by Lily Thomas
“Do they even have mates?” Kriiv asked.
Vlek paused. He had no idea, and it would present itself as a difficult challenge. If her people didn’t have mates, she might not accept him. Then he’d have to woo her and show her what it would mean to be his mate. “I hadn’t thought about that.”
Kriiv sent him an encouraging smile. “If she is yours, you’ll have to win her over, but I’m sure you can manage. You’re the leader of a powerful clan. How could she say no? Being bound to you would be a privilege. An honor.”
His friend was right. Being the leader of a clan should help him woo her. It showed he was strong and able to protect her in these extensive rainforests.
“You don’t think this is strange? She isn’t like our females. She is weaker and will need more protection. I’m not sure I should claim her as my mate. She might not make a suitable mate for a leader.”
Kriiv shrugged. “You don’t get a choice in who your mate is Vlek. There might be others who won’t like it, but if you know for certain she is yours, you can rely on me to support you. A mate is something to be treasured and something you can never ignore. Now you just have to get close enough to be sure she’s yours.”
Vlek was thankful for Kriiv’s support, but he was still uncertain. He was the leader of his village. He wasn’t sure he could have such a strange woman by his side. Would she be strong enough to stay by his side? He was sure there would be a few who would oppose her.
He supposed only time would tell. For now, he would wait and see what happened.
“He sniffed me,” Olivia muttered.
“Excuse me?” Scarlett turned to look over at Olivia, her eyes widening a bit.
“He sniffed me like he leaned in and sniffed my neck.” She grimaced, even though a trickle of excitement filtered through her.
“Like he was trying to figure out where the stench was coming from? Or you’re-so-sexy kind of sniff?”
“I think it was the you’re-so-sexy kind of sniff.”
“What’d you do when he sniffed you?” Chloe asked from where she was lying.
Olivia smiled down at her. She was glad Chloe was doing better. She was finally participating in the conversations around her and gave Olivia hope that they’d avoided her death.
“I pushed him away, of course. I’ve never had a man sniff me with so much enthusiasm… or sniff me at all. It was kind of weird.”
“Maybe you smell tasty.” Scarlett wiggled her eyebrows as she licked her lips and wiggled her fingers at her.
Olivia cringed.
“Have you seen those sharp fangs of theirs?” Scarlett punched her in the shoulder. “At least, you’ll be the first to be eaten, if you smell so appetizing. It’ll give the rest of us a chance of escaping before anyone else it eaten.”
“Thanks. You’re funny.” Olivia rolled her eyes. She knew Scarlett was half teasing and half being serious since they didn’t know much about these people. “We haven’t seen any cannibalizing.”
“I’m just lightening the mood. I doubt they will eat us. Sacrifice,” she pointed a finger in the air, “maybe, but eat, doubtful.” Scarlett smiled as she threw out even more horrible scenarios.
“Then again, they did save my life.” Chloe piped up. “Why save my life if they were just going to kill us?”
“True.” Olivia pointed a finger at her. That was a good point.
“So they could have fresh meat.” Scarlett shot back still smiling like this was the funniest thing in the universe.
Olivia gave Scarlett a playful punch to the arm. “You’re going to make people panic if you don’t stop already. No one will eat you, Chloe.”
“I know. Unlike some of the women, I’ve known Scarlett and her sense of humor for a while now.” Chloe smiled from where she was still laying on the ground.
Olivia could feel Vlek’s eyes digging into her back. He seemed interested in her, and it was making her a bit jumpy. She wasn’t completely sure how she felt about being under such intense interest.
“It could be a part of their culture that we don’t understand yet,” Hailey stated. Her green eyes danced with brilliance. “It could be a greeting or a way of showing acceptance. A sniff could be a sign of acceptance.”
“I don’t know.” Olivia coughed into her hand. “He appeared to have a…boner when he was sniffing me.”
“Maybe it’s a mating ritual?” Hailey smiled at her. “Congrats. Maybe you’ve been chosen to be his woman.”
“You really think so?” Olivia felt her face blush. Great. The scary alien was in love with her or at least wanted her in his bed.
She glanced over her shoulder and found Vlek staring at her with those unreadable golden eyes of his. Then again, he hadn’t done anything to them, and he had saved Chloe from the bug bite.
And he did set her blood on fire. Every touch had been electric, but it didn’t make him any less intimidating. He might be nice, but he was built from pure muscle and bone. There wasn’t an inch of fat on him that she could spot. Not to mention, she only knew him for about a day, and she shouldn’t get involved with a native. For all, she knew he had a side to him that would turn her off.
Again, things were getting worse. Not only would they be interacting with the natives, but she might have to bed one. There was no telling how he would react to a rejection from her.
Her legs wobbled at the idea. Not in fear. In a desire that shocked her. She may not know him, but she was going to have plenty of time to find out what type of man he was.
Her attention was distracted from him, as meat was passed around the group. Every woman took what was offered, but it was raw.
“Should we eat it raw?”
Olivia shook her head. “I’m not eating raw meat on an alien planet.”
