by Rena Marks
“Never say never,” Atareek murmurs and I notice his eyes drifting toward the doorway. There stands Diont and Atan, looking casual. Atareek catches me watching him, and he winks discreetly. This is a set up.
Tessa coughs into her hand, hiding a small chuckle. All three of our hunters raise their arms to flag Atan and Diont, motioning them to join us in our end of the pool.
“Slick,” Tessa mutters. Eretar doesn’t notice, she’s riveted on the hard, blue muscles being revealed as the two guys slowly undress.
“You doing okay?” I ask her.
She seems a bit mesmerized. “Mm, hmm.”
“Water makes you sleepy, does it?”
“Huh?”
I grin, then say to Tessa, “They sleep in shallow beds of water. It keeps them warm at night.”
“You’re kidding. That’s amazing. I’m guessing your group can’t control your body temperature.”
Eretar’s mouth drops open. “No! I’ve never heard of such a thing.”
“Well, check this out.”
Diont and Atan are now wading through the water, and I scoot onto Atareek’s lap so one of the guys can take my spot as they surround Eretar.
“Will you two show her your increased body temps?” Tessa asks.
In a couple of minutes, the guys move in, surrounding her with heated hugs. I nearly groan. They couldn’t just place a palm on her?
She gasps. “That is amazing. So handy in winter.”
“Yes, but it’s a warm spring right now,” I say loudly. The guys catch my drift, as they grin and spread further away, giving her space.
“If you don’t mind me asking,” Eretar says to Tessa, “how does it work with you three? What problems arise?”
Tessa smiles. “We tried to give equal time in the beginning. Just while we adapted. It helped that Tijar and Jeroc are best friends, so they already knew each other as well as can be expected. They just had to learn about me. I’ll admit it was a bit difficult. In the beginning, I didn’t know the language. So for the most part, I thought I was choosing between the two. I had no idea they were coming to me separately because they were…shall we say breaking me in gently?” Tijar leans in and kisses her nose, and Jeroc squeezes her hand.
Eretar sighs, as if she’s smitten with love. Through it all, Atan and Diont watch her reactions carefully. Was this me, so many seasons ago? When I was blissfully unaware of anything going on, but Atareek watched me, hoping for an opening for romance.
I lean back against him and turn my head slightly so I can kiss the warmth of his neck. His scent is sweet and familiar, as much as my own. In response, his arms tighten around me and he leans down to whisper in my ear.
“I love you, Vee. But unless you want me to take you in front of everyone, you should hold still and stop squirming.”
I freeze, aware of his giant erection pressed against my bottom.
He pulls me back against him, arms wrapped around my middle possessively. I feel cherished and protected.
Eretar is still talking and laughing, and the two guys with her seem enthralled. I wonder what a child will look like with them. Will it be blue? Will it be striped? Will the tail last throughout adulthood?
Tessa and her guys are getting more snuggly and I know that they’re about to excuse themselves from the water. It doesn’t take long and Tijar swings her up into his arms while she yelps. A grinning Jeroc steps from the pool to grab a blanket to wrap her in. The three of them wave as they leave.
Diont is whispering to Eretar, and she’s giggling.
“I wanted you to meet Diont and Atan for a reason,” Atareek says. “They’re two of the finest hunters we have. And when we return you to your village, I thought they could be part of the return party.”
“That sounds fine,” she says.
“We’ll teach you how to survive in the wild,” Atan says, wagging his brows.
“And I’ll teach you how we do it,” she counters.
“If you wish to stay in our cave tonight,” Diont says, and his voice is suddenly serious, “we can show you bones, drawings and skulls of the night creatures. We’ll share all we’ve learned.”
“Drawings? You’ve actually seen them?”
“We have been lucky enough to see many of the dangerous predators. The aliens called Stargazers—who rescue humans—have a spaceship that becomes invisible. We have watched the night through the safety of the walls.”
“That sounds intriguing,” Eretar says. She turns her head toward Atareek and me. “Do you mind if I catch up with you guys tomorrow?”
