by V. K. Ludwig
Why, I couldn’t even explain. Any Jal’zar male could smell a female in heat over thousands of paces of winding ravines, ashen plateaus, and thick underbrush. And this female? She was at the cusp of full-blown estrous.
One swipe over the control pad, and the glass slid downward into the pod’s metallic hull. The scent of the female’s heat hit me straight in the face. I smacked my tongue to taste it. An involuntary response. One I couldn’t seem to get under control as the gray foam retreated.
“She is beautiful.”
I jumped at the sound of Jerem’s voice and immediately swung my tail at him, backing him away from the pod. “And you’re too close.”
“No need to bar fangs,” he snarled, jutting his chin toward her. “What would I want with her? She’s an Earth woman.”
As if that would deter a young Jal’zar male from rutting her. “The pod sedated them. Shouldn’t be long until they wake. Go open the last one.”
When he finally stepped away, I turned my attention to the female before me. A gash glistened between temple and the corner of her eye, but it had already started to clot. Rivulets of blood streaked her cheek, and blonde strands clung to them, some tainted red. Even in her state she was, yes… beautiful.
And injured.
I stroked the sweat-damp hair from her face before I suckled her blood from my fingers. My tongue curled at the bitterness of fear, but I found no illness or signs of infection. I cupped her heated cheek, bright skin sitting softly against my dark gray palm. Was it her blood I’d sensed trickle down my cheek during—
My breath hitched, and it turned my voice thin when realization settled in. “I had my first vision.”
“Now’s a good time to explain that.” Jerem cleared his throat, bringing my attention to the group of warriors thundering toward us on their yuleshis.
Where I’d expected a scouting party, urizayo Razgar rode up with a group others might have called a small warband. They slowed as they came closer, their nostrils flaring, some of them flicking their tails as if they readied themselves to fight over a female begging to be bred.
As if on instinct, I rose and squared my shoulders, sensing a possessiveness over her that was neither safe nor sane. “They’re still sedated.”
Razgar’s yuleshi hadn’t come to a stop yet when his boots hit the ground, and he bore his green eyes into me. “What are you doing out here?”
“I had a—”
“Only bonded males around the crash site! All others, move the emergency pods to Noja’s medical bay,” he barked toward his warriors, scrunching up his nose as if the female’s scent was little more than animal scat to him. “Not the female. This Empire whore is in heat.” Perhaps it was that low growl that had somehow escaped from my gritted fangs, but he snapped his gaze back to me. “You were saying?”
Lifting my chin, I held his gaze. “I had a vision, and Mekara guided my spirit to this location.”
Each second of silence tensed my muscles. Any moment now, he would dip his head, pat my shoulder, or smack his tongue. Fuck, even a grunt would do as long as it carried at least a hint of acknowledgement.
Grunt he did, followed by a dismissive swat into the night. “A fool could have found this wreck with how the smoke billowed so high we spotted it from the gates of Noja.”
My stomach clenched. “It was already dark when—”
“When you fell off your yuleshi? Yes, so Kenar has reported. This ship crashed when the sun still stood above the horizon.”
“Well… perhaps my vision came delayed—”
“Or perhaps you should stop pretending to be Jal’zar, and a shimid blessed by Mekara, of all insults.” When I searched for Jerem’s eyes for support, Razgar pointed at him. “You. Get back to Noja and report to the grain stores. They need scrubbing.”
Jerem mumbled something underneath his breath, but swung himself onto his yuleshi, giving me a final shrug before he sprinted off.
A wave of anger washed over me. Fuck the urizayo. I had a vision and, somehow, this female triggered it. Why else had I sensed her blood? Had felt her panic the moment the vision kicked in?
“Get back to Noja and await my punishment for yet another unsanctioned excursion.” Razgar’s sharp command invited no objections, but he raked a hand over his braid as if he didn’t quite know what to do with the female.
