Hunting Faith (The Hunting Series Book 1) Page 11

  “Why are you doing all this?” I ask.

  “What?”

  “Helping me the way you are?”

  “I am for you, Faith and I’ll be here as long as you need me. Now get some rest,” he commands, pulling me closer.

  Silently, I promise myself that tomorrow I’ll emotionally sift through everything Rylan has said to me. The resentment and pain have been with me for too long to just let it go. But my logical side knows Rylan is right on two counts.

  First of all, those women I left behind weren’t like me. I’m damaged. They were broken. I can’t imagine living the way they did for countless years. Though admitting that feels like a betrayal to all the hurt inside of me.

  And secondly…I still feel Jesek Lahan with me every day. As long as I keep carrying him with me he’s going to have power over me. In some ways, I’m still his slave.

  I know I don’t want that anymore. I want to move on, leave the past where it belongs, and follow my heart. But how do I get past everything that’s happened to me? Letting go of pain like mine is more than just a conscious decision. And I just don’t know what to do next.

  But these are thoughts for tomorrow. Tonight I’ll let myself melt into Rylan’s embrace and relish the safety of his arms.

  Chapter 19

  Rylan

  “Shouldn’t we hunt?” she asks, looking worriedly over our rations.

  “Do you truly wish to eat those awful things we’ve been catching?” I ask her with a raised brow. She makes a slight grimace and I imagine we are both thinking of the slimy substance that fills the hard exoskeletons. “Just as I thought,” I tell her with a smile.

  “Still, we should save these for emergencies,” she frets.

  “We will be off this planet soon, Faith. You won’t need to be concerned over such things for much longer.” The worried expression on her face tells me she still doesn’t quite believe me, but that doesn’t stop me from forcing some of the fruit we stole from Kalmut Ruo into her hands. She should be eating better. “Besides, I think the hunting experience has been soured for me,” I admit. “If I never hunt again it will still be too soon.”

  She rolls her eyes but gifts me with a smile. “Do people even hunt much on Aragran?” she asks.

  “Oh yes, it is the primary means of sustaining oneself.”

  “And you’re never going to hunt again?” she questions, her voice heavy with sarcasm.

  “Never,” I vow, placing my hand over my chest and laying on the dramatics. “I will forgo meat for the rest of my days if it means I never have to hunt. For the first time, I’ve imagined what it must be like to be preyed upon and I must say, it is an unpleasant feeling.”

  She laughs at my words but looks thoughtful. “My grandpa was like that. Wouldn’t hurt a fly. The man owned a bait shop for over 50 years. I never once saw him fish,” she tells me as she works to repack our supplies before we continue on our path to freedom.

  “You jest?” I ask, laughing at her ancestor’s tenacity.

  “Nope. Serious as a heart attack. Said he didn’t like killing anything. Interestingly enough, he had no problem killing fish vicariously.” She laughs at the memory she carries with her in her mind. “We’d sit on that lake for hours with him barking out orders and giving fishing instructions. I was gutting and cleaning my own fish when I was seven years old,” she adds proudly.

  “Hmm, that explains a lot,” I tease, and she scrunches her face up at me.

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” she asks, laughing when I give her a pointed look and she swats lightly at my shoulder. We walk together, side by side, our arms bumping as we do. It’s a silly thing, but it makes my heart soar. It almost feels like that first night we shared together, talking and flirting on Nydor. There is just something natural to Faith and me. Even when silence stretches between us, it is a companionable one.

  “What will you do?” she asks after some time. “After we escape?”

  “We will have to escape The Conglomerate as well.”

  “So you’ll be losing your home too,” she states, her tone morose.

  “If the cost of staying is murder, it isn’t a price I’m willing to pay,” I remind her, though her expression still seems upset.

  “Besides, Faith, if I am honest, I like the idea of leaving. My world has changed since we were absorbed. My people have changed along with it and their priorities too. Just look at my sisters, I do not like the idea of selling them off. A dowry is reasonable, of course. But if it were not for something substantial, my sisters, my beautiful sisters, would have no prospects for their future, no male to love them, and no respect from other races,” I explain.

