It would have to wait. He needed to go check his snares to see if they would have fresh meat for the evening meal. Usually, he would probably go to the pit to pick up a fight or two in the village. That was just something to do to ease his frustration with life as a prisoner on Julconi, before Reanne.
Kragyn didn’t want to leave her alone in the cave, and he didn’t want to take her to the fights and leave her alone in the crowd while he fought in the pit. There weren’t many that knew him who would cross him by stealing his woman. There were even fewer people he would trust to protect her while he was fighting his match.
He would have to talk to her about it. If he stayed away too long, someone might come looking for him.
While Reanne lowered herself back into the water to rinse off the soap, Kragyn finished washing his front. Reanne stood back up and held out her hand to him for the washcloth. She grabbed the soap from the ledge and rubbed some on the cloth, motioning him to turn around.
“I’ll get your back for you.” She rubbed the cloth over his broad back in a circular motion. It was almost like a massage, and it felt wonderful. Next, she rinsed the soap from the cloth and rinsed his back, planting little kisses down his spine. She finished by squeezing his right butt cheek.
Kragyn chuckled and covered her hands with his as she hugged him from behind. He liked that she was playful, but if they didn’t get some clothes on, he would be fucking her again.
He gently slipped out of her embrace and climbed out of the pool, turning to help Reanne out. He used the washcloth to wipe the dirt off her feet then he slipped her shoes back on. She took the cloth from him, rinsed it and wiped the dust from his feet and slipped his shoes on. Rinsing out the cloth in the pool, she spread it on the ledge to dry.
He didn’t wait for her as he strode into the main room and pulled on his pants quickly. He looked up just in time to see her walk into the room. Resolutely, he averted his eyes and fastened his pants.
“You are too tempting, solmatu.”
“I could say the same, solmatu.” She bent down and picked up her shirt, pulled it on over her head then dipped back down for her pants. The loose-fitting cargo pants pulled on easily without the need to remove her shoes. She gave him a shy smile. “I can’t believe we did it three times and I still want you.”
“Hold that thought, my mate.” He smiled at her and picked up his pack, shrugged it on, and strapped on his long knife over his lean hips. “We need to check my snares while it’s still light to see if we will have fresh meat.”
“What kind of animals do you catch?”
“Some with fur and some with scales. The guy that told me about them called them skitters and slithers. I just know they taste good roasted. It’s a nice change from that dried and packaged stuff they give us. Do you eat meat?”
“I did back home, but except for Dad’s yearly deer hunting, we didn’t kill our own. We bought it at the food store all packaged and ready to cook. I made the mistake of watching a video on the whole process.”
Reanne picked up her knife belt and strapped it on while they were talking.
“We shouldn’t need it, but I have water in my pack. I only set a few snares at a time, and dry the meat if I catch more than I can eat in a meal because that is the only way to keep it from spoiling.” He turned and led the way out of the cave.
The evening sun was low in the sky as they walked in silence over the parched ground. The heat had dissipated little even though the sun was near setting. They hadn’t walked far when they arrived at the first snare. Empty.
A tan furry animal about the size of a cat was caught in the third trap, and it was dead. “A skitter, a big one.” Kragyn removed it from the snare and carried it by its tail to a formation a few dozen meters away. One large rock was waist high and mostly flat on top.
He laid it on that rock, taking out his long knife, and he cut off the head. He picked it up by the back feet and let the blood drain out on the ground. In a matter of minutes, he had it gutted and skinned. He wrapped it in a piece of plastic and put it into his pack. Then he pulled out his water bottle and rinsed the animal blood off his hands.
Reanne looked a little squeamish when he looked up at her. “I know. We have a saying back home: if you’re willing to eat it, you should be willing to kill it. In the same line of thought, the only reason to kill an animal is to eat it.”
“That is the only reason I would kill an animal,” Kragyn murmured.
“On my world, there are still people who kill animals just for the thrill of the hunt, even species in danger of extinction.”
“If I catch more than I can use, I offer it to Varnis and Sprell to feed the kids,” he said. “I get some useful things for the pelt’s when I can.”
“What about plants? Are there any around here that are good to eat?”
“Some, but I haven’t really looked for them.”
“What about growing some?” she asked as they walked at a leisurely pace back to the cave entrance.
“We could do that if you would like. We can probably find some containers to make planters. The edible plants would not survive the heat.”
“Could we shade them somehow? Maybe with those silver plastic blankets, if we could get some more. Kind of an anti-greenhouse. We could cover the plants during the hottest part of the day and uncover them for short periods to give them enough light to grow.”
“We would only need a small plot. They do give us seeds in our survival packs. Almost no one uses them here because no matter where you plant, you have to carry water to them.”
“We have the water.”
“That we do,” he said. “I also want to teach you some ways to defend yourself when I can’t be at your side. Like when I am fighting in the pit.”
“Fighting? Do they make you do that?”
Kragyn sighed. “No one here makes me do anything. Fighting gives me an outlet for my frustration at everything that has happened to me the last two years.” He paused. “Except for you, solmatu.”
