Chapter Seven

LAZ

One of the heels on Gabriella's shoes had broken off while she was running. I was no shoemaker, but the only other person around wasn't one either. I thought I would be able to rig up something with an animal pelt to piece together a pair of slippers for her. They weren't anything you would see in a fashion show, but I was able to put laces into the opening, so she could adjust them, at least.

Apart from the shoes, I brought along some whittling tools to create any additional hand weapons I would need. I turned the winoa bones into sharp triangles which could function as arrowheads or knives. We would get more than food from the kill.

When I was finished creating weapons of destruction, my hands stunk to the heavens. I laid my tools out on the ground and set out to find a stream and rinse the smell off my fingers. The walk back up the trail felt longer than the climb down.

I knew the wildlife was the same in either direction, but it felt like I was fending off a different species of insect each step of the way. Earlier, I had to catch myself from falling backward when a four-headed magfly the size of my thumb buzzed past my face. The insects were big, but they were slow and lazy. This planet had so many problems even its insects were deformed and diseased. Every moment I was here helped me understand why my Maztek ancestors had decided to leave Xylox and form a new civilization on a different planet.

I reached the top of the trail. As I stuck out my hands to balance myself, I stopped. A mask and a small mountain of women's clothes covered the stone I was about to grab. I squinted at the waterfall and stopped moving when I saw what was under it.

Gabriella stood, water rushing over her body, and she was completely naked. She faced away from me. I imagined her eyes were closed. I watched her fingers weave through her hair as she washed away the bubbles. My eyes dropped down to the smooth curves of her round, squeezable ass. The sight took my cock by surprise, too. It swelled and began poking its tip against my thigh.

A guilty flush covered my cheeks. I moved away from the rock and started walking away from Gabriella. I knew I shouldn't look, but my saluting member wanted me to go into the water with her.

I searched my mind for all the tactics I once used to ward off erections from when I was an adolescent. First, I computed random mathematical equations in my head. That shield turned out to be useless when the side-view image of Gabriella's hot body snuck back into my thoughts. I had caught sight of her puffy, pink nipples for a second. Her breasts weren't gigantic, but they were beautifully shaped. I reached into the waistband of my pants to adjust my throbbing cock.

Cracking my neck, I tried to distract myself again. I attempted to recall the names of the forty-two states on Maztek. Fallgold, Marblemere, Starryedge, Hollowbrook, Zumleigh... I wasn't sure what it was about the thumb-sized heart tattooed on Gabriella's right hip, but it was absurdly sexy. She had a great pair of legs, too. Those muscular thighs and shapely calves looked even better soaking wet. I stopped moving and started to imagine what her legs would look like wrapped around my neck.

I rubbed at my temples, grunting. What was the matter with me? I was a grown male – these lustful thoughts should have been in my past. The last time I felt this uncomfortably aroused was over twenty years ago.

She was technically my wife, and we had both signed off on a TerraMates marriage certificate that finalized our wedding. Even so, there was something inexplicably unethical about watching Gabriella when she was most vulnerable. I suppose my father and his father, my Upa, contributed to my guilt. From an early age, they explained to me in exquisite detail what they would do to me if I were to disrespect a woman.

But more importantly, I was nothing but a stranger to her.

I knew there was a chance that she might have been cleaning, but I assumed she would be washing her feet or arms. The last thing I imagined was her being nude out in the middle of the woods. Why would she think it was a good idea to be naked in enemy territory? My eyes rolled up to the heavens. I had been in the company of Gabriella for less than two days, but her erratic and unpredictable decisions were already starting to drive me up the wall.

The thought triggered the memory of Marshall Hathaway. He was the only other human I had ever known. Up until this point, I presumed the majority of Earthlings were level-headed and pragmatic by nature, as he was. Apart from Upa and my father, Marshall was the only other man who ever gave a damn about me.

As for my mother, I never knew the lady and didn't care to learn more about her. She had disappeared soon after I was born and never returned. I was raised by Upa and my father until they were both killed in the Fallgold incident twenty-five years ago.

Marshall was part of a small community of humans stationed on Maztek. The man was intelligent and sincere, which garnered the respect of Upa and my father. The three had met a couple of years before I was born. The way I heard it, they became instant friends.

Even though Marshall was not a fighter, he always accompanied them when they went out on the field. He risked his life numerous times in different Xylo war zones tending to injured warriors. When the frequency of the Xylo attacks decreased, he dedicated his time to helping Maztek in impoverished villages afflicted with mysterious and debilitating diseases.

When my blood family perished in the Fallgold battle, Marshall made sure to check on me when he could. He never tried to refill the hole Upa and my father left in my life, but he acknowledged it existed. That was all I needed. The visits were brief, but they remained some of the most pleasant memories I had.

In a cruel twist of fate, Marshall died a horrible death under the hand of Synic. Synic had taken command in place of his father, Dyron, who perished in Fallgold. Thirsting for blood and having something to prove, Synic executed Marshall when he refused to give up information he knew about the Maztek forces.

The deaths of all three males in my life had a long-lasting effect on me. I knew I needed to be the one to take down those Xylo sons of bitches. I joined a military academy funded by Maztek royalty and began training at the age of fifteen.

I made a left turn, heading back to camp. Now that I was thinking about Marshall, I remembered one time I had seen his composure challenged. The man had a reputation for a consistently chipper mood and the ability to keep calm under pressure, making him respected by most Maztek. His exterior remained stoic and calm through Upa and my father's death, but it was finally put to the test two months after Fallgold.

Treating thousands of dying Maztek civilians had preoccupied him, making him miss the birth of his daughter. At the time, he hadn't seen me, but I was lurking in the back of the stock room when he burst inside on one of his breaks. Not knowing what to do, I hid behind one of the massive containers.

Without warning, I saw the person I knew as an unbreakable, happy-go-lucky man collapse on the ground. He sobbed more than I had ever seen any grown man cry. The sound of helpless emotion in his voice was unforgettable.

I suppose even he had a breaking point.

Maybe I needed to rethink my strategy with Gabriella. At this stage, I hoped an open-minded approach would work. It would be in both of our best interests if I put in the effort to make her journey to a foreign, war-torn planet a little more pleasant.

It was an uncomfortable feeling. I had been looking for my naima for many years. Now that I had the chance for companionship, I realized I was unprepared. It was like being a rookie all over again. I could only rely on what I knew – to improvise, conquer, and overcome whatever situation came my way.

I wasn't sure what to do, but I knew I didn't want to scare her away forever.

As I inched closer to the cave, something made me halt in my tracks. I moved into a crouch and concealed myself behind the trunk of a tree. The pungent odor of rotting fruit drifted down from above, penetrating the rag on my face and burning in my nose. I fixed the rag's knot behind my head and put my hands on the tree trunk as I looked at our camp from a distance.

A pair of Xylo hitchhikers hobbled out of the cave on their hands and feet. One carried winoa meat in his pockets and under his arms. The other had his hands full with a pot of bone stock.

One Xylo had a green eye and a brown one. He barked to his companion in a high-pitched local dialect. The other screeched in agreement. The pair moved east toward an inclined path.

They were headed straight for the waterfall and Gabriella.