  “For a while now, I have heard talk of new colonies just beyond the reaches of The Conglomerate. The people there are called the Iredesca. I do not know anything about them besides the fact that their worlds are rugged and new. I have not seen them, nor do I know their values. It is very far from here, but still…I haven’t been able to shake the thought that maybe there's something better out there for us…for all of us.” My gaze goes back to Faith, but she stares ahead, keeping her emotions hidden.

  “What do you want after this?” I ask her finally, wondering if I fit into the equation at all.

  “I don’t know,” she says, looking down at the ground. “Not a lot of options for a girl like me.”

  “You are smart, I think you have some ideas. There is no need to be embarrassed about speaking your mind in front of me. Remember, Faith, I’ve already seen you naked. What good is shyness now?”

  She laughs and blushes at my words. “You’ve got a point,” she tells me with a smile, but as she continues I can see it is still with some reluctance. “I don’t know, I’ve thought a little about pirating,” she says in a small voice with a noncommittal shrug.

  “What?” I ask, suddenly feeling very protective.

  “Um, pirating…like stealing things from people. But I’d need a ship for that and I don’t exactly have the startup funds for such a big purchase. I was hoping to keep your ship, but we all know how that turned out.”

  “Don’t you think pirating is a slightly dangerous profession?” I ask, trying my best to deter her.

  “Life is dangerous, Rylan. There’s no avoiding it.”

  “But isn’t—”

  “Look, Rylan. I’m a woman alone in freaking space, alright. I was meant to be a slave out here. A sex slave. As far as I’ve seen, there are only two steady lines of work for someone in my position: whore or criminal. Guess which one I would choose?”

  “It doesn’t have to be like that,” I insist, but her expression is skeptical to say the least. So, I change directions. “You’d need a crew,” I point out. “Surely you can’t pirate alone.”

  She grunts but does not respond. It is as if she has thought of this before and can’t seem to work out a solution to the problem.

  My heart pounds in my chest, but I have to ask. “Why not come to the colonies with us?”

  “While I’m sure your sisters would love me, a different world wouldn’t change my situation,” she insists, sarcasm heavily lacing her words. “You said this place is a backwater colony, right? What use do you think they’ll have for me out there?” Faith scoffs again, shaking her head at me as if to call me naïve.

  I search my brain for a better solution. “You could fish,” I suggest hopefully. Faith stops suddenly in her tracks. She looks up at me blankly for a moment before doubling over in laughter. It’s a full belly laugh, real and sincere. She laughs so long and hard she needs to lean on me for support and tears trail down her cheeks.

  She struggles to speak through her fit. “Growing up I spent my whole life working behind the counter of my grandpa’s bait shop, I moved halfway across the country, got a degree in computer science, was abducted by aliens, taken thousands of light years from my home, only to end up working in a bait shop? Is that some kind of sick cosmic joke at my expense?” she asks as she wipes her tears and stifles her laughter.


  “Would it really be so bad?” I question with furrowed brows. Anything would be better than a life of piracy.

  She breathes out a long and slow sigh and the deep green pools that are her eyes get a faraway look, as if she is more connected to a memory than to this moment. “Bad? My grandpa’s shop back home was home. He was the cornerstone of our family. The heart. I can remember every single detail about that place, down to the feel and the smell of that old wooden counter and the sound of the fridge humming in the corner. To try and have that again somewhere without him? I don’t know if it would bring me peace or madness.” She blinks suddenly, coming back to the moment and an errant tear slips down her cheek. She tries to wipe it away.

  “Oh my god, I’m sorry. I don’t know what’s gotten into me,” she apologizes, but I refuse to let her dismiss these tender moments between us. I tilt her face up, forcing her to look at me and I think that maybe she sees what I offer. The look I give my female is one of pure and fierce compassion. It is a look that almost dares her to try and push it all away again. Tears well in her eyes and silently I pull her to my chest in an embrace. A single sob racks her body and she holds onto me just as intensely as I hold onto her.

