Total pages in book: 137
Estimated words: 130081 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 650(@200wpm)___ 520(@250wpm)___ 434(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 130081 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 650(@200wpm)___ 520(@250wpm)___ 434(@300wpm)
Nate wasn’t sure what to make of this—it sounded crazy to him. Still, he was willing to do whatever he could to help the alien girl he was beginning to feel for so strongly. So he closed his eyes and did his best to send her positive feelings.
Unfortunately, all he could seem to think about was how worried he was about her and how hungry he was. He was a big guy and it took a lot of fuel to keep him going. Next time he was definitely going to insist they at least pack a snack if they were going on a trip, he decided. But what if they never got to go on any more trips because something was really wrong with Lan’ara? What if she never woke up from this faint she’d fallen into? What if it was some kind of a coma? What if—
Lan’ara stirred under his hand, her brow creasing in a look of pain as a moan was dragged from her throat.
“Stop it—stop that! What are you doing!” Teetsook grabbed at Nate’s arm, pulling his hand away from Lan’ara’s face. “I told you, only positive feelings! Why are you giving her pain instead of pleasure?”
“I’m sorry—I didn’t fucking mean to!” Nate muttered. “I’m just so fucking worried about her! And I just—”
His stomach growled again, loudly this time.
“Ah…” Teetsook nodded wisely. “I see—you’re hungry. Well, why didn’t you say so? I never knew any male who could feed his female positive emotions on an empty stomach. Come—we’ll eat and then you can try again.”
The warm, nutty aroma coming from the other room made his stomach growl again, but Nate was reluctant to go.
“I don’t like leaving her here,” he protested. “What if she wakes up and rolls off the bed? It’s pretty high up, you know—she could hurt herself.”
“Don’t worry about that. Here.” Teetsook reached up and grabbed the side of the mattress that wasn’t against the wall. He molded and rolled it until he had made a kind of bumper down the side of it.
Nate frowned as he watched—the puffy mattress must be made of some weird alien material, he thought. It certainly wasn’t like any mattress he’d ever seen before.
“There!” the old man said, turning to Nate and putting his hands on his hips. “She’s perfectly safe—I would never allow any Freelon to come to harm in my abode. Now will you come and eat?”
Nate still didn’t like the idea of leaving Lan’ara alone, but he had to admit she was now safe from rolling off the bed and they were just going into the other room. Plus, he felt like his stomach was gnawing his backbone, as his grandpa would have said. So he nodded and followed Teetsook back into the kitchen area of the cabin.
“Now then—let’s get you seen to,” the old man said. Getting a crude wooden bowl out of a cabinet, he began ladling out scoops of the thick blue goop from the pot on the stove. He handed the full bowl to Nate along with a carved wooden spoon.
“Uh, thank you. What is it?” Nate dipped the spoon into the gluey blue mixture. It was slightly lumpy and looked kind of like melted blue crayons that still had some chunks of unmelted wax swimming in the mixture.
“Why, it’s Singing Tree nut stew of course,” the old man said. He had ladled out a smaller bowl of the blue goo for himself and now he sat beside Nate at the table and began to dig in. “Mmm-mm! Delicious, if I do say so myself!”
Since his host was eating so eagerly, Nate felt like it would be rude not to at least try the strange stew. Besides, as weird as it looked, it smelled really good—kind of like oatmeal cookies with toasted pecans in them, he thought. Also, he was so hungry at this point, he would have eaten almost anything.
He put a spoonful in his mouth and was surprised at the complex flavor. There was a hint of oatmeal flavor but also a sweet, nutty note finished with a slightly salty aftertaste, almost like buttered toast.
“Fuck—this is really good!” he remarked and went back for another spoonful—and then another and another. Before he knew it, the wooden bowl was empty and he had to stop himself from licking it like a dog to get the last traces of the blue nutty stew.
“Ah, I’m so glad you enjoyed my humble cooking.” Teetsook nodded and smiled at him. “Would you like some more?”
“I’d rather go back and see if I can help Lan’ara,” Nate told him. He’d taken the edge off the worst of his hunger and he was still extremely worried about her.
“Of course. The care of your mate must come first.” The old man smiled approvingly and rose from the table. “Come with me. But remember—you must feed her only positive emotions! So do your best to think happy thoughts when you touch her.”