Amanda awoke to the light of dawn, and for a moment she felt confused but happy. She couldn't quite remember where she was, but her body was filled with a pleasant ache and she was lying against the solid, warm body of... Oh.

Sitting up, she blinked away sleep and looked around. The light wasn't dawn, of course — they were underground, and the fake city stretched around them, still shrouded in fog. But whatever illuminated the hunting ground gave the illusion of dawn, brightening as the sun rose.

The fire had burned down low and the air was cool, but Amanda didn't mind that. She was snuggled against Markath, holding him tight, the furnace of his body had kept her warm through the night. With his wings folded around the pair of them protectively she felt safe, and it was surprisingly comfortable.

I could get used to this.

As she stretched, he moved too, lifting his head to look at her. His smile could have been intimidating, predatory even, but Amanda couldn't feel threatened by him. Only embarrassed, as he looked at her naked body. She disentangled herself from him and looked for her discarded clothes, wondering how much was still intact. Amanda thought he'd been careful with her spacesuit itself, but she'd been too distracted to pay much attention.

Markath sat up and stretched, his eyes never leaving her, and she blushed at his evident enjoyment of her nudity. Not that she could complain. He was a beautiful man, and she found herself staring at him rather than continuing her search. The two of them looked at each other, and Amanda felt a blush spread across her as she wondered what he'd think of his conquest now.

"Good morning, beloved," he said, his voice low. She thought he sounded happy, an emotion she didn't find easy to associate with the gruff warrior, but it made her feel a little better to hear it.

And there was no hiding his appreciation of her body. His cock, his beautiful alien cock, was standing at attention, and he smiled as she looked at it. Amanda felt her flush deepen, and herself melt at the oh-so-tempting sight. For a moment, she found herself considering jumping him then and there. But where would that end? They still had work to do, and they'd wasted too much time already.

"We've got to find Hannah," she said, pulling her gaze from him with an effort and resuming her search for her clothing. Markath chuckled.

"You are right, of course," he said. "There will be plenty of time for us to enjoy each other once our mission is complete."

There was something about the way he said that which made her breath catch. As though he was already imagining what they'd do once they were alone and safe. And she wanted, so badly, to find out what he had planned. Later. Priorities, woman.

Her underwear was a lost cause. Markath had snapped the straps of her bra in his hurry to get it off her and where her panties had ended up she had no idea. She doubted they were in any condition to be worn, anyway. But her spacesuit was intact, thank God, and she pulled it on with some reluctance. That was the final signal that they were moving on from the camp, rather than giving up the morning to exploring each other's bodies.

Closing the seals, she turned to see Markath extinguishing what was left of the fire. He'd pulled on his pants, which was partly a relief and partly a disappointment. Still, the pants were tight enough that she could admire his ass anyway, and she did. He turned and smiled at her, not in the least embarrassed by her gaze.

"Where do we go from here?" she asked. The city stretched around them, seemingly endless, and after last night she didn't want to risk splitting up again. But how were they going to cover this whole cave if they didn't?

And how am I going to keep my eyes out for signs of Hannah while Markath is right there being so... distracting? Amanda forced herself to look away again, and the dragon warrior's smile spread wider.

"Those beasts have made our search easier," he said, looking towards the tower that rose in the center of the false city. "Hannah will have taken cover from them, found a safe place to hide. That means she won't have gone too far from the entrance, so we won't have to search this whole cave."

"Where's safe from those, those things?" Amanda said with a shudder at the memory of red eyes glowing in the dark. She didn't want to consider the possibility that Hannah hadn't found safety, but it was hard to keep that out of her mind.

Markath's strong arm went around her shoulder and pulled her close. "Do not fear," he said firmly. "Hannah is resourceful, as you are. And those creatures were hungry, or they would not have come near the fire. They have not fed recently, of that I'm certain."

Amanda nodded reluctantly at that, not wanting to get her hopes up. "So...?"

"So, now I need your help. I know how dragons deal with danger, but Hannah isn't a dragon. How do humans avoid predators?"

"We shoot them."

Markath laughed, seemingly delighted by that answer. "A warrior's answer! But one that requires a weapon, which Hannah doesn't have, so what else? Do you hide, burrow, build a wall? Your species are clever builders, aren't they?"

Amanda thought about it. Over the centuries, humans on Earth had killed most of their predators and taught the rest to avoid them. Not all, of course, there were still dangerous wild animals, but most humans would never encounter one.

How would I avoid those things? If I had the chance? The fire had helped last night, but only for a little while. If Markath hadn't come back so quickly, it wouldn't have been enough.

Suddenly an idea popped into her head. "We climb," she said excitedly. "Humans are good at that, much better than those monsters would be anyway."

Markath frowned, thinking. "Good, yes, but I looked on the top of the buildings."

"No, not on top, she'd look for shelter," Amanda said, thinking out loud. "I mean, she'd have no more idea what kind of animals there'll be here than I do. And now I'm worried about flying predators."

"You needn't be, I'll keep you safe," Markath answered. "But that means we should look for buildings with accessible upper floors, yes?"