“Not at all,” Atareek says quickly.
I catch my breath when, much like Tessa was, I’m swept up into his arms. Diont gives me a wink before we turn, waving at them before we leave.
He carries me down the hall to our cave. “We got lucky,” he whispers into my ear.
“Just think,” I say, nibbling on his ear. “This is what it’s like for Niki and Drakar. Even worse for Byndi and Jerobi, and every other couple who has children.”
Atareek winces. “Right now, I’m glad I have you all to myself.”
“Wait,” I wriggle in his arms. “Let’s spy on Eretar and the guys and see how they’re treating her.”
“Vee! We cannot. What if they decide to get down and dirty?”
That makes me giggle. “Well, we’re not going to watch! We’re just going to make sure she’s okay.”
He sighs. “I am not going to win this one.”
He sets me down and we sneak over to the lip of the cave, where we can be hidden but still listen.
“So the leader of your clan is your brother?” Atan asks.
“Yes.”
“Is he protective? Worried about you?”
“Well, yes, he cares about me, but they are not protective as this tribe is. Remember we have more females? It has changed the balance of power. We have the final say in matters.”
“Then why would you not be the leader?” Diont asks.
“I did not want the responsibility when my mother handed me the reigns. I like storing, researching and gathering herbs. I am good at it, and my brother enjoys ruling. It works well for us.”
“There is just you and your brother in your family?”
“Yes. My brother is married and has a little one. Her name is Eresan. She was named after me. I hope that one day she will be interested in herbs as I am. If not, Hekran will have to get busy on the next one.” I can almost hear the grin in her voice.
“How about you two? Not mated?” she asks.
“Us? No. My parents live here in the cave,” Diont says.
“I have a brother, Naag. And my uncle is Carmelac,” Atan says.
“And you live together?” Eretar says.
As a woman, I can see where she’s heading. What she’s getting at. She wants to know how close the men are. She’s thinking threesome, just like Tessa’s guys. I wonder how they’ll answer. Will they stretch the truth to give her what she wants?
But the conversation never progresses. Suddenly a banging shrieks through the cave. An alarm is sounding—a continual, echoing knocking, which is not sent often. In fact, the only time I have ever heard it is when Rayhaan and Lucie, Aschero and Miranda were once trapped outside when we had a blackout, or solar eclipse.
My head whips around and my eyes grow wide as I stare at Atareek. His eyes are just as large, and he grabs my hand to pull me down the hallway as we race to the main cave. All around us, footsteps are pounding as others make their way from the individual caves.
In the main area, Drakar is snapping orders left and right.
“Breach in the wall! All available males get outside to reinforce the structure.”
Atareek kisses me once, and he’s gone. Likewise, every other male leaves the females in the main cave. Diont and Atan are there, hastily dressed and still wet. Between them they have Eretar, and bring her to me before they rush out with the rest. Then Lucie is there, apparently Rayhaan is outside.
“Go,” she
says to Drakar. “I’ll direct other males.”
He nods, then rushes outside. Carmelac, reverent mother’s drummer, enters into the room.
“Break in the wall. All available males head out. Take your weapons,” she says. “Ladies,” she turns to a group of us. “Gather as many glow rocks as you can. Byndi, Maynak, Eretar, every female who’s full Blaedonian, can you get one of the mirrors from Tessa’s studio? It’ll reflect the glow from the rocks. Careful, it’s fragile.”
Byndi, Maynak, and Eretar rush off, nodding.
The rest of us begin plucking glow rocks from the displays in the main cave walls.
When we all gather again, Vesha helps the three Blaedonian ladies with the mirror and we go outside.
“Lucie! What are the females doing out here?” Rayhaan’s voice is sharp.
“Get inside the caves!” Drakar yells out. “It is safer inside.”
Then it dawns on them that we carry glow rocks. Watching their faces when they realize we can help instead of cowering in fear is actually kind of funny.
“We bring gifts,” Jezebel says jauntily.
“The mirror will reflect the glow rocks a further distance and will confuse the creatures, too,” Lucie says.