  Eventually her tears dry and she pulls away just enough to look up at me. A question sits on her lips, unasked.

  “I promise you, Faith,” I tell her sincerely. “If you feel that strongly about it, I will not make you fishmonger.”

  Her face screws up and she looks at me as if I might be stupid, but then she sees the teasing glint in my eyes and we both begin to laugh. She slaps at my chest and we fall away from each other, the intensity of the moment gone.

  “You’re such a dope,” she tells me, smiling. “Way to kill the mood.”

  “There was a mood?” I ask surprised, tugging at her hand in an effort to bring her back to me. “Come here and cry on me some more, female. We’ll see if we can bring it back, eh?” But she just rolls her eyes at me and we get back to our trek.

  “Thanks,” she says after a while.

  “For what?”

  “Letting me cry…and for being so stupid that I have to laugh.”

  “Anytime, on both those fronts. I am for you, Faith. If you ever need anything, I am here.”

  Chapter 20

  Faith

  Rylan keeps me laughing as the day wears on and he tells me stories about his childhood on Aragran. His family tried their best to keep their heritage alive despite the powerful influence of the Itharene and Hradun on their culture. So, he grew up not so different from me, living something of a mountain life, hunting and fishing.

  “How weird that we both found ourselves in tech jobs,” I point out.

  “Looking at things now that I’m grown, it isn’t the path my heart would choose. I thought I would find a profession that would…I don’t know, make an impact. Instead I do upgrades in brothels.” He sighs. “At least I know there will always be work for me.”

  “I feel the same about the work I was doing before,” I admit. “I’m lucky I did choose the tech industry though. I’d have been lost out here without some kind of background in computer science. I mean, my planet has nothing like the advancements floating around out here, but at least I have a foundation, you know?”

  He grunts and passes me the carb ration we’ve been sharing. The fresh fruit we stole from the ugly Makaan was finished before midday and all we have left are rations. Rylan’s face is a grimace as he chews the synthetically sweetened bar.

  “Not your flavor?” I ask, taking a bite.

  “There’s a station on the way to Aragran that sells these small sweet cakes with cream on the top about this thick.” He holds up his talons, demonstrating the size for me. “That is the first place we will be stopping after this wretched planet,” he tells me quite seriously.

  I take a bite of the carb ration. It’s as dry as cardboard and the synthetic sweetener leaves a waxy coating on the roof of my mouth. “I didn’t know you had a sweet tooth,” I tell him.

  “Bah, sometimes. All these rations have me craving something with some damn flavor.”

  Crawling on a rock nearby is one of those spidery lizard things that we’ve hunted and I point innocently at it.

  Rylan lets out a frustrated growl and rakes his fingers through his pulled back hair, making it look messy and disheveled. “I don’t understand how you can have such endless patience for these meals, Faith. I envy you.”

  “Hey, tastes better than—”

  “Starving,” he finishes for me. “I know,” he says, his tone sour.

  I frown and look at Rylan like a puzzle to be solved. His energy seems a little less light than usual, so I keep talking in an effort to cheer him up. “Food doesn’t bother me as long as there’s something to eat. But I’m not impervious to certain cravings…” I trail off but peek up at him from under my lashes. A little flirtation might perk him up.

  “Cravings?” he questions. His brows are raised and he’s suddenly appraising me with interest. I can’t hide the smile that spreads across my face.

  “First thing I want when we get out of here is a nice bath. Something long and hot,” I confide in him, hoping that maybe the thought of me naked in a tub sparks a friendly reminder of our night together on Nydor.

  But to my surprise, Rylan smacks himself on the forehead. “Oh Faith, I am sorry. My mind has been elsewhere. Would you like to bathe?” he asks me apologetically.

  “Wait, what? I can get a bath around here?” I ask, my voice shrill with surprise.

