Barbarian Alien (23 page)

He looks confused. “If I had an idea, I would not be asking.”

I wave a hand. “Sarcasm. Ask Kira about it. Look, I just want to see Raahosh, okay? I miss him.” My voice breaks a little. “I want to know if he’s okay.” Actually, I know he’s not okay, but I want to see him anyhow.

I expect Aehako to put his foot down and demand that I go back to my bunk, but he glances around the cavern instead. He leans in again. “If I let you go out and talk to him, I must ask you to do something.”

“What’s that?” I try not to let my eagerness show.

For once, he’s not laughing or smiling. His face is drawn with tension. “You must tell him that he needs to leave here. He cannot stay.” When I gape, he continues. “It’s killing him. He’s hunting endlessly and not sleeping. He feels his only purpose is to provide for you, so he is destroying himself to do so. He has no sense of worth at the moment. You must convince him to leave and start a new life.”

My heart aches. What must Raahosh be going through? I feel guilty that I’m in here, with company, bathing in the pool while he’s out there, miserable and alone. I force myself to nod. “Of course.”

I’m full of lies. I have no intention on telling him to go away. But if that’s what it takes for Aehako to be convinced, I’ll say whatever I need to.

He studies me for a long moment and then nods. “Come, then.”

I have to bite back my excitement. My cootie immediately starts throbbing in my chest at the thought of Raahosh, and I press a hand over my breast to quiet it.

 
RAAHOSH

I rip an arrow out of my kill, rage the only thing driving me to keep going. Rage, and the need to provide for my mate.

They may keep her from me, but they cannot keep me from doing my duty to her.

I return the arrow to my quiver and pick up my kill. It’s a fat quill-beast, and should make a good meal for Liz. I picture her soft, pink lips curling up in a reluctant smile as she is fed, but lets me know she’s not happy about it. That she can feed herself, thank you. That she is as strong and capable a hunter as me.

I rub my chest, where it aches at the thought of her lovely face. My khui is silent. It feels the loss of her as keenly as I do.

It’s late, the moons high in the sky and spilling their light onto the snow. My bones ache with exhaustion and I can’t remember the last time I ate, but it doesn’t matter. Feeding Liz is the only thing that keeps me going. I have faint memories of my father’s despair at my mother’s death – his anguish and his inability to leave his bed for long periods of time to care for myself or the sickly baby brother who was destined to die without proper care.

Then, I did not understand his suffering. I do now. I am living it all over again.

Snowflakes whip into my eyes and the night breeze picks up. I immediately tense. The cold doesn’t bother me, but I worry about my Liz. Humans are so fragile. What if she is not kept warm by the others? What if they don’t look after her as I do? Panic clutches at my chest and I immediately grab my most recent kill and stalk toward the tribal cave. I will deposit Liz’s latest meal and then go hunting for the creature with the warmest fur I can find. Perhaps a shaggy dvisti. The females about to bear young have thick, woolly coats that would make a fine cloak for my mate–

Two figures appear in the snow. I see nothing but glowing eyes, and my hand clenches around my bow. One pair of eyes is about my height, but the other is much smaller and would barely reach my pectoral. The only things that size are…

Humans, I realize.

Liz!

I drop my kill and push forward through the snow, my khui immediately beginning to sing. Before I can even see her face, I can hear her khui, resonating to mine. It speeds my steps.

“Raahosh?” Her beloved voice calls out softly, and a moment later, her small body is in my arms. I crush her to my chest, my hand cradling her head as I rain kisses down upon her brow.

My Liz. My love. My everything.

Her arms go around me and she shudders. “Oh God, Raahosh. Your skin is like ice, baby. What are you doing out here at this time of night? You should be near a fire–”

“Shh,” I tell her. Nothing else matters but that she is here, and she is in my arms. Off to one side, I see it is Aehako with her, and my jealousy surges for a moment. He lingers about my mate, even though she belongs to me. I don’t like it, but she is safe at least.

Her small hands brush over my chest and then down my stomach and she gasps. “I can feel your ribs, Raahosh. Have you been eating?”

Have I? I don’t know. My thoughts have been bleak and not entirely my own since they took her from me. I shrug. “It’s not important. Are you well? Is our kit?” I touch her everywhere, stroking my hands down her arms and then across her belly.

