The pair had been walking for almost a day, and not even an inch of distance had been closed between them.

The heat from the sun was sweltering, its rays unforgiving as they pelted down on the girl's skin, bronzing it even further.

Iris swore that the heat was making her delirious—or at least more than she already was.

Even now, as she lingered several steps behind, she was uncomfortably aware of her pulse racing under her skin and the clammy heat that warmed her cheeks and neck, both of which arose from just looking at him.

The girl held a defensive stance, her arms wrapped around her middle as if that would protect her from the lust-filled thoughts and feelings that threatened to penetrate her poorly crafted shield.

But still, those provocations were ever-persisting.

She lost count of the number of times that she caught herself focusing on the muscled ridges of his back, his lack of clothing doing nothing to subdue the constant urge to reach out and trace along the surface of his skin.

For the umpteenth time that day, Iris curled her fingers into her palms. She welcomed the faint burn of her nails digging into her skin, the pain acting as a brief distraction from her infatuation.

"You're bleeding."

Iris withheld a scream as Niklaus was suddenly right in front of her, grabbing her hand and unfurling her fingers.

Sure enough, as she stared at her shaky hand, there were crescent-shaped indents in her palm, some of which were stained with blood.

Her lips were parted open, but no words escaped. She could only watch as he lifted her palm to his mouth, allowing him to press a lingering kiss to her skin.

It was a gentle one—chaste. But the way he looked at her as he did it made her knees shake and her heart race as if his lips had connected with her own instead.

"I-I'm fine." Iris stammered as she pulled her hand back to her chest.

She eyed him warily, not particularly trusting his motives. Sure, he had yet to harm her or show animosity, but he was still a stranger, a very strong one at that. 

She was completely out of her depths.

As much as she was drawn to him, she couldn't pretend that she wasn't also probed by unease and uncertainty. And if she thought too much about the two, she could feel them amalgamate into something that closely resembled fear.

Niklaus' eyes searched hers, and she felt like he was picking apart the individual pigments that made up her hazel orbs with how intensely he gazed into them.

That moment didn't last long, though, as the alien stepped back suddenly, almost as if he could sense her underlying discomfort.

"We should arrive before nightfall. Keep close." That was all he said to her.

Iris gave a brief nod and waited for him to turn around before releasing a shaky breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding.

Ignoring his instructions, she waited until he was several steps in front of her before she resumed her strides. Shortly after, though, her brows furrowed as she realized that she no longer felt the residual stinging from her right palm.

"What?" She murmured in confusion as she lifted her hand and saw that there were no wounds. She rubbed at the skin to confirm, and sure enough, she was met with a smooth and unmarred surface.

She looked up from her palm and parted her lips to question the alien about it, but at the last minute, she thought better of it and chose to dwell on the predicament on her own.

The last thing she needed was to become transfixed yet again by his magical golden eyes, and spill all the dirty erotic fantasies that have been rotting her brain for the last several hours.

Instead, Iris allowed her rampant thoughts to keep her company as her feet moved blindly in front of her, one after another. She was so enraptured in the happenings of her mind that she hadn't realized that the first sun had already set, its absence welcomed as it eased the surrounding heat.

But still, as their journey continued, Iris felt fatigue slither up her limbs and start to coil tightly around her muscles.

"Fuck" She swore as she tripped over yet another hidden root.

She couldn't seem to catch a break when it came to the wildlife on this planet.

The girl didn't miss the way Niklaus' shoulders tensed at another one of her fumbles. His muscles were so tight that she wondered if it caused him pain to have them bunched up the way they were.

She could tell that he wanted to turn towards her, perhaps even comment on her clumsiness, but he didn't.

He seemed to have a great amount of restraint; he always did the opposite of what he truly wanted.

Proof of that was the way he resisted the most lustrous of temptations as she knelt on her hands and knees with nothing but the surrounding air to cover her dignity. Someone would say that was just basic human decency, but Niklaus was no human—no, not even close. Rather, his mannerisms and instincts seemed to be more aligned with those of an animal.

And she had ample time to observe these behaviours, what with nothing else to do. The way he skulked through the foliage to avoid making a sound; despite his large and muscular form, she found herself making much more of a disturbance than him. 

Or his apt attention to every smell, sound and trail that was left in their vicinity.

Nothing went on without him knowing.

Iris knew that wasn't the case for her.

She was very erratic and impulsive, usually listening to her first thought and instinct without taking time to reflect on the matter.

It was how she ended up applying to the exploratory space program, and perhaps it was also how she ended up alone with an alien on their way to who knows where.

Just as the sky started to darken to a deep magenta, Iris perked up as she caught the sound of rushing water.

She was desperate for a shower, especially since she didn't get the chance to at their first stop...

The girl looked down at her soiled clothes, remembering the haste in which she threw them on after they returned to the lake.

Iris pulled on the fabric of her shirt, and her lips downturned in a frown as she noticed that it was being worn back to front.

Although she didn't get the chance to dwell on it too much as she was startled out of her thoughts by what seemed to be a loud warrior cry in the near distance.

Immediately, her eyes flew to Niklaus in worry, but the alien didn't so much as flinch at the sound. In fact, he appeared completely relaxed.

She assumed then that whoever was making the call wasn't a threat, but she couldn't help but quicken her strides, allowing herself to close the gap between her and the only person who could protect her.

"What was that?" Iris whispered as if someone was listening in on their conversation in the forest.

Niklaus allowed himself to glance down at her, his golden eyes piercing her hazel ones as he analyzed her face and picked up traces of fear.

"One of the warriors that keeps night watch. She's welcoming me home."

"She?" The question flew past her lips before she could bite her tongue, and she immediately regretted it once it did.

Although, to her relief, Niklaus didn't seem to notice how her eyes widened and her face flushed, as he was too focused on pushing forward, seemingly with newfound energy.

"Yes. Why?"

Iris took a second to settle the waver in her voice that would expose the fact that her question stemmed from a weird feeling of possession over a man that she barely knew.

"T-That sound...it just didn't sound like a woman." She murmured in an attempt to appear absentminded.

Iris was startled at the sound of a soft chuckle, and she looked up at the alien to see the ghost of a smile on his face.

"It's a greeting—a sign of respect. It's commonly used amongst my people when they've returned from a hunt."

He looked down at her in his towering form, his ash-coloured strands just barely obscuring his vision as he did.

"It seems that our people's females are rather different."

The girl's heart stuttered in her chest as she felt his gaze travel from her face, all the way down her body, before lifting once again to meet her eyes.

"What do you mean?"

Niklaus adjusted his hold on the setai before responding.

"Well...your kind seem rather small and fragile—"

"Are you calling me weak?" Iris interjected with a raised brow.

But her scrunched nose and annoyed glare didn't deter the alien, as he gave the word a genuine ponder before nodding.

"Yes."

The girl scoffed at this, but the alien didn't seem to understand that he'd offended her with his words. He was only being honest, after all.

"I'm not weak, Niklaus. I'm a lot stronger than I look," she grumbled, crossing her arms. But she happened to look down and notice the lack of muscle, her soft arms seeming to contradict her own words.

A few seconds passed, but the alien didn't provide a response; Iris furrowed her brows, wondering why she wasn't getting his attention.

Although she jumped when he dropped the dead animal onto the forest floor in front of him and hit the left side of his chest with a closed fist.

Iris wanted to ask him what he was doing but was interrupted when he started speaking in a foreign language.

It was only a few words, said in his usual soft-spoken manner, but despite its near-silent utterance, it seemed to attract several strangers that suddenly appeared before them.