by V. K. Ludwig
“Soft pelts for sleeping.” He retrieved his hand from his mother’s clasp, placed both against the rock, and rubbed those little nubs over it.
Watching him scratch the itch of emerging horns put a familiar warmth in my chest. One that overwhelmed me whenever I observed something that my kind had lost — family.
That warmth lasted for three breaths, perhaps four, before it froze over. Chances were his father floated somewhere in space, dead. He might never return to teach him how to flesh a pelt. Instead, I might soon have a son on Earth and teach him gun safety.
A twisted world matching my twisted mind.
The female picked up her son and propped him against her hip, then retreated into the shrubs with a hum on her lips.
Argos passed in silence, and distorted pictures flickered before my mind. I held my son in my arms, my chest so filled with love and pride that my ribs ached. He looked just like me, with gray eyes and black hair. Safe for those nubs of horns poking through his scalp, the skin flaky from how he’d rubbed—
I startled awake, ears pricking at the rustle of dry leaves, the sound almost overwhelmed by how my pulse shuddered. By the Heat of Heliar, I couldn’t say what scared me more, that I’d fallen to sleep or that the son in my dream had damn horns.
Beneath me, something snuck through the shadows. Eyes still blinking away sleep, I couldn’t quite make out if was Jal’zar or beast. No, definitely Jal’zar, given the height. Was it… was it her?
I repositioned myself on the branch, muscles aching from how I’d sat there for much too long, and turned for a better angle. Dark silver hair, knives strapped to his chest harness, loincloth dangling between his legs.
Not the female.
A warrior.
And not just any warrior, but a young one, his chest not as broad as that of a seasoned fighter. He approached the yoni, his nostrils flaring against the red light of the moon as if he scented something.
Though it wasn’t me, because his attention rested where the female had harvested something earlier. The closer he came to that patch of weed, the louder his tongue smacked against his gums, and his lips parted. Until he shook his head, and his attention drifted toward the fissure in the rock.
I’d never witnessed such an odd behavior in a Jal’zar male. But then again, we hadn’t come across too many as of late. Which brought my attention back to the matter at hand… I had to capture him.
He returned from inside the yoni shortly after, his shoulders rounded as if he’d expected to find someone in there. I knew the disappointment all too well.
I jumped him.
We both groaned on impact, and I quickly willed my nano armor around me. I wrapped my fingers around the bony material of his horns and, when we hit the ground, I struggled his face into the dirt.
Swinging myself astride his back, I braced my boots against his ankles, disabling how he kicked. “Shut up and hold still!”
“Honorless bastard,” he growled low. “I’ll kill you!”
His claw clanked against the black metal scales of my armor, then whistled though the air. Lifting myself off him, I reached between my legs, grabbed his tail, and pulled.
Between struggling against how he lashed his tail and the way he tilted his head back, trying to get a go at me with his horns, I did break a bit of a sweat. But he was too young, too inexperienced to stand a chance. Laser cuffs disabled his fight when I bound his hands behind his back, and that damn tail to it.
I rose and hauled him to his feet, retreating my armor. “Where are the other young warriors?”
“Your efforts are wasted with me, Vetusian, for I will say nothing.”
“We’ll see about that…”
My yuleshi rested a few paces away, curled up between two boulders. Once the beast rose upon my approach, I struggled the Jal’zar onto its back. Climbing up there with him was too dangerous since he could still use his horns, so I had no other choice but to lead him back to camp.
I turned toward him. “Why did you come to the yoni?”
He spat straight in my face and his warm snot drooled down my cheek. “Fuck you!”
I stopped, grabbed his horn, yanked his head down, and punched him. “To be clear, now is your chance to answer questions with most of your fangs intact. Once I hand you over to the interrogators, they’ll chop information away from you one body part at a time.”
He pushed a white fang past lips streaked red from how it ran in rivulets from his now-crooked nose. “Torture me all you want; I won’t tell you where the others are.”
