Caveman Alien's Secret: A SciFi Alien Fated Mates Romance (Caveman Aliens Book 6)

by Calista Skye

  25

  - Delyah -

  I first place a layer of firewood over the grate, then a layer of the white rocks, then more firewood, then rocks again. I don’t know if this is the right way to do it, but I’ll experiment until I get it right. If this is the right kind of rock. I guess I’ll find out pretty soon.

  I set the whole thing on fire and sit down to watch it burn. Soon the flames are shooting up from the top of the kiln, and there’s a blowing noise like from twenty hairdryers as the fire pulls in air from below. Yeah, that will probably get hot enough.

  “Remarkable what you can learn from books about ancient Egypt,” I mumble to myself. Being a voracious reader can have certain rewards.

  When the most dramatic part of the fire is over, I take a leisurely walk around the village, smiling and greeting the still pretty shy tribesmen like I had almost normal social skills. Somehow, this tribe brings out the best in me.

  Oh, who am I kidding?

  It’s him. Brax’tan brings out the best in me. He accepts me for who I am, with all my clumsiness and lack of grace. And if he can, then I can, too. I’m a little bit more comfortable in my own skin these days. Could have something to do with getting laid every night. With the hottest man I’ve met. It seems to burn the old anxieties right out of me.

  I’m still worried, of course. About the girls and what we’ll do about Bune and how I’ll get Brax’tan to agree to help us attack it and if we’ll ever get home to Earth and if I’ll ever taste a decent slice of cheesecake again. But those are low level anxieties now, not something that’s constantly on my mind. Right now, this suits me fine.

  I end up at the Lifegiver enclosure. Two men are in there, carefully tending to the strange creatures that can gestate caveman babies.

  “Hail, Chief Delyah,” the guards greet me.

  “Hail, warriors. Which is the Lifegiver that’s about to open?”

  They point over the fence. “Third from the right, second closest to here.”

  “What are the signs?”

  “The vines move more than otherwise. The color becomes deeper. The outer leaves are less tight around the pod.”

  “Ah. Thank you.”

  I look forward to seeing a baby being taken out, especially now that I think I know why the tribes have them.

  I walk slowly back to the kiln, where the fire has burned out. I fill buckets with water and use long sticks to take the still hot white rocks out of the ashes.

  I put them in a pot and pour water over them. “Here goes nothing.”

  There’s immediately a sizzling sound as the hot rocks are cooled by the water, but at the same time they crumble and give off so much steam that it’s clear something else is going on, too. I stir the mix with a stick until I’m left with a white paste, and then I mix fine sand into it and pack a glob of the substance around two normal rocks.

  It’s still too soon to tell for sure, but this actually looks like it’s worked. It opens a whole lot of possibilities, for this tribe and for the cave with the girls.

  The girls. What are they doing now?

  I straighten up and gaze in the direction where the cave is. They’ll be busy with the tasks of the day, starting to look forward to dinner at sunset. Sophia will be trying her best to be useful while also taking care of her young baby, and Emilia will be much the same. Heidi will be too pregnant to really do much, and her husband won’t let her get out of sight. Aurora and Caroline will be doing most of the work, because Caroline is probably back from her honeymoon in that treehouse she told us about. The twelve new girls who were being held hostage by the dragon Troga will have to contribute to the work needed. The cavemen can’t do everything. There are many more mouths to feed now.

  Our first priority with the dragon girls was to fatten them up a little and get them back to full health. I can’t help but think that when that’s done, the tribe will be much less easy to live in than before. We don’t know those girls that well. I think they still call us the ‘lab coat girls’.

  And we call them the ‘dragon girls’. We have to stop separating between them and us. We’re all members of the same tribe. They may even elect a new leader. I think I’ll actually suggest tha—

  Strong hands lock themselves around my waist, and I’m lifted high into the air, held like in a vise. I scream and claw at the hands that are locked in front of me, but it’s like scratching a thick nylon rope.

  Then I hear a deep chuckle into my ear. “Now do you believe I’m terrible?”

