Page 49 of Condemned

“If I catch fleas...” She waggled a finger.

Wait. Avalon sat up and stared at her wrists. She could still run. She let her head flop back on her neck, staring up at the dark ceiling.

And leave Gia to freeze?

“I can’t, can I? Besides, it’s not the time for it.” She lay down again, smiling at the new life before her. The mouse-bot had moved in next to the scythefox pile, though she wasn’t sure he needed warmth. Whatever powered mouse-bots—nuclear, plasma, fusion, or some hi-tech unknown—it was probably capable of keeping Nibbles warm inside an iceberg.

Strangely, after a while the squeaks of the pups—wait, were fox babies called puppies? She wasn’t sure. Anyway, sleep piled in, weighed down her eyelids, and she slept.

* * *

A boot nudged her,and she blinked open her eyes.

“Fuck, girl. We’re supposed to get up early but not this early.”

She blinked again and focused on Timin, smiled tentatively at him. Odd how seeing one of her captors could make her feel good. “I was helping Gia. It was too cold in here.”

“We see that.” Kondio peered over the closet door space from behind Timin. Fitting two huge mauleons in here would violate the laws of physics. “Thought you’d fucking well run off. Now that would’ve yielded good results.” He grinned and she was sure he was imagining her being punished again. And how dare her body respond to that. It made her think of sex, the good kind, with him and Zo.

Not that being tied up and fucked was her thing. Or was it? She was beginning to hate her mind for springing shocks on her.

Timin was staring down at her. “Mmmm. Yeah, would’ve been. Use the box for Gia and her kits, I’ll bring this one.” He kneeled and almost effortlessly scooped her up, cradled her to his chest. From a short distance away, he scowled at her. The red-brown stubble on his jaw, the ragged waves of hair framing his face, the solid broadness of him, even his fangs where they sneaked past his upper lip, those fascinated her.

She felt her body prickle awake to the allure of this male.

Stop that, she told herself. Two is enough.

“How’d you get the lock undone? It’s supposed to have been unpickable.” He grumbled that out then turned, backing out of the closet and heading up the hallway toward their room.

“I picked it.” She shrugged. “I am a thief.” She wasn’t telling on her mouse-bot due to not being sure what the mauleons would think.

“Hah. A thief who should have woken us. Kondio was frantic, running about like a female, squeaking, where is she, where is she?”

The falsetto tone must have carried because behind them, Kondio muttered a denial.

“And you never thought to just wander out the door instead?” It was a genuine question, though said quietly, as if Timin barely thought it mattered. He did. She did too. Lying was sensible, and yet a need to throw the truth at Timin surfaced. She struggled a second then gave in to her natural inclination to spit in the face of the expected.

“I was going to, but Gia needed me.”

His chuckle sounded a little dark. Menacing even.

Before they reached the door, Zo and Takk appeared in it. They ducked aside to let Timin and her through, then Kondio with her coat over his shoulder and a box full of Gia and her kits. The scythefox seemed content to be carried and barely moved when the box was placed before the heater.

“She’s good. They all look healthy. I think I will have to leave her here to recover. There’s a relative of Timin’s down the road.” He opened the window to the central heater and stoked the fire, sending sparks flying.

“Yes.” Timin warmed his hands. “My grandpa will take care of her until you can come back for her.”

“The mountains would stress her.” Takk studied the squirming box of scythefoxes. “We should’ve thought, realized how close she was. But this one.” He swung to look at Avalon. “Where was she?”

“With Gia, keeping her warm, getting her new coat dirty too.” Timin grinned down at her and seemed unwilling to put her down.

Then again, maybe it was safer up here in his arms. Takk looked disgruntled, red-eyed, and tired, and was scrubbing at his blond mane where some hair had come loose from the many braids. Not a promising sight.

She buried her nose into Timin’s forearm and found she was mouthing the cloth of his sleeve while peering over the top of his biceps. As if he could shield her from Takk’s wrath. Not that she was a coward. Timin just had this gorgeous scent that rose above the lemony one Zo was so adamant about spraying on her. It was a masculine smell, and again she chided herself. Two is enough.

However, what if. What... if. She peeked upward with one eye.

And he was looking down at her dubiously. His nostrils dilated and he said softly, “I smell you. I swear I do. What are you?” As if she were some new creature never seen before on this planet.