“Daeman looked well pleased with himself yesterday when he reappeared. Don’t know where he disappeared to, but he sure did look happy when he came back.”
Loren felt her face redden.
“I guess that’s why his ‘brothers’ took him off in the jungle and beat the shit out of him.”
Loren snapped a quick look at her. “What?”
Karen shrugged. “Yeah, well, I’m thinking that might be why neither me nor Shara could tempt Jalen and Adrin with our offers of TLC. They already had their eyes on the doe they were planning on rutting.”
Loren stared at her in disbelief. “You’re making that up just to scare the piss out of me! That isn’t funny!”
Karen shrugged. “Truthfully, I noticed right off that the Deisen had tunnel vision and their crosshairs were on you. I didn’t mention it because I could see you were already unnerved just because you noticed Daeman’s interest.”
“My god!” Loren gasped. “Don’t tell me you’re jealous? You have four wonderful Hirachi falling all over themselves to make you happy and you’re jealous?”
Karen glared at her for a moment and then reddened. “Not really ….”
“Well you shouldn’t be! I feel badly for them that they don’t have anyone and, honestly, worry, too, because it’s bound to create problems. Men only seem to get more aggressive and more dangerous when their semen backs up into their brains and the Deisen are already a lot more aggressive and territorial than the Hirachi are.
“I gave in to Daeman mostly because he scared the pure hell out of me, but clearly it did more harm than good if what you say is true.”
She felt uncomfortable as soon as she said it. It was only the truth insofar as her initial reaction, though. He’d totally bowled her over. She didn’t know whether to attribute it totally to his prowess as a lover or if she’d felt so swept away by his lovemaking because she cared more about him that she wanted to admit, even to herself, but she figured that was her problem and her business.
Karen let out an irritated huff. “You’re right. I’m sorry. I honestly only offered Jalen sex because I thought we needed to diffuse the situation before we had serious trouble on our hands.” She seemed to wrestle with herself. “I enjoyed it thoroughly, though, and I can’t help it that I think he’s cute and sexy and tempting—even if I already have, like you said, the Hirachi.”
Loren drained her water and got up to renew the search for food. “I think it’s way too dangerous to play with the demon-looking aliens, Karen. Have at it if you’re determined to, but don’t come crying to me when you discover Jalen will expect you to be his woman exclusively and denounce the Hirachi—because he will. They have a completely different way of looking at this than the Hirachi do. I doubt they’d be willing to share if they didn’t give a damn about you. It’s not that I think they aren’t worthy of love. Kael respects them and I respect his judgment. They’re only seeing half the picture, though. They respect the Deisen because they’re men of honor and they’re good fighters and hunters. I appreciate that, too. I think they’re good men and they’re very worthy of love and I think they need it just as much as everybody else does.
“But I love Kael and Dakaar and Balen. I know that if I searched a million years that I would never find anyone better or more worthy of love. I’m not going to turn my back on them because of some kind of misguided idea that Daeman—or any of the others—might need me more. I would give to him willingly if I believed he would be satisfied with what I could give him, but he wouldn’t be—he never would be. Even if I was stupid enough to give up my lovers for him, he would always think about it and it would always bother him and there would never be any chance for happiness or harmony.”
She was upset enough she’d lost all interest in food by the time she’d finished, but she left Karen and went to find something to eat anyway. She was weak from hunger and she was very much afraid that her men were going to be focused on convincing her of their devotion for a while.
She wasn’t especially happy when she discovered she was right. Daeman, either because he’d never been interested in more than assuaging his needs, or because of the fight with the other Deisen, or because of the hostility and grim determination of her men, went back to staring at her hungrily from a distance. And, since Karen had made her aware of it, Loren also discovered that Karen hadn’t been exaggerating—Jalen and Adrin also kept her in sight at every opportunity until she began to feel like a lamb tied to a stake outside of a cage full of lions.
Kael, Dakaar, and Balen were on their metal and not only kept close watch on the lions, they seemed determined to convince her and the lions that she was taken and well fucked. She didn’t need the lions.
Jalen, Adrin, and Daeman began to spend almost as much time trying to pound each other into the dirt as they did hunting and they spent ‘rest’ time glaring daggers at Kael, Dakaar, and Balen—who went out of their way to provoke them either by molesting her right under their noses or simply smirking at them complacently.
Loren was beginning to wonder just how long she could hold out and when the big bang was going to hit when something completely unexpected happened.
* * * *
As tired as she was, Loren had gotten into the habit of going down to the bay to sit on the edge of the gangplank and watch the men return from their hunt. She would’ve gone tonight in any case since she had news to tell them that she thought would please them as much as it did her.
She’d finally completed her scanner and she, Karen, and Shara had gone out to search for edible plants to round out their meals. It had been something of a trial, for all that, but Karen and Shara were busy inside preparing their first natural harvest to go with their meal that night so she thought it was worth it.
She hoped it was. The roots they’d gathered had scanned as having a very similar composition to a potato, but the taste would be the real test.
