Hunger (6 page)

“Don’t worry. I think I only have enough strength in me to get to the bed.”

“Then rest until I return.”

He left her alone. She stood waiting for him to leave the house, feeling awkward to be in his bedroom. However, as soon as the door closed and she heard the cruiser start up, she limped to the bed, lay down, still fully clothed, and although she needed the bathroom, she couldn’t face getting up and walking the short distance. Her hunger satisfied, warm and safe, her eyes closed and she slept properly for the first time in five years.

Thoughts of her were still in his head as he drove back to the tower. He planned to speak to one of the other council members and find out what news there was for support to have the human females all sent to the breeding house. Before he left for Earth there had been a small but strong following who did not want the females from Earth to pollute Karal.

In their minds, the females should be shut away and only used for mating purposes. Which was still his intention towards Evie. He sighed. He must not think of her by name. She was no more than a vessel for breeding the next generation of Karalians. He must never forget that.

Parking his cruiser, he went in to the tower, passing the guards who knew better than to challenge him. He was heading to the lower chambers when a voice called his name.

“Hier Ruler. I did not expect to see you here so late.” Ishk turned back to greet his superior.

“I could say the same about you, Ishk. Don’t tell me you have tired of your female already.”

“No. She is sleeping.”

“You have already performed the mating with her?” Lytril, Hier Ruler of Karal, asked.

As if it was his business.

Ishk shook his head. “No, Hier Ruler. As Okil has presumably already informed you, she is a little beaten up.”

“In what way?” Lytril was either very good at this game or truly had no clue.

“She had been taken by two humans and held captive. They planned to ransom her to us. As the lottery winner they believed she would be of value. They subdued her forcefully, for want of a better phrase.”

Lytril came closer. “I have not read Okil’s report yet, or seen him; I was in a meeting with the Hier Commander when you returned. Was it dealt with?”

“Okil terminated one of the persons involved; the other was framed for the murder. We believe he has since been terminated by the Earth police.”

“Good,” Lytril said, looking hard at Ishk. “
The female
. You have not softened, then, Ishk?”

“No. Hier Ruler, the female is not to my taste. I will mate with her as is my duty, and then she will be sent to the breeding house. There she will remain until the child is born. What you do with her after that is up to you.”

“I thought your time on Earth might have given you some insight into humans.”

“It did, which is why she will be going to the breeding house. They are vermin, Hier Ruler. She has given me her word she will not leave my house. When she goes to the breeding house she, along with any others, must be detained. I will insist they are not given free run of our planet.”

“I understand that you do not look on them favourably. She will go to the breeding house if she conceives in the next few weeks. After that the females are to be allowed to live on the island of Grenvet. You know I have given my word on that.”

“I know,” Ishk said, keeping the anger from his voice. “It is I who am tasked with relocating any of our people who do not wish to live with the females in such close proximity.”

The Hier Ruler bowed. “Then I will let you get on with your work.”

Ishk smiled, his thoughts on the Hier Ruler under control so that the colours did not race across his skin. But he knew that there needed to be a change in the way things worked on Karal. He went off to meet his fellow conspirator; he had no intention of allowing Grenvet to be violated by human females.

***

By the time he reached his house his mood was black. The Hier Ruler had made him uneasy, and then the meeting with the other Hier Council member who he thought he could count on had been, well … odd. There was an undercurrent of distrust between them now. If Ishk didn’t know better, he would think someone had either got to him, or made him an offer he couldn’t refuse.

And as he opened the door, Ishk could find only one person to blame. His female. Now, he planned to make her pay, he had tension in his body to release. Normally a long run across the open grasslands would be the thing to get rid of his bad mood. But the thought of the little human female in his bed waiting for him had given him an erection, and it seemed a pity to let it go to waste.

He opened the door, expecting to see her in his bed. However, his bed was empty. She had run. Despite everything he said, his threat of punishment, she had run. Now he would be faced with even more embarrassment: the very council member who wanted to keep these females locked up had lost his on the first night. His mood worsened when he realised she had no tag to enable them to track her, either.

Maybe he could track her himself just as his ancestors had tracked wild beasts across the open plains. Going to his closet, he pulled open the door; he would get his running shoes and a flashlight and try to hunt her down.

But as he stepped forward to pick up his shoes, his foot came into contact with something soft and warm. She hadn’t run; she was asleep on his closet floor.

The need to visit the bathroom had woken her. In a daze, she had figured out how the toilet worked and then gone back to bed. But the enormity of where she was and what had happened hit her and she lay awake listening to all the strange sounds around her. Animals she had never seen moved around outside, the sounds unknown, conjuring up images of terror.

Evie had done what she always did when she needed to feel safe; she had moved to the closet. Careful not to damage any of Ishk’s things, she had made a nest for herself, and, with a blanket for a pillow, she had curled up in a ball and slept. Deep, dark nothingness took hold of her and pulled her down into its safe cocoon.

Until something struck her.

It took a few moments for her to realise where she was. Then she saw Ishk looming over her. Instinctively she moved backwards as fast as she could, a wall preventing her from moving too far out of his reach.

Ishk was only a dark silhouette against the open closet. His expression unreadable, but across his skin colours skimmed, fading and then resurfacing, making him look ethereal. If angels existed, then this was what they would look like. But she had to remind herself he wasn’t an angel, and he was angry.

“Evie. What are you doing? I thought you had run away.” His looming bulk came towards her and she pressed herself back further, trying to evade him. Pausing, he let out a breath and the colours became more muted. “Evie. Did something happen?”

She shook her head, not knowing if he could see her. But her mouth refused to make a sound.
Be quiet, she had to be quiet
, the words of her mother came back to her.

