Table of Contents

ALIEN ENEMY

NOTICES

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

CHAPTER ONE | Chapman

CHAPTER TWO | Fallo

CHAPTER THREE | Chapman

CHAPTER FOUR | Fallo

CHAPTER FIVE | Chapman

CHAPTER SIX | Fallo

CHAPTER SEVEN | Chapman

CHAPTER EIGHT | Fallo

CHAPTER NINE | Chapman

CHAPTER TEN | Fallo

CHAPTER ELEVEN | Chapman

CHAPTER TWELVE | Fallo

CHAPTER THIRTEEN | Chapman

CHAPTER FOURTEEN | Fallo

CHAPTER FIFTEEN | Chapman

CHAPTER SIXTEEN | Fallo

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN | Chapman

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN | Fallo

CHAPTER NINETEEN | Chapman

CHAPTER TWENTY | Fallo

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE | Chapman

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO | Fallo

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE | Chapman

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR | Fallo

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE | Chapman

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX | Fallo

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN | Chapman

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT | Fallo

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE | Chapman

CHAPTER THIRTY | Fallo

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE | Chapman

ALIEN ENEMY

Fated Mates of the Sea Sand Warlords

Book Two

By Ursa Dax

NOTICES

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be copied, used, transmitted, or shared via any means without express authorization from the author, except for small passages and quotations used for review and marketing purposes.

This is a work of fiction. All characters, events, and incidents in this novel are fictitious and not to be construed as reality or fact.

Alien Enemy Copyright © 2021 Veronica Doran

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Like always, thank you to my dearest life partner RSH for your unfailing support. And to my mother, SMD, who proofreads (and loves) all my work, thank you for everything you do. And to you, my readers and new friends, thank you for coming on this strange, steamy, incredible journey with me!

CHAPTER ONE

Chapman

I did not sign up for this.

I did not sign up to get jettisoned off of the face of the Earth. When I’d joined the army, sure, I’d wanted to protect and serve. But I assumed it would be done on my own goddamned planet. I didn’t think I’d be here, now, with my colleagues torn apart by alien crab monsters and a gaggle of weeping civilian women standing behind me, waiting for some kind of saviour.

Some kind of hero.

Only I wasn’t a hero. That had been my father, in the army before me, and look where that got him.

I could hear the alien monsters crashing through the ship behind us, the space ship that had brought us to this brutal desert planet. P14256ABX. The planet with the mysterious compound we were supposed to be negotiating with the alien natives to retrieve and study.

Well, at least one population among the natives was currently tearing our space ship, the SS Trailblazer, and my fellow soldiers and pilots, to bloody pieces. The mission had entirely gone to shit before it had even started. Alien screeching and the crunching of metal behind us made goosebumps break out over my skin.

We had made it into the cargo bay of the SS Trailblazer, away from the bridge where the crab monsters had first attacked just seconds after we’d landed. My gun, a pathetic human pistol that seemed to do shit-all against the aliens ravaging our ship, was held at the ready. I sprinted to the other side of the large cargo space, past rows of shelves and crates, to the keypad that would open the door on this thing. We were trapped in here. There was nowhere else to run. Nowhere but the wide expanse of the unknown desert.

Running into the desert with no idea of what may be out there wasn’t ideal. But it was sure as hell better than staying in here and waiting to get eaten the way my commanding officers and the pilots had been.

I typed furiously at the keys. I was the only staff member left. The only one who knew anything about this ship or its security protocols. I finished typing, slamming my security badge against the keypad’s surface, as the women who’d been plucked from our home planet of Earth crowded in and shook behind me. Yeah, I hadn’t signed up for that, either. For abducting civilian women and forcing them into the service of this mission. But by the time I’d known what was actually going on, it was far too late.

A click, followed by a shuddering metallic groan rang out, drowning out the sounds of the crab monsters getting ever-closer. The whole back wall of the cargo bay began receding upwards and inwards, like a garage door from back on Earth. Sunlight poured in, and a surging mixture of relief and fear twisted in my guts. Relief that we were no longer trapped in here. And fear for what may be outside.

No time to worry about that now.

Time to run.

As I sprinted, the terrified voice of one of the women shot out behind me.

“Wait, that’s the plan? We’re going out there?”

I whirled, facing Celia, the green-eyed linguist who’d asked me the question.

Plan? Who on this terrible alien planet had ever said I’d had a plan?

I didn’t want any of this. This responsibility of looking after all the other women. They were all looking at me like I was going to pull some heroic escape out of thin air, like a pretty white rabbit from a hat. They were looking at me like they needed me.

And I couldn’t fucking stand it.

My voice was bitter as I shouted back at her. “You want to stay in here? Be my guest. But those things were powerful enough to smash through our reinforced screens. Screens that can withstand space travel. There’s nowhere in this place you can hide where they won’t find you. I’m not hiding in here and waiting to die. I’m gonna run.”

All twenty of the young women before me just stared, stunned and speechless, some of them weeping, some of them looking shell-shocked. I couldn’t blame them for their reactions. I was barely holding it together myself. But having them rely on me like this was about to put me over the edge.

It’s every woman for herself, now.

“Come with me or don’t. It’s up to you.”

Without another glance at their stricken faces, I turned and ran, sprinting for the open side of the cargo bay, clenching my gun like it would somehow save me, even though I’d seen how little effect it had had on the aliens monsters coming our way.

But I couldn’t think about that now. I repeated my earlier thought, letting it ring in my head like a bell. Time to run. Time to run. One foot in front of the other. Every second that passed was another second I was alive. Second-to-second, I would make it. I’d figure it out.

Unlike the other women, as a member of the armed forces on the ship, I’d had physical training to help prepare me for this planet. Its atmosphere was breathable, but with slightly less oxygen than what most people were used to, similar to a high-altitude climate on Earth. I’d run mile upon mile upon mile on a treadmill with reduced oxygen in the months leading up to this on Earth, under the impression I’d be sent on a mission to the mountains of Afghanistan. So when I hit the copper-coloured sunlit sand, I was able to run, pounding as fast as I could across the shifting ground without any feelings of weakness or lightheadedness.

But I didn’t get far before I slowed and turned back. I couldn’t stop myself. There was a bitter war waging inside me. Half of me wanted to turn around and save every last civilian. The other half wanted to cut and fucking run.

The first half was starting to win out. The wannabe hero half. The stupid half. The half that took after my father, the part of my father that had gotten him killed.

Yeah, maybe I was stupid.  But there was something in my blood. Something I couldn’t deny. An inherent protective instinct that was shot through my bones, reinforcing them like iron. Forcing me to stop. Forcing me to turn back.

Screaming in frustration, I started running back to the ship.

Half the women, about ten, had followed me right away and were scattering over the sands, weak legs flailing and chests heaving. But they were slow. Too damn slow. We’ll never make it.

The second group of women was just now emerging from the ship’s cargo bay, obviously having hesitated before leaving. I slowed as I approached the second group, unsure now that I was here what I should even do. It wasn’t like I could make them run faster. Not like I could carry them all to safety. But I was the only one with a gun and with any kind of training for a situation like this. I had to do something. I’d stopped my own escape in its tracks and come all the way back here. If I was gonna die, it needed to actually be in service of something.

I watched as Theresa, the blonde vet tech from Mississippi, stumbled and fell to the sand. Celia, who’d been holding her hand, pulled up short, whirling back to try to help her up. I homed in on the two of them and started sprinting. This was something I could help with. The rest of the women were running, now, dispersing over the sands in a gaggle of desperate, flailing limbs. Good. Get the fuck out of here.

Theresa was in hysterics, sobbing and shaking on the sand as Celia yanked helplessly at her arm, screaming for her to “get up! Get up!”. I heard a terrible crash come from the ship, my eyes widening in horror as the alien monsters crushed the inner cargo bay wall and started scuttling through the open cargo space towards us on the sand. They were gigantic, like mutant crabs, or some kind of spider-scorpion hybrid, with black armoured shells and barbed tails, four feet in height and with a leg span even larger than that. I’d watched those black legs and tails go through my colleagues’ chests and abdomens like hot knives through butter. Good God, we didn’t stand a chance.

I skidded to a stop in front of Theresa and Celia anyway.

The alien creatures were emerging from the ship, some of them scuttling out over the sand in pursuit of the other women who had run. But one was coming straight for us.

Heart in my throat, I lifted my gun. My puny little gun.

But before I could pull the trigger, the creature collapsed, squealing, its legs bending inward like a dead spider’s. I blinked in confusion. A massive spear had penetrated its armour, killing it on impact.

There was no time to process this development. Another alien crab was ready to replace the one that had fallen, barrelling towards us. Something large and dark hit the monster but the projectile clattered and fell, quickly followed by another dark object, shooting through the air. This time, the object landed between the crab monster’s leg and armoured body, disabling it just feet from Theresa, Celia, and me. My breath hissed between my teeth as I realized what was happening. A member of one of the other alien species of this planet had arrived with weapons. The dark object that had struck this monster in front of us was a massive knife.

A third crab creature was moving towards us now.

Fuck. Here we go.

I aimed for one of the spots where the legs met the body, the spot that knife had just penetrated on the other crab. Steadying myself, I let everything inside me go hard and blank. The only thing that existed was my gun and its target.

I pulled the trigger.

Miraculously, the creature fell. Before I could make sure it was dead, or at least incapacitated, though, I heard a deep, rumbling cry behind me.

I whirled, just in time to see another monstrous creature scuttling over the sands towards us, different from the crabs. It was terrifyingly massive, the size of a small whale from Earth, with more dark eyes than I could count in its long-snouted, crocodile-like face. Hundreds of its centipede-like legs moved over the sand towards us.

But that wasn’t the most horrifying part.

No, the worst part was its rider.

Humanoid but… not. The alien on this new creature’s back was massive, rippling with corded muscle, his strong body lined with dark blades, and a huge axe in his hand. He’d used some of those blades on the crab creatures, sure. But he was coming straight for us now. And his strange face was a mask of terrifying fury.

Oh, fuck no.

I raised my gun again, aiming directly for his chest. I wasn’t about to escape from these crab aliens just to get eaten or raped by someone, or something, like this. The look in his alien eyes was unmistakable. He looked angry and ravenous and like he could crush my throat with two of his clawed fingers if he wanted. And it looked like he wanted.

I pulled the trigger.

A terrible, hollow click rang out.

An agonized howl tore from my throat. Out of bullets and out of time.

This new alien warrior was almost within arm’s reach.

“Let’s go!”

There were no crab creatures coming for us (for the moment, anyway) so I was able to turn my attention back to Theresa. The strength of my arms was enough to finally get her upright after all of Celia’s pulling. And then we were running.

I held fast to Theresa, knowing that she would probably fall again. She was wailing and stuttering, barely breathing as we took off. Celia split off from us, choosing a random direction and sprinting, closely pursued by the alien man on the centipede creature. Within moments, he had reached down and yanked her up onto his mount.

“No!” I screamed, and Theresa sobbed, clutching at my arm. But the alien man’s mount was damn fast, its body built for these sands. He was already moving away from us, Celia tossed over his muscled lap as if she were a rag doll.

“Fuck!” The word was a howl. There was nothing I could do for her. Nothing I could do for any of them.

Another loud, deep cry sounded in the air, and I pushed Theresa behind me as I turned towards it. It took me a moment to process the chaos of the scene. More massive centipede creatures were moving with insane speed over the horizon towards us, maybe fifteen of them, each ridden by an alien warrior. Dark objects flew through the air – spears and knives – and the crab monsters were falling to the sands all around us. I would be relieved by this, if the warriors weren’t now scooping women up into their laps like they were some kind of won booty to be taken at will. Before I could blink, the crab creatures were all dead on the sands, and Theresa and I were the only women left untouched.

Pure, primal fear lit me up. My breath choking in my throat, I turned to run again -

- only to come face-to-face with one of the centipede creatures.

I reared back as its mouth opened in a snarl, revealing row upon row of huge black teeth. Before I could stumble away, though, a strong arm reached down and gripped the solar protection jacket I was wearing over my US Army uniform. Another hand grabbed Theresa’s jacket, a jacket that looked identical to mine, and we were both pulled upwards, one of us in each hand, as if we weighed no more than a couple of kittens. The strength in that grip was terrifying. Because I knew I’d never be able to fight a creature like that off.

The alien warrior plunked me down in front of him, and tossed Theresa in front of me. I landed on my ass, facing forward and able to mostly keep my balance. I clutched at Theresa as she landed on her stomach, her legs flailing over the side of the alien mount.

I tried to help her into a sitting position, but that was impossible. The mount was moving way too fast, jostling and bumping us. All I could do was hold fast to the back of Theresa’s jacket, helping her re-orient so that she was lying lengthwise along the centipede creature’s greyish-purple back, her head towards my lap, her hands gripping my knees. A hard alien arm, like fucking rock, circled around my waist when I tried to lean forward to get better access to her. Guttural words I had no way to understand snarled in my ear, and my chest clenched.

There was nowhere to go. All I had now was a non-existent plan that had already gone to shit. A sobbing civilian woman at my front. An alien agent at my back. A gun.

And no fucking bullets.

CHAPTER TWO

Fallo

“Gahn Fallo.”

At the sound of Vakal, my closest commander’s voice, I stopped, just as I was entering my tent, and turned.

“What is it?”

Vakal raised his tail before his eyes in respect. I was mighty Gahn and warlord here, leader of the largest tribe of the Sea Sands. None would dare come before me now without raising their tail in submission. His tail fell back into place behind him, the sight stars in his eyes pulsing.

“The hunters are on the horizon. They return.”

I frowned, tensing immediately. It was early yet for the hunters to be back. Usually they did not return until the sun had begun its descent, just in time for the women to butcher their kills for the evening meal.

“Then they must have made a great many kills already. How many dakrival do they carry?”

“None, my Gahn.”

My jaw clicked. Hot anger licked at my limbs. I was suddenly keenly aware of all the blades at my back, hard against my even harder flesh. I carried more blades than any other man. But so I should. I was larger than any other man. And I had more enemies.

Questions whirled. Why would my hunters return so soon, when it was against their orders? Why would they defy me? The anger turned to rage as suspicion fuelled it. A man could turn on his Gahn at any time. I would know. I had done it myself.

I growled, yanking two of my longest blades from my back, stalking away from Vakal, ready to meet my treacherous hunters as they returned. The few women of our tribe and their children scurried away from me, hurrying into their tents at the sight of my weapons drawn. The Cliffs of Zadazar, against which we made our home, loomed behind me as I moved through, and away from, our tribe’s tents, out towards the rolling hills. The hunters had been out on the open sands, beyond the hills that sheltered our tents on the plain against the cliffs. It was dangerous out there, but it was where the dakrival, the great horned beasts whose meat we ate each day, stampeded and roamed. I grunted, moving my huge body into a run as I crested one of the hills on the outskirts of our settlement. Rindla plants with their pale flowers, along with bushes of poisonous red axrekal berries, peet grass, and valok plants dotted the hills that rolled out away from me. Eventually, the hills flattened into endless desert land. The Sea Sands.

Moving across the Sea Sands and into the hills of our territory were my hunters on their irkdu. Vakal had not told a lie. I snarled, leaning forward, baring my fangs and sniffing the air, trying to gauge what was going on. Trying to smell any hint of deception from here. Vakal came up the hill behind me, stopping at my side.

“I did not get a chance to tell you, Gahn. They bring no dakrival, but they bring something else.”

I narrowed my gaze, feeling my sight stars pull tight at the centre of my eyes. He was right. Each man had something with him on his irkdu. Some men had two. What were they? They looked a bit like people of the Sea Sands, but small. So small. Children?

But they wore the strangest garb. And as they got closer and I could make out more of their features, I felt my chest tighten. These were no people of the Sea Sands.

Who these men were, I did not know. But they were not of this tribe.

Thus, they were my enemies.

A war cry exploded from my chest and I barrelled forward, down the hill, ready to meet my hunters as they returned. Vakal charged behind me, catching up quickly, drawing his own weapons. My hunters seemed to have subdued these enemies for now, but I did not trust that to remain the case. I did not know these ones. These small, strange creatures. I laughed at the thought of something so small trying to best me. Surely it would not happen, but I would be ready if any one of them made a move. Bright blood lust pounded, and I felt a grin split my face.

A laugh tore from my throat as my blood ran hot. The beat of battle was rising in me now. I, Fallo, most brutal of all Gahns, was ready.

One of the hunters at the head of the group, whom I recognized as Bankor, called to me from his mount.

“Gahn Fallo! We come with strange women!”

Women.

It couldn’t be. That was impossible. There were so few women of the Sea Sands now, a paltry handful, spread among the five tribes. Our tribe had only twelve women to the sixty men. But here my fifteen hunters came, each with a woman on their mount, some of them with two. Almost twenty of them, I was sure.

Vakal knew better than to stop and ask me his questions, though I knew he must have had questions like I did. We ran through the hills and then stopped at the edge of the flat sand as my hunters approached.

Women. They bring women.

I kept my weapons ready all the same.

It did not take long for the hunters to reach us as their powerful irkdu surged over the sands. Bankor arrived first, urging his irkdu to a halt, raising his tail then lowering it, a bold grin cutting across his face.

“My Gahn, look at the bounty we bring you from out on the sands. This has been a hunt like no other.”

My eyes fell to the woman on his mount, held tight against his torso despite the fact that it did not look like she was trying to escape, or that she’d even be capable. Her bizarrely bright yet dark eyes were glazed, her hair hanging limply in front of her blank face. As the other hunters pulled up, I saw much of the same thing among the other women – all of them unlike any other I had ever seen. With small faces, high noses, and hair and hides coming in a shocking range of colours. But all of them seemed to be as frail and lethargic as the first.

All but one.

The last hunter pulled to a stop, and I heard bright noise erupt, a high scream that lit my blood on fire and set my fangs on edge. I ignored Bankor and his limp woman, moving through the group to find the source of the sound.

The hunter Ankrolok had two of the new women on his mount. One was lying still, barely moving, and the other was screaming, fighting in Ankrolok’s arms. My chest clenched as I beheld the terrible creature – a creature with a face like pale stone and red hair like flames. I tensed, sucking in a breath as her baleful eyes met mine. Everything in that moment was fire – my blood, my limbs. Her hair. My cock. The very air around me burned.

And still she screamed.

“Let her down, Ankrolok!” My voice was tight and low.

Ankrolok let the strange woman go immediately, and she surprised herself, falling off of the irkdu with the force of her movements. I gritted my fangs and moved towards her as she sprang back up from the sand. She seemed stronger than the others, and she half-crouched in a defensive pose as I stalked towards her. My eyes trailed over every bizarre part of her – her pale skin that was streaked with red across the high nose and narrow cheeks, the eyes grey and white like stones, the long and impossibly slender neck that disappeared into a stiff, strange cloak. She had no tail! And no ears, from what I could see. She raised her small, clawless hands before her, clutching something dark between them. Something shining and pointed right at my chest.

A weapon?

What woman dared to bring a weapon before a Gahn? If that’s even what this was. But the snarl on her small, pink mouth, and the stance she held, told me that this must be a weapon of some sort. She was primed for an attack.

That insolence was like a hot desert wind to the flames that already burned inside me, bringing everything to a manic blaze. Rage pulsated with every beat of my heart, hardening every muscle. And hardening my cock. The challenging quirk to this woman’s laughably slim brows was bringing me to the edge of madness.

I knocked the weapon, or whatever it was, from her hands with ease. A sick satisfaction surged as I watched her small mouth widen in despairing shock. And that look of shock only intensified when I lunged for her, quickly sheathing one of my blades and capturing her pale neck in the powerful grip of my right hand.

My fingers reached all the way around her throat with ease. Every muscle in her body was pulled taut, tension thrumming, her pulse quick as a brazelbird, the tiny winged creatures of my hills. For a moment I did not move, could not move, powerless against the onslaught of sensation that was her heartbeat against my hand. I did not like the feeling. I fought the urge to crush her windpipe in response. And I fought other urges, too. I forced my hand to remain steady. Do not squeeze.

I lowered my face to hers, keeping my hand in place, noting with interest the way her heartbeat came even faster when we were eye to eye.

She has no sight stars.

Just round white eyes with inner circles of grey, then tiny points of black. Circles inside circles inside circles. Dizzying. Maddening.

Those eyes were wide, but still haughty. I growled a warning, adjusting my hand to draw my thumb’s claw down the pulsing column of her throat. Her breath caught beneath my claws. My loincloth was drawn painfully tight now. And that infuriated me.

I sheathed the weapon I had still been holding in my free hand, then used it to grab the front of her strange cloak, crushing her body to mine.

I wanted to speak to her, command her, ask questions of her. But she had no ears. How could such a thing be done?

But there! Below the pull of her red hair. Soft and low and small, so unlike the high pointed ears of our people. Though her neck was the one being gripped, my throat contracted at the sight of that soft curl of skin. I wanted to take one of her ears between my fangs and bite down hard.

This could not stand. Control was slipping from me. Enraged, I wrenched my gaze from her exquisite little ears and back to her eyes. Eyes that fought me, even now.

My voice came, broken like stone against stone, as I rasped.

“Who are you?”

She did not answer in the language of the Sea Sands. She hissed fickle, unknowable words at me, and then spat in my face.

I did not flinch. I drew closer, examining her carefully. What did such an action mean? The people of the Sea Sands did not produce enough saliva to spit the way she had. Was it a greeting for her people? Even with three strong tongues, I would not be able to reciprocate. In the desert, our fluids were created and used in our bodies much more sparingly. Saved for blood and seed.

The expression on her small face made me think it was not a greeting. Certainly not one showing the kind of respect owed to a Gahn. Yet more insolence.

“You do not understand that you have been captured by my warriors. You have no power here.”

She spoke again, harshly, then her mouth puckered, as if to spit again. Quick as desert lightning, I shifted my hand on her throat, my thumb coming up to press tightly against her lips. They were soft, and beneath that tissue I could feel small, blunt teeth.

“So much bite but without any fangs.”

As if she understood me, and perhaps she did, as I knew nothing of her language yet, she wriggled, managing to hook her lips over my thumb. I seethed at the hot wetness of her mouth.

Then she bit down.

It did nothing at all.

Those teeth truly were pathetic.

A mad grin spread over my face as my rage was replaced with wild power. These women were weak. She could spit and bite as much as she wanted – it was like the tickle of a morning breeze against my hide. I let my three tongues slip out of my mouth, tasting the spot on my chin that was still wet from her saliva. My cock pulsed again as I watched her eyes flash in anger, her teeth bearing down harder on my thumb.

With a cry, she finally unlocked her jaws, and I moved my hand down to join the other gripping her clothing. She was speaking rapidly again. I grew tired of listening to her nonsense words.

“I do not know what you are trying to say. And I do not care.”

Though I held the front of her cloak fast, her arms were free. She gestured sharply to the irkdu, to the women laying limply upon them. Her face no longer seemed challenging. She looked… concerned? It was hard to tell on her foreign features. I found myself irritated that I could not read her strange face better.

Annoyed, I followed her flailing, pointing hand. She seemed to be worried about her fellow tribeswomen. I squinted as I took in their weak forms, their floppy limbs. Growling, I sniffed hard, scenting something unknown, and when I saw the dark patches on some of the women’s clothing, I knew it was their blood.

The women were unwell. Some were injured. Some could even die.

A fierce rumble of opposition rose in my chest.

These women may have been strange and new and led by a terrible, insolent creature of fire, but I could not let them die. Not when there were so few women among us now. This could be a great boon to the tribe. I would not, as the woman before me had just done, spit in the face of such a thing.

My rage returned, quick and hot, this time aimed at my hunters.

“Do you fools not smell the blood in the air? Do you not see the women wither on your mounts?”

The men looked dubious, glancing down at the women they held and back at each other, then me.

“Take them to the healers. Now.”

My men sprang to action, urging their irkdu through the hills towards the tents of our people, followed by Vakal on foot. My woman (my woman?) shouted something after them. I turned back towards her.

“Are you the Gahnala of these women?”

If she were a Gahnala, a queen, then somewhere out there she must have a Gahn. The thought made my lip turn up into a snarl. Any Gahn mated to a woman so disrespectful would be unlucky indeed.

She wriggled in my grip, staring up at me defiantly. My fingers tightened on her cloak.

And then, she was gone.

I jerked back in surprise, yanking hard at what was now an empty cloak. With a groan, I tossed the thing to the sand as the woman crouched then ran. Not only defiant, but devious, too. It was not a becoming combination for a female.

Not that that mattered. Why did I care about such qualities in her? It was nothing to me if she were becoming or not.

She appeared to wear strange shells on her feet, feet that were so unlike mine. She was not built to run in the sands like I was, with my high, strong ankles and long, wide feet. Her legs were short, too, her strides less than half of mine. Despite these shortcomings she ran hard, hard, up the hill beside me, chasing after her fellow women. I watched her for a moment, my curiosity outstripping my need to subdue her. Her face was pulled in a snarl of determination, her arms pumping furiously.

One of her foot-shells caught, and she stumbled, her small hands catching in the thorns of an axrekal berry bush. She did not cry out, simply straightening and starting to run again, though I saw blood streaming from the skin on her hands, and from a line across her cheek where a thorn had snagged. Blood a bright scarlet colour, shocking in its brilliance. I sniffed, hard. I’d already scented the blood of the other women. But this fragrance was hers alone. I breathed deep, committing it to memory, before finally breaking into a run.

I caught up to her in moments, slinging my hands around her waist and tossing her easily over my shoulder. She howled, and fought, but it made no difference. I ignored her attempts to escape, following my men and the irkdu back to the tents of our people.

The walk back was not long, but the whole way the slight weight of her body against my skin was a hot irritation, an itch I could not scratch. It made my cock even harder. And that made me angry.

I was under no illusions abut my reputation. I knew people called me the Mad Gahn. But this was the first time I truly felt myself slipping from sanity. She screamed and scratched. I grunted and walked, the whole time trying to escape the word that was frothing in my brain.

Fallo, this is madness.

Madness.

Madness.

Perhaps I was more like my father than I’d thought.

I thought that when I’d killed him, I’d stripped that madness from my blood. But here it was arching inside me, rising to met this woman’s fury. I’d never felt so out of control.

And so brutally alive.

CHAPTER THREE

Chapman

So, I hadn’t been able to pull a magical escape rabbit out of a hat for the other girls. But apparently I was able to pull a bit of a Houdini. As Big Alien Enemy Number One barked orders at the men who seemed to be his subordinates, I was furiously pulling my arms through the sleeves of my jacket until they were tucked tightly against my torso. When The Enemy turned back to me say something else I didn’t have a hope in hell of understanding, I wished myself good fucking luck and ducked, pulling right out of my jacket and hitting the sand in a crouch.

It bought me about half a second. But that was all I needed to get my ass out of The Enemy’s reach. I didn’t like the way his weird, dark eyes were looking at me. He had no irises, but rather thousands of shimmering shards, reddish in colour, that expanded and contracted. When he looked at me, they practically vibrated. That, coupled with the massive straining at his loincloth, was all I needed to encourage me to do whatever it took to get the hell outta dodge.

So I ran.

I knew I wouldn’t make it alone out on those sands. Sands that were endless in their burn-your-face-off heat. Not to mention the crabs I’d watched destroy some of the sturdiest stuff our planet could produce. I also knew I couldn’t leave behind the other women. Not now. So I bolted after them, tearing up the closest hill so that I wouldn’t have to pass by The Enemy by running between them.

My chest heaved. My legs burned. It had been a long-ass day, but I was in for a far worse night if I let that alien get hold of me again. I tripped, gritting my teeth hard as I landed in some mutant version of a holly bush, my hands getting sliced. Bright heat shot across my cheek as a thorny branch snapped at me, but I got right back up and kept running. My palms were slick with blood and sweat. I’d sweated off most of my sunscreen, too, and without my jacket I could feel the sun like a physical pain on my face.

My face wasn’t turned up towards the sun for long, though. Because a split second later, two rock-hard hands closed in around my waist. The breath was knocked out of me as my chest and abdomen came down hard against the alien’s shoulder.

What are these dudes made of?

I’d bitten down on his thumb as hard as I’d could and I hadn’t even drawn blood. And now his shoulder was like a boulder under me. I bucked and kicked, but he held me easily, with only one heavy hand. It was almost insulting.

I kept fighting, screaming up at his ear, an ear that sat high and pointed up at the top of his head like a clipped Doberman’s. His hard jaw was set, his lip quivering in a snarl under his broad, mostly flat nose. His tough skin was similar in colour to the sands – deep copper, but swirling into black in places. His claws were black, as was his hair, which fell down his back in dozens of thick braids. And below the ends of that hair, so help me God, was an actual alien tail. Thick and muscled and as long as one of his legs, if not longer, shifting from brown to black at the tip. I paused my feral fighting for a moment to try to catch my breath, letting my eyes fall over the rest of him so I knew what the hell I’d be dealing with. Across his huge, broad back, a back rippling with pure muscle, was strap over strap of leather-looking material, each strap holding a huge black blade. Like the rest of him, his legs were massive and strong, thick thighs meeting taut calves and very weird, high ankles. It reminded me of something, those ankles, especially with the tail…

Kangaroo.

It almost would have been funny, the comparison to the kangaroo, if this guy wasn’t so clearly a pure killing machine. And if the very little clothing he had around his groin weren’t still pulled so fucking tight while he held me.

Yeah. That was not a good sign.

My throat tightened as I thought of the other women. My face pressed into The Enemy’s back, I couldn’t see up ahead where they had gone. Maybe the other guys had monster erections too. Maybe he’d already given the order for his men to have their way with them.

“Sorry. But that just doesn’t fucking work for me.”

I said the words out loud, my tone murderous, and The Enemy grunted something in response. I stilled myself, trying to figure out exactly what to do. I needed to get out of his grip. Even if he caught up to me again, I had to try. As much as I hadn’t wanted it, I now felt the responsibility for the other women heavily upon my currently upside-down shoulders.

Kicking and bucking hadn’t gotten me anywhere. What I needed was the element of surprise.

I sucked in a breath as I figured it out, and without stopping to consider any other options I stretched forward and down The Enemy’s back, grabbing the base of his muscled tail and pulling with everything I had.

I was hungry and hot and tired and it felt like 99% of my body’s blood was currently sloshing around my skull, so it turned out all I had wasn’t a hell of a whole lot. It didn’t get me the chance for escape I’d hoped for, but it did elicit a sharp yelp from The Enemy, causing him to yank me off his shoulder. And at that point, it was something.

He kept a strong hold on my waist. Heat flooded outward from his hands on me. My pulse was a tick-tick-tick in my head and a muscle twitched in my upper lip as I stared up at him. Normally, I’d punch a man for trying to hold onto me like this when I didn’t want him to. But he was so tall, over seven feet, easily, that any punch I aimed at his face would barely reach. There’d be no power on impact. And by the look of that jaw, my hand would probably be the only thing worse for wear if my punch connected.

He growled something down at me, the red swirling glints of his eyes drawing inward then pulsing once, hard.

“Don’t know what you just said, Bucko.”

It was crazy to antagonize him. I knew that. But the heat must have been going to my head. I felt wild, almost giddy. I didn’t care one iota if I offended him now.

“The only one of us who knows anything about your language already got scooped up and taken away. So don’t bother.” Those words tore viciously from me. I hadn’t seen Celia among the women taken by this group. She’d been carried off in another direction, hopelessly far from us. And that knowledge, that she was out there somewhere alone, was an agony I forced myself to push down. Maybe there’d be a chance to retrieve her somehow. But right now, I had to focus on getting back to my group. And in order to do that, I had to survive. Which was seeming less and less likely each moment as The Enemy stared down at me.

His face wasn’t like any I’d seen before, but even I could recognize the glowering hatred there. He bared his fangs, his hands tightening on my waist. He spoke again, roughly, then sharply turned me around, clasping my wrists tightly behind my back with one of his huge clawed hands. My mouth went dry (or, even dryer than it already was) when I remembered those claws at my throat. He started marching me through the hills the way the other men had gone. He kept his free hand at his side, but I knew that before I could even blink he’d be able to grab a blade from his back if needed. There was no way out of this. At least, not alive. Not yet.

As we moved away from the open desert, the hills became higher and larger. The land went from uniform copper-gold sand to rolling terrain marked with plants in differing shades of brown, grey, and green. Cactus-looking things, plus more berry bushes like the ones I’d tripped into rose up on the hills. There were even plants with large white and indigo three-petalled flowers. Flowers that felt completely out of place in territory as hostile as this. Even though I knew it was hopeless, I couldn’t stop myself from scouring the ground with my gaze, looking for anything I could use as a weapon. My useless gun had been nothing but a bluff before. A bluff that The Enemy had called immediately, with an arrogance that’d made me want to scream. I’d never felt so powerless.

Well. That wasn’t true. I’d felt powerless when my dad had died in combat when I was in high school. And again when my mom had gotten breast cancer two years after that, dying way too young. And more recently, when I’d realized the mission I was serving was something I’d never wanted to be involved in. That I was complicit in the abduction of innocent women. That I’d kept them under guard, even gotten physical with some of them when commanded to by my superiors. Yeah. That had lain me lower than low. My hands had kind of been tied, but still.

And here I was, my fucking hands tied yet again. Except this time, it wasn’t military protocol trapping me. It was the huge, hard grip of the alien’s hand at my back. I was already failing.

I’m nothing like my father.

I gritted my teeth, keeping all my thoughts to myself. Blood dripped from my palms, slipping down my fingers. If I turned around, I’d probably see it dotting the ground like something out of Hansel and Gretel. Only it wouldn’t help to lead me home this time.

Eventually, the hills around us began to flatten, and we emerged onto a plain of hard, cracked, flat ground. Across the plain a massive wall of stone – cliffs – jutted upwards, stark and imposing. The Enemy grunted something, pushing me forward. I bit my tongue and complied. There was nothing else to do.

I realized we were approaching a settlement of sorts. Around fifty tents, all made from the same brown animal hide, were clustered by the cliff wall. With a jolt, I noticed the huge purple and grey centipede creatures we’d rode in on grazing at the edges of the plain, all of them riderless. The aliens were gone. And so were the other women.

Panic swelled. Where were they? Had they all taken the women, their prizes, to their tents? The thought made me sick. The others hadn’t fared well on the journey. Their uniforms weren’t as sturdy as my US Army one, and I’d seen some of them with bleeding legs, rubbed raw from the ride. Not to mention the fact that we were all suffering from some degree of sunburn or even heatstroke. Even now, my head was pounding, my tongue thick in my mouth. But I would keep fucking walking. One foot in front of the other. I refused to be tossed over The Enemy’s shoulder again.

The Enemy led me around the edge of the settlement to a large, gazebo-like tent towards the centre. As we got closer, he forced our pace faster, and I stumbled for a moment, trying to keep up. With a snarl, his hand tightened on my wrists, and his other arm shot out, gripping my elbow to steady me. I could feel his eyes on me as we resumed walking. I assumed he’d let go of my elbow once I was properly back on my feet, but he didn’t.

Maybe he doesn’t want me to fall again. I stopped myself from snorting at the thought. Yeah right. Probably wants an extra hand on you to keep you from running.

Maybe this was his tent we were approaching. It was the biggest, and he did seem to be the leader. My heart sank at the prospect of being alone in an enclosed space with him.

As we came up to the tent, he finally released my elbow to pull aside a thick fabric flap before jostling me inside.

I blinked, trying to figure out just what I was seeing.

This wasn’t his tent. It looked more like… A field hospital.

The other women were sitting and lying, taking up almost the entire space. Many of them were lying on what looked like narrow beds made from the same hides that the tents were fashioned from, but some were sitting and lying on the dry, cracked ground. Not enough beds to go round.

And it wasn’t just the human women here, either. Four aliens moved quickly through the space, from human to human, their hands deft, their words quick and alien in the air. They were dressed differently from the warriors, wearing long, greyish-green woven tunics. Their features were softer. One of them seemed old, even elderly, with white hair, though she moved quickly enough. The other three seemed younger, with shining black hair and smooth skin. Women. One of the younger alien women was bustling around, urging women to drink from what looked to be a native plant of some kind. The elderly one had hands full of bandages, and was deftly wrapping Melanie’s bleeding thighs. The other two alien women appeared to be examining the humans, barking out their findings to the ones administering care.

They were… helping us?

Before I could figure out exactly what that meant, The Enemy led me towards the closest alien woman, one of the younger-looking ones who was taking a look at Katerina. Kat was barely conscious and badly sunburned, the skin on her head a deep, angry red beneath her buzz cut. Her eyebrow and nose piercings glinted dully in the dim light of the tent as the alien woman probed at her with quick fingers. Kat had been one of the loudest and most difficult women on the mission, and normally I wouldn’t have minded having her be quiet for once, but seeing her weak and limp like this was alarming. Guilt sank deep in my chest as I remembered clocking her with the butt of my pistol back on the ship when she’d tried to rebel against the mission. It had been Colonel Jackson’s orders, but what the hell did that matter now? Out here, we were equals. And both equally fucked.

Well, maybe not equally. She looked to be in way worse shape than me at the moment.

The Enemy spoke sharply to the kneeling alien woman, and she stood immediately, leaving Kat lying on the ground.

“Why are you getting up? She still needs help!”

I knew they wouldn’t understand me, but I hated seeing Kat lying there like that.

The Enemy released my wrists, but before I could pull away, he yanked my hands around my front, pulling them up under the alien woman’s nose. He gestured at my bleeding palms, then drew a claw along my cheek. I sucked in a sharp breath at the feeling of that claw against my sunburnt, sensitive skin. The strangest thing was that it wasn’t necessarily unpleasant. It was clear that he wasn’t trying to draw blood.

OK, what the fuck?

I couldn’t get a read on this guy. At all. And I didn’t like not knowing my enemy.

The alien woman raised her tail in front of her eyes, then took my hands in a gentle but firm grip, staring intently at my palms.

“Wait, stop, look after her,” I pulled one hand away to point at Kat, then I waved my arm around the whole tent. “Deal with the others first!” The alien woman’s copper-coloured eye-shimmers pulled and swirled, and she tried to take my hands again, but I pulled back.

“Please, you have to help the others.” I didn’t like the desperate warble that had taken hold in my voice. But if some of these women died because one of these doctors or nurses or whatever the hell they were was wasting time putting alien Bandaids on my hands, I’d never forgive myself. The woman hesitated, looking back and forth between me and The Enemy, who loomed beside me, his tail swishing sharply. These alien woman were tall, certainly close to seven feet, even the elderly-looking one. And even so, The Enemy towered over them all. He growled something, and there was no mistaking the menace in his voice. The woman stiffened, then reached for me again.

“Sorry, Doc,” I said, dancing out of her reach and crouching down by Kat’s head. “I don’t want you to get in trouble or anything, but you really cannot deal with me before Kat and the others.”

I stared upwards. The alien woman’s hands were frozen in midair. She glanced at me, then down at Kat, her mouth pressing into a thin line. She knows Kat needs her attention more than I do. She’s just following his orders. But why…

Why did he gave a flying fuck if my hands got looked at? Not long ago, he’d had his claws wrapped around my throat, ready to snap my scrawny human neck.  Even now he was staring at me like he wanted to eat me, his lip curling back from his fangs, the metallic red shimmers of his eyes drawn tight and sharp, his whole hulking body tense and poised to attack at any moment. He snapped something and the alien woman relaxed, kneeling down and returning her attentions to Kat. Relief broke over me, swift and sweet. I blinked back unexpected tears, choking out a “thank you” I knew she wouldn’t understand. But I wanted to say it anyway.

From the corner of my eye, I noticed The Enemy stalk away, and the relief came even harder. Now that he had moved away, I felt like I could breathe a bit easier and start to get my bearings. The alien women seemed to be doing pretty well considering the influx of unusual patients they’d just received with no preparations. Some of the women were already looking better after drinking whatever plant stuff they’d been given. I watched as the alien doctor women smeared some kind of strange white liquid onto cuts, blisters, and sunburned skin before binding and bandaging. For the first time since the crab monsters had burst into our ship, destroying the mission and all the crew except for us, I felt the faintest glimmer of hope. Maybe things weren’t entirely hopeless. Maybe these people would help us…

That hope evaporated as I felt a strong hand, a hand that was rapidly becoming all-too-familiar, grip my elbow once again, pulling me up to my feet.

“Hey!” I cried as The Enemy began hauling me away from the others. Panic rising, I realized he was taking me out of the tent altogether. “Where are you taking me?”

He grunted something at me, tail snapping as if in irritation. A humourless laugh bubbled up from my throat.

“Don’t be snapping your fucking tail at me. You’re the one forcing me to go God knows where! If you hate me so much why don’t you just leave me alone?”

I looked up at him as he pulled on my elbow, watching as a muscle jumped in his jaw. His dark brows were pulled downward angrily, his expression more black than his braided hair.

We had reached another tent at the edge of the settlement. It was large, larger than the others, but not quite as big as the hospital tent. The Enemy’s tail whipped forward to pull a flap aside, and he trundled me inside, forcing me down to the ground. I fought the instinct to jump right back up, knowing he could easily overpower me, and I forced myself to try to relax and take in my surroundings.

The light was dim in here, and it took my eyes a moment to adjust. There was what looked to be a large chair, or maybe even a throne, at one end of the tent, constructed from what looked to be large animal bones, its seat some kind of leather. There were shelves, too, also looking to be made of bone, holding various objects, many of them weapons. More weapons were on the ground by the throne, including two huge, black-tipped spears. There were also various leather straps and bits of what seemed to be clothing. Loincloths like The Enemy wore.

Unlike the other tent, this one seemed to be a personal space. A home. His home.

Uh oh.

The fact I’d ended up in what appeared to be The Enemy’s home tent was probably a very bad sign. And when I looked down and realized that I had been forced down into a collection of hides that was probably his bed, I knew I was a goner.

My heart crashed in my chest, and I scrabbled backwards, my bloody hands streaking and sticking against the hides. The Enemy growled, dropping something from his hands and crouching immediately to grab me. I bit back a cry as I rolled quickly onto my hands and knees, crawling and trying to scramble into a standing position. But The Enemy was there first, his hands catching my hips and wrenching me back down. My ass was already tender from the long ride back here, and I couldn’t help but cry out in pain as it hit the ground. At the sound, the glimmers of The Enemy’s eyes exploded outwards, frothing through his dark eyes. He barked something at me, then grabbed my wrists, yanking me up into a sitting position.

It was then that I noticed what he’d dropped. Woven fabric, cut into long strips.

He’s going to tie me up.

But wait… It wasn’t rope. It was the same stuff the alien women had been using as bandages in the hospital tent. And there was a small jar, too. What was that for?

“What are you going to do with me?” I panted, blowing a stray hair out of my face. The Enemy watched the ginger strand with intense eyes before locking those eyes on my own. And I kind of wished he hadn’t. Because I felt… Flayed. Like my burning skin had been peeled right off my bones. Like he was looking way too fucking deep. He made a quiet sort of sound, between a groan and a growl, and leaned closer, his face only a breath from mine. He was so close I could have poked out my tongue and licked one of those insane, bared fangs if I’d wanted to.

