by Ruby Dixon
But really, it’s all part of my plan. I’m going to be such an asshole until I get what I want, and what I want is Raahosh back.
He’s still hanging around outside, and there’s a fresh quill-beast for my breakfast every morning. Overall, though, the hunting has slowed and I hope he’s taking my advice and looking after himself.
“What are you up to, Liz?” Georgie asks, still following me as I wind my way through the caverns and head back to the bachelorette cave.
“Who, me?” My voice is sweet. Truth is, she’s right to be suspicious. I’m always up to something.
“Yes, you. You’re going to give Vektal an aneurysm if this attitude of yours keeps up.”
“Then both of us will be without our mates,” I say as I glance over my shoulder.
“Very funny,” she says, her black expression telling me that she doesn’t find it funny at all. “You just gave away a courting present and hurt Vaza’s feelings. Now Sevvah feels awkward because she feels like she is interfering.”
“Then you keep it,” I say to Georgie. “Lord knows I don’t want it. I have a mate, remember? No one seems to be remembering that part.”
“Yes, but he’s exiled,” Georgie says, moving forward and grabbing my arm. “Is that your goal, too? To be such a jerk that you get exiled also?”
“Oh come on,” I say with a roll of my eyes. “Haeden’s a jerk and he’s not exiled. We both know that the only way you get exiled is to pull a stunt like Raahosh did….”
And then my plan blossoms into my brain.
I stare at Georgie, wide-eyed as she continued to talk, lecturing me about how we need to learn the rules of the sa-khui people and how to be good tribesmates and blah-blah. I’m not listening, because my mind is racing, instead.
Of course. Why didn’t I see this before?
I hug Georgie and cut her rant off mid-stream. “You’re the best, you know that?”
She blinks at me, surprised. “I am?” Her eyes narrow and for a moment she looks as suspicious of me as Vektal. “You’re not going to tell Stacy that they’re feeding her rats again, are you?”
“Moi?” I put a hand to my breast in mock-surprise. “And I didn’t tell her that they were rats. Just that they were like rats and they were doing it to see what humans would eat.”
“Uh huh,” Georgie says. “You realize she makes other people take a bite out of everything first now?”
Okay, so it wasn’t one of my finer moments. But in a sabotage campaign, a girl has to do some desperate things if she wants to get her mate back. And getting Raahosh back is my one and only goal.
• • •
It takes me a few hours to find the right time to implement my plan. I’m restless and wander through the caves, annoying everyone I run into until Kira takes pity on me. She hands me a woven basket. “Here. You can come with me to get more soap berries. We’re running low with all the new people in the caves.”
“You sure I can leave?” I give a pointed look over at Aehako, my ever-present guard. He stands a few feet away, whittling something out of bone with his knife. It looks a bit like a figure of a girl, but one side of her head has a blob on it that might be too obviously Kira. Interesting. The man’s making no bones about his interest in her, but Kira seems to be keeping him distant.
Not my problem at the moment.
She flushes and moves to Aehako’s side. “I’m taking Liz to go get soap berries. We’ll be in sight of the cave at all times. We won’t go far.”
He sheathes his knife, gets to his feet and stretches languidly, then rubs his stomach. “I’ll come with you.” I notice Kira’s gaze follows his hand.
My gaze follows his knife.
She makes a frustrated sound but Aehako won’t be deterred. We humans bundle up in cloaks and heavy boots, and then head out, baskets in hand. Aehako trails behind us a few steps, unobtrusive but always present. The day’s a bright one, with the twin suns high in the sky. They peek out behind the ever-present grey cloud cover and nearly give me snow-blindness with all the white around us. White hills of snow, white cliffs, white endless plains, white white white.
I see no Raahosh. It’s for the best if I’m implementing my plan, but I’m still hungry for a glimpse of his tall, lean body and scarred face.
I don’t feel whole without him.
Thinking about my exiled mate gives me the courage to implement my plan. It might backfire on me, but I’m running low on options and this is the best thing I can do to prove how serious I am about having him back. So as we go up the ridge, I pretend to stumble in the snow and fake having trouble getting up. I fling my basket to the side and watch with satisfaction as it rolls down a nearby snow bank. “Dang it.”
