by Tracy Lauren
“Lots of things. I like all my friends and my papa and his brothers. They take care of me.”
“I’m sure they do.”
“I like fishing and finding the star stones by the river. One day I am going to be a hunter!” he tells me proudly.
“That sounds very nice. Hey, what is a star stone anyway?” I ask.
The little boy jumps down without a word and runs off into the dark outside the common house.
“Okay, I guess he got bored with me,” I say to Dax, but when I look over at my companion he is staring at me hard, with a solemn expression. “What?” I ask, confused.
“You would make a very good mother.”
“I’d hardly say that,” I reply, shifting uncomfortably on the bench. “I don’t know the first thing about what it means to be a mother. I was just talking to the kid.”
“That is a rare thing.”
“What? Talking to kids?”
“Talking to them like they matter,” he answers. Just then, the little one comes sprinting back to me, releasing a handful of milky white stones into my lap.
“Here!” he shouts. “For you!” He shifts nervously on his hind legs, wringing his little hands together.
“Oh, little man. These are beautiful, but I can’t take your star stones from you. You worked hard to find them.”
“I have tons, you can have these ones,” he assures me eagerly.
“You’re sure?” I ask one last time. He gestures affirmation.
“Well thank you, I love them. They are absolutely beautiful,” I tell him sincerely and I pull him in for a hug.
He squirms away from me. “You talk funny,” he says with a wrinkled nose, before turning and running off to join the other children. I scoff. Men, just when you think you understand them…
“You are good with the young. You say you and your mate do not have any?” Cahcook asks.
“No,” I reply, trying not to recoil at the thought. I mean…kids…with Dax? Weird. Too weird to contemplate. Plus, he isn’t even my real mate. He’s just my babysitter.
“Would you like many babes?” Cahcook asks.
“I really don’t know. I haven’t ever given it much thought,” I try to answer politely.
“Look at them,” Dax whispers in my other ear. “That was quite a show, Vivian.”
“A show? What do you—” All the alien men stand a little taller when I scan the room. They puff out their chests and start to writhe along with the music.
“This is a tribe with no females, no mothers for their children. Your kindness to that boy was the embodiment of a dream they never imagined possible,” Dax whispers to me.
I eye the room fearfully, not liking the attention. I notice the men slowly draw nearer as they dance, and some of the elders begin pulling the young ones off to bed. The dance suddenly shifts into something more like posturing as they begin to bump into one another, baring teeth and swiping claws.
“There are many good males here in this tribe. All of them are good really,” Cahcook comments.
“I’m…I’m sure there are,” I say a little nervously, keeping my eyes on the roughhousing men as they waver on their feet, hissing and snapping at one another.
“The mate you have is good, I’m sure. He is a strong one and so large too,” Cahcook notes, looking up at Dax. “But one male cannot possibly meet all of your needs—”
“Uhhhh…” I’m starting to freak out. I do not, I repeat do not, like where this conversation is going.
Dax senses my panic and puts his arm around me protectively. I hear grunts and hisses coming from the others when he does. It must be my imagination, but it almost feels like they are closing in on us…
“I’m sure I speak for the whole tribe when I say this, Kickin, we would like you to consider remaining with us. You and your mate both, undoubtedly he would make a seamless addition to our brotherhood and we would never want to displace your first mate, of course.”
“Uhhhh…” is all I can manage.
“Look at me, I’m rambling like an old fool. Kickin, what I am trying to say is, please consider joining our village. The tribe would very much like to mate with you. Perhaps your breed intermixed with ours will produce more female offspring with your disposition. It could change everything for my people, Kickin, for generations to come.”
“Your tribe would like to mate with me? Like the whole thing?” I choke out, scanning the room filled with a few dozen men.
“Yes, well, as many of us as you would have, of course. We would never force you to—” Cahcook keeps talking, but I’m already getting to my feet and backing out of the room with Dax glued to my side.
“Wait!” one of the males shouts, and I nearly jump out of my skin. “There are strong ones among us, like your mate. We can please you.”
“Oh, I don’t think that will be necessary,” I murmur, but Kllckt is already shouting over me.
“No, you fool! She is not like our females. It will not be with displays of strength or submission that you win her!”
“You think you know her so well?” One of the men’s sharp teeth snaps at his brethren. Kllckt swipes at the snout that challenges him, his claws split flesh and I hear blood splatter onto the floor. It causes me to jolt and I’m nearly climbing up Dax’s arm. Others dart forward, hissing and swiping out their aggression amongst themselves.
“Let her speak!” Cahcook rises to his feet, shouting at the others. The room falls silent with the exception of the crackling fire. All eyes expectantly wait for me to address the room.
“Cahcook…I’m sorry, but I’m just not interested,” I say in a voice barely above a whisper. Cahcook swipes his hand over his snout.
