Bound to the Alien Barbarian: An Alien Warrior Romance (Crashland Castaway Romance Book 1)

by Leslie Chase

  Behind me, I heard the doors fly open. Our fight had been anything but quiet, and the temple guards didn’t want their ‘god’ beaten up. Fanwell took advantage of my distraction to heave me off him, and I rolled to my feet facing the onrushing guards.

  It only took a moment to realize I was screwed. Two Zrin, each in padded armor, holding spears. Against me, the human wielding a bent cup as her only weapon. No chance.

  Guess I this is it, then, thought, resigning myself to defeat. No way was I going to surrender to Fanwell or his goons.

  The guards slowed, looked at Fanwell, then at me.

  “Get her, you dung-stained beggars of mediocrity,” he shouted at them, flinging the broken wristband at me and massaging the injured arm beneath. “Don’t just stand there, kill the imbecile who hurt your god.”

  I caught the wristband on pure instinct, wondering if I’d killed Killer. Hopefully not – it wasn’t the AI’s fault that his human was such an asshole. There was no time to check, though.

  The guards lowered their spears and advanced, death in their eyes. One swift thrust and I’d be skewered. I backed away, holding out the battered and dented goblet as though it would protect me. The guards weren’t in a hurry, advancing slowly with spears leveled as I moved away. Soon I’d back into a wall, and then they’d pounce.

  “You’re dead,” Fanwell snarled at me, a hateful smile spreading across his crimson face. “You’re fucking dead, hear me? And I’ll enjoy watching.”

  Without looking around, I gave him the finger. That was all the attention I had to spare for his whining right now. The guards closed in, and I kept my eyes on them, looking for an opening.

  If I’m going to die, I’ll go down fighting.

  It happened without warning. One moment the ceiling above us was intact, the next a crude circle of it fell with an earth-shattering crash. Shocked, the Zrin staggered back and even Falwell shut up.

  I blinked dust out of my eyes, my heart swelling with sudden hope. Following it down, landing with casual grace in the center of the room, was Zarkav.

  18

  Zarkav

  The air ducts had shrunk since I’d last visited them. Probably because back then El-Ensha and I were children and hunting each other in the maze of tunnels made for a fun challenge. As scrawny kids, we’d been able to make quick progress.

  As an adult I barely shuffled along, shoulders scraping the walls. Turning corners was painful, almost impossible. It was still the best way I knew to move through the temple unseen. The passages carried cold air throughout the temple pyramid: once, on a dare, I’d found my way up to the Eldest’s chambers and stolen a bottle of zher-wine. As far as I knew, he’d never figured out what happened to it. The empty bottle might still be there, waiting in the chamber in which the mysterious chill breeze started.

  Ahead, I heard voices raised in anger, speaking English, the alien language of Tessa’s people. Was Tessa one of the people arguing? Hard to tell with the way sounds echoed in the ducts, but who other than her and Fanwell would speak that? Moving as fast as possible, I reached a ceiling vent as the argument turned violent below.

  Pressing my face to the grating, I looked down. Below, two figures struggled — Tessa, wielding a club of shining gold, laid into Fanwell with a commendable viciousness. She had the fight well in hand, so I turned my attention to the clamps holding the grating in place.

  Another thing I remembered being easy when I’d done it as a child turned out to be a fiendish challenge as an adult. Getting a grip on the clamps, twisting them just so, all while I hardly had space to breathe…

  As the first popped free, guards burst into the room. There were seven more clamps, and no time to work on them. From the sound of it, Tessa wasn’t surrendering this time. Brave, yes, and my heart ached to have such a glorious taru-ma, but it would mean her death. I had to intervene.

  Abandoning the latches, I forced my hand down to my belt, and the field-cutter tucked into it. Would it work on stone?

  “Let’s find out,” I said under my breath, and squeezed the grip.

  Dust filled the air as I cut around the vent, and the whole section of duct dropped free. I fell with it, twisting to land on my feet amid the shocked expressions of everyone in the room.

