by Ruby Dixon
Her cheeks are hot. “I’m fine.” She swings her legs in the water but makes no move to dunk herself.
Georgie gives me a knowing look and lifts her chin, indicating something behind me. I look over and sure enough, there’s Aehako again, pretending to look busy off to the side. “That man needs a hobby,” I tell them.
“Vektal asked him to watch over you for a bit,” Georgie says in a whisper.
“I figured as much.” I soap my arms and then start on my torso. “So, should I give him a show?” I pretend to wash my breasts in an obscene fashion under the water.
“Stop it, Liz,” Kira says, but she’s blushing.
“You’re right. If I want his attention, I should wash your breasts,” I tease.
She huffs and jumps to her feet, then storms away. I watch her go and then look over to Aehako, who is also watching her.
“She’s a little sensitive,” Georgie says, moving to sit on one of the underwater ledges.
“Aren’t we all,” I comment, thinking of my own man. Georgie has Vektal’s ear. While part of me wants to hold her underwater until she gets him to cave, the other part of me knows that I’ll get further on the Return-Raahosh-To-The-Fold quest if she doesn’t hate my guts. I sit on another one of the ledges and set my soap on the lip of the bathing pool. “This sure is a weird cave.”
“Right?” Georgie says, agreeing. “I asked Vektal about it but he says his ancestors carved it. I kind of wonder if they had some equipment back on their ship that we don’t have now.” She shrugs. “At any rate, I’m grateful for it. Especially the bath.”
“A bath without the face eaters is nice,” I agree. That sets off another round of memories of Raahosh and our first makeout by the river. Dammit. I miss him so much. It’s like an ache in my chest that won’t go away. Blinking back tears, I notice the women scraping the skins nearby have their heads together and they’re talking and giggling while looking over at me.
“I thought you said they don’t care if we’re naked?” I ask Georgie.
“They don’t,” she says, and avoids meeting my gaze.
A curl of unease unfurls in my stomach. “What?”
She bites her lip. “Raahosh has been showing up every few hours with a kill.”
“A kill?” I repeat dumbly.
Georgie nods and wrings out her wet curls. “Kills to feed his mate. He says you like the quill-beasts best. He’s brought four so far over the last few hours, and they have to keep chasing him away.”
Warmth suffuses my body, more than even the hot-tub-like pool can give. He’s still trying to care for me. What a total sweetheart. Tears prick my eyes again. “I love him, Georgie.”
“I know, Liz. We just have to give things time.” She shrugs her shoulders helplessly. “Vektal can’t cave on this, not with so many other men eyeing the girls. He worries about them, too. Six girls haven’t resonated, and he is concerned that if he eases up on Raahosh, he’s going to put them in danger. Some of these men have never had a mate. They’re full of longing for a family. What’s to stop one of them from kidnapping a girl and holding her captive for months – or a few years – to try and force her to resonate for him?”
“Would that work?” I’m shocked.
She shrugs again. “How do we know it won’t? We’re all young and healthy so it stands to reason that if they haven’t resonated yet, they will soon enough.”
The situation’s a lot more complicated than I thought. I feel a little sorry for Vektal, who’s clearly trying to look at all angles of the situation…and then I get pissed that I’m feeling sorry for the guy that’s keeping me and my mate apart. “It’s different,” I point out to Georgie. “Raahosh was resonating to me when he stole me. It’s not the same.”
She gives a half nod. “Which I tried arguing to keep him here. Vektal’s super torn up, you know. Raahosh is one of his closest friends. Exiling him was so hard on Vektal. Even now he’s out there trying to talk to him, to make him understand.” She grimaces. “Your mate is…not that understanding.”
“All he sees is that you’re separating him from me.” Surely they can’t expect him to be happy about that.
Georgie nods. “It’s hard for me because I want to side with you…but Vektal’s my mate. I have to trust him to know how to run his tribe or else I’m sabotaging him, too.”
I sigh. “God, this is all so complicated.”