His hands tightened on my wrists, his tail thudding the ground, and I forced my heart down from my throat so I could ask my useless question one more time.

“What are you going to do with me?”

CHAPTER FOUR

Fallo

If any of my men were to see me now, they’d know that I’d gone mad. For a Gahn to kneel like this, and do the work of a healer, women’s work, for someone who was not his mate or child was unheard of. To do so for someone as strange as the new woman, who was little more than a prisoner, was truly the stuff of madness. It irritated me, but it was something that for some reason I could not help. The scent of her blood in the air was making me almost blind with rage and desires I could not quite name. Surely I did not want this strange creature the way I’d want a woman of the Sea Sands. This small, pale thing who glared at me like I was a drizelfly buzzing in her ear. This woman whose grey and white eyes challenged me every moment.

Why did I even bring her back here?

Her wounds were not so great that she could not wait for the attention of one of the healers. I still was not even sure why I’d demanded that Bokeelie tend to her first, before the clearly sicker women. And this woman, this fire creature, had refused Bokeelie’s help, anyway. She’d wanted her tribeswomen looked after first. Maybe she really was a Gahnala. But if she was, then where was her Gahn? He must have been weak, indeed, to have let her get this far without him. To not have protected her. To let another Gahn take her into his tent. I hissed, cock straining, my hands tightening on her wrists. In the healers’ tent, the new women had all been in various stages of undress. But I had barely glanced at any of them. I was too focused on the fire woman with her angry eyes and bleeding hands. And now she was here, in my tent, and my body was reacting in a dangerous way.

She was speaking, now, asking questions of me. Questions I could not understand and could not answer.

“No more speaking,” I grumbled. Not understanding her was maddening. I couldn’t stand the sound of her words falling through the air.

I moved forward on my knees, pulling her wrists towards me, turning her hands upward.

I drew a sharp breath.

The contrast of bright red against the white of her skin was beautiful and terrible. Her hands were so small, the fingers delicate and without claws. The skin so easily torn.

“You must not be from the Sea Sands, to be so very weak and yet survive,” I murmured, moving my face downward to examine her hands more closely. I breathed in deeply through my nose.

Despite my words, she seemed to have no understanding of her own weakness. She suddenly slid her hips forward, leaning back against the support of my grip on her wrists, and planted the shells of her feet against my chest, kicking hard. With a strangled shout, I moved up on my knees, leaning forward and then letting go of her wrists.

I did not let go because she’d outsmarted or overpowered me. I’d let go because the strength of my grip on her wrists, combined with her kick against my solid chest, would have wrenched her arms from their puny sockets. I ground my fangs against each other as she rolled and scrabbled away from me. In an instant, she’d grabbed one of the zeelk-spur spears by my throne. She jumped to her feet, holding the spear at the ready between us. The weapon was longer than she was tall. It looked absurd. But there was nothing absurd about the glint in her strange eyes. If given the chance, she’d use that spear on me. There would be no hesitation and no mercy.

Maybe she is of the Sea Sands after all.

“Your blood is staining my weapon.”

Her palms were painting the bone shaft of my spear a deep red. Marking it. How would it feel to have such blood mark me? A frisson ran through me.

This was growing wearisome. Though not fatally injured, even a small open wound like hers could cause fever and death if not treated.

“Stop fighting me, woman.”

She should have been falling to her knees to thank me and my men for rescuing her and her women from the dangerous open sands. They would not have lasted a moment against zeelk or krixel. Yet she did nothing but defy me. It was beyond reason.

“I should have left with you with the others.”

We were circling each other now. My fingers twitched at my sides, my tail tight with tension.

Her eyes were focused and pointed, glancing between my face, my hands, and my groin. I could not hide the hardness there. Nor could I explain it. I did not like any of this. I let out a roar of frustration and she jerked, jabbing the spear between us, lips pulled back from small, flat teeth. My tail lashed the sands. No woman of the Sea Sands would pull a weapon on a warrior this way, especially not a Gahn. Once again I wondered where she came from. I was as curious as I was enraged.

“Enough now!”

With a grunt, I stepped forward, catching the spear below the murderous tip and yanking. I liked the way her eyes widened as she was pulled forwards. She dropped the spear, turning to run, but I caught the collar of her strange clothing and wrenched her back to me. Her breath came in sharp pants, her back heaving against my chest.

“Stop fighting and stop running. I am Gahn here, and you will obey me,” I said, my voice much lower than I’d intended it. Somehow, I’d ended up with my mouth against that small, soft ear. Somehow, I found myself sucking greedily at the scents I found there. Somehow, my arms were hooking around her waist. I shook myself back to my task. Madness. This is madness.

I kept her locked against my body with one arm, though once again she’d started to kick and fight. Grunting, I leaned down, grasping the jar of Lavrika’s blood I’d taken from the healers’ tent. It was a potent healing remedy. At least, it was for my people. But from what I’d heard briefly from Bokeelie, it seemed to be effective at healing the new women, too.

The woman bucked and shook me. I did not have enough hands for this. Never before had I lamented having only two clawed hands. But today, with this woman, I was lamenting a great many things.

I did not know how to easily put the Lavrika’s blood on her wounds. One hand grasped the jar, the other held her tight, keeping her from her frantic flight. It was very clear now that she did not understand my words. I could not command her. Not without the force of my body.

That thought sent my cock pulsing, but I ignored it. I shifted my one hand until I was once again gripping her wrists, my elbow clenching her against my torso. With the other hand, I sloshed half the contents of the jar onto her small palms. She cried out, and stiffened, but a moment later her wild flailing ceased. The Lavrika’s blood offered very quick healing. Her pain would be lessening by now. For the first time, she relaxed somewhat, despite still being caught in my arms. I did not know if I liked that or not. It felt… strange. I did not trust it.

The woman was staring down at her hands, upturned in my grip, her orange brows furrowed. I looked down, too, balking at the differences between us. Both with four fingers and a thumb, but my hands more than twice the size of hers, with ferocious black claws and tough hide.

The Lavrika’s blood was absorbing quickly into her hands, the skin healing before our eyes. The woman’s mouth fell open, and she said something to herself. Wherever she came from, obviously she did not have Lavrika’s blood. I bared my fangs, pride surging. My tribe was strong, with plentiful resources. Well, we would be strong if we had enough women to support the number of men, to keep our population healthy. But perhaps this woman and her kin had changed all that. The grin widened. I, Gahn Fallo, now had more women than any other tribe of the Sea Sands. Now all that was left to be determined was if we were compatible. If we could mate.

The Lavrika had not come to any men in my tribe in some time. It had not yet come to me, either. Only the Lavrika, the great gliding spirit of the Sea Sands, could link one mate to another. And only the sacred mate bond would easily produce cubs.

But there had been stories of cubs produced outside of a sacred mate bond. It was very rare, but possible. So maybe we did not need the Lavrika after all, not where these women were concerned. They were not even of the Sea Sands. Perhaps our ways did not apply.

But without the sacred mate bond, and the ensuing feelings of devastating love, we would have to convince the new women somehow. And we did not share a language. I may have been the Mad Gahn, but I was not mad enough to tie up and rape these strangers. Despite that fact, I could not help but flick my eyes to the bandages I had brought, woven strips that would tie these slim wrists so easily.

The fire woman was speaking to me, and I answered with a distracted grunt. She turned her head, her gaze demanding. How dare she demand anything of a Gahn?

The turn of her head towards me reminded me she had other wounds. The gash from the axrekal bush thorn looked angry across her smooth cheek. The rest of her skin looked unnaturally red. At least, I assumed it was unnatural. I’d noticed the healers spreading Lavrika’s blood onto the red patches of the other women, and it had soothed the skin. What had caused that hurt, though, I did not know.

“If you stopped fighting me and asking pointless questions I could deal with the rest of this.”

She wrinkled her nose, as if something I’d said was distasteful, and rage rocketed through me. I trundled her around, facing me. I released her wrists and wrapped one arm around her back.

“Hold this,” I growled, dropping the jar of Lavrika’s blood into her healing hands. She yelped, her slim brows shooting upward, but she did not drop the jar. Holding her close, I dipped one finger into the jar, my heart clenching at the feeling of the stuff against my fingertip. It brought energy surging to the surface of my skin, tingling everywhere it touched. I pulled my hand out and up, gently swiping the pad of my wet finger across her bloodied cheek. She was still now, her eyes wide, watching me. Always watching.

I quelled a snarl at the back of my throat, and dipped my hand into the jar again before stroking my fingers across her other cheek, then her forehead, then down the raised bony bridge of her small nose. Her skin was so soft it made me want to strike something. This whole situation made me want to roar. If any warrior saw me doing this, now, I’d forever have to fight to retain the name of Gahn. This was foolishness. This was weakness. It could ruin me. But then I could not suppress the angry surge: let any man try to do to me what I did to my father. I will end him where he stands. No man could challenge me here, in my own tent.

But what of the woman who challenged me here, now?

I watched in fascination as the redness of her skin faded quickly, replaced by a smattering of small brown markings across her face, similar to sight stars, but unmoving. I took the jar from her hands, placing it on the nearby shelf. Without realizing it, when my arm returned, it met the other behind her back, locking her into my arms. She was silent now, her breath coming ragged. I bent towards her, suddenly needing to feel the bursts of the breath against my mouth. I pulled her closer, closer -

- then jerked.

She has breasts.

Women only grew breasts when pregnant or nursing a cub. This woman was with child. How had I not noticed it before? Her strange, stiff clothing hid her figure. Her belly seemed flat, but there was no denying the swelling of flesh at her chest pressing against me now. I groaned and pushed away from her roughly, snapping my jaws before turning and storming from the tent.

If she was pregnant, then that meant she did have a mate out there somewhere. Perhaps she had a Gahn. I broke into a run, leaving behind the tents, facing the hills. Then I tore a blade from my back and hurled it as hard as I could, out towards the horizon. The thought came, bitter and quick, before I could push it away, the words echoing like the endless spin of my blade in the desert air.

A worthy Gahn would never have let her go.

CHAPTER FIVE

Chapman

So… What the hell was that?

The Enemy, the one who looked at me like he wanted to bite my head off, who’d taken my neck in his claws like it was nothing, hadn’t brought me back to his tent to kill me or rape me. He’d brought me back here to… heal me? Because the alien women in the other tent had been too busy?

Does not compute.

I couldn’t get a handle on him at all. And without knowing my enemy, there was no way to strategize. How could I protect myself and the others from someone I could not know? Hot and cold. Light and dark. Furious one moment, then the next tracing the burnt edges of my face with something close to tenderness. He was impossible. The Enemy. The enigma.

I shook my head quickly, glancing about the place. He’d left me alone, and that was something. And even better than that? He’d left me alone with his weapons.

Yet another thing I didn’t understand about him. Was he an idiot? Or just so sure of his own power that he knew leaving me with all these weapons would be no threat?

I hoped it was the former, but I had my doubts.

I grabbed a knife anyway.

I would have rather taken a spear. It was unwieldy, heavy and with a long bone handle. But its length made me feel secure. If I couldn’t kill someone from some distance with a gun, then this spear was the next best thing. Easily two metres long, it would keep someone away from me if I used it right.

I flushed as I remembered The Enemy’s strong hand grasping the hilt of the weapon, pulling me forward as if it were nothing, as if he were invincible.

OK. Clearly the spear wasn’t the great choice I thought it might be. Besides, there was no way to hide it. I wouldn’t get far out there with that thing in my hands. I’d be seen as an enemy agent and killed immediately. And frankly, I wanted to avoid that outcome as long as humanly possible. No, it had to be something smaller.

So I took the knife.

I took the smallest one, one that probably would have been a dagger to The Enemy, but that was closer to a machete for me. The heft of it in my hand was incredible – the blade was shining and pitch black, its blade extremely sharp. Alright, I had my weapon. Now came the question of how to hide it.

I didn’t have my solar protection jacket anymore. I’d have to figure out a workaround for that later, as I’d need it out here. I was kind of regretting losing it out on the sands beyond the hills. Maybe it’s still there and I can go grab it. But first things first: I had to get back to the other women and make sure they were OK.

But without my jacket there was no easy way to hide the knife. I could tuck it into the waist of my pants, at the back, but I didn’t like the idea of that huge blade bare against my skin. I didn’t have anything to wrap it, or to provide an extra layer of protection. Chewing my lip, and realizing that The Enemy could come back at any moment and see what I was doing, I scanned the tent for something I could use. My eyes landed on a folded pile of fabric on the ground near the shelves. Quickly, I strode towards it, then crouched, grabbing some of the fabric from the top of the pile.

It was soft, durable, and pliable. It looked to be the same kind of hide that the tents were made of – something between leather and suede, brown in colour. I held the fabric up, examining it. It would do the trick, I decided with a satisfied nod. Then heat pounded through me as I realized just what it was that I was holding.

One of The Enemy’s loincloths.

But there was no other damn clothing or small piece fabric in this tent! The men only wore loincloths and straps for their weapons, like some kind of Tarzan gladiator cosplay.

“For fuck’s sake,” I muttered, quickly wrapping my large dark knife with the soft fabric. I tried not to pay attention to how large the garment was.

After wrapping the blade up to its bone hilt, I grabbed the long strips of fabric that The Enemy had brought from the other tent. They looked like bandages, but the cuts on my hands had healed so unbelievably fast that they hadn’t been needed. Working quickly, my eyes, darting to the tent’s flap then back to my work, I wound the strips round my bundle and tied them tight. Then, I shoved the whole thing down the back of my pants, pressing the wrapped blade down the back of my left thigh and settling the bone handle just above my waistband. I quickly untucked my uniform shirt and let the hem fall over the waistband of my pants. Of course, there was no full-length mirror to get a view of my handiwork, but I ran my hands quickly down my back and legs, hoping against hope that the knife wasn’t too visible. I didn’t have a plan for the weapon, or anything. It wasn’t like I was about to go chase after The Enemy and execute him or something. Like I’d even be able to do that, anyway. No, I just wanted it as a backup. Something for self protection in the chaos of this alien world.

I glanced longingly at the other weapons, wishing I could arm myself to my little human teeth. But that would never fly. This would have to do. I moved to the flap of the tent, moving it ever so slightly and peeking out.

This tent was set slightly away from the others. It was becoming more and more clear that The Enemy was definitely the leader here. Everyone seemed to listen to his command, and his tent was larger than the others. Plus he had that gigantic bone throne – that could only be something fit for an alien king.

I wonder if he has a queen?

Why was I wondering about that?

Doesn’t matter. Back to the target.

I could see the large tent where I’d last seen the other women from here. There were other tents dotting the distance between this tent and that, and every once in a while I saw a woman with a child, or a couple of warriors, striding through the area. I’d been left here alone, but I didn’t kow if I was supposed to stay here or not. I hadn’t been restrained, and if The Enemy had told me not to move, I obviously hadn’t understood him. Not that I would have complied, anyway. So as it was, I didn’t know if I’d be stopped outside.

Better play it safe. And don’t get caught.

With a sharp intake of breath, heart hammering, I quietly slipped out of the tent. God, that sun was killer. Whatever that glowing white stuff The Enemy had smeared on my cheeks was, it had completely erased the feeling of the sunburn there. But that feeling wouldn’t last long. Not for a freckly redhead under a blistering alien sun.

I was about 15 feet from the nearest tent. I’d have to make a run for it.

Dashing out, feet flying, I sprinted to the closest tent, skidding to a stop and crouching in its shadow, looking around to see if I’d been spotted. So far, so good. There was one more tent I could easily use for cover, another 20 feet away, and then beyond that was the large medical tent. I could make it. I let out a shaking breath, then started running again, my boots slapping the packed dusty plain. Just as I was approaching the shadow of the next tent, I heard a surprised-sounding cry, higher and smaller than any other voice I’d heard so far.

Shit. I’d been spotted. What looked to be an alien child was standing a little off to the side, its eyes wide as it watched me. It called again, and a woman hurried out of a nearby tent, stopping short and gawking when she saw me.

Please just let me run on by. Please don’t sound some kind of alarm.

I didn’t stop at the tent Id been approaching. It was speed over subtlety, now. My chest burned, my head swimming as I streaked towards the medical tent. My skin may have been healed, but I was definitely getting dehydrated and the heat was not helping. I wasn’t sweating the way I should have been. And that was not a good sign.

But I was almost at the medical tent. With a weak but triumphant cry, I wrenched its soft brown flap aside, vaulting inside. I slid to a stop, almost falling over Kat, who was now sitting up and looking much better than when I’d been here before. I couldn’t stop the smile that split my face, seeing her sitting up and OK, her usual scowl back on her almost invisible, platinum-blonde brows.

“Where the hell did you come from?” She snapped as my arms windmilled, course correcting so I didn’t fall on her.

“I don’t even know,” I answered, not wanting to get into it. I had my balance, now, and I looked around, breathing a sigh of relief to see that everyone was conscious and sitting up. We made it.

The others noticed my arrival, some of them jumping up to meet me, others crawling over. I didn’t see any of the alien healer women, now. It was just us. For now.

“You’re OK!” Theresa, breathed as she came over to me on her hands and knees. “We were so worried when that big one took you out of here.”

The others nodded.

“I’m OK. So far so good. I’m glad you’re all OK, too.” As I looked at each of their faces, I knew I really, truly meant it. On the space ship, during our journey here, I’d treated them coldly, sometimes even with contempt. I followed orders and never allowed myself to really know them. But that was only a way to keep my distance from them. A way of dealing with my own guilt about being involved in their abduction. Even though I hadn’t known about it until it was far too late. Until it was too late for all of us.

But everything had changed, now. I couldn’t afford to keep myself aloof any longer. We would all need each other if we were going to survive this place. Each of the women here had been selected for this mission because of their own skills or education – biology, chemistry, botany, anthropology. We’d lost our linguist, Celia, to that other warrior, and that was probably going to cost us dearly. But I still held out hope that we’d somehow manage to get her back.

How we’d do that?

No fucking idea.

As I looked at them, I realized Celia wasn’t the only one who was missing. I squinted, my eyes going over their faces, trying to figure out who it was. Then it hit me. Zoey. The quiet engineer. I didn’t see her get taken by a warrior, which only meant one other thing had happened to her. Stomach churning, I tried to put the thought of her getting skewered by an alien crab out of my mind. I had to focus on those of us who were left.

I crouched down to everyone else’s level. Melanie’s flat, quiet voice shook me from my thoughts.

“The big one who took you. We think that he’s the leader.”

I nodded, my head feeling stuffed and heavy.

“I think you’re right.” I left out the fact that, while they’d started calling him The Leader, I’d started calling him The Enemy. No need to scare them more than was necessary.

“Where are the alien women who were here?” I was surprised not to see them supervising us. “And there weren’t any guards outside the tent that I saw.”

Kat snorted and Melanie fixed her dark eyes one me.

“They know we know we’re trapped. They know we can’t survive in the desert. There’s nowhere for us to run.”

Melanie was right. I groaned, moving from my crouch to a sitting position on the ground. I shifted to accommodate the hard line of the knife down my pants. I couldn’t think anymore. Not right now. My head was pounding something fierce.

“Did they give you guys any water?” I rasped, swallowing, my throat sore and thick. Theresa nodded quickly, reaching behind her for something nearby on the ground.

“Hope you don’t mind, I already had some of this one. Watch out for the thorns,” she warned, passing me something dry and firm. It was a round plant, a cactus, flat and disc-like, about twice the size of my hand. I noticed it had been cut down one side, and I opened it up, like the shell of a clam, being careful not to let its black barbs cut my freshly-healed hands. Inside was translucent greenish gel. I stared at it, brow furrowed, too thirsty and tired to figure out exactly what I was supposed to do with it.

Kat huffed beside me, poking the shining goo with her finger.

“You eat it,” she said. “It’s like jello or something.”

Bottoms up.

I lifted the plant to my mouth, letting the slippery contents ooze down my throat. It wasn’t exactly unpleasant, but it was bitter. The flavour reminded me of something…

“Taste like strong green tea, right?” Theresa said with a slight smile, taking the empty husk from me when I was done.

Yes. That was exactly it. When my mom had been diagnosed with cancer, she’d started chugging the stuff, hoping the antioxidants would help her. But it hadn’t been enough. Even chemo hadn’t been enough. Whenever she’d made green tea, she’d always make two cups. I hadn’t had it since before she’d died.

“Here. Hope you’re not a vegan.” Melanie handed me what appeared to be some kind of beef jerky. I felt marginally better after the weird cactus jello, but I definitely needed to eat something. Nausea was setting in, and if I didn’t eat something now to try to regain some strength, I probably wouldn’t be able to keep anything down later. The journey here had taken hours – hours without eating while out in the heat. I took a bite of the tough stuff she offered me, my mouth filling with saliva as my stomach roiled in protest. But I managed to swallow a few bites. And after some resting, and some more of the green tea jello, I was starting to feel a bit stronger. Though desperately in need of a nap.

The other girls returned to their conversations from before, now that the novelty of my arrival had worn off. Kat fiddled with an empty cactus rind, her big blue eyes turned away from mine.

“I heard that you made the alien doctor ladies look at me before you. Even though The Leader seemed like he wanted you to go first.”

I froze, staring at Kat’s profile, before slowly nodding.

“Yeah, well. You looked like you were in rough shape.”

Kat laughed bitterly, throwing the cactus rind down. She turned her gaze onto mine, eyes glaring.

“Look, I don’t need anyone’s help, OK? I can handle myself.” I paused, watching her silently. She chewed on a full, pink lip. Her face really was beautiful. The shaved head and many piercings only seemed to accentuate her lovely features. She sighed, stretching out her legs, leaning back on her palms, and staring up at the brown fabric roof of the tent.

“That being said, thanks. This place may be all kinds of fucked up, but I’m glad I’m still here. I wasn’t planning to die at the ripe old age of twenty-three.”

Only twenty-three. Four years younger than me. My heart cracked a little at the thought.

“I’m sorry for that time on the ship. When I hit you,” I blurted, and she jerked her head towards me, surprised. “You know, I didn’t know the mission involved abducting civilians. I never would have… But by the time I realized what was happening, there was no way out. For any of us.” The intensity of her gaze was uncomfortable, but I met it head on, meaning every word I said.  “I’m sorry,” I said again. I didn’t really care all that much if she forgave me. That was her choice. But it needed to be said. We needed to act as a cohesive unit, now. It was us against the aliens. We had to stick together.

After a long moment, she broke into a grin, clapping me on the shoulder.

“You know, Chapman, you’re alright. Never would have guessed that if we got you off that ship you’d turn out to be a decent human being.”

“I’m flattered,” I muttered sarcastically, but I was relieved at her words. The less conflict between us humans, the better. And though I hadn’t thought I’d cared if she forgave me, I had to admit it felt damn good. I had someone on my side. And I was on her side, their side, too.

“Hey, what’s your first name? I’ve only ever thought of you as Chapman.”

“It’s Tori,” I said. She wrinkled her nose.

“No offence, but that does not suit you. Chapman you are, and Chapman you’ll stay.”

I shrugged. It made no difference to me.

Some time after that, two of the alien women, two of the younger ones, returned. They quickly checked over all of us, and, seeming satisfied with our health, they beckoned us out of the tent.

“Think we should go with them?” Kat whispered to me. The others were looking at me, too. Waiting for me to make a decision. With a jolt, I realized they thought of me as their leader. I had been an authority figure on the space ship, and apparently some of that authority had carried over into our new predicament. I winced, not wanting the role. But there was no one else.

I regarded the two tall alien women, who stood expectantly by the flap of the tent, clearly gesturing for us to follow. The knife tucked into my pants felt hot against my skin. I could use it, I could try to get us out of here. But Melanie’s words echoed in my mind: there’s nowhere for us to run. Besides, I wasn’t about to take out a couple of civilian women who didn’t seem to be hostile. Who’d helped us, in fact. And even if I tried, who was to say that these women weren’t also warriors in their own right? They each had a foot and a half on me and looked very strong.

“I don’t think we have a choice,” I admitted after a tense moment. The others cast worrying looks around the group and I tried to think of ways to console them, even if my own heart was about to beat out of my chest. “So far they’ve helped us. We may not have liked their methods, but the men did rescue us from those crabs out there. And these women helped heal us and gave us food. I say we go with them. We can’t stay in this tent forever.”

Kat was the first to nod.

“I’m with Chapman,” she said. After that, everyone was ready.

We followed the women out of the tent. They looked mostly like the men – the same kangaroo ankles and calves with the long, three-toed feet. The same claws, and the same big dark eyes with swirling specks instead of irises. The same long, dark hair. Each of these women had their hair braided in one long tail down their back. That was something different to The Enemy, at least. His hair fell in dozens of braids.

Why am I thinking about him? I shook my head, forcing myself to focus on what was around me. I took in every detail. Some time soon, I might need it. Might need to know exactly where we were and what was around us.

The sun had started to set, dipping low on the horizon. On the other side of the sky, the asteroid belt that spun around this planet rose like a long line of misshapen moons. The fading light turned the landscape a deep, dusty copper, the hills glowing in the last light and casting long shadows. Everything in the landscape that, during the day, had been gold and beige and brown was now painted rich red, mahogany, and golden-green. There was a stark beauty to it all.

The two alien women led us away from the tents, over one hill to a wide strip of sandy ground. Beyond this strip of flat land rose more hills, and beyond them I knew there was open desert. Each of the alien women carried a small carved tool, and with a quick demonstration they showed how to dig a small pit to relieve ourselves. The little carved bone shovels were passed around, and we quickly did our business, trying to ignore the way the alien women stared. I was careful to keep my back away from them, holding The Enemy’s knife flat against my spine as I squatted. After that, the aliens used small knives to clip long, spindly cactus plants from the hill beside us, showing us how to use the insides like a sort of hand-cleaner. The milky cactus gel foamed up, almost like soap, but softer, and I wiped it off onto my uniform. It felt weird not having water, but I had to admit my hands seemed clean enough, and the cactus stuff had left behind a sharp but pleasant herbal smell.

When we were all ready, the two tall alien women started to lead us back towards the tents. Just as we were leaving, I spied my jacket a little ways away where I’d shimmied out of it earlier. Score. I sprinted over and retrieved it before rejoining the group.

It was getting much darker now, with stars dotting the indigo sky. The sun was almost gone. It sent a sharp wave of fear through me. Something about losing that light made me feel a hell of a lot more vulnerable.

But there, ahead, beyond the tents and across from the imposing wall of the cliffs, was light. Firelight. As we got closer, I could see that there were many aliens seated on the ground around the fire, maybe seventy of them, but it was hard to tell. The smell of roasting meat filled the air, followed by the chattering and laughter of the aliens.

So they laugh, too.

I wasn’t sure if that made me feel better or not.

We were jostled towards the fire by our two babysitters, towards an open section. We all sat, crowding in together, no one wanting to sit too close to the aliens on either side. We were seated mostly among women and children, many of the men on the other side, but still. It was weird.

“Oh, shit, there he is,” muttered Kat as she settled herself beside me. Adrenaline spiked through me and I involuntarily clenched my fists. I didn’t need to ask who she was talking about. I felt his eyes on me before I ever saw them.

The Enemy.

Melanie, who was seated on my other side, leaned in and whispered, “He’s staring at you.”

I swallowed hard, forcing my gaze upward.

Across the fire he sat, taller than everyone else even in his seated position. The firelight flickered against his broad, strong jaw, his massive shoulders and strong pecs. His many braids were tied back into one clump with what looked like twine. And his eyes. They never left me.

Neither my instincts nor Melanie had lied.

He was really staring at me. Like, hard.

He was staring at me like I was the only thing that existed.

For a moment, I sank into that gaze, and everything and everyone else faded. There were no other women or aliens or even the fire between us. There was just him and me. Two enemies, each waiting for the other to make a move.

I held his gaze, unblinking.

Who will surrender first?

CHAPTER SIX

Fallo

The fire woman had joined us for the evening meal, leading her other females. I looked at each of them briefly, but none of the other women held any interest for me. I could not say the same for my warriors, though, the unmated among them staring at the new women with fervent eyes. But my gaze was locked on the woman with the red hair. The firelight glowed and turned her skin soft and pink, shadows flickering along her narrow cheeks and down her slender neck as she sat on the ground. For a brief moment, I was absurdly jealous of the way the light licked her skin. But then her eyes met mine, eyes that were haughty and angry and I was no longer full of jealousy but full of rage.

“Gahn Fallo?”

“What?” I snapped, forcing my eyes from those ones across the fire. My teeth gnashed as I turned to look at who’d addressed me. Vakal, my closest man, stood before me, the tip of his tail raised over his eyes. Behind him was Bankor, one of the hunters who’d brought back the new women.

Vakal’s tail swished back into place behind him.

“Bankor is here to give you his report, as you requested.”

I sighed, my tail snapping behind me. I had no reason to be this angry. Vakal was right, I had requested Bankor’s presence. They were only following orders. It was all the fire woman’s fault. She’d worked her way into my bones, somehow. I did not like it.

“Sit, Bankor,” I said, fighting to keep my voice even. Vakal lowered himself, sitting on my right, then Bankor sank down on my left.

“Mighty Gahn, as the hunters and I roamed the Sea Sands looking for dakrival, we heard a loud, strange noise. We followed it, and saw a huge flying creature land among the sands. It was far from us, and within moments we saw zeelk rise up and attack it.”

I shifted my gaze from Bankor to the flames, imagining the scene. It did not surprise me that zeelk attacked. They usually stayed burrowed under the sand, but were often roused by loud sounds or vibrations on the sands above. If the creature that landed was as large as Bankor claimed, it would have lured the zeelk up.

“We would have left the scene, but that was when we saw the new women, coming out from the body of the fallen thing.”

His voice fell, turning dark and reverent as he spoke about the new women. His eyes flickered to the woman with the fire hair. My fingers itched to draw a blade and carve his eyes right out of his head.

“And it wasn’t just the new women,” he continued. “We saw Gahn Buroudei.”

“What?”

This was the first I’d heard of this. Of the five tribes of the Sea Sands, Gahn Buroudei’s territory was closest to ours.  His men and mine often clashed. He was my nearest enemy and a frequent axrekal thorn in my side.

Bankor’s tail twitched to emphasize his point and he looked back at me.

“Yes, Gahn Fallo. I swear it. The others saw him too. He was at the scene even before we were. He dove right into the fray, felling two zeelk and taking one of the new women.”

I hissed, long and low. Filthy Buroudei had taken one of the new women. Did he not know that none of the women were his to take? That would have to be rectified, and soon.

“Then what happened?” I asked, still seething about the news of Gahn Buroudei.

“Then we charged. Once we saw that Gahn Buroudei wanted whoever these people were, we could not let him take them. Besides, as we got closer, we realized they were women, and…” He paused, looking sheepish, then with a flash of bravery, plunged on. “Well, my mighty Gahn knows there are few women among us now. We could not let these women, strange though they were, get devoured by zeelk. Gahn Buroudei fled as soon as he had taken the one woman he found, and we killed the remaining zeelk.”

I grunted, wondering about Gahn Buroudei’s actions. Though I hated him fiercely, he was a proud and strong warrior. I did not believe he would flee in fear as Bankor had suggested. Not unless he’d already gotten what he’d wanted. Only one woman… But why?

Perhaps Gahn Buroudei knew something that I didn’t.

The thought was an irritating one.

“Go on,” I muttered, my eyes finding their way back to the fire woman. She’d stopped looking at me, now, and was tearing apart a piece of charred meat that one of the healers, Anata, had given her. I couldn’t stop staring at her mouth. Juices from the meat dripped down her chin, and her one wide, pink tongue darted out. My lips drew back from my fangs in a silent growl at the sight. Only one tongue.

Pathetic.

Why something so pathetic was awakening my cock was anyone’s guess.

“There is not much else to the story, Gahn,” Bankor said as I watched the woman across the fire chew her food. “After killing the zeelk, we returned here immediately. As you saw, the women did not fare well on the journey. They are small, and so…” He paused, tensing. “Soft.”

I did not answer him. At that moment, Bokeelie came before us, glancing at her mate, Vakal, beside me before raising her tail in respect. In her hands she carried choice bits of meat on a carved bone tray. She set it before us and moved to leave.

“Bokeelie, wait.” She turned back at the sound of my voice. She and the other healers had worked closely with the new women. I wanted to hear her thoughts.

“Tell me what you’ve learned of the new women.”

“Of course, Gahn,” she said kneeling before me and brushing her long dark braid behind her shoulder. “They are different than us, certainly. We cannot communicate with them using words, only gestures. But that way we have learned that the sun is hard upon their skin. It burns them. We have learned that they seem to tolerate our valok plants and meat well. The Lavrika’s blood heals them as it heals us.” That last one I had witnessed myself, when I’d dumped it on the fire woman’s hands before smoothing it across her face. The memory stirred in my chest and in my cock and I forced it down with a growl. There was no point lusting after a pregnant women with a mate. If lust was even what this was. It felt more like hot anger that for some reason congregated in my groin.

Bokeelie paused, looking between Vakal and me before finally saying, “They have breasts, Gahn Fallo. But none of them appear to be with child.”

I froze, heart clenching.

“None of them?” I ground out. Her tail thumped on the ground.

“No, from what we can see, none of them are with child. Some of them are even currently experiencing their fertile blood. It seems to be a feature of their people that they have breasts all the time.”

My mind worked over her words. Women with breasts all the time? It seemed ridiculous. Did they have breasts even as babies? What purpose did they serve when not taking care of cubs?

Once again, my eyes fell to the red-haired woman, my gaze trailing down her neck to her chest. It was impossible to see her figure beneath her stiff, shapeless clothing. Her clothing was different than the other women’s. None of the women were wearing the outer cloaks they had had before, and now that I looked, I could see that the other women did indeed all have breasts of varying sizes. My three tongues lashed against my fangs as I tried to imagine what the red-haired woman’s would look like. They would probably be pale, like the rest of her. If she was not with child and had no cub, but she had breasts, would she have milk, now, too?

What would it taste like?

I clutched at a fistful of meat from the tray Bokeelie had brought, shoving it into my mouth as a distraction. The madness was getting its claws in far too deep. Heat moved in me. I ate and ate to force it down, ignoring Bokeelie as she raised her tail again and moved away with Vakal to finish her meal at the fire. With another flick of his tail over his eyes, Bankor, too, got up and moved back to his place, leaving me alone with my meat and my thoughts.

Thoughts of long red hair spilling over bare white breasts.

Wordlessly, I stood, and without another glance at her or the fire or anyone else, I turned and stalked away, returning to my tent. I could not sit there any longer. I was furious that this woman had forced me from my seat at the fire. I should have called a warrior to have removed her, instead. Clearly, I was not thinking straight.

I sank into my throne inside my tent, tucking my tail around the side of my hips, my hands gripping my knees so tightly that the claws dug into the skin, drawing blood. My cock strained, and I moved my tail up to press on it, to try to rearrange it and gain some comfort. But all that did was send a hot spiral of pleasure through my groin. I hissed, pressing harder, stroking through the fabric of the loincloth. It was bad luck to spill seed outside of a woman’s cunt. I had not needed to use my hands on my own cock in many ages. Although technically, I was not using my hands now, either.

My tail continued moving up and down, up and down, my breath becoming ragged. My eyes fell on the jar of Lavrika’s blood, abandoned on the ground, and I remembered the feeling of slicking it over the woman’s skin. My cock throbbed, and I clenched my fangs together.

The sound of someone saying my name outside the tent made me jerk. I moved my tail back beside my leg as a voice I now recognized as Vola’s called me softly again.

“Enter,” I breathed, and she did so.

Vola was one of only two unmated adult women in our tribe. She was lovely, with strong legs and an easy smile, and she often warmed my bed at night. Perhaps that’s just what I need. To lay with one of my own kind and conquer whatever this madness is.

“I wondered if my Gahn wanted some companionship tonight?”

Her words were a question, and she sidled closer. It would be easy to say yes, and it may have offered me some relief. But she didn’t have a small pink mouth, fiery red hair, and eyes that looked like they wanted to end me. She isn’t who you want.

The realization was like the falling of a boulder inside my head. Or maybe a boulder falling onto my head. A boulder big enough to crush my skull and kill me.

“Not tonight, Vola.” I muttered, shifting on the throne. Her sight stars expanded then contracted sharply as she processed what I said. I’d never turned her down before. She glanced down at my cock, clearly hard beneath my loincloth, in confusion.

“As you wish, my Gahn,” she said slowly, as if unsure. I twitched my tail in acknowledgement that yes, I was sure.

Her tail raised over her eyes, she departed the tent.

With a wild cry I rose, then dove into my bed of dakrival hides, determined to rid my mind of the new woman with angry eyes. But the night proved to be torturous, and I did not sleep.

Before dawn, exhausted but fuelled by the fire of my madness, I rose and went to Vakal’s tent to wake him. Bokeelie and their young son slept soundly as he padded out to meet me under the still-dark sky, lit only by the pricking of stars and the long line of moons.

“Organize a small party and ready the irkdu,” I growled. “I want to see where the new women came from. We will go out over the Sea Sands.”

He raised his tail over his eyes in acknowledgement, then asked, “When, Gahn?’

“Today,” I answered darkly, staring out beyond the hills. “We go at dawn.”

CHAPTER SEVEN

Chapman

I awoke with Kat’s arm and leg tossed over my body, her snoring loud in my ear. I gently pried her off of me, sitting up and pulling my sweaty hair away from my neck. It was so tangled, I almost considered pulling the knife I had stashed down my pants and cutting a bunch of it off. It would be a welcome break from the hard line of the blade against my skin – it had kept me up damn near half the night.

Despite the crappy sleep, all in all I didn’t feel too bad. The food and cactus gel stuff had refreshed me, and the others, and the glowy milky stuff had taken care of any wounds we may have had. All in all, it could have been a lot worse.

Light was slipping in around the flaps of the tent. The other human women and I had been herded into the big medical tent after the meal at the fire last night to sleep (it was a meal of more meat – something told me I wouldn’t be having a salad for a long, long time). Though it was a bit crowded, I was relieved we had all been kept together. If the men had wanted to split us up and drag women back to their own tents, there would have been no way to stop it.

Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.

Some of the others were stirring, now. Soon enough, everyone had woken up, stretching, groaning, cracking joints.

“So, now what?” A girl named Serena asked from nearby. I stood, stretching, feeling my bladder pressing uncomfortably.

“Now we go out there, I guess. Anyone need a bathroom break?” Heads began nodding to answer my question. “Let’s get organized. Everyone, pile your supplies in the middle so we can take stock of what we have.”

Some of the women had managed to keep hold of their supply packs while running from the crab monsters. Ten backpacks got dumped in the centre of the tent. It wasn’t great, but it was better than nothing.

“OK, so we have limited sunscreen and only ten pairs of sunglasses. Let’s everybody use the smallest amount of sunscreen you can, just on the most exposed areas of our faces. Make sure your hoods are up on your jackets.”

Groans rang out and I shook my head.

“I know, it’s hot. But we need them. Seriously.”

“Can’t we just use more of that awesome milk stuff if we get sunburned?” Kat asked, yawning and scrubbing her hand over her prickly head.

“I don’t want to rely on the aliens any more than we have to,” I answered, frowning. “We don’t know how much of that healing stuff they have, and we don’t know if they’ll decide to stop helping us at any point. We should try to be as self-sufficient as possible.”

Kat looked annoyed, but nodded. Melanie piped up from nearby.

“I don’t think they’ll stop helping us. Did anyone else notice how few women there are compared to men?”

A tense silence descended. That hadn’t escaped my notice. I only counted twelve adult women to over fifty men. I’d also noticed the way the men had stared at us at the fire. Like we were the answer to some unspoken prayer. But we couldn’t worry about that now.

“One thing at a time.” I said, trying to sound assuring and confident even if I was anything but. “So far, all they’ve done is try to help us, in their own way. None of the men have tried anything, right?” Everyone shook their heads no. I flushed at the memory of The Enemy gripping my wrists, his cock so hard, but his fingertips surprisingly soft against my face. I cleared my throat.

“Good. OK then, for now, let’s take this one step at a time. Step one: get jackets, sunscreen and sunglasses on. Step two: bathroom trip.”

Everyone got ready quickly and soon enough they had all collected behind me, like a gaggle of ducks behind their mother. It wasn’t a role I particularly wanted, but more and more it seemed that I was expected to lead them. No one else was exactly stepping up for the job. With a sigh, I lifted the tent flap, looking out.

I didn’t see anyone. Once again, they hadn’t bothered to assign guards to us. Melanie was right –  they really did know we had nowhere to run. We were trapped by the cliffs on side, the desert on the other. Whatever. Think about possible escape routes later.

We left the tent, heading for the area we’d gone yesterday. Every once in a while we’d see a child, a woman, or an elderly alien, but it didn’t seem like many of the young male warriors were hanging around. I kept my gaze sharp, thinking that at any moment The Enemy would bound out from behind a tent and surprise me. He didn’t, but this wasn’t as much of a relief as it should have been. Even though he was strange and obnoxious and my enemy, he was the only alien I’d had any truly close contact with. The only one I’d come close to communicating with, even if that communication had been limited to growls and shouts and me spitting in his face. So to not see him here made everything feel even more foreign.

We hurried over the hill to do our business. On our way back, a group of alien women, including the four doctors from yesterday, and some children, caught up to us, gesturing that we should follow them. I smelled a strange, spicy smoke on the air, and they pointed towards a tall tent nearby.

“Think they plan to roast us on a spit in there?” Kat asked with a laugh, but by her expression I could tell that she was only half-joking. The alien women were looking at us expectantly, and the oldest among them, one of the ones who’d helped us yesterday, started rubbing the skin on her arms, then her legs. Realization dawned as I understood her pantomime.

“I think they’re going to show us where we can have a bath or something.”

“For real?” Kat said, grinning now, her eyes invisible behind the dark lenses of her sunglasses. “Let’s do it.”

The alien women had seemed kind and welcoming enough. They’d been very gentle with us, and had treated all our wounds with care. I nodded.

“I agree. I think we should follow them. Help us get the lay of the land around here.”

We followed the alien group to the tent, the herbal, smoky scent getting stronger.

“Looks like a sauna or something,” Serena said from somewhere behind me, and I felt a twinge of disappointment when I realized she was right. I was hoping that they had some secret pool of water around here somewhere. With the sun blazing down, getting into a sauna was just about the last thing I wanted to do.

But I also wanted to be clean, and the alien woman had mimed that we’d be washing. And that definitely had some appeal.

The tent wasn’t that large. It definitely wouldn’t fit all of us.

Some of the alien women went in, pulling their children. The oldest alien woman, and one other I recognized from yesterday, waited outside with us humans.

“Looks like we won’t all fit at once. Let’s go in groups of five or so. It looks like that should work.” Everyone nodded, and a few minutes later the aliens emerged, smelling fresh and herbal, their hair and skin shining. I felt dull and short and dusty in comparison.