Rising from her position she found a stick, stuck her slab of meat onto it, and held it over the fire the aliens had started. Every alien sitting by the fire turned to stare at her, as they munched on their raw meat. It might be weird for them, but she wasn’t about to eat unknown meat that was uncooked. It could be carrying something indigestible for humans like unknown parasites.
Once it was done cooking, she went to sit down and enjoy what had been given to her. Let the aliens think what they wanted about her cooking her meat. Every other woman followed her suit and found themselves being stared at as well.
Vlek came over and looked at her cooked meat with a raised lip. Clearly, he did not prefer his meat cooked.
“Don’t judge me, when I’m not judging you for eating your meat raw.” She gave him a shrug before he sat down with his men, but his eyes never left her.
“This isn’t half bad,” Scarlett commented from where she was sitting against a tree trunk.
“Better than our nutrition bars,” Chloe said over a mouthful of meat.
“True!” Another woman agreed. “This beats liver and peaches any day.”
“I’m just glad to see you eating.” Olivia smiled over at Chloe. It meant she was definitely feeling better, and she would be able to gain some energy back that she needed after her ordeal with the bug bite.
Then Olivia’s eyes landed on the bag of guns.
Scarlett walked over to her. “Probably time for us to discharge those and render them useless.”
“True.” Olivia stood up, grabbed the bag and walked over to where Vlek was standing.
He glanced over at her as she approached, and then eyed the bag she was carrying. He had to know what was in them.
“I’m going to make these useless. I know you can’t understand me, but I’m hoping you can trust me.” Still carrying the bag, she motioned him to follow her into the forest a little bit, so they weren’t right next to the camp while she discharged the weapons.
Vlek followed her and stopped when she did.
Olivia placed the bag on the ground and grabbed the first plasma gun. She noticed Vlek’s muscles bunch as he braced himself for what she would do. She stuck out a hand and motioned for him to remain calm.
Then she hit a button on the side of the gun, it made a whirring noise, a spark of blue energy flashed, and then the gun went silent.
She tossed it onto the ground and pointed at the gun. Then she looked up at Vlek and pretended to die by slicing her neck and letting her head fall to the side with her tongue hanging out. She felt a bit goofy, but he nodded his head. He understood. That was all she’d been aiming for.
Slowly, she worked her way through the weapons until they were all discharged. She tied up the bag.
Vlek motioned to the bag and then raised a black eyebrow in a question.
“You can have them if you want them. They won’t do anything, or we can bury them.” She mimed digging in the dirt and burying them.
He nodded and within seconds he had a stick in hand and began digging away at the ground. It didn’t take him long to dig a hole big enough. She walked over and dumped the bag into the hole. Then Vlek placed the dirt over the bag and patted the soil down with a foot.
“Done.” She sent him a smile as they headed back to the group. Hopefully, this would help to continue to build relations between them.
As people settled down for the night around the campfire, Olivia found her eyes drifting over to Vlek. He was leaning against a tree trunk with his arms crossed over his impressively muscled chest. She wanted to drool over those pecs and arms but kept her mouth firmly closed instead. There would be no drooling over the alien, no matter how much her body responded to him. She had to do her best to resist any urges and to rebuff any of his advances.
But it was flattering nonetheless.
His shoulder length black hair framed his chiseled face to perfection. Her eyes slipped lower, and she saw the bulge in his tan leather pants. He was definitely having similar thoughts to hers. Images of him stripping her naked seemed to be plaguing her mind ever since their close contact earlier in the day.
Vlek uncrossed his arms, and crooked his finger at her, summoning her to come to him.
She didn’t know why she was getting up, but she found herself slowly moving towards him. It was like he had weaved a magical spell around her lust filled brain. Those golden eyes of his were hypnotic, and they pulled her forward, promising a night beyond her wildest dreams.
Then she stopped in her tracks.
What was she doing? She couldn’t have sex with a native. They were already crossing a line by sticking around with the natives, not that they had much of a choice, but she did have a choice when it came to sleeping with Vlek.
Olivia turned on her heel and stomped her way back to where she’d been lying on the ground. Glancing over at him she saw his dismay that she had just left him hanging.
It was probably for the best though. He didn’t know how completely different their worlds were, but she knew. He had no idea space travel was even around, and she had no idea how to survive in such a primitive world.
She was doing him a favor. He didn’t want to get tangled up with her. Not only would she be a burden on him with her limited camping knowledge, but in a couple of months, the women might be rescued, which meant she might just randomly disappear one night… and then where would he be?
With no answers, that was where.
She rolled over on her side and placed her hands under her cheek. The rest of the women were already getting some shut-eye, and that was what she needed to be doing. She closed her eyes.
Chapter 8
Morning came too quickly for her taste, and Olivia found herself wishing for more time for shut-eye. Vlek had invaded her dreams last night, and she’d been unable to do anything about it. He might be off limits, but that didn’t make him any less sexy.
“Wakey wakey eggs and bakey.” Scarlett sang in a happy voice.
“I wish there was bacon, but I somehow doubt they have bacon or know what it is.” Olivia grumped. She could go for a normal meal. Her near future was just going to include a lot of meat and any fruits these people gathered from the forest. There’d be no pancakes or dirre, a delicacy from another planet, and the best thing to wake up to in the morning.
