Page 16

Nala

I couldn’t put into words how I was feeling that morning when I got up and started pulling on the new clothes Artek had brought me last night.

And then we’d shared a goodnight kiss before he’d retreated, muttering that he had to leave or we’d never get any sleep.

I was maybe a tiny bit disappointed about that, but mostly I was happy to have a course of action.

So far, all I’d done was laze about while I ‘recovered’ from my bout in stasis.

That, and lust after a very alien guy I didn’t know nearly enough about.

As I pulled on a pair of soft leather pants that had clearly been hand-sewn, my eyes went to the computer console at the small desk in my room.

I had spoken to the other humans on it, would I be able to reach them again?

I’d never had a friend I’d share talk with about my dating life.

Those women were practically strangers, and yet…

having been fake-executed and then stranded on an alien planet did create a kind of bond.

There weren’t that many of them up at Haven either, just six, and apparently one guy.

In the end, I didn’t try, simply because I didn’t know how to reach them.

The more I thought about it, the more awkward it seemed, too.

Just call them and go: “Hey, yeah, so the reason I wanted to stay was because I totally have the hots for the Shaman, but I don’t know how to proceed—any advice?

” That was too embarrassing, so I’d just have to figure this out on my own.

I fingered the tunic of blue silk I had pulled over my head, then smoothed it over the beginning swell of my baby bump.

Artek didn’t wear anything but a sash tied around his middle.

These clothes were clearly sized to fit a human.

Where had they come from? Had he made them himself?

There was also a warm, fur-lined leather coat that was a little more rough and unfinished than the pants and tunic.

As if he’d worked on it in a rush. The coat hadn’t been there last night, when he’d tucked me into my nest bed in this room.

It had been waiting for me by the door this morning.

I didn’t pull it on, but hooked it over my shoulder as I left the room, ears wide open for any sound of my Shaman.

Was he in the healing chambers with his stubborn patient, or in the greenhouse?

I ran into Zap as I turned the corner, and after an extended greeting consisting of many scratches and much petting, she seemed happy to lead the way.

I followed her until we turned into a darker hallway, only half of the crystals in the ceiling lit.

The doors were spaced widely, some as big as barn doors.

I was fairly certain I’d never been in this hallway before, and it felt a little like I’d just stepped into a place I shouldn’t be. Like it was off-limits—secret.

Then a rummaging noise came, and I saw something pale move in the distance.

Was that Artek’s tail? I gave Zap a look, but the black-and-white, badger-and-porcupine-mixed beastie had sat on her butt and was now licking smooth a patch of fur.

She did not look my way but seemed completely at ease.

Fine—if Artek told me I shouldn’t be here, I’d tell him Zap brought me.

Then I’d bombard him with questions, distract him.

It wasn’t like he’d told me I couldn’t be here, either.

I shouldn’t have worried, when I started jogging down the hallway, that tail twitched and then Artek stuck his head out of the door way and smiled.

A glint to those mysterious blue eyes that made me think he was the one up to no good.

He looked… mischievous. “Ah, Nala, you found the coat, good. You’ll need it.

There’s been a lot of frost during the night.

” He waved at a dark shape hovering in the hallway next to him.

It was low to the floor, which was why I hadn’t noticed it yet, and shaped kind of like a hover stretcher.

It was bigger than the ones I’d seen on Earth, but not dissimilar.

This one was probably made to fit a Naga body.

“A sled,” Artek said proudly. “We can put Khawla on it, along with supplies.” His tail had coiled around my ankle—just the tip—but it clung there as if he couldn’t keep himself from touching me.

“Let me get the rest of the things we need.” He ducked out of sight through the doors behind him again, but his tail kept gripping my ankle.

The sigils, made up of savage slashes and lines, curled along his tail, up his front, and lit the hallway more brightly than the dim crystals in the ceiling did.

I traced the edge of the sled with my fingers, touching cool, smooth metal and a layer of dust. Peering through the door around Artek’s shoulders, I saw a room with tall ceilings and endless shelves lined with objects.