  “Brax’tan! You scared me.” I punch his interlocked fingers.

  He sets me down and turns me around. “Then my plan was a resounding success.”

  I slap his shoulder. “You snuck up on me, you evil man.”

  He grins, and his fangs glitter. “I can’t seem to stay away from you.”

  “You walked here under the ground, and then you came up from a secret hole, didn’t you? Right behind me.”

  “The tunnels are useful for many things. Also for sneaking up on alien women with sweet, round behinds.”

  I punch his chest. “You didn’t have to scare me. There are so many scary things on this planet already.”

  His grin falters, and he scratches his head, clearly regretting his attempt at a joke. “Ah. Yes, you’re right. There really are. I suppose I don’t need to scare you much more. As long as you agree that I’m terrible.”

  “I will never agree with that.”

  “Hm. I think I heard you say that I’m evil, at least? I’ll take it. It’s something.”

  I peer up at him. “Why do you want to be terrible or evil? Can’t you be sweet or cuddly or delightful or adorable?”

  He frowns. “Cuddly? Are you sure those are options for me?”

  I take in the caveman towering over me, all muscles and stripes and scars and fangs. “Hmm. Cuddly is a stretch, maybe. But you can shoot for adorable. I’ve seen you be adorable. Or something very close to it. You’re pretty much there. After that milestone, maybe go for affectionate? Actually, I’d say you’ve got that covered. In your own way. No, forget that, your affection is fine. Any more of that would kill me. Let’s see now. Exuberant, maybe?”

  His eyes widen, and he gasps theatrically. “You find me non-exuberant?”

  “Just the slightest little bit non-exuberant. Sometimes. You know, the cold chief who’s always in control and never shows any emotions. That whole thing.”

  He scratches his chin. “I see. That whole thing. Exuberant. Do I get some time to practice?”

  “Practice all you want. Just don’t waste your time practicing being terrible. I’m afraid that’s beyond you. You’ll never get there. Don’t worry about it. We all have our problems.”

  He gives a deep sigh. “Oh well. I’ll cease my attempts at being terrible. My life-long dream lies in ruins. Can I still be evil?”

  I laugh at the very idea. “You can try, Brax’tan. You can try.”

  “You don’t seem confident in my abilities for being evil.”

  “You’re right. I’m not.”

  He embraces me again, pinning my arms to my sides, and bends down to kiss my throat. “How about now?”

  “Unless you’re a vampire, this is not evil.”

  “Vampire?”

  “Never mind. Alien word.”

  “And this?” He nibbles at my ear, then kisses the side of my neck with unspeakable tenderness, sending expectant little shots of delight to my nipples and further down.

  “Aaah… I’m not sure you have a complete understanding of the concept of being evil…”

  “Maybe you must teach me.” He grabs both my breasts over the dress and squeezes them with perfect pressure. Hard tingles shoot straight to my clit.

  “Oh my… I think someone has to.”

  He spins me around and keeps caressing my breasts, then puts a hand right between my legs. “Maybe I will be a difficult student.”

  “Oooh… yes, right there… I am counting on you being a bad student.”

&nbs
p; “Because you don’t think I can be evil.” His fingers caress my slit outside my dress, making little circular motions.

  “That’s right… ohhhhhhhhh!”

  He suddenly takes his hands completely off me. “But I think I can. See you later.”

  He sends me a mischievous grin, takes a step backwards and drops down into a hole in the ground I never even knew was there. Leaving me here alone, hot and bothered and probably dripping.

  For a moment, I can’t believe it. He got me really turned on, just to vanish when it was starting to feel really good.

  Then I can’t help but smile. Fine, he can be evil. In the sweetest possible way. And it’s not like he could have fucked me right here, anyway.

  “I’ll get you for this, Brax’tan,” I mutter, not able to wipe the smile of my face. “Or, more likely, you’ll get me again.”

  - - -

  We make love again that night, in the balmy air, perfectly relaxed after the usual evening meal when the whole tribe eats together, and a final evening walk.