If he took her to Noja, males would become aggressive once they scented her heat. She might have been from Earth, yes, but one sting of a male’s tailclaw between her ribs, and her womb would accept Jal’zar seed. Some even believed a soulbond could be established like that. Me included, though science had yet to prove it.
In any case, her estrous spoke to something deep within us. Something so primal even I wanted to chase her, sting her, rut her, and fill her belly with child.
I was capable of only two of those things.
Whatever remnants of pride I found in my backbone, I used to straighten it. “I can stay with her. Set up a small camp by a nearby tree until she is past her heat.”
“You think I will leave a young Jal’zar male with an ovulating Earth female out here? How many heats have you witnessed? Five? Six? You’ll fall into a rut.”
“I won’t.” In fact, I wasn’t even sure if I could rut, considering I’d never slipped into that frenzied state before. “I can fight it.”
He smacked his tongue. “No Jal’zar male this young can fight the rut.”
“But I’m not Jal’zar, you said so yourself.”
Now his hands clenched as if he wanted to punch me, upper lips twitching above a set of sharp fangs. That concerned me, but not nearly as much as how they ended up curving into a smile.
“No you’re not.” He gave a tug on the saddle before he swung himself back onto his yuleshi. “Perhaps you should rut her, considering you’re closer to her vile kind than you would ever admit.”
“I don’t want an Earth female,” I snarled, giving a dismissive swat at her pod. “But we can’t take her to Noja like this.”
With a curt nod, he turned and kicked his yuleshi into motion. “I will send a female with supplies. Make a camp and keep the woman there. Return her to Noja once her stench is gone.”
“I will.”
Once I found out why she triggered my vision.
Four
Lia
I roused to the scent of herbs, like lavender but with a citrusy undercurrent. Smoke mixed into it, and my ears pricked at the faint crackle of fire.
What happened?
With each blink, my vision sharpened, bringing a canopy of dark purple leaves into view. Behind the thick foliage, branches spread out into a pinkish sky. Was I… in a tree?
Right underneath my temple, my brain throbbed something awful. Random pictures faded in and out of awareness: Mom checking her updo, Dad pushing me into the emergency pod, gray foam encapsulating me. Where was everyone?
“Hello?”
No answer.
I glanced around, and my hair caught on something each time my head shifted. Whatever I rested on swayed. Not by much, but it stirred a wave of nausea regardless. Something pressed against my thighs and right underneath my boobs. When I glanced down, I saw it.
My stomach clenched at the ropes strapping me in, and a scream formed at the back of my throat. It somehow hiccupped through parted lips and distorted into a whimper.
“Don’t freak out,” a deep voice rasped from somewhere lower.
Not losing your shit when you woke tied to something was a tall order. It turned impossible when a Jal’zar male pulled himself onto a large branch beside me, several knives sheathed in the leather holster strapped to his chest.
My muscles tensed more with every inch he crept closer. “What happened? Why am I tied up?”
“Your stargazer crashed on Solgad.” He stopped all movement and squatted on the branch, long white hair falling off his shoulder as he tilted his head. “I was concerned you might startle awake and fall out of my nabu, so I had no other choice but to tie
you down while I hunted.”
His chin jutted toward this woven thing I rested in, like a hammock. One peek through the diamond weave, and his words made a lot of sense. If I fell from this height, I’d be dead on impact.
I looked at him, the fact that he remained at a respectful distance easing my fear some. “My Mom and Dad?”
“They’re well, with only some minor injuries since the pods protected you from the worst of the crash. Warlord Razgar had them transferred to the medical wing in Noja, our city, along with the pilot, but um…” Long, slender fingers rubbed the base of one of his gray horns. “He couldn’t allow you to join them since, well, you’re in heat.”
“In what?”
A set of fangs tortured his purple-gray lips, and his jawline hardened. “You’re ovulating. Males of my kind can scent it, which would cause pure chaos if we brought you to Noja.”
“I don’t understand.”
