Page 21 of Crash Landed: The Daranthiki

Daisy shone a light into a window and shivered. “No offense, but this is not giving off very restful vibes.”

“No. It does not,” he agreed. Whether it was even inhabitable was questionable. He could not believe that this was what passed for imperial-approved housing for miners.

Frowning, Zil ducked into one of the structures that served as humble quarters at one point for a resident miner. With his enhancements, he did not fit quite as well as a standard Daranthiki, but the layout promised a comfortable place for them to rest. Rest he dearly needed after so severely draining his resources to escape from the Valthaan. He sank wearily onto the bed. The bedroll was stiff with age and creaked under his weight, and the cloud of dust that rose was unpleasant, but it was better than sleeping on the hard ground as they had been.

He made room for Daisy on the bed and took her hand, drawing her down onto the bed beside him.

“Definitely not the Royal Intergalactic Palace Hotel,” she muttered as she set the glow stick on the floor and slid onto the bed. She moaned a bit, however, as she stretched out beside him, the sound shooting straight to his cock. “It does, however, beat sleeping on hard rocks.”

Daisy lay there for several minutes, and Zil’s eyes began drifting shut when he felt her stir and sit up abruptly. Cracking one eye open, he looked up at her, perplexed.

“Sorry,” she whispered with an apologetic grimace. “Do you mind switching?”

“Switching?” he echoed, and she nodded with a faint smile.

“Yeah, I would really rather be on the inside if that’s okay. This place gives me the creeps. Despite sleeping especially close to you in this bunk, I would really feel better if you could be the sacrifice between me and the door,” she whispered, drawing another reluctant laugh from him.

“Very well,” he agreed.

Zil climbed slowly out of the bed and stood at its side, waiting patiently as she scooted over to the far side of the bed, tucked up against the wall. Drawing the quilt over herself, she snuggled down into it and plastered herself against said wall to give him room to lie down. Rumbling gratefully, he stretched out on the bed. His eyes began to drift shut again until he felt the small tremors of her small, shivering body. It seemed that she was also easily susceptible to the cooler temperatures.

“Are you cold?” he growled.

“A bit,” she mumbled between the clicking sounds of her teeth.

He huffed and turned toward her, closing the space between them. “I do not know why you do not just say so. You freely comment and complain about everything else.”

“I... I know,” she chattered. “It’s all I have been doing. I kn... know I am spoiled and am accustomed to a certain sort of lifestyle, but I... I don’t want you to h... hate me.”

Those small, quietly spoken words touched something within him. Zil sighed and curled his arm around her, drawing her against his body and into the heat of his embrace. It was doing awkward things to his body, priming it in ways he was not accustomed to, but he did not have it within himself to allow her to suffer. He inwardly cursed at how frighteningly cold her skin was. Drawing her firmly against his side, he curled his tail around her legs and pulled the dusty blanket around them. Daisy sneezed as the dust stirred anew, but soon settled against him with a yawn.

“You don’t think the Valthaan will find us in here, do you?”

He shook his head. “Eventually, but not yet. It will take them some time as they do not possess the scanning systems implanted into their heads and eyes as I do. You can sleep peacefully for some hours yet. I will be aware if someone approaches.”

Yawning again, she snuggled into him, and his heart clenched in response, warmth filling him.

“You’re sleepy too. Don’t stay awake,” she mumbled into his chest, and his lips curled affectionately as he peered down at her.

Her face was barely visible between her tousled hair and the press of her cheek into his chest. She felt perfect there, as if she belonged there and nowhere else.

“I will,” he whispered as he gently dragged the smooth side of his claw along her cheek. “Now sleep, Daisy. I’m here to protect you.”

He would always be there for her, for however long she let him.

Chapter 17

Daisy woke from her sleep unexpectedly, her eyes flying open. Her glow rod sat on the small table beside the bed a short distance away, right where she’d left it, its light illuminating the regal planes of Zil’s beautiful face. She turned slowly in bed, her eyes drifting through the small room. It was clear that the miners were not provided with much space to live, but after sleeping out in the open on hard rocks, she felt remarkably cozy.

More than that, she felt a deep contentment at that moment that startled her. The Valthaan had arrived and were actively hunting them, and yet she felt not only contentment snuggled in Zil’s embrace with his big body curled around her in sleep, but genuinely happy. She hadn’t experienced real happiness since Jaren died, and for a moment the feeling was so foreign that she felt a sense of awe. Tipping her head back so that it rested comfortably against Zil’s bicep, she stared at the big alien. In the days she’d spent with him on the planet, she’d never seen him sleep before. He was always the last to sleep and the first to wake, and yet, in this moment, she was able to share with him his vulnerability as she lay there with him in his arms.

Lifting her hand, she brushed it over the feather-soft strands that made up the crest of white hair on his head. The texture was just as soft as she had imagined. Her fingers dropped from his hair to his cheek, and she marveled at the texture of his skin that felt almost like hot glass beneath her hands. She trailed her fingers down along his cheekbone to his jaw as she traced the sharply defined angles of his face. Even his lips were full and perfectly shaped. Kissable lips.

She leaned in a little closer, entranced and seduced by the sweet smell that reminded her of vanilla, cinnamon, and cardamom wafting from him. Was it coming from his breath or the pores of his skin? She couldn’t tell... but it was intoxicating. She looked up from his lips and froze, her breath catching at the sight of his red eyes focused on her. He was awake and watching her! She didn’t move but remained in place, her eyes fastened on his. Her tongue swiped over her bottom lip, and she watched as his gaze tracked the motion, his pupils expanding with unmistakable interest. Moving in slowly, she paused with just the tiniest distance between their lips, just close enough for their breath to freely mingle. Very gently she closed the distance briefly, her lips brushing softly against his mouth.

A ragged moan tore through him, and before she could pull away, Zil’s big hand cupped her head, his other arm winding around her waist as he flattened her to him and claimed her mouth with a sweep of his tongue. Daisy’s eyes widened in surprise, but then closed with pleasure as his tongue tangled with hers in drugging kisses. This was so unlike the times he had fed her that she didn’t know how she might ever have assumed that they would be similar or anywhere near the same. His mouth did tantalizing things to her senses as he nibbled her lips and licked inside them, and a trace of his honey clung to her lips with the passage of his tongue. The flavor had a headiness that she hadn’t tasted on him before, one so indescribable and addictive that she plundered his mouth, sucking and licking at his tongue with erotic little teases to work out more of its addictive flavor.

Zil growled in reaction, his pleasure announced not only by that rough sound but by his fervent hold on her. Their bodies rolled and arched against each other, and she gasped against his mouth at the pleasure that quickly ignited and rose to a fever pitch in a matter of moments. It didn’t seem possible to want or need someone so much, but her craving for him seemed to have no end as she clung to him and writhed, her body rubbing shamelessly against him as he pressed tightly to her.