Chapter 14

It takes all my control to let go of her once her feet touch the floor, but I know we won't have a moment's peace if we stay here. I stare after her as she walks away, my shirt barely covering her luscious little ass.

Themoment she is out of sight. I head to my wardrobe, instantly realizing she doesn't have the proper coverings to go outside. "Frack." Sorting through all my garments. I end up finding an older cape balled up in the bottom. Shaking it out, it's a little wrinkled, but it should do.

"I hope wherever we're headed they don't mind that I am wearing yesterday's clothes. I did the sniff test, and I don't think they smell, but who knows."

"You're perfect; come here, I need to try this on you. Remind me when we get back to ask Elexa about your garments, they should be ready by now."

Twosteps later, she is standing in front of me. "Hold your arms up, Amori." When she does, I slip the cloak over her head. As she lowers her arms down, I can't even find her in all the material. Tessa giggles as she fights her head through the opening. I have to laugh at how pitiful she looks swallowed up in such a large garment.

Pullingmy knife out, I start hacking away at the excess. With a few quick measurements, her hands are free. However, I have to pick her up off the ground to get the length right, and even though it is awkward, we manage. She kicks her legs out, to make sure she isn't going to trip over the bottom once I set her back down.

"You're pretty good at this. Maybe you should take a side job doing alterations on women's clothing."

"Keep laughing Amori, this is true talent right here."

"It's a good thing I don't mind the blob look. Speaking of looking." She holds the hood up and it falls completely over her face.

Ipull the bottom mask up and then roughly trim the top so that it still hangs almost in her eyes. Thankfully, the lenses she will need are adjustable to the wearer. WhenI stand back looking at her, she holds her arms out and twirls around.

"I probably won't win any beauty contest, but I do believe it fits now."

Instantly, I have her in my arms. "You are the most beautiful creature in existence."

"That's a big statement."

"I am a big male."

"True, and from what I can tell that's not just in height. You need to quit rubbing your anaconda on me. How are you even able to manage walking around with that thing, anyway?"

"IfI understand that word correctly, that's the name of a very large snake in your world."

"Yep, and you were just rubbing your really large snake against my stomach."

Icatch myself laughing at her word choices. In all my rotations, I don't ever remember being this light-hearted around anyone. "Quit your squirming and let me make sure you are covered completely. The sands outside are brutal, and your skin is too delicate to handle their forces without some sort of protection."

"We're going outside?"

"Yes, if I could only get you to stand still." Suddenly, she stands up straight and stiffens out, I shake my head. Looking down at her shoes. I notice that the soles are thin, but since we won't be walking much, it should not be a big deal. Hitting the button on my comm unit. "Raya, I will be taking Tessa out this early rising. We should return by darkness."

"Confirmed, Father, I will be expecting your return."

GrabbingTessa up in my arms, I set her on one arm while heading towards the lift she is not fond of.

"Whoooo big guy! You know I am not three. I can walk."

"With all those curves, you are far from being a youngling, but I am in a hurry, Amori, and your short legs will only move so quickly."

"It's a good thing you're cute because I don't just let anyone sweep me off my feet, mister."

Onceagain, I bite the inside of my lip to keep from laughing. The lift stops at the next floor, and I realize Tessa is holding her breath until it stops. Without saying a word. I sprint through the outer tunnel ducking into a doorway when I see others moving towards us. I know I am needed elsewhere, but this rising my only thoughts are towards the female in my arms. Sticking my head out of the tunnel, I look around before heading towards my personal speeder.

"ZoD, the way you're acting, you would think we were skipping school or something. Just what are you up to?"

"You will see soon enough." I place her on the seat of the speeder before reaching up and starting the hover system. As soon as the speeder is running smoothly, I turn back to her tugging the bottom of her cape up over the lower part of her face. "Is that tight against your face?"

