Taken to Nobu: A SciFi Alien Romance (Xiveri Mates Book II)

by Elizabeth Stephens

  Taken to Nobu

  A SciFi Romance

  Xiveri Mates, Book II

  Elizabeth Stephens

  Copyright © 2020 by Elizabeth Stephens.

  Published by Elizabeth Stephens

  www.booksbyelizabeth.com.

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored, copied in whole or part in any medium (including into storage or retrieval systems) without the express written authorization of the author, Elizabeth Stephens.

  To request authorization, or for media inquiries, please contact Elizabeth Stephens by email at estephensauthor@gmail.com.

  eBook ASIN: B085STXWBV

  Digital art and cover design by Amygdala Design

  To women.

  Our untold power and unsung resilience.

  

  Contents

  Pronunciation Guide

  Kiki

  Kiki

  Okkari

  Kiki

  Kinan

  Kiki

  Kinan

  Kiki

  Okkari

  Okkari

  Kiki

  Kiki

  Kiki

  Kiki

  Kinan

  Kinan

  Kiki

  Kinan

  Kiki

  Kinan

  What’s next in the series

  Series by Elizabeth

  Mian

  Neyehuu

  Neyehuu

  Pronunciation Guide

  Because I’ve been asked…

  Voraxian is a fictional language, so I encourage you to pronounce things however you like! But if you need more guidance, in my mind, all words that begin with X are pronounced as clicks, like in isiXhosa, one of the official languages of South Africa. For those of us who cannot click, myself included, Xs at the beginnings of words are pronounced as TZs; e.g. Xoran = [‘oh-rahn] (with click) or [tzoh - rahn] (without click). With this in mind, a brief guide to keywords can be found below.

  Key Characters

  Kiki = [kee - kee]

  Kinan = [keh - nahn]

  Krisxox = [chris - zawcks]

  Miari = [mee - are - ee]

  Okkari = [oh - car - ee]

  Raku = [rah - kooh]

  Rakukanna = [rah - kooh - kah - nah]

  Svera = [ss - ver - ah]

  Va’Raku = [va - rah - kooh]

  Va’Rakukanna = [va - rah - kooh - kah - nah]

  Xhea = [‘ay - uh] or [shay - uh]

  Xoran = [‘oh - rahn] or [tzoh - rahn]

  Significant Places

  Cxrian = [ss - ree - ahn]

  Kor = [kohr]

  Nobu = [Noh - boo]

  Qath = [kwath]

  Voraxia = [Voh - racks - ee - uh]

  Repeated vocabulary

  Hexa = [hex - ah]

  Nox = [nah - cks]

  Verax = [vair - axe]

  Xok = [‘ok] or [tzok]

  Xhivey = [‘iv - ay] or [xhziv - ay]

  Xora = [‘oh - ruh] or [tzoh - ruh]

  1

  Kiki

  I’m swimming through syrup. Like the kind we harvest from the trees within the Droherion Dome. Jaxel and I used to go with our mothers to collect it during the cold season when we were little. Jaxel looked up to me back then, even though at just three rotations, he was already taller than I was. He still does, I just don’t give him that chance.

  I inhale deeply. Mmmmhmmmm. Everything is warm. The syrup is the same temperature as the rest of my body making it impossible to decide where my skin ends and the syrup begins. It’s so comfortable. What did I ever do to deserve to be so comfortable? I’ve never been comfortable like this before, or if I was I can’t remember it.

  Plagued by twin suns and almost no atmosphere, if it wasn’t too cold in our human colony, then it was too hot. The windows of my mom’s tiny adobe and tin hut didn’t close so there was never any insulation against whatever extreme temperature the outside opted for that day, and there was a draft that let in a ceaseless stream of sand. Mama always liked the gap in the windows. She said it let the stars keep an eye on us.

  I’d believed her then. And then I grew up and I was hunted by aliens, viciously claimed by the worst of them, left for dead, and Mama tried to remind me that the stars were still there, still watching…but I know the truth. The stars don’t care about us.

