by Marie Dry
When she was sure they were all in the new alien-made cave, she sneaked into the tunnel again. The lights were on already so they wouldn't give her away. She should be able to have a quick glance at what they were doing if she just stayed in the tunnel and crouched down to take a peek.
No one stopped her. Crouching inside the tunnel, a few meters from the entrance to the huge cavern, she could see two of them installing some kind of panel with blinking lights along one wall. Light suddenly flooded the cave and the side of the mountain disappeared. At first, she covered her head, convinced the mountain was collapsing on top of them. When a huge spacecraft glided smoothly into the cavern and landed in the middle of the new chamber, her mouth dropped open. Then, as suddenly as the mountain had opened up, it became roughly hewn rock again.
They'd parked a spaceship in her mountain. Her mind simply wouldn't wrap around it.
A hatch door opened with a small hissing noise, and Zacar walked down a ramp that slid smoothly and noiselessly to the steel floor.
Steel floor?
For the first time, she noticed that they'd covered every inch of the floor with the steel material they'd brought with them. That was a really big spaceship, but she didn't think it could carry the amount of metal they'd been lugging into her cave.
Every now and then, she looked at Zacar and noticed all over again how masculine and handsome he looked. He wore a black uniform, accentuating everything she found attractive about him. If not for the ridge on his head and the color of his eyes he could almost pass for human.
He stopped and turned his head to stare at her. How did he always seem to know she was there? For a long moment, they locked eyes then he walked over. She stood up, petrified and turned on at the same time, as he stalked closer. Grunting softly, he bent over and kissed her on the lips.
As always, she melted into him. He took his time, nibbling her lips, exploring, his tongue conquering the warm depths of her mouth. His kiss reassured her and, feeling braver, she leaned into him, resting her hands on his shoulders. She smiled up at him when he lifted his head.
"Please show me your spaceship."
She moved her hands as far as she could reach and rested them on the collar of his uniform. Smoothing her fingers over the emblems crafted there.
"No, you have to leave this cavern. The warriors have to work," he said firmly and without apology. His words had the effect of ice water thrown in her face.
"Don't you trust me?" Her lips suddenly had a will of their own. They trembled, no matter how hard she pressed them together.
"This is warrior business."
If she heard that excuse again, she'd scream. With an awkward movement, she lifted her hands from his shoulders and stepped away. He took her arm and walked her out, but even his gentle touch couldn't disguise her status as his captive. It had never been illustrated more clearly.
She remained quiet all the way out of the passage. When he moved toward the tent, she pulled against his grip on her arm until he stopped and looked down at her. He never raised an eyebrow or frowned. If only she could read his facial expressions. He waited patiently and that got on her nerves as well.
"I don't want to make love with you." She sighed. "I don't know why I call it making love. Your word is more correct to describe our relationship. It's only breeding, nothing as special as two people making love."
"Show me making love."
When she opened her mouth to respond, he stiffened and, though she didn't hear a thing, she knew one of the other warriors approached. Their hearing really was extraordinary.
Viglar appeared behind them. Once again, she only heard those grating sounds coming from their throats. She touched her ear. What was up with the translator?
"I have to go to the ship. Tonight, you show me." He bent down to kiss her but she turned her head away.
"No, Zacar. I can't show you. Part of making love is trusting your partner. There has to be trust and caring between us. And you don't trust me." Could he hear the bitterness in her voice? Did he even care?
"I trust you."
"Just not enough to show me your spaceship. Not enough to allow me to show concern for your warriors or to understand everything you say. That's not trust. It's called captivity."
"I will think on it. Tonight you show me making love." He captured her chin in his hand, turned her face back to him, and kissed her--one of those kisses that weakened her knees even when she was furious with him. By the time he drew away, she was clinging to him.
Angry with herself for getting so lost in that stupid kiss, she stomped away. She looked around the main cave and shook her head. Who would've thought the cave could be toasty warm and comfortable to boot? A few months ago, she'd worried about having enough food for the winter. Before Zacar, she had been concerned that she would freeze to death in the cave if she ran out of coal before the snow melted. Now, she obsessed whether that stubborn, domineering alien loved her or simply kept her around as a convenient pet.
In front of the TC, Azagor tinkered with one of the probes and she walked over to him. They thought she didn't know what it was but she'd been watching them carefully. The probes looked exactly like the ones on those really old sci-fi movies, except once these ones were sent out they were cloaked.
She made sure to stop a good distance away. They got real nervous when she went too close to them. And Zacar got downright hostile.
"Azagor?"
"Yes, breeder of my leader?"
Natalie sighed then decided to ignore the new irritating name she apparently now went by.
"Zacar said on your planet you killed weak babies."
He seemed to search for words but she noticed he didn't look away. She'd learned over the past weeks that this was a tell-tale sign when one of them wanted to hide something. Maybe it was because she held him when he was wounded but, to her surprise, he answered her. "It is our tradition. We survived on our planet and became strong because we never tolerated weakness."
