She jumped and cast a startled look upwards, but he had already withdrawn from view.
“Fruit! Doyouthinkitssafe?”
To his disappointment, she offered one of the fruits to her companion but after he devoured it eagerly, she lifted a pink globe to her own mouth. Her first cautious bite was followed by a little moan of pleasure that sent a streak of excitement straight to his cock. He could easily imagine her making a similar noise when he pleasured her…
Resolutely pushing the image aside, he saw with satisfaction that she was eagerly consuming the rest of the fruit. He was not as pleased that she insisted on sharing them with her companion, but he found an unexpected sense of satisfaction in the knowledge that he had assuaged her hunger.
Moving quietly, he dropped two more clusters close to her. She gave them a longing look, then shook her head.
“IsupposeIshouldsavetheseforlater.”
He frowned as he watched her add the fruit to her supplies. It was a sensible precaution and yet, he hated to think that she might still hunger.
After she shared a drink with her companion, she settled back against the log. Misstuh Tiduhlz climbed into her lap, and within minutes they were both asleep. Taraxan quietly dropped a few more bunches of fruit nearby, then settled back to watch over her.
A loud squawk from far overhead awoke Jane. She hadn’t intended to fall asleep but between the previous night’s disturbed sleep, the morning’s long walk, and finally getting some food into her stomach, she hadn’t been able to keep her eyes open. At least the sun was no longer directly overhead and she would be able to get back on track—or what she hoped was on track.
And wasn’t this what people in tropical countries did anyway? Take a nap in the middle of the day? Maybe that was true on tropical planets as well. She still didn’t want to believe that she was on an alien planet, but she couldn’t think of any other explanation.
The squawk sounded again and she looked up to catch a fleeting glimpse of an extremely large bird—although bird was not exactly the correct term. The creature had wide, brightly colored wings, but they appeared to be made of skin rather than feathers, and a long, sinuous tail whipped along behind it. She gulped. Definitely not like any Earth bird she had ever seen.
How the hell had she ended up on this planet? She prayed that there would be an answer at the destination marked on the map. And perhaps she would finally encounter a native of this planet. There must be someone here—although what kind of being would steal someone away from their home and abandon them in a jungle?
Maybe it was just as well that she hadn’t met any natives.
“Well, except for you,” she smiled, stroking her companion’s head. He purred, then hopped out of her lap and went to catch another beetle.
She shuddered and turned away as he devoured the insect, then realized that more of the tasty pink fruit had fallen while she slept. She gathered them up, and then decided that she had enough to eat a few more. They really were delicious, like a cross between a peach and an apple with a slightly tart outer skin and a sweet, juicy interior.
After she satisfied her hunger, she tucked the rest away in her bag. It had not held water as well as she would have liked, but she had seen quite a few of the blue-leafed bushes as they walked. She thought she could count on gathering more water wherever they stopped for the night. The thought of another night in the jungle made her shiver, but there didn’t seem to be any alternative. Since there was nothing on the map to indicate scale, she had hoped that perhaps she would reach the river today. There was no sign of it so far and she suspected that she might have a longer journey than she had anticipated. With a sigh, she picked up her bag, adjusted her vine belt and set out once more.
The walk seemed even more difficult this afternoon. Her legs ached from the unaccustomed exercise. Fortunately much of the ground was covered with deep blue moss, but her bare feet were still bruised from her encounters with unexpected rocks and twigs. The undergrowth through which she pushed scratched at her skin and had an unfortunate tendency to smack back against her. Even Mr. Tiddles seemed tired, content to perch on her shoulder rather than jumping ahead to explore.
She reached up and patted the wide furry tail he had wrapped around her neck for stability. “You don’t like this either, do you? I hope you haven’t left your family behind to accompany me.”
The thought that he might have left his home worried her, but she couldn’t deny that his presence was a comfort. And she had yet to see any others of his kind, so perhaps he had been alone as well.
The afternoon dragged on but she kept putting one foot in front of the other. She still held out hope that she might reach the river, but by the time the sun had lowered to the point where it was shining directly into her eyes, she had to accept the probability that she would not reach it today. Instead, she started looking for a place where she could spend the night. A small clearing where she could at least see her surroundings seemed like a better alternative than camping amongst the bushes.
Swearing, she pushed through an especially stubborn set of branches that clung to