  “I should have thought of it. I know how my sisters can be over such things. Just a moment,” he tells me as he types something into the personal comm on his wrist. I see an image projected and we look at it together. It is a map. “There’s a stream not too far from here. It would make a good place to camp for the night. It will be cold, but we could wash up there.”

  The thought of rinsing clean is so enticing I nearly swoon and it’s all I can do to nod my approval.

  There’s a renewed vigor in our steps as we walk, having something tangible to look forward to. In no time at all, I find myself looking down at a small pool of water. The stream originates from a rocky ledge, not quite making a waterfall, but the sound coming from it is a soothing babble. At the far end of the pool, the stream resumes, slowly heading downhill.

  It’s late in the day and I estimate the temperature is nothing even remotely close to being comfortable, but my body is in serious need of this bath, so I’m willing to overlook the cold. I peer down at myself. My nails look brown from all the caked-on dirt and my skin is splotchy. I’ve gone nose blind to my own odor and I hope to God that Rylan has too. I run my fingers through my tangled hair. Feels like I swam through an oil slick.

  “Are you getting in on this too?” I turn to ask Rylan. His vest is already tossed to the side and his pants are around his ankles.

  “I guess that’s a yes,” I laugh and he gives me a big, cheesy grin.

  I’m not a modest person. Maybe I was once upon a time, but modesty is a luxury I haven’t been able to afford since my abduction. So, I pull my scrap of a shirt over my head and wiggle out of the tight pants I stole from a sexbot.

  “It’s going to be cold,” Rylan reminds me as he approaches. Out of politeness or something we keep our eyes locked. It’s the closest thing to privacy two naked people can offer each other, I guess.

  I bite back a smile. “I know,” I say with an anxious excitement. “But I want this bath so bad!”

  “Together then?” he asks, holding his hand out to me. I nod and link my fingers with his. His touch is gentle, even with those razor-sharp talons and my hand is dwarfed in his. For the first time since Nydor I can’t help but notice the differences between us.

  Rylan has been the only person I’ve really talked to since Earth. He’s been my only friend. Somehow, I haven’t viewed him as alien as all the others I’ve come across. But now, in the fading light of the day as our hands are joined together and we go splashin
g into the chest-deep water, I notice how pale and dirty my hands are compared the earthy green tones of his flesh. I notice his monstrous height, the breadth of his muscular shoulders, and the sharp, angled lines of his face. Then there are those eyes, shining bright like they’re lit from within. He is really stunning and I can’t help but feel boring and ordinary next to him. Only…he doesn’t look at me like I’m boring.

  “Not as nice as a hot bath would be,” he says as we face each other in the water. His hands go to my arms and he rubs them in an effort to keep me warm.

  “Yeah, I think a hot bath will still be my number one when we get out of here,” I admit.

  “And what will follow?” he asks, his expression troubled. He really didn’t seem to like the idea of me pirating.

  “I don’t know. I think I’ll check out the nearest space station, find a kind and unassuming guy… Then I’ll knock him over the head with something heavy and steal his station badge. Eat like a queen for a few days.” I shrug. “Maybe steal his ship.”

  “And here, I thought I was special,” he teases.

  “Oh, you were!” I tease. “If it weren’t for you I’d have never known how easy it is to knock someone out.”

  “Watch yourself, little human,” he tells me before he dunks his head under the water. “Remember, I have sisters. I know how to spar.”

  “Yeah, siblings will do that to a person,” I agree as we begin to scrub ourselves. I dunk my head to get the worst out of the way and rub my fingers along the roots. There’s no soap, but it’s better than nothing. Next, I turn my attention on getting my nails clean, but the temperature is starting to get to me now. I begin to shiver and my body tenses against the cold.

  “Okay, I have an amendment to make. The first thing I want is still a long, hot bath. But I want it in a jacuzzi tub,” I say, fretting over my dirty hands.

  “What is a jacuzzi tub?” he asks, splashing water up onto his shoulders and back.

  “A beautiful little invention, really. It’s a tub that has water jets and these lovely jets hit you in all the right places on your back and neck to help relax you and work out the tension in your muscles.”