One of the alien women who hadn’t gone in yet went in with the first group of humans. I elected to go last, so that I could stay with the group outside and keep watch. As groups of girls came and went from the tent, something seemed… off. But I couldn’t put my finger on exactly what. And soon enough, I was being trundled into the tent, along with Kat, Melanie, and Serena. Inside, smoke and heat struck me with equal force. We all started coughing. The old alien lady followed us in, quickly pulling off her belt and tunic. She wore no undergarments and sat down on the ground, completely nude. We all gawked, and she gave us a strange look, as it to say, what are you waiting for?

My heart hammered. Somehow I hadn’t put together that I’d have to get naked in front of one of them. I still had that gigantic freaking knife down my pants. This was not going to be easy.

“Hey, Kat, maybe you could ask our new alien friend what we should use for soap,” I muttered, backing away into a corner.

Kat whipped off her clothing, then got down below the smoke.

“Um. OK?” She said. She scooted over to the alien woman, who busied herself slicing open one of the long cactus plants and showing Kat how to use the gel inside as soap, like we had for our hands out on the hill. While the alien was distracted, I shimmied out of my uniform, awkwardly shoving the knife down my pant leg as I did so, bundling it up with my clothes until I had a huge, misshapen ball. I tucked everything away at the side of the tent then quickly sat with the other girls, sweat pouring.

We used the gel from the spindly cactus like soap, wiping it, along with dirt, sweat, and dried blood, away with square rags made out of some kind of woven plant material. The cactus gel stuff even worked well for a kind of shampoo and conditioner combo, slipping through our hair easily, helping us to untangle the strands with our fingers before evaporating into the smoke. Kat, with her buzz cut, grinned madly as she scrubbed the herbal-smelling stuff against her scalp.

“It’s hot as hell, but this feels fucking great,” she said, smiling, and the alien woman with us looked pleased. I couldn’t help but notice, as I glanced at the alien, that she had no breasts, and no hair on her body at all. I wonder if the men have hair…

I stiffened. That was not a road I needed to be going down right now.

Soon enough we were done with our smoky sauna, and we dressed. I tied my hair into a tight bun at the back of my head, the way I usually wore it. Once again, I had do do a whole fucking dance to keep the knife hidden, but luckily the alien didn’t seem to think anything was amiss. I pulled my jacket back on, sweating, yanking the hood up before stepping back out into the sunlight.

Everyone was gathered outside, waiting for us to finish. As I swept my eyes over the group of women, the feeling that something was wrong intensified. My stomach sank as I realized what is was.

“Where’s Theresa?”

The faces around me fell as everyone started looking around. She wasn’t here. Shit. Double dog fucking shit.

“Damn it, does anyone remember seeing her today?”

How had we not noticed she wasn’t with us? Wracking my brain, I tried to remember if I’d seen her at all this morning. She had definitely been at the fire last night. Had she come back to the tent with us? I couldn’t fucking remember.

“Now that I think about it, we were sleeping next to each other. I thought I heard her get up at some point in the night, maybe for a bathroom break, but I was half asleep.” Serena looked sick with guilt as she spoke. I scrunched my eyes shut, pressing the heels of my hands against them. Then I took a steadying breath and opened my eyes.

“OK, new rule. Nobody ever goes anywhere alone.”

Everyone looked too terrified to argue with my proclamation. The alien women who were still with us looked confused. They pulled at the arms of some of the girls, miming an eating gesture. But my stomach was in knots thinking about Theresa. No way was I ready for some alien breakfast.

“Here’s the plan,” I said, speaking fast and thinking faster. “You guys are going to go with the alien women and get some breakfast while I look for Theresa.” I hated the thought of leaving them to fend for themselves, but there was at least a tiny bit of safety in numbers. Theresa was alone somewhere and that had to be the priority now.

“Doesn’t that break the rule?” Someone from the back of the group asked. “You said no one goes anywhere alone.”

“Alright, amendment to the rule,” I ground out, every moment I wasted here potentially putting Theresa in more danger. “Nobody ever goes anywhere alone.” I took a deep breath, looking each of them in the eye, one after the other. “Nobody but me.”

CHAPTER EIGHT

Fallo

The Sea Sands stretched before us endlessly, marked only by the Cliffs of Uruzai in the distance and, a little closer than that, a huge, hulking silhouette.

“That is the thing that came from the sky. The women came from inside it,” Bankor said from his irkdu. He, along with Ankrolok, and some of the other hunters who had found the women, had accompanied Vakal and me as we headed back to investigate the scene of the women’s arrival. I leaned forward on my irkdu, focusing my gaze as we approached. Bankor had said this thing was flying, but it had no wings. It was a giant, round, shining shell, broken open in places by the zeelk. The body of the zeelk littered the sand, pierced by my men’s blades and spears, and as we got closer I scented blood, like that of the women, but older and dried. When we were close enough to see into the strange shell, I could see the remnants of the carnage. Bones, small like the women’s, littered the sand and the inside of the shining structure, stripped of flesh by the zeelk. The thought of the red-haired woman meeting such a fate was a terrible one. I did not like to think of it.

“My Gahn, come around this way.”

Vakal was calling to me from around the other side of the great round thing. I followed his voice, meeting him at its other open end. Inside was a large space with funny square rocks and oddly-shaped jars on very straight shelves. Was this indeed a creature, a living thing? Or something else? It did not appear to be alive, nor to have ever been alive. No skin, no blood, its insides more like cave than a creature. It made no sense. And the confusion irked me.

“What do you make of all this, Gahn?” Vakal breathed, his sight stars spinning as he looked around the space.

“I do not know,” I said truthfully. Not knowing made me angry. And even more than that was the fact that Gahn Buroudei had been here before me. His territory was further out, beyond the Cliffs of Uruzai. What had he been doing here, all alone on the sands? What did he know of all this?

A part of me wanted to roar, and ride my irkdu as fast as possible into his territory, taking his new woman and tearing his head from his shoulders. But my men were looking at me like they expected me to make sense of all this for them. Fools.

With a growl, I turned my attention back to the strange open space, getting off my irkdu to look around. On one side, I saw fabric spilling from a very hard basket with sharp corners. Getting closer, I realized it was more of the clothing the new women wore. It would be no trouble to clothe them in the garb of our people, but Bokeelie had said that the sun hurt their skin. These weak creatures may need special clothing to cover themselves.

“Take this,” I said pointing at the pile of clothing. Ankrolok dismounted and jogged over at my command, scooping the clothing up. The items looked puny in his arms. How were these women so tiny and soft and weak? Where had they come from, and why were they here?

Maybe questions of why were pointless. Maybe the only questions left were about what was to be done.

And for now, what was to be done was to take this clothing, and whatever else I deemed necessary, back to the new women. I tried to imagine the red-haired woman’s face when I presented her with it. Would she consider it a gift? Would she smile, and let the anger out of her eyes? Something told me she would not. Something told me she would hiss and spit.

And besides, just what did I hope to find in those strange eyes, if not her anger?

All the same, I snatched one of the items on top of Ankrolok’s pile for her. I hadn’t decided if I’d actually give it to her, yet. I’d have to decide that on the way back. See if she’d done anything to earn my generosity. I imagined draping it over her narrow shoulders, and I clenched the fabric in my hand so hard that if it were stone, it would have cracked.

We examined the rest of the open space inside the unnamed thing, but did not find much else that any of us recognized. We did find another heavy square basket with the hard foot-shells the women wore, and I ordered Bankor to strap it to his mount, but that was all I decided to take back. For a brief moment, I wondered if it would be worthwhile to bring the fire woman here, to let her pick out what she needed. But I seethed at the thought. I did not want her to be reminded of a time before we’d found her. Of a time before she knew me. She was settled among our tribe, now. And there she would stay.

We took a short break to drink from the valok plants we had brought, and to eat some dried meat. As I ate, my ears pricked, and I thought I heard something, a small sound, from deep within the fallen thing. Before I could turn towards it, though, Vakal cried out.

“A warrior!”

I snarled, jumping onto my mount. My men did the same, pulling blades and spears to hold at the ready. I pulled my longest knife, holding it tight in one hand, my spear in the other.

“Charge!” I called to my men, and then we were streaking across the sands, our powerful irkdu moving with ferocity. My blood ran hot, gushing into each limb, pounding and ready for battle.

“It’s Dalk!” Vakal shouted from beside me, and I realized he was right. It was one of our men. But I did not like the way he sped across the sands towards us. Like something was wrong.

We continued towards him, faster, faster, until eventually we met on the open sands. Dalk commanded his irkdu to halt with a click of his tongues. His tail flew up before his eyes then he set his gaze on me.

“Gahn Fallo, I have news.” He paused for a moment to catch his breath, then straightened. “Two of the new women are missing.”

A mangled cry tore from my throat, my tail snapping in anger against my mount. I did not need to ask him who was among the missing. I already knew. Those eyes were far too hateful, too angry, to be bound by me.

But I asked anyway.

“Who is missing? What happened?”

Dalk spoke quickly.

“Anata said that she saw the woman with fire hair go away from the others. When Anata stopped and counted the women, she realized two were missing, not just one. She thinks the fire woman has gone looking for her fellow female.”

None of his words surprised me. But they did enrage me. Where would they have gone, the two of them? Where would her kinswoman have gone that she would have followed? Surely not somewhere dangerous.

But then again, for the new women, everywhere was dangerous.

There were no more questions now of why or of what was to be done. The only question was how fast could I get back and find her?

I turned on my mount, barking orders to my men.

“One of you stay here and guard this place. We will send a replacement for you by sunrise tomorrow. The rest of us ride back immediately.” A hunter from the edge of the group raised his tail in acknowledgement and dismounted, retreating back to the strange structure we’d just been exploring on foot. There was no peet grass here for his irkdu to feed on overnight, so it would have to return with us to the plains. The beasts were well-trained – it would follow us without a rider.

Technically, where the giant thing had landed and beyond it, all the way to the Cliffs of Uruzai, was neutral territory, not ruled by any Gahn. But something about this fallen thing felt like it was mine. And I did not like the fact that Gahn Buroudei knew where it was. So leaving a guard was vital.

If only I’d left a guard with the fire woman. She would not have been pleased by that. But if it would have avoided a situation like this, it would have been worth it.

I had nowhere easy to store the cloak I’d collected for fast riding. Quickly, cursing and snapping my jaws, I rolled it up and stuffed it into my loincloth before urging my irkdu into sharp-footed motion. My men quickly followed. Dalk drew up to my side as we charged over the sands.

“Most of the men are out on hunting and patrol duties,” he said as we pounded forward. “It was just me and two other warriors at the tents when Anata found us and told us what had happened. The other two are looking for the lost ones, and I came to find you as fast as I could.”

I did not answer him, instead clicking, deep in my throat, commanding my irkdu to go even faster.  It was nearly half a day’s ride to reach the scene of the women’s arrival from our tents. That meant the women had already been missing all that time. By the time we got back to the tents, night would have fallen. Not good enough.

Dalk, no doubt balking at my black expression, attempted to soothe me.

“I have already been riding for some time. Perhaps they have already been found.”

His words did little to ease the dark clenching in my chest. I would not rest until I had the fire woman back. Until I could see her with my own sight stars. Then, and only then, only once I knew that she was safe and fed and, if necessary, healed, would I wrap the cloak I’d found around her. And once that was done, I’d find a way to punish her.

Did I want to punish her for disappearing? Or for making me feel this way?

I did not know.

Maybe both.

I may have been known as the Mad Gahn, but I never felt truly mad until I saw her face. And that insanity could only be growing, now. Because all I wanted was to see that small, strange, angry face again. I’d let any madness swallow me whole if it meant that I could find her.

If it meant that I could save her.

And if it turned out she didn’t want to be saved, if it turned out she had tried to run?

Then we would find out just how truly mad I had become.

CHAPTER NINE

Chapman

While I didn’t have a watch, I was pretty sure I’d been looking for Theresa for a few hours by now. I wasn’t sure how long after dawn we’d woken up and left the tent, but the sun was high in the sky now, probably about halfway through the day. I had to find her, and find her soon. I had no clue what would happen to her after dark, but I was pretty damn sure it wouldn’t be good.

When I’d first stolen away from the group, I’d jogged between the tents, pressing my ears to the fabric of each them. But I hadn’t heard much of anything – by that time, everyone who was still hanging around the alien home base had gathered at the central fire pit, roasting meat for breakfast over a small bed of flames, much smaller than the evening fire that had to feed a lot more people. No, there were only twenty or so adult aliens here now, only three warriors that I could see, the rest women and the elderly, plus some children. Most of the men we’d seen last night were gone, hunting or whatever the fuck it was these aliens did all day.

But I’d checked every tent anyway, working methodically, finding nothing. Then I’d sprinted into the medical tent, scarfing down some of the cactus stuff and dried meat that had been left there. If I was going to be running around all day, I’d need my strength.

While in the medical tent, I’d heard a commotion start up outside.

I’d peeked out, watching the three alien men who’d been eating contentedly a moment ago jumping and dispersing, while the alien women gathered all the humans together. They’d realized Theresa and I were gone. I didn’t have much a head start. I needed to find Theresa before one of these hulking warriors did. Sure, The Enemy hadn’t done anything too terrible to me when we’d been alone, but I couldn’t speak for any of these other guys. I didn’t know them. And I didn’t want any of them happening upon a disoriented, maybe injured, Theresa.

Moving quickly, I’d snagged a water bottle from one of the human backpacks laying around, shoving it down into my uniform’s pocket. Then I’d readjusted the big knife down my pants, stealing away from the tent. As soon as I’d left, I’d crouched in the tent’s shadow, pulling my hood up tight, watching, thankful that right before I’d peeled off from the group Kat had forced her sunglasses into my hands. One of the warrior guys had immediately gotten on one of their big crocodile centipedes and took off through the hills. The other two had split up, searching the area on foot.

They’d started with the tents, and I’d sprinted from tent to tent to avoid them, feeling like I was back on Earth doing some kind of army training drill. Except this was my real fucking life. Eventually, the two searching aliens figured out what I already had – that Theresa wasn’t here. She wasn’t in any of the tents. They’d gone out into the hills to search for her, and probably me, and I’d taken off in the other direction, streaking across the wide, cracked plain, away from the tents, and into the shadows of the cliffs.

That’s where I was now, walking along with my hood pulled forward, crouching to stay out of sight. I could barely see the tents, now, and I didn’t know how close the aliens who were looking for us may have been. I didn’t see anyone, though. That would have been good, except for the fact that I also didn’t see Theresa anywhere.

The high sun meant the shade cast by the cliffs was almost completely gone, and it would definitely be gone once the sun circled over on the other side. I chewed on the inside of my cheek ferociously as I stayed low to the ground, moving quickly. No sign of her anywhere.

I crouched lower, stopping. Time to reassess my plan. I had hoped that I’d find her quickly and get her back to the group before any of the aliens had even noticed we’d been gone. But that plan had clearly gone to shit. And the clock was ticking. Not only was I racing against the other aliens finding her, or me, I was also racing against the brutal fucking sun. I didn’t know if she had any water or supplies with her.

Fuck. Thinking about her lost somewhere without water or protection made me want to throw up. Thoughts even worse than that, thoughts of predators, like those crabs from the desert, crowded in my brain. I gritted my teeth, taking a long, low breath, forcing myself to focus. Imagining terrible scenarios would get me nowhere. All I could do was keep going until I found her, or somebody else found me.

Or until, you know, we both fucking died. Considering we were on a hostile alien planet and all.

I laid a hand on the hard, hot stone of the cliff beside me, a massive jagged wall jutting high up into the sky, staring up and thinking. I’d spent hours walking along this cliff face, but it was seeming less and less likely Theresa would have walked this far. What would have lured her out here? Nothing that I could think of. I stared down the line of the cliff, along the flat plain and away from the tents, the land stretching away from me seemingly forever. I could keep walking that way until I collapsed from exhaustion and probably never find her.

No. I had to go back. Retrace my steps, check places more thoroughly this time.

I started walking, still crouched, along the cliffs again, back towards the tents. About halfway between where I was now and the tents, there was an opening in the cliff face. I’d gone past it the first time, favouring covering as much round as possible. But now, there was a niggling thought in my head that I should see just where that opening led.

Some time later, the tents emerging in view in the distance, I arrived at the crevice I had seen before. It was fairly narrow, and one of the aliens would have trouble squeezing through here, but it wasn’t too hard for me. And Theresa? She was even smaller.

Maybe she went out of her mind with fear and ran out here, looking for somewhere to hide…?

It didn’t gel with what I knew of Theresa. She had been pretty panicked when those crab things attacked, but otherwise she was pretty stable, optimistic, even. I didn’t see her losing it like that. But really, what did I know about any of these girls? Their names, their education levels, and their cities of birth. That was about it.

I could have gotten to know them better on the ship. I could have been kinder.

Too late for that now.

I cast one last glance towards the tents. The other alien warriors still hadn’t come this way, evidently scouring the wide rolling hills and the sands beyond. With a quick but somewhat jerky movement, I slid The Enemy’s knife out of my pants. I hoped I wouldn’t need to use it, but I figured since I was about to plunge, alone, into a dark alien cliff with no idea of what I was facing and no back-up, that this was as good a time as any to arm myself.

I quickly unwrapped the blade, letting The Enemy’s loincloth fall to the sand. I decided to keep the bandages, though. If Theresa was in there, who knew what shape she’d be in.

I entered the cliff.

For a while, I moved forward on a relatively straight path, the rust-coloured stone forcing me in one direction. It never got dark, though, the sun always shining overhead. I was a little grateful I wasn’t entering some deep underground caves. I still felt like I could breathe.

Along the cliff walls, by my feet, tough grey-ish grass with long stalks, and more of the cactus things we drank out of, grew. I made a mental note of that – if I needed hydration, the cactus plants were near. I still had half of my water bottle. I’d been saving it in case Theresa needed some when I found her. If I found her.

Eventually, the hallway created by the cliffs’ rough walls opened into a huge, valley-like clearing. The ground here was still packed hard and dry like the plains where the tents were. It wasn’t loose sand. The walls of the cliffs rippled and cracked in various places, the whole thing looking like some kind of impressive, abstract sculpture. The light was tinted reddish-gold from the stone all around me, and if I weren’t becoming more frantic every moment, it would have been beautiful.

But I was hot, and hungry, and my feet were killing. One of of the girls from the group, from my group, might be dead out here. So I wasn’t really focused on how photogenic everything was. This place could have been the cover of a national geographic magazine. But right now, it was something to be feared.

Ahead of me, the cliff branched into a labyrinth of stone walls. My path forked into three, and I was suddenly overtaken with the horrible sensation that if I went any further, I’d be lost in here forever.

I could have turned back. Maybe I should have.

Instead, quietly at first, then louder, I called Theresa’s name.

And, wonder of fucking wonders, from somewhere ahead in the stone, a human woman’s voice screamed back.

Coming from the left. I think. I took a quick glance around, looking for possible landmarks to remember, then started running.

I kept calling Theresa’s name, and she kept answering in a wordless, terrified cry, in a life-and-death Marco Polo match. My lungs burned as I ran, her voice getting louder with every step.

Eventually, the ground began rising, and I was moving uphill, the ground angling up and becoming rockier, more treacherous. I slipped, my boot catching on a collection of small copper-coloured pebbles, and I fell to one knee, narrowly avoiding slicing my fingers off with the gigantic black blade. I wonder what it’s made of… The material used to construct the blades was shiny and black, unlike any material I’d seen on the planet so far. And I could tell, without testing it, that it would be sharp as hell.

I righted myself, and as the ground become more steeply angled, I ended up half-crawling, half-crouch-walking, grasping as dust and rocks, my palms scratched to hell. But It didn’t matter, Because Theresa’s voice was getting louder.

Eventually, the ground came away from the cliff wall on the right side, creating a steep ravine. Better not get too close to that edge.

Theresa’s voice seemed so close now. Sweat poured down my brow, forcing me to wipe above, and then beneath, my heavy dark sunglasses. She was sobbing. It was echoing so close. So close.

But I didn’t see her.

I froze, my heart sinking down into the soles of my dusty boots as I realized where she was.

Moving to my hands and knees I crawled, slowly, to the edge of the ravine.

Here, it was less a ravine and more a 90 degree drop. And down there, crunched onto a tiny shelf of rock in a very narrow space, her hands plastered to the wall ahead of her, her back against another wall, was Theresa, her shoulder-length blonde hair turned orange from the coppery dust and sand.

Fuck.

I mean, she wasn’t dead, at least. But she was a good fifteen feet down from where I was. And that ledge she was scrunched up on? Yeah, there was another thirty-foot drop below that. And the ledge was so small that the toes of her boots were poking over the edge.

I got down on my belly, army-crawling right to the edge and calling down to her.

“Theresa!”

She looked at me like I was a goddamned angel from above.

“Chapman!” Her voice was dry and cracked. She didn’t have her solar protection jacket on, and that worried me. She was in a fairly shaded spot, but I could see how painfully red her bare arms, face, and neck had become. She didn’t have a pack with her. No water, no supplies.

“How the fuck did you get down there?” I cried. Why was she even out here at all? I shook my head, the force of the movement sending tiny pebbles raining down towards Theresa, bouncing off the cliff walls. “Nevermind, not important right now.”

I clamped my mouth shut, thinking hard, my hand squeezing against the handle of The Enemy’s weapon. Not that it would be much use now. Even if it were long enough for Theresa to grab on to, it was way too sharp. Using my free hand, I yanked the bandages from my pocket unravelling them and seeing how long they were. Crap. Not long enough for her to grab, and the fabric didn’t seem strong enough to support her weight. And frankly, I didn’t think that I could pull her all the way up on my own.

It was rare that I asked myself, What would my dad do? Because what my dad had done was sacrificed himself for his fellow soldiers, getting himself blown up in the process. But in a moment like this, there wasn’t much else I could do. He was a hero. And right now Theresa really looked like she could use a hero.

Her sunburned, tearful face was still turned up to me, pleading.

What would dad do? What the fuck would he do?

He’d figure this shit out and save his friend at any cost, that’s what.

And right now, that looked a hell of a whole lot like going back for help.

I didn’t want to. I still thought of these aliens as our enemies. We’d basically been kidnapped, and their leader seemed to think he could do whatever the hell he wanted. But the reality was these people knew the terrain. They were taller and stronger and might actually know what to do. As much as it pained me, I had to go back. At least this way none of the alien men would be happening upon her alone – I’d be leading them back to her.

“Theresa,” I said, keeping my voice flat and calm as she whimpered. “I can’t get you out of here on my own. I need to go get help. But for now I’m going to try to lower a water bottle to you.”

Tearing my gaze from her desperate face, I wound one of the bandages around my half-empty water bottle. I wished I hadn’t drank any of it, now, even though my throat was parched. I tied the bandages together, end-to-end. It wasn’t going to be long enough to reach her, but it might be long enough to get me some control as I lowered it close enough to drop it to her. The question was, would she be able to take her hands off the opposite wall to catch it?

Guess we’ll find out.

I worked quickly, and soon enough my water bottle rope contraption was ready. I laid on my stomach again, leaving the knife to my side to use both hands to lower the water bottle down. It dangled, swinging and hitting the rock wall above Theresa’s hands. I swore, digging the steel toes of my boots into the rough ground behind me, drenched in sweat, my muscles shaking as I tried to perfectly control the descent of the water bottle. It fell short, stopping about halfway down, maybe seven feet above Theresa’s head.

“OK, Theresa, I am going to let go of this. Try to catch it, but only if it’s safe.”

I hadn’t prayed in years. Not since before my mom had died. And if God was real, would he hear me way out here?

Whatever, I needed all the help I could get. God, Satan, Chtulhu – whoever may be listening. Please, for the love of…. literally anything, help us.

With my head over the side, and my face sweating, I felt my sunglasses slip off my nose, clattering past Theresa down to the rocks below. Hoping that that wouldn’t be what happened to the water bottle, I held my breath and let go.

It came close. It came so fucking close.

Theresa cried out, jerking, one arm flailing wildly upward to try to catch it. But her fingertips knocked it to the side, and it fell down, down, down, before disappearing completely.

I dug my nails into the dirt, slamming my forehead to the ground. After a long moment, I raised my head again, calling down to her.

“I’m sorry Theresa. I know you’re exhausted and dehydrated, but you need to hold on a little longer while I go get help.”

Her hands were both back on the stone ahead of her, but I could see her shoulders shaking with the effort of holding herself there.

“Please, please don’t leave me,” she said, looking up again. In that moment, I hated my government and my military and my whole planet so fucking much. For doing this to her, For doing this to all of us.

But we were here now. We had to make the best of it. We had to survive.

“Theresa, you’re going to be alright. But I have to go back and get help. You have to hold on.”

“Please don’t leave me!” She said, her voice a scream this time. “There’s a monster!”

My brow furrowed as I stared down at her.

“What?”

Before she could respond, I heard the sound. A terrible, head-splitting screech.

I scrabbled up and back, spinning on my ass.

I grabbed the knife.

Half a fucking second too late.

CHAPTER TEN

Fallo

We made it back to the tents just as the sun was beginning to set, the moons rising. I knew right away the two women had not yet been found when we got back – everything was in disarray. The warriors who had returned from their patrol duties were spread out, searching, and the Sea Sands women were building up the evening fire alone without the men’s help. The new women huddled together, looking distraught. I knew the fire woman would not be among them, but I searched the group with my eyes anyway. She was not there.

I lashed my tail with an angry cry, hurling myself from my mount once we’d made it through the hills, hitting the hard plains running. The warriors who were with me did the same. One of my men ran to meet us from the tents, whipping his tail up in respectful greeting before speaking quickly.

“We have not found them. We are searching the hills, and some men have returned to their mounts to search the sands.”

I forced down a growl.

“What about the cliffs?”

“Two warriors have gone that way, but have not yet returned.”

Of course not. The Cliffs of Zandazar were a sprawling mess of tunnels, valleys, and veering paths of rock. There were many points of entry, and many places to hide. Many places to become trapped, too. If I were trying to escape, trying to hide, that would be where I’d go. If I didn’t know about the krixel that nested there.

I gripped my spear and pulled another blade from my back as I took off, bypassing the tents. I yelled over my shoulder to my men, “Keep searching the sands and hills. When the rest of the hunters and patrols return, tell them to join me at the cliffs.”

My men ran to fulfill my commands, and I sped up, running for the cliffs.

I reached the imposing stone wall, breathing hard, my weapons at the ready. But where to start? At first glance the wall seemed craggy but solid, but as one walked along it, one could find many cracks and crevices that led inside the formation. Uncounted ways in. Uncounted ways to lose someone.

I slammed my spear against the cliff in agitation, fangs bared. We had lost too much time already. The new women would not survive long out here. Especially if, like I suspected, they were hiding in the cliffs. They would have no defence against the krixel. The red-haired woman may have had a spirit that matched the fire of her hair, but her skin was still so soft, her body small and clawless.

I began to run again, along the cliff wall, away from my tents and my people, searching the stone, the ground, for any clue. My long legs carried my quickly but even so I could feel time slipping away. The sky darkened every moment, the moons looking down at me with blank, misshapen faces.

I went far, far, nothing giving me any hint, any indication. Images of the red-haired woman flashed in my mind – trapped, fallen, picked apart by a krixel’s teeth.

I had thought I was going mad, before. Now I felt like I had fully gone insane. The thought of the red-haired woman dead somewhere was too much to bare. I was ready to rend the cliffs in two with only my blades and my claws to find her. I was ready to tear this world apart, kill every creature in the land that would do her harm. Pound every stone into dust.

But there!

Something ahead on the ground.

I sprinted to it, stopping and bending. It was fabric – dakrival hide. Picking it up, I saw it was a loincloth. Disappointment filled me as I realized it, thinking it may belong to one of the warriors who had already come this way, searching. But looking closer, I realized it was one of mine. It had a distinctive stain – a mark of blood – from a battle some time ago. The only one who would have been in my tent lately and would have had access to such a thing without me seeing was… the fire-haired woman.

I clutched it, pressing it to my face and inhaling deeply. Yes, yes, there was her scent. And it was strong, too. Stronger than if she’d been holding it in her hands. Where on her body had she been hiding such a thing, and why?  Even in my frenzy, I could not help but imagine this fabric, fabric that had wrapped my cock, pressed somewhere secret beneath her clothes.

I must find her.

This had to be some kind of message, some kind of clue. My other warriors clearly had not yet come this far, stopping to search earlier entries to the cliffs. My fists tightened on my weapons as I tied the fabric I’d found around my wrist. I could have left it behind, but I was not yet ready to give up that fragrance, and besides, it could prove useful tracking her down. I ignored the fact that I’d already memorized every nuance of her scent – her skin, her sweat, her blood. Her hair that smelled nothing like fire. Raising my arm to my face, I breathed in again, then plunged into the cliffs.

It was tight, very tight. I was forced to turn sideways, my shoulders too broad to fit through this long tunnel of stone. Eventually, though, I came into a more open area, and I was able to stretch out and straighten, swinging my head around. There was no sign of the fire-haired woman. No more messages, no more dropped clues. Ahead of me lay three arching paths through the stone. And no way to tell which to follow.

“Tell me where you are, female!” I cried, my voice booming and echoing against the rock. I knew she would not understand the words. But maybe she would hear and recognize my voice. Perhaps, for once, she would not let her vicious spite get in the way of my intentions.

And if she did not recognize my voice yet, she would. Once I found her, I’d make sure it was the only sound she heard. Her entire being would be filled with it.

If she heard me, she did not respond. But a krixel did, screeching fiercely. I tensed, raising my spear and knife higher, casting my eyes up and scanning the sky and the stone above me. But I saw no terrible winged krixel coming for me. It was screeching as if it had found its prey, but clearly that prey was not me.

My mind blanked into fury and I charged, single-minded in my speed and might. Towards the sound of the krixel. The path on the left. I ran and ran, the ground rising up against the cliff wall, dropping off sharply on one side. Dust, dirt, and small stones cascaded away behind me, tossed under my feet. Everything had turned shadowy and strange in the darkness, and I heard the cry of the krixel again, straight ahead of me.

Snapping my jaws, I sped up, charging with all I had until finally, I saw it.

There was the krixel, fighting desperately to get at something nestled into a crack in the cliff wall. And in its lethal claws? The shreds of a cloak like the new women wore.

For a moment, I could not tear my eyes away from that cloak. The sight of it enraged me beyond measure. Nothing else existed, and I knew that if the krixel had harmed the fire-haired woman I would kill it and every one of its kind until there was nothing left. Then I came back to myself, blood surging, heart pounding, my mouth opening in a war cry that echoed like the thunder of a desert storm. I threw my spear at the krixel, immediately pulling another knife from my back. One spear would not take the thing down.

It jerked and screamed as my spear tore through its wing and pierced its powerful leg. I laughed madly, slicing my weapons through the air. It had been too long since I’d done battle. Blood lust sang its dark song inside me.

The krixel turned its eyes on me. But I was ready.

Let it come.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Chapman

It really seemed like this planet took earth creatures, crossed them with dinosaurs, and made them huge. Not only did we have huge, prehistoric-looking crocodile centipede monsters, but it also appeared we were dealing with huge, man-sized bats crossed with… pterodactyls?

I wondered if any of the women we’d brought on the trip were dinosaur experts. The closest thing we probably had was Theresa. She was a vet tech, but she’d completed an advanced degree in zoology, too. But she was currently still trapped, down on that tiny little ledge. I hoped against hope that she was still OK, but I had my own problems to deal with at the moment. Namely, the huge, grotesque monster that was trying to get at me.

I was pressed into a narrow, shallow crack in the cliff face. After I’d heard the bat-monster screech when I’d been talking to Theresa, I’d turned on my butt, scrabbling backwards. Not fast enough, though. It had hooked huge claws into my jacket, ripping it from my body like it was made of wet tissue paper instead of the durable stiff material it was. I’d crashed my back against the stone wall, just barely making it into this tiny crack where I was now seated, scrunched, waiting for this fucking thing to leave me alone. But it wouldn’t. And I’d dropped the knife, just outside the crack, in my panic.

Every time I thought the alien monster was giving up, I’d shuffle, oh so carefully, to peek out the crack again, and it would swoop back, forcing me to retreat into my hiding place. It turned out “giving up” on me really just meant trying to get at Theresa, who thankfully seemed to be too far down, in too narrow a spot herself, for the creature to access.

Eventually, night fell, and it began to sink in that we were well and truly fucked. We could either stay where we were, hoping this thing gave up, potentially dying of dehydration in the process, or we could try to fight it, and get torn to shreds. Seriously, the thing was huge – longer than I was tall, with powerful muscles rippling beneath its grey skin. Its snouted, bat-like face crowded into the crack, again and again, its sharp teeth snapping, trying to take a bite. If only I had that goddamn knife…

I had been worried about the warrior aliens finding me or Theresa. Now I was hoping for just that. At least they seemed to have vaguely human communication skills and values. They’d helped us, healed us, and lived together in a community. I would take one of them over this thing any day. Even The Enemy, with his raging sneer and his seemingly ever-present erection (at least when around me) would be a welcome sight. I swear to God, if he shows up right now, I literally might kiss him.

But no one showed up. And after darkness truly took hold, I knew I needed to do something. I couldn’t wait in here forever. I needed to do something, show some aggression, maybe to get it to back off. There were lots of predators on earth that you were supposed to scare away by acting bigger and tougher than you actually were. Maybe that would work now.

The only problem was that I was squished in here. Standing up was basically impossible.

What else? I searched around me, looking for anything I could use. My eyes settled upon a baseball-sized rock between my feet. I hefted it in my fist, then, when the animal’s snarling face reappeared, I chucked it as hard as I could, as hard as the small space allowed. It hit the thing square on the upturned nose, and I let out a whisper of “Yes!” as it reared back. But my triumph only last a moment. Because then it was right back in front of me again, crowding its face towards me, now angry instead of just hungry.

Was this it? Was this how I went out, starving to death in a tiny cliff crack, or eaten by something a lot bigger and stronger than myself? My biggest regret was that, by dying, I’d be leaving the other women even more defenceless than they were now. Although, what kind of defence had I really provided them? I couldn’t protect them against anything we’d run up against so far.

The bat-pterodactyl squawked, leaning its head back and reaching the clawed tip of a wing into my hiding place. It was so close to reaching me, the tip of that deadly claw just inches from my soft, wet human eyeballs. I plastered myself against the walls even harder, rage and fear welling up inside me. I hated that this was happening, and that I was too fucking powerless to stop it.

But then, a new sound split the night. The cry of one of the alien men, and he sounded close by.

Oh, thank fucking fuck.

I screamed for his attention, knowing these cliffs were a labyrinth, but my call was drowned out by the squeal of the enraged alien monstrosity who was still trying to get to me.

“You’re too bird-brained to understand that you’re fucking toast now, hey buddy?’ I hissed. I hoped I was right. I hoped that a million alien warriors were coming right now, blades drawn. Never thought I’d say that.

For a few minutes, nothing seemed to happen. Time ticked by, slower than I would have thought possible. And still, the thing scrabbled and clawed, trying to get to me. For the first time since we’d gotten here, I felt tears slip over my cheeks. To have heard that alien cry, to have thought help may have been coming, was so sweet. And to think that I may have gotten my hopes up for nothing? That was total heartbreak.

But maybe there was still a chance for us yet, because then, so close I could practically taste the sound, a brutal, brilliant war cry rang out. The creature suddenly jerked and seemed to falter, falling, then pulling away from me and tossing its huge head towards whoever was coming our way. In the darkness, I could see one of the big, alien spears sticking out of its leg.

Someone was here. Someone had come after all.

If i weren’t worried about drawing the creature’s attention back to me, I would have given a whoop of joy.

I moved closer to the opening of the crack, carefully peering out to see what was going on. The big bat creature had moved a few paces away and down the incline, stretching its wings out wide and screaming. Seeing it at its full size, its wingspan easily more than ten feet, was terrifying, even if one of those wings seemed to be injured. But even more terrifying than that? The alien charging forward, two knifes drawn, grinning wildly. The Enemy.

In this moment, I conceded that he maybe wasn’t entirely my enemy. At least, he was an enemy on my side for the time being. As obnoxious as he’d been so far, I was pretty damn glad to see him now.

The bat shot forward on powerful legs, but The Enemy was ready for it, slashing and ducking with his knives, meeting every jab of the creatures claws and teeth head on. I gawked, amazed by his power and fighting prowess, before shaking myself back to reality. I wasn’t some idiot who was just going to sit there waiting to get rescued. I had to be smart. I crawled out of the crack and snagged the knife I’d dropped, then scrambled back into my hiding place.

Returning to my hiding place was part of me not being an idiot. I didn’t know what the hell I was dealing with, and if I jumped into the fray now, I could distract The Enemy and fuck things up for all of us. So instead, I stayed put, feeling a lot better now that I had my own weapon, watching and waiting to see if I could help.

But The Enemy did not need help. At all. He twirled and swiped, laughed and slashed, Eventually, the bat creature got tired of being cut from arm’s length, and it ignored the knives, charging forward and tackling The Enemy to the ground in a flurry of wings, tails, and claws.

Oh, shit. Maybe I would have to jump in after all. I tightened my sweaty hand around the knife, leaning out, getting ready to run forward. Just as I was about to take a step, the bat-creature went totally limp on top of The Enemy, before it was rolled roughly to the side. The Enemy stood and I sucked in a breath, goosebumps breaking out over my skin.

He straightened to his full height, towering like an alien god. His two blades were held out at his sides, his massive chest heaving with hard breaths, every muscle bulging under his tough skin. Skin shining with the blood of the thing he’d just slain, turned silver under the glow of the stars and asteroids. In this dim light, his face almost looked darkly handsome, if a little crazy – his strong jaw chiselled, his fangs bared in a victorious grin, the bright parts of his eyes shooting outwards, then pulling in so fucking tight when they homed in on me. I gulped, my heart pounding as we stared at each other. He gestured wider with his knives, yipping sharply, as if to say, look at what I’ve done. Look at what I’ve done for you.

Then he saw the knife.

His knife.

The one I stole.

Oops.

CHAPTER TWELVE

Fallo

She’s alive.

The realization hit me hard. I let it fill me, with all its sharpness – relief and irritation and, most confusingly, lust. Her hair had come loose from its usual round twist at the back of her head, tumbling about her shoulders in burnished tangles, turned dark by the night. She was not wearing her cloak – evidently the one caught between the filthy krixel’s claws. But it was dead now, and could do her no harm. I grinned, revelling in my victory, raising my weapons, showing her my power, showing her that I was master here and that she would never escape. She could run through any part of these cliffs, and I would always track her down. Her scent was in my blood now. And I would kill any creature that threatened her.

Any creature but me.

I sniffed, not smelling any of her blood on the air, luckily. But still, she may have been injured. I needed to get her back to the healers and examined. I cast my eyes over her body from this distance, anger flaring when I saw what she held at the ready.

A knife.

My knife.

So she was determined to be my enemy, then. Stealing from me, perhaps trying even to kill me with my own blade. The thought was an enraging one, filling me with dark fury. I stalked towards her, tail thrashing, chest heaving. Her eyes grew wide when she saw me, and she took a step back before hitting the cliff wall. She could have run. She could have gone up the incline further, trying to escape me. But instead, she widened her stance, raising my blade before her with two hands, her eyes narrowed. She said something to me, dangerous and dark, and I cursed our lack of shared language.

She bent her knees slightly, lowering into a more defensive position. She really was ready to use that knife on me. Madness reared its head inside me, and a bitter laugh exploded from my chest. Let her try. Has she not seen what I can do to an enemy? She had not yet learned that there were consequences for defying a Gahn.

For a moment, we stared at each other, each waiting for the other to make a move. I wanted to see if she would try to strike first. But every moment, her resolve seemed to be fading, and her eyes kept flicking to the deep ravine at our side. What was she planning? Was she going to try to escape after all? Surely she would not try to go down into the ravine. It was nearly a straight shot down. And I would never let her make it that far.

She said something again, and I seemed to recognize a pained desperation in her voice. I grinned again. Perhaps now she was starting to feel the desperate love and loyalty one owed to a Gahn. Perhaps now she was thanking me for saving her, begging my forgiveness for her defiance.

I took quick steps towards her, closing the space between us immediately. She inhaled sharply, raising the weapon up between us, and I laughed at her attempt to stop me. Before she could draw the blade against my skin, I sheathed one of my own weapons and I caught both her wrists in one of my hands, keeping my other hand ready with its weapon. I would not seriously harm her. But I needed to show her, press upon her, the power I held. She would submit.

She spoke quickly, angry again. Like always. My own anger rose to meet it.

“You should be much more grateful than you are, woman. My people have saved you not once, but twice. First, my men saved you from the zeelk, and now the mightiest Gahn of the Sea Sands has saved you from certain death upon the cliffs. and still you defy me?”

Her gaze fell to my mouth, my tongues, as I spoke, as if she could better understand that way. When she spoke again, I could not help but do the same, watching her soft lips moving over her flat teeth.

I groaned in irritation at not understanding her, my hand tightening on her wrists. I pulled her hands forward, pressing the blade she held against my own chest, watching in fascination as her round eyes got huge. She struggled, trying to pull away, to take back the knife, but I held firm, the blade slipping down against my skin, drawing a line of black blood.

“Is this what you had planned to do with my knife, little female?”

She was shouting something at me, her eyes glued to the knife against my chest. A brutal thrill ran through me at her reaction – her shock, her panic.

Maybe she had not planned to use this on me after all

“Go on,” I said, feeling heady with my kill from a moment ago. I pressed into her, and the knife, the blade a hot burn against my skin. But I barely felt it. I could not explain what I was doing. This was the madness, here. But I would let it sweep me all away, if I could keep her small body caged against the cliff with mine.

The woman cried out, making a show of unfurling her fingers from the handle. As I only held her wrists, not the weapon, it began to fall. I let her wrists go, letting her yank back her hands. I caught the blade before it fell and pulled it away from my chest, holding it close to her face. She sucked in a breath, but she did not flinch. Little fire woman. Tiny and brave and confusing and strange.

I angled the blade in the moonlight, watching as my blood glinted, dark upon the black blade. She shook her head back and forth in some foreign gesture I did not recognize, then, in a movement that shocked me, placed her hand to my wound.

I hissed, bending into her, heat flooding outward from her palm against the sting of the gash. That heat expanded and roiled, shooting through my limbs and pulsing in my groin. She stared at her hand against my chest, brow furrowed, then cast her eyes up to mine, searching and questioning. What her questions were, I did not know. Would I even have answers for her, if I did?

I felt my lips drawing away from my sharp teeth, felt myself lowering still until I was nosing her neck, her hair, breathing in deeply, so deeply, as if I’d been starved for air. My knuckles pressed on the cliff on either side of her body, blades aimed at the sky, trapping her.

“What have you done to me, fire woman?” I breathed, not recognizing my own voice. I began not to recognize myself. Never had any woman, any creature at all, made me feel like this. Made me feel like I was losing control.