She looked up at him, he thought apprehensively.
“No weapons are used, and there are no death matches.”
“Well, that’s good to know. But you could still get hurt.”
“I have, but nothing that wouldn’t heal. Besides, I win enough that almost no one bothers me outside the ring. I think I have to keep doing it to keep you safe as well.”
“And because you like it,” she said astutely.
Kragyn frowned. Did he really like it? “I like winning.”
“Does anybody get killed in these fights?”
“It happens, but I haven’t killed anyone. We fight until one of us doesn’t get back up. They are usually just knocked out. If they are killed, it’s usually accidental.”
“Accidental or not, dead is dead.”
“I am a warrior trained in weaponless combat. I am more concerned that I don’t kill anyone accidentally.”
“What do they do to a fighter who kills their opponent?”
“His friends, if he has any might seek revenge, but there is no law here. Anyone can kill whoever they want with the only consequence revenge from his friends. There is no law here and no escape.”
“Yes, I got that speech before we shuttled down. It scared the hell out of me.”
“I was too angry to be scared. After a few days of wandering aimlessly around looking for a place to settle, I happened into the pit. It used to be a warehouse. Their champion ran out of challengers, so I took the challenge. I fight there every few planet rotations.”
“And you plan to keep doing it.” She sounded less than pleased. He waited wondering, giving her the chance to say she didn’t want him to.
Chapter Seven
“You don’t want to stop.”
“No,” he admitted. “I am in a position of strength in this anarchy. I could lose that if I stop going to the pit.”
By then they had reached the cave entrance, and he stopped by the fire pit outside that Reanne only notice
d for the first time.
“And you like it,” she said.
He looked at her as though he expected the beginning of an argument. “I guess I do. Is that a problem?”
“I don’t want to see you get hurt, but I see maybe you need it to keep your sanity in this place.” She needed him, and she liked him more than a little. “I definitely want you to teach me how to defend myself, though. They didn’t teach that in Auto Tech.”
He smiled at her and nodded. Shrugging off his backpack he knelt on the ground and took something out of his pack and made a pile of dried plant material in the fire pit. The device he took from the pack was a fire starter. He got the tinder started in a couple tries, and as a small flame started, he added some twigs from the pile beside the pit. The fire continued to grow as he added larger pieces of fuel.
Finally, he got up and went to a pile of bigger pieces of wood and gathered up four then set them up like a tent frame over the flames. While those caught, he went to the side of the cave entrance and came back to the firepit with three metal rods, two that ended in a Y.
“What can I do to help?” Reanne asked as he pushed the Y-rods into the ground on each side of the fire.
“Not much at the moment. Just watch the fire and my stuff while I get the skewers to fasten the skitter to the spit.”
She nodded as he got up and went into the cave. The sun was just peeking over the horizon casting a rich golden glow into the cloudless sky. The temperature was starting to fall, though it was still comfortably warm. She could hear some animal sounds in the distance, and the fire was crackling just a little as the larger pieces of fuel caught fire.
Thinking back over the day she shook her head in disbelief at the event that brought her to that moment. Even before she landed on Dezron continent, she was pretty sure she would have to have sex with someone. She was hoping it wouldn’t be too unpleasant. She’d had sex only a few times in her twenty-four years. The first time wasn’t so hot but the other times were good, she had thought, before Kragyn.
He was in a class by himself. She believed him when he said they were soulmates. Initially, she figured they would take some time to get acquainted and see where things went. Only when he kissed her, there was no denying there was a compelling force, drawing them together, and stoking their desire for each other.
She had been scared she would be gang-raped. Instead, she was sobbing and moaning in pleasure with one gorgeous hunk of man who called her soulmate.
Reanne was still reeling at how fast things had heated up between them. Jumping into a relationship this quickly was out of character for her. Now, she and Kragyn were… Mated until one of them died. Married!
She didn’t love him, yet, though there was no denying the compelling force pulling them to mate. Being with Kragyn just felt right. It sounded like solmatu as he had explained it to her earlier.
Momentarily, he emerged from the cave opening, with a handful of little spikes. As he knelt by the fire again, the log formation collapsed in the pit.
“Want me to put some more logs on while you hook up the skitter?”
“Yes, that would be great.” He looked up and gave her a faint smile. She went to get them while he took out the carcass. As she laid them onto the burning logs, he pinned the carcass to the spit so it was relatively well balanced and would stay in whatever position he set it.
Reanne went to the pile and picked up four more logs. She brought them over and laid them carefully in the fire so the flames could rise up between and start them burning. As she sat down a few feet back from the fire, Kragyn set the skitter between the Y-rods on the spit to roast then joined her.
By then the sun had gone down completely. The air had cooled considerably by then, but the fire kept them from feeling chilled. Kragyn’s arm around her shoulders helped too.
“This is pretty surreal,” Reanne said. “I can almost imagine myself back home on a camping trip. If only we had some marshmallows.” She could see Kragyn frown in the firelight. “They are sweet white puffy candies. We put them on long sticks and roast them over a fire like this until they are crispy on the outside and gooey on the inside. That’s the best way to eat them.”
