“Climb, of course—how else?” Raak said reasonably. He measured the miniature mountain with his eyes. “Looks like there are plenty of hand and foot-holds. I should be fine.” He grinned at her. “So, you want to come?”
“It’s twenty meters up,” she protested. “I can’t climb that far—I’m not a monkey!”
“Don’t know what that is,” Raak answered. “But you don’t have to do any climbing, just hold on to me.” He motioned to her. “Come on…jump on my back.”
She eyed him uncertainly.
“I don’t know…”
“Oh come on, baby girl,” he urged her. “Live a little. Didn’t you ever look up there when you were little and wish you could see the very top?”
He could see he had her there. Kara was a curious girl, even if she tried to pretend she was all prim and proper. Raak was certain she had a spirit of adventure in her somewhere and he wanted to unlock it and set her free.
“Come on,” he urged again.
“I…there’s no way I could hold on to you,” she protested feebly, as though looking for an excuse. “Your uniform shirt is too slippery.”
If she thought that would stop him from taking her to the top, she was wrong, Raak thought. Quickly, he unbuttoned and let the heavy, silky fabric fall in a shimmering silvery heap on the ground.
“Never liked those damn uniform shirts they make us wear aboard the Mother Ship anyway,” he muttered, flexing his arms and enjoying the light breeze swirling around his bare chest. He kicked off his boots too. “Easier to climb barefoot,” he explained when she looked at him questioningly. “Now come on, baby girl—let’s go.”
Kara looked slightly dazed but she at last agreed to climb on his back and wrap her arms securely around his neck and her legs around his waist. He liked to feel her weight on his back and the warm press of her body against his. Damn if the hot little female wasn’t giving him a hard-on!
Down, boy, he told himself. It’s going to be fuckin’ hard to scale a mountain if your wood gets in the way.
“I don’t see how you can climb this way,” Kara said in his ear. “I’m not exactly tiny like so many of the Earth girls that get called to the Mother Ship.”
“I know—that’s one of the things I like about you,” Raak told her. “Along with those sexy little fangs. Now, hold on.”
Before she could protest any further, he grabbed for the first outcropping on the side of the artificial volcano and started pulling them up.
Kara couldn’t believe she was doing this.
I ought to be at work right now, she thought as she clung like a spider monkey to the big Unbondable’s back and watched as he pulled them steadily higher up the side of Rainbow Mountain. I should be dealing with that new project I just got assigned—not playing hooky like a kid skipping school.
But there was just something about the big Y’lyn Kindred she couldn’t resist or ignore. He was persuasive for one thing—maybe because he seemed to know things about her she kept hidden, even from herself. She really had always wanted to go to the top of Rainbow Mountain and see inside the crater at the top as a kid. Also, it was nice to feel accepted for who she was instead of being shunned for it.
And also, Raak is damned sexy and you’re attracted to him—admit it, whispered a little voice in the back of her head.
Well, yes that was true, Kara reluctantly admitted. Being this close to him, she could smell his warm, spicy, masculine scent much better. Was that his bonding scent? Probably not, she decided, since he had no soul and couldn’t bond to anyone. Goddess, they were getting high up here!
She spared a look down and wished she hadn’t. Could Raak really get them all the way to the top? He’d better or they were going to splat on the sandy beach that surrounded Rainbow Mountain and make a multicolored mess of themselves.
“Look at that, Mommy! Look at the man and lady up top!”
“Wow—look at them climb! I thought you said we couldn’t do that, Mommy. Why come the man and lady can and we can’t?”
Looking down again, Kara saw two adorable kids pointing up at her and Raak. They weren’t the only ones, either. A few moments ago Rainbow Mountain had seemed almost deserted. Now there was quite a sizeable crowd gathered and all of them were staring and pointing at her and the big Y’lyn Kindred.
“Is that the Chancellor’s daughter?” Kara heard one of the mothers ask. Due to a trick of the air flow, she could hear her quite clearly, despite the fact that they were getting higher and higher up the mountain.
“Mmm-hmm, I think so. I saw her flash her fangs a minute ago.” The other mother shuddered. “I don’t know how she ended up with those—I thought only males were supposed to have them.”
“Must be some kind of genetic mutation,” the other mother said. “It makes me really glad I’ve only had boys since my hubby is a Blood Kindred.”
“Oh yes—what would you do if your child was born deformed like that?” the other mother asked. “It would be so sad. Of course you would love them no matter what but still…”
Kara felt her cheeks going hot. Suddenly the crazy climb up the side of Rainbow Mountain didn’t seem quite so fun anymore. She wondered if Raak had heard the women’s conversation too—if so, he hadn’t said anything about it, even though they continued to talk.
“And what is she doing up there with that guy anyway?” the other mother went on. “Isn’t there some kind of rule that prohibits climbing up the side of the mountain?”
“If there isn’t there should be. It’s a bad example for the children. Someone ought to complain.”
“I’ll bespeak my hubby right now and you bespeak yours. We’ll get someone here pretty quickly if we tell them it’s the Chancellor’s daughter pulling this stunt.”
This was too much for Kara.
“Stop!” she said in Raak’s ear. “We have to go back—those women down there are going to complain to my father and get me in trouble.”
“Sounds like the story of your life, huh, baby girl?” Raak grunted, as he continued to climb. “Someone always running to daddy to tell on you?”
“Well…yes.” Kara thought of all the years she’d had to be perfect in school so the other kids wouldn’t think she got special treatment because of her father’s status. “But that’s beside the point,” she said. “We have to get down before we make a scene.”
“I have news for you—we already made one. Also, here we are at the top. Let’s look inside the crater like we wanted to.”
Raak was standing on a ledge just about four feet below the lip of the crater and looking down into the hole. Of course by now he was soaked from the multicolored streams of water which flowed down the side of the mountain and Kara was pretty wet herself. His warm, wet skin was slippery to hold on to but Raak reached behind him and supported her easily with one big hand under her thigh.
Kara bit back a moan at the sudden contact and bent over his shoulder to examine the inside of the crater, interested despite herself in the water pumping mechanism. Science, tech, and mechanics had been her three favorite courses in school and she had also excelled in piloting, which her Uncle Baird had taught her when she was barely twelve cycles old.