But where her hand had once been gentle and flat against the wound on my chest, it was now moving, pounding against me. I reared back, snarling, watching as she pulled her fist away, covered in my blood. She was pointing now, urgently, towards the ravine at our side, her soft, wet tongue moving rapidly.

It was only then that I remembered the other missing woman. I leaned back from her slightly, keeping my hands where they were, and angled my head towards the ravine, inhaling sharply.

The fire woman’s infuriating scent almost overwhelmed me, but I forced myself to focus, picking past its nuances, until finally, among the dust and the stone, I scented it. Another woman.

This scent did nothing to me. It did not light up my veins, burn in my lungs, and swell my cock with blood. But I realized now why the fire woman seemed so frantic. Why she’d come up here in the first place. To rescue one of her own.

So she hadn’t tried to run.

For the briefest moment, I wanted to punish the other woman. The one trapped in the ravine. Punish her for putting the fire woman in danger, and for stealing her attention now. But I could not leave her there. She may end up, one day, as a mate to one of my men. We would need every woman to sustain our numbers and grow to our true power. With a grunt, feeling the fire-haired woman’s eyes on me, burning me, I tore away from her, sheathing my weapons and stalking to the edge of the drop.

It was lucky this woman had light hair, light like the glint of sun on hot stone, because it made her easier to spot in the darkness. She was upright in a narrow space, her head and shoulders slumping forward as she steadied herself with her flat palms against the wall opposite. In the darkness, it was hard to see how wide the ledge she stood on was. The fact she was supporting herself against the opposite wall likely meant it was not wide. And below her was a long drop down.

I snapped my jaws, turning back to the fire woman and pointing a black claw at the female below us.

“Your kind is foolish beyond words. Look what becomes of you when you try to flee. Tell me what tribe you’ve come from, so I can kill your Gahn for not teaching you obedience.”

Though she did not know the meaning of my words, she reacted angrily, moving up next to me and pointing viciously downward, stabbing her finger over and over. The violence of the movement was strangely… erotic. I growled and looked away, thinking.

It would not be easy to reach the other woman. We could go back to the tents, fetch some rope or bindings, and lower them down. But the woman below looked weak. Even weaker than their kind normally was. She had been there too long, and I did not trust her to be able to grab a rope with any sort of strength. I also did not know how much longer she would last down there. Even the trip back to the tents and back may be too much for her. We had to do this, now.

I straightened my shoulders, casting a fierce look at the fire woman, who met it with a hard, set jaw. I had already killed a krixel, now I would again show her my power. The power of a Gahn.

I bent my legs, tail swishing powerfully.

Then I jumped.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Chapman

That crazy bastard really just jumped into a goddamned ravine. After barely spending two seconds looking down there, he just went for it. I gave a startled cry as he did so, partly in irritation at his hasty move, and partly in admiration for his almost insane bravery. Begrudging admiration, but still.

I heard the scuffle of rocks and claws below, and I hurried to the edge, getting down on my hands and knees so I could better see down into the gloom.

“You’d better be careful with her!” I hurled down after him. At this point I didn’t think he’d cause Theresa intentional harm, but he was so, so strong. He could crush her by accident.

A sharp, snapping set of alien words shot up the ravine, echoing, probably something along the lines of, “Shut up and let me work, annoying human.” I gritted my teeth, hating this feeling of powerlessness, hating that I had to rely on him. I should have figured out a way to get her up on my own. I could have, I could have… Sure, if I’d had enough time, maybe. But then the bat monster who wanted to eat me for breakfast had shown up and shot all chance of that to hell. As much as I hated to admit it, I needed The Enemy right now. I stared down at the top of his head – his tall, pointed ears, his dark braids, seething and anxious. Theresa had been down there way too long.

The Enemy had caught himself with his powerful feet and hands, his right foot and hand scraping down the wall nearest me, his left hand and foot holding fast against the opposite wall. But I realized with a curse that that was as far as he could go. The area below him, where Theresa was, was too narrow for him. Maybe too narrow for any alien, though he was definitely the most gigantic of all the warriors I’d seen so far. His head swung, glancing down at Theresa, tantalizingly close beneath his feet, then up the walls to the sky. Then his eyes settled on me.

I did not like the look in his gaze. It was dark and calculating and was stripping me bare. My breath came quick, and I swallowed, focusing on the task at hand. He was obviously looking at me to figure out the next part of the plan. And within moments, it looked like he’d decided what to do.

Because the next thing he did was climb, his muscles bulging, back up to the edge of the ravine, holding out his huge, clawed hand to me from below.

I didn’t have time to question him. I was all in on whatever it was he wanted to do. Theresa hadn’t made a sound in hours, and I couldn’t waste any more time. I just had to jump in and trust him. Every instinct in me railed against that idea, but there was no other choice.

“Theresa, if you can hear me down there, I’m coming for you. We aren’t leaving until you’re safe,” I called, my voice shaking, but getting stronger with every word. As much as I didn’t understand him, as much as he pissed me off, I was glad I wasn’t alone right now. We would figure this out together.

I took The Enemy’s hand.

His fingers closed around mine immediately, and a sharp thrill ran under my skin, up my arm and down my spine. I ignored it, shifting so I was on my butt and scooting to the edge.

The Enemy still had one foot planted on each side of the ravine. Thank God he’s so freaking huge. And strong. The top part of the ravine here was wider, and was probably stretching his legs and strength to the limit. His other hand, the one not holding mine, was clutching at a crack in the opposite stone wall, so he really had to reach to grab me. I knew he was in an awkward position, so I hurried to move forward and down.

Only there was nowhere to go. There was no ledge for me to jump to, no easy way for me to scale the wall. The Enemy watched me as I scanned the ravine, his hold on my hand getting tighter every second, before he finally grunted and pulled.

I yelped as I fell, pure terror filling my chest at the sensation. I was going to fall even further than Theresa. I’d be trapped here forever until another alien monster came to eat me and no one would even find my bones -

My descent ended abruptly.

I was safe.

Scratch that. I was safe from falling to my death. But now I was in a whole new dangerous position.

After he’d yanked my arm, The Enemy had let go of my hand, shooting it upward to clutch at my back, his bicep and inner elbow angling below my ass to catch me and pull me inward. That was all well and good, except for the fact that I was basically now sitting on his wide shoulders, my legs tossed over his back, my crotch pressed against his face. In my panic, I’d grabbed onto whatever I could, and realized I was bent over, holding tightly to the back of his head. I was the one pressing his face there.

A distinctly alien groan came from somewhere between my legs and furious heat exploded inside me. Whatever. It wasn’t elegant, but I was down here and alive, wasn’t I? I would just have to ignore the tightening of The Enemy’s hand at my back, and the sound of his deep inhale.

Jesus Christ. I’d cleaned myself in the sauna tent thing, but my uniform was likely pretty rank by now. This guy should have been doing whatever he could to get his head out of there, not pressing closer and sniffing again, even harder this time.

Face burning, I pushed his head back with as much strength as I could muster. It basically did nothing on his end – even his damn neck was stronger than me – but I did succeed in pushing my hips away from his face. The only problem with that was that in doing so, my ass slid down his chest, and I felt myself teetering backwards.

“Shit!” I wrenched forward, trying not to flop back and lose control, grabbing onto a fistful of The Enemy’s braids. He hissed, grasping the back of my shirt, pulling me away from him slightly until my legs came free from his shoulders. The movement was a difficult one – he only had one free hand to basically swing my entire body’s weight away from him as my legs moved down. His fangs glinted in the dim light, his muscles straining as he tried to keep his precarious position steady while holding me by the back of my uniform. My heart leaped into my throat as his feet slipped down a little, sending pebbles and dust showering downwards. He growled, legs tensing, before slamming me against him once again.

I latched on like he was a lifeboat among the wreckage of my life. It was the only thing I could do. My legs wrapped around his wide, muscled torso, clenching, my arms now thrown around his neck. His hand was locked around my back again, and we waited there for a breathless second, making sure we were steady. Our breathing came ragged, in unison.

Eventually, when my pulse had slowed, just a little, I loosened my grip and pulled back. His dark eyes met mine, the red shards inside them blowing apart when we locked gazes. There was a weird, swirly gravity in those eyes. I felt like I was falling…

My shirt was wet. Confused, I looked down, and gasped when I realized just how much The Enemy was bleeding, not just from the wound he’d given himself with the knife I’d stolen, but also from some deep, ragged wounds that looked to be claw or bite marks across his left shoulder and pectoral muscle. How had I not noticed those injuries before? Well, it’s dark, and that bat monster’s blood was hiding it. My uniform had already wiped away a lot of the dried blood from the bat creature The Enemy had killed, but now I could clearly see fresh black blood pulsing and slipping over his skin. My mouth went dry. He was really, really hurt. And I was worried. I tried to tell myself that I was only worried because his grip could fail at any moment, screwing us both, but, somewhere deep inside, I wasn’t sure that was it.

But I didn’t have time to analyze the feeling. I locked my gaze onto his again and nodded.

“Let’s go.”

Despite the language barrier, he understood. The arm he had wrapped around me got even tighter, like a bar of steel across my back, and with slow, but strong and steady movements, he moved us lower. I held on for dear life, carefully craning my neck to try to see Theresa.

It didn’t take long to reach the spot he had stopped before, the spot where things got too narrow. He couldn’t go any lower, but he could lower me.

We didn’t need a shared language to figure this out. I knew what to do as soon was we got down there. Unclenching my thighs, I shimmied down his body. As my stomach, then chest, dragged across his loincloth on the way down, I was relieved to find that for once he didn’t have an erection, though the fabric there felt kind of bulky for some reason. Or maybe that was actually a bad sign – a hint at the blood loss and exertion he was going through. Either way, I had to make this quick. I kept moving down until I was hanging, my legs dangling, gripping one of The Enemy’s rock-hard thighs with both hands above my head. I could see Theresa – she was still standing, her head bowed, her shoulders arched forward, her back and hands still planted on opposite walls. I could hear her breathing, and, so quiet and slurred it was almost impossible to make out, the sound of counting. Yep, she was definitely counting, from one to ten, over and over again. I tightened my hands on The Enemy’s thigh above my head, my arms on fire. Normally such an action wouldn’t have been too difficult – I’d kept up my workout regime on the ship, complete with pull ups, push ups, and weights. But I hadn’t eaten for hours, and I was definitely dehydrated. Again.

I was so close that I could reach out and ruffle Theresa’s shoulder length blond hair if I wanted to. But there was no real way for me do that, or anything else – I wouldn’t be able to let go of The Enemy’s leg to reach her.

Fuck! I screamed the word internally. I wanted to scream it out loud, but I didn’t want to scare Theresa. We were so damn close. Maybe I could get her to grab my foot while The Enemy hauled us both up.

I didn’t like that idea. But it may have been the only one.

“Theresa! It’s Chapman. I’m right here. Can you look at me?”

The counting stopped. After a long moment, Theresa turned her face up to me. Her eyes were dull and glazed, her dry lips parted weakly. My chest tightened at the sight of her. There was no way she had the strength to grab onto me.

In desperation, I jerked my chin, looking upwards. Up past The Enemy’s bulky muscled thighs, to his face that was bent towards me.

“I can’t reach her like this!” I cried, panic lacing my voice, hoping The Enemy would hear and understand. Hoping he had some other ideas. Because I was tapped the fuck out. My throat tightened painfully, and my eyes burned. A few more seconds of this and I’d be crying like a baby.

But The Enemy didn’t give me that chance. With a brutal grunt, I felt his leg muscles tighten even further, locking against the cliff walls on either side, as he bent at the waist. He reached down and grasped the back of my uniform, bent awkwardly in the tight space, one hand planted against the stone. Our eyes met for a moment, a silent understanding passing between us. A truce.

Then I sucked in a breath.

And let go.

I only fell a little, just until the fabric of my uniform went taut around me. I swung a bit in his grasp, and I prayed I wouldn’t bump into Theresa and knock her from her tiny ledge. In the end I did bump her, but as her knees buckled and her hands slipped from the stone, mine were there to catch her, shooting out under her arms and locking around her back. Sweat poured off of me, and my head swam, but nothing could have torn my arms from her in that moment.

She whimpered in my grasp, but she was barely conscious of what was happening. She would be dead weight in my arms as we went up. She already was, even with her limp feet still somewhat on the ledge.

“I’ve got her!” I screamed upwards. The Enemy groaned, his voice cracking and rumbling, as he pulled us up with the force of one single hand.

I mean, I knew these guys were strong. Like, intensely, inhumanly strong. But the fact that he was hauling two adult women up with only one hand while seriously injured was beyond impressive. We were lucky that, at least in this moment, he was on our side.

The Enemy was straightening up, now. Soon I’d be able to press Theresa between us and lock her in against his body with my arms and legs, allowing The Enemy to climb back up. My arms shook but held fast around her torso, my right knee bent and pressed up between her legs, against her backside, for extra support. We were going to get out of here. We were going to be OK.

At least, I thought we were, until I heard the sound.

The sound of my uniform ripping.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Fallo

Never would I have thought that I would curse the sharpness of my claws. My lethal grip. But in that moment, I did, as they began to rend the fabric the red-haired woman wore.

Fool! Why do you not curse the fabric, instead?

What had this woman done to me?

I grunted, pulling faster as the material tore further. Even as I pulled up, the two women moved further down.

The fire woman shouted something. She did not dare lift her head to try to look at me, but I could already imagine the expression on her face. Slim brows turned down in anger, soft mouth pulled to tightness.

“Your screeching is not helping, woman,” I hissed, every muscle beginning to tremble. I could not pull any faster for fear of losing the little fabric left holding them. And I could not pull my other hand from the wall and risk my balance.

She shouted something again, sounding panicked, and irritation surged.

“How dare you think that I would drop you! Do not question the strength of your Gahn.”

When I had gotten the women back up the level of my hips, the fabric finally gave way. The fire woman shouted as she and her friend jerked down.

Until my tail throttled up between my legs, supporting them for the split-second it took for me to bend and wrap my free arm around the both of them. I yanked, hard, up and in, until the tired one was crushed against my torso, the red-haired woman closing her in with her legs. She hooked her arms under the other woman’s arms, her belly to the other woman’s back, then looped those arms under mine, too, grasping tightly to the backs of my shoulders. When I was sure they were secure, I took my arm away and began to scale upwards.

What was this feeling? This sweet rush, this relief? Though I knew I would not fail, for I was powerful, and I was Gahn, I had felt something when that fabric had ripped. When I had come close to losing her.

Fear.

I did not like the taste of it in my throat. It was unfamiliar and bitter. I did not fear anything, not even the idea that one of my men may turn on me the way I had turned on my own father. Because I knew that in combat I could best even the strongest of warriors, and even if I didn’t, I did not fear death. But this? The loss of the fire-haired woman? The strange, pale creature who challenged me at every step? That was a dark terror that made my heart beat fast.

I did not like what it did to the inside of my head, so I did not dwell on this fear. I had saved her. Saved them both.

Soon enough, we reached the top of the ravine. Very carefully, so I did not lose my balance (as my limbs were stretched between opposite stone walls) I grasped at the back of the red-haired woman’s clothing, the parts that were still intact at her hips, slowly pulling her, and the friend she held tightly to, away from my body. With a grunt, I jerked them upwards, tossing them roughly up and over the side. I heard the red-haired woman let out a little “oof” sound of protest at the hard landing, but she recovered quickly, pulling her limp friend away from the edge as I climbed back out to join them.

By the time I was standing next to them, the fire-haired woman had already loaded her unconscious friend onto her back. I watched her in silence as she began to trot back down the steep incline, back the way we’d come, past the dead krixel.

But only a few paces past the krixel, she staggered, teetering dangerously. She was not near the edge of the ravine, and I could have let her fall. Maybe I should have. She was too proud. Falling would have done her good.

But my feet moved of their own accord. I bounded forward, closing the distance between us in no time. I wrenched the unconscious woman from her back, slinging her easily over my shoulder and catching the red-haired woman about the waist to steady her.

She shook her head, pushing against me, saying something irritatingly out of reach of my understanding. But I could guess her meaning. She was trying to get me to let her go. She wanted to walk on her own.

Bitterness raged. I had saved her and her friend, and she was that desperate to be away from me? Fine. Let her walk alone, then. And let her fall next time.

I was about to let her go when, with a jolt, I watched as her movements forced the shirt,  completely torn at the back, down her arms and body. It sagged in front of her, held on only by the sleeves at her wrists. My arm tightened like ablik, the heavy stone of our weapons, around her waist. The strangest shiver ran through me, originating all the places my arm touched her bare skin. Skin so soft, and white under the moonlight, flat over her abdomen, then swelling at her…

Breasts.

Her breasts, small and plump, were covered with some soft shells of fabric. I felt my sight stars exploding and pulsing, my nostrils flaring as I stared at her exposed body. Despite my bleeding and everything I’d gone through this night, my cock stirred to life. Why had those stupid shells over her chest not torn and fallen off, too? Ah, well, I still had my claws. I could make it so…

She had stopped wiggling in my grasp, for the moment focused on ripping her destroyed garment off over her hands. With an exasperated string of words pricking the air, she quickly tied the ruined garment around her waist, still within the circle of my arm. Perhaps she would not notice if I did it quickly, slipping my claw beneath the straps of this small garment that remained and snapping the fabric away.

She looked up just as I was snaking my arm out from around her slim waist. Before she could step back and away, I raised a single claw -

- and curled it into my hand. Instead of ripping apart her remaining clothing, I let my knuckle fall, grazing from her collarbone, down, down between her breasts. I felt her heart thrumming quick beneath my knuckle, and watched in fascination as what I presumed to be her nipples puckered and hardened beneath the light fabric of her shells. I quelled a growl, deep at the back of my throat, then spoke.

“I will not tear this small bit of fabric with my claws, fire woman. But with my fangs.”

The fire woman’s small mouth opened into a soundless circle, her eyes widening as my knuckle rubbed up and down. Heat poured through my body, leaving me so hot with bizarre need I could not think.

But then, she was stepping away from me, shaking her head quickly from side to side, her eyes settling on my shoulder.

My shoulder? Why?

Oh.

I’d forgotten, yet again, about the other woman. With an irritated flick of my tail, I followed the red-haired woman, who was already leading me away from this place.

It did not take us long to clear the cliffs and reach the plains. When we did so, the red-haired woman broke into a jog, and I followed, keeping easy pace with her short legs. Hunters in the distance saw us, and began sprinting. Good. They can take this pale-haired woman from my shoulder. Her slight weight was not a burden, but now that the thrill of the battle with the krixel had left my veins, I could feel the pulse of my wounds rubbing against her clothing, and it irritated me. Although it was nothing, nothing to the cascading fire of carrying the red-haired woman yesterday.

The red-haired woman ran faster, raising her hands over her head and waving them frantically in some kind of signal I did not recognize. Beyond my running hunters, I saw the evening fire blazing. That was likely where the women and children would be, now, as my hunters and guards scoured the land for these two.

But they were not Gahns. Of course they were not successful, and only I was.

My lips curled in pride.

Until I saw the red-haired woman’s smile. The smile that said she was relieved, no, happy to no longer be alone with me. I seethed, running faster, tightening my grip on the other woman I held so as not to jostle her too much. We shall see about that.

Vakal and Bankor reached us first, raising their tails quickly as they stopped. I hoisted the woman – still breathing – from my shoulder and passed her to Bankor.

“Take this one to the healers’ tent.”

Bankor nodded and took off at full speed, long legs pumping over the plain.

Vakal eyed my chest.

“My Gahn, you are injured. Shall I take this other woman for you?”

“No!” The word came so forcefully from me that Vakal reared back in shock. I stepped between the woman and him, tail thrashing in warning. Vakal was mated to Bokeelie. Once a sacred mate bond was awakened, it was nigh impossible to feel a deep connection to anyone else of the opposite sex. There was no reason for me to hate the idea of him putting his hands on her.

And yet, I did.

“No,” I said, forcing myself to speak more steadily this time. The red-haired woman watched me warily, slowly backing away. Before she was out of reach, my arm shot out and closed around one of her elbows.

“No, this one comes with me. Send two healers to my tent. We will meet them there.”

Vakal hesitated only a moment. Less than a moment. Just long enough for his sight stars to tighten up, swinging from me to the fire woman. Then he was gone, running to his task.

Once Vakal was gone, the other hunters dispersed back to the tents, the search ended. The fire woman looked unhappy about this, and yanked hard to get out of my grasp.

“Do not pull so hard, woman. Your arm will be torn from its socket.”

But she kept pulling, like a feral creature, her body contorting as she tried to get away.

Enough of this.

I swung my other hand around, gripping her by the waist and slinging her over my shoulder the way I had with the other woman. But this was something else entirely. Something hot and pulsing. Something seething.

As she kicked and fought, her movements opened up my wounds and yet more blood poured. I sucked in a deep breath, smiling widely at the sensation.

This pain was good.

This pain was very, very good.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Chapman

I guess our truce is over, then.

The Enemy, who once again truly seemed to be my enemy, having hauled me over his shoulder like some viking raiding a village, had carried me back to his tent. He dumped me, rather unceremoniously, onto his bed of hides. I immediately drew my knees up and scrabbled away from him. So, what, this guy helped me and now he thought I was going to pay him back? He thought he was going to get his? Well, he was in for a rude awakening.

I no longer had the knife I’d stolen the first time, but the other weapons in the tent weren’t too far away. I eyed them, judging my distance from them and my distance from The Enemy. I would use one this time, if I had to. I flushed, thinking of the way I’d panicked and pulled back when he had pressed the knife I held into his own skin. As he lit a candle in his tent and flickering light warmed the space, I saw that that wound across his chest was wide and angry. Could I put another wound there, maybe even a fatal one?

If he tried to force himself on me, I would have to do it. Last time I’d still needed his help, and his actions had shocked me into dropping the weapon. This time would be different.

But before he forced me into making a move, a voice I recognized called from outside the tent. The Enemy grunted in response, and two alien women, the old healer and one of the younger ones, hurried through the tent flap, tails raised over their eyes the way I often saw these aliens do. Although I’d never seen The Enemy do it.

Maybe it’s like bowing to a king.

Or saluting a commanding officer.

Yeah, this guy was definitely leader, here. It would be best for me not to piss him off more than was necessary. If he behaves, that shouldn’t be a problem. The important word being if.

They both moved quickly to The Enemy’s side, their hands laden with jars and bandages. He waved them off with a snap of his tail, speaking quickly, and they both turned and came to me.

“Wait, what?” I said as the two women began poking and prodding at me. I needed food, water, (or some of that cactus stuff, I guessed) and some rest, but I didn’t have any injuries other than some bumps, bruises, and scratches. The two women homed in on any small wounds with an almost scary expertise, smearing the milky stuff here and there on my skin.

The older one said something, pointing to my pants, and I felt a prickly wave go through me. I’d been so tired and hungry and desperate to get Theresa back here that I honestly hadn’t cared I was only wearing a bra on the way back. Even when The Enemy dragged his warm, huge knuckle down my chest and sent goosebumps exploding over my skin. I’d shut that down quickly enough, right? I hadn’t liked when he’d done that? A small doubt niggled.

Either way, I wasn’t about to take my pants off here and now. The Enemy was seated on his bone throne, his blood seeping down and marking the handles he gripped. His dark gaze never left me.

“My legs are fine, I promise. Why don’t you two go over there to the crazy patient who actually needs tending to?”

I pointed sharply at Gahn Fallo. The older healer said something to him, and he gave a jerk of his tail, which laid alongside his hip on the chair. The older woman rushed to him, beginning to inspect his injuries. I tensed for a moment, wondering if she’d notice one of the injuries was clearly man-made.

Human-made.

Woman-made.

Whatever. I had more important things to worry about right now.

“Where’s Theresa? How is she?”

The younger alien woman, who was now wrapping a small bandage over my knuckles, cocked her head, the shimmers in her large eyes drawing tight as she looked up from her work to my face. The women really were pretty in their own huge, alien way. Large shimmering eyes and soft mouths. For the briefest slice of a second, I was glad the young, pretty alien healer wasn’t attending to The Enemy. I was glad it was the older one with him. I frowned at the absolutely batshit insane flash of… jealousy?

I must be losing my ever-loving mind.

“Theresa,” I said, quicker this time. I pushed any stupid thoughts of The Enemy and jealousy away. I had to focus on my own people. I needed to know that Theresa was OK. I pointed to myself then out towards what I hoped was the healers’ tent, in a weak attempt to say other woman, like me, alright?

But these aliens were definitely intelligent. Understanding dawned on her face, and she smiled, dipping her head, her tail swishing as she spoke quickly. I had no clue what the words meant, but her relaxed smile and smooth gestures made me think she was saying something along the lines of, “Yes, she’ll be fine.”

It would have to do for now. I let a small trickle of relief in, which soon became a tsunami of exhaustion. I was pretty sure I’d understood correctly and that Theresa was alright. We were both alright. The adrenaline that had been coursing through me for hours was finally working its way out of my system, leaving me totally drained. The healer must have seen something in my face or expression, because she immediately laid me back against the hides. I didn’t particularly want to be laying in The Enemy’s bed, but I couldn’t deny the soft hides felt good against my heavy body. The young healer adjusted the hides, bunching them, so that my head and chest were slightly raised. The she produced one of those drinking cacti from nearby.

My stomach roiled at the sight. I just wanted a sip of freaking water, some Dramamine, and sleep. But this seemed to be all they had, and if I wanted to regain my strength so I could keep myself and the rest of the women safe, I’d need to eat and drink. I took it from her with a weak nod, slurping some down, the bitter taste bothering me more than it normally did. My head pounded.

The Enemy’s sharp growls caught my attention, and I wrenched my head towards him. He was staring at me, half-raised out of his chair, while the older healer attempted to get him to sit back down.

“Oh my God, just sit down and shut up, would you?” I shot over, but my weak voice didn’t reflect the annoyance in my words. I was just too damned tired. I let my head roll back to the healer in front of me, ignoring him.

“Hey, what’s your name?” I asked her. She was working her strong fingers up and down my legs, over the fabric of my pants, checking for injuries without undressing me. Well, at least somebody around here respects boundaries.

Of course, she didn’t understand my question. I gestured to myself.

“Tori Chapman. CHAP-man.” I repeated it a few times before finally pointing to her with what I hoped was a questioning look on my face. She looked at me, as if thinking hard, and I heard the older alien healer say something to her. Then she smiled widely, placing her hand on her chest, and said, “Bokeelie.”

“Bokeelie,” I said, garbling some of the more guttural consonants. But Bokeelie seemed to appreciate my effort, because her smile got even bigger. She then pointed to the older alien healer, who had managed to get The Enemy back down into his chair, and said “Kalla.” Then, much more quietly, her gesture more subtle, she swished a tail towards my hulking, bleeding, scowling enemy. “Gahn Fallo.”

“I didn’t ask for his name,” I muttered. It somehow felt dangerous, knowing his name. It made him too real, too much of a person instead of just my enemy. Wait, person? He’s an alien! A potentially very hostile alien! But the thoughts felt hollow in my head. These aliens, while different, were very clearly as intelligent and community-driven as humans were. They’d helped us, fed us, and The Enemy, Gahn Fallo, had even risked his own safety to save Theresa and me. Even so, I wasn’t sure if I was ready to start thinking of him as anything else but The Enemy yet. I didn’t want to let my guard down around him, even subconsciously.

Bokeelie finished up with me pretty quickly, passing me some dried meat that I chewed absentmindedly as I watched her hurry over to join Kalla. Kalla was bent, looking closely at The Enemy’s chest, stitching up the knife wound. A flicker of hot guilt flashed through me, but I shook it off. He’d basically done it to himself in some masochistic game of chicken. I shouldn’t feel the least bit bad about it.

So why did I?

As Kalla stitched The Enemy’s chest, Bookeelie got to work on his shoulder. I watched in amazement at how deftly their clawed hands worked. Quicker than I would have thought possible, The Enemy’s wounds had been cleanly stitched, the blood, both his and the bat-monster’s, wiped away. With a start, I realized I had his blood all over me – its inkiness contrasted sharply with my human skin. My pants bore the brunt of it, and were stained black across the front.

Shit. Not like I had any other clothes here. It was unlikely we’d be going back to the ship anytime soon, if ever.

Feeling better after some of the cactus gel and a few bites of food, I sat up, resting my elbows on my knees. Maybe I could slip away, now…

Just as the thought entered my mind, The Enemy barked something at the healers, and they raised their tails before quickly leaving. It was just the two of us.

Again.

Suddenly the large tent felt unbearably small. The Enemy’s massive, muscled frame seemed to take up all the space, all the air. I started to stand, saying, “Well, thanks for the help with everything. But I’d really best be going -”

Before I could stand all the way up and finish speaking, he’d closed the space between us, so quick I barely registered it. A heavy, clawed hand pressed on my shoulder, forcing me back down into the hides. I sat roughly, not allowing him to make me lie down. I didn’t like the look of this.

I liked the look of things even less when he crouched before me and reached for his loincloth.

“Look, if you think you’re taking me to bed after all this, you can forget it.” I spat the words, already preparing myself to jump and run. But when his hand came free, holding a rumpled roll of fabric, fabric I recognized, I hesitated. My eyes narrowed as I tried to make sense of what I was seeing. He was holding one of our solar protection jackets, and from the looks of things, it was brand new. Realization struck me, fist-like.

“You went back to the ship! Why didn’t you take me with you?” I could have examined the supplies and chosen things we needed.

But then again, that would have meant leaving the other women behind, here, alone. And considering how dangerous that desert was, it would have meant maybe never coming back.

The Enemy ignored my words, unrolling the jacket and looking at it appraisingly.

“So, what, did you not take me along to keep me safe? Or was it yet another fucked-up show of power? Not telling me, not letting me come and get things for my people?”

I was getting heated, now. Every time The Enemy did something helpful, he turned around and did something rude, callous, or downright infuriating.

And what was really infuriating was that he was still ignoring me, tugging at the jacket’s zipper and looking surprised when it unzipped.

“It’s not going to fit you,” I said, crossing my arms. We may have invaded their territory, but that was still our ship. Our stuff. Stuff we needed. What was he going to do with a puny, human-sized jacket? Knowing him, probably use it for toilet paper or something equally degrading. Or maybe he’d just flaunt it in front of me, the alien version of nanana boo boo, to remind me he was in charge here.

Like hell he will.

I was gearing up to give him a piece of my mind, my chest expanding with the unsaid words, when the crinkle of fabric filled my ears, and suddenly, darkness descended. I jerked, swinging my head around, starting to panic. Something was covering my eyes. A blindfold! But wait… There was fabric on my shoulders, too. Around my whole torso.

He’d put the jacket on me.

Well… That was unexpected.

I felt his huge hands smooth the fabric against my shoulders, the sleeves falling loose and empty down my arms. Instinctively, I reached up to push back the hood that was completely over my eyes, but his strong hands caught my wrists before I could. I was trapped by that darkness, by those hands, by the rough intake of breath I heard from him. I could feel heat and power radiating off of him in invisible waves, rolling over me. Consuming me.

I could have said a million things to him then. Asked a million questions.

But all I blurted out was, “Why did you make me cut you?”

I remembered the way the brutally sharp blade had sliced into him so easily. And how that sight had brought fear and panic to me, not relief. Ultimately, I didn’t want him to be hurt. The hell if I knew why, but it was true.

Blindly, I tried to work one of my hands out of his grip. He tensed, then released it, still holding fast to my left wrist. On the cliffs, I’d pressed my hand to his wound for a moment, trying to understand just what was happening in that alien brain of his. I did it again now, tracing my fingertips over his chest until I felt the stitches. I pressed my palm down. Gently.

He grew hard as stone beneath my touch, every muscle taut beneath his hot, smooth skin. It was like I was touching a really warm statue. I could no longer hear his ragged breathing. It seemed like he’d stopped breathing entirely, his chest barely rising and falling at all.

“Does it hurt?” I whispered. Why was I asking that? Why did I care? Why wasn’t I pulling out of his grip, yanking back my hood, and running as fast as my legs would carry me?

My thumb brushed against a particularly nasty spot of stitching, and The Enemy gave a soft hiss. I shivered, even while heat ran through my veins – up my neck, down my spine, and deep into my pelvis. He was so egotistical and annoying and strong – the way I’d brought him to a total standstill with one touch was weirdly intoxicating. I knew I should have stopped. I knew I should have shut that shit done right that second.

But instead, all I wanted was to see his face. To see what expression he was making.

I didn’t think he’d let me pull back my hood, so I tilted my head back, back, until I could kind of see out the sliver of space.

Holy shit.

He was a lot closer to me than I had realized. I only saw his face for a moment, but what I saw made me suck in a sharp breath.

The red, glinting parts of his eyes were completely blown apart as he stared at me. His nostrils flared, his lips were drawn back from long, glinting fangs. Those fangs made me suddenly very aware of how far my head was tilted. Of how I’d bared my throat to him. One of my most vulnerable parts, pulsing and exposed. I swallowed, and through my tiny window of vision I watched The Enemy’s gaze drop to my throat.

We both froze, tension thrumming in the air between us. My heart thundered in my ears, my breath catching.

Where was the Chapman who hated this guy’s guts? The Chapman who had spat in his face? Where the hell had she gone? I must have lost her in the fucking cliffs somewhere. Because this Chapman, the one who was currently feeling the sick stab of unmistakable desire for an alien, for her enemy?

Yeah, I didn’t recognize her.

Not one bit.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Fallo

So this was why the healers had admonished me – I truly must have lost a lot of blood. Because my head was floating in the strangest way. It felt like the only way I could anchor myself was by grabbing hold of the red-haired woman. I would anchor myself by my mouth at her throat.

Chapman’s throat.

I’d watched her tell Bokeelie her name.

She’d said something else, too. Something like Toh-ree. Perhaps that was some kind of title among her kind. Their version of a Gahnala.

A Gahnala without a Gahn.

Not anymore.

I ignored the hot pulse of that thought and focused on the sight before me.

I’d never seen a creature with a neck so skinny. These women were too weak. How, how had they survived out here?

But then my mind flashed back over this night, the way Chapman had worked so hard to save her fellow woman, the way she’d held her fast with only her own arms’ strength as I pulled them up. I had to admit they maybe weren’t as weak as I’d thought. At least, this one wasn’t.

Perhaps there was an extraordinary kind of power, being that strong in a body so small.

Chapman’s neck gleamed in the candle light, looking so soft it made my cock ache. I could see her pulse, moving quickly under her skin there, and knew if I didn’t touch that pulse that I truly would go mad. I needed to take its rhythm for myself, learn every beat. I wanted to feel that pulse pounding around my cock inside her. She watched me from beneath the hood of her cloak. But it was not like prey watching a predator. There was apprehension in her gaze, but still that ever-present defiance, that pride. It was infuriating. If she had a tail, it should have been raised over her eyes in meek submission. Instead those eyes pinned me.

Irritated and body burning, I let my gaze fall again to her throat. I raised a single finger and traced it down that pulsing column.

The touch flooded me with instant desire. I no longer cared for thoughts of madness and sanity. All that mattered now was this bone-deep want. I needed more of this skin, this pulse. More of her.

I descended, replacing my fingertip with my mouth.

Chapman gave a strangled sound as my three tongues hit her skin.

A terrible hunger expanded inside me, and I groaned, tightening my grip on her wrist, my other hand moving up to palm her waist. My fingers were like ablik on the suppleness of her skin. I had to be careful – I could bruise her. I could crush her. Part of me almost wanted to. I wanted to unleash the full power of my body upon her.

“What have you done to me?” I ground out against her neck. “You’ve turned me into a feral beast of the hills. I no longer feel like a mighty warrior. A Gahn.”

I would never admit something like this aloud to anyone else. I would never show weakness, never give anyone a chance to doubt me. A chance to overthrow me.

But Chapman could not understand me. And I couldn’t stop the words as they tumbled from my mad mouth.

My breath pounded in and out of me harshly as I explored her neck with my tongues, lapping and sucking, down to the slim shelf of bone above her chest then back up to her delicate jaw. When I caught sight of that soft curl of her ear, the ear I’d been almost undone by the first time we’d met, I felt a deep stab of pleasure in my groin.

I took it into my mouth.

Chapman made another sound, something between a groan and a sigh. No more defiant, nonsense words, then. Heady pride rushed through me at the thought. Finally, I had subdued her. Who knew that it would take my tongues on her skin, instead of claws or weapons?

The bit of skin at the bottom of her ear was so incredibly soft. My tongues licked up, behind her ear, and one of my fangs probed that tenderness. I held myself as if teetering on the edge of a cliff – holding everything back so as not to bite down as hard as I could. My fangs were so sharp. The touch had to be delicate.

But delicate had never been my strong suit.

With a jerk, I felt a small nub of what seemed to be scar tissue, a tiny spot slightly harder than the rest. I brought my tongues back from behind her ear and probed the spot. Had another man already been here with his fangs? Something had pierced her, here, in the exact spot I had my mouth now.

Jealousy came so hot and hard I had to close my eyes against it.

I spoke without detaching my mouth from her, my words coming muffled and low.

“Which man has bitten down on you, here? Who has tasted your blood?”

Her only answer was the shaking drag of breath.

My hands tightened on her flesh further.

“Tell me now so I can tear his beating heart from his body.”

Still there was no answer. I realized that I may never learn where Chapman and her women had come from. We might never have enough words between us to learn each other’s histories.

I decided I did not care. The past was long dead. And we were here, together, alive.

In fact, I’d never felt more alive. I’d lain with other women before, like Vola, but I hadn’t felt this deep well of hot fire. I’d never burned like this. Never been so unsated.

I was going to mate this strange woman.

Tonight. Right now.

I had to. I needed to. It seemed I would die if I didn’t.

I wrenched back from her neck and pushed her hood off roughly, my pulse quickening at the flicker of candlelight on her red hair and the expression on her face. Her pale skin was flushed with pinkness, her small mouth open, her gaze hazy. Her expression aroused me so much it made me angry. I should have kept her hood on. But I wanted her to look at me when I took her. I wanted her gaze full of my face the way her cunt would be filled with my cock. I wanted her to see me. To look upon my face and call me Gahn as I rutted her.

Bokeelie had said my name to Chapman earlier. Had she heard and understood it? If she hadn’t, I would pound it into her body so hard that if there ever came a time she forgot everything else, even her own name, she would still remember mine.

I tossed the cloak I’d brought her off of her shoulders then pressed her down on top of it, pinning her wrists above her head. Her eyes went wide, but before she could spit her angry words at me I lowered my head, tearing the shells of fabric from her chest with my teeth the way I’d sworn I would before. I tossed the ruined garment to the side, then gave a tight growl as I stared, everything crashing to a grinding halt at the sight of her.

Her breasts were round and soft, spilling slightly to the sides now that she was on her back. So smooth, but with little taut pink pebbles in the centre. Breasts on a woman who was not with child or nursing a cub was so strange, so foreign, and so brutally erotic I almost spilled my seed right there. I growled, gripping my cock through my loincloth, trying to regain some semblance of control. But my control felt as shredded as the clothing I’d just torn off her.

I spoke to her, my voice shaking. Shaking. Pathetic. It must be the blood loss. But clearly I had plenty left to spare – my cock was filled to bursting with it.

Despite the quaver in my voice, her strange eyes landed on me all the same.

“I am Gahn and ruler here. You have found your way into my lands and thus you belong to me. Do not forget my name, small female.” I lowered my face between her breasts, drawing a heady breath in, groaning. “My name is Gahn Fallo. I will make sure you never forget it.” I raised my gaze and locked eyes with her as I spoke the last words.

“I will make sure you never forget it. Chapman.”

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Chapman

Oh my God. He’d said my name, right? The “ch” had sounded harder, like a “k,” but I couldn’t deny he’d said it. And that one word had pierced the last bit of my angry resolve. Not long ago I’d been ready to steal one of his weapons, yet again, to defend myself against him taking me. But this… this didn’t really feel like he was taking me. Yes, he was currently on top of me. The aggressor. But for some bizarre reason, I didn’t want to fight him off. The cut of his huge body was undeniably appealing, and the more I got used to his face the more I begrudgingly had to admit the masculine beauty of it. Of the hard jaw, the strange eyes with their dancing red stars.

And there was something nice about just… letting go, for once. On the ship, I’d had authority over the women and had been expected to keep them in line. On the planet, I’d felt the burden of keeping them safe. Now that I had encountered another leader, someone even stronger than me, it was nice to relinquish some of my iron-gripped control. It had been too long a day, and I was too tired, to keep being annoyed at him. And the drag of his tongue across my nipple was too damn good for me to push away.

Hold on. Not tongue. Tongues.

I’d seen flashes of his tongue when speaking, before, but had never seen it in its full glory. If I had, I would have known it was forked into three freaking parts. A long, dark, powerful organ that slipped over my skin and sent my blood rushing.

I glanced up from his tongue, or tongues, and realized his gaze was still boring into mine, those shards of deep red pulsing insistently. He never broke my gaze as he shifted from one side of my chest to the other. He groaned deeply, and I felt the sound in the deepest recesses of my body – my spine, my hips, my pussy. What the fuck? I can’t believe this is happening.

How far was I going to let this go?

The Enemy was on his hands and knees over top of me, and I could see his cock straining behind his loincloth. Even covered by the fabric, it looked gigantic. No, I’ll stop things before it gets that far, I thought weakly, letting my head roll back. I made a small sound of pleasure, then bit down on my lips, hard, to stop myself from making another, feeling like I’d given him some sort of victory. He must have felt the same way, because he gave a growl that could only be described as proud, before returning to work my nipple with his tongues, slicking and dragging over the sensitive skin. His hand came up to grasp my other breast, and I was reminded just how much bigger these guys were than us. I was a solid C-cup, and his hand completely covered my breast, his fingertips reaching up towards my shoulder. He didn’t seem to mind the size difference, though, as he groaned again, mouth working faster and hand tightening. Breathlessly, I realized this must be some kind of novel experience for him. The only women here I’d seen with breasts were one who was pregnant, and another who was carrying around a baby. All the others were just packed with hard but flat muscle, like the men.

I guess he doesn’t find it weird…

And strangely, I wasn’t finding the alien things about him so weird anymore, either. His ears and tail and long, clawed feet, not to mention those eyes, all kind of… worked. They all came together to create a cohesive, and frankly, really attractive package.

Electric shocks of pleasure were radiating outward from my nipples, and they found their way, as if magnetized, to my pussy, when The Enemy shifted to press his huge knee there. My eyes shot open, and I arched as his muscled leg angled and pressed down upon my sensitive flesh.

I never would have suspected that, after the day I’d had, that I would be physically capable of being this turned on, especially by him. Without meaning to, an image of him, covered in the bat monster’s blood, brandishing his weapons and grinning wildly, flashed through my mind, and I gasped, arching. Look what I have done. Look what I have done for you…

I’d never been the type to need saving. I’d always been tough. I was tough in my training and even tougher on the ship. Tougher than most of the guys. But seeing him in that moment, revelling in his power, had awakened something primal in me. It wasn’t that he made me feel weak, or that I needed protecting. But it felt like maybe I had met my match.