“The baby’s fine, I have the morning barfs, and I’m going to be pregnant for three stinking years,” she says. “Can you believe that?”

“Yes?”

She pats my arm. “Sarcasm, baby.” Her hands slide under my tunic and I feel her fingers against my skin. She’s cold, but her khui is thrumming a song with mine and my cock reacts. I ignore it, because Aehako is still nearby, leaning against a rock and pretending he doesn’t hear us.

I pull one of her hands into mine and lace our fingers together, then kiss her knuckles. It doesn’t matter to me that she has four knuckles instead of three. She could have eight on each hand and she would be the most beautiful of all creatures. “Why are you here so late at night? Why is Aehako with you?”

“He’s guarding me,” Liz says, and turns her face up for a kiss.

I bend down to brush my mouth over hers, unable to resist. Then her words sink in and my body goes cold with fear. “Guarding you? Are you unsafe there? What–”

“Guarding me because they think I’m going to run away and join you.”

“Fools.”

“Smart,” she says. “I’d do it in a heartbeat. I want to be with you. I want our family to be together.”

Her words send an ache of longing through my body. I touch her pale, smooth cheek with infinite tenderness. “You must remain with everyone else, Liz. I have seen what it is like when one is exiled. It’s dangerous to be alone.”

“I wouldn’t be alone. I’d be with you. We can hunt together and have each other’s backs.”

I smooth my thumb over her lip. “And what about when our kit arrives? What then?”

“We’ll figure something out!” Her fingers tighten against mine. “I’m not letting them abandon you like your father did. You’re my mate and we’re going to be together.”

I shake my head. “Vektal has decided.”

She turns her face up to mine and the smile that curves her lips is one I recognize. It’s Liz when she has a plan and doesn’t care if you like it or not. “Then I’ll just have to change his mind, won’t I?” She wiggles her eyebrows at me. “I’m not going to rest until you’re back at my side, where you belong.”

“Do not put yourself in danger–”

“I won’t be,” she reassures me. “I have a get out of jail free card, remember?” And she pats her stomach.

None of those words make sense to me. “Jailfree?”

“Just trust me, baby.” She raises our linked fingers to her lips and kisses my knuckles like I kissed hers. “But give me a few days, all right? You have to take care of yourself for my sake. You have to sleep, and eat. I want my mate to live.”

I nod slowly, because living hasn’t really been on my mind. My only thought was to take care of Liz for as long as possible, until my energy was spent. But if she wants me to take more care with myself, I will. I slip my fingers from hers and brush them over her cheek again, where I feel the tears freezing to her face. “I will do anything you ask, my mate.”

“All I want you to do is trust me and take care of yourself,” she says. “I’ll handle the rest.” And when she turns her face up for another kiss, I cannot resist.

LIZ

It takes two days for the first present to show up at my doorstep.

It’s a present from one of the widowers. At first it enrages me, but then I decide it can be a tool.

I offer the small pouch of herbal teas to an elder woman named Sevvah at the pool that morning. She’s a nice lady, and the unofficial ‘mom’ of the caves. She’s Aehako’s mother, and affectionate with him and her other sons, Rokan and a young boy named Sessah. She always fusses over the pregnant girls despite the language barrier, probably because she wishes one of her sons had resonated. Sadly, she has three boys and all three are still at home with her. But I like her.

Georgie frowns as I offer the teas to Sevvah. The elder woman says something, smiling, and there’s not much that shows that Sevvah is older than the rest of us except for a few lines at the corners of her glowing eyes, and a pale streak of white in her long braid. “She says she can’t take it, Liz. That it’s a courting present from Vaza.”

“But I have a mate,” I say sweetly, and offer it to Sevvah again, with emphasis. I force it into her hands and then walk away before she can refuse.

Georgie gets up and follows me, a frown on her face. She’s pissy because, well, I’m being a dick and causing trouble. I question everything, from why the humans who mated have the smallest caves (which sets Ariana off into another crying fit), why the aliens lied to us about the seasons, and anything else I can think of. I have French Marlene convinced that she’s having a litter since her mate Zennek is close in age to his two brothers and they’re just lying to her about not being triplets. Oh, and Tiffany ended up fooling around with a guy but that went badly when she was surprised by the existence of his ‘spur’, which led to me, wide-eyed and declaring that they were withholding all kinds of information from the humans. Couple that with me not being super pleasant and now every time Vektal sees me, his eyes narrow and Georgie seems to wear a constantly exasperated look on her face.