“I know. I’m trying to smooth things out where I can, you know.” Her hands make little circles in the water.
“Oh?” I don’t know that I like the sound of that.
Georgie hesitates, then blows out a long breath. “Don’t get mad, okay? Just know that I already defused the situation.”
I stare at her, my entire body tense. “Well, now you’d better fucking spill the beans or I really will get mad.”
She makes a pained little face and then wrings her curly hair again. “So…Vektal wants to get things settled and calmed as soon as possible so everyone can go back to their normal lives. And there’s a few males that are widowers with grown children–”
“No,” I growl immediately. I know where this is heading and absolutely fucking not. “No, no, and hell no!”
“He thought they would be willing to take on a mate and a child,” she says quickly. “But I told him humans don’t work like that and it would be really, really bad.”
“I can’t believe him,” I explode at her. “Are you fucking serious? Raahosh has been exiled a day and he’s trying to marry me off to someone else!”
Georgie waves a hand, trying to get me to lower my voice. “He’s not thinking like a man with a mate would,” she explains, “but as the chief of his people. I pointed out to him how he’d feel if the same thing happened to me and that shut things down fast.”
I wrap my arms around myself under the water and try to hold back my trembling. This is ridiculous.
I have to find a way to fix this, and soon.
• • •
The tribal caves are pure torture.
For one, I’m surrounded by happy couples, several of whom are newly mated and doting on each other. It’s hard to watch Vektal caress Georgie’s arm while she works on braiding a net. It’s hard to see Ariana all giggly over her mate. It’s even hard to see Maylak handing off her small child to her husband, because I’m struck with such envy.
Nights are even worse, of course. The caves are mostly quiet, but they’re not super large, so you can usually hear someone – or several someones – having sex. Occasionally one of the girls in the bachelorette cave will giggle when we hear Georgie’s voice rising in a soft cry that she’s not so good at muffling. Mostly it makes me jealous and sad, though. Some of the unattached girls sneak out of the bachelorette cave at night. I don’t blame them.
In fact, seeing them sneak around gives me ideas.
I wait until things are super quiet and it’s late at night. Then, I slide out of my own pallet of furs (since they’ve ‘thoughtfully’ given me a permanent one now) and tiptoe toward the main room of the cave.
And of course, that jerk Aehako is sleeping at the mouth of the bachelorette cave. He gives me a sleepy look and sits up as I try to tiptoe past. “Where are you going?”
“Pee break,” I tell him.
“There is a room for such things,” he comments, getting to his feet.
“Now where are you going?” I ask as I try to step past him.
“I am following you, of course.”
“Gah. Can you not?”
He sighs and looks around, then pulls me into the main cave. I follow him, curious, and we step into a quiet alcove. Then, he stoops down to whisper. “Are you trying to escape?”
“Escape implies I’m being held captive, doesn’t it?” I cross my arms over my chest. “You tell me. Am I trying to escape?”
“You’re very stubborn, aren’t you?” He crosses his arms over his chest in imitation of mine.
“Buddy, you have no idea.”
He looks confus
ed. “If I had an idea, I would not be asking.”
I wave a hand. “Sarcasm. Ask Kira about it. Look, I just want to see Raahosh, okay? I miss him.” My voice breaks a little. “I want to know if he’s okay.” Actually, I know he’s not okay, but I want to see him anyhow.
I expect Aehako to put his foot down and demand that I go back to my bunk, but he glances around the cavern instead. He leans in again. “If I let you go out and talk to him, I must ask you to do something.”
“What’s that?” I try not to let my eagerness show.
For once, he’s not laughing or smiling. His face is drawn with tension. “You must tell him that he needs to leave here. He cannot stay.” When I gape, he continues. “It’s killing him. He’s hunting endlessly and not sleeping. He feels his only purpose is to provide for you, so he is destroying himself to do so. He has no sense of worth at the moment. You must convince him to leave and start a new life.”