  I relax in Brax’tan’s arms, feeling perfectly content.

  And safe. Here, among hundreds of fanged alien cavemen carrying huge swords everywhere they go, surrounded by deadly jungle on all sides. Here is where I feel safe.

  But I do. This village is guarded as well as humanly possible. Young men with watchful eyes patrol inside and outside the fence, and I have no idea how many sentries there really are in the tunnels outside the fence, ready to surprise any invader. I’m guessing a lot.

  But of course, the main reason I feel safe is right here, sleeping peacefully beside me with deep, slow breaths, once in a while turning into a soft snore. Brax’tan saved my life many times and helped me explore Bune, doing everything he could to save me from my own mistakes.

  It’s something the girls have told me, but which I never thought was really possible: that their cavemen made them feel safe. Safe, here on lethal Xren. That bubble of safety around their husbands — I know what they mean now. I can almost see it shimmering around Brax’tan, even when he’s asleep. I never want to leave it.

  So. I have to think a little bit about the future.

  I want to attack Bune as a concerted effort between us girls and Brax’tan’s tribe. His warriors will be our SWAT team and go in first, maybe along with the men from our own tribe. With us girls behind, armed and as dangerous as we can make ourselves. And another few warriors behind us.

  No. Not behind us.

  Behind them. Because I have to be at the front of the attack. Nobody knows Bune like I do. I have to be there to confront the mysterious entity one final time. First in the line of fire.

  It actually won’t be that dangerous. That evil thing obviously doesn’t control most of the spaceship anymore, only some of the upper levels. The robots we saw last time I don’t think we have to worry about again. And anyway, they’re not built for combat.

  A major uncertainty is the alien entity itself. Which weapons or traps does it have that we don’t know about? Which plans does it have? How powerful is that spaceship still, despite having crashed here a century ago? It might actually still have some unpleasant tricks up its sleeve.

  Fine. I’ll finish my project here, show the tribesmen how to do it themselves, and then I’ll walk back home to the girls and report. Maybe I can get Brax’tan to come with me. Probably the day after tomorrow.

  I yawn. Yeah. Something like that. I don’t have to decide now.

  I adjust my position and put my head on Brax’tan’s huge chest.

  “I love you,” I whisper.

  He just snores.

  Later that night, I wake up when Brax’tan quietly gets up and leaves the cave, climbing down the ladder. Nothing much happens in the village after the evening meal, so he must be checking on the sentries and guards, making sure they don’t doze off when everyone else is sleeping. Or maybe it’s that soon-to-drop Lifegiver he wants to inspect.

  I have a vague feeling he might be doing something like this pretty much every night here in the village.

  “So damn conscious of his duties and responsibilities,” I mutter as I turn around and adjust the not-sheep fur that is my pillow. “But that’s the way we like him, I guess.”

  - - -

  I check the final result of my experiment and hand it over to Brax’tan. “Look at this.”

  He hefts it in one large hand. “That is... hmm. Absolutely magnificent, of course.”

  “Isn’t it, though?” I beam.

  He scratches his head. “You have successfully made a rock. I appreciate it a great deal, of course. Thank you very much. Wonderful. A trophy for the tribe. But I should tell you that we have quite a few of these from before. Indeed, outside the fence there are probably hundreds. Possibly even thousands.”

  “But not like this one. See? It’s actually two stones joined together.”

  “So it is. Very ingenious. Thank you again. I will always treasure it. Are you testing my exuberance?”

  “Stay with me, warrior. It actually is pretty ingenious. See that gray material between and around them? That’s mortar. Lime mortar. Just like the old Egyptians used. Try to break the rocks apart.”

  He manages to do it, of course. Mortar doesn’t have that much tensile strength, and he’s as strong as a good few bulls. But he has to put some force into it.

  “Huh. I broke my new rock.”

