Guardian of the Storm by Kaitlyn O'Connor

particularly thrilled about the idea of having to drink after the grat, but she had nothing else to offer water. If she poured it out, it would just soak into the sand. She sipped it while she waited for the grat to make up its mind whether to approach or not. Finally, thirst got the better of it and the small beast crept forward, its head lifted, its nose twitching as it caught the scent of the water. Lowering the vessel, Tempest held it out.
    The grat stared at her for several moments. Finally, it startled her by surging forward and slapping the vessel from her hand. Tempest jumped back, lost her balance, and landed on her butt in the sand. She glared at the grat indignantly as it quickly lapped up the little water left in the vessel. “Serves you right! If you weren’t so suspicious, you’d have gotten a lot more.”
    It growled at her when she went to retrieve her vessel. She stomped her foot. “That’s mine, you little shit!” she snapped, scooping up a handful of sand and throwing it at the grat. The grat scurried away. Tempest retrieved her vessel, glared at the grat for several moments and finally turned and stalked off. So much for making friends!
    Kiran gave her a disapproving look when she caught up to him. “We will not reach the next watering place before dark if you do not keep pace.”
    “It’d be easier,” Tempest groused, “if I had legs as long as yours.”
    Kiran slid a look down at her that examined her from head to toe. “You would find it easier if you did not stop every few minutes,” he pointed out, not unreasonably.
    It was on the tip of her tongue to remind him that she wasn’t nearly as strong as him, wasn’t Niahian, which made the air and pressure of his world more difficult for her, and that she wasn’t used to walking all day. It occurred to her, however, that that would be an admission that she’d had no business even trying to follow him. Before she could think of any comment to make, Kiran stiffened.
    “Mer-cay!” he snapped.
     
     
     
     
     
    Chapter Five
     
    Tempest didn’t understand the word, but the way he’d said it and his stance indicated alarm. “What?”
    Grasping her, he shoved her down into the sand and sprawled on top of her, nearly crushing her. “What is it?” she managed to grunt.
    “Quiet!” Kiran said in a harsh whisper.
    Tempest obediently went quiet, but she found it almost impossible to draw a decent breath of air with his broad chest baring down upon her. Then, too, his size was such that her face was also crushed against his chest. She wiggled until she managed to turn her head to one side, but it was still a struggle to breathe. After what seemed like a very long time, some of the tension left him. He eased away slightly, but it was more a lessening of pressure than anything else, for he was still sprawled heavily atop her. Tempest began trying to wriggle away.
    “What are you doing?” he asked through clenched teeth.
    “Some thing is digging into my ribs!” Tempest growled back at him.
    “Mer-cay,” he spat irritably, rolling off of her abruptly.
    Before either of them could say anything else, a whirling dervish landed in the middle of his chest, all four feet splayed, its claws digging into his flesh. Both Kiran and Tempest gaped at the snarling grat.
    “Bad girl!” Tempest snapped, recovering first. “Down!”
    The grat, responding either to her tone or her waving hand as she shooed at it, leapt from Kiran’s chest and trotted off a short distance, then dropped to the sand, glaring balefully at both of them.
    Kiran glanced irritably from the grat to Tempest and sat up slowly, rubbing at the perforated flesh from the grat’s claws.
    “What’s a Mer-cay, anyway?” Tempest asked, as much to distract him as because of curiosity.
    Kiran glanced at her sharply, obviously torn between amusement and embarrassment. “Excrement.”
    Tempest bit her lip as that sank in. “Kind of like, oh shit!, huh?”
    Kiran looked at her