Citun’s Storm (2 page)

Glancing up toward the sky, Storm saw a large black object moving off. Heart pounding, her gaze spun left then right, anticipating an attack. Where there was one nasty prick alien, there was sure to be another. Evil never traveled alone. She breathed a sigh of relief when nothing occurred. For a second, she stared into the quiet pond. The alien might be dead already, drowned. If it wasn’t, it might drown her.
Help, stay, help, stay.
Never one to sit on the sidelines and watch something in distress, Storm jumped into the water.

With a few short strokes, she reached where the alien went down, took a breath and dove under. Getting her arms under the huge alien wasn’t hard. Bracing her feet, it took some effort to take them both to the surface. She gritted her teeth as her legs kicked. The alien was tall enough for its feet to reach the bottom of the pond while keeping its head above water, if he were conscious, but Storm wasn’t tall enough. He was dead weight; it was good he was buoyant. She grabbed a handful of white hair and lifted the beast’s head above the water, and it was a beast. White fur covered its chest. Long white hair billowed.

“Holy heck, Fido, you weigh a ton.” She gasped as she tried to drag him to shore.

Under she went with her effort and came up gasping. The alien slipped under the water. Storm yanked him back to the surface. She couldn’t keep both their heads above water while moving. Storm started swimming. Her hand tangled in the mass of floating white hair, she dragged her way forward until her feet hit bottom.

“Good Lord,” she said and groaned.

Her mouth clamped shut when she sucked in water. Storm turned and pulled under the creature’s arms, its head fell back to lie awkwardly across her bent elbow, eyes closed. Growling, groaning, gasping, Storm was to her waist in the pond. The creature’s ass hit bottom. She tugged and pulled making no headway.

“Bloody hell, you weigh a ton and a half,” she grouched, then rolled her eyes when she realized her foot was stepping on its long hair, trapping them. “Sorry.” She shifted her weight to avoid the wayward strands. Closer, now to her calves, Storm fell back, landing with a splash, the alien half in her lap. “Two frickin’ tons, for the love of God.”

She struggled out from under it, clutching her arms around his chest from behind the best she could. The creature wore no shirt. She grabbed two handfuls of fur and yanked. The fur came out in her fingers as she fell back, and she stared at the clumps for a second before shaking her hands out and grabbed at him as he began to float away.

“Sorry.”

She grabbed his fur again, yank, freed more fur, muttered
sorry
, yank, yank, more fur, muttered
sorry
.
He’s going to be bald, poor creature
. Finally she had his upper torso out of the water and on shore. Storm dropped to her knees and lay back for a second and groaned. Bending at the elbows Storm sat up and cocked her head at the creature.

It lay there not moving. The beast was furry as hell in some places, no fur in others. It appeared somewhat humanoid. A whole lot not. It also seemed a whole lot dead. Storm struggled to right herself, exhausted didn’t begin to describe how she felt. The creature had a kind of normal face, strong features, one long eyebrow running across its forehead down the sides of its face to its shoulders. It didn’t appear to be breathing. She couldn’t let it lay there and try nothing after going out of her way to pull it from the pond. Storm scrunched her nose determining her next course of action. She pinched its nose and placed her other hand under his neck, tilting its jaw.

“Ew, ew,” she muttered before her mouth closed over the being’s.

The rise and fall of his chest was noticeable. She could see the outline of an immense cock under black pants tapering to oblong colossal black boots when she tilted her head to the side to see the expansion and drop of his torso. She leaned down to blow into his mouth again, then sat back to stare at him.

“Poor thing, you must be so cold,” Storm said.

The being’s lips were blue. She cupped his face trying to warm him and blew onto his lips, her warm breath wafted back to her. She blew into his mouth again making sure there was a tight seal. Every ounce of her breath expelled into him. Turning she looked to see if his chest was rising as she gasped in air. It took a lot to expand his chest and for a moment she was lightheaded. Her body was hunched over him, she wasn’t certain how to do chest compressions but felt it might be time to try, if she could locate the end of his breastbone. When she looked back to blow into his mouth again, she shrieked when two piercing red eyes gazed up at her. His body lurched and he coughed up water.

