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Elian swallowed, his mouth dry. He wanted to learn more about this strange, savage world that Rael knew so well. He wanted to see more of those moments when Rael's hard exterior cracked, and the man underneath showed through.
He wanted to understand those moments when Rael looked at him with hunger in his eyes — and then put distance between them, frustrated and yearning.
He wanted more.
Elian's gaze drifted over to the edge of the camp, his heart still pounding from the intensity of the dream. Rael, ever alert, was already watching him, eyes hooded and intense in the pale dawn light. "Bad dream?"
"Something like that." Elian felt the heat rising in his cheeks as their eyes met. His chest heaved with rapid breaths, the thin fabric of his sleeping shirt clinging to his sweat-dampened skin.
There was no way Rael couldn't tell what he'd been dreaming about – the evidence was written all over Elian's flushed face and body. Not for the first time, Elian wanted nothing more than to disappear.
Rael stood. "If you're already awake, we should get a head-start on the day."
It was just barely dawn, but that was enough. The wilds of Vasz didn't get any safer as the day went on. Elian swallowed. "Yeah, I'm awake. Just give me a moment to get dressed."
He reached for his clothes, but Rael stopped him. The Borraq's hand was warm on his shoulder. It was all Elian could do not to shiver. "If Korvax is on our trail, then he will try to track you by your scent."
Elian's heart sank. "Is that possible?"
Rael's eyes were intense. "Yes. You humans might have dull senses, but trust me — to us, it's still enough to track by."
Elian's heart was pounding. "So what does that mean for me?"
"It means that you need to wash." Rael's hand slid off of his shoulder. "Thoroughly. We're near a freshwater stream. Go there and cleanse yourself."
Elian got up to head to the river, and Rael followed him, rummaging in one of his ever-present packs. "Here," the Borraq said, handing him a bar of something — a Borraq soap, Elian guessed. It was a deep, earthy green, and it smelled like pine and fresh-cut grass. "This will help you cleanse yourself."
"Thanks," Elian said, trying to ignore the heat in his cheeks. He'd spent months being trained to put together vegetable plots and build living quarters, but no training had prepared him for being told to wash by an alien king.
Elian bit his lip and followed the babble of the river. As he walked towards the sound of running water, though, he risked a glance back at Rael.
Yesterday, Rael had been willing to fight tooth and nail to keep Elian out of Korvax's clutches. He'd come out on top in their fight, but it had been a violent one, with no space for hesitation.
And then there was that moment when Rael had caught him in his arms. For a heartbeat, Rael's hold had been something more than just a way to reassure Elian. It had been warm, and strong, and…
Elian shook his head. He was losing it. There was no way that a big alpha alien like Rael had any interest in a scrawny lost human like him. Elian was just a job to Rael, that was all. Some kind of weird, pathetic job.
In the distance, he could hear the call of some alien birdsong, a haunting sound that echoed through the canyon. He focused on that, and not on the little voice in the back of his head, the one that whispered that Rael's attention to him was different, that the Borraq's respect for Elian as a survivor was something more than just a job, that the heat in Rael's gaze was something more than just alien curiosity...
No, he couldn't think about that. There was no way that a man like Rael could ever have real feelings for someone like Elian. That was just a fantasy.
He was nothing to Rael, and Rael was nothing to him. That was the deal, plain and simple. A human and an alien, nothing more than captor and captive.
Definitely nothing more.
Elian began to head towards the stream, but Rael followed him. Elian's cheeks burned. "I, uh, think I can handle a bath by myself."
"Alone in the wilderness, with nobody to protect you?" Rael's eyes narrowed. "What if Korvax were to find you when you were vulnerable?"
"Vulnerable?" Elian's voice cracked. "I've survived a spaceship crash, I think I can handle a bath. So a little privacy would be nice."
"Privacy is for people without a bounty on their heads."
Damn. Elian swallowed. He looked away from Rael's intense gaze. He wasn't wrong, but…
Oh well. Here went nothing.
Trying to ignore the big alien on the river bank behind him, Elian stripped off his clothes and headed into the cold, crisp water. Shivering, he began to wash himself as thoroughly as he could with the strange Borraq soap, his gaze fixed firmly ahead at the scenery— and definitely not back at his audience.