“I didn’t ask where you came from, but why you went to this yoni. We haven’t seen any young warriors in almost a moon.” When he remained silent, I added, “You must be a particularly stupid one, considering you had to know that our camp is nearby.”
He wiped his bloodied mouth over his shoulder and strutted the bit of chest he had. “A choice not of spirit, but of nature.”
My ears pricked at that. Hadn’t the mysterious female said the same? Was there a connection between them?
“Are you familiar with a white-haired female? Young. Purple eyes. Nasty attitude.”
For a moment, it appeared as if the veins along his neck thickened, and he peeled gray lips over bloodied fangs. “What did you do to Naney?”
Naney. Behind closed lips, the tip of my tongue tapped against the roof of my mouth, tasting the name. Was it her?
“You sound rather certain. How come you believe it’s this… Naney?”
“If you harmed her, Vetusian, we’ll skin you alive,” he hissed. “Where is she?”
“What makes you think I’ll answer your questions if you ignore mine?”
His jawline tensed. “Females born of white hair and purple eyes are rare. They have been touched with foresight by Mekara herself, marking her as a shimid, a shaman.”
“Interesting.”
“I lost her scent inside the yoni,” he said, and an odd sensation soured the blood in my veins. “What have you done to her?”
Was it possible this… heat she’d spoken of had some sort of effect on their males, too? On him? “Lost her scent? Are you saying you came for her?”
His gaze drifted toward the dark plains.
The long silence which followed intensified that sourness in my veins, clotting my blood until searing pressure swelled my arteries. The female had told me she ached to be claimed, but surely not by someone like him. He didn’t have the balls to tame that spitfire.
“What have you done to her?” he asked once more.
Cured her tummy ache with a bellyful of my cum. The words tickled the inside of my lips, but pride had no room here if I wanted more information.
“She’s unharmed,” I said. “How exactly does one claim a female among your kind?”
“We chase the one who carries a scent worth killing for. If we prove strong enough to overwhelm her, we sting her with our tailclaw to initiate the bond, then plant our seed deep within her womb to the sound of our hum.”
I stopped and turned to look at him. “You create mating bonds? Like Kokkonians?”
“Mating bonds,” he scoffed. “It’s a bond between two souls, which become one before Mekara.”
“Soulbonds?”
He nodded.
What a bunch of crap. “You’ve got entertaining stories, I give you that.”
“Where is she?”
“Neither at our camp, nor at the yoni.” Much to my disappointment. “Probably for your own good. You’re no match for that female. She would have killed you.”
“She is worth the risk, considering the honor it would be to claim her.”
My fist clenched.
Luckily for him, I needed to deliver this warrior intact enough for the interrogators to chop away his parts; otherwise, I might have shot his tailclaw off right there.
What a strange sensation.
With our females extinct, I had no experience with this… utter possessiveness. Had never witnessed this urge to rip him off my yuleshi, po
und his brain into pulp, then find Naney and plant my seed deep inside her womb as one would with his anam ghail, his soulmate.
What a ridiculous thought.
I had no need for Naney’s soul, angry and hateful as it was. But I had a great urge for her body, if only for the way she fought where nothing else ever offered me resistance.
“I hope she’s worth dying for,” I said. “We’ve been searching for warriors for almost a moon.”
And the one on the back of my yuleshi had already supplied ample information, unaware of the fact that I knew of the female’s heat.
Torin thought the way the Jal’zar had split into small groups a potential scheme. The explanation for it was so much baser. Females segregated due to their estrous, likely so they wouldn’t draw young males out of hiding.
That information was useful. A potential solution to our issue, really. So why did the thought of telling Torin squeeze my chest?
Six
Naney
North winds brought a breeze of fresh air, with traces of wildflowers and tart berries riding on the current of the night.