Storm jumped back and crawled, crab style, then cried out when the creature rolled to its side, spit more water, and grabbed her ankle dragging her toward it. It growled at her and Storm sucked in her breath when she noted the very large jagged teeth. If it was hungry, she’d be ripped to shreds. The beast rose to a sitting position as it drew her closer.

“Let go. Bad boy. Bad,” Storm shouted, swatting at him.

Trying to pry his fingers free was useless. He wasn’t hurting her, but he wasn’t letting go either. The humongous fingers wrapped around her ankle were like a human’s, four fingers, a thumb, his nails were black as pitch. She noticed her ass was leaving a groove behind her in the sand when she glanced back searching for a weapon. Her foot touched his chest. Her shin touched his chest when the slight pressure made her knee buckle. He leaned down until his face was inches from hers.

She gazed up at him, chin tilted. The breath he expelled wasn’t repugnant as she assumed it would be considering his animalistic teeth. His cheeks were defined and chiseled, his nose proportioned for his large face. A soft rumbling in his chest sounded and she wondered if his lungs were filled with water.

For a moment, her face warmed as he settled his red gaze onto her. She was soaked, as was he. His long hair hung to one side off his shoulder, exposing his bare back. His head cocked and he looked back at the water. His feet were still immersed. There was no mistaking she had dragged him from his watery grave. He looked surprised. She was no lightweight, but compared to him she was small.
The Hulk would be small.

“Thank you.”

Storm blinked. The words were growled but in English. While her stunned expression reflected back in his gaze, he proceeded to warm her. Within seconds she was dry. His hand released her, and she jumped up. Storm’s first instinct was to run, but instead of running away, she stood staring down at him. Rocking from foot to foot. He lay back on the bank with an arm covering his face groaning. His chest swelled with huge breaths. Dangerous and vulnerable. The combination was intriguing.

Storm debated what to do. He looked helpless. “Do you need anything?” He peeked at her from under his arm. “Water? Oh sorry, dumb question. Food?”
A ball or chew toy? Good grief. No, holy hell, definitely holy hell.

“Gorgano?”

There was no mistaking the word he growled. “You want the Gorgano?” Storm gulped.

“Dead.”

“It’s dead all right.”

“Good.”

Storm relaxed. When the creature sat up and pulled back out of the water, she wanted to help. She grabbed his fur and away came two more handfuls. Storm stared at him in horror as she backed up a step, the white wet fur sticking between her fingers until she shook the strands loose.

“Sorry, so sorry.”

She was positive the alien chuckled. She was hoping he wouldn’t reach to yank her hair out. The massive being rose to his full height and Storm was certain if she had false teeth they’d be hanging from her gaping lips. Impressive was the word she would use. Massively muscled, powerful, deadly. Decidedly less helpless than she assumed. Storm took a few steps back. When the creature spoke next, she gasped. The language was strange but somehow she understood him.

After her first experience with a Gorgano a few years after she first came to the planet, she was privy to all languages it seemed. The Gorgano had altered her way of thinking, taking odd tones and rearranging the sometimes complex words into recognizable syllables until she understood. Storm was aware she had some kind of mind power, she exercised it sparingly, not certain of her strength and not wanting to accidently kill anything. Except the enemy. Some enemies were better left alone, such as Tonans. Their shield protected their minds, but Storm could only send the frightening creatures away with small blasts of thoughts. It was better to hide from Tonans. Today was the first day in a long while since she had seen a Gorgano.

“My name is Citun, human female,” he grunt growled. The words and tone were a perfect fit for the man-beast, and Storm’s knees went to jelly. This was no nitwit, nor an animal. “I am leader of the northern Zargonnii warriors. The Gorgano is my enemy, my allies’ enemy. You saved my life, thank you. I am in your debt.”

“Storm, my name is Storm. You’re welcome.”

The two stood gazing at one another. Each searching the other’s features intensely. Storm was as intrigued as she was wary. The alien was stunning to look at. A male, not the first of many who before wanted her dead. Citun made no threatening moves. He didn’t make a motion to crush her or frighten her. Not that she would allow such actions, she could mind-battle. She realized the strong beast before her could not, she didn’t want him dead either. What was he after? Normally, any male to land on the planet was in search of something, and more often than not it was a female.