Kira turns around and looks over at me with concern. “You okay?”
“Fine. Just twisted my ankle a little.” When she moves toward me to help me up, I point off to the side. “I’m good. Can you get my basket?”
She nods and trots over to get it, and I stay down, pretending to rub my ankle. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Aehako jog forward (no mean feat given all the snow) and bends down at my side.
“Help me up?” I say, offering him my left hand.
When he takes it, I immediately grab the knife sheathed at his waist with my right hand.
He reaches for it, but not fast enough. I have the knife, and then I point it at his groin. “Don’t move,” I say.
The alien’s big brows go up, and he looks more amused than afraid. “What are you going to do with that?”
“I’m taking you hostage,” I say and get to my feet. I move to his back and press the tip of the blade where a kidney is on a human. No clue where it is on a sa-khui but the intent remains the same.
“Hostage?” he repeats.
“Yup. If that’s what it takes to get someone exiled from this group, you’re my hostage. Hands in the air, buddy.”
Aehako laughs but does as I say, and when Kira comes up the hillside, she has both baskets and a fierce frown on her face.
“What are you doing, Liz?”
“Hostage situation,” I say cheerfully. “I need you to go back to the caves and tell everyone my conditions of release.”
• • •
“What if a man wishes to court a human woman?” Aehako asks, tracing obscene shapes in the snow with his tail. He’s lying on his side, bored.
“Kiss her silly.” I’m sitting cross-legged next to him and we’re both scanning the horizon. After Kira left, Aehako took his knife back but agreed to stay ‘captive’ for my sake. So we’d sat and started talking.
And like any guy, Aehako wanted to know about humans. Which was how we got on the topic of courting and sex. “She doesn’t want kisses.”
No? Crazy Kira. “Then you give her gifts.”
He considers this. “What kind of gifts? Something I make with my hands?”
Since I’m still in shit-stirring mode, I think of the thing that might embarrass Kira the most. “Human men give the woman they want to mate a very special gift.”
“Oh?” He sits up taller.
I nod authoritatively. “A replica of his penis made out of leather or wood, or bone. So she can try him out and see if she likes what he brings to the table.” You’re welcome, Kira.
Instead of looking shocked, Aehako ponders this. “I do have a nice cock.”
“I’m sure.” I’m pretty sure I don’t want to see, either.
“And a large spur. Very large. Do I include that as well?” He looks over at me. “In my replica?”
“Hmm. That’s a good question. Humans don’t have spurs.”
This shocks him. “No spur? Why not?”
“Dude, like I know? I didn’t take ‘comparative anatomy’ in college, and I’m pretty sure we can’t compare the spur to anything else. What purpose does it serve?”
He thinks for a minute and then shrugs. “What purpose do balls serve?”
Is he for real? “They create semen.”
Aehako looks s
urprised. “Truly? But how–” He pauses and then points off into the horizon. “They’re coming.”
“Finally,” I say, getting to my feet. I’m kinda glad we’re getting off of the whole ‘sex ed’ topic because I only know human anatomy. Kira can finish this conversation with him. “I should probably take the knife back if we’re going to do this captive thing right.”
He gets it out and hands it to me, handle first. “Try not to cut me.” He pauses. “Unless you think Kira will like to play nursemaid.”
“I sincerely doubt that,” I say, moving behind him and putting the knife in place as the others trail up the ridge. It’s a fairly large group, and I see Kira, along with Vektal, Georgie, and a few other male aliens.
And Vektal has a furious look on his face. I keep my chin lifted and stare him in the eye. I won’t let anyone boss me around anymore. It’s my life, and Raahosh is my mate. They can’t keep him from me anymore, and vice versa.
“You are quite the burr in my tail, Liz,” Vektal says as he approaches. “Is your goal to anger me so greatly that I cast you out? Because it won’t happen. You are a woman and a child-bearer.”
“I’m kidnapping someone,” I say, and gesture with the knife at Aehako’s back. “That’s the punishment for kidnapping, right? Exile? So exile me.”