Oh, God. What did it mean if my match was not only an alien, but someone I’d designated as my enemy? I was beyond fraternizing now, as I realized I was shamelessly grinding my crotch against The Enemy’s thigh. I couldn’t stop the building pressure of tight pleasure, deep in my core. His tongues slipped over my nipples, relentlessly, again and again and again. His hot breath came hard through his nose, flickering over my skin the way the candlelight did, lighting up every nerve.

I was going to come. I was going to come, dry humping the most dangerous and irritating alien in this place, maybe on this whole planet. What the hell was wrong with me?

Whatever was wrong with me was taking over. I reached up, burying my fingertips in his braids, pressing his face harder into my chest, moaning as the sensations began to overwhelm me. I was getting so fucking close…

The Enemy gave a terrifying howl before he reared back and yanked my pants down past my hips. I froze, worried he was about to try to fit his giant erection inside me, but with a wild cry and a crazed look in his eyes, he plunged downward, pressing his face between my legs.

Heat exploded under my skin, spreading everywhere. He buried his nose in my curls, breathing deeply, breathing desperately like he’d been under water until this moment. Like my scent was his oxygen.

One of his hands was still up at my breast, the other gripping my hip like steel. Just the feeling of nose pressing so close to my clit was about to send me over the edge. It was all too much, and yet, not enough.

“Oh my God, enough sniffing,” I begged, using the hands I had wound in his braids to push his head downwards. I felt totally insane, but I couldn’t stop it. This physical need had completely taken over.

The Enemy obliged me, brushing his lips up and down my slick skin. I wriggled and swore when I felt the sharp tips of his fangs draw down me, on either side of my lips. If he bites me he’s going to get a boot to the face…

But the sharpness of teeth withdrew, and then there was tongue, tongues, everywhere at once. I couldn’t even keep track of all the sensations. Maybe he had more than three tongues, because I felt him everywhere – probing at my swollen clit, down my sopping folds, and even plunging into my core. I curled my hands into fists in his hair, my hips bucking up of their own accord. I was starting to feel really, really weird. Like everything was drawing together at the same time it was falling apart. The sensations of my body pulling into my aching pussy’s core, while the rest of me floated away. I couldn’t feel my legs anymore. My eyes fell closed, my hands loosening in The Enemy’s hair as pleasure built up, up, to an inevitable wave. The Enemy rocked part of his tongue in and out of me as the other parts probed up and down, slicking over my clit, and I came, hard, so fucking hard. So hard that everything began to go dark.

Before I fell completely into darkness, I swore that I saw stars. But not the glittering white of stars I once knew. No, these were different. They pulsed and tightened. They circled and swarmed.

They were red.

A deep, alien, ravenous red.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Fallo

The only reason I wasn’t plunging my cock into Chapman right this moment was because I couldn’t tear my cursed mouth away. Her wetness, her taste, her scent – it was an addiction. She was an addiction. I was becoming afraid of how much power she seemed to have over me. Her eyes, her voice, and now the sweet taste of her cunt.

As my tongue slipped inside, I groaned, pressing inwards, feeling the contraction of that hot tightness. These women were small. They were small everywhere. It would take work for her to take me. But this was a start. She was so wet. Soon she would drench my cock and finally, finally, she would submit. The thought almost made me lose control right there, but then I heard the increased volume of her moans, felt the rhythmic rocking of her hips, and knew she was about to come. She had a tight little nub on the outside, at the top of her cunt, that seemed to bring her as much pleasure as the inside, if not more. I worked it with my two outer tongues as my centre tongue plunged into her, a promise of what was to come.

Her hands were tight in my hair, holding me there, and for once I did not mind someone telling me what to do. She was clenching around me, her voice getting louder and higher, until she broke open against my mouth, calling out and shuddering. Her obvious undoing of pleasure cascaded through me, and I breathed in, raggedly. Her hands fell away from my hair and I rose up on my knees, ready to tear off my loincloth.

But her eyes were closed, her head tossed to the side. I growled slightly, annoyed. I still wanted her to see me. I wanted her to see the great power of my cock before she took it. I wanted to see her eyes and mouth widen in awe.

“Chapman,” I gritted out, my voice like cracking stone.

There was no response.

What was this folly? Was she trying to anger me by ignoring me?

“Chapman!”

Still no response. Not even the flicker of movement.

And it was then I noticed that her face, once flushed, was now pale. It was then I noticed that her mouth had gone slack, all tension gone from her body.

She was not conscious.

Without wasting another moment, I hauled her up into my arms, much more gently than I ever had before. For the first time, I carried her cradled against my chest instead of slung over my shoulder. My heart hammered, the arousal I’d felt replaced with desperate panic. Gahn Fallo does not panic.

And yet. And yet.

I charged out into the night air, running for the healers’ tent. Surely at least some of the healers would still be there. I did not want to have to waste time scouring the tents for them. No, even if I could not find them right away, I would not have to search. My enraged howl into the night would bring them forth.

Some of my warriors watched me running, looking concerned. I ignored them, turning Chapman’s body into mine. If they were to glimpse her breasts I’d have to kill them. Her pants, too, were still slung low, down at her knees from where I’d dragged them down.

I did not need to keep her hidden as I carried her for long. I reached the healers’ tent and plunged inside.

Kalla was there, sitting next to the pale-haired woman who was now conscious. Conscious while Chapman was not. That could not stand.

The strange women were all here in the tent now that the evening meal had finished. Their eyes widened, and many of them backed away from me. I did not know what kind of look I had upon my face, but it must have been a fearsome one.

I ignored them, ignored them all, stalking through the crowd to Kalla. She rose quickly, raising her tail, then lowered her gaze to Chapman.

“I do not know what is the matter. But she will not stir.”

“Place her down, here, my Gahn.”

The pale-haired woman shifted out of the bed she occupied, sitting on the flat ground as I lowered Chapman to the hides. Her face, too, was pale, her eyes big and round as she looked down at her friend. Unable to restrain myself, I turned, a ferocious growl building at the back of my throat. This was her fault. She was the one Chapman had risked herself to rescue.

The pale-haired woman watched me, terrified, and then did something very strange. Her face crumpled inward, her chest jerking, as liquid began streaming from her eyes. Immediately, I scooped Chapman back into my arms and stood.

“This woman is sick!” I cried to Kalla. “Look how terrible liquid pours from her eyes.”

Were her eyes even still formed? Perhaps they were melting right out of her head. It was a stomach-turning thought.

“Isolate her immediately!”

Kalla swished her tail in contradiction and I whirled on her.

“You dare question me, Kalla?” I would not keep a sick woman here with the others. With Chapman. The thought of her eyes liquefying in her head was a terror in my bones. She was already unwell. Maybe it’s too late.

That made me want to howl, want to run. I’d run with her limp body as far as I could. We could live together in the cliffs somewhere, alone, away from everyone if it would protect her. I was backing away, hissing, when Kalla’s voice cut through my panic.

“She is not sick, my Gahn. At least, not any more sick than one can expect for their kind in the heat all day.”

“But her eyes!” I cried, my lips drawing back from my fangs in disgust. The pale-haired woman had pressed her palms to her eyes, as if to keep them in her head. But I could still see liquid slipping between her fingers.

“Her eyes are fine. This is something we have seen many of the new women do.”

I jerked and stared at Kalla, drawing Chapman closer against my chest in a protective gesture that was completely foreign to me.

“It is a liquid that comes from their eyes sometimes. When they are distressed. It seems to cause no permanent harm.”

I was not convinced. My gaze flicked back and forth between Kalla and the woman with the leaking eyes.

“Please, Gahn,” Kalla said, more softly now. “Let me examine this woman. She looks unwell indeed.”

Gritting my fangs, I stepped forward, and slowly laid Chapman down again. She made a slight sound as her body hit the hides, though I placed her as gently as I could. These urges were all new – up until now I’d wanted to crush her against me, to dominate her. Now all I wanted was to touch her more softly than I may have been capable of doing.

Kalla knelt, running her hands over the woman. Then she drew one of the hides over Chapman’s exposed skin.

“I think it is exhaustion, my Gahn. It is hard to say. We do not know these women well. But I can see no injuries. Though I must ask…”

“Ask it,” I snarled. “Do not waste time.”

She stood, turning to me and locking her aged but strong gaze onto mine.

“Did you try to mate this woman?”

I hesitated, feeling yet another sensation I was not used to. It took me a moment to name it. Shame. Had I done this? Had I harmed her?

I had to tell Kalla everything she needed to know. Everything she’d need to know to heal Chapman.

“I was going to. I had not yet entered her. Only with my tongues.”

“I see,” she said, thinking. “Did this seem to cause her pain? Did she fight you?”

“No,” I said. Of this I was sure. Chapman had writhed under me, pressing my mouth against her in pleasure. Shame was replaced by pride at that. “No, it did not hurt her.”

“That is good,” she said with a satisfied swish of her tail. Clearly, she had been thinking the same things I had about these women and what they meant for our men.

“You think that we can mate with them and produce cubs, Kalla?”

Her sight stars rolled outwards as she mulled over the question.

“I do not know, Gahn. But I think it may be possible. Their bodies seem quite compatible with ours. If it is meant to be, then the sacred Lavrika will let us know.”

The Lavrika, the serpentine spirit of the sands. The one who called warriors to its pools in the distant Cliffs of Uruzai to show men the faces of their fated mates.

“And yet it has not come,” I grumbled.

Why had it not come?

And if it came, and came to me, whose face would it show me?

Unable to help it, I glanced down at Chapman once again. Her soft eyelids were twitching. She was stirring. Relief poured through me.

I wanted to take her back to my tent, curl into a corner with her and hiss at anyone who came near. But I did not trust myself around her. I would have to leave her here tonight.

I turned to go before she fully awoke as Kalla knelt down once again. I moved to leave the tent, but suddenly found one of the new women standing in my way, hands on her hips. It was the woman with no hair. The one with all the shiny stones stuck to her face.

“Move, woman,” I growled in warning. I was not in the mood to be trifled with. She said something to me, gesturing angrily at Chapman. Then she took a step towards me, as if to strike me.

My tail slashed powerfully behind me and I roared, raising my arms out to the sides. One more move and I’d crush this woman’s skull. If she was meant to be mated to one of my men then I’d be doing him a favour. She was even more insolent than Chapman.

Luckily for her, two of her fellow women dragged her away by the elbows. She was not happy about this, but I ignored her, leaving the tent before I did something that Chapman would make me regret. As I moved back to my tent, trying to roll the tension from my shoulders, I thought about what that meant – that I hadn’t done something because of what it may have meant to Chapman.

Too many of my thoughts and actions were being swayed by her.

I did not like it.

CHAPTER NINETEEN

Chapman

As I stirred, I became aware of a huge, warm hand brushing across my forehead.

“Gahn Fallo?”

My voice was dry and croaky. The hand withdrew, and I felt my brows contract as I struggled to open my eyes. Everything felt heavy. My bones felt like they’d been replaced with overcooked noodles, and my muscles? What muscles?

“Gahn Fallo?” I asked again, a little stronger this time. Hold on, why was I asking for him? And why was I using his name instead of thinking of him as The Enemy?

I forced my sticky eyelids up, trying to focus in the dim candlelight. I was in a tent, but it wasn’t The Enemy’s tent. The alien who’d been touching me was the old doctor woman, Kalla. Beside her sat Theresa, her eyes red and puffy, and all around me the other girls crouched and sat, staring.

“Quite the welcome party,” I muttered, gingerly sitting up with Kalla’s help. I brushed away the slight disappointment I felt at the fact that it was her hands on me, not The Enemy’s like I had thought. Blinking slowly, I realized I was naked, and I yanked the animal hide blanket up over myself. I turned to Theresa, groaning as my head pounded.

“You’re OK?”

She nodded silently, biting down hard on her lips. Then, her voice barely a whisper, she said, “I’m so sorry.”

I nodded. Kalla gave me a quick once-over, then brought more of the cactus stuff to drink and more dried meat. Weakly, I started eating and drinking, and when she was satisfied I had had some, she left. It was just us humans now.

“So, I’m sorry, but what the fuck happened?”

I looked around for the source of the angry voice. Kat was crouching near my feet, looking like she wanted to pounce on something.

“What do you mean?” I said, shoving more meat into my mouth, stalling for time.

“I mean, why the fuck did you get carried in her basically naked by The Leader? Theresa filled us in on some of it, but where were you? What did he do to you?”

“Careful,” Melanie said quietly, before swivelling her gaze to me. “You should have seen her. She was about to take that huge one, The Leader, on all by herself.”

“No!” I said, my voice much stronger now. I cleared my throat. “No, that won’t be necessary. He didn’t hurt me. My… my clothes got all torn up in the fight with that flying monster thing. Its claws shredded everything.” I didn’t want to lie, but as my hazy memories began to become clearer and clearer, I wasn’t sure I was ready to tell the other women that I’d willingly let the alien tear my clothes off before fucking me with his tongue.

God, this night had been way too long.

Kat glared at Theresa, looking for confirmation of what I’d said, but she just shrugged.

“I don’t remember what she was wearing when I got pulled up. I was barely conscious.”

“Alright, well, if it turns out he did do something shitty, I’ll tear his fucking balls off. No joke.” Kat’s beautiful, delicate features were carved so fiercely in the firelight that I couldn’t help but give a shaky smile. She was a fighter, but she was tiny, barely 5 feet, and wiry. I didn’t think she’d have much luck with that, but I applauded her spirit.

“Look, none of us should be antagonizing these guys any more than necessary,” I cautioned.  Maybe I need to follow my own advice…

I turned back to Theresa, then.

“So what the hell were you doing way out there in the cliffs by yourself, anyway?” My question came out harsher than I’d intended, but it was only because I’d been so worried for her. I didn’t really care about the danger I’d put myself in to find her. But the fear I’d felt for her was not something I wanted to repeat.

She took a shuddering breath, her eyes filling with tears. She swiped at her face quickly.

“It’s so stupid. I feel so freakin’ dumb.” Her southern accent was thicker than normal, enhanced by her emotion. “I woke up before dawn and I really had to pee. So I went to do my business and when I was finishing up, I saw this bird.” Her eyes looked far away for a moment, and a shadow of a smile appeared on her teary face. “It was the prettiest bird I think I’ve ever seen. Kind of like a hummingbird, but bigger. I guess everything’s bigger here.” I nodded, remembering Theresa was a vet tech who’d studied zoology. It made sense she’d be interested in the local animals. At least, the ones that weren’t trying to eat us. “And it feels so stupid now, I swear, but that bird was literally shinin’ under the stars. Greener than emeralds. And it just felt like this one moment of beauty I could latch onto, after everythin’ we’d been through. I didn’t want it to end. So I followed it.”

I sighed. Just because it made sense she’d be interested in the animals she came across didn’t mean it was a good idea to follow one of them into unknown territory.

“I followed it out past the tents to the cliffs. By then the sun was risin’ and everythin’ was gettin’ light. And then I heard it. That monster, screechin’.” Theresa visibly shivered, and I reached over and grasped her hand. She squeezed. “When I heard that thing, I panicked. I ran into the first opening of the cliffs I could find to hide. I started runnin’, not carin’ one bit where I was goin’. I went up that hill, not knowin’ what else to do. But then that thing flew right down on top of me, and I ended up fallin’ down where you found me, Chapman.” This time, I squeezed her hand. That must have been a terrifying experience. Especially considering how many hours she’d been down there alone.

“Alright, everyone. We already have our one new rule – don’t go anywhere alone. Our next new rule is not to follow anything shiny into unknown terrain.”

Smiles went through the group, and Theresa gave a shaky laugh. I breathed out, long and low. We were alright. We were all alive. At least, those of us that were here. I thought of Zoey, and of Celia. Zoey was probably a lost cause. I wonder how Celia’s faring…

We all chatted a bit more before everyone finally settled. The adrenaline of the day had officially worn off of everyone, and we sank into sleep, not waking again until the sun was high in the sky the next day.

WHEN ALL BEGAN STIRRING late the next morning, Kalla and Bokeelie entered the tent, letting bright light stream in. I groaned, still feeling the effects of yesterday’s exertion.

“You think these guys have alien aspirin?” I grunted to Theresa, who had slept next to me.

“Nah, but I wish they did,” she croaked, slowly sitting up. Kalla and Bokeelie came to Theresa and me first, checking our condition and giving us more cactus stuff and freshly grilled meat before passing out breakfast supplies to everyone else. After eating in the comfort of the tent, Kalla and Bokeelie stood waiting at the tent flaps.

“Looks like we have permanent escorts now,” Melanie said quietly as she shrugged into her solar protection jacket.

“I think you’re right,” I said, eyeing the two healer women. I glared into a gap between the tent flaps, and noticed an armed guard stationed out there, now. The Enemy wasn’t taking any more chances with us.

“Shit,” I said quietly as I stood. I crossed my arms over my chest and sighed.

“What is it?” Asked Theresa, worried. I could tell she felt really guilty about dragging me into the cliffs. Not that she should have felt guilty. I was the only one with any kind of training for that situation. I was just so glad we were both OK. I harboured her no ill will.

“My clothes,” I said simply, not saying any more than that. I didn’t want to have to repeat my lie from before. I still had my pants and underwear, but I was naked from the waist up.

Theresa gasped, smacking her forehead with her hand.

“Of course! Here.” She wriggled out of her solar protection jacket, wearing only the grey tank top and pants of the uniform the civilians had been given on the ship. “Take my jacket.”

“No way,” I said, knocking it away. “I’m not having you get all sunburned. I’ll figure something else out…”

A sudden memory exploded in my brain. The Enemy, settling a brand new jacket around my shoulders, pulling up the hood, throwing me into darkness. And then his tongues…

I shook myself. Back to reality, Chapman.

He had new clothes somewhere. And I wasn’t the only one who needed them. Some of the jackets and uniforms of the other women were definitely looking worse for wear, torn in places and caked with blood. But I didn’t want to send any of the other girls to try to find the clothes. I narrowed my eyes, thinking, then came to a decision.

“Actually, can I borrow your jacket for a minute after all?”

Theresa nodded eagerly and passed it over. I quickly put it on and zipped it up. I wished I had a bra, too, but I wasn’t about to ask to borrow someone else’s.

“I should be back soon with it. And with more clothes for all of us.” Theresa’s eyes went wide, and Kat piped up from nearby.

“You’re not going back to the ship, are you? That’s way too dangerous.”

I pulled up the hood, shaking my head.

“No, I saw some of our clothes here yesterday. They have some for us. I think. I just have to go get them from The En-… The Leader.

Kat stepped up to me, her pierced brows drawing downward.

“You sure that’s a good idea?”

No.

“I’ll be fine,” I said breezily, before I turned and quickly walked past Kalla and Bokeelie.

I heard the alien women shout something after me as I jogged out of the tent, but I pretended not to hear. Unfortunately, the guard that was stationed outside didn’t ignore them. I broke into a dead sprint, but his long legs caught up to me quickly. One strong hand closed around my elbow, and a spear sliced through the air in front of me, caging me in. I ducked, shooting under it, but that grip on my arm did not relent, and I was jerked hard, falling to my knees. The guard was growling something at me, but I had no idea what the words meant.

“For fuck’s sake. All I want is to go get a couple of shirts and jackets. Is that too much to ask?”

The guard answered, sounding irritated, hauling me up to my feet. He attempted to steer me back to the tent, but I dug my feels into the hard, cracked ground.

“I’m not going back in there right now. I have shit to do,” I panted, already starting to sweat in the heat. I could tell the guard was losing his patience. His arm was closing tighter around my waist. He was about to throw me over his shoulder.

Oh, fuck no.

I was not going to be tossed over yet another alien’s shoulder like some rag doll.

“Stop,” I told him, digging my nails into his forearm, my voice dangerous and low. And when that didn’t have any affect, and he started to lift me, I shouted the first thing that came into my head, pouring all my rage into the words. They echoed between the tents, bouncing from the cliffs, cracking through the air like thunder.

“Gahn Fallo!”

CHAPTER TWENTY

Fallo

I would have heard her voice anywhere. From any distance, I was sure. The sound of my name on Chapman’s tongue echoed from somewhere outside. It was a scream.

I launched myself out of my throne, tearing aside the flaps of my tent and pounding over the ground, drawing blades as I went. One in each hand, my heart beating out a war anthem.

Didn’t I say that I would kill any creature that threatened her? Any creature but me?

She was finally learning that I was the only one to be trusted. The only one for her to rely on. The thought was like hot venom in my blood. Poisoning me. Burning me from the inside out. She had called me. She had called me.

I caught sight of her bright hair very quickly, outside of the healers’ tent. But when I realized it was a man that held her as she wriggled against his shoulder, my vision almost went black with putrid rage. No man was allowed to hold her like that. No man but me.

The man, whom I realized was Bankor, saw me coming, and began to walk my way. The sight of his hand so close to her tight rump made me howl, and he stopped dead in his tracks.

“Drop her!” I shouted as I ran, not slowing. Bankor set her down immediately. She stumbled to the side, then ran from him. Once I saw that she was freed from his grasp, I turned my eyes back to him. I came right up to him, gnashing my teeth, pressing my chest into his, forcing him backwards.

“She tried to leave the group, Gahn. I was following orders.”

I growled, deep in my throat, watching as Bankor’s sight stars shot outwards then back in, pulsing with fear. He had been following orders, it was true. But I hadn’t imagined that any man besides myself would have to restrain Chapman. I should have known better. Why did I not anticipate that she would be the first to cause a problem with the new guards? That she would be the first to be tossed over someone’s shoulder, needing to be restrained?

Furious, I whirled from Bankor, stalking towards Chapman. She’d pulled her hood back up over that glorious hair. It pained me, not to see the sun on it. Sheathing my blades, I stalked towards her. She did not flinch. Did not cower.

“Why must you always cause me problems?” I muttered, bending down towards her face. My anger began to abate when I took in her face. I could no longer deny its loveliness. She was still strange, it was true, but in that strangeness there was stark beauty. Beauty I wanted to own. To consume.

She shook her head, looking angry, then pulled sharply at the jacket she was wearing. I frowned. Where did she get this jacket? The one I’d slung over her shoulders last night was still in my tent, and her old one was still clinging to the dead krixel’s claws. She pointed back towards the tent, then tugged on the jacket again.

Ah. She wanted the rest of the clothing we’d retrieved.

So that is why she’d called for me. She didn’t call me because she wanted me. She called me because she wanted something from me.

I hardened myself against her beauty, jaw growing tight. So demanding, this woman. It was unbelievable anyone, let alone a strange woman, this invader, would speak to a Gahn like this.

“Why should I give you anything?” I hissed, drawing one claw under her chin, forcing her face to tilt upwards. Her grey eyes locked onto mine. Pinkness spread through her cheeks, and my blood heated as I remembered that pinkness being a mark of her arousal last night. She had been so sweet, so pliant, then. But she’d also been weak, and had lost consciousness after the ordeal. I did not want her to submit when she was weak. I wanted her to submit because there was no other choice – because she was choking on the deep, primal need for my cock. I wanted her to submit to me because she needed me the way she needed air.

Her eyes flashed, and I bared my fangs.

She would submit. She would.

But evidently that day was not today.

I yanked back my hand and turned to Bankor again.

“Go get the clothing we brought back from the fallen thing. Distribute it to the women.”

Bankor raised his tail then bounded away. Chapman watched him go, then swung her gaze back to me. She muttered something, edging away from me, and I had to fight every instinct in me that screamed for me to drag her back to my tent and make her mine by any means necessary.

“Turn your gaze from me, demanding creature,” I ordered, but she continued to stare at me, cocking her hip and crossing her arms over her chest. I suppressed a groan when I remembered what was hidden there, beneath that cloak. Those soft breasts, with hard pink nipples. Heaving as she moaned…

My cock twitched, swelling, and I whirled from her, clenching my fists. I could not stand the burning feeling of her eyes on me. Like she saw me right down to my core. Like she saw the madness, and everything else. Everything I had to offer. And found me wanting.

Bankor was jogging back towards the tent now with the clothing, and I knew Kalla and Bokeelie were still inside, so I left, knowing the new women were not unattended.

The whole way back to my tent, I felt them on me, deep in my back.

Those strange, angry eyes.

As I reached my tent, I remembered I still had the new cloak for Chapman here. I picked it up from the hides, pressing it to my face and sniffing hard. It still had the faint smell of her hair. And her arousal.

My cock hardened immediately to its full length as my fist curled around the fabric. I ripped the thing from my face and tore off my loincloth, letting my erection spring free. Then I wrapped my cock in the oddly stiff but smooth fabric of the cloak and began pumping, imagining the fabric was Chapman’s skin. Or her mouth. Or her cunt.

My tail smashed the ground behind me as my hips hammered into my closed fist, over and over and over. I pictured her bent over on her hands and knees, spreading herself for me, her folds slick and waiting. That image made me close my eyes to see it better, ever nerve in my body exploding. What would she say to me as I filled her? Would she be defiant, still, or would she thank me for the goodness of my cock and finally acknowledge me as her Gahn?

I imagined her clenching around my length, tense at first, then loosening to let me all the way in. As I struck every point of pleasure inside her, she’d unhinge her jaws and moan. I would grab a fistful of that exquisite hair in my fist and pull, forcing her head back as she clenched around me. She’d come to the crest of her pleasure from my cock in her cunt and my hands on her everywhere. And I’d fill her so full of my seed that it would be impossible for her not to swell with my cub…

With a roar, I tore the cloak away from my groin just before I exploded, saving the fabric in time as I spurted onto the ground. My eyes flew open and I breathed heavily, unsatisfied. And shocked. Shocked by the last part of the fantasy. That I’d put a cub in Chapman.

That was never something I’d wanted with Vola or any other woman. It was almost impossible to produce children outside of the sacred mate bond. Did I want Chapman as my mate, my Gahnala, the partner to my life and mother to my cubs?

If the Lavrika summoned me and showed me Chapman’s face, it would awaken the sacred mate bond in both of us. She’d be full of desperate longing for me. She’d finally come to me willingly, adoring. The thought was immensely appealing, and already I felt my cock stirring again. But then again, who was to say the sacred mate bond would awaken in her the same way it would for a woman of the Sea Sands? It seemed likely that even the Lavrika would not be able to cure a defiance as bone-deep as Chapman’s.

I dressed, quickly returning my loincloth to my body and hurling the cloak to the floor in frustration. There was no sense thinking about the Lavrika. It had not come to me. It had not come to any man of my tribe to show us the new women as mates. Perhaps it was impossible.

But that thought was a pain in me, the dig of an axrekal berry thorn.

My hands closed into tight fists. I could not stay here any longer. I would go entirely mad.

Except that I probably already was.

I left the tent, tail twitching in irritation. I saw Vakal, heading towards his tent, and called to him.

“I’m returning to the fallen thing.”

Vakal jogged to me, raising his tail as he stopped.

“Do you wish me to accompany you?”

I slashed my hand through the air.

“No.”

I wanted time alone. Time away from everyone. Especially Chapman. There would be a guard at the fallen thing, of course, like I had ordered, but the long journey there could be spent without the voices and faces of others. No pale faces framed with burning hair…

After speaking with Vakal, I readied my irkdu, packing meat and valok for the day. The sun would be falling by the time I got to my destination. I mounted, then urged my irdku into motion with a click of my tongues. It started flying over the plains, out through the rolling hills and onto the open sands. I held a spear ready, and pulled a blade from my back in case any creature came for me. But they would have to be completely brainless to try such a thing now. I almost welcomed it. I wanted to slaughter something.

The journey over the sands was uneventful. I reached the fallen thing just as evening was bruising the sky, the moons rising in their long broken band.

It looked even more strange in the darkness. So clearly not a part of these lands, this place.

I dismounted as a guard, named Hakar, approached. He raised his tail in greeting and I grunted.

“What brings you here, my Gahn?”

It’s not what brings me here, it’s what drives me away. Away from the tents, my people. Away from everything I’ve known because I cannot stand it, cannot stand being so close and yet so far…

“It does not concern you,” I snapped. I did not have a better answer for him and I did not want to be questioned further. I changed the subject. “Has there been any more sign of zeelk activity?”

“None, my Gahn. I think the sound of this thing falling to the ground called them up from the sands. It is quiet now, and no others have been back since.”

That made sense. I dismissed Hakar with a snap of my tail and he returned to his post at the broken end of the fallen thing without another word. Wanting to be alone, I circled around the back, to the open section we’d explored before. My irkdu followed me, curling into a ball and resting on the sands as I picked through the place again. I did not know what I was doing nor what I was looking for. Maybe answers. Maybe peace.

Peace. I’d never find such a thing again with Chapman in my world. My lips pulled away from my teeth as I smiled. Good thing we were warriors. We are not a peaceful people to begin with.

I remained in that part of the fallen thing for a long time. The night had taken the world into its deep mouth and I decided I would return to the tents. As much as I’d wanted to be away from Chapman, I also pulsed to be near her. The evening fire would be over, now. She’d be back in the healers’ tent with the other women, maybe wearing new clothing, or maybe sleeping naked…

I was about to explore that image further when from the corner of my eye I saw my irkdu rouse itself, turning to face something out on the sands. I tensed, readying my spear and another blade, stalking quietly out of the fallen thing to my irkdu’s side. Was it another zeelk? I opened my mouth to call for Hakar -

- and immediately snapped it shut again. My irkdu relaxed, but I did not. The thing approaching would do me no harm, but my hands tightened on my weapons involuntarily. Wonder made my muscles tight with tension. I could not remember the last time I had felt in awe of anything. Perhaps of my father’s power, when I was a child. Before he’d succumbed to madness and I’d run him through with my blade.

The Lavrika. It was getting close, now. Its body was huge, longer than three irkdu, at least. Its flesh was like valok gel – I could see through to its shifting spine and the dark sands beneath. It had no arms or legs, just one long, powerful line of a body, shimmering like stars. It pinned me with its knowing eyes, raising its great head from the sands. Then it turned and began slithering back towards the Cliffs of Uruzai, which rose as a dark band in the distance. I moved to follow it immediately, as if drawn by an invisible force, my heart thundering. I was vaguely aware of my irkdu following me obediently as we moved away from the fallen thing. Towards the cliffs and towards my destiny.

The Lavrika was about to show me the face of my fated mate. It was about to change the course of my life forever. Who would I see in its sacred pools, deep in the cliff’s dark stone?

Chapman crashed into my mind, unbidden. Fiery hair, pale skin, and eyes so angry. The very thought of her was a blade of pain, and I stared at the Lavrika’s form as if I could tell what it meant to do. Whom it would reveal to me. Whom it would bind to me.

Perhaps the Lavrika would do me harm after all.

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

Chapman

“Who are you looking for?”

I almost choked on the bite of meat I’d been chewing. I coughed, then swallowed, once again missing just having a water bottle at my disposal. Clearing my throat, I swung my gaze over at Melanie, who was seated on my left at the evening fire. She was staring, her dark gaze flat. It unnerved me. She was extremely perceptive. Normally that wouldn’t bother me. Normally I didn’t have anything to hide.

But apparently now I did. I was trying to hide the fact that all day long my eyes had tracked through the tents, looking for The Enemy. I still hadn’t quite figured out why. It wasn’t like I was looking for a repeat of last night, or anything. But after getting so… intimate, it felt weird that we hadn’t had any contact with each other at all, other than this morning when I asked him for the new clothes.

I was wearing those clothes, now, dressed the same as the other women in a spare civilian uniform. We had all visited the sauna tent again this morning, and getting to put on fresh clothing afterwards had felt like luxury.

“What makes you think I’m looking for something?” I said slowly, averting my eyes and staring into the bright flames.  Alien warriors watched us from across the fire, and interspersed with us were the alien women and children.

Melanie’s vice floated over to me.

“You don’t have to tell me anything. I just want you to know…” She paused, then, and I looked back at her. Her face had softened, and now she was the one staring into the flames. “I just want you to know that you can tell me stuff. I won’t judge you.”

I had to stop myself from laughing. She was saying she wouldn’t judge me, and maybe she thought that it was true. But she didn’t know that I’d let an alien, my enemy, go down on me last night. She didn’t know how good it felt. And how screwed up I’d become.

I had to be screwed up, right? To have enjoyed that with a literal alien? Someone not even from my species? But the more time we spent with these aliens, the more similarities we were uncovering. Nearby, a woman clucked at her child the way an Earth mother would, and the other children laughed and played like human children did. They were a community. They had tools. They clearly had at least somewhat similar mating rituals to humans. Mating rituals. Oh God. My face burned, and it wasn’t from the fire.

To be completely honest, the fact that The Enemy had spent so long worshipping my body without ever getting his put him a rung above most of the human men I’d been with. He definitely wasn’t a gentleman. Not even close. But there was something there, beneath the wild, hard surface. Something that became even more obvious when he’d settled the jacket he’d found around my shoulders. I wasn’t sure that it could exactly be called kindness, but it was something.

Something that made me want to learn a hell of a lot more about him.

I realized I hadn’t said anything to Melanie. She was still staring into the flames, the light dancing across her features.

“I appreciate it,” I said stiffly, not knowing how else to answer. I’d gotten to know these other girls, my friends, a lot better in the past two days than I had in two weeks on the ship, but I still wasn’t ready to tell any of them what had happened and all my resulting confusion. None of the other women had had any similar experiences from what I could see. Theresa and I had been the only ones separated from the group for any length of time, and though a lot of the men frankly kind of drooled over us, they were usually busy with various duties during the day and during the night, they kept their distance. I was immensely grateful for that. Something told me not everyone would be as welcoming to an alien’s advances as I had been.

Even though I’d just been looking a few minutes ago, I couldn’t help but let my gaze roam around the fire once again.

I wonder where he is. Maybe in his tent? What would he be doing there?

With a jolt, I quickly scanned the alien women around us, counting, and letting out a small sigh what I realized none were missing.

Would it bother you if he and a woman were both missing? If they were off alone together?

I gritted my teeth in response to those questions. This wasn’t high school and I’d never been one to lose my cool over boys. I needed to keep my wits about me and focus on my friends. Focus on our new life here, for as long as we were here.

The question of how long we’d be here had been niggling at me, and clearly it wasn’t only on my mind. After the evening meal, as the humans walked together back to our sleeping area (accompanied by three warriors as well as Kalla) Theresa spoke up from somewhere behind me.

“Do you think they’ll come back for us?”

I stopped walking and turned to face her, realizing she was speaking to me.

“Yeah, you were part of the mission. You must have gotten a sense of shit like that,” Kat added. I let out a brittle laugh, turning and continuing to walk. We were almost at the tent.

“Not really. I was basically security. Hired muscle. I knew just enough about the mission to complete my role. Much like all of you, I was kept in the dark about a lot of things. Number one being the fact that you were all kidnapped.”

“But do you have any idea? Like, if you had to guess, would they come back for us?”

I knew the answer immediately.

“No. They won’t.”

I heard Theresa stifle a sob, and I held the tent flap open for her before heading inside, followed by everyone else. Someone lit one of the funny little dried cactus candles the aliens had in here by knocking two flinty rocks together and producing a spark.

“Let me clarify,” I said, shrugging out of my brand new jacket. Though I didn’t really need it at night, it got pretty cool when the sun went down, so it was nice to have. “They wouldn’t come back for us as a rescue mission. It would be a waste of resources. I’m pretty sure at some point one of the research vessels is going to return to its spot in orbit to try to communicate with us and monitor our progress. But after they see what happened to the SS Trailblazer, I doubt they’ll try to land. It all comes down to whatever it was that they wanted from this planet in the first place. If its worth sending another mission down here. If they do that, and they manage to not all die, maybe they’ll plan to take us back with them.”

Melanie sat heavily on the ground, then looked up at me.

“Do you really believe that? That they’d rescue us after everything we’d been through? After everything we’ve seen? After they abducted us and drugged us in the first place?”

She’d seen right through me. Again.

Yeah, I didn’t really believe that last part. I didn’t believe that, after all the secrecy of this mission, that they would take any of us back to Earth. If a human mission did land here again, it would be a question of gaining access to whatever compound it was they wanted to study in the first place. A sinking feeling got stronger as I realized that, realistically, part of their mission may be to kill us so that we didn’t cause any trouble.

And they might kill the aliens of this tribe, too.

I swallowed nausea at the thought. Once the research vessel saw how dangerous this planet was, they’d either give up on it entirely, or next time they’d come in, guns blazing. They could drop an atomic bomb on this place to get what they’d wanted. Humans had done it before, on our own fucking planet.

My disgust for Earth and what we’d done returned full-force. The thought of these people being in danger because of us, because of humanity, was something I couldn’t stomach. If my army showed up tomorrow and gave me orders, the army I’d pledged my life to, the army my father had died for, I already knew I would be insubordinate. I’d fight them with everything I had.

The rescue some of these girls were hoping for wasn’t going to happen. All we could hope for now was that the scenario playing out in my head didn’t happen, either.

Melanie’s voice echoed my thoughts. I still hadn’t answered her question, but her voice filled the silence.

“I hope they don’t ever come back.”

Several women gasped, and Theresa covered her mouth in shock before saying, “What are you talkin’ about? You can’t be serious!”

Melanie’s face hardened.

“Our own people used us. Sent us here to die. The aliens have been nothing but helpful to us, even though we haven’t given them anything in return.”

I flushed as I remembered letting my legs fall open under The Enemy’s tongue. Well, some of us have given a little more than others…

“She’s right,” Kat said sharply. “I wouldn’t trust a human ship even if it did come back for us. We need to focus on surviving here, now.”

Some of the other women nodded, others looked devastated. I knew that none of us had family left to go back to on Earth – women with few or no connections had been specifically targeted for this mission – but it was still a lot to give up on the idea of ever going home.

“We don’t have to think about all this right now,” I said, settling myself onto the ground. “Why don’t we all lay down and try to get some rest?”

Eventually, all the others joined Melanie and me on the ground, stretching out and using spare clothing as pillows. The aliens had provided us with extra hides for blankets, and while it wasn’t perfect, it wasn’t terrible, either. I turned onto my side, scrunching my new solar protection jacket under my head as a cushion, wondering what had happened to the jacket The Enemy had put on my shoulders last night. Before he’d slipped it right back off again.

Where is he?

I shouldn’t have been so bothered by his absence, but for some reason, I was. It took me a long time to fall asleep, and when I finally did, I fell asleep to thoughts of him.

No matter how hard I tried to push them away.

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

Fallo

Upon my irkdu, it did not take long to reach the Cliffs of Uruzai. Much like the cliffs of my home, they rose high, almost beyond imagining, piercing the night sky. But these cliffs were different than mine. One of the entrances here led to the caves of the Lavrika, with the sacred pools.

The Lavrika led me to that entrance and disappeared into the dark wall of the cliff. I jumped off of my irkdu and sprinted after it. The Lavrikala, one of the female guardians of the Lavrika, moved aside for me. I was about to continue past her when she made a remark that made me pause.

“Another Gahn. This is auspicious indeed. You are the second Gahn to have been called by the Lavrika in recent days.”

I bit back a snarl as my hackles rose. Another Gahn had been here before me? It could be no one else but Gahn Buroudei. He had been here recently. He had viewed the face of his mate. Perhaps one of the new women. Had he not been ready when they’d appeared? And had he not taken one for himself? Only one?

The Lavrikala had nothing else to say, and I wrenched away from her, plunging into the darkness of the cliff. I followed the narrow tunnel inward until I reached the caves. I’d never been in here before, never having been called by the Lavrika. Until now.

The place was dotted with glowing, milky pools, shining in the darkness of the otherwise unlit cave. I watched as the Lavrika slipped into the largest pool, the one by my feet.

I stripped out of my weapons and loincloth. I dropped my last blade with some bitterness. I was not accustomed to going anywhere without a weapon. But even I, the Mad Gahn, knew not to bring a blade into the sacred pool.

Breathing deeply, stretching each muscle and baring my fangs, I prepared myself for my life to change, forever. My tail whipped, and I spread my strong arms out to the side, daring fate to come find me. I crouched, then I dove in. Headfirst.

I sank quickly. I could not orient myself. I did not know which was was up, nor which was down. It did not seem to matter. I was floating in a vast, bright white.

But I saw nothing,. Nothing but all that white.

“Lavrika!” I cried into the white, feeling ready to fight. “Show me why you’ve brought me here!”

Perhaps I was too demanding. But I was not accustomed to waiting. My heart was a drum inside my chest, my skin ready to split with the force of that beat.

What if I see Chapman’s face?

What if I don’t?

My tail thrashed, and I howled. I needed this torture to end. I needed to either see someone else’s face and forget her. Or else see hers, claim her as my mate, and end this suffering. This aching, unmet need.

Something’s there!

I was aware of the vaguest outline of a face appearing before me. For a time, it was formless, and I was about to curse the Lavrika, when suddenly I saw it. Red. Bright, beautiful, terrible red. Red hair like flames, surrounding a stark, pale face. Chapman’s face.

My jaws opened in a soundless cry. Whether it was one of triumph or of resignation I did not know.

Before I could do anything else, say anything else, I felt a tight force wrap around my waist, and I was thrown out of the pool, barely catching myself to land on the stone in a crouch.

I dressed quickly, returning my weapons to my back, and, when I saw the Lavrika had no more need of me, I ran back out into the night. I threw myself up onto my irkdu, and without another thought or pause, urged it full speed back the way we’d come. I had a mate. A mate. A Gahnala for the tribe. A mother to future cubs. I had not imagined such a future for myself. Many of my men were the same – resigned to a mateless life. But the Lavrika had called me, and had shown me a new woman. That meant we could mate with them. They were inextricably linked with us, now. Our futures twining together like peet grass fibres being woven into strong fabric. As I raced back out over the open sands, I fought back the rage that Buroudei had already been granted his vision of a mate. A mate he’d no doubt already claimed. The remaining women must be mated to my men. But how could I guarantee such a thing? Only the Lavrika could awaken the sacred mate bond.

The sacred mate bond. My rage about Buroudei transformed into liquid heat as I thought of Chapman experiencing the sacred mate bond. The mate bond was unlike any other connection among our people. It was a deep, pounding need, an adoration, a prizing of your mate above all else. How she would worship me, how she would welcome my cock into her sweet cunt when I returned to her. Smiling and raising my spear in celebration, I urged my mount to go even faster, unable to wait.

The sun was rising, the moons falling to the horizon. The sun glinted on the bones of the fallen thing, shining. My day guards would be there soon to relieve Hakar. But as I passed the fallen thing, a new scent on the air made me call my irkdu to a grinding halt. It was the scent of a warrior’s blood. A warrior of the sea sands.

I ordered my irkdu to turn, racing to the fallen thing, the scent getting stronger. I leaped down to the sands, racing around the fallen thing looking for the source of the scent.

And there it was. Hakar laid lifeless on the sands, his blood staining the land around him black. I crouched to examine his body. This was the work of another warrior. A zeelk or krixel would have damaged more of his body, and would not have left his flesh behind. No, this was the work of blades.   Another warrior’s blades.

Buroudei.