  Both humans stared at me, Fanwell in terror, Tessa in surprised joy. Her expression lit a fresh fire in my heart and I roared as I leaped to her defense.

  The temple guards trained hard, though, and there was nothing wrong with their reflexes. The nearer one swung his spear out to block my swing, the other jumped aside to attack when the parry stopped my blade.

  A good move, one that would have worked against my claws or a knife. It might have worked, had I used a sword. But the wondrous field-cutter didn’t slow for the wooden haft of the spear, or the woven cloth armor, or the scales and flesh of the Zrin wearing it. My attack swept through him, sending him to the floor in two pieces.

  This weapon is terrible, I thought as a spray of blood erupted from the bisected guard. His companion paused in horror, giving me the opportunity to attack.

  But this guard had good reflexes and better instincts. Rather than a futile parry, he lunged, the razor-sharp edge of his spearhead cutting my shoulder as I ducked aside. That threw off my aim enough to let him dodge under the blow, keeping up the pressure.

  “Zarkav,” Tessa cried from behind me, a warning just in time. Fanwell, a threat I’d discounted, rushed me holding the fallen spearhead like an oversized dagger. One arm dangled limp, but I’d give him this much credit, he didn’t let the injury slow him down.

  Caught between two enemies, I snarled and swept my tail low, knocking Fanwell’s legs out from under him. The spearhead slashed a deep cut in my tail as he fell with a scream, and the guard took advantage of my distraction to aim a lethal thrust at my throat.

  I smashed the spear aside with my left hand, heedless of the deep cut it left in my forearm. Leaping in with a roar, I slashed at his throat with my claws and down he went.

  Blood bubbled in the wound and he gurgled, trying to breathe. The other guard lay still and dead where the two halves of him fell, and Fanwell lay curled around his broken arm, screaming.

  The moment I was certain none of them was a threat, I rushed to Tessa’s side. Blood covered her, human and Zrin.

  “Are you hurt, taru-ma?” My tongue darted out to taste the air, but there were too many scents mingling for me to be sure of anything.

  My mate grinned up at me, threw her arms around me, and we held each other tight. “I’m fine,” she told me. “Now that you’re here I’m fine.”

  Despite the blood, her scent filled my senses, wildflowers and joy and strange things I couldn’t identify. I’d happily spend my life lost in that scent.

  “Wait,” Tessa muttered, muffled by my chest. “How do I understand you so well?”

  “We must be in range of the Gift of Words,” I said joyfully, and squeezed her tighter. “The priests keep it in the vault at the very top of the pyramid. We can speak now, taru-ma!”

  Her voice, beautiful as ever, was now comprehensible too. A wonder, a miracle, another gift from the Sky Gods. Now we’d be able to express ourselves properly, and she could explain her refusal to seal the bond between us. I had accomplished my goal!

  “Did they hurt you?” I asked, getting the most important question out of the way first. She shook her head.

  “I mean, that bastard was going to, but you stopped him.”

  I ran my hands across her body, holding her to me as we talked. Checking her for injuries, of course. That was the explanation I’d give Tessa if she asked. She’d know full well that was at most half the reason. This close to her delightful body, my pulse racing from the fight, I wanted more than anything to touch her.

  “I didn’t stop him, you did,” I reminded her. “All I did was protect you from his guards.”

  Tessa snorted. “‘All’, he says. As though saving my life is some small thing.”

  That made me chuck
le. “I will always keep you safe from harm, taru-ma. Always, as sure as I breathe air. You need not thank me for that, I deserve blame for letting danger find you. Will you accept my apology?”

  “You are ridiculous,” Tessa said, though I didn’t see what she found strange about my words. “If it makes you feel better, though, I accept your completely unnecessary apology. Now what?”

  That was a good question, and one for which I had no clear answer. Killing Fanwell would only make us the sworn enemies of the tribe, and I wasn’t about to subject Tessa to that. Confront the Elders? With Tessa at my side we could make a compelling argument — if they listened at all, which I doubted they would.

  Which meant either more fighting, or getting out of here to come up with a better plan. Abandoning the first chance we’d had to talk properly before we spoke of what mattered.

