Alien Mine (34 page)

Pity coursed through her, even though, in barely a half an hour, he'd managed to beat the spirit right out of her. She recognized his illness now. It was drug-resistant pox, and it had already affected his brain. Her father had assured her that, by an accident of nature, she was immune to most of the new drug-resistant illnesses and she prayed it was true.

At least, Murdoch didn't realize that he was dealing with two alien ships. Let him think Zacar was a mercenary. He'd find out his mistake soon enough.

"Tell me how many mercenaries you hired."

"I've only ever seen four of them. The, uh, commander keeps the rest busy doing things all over the mountain." It was true enough, she'd never seen the rest of Zacar's warriors.

"You expect me to believe he took on my camps with only four men?"

He stared at her then laughed, as though he didn't want to believe her.

"It's true. I only ever saw four of them but I know there's more w--soldiers," she slurred, her lips so swollen she could barely form the words. .

He screamed and fell on her, slapping her off the chair again then pummeling her with his fists. She'd somehow expected it to be easier to bear this time, but it was worse. She covered her stomach with her arms and screamed, crying and begging for him to stop. She knew if she lived through this, she'd never be able to look Zacar in the face again. He despised weakness and her pleading and begging was weakness of the worst sort.

Most of all, she feared for her babies. She hunched her body and covered her stomach with her arms, even when he kicked her in the face.

When he finally stopped, she thought he would tell her to get up on the chair again. But instead, through her muffled sobbing, she heard him walk away. As her sobs slowly petered out, her body too sore and exhausted to even continue crying, she became aware of gunshots firing, men yelling, and the shrill screams of women. She even heard dogs barking outside the tent. Every now and then, amidst the chaos, she heard a child scream.

She knew this sound, remembered it from that day months ago.

Zacar was coming.

She closed her eyes and slumped in relief. She was fiercely glad that he would kill Murdoch and all his evil men, but she couldn't face him. Not like this. Not knowing that she'd begged and pleaded for Murdoch to spare her.

"What the hell is going on?" Murdoch shouted.

He wiped his sweating brow with his already sweating hand. Natalie cringed when he grabbed her with that same hand and dragged her outside. Where was he taking her? Would he give her to his men?

He pressed something cold against her temple. She forced one swollen eyelid open into a slit, but could only make out a large figure moving toward them. But, even blurred, she knew that figure.

In his human disguise, Zacar stood, with his feet braced apart and his arms held loosely beside his body. She'd seen that stance in their training sessions and she smiled to herself. Murdoch was going to get it now and he didn't even know it.

The cold way Zacar's eyes flickered over her before he focused on Murdoch wiped the smile from her lips. Had he heard her beg and scream like a coward? He didn't show any sign of concern that she'd been beaten, but then he rarely showed emotion. Still, he could have at least asked her if she was all right.

"Natlia, when he gets angry at me and threatens to shoot me, fall to the ground," Zacar said.

Shocked for a moment that he'd spoken so matter-of-factly to her, she nodded ever so slightly in acknowledgement.

"Stop talking in that filthy language or I'll shoot you!" Murdoch screamed hysterically.

Natalie dropped to the ground and all hell broke loose. Murdoch swore viciously when she suddenly became dead weight and slipped from his grasp. A vicious kick to her side had her screaming in pain. Another kick. Then she heard a roar so loud it echoed off the surrounding mountain side. She covered her head with her arms and waited. She hoped that Zacar would stop Murdoch before he could deliver a third kick.

But they all underestimated Murdoch's sense of self preservation. When he saw the big alien coming at him, he grabbed Natalie and dragged her in front of him.

"Who are you?" he screamed.

Zacar didn't answer, just kept coming.

"I'll snap her neck before you can get to her."

His hold tightened until she though he would break her neck anyway. Zacar stopped and watched him like a snake, mesmerizing its prey. Then he changed to his battle form.

"What are you?" Murdoch screamed in a high shrill voice.

"Your end," Zacar said simply.

He held up a small silver gadget. Suddenly a heavy weight fell on her but it lifted almost immediately. She looked up when she was lifted to her feet and had never been so glad to see Zurian's scarred face. While Zurian took a few steps back with her, she looked back toward Zacar and saw him pick up Murdoch by his shirt.