The Deisen, who’d taken to hunting on their own, had returned earlier than the Hirachi and had insisted on accompanying them to guard them. Loren certainly wasn’t against it. The jungle unnerved her even during the day, but all three of them had been so focused on helping her that both Karen and Shara had been more than a little miffed and it had begun to look like the Deisen would begin to fight among themselves.
It had been enough to encourage her to end the search as soon as she decided they’d gathered enough for one meal. There didn’t seem much point in gathering more, anyway, until they knew whether or not the roots would be palatable.
She always worried when the men left anyway and watching for their safe return so that she knew the moment they were back and safe meant that she could stop worrying. Besides, she enjoyed watching them. They always seemed happiest when they’d spent the day in the sea, but either way she got to watch them together and it was comforting to her to see the bond between them—all of the Hirachi, not just her Hirachi. They depended on one another and she felt that the tight bond between them meant that they would watch each other’s back.
She could almost picture them as group of ordinary Earth men when they were laughing and joking with one another, a group of good buddies gathered around a bonfire to swap tales about their hunting experience.
As she watched them make short work of the beast they’d brought in, however, she saw all of them abruptly tense, as if they caught some sound she’d missed, or a scent. Her heart thudded with sudden uneasiness as they came slowly to their feet and turned to survey the jungle beyond the dancing light of the fire.
Unconsciously, she imitated their sudden alertness, getting to her feet and scanning the dark shadows. She’d just spotted something moving in the shadows when the Deisen landed on the gangplank in front of her like three cats springing a trap for their prey. She jumped, sucking in a sharp breath.
“Go inside, Lau-ren,” Daeman said in a low growl.
Loren took a step back. “What is it?” she whispered shakily.
“No know. Some ting big. Or many tings. Go!”
She retreated a few more steps but she wasn’t about to let Kael and Dakaar and Balen out of her sight. “They’re still out there—Kael and the others,” she objected.
Jalen and Adrin turned to look at her.
“You stay, we protect. You go, we help dem,” Adrin said tightly.
She debated a moment more and turned and fled toward the lift. She could get the computer to use the exterior sensors to bring up a display, she decided, although she had no idea how it was going to help them for her to watch.
* * * *
Kael studied the moving shadows hard, waiting for the moment when they reached a point where his vision could pierce the darkness and identify what sort of men were approaching their camp. They were using little stealth, which meant they had either underestimated the Hirachi, or they were poor at stealth, or they their intention was not to attack.
He discarded the last two. They had no friends on this world and no people that lived on it would be unaccustomed to moving through the jungle with stealth.
He flicked a glance at Dakaar. “Lau-ren?” he asked quietly.
Dakaar spared a glance toward the ship. “Inside. The Deisen are guarding the ramp.”
“Balen—go close the bay door—from the inside. She will need a warrior to protect her if this goes badly.”
Balen had already begun to turn away to follow the order. At that, he hesitated, flicking a glance from Kael to Dakaar and then to the jungle. Finally, he merely nodded and began to drop back slowly. Whoever was watching was bound to notice anyway when he had the disadvantage of being well lit from the firelight, but he hoped to avoid touching off an attack before he could reach the door. He might need time to figure out how to close it.
“Can you see them?” Daeman asked when he reached the gangplank.
“Not yet, but they are coming directly toward us.”
“We will guard the ramp.”
Balen met his gaze. “Kael has ordered the door shut in case we are overrun.”
Daeman stared at him for a long moment and finally nodded. Glancing at Jalen and Adrin, he motioned for them to advance and the three of them moved slowly down the ramp toward the Hirachi.
Some of his tension ebbed as Kael finally caught sight of the man in the lead of the band moving toward them. Confusion rose in its place. Unless his eyes betrayed him, the leader, at least, was Hirachi. He flicked a questioning look at Dakaar and discovered that he was still staring hard at the men approaching.
“Hirachi,” he murmured finally. “I cannot make out the tattoo the leader wears.”
Kael narrowed his eyes. “Trilanka.”
Dakaar glanced around at the others in their group as they began to murmur to one another.
He could relate to their confusion, Kael thought wryly. There were many clans of Hirachi on Ach, but they had not warred with one another since before the sheloni had begun to prey upon them. They had managed to maintain a shaky peace for nearly a generation before the sheloni had come. The aliens had so decimated their populace that many of the clans had united not only to fight a common foe, but to survive.
He would not have questioned, before, whether the band approaching them had peaceful intent or not, but times had changed and the Hirachi had never been prone to welcome strangers into the midst who came by dark.
“That is close enough!” he said abruptly, tensing in anticipation that the warning itself would be enough to precipitate the attack—if that was their intention.
The leader halted, however, signaling to the men behind him to stop. “We apologize for approaching the camp after dark, but we have been three days walking here from our village. Will you welcome us when we have traveled far to welcome you to our world?”
Kael frowned, considering. He sensed that Dakaar was watching him, waiting for some signal.
“How many do you bring to welcome us?”
There was amusement in the stranger’s voice. “You are Hirachi. How many do you count?”
“I count twelve—including you, tall one. Come. We have made a kill and you are welcome to share it with us.”
The leader stepped from the jungle and into the light of the fire.
