Page 18 of His to Worship
I spring into action, pulling Sedona away from the hissing, smoking thing. I grip her to my chest and move several feet back. But my mate’s eyes are trained steadily on the strange egg. A moment later, I nearly choke on my spit as the door swings open and another female hatches from the egg.
“Wat dee fuk iz dat?”
TWELVE
- sedona -
“What the fuck is that?” Renata scrambles back, pressing herself against the far side of the pod, her eyes trained fearfully on Kuvier. Her voice trembles, and I can see the panic setting in.
So, Renata’s wake up is going well.
“Renata, it’s okay,” I say quickly, stepping out of Kuvier’s arms and between them. “This is Kuvier. He’s... he’s not going to hurt us.” I can’t think of exactly what he is. A friend? Our rescuer? I don’t know, but based on the looks he gives me, I feel like his answer would be less PG than mine.
Kuvier stays still, his imposing figure casting a long shadow in the dim light. His goat-lion features, with those intense eyes and powerful build, would be intimidating to anyone waking up in a strange place. But I know he means well. He’s been nothing but protective since the crash.
Renata’s eyes dart between Kuvier and me. “Are you sure? How do you know we can trust him?”
“I know it’s a lot to take in,” I soothe, trying to keep my voice calm and reassuring. “But he saved me from freezing to death, and he’s helped me to survive while I’ve been trying to figure out what to do next.”
She takes a deep breath, her eyes still locked on Kuvier. Slowly, she nods, though the tension in her body doesn’t fully ease. “Alright, if you trust him, I’ll try to trust him, too.”
“We need the help, you have no idea.” My words just vomit out between us. “We crashed. I don’t know where we are, just that we are in a valley, and it’s damn cold. You and I need to figure out what the fuck to do, and there’s no way we can do it without him.”
Renata stares at me for a long moment before she climbs out of the pod, still wary but no longer outright fearful. Kuvier steps back, giving her space.
“Okay,” she finally croaks, as she awkwardly side steps around Kuvier and closer to the exit. “I missed most of that. Give me the skinny.”
I gesture as I talk. “Ship. Crash. Planet. Frozen. Wake others?”
Her ebony face breaks into a wry smile. “Thanks, perfect, and hell no. My vote is the same as it was before. If we are all going to die, might as well let them die peacefully.”
“Okay, but we might not all die.” I crook a thumb at Kuvier and say, “He’s been pretty good about doing things that will keep me alive.”
“Yeah, but how do we know it’s for a good reason?” It’s a good point, one I’d thought of myself already. While most of Kuvier’s actions have been nice, he does have a hunger in his eyes that I don’t think equates to him wanting to eat me. Not literally anyway. But, despite knowing that all of his intentions aren’t platonic, something makes me confident that they are all good.
“Fair, but what choice do we have otherwise? You haven’t seen outside yet.” I wave my hand in a ‘go ahead’ motion, encouraging her to check out our situation for herself. Cautiously, she walks out of the storage unit and passes the makeshift shelter and fire pit Kuvier put together.
Renata’s eyes widen as she takes in our surroundings, the cold, harsh landscape of the frozen tundra that stretches out before us. “What in the…”
She looks back at me with vulnerable eyes, her gaze darting between Kuvier and me as she realizes that we may actually be all out of other options. Either we trust him, or we…die.
“After the crash, I woke up first. Everything was in pieces, and it was clear we were stranded.” I swallow thickly. “I don’t know where the main pieces of the ship crashed, but I scavenged in the debris around here and found nearly nothing. There was no way to make fire and there were no plants as far as I could see.”
Renata pauses, processing the information. “And Kuvier? How did he come into the picture?”
“Well, I found a flare gun while scavenging and shot it off. That’s when Kuvier found me,” I explain. “At first, I was terrified, but he didn’t attack or anything. He’s been helping me.”
Renata glances at Kuvier, who’s watching us with those intense, unreadable eyes. “How have you been able to communicate with him?”
I shrug my shoulders. “It hasn’t been easy. He doesn’t speak our language. We’ve been miming things to each other and learning a few words here and there.”
Renata raises an eyebrow. “Yeah, that sounds like a conversation full of clarity.”
“It’s not the best, but he’s helpful. We’ve managed to get by so far.”
She sighs, looking back at Kuvier with a mix of curiosity and apprehension. “Alright. If he’s willing to help, then we’ll make it work. We don’t have much of a choice, do we?”
“No,” I say, feeling dejected, “we don’t.”