  The Hunt. Running. My legs pumping. Jaxel hadn’t started training me then so running was all I had. I thought I could outrun him — the red demon with the wicked face that they called Bo’Raku — but I could hear him behind me cackling with laughter.

  He chased. I ran. I stood no chance and I refused to let what happened to me next happen to Miari, my best friend, a hybrid human-Dra’Kesh, and the product of one of the past barbaric Hunts. This day every three Earth cycles red-faced aliens called Dra’Kesh swoop down onto our human colony and demand their right to breed our women. And then they do it. Unforgivingly.

  Last Hunt, Miari was targeted by a big brute — he was blue though, wasn’t he? I’d never seen a blue one before… He wasn’t a Dra’Kesh but a Voraxian and apparently king of all the alien fuckers. He’s coming back for her this Hunt, or wait…did he already come?

  A sharp shard of a memory cuts through my passive bliss. It’s the day of the Hunt and Miari and I are crawling through the sewers, trekking outside of the Dome covered in shit. We find a cave to hide in while Svera, our best friend, takes Miari’s place in the Hunt. She’ll distract him long enough for us to find a hiding place and when she reveals herself to the king, he’ll leave — or he’ll search for us, but he won’t find us. He’ll leave either way because we’ve found the perfect cave. Sunken into jagged black cliffs, it’s dank and wet and when we barricade ourselves inside, I know we’re going to succeed. All that’s left to do is wait…

  Tssaaaaak. My whole body jolts at the sound and the memory the sound brings to life in livid, gruesome color. We didn’t account for the monsters.

  The syrup thickens around me, becoming claustrophobic. Kind of like the cave, filled with shadow monsters who have blades for fingers, seven arms and two mouths. Miari doesn’t know the first thing about fighting, but I do. I take my sharpened spear and battle the thing. Pain lights up my abdomen as I’m stabbed by one of its claws. The serrated blade rips across my stomach, halving my belly button. I’m going to die. But I’m going to save Miari first. I stab it in the eyes and when I stab again, I kill it, or so I think. But when we flee the cave, I see that there are at least three more monsters closing in. I take the amp Miari built and I press the button, sending monsters scattering in a brutal explosion — one that takes me with it.

  I feel sharp rocks come up against my back and tension flee my muscles. I’m going to die here. Yes. Finally… I sink into the smell of hot, metallic blood. And then nothing.

  And now warmth. Wet syrup sliding over my body. The smell of a deep, fragrant spice, like the blossoms of a cactus in a faraway desert. One I’ve never been to before. One without any rain. One without any storms. It’s pure comfort where nothing can get to me. Not the monster in the cave, not the monster in The Hunt. There are no aliens here. Just a cactus and its bloom, and a pressure in my chest right below the beat of my heart that tells me one thing: Death will have to wait.

  2

  Kiki

  I wake to the sound of my own teeth chattering. I’m cold. I remember the fuzzy goop clutching my bare body, my hair floating off of my neck, suspended by thick purple syrup, but when I open my eyes, the memory is gone like it never was. Like a bad dream. No. Like a good dream. I just haven’t had on
e in so long it’s hard to recognize.

  Whispers. I hear them softly at first before they gain in volume.

  “She’s awake. The chosen…”

  “The alien you mean. The weak one…”

  “She would not have been chosen if she were so.”

  “She is to be our Xhea!”

  “Shh! She can hear you.”

  “Who cares if she can hear me, she can’t understand. She’s useless. Speaking only her stupid, alien speak…”

  “I…” I lick my lips, voice cracking from so many rotations of disuse. I haven’t spoken in rotations. Is it worth it to speak now just to level insults? Yes. “I can hear you, you stupid bitch.” I swallow hard, coughing into the floor, which is soft beneath my cheek. “I can understand you too.” My throat hurts, like the chords have been cut. Like I’ve been choked by hands hotter than the sun.

  One female voice titters nearby, but just the one. And then a voice says softly, “What did our Xhea say?”