  Already, I heard the pounding of the guards’ feet on the stairs. More would be here any moment, and I’d cut them down. I’d win the fight, but the temple guards didn’t deserve to die. Not unless they knew of the crime their leaders were committing, and I had no reason to think they did.

  The two dead guards stared up at me, eyes glazed in death. I recognized them now: Rovax and Coyark, two loyal if not particularly smart men. I’d known them growing up in the temple, and now I’d ended their lives. No guilt touched me about that: I’d done it to save Tessa. But if I sought another fight, those deaths would be on my shoulders.

  I made my decision. “Tessa-ma, you are the reflection of my soul, the one and only person who completes me. I am yours, your reflection, your man. Your protector and guide. My strength will shelter and protect you forever, from any danger. This may not be the way of your people, you do not have the ssav to spot your taru-ma. The only way to find out is to mate and see if the bond takes. I am sure it will, if you will have me.”

  The words tumbled out in a rush, faster and faster as the temple guards’ footsteps came closer. We had only a few heartbeats before they arrived.

  “What? I don’t—“ Tessa caught herself, and I felt her pulse race. “I don’t know what taru-ma means, but yes, I like you too.”

  Like. The word tasted like ash. But it wasn’t a no, it was confusion. All we needed was time, time for me to explain, for her to come to terms with the concept. Then she would give me a real answer.

  But our time had run out. Guards rushed in, spears low and tails high, ready to fight. They stopped dead at the carnage, deep red fury marking their ssavs, and turned towards me. Regret stabbed me in the heart like a dagger of ice as I abandoned the conversation, lifting Tessa over my shoulder and running for the window.

  Hopefully we’d get back here, back to the Gift of Words, soon.

  “We are leaving.”

  “What? How?” Tessa squirming wildly but I held her firm with my left arm, bracing myself for impact. “Zarkav, no!”

  I wanted to tell her not to worry, but there was no time. The guards rushed forward, shaken from their paralysis and calling for our surrender. Ignoring them, I leaped into the frail latticework that separated us from the outside, shielding Tessa with my body.

  The lattice shattered, and a flung spear zipped through the space we’d just left as we plummeted out of sight.

  Tessa screamed and struggled in my grip as the temple walls flashed past. I clung to her, pulling her against me and ignoring her thrashing. Either I’d jumped far enough to reach the water or we’d die hitting the ground.

  Diving from the higher levels of the temple was another game from my youth, when I’d been foolish and felt invulnerable — but even then I’d have looked before I leaped. Now, I relied on memory.

  Beneath us, the lake was still as a mirror. A quick calculation told me I’d made my jump almost perfectly. We’d miss the lower levels of the temple, we’d miss the bridge across the lake. Hitting either would have been a stupid death.

  The bad news was that we’d hit too close to the shore, where the lake was at its shallowest. Nothing to do about that now, though. Hugging my beloved tight against me, I offered a prayer to gods I was no longer sure I believed in.

  If I’ve done this wrong, let me take the harm for it. Let Tessa live, escape, return to her people. The words flashed through my mind and then the water struck with an almighty smack.

  The impact drove the breath from my lungs, but thank the Sky Gods it was enough to cushion us and by the time we struck the muddy lake floor we’d slowed enough to survive the impact. Tessa’s struggles grew ever more frantic, but I held her tight and swam along the bottom.

  If we surfaced, the guards would see us. We had to stay safe and low, out of sight.

  A thrown spear sliced through the water nearby and sank. Had we surfaced, it would have gone through one of us. More spears rained down as the guards tried to find us under the dark water, but I swam fast and we were soon out of range.

  Lungs burning, I forced myself to stay down near the bottom of the lake, my tail cutting the water from side to side and propelling us quickly. Tessa’s struggles stopped, and I wondered if that was a bad sign. Too late I wondered how long a human could go without air — if my lungs burned for breath, perhaps she’d already run out.

  No. No, refused to think that way. I would not, could not, consider the possibility that I’d rescued her from the spears of the temple guards only to drown her during our escape. My tail swept through the water, driving me on as I searched for the darker patch along the shoreline.