His violet eyes narrowed. “It’s not in our nature to ignore a female’s heat. If you provoked them, males could fall into a rut. Unable to control their urges, they might fight each other over the claim to breed you.”
I was on birth control, but that wouldn’t keep them from trying, would it? My throat narrowed to the width of a hair, and Mom’s voice screamed savage at the back of my head. I was in the middle of nowhere with a Jal’zar warrior who’d tied me to a hammock. How could they just leave me—
A strange sound resonated from the male, like a symphony of deep-throated hums that drove out my fear. As if on instinct, my muscles slackened, and my heart slowed back into a steady rhythm.
“What are you doing?”
“Humming for you,” he said even as the rumble continued, and somehow his upper lip twitched. “It’s how a male provides comfort to a female if she’s upset. Not sure if it works on your kind.”
“It does.” It provided a sense of safety I’d never felt before. “So what about you? You don’t want to… breed me?”
Near silent, a gasp sucked through lips which parted, closed, then parted again before he finally said, “I’m not easily provoked into a rut.”
That didn’t answer my question, but it was probably better than what would have awaited me at Noja. “You’re a healer of some sort?”
“Rumor has it I’m a shimid, a shaman.” His pitch rose slightly at the end, as if he’d meant it as a joke but it somehow drowned in a faint scoff. “Once your heat is over, I’ll bring you to your parents.”
“Do I… have to stay tied up?”
“Sorry about that.” He pulled a knife from his chest holster, balanced along the branch with no effort, and the blade went through the ropes with a single cut. “Lots of wild beasts roam the ground, so you’ll spend most of your time up here. Especially at night.”
I gripped the weave of what he’d called nabu, and slowly sat up. “Thanks.”
“Let me just…” He reached for my face, but his movement stalled the moment I jerked back, and he hummed once more. “When I found you, you had a slight concussion and a cut along your temple. Probably banged your head a little on the way down. I closed the wound and applied a paste. That needs to come off now.”
“Oh.” I reached for my head, fingertips brushing over some sort of dried clay right above where my brain throbbed. “How long was I out?”
He slowly peeled the paste from my head, his fingers gentle. “All night and well into this sun, which should be about twenty hours or so. Not much longer until the moon comes up again.”
I glanced around, peeking through whatever gaps I found in the foliage. Gray plains stretched from here to the horizon in pretty much every direction. Rocky plateaus weaved along it here and there, and a small copse of trees grew beneath a rock spire. We were lucky they found us out here.
“I dare say I stitched that up nicely,” he said with an approving nod. “What’s your name?”
“Lia.”
“Lia,” he repeated and, somehow, my name seemed to put a smile onto his lips. “I’m Zerim. How about we get you down so you can eat something, hmm? I didn’t want to undress you while you slept but Serah, one of the females, brought you fresh clothes.”
“How do I get down from here?”
“Same way you came up. Except, this time you can climb onto my back. Makes it a lot easier for me.”
For a moment, I stared at him. Then down. Then at him again. Zerim had cared for my head wound. Dragging me up here couldn’t have been an easy task. Not to mention that he hadn’t felt comfortable undressing me while I slept. It wasn’t like I had much of a choice, but trusting came easy.
“Okay.”
When he rose and reached his hand for mine, I might have held my breath a little. I turned acutely aware of all those details I’d missed, and heat crept into my earlobes. His bare chest flexed with strength, and lean muscle rippled along his stomach as deeply cut abs. They disappeared behind a loincloth, nothing but brown leather hanging between powerful thighs.
The moment his eyes caught mine, one of his brows arched, and I quickly cleared my throat. “Not too many Jal’zar ever come to Earth. Those I’ve seen usually wore black uniforms.”
“As we do in Noja, but it’s not an option out here in the plains.” His fingers intertwined with mine, and he guided me along the branch toward the trunk. “It’s too hot and dusty. Once I have a grip on the trunk, swing your legs tightly around my waist. If you get dizzy, tell me right away.”