Citun grinned and broke their stare. He dried his body with his red eyes. Muscular thighs rippled when he leaned down to dry his boots. For a moment Medusa came to life when his wild white hair danced then settled. Dry and upright he seemed less a beast, more a charming character.

“Are there others? Other humans? Females?” Citun asked her.

I was right, so it begins.
There was a question she needed to ponder. How much information should be disclosed? His hand lifted, long fingers reached for her and she shifted back until he splayed those fingers. Storm’s breath caught when he touched her long hair, running the deep ebony of her tresses across his skin.

“Blue eyes,” Citun said.

“Yes, my eyes are blue.” She wondered if he saw color as she did. Now she knew.

“Are you mated?”

“Mated? You mean am I married?”

“Mated.”

The word seemed to hold a deeper meaning. She wondered if he meant did she have sex for fun, or if his kind came into heat. Either way, she felt it was an inappropriate question. He was an alien after all. Aliens, at least most, were dangerous in one way or another. He was looking at her like a lovesick puppy and she wasn’t going to have any of that. She liked her life the way it was now, for the most part uncomplicated. This beast had trouble written all over him. Storm decided it was time to lose the leader of the Zar—goonies.

A sharp sound pierced the air and Citun swore. The sky darkened. Two war birds were overhead. Shuttles zipped past while fire lit the sky with explosions. All hell broke loose as a blast hit the pond and they were showered with spray. Saturated, Storm’s hair fell over her eyes and she was blinded as she frantically swatted the strands back and gasped for air. She slipped both hands under her hair to pull it away from her face in time to see another flash to her left. Storm screamed when Citun yanked her over his shoulder and began to run.

“Put me down,” Storm screamed.

“Not yet,” was his reply.

Citun was trying to gain his second wind as he ran. The terrain flew under his feet. He hadn’t taken in much water. When a Zargonnii ran out of breath under water, body systems shut down to give them extra time—no matter what his mind was thinking. With a warrior’s body, he had self-preservation embedded in his DNA. The Gorgano may or may not have realized this. Technically, the female did save his life by killing the Gorgano. Right now, they had a bigger problem.

A Gorgano war bird skimmed over the planet surface. Citun hoped his first officer Jari was constantly changing the configurations for the shield. A trick to keep the Gorgano from boarding and mind-battling. He wished they could have brought a human female from their planet but all were mated with young ones; he would never risk a life.

Glancing up, he could see his ship on the heels of the Gorganos. If his tracking device wasn’t busted, Jari could haul his ass to safety, but that would mean dropping the force field, something they couldn’t do. He and the human in his arms were in deep shit. Not only were they being fired on but fallout was landing precariously close from Gorgano shuttles. The bastards were desperate, Citun didn’t realize how desperate until now. Some inkling in his guts told him it was Storm they were after. They couldn’t have her. She’d saved his life. She could mind-battle.

Citun knew the enemy wouldn’t land, but they would transport them up if they could center on him. He couldn’t mind-battle, but he was a fast son of a bitch; his speed was all there was between death and safety at the present moment. A zigzag was best, a constant change of pattern and an intermittent one at that. A straight line would get them to a destination quicker, but that wasn’t what he needed in their situation. There was no destination, except safety, wherever the hell that may be.

If Citun was separated from Storm, he was as good as dead. He hated using a defenseless human female, but at this very moment she was the best defense they had, as long as he was fast enough to keep her. She didn’t fight him, or mind-battle, and Citun knew he didn’t have much time before she tried to knock his brains out. He needed to get them to safety and explain to her why she was safer with him.

If there were Gorgano, there would be rogue Tonan warriors. If they knew, and Citun was certain they did, that there was a human mind-battler the area would turn toxic. Citun finally had a human female in his arms; he wasn’t about to give her up. He pumped his legs that much faster after his thought.

The inky black grass and surrounding small foliage soon became a terrain filled with indigo rocks and boulders, with lightning blazes of pink crystal. Startling gold flecks reflected the sun on numerous standing rock formations. The farther they went from the source of water, the taller the rocks, until pillar creations abounded. Citun was a fast bastard even by Zargonnii standards. Storm was beating on his back and ass. Her gestures more frantic than angry. She was trying to get his attention.