With a growl, he pushed himself to his feet. He couldn’t stay still any longer. He would do a circuit to check his traps. Even though he could go several days without food, he knew that Terri couldn’t. In any case, he desired the distraction that it offered. “I will be back,” he rumbled. In a few short steps, he was at the door and pushing the barrier out of the way again. He could feel the female’s eyes on him, but she said nothing.
Veral stepped out into the hallway and immediately closed his inner eyelids as a gust of sand blew over him. He stood rooted in place, his mind still occupied with Terri. Her behavior had been strange since yesterday. Usually, the female filled the space around him with her voice, especially when they were at rest, but something had changed. Although he found it annoying at first, he hadn’t realized how accustomed he’d become to it until she lapsed into silence. He narrowed his eyes at the door. What had transpired while he was away? He hadn’t been gone long, only enough to escape the overwhelming pull of her pheromones, but when he returned, she’d refused to acknowledge him. Instead, she remained curled up with Krono while the wind howled outside.
Clicking his mandibles in irritation, he made his way into the exposed main room and stepped out into the street. Though the air around him bore a reddish-yellow tinge from the sand, he had little trouble seeing through the thin membrane of his inner eyelid. Even his nostrils sealed with a porous membrane. He was able to breathe adequately enough, and it kept the sand out, although it did so at the sacrifice of his sense of smell. He could always open his mandibles and mouth to taste the air if necessary, though it would result in a mouth full of sand which would be entirely unpleasant. As an extra precaution, he pulled up the folds of material at the neck of his armor until it covered his nose, mouth, and mandibles.
Standing in the center of the empty street, Veral’s eyes scanned the distance, his sensors kicking on to analyze everything before him. He increased the scope of his vision and smiled grimly. As Terri had said, there were no humans risking the sandstorm. Snapping his vibrissae, Veral headed down the street to the first of his traps, his feet taking him farther away from Terri once again. Just as when he’d left her before, his body tightened and protested. Every nerve screamed in agony, yet this time the sensation was more acute. So was the unease that filled him. Although he knew that she was safe in the dwelling while the sands blew, the greater the distance between them, the stronger his discomfort grew.
A roar of helpless rage ripped out of him as he threw his head back, protesting to the uncaring heavens of the universe. He did not want to believe it, but all signs pointed to the fact that he was bonding to the human female. He wanted to return to his ship and leave Earth with what little salvage he acquired. He even went as far as turning in the direction of his ship and heading in that direction, determined to seek out safety in space, far away from the dying planet.
He did not get far before his feet stopped, unwilling to go any farther than the edge of the city limits.
He peered at the shadowy form of the red rocks jutting into the sky in the distance. No matter how he willed it, his processors refused to respond, and his body remained rooted to the spot, unwilling to get any farther from Terri. The bond had already advanced beyond the point of no return. There was no way he could flee or sever it. All that remained was the final step. Once he extruded, he would be powerless to prevent his instinct from taking over to seed the female. At that point, the bond would be complete and the officials on Argurumal would be alerted to his deviance. He would have little choice but to take the human and move farther into uncharted space.
He shook his head, whipping his vibrissae with the force of his movement. It was a good thing that he was an independent salvager. His contracts would not be dependent on the favor of Argurumal. Given that his homeworld made no efforts to maintain alliances with other civilizations in the sectors, they would not be able to interfere with his operations. They would, however, send elite teams of Argurma hunters to capture him and his mate.
He would be dragging the female into danger. The thought did not appeal to him.
He debated if it would be kinder to kill her and spare her the future that would now lie ahead of them. He would suffer endlessly from her absence, but she wouldn’t suffer. Humans were small and fragile. He could hold her in his arms, and imprint to his databanks the final memories he’d have of her before snapping her neck effortlessly with one hand. He could do it before the bond became any stronger.
Even as he envisioned it, Veral knew he would be incapable of carrying it out, even to spare her. He groaned and sat on a rock as he stared out into the swirling sands. His decision came to him quickly. He would resist the call of her pheromones and his instincts for as long as he could to give them more time to collect what they needed. A full cargo would get them a lot further. There was a repository just within Federation space where he could deposit the goods to be collected. From there, it would just be a matter of waiting for the credits to appear. He would continue to weave back and forth over the border, exploring new worlds to salvage and returning to resupply. If they were fortunate, they would be able to stay out of the grip of the Argurumal council for many revolutions, if not most of their long lives.