I knew it instantly, deep in my gut. If it wasn’t Buroudei himself, it was one of his men. His territory was closest, just beyond the Cliffs of Uruzai, and he was the only other Gahn that knew about the fallen thing and the new women.

So he had come sniffing around here, then. And he’d killed my guard in the process. Pure, tribal hatred reared inside me, and with silent fury I hoisted Hakar’s body onto my mount. Now I had a new reason to hurry home. To prepare for battle.

This act of war could not stand. Buroudei had no right to kill my man here. This was not technically my territory – the open sands and the Cliffs of Uruzai were neutral territory. But the fallen thing was mine. My mate had emerged from its depths. My men had guarded it. He had no right.

As my irkdu drove over the sands, jostling Hakar’s lifeless form in my lap, my two day guards passed us by. When they scented the blood they moved faster towards me.

“Buroudei has done this, I am sure of it,” I snarled, gesturing down at Hakar. Ankrolok and Bankor hissed and gnashed their fangs.

“Guard the fallen thing with extra caution. He and his men may be back. If you see them approaching our territory, do not stay and fight. Come back to the tents immediately to inform me so we can prepare.”

They raised their tails in acknowledgement and hurried to their work. Even if they didn’t see anything in their scouting duties, we would prepare regardless. Buroudei’s actions could not stand. There would be a great battle, and I’d finally kill him and settle our claim to the strange women.

And if the Lavrika chooses warriors from Buroudei’s tribe, or one of the other three tribes, for the new women’s mates?

I pushed that thought aside. It would not happen. Could not happen. Not while I was Gahn.

My rage seethed and burned as I rode home, the silence stoking its flames. By the time I returned to the tents, meeting one of my hunting parties on the way, I was frothing angrily, my tail thrashing against my mount.

My hunters followed me back to the tents, and when I arrived, women and children came out of their tents to greet me. The strange women began to trickle out of the healers’ tent. I could not look at them, now. I could not look at Chapman’s face. I knew as soon as I did, nothing else would exist. I had to stay true to my task, now.

With a feral cry, I leapt from my mount, Hakar’s body in my arms.

“Gahn Buroudei has done this. He has attacked one of our men at his post and slain him in neutral territory. He has taken one of the new women as his mate and may be readying to take even more!”

Tongue clicks of surprise and whispers ran through the group.

“We prepare for battle. If Buroudei does not attack us, here, then we will move to meet him!”

Several war cries rang out, and the men around me brandished their weapons, thumping their tails heartily. The song of war ran through me, making me feel invincible. Ready to do anything.

And yet I was not ready for this.

The sacred mate bond fully taking hold as I saw Chapman’s face.

She’d pushed through the group of new women and was standing at the front, arms crossed over her chest in that odd stance I’d seen her do before. The hood on her cloak was pulled up, but not so far forward that I could not see her face.

I knew I already had felt something strange and strong for her. But it was as if every emotion I’d had surrounding her had intensified, amplified. Sensations rocketed through my body, leaving my speechless, almost breathless, as I stared at her. And yet, her face did not change. Not at all. She regarded me as she always had before. Calculating. Wary. Defiant.

Where was the crash of desperate love inside her? Why did I want to drop every weapon I had, forget everything else in this world but her, while she just stared at me with her arms crossed?

I did not have time to ponder this now. We had a battle to prepare for.

Though it physically pained me to turn away, I did so, barking orders at the men that were here around me. Other men would be returning from their duties by nightfall, but I’d have to send them right back out again. We’d need every spare man for patrolling duties, and for defending the tents should Buroudei attack. He did not have nearly as many warriors as I did, but he was still a formidable opponent. It would not do to be unprepared.

Besides, I had something sacred to protect, now.

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

Chapman

“Jesus,” Kat breathed out next to me at the sight of the body in The Enemy’s arms. Annoyingly, when he’d shown up, my heart rate had increased, but any adrenaline at the sight of him had turned to dread at the sight of the body. Another crab monster? Or the bat thing?

But, no. I didn’t think his body would be quite so intact after being killed by one of those things. He appeared to have one wound at his chest, and another at his throat.

A person did this.

The Enemy?

My suspicions landed on him immediately. I wouldn’t put it past him to cut a man’s throat. For what reason, I had no clue. But the way he was holding the man, like he was a fallen comrade, made me think if wasn’t him. If not him, then it must have been someone else.

These aliens were definitely territorial and a little weapons-happy, but so far I’d seen everyone in the tribe work together pretty well. The only one who ever showed a lot of aggression towards any other alien men was The Enemy.

“I think someone killed him. Someone from another tribe.” An image of the lone warrior who’d taken Celia away flashed in my mind.

“Another tribe?” Kat asked, eyes widening.

“Yeah. Not sure how many of these guys are out there, but there are definitely others. Remember how Celia got taken somewhere else?”

Kat’s eyes grew hard at the mention of her friend, her roommate from the ship, the linguist who’d been separated from us.

“Oh, yeah, I remember,” she said darkly.

“What d’y’all think’s happenin’ now?” Theresa whispered, and I turned my attention back to the scene. The Enemy was shouting something, pacing back and forth, and the men around him were crying out in response, thumping their tails and raising their weapons. I didn’t like the look of this.

It looked like war.

“I can’t say for sure,” I said slowly, “but whatever’s happening, I don’t think it’s good.”

Why couldn’t a few uneventful days pass, here? Was that too much to ask of this planet? I’d gone from a crab attack to Theresa’s disappearance and rescue to fevered alien tongue sex that I still hadn’t quite sorted out in my head, and now this. I’m never going to be able to get a handle on things at this rate, I thought, feeling stiffly resigned.

Two men and Bokeelie came to take the body away from The Enemy, and the warriors dispersed. The Enemy’s gaze landed on me, and I stiffened, feeling the heat of his glare. His expression looked a little different than usual. There was something deeper there, now. Something shifting in those alien eyes that I couldn’t quite put my finger on. It made me want to stomp up to him and interrogate him. God, this would be so much easier if we spoke the same language. I mourned our loss of Celia a little harder, though I couldn’t imagine using her to try to translate a conversation for me. For one thing, I knew her knowledge of the alien language was extremely limited – at least, it had been while on the ship. Secondly, how exactly would that conversation go? Celia, can you ask this big guy why he tore off my clothes and went down on me, making me literally pass out?

Yeah, right.

Something told me that even if I could speak with him, it wouldn’t accomplish a whole lot. He didn’t exactly seem like the talk-about-your-feelings type. And honestly, neither was I.

What a great pair we make, I thought sourly as The Enemy finally wrenched his eyes from mine and stalked away, his bulging shoulders tense, his tail whipping.

I watched him until he disappeared between the tents, then our rag-tag little human group went back to the big tent we’d been staying in up until now. We returned to our task of the day – the sewing together of big strips of animal hide. It seemed we were no longer welcome to squat in this big tent, and had to make our own. I had no problem with that. I’d never been one to shy away from working to earn my keep. Besides, this was clearly their hospital tent – there may have come a time when our presence in here would be a big problem. We might get in the way.

A few of the alien women were with us – Kalla, Bokeelie, and a couple of others with their children. We knew all the women’s names, now, and those of the little kangaroo-looking alien kids, who were undeniably cute, and who seemed fascinated with us. As I focused on my task once again, Bokeelie’s little boy, Awal, came to stroke my hair, and not for the first time. The colour seemed fascinating to him, and he remained at my side, petting my hair until his mother clicked her tongues at him.

I got back to work smiling. I was sewing, and doing a pretty bad job. Well, it was bad in that it was jagged and ugly, but the stitches, made with a carved bone needle and very thin strips of hide for thread, were strong enough. They’d hold. And I was getting guidance from some of the other girls who were way more practised at sewing than I was. Theresa and, surprisingly, Kat, were extremely skilled, and they, along with a few others and the alien women, coached us awkward-fingered ones.

Even though we’d only been here a short time, and we’d experienced our fair share of drama (probably more than our fair share, to be honest) we had started to understand and fall into a bit of a routine. Today had been the most calm day, until The Enemy had returned with a dead body, that was, but before that we’d started to get a sense of what life looked like here, especially for the women. While the men were out hunting, guarding, and patrolling, the women cleaned the hunters’ kills, took care of the children, and kept things as clean as could be expected somewhere with no running water. Each morning, they dragged the bedding hides and any dirty clothing out into the sun, beating the fabric with bone paddles then scrubbing at any stains with some of the cleaning cactus stuff mixed with sand. The result was bedding and clothing that, while it didn’t smell laundry detergent-fresh, didn’t smell bad, either. The women seemed to get along well, too, and from what I could see were worshipped by their husbands (if this culture had the idea of husbands, anyway. But it was clear that the few women that were here had monogamous partners in family units.) We still hadn’t figured out just why there were so few women compared to men, but it didn’t seem to be anything too sinister – the women were treated well. I thought of The Enemy, of him wrapping the cloak around my shoulders, then ravishing my pussy with his tongue and flushed fiercely. And then I remembered his hand around my throat, when we’d fist met. And I got pissed.

In my anger, I lost track of what I was doing, and I stabbed the tip of my finger with the sharp bone needle. I hissed, yanking back my hand so I wouldn’t bleed on the fabric, then looked at the wound. It was surprisingly deep, and I watched the blood bead up and spill over. The sight of the blood threw me back. Back to the cliffs, back to The Enemy’s blood, streaming down his skin beneath the blade he pressed to his own chest. The guy was certifiably insane, that was for sure.

So why did I wish he were here right now?

If he were here he’d probably do something weird, like suck the blood off my finger.

The thought made me feel slightly aroused and slightly disgusted at the same time, and I pressed my thumb to the wound, frowning, trying to stop the blood.

Bokeelie noticed what I was doing and fetched some of the glowy healing stuff from a jar that was buried in the sand. She dabbed it on my fingertip, and the pain began to subside almost immediately. I smiled and nodded to her.

“Thanks, Bokeelie.” She smiled back, and the shimmering parts of her eyes, coloured a golden-copper like the sand, spun. So far, all of the aliens I’d seen up close had some shade of gold, copper, or bronze specks in their eyes.

All of them but one.

What kind of fucker has red eyes? Seriously.

I returned my thumb to the tip of my finger, letting the glowy milk do its work, the pulse of the wound fading faster and faster. Before long, it was just the ghost of a sensation, and when I pulled my thumb away, there was shiny pink skin where the cut had been. It was shocking. And totally amazing.

“Hey, anyone had any idea what this stuff is?”

I glanced around at the women with me, brandishing my finger.

“The milky stuff. The healing stuff.”

“I have no clue, but I’d love to take a look at it in a lab,” Kat said, looking longingly at the jar Bokeelie was putting back into the ground. That’s right – Kat was some kind of chemistry prodigy. Not that that would help much, now. We actually did have a lab, but it was out on our ruined ship in the middle of crab-land. Probably wouldn’t make sense to jaunt out there just to see the glowy milk molecules up-close and personal.

“Whatever it is, it’s awesome,” I said, brushing my thumb over the shiny pink skin. Then I returned to my work.

The rest of the afternoon passed fairly peacefully, but there was an unmistakable tension in the air, a thrum of energy at the edges of everything. The men barely stood still when they were around, and the women seemed to be keeping extra close eyes on their children. It all had to do with the body The Enemy had brought back. I was sure of it.

They must be expecting something. An attack. The thought was a grim one. I didn’t want to see any of these people killed if I could help it.

It made me want a fucking gun.

But without a gun, I’d be useless in a battle of aliens that huge and strong. If something did happen, I told myself, my job as ranking officer among the humans would be to look out for them and keep them safe. But, at least for now, everything seemed like it would be OK.

Until the evening fire, that was. That’s when everything went to shit.

We humans were seated together, like usual, chowing down on the charred meat and cactus gel that seemed to be the only thing on the menu around here. Without meaning to, my eyes kept flicking to the spot reserved for The Enemy, but he didn’t show up for the meal. For some reason, that put me in a foul mood, and I tore a hunk of meat off a bigger chunk viciously, grinding it down between my teeth.

I forgot all about my petty rage, though, when shouts of alarm rang out from men between the tents. I tensed immediately, ducking slightly and slinging my arms over the two nearest girls, Theresa and Melanie, pulling them down with me as I looked around, trying to gauge what was happening. The alien women who had been seated with us were springing up and hauling their children away to their tents, and a warrior from nearby charged towards us, tail thrashing. A woman named Vola, one of the only ones without a husband or kids, saw that we hadn’t jumped up in the confusion, and ran back, grabbing Serena’s arm and pulling, shouting something, and jerking her tail towards the big tent.

Humans may not have been the smartest species in the universe, but I didn’t need any clearer of a sign than that.

“Back to the tent; go go go!” I shouted. “Stay low!”

Staying low was an instinct, training for running under fire. Maybe it wasn’t super useful right this second, but it was hard as hell to shake muscle memory. Besides, these people did use spears.

In moments, we’d made it back to the tent, falling inside in a huge tangle of human girl-limbs. I extricated myself and did a quick headcount. Everyone, besides Zoey and Celia of course, was accounted for, and I breathed out tensely. So far so good.

“What the fuck is happening?” Kat asked, tossing Theresa’s foot from where it had fallen haphazardly across her lap.

“Don’t know,” I said. “We should try to stay quiet for now.”

Even though it was probably a bad idea, I returned to the tent flap, brushing the fabric aside, less than the width of a finger, to try to get a better sense of the scene. From here, I could see warriors atop their alligator centipedes, streaming away from the cliffs and out onto the open plains towards the hills. And there, in the distance, from the hills, even more of the huge centipede creatures were pouring forth, carrying dozens of warriors I didn’t recognize. A full-fledged attack.

“Shit.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

Fallo

“Charge!” I screamed, howling a great war cry, hefting my spear as our irkdu pounded over the plains towards Gahn Buroudei’s forces, who were pouring through the hills towards us. I had been right. Gahn Buroudei was here to take the women. There was no other reason for him to attack us unprovoked.

I laughed wildly, launching my spear and taking out a man even at the great distance between us. I replaced the spear with a long, ablik blade, letting bloodlust bare its fangs inside me.

This was good timing. I needed a battle, if I could not mate my woman. I darkened as I remembered her cool reception of me today. The Lavrika had awakened the mate bond inside me, I was sure. I’d found her irritating but fascinating before, and I’d been inexplicably drawn to her, but when I saw her again this afternoon, it was like the entire world had condensed down into one small, angry woman. Like everything else had completely faded away.

But she did not seem to feel the same way. She did not run to me and fall upon my cock the way I’d expected.

It was truly maddening.

I used the feeling as fuel, ready to take out my anger on a hundred men, a thousand men, if I got the chance. And to protect my mate, I’d take out a thousand upon a thousand more.

The thought of Gahn Buroudei taking my mate almost made my vision black out with rage. I snarled, speeding up as our two forces came close to clashing.

But wait…

That was not Gahn Buroudei leading the charge. It was Gahn Irokai of the mountains, whose territory was a great distance from here. If news of the new women had already travelled that far then things would be more difficult than I’d thought.

But no. It did not matter. I would kill all four of the other Gahns of the Sea Sands if I had to. No one was taking the new women anywhere. They were of this tribe, now. And Chapman was mine. Destined to be my Gahnala.

The thought of her, dressed in the garb of our people, leading the tribe at my side, my cub at her breast, made me feel almost giddy with an unfamiliar surge of longing, and I growled and shook my blade, as if I could scare the feeling away. The feeling was too good, too strange. I did not know what to do with it.

So I pushed it back and brought forth the rage once more, pulling a second blade from my back leaping from my mount just as Gahn Irokai did the same.

We crashed in brutal battle, the two of us, tails whipping, limbs and blades flying. Gahn Irokai was old, but huge and still strong. A good fighter.

But not as good as me.

I sank my blade into his chest with a quick, hard movement.

I was close enough to see his sight stars cloud over with the pain of it. But this wound was not enough to keep down a Gahn. He made no sound – no growl, no snarl, but reached up, gripping the blade of my knife, his hands bleeding as he tried to pull the blade out.

“You’re a fool,” I said, enraged. “You should have known that you could never best me. And that you’d never get the new women.”

Gahn Irokai’s tail thrashed, and he let go of the knife in his chest, moving to yank another blade from his back, but I stopped him with a quick slash of my other blade, across his belly, spilling his guts to the sands. He would not survive such a blow, now, and he collapsed.

Triumph surged in me, making my blood pound fast and hot. I was a young Gahn, and already I had killed two other Gahns. My legacy would be great, indeed.

Ah. Perhaps by the end of the night I will have killed three Gahns.

There was Gahn Buroudei. He was here after all. He and Irokai had allied for this battle, but they were fools for not seeing that it did not matter. They could bring every man of the Sea Sands down upon my head and it would not work. They would never get what they came for.

Gahn Buroudei launched a spear and I dodged it, ducking to one side and pulling a new blade from my back to replace the one stuck in Irokai’s breathless chest. Then Gahn Buroudei jumped down, holding an ablik axe and another blade. I brandished my own blade, soaked with the blood of his ally, and laughed, beckoning him forward as he charged.

He hefted his axe and brought it down with mighty fury, but I blocked it, the ablik blades thundering as they met. Gahn Buroudei was a fine warrior, but I was larger than him, and undoubtedly stronger. I smiled widely, slashing my blades through the air. Yes, by the night’s end I will have killed three Gahns in my life. Of this I was sure.

“Surrender the women and you do not have to die,” Buroudei growled, and I laughed. He truly was a fool. Either that, or his words meant nothing and were just for show. He knew I would not surrender. It was not the way of Gahns.

I did not bother wasting my breath on a reply, instead slashing my blade upwards, hard and fast. Buroudei was fast, but not fast enough to escape my blade, and I dragged it along the skin of his chest as he leapt back. Seeing his skin split under my blade brought back the vivid memory of caging Chapman against the cliff, and I bit back a howl of dark desire.

Buroudei hefted his huge axe, and before I could draw back my arm, he brought it down heavily upon my forearm, lodging the blade in the bone. I lost use of that limb instantly, dropping my knife. But it did not matter. I had another hand, after all. Buroudei held fast to the blade of his axe, immobilizing that whole arm, and I moved to raise my free hand.

As I lifted my other hand with its blade, Buroudei’s free hand closed around my wrist, trying to halt my movement. I snapped my jaws. Even as blood pulsed freely around the axe in my wound, I still had strength. I pushed all of it, everything I had, into my uninjured harm, fighting Gahn Buroudei’s grip, forcing my hand upward, inching my blade closer and closer to his face. My limbs were longer than his, and I was taller. I was succeeding, pushing the strength of his arms to their limit. He was stretched too wide to keep up with me. I bared my teeth in a feral grin as it became clear that I would best him. Even wounded as I was, I was stronger. I would kill him then all of his men for the insolence they’d shown…

Heat and dark stars exploded in my vision as Buroudei’s head connected with my face. For a split second, I was stunned. But then I tasted Buroudei’s blood, from where my teeth had torn his skin, and that ignited a new blood lust in me. My heart pounded, and I snarled.

The arm that had been held out to my side with the force of Buroudei’s hand on his stuck blade fell limply to my side, confusing me for a moment. But that confusion ended when I realized Buroudei had pulled his axe free from my bone.

That axe came down hard, hard, at my neck. I flinched just enough to keep the thing from cleaving my head from my body, and it bit into the meat between my shoulder and my neck, the sharp, heavy blade sinking deep.

I fell. I could not stop it. The force of that wound was too great. Incensed, I howled, swinging the blade I still had with my good arm at Buroudei’s legs, but my motions were already getting slow and sloppy. Gahn Buroudei jumped easily over my swinging arm, and I slumped to my knees. I forced my head up, even though I could barely move with that filthy axe buried in me. Buroudei stood over me, drawing one long blade from his back.

So this is how I die.

Perhaps it was only fitting that a Gahn-killer would be killed by another Gahn. No other warrior would have been strong enough to do it, that was certain. Still, the thought that Buroudei would end me here was a burning ember in my guts, and even in my growing weakness I snarled at him, my tail whipping behind me.

“You will not get a single one of the women. My men will keep fighting you long after I am dead. You will not touch them.” My voice was ragged and broken, and the words tumbled even faster inside my own head.

You will not touch Chapman. You will never take my mate from this place. My bones will re-form from the ashes of my death pyre and I will come back to kill you before you even get close. I will return from the grips of death for her, and my dead bones will slit your throat and regain strength from your spilled blood.

The story of it would be told forever. How the ghost of the great Gahn Fallo clawed his way back from death’s fire for his mate.

This is bad.

I was becoming more and more like my father in the madness of death. He, too, believed that a dead person could come back and live once more. If a great enough sacrifice were made.

Yes, I was truly past the point of madness, now, because I even thought I heard Chapman’s sharp, angry scream right behind me. But that would be impossible. She and the other women were back at the tents.

I could not stop my head from jerking back towards the sound, anyway, heaving the buried axe and tearing more flesh. Blood poured down my body from my neck and my arm, staining the ground around me, deep and dark.

There she was.

At least, I thought she was. But perhaps this was the fevered folly of death. One last beautiful vision before I perished. And before I hauled my ashen bones out of the dust to kill every man who’d challenged me in this life.

I caught her scent as she ran to me, and I felt the brush of her small hand as she pulled a blade from a strap at my back.

I felt her.

She was not a death dream. She was solid and real, her touch an unanswered agony upon my skin.

No!

She could not be here! Not in danger. Not like this. Not defending me because I was too weak to defend myself. It was not to be born. I tried to speak to Buroudei, to meet his gaze, but I could not. I slumped forward until my hands hit the ground. Ground wet with my blood.

Buroudei was known as a fair and noble Gahn. I was counting on that nobility, now. Counting on the fact that Buroudei would not kill a woman, even a strange, angry one who challenged him like this. A woman who held up an enemy’s blade, daring him to act on his, our, killer instinct.

Curse you, Chapman. Curse your defiance and your strong will and your warrior’s spirit. In that moment, I wished that she were meek and quiet. That she were a coward. That she would turn and run.

But then she would not be Chapman.

Chapman was saying something, her voice tinged with its familiar haughty defiance, but I saw the way her legs trembled. My throat going dry, my vision swimming, I reached a heavy hand towards her, trying to get to her, to get to any part of her I could. I could barely move, but I managed to fasten my hand around her ankle. I no longer had the strength to speak, but I hoped my touch conveyed my orders. My orders to leave me here and run.

Though I could not lift my head, I was able to see the edge of Gahn Buroudei’s blade swing down towards the sand as he lowered it. The relief was so thick and sweet it almost took me down into the blackness. Not yet. I could not lose consciousness yet. I could not die until I knew my mate was safe. The hot stab of shame in belly, the shame of not protecting her, alongside the rage I felt towards Buroudei for putting me in this position, would keep me alive. For now.

Another slam of relief as Buroudei called words out into the brawl, words I’d never heard any Gahn of the Sea Sands utter:

“Stop the battle!”

I heard the sounds of battle fade, but everything was fading, now, and I did not know if my men had listened.

I cannot hold on…

Chapman’s slim ankle in the hand of my uninjured arm was tethering me to this world. If I let go, I’d disappear. I tried to tighten my fingers, but every beat of my heart I grew weaker. With one last surge of strength, I tried to wrench my head upwards. One last glimpse of my mate before I died.

My vision began to cloud. Before it disappeared completely, it was lit of up with the brilliant red flash of her hair, streaking like a star in the night.

But then, there was only night.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

Chapman

Now what?

I hadn’t exactly thought through the next part of the plan. I hadn’t really thought through any of this plan. We were supposed to stay in the goddamned tent. But, I’d said it once and I’d say it again – us humans apparently were not the smartest species out there. Because we’d only stayed put about ten minutes before we had started peeking out of the tent, before eventually creeping all the way out.

I’d tried to come up with reasons to stay in the tent, even though I was dying to see what was happening out there. I may have been concerned about one particular alien more than all the others, but nobody else needed to know that. But Kat had cut my rationale off, aptly pointing out that if the battle went badly for our side, the soft walls of a tent would do nothing to keep us safe. And so we’d crept out, to the edge of the tent settlement, looking out onto the plains where the battle was happening.

It looked like a scene out of a Lord of the Rings movie, or something. I had nothing to compare it to, this hand-to-hand and blade-to-blade battle of seven-foot monsters. Every instinct in me told me to stay far, far away from that madness.

Until I saw The Enemy go down.

And then? I’d started fucking sprinting, away from my own people, right into the middle of a battle I had no place entering. But I couldn’t stop myself. I couldn’t watch The Enemy die out here.

I guess I can’t keep calling him The Enemy, I admitted to myself. Not if you’re gonna defend him against a different enemy. Some phrase niggled at the back of my mind, something about the enemy of my enemy, but I couldn’t think of it and goddamnit, did that really matter right now? When I was planted, panting and shaking, between a bleeding Gahn Fallo and some other badass-looking dude who was ready to tear his head off?

By some miracle, my show of bravado – taking one of Gahn Fallo’s knives and slashing and jabbing it towards the aggressor alien – somehow seemed to be working. My new enemy lowered his own blade, looking at me strangely. I remained as still as I could, even with the massive amounts of cortisol pounding through me. I needed to play it cool. Keep up my bluff. Because I needed this guy to back down. I’d never survive an actual confrontation with him.

As the new alien and I stared at each other, I felt Gahn Fallo’s hand close around my ankle. I jerked, for a split second wanting to collapse into that touch. But his touch, normally hot, was barely warmer than my own skin. And it was so weak.

He doesn’t have much time.

What do I do? Do I try to make a move? I had to do something to get Gahn Fallo out of here if he was going to see the light of day again.

And I was realizing that I really, really wanted him to see the light of day again.

So I could tell him what an insane idiot he was. And then maybe… Kiss him? More than that?

Who the fuck knows? My thoughts are all mixed up – this is a literal life and death situation. Focus.

The alien before me called something to the crowd, and slowly but surely, the fighting around us dissipated. My hackles rose immediately. What had he said? Why was everything stopping? He said more, and the fighting aliens pulled away from each other into two groups – one being the tribe we’d been staying with, the other being the attacking aliens. As this new alien barked more orders, I saw one warrior jump onto one of their huge mounts and race away. All the others watched me, Gahn Fallo, and the guy that seemed to be their leader. The crowd slowly moved into a circle, with us at the centre,

Great. Now I’m closed in on all sides.

“So, what now?”

I said it aloud this time, impatience jangling into panic. Gahn Fallo’s hand was basically dead weight around my foot. I felt him slump further forward, from his hands down to his elbows, his forehead coming to rest upon the ground. I flicked my eyes down to him, only for a second, wanting to keep this other alien in my sights. And oh, man, I did not like what I saw. I mean, these guys were huge, and no doubt had a ton of blood in them. But the stain of black blood around his body was terrifying. No one would last much longer bleeding like that. Not even him.

I felt my bravado slipping, my mask cracking. My heart hammered, and tears threatened.

“Can we take him away? Can we take him to a healer?” My voice cracked. “Please?”

I wasn’t used to begging. I was more used to punching. But if I had to get down on my knees and beg for Gahn Fallo’s life, I realized that I would do it. I’d do it if I had to.

Except for the fact that this guy had no idea what I was saying. He wouldn’t even recognize human begging, probably. He wouldn’t know a single damn word.

Hopelessness cracked open inside me. All of this just seemed way too cruel. We’d come this far, we’d survived, and for what? To see one of the people I had a small connection to here bleed out on the sand? It was all so unfair.

I was swallowing hard, trying to figure out my next move, when a clear voice cut through the air.

A woman’s voice. A human’s voice. Calling my name.

My gaze wrenched away from the alien before me. He’d put down his weapon, so I felt comfortable searching out the source of the sound, just for a few seconds, anyway.

It was Celia.

The linguist. The one who’d gotten scooped up on the sands at the scene of the crab-attack and separated from us. The one I couldn’t save. She was riding one of the big mounts, in a saddle of some kind, along with an alien warrior behind her.

She’s OK.

Relief flooded me, but it was dampened by the growing fear I felt for the bleeding alien at my feet. The dying alien at my feet.

Celia was smiling, even laughing, as she saw me. No doubt she had thought we were goners, the way we had thought she was.

She and the other warrior pushed into the circle on the centipede thing, and I couldn’t help but do a double take. Celia looked like some kind of human-alien princess, riding so regally in her saddle, her hair in a long braid the way the alien women wore theirs, and wearing one of their tunics. With a smile so wide it looked like her face would split in two.

The effect was slightly ruined when she dismounted awkwardly, sliding to the ground with no grace to speak of whatsoever. But she sprang back up like an Energizer bunny, running to the alien I had once again pinned with my eyes. And she jumped, practically leaped, into his arms.

If I hadn’t been on an alien planet, I would have assumed I just saw a young woman jump into the loving arms of her boyfriend. But we were on an alien planet. And this was a human. With an alien.

But there was absolutely something romantic there. So I’m not the only one.

The thought made my want to sputter. What do you mean, not the only one? Do you see me jumping into my alien boyfriend’s arms like that?

But despite my denials, it felt kind of… good to see it. To see that maybe I wasn’t as alone and weird in whatever strange connection had grown between Gahn Fallo and me. Or maybe she’s just as fucked up as you.

Celia pulled back, seeing a wound on her boyfriend’s chest (and as I didn’t know his name, he would now be known as The Boyfriend), and she whirled on me, scowling fiercely.

“You’d better not have done that,” she said, and I couldn’t stop myself from rolling my eyes. I didn’t have time for this shit.

“Relax. I didn’t.” I paused, then said the next words without being able to help myself. “What do you care, anyway? They’re aliens.”

The words were a bit of a bluff, a test. I was trying to suss out just how she felt about The Boyfriend, trying to make myself a little more comfortable with my own confusing feelings. No other women in our group had had any encounters with any of the men. I couldn’t help but want to press this issue with Celia. To see where I stood.

She looked at me, then the knife, more like a sword in my hands. Then down at Gahn Fallo, whom I was so clearly protecting.

“You tell me,” she replied simply.

“That’s different,” I said quickly, my hands sweating against the handle of the blade. It was different. Gahn Fallo wasn’t my freaking boyfriend the way this guy in front of me obviously was to Celia. He was my… What? I wasn’t even sure I could call him my friend. We hadn’t been able to speak two words to each other in a shared language. But there was something between us, some heat, and I’d already decided to stop calling him my enemy. So what then?

I didn’t have any more time to waste pondering that question, because I heard the shrieking and laughing and approaching of human feet. Groaning internally, I watched the other human women run from the tents towards Celia, enveloping her in a big group hug.

I guess I couldn’t really blame them for leaving the tents. I did, after all.

I glanced down at Gahn Fallo. Still breathing.

Celia and the others caught up with each other breathlessly. Celia said she’d been treated well, which was a relief to me, but her next words made my heart jump into my throat. She pointed at the alien I still held in my sights and said,

“We’re here to rescue you guys.”

Rescue? I was pissed, and feeling guilty, that in order to “rescue” us, Celia’s boyfriend and his men had wreaked so much havoc here. Then again, this definitely was their culture. They were used to clashing with each other. But Gahn Fallo was bleeding at my feet because of this.

Besides, We didn’t need rescuing. If anything, she did, so she wasn’t alone out there without any other human connection. Theresa seemed to read my thoughts as she replied,

“Honestly, hun, we don’t know him or any of those others. We got used to these people, the ones we’ve been with. You should come back and stay with us. There’s more safety in numbers.”

But Celia sounded stricken when she said, “I can’t.”

It was Kat who spoke next, her voice exploding.

“Why the fuck not? What did they do to you? Are they using you to coerce us somehow? Why can’t you leave?”

“No, no, it’s not like that,” Celia said quickly. I knew why she couldn’t leave. She’d gotten herself a hot hunk of alien goodness she didn’t want to give up. “It’s more like… I don’t want to leave.”

“You sure hugged him tight when you saw him,” Melanie said, and I stiffened, almost as if Melanie was noticing something about me rather than Celia. Theresa’s voice sounded horrified when she spoke next, and I tensed further.

“Oh, girl. Oh, no, honey. Tell me you didn’t. You didn’t have to trade sex for safety, did you?”

Celia groaned. I suppressed my own groan. I felt her embarrassment, her confusion, in this moment. Trying to make a group of humans understand she’d engaged in some R-rated inter-species liaisons wasn’t easy. I should be thankful she’s paving the way.

I blinked.

Paving the way for what? PDAs with Gahn Fallo?

His hand was still around my ankle. His chest was still rising and falling. I tried to keep my attention between him, the human conversation, and the big guy in front of me who I still didn’t trust for a second. Celia’s voice rang out again.

“God, no! OK, this is going to take forever to explain.”

Celia launched into a harried explanation of what had been going on – that the leader of the other tribe, the guy in front of me now, was in love with her. That she’d agreed to be his mate and stay with him. She’s really brave. Maybe even more brave than me. Admitting to a love like that in front of everyone wasn’t easy. I could jump into a battle, no questions asked. But admit my feelings, like this, in front of everyone? No thanks.

As cries of disbelief and horror rippled through the group at Celia’s declaration, I stared at the guy in front of me with a new lens, trying to see what Celia did. Like the other aliens we’d met, he was cut like a damn bodybuilder, huge and strong. His long dark hair was pulled back into one long braid instead of the dozens of smaller ones Gahn Fallo wore. The shimmers of his eyes were a deep copper colour, not red, and where Gahn Fallo had a wild, infuriating, enticing energy abut him, this alien seemed much more reserved. And much less enticing.

Apparently aliens in general didn’t do it for me. Just one.

The Boyfriend growled something to Celia, and she answered in their language. I was shocked to hear that she sounded totally fluent. When she’d left the ship a few days ago, she’d only known a few words. I’d heard her complain about her lack of skill and training, so I couldn’t believe she’d mastered the language so fast. Maybe she can give me lessons…

Suddenly, another threat emerged. An enraged-looking, scarred alien stepped forward menacingly, tail thrashing, grunting something in a deep, broken voice.

God, how long was this going to go on for? We’d had our little human reunion, the battle had stopped. What else was there? What did this new, scarred guy want?

“Guys, let’s hurry this up. I don’t think he’s going to last long.”

I’d managed to keep the panic out of my voice, but Gahn Fallo’s hand around my ankle was growing more and more slack. I wished, so badly, I could speak the alien language. I’d tell Celia’s boyfriend to back off and drag Gahn Fallo out of here myself.

Celia moved out of the human huddle to The Boyfriend’s side.

“I want to remain with Buroudei. You want to remain with your group. But I don’t think we should be separated.” She paused, chewing her lip, then continued, slowly, but getting more sure with each word. “What if we set up a human camp in a central area? Between all the tribes. So that no one is cut off from anyone else, and all the humans can be together.”

She said something in the alien language, and the scarred alien snarled, and The boyfriend thumped his tail threateningly. I raised my weapon higher. Don’t get distracted. They could still attack at any moment.

The other human women were backing away, alarmed, and Celia spoke quickly, as if to assure them of the safety of her plan.

“OK, look, I’m going to be straight with you guys because you need to understand the situation. These people have this alien being, this spirit… I don’t know what to call it. It’s like a dragon with no arms or legs or wings. Anyway, it summons men and then shows them the face of their future mate. This is, like, soulmate level stuff. It means everything to them. Buroudei saw my face before we ever even got here. I have a feeling that more and more warriors are going to get assigned human mates and are going to want to split us off from the group. There are three alien tribes represented here right now, and there are others out there, maybe looking for some of you even now.”

Excuse me, what?

I had no idea what the hell she was talking about. Dragons? Future mates? Alien soulmates? The idea that yet more aliens we didn’t know could be scouring the deserts looking for us because some magic dragon had told them we’d make good wives was not a comforting one.

“Look, it all seems really weird right now. And it is. But if we want to head this off, and head off future battles like what just happened, we need to come together on this right now. If we all live together in a central location, not tied to any one tribe, we can avoid a lot of bloodshed.”

I had to admit that avoiding more bloodshed would be good. I was a trained soldier, but I didn’t want the people here fighting, dying, because of us. I never wanted to feel this again – the feeling of Gahn Fallo’s hand growing weaker and weaker against me.

Celia spoke quickly to her boyfriend and the other aliens. They didn’t seem pleased with whatever she said, jeering and thrashing their tails. More alien conversation took place, and I didn’t bother trying to keep track of it all. Instead I hissed at Celia as her boyfriend finished speaking to the crowd.

“What’s he saying?”

She turned her big green eyes on me.

“They’re agreeing to my idea. They’re agreeing to have us all live together in a neutral place, near to all of them. They’re saying they’ll relocate to live near wherever we are.” She stopped for a moment, her gaze flicking to Gahn Fallo on the ground. “I have a feeling it’s either he agrees, or he dies.”

“Tell your boyfriend he agrees.”

The words were out of my mouth before I could stop them. Celia looked shocked that I’d spoken for him, and there would probably be hell to pay when Gahn Fallo woke up, but I didn’t give two flying fucks. I wasn’t going to watch him get executed. He was still alive, and I planned to keep it that way.

Besides, I was warming to Celia’s plan. Frankly, I didn’t care where we were, as long as we were all together and safe.

Together…

Did I mean as long as all the humans were together? Or as long as everyone was together? Including Gahn Fallo, together with me?

I didn’t want him to die. And I had to admit, more and more, I didn’t want to leave him behind, either. If he’d even let us leave.

Oh, God. This was going to be harder than I’d thought.

Celia was speaking to the aliens, now, and soon enough it was all arranged. We’d pack up and move down to another set of cliffs, past the space ship.

“Yes, yes, that’s fine. All good. Are we done here?”

I couldn’t keep the exasperation out of my voice. Next time we make big political decision, let’s try to do it when people aren’t dying on the ground.

Everything being decided, Celia said her goodbyes, and then she mounted a big centipede creature with her boyfriend. Their men collected their dead and injured and left the plains, back through the hills they’d come from. Finally, I lowered the weapon I held. But I wasn’t able to relax just yet. Not until Gahn Fallo was out of danger.

Two warriors sprinted over and rolled Gahn Fallo onto his back. One of them grabbed his ankles the other grabbed him under his arms. Quickly, they lifted him. I winced as I got a closer look at his wounds. The axe in his collarbone area was keeping some of the bleeding under control, but it was sunk in really deep, and the wound from lower on his arm was bleeding freely.

Good God, I hope we’re not too late.

The warriors hauled Gahn Fallo away, and I watched them go until they were out of sight.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

Fallo

I awoke to pain. The throb of it, deep in my bones. It took me some time to root through my mind and find the source of the pain – my shoulder and neck and lower on that side, my wrist. With a groan, my eyes flicked open, and I became aware of Kalla and Bokeelie working quickly above me.

I was in my tent, laying on the hides. The women were stitching madly, pouring more and more Lavrika’s blood onto my skin.

“What happened?”

I hated the sound of my voice. It did not have my usual sharp tone of command. It sounded reedy and weak and not befitting of a Gahn.

“You were very badly injured in battle, my Gahn,” Kalla said, her normally kind face furrowed in concentration as she worked at my shoulder. “Vakal tells me you were battling with Gahn Buroudei.”

The rage I felt at hearing his name brought me completely back to consciousness. Dark energy flooded me, and I tried to sit up, failing. Kalla planted her hand on my chest, forcing me down, and I growled instinctively. But it was no use. I could not move. Yet.

“Please do not try to do that again, Gahn. These wounds are very deep. The Lavrika’s blood needs time, along with the stitches, to heal you. If you push too hard you will reopen the wounds. You have already lost too much blood.”

Well, the blood that was left was pounding through me at full force at the thought of Buroudei and his men attacking here.

“But I’m alive. So we won,” I said aloud as I realized it, a satisfied smile creeping over my face. My head ached. But we had won. My men had kept fighting and had bested Gahn Buroudei after I had fallen, just as I’d known they would.

Kalla kept working but Bookeelie froze, looking first at me, then at Kalla.

“What is it?” I asked her, growing suspicious.

“I… I will fetch Vakal. He will explain it better.”

The wound on my wrist had been bandaged tightly, and now that her work there was done Bokeelie scurried out. By the time she returned, trailing my man Vakal behind her, Kalla had finished stitching and bandaging my shoulder.

“You must remain still,” the old woman instructed me sternly. I scoffed, not used to hearing such orders from anyone, but her face remained serious. “I mean it, Gahn. You came close to dying. Do not undo all our healing with foolishness.”

Before I could rebuke her, she and Bokeelie left, and I turned my head to Vakal, who was lowering his tail after raising it. He settled himself, cross-legged, on the ground next to me.

“We won,” I said, the statement sounding more like a question, now. Suspicion was rising in me at the healers’ reactions. Why had they not smiled widely, and congratulated me on the glory of our victory?

“We did not,” Vakal responded flatly. And in that moment, I remembered why we’d been fighting in the first place. It sprang from the murkiness of my mind. We’d been defending the new women against Gahn Buroudei’s abduction. The new women… Chapman… My mate!

Ignoring Kalla’s instructions, I forced myself up, hot pain spearing in my shoulder as I did. I was vaguely aware of blood seeping into the bandages, but it did not matter. If Chapman was gone, if she’d been taken, I’d ride the entire length of the Sea Sands to find her, no matter how injured. I would let death take me down before I let anything happen to her. The tents of Gahn Buroudei would burn from the heat of my rage, and no man would be safe from me.

As I stood, much more shakily than I would have liked, I had to pause. My vision was blackening at the edges, my head floating. I swallowed hard, pressing my tongues against my teeth, trying to orient myself.

Vakal was standing between me and the tent flap, his hands raised in a gesture I was sure was meant to be placating, but in this moment was enraging. Have these people forgotten I am Gahn?

“Please, Gahn Fallo. You were very badly injured. You need to rest and heal.”

I snarled viciously, raising myself to my full height, even as my body screamed for me to stop.

“I will kill Gahn Buroudei for what he’s done. We must go after the new women. I will not allow my mate to remain in the hands of his tribe!”

Vakal tensed, his sight stars drawing in tightly as he watched me.

“Your mate?”

My tail whipped. I did not have time for this. I slammed past him, out of the tent, towards the cliffs where my irkdu was roaming with the others. I had to leave now. Attack now. It was still night –  Gahn Buroudei and his men probably hadn’t even gotten back to their tents, yet. If it is the same night. What if I’d been asleep for many, many nights?

The thought that Chapman might have been gone from my side for days made my head spin, and I had to stop, chest heaving as I drew in sharp breaths. Breathing had never felt so laborious. I cursed my weak body.

Vakal was behind me, speaking quickly.

“My Gahn, please listen to me. You do not need to go after Gahn Buroudei’s men yet. The new women -”

He was cut off by a sharp, sweet sound upon the air. A single word I did not know, a loud “hay” sound, called in a voice that wound itself through my body, finding its home around my heart and squeezing.

I truly was the Mad Gahn, then. I was hearing Chapman where she was not, so great was my desire to bring her back.

But Vakal had jerked his head towards the sound, too, and I followed his gaze, my weak heart thundering at the sight of Chapman running for me. She stopped just a pace away, planting her hands firmly on her hips in a stance unique to the new women. She looked irritated with me, as usual, but I could not annoyed by that now. This was the closest I’d been to her since the Lavrika had awakened our sacred mate bond. And all I could do was stare in wonder of her.

