An Alien for Her Heart (A New Home #2)

9. Catherine

9

CATHERINE

T he day goes by too quickly.

Since I’ve come to the farm, I’ve spent most of my days outdoors, trying to wrangle the abandoned homestead into something I can really call home. Those days always went by slowly, as if the days here on Hudo III had double the hours the ones on Earth did.

But today…

I feel heat rise in my cheeks that has nothing to do with the intensity of the sun as I walk among the oogas, pretending I’m checking on the herd. Because I’m not really checking on the gentle animals, am I? Nope. My gaze is on the barn. The slanted roof is much higher than the cottage, looming over it and giving me a clear view of the work going on there even from where I stand in the field.

A lump rises in my throat and I clear it, my cheeks warming even more as I watch Varek work. He’s a monster. I’ve never seen anyone work so fast or so hard. The heavy beams that hold the roof have all been stripped, leaving the barn top completely open now. I don’t know how he’s done it. How he manages to even lift the heavy timber that looks like it needs someone on the ground assisting him with a crane or something. Even the Raki had brought a machine along at one point to assist him in the much smaller task of my cottage roof.

My gaze shifts to the Raki now, and I notice that even his eyes are on Varek as he glides above the open barn top on one of those little black squares they use for a lift.

My heart thuds in my chest and a strange feeling that’s been growing in my belly since this morning increases. A tremor goes through me as Varek turns in my direction and I look away, pretending to pat an ooga that’s by my side.

“What am I doing out here, huh girl?”

This jittery strange feeling is so alien, it feels misplaced. I know what it is. I’m completely aware of what’s happening…and I’m terrified.

Because it shouldn’t be happening.

Is it because he’s…nice?

I might just be imagining things because Varek has been nothing but gentlemanly. But this morning, the moment his finger brushed my lips, my lungs ceased to pump air. His touch was barely there, feather-light, and my entire body reacted anyway. Tingles shot up through my spine like electricity moving up through my core straight upward.

The reaction had me breathless. Held me still. The last time I reacted to a male’s touch had been so long ago, I might have forgotten what it actually felt like. How good it could be. Shifting my gaze back to the barn, I see that Varek’s no longer focusing my way.

What am I doing? This is silly.

I give myself a mental shake as I pat the ooga on its back and push through the tall grass toward the cottage. I’m just past the gate and heading around the side of the cottage when I hear a sound I’ve heard before. There’s a dull thud as the Raki on the roof loses hold of whatever tool he’s using. I look up, just in time to see the thing skating toward me.

But it doesn’t snag like the last time.

My eyes widen as I realize it’s coming right in my direction. I duck, trying to move out of the way, just before pain rockets through my shoulder.

“Ah!” I hiss, pulling air through my teeth as I grip my shoulder, my legs tangling in my confusion. I almost fall. I would have, if I wasn’t suddenly braced up.

A sweet scent floods my nostrils as I hear a growl.

“What the frakk are you doing?!”

Varek? How did he…he was just on the roof.

“Curses.” His voice sounds different. Dangerous and laced with anger. For a moment, my defenses rise at the fact it seems he’s blaming me for what just occurred, but when I look up, his hard yellow pits aren’t directed at me. They’re focused on the Raki who is standing bewildered at the edge of my roof.

“You could have killed her!” Varek roars. His fangs bare and he snarls at the Raki, who, for a male that’s built like a sturdy little elephant, seems to crumple in on himself. His large ears fold over his face and his bushy eyebrows rise high as his small dark eyes widen on me. I’m still wincing, one hand still gripping my shoulder as Varek pulls me away from the cottage.

“I apologize for this,” Varek says, his gaze moving over my face as if he’s searching for a key to stop the pain rocketing through my arm.

“For what?”

“For touching you. I made a promise I will have to break just this once.”

I could laugh. Would have, if the ache wasn’t still going through my shoulder. To think he’d still keep that promise even now. If he was a brute, I could push him away so easily. Instead, he’s just so nice. For a moment, I wonder if this is what Eleanor experiences every day, living with his brother. Is he nice too? Did she really find a bit of paradise after everything?

