“You’re right,” he admitted. “For the most part.”
“What?” Olan’s eyes widened in disbelief, looking like they might actually pop out of his face.
All thoughts fled from his mind when he caught sight of their beautiful female as she made her way to them. He didn’t know when his subconscious had decided that she belonged to both Olan and himself, but over the last few days, as strange as it was to admit, Samantha had gone from “mine” to “ours”. He was surprised to find that this didn’t bother him as much as he would have thought.
Her violet hair hung loose, barely brushing her shoulders, while the black bride dress she wore clung to each of her soft curves. The skirt of the dress almost wasn’t long enough to cover everything he thought it should, but she looked stunning in it. Need coursed through him and he took a step forward, wanting nothing more than to pull her into his arms, to hold her. Samantha’s blue eyes locked on his, a smile curving her lips as she closed the distance.
Zuran wrapped his arms around her waist, pushing his face into her neck and taking a deep breath, drawing in her scent, committing it to memory. “Well, hey there, handsome. Did you miss me?” Her soft laughter was music to his ears.
“Yes.” He whispered into her hair. A frown marred his face when he caught a whiff of something, or someone, else clinging to her. Whatever it was, it intermingled with her familiar sweet smell and left a bitter taste in his mouth.
Samantha squealed as she was plucked from his arms and pulled tightly against Olan’s chest. “Fanahala.” He sighed. “You came back to us.”
“I told you I would.”
Jealousy raged inside of him as she hugged the other male. He growled, stepping toward them, but halted when something just on the other side of the bushes caught his attention. Someone was watching them. With a snarl, Zuran pounced on the vegetation, striking out quickly at the startled creature. A shrill cry rang out as he gripped the alien around its throat, hauling it off of the ground until they were face to face. Another human. He sniffed and his eyes narrowed. This was who he had detected on Samantha. Was this one here to try to lure her back? To spy on them?
If the alien was here for Samantha, then he would have a fight on his hands. She belonged to them. He couldn’t change the fact that Ama had blessed the union with Olan, but he could still keep her safe. “Who are you? Why have you followed our female?”
“Samantha! Help me!” the male gasped out, his fingers clawing frantically at Zuran’s hand.
“Samantha!” Zuran bellowed, his eyes remaining on the alien he had caught. “Is this alien familiar to you?” A fog was settling over his mind and he shook his head in an attempt to clear it. Olan was right. He was going mad. He wasn’t going to be able to control himself much longer. The fact that there were unmated males around the female he considered to be his mate was making this harder and harder to dispel. The strong, overpowering scent of pheromones filled the air around them, triggering his lust and making him feel as if his skin was going to catch fire.
“Zuran!” Samantha’s voice slipped into his foggy mind, slowly clearing the haze. “Let him go! He can’t breathe, Zuran!” His vision cleared suddenly and he blinked at the purple face of the alien in front of him. He wasn’t supposed to be this color.
The human dropped to the ground the moment Zuran released him, gasping like a faloui water dweller that had been thrown onto the shore. He watched as the alien scrambled away from him, hands clutching at the dirt as he shook. “Are you alright, Marsel?” The alien didn’t answer as he gasped some more.
“Zuran.” The deep voice at his side belonged to Olan. He looked over at the other male, taking a deep breath to steady himself. The madness had never come upon him that quickly. A tale wrapped familiarly around his own, sending a calming jolt of electricity through his body, clearing away the rest of the fog. “Are you back with us?”
“I am.”
“Is everything alright, Z? You looked like you were in a trance.” Samantha brushed her hand down his arm then slipped it into his own.
“It’s nothing.” His eyes narrowed on Olan when the other male opened his mouth to protest, but it quickly shut on a frown. Zuran wasn’t ready to come clean about what was happening.
The alien male had made it to his feet and was standing with his body pressed against one of the trees. “These are the peaceful aliens you asked me to speak with?”
“You weren’t supposed to follow me, Marsel. If I’d have known you were there we could have avoided this whole scuffle.” Samantha said gently. “Zuran didn’t mean to hurt you. He was just doing his job.”
Marsel, as Samantha had called him, glared across the open space at him. He knew he hadn’t won any favors with this one. “I apologize.” The words tasted like dirt on his tongue, but he should at least attempt to smooth things over with the human male. A carnera cry pierced the air, coming from deep within the forest at their backs. The twin suns were getting lower in the sky, and they would need to find shelter soon if the male denied them entrance to the thing Samantha called a ship.
“Well, I suppose I should have made my presence known.” Marsel brushed dirt from his clothing.
“It will not be safe to linger here much longer.” Zuran tugged his tail from Olan’s, flicking it lightly against Samantha’s leg.
Olan rumbled from his other side. “We should find shelter soon, Fanahala.”
The darkness came swiftly on Seytonna; there were all kinds of dangers lurking in the shadows, biding their time. He had scars on his body that served as reminders that this planet was unforgiving.
“Could we come back to the ship?” Marsel began to protest, but Samantha grabbed his hand, squeezing it.