Just then a slimy shape blobs through the crack in the wall, and Cio slices it to pieces, bit by bit. It’s boneless, and I stare at it in confusion.
“Shapeshifter,” he tells me, hacking the pieces into smaller pieces. “It is boneless and can cover you, smothering you.”
Atareek and Diont take the mirror from the Blaedonian females, and bring it closer to the wall, while the rest of the men gather the glow rocks from us, positioning them on the ground near the mirror. Beyond the great wall, we can hear hissing and shrieking from the frustration of the creatures who want to eat.
Rayhaan moves toward us. “Good job, ladies. That was quick thinking. We never thought to gather glow rocks.”
“That’s why men need women,” Jezebel says mildly.
The men got busy building a makeshift wall of glow rocks at the crack, and it works well. The creatures are shrieking and tumbling off into the night, angry that their food source—us—is off limits.
“You know what might be a good idea?” I say. “When we have time to reinforce the fence, sections at a time, we might want to embed one glow rock every so often in the outside of the wall.”
A few of the men are nodding. “That’s a great idea. We’ll start an expedition tomorrow for more glow rocks. The second shift of hunters will do it this time, since they haven’t been yet.”
Diont speaks up. “Perhaps Eretar can come with us?”
“Good idea,” Drakar says. “Let’s get busy. We’ll reinforce the guards tonight to watch the wall. And tomorrow we’ll inspect every inch for weak spots.”
“Ladies,” Aschero says, and sweeps his arm toward the cave. We head back inside, and now Niki and Lachlana are inside the main area, where little Nikolee is nursing. Lachlana has Jacobi, Byndi’s son.
“Au’Lani and Nai’Leia, along with some of the other teens, have other toddlers in the back room.”
The two girls aren’t exactly teens, though they insist they are.
Tessa grins. “I bet Jereek’s in there.”
“He is,” Lachlana says.
Tessa goes to the studio and some of the women disperse.
“Let’s rustle up some comfort food for everyone,” Jezebel says to Monica, and the two of them disappear into the kitchen.
“Shall we make you a nest in our cave?” I ask Eretar. “We’re not sure how long the guys will take. Though, since second shift are the ones going on the expedition for glow rocks tomorrow, chances are the rest will let them get away early so they can rest up.”
“It didn’t look like they had too much longer on the temporary wall,” Eretar says.
“No, but they wanted extra men to patrol as guards,” Lucie says. “In case there are any other cracks in the wall.”
“Does this happen often?” Eretar says.
“Nope. Hardly ever. But it’s one reason why we have precautions in place. Why we have nighttime guards to sound the alarms in case something ever does happen.”
She and I walk back to my cave, where I light a small fire. All available glow rocks have been taken outside, and I forgot how dark it used to be before when we existed without them. After the fire burns, we make her a nest. I want to ask if she’s disappointed in not staying with Diont and Atan again, but I don’t want to be nosy.
We curl up on our nests and talk.
“Tomorrow will be fun,” I tell her. “Everyone will be impressed with the way you swim like a fish.”
“I’m excited to the see the place where we all originate.”
I yawn, but Eretar seems wide awake. She should be sleepy, having spent so much time in the heat of the pool, but excitement is probably keeping her wide awake.
Then we hear footsteps stomping outside and the curtain parts. Atareek comes inside followed by Diont and Atan.
I sit up in bed. “Everything okay?”
“Yes, the wall is stabilized and everyone decided who will stay to patrol tonight. The expedition for glow rocks has grown.”
“How early are we heading out?” Eretar asks.
“It’s not too bad. By midmorning.”
“Oh, good. I have a rush of energy from all this excitement.”
“As do we.” Atan grins. “Come then, and we’ll show you our drawings of the creatures.”
She squeals when he picks her up, and the three of them march from our cave.
“We made her a nest for nothing,” I grumble. Sleepiness slurs my voice.
“Come here, beautiful,” Atareek says, and pulls me to his chest. I curl up and relax until I’m out like a light.