He found the idea of spending hundreds of revolutions with Terri more appealing than he would have anticipated. He chuffed and shook his head again. He wouldn’t have hundreds of revolutions if he did not keep her fed. Veral headed back into the city, tracking the coordinates for the nearest of his traps.
To his frustration, the first trap was empty, as were the second and third. The fourth trap had a long legless creature that coiled up at his approach, its black tongue flicking out at him as the end of its tail shook sending up a sound not unlike his vibrissae. He recognized the warning and bared his teeth at it. With one swift motion, he drew out his taka blade, the same which had gained him the trophy for Terri, and pierced the top of the creature’s skull, splitting its head from its body within the span of half a breath. Yanking his blade free from where it was buried in the earth beneath the creature, he sent the electrical charge over it, cleansing the length of it while he snatched up the creature with the other hand. He ruffled his vibrissae while giving the creature’s head a passing glance.
It had not been a great enough foe to keep as a trophy. He wondered if the planet had any beasts yet that might present a suitable challenge. He made quick work of stripping the internal organs from the creature. As he dropped it into a dark, expandable sack on his belt, he acknowledged that it was perhaps foolish to wish for such a thing. There was enough distraction from his work, with the Reapers being an unpleasant nuisance and a mate bonding lighting his blood on fire. A hunt challenge would be best pursued later when he could afford the indulgence. He would look forward to that day. It had been some time since he enjoyed a hunt. Idly, he wondered if he shouldn’t just hunt the Reapers and take his pleasure.
No. His work required his attention first.
Nothing would prevent him from taking his pleasure reapingthem, the same way they threaten to do among their own kind, after his tasks were satisfied.
He bared his teeth once more as he navigated among the buildings, locking on to the coordinates of the domicile where he left Terri. As he returned to his camp, he found that his spirits were surprisingly high as he drew near. He suspected that it was largely the release of chemicals into his blood and brain at the instinctual satisfaction of nearing his bonded female once more. His body, which had been stressed the entire time they were apart, was reacting in a way that he at least understood.
Terri glanced up at him from her spot, her brows jerking up. Tilting her head to the side she regarded him curiously. “You seem happy,” she observed.
He bared his teeth triumphantly as he produced the legless earth-slider from the bag at his side. “One of the traps yielded a positive result. I shall feed you now.”
“I can’t say I’ve ever eaten snake before,” she admitted with a tiny twist of her lips.
He glanced down at it uncertainly. “My scans indicate that the meat is safe to eat. Do you find it objectionable?”
She shook her head, her smile growing. “No, I’ve just never met anyone who would hunt a large rattlesnake like that. They’re aggressive and fast.”
Veral snorted, his vibrissae shaking in amusement. “And I am not?”
A laugh trilled out of her and her eyes sparkled with humor. “Good point,” she acknowledged. “All right, let’s skewer the sucker. I’m starving.”
He paused, his head snapping to her with concern. “You are starving. You did not say that your condition was so deplorable. I would have fed you earlier.”
Terri stared at him for a heartbeat and then laughed once more. “No. No. I’m sorry. It’s an expression. An exaggeration. I’m just really hungry and looking forward to eating.”
Slowly, his lips curved in understanding, and he bent down to retrieve the elongated emergency pin from his supplies that had served in cooking their meat over the open fire. It threaded through the creature—the snake, she called it—and he set it over the flames. As it cooked, a melody drifted through his mind in his mother’s voice. He leaned forward, trilling and humming the tune as he carefully watched and rotated the meat, all too aware of his female’s eyes on him.
His female.Veral’s vibrissae puffed up in pleasure. Somehow, he already liked the sound of it.
12
Although she tried to put distance between herself and Veral, Terri found it difficult and gave up on it completely after he returned with dinner. She knew that he didn’t need to eat as often as she did, for he had been surprised by her admission of just how often she required sustenance the first day they were together. That he went out into the sandstorm to provide for her was sweet, and the wall she’d erected between them crumbled all too easily.