"You beat my breeder." Even knowing that menace was directed at someone else Natalie still shivered in dread.

"Please I have to get the formula," Murdoch begged in a whiny voice. "I'll split the profits with you."

Zacar hit him. Murdoch flew through the air and fell in a heap among the garbage littering the camp. The few remaining raiders scattered in all directions. Zurian and Azagor picked them off easily and without mercy.

Zacar advanced on Murdoch. Natalie was so focused on them that she nearly jumped out of her skin when Zurian placed her behind him.

"Please stay behind me."

He aimed a large, silver, gun-like object at the fleeing raiders and most of them fell down. Knowing they had advanced technology didn't prepare Natalie for the way three warriors killed all the raiders while Zacar beat Murdoch until he was a bloody mess.

She flinched every time she heard Zacar's fist thump against Murdoch's flesh.

"Please alien, I'll give you anything you want. Just stop--" Murdoch's pleading was cut off with another dull thud.

Laser blasts pierced the air over her head and she heard terrible screams. Then suddenly, it was eerily quiet.

"Natlia. My breeder."

Natalie laughed weakly. "I suppose it could be worse. You could call me your number one breeder."

His big hand was trembling as he checked her over carefully.

"Zacar, I need Viglar--"

Before she finished the sentence, the doctor was there, flashing his silver instrument over her. She was afraid she wouldn't be able to move easily for a long, long time.

"My babies, please."

He nodded and continued to scan her. "The little warriors are fine."

Natalie sagged in relief. Zacar held her while Viglar checked her over and sealed her wounds with a glue-like substance.

"Zacar, Murdoch killed an alien woman. They did terrible things to her." She couldn't bring herself to say what was actually done.

"One of my men found her body," he said, as if he wanted to kill the raiders all over again.

"Who was she?"

"We don't know. That spacecraft is not known to us."

"Murdoch said he killed an alien and took his woman. That the spaceship had crashed near here in the woods. I assumed it was one of your warriors' ships."

"We have only sent out probes. My warriors haven't started to patrol yet."

"Zacar?"

"Yes?"

"I--no, never mind." Maybe he hadn't heard her beg Murdoch to spare her and she didn't want to tell him.

Zacar looked around, focusing on Murdoch's battered body for a moment. Natalie couldn't grieve his passing.

"I will take you back to the cave," he said. "There is nothing left here."

Never had she heard anything so welcome. She wanted to be in the cave, safe with Zacar. Right now, she was too tired to even care if Zacar only wanted her for breeding.

***

Zacar wrapped a blanket around her and carried her into the cave to their tent. He laid her down and leaned over her with his hands on each side of her. "You will never leave this cave alone again."

"All right." She'd learned her lesson. The next time, she'd steal some of his weapons before she ventured outside. But she wouldn't do that for a while.

"And if you do, you always carry a weapon."

"All right."

"I will teach you how to shoot and fight."

"All right."

"You cannot escape me."

"I know."

"You should say all right," he said, quite serious. "I feared I would not be in time." His voice belonged to her Zacar again, not the monster who told her how he planned to conquer her people.

Wiping the tears from her eyes, she wished the alien woman could have returned home safe as well.

"Sleep now, Natlia. Tomorrow, we'll talk."

She didn't want to talk. She just wanted to stay here in her tent where she was safe and free from her aches and pains.

Then the doctor pressed something against her neck.
When did he arrive
? It was her last thought before she passed out.

Chapter 16

Natalie stretched, moaning a bit when every muscle and bone in her body protested, and instantly remembered the day before.

Was it the day before?

She tried to open her eyes but couldn't. Something was wrong with them. Lifting a trembling hand, she blindly touched her face, shocked at the misshapen and swollen mess she found. Salty tears seeped out of her swollen eyelids and dribbled down her cheeks, burning her raw skin. Her face hurt. Her arms and her sides hurt. She moaned again as her memory replayed each punch and kick. If it hadn't been for the jacket Zacar had given her, she probably--no, definitely would've died.