"Yes, if there are any." Amanda looked around, trying to see likely candidates. The fog made it difficult, but a few towers stood out. "And she'd probably want to be somewhere she'd see trouble coming, so above the fog."

Markath nodded. "That makes sense, and it narrows the search down considerably. The high towers will have chambers in them where hunters could stop and rest. Hannah will probably be in one of them, near the entrance."

He stretched and winced, looking down at his wounds. Amanda looked too, worried that their strenuous activity of the night before might have damaged the bindings. To her relief, they seemed to have held, but Markath looked at them unhappily.

"This would go much faster if I could shift," he said. "But I doubt this stuff will hold through the change."

"I've never tested that, and I don't plan on trying it now," Amanda said. "You've lost too much blood already, and we're days away from your nanotech healing pools. Unless there's one in here?"

"Who knows, there might be," Markath said, frowning. "But I don't know if it would still work, even if we found it. So, for now, we stay on foot. I couldn't carry you far through the air in this form, and I am not risking leaving you again."

With that he was off, and Amanda had to hurry to keep up. Markath's long stride devoured the distance, and now that they had a direction to head in they both moved with more confidence. As they went, they took turns calling out for Hannah and listening for any answer.

The first tower they reached was a crumbled ruin, and clearly empty. The second they quietly skirted around, seeing a large nest of some kind emerging from a window high on it. Amanda had no desire to see what kind of animal had its lair up there and she knew that Hannah would have avoided it too.

As they approached the third tower, though, they heard noises from ahead. The fog muffled them, but the sound of stone hitting stone was loud enough to carry. Amanda was about to shout again when they heard something else. A low, angry growl. It was enough to chill Amanda's blood and make her grab Markath's arm.

Her mate didn't seem intimidated, though. He stalked forward into the fog, towards the noises. Something scrabbled against stone and Amanda thought she could see movement at the base of the tower they were approaching. Familiar movement — she recognized the gait of the six-legged predators that had menaced her the night before. It would be a long time before she'd forget them.

With a dull thud, something smacked into one of the animals, and it leaped away from the tower with a whine. Another stone hit the space it had been standing with a loud crack. But other monsters circled the tower, and while that one scampered away to lick its wounds the rest were undeterred.

Amanda looked to Markath, and she didn't have to say anything. With a loud roar, he spread his wings wide and charged. The creatures took one look at the dragon warrior bearing down on them and turned to run into the fog. Markath followed, shouting and waving his arms to frighten them away.

Suddenly, the square around the tower was silent and empty apart from Amanda. Looking up at the tower, she could make out openings half way up, large enough for a dragon to land on. Or for a human to climb up to?

Her heart racing, Amanda called out Hannah's name again at the top of her lungs.

For a moment there was silence, and then from high above came an answer.

"Amanda? What the hell are you doing here?" Hannah sounded incredulous, and Amanda laughed with relief. A moment later Hannah was laughing too.

"How did you get all the way up there?" She asked, staring up the tower as Hannah's head emerged from one of the windows. The stonework had crumbled, leaving handholds for a climber, but she wouldn't have wanted to try it.

"Wasn't easy," Hannah called down. "But you'd be amazed how fast I can climb when I'm being chased by some kind of demon tiger."

Amanda remembered her sister's ability to get up a seemingly sheer surface when they were children on Earth. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that Hannah kept the knack, she thought. Putting her hands on her hips, she shook her head and grinned with relief.

"Okay, but now you can come back down here," she said. "We're getting out of here."

"Ah," Hannah looked a little abashed at that. "It turns out that getting up here is a lot easier than getting down. I'm not sure I can make it safely."

"Wait there," Markath rumbled, sounding amused as he walked back into the square. "I will come and get you."

Before either of the humans had a chance to respond, he launched himself into the air. With a few beats of his wings, he flew up in a spiral around the tower until he reached Hannah's window. Catching her under the arms, he dove back to the ground. Hannah shrieked, though Amanda wasn't sure if her sister was afraid or enjoying the flight.

As soon as Hannah's feet touched the earth, Amanda threw her arms around her sister and hugged her tight.

"I was so scared," Amanda said. "We thought you might be dead."

"How did you even know where to find me?" Hannah asked, hugging back hard. "I mean, God, I've been stuck here for a few days but that's barely enough time for you to get here."

Markath growled something under his breath in his own language, and both looked at him. His serious face didn't match their joy, and Amanda felt her own smile fade a little.

"I do not wish to break up your reunion," he said slowly, "but we have some bad news about your friends."

Hannah's face twisted and then she shook her head. "Some friends. They left me trapped in here with those things."

Blinking, Amanda realized that her sister didn't know what had happened above ground. If she'd been stuck in here since the cave in, without any radio contact...

"What happened?" she asked.

"I'm not sure, honestly. We found the cave entrance, and inside there was air. That was when we knew we'd struck it rich and Dieter got real excited about it. A working airmaker, that's enough to make us a small fortune on its own and what are the odds of that being all that's down here?"

Markath's frown deepened as they began retracing their steps towards the cave's exit. Amanda could see he wasn't happy with the story Hannah was telling, but she was too caught up in seeing her sister alive and well to care. For now, all she wanted to do was hug her sister and look after her. The rest could wait.