My heart aches. What must Raahosh be going through? I feel guilty that I’m in here, with company, bathing in the pool while he’s out there, miserable and alone. I force myself to nod. “Of course.”
I’m full of lies. I have no intention on telling him to go away. But if that’s what it takes for Aehako to be convinced, I’ll say whatever I need to.
He studies me for a long moment and then nods. “Come, then.”
I have to bite back my excitement. My cootie immediately starts throbbing in my chest at the thought of Raahosh, and I press a hand over my breast to quiet it.
RAAHOSH
I rip an arrow out of my kill, rage the only thing driving me to keep going. Rage, and the need to provide for my mate.
They may keep her from me, but they cannot keep me from doing my duty to her.
I return the arrow to my quiver and pick up my kill. It’s a fat quill-beast, and should make a good meal for Liz. I picture her soft, pink lips curling up in a reluctant smile as she is fed, but lets me know she’s not happy about it. That she can feed herself, thank you. That she is as strong and capable a hunter as me.
I rub my chest, where it aches at the thought of her lovely face. My khui is silent. It feels the loss of her as keenly as I do.
It’s late, the moons high in the sky and spilling their light onto the snow. My bones ache with exhaustion and I can’t remember the last time I ate, but it doesn’t matter. Feeding Liz is the only thing that keeps me going. I have faint memories of my father’s despair at my mother’s death – his anguish and his inability to leave his bed for long periods of time to care for myself or the sickly baby brother who was destined to die without proper care.
Then, I did not understand his suffering. I do now. I am living it all over again.
Snowflakes whip into my eyes and the night breeze picks up. I immediately tense. The cold doesn’t bother me, but I worry about my Liz. Humans are so fragile. What if she is not kept warm by the others? What if they don’t look after her as I do? Panic clutches at my chest and I immediately grab my most recent kill and stalk toward the tribal cave. I will deposit Liz’s latest meal and then go hunting for the creature with the warmest fur I can find. Perhaps a shaggy dvisti. The females about to bear young have thick, woolly coats that would make a fine cloak for my mate–
Two figures appear in the snow. I see nothing but glowing eyes, and my hand clenches around my bow. One pair of eyes is about my height, but the other is much smaller and would barely reach my pectoral. The only things that size are…
Humans, I realize.
Liz!
I drop my kill and push forward through the snow, my khui immediately beginning to sing. Before I can even see her face, I can hear her khui, resonating to mine. It speeds my steps.
“Raahosh?” Her beloved voice calls out softly, and a moment later, her small body is in my arms. I crush her to my chest, my hand cradling her head as I rain kisses down upon her brow.
My Liz. My love. My everything.
Her arms go around me and she shudders. “Oh God, Raahosh. Your skin is like ice, baby. What are you doing out here at this time of night? You should be near a fire–”
“Shh,” I tell her. Nothing else matters but that she is here, and she is in my arms. Off to one side, I see it is Aehako with her, and my jealousy surges for a moment. He lingers about my mate, even though she belongs to me. I don’t like it, but she is safe at least.
Her small hands brush over my chest and then down my stomach and she gasps. “I can feel your ribs, Raahosh. Have you been eating?”
Have I? I don’t know. My thoughts have been bleak and not entirely my own since they took her from me. I shrug. “It’s not important. Are you well? Is our kit?” I touch her everywhere, stroking my hands down her arms and then across her belly.
“The baby’s fine, I have the morning barfs, and I’m going to be pregnant for three stinking years,” she says. “Can you believe that?”
“Yes?”
She pats my arm. “Sarcasm, baby.” Her hands slide under my tunic and I feel her fingers against my skin. She’s cold, but her khui is thrumming a song with mine and my cock reacts. I ignore it, because Aehako is still nearby, leaning against a rock and pretending he doesn’t hear us.
I pull one of her hands into mine and lace our fingers together, then kiss her knuckles. It doesn’t matter to me that she has four knuckles instead of three. She could have eight on each hand and she would be the most beautiful of all creatures. “Why are you here so late at night? Why is Aehako with you?”
