His lips fell against her neck, their hungry caress demanding as the weight of his rippling body fell over her.
Large hand warm against her breast, the warrior groped downwards along her body. She arched into him as his hard, grasping fingers probed between her legs.
“You’re different from Korthan women,” his husky breath swept across her earlobe. “Warmer— Wetter—”
Palm pressed firmly against her womanhood, he squeezed, his erection hard against her thigh. “I want to bury this in here.”
Tingling sensation exploded through her abdomen.
Help!
She drowned in blissful sensation, definitely didn’t want help—
Help, help!
The call was targeted, straight into her mind, the sound of a frightened little boy—
C’hase!
She shot straight up in the bunk, the Korthan disappearing along with her arousal. Rubbing sleep from her eyes, her mind was in a fog as she tried to get her thoughts together.
Suddenly, a tan squeaking Hedge ran up her leg, climbing her night clothes to perch on her shoulder, chattering away, whiskers twitching. What the hell?
Help!
The call remained. And even though he was calling through her mind, C’hase’s panicked voice sounded muffled. Pain hit her on the nose and she thought Hedge had somehow scratched her face. Then she realized it was from the mogha.
Jumping from the bunk, she ran to the cargo hold and down the ramp, Hedge’s claws digging into her bare shoulder.
She located C’hase on the port side of the ship, his bushy tail and hind legs straight up in the air, body disappearing into a hole in the ground.
Heart pounding in her chest, Dani ran to him, grabbing his legs to pull him out, unable to get a good grip as he writhed around.
“Stop struggling,” she said through gritted teeth.
Hedge ran down her arm, jumping to the dirt with a squeak, claws digging frantically, disappearing in the blink of an eye.
Strong arms came around from her left and she jumped, scooting to the right as she spun around, fists up.
The shirtless Korthan stepped forward, grasping C’hase’s hind legs, effortlessly lifting the mogha from the hole.
The pup jumped into Dani’s arms, antennae drooping low, whimpering. It bit me.
A trickle of blood dripped down his snout. “What bit you?”
The thing that tried to get Molly.
The chicken stood next to the hole, scratching at the dirt. Great. They were attracting predators.
Hedge chased it away, C’hase continued. But then it tried to get Hedge. Is he hurt?
Stars, what could possibly hurt a creature that stood its own against the hellbats, that just disappeared into the soil doing who knows what?
“He’s fine, Little One,” Dani said as she inspected C’hases’s front paws and face. There were a few scratches, but just the one bite.
“Check the bite for poison,” the Korthan said, voice rumbling.
“How do you do that?” she said.
Touching his pinky against the small puncture on C’hase’s snout, the hellhound pulled away. No, no, don’t touch it.
Raising his finger to his tongue, he held it there for a second.
“No poison,” he said, dropping his hand to the mogha’s ear, scratching behind it.
C’hase melted into the touch, his body relaxing in Dani’s arms.
“I am called, K’vyn,” the Korthan said, gaze traveling over her body.
Feeling exposed in her night clothes, Dani set the pup on the ground and stood, arms crossed.
“Dani,” she said. “I don’t know why you are still here, but thank you for pulling him out.”
He seemed to be studying her and flashes from her dream warmed her cheeks.
It was a giant lizard, C’hase sniffed at the hole, but kept a healthy distance.
A big lizard? Like the one Hedge killed before?
K’vyn’s gaze fell on the mogha and she was thankful for the distraction.
“So, you can hear him,” he said, something resigning in his tone.
Placing herself in a protective stance between him and the pup, she said, “I can.”
“What does he say?”
The sound of more sniffing filled the air, C’hase lowering himself to the ground, a watchful eye on the hole.
“That there’s some kind of lizard in there,” Dani said.
Suddenly, a scaley multi-colored, six-legged beast burst from the hole, loud hissing sounding from its throat.
Jumping back, Dani’s foot caught against something on the ground and she fell—
Her back came into contact with a broad rippling surface, muscled arms coming around, warm hands setting her back on her feet. Releasing her, K’vyn darted between her and the beast, pulling a knife from his belt.
The beast stopped short of its attack, something stopping it in its tracks. Spotting a familiar scale-covered tail with tuft of feathers on the end, Dani craned her neck around the Korthan, the lizard turning towards the new threat behind it.
Hedge had grabbed onto its long tail and was tugging backwards, rear claws anchored to the ground, the beast unable to move forward.
The Korthan swiftly took advantage, plunging his knife into the neck of the thrashing creature. Peeling off a shiny scale, Hedge took off with it towards the ship.
“This lizard beast will make a nutritious meal,” the savage said, tone triumphant.
Dani balked. There was no way she was eating that thing. Humans couldn’t eat what Korthans ate anyway—
“What is he doing?” K’vyn said next.
C’hase was trotting frantically between the hole, the lizard, the ramp of the ship, and around Dani’s feet, nose close to the ground.
I can’t find Molly, the pup said.
Heartrate quickening, Dani ran to the ship, up the ramp, and to the chicken pins. Molly was not there.
“Is this what he is looking for?” K’vyn’s voice sounded through the cargo bay, from the top of the ramp.
The Korthan dared come aboard her ship? Swinging around, her eyes widened.
In his hands, held out from his body, was Molly. The chicken’s head swung left and right in jerky movements.
C’hase bounded up the ramp, jumping around the Korthan with happy yaps, antennae caressing Molly as his tail twirled.
Alpha, the mogha said. He found her.
When the mogha’s antennae caressed the avian, the feathers on the ends brushed lightly across his fingers. K’vyn held himself very still, cherishing the touch, even though it wasn’t directed at him.
C’hase barked and danced, K’vyn awestruck by the mogha’s behavior.
The woman plucked the chicken from his grasp. “Yes, he sure did.”
So focused on the mogha, K’vyn didn’t see her coming, his fingers now tingling where the human inadvertently touched when grabbing the chicken. He blinked at his hands as much as her words. What was she saying?
The mogha barked, ending with a singsong yap.
“You did a great job protecting Molly, but please be more careful,” Dani said, handing the chicken to the pup.
Right. She was talking to the mogha, not him.
His eyes widened when the mogha grabbed the avian with extended fingers, tucking it under his front leg, walking on three as he headed towards an area full off primitive board constructs, yapping as he went.