Ka'Cit's Haven (Riv’s Sanctuary #3)

Herza came to a stop just above their heads, and Ka’Cit’s life-organ thumped in his chest.

Had he been wrong? Had he underestimated her?

If she knew about the storage space…

The human must have sensed the danger too because, and he realized this belatedly, even though her whole frame was heaving with each breath, she was fighting to remain quiet.

Herza’s voice was loud and commanding. “Search the lower sector! There’s no way that little thing was smart enough to escape on its own.”

Ka’Cit looked down at the human.

She still had her face pressed into the ladder, but if she’d heard what Herza said, she didn’t give any indication.

They needed to head farther down.

His only fear was that the ladder would creak and give their location away.

If Herza didn’t know about the hiding spot, chances were that it wasn’t maintained.

Still, the human was breathing so hard now that if they didn’t move, Herza might hear them anyway.

“We have to head farther down,” he whispered near the human’s ear. “I’ll go first. Do not worry. I’ll catch you if you fall.”

Between how her body was heaving and trembling, he almost didn’t see her jerk her chin to say she’d heard and understood him.

The drop below wasn’t far, just a few meters, but Ka’Cit descended slowly, giving her time to move down as well.

She was hesitant.

Each step seemed to make her breathe harder and by the time his feet hit solid ground and he looked up, she was shaking so hard it was a wonder she didn’t fall off the ladder.

She wasn’t descending either. She’d only gone down two rungs farther before she’d stopped completely.

It was the strangest thing he’d ever seen in his life.

She seemed desperate to move, but somehow couldn’t, as if her body was telling her to scream and race back up the ladder.

Ka’Cit stared at her.

He could see her well enough in the dark. He was sure she couldn’t see him though. Not because her vision was less adapted to darkness, but because she was still squeezing her eyes shut.

“Ta’ii…” His whisper didn’t seem to have much of an effect, and if not for the noise of feet pounding on the floor above them, he was sure Herza would have heard them below by now.

He needed to get her off the ladder.

Ka’Cit reached forward, a frown marring his brow as he touched the human lightly.

He didn’t know why he expected her to recoil from his touch—maybe because that’s what usually happened when he tried to touch other people—but then again, he hadn’t been trying to be gentle those times.

Still…as his hand landed on her leg, she didn’t move away.

Too caught up in whatever it was that was holding her hostage, she seemed completely focused on pulling air into her lungs and exhaling.

“Ta’ii…” he said again, and this time he climbed up the ladder once more to grasp her in his arms.

Her body was stiff and she clung on to the ladder so tightly, he had to pry her fingers off the rung.

“I’m sorry.” He had no idea why he was apologizing, only that it felt like he had to.