8

- Sophia -

He doesn't recoil, so I let my hand explore his hair. Hey, I have every right to. He's explored much more of me than that.

Each hair is a fraction thicker than a human hair, and now I see why it seems to exude light: it does. It kind of looks like those fiber optic sculptures on Earth, the ones that are a bunch of strands of fibers that shine in all colors of the rainbow. Except on him, it's natural and much less gaudy. It's pretty cool, actually. His hair can change brightness.

I touch his ear. It feels much like a human ear, except for that elf-like point at the top. But he doesn't look like Spock at all apart from that.

I let my hand glide down his shoulders and feel the bulging muscle there. He doesn't have much fat on him, and I can both see and feel scars. Probably it's a hard life here on the dino planet. The stripes have a different texture than his normal skin, and feel like extremely smooth suede.

My hand slides down his back. I had no idea a back could be that muscular.

For a moment I'm tempted to let my hand innocently wander to the front and his kilt-like loincloth, but he might take that as an invitation for more action than I'm ready for right now.

I yawn. Except for the unconsciousness after the hijacking attempt and the drowning thing, I haven't slept since seven the morning before. However many hours that it. Feels like a lot. And it is pretty dark in here now, except for his torch.

Jax'zan seems very sensitive to my needs, and now he's straightening out the blanket and motioning to it as if he wants me to lay down. Which I do want. What I don't want is for him to get the wrong idea. I mean, if his species eats you out as a way of saying hello, then who knows what he might want to do as a way of saying goodnight.

I remember his hot mouth on my pussy and the memory sends a nice little arrow of horniness to my crotch. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad to have actual sex with a caveman who seems totally nice and has probably saved me from drowning? Maybe it will make him more eager to help me with my goals?

I yawn again. No, I need to rest now. My mind is totally fried and there are some things that have happened that I'm desperate to not think of right now.

I lie down and make sure that he sees me fastening the zipper on my jeans very carefully, yanking it up a little extra and then pulling the hem of my shirt down over it. For good measure I make a denying motion with my hand over my crotch while I look him straight in his red-hot eyes. “No more tonight, okay? Or until I open them myself. Deal?”

He just looks at me and then lies down beside me, just close enough for his arm to touch mine. That's fine.

He's warm and big and I suddenly have an urge to cling to him. This whole planet scares me senseless. But he seems so damn safe, and he's done nothing to harm me. On the contrary. He's the only good thing I've found here. Everything he's done so far has been good and kind. He's shared his food and his drink. And his blanket. And his talented tongue.

I have an impulse and then carefully take hold of his strong arm, then turn away from him and pull the arm with me, making sure to keep his hand off my chest. Then I hold on to the arm, hoping he's like other good men and that he understands that I'm asking for his protection and safety tonight and nothing more. Now he's spooning me and has his arm around me, and if he thinks this is an invitation to sex, then he's hopeless and I guess I'll just shoot him.

I feel him adjust his position behind me, and I stiffen. This is it. If he now tries to-

Then I feel his face in my hair and I hear a low humming. He's humming a melody into my hair.

And I can't mistake it – that's a lullaby of some kind. It's simple and hypnotic and his deep voice makes my whole body relax.

Yeah, he gets it. He won't do anything more. We'll sleep until the morning. And I'll be safe.

Shit. He's so great it makes me want him to ravish me now.

Before I drift off into sleep with his deep, soothing voice in my ear I have just one more thought: this whole experience should have made me more afraid and less horny. I really have to check what the hell is in that water. And then maybe find a way to bottle and sell it.

- - -

I wake up and smell something delicious.

I immediately remember where I am and feel behind me on the blanket. Nope, Jax'zan isn't here. I check my jeans, too. Perfectly zipped up. My bra is still on.

And I'm alive. I purse my lips and nod to myself in satisfaction. Looks like this night went pretty well.

The cave is much brighter now and I can see daylight outside the opening. And the smell seems to be coming from there.

I rub the sleep out of my eyes, get up and walk over there. Outside is the jungle, with tall trees and large bushes and hot, humid air.