  “Yes, but it stuck together pretty well, right? Here’s the thing. You don’t want to build houses from trees. I get it. But you can build houses from this stuff. Mortar. Get rocks, make the mortar, and after some practice you can build super solid houses. If you have enough clay, you can make bricks, too. You can make brick and mortar houses. You’ll be the first tribe that can do it. The first on all of Xren! I think,” I add quickly. I shouldn’t speak for the whole planet.

  Brax’tan studies the dry mortar chunks. “Is it difficult?”

  “Hey, a woman alien did that from scratch in a couple of days. It’s much simpler than digging into sheer rock.”

  He finally brightens. “How large can a house get, built from this?”

  “Pretty big. Maybe start with ordinary hut size. Then build bigger dwellings, if that’s what you want. And there’s another thing. There’s a problem with moisture in the tunnels, right? Well, make a big batch of this stuff, put it all over the inside of the tunnels and the water won’t be able to penetrate it. It’s as waterproof as the rock itself. And because the color is so light it might brighten the atmosphere inside them, too.”

  Brax’tan calls to him some of the boys that are innocently hanging around nearby, watching the alien woman. “Go and get Sas'tar, Shaman Jur’nex and Trui’rex.”

  26

  - Delyah -

  The boys sprint away on their missions, and soon we’re surrounded by many more tribesmen than the three he sent for.

  I carefully explain how to turn limestone into mortar by burning it at high heat, mixing it with water and then with sand. Brax’tan orders men to gather limestones and firewood, and soon there’s a lot of activity around my little kiln.

  The shaman turns a chunk of mortar around between his fingers. “Alien inventions.”

  “Useful alien inventions,” Trui’rex corrects mildly. “We do need more dwellings.”

  Jur’nex tosses the piece away. “So many strange things are happening. And they all appear to center on her.” He pierces me with a cold stare.

  “We should be grateful we’re able to benefit from Chief Delyah’s immense knowledge,” Deputy Chief Sas'tar counters. “I don’t think any other tribe can build houses in this most interesting way.”

  “When will it stop?,” Jur’nex seethes. “When we’re all aliens ourselves? Too many things are going on. There used to be little change from one year to the next. Now we see new things every day. Frightening things, indeed. It is said that outtribers have been spotted inside the village at night. Other stripes than ours! Inside our village!”

  Brax’tan chuc
kles. “There have been no outtribers inside our fences. Only Delyah. And she has no stripes. Believe me, she really doesn’t. Not anywhere. I checked very carefully.”

  The tribesmen laugh, all except the shaman.

  “I have meditated on all this,” he says darkly, “as I was asked. It’s hard to make sense of. But if you can’t sense the danger of all these alien doings, then nothing I can tell you will be of any help. This novel way of doing something that we’re already doing perfectly fine without alien assistance can hardly weigh up for it. I will say again that outtribers have been seen in the village at night.”

  He walks away with measured steps, not looking back.

  “A good shaman is cautious,” Brax’tan reminds his men. “Jur’nex is sometimes troubled, but that is the life the Ancestors picked him for. We must be grateful that he’s taking his calling so seriously. I expect nothing less from any tribesman. Ah, there are the first white stones.”

  We work efficiently for an hour. This time, I use more firewood and much more limestone, but I can already see that this kiln is far too small for the amount of mortar the tribe needs.

  “Then we’ll build a larger one,” Brax’tan says. “Once we see how this works.”

  A boy comes running. “Chief Brax’tan,” he exclaims breathlessly, golden eyes the size of dinner plates, “the Lifegiver is ready to open!”

  Brax’tan ruffles the boy’s hair. “Very good, Vrio’zan. We’ll be right there. Can this fire take care of itself, Delyah?”

  The flames are licking up out of the top of the chimney, and the heat in the kiln looks like it’s going to be easily high enough.

  “Yep,” I state. “For an hour or so, at least. Then we might want to add more wood.”

  We walk quickly over to the Lifegiver enclosure.

  “Only the necessary number of men may enter,” the guard says. “But if Chief Delyah will stay out of the way of the delivery, then she may enter, too.”