Page 37 of Cozy Prisons (Human Pets of Talin: Origins #4)

Nataly

Grace’s mover bot arrived at dawn, its old mechanics making a lot of noise as it walked. One of its legs was deploying slower than the other ones, telling Nataly that it needed to be replaced soon.

“All you need to do is make it back to everyone else,” she told the bot. Her specialty was programming, not mechanics. In a pinch, she could help with electrical issues. The bot was far beyond her skill set. Once they had access to tools and parts, Riff would be able to fix her.

“Don’t worry,” she whispered to the old machine. “I’ll make sure you don’t get left behind.”

“Are you talking to the bot again?” Daxus asked.

Nataly grinned at him. “I’m just making sure she knows how much we appreciate her.”

He made a rumble of amusement and continued loading things onto the bot. After they broke down camp and finished securing everything to the mover, they set off.

It took all day, and by the end, Nataly was riding on top of the mover because her feet started to hurt. The ride wasn’t smooth, but it was better than trying to walk.

She could hear her friends before she saw them. Their familiar voices were such a relief!

“They’re here!” Sima shouted when they got close. Everyone stopped what they were doing and rushed over to greet her and Daxus. Looking down at everyone from the top of the bot made Nataly feel like a celebrity!

“Hello, my loyal subjects,” she called out, pretending to wave at them. “I’m overjoyed to be with you again.”

There was laughter as the mover stopped because there were too many bodies for it to navigate safely. She swung her legs over the edge of the mover’s platform and jumped down, only to cry out in pain and collapse to the ground.

Everyone started asking her questions at once.

“What’s wrong?

“Did you hurt your ankle?”

“Should I get Falkilm?”

Daxus let out a loud rattle. “Everyone move!”

Her friends were quick to move so Daxus could get to her. She ignored everyone and focused on gingerly pulling off her shoes. Daxus knelt next to her as she was tugging off the second one. He let out a startled rattle.

“Yeah, that’s bad,” she agreed.

Both feet were rubbed raw. Pulling off her boots had caused them to start bleeding again. She’d ignored how much her feet hurt and kept walking. She didn’t think they were this awful.

“It reminds me of when Decard stepped in that puddle of chemicals," Sima said with a gasp.

“It’s probably not as bad as it looks,” Nataly said, trying to be positive. “Or feels.”

Daxus let out an agitated rattle. “Why didn’t you tell me you were in pain earlier?”

“I didn’t know I was in that much pain until I stood up,” she said. “It’s weird how pain works sometimes.”

“It’s astounding that any of you humans survived to adulthood!” Falkilm muttered as he pressed in next to Daxus. With all the humans and Talins gathered close and the bot at her back, there wasn’t a lot of space.

“Will I live?” Nataly asked, then remembered that not only do most Talins not get her humor, but Falkilm was especially obtuse.

“Please don’t fear, the pain might be severe, but the damage looks minimal,” Falkilm assured her with a soothing rumble. He looked at Daxus. “It will probably cause the least amount of stress if you carry her. I have an area set up for treatment.”

“I need everyone to back away,” Daxus declared, sounding a warning rattle that made a couple of people jump in surprise.

Easy," she said, surprised at how tense he was. “It’s not a big deal. Falkilm will put some salve on it and I’ll be fine.” When he picked her up to cradle her against his chest, she wrapped her arms around his neck and nuzzled the strip of bare skin.

“I don’t like it when you’re in pain,” Daxus murmured. “Especially when it’s my fault.”

“How could this possibly be your fault?” she countered as he followed Falkilm through the crowd.

“I should’ve made you stop walking sooner,” he said, purring loudly as if he could chase away her pain with his rumbles.

“Let’s not play the ‘shoulda’ or ‘what if’ game,” she said, reaching up to rub her fingers over one of his scent glands.

She felt his step stutter a little at her touch, but he was quick to regain his fast pace.

“You need to stop that,” he said.

“Or what?” she teased.

“I don’t know,” he admitted, finally giving her an amused rumble. “But I’ll find some suitable punishment.”

She lifted her face to put her lips close to his ear. “I can’t wait!”

She was enjoying this flirtatious version of Daxus. He was far more fun than the guilty version. Falkilm put a stop to it.

“Set her here, please,” he said, pointing to a table. Not an exam table or gurney, but a table-table.

After he set her down on the table, Falkilm put his face close to her feet and mumbled things to himself. She couldn’t make out most of it, but one thing was clear: he was upset at no longer having access to all his fancy equipment.

“Can we help?” Kamie said.

“Wow, your feet look like butchered meat,” Kiran said with a grin.

