Ka'Cit's Haven (Riv’s Sanctuary #3)

He racked his mind for information. He didn’t know much about her species, only that his only two friends, Sohut and Riv, had found their gnora—their soulmates—with two humans.

Were humans afraid of the dark?

Small holes?

Ladders?

He wasn’t sure.

“I will be right here with you. I won’t…”

He was going to say he wouldn’t allow the darkness, the hole, or the ladder hurt her, but his words died on his lips.

Her head was moving from side to side so hard now that her hair was shaking like a dark curly cloud surrounding her head.

“Yoo dohnt uhnderstahnd. Ai cahnnnttt. Ai’m kloss-tro-foh-bik.”

She heaved after each word, inhaling so aggressively it was audible, and though he had no idea what she just said, she seemed distressed enough that he rose from the floor and took a step toward her.

His arm reached out before stopping in mid-air.

Just what was he doing?

He had no idea how to comfort a female, much less a distressed one. And he had no idea why she needed comforting. The only thing he knew was that the dark hole terrified her.

His sat-watch beeped, and Ka’Cit tore his gaze away from the female to glance at it.

Phek. They didn’t have much time.

They had only a few minutes left before the lockdown ended.

They had to get inside or risk getting caught.

If he was alone, he’d have done the latter. His blasters hadn’t been used for a while…his knuckles either…they’d have liked some action, but he wasn’t about to put the female in danger.

He’d snuck in here to get her out safely, not to get her killed.

She was still breathing hard, but her eyes were on his sat-watch now.

“It’s an alarm,” he said as explanation. “There isn’t much time left. We have to go.”

Her throat moved and she took a huge gulp of air. She was whispering something underneath her breath, a mantra, and he couldn’t differentiate the words.

There was the sound of metal clanking behind the closed doors and it made her glance toward them.

That seemed to wake her up from whatever she was going through because she swallowed hard and took a step toward the hole.

“Ohkay. Yoo cahn doo dis Nee-ya. Yoo cahn doo dis.”

With a deep breath, she crouched down and looked in.

Her body began heaving even harder.

“Yoo cahn doo dis.”

With trembling hands, she crouched over the hole then sat so her legs were planted firmly on a rung.

With another breath that made her body shudder, she lowered herself onto the ladder.