The chief of the aliens narrows his eyes at me. He crosses his arms. “Your situation is different.”
“Oh, are we throwing situation into the mix? What about if I was resonating to Aehako and I kidnapped him? Would you still let me stay in the caves because I have a vagina?”
He frowns and looks over at Georgie. “Va-shy…?”
She pinches the bridge of her nose. “Girl parts. She’s referring to her girl parts. Liz, what the hell is your problem?”
“I want my mate back!” I bellow. “That’s my fucking problem! If he can’t come back to the caves then send me with him!”
“You would leave the comfort of the tribe behind?” Vektal asks, and he’s not pissed anymore. He just seems weary. Like I’ve exhausted him. Good.
“It’s not my tribe.” For some reason, I suddenly feel as tired as Vektal seems. Tired, and just sad. “You guys forget that about six weeks ago, I had an entirely different life. Then I’m captured by aliens and no one asks me anything. They don’t say ‘Hey Liz, how do you feel about being sold as meat? Or a slave? You cool with that?'” Georgie rolls her eyes but I continue. “Then we land here and again, I’m captured by aliens. And again, I’m told what my fate is going to be, except this time it’s wife and baby maker. No one asks if Liz wants kids. No one asks if Georgie does. No one asks us anything.” My voice trembles a little. I hate that I’m still emotional over all this shit. “But we go along with it. And I meet Raahosh, and at first I can’t fucking stand the guy, right? But then as time goes on, I realize that he’s just trying to take care of me the best way he knows how. And when I stop being so irritated with him, I realize that I like him. He’s smart and caring and determined. And then I fall in love with him. And then, boom, you take him away from me again.” I swallow hard around the knot in my throat. “He’s home to me now. So, yeah, I would leave everything behind for him. He’s mine and I’m his. You’d do it for Georgie. I’m doing it for him.”
Vektal sighs again, but there’s a hint of a smile and a shimmer of tears in Georgie’s eyes. She understands, even if her mate doesn’t. He looks over at her and his expression softens. He pulls his mate against him and tucks her under his arm, perhaps imagining himself in Raahosh’s place. “There must be rules,” Vektal says again. “There must be punishment.”
“Make him live with Liz,” jokes Aehako. “That’s enough punishment for anyone.”
I don’t even protest that one.
Vektal rubs his chin. “I shall think on what you say, Liz. And I shall discuss Raahosh with the elders. It is ultimately my decision, but…I shall think on this.”
“I have things to say, too,” Georgie murmurs, and puts a hand on his arm.
His expression softens as he looks down at his mate and nods. “We will talk as well.” He turns to the man standing in front of me. “Aehako, get the hunters and find Raahosh and bring him back. We will talk.”
Aehako lifts his chin and nods in my direction. “I’m being held captive.”
“Whoops. Sorry.” I hand him back his knife. “You’re free to go and stuff.”
He grabs me and pulls me against him and ruffles my hair like a big brother. “This was a good idea,” he murmurs in my ear before he releases me.
Then, Georgie steps forward and takes my arm. “Come on. We’re not taking our eyes off you for another minute.” She peers past me to her mate. “And hide your knives, Vektal.”
• • •
I’m waiting impatiently in the caverns for what feels like hours. Days, even. Since I’ve proven that I can’t be trusted, two men are posted at the entrance to the bachelorette caves, both mated males who won’t be swayed by any of the human charms, I suppose. Tiffany has managed to make a pair of knitting needles out of bones, so I take the extras and make arrows. Even though I’m not allowed to hunt (which is bullshit), I can at least do what I’m good at, and that’s make weapons.
It’s either that or go stir-crazy waiting.
I’m not allowed knives, of course, so I can’t do much more than select good arrows and then rub the head against a rough rock, sharpening it like a pencil.
Vektal’s been in his cave all day, and I’ve been told a few people have gone in and out. Georgie’s been gone, too.
So have Aehako and his group. Not that I’m worried or anything. But…what if they can’t find Raahosh? What if he’s so tired and hungry that he’s been careless and hurt himself? My mind is full of worry. I don’t know what I’ll do if I lose him.
