Her Alien Protector: A Sci-fi Romance

Part 44

Rigel

Where am I? My face is against something soft—a bed or a pillow.

Pain throbs in my back and my wing, but a sensation of pleasure also runs through me. Oh, it's Ava, and she is grooming me.

In actuality, she is doing so much more. Her lithe little fingers slip into my wing, meticulously searching out broken feathers and removing them. In essence, she is caring for me.

An old memory resurfaces. I was a young Archae Bennuidae, probably no more than a quarter of the size I am now after my first serious crash. My mother carried me into our family cave. She washed my wings, removed broken feathers, and hummed a tune.

When Ava digs her fingers deep into my wing and pulls them through my feathers, I shudder. Is it appropriate that once my mother was the source of these feelings and now Ava is?

What would life be if we did not care for each other? One day, I want to gently caress and touch her.

Not today, though, for I can barely move.

Ava's gentle fingers tend to me, and sleep overtakes me.

***

Waking up to Ava caring for me had been the most pleasant sensation in the world. I feel much better now. I wish the crew would not act as if I were broken.

Tarak is readying himself to go on a mission, stripping the fallen Hydra fighter ships of parts we can recycle. Tarak should not be alone as he does such a task. He is likely encountering the bodies of fallen colleagues, so someone like me who is not as attached as him should take over.

"I can help," I offer Tarak as I sit down at a table in the helm to eat breakfast.

"No! You are an injured bird," he growls.

I sigh. How many times have I told him? "I'm not–"

"Tarak is right, Rigel. You need time to heal. I would feel better if you would stay aboard the ship so I could monitor you. Check your vitals," says Kayla who has somehow become a medic. What does she or the rest of the crew know about my biology?

Fine. I am disappointed, but I will wait.

Tarak leaves to go on his mission, and Kayla goes to check on Dylan.

So, when Ava enters the helm, I...

I flop over onto the table and droop my wings. I quiver my feathers, just for her.

Ava stops behind me. "Rigel, you have a few feathers that look broken. May I rearrange them?" Her hand hovers over my wing.

My feathers quiver. I would do anything for her to plunge her fingers into my wing. "Yes."

I will do anything as long as she tends to my wings, today, tonight, and forever.