She tried to open her lids again but only managed a slit before it hurt so much she gave up. Moving with slow awkward shifts, she tried to find a position that was bearable. From the little she'd managed to see, she knew she was on their bed in the tent. But even if she hadn't been able to see, the way her surroundings smelled of Zacar would've told her where she was. And she could feel her mother's patchwork quilt covering her.

Slowly, she traced the squares her mother had sown with care that cold winter so long ago. She should've stayed in bed yesterday. Then maybe she wouldn't have asked about his mother and Zacar never would've savaged her soul. Maybe the raiders wouldn't have captured her and Murdoch wouldn't have finished on her body what Zacar had started on her emotions.

The hair at the back of her nape lifted and she stilled, gripping the patchwork blanket with tense fingers.

"You are awake?" Zacar asked from the door.

She lifted her eyelids as far as they would go and saw him standing there, looking at her. She thought she saw something in his hand before her eyes wouldn't stay open anymore. "Yes, I'm awake." And feeling so vulnerable. She could barely move and with her eyes swollen shut she could hardly see.

When she saw him coming for her in Murdoch's camp, she'd been overjoyed. She'd known she was safe and that he'd come to take her home. But it wasn't that simple anymore. She wanted him to hold her, tell her he'd keep her safe and that he loved her. He'd told her the only reason he fed her so tenderly, cared for her with such dedication was to ensure she couldn't commit suicide like his mother did.

What did he want? Why didn't he speak? Yesterday, he certainly had a lot to say for himself.

"Your little warriors are fine. You can go back to your important warrior duties now," she said bitterly, but guilt at her attitude quickly replaced her anger. If he hadn't come for her yesterday, she would've been dead by now. She'd always be grateful for that. Even if her heart had been left in broken pieces on the cave floor yesterday. "Thank you for rescuing me," she mumbled. Not a very graceful thanks, but that was what he came to find out, wasn't it? To see if his little warriors were all right?

He walked over to the bed and sat down. Heat filtered through the blanket and into her skin. She had to stifle the urge to move closer to his familiar body heat.

"It is my duty to protect you. A duty I failed."

Was that all she was to him? A duty? But really, why was she surprised? He'd made himself clear yesterday. So it shouldn't hurt anymore. After everything he told her, her heart should be immune to the careless wounds he inflicted.

Taking her hand in his, he traced her palm with a blunt finger. She forced her eyes open, checking quickly that his claws were retracted. It had been unnerving yesterday, feeling them against her skin.

He saw the direction of her glance and held his big hand up in front of her. "It shames me that I showed them to you in anger. I did not act like a warrior with honor."

She heard him fiddle with something and she smelled the salve he'd used on her when she'd nearly frozen to death. He took her arm and smeared it liberally over her skin.

"A warrior with honor does not show his claws in front of his breeder, unless he needs to defend her." Moving on to her face, he gently rubbed the salve over her swollen lips, jaw, and cheeks.

She would've protested at the foul smell, but she remembered how much it'd helped before. That long ago day when she'd tried to escape. If it would help with the deep throbbing ache she felt in every corner of her body, she'd tolerate anything. It was sad that her body responded to his touch while she knew he only wanted to use her as a breeding machine.

"Keep your eyes closed," he said. "I am going to put this on your eyelids. Keep them closed until I tell you to open them."

"I don't think I can open them anymore anyway."

Cool salve touched her lids, her cheeks under her eyes, and her brows. His leathery finger gently stroked in the salve.

"Keep your eyes closed," he said almost tenderly.

When his fingers left her face, she asked, "For how long?"

"Five more minutes," he said, opening her robe.

He'd seen her naked many times before but she was ashamed for him to see her bruises. She moaned and tried to draw the material closed over her breasts. "Please, Zacar. I don't want you to see." Why couldn't she stop crying?

"We both know I acted with no honor yesterday. These bruises are my shame, not yours."

Always before, he'd sounded in command, so sure of himself. Now she heard a tentative note in his voice.

"Zacar? I begged him to stop. I told him the formula was hidden in the cave--told him that so that he'd stop hurting me and come here instead."

The words spilled out of her mouth before she knew she was going to say them. At least now she didn't have to live with the fear of him finding out how cowardly she'd acted.

"You did the right thing. You are not a warrior. It was clever of you to want to send him here where I could kill him."

"But I begged him like a coward."