"So, what would Zacar do if I gave birth to a weak baby?" She held up a hand. "No, don't tell me. I don't want to know."
Taking her at her word, he continued to tinker with the probe. It was telling that he didn't try to reassure her.
Even knowing she might get answers she couldn't live with, she couldn't leave it alone. She had to clear her throat before she could speak. "Is it common practice on your planet?"
"Is what common practice?" He looked up and, for a moment, appeared endearingly confused. She had no doubt he could take on a raider camp by himself but to her, he was the most approachable, the closest she'd ever been to having a little brother.
"Killing the weak," she reminded him.
"Yes, especially in the old times."
He concentrated on the probe, busying himself with pressing holo buttons. In spite of him muttering and focusing so fiercely on the probe, she knew she had all his attention.
"And now?"
He didn't answer her and the silence stretched. Natalie was about to walk away when he spoke. "It still happens."
What a lovely role model for any children she might have.
"His father's breeder--" Azagor stopped.
She stepped closer, her palms stretched out to him. "Please, Azagor. Tell me what you were going to say about Zacar's father's breeder. Are you talking about his mother?"
"Yes. It is the term for mother."
"Please, Azagor. I need to understand him."
"You should ask your questions of our leader." He turned back to his task. "I have to fix this."
"Of course," she said through clenched teeth. "I'm sorry for bothering you when you've work to do."
She went to her tent and sat down on the bed with her head in her hands. What could have happened to Zacar's mother? He'd said that breeders only found his copper form acceptable. What a strange way to word it. Did his father hold his mother captive as well? Fed up with going in circles thinking about it, she stalked to the greenhouse.
She watered her p
lants and went through her storeroom, looking for the extra pair of boots she had stored. Somewhere. By the time she found them, it was time for dinner.
Zacar fed her and then picked her up before she had swallowed the last bite. He held her in his hands, dangling off the floor and spoke with his face right in hers. "Now you show me making love."
She couldn't help but smile and she stroked his bald head, her finger tracing the veins and then the ridge on his forehead.
"It's very complicated. You have to first take me out to an expensive restaurant." He looked pointedly around the cave as he swung her into his arms and walked toward their tent and she giggled. "Well, either that or you have to arrange a romantic dinner with candle light and special food."
"Fire is romantic?" he asked.
"Trust me, candles add a lot of romance to a dinner."
"What happens after the special food is eaten?"
"Then you pick me up in your arms and carry me off to bed."
He laid her down on the bed and settled beside her. "And then?"
Natalie couldn't come up with one intelligent sentence. His beautiful chest was right in front of her. She leaned over and kissed it, swirling her tongue over the ridges and hollows that never failed to intrigue her.
"And then we wing it," she mumbled against his delicious skin.
"Wing it?"
"Uhm, I kiss and caress your whole body." She bit back a triumphant smile at her quick thinking.
"You may continue," he said magnanimously. "I like your making love."
"Well, thank you very much, I think I will." She dipped her head lower and realized for the first time he had no belly button. She'd ask him about it later, now she only wanted to play as long as she could before he exploded and took over. Maybe this time she'd get to finish exploring his beautiful body.
"Did I ever tell you I love your body?"
"I have noticed."
She felt heat in her cheeks and kissed his chest again to hide her burning face.
"I like Natlia's body as well."
He surged beneath her and she found herself lying on her back with him braced over her.
"Now I show you Zyrgin lovemaking." He bent his head and kissed her and she didn't even think to object to him taking over.
***
Almost a month later, Azagor rushed into the cave, half carrying a bleeding Zurian. Natalie followed them into the doctor's enclosure. Mean alien or not, she couldn't do less for him than she had for Azagor. Apart from glaring at her, he'd never harmed her. She'd assumed he'd told Zacar about her inhaler but maybe he didn't even realize what it was.
Zurian didn't grunt or moan. He didn't even lie down on the narrow cot the doctor had erected in his enclosure. Greenish-red blood spurted from a wound high on his shoulder. The doctor was snarling something at him. Even with her translator acting up and refusing to allow her to understand the words, she knew the doctor was fed up over something.
"I wish to ask a question of you," Zurian said. His voice was very clipped and precise and he didn't seem to notice Viglar working on his wound.
It took a moment before she realized he was addressing her. The only one who had dared speak to her was Azagor. "I--all right," she stuttered.
Zurian stared straight ahead of him. "Would a human woman be willing to become the woman of a creature she considers ugly in exchange for food and safety." He stared in front of him, his jaw clenched. "In exchange for being looked after really well?"
She almost fell over, she was so surprised. He was the last alien she'd expected to ask something like that. Azagar maybe, but never Zurian.
Zacar had said no woman would want him in his natural form. Why would they believe human women found them ugly? It was so sad to think that these self-assured warriors, who could take on a whole camp of heavily-armed raiders, doubted that a woman would ever want them. Though that fear hadn't stopped Zacar from claiming her.
