Page 20 of A Monster's Light
With my decent job, I was able to purchase protein patties and other items made with meat products regularly, but an actual, unaltered piece of meat was for holidays and special occasions only. And I was so worried about messing those up with mylimited cooking skills that I usually spent a little extra and went out to a restaurant for that.
Somehow, the lizard Gnnar was cutting up with a piece of extra sharp rock didn’t look as appetizing. Though, if I had to be honest, the cows they’d brought over from Earth and hybridized so they could survive here didn’t look particularly like good eating either. Neither did chickens. Those survived perfectly fine here with absolutely no modifications and had even escaped into the wilderness and established populations there.
But as the meat started sizzling over the fire, and the rich aroma of cooking food filled the cavern, my stomach decided it was interested after all.
“Have you tried them before? What do they taste like?” I asked, only to remember that he could no longer understand me. He said something back to me that sounded like nothing more than a series of growls and rumbles. I still had no idea what he said, but his low, grumbly voice was having an effect on me again.
And we weren’t even touching!
He moved, and at first, I didn’t know what he was doing, but then I realized he was setting up an area for us to eat with several flat boulders to make a table. He rolled some of the vegetation tightly into a stick and then lit the end before jamming it into the crack on the top piece of stone.
Hey, would you look at that!
This was as close as we were going to get to a candlelit dinner. Or lunch. Did people do candlelit lunches? I didn’t care. I’d take it! He was putting in the effort, and I appreciated it. In fact, I was grateful for everything he’d done to make this place more comfortable.
“Gnnar?” I asked as we waited for our food to finish cooking.
“Dana.” He reached over to drape an arm around me and pulled me close.
“I’ve come to the conclusion that you don’t have a mate because, according to Penny’s book, being bonded meant you can’t physically get it on with someone else. I assume that also means for the rut. But you don’t have a girlfriend, do you?”
I knew he couldn’t understand me. He just cupped my face in his warm palms and pressed his forehead to mine. Someone with a girlfriend back home wouldn’t do that, would they? No, I decided. He wasn’t taken; he was fair game.
He stirred the fire and turned our roast, which had developed a crispy skin and smelled divine. Who needed simulated bacon when we had rock lizards on a stick?
Judging by the grin on his face as he cleaned off his hands with one of our packs of water, lunch was ready. Instead of ripping me off a piece Gnnar pulled me into his lap and held a piece with some of the crispy skin to my mouth.
“I can feed myself,” I said, with a chuckle, trying to take the meat from him.
But Gnnar insisted on feeding me.
Penelope’s story took place before Nova Vita ended the trade agreement with the Kadrixans. In the book, they’d held big dinners to welcome the new batch of women, which were, in essence, like giant speed dating sessions but with attentive alien warriors and amazing food. But the utensils didn’t fit the smaller female hands, which meant the warriors had to feed them. It was a Kadrixan courting ritual, but it also encouraged the females to release their brainwashed fear of the warriors.
Technically, I didn’t need this courting ritual because I was already spending Gnnar’s rut with him, and I never really believed the whole Kadrixans-were-demons thing, but I decided to enjoy it anyway. To be honest, I liked the attention. Gnnar made me feel special and cared for. Protected.
But it wasn’t long before the fuzzy feelings were replaced with something else a little more carnal. The heat was back. Fed and rested, I was more than happy to oblige.
I didn’t wait for him to jump on me; I jumped on him.
Chapter 13: Gnnar
“Stay behind me,” I yelled as I widened my stance, ready to fight.
I couldn’t believe I hadn’t heard the robohound coming until it was too late, and it was already at the entrance to our hideout. I had no one else but myself to blame. I’d tired myself out bringing my mate again and again to her pleasure so thoroughly that I’d passed out, letting my guard down.
Dana was the first to notice the hound outside. She shook me awake, but it was already too late.
Right after waking me, the first thing Dana did was grab several large handfuls of the plants and chuck them into the fire. Then she’d fanned it, encouraging the flames to grow. Did she think the repellent plants would work on the robohound? I doubted it.
Remembering how the Harbinger had targeted Dana, I’d immediately put her behind me. This cavern was a bad place to fight, but I’d do anything to protect my mate.
“No!” Dana grabbed my arm and pulled me behind the fire just as I was about to engage. “Staybehindthefire theyusethermalimaging.”
When I didn’t immediately move, she gestured wildly to the fire, then the bionic weapon. “Hot. See.”
Oh. She meant the fire would mess with its heat sensors. I wondered if it would be enough to prevent it from attacking, considering it probably still had visual capabilities. But with the extra vegetation on the fire, some of it still green, smoke started rising from the flames. Yes. It just might help hide us from the biomechanical hound.
I circled the fire, keeping Dana behind me as she gathered our pack and shoved everything she could reach into it.