When Varek suddenly lifts me, I almost let out a yelp at how easily he does. Just like when he lifted me in town, he does it so easily again, as if I weigh nothing.

With a snarl at the Raki, he heads inside the cottage, moving straight into the bedroom. He fills the space even more here, even worse than he did in the main room. When he sets me down on the bed, I blink up at him. At the concern in his eyes and the heavy breaths making his shoulders rise and fall.

Even with the heavy labor he’s been doing, I never saw his chest rise and fall with exertion from lifting those heavy beams.

“Where does it hurt, sura ?”

Sura? I frown slightly but his voice is so soft, a stark contrast to the anger he showed moments ago. Pointing at my shoulder, I wince as I try to take a peek at it.

“Let me.” Varek takes a finger toward me and I watch in complete fascination as one of his claws extends.

“Wow, didn’t know you could do that.”

His hand—or rather, his claw—pauses. “Does it scare you?”

I shake my head, tongue flicking out to lick my lips as I watch that claw. “No, but I don’t want you to rip the tunic. I’ll just—”

I shift, sitting more upright on the bed as he hovers both claws over me in universal code for alarm. As if he’s afraid I’ll shatter to pieces from this one wound. Shifting my weight on one hip, I wince as I pull down the shoulder of the tunic.

Varek hisses and my gaze shoots to him. His face is murderous. Like a predator. Exactly like a predator. The slits in his eyes have widened and his lips have pulled back in a snarl.

“He has hurt you.” He stands slowly, easing back and for the first time, I finally look at my shoulder. There’s a nasty bruise there from where the tool hit me. Poking it with my finger, I wince again before rolling my shoulder.

“Don’t think it’s broken. I’ll be fine. Was just an accident.”

He doesn’t respond. When I look at him it appears that he can’t. His fangs have extended and from the looks of it, he’s struggling to push them back in. To hide them from me.

“Varek…” I find myself whispering because I’m shocked. Shocked that he’s having such a response and…and grateful. My eyelids flutter as the feeling cements. Varek actually cares.

“Don’t move.” His usual soft tone is hard now, his words an order. Before I can open my mouth, he’s gone, his footfalls heavy as he heads out of the cottage. My ears perk as I listen but there’s no other sound. I’m trying to sit up straighter when he returns.

“You shouldn’t move, sura,” he growls. I relax against the bed again. He has a box in his arms that he rests on the bed and flips open. It’s clear it’s a first-aid kit from all the vials and gauze inside. I frown.

“You don’t have to waste all that. I just need to put some ice on it.”

Varek shakes his head. “I have never seen such a mark on flesh before,” he says. “With Kari, an injury like this could be life-threatening. I do not want to take the chance.”

I blink, again surprised, but underneath that surprise is that growing warmth I’m trying my best to ignore. “It’s just a bruise, Varek. I’ll be okay.”

But he’s not listening. His claws move quickly, almost frantically, as he prepares a vial and a syringe. “This will help with the pain and prevent any internal damage,” he says, his voice firm.

I want to protest, but the look in his eyes stops me. I wouldn’t say I’m an expert at reading slitted eyes, but as Varek waits for me to allow him to administer the medicine, it’s clear he’s genuinely terrified for me. “Okay,” I whisper, nodding slightly. “But are you sure that’s okay to use on someone like me? A human?”

“My kahlesta was injured. The medic left me with these vials for that reason. In case I needed his expertise, but he was too far away.”

“Oh. Eleanor you mean, right?” When he nods, I do too. “Okay, do it.”

His light touch on my arm distracts from the pain as he injects the solution near the bruise.

“How did Eleanor get injured?” I whisper, wincing slightly from the pinprick of the needle.

“Got hit down by an ooga. It was an accident.”

“Oof,” I whisper. “Good thing you were there.”

He makes a sound in his throat and pulls the needle away before reaching for a bandage. “It was pure luck. I only found her because I went to protect her from—”

He stops talking abruptly. So abruptly that I look up at him.

He tightens the bandage and wraps up the used needle before closing the first-aid kit.

