Flicker Read Online Free PDF

like meat. The fire was outside the door of what seemed to be a small hut.
    “Where are we?”
    “Do you remember the crash?”
    “No. Wait. Yes. We crashed on Kalish.” She looked around. “Why aren’t we with the shuttle?”
    “Xara attacked you, we needed to get away from her. So I carried you here.” Ben seemed agitated about something.
    “Did you set off my beacon?” She grabbed at her belt and found it, then thumbed it with a sigh of relief. “Okay, so you didn’t. They will be here to pick us up in about a day.”
    “I wish we had a bit more time alone.” He finished his cooking, set it aside and then came toward her with a compress. “Here. This will help the cut on your head. It is made from local roots, plants and a bit of geothermic mud.” He gently applied it to the pounding on her head. The wet coolness made her smile.
    “Why do you wish for more time?”
    “Because here I can just be myself, and you can be yourself, and we don’t have to be Agents.”
    His fingers stroked her face slowly, memorizing each bit of her. He didn’t seem to have the talons of the Azon, but she couldn’t be sure, and didn’t want to find out. His earnest eyes melted a portion of her, and it wasn’t her heart. “Ah. That.”
    “Yes. That.”
    He retrieved his cooking project and handed it to her. It was a small bird-lizardy thing, but it was fully cooked and prepared for her so she took it.
    “Your scent suits you by the way.”
    “Ah. So it worked?” She was trying to decide where to take her first bite. It was hard, leg, leg, leg or wing.
    “It did. Even before you left medical. If they hadn’t stunned me, I would never have gone with them.”
    “I thought you fought the doc?”
    “When he tried to keep me from going to you, yeah, I punched him.”
    She snorted and took her first bite, it was heaven.   “He tells a very different story, but he was probably mad at you. This is really good!” She was surprised. Then she noted that he wasn’t eating. “Aren’t you going to have some?”
    “I had some earlier.”
    “But there was nothing else on the fire.”
    “I ate it while hunting.”
    Eww. Right. He was able to eat meat raw. “Then why did you cook mine?”
    “I thought you would like it better. I spoke to Nar about it and he said you didn’t like raw meat. Cooked meat though, you were all for.” He smiled in enjoyment as she continued to eat.
    “You and Nar really hit it off, didn’t you?”
    “You were our primary topic of conversation.” He moved behind her and put his arm around her, still munching, she leaned against him. “He cares for you a great deal. He told me of your adventures together.”
    “Oh sure, the adventures of the Hot Virgin and the Invisible. It was not fun at the time though. I recall our lives being in danger for most of it.”
    “And yet, you both survived.”
    “Yeah, I suppose we did. Srrah hated me though. She was convinced that I had sullied Nar.”
    “Which of course you hadn’t.”
    “Of course not. He is like my brother.” Once the statement was out, it felt right. Just like leaning on Ben for support and warmth. It felt right. She relaxed and let his strength and scent surround her. It was perfect.
    “And I?”
    “You are definitely not like my brother. Nor like any other man I have ever met.” Her hands caressed his thighs, he was now manoeuvred behind her like an easy chair, but the hard ridge against her spine was not easy. She leaned her head back on his shoulder and looked up at him. Love was in his eyes, which was good because her emotional blocks were wide open and it was in hers as well. The first kiss was slow. She leaned up to him, then hissed as her head and neck protested. He chuckled and moved her so that she was now cradled in his arms.
    “I don’t think you are up for a proper mating.” His smile was warm and his face spoke of a lifetime of patience that he was willing to devote to her.
    “No. I think that some time in