She stood on her toes to get right in his face and jabbed her forefinger into his chest. "Don't call yourself an ugly creature, Zurian. You're a handsome, strong warrior, with a lot to offer a woman." She hoped. Her finger ached. She looked in horror at her forefinger jabbing the chest of an alien who always looked ready to kill. "Uh, like I said, you have a lot to offer." Her face burned and she took a nervous step back.
That was really stupid, she told herself. But it was just that his words had reminded her of the times in school, when she'd been taunted for being too tall, too pale, and too weak because of her asthma. This proud warrior shouldn't have to apologise for being who he was.
The warrior bowed respectfully but his lip curled. She wouldn't dwell on what that curl meant. The doctor took out his blowtorch. Natalie hesitated a moment, then put her arms awkwardly around Zurian's stiff shoulders. He might not flinch when that horrible instrument singed his skin but it had to hurt. When it was over, she impulsively kissed him on the forehead. He stiffened even more and focused on something behind her.
"Your men have to stop going out to kill raiders," she said, knowing Zacar stood behind her as the hairs on the nape of her neck were standing up.
"They are warriors."
She turned to face him, found him standing directly in front of her. "Aren't you afraid to be discovered? There are only four of you. If the army comes after you, you'll be in serious trouble." It still surprised her no one had picked up their spaceship on radar or something.
A strange look came and went in his eyes at her mention of the army. "They want their own breeders."
For a moment, she didn't understand. When she did, her heart nearly stopped and she took a deep breath. "Is that why they keep going out to kill raiders?"
"Before they can take a breeder, they have to earn the right."
"Like when you saved me from that camp." It boggled the mind that raiders were being killed, probably by the hundreds, by aliens who wanted to earn the right to human women.
"Yes."
"Why are you telling me?" Nothing in the way Zacar had treated her up to now had given her the impression he would listen to a woman's opinion. Especially about matters of war. And if they were going to go around kidnapping women, it would come to war. With her right in the middle.
"You have to convince Earth women to come to us in exchange for protection," he said, as if it was a perfectly reasonable request. He waited with an expectant air for her to agree.
She looked down at her feet to hide her appalled expression. "Umm, maybe I can talk to some of my friends after the winter, when the snow melts. Some of them might want to come here."
That at least gave her a few months to think up another plan. She only had one friend, but they didn't need to know that. She could imagine Julia's face if she told her she wanted to introduce her to a copper alien, with eyes that turned red when he made love or war. Oh, and he turned green, too. Although it might solve some of Julia's problems. And maybe she could steer her toward Azagor.
"We take the women now. My warriors can fuck during winter and have little warriors when the snow melts."
Natalie put her head in her hands and laughed hysterically. He was so serious, as if he'd come to a very logical and reasonable conclusion.
"Why do you laugh?"
"You would never understand," she said between giggles.
"I would."
That set her off again and she laughed until her sides ached. She knew her laughter was mostly hysterical. Suddenly, she hung in the air between Zacar's hands, his red eyes staring her down. This time they weren't glowing with passion.
"Explain why you laugh."
"Really, Zacar, it's a female thing. You just won't get it. A man couldn't understand," she said with casual bravado.
When his eyes slowly bled back to fathomless black, she let out a soft sigh of relief.
"I have seen my woman," Zurian said.
If she hadn't known better, Natalie would've thought he was trying to distract Zacar.
Holding her in his arms, Zacar turned to t
he scarred warrior. Natalie held her breath. Who'd caught this surly warrior's eye? She just couldn't imagine him being as gentle and caring as Zacar.
"Where?" Zacar asked.
"In town. She is very tiny but pretty. Her hair is like the metal called gold mined on this planet."
He'd gone into town while the snow lay meters deep? Her laughter dried up. Julia and Sarah were the only tiny, blonde women in town she could think of.
"I went to town to look for her when I saw her on your breeder's primitive communication device," Zurian said.
"Who are you calling primitive," Natalie mumbled, but very softly.
The thought of this cruel warrior getting his hands on Julia terrified her. She might've said he had a lot to offer a woman, but she'd been thinking of some desperate woman who'd be grateful for the protection, someone they'd rescued from the raiders.
"That's my friend, Julia. If you kidnap her, the whole army would come to rescue her." While she wished her words held some truth, she doubted anyone in town would even report her friend missing. Those fanatics from The Coming Sect had been terrorizing the town for years now with no one caring.
She could've slapped herself. Instead of discouraging the aliens, she could almost see them strapping on their weapons. "Promise me you will give her a choice?" Silence greeted her and she bit her lip. It was difficult enough speaking up with all of them looking at her. "Promise me," she insisted.
"I will be a good provider. Protect the little golden female." Was that tenderness in Zurian's voice?
"Human women want to have a choice. Look at how I captured Zacar. If you don't give her a choice, she'll never love you." Zurian didn't look worried about being loved at all.
Zacar gently covered her mouth with his big hand. "Enough, Natlia." He picked her up and carried her to their tent.
For the next few hours, she forgot that her friend was in danger of being kidnapped. She didn't even notice that the sneaky alien stole an extra hour.
Chapter 13