Chapter Twelve
The rock-hunting expedition is lined up the next morning, and we stand waiting with Eretar, Diont and Atan. We’re not going, since Atareek is on today’s hunting shift, instead. I could go alone, but I don’t really want to leave without my guy, nor do I want to watch the flirting begin with the three. However, Eretar’s excited, and so we see her off.
Next, our shift of hunters begin to gather. Since they’re leaving later than usual, all the human mates are out to see them off. We’ll have some meat smoked today, processed into jerky since the others will probably eat on the outside.
I kiss my big blue guy goodbye, and wrap my arms around his neck. “I’m going to miss you today,” I tell him.
“Yeah. I’m too sexy for my shit.”
“Shirt! Shirt, Atareek!” My eyes are huge when I smother a laugh, and dare to peek around. Sure enough, Jillian and Monica are giggling and I know they’ve heard.
But he’s too busy stealing kisses to respond. I kiss him back, because he’ll be gone for a while. “Be good, my mate,” he whispers. “I shall return to your furs tonight.”
“You shall? Good thing I share yours,” I whisper back.
One final kiss, and then he and the group of hunters make their way through the gate, leaving the human mates pining after them, blowing kisses and acting like lovesick birds.
“Well, I have a plan,” Tessa says.
“Hmm?”
“A plan. Tear your eyes away from your mate for two seconds.”
“Easy for you to say. You still have one.”
Sure enough, Jeroc is wrapped around her even as they wave Tijar off.
“The gals and I are going to take you on an outing. A surprise. It’ll take your mind off missing Atareek for the brief day while he hunts.”
I’m not sure if she’s being sarcastic or not, but the rest of the girls join in the chorus. “Yeah, let’s get out of here. Away from the noise and chores, and day to day monotony.”
“By ourselves?”
“Jeroc can lead us. Keep us from harm.”
“Yeah,” Jillian says. “The monsters. The poisonous trees. The underground traps.”
“The cool creeks. The magical waterfalls. Th
e mysterious underground caves,” Lucie counters.
I narrow my eyes. Rayhaan is the most possessive of all the mates. “Are you sure Rayhaan will be okay with you getting away from the confines of the village?”
“Exactly why we’re not asking.”
“You don’t need to hear this, baby,” Tessa says, twisting in Jeroc’s arms and kissing him soundly. The loud smacks do distract him.
“It’ll be fun,” Lucie says. “Jeroc can protect us. He can feed us if we can get hungry. And best of all, he can return us before the hunters get home.”
“Yeah,” Jezebel says. “It’s not like we’re breaking rules. We’re all smart enough to know not to go out on our own.”
It’s a well-known fact that humans aren’t as strong as Blaedonians. Hell, we can’t climb trees, we certainly can’t do the Tarzan-thing and swing from the highest vines. In fact, we’ve been so protected we can barely remember which horribly poisonous trees we need to avoid.
Sudden excitement hits me. Maybe I can find something to make for him, something unexpected. Who knows? “Let’s do it.”
Jeroc sighs, pulling away from Tessa. “I’ll go prepare. You all get your backpacks and your silver cloaks.”
The silver cloaks are alien technology we found on the ship when we were stranded here. They’re not exactly silver, though we call them that. They’re a thin, space-age material that’s a whitish-silver and reflects the sun. They also adjust for the weather, keeping our body temperature cool or warm.
We disperse, the women chattering eagerly until a Blaedonian comes into view. Then, like super spies, they clam up so no one hears our plans to sneak away. I hope Jeroc will be enough protection for the wild women that make up our human half of the tribe.
“We’re leaving the preggos behind, right?” I whisper to Lucie.
“Yeah. Miranda’s got some stuff to do with reverent mother. And of course, Niki’s got Nikolee.”
“Tessa doesn’t have any classes to teach?”
Lucie laughs. “It’s not like we’re on a rigid timetable here. Blaedonians didn’t even keep a calendar before we came.”
True enough.
“Okay. I’ll get my cloak.”