Pairing with the Protector Read online

  “They do appear to be buildings of some kind,” Rafe acknowledged, frowning. “But I think it’s better we stay away from them if possible. The natives might be hostile.”

  “We don’t know that,” Whitney objected. “They might be peaceful and willing to help us. What if they’ve mapped out the area around their planet and solar system? It might give us a reference point as to where we are and how to get home.”

  She had a point, Rafe had to grudgingly admit. But he still didn’t like to approach the inhabitants of a strange planet without scouting carefully ahead to see if they were dangerous or not.

  “I tell you what,” he said to Whitney. “Let me get the ship fixed first and then we’ll do some recon to see if they can be trusted or not. If we find someone we think might help us, we’ll take a chance and try to make contact. But not unless I decide they aren’t dangerous.”

  She frowned. “I thought you were letting me make the life and death decisions.”

  Rafe shook his head. “Not about this. The decision to land risked both our lives equally. The decision to contact an alien species we’ve never seen before will put you in much more danger and it’s my job to protect you.”

  Whitney put a hand on her full hip.

  “And how is that? Why am I more in danger than you are in that situation?”

  “Because you’re much more valuable. Think about it,” Rafe said patiently before she could contradict him. “Your scientific knowledge of alien life forms and bio-genetic engineering is priceless. While all I know how to do is pilot and protect.” He shrugged. “It’s obvious between the two of us whose life is worth more—and is more worth protecting.”

  “It’s not obvious to me.” Whitney’s voice was low and firm with none of its usual bubbliness. “Your life is important too—every bit as important as mine, Rafe.”

  He shook his head. “Sorry, but I don’t see it that way. Now let me land the ship—I think I see a clearing up ahead in the middle of the forest. The trees should keep us shielded from prying eyes.”

  She got a stubborn expression on her lovely face and he had the idea that she wanted to argue some more about his life having equal value to hers, but Rafe was too busy landing the battered little ship to fight with her about it. She was the important one—she was his mon’dalla—which, if he was being honest, meant a lot more than he had admitted to her. Mon’dalla was a term of affection—an endearment most often used by a warrior for his mate, not just something a Protector would call his charge.

  But that was neither here nor there. The important thing was that he intended to protect Whitney with his life—even if it meant protecting her from herself. Her bubbly, optimistic personality made her naturally assume that the natives of this planet must be peaceful and helpful but Rafe had seen enough of the universe to know that wasn’t necessarily true.

  The point being that we’re going to keep the hell away from them unless I’m damn sure they’re friendly, he told himself grimly. Because there’s sure to be a hell of a lot of them if they’ve got buildings big enough to house hundreds of thousands at once.

  With that intention firmly intact, he landed the ship with a slight jolt in the broad clearing. It was time to assess the damage and make repairs—hopefully in fairly short order.

  After all, they had a Hallow-bean party to attend back home on the Mother Ship—if they could ever get back there.

  Six

  “These trees are amazing—they’re about the size of the Giant Redwoods back home on Earth. Some are even bigger.” Whitney craned her neck to study the leafy tops of the vast trees soaring far into the turquoise sky above. Even the smallest one had a trunk so big in circumference that a small car could have driven through it comfortably with room to spare on either side. And the bigger ones were so vast they were as big around as a city block.

  They had smooth gray bark with little flecks of white and black in it and broad purplish-green leaves almost as big as her torso. She halfway wished she was a Botanist instead of a Zoologist, so fascinating was the alien flora.

  “Just stay close to the ship while you admire them,” Rafe growled distractedly. He was stripped to the waist as he worked on the patch of hull which had been damaged, showing a broad, muscular chest that had several intriguing scars she had never seen before. “I don’t want you wandering off and getting lost in the scientific wonder of it all while I’m not there to watch your back,” he added.

  Whitney opened her mouth to protest indignantly…and then closed it again. She had to admit, she did tend to get lost in the excitement of exploring a new world. Several times Rafe had saved her from falling into a bog or lake and even once, from walking off a cliff, when she was so engrossed in studying the fauna of a new world.

  He glanced at her and seemed to read the expression on her face.

  “You know I’m right—admit it.” But there was a touch of humor in his deep voice.

  “All right, I admit it.” Whitney sighed. “But it’s just about killing me to be on a strange new world without taking notes and samples and finding new animals to take back to the Mother Ship.” She lifted her chin mutinously. “I don’t see why I can’t just look around a little while you fix the ship.”

  Rafe frowned.

  “We still don’t know what class of planet this is—the animals out there might be huge and predatory,” he pointed out. “With trees this big and the gravity and oxygen content on the high side, this world could support much larger creatures than you’re used to. Think of your own dinosaurs which roamed on Earth millions of years ago. Would you like to run into a Tyrannosaurus Rex with no protection?”

  “Well…no,” Whitney admitted reluctantly. He did have a point about the oxygen and the gravity. She was damn glad to have the regulator strapped around her wrist which controlled both so that she could comfortably breathe and walk around without being squashed like a tin can under a heavy boot. “But we don’t know for sure if there are T-rexes or anything like them out there,” she added, and swept out a hand, including the entire immense forest in her gesture.

  “We don’t know that they’re not out there, either,” Rafe growled, sounding stern. “So until I fix the ship and we ascertain if it’s dangerous, you’re going to stay right by my side. Understood?”

  Whitney could have bristled at his authoritarian tone, but she decided to tease him instead.

  “All right then. I guess I’ll just stay here and watch the local scenery,” she remarked, looking pointedly at his broad, bare chest. “It’s plenty worth watching, I can tell you.”

  Rafe gave her a startled look—it often seemed to surprise him when she flirted with him. When it didn’t fly right over his head, that was.

  “Are you talking about me?”

  “Mmm-hmm,” Whitney drawled, batting her eyelashes at him so he couldn’t fail to draw the right conclusion. “It’s not ever day I get to see you with your shirt off, you know. It’s a pretty nice sight, I must admit.”

  “It’s not something I would think you’d care about.” Rafe frowned at her. “And I believe what you are doing is what you Earth people call ‘sensual harassment.’”

  “The correct term is sexual harassment,” Whitney corrected him, smiling. “Though it can get sensual too. That could be fun.”

  “That is foolishness—stop distracting me.” His frown deepened but was there a faint flush on his high cheekbones? Whitney thought there was—maybe she was finally breaking through that tough outer wall her mysterious Beast Kindred Protector had around him.

  She was about to say something else—to tease him further, mostly because it was fun and she was bored—when a flash in the purple and green underbrush caught her eye.

  “Hey!” She tugged quickly at Rafe’s bare, muscular arm which he had raised above his head as he made repairs to the ship’s hull.

  He gave her an irritated look.

  “I told you, stop distracting me, Whitney. You know you’re fucking gorgeous and all these teasing lit