“He’s guarding me,” Liz says, and turns her face up for a kiss.
I bend down to brush my mouth over hers, unable to resist. Then her words sink in and my body goes cold with fear. “Guarding you? Are you unsafe there? What–”
“Guarding me because they think I’m going to run away and join you.”
“Fools.”
“Smart,” she says. “I’d do it in a heartbeat. I want to be with you. I want our family to be together.”
Her words send an ache of longing through my body. I touch her pale, smooth cheek with infinite tenderness. “You must remain with everyone else, Liz. I have seen what it is like when one is exiled. It’s dangerous to be alone.”
“I wouldn’t be alone. I’d be with you. We can hunt together and have each other’s backs.”
I smooth my thumb over her lip. “And what about when our kit arrives? What then?”
“We’ll figure something out!” Her fingers tighten against mine. “I’m not letting them abandon you like your father did. You’re my mate and we’re going to be together.”
I shake my head. “Vektal has decided.”
She turns her face up to mine and the smile that curves her lips is one I recognize. It’s Liz when she has a plan and doesn’t care if you like it or not. “Then I’ll just have to change his mind, won’t I?” She wiggles her eyebrows at me. “I’m not going to rest until you’re back at my side, where you belong.”
“Do not put yourself in danger–”
“I won’t be,” she reassures me. “I have a get out of jail free card, remember?” And she pats her stomach.
None of those words make sense to me. “Jailfree?”
“Just trust me, baby.” She raises our linked fingers to her lips and kisses my knuckles like I kissed hers. “But give me a few days, all right? You have to take care of yourself for my sake. You have to sleep, and eat. I want my mate to live.”
I nod slowly, because living hasn’t really been on my mind. My only thought was to take care of Liz for as long as possible, until my energy was spent. But if she wants me to take more care with myself, I will. I slip my fingers from hers and brush them over her cheek again, where I feel the tears freezing to her face. “I will do anything you ask, my mate.”
“All I want you to do is trust me and take care of yourself,” she says. “I’ll handle the rest.” And when she turns her face up for another kiss, I cannot resist.
LIZ
It takes two days for the first present to show up a
t my doorstep.
It’s a present from one of the widowers. At first it enrages me, but then I decide it can be a tool.
I offer the small pouch of herbal teas to an elder woman named Sevvah at the pool that morning. She’s a nice lady, and the unofficial ‘mom’ of the caves. She’s Aehako’s mother, and affectionate with him and her other sons, Rokan and a young boy named Sessah. She always fusses over the pregnant girls despite the language barrier, probably because she wishes one of her sons had resonated. Sadly, she has three boys and all three are still at home with her. But I like her.
Georgie frowns as I offer the teas to Sevvah. The elder woman says something, smiling, and there’s not much that shows that Sevvah is older than the rest of us except for a few lines at the corners of her glowing eyes, and a pale streak of white in her long braid. “She says she can’t take it, Liz. That it’s a courting present from Vaza.”
“But I have a mate,” I say sweetly, and offer it to Sevvah again, with emphasis. I force it into her hands and then walk away before she can refuse.
Georgie gets up and follows me, a frown on her face. She’s pissy because, well, I’m being a dick and causing trouble. I question everything, from why the humans who mated have the smallest caves (which sets Ariana off into another crying fit), why the aliens lied to us about the seasons, and anything else I can think of. I have French Marlene convinced that she’s having a litter since her mate Zennek is close in age to his two brothers and they’re just lying to her about not being triplets. Oh, and Tiffany ended up fooling around with a guy but that went badly when she was surprised by the existence of his ‘spur’, which led to me, wide-eyed and declaring that they were withholding all kinds of information from the humans. Couple that with me not being super pleasant and now every time Vektal sees me, his eyes narrow and Georgie seems to wear a constantly exasperated look on her face.
Okay, so I might have taken things a bit too far when no one got me materials for new arrows and I spent the day declaring that ‘the man’ was keeping me down.