Tessanods, reaching inside my own cape I pull out our protective lenses. It takes me a couple of tries, but I finally get hers to seal against her face. Once mine are on, I step up on the side and slide my leg over the seat sitting down in front of her. Reaching back, I pull her up close, making sure she is hanging on tightly.

"Amori, don't let go of me no matter what. The lenses will darken as we leave the tunnel to shelter your eyes. If any of the sand gets through your cloak or you have a hard time breathing, let me know."

Beforeshe can answer, we are flying through the lower cave opening. Tessa squeezes my waist tightly as she squeals out in laughter behind me. Steering us out and into the open terrain, I leave all our round upper dwellings behind quickly. When she won't stop squirming all over the place behind me, I reach down, patting her leg so she will hold still.

Thefurther we get from the main complex the more I relax. I glance back a few times to make sure Tessa is alright behind me and she keeps showing me some sort of signal sticking her thumb up into the air. I will have to ask her about that later.

Therolling dirt planes quickly start to change as we approach the mountains in the distance. The sand grains become thicker as the soil below the speeder is thrown up. I spend a little time pointing out things I wish for her to see before heading to our final location.

Islow down as we near the hidden entrance of the place I had discovered scouting one rising. Tessa's legs tighten behind me, as it looks like we are going to crash right into the mountainside. I hear a gasp leave Tessa's lips as my speeder glides right through the narrow opening.

Ido a circle around the inside so that she can see the entire area before turning the speeder off and dismounting. Tessa slides off before I can reach up for her. "Shit, damn, hell ZoD. You scared the absolute crap out of me. Talk about a tight squeeze; we didn't have an inch to spare on either side. Damn, now this is a hidden gem. How did you find this?"

"I was doing the same thing then, I am with you this rising, trying to escape. When we are younglings, it was frowned upon for us to go too far from the main dwellings and me being my mother's son. I seldom did as I was told. My mother and I were very similar in the fact that we both liked to do our own thing.

"I stumbled upon this place by mistake after stopping momentarily in the shade of the mountain to rest. Within moments of being here, it was hard to miss the cool air coming through what I thought was a small crack. The original opening was barely big enough for me to squeeze through, so since then, I have enlarged it some. Besides my mother, no one else knows of this place but me … and now you. It became my paradise in the middle of all the chaos. I come here to think and relax. Regrettably, my visits to this place are not as frequent as I would prefer, but I thought you would enjoy it."

"I have never seen anything like it, ZoD. Are those trees up there covered in ice?"

"Yes, the upper atmosphere of our planet is bitter cold compared to the surface. The higher up you go, the colder it gets. It's like this place is stuck in the middle and couldn't make up its mind on what it wanted to be. Come, I have more to show you." Tessa no more than takes a step when she trips over her cape. I grab her just in time. "I think you are simply doing things like this, so I will hold you."

"If that's how you want to interpret it, I am ok with it, but to be honest, I am just naturally clumsy. You might look hot as hell in that mask with those bright orange eyes of yours, but I can't hardly see anything. CanI take this crap off now?"

"Hot as hell? Those words don't seem to go together properly."

"I think you are simply fishing for compliments. It means sexy, attractive, pretty even."

"Ohh, you were complimenting me. Why didn't you simply say it that way?"

"I did. You're hot as hell, you know, for an alien."

"Technically, you're the alien here."

"Well, that's a matter of opinion, isn't it? What's that smell?"

"I'll show you if you could stop tripping over your own feet."

"Insulting the girl, or even pointing out her failures, is not a good way to get brownie points."

Igrab her off her feet and pull her close to my chest. Enjoying the way, she instantly wraps her small arms around my neck. "I didn't know a male in your world was supposed to do things to gain these points, but now that I know it's important, I will do better." Her laughter echoes off the walls as I make our way forward.

"You know, if a girl had to be abducted, finding you at the end of the rainbow isn't really that bad of a deal. Just how long are you planning on toting me around?"

"Not much farther."

Tessapractically jumps out of my arms when I round the corner. I have always seen the beauty here, but now that she is with me, it seems more.