There’s a commotion at the front of the caves, and I hear the sound of voices rising. I immediately fling down my arrows and run to the front of the bachelorette cave in the hopes of seeing a familiar head with one horn and a broken stump where the other used to be. “Raahosh?”
“Stay back,” says one of the aliens guarding the cave. His name is Dagesh. Nora’s mate, I think, and he watches me like I’m a snake. I guess he worries my obnoxiousness is going to be catching.
Either that or he’s heard that I was mean to Stacy and is worried I’ll pounce on his mate next. Oh well. Sometimes you have to break a few eggs and all that.
But then a large figure appears in the doorway and pushes the men aside, and I can’t help the girlish squeal of delight that escapes me when Raahosh sweeps me into his arms.
“You’re here,” I cry, and wrap my arms and legs around him like a monkey. He grabs me and holds me tight against him, and then we’re kissing wildly, my hips settling against his as I cling to him. My cootie hums a happy song and I can feel his in his chest…and I can also feel the woody he’s sporting in his breechcloth.
Damn, I missed this man.
“You are crazy, my mate,” Raahosh says in a low voice even as he presses his mouth to mine over and over again, unable to stop kissing me.
“Hey, it got results, didn’t it? You’re here.” And now that my arms are around him, I’m never letting go again.
He holds me close and our chests resonate in a mixed song. To think that I fought this just a few weeks ago. I feel complete with him. I might not have known what good taste my cootie has, but thank goodness for it.
“Come,” Dagesh says and he glances toward the main cavern. “Vektal will talk with you both about your punishments.”
Oh dear. I hear the plural in that statement, and it worries me. But I nod….and continue clinging to Raahosh. They’re going to have to pry me off of him if they intend on separating us again.
My mate only chuckles and his hands go to my ass, cupping it and carrying me into the main cavern with him.
A few ripples of laughter meet our entrance. I don’t care. Let them laugh. I press my cheek to Raahosh's warm chest, hearing his cootie resonat
e to mine. Please be fair, I say silently to Vektal. Please let Georgie have given you the world’s greatest prostate tickle and convinced you that Raahosh and I need to be together.
There’s a crowd in the main cavern, and the air feels redolent with sulphur and humidity. We pass by a few people and then Raahosh reluctantly sets me down. I hold my breath, tension vibrating through me. I’m terrified of what’s going to happen. If we get a ‘no’ at this point, I don’t think we’ll ever be able to convince Vektal that we should be together.
People are everywhere in the main cavern, a few lounging in the pool but more clustered at cave entrances and seated off to the side. There, sitting on the steps that I’ve come to think of as his ‘chief hangout’, is Vektal. He’s seated between Georgie’s legs, his big arms resting on her knees. His pose is casual, though the look on his face is solemn. Georgie’s face is equally emotionless, though when she meets my eyes, she winks.
And I stop holding my breath.
Everything’s going to be okay.
“Raahosh, son of Vaashan, you have broken the laws of this tribe.” Vektal gets to his feet and clasps his hands behind his back, pacing.
I stiffen and my hand goes to Raahosh’s. He clutches it tightly. This doesn’t sound promising.
“Normally the endangerment of another’s life would be exile. However, the humans are not familiar with our ways, nor are we familiar with theirs.”
“Agreed,” mutters Aehako.
Vektal continues with a stern look over at the hunter, then turns back to us. “The resonance can affect both parties in ways unexpected, and this is what has been decided in this case. Both of you were mindless to your khui, and thus that must be factored in as well.”
My death grip eases on Raahosh’s hand, just a little.
“You and your mate will be exiled to the hunter caves. For the next two and a half years – or until your kit arrives – you must remain out on the hunt for seven days to every one. You must bring enough meat to feed the tribe and fill the ice storerooms for two of the brutal seasons. Our numbers have grown, but our number of hunters has not, and this will be more important than ever.” He levels a firm gaze at us. “You will have no family cave until your punishment has been removed. Should you endanger the lives of another tribesmate at any time, exile will once more become permanent.”