She sighed. There wouldn’t be any more of that for at least a few months.
“Sorry, but I understand where you’re at. Breakfast used to be my favorite meal. Pancakes with maple syrup. Yum.” Scarlett stared off into the distance, as she day-dreamed about the meal. “Maybe some fresh strawberries or if you’re looking for something exotic the Vrak’rir have some super sweet pastries they eat for breakfast.” Scarlett licked her lips. “Talk about yum.”
“Let’s get everyone else up and ready to go before you make me cry.” There would be a lot of things Olivia would miss. “Looks like our escorts are ready.” Olivia looked around at the warriors who were up and ready.
Within minutes the women were up and so was Chloe.
“How are you feeling? I don’t want you to push yourself too far or too fast.” Olivia worried.
“I feel great and look.” Chloe held out her arm. “My skin color is back to normal. I feel like I could climb a mountain.”
“Just make sure you don’t push yourself too fast. You might look and feel better after a night’s rest, but I’m sure we have a lot more walking ahead of us. Just let us know if you need a rest.”
“I will.”
“Olivia.” Vlek’s voice rang out, and she found him standing behind her. He pointed to her, and then to the forest.
“What’s he saying?” Scarlett asked.
“I think it’s time to go. Grab your packs and let’s head out.”
“You really need to fix our translators.” Scarlett rubbed her left ear where her implant had been put.
“They might not be broken. It might just be that it hasn’t picked up the language yet.” Brooklyn informed them. “Talking with them more might help, so get friendly instead of cowering every time they come close to you.”
“Can you force it to learn their language?”
“Yeah.” She shrugged like it was no big deal. “I need some time. Maybe the next time we rest or make camp, I can mess with it.”
“Sounds good.” Olivia nodded. She would have Brooklyn fix it now, but Vlek wanted them to get moving, so the next time they stopped she’d be sure to get Brooklyn some time to mess with the translators.
They all headed out with the aliens in front of them and behind them. She was sure it was only for their protection, but it was a bit daunting to have so many strong warriors surrounding them, guiding them to an unknown location.
Olivia felt Vlek’s eyes digging into her back. She risked a glance over her shoulder and found him staring at her with his gold eyes.
“Maybe you should give in.” Scarlett pulled up beside her.
“Are you insane?” Olivia faced forward again. She didn’t have time to think about bedding an alien man.
“We’re stuck here for the foreseeable future.” Scarlett smiled. “No one would blame you if you gave in. I mean, come on, he isn’t bad looking at all.”
Olivia shook her head. “I couldn’t possibly. Imagine me trying to explain that when we’re rescued and debriefed about being on the planet.”
“You’re assuming we will be rescued.” Scarlett raised her hands before Olivia could say anything. “I’m just saying you don’t have to put up the same front for me that you are for the other women. I’m okay with the fact that we might not be rescued.”
“You’re okay with the idea?”
“I just meant that I can handle the truth of the matter. We’re far out on the reaches of space where most ships haven’t gone. It’s one of the reasons I came here to this posting.”
Olivia laughed. “That’s funny because I came all the way out here for the same reason. It’s far away from everything else.”
“Like the Sri’thaens.” Scarlett grimaced. “At least, while we’re here on this planet we don’t have to think about what those people are trying to do to our own.”
Olivia frowned. “Just because they’re out of sight doesn’t mean that they’re out of
mind.”
“I’m just saying that this primitive planet on the edge of explored space has to be the best place to hide while Earth deals with this new threat.”
“Maybe.” Olivia wasn’t too sure if anywhere would be safe. The Sri’thaens seemed pissed. “But I’m not about to worry about them. Right now, my main concern is keeping us all alive while living on an alien planet.”
“Thankfully, these men appear to be looking after us so far.” Scarlett glanced around. “Think this is a hunting party?”
“That would be my guess,” Olivia confirmed. “They might be taking us back to their village.”
“Now we just have to hope the rest of the village will be as accepting of us as they’ve been.” Scarlett gave a small unsure shrug.
Olivia hoped they’d be welcomed with open arms because she didn’t want to be kicked out or killed. And that might give her another reason to be on Vlek’s good side. If he was indeed the leader of these people, he might be able to keep all of them safe and sound.
She glanced back over her shoulder and found Vlek still staring at her with his golden eyes like he was trying to figure her out.
“It’s so hot.” Brooklyn stripped off an over shirt, used it to wipe off the sweat on her brow, and then stuffed the shirt into her bag.
“I know what you mean.” Scarlett wiped off her forehead with the back of her hand.
“It’s a rainforest, of course, it would be hot and humid.” But Olivia was in the same boat as the rest. She was sweating up a storm, and the quick pace they were keeping wasn’t helping. She could feel her shirt sticking to her back, and she could only take a guess at how bad she might smell. She glanced over at Chloe. “How are you doing? Do I need to call for a stop?”
Chloe glanced over and grimaced. “I don’t want to cause any problems.”
“Leave that to me.”
“Then, yes, I would love to stop.”
Olivia split off from the women and made her way towards Vlek, while the group continued to walk through the rainforest.
“Vlek!” She called out.