I rested in my nabu that spun between two thick branches, counting the purple foliage of our mother tree. It did little to distract from the renewed pain in my belly — a raw, open wound, with waves of agony so intense I nearly drowned beneath them.
Twice, I’d drunk luplap tea for the pains today. Twice, it did nothing. I’d fainted into a blackness that was neither dark enough nor lasted long enough to offer relief. Why did Mekara allow other females rest, but ignored my pleas?
I rolled onto my side, knees clasped tightly against my ribs, a fine mist of sweat tickling the back of my neck. My short fangs gnashed I ground them so hard.
At the bottom of the tree, exposed roots offered support for those females who lounged by the fire, their chants resonating in the night.
I’d chanted with them earlier.
Mekara hadn’t listened.
She gave me no relief.
The Vetusian had…
Whenever I closed my eyes, vibrant memories of what I’d done played before them. So, I kept them open, only blinking when the burn grew too intense. Shame drew my soul into a dark void. My body remained behind, surging with lust, burning from need.
I curled into myself some more and winced.
“Naney,” Yral whispered from beside me on her nabu, golden eyes visible even in the scarce light. “Didn’t you drink any luplap?”
“I have, but it did nothing. Now I have none of the weed left.”
“Do you want me to go with you, and we could gather it together?”
I shook my head.
The calming weed only grew close to the yoni — a place I’d avoided. The weed wilted almost the instant you ripped it off the stone when the sun stood high, which meant I either succumbed to stabbing cramps or risked running into the Vetusian at night.
Another cramp.
It burned deeper, lasted longer, and refused to ebb away, ripping a wince from me. No, I couldn’t do this anymore.
“I’ll gather some by myself,” I said and climbed onto the branch with shaky legs, untying my nabu from the tree before rolling it up.
Surely the Vetusian had long given up? Perhaps he’d waited the first night. Maybe even the second. Certainly not a third, fourth, or fifth.
Yral eyed me warily. “It’s dangerous this late at night by yourself. What if a beast tracks your scent?”
“I’ll take my bow. As well as my nabu, in case I need to nest in a tree near the yoni until ragna comes up.”
“Please let me—”
“No!” My answer came with more force than I’d intended. “As you said, it’s dangerous.”
I tied the nabu to my back, taking a bow and quiver with me which had hung from one of the higher branches. Nails digging into the bark, I climbed down the tree and headed west on foot. A cramp followed each step, and I cursed.
If it weren’t for the Vetusians, a strong young male would long have claimed me, bringing an end to this suffering. But most of our males were at war. Those north of the yoni couldn’t come out of hiding, lest they’d be slaughtered.
Naked soles tapped over ground cooled by the night, yet still hot when my toes sunk into the ashen sands. Would I find enough luplap to ease the pain?
I flinched.
Would I find the Vetusian instead?
The few females who had ventured to the yoni in the evenings made no mention of the enemy. Wouldn’t that mean he wasn’t there? Or perhaps he waited in hiding?
Throaty panting stalled my pace.
I grabbed my bow and nocked an arrow, the wood smooth between my fingers. Turning toward the scattered shrubs and lonely trees, I scanned the darkness for movement.
The snap of a twig later, and an ushti pounced from a bush, its white fur gleaming underneath the moonlight. I let the arrow fly, and the beast hit the ground with an ear-shattering cry, double-rowed fangs gleaming from its muzzle.
More twigs snapped.
Growls froze my blood.
Not one, but many.
Too many.
New arrow nocked, I turned and sprinted toward the yoni. If I made it onto a mother tree, the beasts wouldn’t follow me there.
Toes dug into the soil, thrusting me forward, but the pack of usthis thundered behind me. Shaky fingers tightened around the arrow and pulled back. Jumping into a turn, I let the arrow fly, but neither a cry nor yelp followed.
I kept running, panic infusing my veins when panting turned to snapping. The moisture of hungry muzzles licked around my calves.
Something slammed against my back and knocked me down. I rolled until my head ached. Swirls of dust blinded me.
