Ajos: The Restitution - A Sci-fi Alien Romance, Book 1, стр. 39
It was like air.
They knew it was there; it interacted with their instruments; but they couldn’t see it.
Ajos touched the last vial of metcer cells in his pocket.
Only one left to last him through the night.
It was getting dark now, and he had no idea how far away from the ship they were.
“V’Alen, do you read?” He activated his communicator, his eyes on Keh-reh-nah.
She hadn’t complained, but it was obvious she was tired.
She’d used the branch she’d picked up as a sort of walking aid, and she hadn’t been afraid to get her hands dirty as she climbed over huge roots and boulders within the terrain.
But even he was feeling the strain in his back.
It was time to rest.
“I am here, Commander.”
“Status?”
“I will be working on the hyperdrive all night. I have many repairs left. Any word on the source of the signal?”
Ajos let out a breath. “None.”
“We could keep going…” Kerena said. Her breaths were coming faster now, as she turned to look back at him.
She was tired, but probably ignoring it because she didn’t want to seem like a burden. She came off like the type of person to do that.
“No, we will have to take a break,” he replied to her. “V’Alen, we have stopped for a rest. If I do not contact you before the middle of the dark cycle…”
“I understand,” V’Alen said, and the comms clicked off.
Keh-reh-nah’s eyes were slightly wide. “You think we’re in danger?”
She glanced around. “Do you think those bad guys survived the crash?”
“No,” he said, “it is just a precaution. We scanned the surroundings before we landed. We picked up no lifeforms.”
Her shoulders sank a little. “Good.”
“We should rest,” he repeated.
She looked around before pointing behind him.
There was a section where the vines that crawled over the ground created a sort of flat surface that would do well for that purpose.
Ajos jerked his head in confirmation.
As he took a seat, Keh-reh-nah sat beside him and her skin brushed against his—pale softness that he wasn’t supposed to rub himself against.
His throat moved as he clenched his teeth at the thought.
“Do you think we’ll find it before it gets dark?” Her voice was soft and in the stillness of the forest around them, it sounded almost intimate, even though her words weren’t.
“I do not. We will have to head back and try again in tomorrow’s light.”
She turned to him then. “But what if we come out again only to make it back to this spot? It would be better if we spent the night out here and continued as soon as the sun rose.”
Ajos studied her.
She wasn’t afraid of doing such a thing?
She was alone in the middle of an unknown world with an unknown male by her side.
He frowned a little as he studied her.
Maybe he’d been right about her being too trusting.
Memory of how she’d almost stayed with Iceon returned and he had to stifle the urge to growl.
“I thought you’d prefer being in the safety of the ship.”
“I feel safe out here,” she said, her voice so low, he almost didn’t catch her next words. “With you.”
Those words only made something stir within him and he knew if he tried to use his vocal cords to reply, he’d probably end up groaning instead.
He was supposed to keep her safe, protect her—not scare her away.
“What do you think it is? The source of this signal?”
She was looking out into the forest and he turned to do the same. The darkness was coming in much quicker than he’d expected it to.
“I don’t know,” he answered as he lay down his spear. He could only hope it was something the Restitution could use to their advantage.
From his pocket, he pulled out two meal bars and handed her one.
Her eyebrows moved up a little as she took the bar.
“Oh, thanks!” A smile brightened her face and Ajos found himself staring. “I’d resigned myself to not eating till tomorrow when we got back.”
He’d never have allowed that, but he hadn’t the voice to reply.
They ate in silence and Ajos watched her chew.
She was grimacing as she did and he had to look at the meal bar in his hand.
It was standard sustenance for missions such as this, but she was eating it as if it tasted like the pebbles embedded in the ground beneath their feet.
“It does not please you,” he murmured, turning his bar over in his hand.
“No, it—”she took another bite“—it’s fine.”
She tried to hide her grimace and that small nose of hers wrinkled in a way that had him forgetting that he was eating.
Before long, she was yawning, and her body slumped a little as she tried to make herself more comfortable.
“Keh-reh-nah.” He opened his mouth before he could stop himself, but now that he’d spoken and gotten her attention, he had to continue. “You can rest on me.”
His genital pouch strained at the thought and his seed sack stiffened within, pulsing and almost forcing his cock to extrude.
Qeffing phek, he was an idiot.
“Are you sure?” she asked. “I’m not small. I might make it uncomfortable for you.”
He wanted to scoff at what she said, but he was too caught up in controlling the urge to pull her toward him now that the thought was in his head.
“I’m sure,” he managed to get out.
She paused for a moment before she moved to lean against him and rested her head against his shoulder.
For the next few minutes, they lay in silence, and Keh-reh-nah’s body slowly relaxed.
Ajos released a slow breath, careful not to move.
It was a mistake offering to let her rest on him.
He was barely in control.
Thank the gods it was dark now—dark enough for shadows to creep among the trees all around them.
If it was the middle of the day cycle, Keh-reh-nah would see his shame.
“You know what I’ve noticed?” she whispered.
She was oblivious to what was happening to him.
“What?” Good grief, it had taken almost all his energy to make