Zerim expertly dug his toes into the deep grooves of the trunk’s bark and, once his hand had a good grip, gave me a nod. Against the tremble in my limbs, I grabbed his shoulder, but he took my hand and guided it to the base of his horn instead.
“Grip it tightly.” He closed my fingers around the rough, bony material. “Come on. I won’t let you fall.”
The moment I slung my legs around his waist, his tail prodded against my back, pushing me flush against him. Like that, he climbed down the tree with unexpected ease, muscles on his back shifting underneath the strain.
When we reached the ground, he pointed at the fire, purple flames sizzling away on browned meat that cooked on a stone resting on the embers. “I hunted us tendetu. It’s pretty close to turkey, from what I remember.”
“You’ve been to Earth?”
“Uh-huh. I went there twice, both times with my father. Very lush and green, though I’m not a fan of the humidity.” From a pile of furs and leather pouches beside the fire, he grabbed a handful of twigs and tossed them into the flames. “If you want, I can show you the yoni, so you can wash and change your clothes. The meat should be ready then.”
I stared down at myself, my jeans ripped in two places, and my shirt speckled with dried blood. “You mentioned clothes?”
With a nod, he grabbed the pile of folded fabric, and gestured me to follow. “I found us a tree with a yoni right beside it. The water is warm. Might sting a little, since it contains salt.”
The word yoni explained itself when I followed him through a massive fissure in the rock wall beside the tree. Behind it waited a cave, the air thick with moisture and traces of minerals. Streaks of light veined through the slate walls, casting a warm hue over the water that had collected at the center.
“There’s a leather-wrapped soap, furs to dry yourself off, and um…” He tapped the pile of clothes and placed them onto a small boulder. “She brought several things. Just put on whatever fits and is comfortable.”
I stepped toward the edge and dipped a toe into the greenish-blue water. “How much time do I have?”
“As much as you want.” He bowed slightly and turned to walk away.
“Zerim,” I said and, when his steps slowed and he glanced over his shoulder, I added, “Thank you for your help.”
He nodded. “I’ll wait outside for you.”
Five
Lia
Warm, salty water encapsulated me to my neck, each sting making me aware of various scratches and scuffs along my arms and legs. Nothing major, but painful enough I spared m
y head wound when I washed my face.
Above me, water ran down brownish-black stalactites, the drip-a-drip-drip monotone and soothing. Fluorescent mushrooms grew in the dampest cracks, casting a blue hue across the puddles where the constant grind of drips had formed small depressions on the rock. This place was beautiful and unlike anything I’d ever seen before. Where did the water come from? Did all yonis contain salt?
“Lia?”
At Zerim’s call coming through the fissure, I draped an arm over my breasts. “Hmm?”
“Just making sure you didn’t drown.”
I waded toward the stony edge, and climbed out. “I’ll be right there.”
After I dried myself, I slipped into the most comfortable thing I could find: a purple silk tunic that luckily covered the tailhole on the cotton shorts. All a bit loose, but it would do for as long as I had to stay out here. How long did women ovulate? Three days? Five?
I folded my torn clothes and took them back outside, naked soles crunching over ash and grit. “Where do you get your drinking water from?”
Zerim sat by the fire, the muscles on his torso shifting with how his fingers worked between his horns, putting his long, white hair into a tight braid. “Yonis.”
“So you either boil it or not all contain salt water.” I sat down beside him, mesmerized by those quick fingers handling five strands at once. “What makes it salty?”
“Minerals in the stone.”
“And where does the water come from? This area looks dry.”
He cocked his head, draped the end of his braid over his shoulder, and tied a leather around it. “You’re a curious thing, aren’t you?”
“Sorry.” My cheeks warmed at his observation. “Once I graduate from the scholar stratum, I’d like to apply as a teacher. The more I know, the more I can teach the children.”
His fingers stilled for a moment before he tossed the braid behind his back. “Yonis fill during monsoons, which is one of the reasons why tribes can’t stay permanently in one place. Here. Eat something.”