“I will take your word for that. Until I came here, it had been years since my survival training where I had to catch small game and cook it over an open fire. Sitting with you here like this, it almost seems like we are recreating. I wish that we were.”
“But we can still enjoy the sentiment.” She laid her head on his shoulder.
The next thing she knew, he pulled her across his lap and took her mouth in a heated kiss that sent surges of desire through her body. Reanne put one arm around his back and rested her other hand on the back of his neck and kissed him back humming softly in approval.
It was a long, probing, tongue-tangling kiss that promised another round of passion when Kragyn’s kill finished cooking. Apparently, he thought he had gone long enough without kissing and caressing her, and she didn’t mind at all. Finding each other was the first bright light at the end of the tunnel for both of them.
Kragyn was physically and mentally strong, proud of his warrior heritage. He had to be tough with all he’d endured over the past two years. For all he knew, he might have been the last of his kind. Reanne hoped not for his sake. But for the last year, he had been here on his own waiting and hoping someone would come along who could give him news of his people.
Reanne had shown up instead. They had both been through a lot. If they could find comfort and pleasure in each other, why not?
“Solmatu,” he said tenderly when he lifted his lips from hers, and she looked up into his eyes.
“Yes.” She smiled. “We are solmatu.”
Kragyn drew in a long breath and sighed, she thought, contentedly. Then he kissed her again while the meat sizzled over the open fire.
Kragyn didn’t want to stop kissing her at all, but the juices dripping into the fire alerted him that it was time to turn the roasting skitter. A skitter that size generally took an hour to roast over a fire with frequent turning so it wouldn’t burn. The meat would be a chore to eat if it got scorched and leathery.
He helped Reanne to sit up and reached out to crank the spit a quarter turn. His mind was more on how he wanted to bury his cock in her slick warm center than proper cooking of the skitter. He went hard almost as soon as he pulled her into his arms. Solmatu. His solmatu.
The realization looped in his mind repeatedly since the moment he had discovered her at the shuttle landing pad in the village. It was as much a shock to her as it had been to him. He had been alone so long since he had been stolen from his world. Kragyn had expected to end his life on Julconi… Alone.
There had been times in months past that he had wondered why he kept trying to survive. A few times he had considered the alternative. Living without even moments of happiness was just a slow death. Now even his wins in the pit didn’t make him feel happy.
After he turned the spit, he reached up and caressed Reanne’s cheek with the back of his fingers, relishing her smooth, soft skin. She looked at him and smiled, then turned and kissed his hand. That day, for the first time in two years he felt happy because he found her.
Chapter Eight
The coals of the fire were starting to fade when Kragyn pronounced the skitter cooked. He held the spit by the handle and supported the other end with a thick stick to carry it into the cave. He directed Reanne to a plastic box by his pantry shelf for a metal pan to set it in. He had her set the pan on a small bench, and he put the meat in the pan and used a thick rag to pull out the skewers holding the carcass on the spit.
He then used his long knife to cut off a meaty hind leg for each of them. He went to the plastic box and took out two shallow metal pans they could use as plates and pulled down a pouch of dried vegetable for each of them to eat with the meat. He went back to the bench holding the meat and put the pieces he’d cut onto the plates. Handing one to Reanne he led the way to the pallet on the floor th
at served as their bed.
As the scent of the cooked meat reached her nostrils, Reanne realized she was hungry. She hadn’t been able to eat that morning before her shuttle ride to the planet. She might not have slept the night before, but the ship’s medic had given them all a sleep inducer so they would reach the planet surface well rested.
“This smells really good,” she told Kragyn and took a small bite. It had a flavor she couldn’t put a name too. It was the texture of chicken, but it tasted more like duck meat, which she hadn’t eaten often. It was undoubtedly palatable, and she ate with relish. She couldn’t identify the dried vegetables. They were a bit crunchy and had a rather bland flavor with a hint of salt.
“Do you want some more?” he asked as she finished the food on her plate. “I’m getting another piece. It’ll be good for breakfast, but after that, we will have to get rid of it.”
“Sure, I could eat some more,” she said.
Kragyn got up and went to cut off some more meat. Reanne liked that he didn’t automatically think she should get up and do the serving. It occurred to her he was plying her with food to make her receptive to sex with him later. She smiled as he came back and sat down beside her. He took some of the meat off his plate and put it on hers.
Just thinking about sex with Kragyn caused a flutter between her thighs. She felt her face heat as she thought he could probably scent her arousal. As she shifted a sidelong glance at him, he smirked. He knew. She busied herself picking up a morsel of meat from her plate and popping it into her mouth. Even then, the heat in her face didn’t seem to dissipate.
Kragyn reached over and coaxed her to look at him with gentle fingers under her chin. “There is no shame in your desire, solmatu. I want you as well. We are both giving off pheromones that make it almost impossible to resist… And there is no reason we should.”
“I’ve been telling myself that. Where I come from, people usually have a few dates before they have sex, and a whole lot more before they get married.”
Kragyn (Farseek Warrior Series Book 1) Page 4