Kael studied him assessingly. “Your village is three days from here? Or it took you three days to find us by the fires?”
The leader indicated the machine with a nudge of his chin. “We saw the air ship when it came down. Our village is three days from here.”
That explained a lot and Kael relaxed. “You did not come in welcome,” he said flatly.
“Nay, we came to see what the trader was up to,” the stranger responded easily. “He was told that he was no longer welcome if he brought slaves to sell. I see his air ship, but I do not see that slimy bastard.”
“You will not—not in this lifetime.”
The stranger nodded. “He has found his reward for the choices he made. That is always good, but my woman will be disappointed that we can no longer look forward to the trade goods that he brought.” He grimaced. “I am disappointed, also. We had been gathering a load of jasumi to trade for more machines to help with our harvest.” He stepped closer and offered the traditional Hirachi greeting. “I am Khan.”
The men who’d accompanied him filed into the clearing and settled their packs to unload them of the food they’d brought with them to contribute to the meal as Khan and Kael settled to talk.
When Kael was finally satisfied that his trust in the strangers was not misplaced, he sent Dakaar to ask the women if they would like to join them in feasting with the Hirachi clan that had arrived.
He had a bad moment when Dakaar returned with Lau-ren, Ka-ren, and Shara. Khan’s eyes settled immediately on Lau-ren and there was appreciation in them that Kael did not care for. “You are from the same world that my woman is from,” he murmured, smiling. “Miranda will be joyous.”
Loren frowned in confusion and glanced at Kael questioningly.
“She cannot speak our tongue,” Kael said.
Khan’s brows rose. Amusement flickered in his eyes. “She is your woman, yes? How do you communicate if she cannot speak our language?”
Kael grinned abruptly, slipping an arm around Lau-ren’s waist and dragging her down onto his lap. “With great difficulty,” he said ruefully. “She was given the language spoken on the space station where we were imprisoned and we learned a little during our stay.”
“You seem to communicate well enough,” Khan said, chuckling. He looked at Loren with friendly interest and spoke to her in English. “My woman is from your world.”
Loren stared at him blankly for several moments before it sank in that he’d spoken English and what he’d told her. “She’s from Earth?”
He nodded. “Where all the most beautiful women come from,” he said gallantly.
Loren felt her face heat, but she chuckled. “I don’t imagine the Hirachi women would appreciate that.”
He glanced around and then spread his hands. “They are not here to take exception.”
Loren’s amusement died. “Actually, there are some here. They’re in the pods. We were nearly starving by the time we got here. There wasn’t enough food to share and, well, we’ve only been here about a week. We didn’t want to awaken any of them until we knew there’d be enough food to go around.”
Khan nodded. “A wise decision.” He returned his attention to Kael. “You have not said what it is that you have to trade.”
Kael shrugged. “We have not really assessed what is in the ship. We searched it, of course, when we took it, looking for things that we would need ourselves and to make certain we had the ship to ourselves.” He hesitated. “I don’t suppose you will be surprised to learn that the trader was still very active in moving slaves. There are people on the second level from at least four different worlds, I believe, including many of our own people. They are in some sort of strange machine, but they are being fed—which was more than we could do for them.”
“How many?” Khan asked grimly.
“There are more containers empty than filled. We counted a hundred seventeen. A quarter are women—some Hirachi, some Earth women, some Deisen—some like the blue woman. The rest are males—from the same worlds where the women were taken.”
Khan nodded. “You were wise to leave them,” he said wryly. “We have had a bountiful harvest but it will not feed so many. Nor can we house them.” He paused. “Miranda will not be happy, but we must be practical.”
“Mayhap it will be best not to tell her,” Kael said, amused.
Khan snorted. “You may be certain that she will worm it out of the women.”
Kael transferred his attention to Lau-ren, pulling her against his chest and stroking her hair. “We had not planned to stay. We came for food because our women were starving. I do not know that Lau-ren will want to stay.”
Khan studied the two of them for a long moment. “I think you will find that your Lau-ren will stay where ever is best for the babe she carries … and I am certain there is no better place than this. Bring her to our village. She will see how well the Hirachi can provide for their women and you will not have to try to coax her. Our women are content.”
Chapter Sixteen
Loren was torn between uneasiness and excitement as she spied the first sign of the village Khan had told them about and was leading them to. She’d had her doubts when they’d set out and she hadn’t been particularly happy about the trek through the jungle itself or the two nights they’d spent camping along the way, but she hadn’t wanted to be left behind.
Karen had flatly refused to leave the ship. Kael had agreed that it was wise of her and generous to give up the trip in order to guard the ship. She thought it had been mostly for the sake of the men, who’d been disappointed, but Karen had decided to consider it a compliment and had talked Shara in staying, as well.
Kael had drawn the line then. Six men would stay to guard, the rest would accompany them. That ultimatum had made Loren a little uneasy, made her wonder if he really trusted Khan and his men after all, but it hadn’t taken long to realize that he had demanded the escort for the return trip—which they would making without Khan and his men.
Enslaved Book III: The Gladiators Page 26