  There’s a slight scuffling before a deeper voice projects, “It is not important. We only have a matter of moments before they raise the gate. Before we run the mountain. We must prepare. If we do not present well, we will not be chosen.”

  There’s a pause, a few more whispered words. I use the lapse to find my fingers, to wiggle my toes, to shift my legs back and forth. They’re stiff and trapped and for a second, I panic. What did the goo do to me? Am I paralyzed?

  Then I blink. White light spears my eyes, but they water and clear and water again. Eventually I’m able to see past it. Black on white. Shuffling feet on stone, white walls beyond them…no, not walls…something white…something foreign…something cold.

  What’s clear is that I’m in a cave full of aliens and that it’s light out and the light is natural even if it’s made so harsh by so much white. It falls in light flurries, reminding me of springtime on the colony when the cotton fields bloom and little pieces of white are sprinkled through the world. It was always my favorite season. Miari and I used to try to catch them.

  I shudder and block the memory out as I do memories of all things good. There is no good anymore. Just as there’s no electricity in here, no wires, no heating. There’s just a black stone ground and white surrounding it and aliens filling the space around me.

  My hackles rise. I’m ready to fight. But none of the females are looking at me — well, they are looking, but only sparing quick, hesitant glances. Like they’re more afraid of me than I am of them. As they should be. I’ll kill any of them who tries to touch me. Maybe I’ll kill them just for fun. I hesitate for a second as my head fully clears, wondering if I could really take on so many.

  I quickly tally eleven females, most of whom squat in a circle near the gate that blocks us in and some, but not all, of the cold white stuff out. All but two in this cave are squatting, huddled together in what looks like concentration. Me and the one who paces.

  She glances down at me and I meet her gaze squarely, knowing that this is the one who bad-mouthed me. I can tell by the look of her alone. Quickly raking my eyes over her frame, I see she’s unarmed, wearing a strange combination of hide and fur-lined leather. The other women wear the same. I glance down at my own clothing, shocked to see I’m dressed identically to them. Who the fuck dressed me?

  I exhale shakily, push that thought aside and shift to my knees. There’s a furry white blanket under me and I catch myself on it, waiting for the cave around me to stop spinning. When it finally does, I shove my feet under my knees and rise even if it does take me a couple tries. I hate that. Now they’ve seen that I’m weak and they’ll use that weakness against me. They’re aliens. They won’t hesitate.

  I lift my arm, the ceiling so low I can touch it with my gloved fingertips. With all of the other females seated or kneeling at the mouth of the cave — except for the bitchy one — I feel seriously tall. And powerful. Ready to take them all on.

  I take a step towards them at the same time that the bitchy one barks, “And what would the human know of the Mountain Run? She knows nothing. Look at her. How small she is. She’s puny. She won’t be any use to us at all. It’s likely she won’t even be chosen.”

  “Hush,” one of the women says. No, they’re not women. They’re females. Others. Them. She looks over her shoulder at me and she’s smiling. Why in the stars is she smiling at me? Doesn’t she know I’m going to slit her throat? “We welcome the Xhea and any input she wishes to provide.”

  I glance at the two females who have spoken, and then all the rest, trying to decide what in the stars this particular selection has been gathered for. It’s clear that these aren’t warriors. From their waif-like limbs to the way a few cower, struggling desperately to meet my eyeline, the better part of them look like cowards.

  And it’s not like they’re great beauties either. Some are tall, sure, but some are fleshy around the jowls, while others look so thin, they’re barely more than color draped over bones. And they are brightly colored with skin tones ranging from the lightest lavender to the darkest cobalt.

  While most have hair as black as tar, there’s one who’s bright green with hair whiter than the cold coming in through the gate. I meet her gaze for a moment and she tries a smile, but I bare my teeth and grunt low under my breath until she bows her head and looks away.

  I refocus on the female who spoke with authority and brace myself, knowing that I’m going to have to speak with them if I’m going to get any answers. That means doing two things I vowed never to do again — speaking, and interacting with them.