Ishk moved, slower now, until he was kneeling on all fours. He had something in his hand: a knife, a club? Maybe he was going to beat her for causing him trouble; he had promised her punishment if she left. Her mind reeled, telling her it was OK. Yet Okil’s words came back to her, this man didn’t like humans, didn’t like Evie, and would no doubt think nothing of teaching her a lesson with his fists. He was, as far as she could tell, a bully.

Yet when he spoke his voice was softer, soothing, and the thing in his hand only a flashlight. He switched it on, and she had to blink until her eyes got used to its brightness. When she did, she saw a softness in his face, and she managed to stop the bone-shuddering fear from keeping a hold of her.

“I was scared.”

“Will you come out?” he asked, and offered her his hand.

She looked at his hand and then at his face. Was this a trick?

“I won’t hurt you. But you can’t sleep in here. Come out and sleep on the bed.”

She reached out and placed her hand in his, the colours of his skin shooting down to coalesce where her skin touched his, and she saw the shock on his face. Ishk helped her out and then released her, brushing her off as though she were a bug about to bite him. He had felt it too.

Too weary to give it much thought, she obediently got under the covers when he lifted them up. With only a moment’s hesitation he then climbed in too, although she was sure he would rather have spent the night in another room, as far away from her as possible. Which is how he slept on the bed, on the edge, his back to her. Yet he gave her a sense of security, because no one on Karal, not even the fiercest of beasts, would go up against this man.

***

She woke to bright sunlight and the smell of cooking. Unsure of how long she had slept, she got up, wincing at the pain in her ribs. A night’s sleep hadn’t helped, only made her stiffer. Holding onto the wall, as she made her way to the kitchen, her face contorted in pain, she was caught off guard by how peaceful and calm Ishk looked as he cooked.

Only when he looked up at her did his expression harden, although not so much as it had before. Today he didn’t hate her quite so much, but then the day was only just beginning. Or was it?

“I thought you were going to sleep all day,” he said mildly accusingly.

“I have no idea of what time it is. You should have woken me. Is there anything I can do to help?” She put her hand out to reach for the counter as the other hand left the wall. Everything hurt.

“No, you may go and sit outside; I don’t think I even trust you to carry the plates.” He returned to his stirring without another word.

The sun beckoned, the sky so bright, tinged with violet, she refused to let his mood dampen hers. Despite the way her body hurt, she felt lighter, longing to explore this new world.
New world
. Her head span a little at that thought. Yesterday, when they arrived, she had been so tired she hadn’t really taken the time to acknowledge what exactly her new life here meant.

When she had entered the lottery, she had never envisaged winning, and then everything happened so fast. To be sat here, with a different sun … wait, suns. Two suns could be visible overhead, discs of light circling each other. Her world span and a dizziness threatened to make her faint.

She took in deep breaths of the clean alien air, and it made her feel better. Although nothing could take away the weird feeling of not belonging. This wasn’t her world; she was living with an alien. An alien who hated humans. It was all wrong, so very, very wrong.

As she glanced around, she saw the flowers and trees in the garden before her, colours, life, the sound of insects. Stiffly rising to her feet, she walked over the grass. At least that looked familiar, green shoots prickling her bare feet. Going to the brightest flowers, she bent down and sniffed in their perfumed pollen. Life.

She could do this. Instead of being afraid, she needed to find excitement and wonder. If only she could get Ishk to like her enough to show her the world around them.

“Food,” he said from behind her. She turned back to the table and hobbled to it, her legs becoming a little better the more she used them.

“You have a beautiful garden,” she said, sitting down.

“Thank you.” He began to eat. Small talk was not his thing.

Taking the hint, she ate in silence too; closing her eyes occasionally and tilting her head back feel the sun on her face. This was bliss, about as close to heaven as she could come to while still breathing. His food was wonderful, the ingredients fresh. Nothing canned or fake, the flavours exploding over her tongue.

She wanted to ask him about the vegetables he had cooked, what they were called, how did they grow. Then a sorrow descended on her; she remembered her parents and how they used to grow what they could in their tiny back yard. How they would have loved it here. To have the space to nurture and grow their own food, safe and secure from thieves.

“Don’t you like the food?” he asked, jolting her back to the present.

“Oh, yes, very much. Sorry, I got lost in a daydream.” She ate, savouring each mouthful, trying to ignore the way he watched her. At first, it was surreptitious glances, and then longer stares. She smiled. “Do I fascinate you, or repel you?”

He looked away guiltily. “Neither. I was looking at your bruises.”

She put her hand to her face. “I forgot how bad I must look.”

“I have something for you.” He left the table and came back with a steaming bowl of water, which contained some kind of herb, which smelled foul.

Carefully eating the last mouthful of food, feeling particularly full, but not wanting to waste anything in case the next meal was a long way off, she placed her fork down. “I don’t have to drink that do I?”

“No. It’s for your wounds.” He produced a roll of cloth, dipped it into the water and said, “This may sting, but then it will go numb, the effect will last for several hours.”

“OK.” He pressed the cloth to her face and she hissed with shock. “You weren’t wrong.” But then the pain of her bruises disappeared, her face no longer throbbing. All she wondered was whether he planned to use it on the whole of her body.

As the colours skimmed his hand, catching her eye, she understood now why he was helping her. He probably didn’t want to have sex with her if her bruises hurt. Not because he had sympathy for her—she wasn’t that naive—but because it would no doubt be distasteful if his human female cried out in pain as he was coming inside her.

He had not planned to help her, or feel sympathy for her in any way. Even while he dabbed the
ocatha
remedy on her skin, he tried to fool himself. He was not thinking of how warm her flesh was. Or how the very scent of her made his cock harden. Instead, he was telling himself it was his duty to make her well so that he could breed with her and then send her away.