Saved by a Bear (Legends of Black Salmon Falls Book 2)

by Lauren Lively

  The palanquin still moved under her, but she could see nothing of the landscape around her. She dared not raise her voice above a whisper. “Where are we?”

  To her surprise, Aria answered. “He said we were almost there.”

  Carmen spun around. “Aria! Are you all right?”

  A pregnant pause filled the air. “I guess we’re going somewhere, but I don’t know where.”

  Carmen leaned toward her. “I’m sorry I didn’t talk to you before. I should have made sure you were okay after what happened at the gathering hall.”

  “You don’t have to apologize to me.” Aria’s soft drawl vibrated against Carmen’s ear. It warmed her heart to hear a human voice for a change. “You saved my life back there. I should have thanked you sooner.”

  Carmen put out her hand and found Aria’s velvetty soft arm. “I’m just glad we got you away from the Romarie in time. I couldn’t live with myself if they took you away with them.”

  “You could have escaped with the others,” Aria went on, “but you came back for me. You aren’t the person I thought you were. I thought you were another brainless cop who didn’t care about the people in the street. I thought you blew into our neighborhood with a sound and fury, but I didn’t think you were any account. I’m sorry for that. I hope someday I can pay you back for rescuing me.”

  “Please don’t apologize, Aria,” Carmen exclaimed. “I only wish there was something I could have done to stop us from getting into this situation. I’m supposed to protect people from situations like this, but I couldn’t stop it. I was as helpless as you were...” Her words stuck in her throat.

  Aria squeezed her hand. “You did it. You’re the one who got us away from the Romarie. I didn’t think you would. I thought you were full of hot air. I thought Penelope Ann would be the one to save us, not some no-account cop. But you did it. You picked up that gun and fought to free us when no one else would, and you came back for me while Penelope Ann and Marissa ran away. I don’t know how to thank you for that, but I swear to you I’ll be your friend as long as I live. You can count on me, and I’ll never let you down.”

  They clutched at each other in the silent dark. Chirps and squeaks echoed out of the night on all sides, but they didn’t speak or move. They could be the last human beings for a million light years in any direction, but at least they were together.

  After a long pause, Aria spoke again. “I heard Marissa telling you her story. I heard her tell you I had a story like hers, but I want you to know that’s not true. I have a family back home.”

  Carmen cocked her head. “What did she mean?”

  “I’ve hated cops all my life,” Aria told her. “That’s why I hated you from the first moment I met you. You should understand why. I owe you that much.”

  Carmen swallowed. “Okay. I’ll listen if you want to tell me.”

  “My dad worked hard all his life to give us kids the best,” Aria explained. “We lived in a bad neighborhood, but him and my mom worked their fingers to the bone to make sure we never went without. We had family dinners every night, and they used to read to us and help us with our homework. We had a good life.”

  “That’s wonderful, Aria,” Carmen explained.

  “Not so wonderful,” Aria countered. “When I was about ten, the cops stormed our apartment and tore the place apart. They kicked in the door at five o’clock in the morning and threw all of us out of bed. My dad stood up to them and demanded to know what it was all about and where was their warrant and all that, but they grabbed him and beat him down right in front of us kids. My mom was screaming and trying to get to him, and one cop held her back. All us kids were holding onto each other on the bed and crying and watching them beat our dad.”

  Carmen choked back sobs. “I’m so sorry, Aria.”

  Aria paid no attention to her. She spoke out into the night, to something or someone beyond sight. “They beat him until he didn’t move anymore, and then they destroyed the apartment. They tore it to shreds. They ripped open all the pillows and cushions on the couch, and they tossed everything out of the closets and the fridge. They left the place a disaster zone.”

  “But why?” Carmen asked. “Why would they do that to innocent people?”

  “After they left,” Aria told her, “we took my dad to the hospital. He died of his injuries two days later. Then we got a letter from the police department saying they’d raided the wrong apartment. They got a tip that some dangerous drug dealers were holed up in an apartment down the hall from us, in apartment number 34. They accidentally raided apartment number 43 by mistake.”