Growls from both Zuran and Olan had the alien’s eyes darting up to watch them closely. There was something about this human male that neither of them seemed to trust. “Oh kitten, you know I can’t say no.” The human smiled at them, patting their female’s hand. He didn’t trust this male at all.
* * *
The human ship was not at all what Zuran had expected. It was small, the path that led throughout was barely wide enough for him and Olan to walk abreast. There were doors hidden within walls and the living spaces of the human families were practically piled one on top of the other. There wasn’t much actual space in the thing they referred to as a “space vessel”. The entire thing looked like it was constructed from a glimmering silver metal, like the kind they used in the village. There were small windows and blocks with colorful circular protrusions that he made a mental note to ask the names of once they were finished speaking with Marsel.
Zuran watched as the human pushed at one of the doors, struggling to slide the slab into the wall. He stepped around Samantha and gave the door a nudge with his hand, raising his brows when the thing shot back into its crevice. Marsel stumbled forward with the force, falling less than gracefully into the room. He turned to glare up at Zuran, “My apologies, human.”
“I knew that door would be a piece of cake for you.” Samantha laughed as she squeezed past him.
“Yes,” Marsel smiled as he straightened. “Piece of cake, indeed. Please, gentlemen, have a seat.” Zuran and Olan, who had just entered the room, glanced down at the small chairs. “Hah, perhaps you would prefer to stand? I don’t think our seating is large enough.”
“Standing will be fine.” Olan nodded and took up a spot just behind Samantha, leaving a space for Zuran to join them.
Marsel took the seat behind the large wooden table in the center of the room. He was sure it made the human feel important, like a chieftess, ruling over his tribe of homeless people. On Seytonna, this would be laughable because villages were governed by females. The way the human’s eyes were running over Samantha made him want to reach across the table and pluck them from his skull. He knew exactly where the male was looking because his gaze was being pulled there as well. Every shift of Samantha’s legs made the black material ride up a little higher. Just thinking about
the heat nestled between her thighs made his pulse quicken and his mouth salivate. The memory of it pressed against his cock was still fresh in his mind.
“I don’t know what you all here have found out, but I worked day in and day out on the console on my ship, and I got nowhere. I don’t think there is an immediate way off of X9. Sorry,” she glanced up at them, “I mean, Seytonna.”
“What do you suggest we do for the time being?” The human leaned back in the chair, his feet coming up to rest on the table in front of him. “We have limited resources. Without power on the ship, we can’t operate food dispensers, med bay is practically useless, the bathing chambers just barely work. We will soon be out of the emergency rations. People are going to riot in the halls.”
“I could teach you how to survive here,” Zuran spoke up. “You would learn to grow your own food, hunt. I could teach you which creatures to avoid, how to avoid them.” If he could befriend them then he might be able to escape his people and their oppression.
“And you would do this, why? Just out of the kindness of your heart? Assuming you have them, that is,” Marsel sneered.
“I would do this for acceptance. If you bring me into your tribe I would be willing to provide you with any information you need to survive this place. I am a hunter among my people. This carries a certain… stigma.”
“The Seyton are not perfect. We have done our hunters a great disservice, but Zuran is right. No one knows the land better than our hunters. If you accept his offer, the tribe will surely support him.” Olan said, glancing briefly in his direction.
The human male nodded as he tapped the tips of his fingers against his legs. “Well, that is certainly something to consider. We should have a sit-down, talk this out.” His eyes slid over Samantha. “Hey, Kitten? Why don’t you go ahead and get cleaned up? I’m sure your new friends and I can hash this out. No need to bore you with the finer details.”
“I really don’t mind staying-”
“Samantha.” There was a smile on Marsel’s lips, but Zuran could see the annoyance hovering in his eyes. “Go on. We’ll be fine here. Take the time to relax, and we will call for you when we finish up.”
“Alright. If you’re sure?” She glanced back at Zuran and Olan who nodded softly.
His mate stood up from the chair, pushing a hand into her hair nervously as she moved past the table. Marsel’s hand snaked out to grasp her hand, and he pressed a kiss on the back of it, smiling up at her with white blunt teeth. “I think we may have used your old room as emergency quarters, but you may use mine. You remember it? I still have some of your clothing in the closet.” Heat lit up his eyes. “Maybe I’ll come and get you myself when this is over with.”
Samantha frowned and pulled her hand back quickly. “Uh, sure.”
“We will see you soon, Fanahala.” Olan looked as if he were barely holding onto his control.
Zuran gave her a reassuring smile, his hand brushing her arm as she stepped out of the room. They stood with bated breath, listening to the sound of her footsteps as they faded. The human looked at them, a smirk pulling up the corner of his mouth. Obviously he didn’t understand his offense or else he wouldn’t be finding this so amusing. A current of electricity flowed just under his skin as Marsel began to speak.
“She’s gorgeous, isn’t she? Great fuck, I’d highly recommend it. Hard to believe I ever let her out of my sight.” He shook his head, dropping his feet to the floor. “Seems like we’re going to be stuck here for a little while. There’s an old Earth saying, a quote by a doctor, I believe his name was Hertzler. He said, ‘The only way to keep a woman happy is to keep her barefoot and pregnant.’” A laugh burst from his mouth as his head fell back. “This time she won’t be able to argue that her job is more important than us having a family.”
