give him water.”

I looked over at Harb’k to see what he meant. He had a mischievous look on his face.

He guided his craft until we were hovering right above them and the vehicle. They’d stopped in the middle of the road and were getting out of the car. I watched curiously as Harb’k scrolled through a list of icons on his screen until the one that looked like a trap door opening.

“It releases stored water from the shuttle. There’s not much left, and I have to refill anyway. I will give you access to the shuttle so you can initiate the action.” He took my hand in his, then pressed my fingertips to the bottom corner of the screen. After a few screen changes, we were back at the water release icon.

Corey and his friends were still beneath us, getting ready to check each house for the “purple freak.” We heard everything as the shuttle played back their conversation. The assholes wanted to ambush him and steal his shuttle.

I pressed the icon. “Release the Kraken!”

A kiddie pool-sized amount of water suddenly appeared and drenched the three men. They screeched and danced away, soaked. I cackled, letting loose my inner villain.

“What the fuck!” Corey looked up, confused.

“Shuttle,” Harb’k said. “Turn off cloaking for two seconds.”

Corey and friends cursed and aimed their weapons at us, but we were already flying away.

I clutched my belly laughing. “Did you”—cackle—“see the looks”—wheeze—“on their faces? That was amazing!”

Harb’k was grinning, too. “The ‘purple freak’ got them.”

“That he did! Thank you. I needed that.”

“Does that mean we can be partners? The humans at our camp forage with partners.”

He looked so hopeful; I couldn’t say no.

“But what about your mission?” I asked. “If there are strange mutations happening out there, you need to go find them and stop them.”

“Where is your next destination? It could be in the area I need to search.” With a few taps of his hand, a very familiar map app appeared on screen.

“Hey! That’s ours!” I exclaimed, recognizing the interface.

“It is. We transferred it to our system. It is still being updated with new information.” He circled an area. “I’m searching here.”

“And I need to get here.” I pointed to the general area on the map. It was in his search area.

“I will take you. We will look for anomalies together on the way.” He stuck out his hand in a very human gesture. “Deal?”

I took his hand and shook. “Deal!”