  Carmen groaned and bowed her head to her chest.

  “They apologized for their mistake and vowed to do better in the future.” Aria snorted under her breath. “So that’s why I didn’t think much of you when I first met you. I just thought you ought to know.”

  Carmen fought back her sobs. She crushed Aria’s hand in her grip. “I’m so sorry that happened to you, Aria. I joined the police department to help people. I swear I never meant to do anything to hurt anybody.”

  “You didn’t,” Aria replied.

  Carmen shook her head. “I didn’t listen when Penelope Ann told me about those missing women. I should have taken her report seriously. I thought the department was right to ignore their disappearance, since they were dopers and hookers and penniless runaways. I shouldn’t have been so heartless. I’m sorry. I should have cared as much about them as anybody else, and now I’m one of them, and no one will care about my disappearance, either. No one will investigate the Romarie abducting us from the neighborhood in broad daylight.”

  Chapter 8

  “Where do you think he’s taking us?” Aria asked.

  “He said he was taking us back to his people,” Carmen replied, “back to Felsite territory. I don’t know what to expect, but he said we don’t have anything to fear from any of the Angondrans, and I believe him. Don’t ask me why, but I trust him. I trust him with my life.”

  Aria nodded. “I trust him, too, and not just because he saved our lives. There’s something about him that makes me feel safe, you know?”

  Carmen nodded. How well she knew. “I wonder how far we have to go.”

  Just then, Renier sat up from the palanquin next to them. He let out a great yawn that silenced the chirping creatures in the night around them and he scratched his hairy head. “Here we are.”

  Carmen and Aria whirled around. “Where?”

  He pointed through the trees, and they noticed lights gleaming in the distance. The palanquin pulled up in front of a high slope, and yellow lights glowed from its surface. They lit up the darkness and cast a welcoming glow on the travelers. Renier jumped down from the palanquin and gave Carmen his hand.

  As soon as Carmen and Aria stood on solid ground, the snails slithered out from under the palanquin. The platform sank to the ground, and the snails disappeared into the dark. The lamplight shone on their wet trails. A dozen Felsite came out of the hillside to greet them. The males had shaggy manes of hair around their heads like Renier’s. The females had only short hair running back along their faces from their flat noses and behind their small ears.

  They all started talking at once, and Renier told the story over and over of the battle to free these women from the Romarie. He told them two other Earth women were on the planet somewhere, and the Angondrans would help them and give them what they needed. The Felsite nodded their agreement. Then they turned their attention to the women.

  Renier laid his hand on Carmen’s shoulder. “This is Carmen. She is a very powerful warrior. She attacked the Romarie to rescue her friend here, and she helped her other friends escape in the middle of the battle.”

  The Felsite stared at her with wide eyes and murmured their approval.

  “Now we’ll go inside and have something to eat and a nice long sleep,” Renier announced. “We’ve traveled long and far, and we’re all tired.”

  The crowd broke up with much bubbling conversation, and
the story of the battle spread through the night. Renier waved toward the hill. “If you follow me, I’ll take you to my home.”

  Carmen turned her attention to the hill and noticed it was actually made up of a warren of buildings all stacked on top of each other like a giant apartment complex. It sloped back against an even higher mountain, and hundreds of lamps and candles burned in every window overlooking the broad plain in front of it.

  Renier guided the two women up a flight of steps and in through a heavy stone door to a chamber lined with gleaming flat stone and polished wood. Carmen stared at the room. “Did you build this place?”

  Renier’s head whipped around. “Me? No, I didn’t build it.”

  “I meant the Felsite,” Carmen replied. “Did the Felsite build this....this.....?”

  “This city?” he asked. “Yes, the Felsite built this city long ago, and our faction has lived here ever since. It's called Melnili”

  “Is it the only one of its kind?” she asked.

