Page 43 of Infala: The Alien's Bond
Darla accepted it, and it was at that moment that she realized he had skinned the leg but the clawed foot at the end of it still remained. The sight of it reminded her why she tried to avoid meat, but her body needed nutrition and she’d just have to make do.
“How pleasant,” she said. “With presentation like this, it’s no wonder you don’t have a mate.”
A glare of anger flashed across his face, gone as quickly as it had arrived. He turned and walked away to eat on a small boulder across the fire.
Aww, shit. That didn’t play out right.“Hey, look, I’m just tired and talking shit, okay?”
The alien turned and stared at her a moment. “Talk shit? I have no desire to discuss your toileting functions.” He climbed up onto the rock and sat down, crossing his legs comfortably and tucking in to his meal with gusto.
Okay, I guess that bit didn’t quite translate,she realized. “What I mean is, I’m sorry. I sometimes let my mouth run when I’m cranky. But we’re eating now, and the food’s really helping, even with a foot still on it, so thank you.”
He stared quietly, assessing her with that piercing gaze. “You meant no harm, and this has been a stressful experience, I understand,” he finally said. “I do not hold your comment against you.”
“Thanks. I didn’t mean to be a dick.”
“Hmm,” he mumbled, pulling free a mouthful of meat with his teeth.
The two ate quietly for a few minutes, but as their initial hunger was sated, conversation began to flow. It seemed to Darla that Heydar wasn’t quite the strong and silent brute that he came off as. And to his surprise, the alien had found his human companion was far more capable than he’d initially given her credit for.
There was a significant amount of cooked meat left at the end of their meal, which Heydar collected and buried in a wrap of thick leaves from a short but wide plant growing nearby, sealing it all up in a tidy bundle.
He licked his lips and fingers, sucking the remnants of tasty fat from them with his forked tongue. Darla watched, enthralled, as his split tongue did its work, cleaning his flexible digits.
“I will dispose of the rest far from our campsite,” he said, standing up and gathering the bones.
She couldn’t help but notice the bulge swinging against his thigh, barely hidden by his trousers, the outline of his girth clear through the fabric. Fed and rested, that flare of heat in her belly was returning, and with a vengeance.
Don’t go there, Dar,she chided herself.He may not be as bad as you thought, but he’s still a prick. Okay, a prick with a rather impressive one. No! Bad, me! Bad! What is wrong with me? I swear, ever since he put that pigment stuff in me, I’ve been hornier than ever. Not cool.
Heydar trotted off with his bundle as Darla’s dirty thoughts fought hard against being forced from her head. She was still thinking back to seeing him nude in the bathing pool, especially his impressive cock, when he abruptly returned. She fought back a blush, glad it was getting dark out.
He gave the campsite a quick once over, nodding his satisfaction. He had also taken the remaining bundle of uncooked meat and stashed it somewhere safe, far away from their location and out of reach of animals, but two of the pelts the meat had been wrapped in remained.
There was only so much they could realistically eat before it went and spoiled on them, and he had been planning on hunting along the way anyway. Carrying all that meat would slow their pace, and it would possibly go bad, so the remainder had been left behind, a free meal for other creatures lucky enough to stumble upon it.
Eat what you kill was a rule Heydar lived by. No waste and respect for the hunt. But that had been a case of self-defense, and the rules were different in those circumstances.
“Come. It will be fully dark soon,” he said, carefully extinguishing the fire. “The rocks will radiate heat for a while, but it will become colder. Here, this will help keep you warm.”
She felt a tingle of anticipation as he moved close. One that was quickly quashed when he wrapped one of the dead animals’ skins around her. At least it was furry side in. And he had done a good job of cleaning off any remaining nastiness from the other side. Regardless, the Four Seasons this was not.
“Oh, this is so gross,” she said, already looking forward to washing in the stream they had seen from their vantage point high above.
“It will retain your warmth through the night,” he said, lying down beside her. “Unfortunately, we are more exposed here. I had hoped to find a cavern to shelter in, but no such luck.”
He was close to her but not touching. Regardless, she could feel his intense alien heat radiating from his body. She curled up under the skins, little spoon to his big one, absorbing his warmth through her back as she drifted off to sleep, wondering what the new day would bring.
CHAPTERNINETEEN
Darla woke with the sun. She’d never really been a morning person of the up-at-sunrise variety, but here, out in the open instead of a house, things were different. On top of that, having fallen into nature’s sleep rhythm of down when it’s dark and up when it’s light, she’d found the early wakeup perfectly natural. In fact, she even felt rested, despite the lingering aches in her body from the prior day’s exertion.
She shifted, realizing Heydar had moved closer to her in the night. He felt warm, but not the usual blast furnace hot that seemed to be his normal state. She realized why when she turned to look at him.
A thin layer of frost had coated the pelt covering her along with the ground and plants. Heydar’s fur, however, was unfrozen. It seemed his natural body heat had been the one thing keeping it that way, and Darla was glad he’d given her some of his warmth as she slept.
Even so, it was definitely cold out. Colder than she’d expected given the prior day’s trek in the sun.
Heydar’s violet eyes opened, sensing her movement, and waking quickly but without alarm. He stared at her a long moment, then stretched and rolled out from under the furs. Standing tall, he again stretched, his muscles clearly visible through his clothing as he put them through a series of poses, finally finishing with a satisfied roll of the shoulders.
