Guardian of the Storm by Kaitlyn O'Connor Read Free Book Online Page B

Well, she was inexperienced, but she wasn’t completely ignorant, whatever he thought. Sexuality had been part of the school curriculum. She’d been thoroughly educated on every aspect of copulation, from the mundane to every conceivable, and some pretty inconceivable, variations.
    It was just that, not having any first hand experience, she had a hard time imagining it in association with herself, and theory was different than actual practice.
    If she hadn’t known better, she would think he was deliberately trying to confuse her. Why couldn’t he just say he did, or did not, like her in a sexual context? One minute he would say, or do, something that would make her think he did, and the very next minute, he’d dispute it.
    As interesting as the puzzle was, she set it aside after a while when it occurred to her to wonder what might lie ahead. She hadn’t been given to thinking about the future as a destination, or as something she need plan for. She could barely remember a time when she had looked beyond the next meal. Before, she supposed she’d really been too young to consider what sort of life she would have when she left her parents’ domicile to make one for herself. She had tried to imagine sharing it with first one and then another of her classmates, but she hadn’t really been able to fix it in her mind. It had been hazy, almost dream-like and she’d always ended up picturing her parents instead.
    Now she began to wonder what sort of life Kiran had. He had said they never stayed in one place long, but it was hard to imagine traveling endlessly. Surely, they must have some settlements somewhere on this vast world?
    She shook the thought off finally, realizing that she couldn’t plan any sort of future when so much was still unknown to her. Perhaps, if Kiran didn’t want her for a companion, she would find one when he returned to his own people?
    She needed a companion. She hadn’t realized it before, because she’d had no choice but to live alone, but she was used to being surrounded by people. She needed the stimulus of interaction with other beings as much as she needed water and food.
    She supposed it was her own needs that had prompted her to befriend the grat as much as her realization of its needs. The thought made her glance back. She didn’t know whether to be glad or sorry when she saw it was still trailing them.
    Kiran wasn’t going to like it.
    On the other hand, it was easy to see she couldn’t really depend upon Kiran for companionship and the grat seemed pretty determined to adopt her.
    Deciding it was probably thirsty, she stopped and poured a little water from the water bag Kiran had given her to carry into her drinking vessel. Kiran glanced back at her, but said nothing when she took a sip from the vessel. When he turned around and kept walking, she waited until he’d started down the next dune, then backtracked. The grat stopped abruptly when it saw her coming, flattening itself against the ground. She halted a few feet away from it and held the vessel out, swirling the water. After a few moments, the grat lifted its head and sniffed. The nostril slits quivered and it licked its lips, but it didn’t move any closer, despite Tempest’s efforts to entice it. She frowned. “Fine! When you’re thirsty enough maybe you won’t be so shy.”
    Tipping a few drops onto the sand, Tempest rose, turned and strode after Kiran, but she made no attempt to catch up to him, trailing several yards behind him and glancing back now and then to see what the grat would do.
    When she’d moved away, it surged forward, sniffing the ground where she’d dropped the water, digging at it a little frantically. Finally, giving up, it followed, keeping its distance, but never dropping far behind. Tempest waited an hour before trying again. When she saw Kiran topping another rise, she stopped, waiting until he disappeared over the top. She squatted then, holding the vessel out once more.
    She wasn’t