Venturi
The Great Chasm, carved by the fast flowing People’s river at its base, bisected the jungle. The high cliffs were too steep to climb and the width too far to jump. Many youths had plummeted to their deaths by attempting to swing across the divide. A foolish stunt, one that had been forbidden by our chief—and something I hadn’t done in years—was now our only hope.
I barely out-paced the balaur and kept us between the smaller trees that grew closer together. It made the beasts’ hunt more difficult. If I could help it, I would never be easy prey.
My mate clung to my back, fitting snuggly between my shoulders. Her small legs were strong as she hugged my body close. It was a silent promise of what we could be to each other and spurred my tired legs to run faster.
The edge of the chasm was visible between the trunks and I didn’t slow.
She dug her blunt nails into my flesh and chanted a strange sound as if in prayer.
I leaped off the edge, arms out-stretched and adding my own prayer that she could hold on. I was not capable of grabbing a vine and clinging to her at the same time. I had to trust her to be strong and hug tight as my hands made contact with the trailing plants that grew from the trees lining the chasm.
With a jerk, the vine snapped taught and swung us with increasing speed across the empty space. I glanced below at the white waters of the river and spotted a glinting object falling into the void.
My mate tightened her hold. Harsh sounding words stung my ears and I wished I could understand. This would make our bonding more difficult.
The vine was long enough to reach the other edge easily. I jumped the short distance to the ground.
She released her hold soon after I landed. Her legs wobbled as she backed away, eyes darting as if looking for an escape.
I wanted to tell her that she’d be safe. That she was mine now and I’d take care of her. The balaur couldn’t cross the chasm and she need no longer run.
On the other side, the largest of the beasts bellowed a challenge. It paced the edge of the cliff all the while watching us intently.
My mate jumped at the roar and raced into the jungle.
I blinked, puzzled as to why she would leave my protection when I clearly proved my ability to defend her. I eyed the balaur. Without a doubt, my mate wasn’t impressed.
Running after her, I followed the distinct trail she left behind. She still walked on the land in full view of other predators. It didn’t take me long to catch her by the wrist. Once more, I was shocked as spots visibly rose to the surface of my skin. Mating spots, triggered by a hormonal chain reaction.
This female was my mate yet wasn’t even of my species. I stared at her skin where we made contact. I had been waiting so long for this moment, but her skin lay dormant. No reaction to my touch visible. I studied her delicate alien features.
She didn’t move, her blue eyes wide as she met my curious gaze.
My thoughts confused and my emotions whirling, I tossed her over my shoulder and climbed the nearest tree.
She made a startled noise and squirmed.
It was the raining season in the mountains, which drove the balaur to the drier valleys. Safer to be high in the canopy to rest, eat, and travel.
And figure out what to do next.
It was obvious she didn’t know the balaur. Any race that built their homes in these valleys knew how to deal with these beasts. How had one so weak found her way into the middle of their hunting grounds without being eaten? She was a mystery, almost as much of one as why my body spotted at her touch.
Hormones flooded my senses now. They made me thrum with the need to claim. Her small form weighed nothing on my shoulders. The higher I climbed, the less she struggled.
Her tiny hands clutched my sides and a low moan escaped her throat. She panted in full throes of heat.
I responded with my own groan, resting my forehead against the cool trunk. I dug my claws deeper into the bark as my cock hardened, the mating barb at the tip swelling for the first time.
I recalled the late night stories by the community fire pit about the mating call, told by those bonded. I had thought them embellished. I’d been wrong. How could one describe the crazed desire drowning my mind? If I could have safely buried my cock inside my new found mate right this moment, while hanging off the side of the tree, I would have.
But I had to wait. We both did. My spur needed time to develop.
There were many nests in the tree tops that only saw use when hunters ranged far enough from home. Their locations had been ingrained into my memory from the time I was old enough to wield a weapon. I pushed aside a leaf the size of my mate to reveal a wide branch and set her upon it.
She made a pained noise and limped from my hold. The leg of her strange clothing was torn from thigh to knee. Red fluid stained the edges.
