Ka'Cit's Haven: A Sci-fi Alien Romance (Riv's Sanctuary Book 3) by A.G. Wilde (online e book reader .txt) 📗

Her heart ached.

The Sanctuary was home.

Forcing herself to close her eyes, she focused on her breathing.

The rumbling and the shaking grew in intensity and if the little room wasn’t pressed between the wall and Ka’Cit, she was sure she’d have been thrown around like a rag doll.

The horrible rumbling continued for a few more moments till it suddenly petered off.

There was a sense of weightlessness and when she opened her eyes, her entire body was floating a few inches off the floor.

Whoa.

Her hand found Ka’Cit, her fingers digging into his thigh as she grabbed on to him.

But the effect lasted for only a few seconds before the gravity controls kicked in and she was planted firmly back on the floor.

She didn’t need to ask Ka’Cit what just happened. She’d watched enough sci-fi movies to know at least this one thing.

They weren’t on the ground anymore.

They were in orbit.

14

Nee-ya may be terrified of the strangest things, but…she wasn’t afraid of him.

Despite that he was trying to appear as non-threatening as possible, he was still worried about that.

The first time he’d met Riv’s mate, La-rehn, she’d been a bit apprehensive of him.

He guessed it was the effect of his mask. He glanced at it now.

Maybe taking it off had made the human more comfortable?

Nee-ya. He repeated her name in his head.

He liked it.

It was short and sweet.

Like her…

Phek.

He had to put a rein around that thought and pull it back. He had no right to be allowing his mind to go down that road.

Farther into the ship, he could hear the rhythmic sound of the engines firing and he tried to focus on that instead.

Herza was probably heading to Port Six and it would take a few days to get there.

They had to get off this vessel long before then.

Port Six was where some of the worst scum of the universe harbored.

Laws didn’t exist there which made it a place where anything was possible.

Ka’Cit’s gaze moved back to the human.

It was warm enough in the nook now that he was happy he’d removed his mask but he could see the effect of the warmth on her.

Little balls of perspiration had gathered at the strangest spot, in the middle of her nose, and he felt the urge to reach forward and touch the tiny spots of moisture.

Unlike him, it seemed she was sensitive to temperature changes.

If he could understand what she said, he’d have asked her more about it.

He wasn’t great with conversation but he reckoned he wasn’t that bad at it. Surely.

That thought made him almost slap a hand against his forehead.

He was an idiot.

Reaching into one of his pockets, he pulled out a small square device.

It was an archaic language recorder and translator. He only used it when he had to go to the outer reaches where his translator implant might not pick up the language of whatever poor soul he had to…question.

The device took a few hours to work though, and he’d need her to speak.

He turned the thing on, noting from the corner of his eye that Nee-ya was watching him, then slipped the device back into his pocket.

It was recording now.

Long ago, he’d “altered” the device to serve his own purpose.

Every word she said, the device would compile into a language file.

It would parse the interstream for information, both the public and private streams, and find whatever language she spoke.

If Riv and Sohut had the language file for her, no doubt the main file was hiding somewhere on the interstream. He was sure of it.

After his device worked, then he could update his implant with the information.

She fanned herself again and that reminded him that she was burning up.

It wasn’t dry heat either.

It was humid down here.

“You’re burning up.”

She glanced at him and a soft smile spread her lips. She jerked her chin toward her chest.

“Iht iz hot downheer.”

The humidity coming from the engine room was going to be a problem and he was beginning to wonder if coming down there had been a good idea after all.

“Mai’nd iff ai trahy too kool down?” Her language was such a strange mixture of sounds…it was captivating.

Ka’Cit blinked. She was looking at him as if waiting on something. Maybe she’d asked him a question?

“I don’t understand what you just said but I agree with you.”

That garnered a small chuckle from her and Ka’Cit felt something warm inside of him.

As he watched her, she pulled her cloak down so it rested partway down her shoulders. Then, she brought the hem up and tucked it between her thighs, exposing the perfect dark skin of her legs.

The movement was so unexpected, he choked on his own breath.

Nee-ya glanced his way, her hands ready to pull down her cloak once more, and he fought to keep his face as neutral and unaffected as possible.

That was hard. But, if he wasn’t good at anything else, he was a master at blank faces.

When she didn’t pull the cloak back down, he allowed himself to relax a little.

She was overheating. She was only trying to cool herself down and a part of him wanted to tell her she could take the entire thing off, though he suspected that invitation would be misinterpreted.

He didn’t intend to creep her out, though he supposed he’d do that without even trying.

Still, he wanted her to feel comfortable.

They were going to be stuck in the nook for a while.

For the next few moments, she stole glances at him and when she realized he was watching her, she’d avert her gaze.

Maybe he was being impolite with the staring, but he’d rather look at her than at the drab gray walls.

She was far more interesting.

He could admit that he was curious about her. Her brown eyes were almost the same color as her skin. It was a rich hue, different from the other two humans he’d seen, but just as beautiful.

There was that hair that was like a cloud around her head, framing her face, and there was a