Mia smiled and reached for the creature, curious if it would let her touch it. It scurried away, looking like a clumsy bright-colored ball.
Korum grinned at her, and Mia laughed, feeling incredibly happy. Standing up on tiptoes, she placed her hands on his cheeks and brought his face toward her, giving him a quick kiss on the lips. “I love you,” she said, holding his gaze, and her heart squeezed at the naked look of love she saw there.
“Hey, lovebirds, take a look at this!” Connor yelled, and Mia wanted to punch him for interrupting the moment.
Korum gave her a rueful smile, and walked over to see what Connor was talking about. Mia followed, still unhappy with her brother-in-law. As soon as she got there, however, all her displeasure was forgotten. “Oh, wow,” she breathed, “what is that?”
On a tree branch just a few feet off the forest floor, partially hidden by leaves, was a tiny furry creature that looked like a cross between a lemur and a kitten. Brown-colored, it had huge blue eyes and a short fluffy tail.
“That’s a baby fregu,” Korum said softly. “They’re very cute, but they bite sometimes, so don’t try to pet it.”
“Fregu?” The word sounded familiar for some reason. Then Mia remembered. “Hey, you said I reminded you of one of these!” she told Korum accusingly, then burst out laughing because she herself could see the resemblance.
The fregu was only the first of their encounters with Krinar wildlife. There were birds with four wings, insects that were the size of a small bird, and plants that acted more like animals. One time, Connor almost stepped on a snake-like creature that screamed at him and rolled away, its long thin body moving like a rolling pin.
Finally, they reached the lake. It was a sizable body of water, probably a couple of miles wide and several miles long. The shore of the lake was covered with fine grey sand and small black rocks. It made the water itself look dark and mysterious.
“Is it safe to swim?” Marisa asked, kicking off her sandal and dipping a toe in to test the temperature.
“Yes,” Korum told her. “There are some dangerous predators in there, but nothing that comes this close to the shore. This lake is very deep, and there are all kinds of things living there, but they generally don’t go into shallow waters. Just in case, though, wear this.” He handed her a thin clear bracelet that he made just a second ago. “It repels aquatic animals by emitting a sound they find very unpleasant.”
Mia and the others received the same kind of bracelet, and then they all went for a swim, enjoying the refreshing escape from the heat outside.
Chapter 27
Mia woke up the next morning with a nagging feeling of unease in her chest. For some reason, she kept dreaming about Saret and that day in the lab. In her dream, Saret was touching her, making her skin crawl with disgust, and there was nothing Mia could do about it other than scream silently in her head because she was paralyzed and unable to move.
Too wired to sleep more, Mia got up and went to take a shower. Korum was away somewhere, and Mia didn’t know if her family was still sleeping or not. From the sun’s position outside, it had to be very early in the morning.
Standing under the water spray, she yawned, feeling unusually tired. Maybe she shouldn’t have gotten up yet. The stupid dream was still on her mind, and she scrubbed her skin thoroughly, trying to wash it away. In reality, Saret had barely touched her, so she didn’t know why her subconscious even went there this night.
To dispel any lingering impressions from the dream, she mentally went over the actual events of that day, starting from when she ran into Saret on her way out. He had been so happy to talk to her about his plans, to tell her everything he intended to do to humans and his fellow Krinar. Mia guessed it hadn’t been easy for him, never confiding in anyone else, always trying to play a role, to hide his true nature. With her, since he thought she would never remember their conversation, he had felt safe dropping the mask he normally wore.
In hindsight, it was almost funny, all of his crazy ramblings about bringing peace to Earth and acting as a savior to her people. He had even tried to convince her that Korum had some evil plans of taking over her planet. It was so ridiculous that Mia chuckled to herself. Had he really thought that she would be sympathetic to his cause? That because she had been willing to believe the worst of Korum once she would make that same mistake again?
Stepping out of the shower, Mia let the drying technology do its work. Then, feeling marginally better, she went back into the bedroom to find her fabricator and get dressed.
To her surprise, Korum was there, sitting on the bed. He was dressed in a typical Krinar outfit of light-colored shorts and a sleeveless shirt. For some reason, his hair was wet.
“You’re awake,” he said, looking at her naked body with a familiar sensual gleam in his eyes. “I went swimming in the lake because I figured you’d be asleep for quite some time. Why are you up so early?”
“Bad dream.” Mia sat down next to him. His hands immediately went to her breasts and squeezed them lightly, as though he couldn’t resist touching her.
“Why, my sweet? What dream?” There was a concerned look on his beautiful face, even as his hands continued playing with her breasts, his thumbs brushing against her nipples in a way that sent a spear of heat right down to her core.
Mia could hardly think with him doing this to her. “Um . . . just that thing with Saret . . .” Her head fell back, her neck arching as he bent down to nibble on the sensitive spot near her collarbone.
“What thing?” he murmured, one of his hands now slipping between her thighs, stroking her aching sex.
“Just that . . . conversation . . .” Mia gasped as his finger slid inside her, one thumb pressing on her clit while his other hand continued playing with her nipple.
“What about it?” he whispered, his hot breath washing over her neck, giving her goosebumps all over.
“I don’t . . . I don’t know,” Mia managed to say, her inner muscles clenching around his finger as a wave of heat went through her body. She was so close . . . so close . . .
Korum withdrew his finger and pushed her down, so that she was lying flat on her back with her legs hanging off the side of the bed. Kneeling on the floor, he pulled her legs over his shoulders and brought her sex toward his mouth.
At the first touch of his warm, wet tongue on her clit, Mia shattered into a million pieces. The release was so powerful that she arched off the bed, her eyes squeezing shut as waves of pleasure radiated through every part of her body.