Nataly laughed, but Daxus growled.

“Akk!” Kiran yelped with exaggerated fear. At the same time, he dramatically leaped away from Daxus to stand next to Falkilm.

To her surprise, the normally even-tempered Falkilm sounded a war rattle and shoved Daxus away. “Don’t you ever growl at Kiran!”

“Hey now!” Kiran said, grabbing Falkilm by the wrist. “He’s grumpy because Nataly is hurt; he didn’t mean anything by the growling.”

“He threatened you!” Falkilm said. He didn’t pull out of Kiran’s hold, but he didn’t retreat either. “You were frightened.”

“Kiran likes to be silly,” Kamie said, rushing around them to stand in front of Falkilm. “He wasn’t really scared.”

“I wasn’t,” Kiran agreed, letting go of Falkilm’s wrist.

Kamie jumped up, and Falkilm automatically caught her. Kiran moved in front of Falkilm and wrapped his arms around Kamie and Falkilm as best he could.

Kamie let out a happy sigh. “This is nice.”

Falkilm started purring as the three embraced. A lot must’ve happened while they’d been gone!

Daxus’s body was tense, and his hands were open with claws out. He was still ready to fight. These two reasonable males were about to get into a physical altercation simply because Kiran made a bad joke.

And Talins claimed humans were overly emotional!

She leaned over and put a hand on Daxus’s back. “Could you get me some water or sopa?”

He started purring even before he turned. “Of course.”

Although he said the words, he didn’t move. He kept purring, but his eyes shifted between her and the throuple. Kiran and Kamie were talking to Falkilm in low tones.

“Daxus, I need you to listen to me,” Nataly said. She waited until his entire focus was on her. “I’m not in danger. No one here is in danger any longer. The most that’s going to happen is we’re not going to be as comfortable as we were in the village. That’s it.”

“I can’t…” He abandoned his sentence and pulled in a deep breath. Turning his body fully to her, he sat the edge of his butt on the table and drew her into his arms. His claws were pulled back into his fingers, but he was still tense. “I can’t turn it off.”

She snuggled into his arms. “Yeah, I get that, but you can’t take it out on Kiran or Falkilm.”

He briefly sounded a questioning rumble before going back to purring. “How did you deal with this? It's horrible.”

She chuckled. “Mine was a little different.”

He was silent for a moment before responding. “Maybe, but it was still a heightened level of awareness that you couldn’t tune out.”

That was an accurate description. “Touching and holding you helped me feel better. You can do the same with me. I can be your anchor this time.”

A quick blast of amused rumbles came out of him. “Are you going to insist I talk to Falkilm about my feelings?”

“No, I’m going to wait until you’re asleep and drag you to him by your feet,” she countered.

After they finished laughing and rumbling, Daxus rubbed his scent glands on her head. “Do you really want the sopa?”

“No,” she said. “I want this.”

“Good,” he murmured. “Because that’s what I want too.”

“We’re all blessed that the ancestors were working through you,” Falkilm commented as he finished bandaging her feet. Now that they’d been cleaned and covered in a gel that had a pain-killing component, they felt good enough to walk on. Not that she was going to be stupid and try it.

“What do you mean?” she asked.

It was Daxus who answered. “Falkilm means that our ancestors guided you to warn us.”

Kiran snorted. “Maybe it was our ancestors who did the heavy lifting.” He and Kamie were standing on the other side of the table, watching Falkilm work and rushing off to get things as he needed them.

Nataly was thankful for their presence and constant banter. They kept her engaged in conversation so she didn’t look at her feet. Kiran hadn’t been wrong; they looked like butchered meat!

“Your ancestors must be weak,” Falkilm said. He didn’t look up from his task, and his words were mumbled, so he probably didn’t mean to say them out loud.

Nataly and her friends glared at him.

“Weak?” Kamie’s voice was dripping with anger. “We might be small compared to you, but we’re strong as hell!”

“Let’s see you learn to survive like we have,” Kiran challenged.

“If any spirits were working through me, it was the witches in my lineage,” Nataly said, her voice sharp. “I come from a long line of capable, powerful women. Don’t you dare tell me they count for less than your precious ancestors.”

Belatedly realizing he’d made an error of judgment, Falkilm looked up from his task. “But, uh, you’re humans.”

Oh, that was absolutely the wrong thing to say. Nataly didn’t bother to respond; she knew Kamie and Kiran would take care of it.

Kamie’s back went rigid, and she crossed her arms over her chest. “And you’re a dumb Talin.” She looked down at Nataly. “Are you good?”

She nodded, understanding the implication of the question. “I’m fine.”