“You’re here,” I breathed.

“That’s what I was just trying to tell you, Gahn,” Vakal said from beside us. I’d completely forgotten he was there. “The battle ended after only a few casualties in a sort of truce. Gahn Irokai was killed, and Taliok was named Gahn of the mountains tribe. Both he and Gahn Buroudei have agreed to vacate their territories and move to neutral territory with the new women. At the Cliffs of Uruzai.”

I tore my gaze from my mate, no easy task, to face Vakal.

“The Cliffs of Uruzai?” What was he talking about? The new women were staying here, as part of this tribe. They would not leave.

She’ll never leave.

Vakal’s sight stars swung between Chapman and me and he hesitated. I was about to throttle him in my impatience, but he spoke up just in time.

“Yes, the new women want to go. And they seem to have informed the other Gahns that we will go, too. That all three tribes will go live at the Cliffs of Uruzai. We will retain our territory for hunting or any other purposes, but we will live at the sides of the new women. At least, that was the agreement,” he finished sheepishly, glancing once again at Chapman.

“What!” I roared, my tail thrashing against the ground. Who would dare make such a decision for me? Who among the new women would dare think she had such authority to change the destiny of my tribe?

Realization slowly moved through me. I did not need to see Vakal’s eyes flick to Chapman yet again to know who it had been. She was the leader of her women, and now she imagined herself the leader of this tribe, too.

She is your Gahnala. The queen of this tribe. But a Gahnala was meant to rule at her Gahn’s side as his mate. Not in his place.

I turned from Vakal and stalked towards her, closing the last bit of distance between us. Desire and rage warred within me. I wanted to close my hand around her throat the way I had when we’d first met, but not too hard, not hard enough to hurt. Just hard enough so that she knew that she was mine. My fingers twitched, itching to do it, but I held back. Even in my weak state, if I touched her, I was not sure I could stop myself from taking her right here. And based on the angry set of her eyebrows, that was not something she would appreciate. This made me even angrier. She did not seem to feel the sacred mate bond as I did. Why? Why not? I was a mighty Gahn, more than worthy of her. I was her mate.

As I stared at her, flashes of the battle were coming back to me. Gahn Buroudei’s biting axe. The heaviness of my body on the ground. A flash of red hair as Chapman streaked into the fight. The shame at that remembrance was strong and hot. The shame at my woman having to come defend me. That was not our way.

But perhaps it is hers.

“You need to learn our language quickly. This will not do,” I snarled. She said something in return, something I yet again did not understand. I groaned at my ignorance of her. She was a maddening mystery I wanted to sink my fangs into. I wanted to get to the deep core. To know everything.

But for now, that was impossible. Her words fell through my ears like sand through my fingers, disappearing and meaning nothing. I did understand the way her brows drew even further down in anger, though, and she gestured to my shoulder. I glanced down at myself, seeing the woven bandages black with my blood. My wrist was bleeding, too, that whole arm painted with the dark liquid. It was dripping in slow, fat drops onto the sand.

Then Chapman did something strange. Something that lit my dying body on fire. Something that would sustain me, even if all my blood ran out onto the sand.

She moved to my uninjured side, and took my hand in her tiny one. Her skin was so soft it made me groan. How could any creature be that soft? I wanted to squeeze her hand, hard, but I knew I’d break the bones, even in my weakened state. I forced my grip to remain relaxed, curling my long fingers just slightly around hers.

She gave Vakal a strange up and down shake of her head, then she tugged at me, firmly, leading me back towards my tent. This went against every instinct I had as a Gahn. I should be the one leading.

But in that moment, with my mate’s hand in mine, all I could do was follow.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

Chapman

If you had told me a few days ago that I’d be holding hands with Gahn Fallo, the one I’d called my enemy, I would have laughed in your face. Or maybe even spat in it, the way I had done to him. But here I was, anyway, trying to ignore the heat creeping up my arm at the gentle furl of his fingers against mine.

I hadn’t been able to stop myself. He’d looked so angry and lost in that moment, bleeding and in pain. I could see the strength of his fiery will fighting with the current weakness of his body. He looked almost fevered with it. Fevered and helpless. This was a man who was used to relying on the strength of his body and his will to carry him through everything. To make everything and everyone bend to him. He was not used to needing to stop and slow down. He was not used to relying on others. It had reminded me a bit of my mom, when she had gotten really sick at the end. Watching her feel so helpless in her body, unable to do the things she’d once done – her hikes, her work in the garden – had almost killed me. And seeing that same frustration mounting in Gahn Fallo, the pain it was causing him, was breaking my heart.

I had needed to do something.

So I took his hand.

I couldn’t deny that there was more to the motion than wanting to stop his helpless anger in its tracks. I’d wanted to take his hand in mine. After everything we’d been through, I wanted to bring him some kind of comfort. And I wanted to touch him, to make sure he was really alive and solid and here. To make sure he was alright.

I hadn’t been able to stay in the tent with the other girls after the battle. I had paced outside, staring at the outline of Gahn Fallo’s tent in the darkness as a guard nearby watched me warily. And when Gahn Fallo had exploded from the tent, looking huge and fevered and fierce, I’d had to blink back unexpected tears.

Irritated tears. Because he was up and walking when he definitely shouldn’t have been. And grateful tears, for the fact that he could walk at all.

As we walked together now, hand in hand, almost like a normal pair of people on a totally normal day on Earth, I wondered if this was weird. But when I shifted my grip, intertwining my fingers with his, hearing a sharp intake of breath from beside me, it didn’t feel weird. It felt weirdly… right.

We reached his tent, stepping inside the dimness, the only light coming from two flickering cactus candles on the seat of the throne next to the hides he used as a bed.

“OK, lie down,” I ordered, dropping his hand and pointing at the hides. He turned towards me, taking a step inward so that there was only a breath of space between us. My heart started pounding at his nearness. But there was no time to analyze that feeling. He was still injured. The blood was seeping through his bandages at an alarming rate.

“Get down! Now,” I tried again, jabbing my finger towards the bed. He said something to me, snarling the alien words, and moved even closer, his abdomen and chest brushing my breasts, making my nipples harden. I was just wearing the grey tank top and pants of the civilian uniform, no jacket and no bra, and I felt the dampness of his blood against my skin, as well as the heat rolling off him in waves.

Clearly, he wasn’t going to lie down just because I told him to.

Stubborn man.

I plopped down on the ground next to the hides, patting them with my hand as is to say, come on, I’m down here now, too. I felt myself redden, and turned my head away, as I realized his loincloth was just above my head. Finally, he sat, facing me on the hides cross-legged in a long-limbed alien mirror image of my own positioning. But where I was hunched over, my forearms resting on my knees, he was sitting ramrod straight, his good hand gripping the hides at his sides. He was staring at me intensely, the glimmering parts of his eyes looking loose and unfocused, his chest moving with heavy breaths. I glimpsed my jacket, the one he’d tossed around my shoulders last time I was here, mixed into the bedding he slept in, and I flushed, wondering what it was doing there. Was he sleeping with it?

Stop thinking about stupid stuff.

Though he looked just as huge and muscled and strong as ever, that slow seep of blood at his arm was making me nervous. That healing milk stuff was pretty incredible, but evidently it took some time to work on wounds as deep as his. At least in the small amounts the doctors had in their jars.

“I’m going to go get the doctors,” I said, moving to stand. Realizing he wouldn’t understand those words, I tried again. “Bokeelie. Kalla.”

His nostrils flared, his tail twitching as I stood. Before I could take a single step, his good hand shot out. This time it was him who took my hand, his huge, warm fingers completely enveloping my hand and wrapping around my wrist. I froze at the sensation, an ache opening up in my chest and moving down deep into my abdomen.

“You need a doctor, idiot!” I cried, my voice sounding strangely thick. I didn’t like how much this guy was starting to gt under my skin. I was way too affected by him. And I was starting to think that there was no way to go back. Back to when he was just another alien. Back to when he was my enemy.

His fingers only tightened in response to my tugging, and if I weren’t careful I could dislocate my damn wrist with the movement, Clearly he’d regained a lot of strength from when he’d been lying on the battlefield. But he still needed to take it easy, goddamnit. I remembered the weak curl of his hand, this same hand, around my ankle hours ago, and I felt the blood drain from my face. I never wanted to see him that weak again.

“Fine,” I muttered, settling back to the ground again. “If you’re not going to let me leave then I’ll just have to do it myself.”

There were bandages left behind by Kalla and Bokeelie, and I grabbed them up, placing them in my lap. I was sitting closer to Gahn Fallo than I had been last time, my knees brushing his shins, sending electric heat creeping up my legs.

Focus.

I unravelled the bandages, taking a look at them, then him. I’d had pretty extensive first aid training, especially trauma and wound training, but that had been with human anatomy. Still, these aliens didn’t seem too different from us, strange eyes, clipped Doberman ears, and kangaroo features aside. They bled like we did, and, like humans, I was pretty sure that keeping blood inside the body was pretty much paramount.

“Give me your arm.”

He cocked his head, watching me carefully.

God, this language barrier thing was getting old.

I slipped my hand out of his, and this time he let me go. I dropped the bandages in my lap once more, and reached for his injured arm, very carefully taking that huge hand in both of mine.

The blood in this area was coming from a deep wound on his forearm. So, so carefully, I placed his hand palm-down on my thigh to keep it steady as I gently probed his forearm. I wasn’t going to remove the bandages the healers had put on – I’d leave something like that to their expert hands. But I could at least bind the wound again with another layer of bandages for now.

Gahn Fallo’s fingers were limp on my leg because of his injury, and for that I was kind of grateful. I had a feeling that, had they not been, they would have been doing something distracting. The terrible thought that he might never have use of that hand again made me grit my teeth, and I got to work, slowly and tightly wrapping new bandages around his arm.

The size difference between us was really obvious like this. My hands looked like doll hands next to his, his forearm thicker than my calf. I bound that thick, bleeding arm tightly, staining the pads of my fingers with inky blood. After tying the bandages, I looked down at my fingertips, brushing my thumb slowly across them, feeling somehow that I’d been marked. Without thinking, I pressed those stained fingertips against Gahn Fallo’s four knuckles, leaving the smudged outline of my fingertips behind on his skin. Now we’d both been marked. I gulped as I felt him leaning closer, some of his braids falling over his shoulder. I looked up, brushing them away from his injured neck and shoulder. Then I placed his bad arm into his own lap, moving up to my knees, more bandages ready in my grip.

“Now stay still,” I commanded, trying to sound stronger than I felt. But I didn’t feel strong in this moment. Something about his nearness was making me feel gooey. I huffed out a breath, tensing my muscles, trying to get my old army strength back into my bones. It kind of worked. For a second or two. Before, as I moved up on my knees and closer to him, I felt the rush of his breath against my neck. Then, after that, the fall of his forehead against my shoulder.

I froze, up on my knees, the bandages forgotten for the moment. He said something in a low voice, and I felt his good hand move up to grip my back. My face was hot, my whole body hot, as I remained motionless, barely breathing, waiting to see what he would do next. But he just… stayed like that. His huge head resting on my shoulder, his hand at my back.

I shook my head very slightly to myself, ignoring the heat of his body, the intimacy of the positioning, and got to work, winding bandages under his arm and up over his shoulder, copying the direction of the bandages already lain down by Bokeelie and Kalla. I worked quickly, tying everything off, feeling satisfied with my work. I didn’t see any new blood seeping through the bandages.

“See? When you stay freaking still, and do what you’re supposed to, you stop bleeding. Shocking, huh?”

As I spoke next to his hair, he shifted slightly, nuzzling into my neck, breathing deeply.

I should go. I should let him rest.

But I just couldn’t.

It was like he was holding me with some kind of spell. Or some kind of alien gravity. I was rooted to the spot, to him, unable to tear myself away.

“I’m glad you didn’t die,” I found myself whispering, and he growled something in return against my neck, his arm tightening around my back. Then, with a quick shift, he yanked me forward, until I was no longer on my knees in front of him but straddling his hips.

“What do you think you’re doing?” I barked. “I thought you were finally listening to me and you were just going to be a good patient!”

I was going to keep complaining, painfully aware of the limp hang of his injured arm, but at the expression on my his face my words died in my throat.

He looked… pained. But not like it was a physical pain. Like something was eating him from the inside out, gnawing and burning and biting. His square jaw was set tight, his heavy brows drawn, the shimmering red sparks of his eyes drawing in to a pulsing point.

He’s beautiful.

I couldn’t stop the thought. It was an instinctive reaction. Something I couldn’t deny or push away. He was crazy and obnoxious and irritating beyond measure, his ego the size of this whole planet, if not even bigger, but in these moments, these quiet moments, between just us, I saw something else. Something deeper and softer, something that called to me. Something I wanted to reach for and grab with both of my puny human hands.

“If I’m falling for you, I’m gonna be pissed,” I muttered, my gaze dropping to his lips. But there was no fire to my words. I was just too tired for that. Too strung out from my earlier panic at his injuries. Too grateful he was alive. Too unable to pull away.

The pained look on his face deepened, and his jaws snapped miserably. His hand moved from my back, and more gently than I would have thought he was capable of, he traced his fingers over my forehead, then down my jaw to my mouth. A single, sharp claw probed my lower lip, and I gasped, but before he drew blood he moved those same claws to my hair, threading his fingers through the tangled strands. My hair was pretty long, past my shoulders when it was loose like this, and we were so close that he was able to draw some of those strands up to his face, pressing them against his nose and mouth and groaning, his eyes falling shut.

And then it was like something broke in him. His eyes flew open with a guttural growl. He let go of my hair, his hand moving to the back of my head, and before I could even register what was happening, his mouth was on mine.

Holy shit.

What was happening? Were we kissing?

I didn’t even know that aliens kissed.

I guess they do, I had to concede, as his firm lips worked over mine. My first instinct was to freeze, to keep him out, to tighten up and shut it down. But I found that I just didn’t didn’t want to. After a tiny moment of doubt, I opened myself to him. His hand tightened, his whole body jerking as I did so, and then his three-pronged tongue invaded. Everything about him really was bigger, and his tongue, or tongues, completely filled my mouth. I panicked for a second at that fullness, worried I wouldn’t be able to breathe, but then he drew back slightly, probing my teeth, my tongue, with just the flicking tips. I ran my own tongue along the bottom of his largest one, and his hips bucked in response. That response sent fire though my veins, until I felt the rapid hardening of his cock and I remembered that he had literally almost died tonight, and that he wasn’t out of the woods, yet.

“You need to take it easy. Get some rest,” I panted as his mouth moved from mine to my jaw, then my neck, his lips, then tongue, then fangs dragging over my sensitive skin, making my head spin. He felt way better than an alien had any right to feel, but I needed to be strong, here. I needed to make sure he was OK after all of this.

“Stop, stop,” I murmured, even as I tipped my head back, giving him better access to the burning skin at my throat. The flick of his tongues, the fevered glide of his teeth was like a drug. But, by God, I’d said no to drugs, just like the posters and TV commercials commanded, my entire damn life on Earth. I could say no here, too.

Gahn Fallo’s head had moved lower, drawing hot licks of his tongue along my collarbone, the hard ridge of his erection pressing against my crotch, lighting up a deep ache there. I wound my hands into his braids just as his mouth found my breast through the fabric of my clothing. I couldn’t stop myself from moaning, arching into the friction of his mouth against the fabric. I needed more. More of him. And less clothing.

But I had to stop this. Before things went too far. I clenched my fists in his braided hair, then pulled.

He jerked back at my motion, growling, irritation flashing over his face, momentarily replacing the hunger.

“We have to stop,” I said, trying to sound firm. I shook my head, locking gazes with him, hoping he got the message. I’d never seen an alien shake their head no, but I didn’t have many more non-verbal cues at my command.

I knew if I tried to leave again he’d just haul me back. And I found I didn’t want to leave, anyway. I needed to make sure this damn fool rested like he was supposed to. That he didn’t spend the rest of the night chasing me down and dragging me back here.

I disentangled myself from him, climbing out of his lap. I settled myself beside his bed, quickly, so that he could see I wasn’t trying to leave.

“See? I’m gonna stay. So you just lie down and relax,” I said, wondering if such a thing would even be possible. If I stayed here, there would be no way I’d sleep. Not with his huge, hulking form next to mine. He seemed to be feeling the same way, heat flashing in his eyes. His legs were no longer crossed, but splayed out, slightly bent, his knees falling to the sides. He was leaning back on his good hand, and his loincloth was pulled tightly upward with the force of his erection.

Oh, God. He wasn’t gonna to go to sleep with that kind of hard-on, was he? He was gonna to continue being difficult.

As if reading my thoughts, he hissed something at me, sitting up straight again and using his good hand to yank his loincloth off. My breath hitched as my eyes settled on his cock for the first time.

It was huge, absolutely massive, and dark. And like his tongue, it seemed to have three parts – one large staff in the centre that mostly looked like an uncircumcised human dick, but then it also had two spears of cartilage-looking flesh on either side, running up about the third of the length of the centre cock. Thankfully, he only appeared to have two balls below, large and low, covered with velvety-looking skin. I wasn’t sure I could handle any more weirdness in that department, so that familiar feature was a relief.

Any shock at the alienness of his anatomy was quickly replaced with curiosity, embarrassment, and more than a little desire, as his huge hand came down and started stroking the centre part of that hardness. My throat went dry as his strong hand began to pump up and down. More words hissed from his fanged mouth, and his hand paused before moving to grip the front of my shirt and yanking me forward. I stumbled forward onto my knees, my hands falling, grasping for purchase. They landed on his huge, muscled thighs, and my face ended up about two inches above his tip. He released my shirt and began stroking himself again, and though he wasn’t physically holding me anymore I found I couldn’t move at all. I was almost hypnotized by the slow work of his hand, drawing his foreskin over his shining head. Every time his hand moved low, towards his pelvis, it brushed those two smaller bits of flesh on either side, making them move and bend. They didn’t seem to be nearly as hard as his cock. I wondered what they’d feel like in my mouth.

No. I need to make him stop.

But how? Even injured, he was still way stronger than me. And it wasn’t like he was doing anything to me. He was just doing something to himself. How was I going to tell this hulking wall of muscled ego that he needed to stop now, and go to bed like a good boy?

I don’t think I can make him stop. But maybe I can make this easier…

I didn’t let myself think about the fact that I may have actually wanted to reach for his cock, taking that hot, hard organ in my hand. I told myself it was all for the greater good, so that he stopped moving and would finally be able to rest.

Liar.

My body knew I was lying, even if my mind refused to acknowledge it. Because I felt a rush of wetness at my pussy, and I clenched my thighs together as I knocked Gahn Fallo’s hand away, replacing it with my own.

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

Fallo

My mate needed to see the torture she had created in my body. If she will not let me mate her, she will have to watch, have to see me, see the perfect pain of love I’ve been consumed by. She was doing that funny thing again, waggling her head back and forth, something that seemed to indicate displeasure. But I did not care. My body was on fire for her. I would not be able to sleep without release, now.

And if I could not have that release inside her sweet cunt, I would have to do it myself.

And she would have to watch.

“Look what you’ve done to me,” I rasped. Time for her to see it all.

I loosed the loincloth from my hips, one-handed, my other arm still limp and aching at my side, tossing the dakrival hide garment away.

My cock jumped as her mouth fell open and her gaze moved to where my hand once again pumped. Lust deepened my voice as I growled, “Look at your Gahn, your mate. Look at the way my cock swells for you.” There was a tinge of mad desperation at the end of my words that I hated. An insecurity. An unspoken desire.

Look at me. Love me.

Was I commanding? Or was I begging?

I snarled, working my hand faster. The Lavrika had cursed me, laid me low, to give me a mate that made me want to beg. To give me a mate who pulled away at every turn. The unfamiliar drag of love inside me was desperate and dark. Why could she not see it? Why did she not feel it?

I would make her see it. I would make her see what she had done to me.

“Look at me,” I said once more, stopping the movement of my hand to grab the front of her tiny tunic, tugging her closer. The force of my pulling made her lose her balance, and she made a small sound as she collapsed forward on her knees, her hands falling to my thighs as she steadied herself, her face just above my groin. So close I could feel her quick breaths on the tip of my cock, and I had to use everything in me to stop myself from straining up into that sensation. From straining up until my cock invaded her wet mouth.

I released her clothing, and before she could pull away again, I started stroking my cock once more. Pride heated my blood when I realized that she could not look away. I stared down at the top of her red head, watching her as she watched me. She shifted, her hair brushing the tip of my cock, and I bucked upwards involuntarily. And I bucked twice as hard when her unexpected hand pushed mine away. I tensed as she moved up on her knees, brushing her hair over her shoulder, her small hand beginning to work up and down my shaft. A strangled groan ripped from me at the feeling. Her hand was tiny. Her fingers could not even wrap all the way around my girth. And she was moving so slowly. It was a brutal torture.

Her small tongue darted out to wet her lips, and my hips jerked up again, the muscles in my thighs tensing. It did not matter how small her hand, or how slowly she moved. Just being this close to my mate, her soft skin on mine, would be enough to send me over the edge.

Pleasure, mingled with dizzy weakness, was overtaking me, and I found myself saying things I would not normally have said.

“I don’t want to need you. Not like this,” I growled. Her grey eyes flicked up to meet mine as I spoke, and I leaned forward, placing my good hand against her neck, drawing my thumb over her chin. “I’ve never needed anyone. I killed my own father and proved I did not need him. I’ve built my tribe and my life with the strength of my claws. And yet… and yet…” The words were becoming choked now as her hand worked faster, gaining a smooth rhythm up and down. “And yet that’s all sand in the wind, now.” Those words were bitter. I could not help it. I was bitter at my weakness. At my need for her. A need that was not matched. It was uneven. It was unfair. Part of me wanted nothing at all if I couldn’t have all of her – body and heart. But the other part, the part that was rocking up into her hand, claws greedy at her neck, wanted to take whatever I could get.

So what if she did not love me yet? She was my mate. She and I were bound, now. My life existed only in the shape of her, its colours stained red like her hair and grey like her eyes. I would seduce her every night and steal her heart every day until she loved me the way that I loved her. Until she understood the visceral power of the sacred mate bond. The madness of it.

“You are mine,” I grated out, pulling her face to mine. Her lips met mine eagerly this time, parting and allowing me access to that silky wetness. That sweet wetness on my tongue sent me tumbling, and pleasure exploded, sending seed spurting from my hardness. She gasped into my mouth, trying to pull back as rope after rope of the seed coated her belly, her breasts, her hand, but I tightened my grip, forcing her to remain. To take it all. My mouth. My seed. All of it. All of me.

As the last of the pleasure rang through me I finally released her mouth. I spoke against her lips, my forehead pressed to hers.

“When I thought that I might die tonight, my greatest regret was leaving you.” My eyes opened then, locking onto hers. “And it was my greatest motivation. The motivation to live and fight. Or, if I died, the motivation to drag my bones from my death pyre to find my way back to you.”

Somewhere, somehow, in the deepest parts of herself, she must have understood me. The words were too tied to my innermost being to not be understood. To be uttered and not heard. Cold pain cracked inside me when she tilted her head, smiling vaguely and pulling away. Again.

So she did not understand me, after all.

And suddenly, I couldn’t stand to be near her. Not when all I wanted to do was drag her down into my hides and mate her, pouring all of my brutal love into her welcoming body. The need was too great, too desperate. But she was already moving away from me, whatever having been between us over far too soon, and that feeling was a pain unlike any other I’d experienced.

The blood loss coupled with the exertion of spilling my seed was leaving me weaker than before. And when her soft hand came down against my good shoulder, easing me down to the hides, I finally acquiesced. My limbs were so heavy, sinking down, down, and I didn’t even have the strength to turn my head and watch her go as she left.

But I heard her. And when the tent flap fell closed, I knew that she was gone.

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

Chapman

After our intense make-out-session-turned-handjob after the battle, I didn’t see Gahn Fallo for two whole days. He didn’t come out from his tent, and I would have known if he did, because my eyes kept flicking over to it every few moments, no matter where I was in the settlement.

I was a bit glad for the distance between us so that I could try to figure out just what the hell was going on with me. There was no way I was falling in love with an alien, especially not that alien. So there had to be another explanation for the fact that I was dying to know how he was doing. There had to be an explanation for the fact that I was wondering if he felt the same way, like some goofy school girl. And there had to be an explanation for why the simple act of rubbing his cock had turned me on so damn much.

After he’d come, I’d seen the strength totally drain out of him. And I knew that I couldn’t stay. Not after that. He needed to rest, and he needed to do that without me. So I’d left, quickly and quietly, and I’d tracked down Kalla, sending her back his way. Ever since then, I’d seen all four of the doctors going to and from his tent, often carrying jars and fresh bandages. My heart jumped every time somebody emerged, wondering if it was finally him. But it never was. I consoled myself with the fact that if he’d died, we’d have known it. There would have been some kind of upset in the tribe. But everybody seemed relaxed enough, which meant that the stubborn man was still alive in there.

Thank goodness. How would I have lived with myself if my hand job had been the final thing to do in this mighty alien king?

In between worrying about Gahn Fallo, I threw myself into the work of the village. The other human girls and I finished stitching our tent, which was good timing, as those injured in the battle could now be moved into the big hospital tent. This would certainly make things easier for the doctors, having all the patients in one spot. The morning after the battle there were huge funeral pyres erected for the small number of warriors who’d died. They’d all been single guys, it seemed, with no wives or kids to grieve them, but there was still a heaviness in the air. Many of the human girls had cried. And all of us felt at least a little bit of guilt. Guilt about all the strife that had come from our arrival.

No point worrying about that now, I’d thought. We’re here. What’s done is done. The only way to go is forward.

Things went mostly back to normal after that. At least, as normal as this planet could offer. Us humans continued to stick together, and we got closer to the other women and their children.

We were sitting with them now, at the evening meal two days after the battle. They were all smiling, eating, and laughing as normal. It almost seemed like us humans were more shaken up about the battle and deaths than they were. It made me think that war was an even bigger part of their culture than I’d thought. Which meant that getting Gahn Fallo to go along with Celia’s plan was going to be extremely difficult. If not impossible.

Although, now I had other tools of persuasion in my arsenal. I flushed as I remembered the way he’d ground himself so needily into my hand. Come on, good boy. Make friends with the other aliens, move away with us, and you’ll get lots more hand jobs.

And maybe even more than hand jobs.

I groaned, eliciting a strange look from Kat beside me. Just how deep was I in this thing, that I was seriously thinking about fucking an alien? Just how far had he worked his way inside my heart? I wasn’t a virgin by any means, but I’d never been one to engage in meaningless or casual sex. I was only ever interested in being physical with people I had feelings for. So what did that say about us now?

After the evening meal, we got up, getting ready for our first night in our new tent. We’d already moved all our human stuff into it today, and I was looking forward to sleeping somewhere that was just ours, something that we’d created. It felt like we were contributing in some small way to the life here, and that we weren’t just taking.

As we passed Gahn Fallo’s tent, I couldn’t help but stare at it. I thought I could see the soft glow of candles from within, but there was no movement. I found myself clenching my fists. This was making me uneasy. He’d been in there for days, now. And he didn’t seem like the type to lounge around if he weren’t in really rough shape. Up until now he’d always been on the move, always prowling around, stalking through the tents, tail whipping. This felt all wrong.

Our new tent was in sight, and I tried to shake my worries away. More than once over the past two days, especially late at night, I’d wanted to sneak away to check on him. But I knew I wouldn’t get past the guards assigned to us now. And I also didn’t want to distract him from his recovery. So I’d stayed put.

But I wasn’t sure how much longer I could do that.

We had just reached our tent when shouts of alarm rang out, and the two guards that had been walking with us immediately drew their weapons, baring their teeth and urging us into the tent. In the commotion, while they were looking out past the tents to the hills beyond the plain, I managed to slip away. I’d never have pulled that off in the middle of the night trying to sneak out of the tent alone. But in this moment, which was growing more and more chaotic, I was able to.

I wanted to go straight to Gahn Fallo and make sure that idiot was still breathing. But as I sprinted around the side of our tent, crouching, I thought I’d better have a quick look at what was going on. As warriors charged through the tents I followed, slipping stealthily from tent to tent until I was at the edge of the settlement, staring out over the plains.

One single centipede monster was coming through the hills, moving over the plains towards the tents. Warriors charged to meet it, and I sucked in a breath, wondering if I was about to see yet another battle there. But instead, the warriors surrounded the rider, escorting them in towards the tents.

Wait, here are two riders.

My eyes widened as I realized who it was. It was Celia and her boyfriend alien. The one who’d almost killed Gahn Fallo.

A territorial rage sparked in me, remembering what he’d done. Yes, it had been in the heat of battle, and yes, maybe Gahn Fallo had even deserved it. But my hackles rose all the same at the sight of him. I shifted my gaze to Celia, trying to calm my breathing down.

But that was in vain. Because my pulse skyrocketed when a huge, familiar hand closed around the back of my neck.

Gasping, I spun, still crouching. I fell onto my ass with the force of the movement, staring up at Gahn Fallo. He loomed huge and fierce, crouching over me against a backdrop of asteroids and stars, his good hand clamped on me. His other arm was bound tightly in a sling against his chest.

“Hey, you’re up -” I sputtered, shocked at seeing him, relief exploding inside me. But he ignored me, pulling me roughly until I was positioned behind him. Then he stood, barking something at me, drawing a huge blade from his back with his working arm.

“You aren’t going to try to fight with only one arm, are you?!” I cried, scrambling to stand. He didn’t answer me, instead snarling viciously at the approaching group. The Boyfriend called something in their alien language, and the only thing I recognized was Gahn Fallo’s name.

What could he possibly want with Gahn Fallo? And why was Celia here with him? I hadn’t known any of them would be coming back.

I peered around Gahn Fallo’s hulking form as The Boyfriend dismounted before reaching up to help Celia. His grip on her was so tender, like he worried she would break in his hands. When she landed on the ground, she beamed up at him, and his tail swished in what I could only assume was love-struck happiness. I almost wanted to laugh trying to picture Gahn Fallo doing something like that. Or me. No, we were more likely to be bickering about something.

Celia caught a glimpse of my face from behind Gahn Fallo, and her eyes lit up.

“Chapman! Hey!” she cried. She tried to run towards me, but her boyfriend’s arm wrapped around her wist protectively, drawing her into his side. Smart man. Gahn Fallo didn’t look happy, and neither did all his warriors. A terse conversation took place between the two alien leaders, and Celia’s eyes met mine. We were only about ten feet apart, and she translated from across the distance.

“We came to continue negotiations for the plan. I came to act as translator. Buroudei is telling Gahn Fallo that we come in peace. He’s trying to get him to chill, essentially.”

Gahn Fallo growled something, slashing his blade through the air, and Celia went white under the starlight.

“What did he say?” I cried. I thumped him on the good arm. “What did you say?”

“He said that we never should have come. Because Buroudei will have to subject his mate to the grisly sight of his dismemberment.”

“Well, that’s not happening,” I uttered, annoyed. I ran around his front, standing before him, planting my hands on my hips. With only one working arm, he didn’t have time to reach out and catch me. “Look, like it or not, she is one of my people. If they have come in peace together, then we need to listen to them.” Celia translated my words quickly, and Gahn Fallo’s gaze moved from The Boyfriend, whom I now knew was called Buroudei, to me. The shimmering parts of his eyes tightened up, and, jaws snapping, he muttered a long string of dark words.

“Oh, shit,” Celia said quietly. I whirled back to face her.

“What? What did he say?”

She bit her lip, looking from me to Gahn Fallo. At her side, Buroudei held a weapon at the ready.

“He’s asking what he did to deserve a mate as difficult as you.”

“A… a what?”

Snippets of the conversation we’d had on the battlefield came back. Talk of mates and bonds and other things I couldn’t quite remember. I’d been a little distracted, after all, trying to protect the dying alien at my feet.

Celia smiled in a resigned sort of way.

“We should go somewhere we can talk.”

I nodded.

“Yes. Tell him that. Tell him I want to talk.”

Celia did so, and I turned back to Gahn Fallo in time to see his tail snap, his hand tightening on his weapon.

He did not sheath his weapon, rather sticking the handle between his fangs, the blade jutting to the side. Then he reached for me, gripping my elbow roughly. Just the same way he had when he’d marched me through the hills that first time we’d met. Anger and hurt churned inside me as I realized that all the progress we’d made, the tenuous connection, had just totally disappeared. He was holding me by the elbow just as he had then. Just as he had when we were enemies.

My throat burned, and I blinked hard as we walked. Buroudei and Celia walked behind us, flanked by Gahn Fallo’s men.

So this is how it’s going to be, then. Him always fighting to keep power over me. Treating me like a prisoner.

But then, after a few paces, once Gahn Fallo’s tent had come into view, his grip on my arm shifted. It softened, fingertips trailing downward, until his hand reached mine. He intertwined our fingers and, gasping, I squeezed. Really, really hard. I couldn’t help myself. He wasn’t marching me forward like a prisoner. He was holding my hand. And, apparently, my heart, because my chest was aching something fierce. I stared up at him wordlessly.

He looked totally barbaric with his giant weapon between his long, glinting fangs. Totally insane. But, as heat rushed through me, I had to admit that I was kind of here for it. It worked for me. All of it. All of him. Even his anger, his pride, his ego. Not that we can’t work on those.

Oh, man. Look at me making plans. Plans for the future.

But in order to get to that future, we had to survive the present. Which meant not starting an all-out war by killing Celia’s boyfriend.

Candles lit the dark space of the tent, and Celia grinned at me from Buroudei’s side as we entered.

“I was so happy to see you alive last time. You were the first one I saw and I wanted to hug you so bad. But there was kind of a lot going on.”

She stepped out of Buroudei’s embrace, and I attempted to do the same, but Gahn Fallo held tight to my hand. Rolling my eyes, my one hand stretching back towards him, I hugged her sideways with my other arm.

“So much has happened,” I muttered into her hair. There was so much we still needed to fill each other in on.

The last time she’d seen me, apart from the recent battle I’d basically been a security guard with a stiff upper lip holding her and her friends hostage. She’d watched me clock Kat on the back of the head once with my gun, and I knew in that moment she’d hated me for it. But now Kat and I were closer than ever, Celia had gone off and found herself an alien boyfriend, and now she was hugging me. How things had changed.

I hadn’t gotten to apologize to her like I had to the others. But that would have to wait. Buroudei growled something and Celia jerked out of my arms. Gahn Fallo yanked me back.

“What’d he say?’ I asked, warily watching as Gahn Fallo’s nostrils flared above the weapon he still held in his teeth.

She rolled her eyes, placing a small hand on her boyfriend’s huge chest.

“He said I’m the only thing keeping him from plunging his knife into Gahn Fallo’s heart. You know, the usual. I swear, these guys are like testosterone times a billion.”

I couldn’t help but smirk at her nonchalance. As much as Buroudei and Gahn Fallo clearly hated each other, they seemed to be alike in a lot of ways. But where Buroudei was composed, almost regal, Fallo was fierce and wild. Even now, he was stalking back and forth, having moved between me and the others, his eyes rolling in his head, his weapon at the ready now that his hand was free from mine. Buroudei remained still, tracking Gahn Fallo’s every move with his eyes.

“Can you tell him to stop that?” I said to Celia, motioning to Gahn Fallo. She grimaced. I changed tactics.

“Sorry, I mean, can you tell him I want him to stop that?”

She repeated my words quickly, moving further into Buroudei’s arms as if fearing Gahn Fallo’s response. Gahn Fallo froze, then stalked to my side, coming to a halt. I could feel his tail twitching on the ground behind us, every muscle thrumming with tension. He snarled something again.

“Now Gahn Fallo’s saying that the request of his mate is the only thing keeping him from killing Buroudei. But that if we make a move, Buroudei will never leave here alive.”

I mean, I was glad he was listening to me. But I was still a bit concerned about the “mate” part.

“What’s this mate thing again?” I rubbed my fingers against my forehead. This was gong to be a long night. I could tell.

“Yeah, I kind of explained it during the battle. But basically the Lavrika is this sacred, powerful alien spirit or God. And it’s real. I’ve seen it.”

My eyebrows jumped up at that, but she kept going, no chance for me to ask more questions.

“The Lavrika summons men from the tribes to show them their fated mate. It’s the person they’re destined to be with. Buroudei saw me in a vision before we arrived here, and it sounds like Gahn Fallo has gotten one, too.”

“OK, but what does that mean?”

This all sounded like nonsense, frankly. But was it nonsense when a small shift of Gahn Fallo’s body, and the subtle trail of his hand at my lower back, made goosebumps break out over my skin?

“Well, from what I’ve gathered, it works a bit differently for them than for us. When the warrior gets his vision, it awakens the sacred mate bond inside him. It basically means he falls head over heels in love with his mate. And usually, the alien woman feels the same way. But it doesn’t seem to automatically awaken in a human women. We have to actually fall in love on our own.”

I blinked at her, stiff as a board as I felt the reassuring slide of Gahn Fallo’s claws against my hip. His weapon was back in his mouth, I noticed, and his red gaze rolled down towards me as my own eyes bulged.

In love? Gahn Fallo was in love with me? Well, what the hell? He had a funny way of showing it! Ordering me around, being all dark and moody one minute then wild and energetic the next. Something about love languages surfaced in my mind. Gahn Fallo’s love language is being crazy.

“But this bond doesn’t wake up in the humans?” I was a bit confused on that point. Because I definitely felt something towards Gahn Fallo. And it would sure as hell be easy to blame it on some ancient alien magic.

“No, I don’t think so,” Celia confirmed. “At least, not like what Buroudei described. Basically from the moment he saw my face he was a goner. I was attracted to him quickly, but it took some time to develop real feelings. The language barrier didn’t help, after all.”

“You’re telling me,” I muttered. “How did you learn the language so quickly, anyway?”

“Ha! That’s kind of a long weird story. And we should probably get to the point of why we’re here before these guys tear each others’ heads off.”

I nodded quickly. I was desperate to know more, but she had a point. Gahn Fallo’s hand was pressing harder against my hip, his lips drawing back from the weapon in his fangs in a wordless show of aggression. Celia frowned at the sight of his expression.

“I can pretty much guarantee Buroudei won’t make the first move unless I’m in danger, just so you know.”

That put me a bit at ease. Except for the fact I couldn’t say the same for the man baring his teeth beside me.

“You have to behave,” I whispered, elbowing him. If he weren’t still recovering from his injuries, I would have elbowed him a whole lot harder. He gave a low rumble, but remained in one spot. For now.

Celia spoke quickly in the alien language, then followed it up in English for my sake.

“We’ve come to make sure you’re on track to move down to the Cliffs of Uruzai. We realized after leaving that the language barrier might make things complicated. We’ve come in peace to continue negotiations and offer any assistance.”

I nodded as she spoke, all of that making sense to me, but Gahn Fallo’s hand whipped off of my back, drawing his weapon from between his teeth. Instantly, Buroudei shoved Celia behind him, raising his own blade. Buroudei growled something menacing, and I heard Celia squeak from behind him, “He’s taunting him, He’s asking for his axe back.”

My own anger flared at that. That axe had almost killed Gahn Fallo. The audacity of these guys, I swear.

But one of us had to remain cool-headed. Gahn Fallo was beginning to crouch, ready to leap, Panicking, I reached out, grabbing his tail about halfway down. It was smooth like the rest of him, and thick with muscle. And obviously sensitive, because he jerked back in shock at my touch there, turning his head to stare at me.

“Enough,” I said, my voice a low warning. “If I’m your mate then you need to listen to me. I have decided for my people that we will go with Celia and Buroudei. This is the plan. You can go with it or not.”

I really hoped he would go with it. The thought of moving away from him was… not pleasant. But Celia was right – we couldn’t stay split up, staying with different tribes, especially if more tribes were going to come out of the woodwork looking for human mates.

His expression looked pained, like I’d betrayed him. Then it hardened into dark anger. He wrapped his good arm around me, his weapon behind my back, and locked eyes with me, hissing. Celia translated quickly from behind Buroudei.

“He says that you can never leave him. He will never let you and the other women go.”

Fuck.

“We’re not your prisoners!” I cried. His arm tightened around me, and the look of hurt flashed again on his features when Celia translated my words. He spoke again, tail thrashing.

“He says you’re part of this tribe and it’s job to protect you. And that as his mate your place is at his side.” She paused then, her voice turning hard. “And he says he’ll never trust filthy Buroudei with his mate’s people.”

“I hate this. It feels like I’m playing broken telephone. You don’t need to try to translate that,” I added. I sighed, annoyed and already so tired, letting go of Gahn Fallo’s tail and letting my forehead collapse against his chest. He made a noise of relief, his muscles tensing, drawing me even closer. Celia’s voice drifted over to us.

“Well, we could try something to get over the language barrier. We could do what I did. But I don’t know if he’ll let you go…”

My head snapped up.

“Go where?”

Celia peered out from behind Buroudei’s bulging arm.

“To the Cliffs of Uruzai. To see the Lavrika.”

“If I go there I’ll learn the language like you? Is that how you did it?”

Celia bit her lip.

“I’m not sure if it will work, to be honest. I went there to get healed because I was badly injured. I don’t know if it will work for someone who just shows up. But we can try.”

She spoke quickly to Gahn Buroudei, explaining our idea, then turned back to me.

“We’ll take you to the cliffs. If he’ll let you go,” she said, eyeing Gahn Fallo. That was the second time she’d mentioned him letting me go, and it irked me.

“I’m sick of needing permission!” I stared up at him. “I am going to go to the cliffs with Celia and Buroudei. I am going to go to see this Lavrika and try to learn your language. So I can talk some sense into you myself.”

As Celia’s translation hit him, Gahn Fallo’s face darkened even more. He hissed, and Celia’s words came quickly, her voice turning nervous.

“He says you can’t go with us. That he’ll take you there himself.”

“Tell him no,” I shot back. “He’s still recovering from his injuries. Besides, you and Buroudei have done this before. Tell him I’m going with you. And tell him -” I paused, sucking in a breath, a sudden pain stabbing in my chest, “ - tell him that if he doesn’t let me go, if he doesn’t start letting me make my own choices, that he’s going to lose me forever.”

Celia hesitated.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes,” I said, setting my jaw. I had to set these boundaries now. If he and I were going to have any kind of chance at a future together, he needed to understand that I wasn’t his prisoner, I wasn’t his to order around. I had my own mind, my own strength. And while I knew he was a hell of a lot more of an expert about this planet than I was, I also knew that his ego and his territorial instincts were clouding his judgment. I couldn’t keep being ordered around by him. I couldn’t.

If he was as head over heels in love as Celia claimed he would be, then those last words were going to hurt. Hell, they’d hurt me to even say them. But they needed to be said.

I could tell when Celia got to that part of the translation, because everything in Gahn Fallo jerked then hardened. The glimmering red shards of his eyes blew outwards, like a bomb had gone off.

He did not move. Did not speak. He just held me tightly and stared. As if I might disappear if he shifted even slightly.