Disoriented, I crawled over the ground, hands pulling and legs kicking. Behind me, an ushti yelped. Then another, and another, hitting the ground with several thuds. I counted four.
“Kuna,” a voice mumbled, deep but laced with concern. “Are you injured?”
I rubbed my palms over my eyes, blinking a dark figure into perception. A Vetusian. No, worse… The Vetusian. Chest heaving, my hands scouted for my bow, fingers wrapping around the strong wood.
“Unless you intend to choke me with the bowstring, good luck killing me without an arrow.” One tug, and he lifted me off the ground while I rubbed my eyes over my shoulders. “Wait here.”
The Vetusian lowered me against the rock beside the yoni’s entrance, turned, and jogged off. He returned moments later with my quiver, which he placed on the ground beside me.
“I’ve never seen any Jal’zar using orange tendetu feathers on their arrows.”
“The u-usthi,” I stammered.
“Shot them.” He squatted in front of me, hand pulling, prodding, and tugging on my limbs. “Anything broken? Bleeding? Hurting?”
The howl of another beast answered in my stead.
“We have to get into a tree.”
Not we… There was no we.
I rose too quickly, swaying against a set of strong arms before I scanned the surrounding trees. “That one over there.”
“Or I can just shoot them,” the Vetusian said in all his ignorance. “Don’t tell me those creatures can’t climb that tree.”
I hurried over and swiftly climbed up the trunk, then higher with the branches. “They don’t climb mother trees. Why, I cannot say. Shooting them is wasteful. Those you killed will never feed anybody, but instead, rot and benefit none.”
“What an odd way to thank me for saving your life.” He stood at the base of the tree, staring up at me. “And how do I get up there?”
“You won’t. Go home, Vetusian.”
He backed up, sprinted toward the tree, jumped, and dangled from one of the branches. “So I’ve waited… five nights…” Swinging his legs around the branch, he climbed onto it, balancing to the next higher one. “Waited five nights for you to seek me out, killed four beasts, saved your life, demonstrated my unquestionable prowess as a male, and now you’re sending me home?”
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“You’re an arrogant coward who used his warriors to ambush me.”
Climbing up next to me, his white teeth gleamed underneath the speckles of light. “I merely saved my energy that day so I may place it toward rescuing you tonight.”
I hated the fact that he’d saved me. It made killing him now dishonorable.
I tied my nabu to the branches with a grunt. “My life means nothing compared to the many you took. Now leave.”
He didn’t leave.
Instead, he opened the buckles on his boots, which dropped loudly to the ground before he dared climbing into my nabu. “I always wondered what they feel… Oh, much more comfortable than I expected.”
I watched him lie down, a big warrior sprawled out in my nabu, one arm going behind his head in support as if he belonged. “Get out!”
“Why did you come?”
“To gather luplap weed, which helps ease my pain.”
“In the middle of the night? After you had five suns to do so while ragna stood high?”
“The weed wilts…” Why did I argue? I owed him no explanation. “I didn’t come for you.”
His fingers fumbled with his chest covering, each tug revealing another ripple of strong muscle. “Lies we tell ourselves are the most dangerous ones… and those cadavers over there are the proof.”
I ripped my gaze from his naked torso, a new kind of heat spreading through my womb I had no way of controlling. It collided with the cold hate my heart harbored for him, causing a burning freeze that crackled underneath my ribs.
I’d turned down Yral’s company. Hadn’t gone with the others earlier in the evening to gather luplap, telling myself it would offer no improvement. What if I had come for him?
I lifted my chin at the sound of a clink. “What are you doing?”
“Undressing,” he said, hands pushing his pants down, hard cock slapping against his sculpted stomach. “You have yet to try to kill me, which means you’re in a lot of pain, and I have every intention of easing it. How long did I bring you earnest relief?”
Not long enough. “I won’t do this.”