“I would never force you, Kickin, but there are some that might not be so willing to pass up the opportunity to have a mate such as yourself. If only you remain with us for a few years, perhaps then you might change your mind,” Cahcook suggests.
I look wide eyed at Dax.
“Am I carrying you?” he asks.
I nod emphatically, tears already welling up in my eyes.
“Okay then.”
Chapter 15
Vivian
Without hesitation Dax drops to all fours next to me and lets out a roar that shakes the whole building. The natives scurry back and Dax’s arm swoops down hard, colliding with a bench. My eyes follow as it flies across the room. It goes careening into the first line of natives, knocking several of them off their feet. Before I can even shift my gaze, I feel Dax’s arm wrap around my waist as he slings me onto his back. I nestle against his rucksack and grip onto his neck for dear life. The world seems to spin as Dax twists around, bounding from the room.
Just a few steps from the fire and we are engulfed by the darkness of the night. Everything is bathed in the silvery glow of the moon, making this place look even more surreal. A cool, crisp wind blasts against my face as we make our escape. An ungodly screeching follows us, and I venture a look back. I can see the silhouettes of the natives in pursuit, their battle cries are as ferocious as I imagine their females to be.
“Oh my god, I hope you know where you’re going!” I scream to Dax.
“Female! Do you try to wound my pride? Of course I know where I am going. Have some faith in your mate,” he teases.
“Always a comedian!” I shout angrily. Can’t he just keep his mouth shut when he rescues me? He always has to poke fun.
“Bah! You choke me!” he shouts.
“Yeah, I’d do more than that if I had the strength…” I grumble, not bothering to loosen my grip.
Suddenly, I hear wild screams pairing with the battle cries of the men following us. Dax bounds over boulders, his claws scraping the rocks as he does. When he lands, I hear his feet kick up the smooth river rocks covering the ground.
“The river is fast approaching,” he calls to me. Even as he says it I can see the light of the moon reflecting on the water. “Do not let go,” he says needlessly.
A whistle of wind shoots
past my head and I see a spear stick into the ground next to us for a split second before we propel farther ahead.
I let out a short scream of surprise, but even after I stop, the screaming continues, only it morphs into something truly horrific. What is that horrible sound?
Suddenly, I hear Dax splash into the water a split second before my body is nearly submerged in what feels like ice. Dax is crossing the river. His massive arms and legs launch us across the gentle flow in no time, and as he pulls us onto the bank I can hear the natives diving in on the opposite side. It is all uphill from here. Dax struggles to gain traction, he digs his claws into the rocky ground and I hear stones tumbling down the hill. A wide meadow of moss is the only thing that separates us from our pursuers. Another spear flies past me.
“What the hell?!” I shout, causing Dax to bark out a laugh.
“I have never heard you curse before, Vivian! I was beginning to think you did not have it in you!”
“Oh, shut up!” I say blushing. Why does this man always have to make me feel so self-conscious?
Another one of those blood-curdling screams rings out, but this time it sounds like it’s coming from ahead of us. Dax grinds to a halt.
“Jesus, Dax! What are you doing? Go! Go! Go!”
Dax stays frozen for a second, taking in a big whiff of air through his nose before adjusting our course slightly. I look back again and scream at the nearness of a face staring back at me in the dark. It is one of the natives, hot on our trail, only a few arm lengths away. His eyes are wild and froth sprays from his mouth with each heaving breath he takes. He looks insane, animalistic, even, and I’m reminded of how Cahcook described their women.
Dax adjusts his course again and the man behind us gets close enough to make a swipe for me. I feel his claws skim my pant leg and hear the sound of material ripping. His claws snag and his fingers wrap around my ankle. Dax continues forward and I get tugged back, my grip around his neck faltering. Dax reaches an arm back to hold onto me and I kick my leg wildly, trying to free myself. Then, that horrible scream is right in my ear.
A dark blur in the night dives at the man clutching at my ankle, ripping him away from me. The shadow is massive and I immediately recognize it for what it is: a female native.
The fur covering her body is matted and the smell coming off her is putrid. She snarls and screams, and the male below her squeaks out his submission, struggling to get away. I look beyond the two and watch as a wave of dark, lumbering females overtake the silhouettes of the males pursuing us. Dax slows to a halt.
“Don’t stop!” I screech desperately, but I hear beeping and my brain registers the fact that he is working a control panel. We are at the pod, oh thank goodness, we are at the pod! The ramp slowly begins to fold down and I slip off his back, squeezing in through the still-slim opening into the safety of our pod.
“Come on, come on, come on!” I urge, but he waits until the ramp is fully extended before sauntering in through the doorway. I can hear screeching and whooping behind him, and it doesn’t sound too distant. “Jesus, Dax! Let’s get out of here! Come on!”
“I am trying to recall…perhaps you can help me? Whose turn is it to fly the ship?” he asks as he flops down into a seat, causing it to spin slowly.