  “How…” I cough to clear my throat and when I edge forward tentatively, I can see a crude outline of sticks and rocks on the ground between the females. Instinct tells me it’s a map, but I can’t identify any of the markers they’ve placed.

  “How long have I been asleep?” I bark, infusing my tone with authority that I only half feel.

  The leader opens her mouth, but the bitch cuts in. “That isn’t important. We need to prepare a good chase!” She shows me her back and flips her hair, trying to block me out.

  Slowly, I step around the circle. I’m careful to keep the gate in my peripheries as I move around the group — who the fuck knows what else is out there — circling far enough that I can see the bitch’s face again and no farther than that. She glares at me with all her severity, but I don’t back down. Her face is cut like a diamond. Eyes high and wide, nose narrow and low. She has a petite chin and high cheek bones, ears sharpened to points. Alien bitch.

  The alien on the ground who seems to be leading the congregation snaps, “She is the reason we are here. Do not dishonor yourself. If you do not wish to help, then step aside. Time is dwindling.” She returns to the map.

  Following her gaze, I work to make sense of what I’m seeing laid out so crudely, and as my pulse picks up its pace and my mind begins shifting blocks of understanding into place, I come to a single conclusion so startling and so horrifying it makes my bones hurt. I want to laugh — I do laugh, drawing even more attention to myself.

  “We’re preparing for a Hunt, aren’t we?”

  “A Hunt? Nox, my Xhea, not quite. We do share Dra’Kesh ancestry, but Nobu’s Run on the Mountain would test any Dra’Kesh. It is far more severe. A test for true warriors.” She pauses then and takes a moment to look up at me, her features masked, though her forehead glows as if lights have been switched on underneath her transparent bones. “We have heard that you too are a warrior.”

  Too many things jump out at me. I can’t grab hold.

  Even though whatever translation equipment I’ve been plugged into gives me insight into her words, I still don’t know what they mean. What is drah-kesh? What is noh-boo? What the fuck is a zshay-uh? And how the fuck did I end up here? And where is here anyways? Does it matter? All I know is that here is nowhere I’m meant to be and I’m going to get out of here no matter how many I have to fight and hurt and kill.

  “Where are we?” I bark, the sensation in my chest like thrown ston
es. I feel myself begin to sink as the idea of being tested in another Hunt, this one even more brutal, dawns on me. Kill anyone who touches me. Kill everyone who tries.

  A slight, impatient sigh from the lead female before she turns her seemingly sightless eyes up to me. “We are on Nobu, my Xhea.”

  “She is not Xhea,” the bitch snaps.

  “Not yet.”

  “Perhaps not ever. Perhaps the Okkari will know through the Run on the Mountain that a worthy female awaits him.”

  The leader’s face morphs into yellow this time. She seems to cede, but there is something in her words I can’t interpret. “All shall be revealed.” She nods slightly, then turns to me. “You are named Va’Rakukanna by Voraxian rights, but here on Nobu we observe tribal law. It is ancient law. The laws of first strength and first right.

  “Eligible females participate in the Mountain Run to be awarded breeding partners. When the gates are lowered, we must run. We are given a quarter solar’s head start before the warriors and the Okkari are loosed. Once they are, they will run the mountain in hunt for females. They will fight for coveted females. They will certainly fight for you.”

  “And if they catch us?”

  The woman’s forehead flashes an alarming white. I angle myself away from her, in a fighting stance, but the color fades just as quickly. “They will breed with us. It is said that when both parties are stimulated equally from the chase, that it is most like to be a successful coupling. More kits are produced from the Mountain Run than any other season.”

  Several other aliens murmur their assent, nodding vigorously excitedly. That’s when it hits me: they want to be here. They want to be hunted. My blood heats but I clamp my mind vice over my mounting panic and focus. I’ve trained for this. For three rotations, I’ve waited for the moment to exact my revenge against him. I won’t go quietly into the night.