Crates were stacked against one wall, taller than the door, and Artek was rummaging through a box at the back, setting things carefully aside as he went.

“Whoa, that’s a lot of stuff,” I said. “Where did you get all this?” This room was a hoarder’s wet dream, there were so many supplies.

Suddenly, I wondered if the many doors down the hallway hid more storage chambers just like this one.

How prepared was Artek? Had he done all this by himself?

I was full of questions again and pelted him with them one after the other.

“There’s so much. Are you hiding a shuttle somewhere around here too?

” I asked last, and he abruptly stiffened and jerked upright.

Huh, he’d been answering vaguely so far, but this?

This was interesting. Then he tilted his head, shimmering gold and silver hair sliding over his shoulder.

A smirk lifted the corner of his mouth, and something hot twisted inside my belly in response.

“You do? For real?” I said, certain I wasn’t mistaking that look at all.

My heart started pounding—for very different reasons now.

He’d satisfied my curiosity by letting me read all about what had happened to his planet.

Though I had likely only scratched the surface of the events that led to this, I felt like I knew the basics: the EM field that prevented flight and made ships crash here when caught unaware.

Or maybe even when they were aware. They had overcome the issue of the field in the past, and their leaving Serant was what had set off the chaos that sent them spiraling into what was supposedly akin to the Dark Ages.

Could this shuttle he had be a ticket off the planet?

Artek slashed a hand through the air. “It’s no matter.

We’re using the sled. It is our only option.

” He did not explain why that was the case, and I was on the verge of asking, but he smiled again, and that devastating sign of his mirth derailed my thoughts.

He moved like quicksilver across the room, suddenly rising next to me.

His hand cupped my chin, and then he kissed me.

I found myself up in the air and then deposited onto the sled the next moment.

Head spinning, I saw only his back as he piled the gathered supplies next to me on the vehicle.

“Khawla is rousing. We must hurry before he slithers away.” I didn’t know how my Shaman knew that, but I admired his quick efficiency and the way the sled moved without a hitch when he set it into motion.

Soon, I was part of the chaos, stacking stuff in a better way, counting the packed ration cakes to double-check Artek’s numbers for him.

I felt the thrill again, the coming adventure.

On Earth, everything had been about survival, and never had my interests aligned with my day-to-day life.

For the first time, that felt like it might be different.

Like I could feed my curious side rather than push it away just to see another day.

Here, it felt like that curiosity was key to my survival, and with Artek, I didn’t feel like my questions drove him crazy, either.

He answered or he didn’t, laughed when I veered into the silly, and gave me the occasional smoldering answer that set my blood on fire. Or it was a look, like earlier.

The mood shifted drastically when we arrived at the healing chambers, even before Artek steered the floating sled—with me on it—through the colorful curtains.

I was focused at first on the low-tech way they were hung, which I’d noticed when I woke here.

Artek must have done that himself, and it fit in with the narrative that technology was scarce or not working, even if it was plentiful in Artek’s home.

Then my eyes caught on Artek himself, right behind the sled, and my breathing faltered.

There was an intense look on his face, his sharp, spiky brows lowered to shadow his eyes, and his mouth drawn into a tight line.

The curtains brushed past my body, briefly blinding me, and when I blinked and pushed the fabric aside, Artek was no longer behind me.

I didn’t know how he’d moved so quickly, but now he was in front of the sled, hovering directly in my path.

I couldn’t see around him unless I leaned to the side, and when I tried, he shifted with me, blocking my view.

“Khawla,” I heard him say coolly, and I wondered where that kind, warm bedside manner had gone—the one he’d used on me.

There was none of that warmth for this patient.

I could see the edge of a dark bluish-purple tail hanging over the side of a bed at the far end of the room.

It twitched, sliding and spooling as more of him spilled over the edge.

That was a little too snake-like for my comfort, and that was interesting, because I’d gotten used to Artek, I no longer found his tail scary or off-putting.