Scarier Monsters

Chapter Ten

Riddick helped strap me into the passenger seat, careful to work around my quickly healing wounds. They stung but were closing fast, a perfect distraction from the feel of him being so close. Despite being covered in alien blood he was still damn sexy.

My body felt limp from all its recent exertion but energized from the fresh feed, a confusing sensation that I wasn't familiar with. My hair was plastered to my face and neck and I was speckled in blue blood. My own coursed a gruesome trail down my front and if I could wish for anything at that moment it would have been a hot shower. A very hot one. Definitely involving the individual currently strapping me in.

The red takeoff light in the cabin was alight above Riddick's head, bathing him in crimson and showing his reflection in the large cockpit windows that were being spattered with fresh rain. In my haze I wondered at it; I didn't think a desert world like this was capable of something so resplendent. The whole scene seemed surreal. Having someone secure me in my seat was strange but my body was on overdrive and any reprive from movement was greatly appreciated. I eyed him as he worked, feeling his hands over me. I know we were escaping and everything, but damn. The sensation of his presence was overwhelming at this proximity and if I leaned just a little closer -

His fingers slipped in blood as he buckled me in and he uttered a low curse, eyes lowered at his task. Smiling, I reached out and touched his face with my fingertips. The skin beneath my fingers was fiery.

He looked up and caught my gaze with mirrored eyes. This guy had escaped a slam only to be caught by a sleazy merc whose only desire was to sell him to the highest paying system; then survived a severe crash on a world where every moving thing in the dark wanted to devour him. We had just crossed a desert of death, losing people along the way. We were on the cusp of finally escaping to sweet salvation and he was actually spending time making sure I was securely in my seat before we took off. How fucking sweet was that?

"Didn't peg you as the caring type," I meant it to sound stronger but the words drifted out in a whisper. I hoped they didn't sound disingenuous. One of those smirks of his dashed across his face and lit up his eyes.

"And I didn't expect a single thing you just did back there, either. Why don't we just call each other unpredictable and get the fuck outta here?"

"That's the best idea I've heard all day," I replied with a twinge; my shoulders were still aching. His eyes drifted over my body and he leaned in almost involuntarily as if he couldn't help himself. Catching my stare, he seized my lips in a hard kiss. How this guy managed to escape several slams, lead the hard life of a convict, and still have lips this unbelievably soft was beyond me.

Breaking apart far too soon, he hovered over my lips before leaving for his own seat. I wanted to groan at the loss of contact but we needed to get off-world if there was any chance of us getting together at all. Plus the need to see this guy naked was getting intolerable.

The rest of the group was strapped into the back and waiting. The seats were a little more than wanting; yellow padding was starting to squeeze through rips in the faded fabric and the belts were weathered but hey, they were seats in a ship that worked and that's all that mattered. Everyone looked shaken but prepared.

Ali was buckled in on Jack's lap as there weren't enough seats for everyone; Paris, Zeke, and Imam were in the other three, slumped down slightly but still secure. They were completely unconscious but alive and that's all I could ask for. I wasn't worried that we were over capacity by three; two of us were less than ninety pounds and we had zero baggage if you didn't include the corpses of the creatures that were still in the back, stinking. Frye and Shazza were content with strapping themselves as well as they could to the wall and holding on.