“Just let me go,” I pleaded, my voice much softer now. “Let me go. And I promise I’ll come back. Then we can talk more.”

His jaw worked as Celia’s translation hit him, his eyes ablaze, his words falling heavy and low as he replied.

“He says that if you don’t come back he’ll scour the sands for the rest of his life looking for you. And when he finds you, which he will, he’ll drag you home so that you can never leave his side again.”

I grimaced. It wasn’t perfect, but it was progress. I was going to go with his enemies. And he was letting me.

I hated the idea that he was letting me. But this small step was actually pretty huge for us. We’ll keep working on it.

“Here,” I said, pulling his hand from around his back until it was between us. “Would you put your weapon away for a minute?” He balked at that, and I realized that may have asking for a bit too much. It would be harder to do with the handle of his weapon closed in his fist, but I’d make it work.

I slipped my pinkie beneath his, working it between that huge finger at the handle of his weapon. His pinkie was bigger than any pinkie finger had a right to be. I bent mine, unable to wrap it around his. But the were hooked together close enough. Then I looked up at his face again. A face that looked so hurt and so unsure.

“This is a pinkie swear. It’s a… a sacred promise for humans. It can’t be broken.” As Celia translated, a smile colouring her voice, I thought that I may have been exaggerating a bit too much. But I had to give him something. “I pinkie swear that I’ll come back from the Cliffs of Uruzai. I won’t run away. And then we can discuss the next steps for both our people.”

I still planned to follow Celia’s plan. The humans needed to all be together in central safe territory. Or, safe-ish, for this planet. But I would argue that further when I could actually talk to him myself.

Gahn Fallo didn’t say anything else. But a half a heartbeat later, his mouth crashed against mine, his arm moving like a metal bar against my back. I gasped, opening against the onslaught of his tongues. His mouth was hard and searching on mine, and my hands slipped up to cup his jaw. When I felt his erection rising against my abdomen I pulled back, panting. I hadn’t exactly planned on a full-on make-out session in front of Celia and her boyfriend, but I guessed they were probably going to be the last ones to judge.

“I’ll be back,” I whispered, reaching up and patting his cheek. His eyes were boring into me, just as searching as his mouth had been a moment ago. But then, so slowly and stiffly, as if it went against every fibre of his being, he pulled back and let me go.

I turned to the others, catching Celia’s knowing smile at what she’d just witnessed. Ignoring the quirk of her eyebrows, I focused on the task at hand.

“Quick,” I said, my voice forceful and rushed. “Let’s go before he changes his mind.”

AT CELIA’S SUGGESTION, we grabbed some extra hides and layered them on top of Buroudei’s mount. It wasn’t as snazzy as her custom saddle, but it would keep me comfortable enough for the ride to the cliffs. Buroudei helped me up, and I settled myself in front of Celia’s seat. She joined me a moment later, then Buroudei leaped up with ease. As Buroudei commanded his mount to go, I wrenched back, looking for Gahn Fallo, knowing his eyes would be burning into us as we left. But he was nowhere to be seen. I frowned at that. Odd.

But there was no point looking for him now. We had places to go. And languages to learn, apparently. A shiver of excitement went through me at the idea that I’d finally understand what Gahn Fallo was saying to me. That we might be able to actually hold a conversation. It would probably be an argument of some kind, but who cared? We’d be communicating. I’d need all the communication skills possible to convince him to let us move to the new neutral location.

Celia pulled some of those cactus drinks out, along with some dried meat.

“We’ve got road trip snacks if you need them,” she said, taking a bite of meat and chewing enthusiastically.

“Thanks, Celia,” I said, turning back to look at her.

“You can call me Cece,” she said after swallowing. I smiled, warmed by that. The offer of friendship. She seemed to feel the same way. “God, it’s good to be around another human woman. It’ll be great when we’re all together again.”

I nodded.

“Thanks for taking me with you. And, I just want to say sorry for how things went on the ship. I already told the other girls, but I haven’t had the chance to tell you yet. I didn’t know you guys were abducted. I never would have wanted to be involved in something like that.”

Celia smiled softly.

“Thanks for saying that. It’s OK. We’re all in the same boat now. And as angry as I was about everything that happened, if it hadn’t, I wouldn’t have met Buroudei.”

My throat grew thick. She was right.

“And you wouldn’t have met Gahn Fallo,” she added slowly, her green eyes narrowing. I tensed, not sure I was ready to dive into girl-talk about my relationship with him yet.

“Are you sure you’re… you know… OK with him? Like, are you safe? I know you’re really strong, and a soldier and all that. But Buroudei says he’s nuts. He says he’s the only Gahn of the Sea Sands who got his position by killing his old Gahn.”

I pursed my lips, trying not to let my shock show on my face. I mean, I knew he was crazy, but I didn’t know he’d literally killed someone to get his power. I tried to distract myself from that thought by asking a question.

“What’s Gahn mean? I thought it was part of Gahn Fallo’s name.”

Cece shook her head, her chestnut braid, turned dark brown under the starlight, bouncing.

“No, Gahn is like warlord. Leader. King. Buroudei is Gahn Buroudei. Fallo is Gahn Fallo. There are three other Gahns – Gahn Taliok, who was at the battle and is bringing his people to live with us, and two others I haven’t met yet.” Her voice lowered conspiratorially. “Most Gahns are chosen by the previous one. Or there’s a tournament called a baklok to determine who will be the next Gahn. But Gahn Fallo killed his.” Her voice got even quieter as she spoke the next words. “And it was his dad. He killed his own father to become Gahn.”

The blood drained from my face and I wrenched around in my seat, facing forward, head spinning. The thought I could be falling for someone who had killed his own father in the name of power was a sickening one. Especially after I’d lost my own father, someone I’d loved dearly, far too young. It was abhorrent.

Maybe I don’t want him to come with us, after all. Maybe my priority should be getting the human women as far away from him as possible.

No wonder Cece seemed worried about me.

She seemed to understand that I didn’t want to talk any more, and she settled back against Buroudei’s broad chest. He grunted, wrapping a strong arm around her, his other arm held at the ready with a long spear. Soon enough, I heard little human snores coming from behind me. I was getting tired, too – it was late, and the journey would take hours. But no way was I about to fall asleep. My head was exploding with so many questions I could barely see straight.

The rest of the ride was silent, as Cece slept and Buroudei and I didn’t have any way to speak to each other. And that was fine by me.

Eventually, as we passed the wreckage our of ship, a long line of cliffs became visible. Cece stirred as we approached, waking fully as we drew even with the jagged cliff face.

“These are the Cliffs of Uruzai,” she said sleepily from behind me. “It’s in neutral territory. It’s where we’ll all settle.”

I looked around appraisingly. It seemed as good a place as any. The cliffs offered some feeling of protection, and we were a lot closer to our ship if we needed to go and get supplies.

Buroudei led his mount along the cliffs until a figure came into view. It was an alien woman, tall and strong, with a long white braid and a spear at her side. She wore a long white tunic in a slightly different style than the women I’d seen in the tribe. There was something regal about her, and after Buroudei helped Cece and I dismount, he raised his tail before her.

“I hope this works,” Cece muttered.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“I don’t actually know if she’ll let us in. Buroudei’s explaining things to her now. I was only allowed in here last time because I was dying. The Lavrika healed me, and in the process it gave me language.” Her brow furrowed as she stopped speaking. “Ah, shoot. She doesn’t seem like she’s going to let you in.”

No way. I hadn’t come all this way just to be turned away, now. I could understand if this weird  magic, or whatever it was, didn’t work on me. But I wasn’t going to get turned away before I even tried.

“Please,” I said, stepping forward. Buroudei’s head jerked to me and he growled, but I ignored him. “Please. Please let me in to see the… Um…”

“Lavrika” Cece helpfully supplied from behind me.

“The Lavrika. I need to go in. I need to try.”

I didn’t like this feeling. This vulnerability. Asking someone else for help, for permission.

The alien woman regarded me coolly, her stance not shifting. She didn’t even understand my words, anyway. Maybe I can try to rush her, get past her without a fight…

I eyed her spear.

Probably not.

Before I could figure out what to do next, the dark opening in the cliff behind the tall woman began to glow, bright and white, like a star had gotten lost in there. I squinted against the brightness, and the tall woman spun to look, then stepped out of the way, raising her tail in front of her eyes.

I didn’t have a tail in front of my eyes, so I was able to get a good look at what was coming out of the cliff face. Although it took a few good seconds to make sense of what it was.

It was huge, its head the size of a massive boulder, vaguely reptilian-looking with big, knowing eyes. As it emerged from the cliff, I saw its long, legless body, winding and glowing and see-through, like some alien ghost snake. Hadn’t Celia said something about a dragon? Yeah, this thing would definitely qualify as a dragon. It didn’t have wings, but it was way too big and majestic to just be compared to a snake or any other kind of Earth reptile I knew of.

Its entire length was free of the cliffs now. It writhed and curled until its head was at my eye level. Its glowing eyes did not blink. I felt like I was drowning in them.

Then, just as silently as it had come, it turned, winding its way back into the cliff.

Wait, now what?

“Go, you have to follow it,” Cece breathed from beside me, her eyes wide. Buroudei said something, sounding awed, and she translated. “He says this has never happened before. The Lavrika is summoning you to its pools. It only ever leaves the cliffs to summon warriors. But then again, I guess you kind of are one, right? You’re a soldier.”

I watched the Lavrika’s shimmering tail disappear into the cliff. The alien woman stood aside, as if to let me pass.

“Go!” Cece urged.

I took a breath.

Then went.

The lavrika’s glowing body ahead of me lit the way. I moved through a dark, narrow tunnel,  and eventually into a huge, open cave. Humidity thickened the air, and it felt strange against my skin and in my lungs after the dry heat of the desert. On the ground, pools of still liquid glowed, giving the place an eerie dim light. Oh man, it’s the healing milk stuff! So this is where it comes from…

It made sense Cece had come here if she’d been fatally wounded. The amount of healing milk here would have fixed her right up.

The Lavrika slipped into the closest pool of glowy milk, disappearing without a ripple. I watched, waiting for it to reappear, but it didn’t.

Was I supposed to follow it? I was a strong swimmer, but I wasn’t really keen on taking a dip in this stuff if I could help it.

But it turned out I couldn’t help it. Because a moment later, the strong, flexible tip of the Lavrika’s tail shot out of the liquid, wrapping around my ankle, and dragging me in.

THE NEXT THING I WAS aware of was stone at my back. I groaned, forcing my eyes open and rolling onto my side. I was in the cave, lying beside the pool, alone, no sign of the Lavrika. Memories of what had just happened were already starting to fade – memories of a bright, blinding white. Memories of the Lavrika wrapping its body around mine. Memories of three rows of teeth…

I sat up, surprised to see that my clothes and hair weren’t wet at all.

Did it work?

I couldn’t tell if I’d learned a new language or not. I didn’t feel any different than before.

Only one way to find out.

I got to my feet carefully, making sure I didn’t have any new injuries or weaknesses, but everything seemed just about the same as it had been. Which made me worry that this hadn’t worked after all.

I worked my way back out of the tunnel. The tall alien woman stood aside once more to let me through, watching me closely. Cece rushed towards me, trailed by Buroudei.

“Did it work? How do you feel?”

“I have no clue,” I said honestly.

Buroudei’s mouth quirked downward.

“It did not work. She is still speaking your language.”

His voice was rumbling and deep, and, oh my God, totally comprehensible. I flinched, eyes wide, my mouth falling open as I stared at him.

“OK, you’re coming in loud and clear. Roger that!” I grinned, feeling suddenly giddy. We would be able to communicate, now! This was beyond anything I could have imagined.

Buroudei humphed.

“I do not know why the Lavrika imparts our language so imperfectly to you females. Roger that… It means nothing.”

“Nothing to you,” Cece teased, wrapping her around around his. “Maybe you should put some effort into learning our language instead of the other way around!”

Buroudei softened, smiling down at her. Then his face became serious again as he looked at me.

“It is good you can speak our language. Maybe now you can tell Gahn Fallo to stop stalking us on his irkdu.”

Irkdu. I understood that word now. It was the alligator-centipede creatures the aliens rode.

“What are you talking about?” I asked. Buroudei hefted his spear, pointing out to the horizon. I couldn’t see what he was looking at. It was too dark, and whatever it was was too far away for my human eyes.

“Gahn Fallo has been trailing us for the entire journey.”

A rush of annoyed affection warmed me. Idiot.

But then I remembered what Cece had told me. That he’d murdered his own father for control. And that affection turned to stone in my guts.

Well, now that I know his language, I can ask him about it. I could get to the truth, find out if he was the villain everyone seemed to think he was. The villain I’d thought he was until just recently.

There was no time like the present.

I took a huge breath, getting ready to call to him from across the sands.

But this time, there would no Gahn attached.

No titles. No formalities.

Just his name, naked in the night wind.

“Fallo!”

CHAPTER THIRTY

Fallo

Gahn Buroudei was a fool if he thought I would let Chapman go with him alone. She was my mate. Mine. So I’d ignored the way her face had hardened, the way she’d said I’d lose her forever if I did not let her go.

This would have to be good enough. Anything more was asking far too much of me.

So I’d followed them from a distance, my many weapons ready at my back, my spear in my one working hand. I hated the tight binding of my other arm against my chest, but that arm was useless right now, anyway. Having it untied would not help me.

The night stretched like a dark hide over the sky, cut open by the stars and moons. There was no other movement on the sands – no zeelk, no krixel, no drizelflies or brazelbirds. So it was easy to keep my mate in my sights, though it sent rage rushing, watching her straddle another man’s mount.

Eventually, they came to the Cliffs of Uruzai, and for the first time, I began to wonder if this would work. If Chapman would be given the gift of language the way Buroudei’s mate had been. I’d get to hear meaning in her voice for the first time. I’d get to let her words inside me.

And hear all of her arguments and rejections.

My grip tightened on my spear as I watched the Lavrika appear, leading Chapman into the cliffs. I knew that she would be safe with the Lavrika, but my hackles rose all the same. What if she needed me and I wasn’t there?

She may not even know she needs me.

Time slowed, and I began to consider breaking my cover and charging into the cliffs to retrieve Chapman myself. This was taking far too long. Just as I was about to make a move, my heart pounding, spear rising, I saw her slim form stumble from the cliffs. She was too far away to hear her, to hear if she now spoke words I knew, but I saw Buroudei point out over the sands towards me. He’d seen me. I growled, leaning low on my mount, preparing to charge.

And then Chapman called my name, her high scream of “Fallo” breaking through the air.

I wanted to be angry that she did not call me Gahn. But the sound pierced me, like an ablik blade. No one had called me Fallo since I was a child. The memory wrenched me.

I brought myself back to the present and charged. She was calling me. She needed me.

What has Buroudei done?

The need for vengeance was sharpening its claws inside me. Buroudei had escaped for too long, gone unpunished for what he’d done. He’d almost killed me. If not for Chapman, I would have torn him apart on first sight.

I would do so now.

I reached the small group quickly, my mount like the wind. I leaped, aiming my spear for Buroudei’s heart, revelling in the shocked scream of his mate. He knocked my spear aside and we rolled over the sand. Pain pulsed through me as he ended up on top of me. He raised a long blade, but I caught it as it fell with my good arm, holding his wrist in the air. But he had two arms where I only had one, and he pulled a second blade, swinging it down at my head. I opened my mouth, wide in a soundless laugh, then caught his blade in my mouth. My fangs closed around the flat of the knife, and I felt burning at the sides of my mouth as the blade widened my mad grin, cutting into the skin.

“I did not want to kill you in front of your woman. But I will do it now,” Buroudei grunted, shifting and pressing his full weight down on both his hands. My head was pressed into the sand, and I felt a fang crack. My chest rumbled with laughter, but the sound was caught behind the knife in my mouth. He would never kill me. And he would never take my mate away.

Blood trickled into my mouth and down my throat as I fought, jerking my head and wrenching at his wrist. I brought my feet up, flat against the ground, so my knees were bent behind Buroudei’s back, then worked my tail under myself. Using the strength of my tail to push against the shifting sand, coupled with a roll of my hips, I slammed over onto Buroudei with a roar. His blade fell from my mouth as he was forced onto his back, and I grabbed it with my working hand. His mate started screaming and pulling at my tail, but the sensation barely registered.

The only thing I felt was the dark joy of killing Buroudei.

That terrible glee consumed me, and I was not aware that Chapman had gotten so close. I was not ready for her arm coming down over my head and wrapping around my throat. She was not strong enough to pull me off of Buroudei, but it was enough to cause my weapon to lose its course. Buroudei used the opportunity to wriggle out from under me, and he stalked back and forth, watching as I remained on my knees, pinned by my mate.

“Let me go. Immediately,” I hissed. I could get out of this embrace easily. But it would injure her. And that was something I would not do.

“How about no,” she said from behind me, her hot breath fanning my ear. “Not until you calm down.”

Every muscle in my body tightened. Even my breathing stopped for a moment. I understood what she said. I understood her.

She continued to hold me while she spoke.

“Gahn Buroudei! If you kill Fallo, we will never join you in neutral territory. We will stay with Fallo’s tribe in the hills. Killing him now proves that it isn’t safe for us to live with more than one tribe. It proves you can’t be trusted around each other.”

I laughed as Buroudei’s sight stars pulsed in anger. He wanted the new women near his men. He wanted some of them as mates for his warriors. This would be a huge blow to him. I ignored that fact that Chapman had called him Gahn, but not me, instead letting glee fill me.

“See, Buroudei? You have lost. I told you you will never get the new women. You will never get my mate -”

“And you,” Chapman snarled into my ear, cutting me off. “If you kill Buroudei I will never trust you again. I’m asking this of you. Leave this be. Let us live in peace.”

My laugh died in my throat, chased by my own blood.

“You seek to leave me,” I said, my voice dark, my chest aching. Her arm tightened around my neck.

“I don’t want to,” she said slowly. “But I want to trust you. And I need you to give me something. Something that proves we can be safe with you.”

I snarled at that.

“Have I not kept you safe at every turn? Killed the krixel for you, battled Buroudei’s men for you, brought clothing for you? Have I not done everything a Gahn should do for his mate, and more?”

“You have done all that. But I’m asking for this, too.”

The old Gahn Fallo would have thrown anyone who dared restrain him to the sands. The mad Gahn Fallo would have leapt at Buroudei’s throat. No truces. No peace.

But I was rooted to the spot. Held fast by Chapman’s small arm and her voice at my ear.

I had thought that she was making me insane.

But perhaps she was bringing me back from the brink. I never would have let Buroudei go before. But, more than anything, more than my need for vengeance or blood, I wanted to please my mate. I cannot lose her.

“You are making me weak and soft,” I rasped. I felt her sigh, then chuckle. Her breasts pressing into my back, and I leaned into her flesh.

“We have a saying like that where I come from. ‘You make me a better person.’”

I licked at the bleeding tissue at the corners of my mouth.

“I did not say better.”

She laughed, louder this time.

“You didn’t say it, but you meant it.”

I was not sure I liked being able to understand Chapman.

My gaze fell on Buroudei once again. He had stopped prowling, now, and was standing still, pressing his mate behind his back with one arm, the other ready with a weapon.

“Go, Buroudei. Go. Get out of my sight before the spell my mate has cast on me breaks and I tear your throat out with my teeth.”

He did not move.

“How do I know you won’t you won’t throw your spear at us the moment my back is turned?”

Insufferable Gahn. My tail twitched in annoyance.

“Because my mate will stop it before it ever leaves my hand.”

“It’s true,” Chapman agreed, and a breath was forced from me as a hiss when she moved her arm up to the spot below my chin, forcing my head back. Finally, Buroudei lowered his weapon halfway.

“I will take Zeezee, my mate, back to our tents. For her, and only her, I am willing to continue making peace with you and your people.” His voice lowered to a growl. “We expect you to honour the pledge made by your mate. That you will move the new women to the new settlement. Whether you and your people move with them is up to you.”

Chapman’s arm around me, and the quiet whisper of “steady, steady,” against my ear were the only things that kept me from killing him. Seething in her embrace, I watched as Buroudei hoisted his mate then mounted his irkdu. He tossed a pile of hides to the sand, the ones Chapman had been sitting on, then took off into the night.

Finally, Chapman loosed her arm from around my neck. As she withdrew, I whirled, still on my knees, catching her hand and dragging her down to the sand. She fell to her knees and glared up at me. Her eyes fell to my bleeding mouth.

“You look like The Joker,” she muttered, regarding me critically.

“Who is The Joker? Lead me to him and I will kill him. And this time I will not let you stop me.” I was ready to kill this Joker. My blood lust was unsatisfied, skittering through my veins. There should be no room for any man in her mind but me.

“Oh my God, he’s not even real. Nevermind. How’s your arm?”

Her one hand was still gripped in mine. She raised her other to trail slow fingers over my wrist, then up to my shoulder and neck. I suppressed a groan at the too-soft touch. I wanted her to press down. To dig in with her tiny blunt claws. To make me hurt and prove that I was hers.

“It is fine.”

The healers had restitched my wounds and used more Lavrika’s blood over the past two days so that the skin had healed over. There was no more bleeding, but the flesh beneath the surface had not yet healed. There was still pain, and movement of that arm was limited.

The fight with Buroudei had moved us some ways away from the cliff, but I could feel the hard stare of the Lavrikala nearby.

“We will return to the tents,” I said, clicking my tongues for my irkdu. It lumbered over on its many legs and I stood, pulling Chapman to her feet. She grabbed the bundle of hides that Buroudei had left, and I took them from her, tossing them over the irkdu’s back.

“And on the way back, we need to talk,” she said, fixing her eyes on me.

I did not know why, but those words struck fear into my heart.

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

Chapman

I’d said we’d needed to talk, but we were quiet, now. I’d briefly explained to Fallo where I’d come from, pointing vaguely to the sky, and he’d grunted then fallen silent. The only sound now was the irkdu’s legs moving on the sand, and Fallo’s breathing behind me. I leaned into that sound, my back pressing against his chest. I’m almost watched this big lug die tonight. Again.

I sighed and shook my head, my hair scrubbing over his bandages as I did so.

“Why do you have to be so… reactive all the time?” I muttered. I didn’t really expect a response, but he growled from behind me. The spear he’d been holding out to the side with his good arm cut down in front of me, like one of those parking lot gates, and his arm pressed against me, drawing me closer.

“You mean why do I feel the need to kill Buroudei? To fight? It is in our nature. It is our way.” His voice soured with disdain at his next words. “Your people do not fight? They do not have enemies?”

“Well, not exactly,” I said, my voice faltering. I was part of the US military. I sure as shit knew humans had enemies and held grudges with the best of them. Maybe this black pot was being just a bit too mouthy with her kettle

“Nevermind. I have another question for you. An important one.” My mouth went dry, my heart thundering I didn’t want to ask it, but I had to. I had to understand this about him before I made any more decisions about how I felt about him. About where we were going.

“Did you really kill your father?”

I don’t know what I expected. Maybe some kind of hesitation. But there was none. He said “Yes,” immediately, as if it were no big deal. I twisted to look at him, flinching at the black blood around his mouth and down his neck.

“Why?”

“My father had gone mad, He was no longer a good Gahn.”

I stared at him. Now who’s a black pot, Mister Crazy?

When he didn’t say anything else I sighed harshly. We could speak to each other, now, but it still felt like I wasn’t getting anywhere.

“Do you care to elaborate on that at all?”

I turned back to look out across the sand.

Fallo grunted again, as if to say, do I have to? But then he started to speak.

“My mother died of fever when I was a very young man. My father went mad at losing his mate. One day, he called me out into the hills. I thought he meant to name me Gahn. But instead he told me that he planned to bring my mother back from death. He said that he could do it if he made a big enough sacrifice. Starting with me, he planned to kill the entire tribe, letting their blood spill over the ground to call up my mother.”

Holy shit.

I don’t know what I was expecting in way of explanation, but it definitely wasn’t… that.

Fallo continued.

“I could see he was no longer fit to be Gahn. I would not let him kill me, nor any others. He tried to do it anyway. We fought and I won. And then I named myself Gahn.”

I chewed my lip. I didn’t think there could possibly be a good explanation for Fallo killing his own father and taking his title, but apparently I’d been wrong. I couldn’t imagine something like that, after growing up with a dad I knew I could always count on. At least, until he’d died.

“That must have been really hard,” I finally said. I felt his tail thump behind me, and he said simply,

“I do not miss him.”

I couldn’t imagine that, either. I missed my dad, and my mom, all the time.

“I do not like speaking of this. Speaking of the past.” His head lowered and he spoke against my hair. I shivered.

“OK, then, let’s talk about the future. Let’s talk about moving to the Cliffs of Uruzai.”

He drew in a small breath, his arm tensing.

We needed to talk about this now. Rip the Bandaid off.

“The humans all need to be together. We can’t stay with any one tribe. It’s not going to be safe going forward. And I think you know that.”

“I do not know that. I will keep anyone from touching you. You and the new women will be safe, and I’ll tear apart any man who -”

“Would you cut it out, already?” I cried, the words exploding. I was starting to get really pissed off, now. “We already went down that road, and it nearly got you killed. And several of your men were killed, along with some of Gahn Buroudei’s! We can’t keep fighting like this, with the human women in the middle. And we need to be able to make decisions about our own future. We have decided to move. And that’s that.”

I could feel Fallo’s blood soaking the tank top I was wearing, seeping from his mouth. I shivered again, regretting not grabbing a jacket to wear.

“You think I am weak,” he said, sounding miserable. “You say that if I keep you, I will lose you. But if I let you go, I lose you, too. You give me no way out. With these choices I would rather tie you up, forever bind you to me, no matter how much you may fight.”

I blew out a frustrated sigh.

“You realize there’s a third option, right?”

He grunted, but did not answer.

“The third option is that you put your ego aside, decide to give this whole truce thing a shot, and come with us. We could all be together, as long as you promise not to try to kill anybody.”

“I cannot promise that,” he said moodily against my neck. The drag of his lips over my skin made my thighs clench.

“You can do it. What if I ask you to? You know, your mate?”

Fallo’s arm around me jerked, and he groaned.

“So you finally submit. You finally acknowledge me as your mate?” His voice was thick, and the sound of it was a hot pulse between my legs. Stay strong, Chapman.

“Well I won’t be mates with anyone who goes off killing guys left and right. And I won’t be with anyone who traps me.” I didn’t want to be manipulative, but I had to lay the options out to him clearly. I had to do it now.

“You don’t have to come with us,” I said, my voice growing strained at the thought of leaving him behind. “But I want you to. And if you want us to be together, that’s how it will have to be.”

I did feel some sympathy for him. I was asking him to either give up a chance at love, or give up his home. It was a lot to ask of the guy. But I had made up my mind. Us humans had to stick together. I didn’t want to be stuck out here with one tribe, constantly warring with all four of the others. This was the best way. I just wished that he could see that.

We had reached the hills at the edge of Fallo’s territory. The sun was starting to rise behind us, throwing a bronze blush over everything. The flowers shone, the hills almost looked green and lush. I gasped as what looked like a bird fluttered towards me, hovering just in front of my face, its wings moving too quickly to see. It was so much like an earth hummingbird that I felt a stab of homesickness. But it was larger than a hummingbird, and its chest glimmered with emerald-coloured scales instead of feathers. For a moment, I forgot all about my conversation with Fallo, lost in its beauty. I realized this was what Theresa must have seen, and I couldn’t blame her for following it out of the hills.

Fallo’s voice broke my reverie.

“It’s called a brazelbird.”

He tossed his spear to the ground, and his fingers moved up to brush my throat. I arched at the touch.

“The first time I touched you, when my hand was here,” his palm came down against my neck, his fingers tightening, just a little, “your heartbeat was so quick and lovely. It reminded me of a brazelbird.” His fingers moved up to my chin, turning my face towards him.

“You were so strange to me, then. So angry. Bright like fire. And so beautiful.”

Tears welled in my eyes, and I felt one slip down over my cheek. The shards of his eyes focused in on it, and he probed with the tip of his thumb before tasting it.

“You are still strange to me, even now. And still beautiful. Too beautiful. It makes me weak. You are changing who I am.”

I felt a flicker of hope at his words. He was changing – did that mean he was changing his mind? He’d put the battles and rage and blood to rest and come with us? Come with me?

God, I hoped so. I really, really did. I couldn’t deny it anymore. I was head over heels for this insane alien. And I didn’t want to leave him behind.

“Sometimes change is good,” I whispered.

His face looked pained, and his hand returned to my jaw, caressing. I leaned into the touch.

“Is that something you can promise?”

“No,” I said, “but I can promise to do everything I can to make it good. We can do this, Fallo.”

A dark look crossed over his face.

“Why do you not call me Gahn?”

Huh? Where did that come from?

“Doesn’t it mean, like, king? Why would I call you that? Fallo is your name. If we’re going to be mates or whatever, we’re going to be equals. I’m not going to call you by your title.”

His jaw tightened, his voice frosting with lust as he answered me.

“The thought of calling you my Gahnala brings me… great pleasure.”

He shifted, and I felt the press of his hardening cock against my backside. A tidal wave of desire rose to meet it, but we still hadn’t resolved anything.

“Can we get off of this thing? I want to stand face to face.”

Fallo slid off the irkdu easily, then helped be down with his good arm. I stood facing him, glad to no longer be twisting in my seat. The rising sun behind me fell on him, illuminating all his alien features – the blood, the fangs. The beauty.

“So what are you going to do?”

I crossed my arms to keep from touching him. I needed to hear his answer first.

“It is difficult,” he ground out, his lips black with blood. “I do not want to live with the other tribes. But I will not be away from you. And, as you’ve said, if I try to keep you, I’ll lose you forever.”

I nodded, not trusting myself to say anything.

He tipped his head back, looking into the open sky, then met my gaze again, his brows smoothing in what looked like calm resignation.

“I will do this for you. We will move with the new women. And I will not kill anyone who does not deserve it. If Buroudei can do this for his woman, then so can I. I will not let him beat me.”

I started to giggle, the sound turning into a full-throated laugh. It was such a classic Fallo response. I wheezed, wiping more tears from my eyes, bending to put my hands on my knees. I’d been up all day and night, and was woozy with exhaustion, which only added to the giddiness. I stopped laughing, though, when Fallo’s hand settled on my ass, hoisting me up against him. Instinctively, I wrapped my legs around his waist to keep from falling.

“Do not forget your end of the bargain,” he said, voice thick and fevered. “Do not forget that if we move and do this thing, you will be acknowledging me as mate.”

I paused, letting that sink in. I’d be his mate. His girlfriend. More like wife, I thought. This whole mate thing sounded more committed than something like dating back on Earth. And strangely, the thought didn’t scare me. It made me smile so fucking much.

“I didn’t forget,” I said, still smiling, raising my hands to either side of his broad face. “So why don’t you take your mate back to your tent? Right now?”

A guttural groan ripped from Fallo’s throat. His fingers clenched against my ass, and his bloodied mouth moved to my neck. The stick of the drying blood cooled my intense need for him.

“Wait, you should see one of the healers. Your mouth…”

“It still works,” he said roughly, dragging his sharp teeth against my throat. “Won’t make it to the tent. Too far. I’ve waited too long.”

My mouth went dry at the realization that Fallo was about to fuck me, right here in the open. We were still on the edges of the hills, not yet at the plains. The sun was still low in the sky. Maybe no one will see us.

“God, you’re crazy,” I breathed, letting my head roll forward as his lips crashed against mine. But could I really call him crazy when I was about to have sex with an alien out in almost-broad-daylight? Maybe we were both crazy. Just crazy enough.

Fallo lowered me to a relatively flat spot, free of thorns and bushes. Without ceremony, he yanked my pants off my hips. My pussy clenched as I realized this wasn’t going to be a languorous, luxurious love-making session. This was going to be hot and hard. Primal.

“Fuck, yes,” I moaned, my head falling back as Fallo tore my underwear off with his fangs. Before he tossed the shredded fabric away, he pressed it to his face, inhaling deeply and groaning. I flushed, squirming with embarrassment. It was fucked up, watching him sniff my day-old underwear. And seeing how much it got him off was making me wet.

“Hurry up,” I said. The sun was getting higher, now. I was in the shade of the hill behind me, but soon enough I’d be under the sun’s full force.

Fallo let my torn underwear drop, then used his one free hand to wrench my knee away from the other one. His eyes looked crazed, and the blood around his mouth didn’t help.

“It is better like this. Outside in the light. So I can see you.”

His chest heaved as he stared between my legs. I wanted to close them, not used to someone staring at me like that in such a bright light. But he looked… fucking entranced. My breath caught in my throat.

With a feral sound, he descended, lapping at me, his three tongues stroking, tasting. When the thickest, longest tongue probed my entrance, I shook and cried out, grasping at his braids with both hands. He withdrew his tongue, speaking against my slick folds, and I moaned at the absence of him inside me.

“I have been waiting to taste you again, Chapman. I’ve been starving for it. Food and drink mean nothing to me now. This is all I need,” I gasped, seeing stars as he dove back in. When his tongue starting thrusting in an out of me, I almost lost myself. My thighs clenched against his head, and I writhed, grinding up against his face. Just as I was reaching the edge of orgasm, he pulled back, moving up to his knees and tearing away his loincloth. I stared up at him, not wanting to analyze just why I was so aroused by the sight of him with no clothes on, but with lots and lots of strapped-on weapons. The straps crisscrossed everywhere over his torso, even over his bandages, the handles of his blades sticking out past his shoulders like broken wings on his back.

He shifted closer, bending and pressing the tip of his cock to my entrance. I arched, my nipples hardening through my tank top, looking for some friction against him. He pressed the tip to my wetness, but with a harsh groan he stopped. I jerked my head to look up at him.

“What? Why’d you stop?”

He looked like he was going to eat me. His fangs glinted in the light, the shimmery centres of his eyes completely blown apart.

“Call me Gahn,” he commanded, his voice dangerous and dark.

I bit my lip. I didn’t want to call him Gahn for all the reasons I’d already told him, but in this moment, seeing what the idea was doing to him, it became kind of… hot. I felt a devilish grin move over my mouth.

“Put your cock inside me. Right now. Gahn Fallo.”

A shudder went through him as I spoke, and he plunged into me. I bit down on my hand at the heat of it, at his size, stretching me to the limit. The two strange spears of flesh alongside his cock were pressed back with the force of his hips against mine. They grazed and probed my ass in the most tantalizing way, and I rocked up against him.

“Please, please,” I pleaded, my legs shaking, needing him to move. I wasn’t teasing this time. I was begging.

Fallo lowered himself onto his good elbow, his bound arm pressed against my breasts. I moaned, grinding my nipples against him. He began to thrust into me, slowly at first, then faster, harder, his movements growing erratic.

His face was above me, his eyes never leaving mine. I tried to close my eyes, but he hissed at me to stop.

“Look at me. See me, Chapman. See all of me.”

And I couldn’t look away. I fell into him completely. All I was aware of was the spin of those red eyes, the thrust of his fat cock, and the words spilling out of his bleeding mouth.

“Chapman, my mate, my beautiful one. I love your hair and your eyes and your strength. Your anger and your courage and your cunt. I will love you forever, for every day of this life and beyond it. I will love you into the darkness and never look back.”

I was really, really glad I could understand what he was saying, now. Because missing out on a declaration of love like that would have been a fucking tragedy. My own, barely audible pant of “I love you, too,” seemed pathetic in comparison, but it was all I could manage as I crested into an exquisite orgasm, pleasure clenching inside me and drawing Fallo deeper. A moment later, he roared, bucking wildly as he came. He kept pumping, slower and slower, wringing out the orgasm for both of us, until we were totally spent, panting as the sun rose higher and the air began to heat.

I didn’t want to move, but I had to get dressed and get out of the sun.

I pulled my pants up weakly and Fallo refastened his loincloth.

“I don’t think I can walk after that,” I said shakily, only half-joking. Without a word, Fallo scooped his good arm under me, tossing me over his shoulder and settling me there easily, his hand pressing into my ass as he began striding back towards the tents. It was just the way he’d carried me before, back when we were enemies.

But this time? This time, I didn’t fight him.

This time I didn’t mind.

Not one bit.

Thank you so much for reading Chapman and Fallo’s story! Book three, Alien Orphan,(Taliok’s story) is out now! You can read it here. If you want to be alerted when I have a new release and get first access to exclusive content, please subscribe to my newsletter ursadaxwriting.com/contact.

FATED MATES OF THE SEA SAND WARLORDS

BOOK 1 ALIEN TYRANT

“If you should flee, no matter where you run, I will always follow.”

CECE

I thought getting a linguistics degree would land me a decent job, not get me shipped off to an alien planet ruled by barbarian warlords with tails. But that’s exactly what happens when my own government kidnaps me, along with a bunch of other women, and drops us on a brutal desert planet in the name of research. But the mission goes wrong. Because of course it does. Soon enough I’m separated from the other humans and stuck with a seven-foot-tall alien warlord who will not leave my side. He doesn’t speak English, but his dark eyes and massive body speak volumes.

I need him to survive and find my friends. But am I willing to give him what he wants when what he wants… is me?

BUROUDEI

When I saw the face of my future fated mate in the sacred Lavrika pools, she was unlike anything I’d ever seen. I thought that fate was wrong, or that maybe I’d gone mad. But then when she falls from the sky, crashing into my desert, my fate becomes my reality. She is small, and pale, and fights me every chance she gets. But everything in me calls to everything in her, and she represents the salvation of my tribe.

She is mine. I will destroy anyone who tries to take her from me.

But what if the one who tries to take her from me… is her?

Book 2 ALIEN ENEMY

“They Call me the Mad Gahn. But I never felt truly mad until I saw her face…”

CHAPMAN

So, our mission on an alien planet fell apart before it even got started. Great. Now I’m the only surviving military crew member, leading a gaggle of civilian women in unfamiliar terrain. But it turns out one soldier isn’t enough to protect them from the monsters of this planet. Soon enough we’re all scooped up by a bunch of alien barbarian warriors with tails. When I meet their huge, red-eyed leader, he wraps his claws around my throat and looks like he wants to crush me. I can only think of one name for him: The Enemy.

He’s crazy, moody, and his ego is bigger than his whole planet. Everything about him rubs me the wrong way. My defiance is just as big a thorn in his side, if his glares and snarls are anything to go by.

We can’t stand each other, but for some reason we keep falling towards each other, over and over again. If I hate him so much, why can’t I seem to stay away?

And when he claims that I’m his mate, why don’t I want to run?

FALLO

There are few women of the Sea Sands now, so the unfamiliar females who appear in the desert are a great boon to my tribe. But their leader, the one with the flame-coloured hair, challenges me at every step, her insolence a hot irritation. I do not understand her nonsense words, but I recognize the hateful defiance in her strange, lovely eyes.

It makes me want to punish her.

It makes me want to make her mine.

She is fire in my veins. A thirst I cannot quench. A beautiful torture. Madness.

She makes me feel like I am losing control.

She makes me question everything. Even my own sanity.

Will she finally submit, acknowledge me as her mate, and end my suffering? Or will she throw me headfirst into madness?

Book 3 ALIEN ORPHAN

“I have trained, battled, and fought my whole life. But winning my mate’s love is the greatest challenge I have ever faced…”

MELANIE

After getting dumped on an alien planet and left for dead by Earth’s leaders, I’m learning to adapt and rebuild my life. It’s what I’m good at. Keeping my head down. Surviving.

But it turns out it’s kind of hard to keep your head down when the brooding, scarred warlord of the new alien tribe follows you with his glinting golden eyes wherever you go.

It gets even harder when you find out you’re supposed to be his mate.

Gahn Taliok makes a lot of promises, and I feel drawn to his hungry eyes and scarred body more than I want to admit. But experience has taught me be wary of things that seem too good to be true. I’ve been hurt one too many times.

I couldn’t even trust my own people, my own family, on my home planet.

How am I supposed to trust an alien warlord from across the universe with my heart?

TALIOK

With so few women in my tribe, I never imagined a life with a mate. But fate, it seems, had other plans for me. The Lavrika has joined me with a strange and wondrous creature called Melanie. After losing my parents so young, the thought of a mate and a family is a sharp joy I never thought I’d feel.

But Melanie does not feel the sacred mate bond for me as I do for her. Even more than that, she looks at me with distrust in her lovely dark eyes. She keeps space between us, and this space hurts more than any scar I’ve ever earned.

It is no great matter. I am a diligent and patient Gahn. I will do everything in my power to win her love to me.

But as Melanie avoids me at every turn, my doubt begins to grow. This human woman may turn out to be my undoing.

I would wait for her forever.

But what if no amount of waiting is enough?

Book 4 ALIEN REJECT

“She is a difficult creature, my tiny Kat. But I have never met with a creature I could not tame…”

KAT

I can’t believe so many of my human friends have fallen in love with aliens. Sure, the Sea Sand warlords are strong and tall and some might even say good-looking. But I still think it’s absolutely nuts to jump into a relationship with one of them. I will be avoiding all of that, thank you very much. And that’s what I keep trying to tell Galok, the arrogant, grinning warrior who refuses to leave me alone.

I can’t figure out what his deal is. There are far more willing humans than me in our camp, and we aren’t even supposed to be mates in the first place. And yet Galok still tries to woo me in his weird alien way. No matter how hard I push him away, he just comes springing back, his copper eyes glinting.

Maybe this guy just likes a challenge.

Well, challenge accepted.

I will never, ever fall in love with an alien.

And that’s a promise.

GALOK

I do not need the Lavrika to tell me that Kat is meant to be my mate. She is mine, mate bond or not. Her striking blue eyes and angry mouth send fire through my veins. No other woman has captured my attention like her. And yet, that attention seems to bother her. But this does not deter me. Every, hiss, kick, and furious look she throws in my direction only makes me fall harder. Only makes me more confident in my decision to pursue her.

She may be stubborn.

But so am I.

I will win her guarded human heart.

No matter how long it takes.

And that’s a promise.

Table of Contents

ALIEN ENEMY

NOTICES

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

CHAPTER ONE | Chapman

CHAPTER TWO | Fallo

CHAPTER THREE | Chapman

CHAPTER FOUR | Fallo

CHAPTER FIVE | Chapman

CHAPTER SIX | Fallo

CHAPTER SEVEN | Chapman

CHAPTER EIGHT | Fallo

CHAPTER NINE | Chapman

CHAPTER TEN | Fallo

CHAPTER ELEVEN | Chapman

CHAPTER TWELVE | Fallo

CHAPTER THIRTEEN | Chapman

CHAPTER FOURTEEN | Fallo

CHAPTER FIFTEEN | Chapman

CHAPTER SIXTEEN | Fallo

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN | Chapman

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN | Fallo

CHAPTER NINETEEN | Chapman

CHAPTER TWENTY | Fallo

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE | Chapman

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO | Fallo

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE | Chapman

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR | Fallo

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE | Chapman

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX | Fallo

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN | Chapman

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT | Fallo

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE | Chapman

CHAPTER THIRTY | Fallo

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE | Chapman