Maybe he didn't understand how she'd crawled and sobbed, pleaded and begged. More tears fell at the memory. For the first time, she had an inkling why women in those camps had such empty eyes. They had retreated into themselves out of self-preservation.

"You are not a coward. I will never allow you to be in danger again."

"I still feel as if I should've been braver. To at least try to do something. He could've killed me. Could've killed my babies."

"Natlia, fierce warriors have begged me to spare their lives before I even had a thought to harm them. You are not a warrior. Do you know what I tell trainee warriors?"

She would've shaken her head but feared it might split apart.

"I tell them, if they are ever captured, to stay alive at all costs. If that means begging until more of us come to free them, then they should do it."

No matter what he said she knew she'd acted like a coward. She searched for something else to say to change the topic.

"How did all those raiders sneak up on you? I thought they couldn't get up the mountain without you knowing." She didn't believe any of his warriors would ever beg, but as least she didn't feel as if she should be hiding in a deep dark hole anymore.

"They didn't sneak up on us. We allowed them to come up the mountain. But I never thought you'd go out of the cave. I was about to confine you to your tent when we saw you outside and the raiders taking you."

She lifted her lids a fraction. His fists opened and closed, and she knew he blamed himself for her getting kidnapped. Yesterday, she would've taken those big hands in hers and soothed them. Today, she didn't have it in her to be rejected again. He was silent for a long time, seeming to struggle with himself. He smeared some of the salve on her ribs.

"The jacket you gave me helped a lot," she mumbled. When he kicked me, I..."

Her words trailed off as his hand stopped. For a long time, no sound or movement came from him. She had the feeling if he could have, he would've killed Murdoch again.

"He kicked you?" he whispered at last. "He dared kick a breeder from the family of--" He bit off his words and continued to rub salve on her wounds. "From now on, you will wear proper Zyrgin boots and clothes."

His voice was calm, but she wasn't fooled. Any raider left alive had better find a deep dark hole to hide in.

Natalie nodded. After the way the jacket had cushioned Murdoch's kicks, Zacar would have a hard time getting her to wear anything
but
Zyrgin clothing.

"Open your eyes now," he said after a few minutes.

She blinked her eyes and although they still felt swollen, she could open them almost fully now. She lifted her hand then fisted it and lowered it back to her side. She must appear hideous.

Zacar sat bent over her, rubbing salve into her bruises with fierce concentration. He looked like the man she fell in love with during the long winter trapped together in the cave. But she knew that man was an illusion. He'd fed her only to ensure she didn't starve herself. Cared for her only to ensure she stayed in good health so that she could breed little warriors. When they had sex, it didn't mean making love to him, but breeding.

As if he could read her thoughts, he said, "My family honor is flawed. I should have told you this upfront."

"What do you mean?" she asked, not sure she really wanted to know. She didn't want another round of being emotionally ravaged at the mention of his mother.

"When you hit me with your twig, I thought to stay and find out more about you."

"Oh." The memory of when she'd clubbed him wasn't so amusing anymore, but she wondered if he said this to charm her.

"I should have told you about the stain on our family honor."

"What? What didn't you tell me?" Did he mean his mother's suicide was a stain on their family honor and reflected on his father?

"That my father didn't care for my mother as he should have."

"What kind of care are we talking about here?" At least she didn't see his claws like yesterday when they talked about his mother. Was it only yesterday? So much had happened it felt as if many days had passed.

"Turn over. I need to do your back."

She didn't want to turn over. She wanted to look at him, to try and gauge what he felt. Afraid he wouldn't tell her more if she didn't comply, she rolled over. Already the pain was receding.

"The lea--my father is a very busy man." He rubbed her back with the salve and she moaned softly. The ache receded, a warm tingling replacing it. What was he going to say before he changed his words? Did she really want to know? All his revelations had been bad ones and she didn't think she could take any more.

"My mother wanted things to be different," Zacar continued. "She could not accept that we never changed, never adapted to the customs of the inferior races we conquered."

Natalie thought of the way he refused to tell her his plans, refused to tell her anything about his culture, his thinly veiled contempt of humans. She couldn't imagine being trapped on his planet, isolated with a man who wouldn't be willing to compromise even a little.