Kol
Kol had never given serious thought to paradise or the afterlife.
The stories of his mother’s people of Rolusdreus said paradise was a never-ending oasis with plentiful sweet water, green grass for grazing animals; all the best fruits were always in season, and game was so plentiful the wildlife walked itself right into the cook pot. The sun was warm but not oppressive. The moon was kind and soft, never cruel. And there was no sand in paradise. No grit to pollute water or spoil meals. No sand to work its way into your tail and ruin your mood. Paradise.
For his father’s people, the Mahdfel, paradise was a never-ending celebration. The brothers of the clan feasted and caroused. They would recount tales of their glories and challenge the greatest Mahdfel warriors to test their skills. Their mates and their sons would be together until the last star in the sky went dark.
Neither vision spoke to Kol’s heart. They could be true, they could be false, but he didn’t care either way. When the fire in his blood extinguished, his existence was over and that thought never gave him a moment’s trouble.
Now, inexplicably, he found himself in paradise.
His mate pressed against him, one arm over his hip and she growled lightly in her sleep. He wore no clothing, which was his idea of paradise, naked in bed with his mate. Cautiously, he moved his hand to her lower back. She wore clothes, which did not align with his idea of paradise. Moreover, her clothes were scratchy and unpleasant against his skin. He should remove the offending garments, for her comfort. Strictly her comfort. She could be injured and requiring medical attention...
Kol itched to pull back the blanket to inspect her for damage but dared not move. She slept. He would not move until she woke. Until then, he would keep watch.
In the dark and the cold, he scanned the room. His low light vision was good enough to detect structural damage. Wherever they were, it was shelter. Barely. His mate had been hiding herself in the burned out shell of a building. Correction, the lower level of a burned out shell of a building. Clever. The delicate scent of desert flowers and crisp rain wrapped around them. Even in this ruin, her natural fragrance permeated the air.
A visual inspection confirmed the room to be secure enough. For now. He would be unable to do a complete security check until his mate woke.
His memory of events was foggy. The bridge collapsed. He hit the water. Then, nothing.
Kol frowned. His mate had defied his orders. She did not flee as he commanded. Then again, he had a translator chip implanted. She did not. She had been unable to understand his command.
He gently rubbed his hand in a circular motion on her back. Regardless of their language barrier, self preservation should have compelled her to flee.
Still, she remained.
He itched to wake her and ask, despite knowing that it would be a fruitless activity. He only knew a handful of Terran words. The translator chip implanted behind his ear allowed him to understand the various Terran languages but it did not give him the ability to speak Terran. His wrist communicator could function as a primitive translator, but he was currently nude. Without rolling away and disturbing his mate, he was unable to locate his armor and equipment.
Kol studied his mate’s sleeping visage.
She was brave. He knew that. After his body hit the freezing water, he felt it begin to shut down. He slipped under the water and knew he would join his ancestors in some version of paradise. But this female fished him out. She endured the freezing water and risked being discovered by another Suhlik patrol for him.
She was clever. Tiny against his frame, she simply did not have the strength to carry him from the water to shelter. Yet here he was. Her clever brain devised a method to carry him.
She was resourceful. She had been hiding for months—months!—in the charred ruin of a building to avoid detection. The lingering scent of smoke masked her own scent, making her invisible to Suhlik and Mahdfel alike.
She was soft in his arms. Compellingly soft. He longed to explore her curves, to taste her skin and drink from her cunt, but remained still. To take from a female without her permission was reprehensible. Unforgivable.
It also violated the terms of the treaty. The Terrans were very adamant in placing restrictions on how the Mahdfel warriors selected their mates. No physical relations with a female without permission. No claiming a female without first submitting to the genetic test for compatibility. Any female tested had to agree to the test. Finally, no testing would be conducted until the Suhlik left Earth. It was as if the Terran authorities did not trust the Mahdfel and expected the warriors to snatch females off the street to breed them.
Indignation stirred in his chest. The warriors of his clan were honorable. All the Mahdfel clans acted in honor. They were Mahdfel, after all. Not Suhlik. If the Mahdfel said they would do a thing, it would be done and when the Mahdfel swore to protect Earth against the Suhlik, they would not rest until the last lizard left the system.
He huffed, blowing back the curls against his mate’s forehead. The curls intrigued him. Rolusian hair hung straight. It did not curl in such a manner. Her warm, rich brown skin was so much more appealing to his eyes than the pale pinks and sickly beiges he’d seen. He suspected she could withstand the harshness of the twin Rolusdreus suns better than most Terrans. This pleased him deeply.
His female was small and soft and brave and clever. She was many things obvious to the naked eye and many more things he could only learn in time: the sound of her voice, her laughter, and her sighs of contentment, of annoyance, and of pleasure. Especially of pleasure. He joyfully anticipated learning all he could about his Terran female. Above all, she was for him.
When she woke, Kol would assess her for injury. Then he would conduct the same assessment for himself. He ached and the cold suppressed his innate ability to heal. The Suhlik soldier had landed several blows to him and shredded his armor. He needed to secure the perimeter of their shelter and safeguard it against further Suhlik attacks. He would also inspect his equipment and repair as needed. If his communication unit worked, he would send a location beacon. His clan would arrive in short order and escort his mate to the secured zone under the shields. He would present her to his father and the other males in the clan would be jealous that Kol found a worthy mate so quickly.
It was a long list, but not a single task could be accomplished until his mate woke from her rest. Until then, he rested with her in paradise.
“Rest now,” he murmured to his mate in a language she could not understand. “I will keep watch.”