“Protect her from what?”

Varek doesn’t meet my gaze. It actually seems like he won’t answer me. But then his throat moves and he lifts the first-aid kit into his arms. “From Zynar.”

My frown is warranted. I’m confused. “But…why? Aren’t they together? Why would you need to protect Eleanor from her own husband? Her, erm, her mate?”

A heavy breath makes his shoulders rise and fall before his gaze slides to me. It shifts down from my eyes to my lips and goes farther. Down the exposed skin at my shoulders, down my chest, my hips, my legs… Varek seems lost in thought.

“Varek?”

At the sound of his name, his gaze flies right back to my face, and he blinks as if he’s just returning from a place far, far away.

“The rut,” he finally says.

The word doesn’t make much sense to me and I wonder if the translator embedded in the back of my head got hit by the falling tool and is malfunctioning. “I…don’t know what that is.”

Varek sort of winces as if he’d hoped that one word would have been enough. His shoulders rise and fall in a heavy breath. “I was there to help Eleanor…because my siblingkin was afraid he would mate her to death.”

My eyes widen and I can only blink at him, his words taking a long while to fully settle in my mind. Because what in tarnation…

“I should…I should put this back on the transport,” he says before turning, just as there’s a sound at the door. The dull thud of someone knocking echoes in the room once more, and my gaze shifts past Varek.

I’m not sure who could be knocking. The moment I shift off the bed, wincing as my shoulder readjusts, is the moment Varek’s gaze hardens and I realize that there had been a note of vulnerability there. He watches me as I shift past him and the dull thumps of his boots follow me out to the main room. When I swing the door open, I’m completely aware of Varek’s presence at my back.

It’s the Raki. His eyes widen again the moment the door opens, his ears folding inward as he cowers. At first, I think it’s because he’s terrified I might have been critically hurt, but then I hear the growl at my back. When I look over my shoulder, Varek’s snarling again. He looks like he’ll rip the poor Raki to shreds.

Without thinking, I reach back, placing a steady hand on his arm. The snarl, at least the deep rumbling growl that I’m not quite sure he knew he was doing, cuts off immediately. My own breath hitches. His scales. They’re unbelievably soft. Over the muscle that tightens beneath my touch, his scales are like smooth silk.

“Y-yes?” I answer the Raki. In these past few days, I’ve never been more unsure in my life. The woman who used to be the public face of an entire company suddenly feels reduced to someone who isn’t sure quite who she is anymore. How could I manage my duties if I’d been like this back on Earth? The Richmond name would have suffered, and I would have suffered more.

“Greetings.” The Raki’s gaze shifts from Varek to my shoulder and he seems to cower some more. “It was not my intent to harm you.”

I smile. “I know that. It’s just an accident.”

“Your negligence could have killed her.” Varek’s words could cut through ice. The Raki’s ears fold some more and I give Varek a comforting squeeze. I could almost laugh. He seems more upset about the whole thing than I am.

“I will withdraw my services from your lodge,” the Raki says.

My brows shoot up. “You don’t have to do that,” I say. At the same time, Varek speaks as well. “You should.”

“I will not accept payment for the work already done,” the Raki continues.

My eyes widen on that one. At the same time, Varek growls at my back. “It would do well if you didn’t .”

The Raki bows. “I am at your mercy, female, if you wish to report my negligence.”

I stare at him open-mouthed as Varek says, “You should be reported. You’re a careless pilkra .”

Oh goodness. I give Varek’s arm a squeeze once more as I lean down and touch the Raki on his shoulder. Varek growls but his annoyance almost makes me smile.

“It’s okay, Raki. It really is. It’s only a bruise and the accident could have happened to anyone. I’m fine with you still working here.”

The Raki looks up. I don’t miss the flash of hope in his eyes. But behind me, Varek is like an immovable mountain.

“He should leave.”

I stand, glancing over my shoulder at the iridescent wall of scales at my back before my gaze rises to Varek’s face. His expression is severe. Not an ounce of mercy in his eyes.

“If the Raki leaves, who is going to finish my roof?”