  “No, no,” he replied. “We have dozens of cities all over our territory, and we’re building new ones all the time. We’re the only faction who builds—I mean, really builds. The Avitras build leafy shanties in the trees, and the Ursidreans have their caves.”

  “What about the Lycaon?” she asked. “Where do they live?”

  “They build houses,” he replied, “but nothing like this. They build stick houses in the forest, but they’re really more like temporary shelters. The Lycaon move around too much, so they don’t build anything solid or sturdy. That’s their way.”

  “And the Aqinas live in the pools by the ocean,” she added.

  He nodded. “That reminds me. I have to contact the Council about a new city we’re building on the far side of our territory. They can’t go ahead until I give them my approval.”

  “Your approval?” she repeated. “What are you—some kind of governor?”

  “I don’t know what a governor is,” he told her. “I’m the Alpha of our faction, therefore it’s my job to approve projects like that.”

  Carmen exchanged glances with Aria. “Alpha?”

  “Perhaps you don’t understand the meaning of that term,” Renier went on. “It means....”

  “I know what it means,” Carmen snapped. “I understand perfectly what it means.”

  Renier didn’t pay any attention to her reaction. He threw himself down on a raised platform on the other side of the room and stretched out his bulky limbs. “Good. Come on over and have something to eat. I’m starving.”

  He pulled out a wooden box from a corner next to the platform and opened it. Carmen took a step closer, but when he pulled out a glistening haunch of raw meat, she stopped. He bared his pointed teeth and tore a chunk off of it. He didn’t even bother to chew it, but swallowed it down whole.

  He pushed the box toward her. “Help yourself.”

  Carmen bent over from the waist, but when she saw nothing inside it but more raw meat, she turned away. Aria turned green and scrunched up her nose in disgust. “We’ll have to cook this. We can’t eat it raw.”

  He paused in his meal. “Cook it? Whatever for?”

  “We don’t eat raw meat,” she replied. “That’s the way we are. Our bodies aren’t designed to digest it.”

  He went back to tearing at his food. “Do what you want. This is all we have, and we don’t have any means of cooking. You’ll have to work it out for yourselves.”

  Carmen turned the problem over in her mind. Then she picked up the box and turned toward Aria. “At least they have fire, even if they don’t cook. Come on. We’ll figure something out.”

  The two of them made a thorough search of the room. They found the lamps in the corner and a supply of oil under a cupboard in another corner. The room contained no table, so Carmen set everything out on the floor.

  “Now what are we going to do?” Aria asked. “We can’t cook over a lamp.”

  Carmen frowned. Then a light came on in her mind. She went back to Renier, who watched them with interest. “Give me your blade.”

  He handed it over, and Carmen sat down in front of the box. She cut the meat into small squares and stuck them on the end of the blade. Then she barbequed them in the flame until they crackled and the delicious smell of roast meat filled the room. When she handed it to Aria, who popped it into her mouth with a satisfied sigh, Renier roared with laughter.

  Carmen roasted the meat, and they both ate until they leaned back, contented. Carmen put the lamp away and went to the platform to give Renier his blade, but she found him dead asleep. He snored in peace with his shaggy head resting on his arm. Carmen studied him for a moment. His eyes quivered under his eyelids, and his massive chest rose and fell with steady breathing.

  Aria came to her side. “Where are we going to sleep?”

  Carmen turned around. “I don’t see any other beds.” She stuck her head into the other rooms in the apartment. “They all have these platforms. That must be where they all sleep.”

  Aria nodded. “You take this one. I’ll take the room over there.”

  “Are you sure?” Carmen asked. “Maybe we should stick together until we know for sure....”

  Aria shook her head. “We already know for sure. These Felsite won’t hurt us. We’re perfectly safe here, but I think we better start first thing tomorrow morning to figure out how we’re going to manage our food. We can’t live on roast meat.”