“You should rethink your words, human,” Olan warned.
For once, Zuran agreed with his old friend. He growled low in his throat, his currents zapping and snapping freely around him now. “Stop while you still have a chance for redemption.”
“What’s wrong? Did you really think she could love beasts like you?” He laughed again, his hand slamming down on the wood in front of him. “Did she let you kiss her?” Marsel’s hot, putrid breath wafted between them. “She likes that. Likes to play with men before she tosses them away. You’re nothing but a toy to her, something new and shiny. She is a human. She will never want creatures like you.”
“You don’t know what you are talking about.”
“Oh don’t I? While you waited for her in the forest she let me spread her thighs right here on this desk, let me slip inside her body and fuck her until found my release.” He tried to appear unafraid, but Zuran could hear the frantic rhythm of his heart in his chest. “She told me she couldn’t wait to get away from the hideous monsters this planet had spawned right before she came all over my cock.”
Anger shot through Zuran quickly, leaving him so raw that he nearly leapt over the table at the human. With the way his heart was pounding the human had to be lying. Samantha would never say or do that. Would she though? How many times had she said she didn’t want them? That she only wanted to go home? No, something had changed between the three of them. She couldn’t kiss him like that, touch him so gently, be so kind to him and still be the woman Marsel was saying she was.
“Aw, what’s wrong? Can’t stand knowing you meant nothing to her?” Marsel narrowed his gaze on Zuran. “It was you, wasn’t it? You’re the one she whored herself out to.” He leaned back in his chair, hands resting on the back of his head. “Well, I for one am thankful as hell that these translators aren’t affected by the atmosphere on this god forsaken planet of yours because it pleases me to no end to be able to tell you to your face just how little you mean to Samantha. I’ll make sure to put in a good word for you both when I’m fucking that pretty pussy tonight.”
A dam seemed to break in both Olan and Zuran at the same moment. They dove across the table, both reaching for the human male. Blackness clouded his vision as his tail whipped forward to wrap around the column of Marsel’s throat. Olan reached a sparking hand forward just as the human pressed something hard and cold against the middle of Zuran’s chest.
“Uh, uh, uh I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” he tsked, wheezing slightly from the pressure on his throat. “One wrong move, and I’ll blow a hole through your heart.”
9
Olan
Zuran’s pacing of the cage’s floor was quickly driving him mad. It made him anxious and on edge, the last thing they needed was for both of them to act irrationally. Olan had always been the calmer of the two, but even he was feeling the effects of his pent up rage. The bars on the cage were too strong for them to break; they had spent the first hour after being locked inside trying. Sighing loudly, Olan pushed to his feet and grabbed Zuran’s shoulders, yanking him back hard enough to throw off his balance.
“You pacing this way is not going to get us free from this cage.”
“You should have let me kill him for what he said about our mate!” Zuran spat, slapping Olan’s hands away angrily. “You don’t even deserve to call her Fanahala.”
“Had I not stopped you, he would have killed you.” He tried to remain calm, hoping it would help Zuran’s rising anger.
“Would that have been such a bad thing for you? Samantha would be yours and only yours. Just the way you want it. A lowly hunter is no great loss.”
“Do you think that losing you would make her happy? She cares about you, Zuran.” He cupped the angry male’s cheek so that he could not look away. “I care about you. I wish you would let me help.”
He ignored Olan’s plea. “You will abate her sadness, I’m sure.” Zuran’s tail flicked in agitation.
“It doesn’t matter what I do! She wants you as well, Zuran! Why are you so stubborn?”
“I can never give her kits! I can never marry her! I can never be with her! You can.”
“Samantha doesn’t care about any of that!
You might know this if you paid any damn attention. This is ridiculous. Get over it!”
“Get over it? Get over it? Like you got over me being less than you?” Zuran’s words stung like venom in a wound. “Like you just seemed to forget my existence?” He ripped his chin from Olan’s grasp, stepping away quickly.
“Are we really on this subject again?”
“This subject is all I can think of! My whole life was ruined because I saved your life!”
“What?” The word came out as barely a whisper, the pain of hearing the confession seared through his heart. Did Zuran really regret saving his life? Did he really mean so little to the male? The current that he had been holding back disappeared as his ears flattened against his head.
“If I hadn’t saved you I might have never become a hunter. There are whispers among the elders that it’s possible to tell which of the younger males will emerge hunters by how strong their protective instincts are. Had I not saved you that day I could have…” Zuran winced as if he had only just considered how his words affected Olan.
“Well, go on, say it!” Olan choked back his emotions as he sent a pulse of electricity down his arm, grasping Zuran’s hand before forcing it into him. “Say it, you vacking faloui!”
The air was knocked out of his lungs as Zuran tackled him, taking him to the ground with the force of the weight. The other male pushed up and sent a fist into Olan’s face, raining blows down on him like a kit throwing a tantrum. This time, Olan didn’t hold himself back. He wrapped his tail around the other male’s neck and yanked him backward, a snarl ripping from his throat as they rolled across the floor, jumping up to pound his fists into Zuran’s body.
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