“You’ve got to be kidding me!” I lament, running over to the control panels. I run my fingers over them hastily. “Dax, tell me how to shut the door!” My hands shake.
“Let’s see, I won the race to the stream—” he recounts.
“You cheated!”
Something on the control panel registers as familiar… I don’t have a perfect translation for it yet, but it looks like it could be right. I hit the corresponding button and the ramp begins to pull back up into the ship and the door closes us in, but not before I hear the wild shouts of the female natives sounding dangerously close.
“I did cheat. You have a point there…”
I grab his seat and spin it so he faces me, clutching the armrests I lean down into his face. “Dax, get me out of here now!”
He cocks his head to the side, assessing me. “You also admitted to cheating. So, I believe the two cancel each other out.”
Thunk!
Something collides with the side of the ship and I shoot my gaze toward the door. Then the pounding starts. The natives are trying to breach our ship.
Dax ignores it. “When we arrived here we agreed to me landing and you taking off.”
“Like hell I did!” I hear scraping at the metal hull and become desperate. “What do you want? Anything. Tell me what you want and I’ll do it. Just get me out of here.”
“I want you to fly the ship.”
“Dax, please! Now is not the time.”
“Now is the perfect time. You need to know how to fly under pressure, Vivian.”
The scraping at the door continues and we both shoot our gazes toward the sound.
“Do you think they can really get in?” he ponders, and it almost sounds like he doesn’t really know himself. “The males had very sharp claws,” he recalls. “But I imagine the females have even sharper ones.”
“You said this ship has guns, right?” I ask desperately.
“Vivian! Shame on you, we cannot kill them in cold blood!” he admonishes. “It is one thing to fight hand to hand, but another to gun them down. For goddess’s sake, all the males had were spears and the females had even less.”
“Argh!” I scream at him. “Fine! Fine! Fine! Fine!” I push away from him and angrily flop down into the captain’s seat. Instantly he hops up, full of excitement, and starts flipping switches and pushing buttons at the control panel.
“I had a feeling you would agree. You know, I think you secretly enjoy flying…or at least you will enjoy it—
I slap his hands away. “Get into your seat now,” I tell him, my voice heavy with authority.
“It is all yours, my mate,” he teases. I swing my arm to hit at him, but he sidesteps out of the way and plops back into his seat.
“And put your seatbelt on, or so help me God, I’ll sit here until those she-wolves break the door down!”
“If you are not my mate, then you must be my mother. You certainly speak as if you are one of the two,” he says, laughing as he pulls his restraints on.
“Okay, what do I—”
“The lever on the side, next to the steering column. Pull it all the way down in a smooth motion—”
I swing the thing down hurriedly and we shoot up into the air. The force pushes me back into my seat and the grating noise at the door finally fades away. Relief washes over me as I see the stars come into focus. It isn’t for some time that I register the sound of Dax laughing and I turn to glare at him, but I’m shocked by what I see.
His body is covered in a thick gleam of sweat and his arms are caked with black dirt all the way up to his shoulders. I can see shiny blotches of blood on his hands from running all the way to the ship on all fours. His hair is still wet from crossing the river and his braid is utterly disheveled. Despite all that, or maybe because of it, he looks so…happy. I rake my hand over my face and dissolve into a fit of laughter.
“Now that,” he says pointedly, “was fun.”
“Fun? You’re crazy, Dax! We barely got out of there with our lives!” I counter. But I’m still laughing. Suddenly Dax is up and out of his seat; he moves so quick that I’m shocked when I see the bare charcoal of his torso inches from my face. He lowers himself to crouch before me.
“Was that really so hard?” he asks, cocking his head at me, looking so alien and so masculine at the same time.
“What? Um, yeah! That was extremely hard! I almost became the slave queen to the barbarian ferret planet!”
“No, I do not mean that. You were smiling, my Vivian. Laughing, even. Was it truly such a hard thing to do?”
The look in his eyes is so smoldering hot that I flush, struggling to hold his gaze. I bite my lip and my heart amps up in my chest. I’m speechless, and when Dax reaches f
or me, I think…I think that maybe he’s leaning in for a kiss…
“You seem to have forgotten this,” he says, pulling my seatbelt around me and securing it.
“Oh…” I snort out an awkward laugh. “Silly me,” I say, more to myself than to him.
He gets back to his feet and throws himself into his own chair.
Chapter 16
Dax
Vivian is quiet again, tired perhaps after such a day. I am too wired to sleep, so I watch her, replaying the day in my mind.
I think of the way she interacted with the primitive people of the planet and the kindness she showed to the young boy who was so curious about her. Vivian is a surprising female, the physical strength she possesses is a shock in and of itself. Even in her swimming I found myself impressed with her power. But perhaps I was most especially impressed with her stunt on the vines. I imagine the chaos it would have caused if the natives had seen her perform such a thing, and suddenly I am laughing again.