Okay, so I might have taken things a bit too far when no one got me materials for new arrows and I spent the day declaring that ‘the man’ was keeping me down.

But really, it’s all part of my plan. I’m going to be such an asshole until I get what I want, and what I want is Raahosh back.

He’s still hanging around outside, and there’s a fresh quill-beast for my breakfast every morning. Overall, though, the hunting has slowed and I hope he’s taking my advice and looking after himself.

“What are you up to, Liz?” Georgie asks, still following me as I wind my way through the caverns and head back to the bachelorette cave.

“Who, me?” My voice is sweet. Truth is, she’s right to be suspicious. I’m always up to something.

“Yes, you. You’re going to give Vektal an aneurysm if this attitude of yours keeps up.”

“Then both of us will be without our mates,” I say as I glance over my shoulder.

“Very funny,” she says, her black expression telling me that she doesn’t find it funny at all. “You just gave away a courting present and hurt Vaza’s feelings. Now Sevvah feels awkward because she feels like she is interfering.”

“Then you keep it,” I say to Georgie. “Lord knows I don’t want it. I have a mate, remember? No one seems to be remembering that part.”

“Yes, but he’s exiled,” Georgie says, moving forward and grabbing my arm. “Is that your goal, too? To be such a jerk that you get exiled also?”

“Oh come on,” I say with a roll of my eyes. “Haeden’s a jerk and he’s not exiled. We both know that the only way you get exiled is to pull a stunt like Raahosh did….”

And then my plan blossoms into my brain.

I stare at Georgie, wide-eyed as she continued to talk, lecturing me about how we need to learn the rules of the sa-khui people and how to be good tribesmates and blah-blah. I’m not listening, because my mind is racing, instead.

Of course. Why didn’t I see this before?

I hug Georgie and cut her rant off mid-stream. “You’re the best, you know that?”

She blinks at me, surprised. “I am?” Her eyes narrow and for a moment she looks as suspicious of me as Vektal. “You’re not going to tell Stacy that they’re feeding her rats again, are you?”

“Moi?” I put a hand to my breast in mock-surprise. “And I didn’t tell her that they were rats. Just that they were
like
rats and they were doing it to see what humans would eat.”

“Uh huh,” Georgie says. “You realize she makes other people take a bite out of everything first now?”

Okay, so it wasn’t one of my finer moments. But in a sabotage campaign, a girl has to do some desperate things if she wants to get her mate back. And getting Raahosh back is my one and only goal.

• • •

It takes me a few hours to find the right time to implement my plan. I’m restless and wander through the caves, annoying everyone I run into until Kira takes pity on me. She hands me a woven basket. “Here. You can come with me to get more soap berries. We’re running low with all the new people in the caves.”

“You sure I can leave?” I give a pointed look over at Aehako, my ever-present guard. He stands a few feet away, whittling something out of bone with his knife. It looks a bit like a figure of a girl, but one side of her head has a blob on it that might be too obviously Kira. Interesting. The man’s making no bones about his interest in her, but Kira seems to be keeping him distant.

Not my problem at the moment.

She flushes and moves to Aehako’s side. “I’m taking Liz to go get soap berries. We’ll be in sight of the cave at all times. We won’t go far.”

He sheathes his knife, gets to his feet and stretches languidly, then rubs his stomach. “I’ll come with you.” I notice Kira’s gaze follows his hand.

My gaze follows his knife.

She makes a frustrated sound but Aehako won’t be deterred. We humans bundle up in cloaks and heavy boots, and then head out, baskets in hand. Aehako trails behind us a few steps, unobtrusive but always present. The day’s a bright one, with the twin suns high in the sky. They peek out behind the ever-present grey cloud cover and nearly give me snow-blindness with all the white around us. White hills of snow, white cliffs, white endless plains, white white white.

I see no Raahosh. It’s for the best if I’m implementing my plan, but I’m still hungry for a glimpse of his tall, lean body and scarred face.