Page 81 of Galaxy Games Four-Book Box Set (Galaxy Games)

81

Another Day, Another Threat

S adie

His amazing tongue laps at my ear and I giggle and shiver. When he feels that, he covers me as best he can with his thigh and arm.

He’s chuffs lazily as he pets me with affection.

Since I’ve known him, I’ve had to get used to how small I am compared to him, but now he’s even bigger. His palm practically covers my belly.

He nips beneath my ear with his blunt front teeth, and my body responds as if I were programmed to react to him and him alone.

He pulls out the moment his cock releases, then rises to stalk to the blanket on the other side of the cave. When he returns and covers me with it, I have to marvel at outer space science, because it immediately warms me.

I watched as he walked the width of the cave, appreciating the view both going and coming. The blanket isn’t the only thing in this cave that’s a marvel.

I wonder what triggered his shift, and I wonder if it will go away. It’s going to be hard to communicate.

Did I just call him mate? I wonder as I snuggle closer to him after he joins me under the blanket.

I know one thing for certain, I wouldn’t have done this back in Ohio. Well, of course I wouldn’t be in The Game, and I wouldn’t be hanging with an alien, and I certainly wouldn’t be having sex with Anubis.

Nor would I be slated for death in the next day or two.

So, no, I wouldn’t be doing this if I were back in Ohio. But right now, I don’t think what I’m doing is really that crazy.

I turn on my side to look at him, noticing out of the corner of my eye the two drones hovering at the mouth of the cave. TGN is nothing if not persistent. They’re not stupid, though. The expensive machinery is staying out of reach.

″Happy?” I ask as I trace the ridge of his ear. When it flicks in response, I assume he’s ticklish. It’s kind of cute that this enormous beast of war is ticklish.

His response is to bark.

″I can’t understand you, Anubis.”

I can read his disturbed expression.

″You can nod, though. We can communicate through yes and no questions.”

He laps my cheek. It’s adorable.

″Happy?”

He nods.

″Do you feel good?” Okay, I’m fishing for compliments, but I need to know.

He nods enthusiastically, then brushes his knuckles across my cheek.

Got it. He feels good, and the way he’s looking at me, like I hung the moons in the sky, gives me all the affirmation I need.

Through yes and no questions, I find out this is his super-soldier form. He turns into this when he goes to war. He’s always been able to talk before, though. Somehow, the usual effects are amplified.

″Your eyes aren’t as red and glowy as they were a while ago,” I observe.

He nods.

″Maybe what we just did… took the edge off?”

He pets me to sleep as I wonder if maybe he’ll be back to his normal self in the morning.

W e rise with the first sun. For one glorious minute, I see the planet for how beautiful it is. The morning sky is ablaze with pink and purple hues as the sun begins to burn off the haze. Outside the cave, the orange and yellow grasses wave in the gentle breeze.

″If this planet weren’t full of giant lizards, it would be a lovely place to live,” I say as I sit up and stretch.

I haven’t glanced at Anubis yet. I’m hoping magic happened in the middle of the night and turned him back into his smaller, more communicative self.

When he doesn’t respond, I turn to see he’s still the gargantuan hulk who made love to me last night. I can’t say it was a sacrifice on my part.

He sits next to me, tucking me next to him so we’re hip to hip, then leans to kiss the top of my head. Before I know it, he’s leapt out of bed and is stalking naked around the cave, picking up our discarded items of clothing.

He’s right. We shouldn’t waste a moment. We should get on the road.

Wearing a sheepish look, he hands me the shirt he ripped off me last night.

″Hmph,” I say as I inspect it. “Are you saying you’re sorry?”

He nods.

″I’ll make it work. You’re forgiven. It was a passionate moment.”

After putting on the white halter he made for me, I pull on my shirt and tie the bottom edge at my midriff. I may not be a fashion plate, but I’m mostly protected from the elements. When I pull on my pants, I glance at him.

He’s standing, just looking at his shredded clothes in his hands as if they’re going to sew themselves back into serviceable garments.

He shrugs, uses one of his sharp claws to do some additional cutting, and one minute later, he’s wearing a loincloth made out of the remnants of his jeans.

″That’s gonna chafe,” I say as we pull on our packs, grab our spears, and head out of the cave.

We’re not ten feet from the entrance when I hear a bloodcurdling noise. Somehow, before I look into the sky, I know what I’m going to see. A flock of birds.

No, not birds. These are flying reptiles. Although it’s hard to tell because of the distance, I think they’re as big as Volkswagens.