Page 54 of Infala: The Alien's Bond
It would have taken steel wool to scrub the smile from her face just then. She had no idea exactly how it had happened, but here she was, growing really fond of this guy. And for once the little voice of doubt in her head remained thankfully silent.
She just wondered when it would eventually rear its ugly head.
CHAPTERTWENTY-FOUR
Darla and her enormous alien companion made good time on their trek once they put aside any thoughts of further shenanigans. There would be time for that later, and the promise of bedding down together was not far from either of their minds as they pushed ahead at a blistering pace.
They walked hand in hand at points, at others Heydar would gently place his hand on her waist as she stepped over an obstacle. But it wasn’t in a patronizing way, and she could see the arousal in his eyes just beneath the surface. To be fair, she was feeling pretty much the same way, wishing he would just bend her over a rock and fuck her senseless.
All the little touches were adding up, and fast, and her body was absolutely on fire from the sustained arousal. But it would be some time before they turned in for the day, and in the meantime, it meant an ongoing and subtle foreplay that they were both looking forward to bringing to fruition.
“We will need to be on our guard if we happen upon any roadways or frequented paths,” Heydar said, pausing to take in their surroundings with a more critical gaze. “It could be quite dangerous.”
“What do you mean? The Oraku are really nice people.”
“But there are many more races on this world than just the Oraku. Rohanna the elder made that much abundantly clear. There are other settlements here. Offworlders as well as indigenous people. The Oraku stay away from them as much as possible, but even they sometimes have to fend off raids. The Dohrag in particular are apparently quite a problem here.”
“Dohrag? What’s a Dohrag?”
“An offworld race, brutish and combative, but a people with advanced technology and abundant weapons. Not an adversary you would wish to get on the bad side of, if at all possible.”
“And the Oraku fight with them?”
“Not as much fight as fend off their raids.”
Darla flashed him a confused look. “Hang on. You said the Dohrag were advanced. Like, way more advanced than the Oraku.”
“They are, yes.”
“Then what would they even bother raiding them for? I mean, food? They can just catch their own and it would be far less trouble than stirring up a fight with the locals.”
Heydar stopped and turned to face her directly. “It is not crops and livestock they seek. The Dohrag come forfemales.”
Darla’s stomach dropped. “Females? What do you mean,females?”
“It is as you surmise,” he said, gauging the serious look in her eye. “There are several races on this world who value females as a prize. But the Dohrag? They are particularly nasty pieces of work. They travel the stars in small groups, their ships crewed entirely by males.”
“No women?”
“Not a one,” he replied, shaking his head. “The Dohrag are a foolish people who ignorantly do not believe in sending females on missions of any significant duration. In so doing, they not only deny themselves the skills women clearly possess, but it is also terrible for the morale of the all-male crews.”
“I bet. How long are these missions, exactly?”
“Years. Many years. The leadership never ventures from their creature comforts, so they are not affected by their edicts. But in their quest for non-distracted efficiency they have caused a systemic morale problem. It was not always this way, mind you, but the shift of power on their world skewed their path toward that of foolishness.”
“I’ll say,” Darla agreed. “And holy hell, those guys have got to be hella pent up. No wonder they’re restless.”
“And when they find a female, you can imagine what becomes of them.”
Darla’s jaw set firm at the thought. “We need to find the others.”
“I know.”
“There were at least a dozen women in our holding compartment.”
“I am aware of that.”
“And who knows how many on the rest of the ship?”