And Jax'zan. He's lit a fire and is grilling something. Meat, looks like.

“Good morning, Jax'zan” I say and smile to him.

He juts his chin out. “Zopia.” He seems happy enough. He doesn't smile all that much, but that's fine with me. Guys shouldn't go around constantly grinning to the world.

I nod to the meat he's grilling. “So you got us breakfast?”

“Go a ren,” he says.

“Go a ren,” I repeat. “Is that breakfast or meat or something?”

He points to the ground beside the fire. There's some blood and bones and entrails, and about half a dead creature that looks like a cross between a pig and a turkey. It's very dead, of course. The other half is what he's grilling.

“Go a ren,” he repeats and indicates both the meat and the dead animal.

“Oh, that's its name? Go a ren? Okay.” I sit down on a boulder beside him with my back to the slaughtered animal. I'm a city girl and I don't like to be reminded where meat comes from. But I absolutely will eat the stuff he's grilling now.

I take a deep breath of alien air. The bright daylight works wonders for my mood. The smell of rotting vegetation is still present, but somehow it feels better when Jax'zan is here.

Today I have to make my way back to the tuna can and see what the girls and I can do. I don't know how far that underground water tunnel took me, but it couldn't have been that far. Probably this cave is right under the mountain where we landed and where we found the spiky rock pile that said to stay away.

Now I see what Delyah meant about the sun being too big – it absolutely is. I can see that now. The gravity being lower I can't feel at all. Well, I was never the lightest girl.

Jax'zan does some cutting with that remarkable sword of his.

“Vehl bah kom,” he says and hands me a green leaf with a sizzling piece of meat on it. It smells good. But it's an alien animal. The food he gave me last night doesn't seem to have had any ill effects on me, though.

He gets a slice of his own and takes a bite out of it. His fangs glitter in the sun and I feel a hot spark down below at the thought that those fangs have been very damn close to my delicate parts. It doesn't scare me, it's just cool.

He chews happily and smiles into the sun and looks so content that I have to smile, too. I take a little nibble of the meat. Ah yes. Not like a mix of pork and turkey at all. More like beef. I haven't tried that many meats in my life. But the grilling has caramelized some of the fats, and that familiar flavor helps a whole lot.

I don't chew it too carefully. I need the energy, and being picky about what I eat could get me starving pretty soon on a planet like this. The other girls probably haven't had anything to eat at all.

Then I have a strong flashback to the other abductees being taken by that swarm of not-dactyls, and I want to cry again. At the back of my mind is the suspicion that my hijacking attempt is the reason that we were dumped here. That means that the deaths of those women is at least partly my responsibility. I'll have to do whatever I can to make it right again, no matter what the cost is to me personally. And that starts with finding the tuna can and reuniting with the girls.

My girls. The girls from my translator project. The girls I forced to work until late at night, so that they were abducted.

My good mood evaporates and that familiar cold rock settles in my stomach. “Shit.”

Jax'zan looks at me and frowns.

I force a smile. “Sorry. Just thinking about things. You know that I'm not from around here, right? Yeah, and I kind of really want to get home.”

Even if he doesn't understand the words, he can probably interpret my sad and defeated tone of voice.

And even if I don't want it to happen, I can't help a tear or two rolling down my cheeks.

Jax'zan reaches out and gently wipes them away with one finger. I let him. I like his touch. I can see that he's probably capable of intense violence, so his gentle gestures like that are all the more meaningful.

He smiles again, then looks into the fire and finishes eating. Then he starts speaking, very calmly, and he points up the hill and then in the other direction, towards the jungle. His language is very melodious, but it has some hard consonants. I really like listening to him.

Finally he points to the sky, as if telling me that he knows where I come from. When he's finished he smiles warmly and squeezes my shoulder. And don't you know it: it works. It makes me feel better. I don't know what it is about this guy, but my gut tells me I'm totally safe with him. And now I think everything will be all right, too.

Almost everything. Because in a flash, I see Alesya's dead face in front of me.