  There! I saw it, pushed Tessa ahead of me through it and into the underwater tunnel. Franticly trying to increase my speed, I rebounded from the stone walls again and again before, after what felt like years, we breached the surface.

  Sucking in a huge breath, I hauled us both out of the water and onto a stone platform. My taru-ma lay still and pale, and in the dim light cast by the glow-fungus above she looked as still as a corpse. For a moment my heart stopped. If I’d burst in to rescue her, only to kill her in the escape…

  My body sprang into action as my mind spun into a pit of remorse. I would kill the Eldest for this, and Fanwell, and anyone who stood in my way. I’d die doing it, yes, but I would avenge her.

  I wrapped my arms around her and held her tight, angry at the world, at the Elders, and most of all at myself, and let out a scream to shake the heavens.

  Tessa’s eyes flickered open at that, and her hands gripped my arms. Her chest rose and fell as she looked at me and spoke.

  Away from the Gift of Words I didn’t understand a thing she said, but her voice was the sweetest thing I’d ever heard.

  19

  Tessa

  “What the fuck are you yelling about? Can’t you let a girl rest?”

  Zarkav’s scream cut off as though I’d thrown a switch. With infinite care he laid me down and examined me, saying something incomprehensible as his eyes roamed my soaked body.

  I smiled up at him, trying to get my bearings. Everything from the moment Zarkav’s shoulder hit the window was a blur to me. A terrifying, desperate, awful blur. My lungs burned from holding my breath that long and my body felt like one giant bruise, but I was awake. Alive. Probably free.

  Dim greenish-blue light barely illuminated the high-ceilinged stone room and glinted off Zarkav’s scales. The colored patterns moved quick as he checked me for injuries — all except the blush-red pattern on his arms, those stayed fixed as ever. I winced but let him work, and despite the pain as he prodded at my scrapes and bruises I found my heart racing.

  That was when he pulled back, jerking away as though he’d touched a live wire. A disappointed groan escaped my lips before I could stop it.

  “Thank you for rescuing me,” I said in English, knowing that he’d not understand but needing to say it anyway. “You saved my life, but do you have to be so damned shy about claiming a reward?”

  I nearly died there. I deserve this too. It wasn’t easy to convince myself of that, but I had to. And I had to convince Zarkav, too.

  I reached for his hand, pulli
ng it to me and kissing his fingers. With a warning growl he pulled back his hand. He wasn’t angry with me; he was angry with whatever made him think he needed to hold back. And I couldn’t take much more of this frustration.

  Sitting up, I wracked my mind for the right words, but we were neither of us fluent enough in the other’s language to have an actual conversation. If only we’d had more time with the universal translator.

  I frowned, remembering his rush of words in the seconds before he carried me out of the window. Something niggled at my memory, a word he’d said that I still didn’t understand but felt right.

  “Taru-ma,” I said, testing it, tasting it. Yes, that was the word. “Tessa taru-ma Zarkav.”

  He spun around, looking at me with an intensity that frightened and aroused me in equal measure. My breath caught, my pulse raced, my muscles trembled.

  Zarkav spoke, that amazing voice of his melting me. If the swim hadn’t already soaked me, his rough rumbly voice would have been enough to do the job.

  No idea what he said, of course. A question, possibly. I took a guess at what he might ask and nodded. “Taru-ma.”

  He spoke again and this time I silenced him with a kiss.

  Something inside Zarkav snapped at that, the barrier holding back the flood collapsing in an instant. One moment I was in control of the kiss, the next he’d overpowered me, pressing me back against the stone wall. A shiver ran through me, and lightning sparked in my nerves as he grabbed at my soaked clothes.

  Snake-like tongue darting out to my skin, Zarkav undid my top dexterously and pulled it from me as I grappled with his kilt. At last I got it, and the leather fell to the floor.

  With an expert touch, he caressed my breasts, teasing them with the very tips of his clawed fingers. Whimpering, I retaliated, trailing my finger down his body, loving the strange texture of his scaled skin, the powerful muscles beneath it.