  They went to their rooms and shut the doors. Carmen curled up on the platform. There were no blankets, but she didn’t need them. The night was warm and pleasant, and a million chirps and clicks blew through the window on the breeze. She drifted off into sleep.

  Sometime in the middle of the night, Carmen woke up out of a sound sleep. No sound disturbed her, but an overpowering presence forced her to open her eyes and stare into the dark. Then she heard the rustle of breathing, and she saw a wide black shape blocking the door of her room. A fringe of hair surrounded it and stood out from the faint star glow behind it.

  His eyes caught the faint light, and they glowed in the dark. He stood still and stared down at her. A bolt of excitement shot through her. What was he doing, watching her sleep? She must be as much a curiosity to him as he was to her. She stared into those mirrored eyes, and her body seethed to life.

  She extended her hand toward him, and he stepped into the room. He strode to the edge of her sleeping platform and towered over her. His eyes burned into her soul, and his breath rushed heavier through his nostrils. His whole being seethed with dark smoldering power, and Carmen’s heart fluttered.

  When he came within reach, she took hold of his hand and drew him down onto the platform beside her. He sat down on the edge, and they breathed together in the stillness. Then he lay down next to her and she moved over to make room for him.

  His body burned her skin, but she burrowed into the shaggy hair around his neck and chest and lost herself in his raw smell. He closed his arms around her and crushed her against his body. A molten furnace smoldered just below the surface of his skin, and when her body came into contact with his, it exploded into flame.

  He rolled on top of her and would have smothered her with his weight, but she reared back and brought her face out of his mane to face him. He growled under his breath, and the sound reverberated through her bones and set her nerves on fire. She sought his mouth and closed her lips over his.

  Renier devoured her with his teeth, and his legs found their way between her knees. Her legs groaned apart, and she wrapped herself around him in greedy anticipation. He lapped at her lips with his tongue and gnawed down her neck to the hollow of her collarbone.

  Carmen craned her neck backwards to receive him, and all the time, her body clutched at him and strove with all her strength to draw him inside herself. A niggling little voice nagged at the corners of her mind. This is an alien, it told her. He isn’t human. You can’t do this. This is some kind of abomination. She pushed that voice away with all her might.

  She w
anted him. She needed him. He was alien, and that was exactly why she needed him. She needed his animal magnetism, his rough power, his dominating presence. He was her Alpha. No male she’d ever met fired her passion the way he did. She would have him and let him have her if it was the last thing she did.

  Renier’s breath came hard and strong. He purred and growled into her neck, but the rest of him drove into her with nothing held back. His hands found their way up her back to her hair, and he tore her shirt off with one yank of his powerful fingers. In an instant, she lay naked and panting beneath him.

  The same golden hair covered his body, but under that, his limbs pulsed strong and perfect and vibrant. Carmen ran her hands along his back. Muscles rippled under his hair, and his back arched to meet her touch. She ran her hands farther down to the tops of his thighs, and he drove his hips between her legs.

  A sharp point pricked her delicate flesh, and she hesitated. What would happen when she joined with him? What if his body damaged her somehow and she bled to death right there on that platform? The sharp barb stabbed deeper into her waiting flesh, and she cast all caution to the wind. Let her die right here and now. At least she would die with him.

  She clenched her fists into the soft hair on the backs of his legs and pulled him in. He took her signal, and with one thrust, drove his spear into her burning guts. It split her wide open, and she threw back her head with a gasp. Once inside, he paused for a mere second, just to make sure she was alive. But the next instant, they both threw themselves together with even greater ferocity.

  They rode together to the heights of bliss, and Carmen never let loose her hold on him for fear he would slip away.

  Chapter 9

  When Carmen woke up the next morning, Renier was gone. She found a fresh set of clothes lying on the end of the platform, and when she dressed and went out of the room, she met Aria at her door. They found a tray containing an assortment of fruit, tubers, and leafy vegetables sitting on the platform in the main room. A wooden bowl containing a white liquid sat next to the tray. Carmen tasted it. “It tastes like honey.”