Varek’s gaze shifts to me. “I can.”

I swallow hard. Of course, he can. I know he can. But even in my periphery, I can see that the Raki is slowly wilting like a flower without water. I can’t just fire him.

“I don’t doubt that you could do it.” I smile at Varek. “But I won’t fire him for his mistake.” Varek’s eyes narrow, not on me but on the Raki.

“You are too kind, sura,” he finally says.

Again, I wonder what that word means, but now is not the time to ask. I face the Raki again, giving him a genuine smile. “Please, if you could finish the roof, I’d appreciate it. No hard feelings.”

His large ears flap, his gaze shifting from me to Varek then back. “As you wish. My feelings are also not hard.”

I grin, a laugh bubbling in my throat that seems to relax the Raki somewhat. He gives me another nod before hurrying away and disappearing around the side of the house.

I release a heavy breath. “Wow. What a day.”

There’s a low grunt behind me and I’m reminded that I’m still gripping Varek. Still standing with him at my back. I shift to the side immediately, my hand flying off him as if I was touching him someplace inappropriate.

His gaze as he watches me is unreadable.

“You should rest now, sura,” he says, stepping out the door. There, he turns to face me. His whole expression is so unreadable now, it’s like the day I first met him and I wish it wasn’t so. Wish I could see behind that crack in his exterior that showed me so much of the real him in the time since then.

But maybe that’s all gone now.

That along with the opportunity to ask him what he’d meant about his brother killing Eleanor with sex . My cheeks heat at the thought even as I tell myself whatever he said must have been lost in translation.

“I will see you on the new dawn…Catherine.”

I nod, giving Varek the best smile I can muster as I watch him walk to his hover truck. But instead of getting in, he pauses, stops, his shoulders rising and falling.

“Varek?”

Turning, he faces me once more.

“I know you said you’re fine…” He pauses, studying me in the dying light of the setting sun. “I know you said you’re fine, but I would feel better if I could stay for a while. Just to make sure you’re truly safe.”

I can’t even react. His words aren’t words I expected him to say.

“I can wait outside by my truck. I will hear you. If anything goes wrong, you only need to call my name.”

His words catch me so off guard, that my mouth opens but no words come forth. Instead, I feel warmth bloom in my chest at his thoughtfulness. Part of me wants to decline, to insist that I can take care of myself. But the way he’s gripping the first-aid kit tells of his genuine concern. That plus the dull throb of my bruise makes me reconsider.

“I…That would be very kind, Varek. But I wouldn’t want to keep you longer than you have to stay.”

“I cannot, in good conscience, leave you unwell.”

More cursed warmth. I study him. He’s like a puzzle.

“Okay,” I nod.

Relief washes over his features, and he nods. With that, he turns and walks back to his hover truck. Putting the first-aid kit in, he settles against the side of the vehicle, his gaze fixed on the house. On me.

I watch him for a moment, that warmth rising within me, before I head inside and shut the door. This is all so unexpected. The warmth—and the sense of security knowing he’s out there, watching over me.

There’s a tingle in my palm where I had touched him, and I find my thoughts drifting to the sensation of his scales as I make my way to the bathroom to run a bath. Even as I sink into the warm water, my mind is filled with images of iridescent scales, strong claws, and piercing eyes.

Hours pass, and every so often, I find myself peeking out the window to see if he’s still there. Even long after the Raki left. Each time, I spot him, a steadfast guardian in the fading light. As the night grows darker and the stars begin to shine, I realize just how long he’s been out there, ensuring my safety.

Finally, as the moon rises high in the sky, guilt sets in. It’s only a bruise. I didn’t expect him to wait this long.

“I’m alright, Varek. I really am.”

As if he actually heard me, I see him push off from his truck. He tilts his head, a nod to me at the window as he takes one last long look at the house, before getting into the vehicle.

My breath stutters as he drives away, a pang of something I can’t quite name going right through me. A mixture of gratitude, longing, and a strange sense of loss.

For the first time in a long while, I find myself looking forward to the new dawn and the possibility of seeing him again.