I reached for the tear, but it was clear from her reaction and the way she cringed that she didn’t feel the marrow-deep need to claim me as hers. I frightened her. She didn’t sense the call that I was her mate and would cut off my own hand before ever harming her.
“I won’t hurt you.” I spoke the patwa of the mix languages used between the alien tribes that had crashed over the planet’s history. “You’re mine now and I’ll take care of you.”
I offered her my hand, careful to make my movements slow and nonthreatening. From now on, she would no longer suffer.
She slapped my hand away and bellowed something sharp that I didn’t understand.
I blinked. “What?”
She fisted her hand and punched my face, crushing my lips against the razor edges of my teeth. A spike of pain flashed across my mouth. I snarled, bearing my canines.
She flinched, backing dangerously close to the edge of the branch, but kept her fists raised as if ready to fight.
My blood was hot. Rage filled me. This wasn’t a normal response. She stumbled on her hurt leg, too close to falling off the tree. With my hunter’s reflexes, I crossed the short distance between us and yanked her back into the safety of my arms.
It sickened me that my mate didn’t sense our bond. She was nothing like my people and I shouldn’t have such huge expectations, but she didn’t even like me. Even if her kind responded differently than my telltale sign of raised spots, she wouldn’t think I could harm her if she understood we were matched.
Unless males of her kind mistreated their females.
She fought my hold like a caged animal, biting and scratching until I turned her pale face toward mine. Our gazes locked and her struggles stopped, replaced by trembles. She closed her gemstone blue eyes, her delicate features creased as a drop of fluid trickled from their corners. It trailed over her soft pink cheek and dripped onto my arm from her tiny chin. Her skin tone was an even shade, except for a mottled purple bump on her forehead.
I brushed my fingertips over the injury, both of my hearts stolen forever.
She flinched and tucked her face against my bare chest. I sensed more wetness on her face. She spoke and sounded so distressed. Her language was fast, full of short syllables, and hissing noises. Nothing like my own, but I didn’t need to understand her words to know my mate was afraid and hurt.
I stroked her short, silken hair—so soft and shiny I couldn’t have imagined such a thing existed. “I’ll take care of you,” I repeated my oath, feeling it grow stronger as the spots on my hand darkened and spread higher to my wrists. Soon they would cover my arms completely and my upper chest.
Then my body would be ready to plant my child inside her fertile womb.
Lifting her into my arms, I carried her as I walked the sky roads in the tree canopy to one of the hidden nests. She didn’t weigh anything, but she squirmed, almost knocking me off balance.
From this height, I wouldn’t die from such a fall, especially if I landed against the large leaves to slow my descent, but my gut told me my mate wouldn’t be as resilient.
So far, my little squirmer hadn’t proved to have much survival skills.
Chapter Two
Wendy
How tall was this guy?
Once I’d realized there was no escaping his insanely strong arms, I quieted and pretended to sleep. Escape had proven futile already. He was easily one and a half times my size and moved much faster. Not to mention my injured leg made running hard.
I wasn’t sure how I had cut my thigh so bad. Maybe during the chase, I had caught it on a sharp branch or stone or claw. There seemed a lot of sharp things on this planet. The wound no longer bled, but I bet by tomorrow I’d be wishing for stitches.
I risked a peek between my eyelashes at our surroundings, wishing for a modern alien hospital on the horizon where they could make my skin seal together with a magical laser. Instead, Spot followed a trail along the wide branches. They grew so close together up here it was difficult to figure out what branch belonged to which tree. Stepping from one to another, he moved with the assurance of someone who had a destination in mind.
Wide leaves the size of blankets shaded the path and a cool breeze blew the humidity away. I could breathe easier now and a coat of sweat no longer covered my skin.
The wake of destruction left by the crash was no longer in sight. I’d been so focused on escaping the dragon’s meal plate that I’d lost my way. My only hope of finding it again was carrying me.
He tossed me a curious look, obviously not fooled by my fake sleeping, and smiled. Canines the length of my pinky finger glinted in the sunlight. His other teeth were smaller but no less sharp. So most likely not a vegetarian. Mind you, I had seen a plant eat a bird-thing earlier today, so maybe he needed the shark teeth to eat lettuce.
I couldn’t bring myself to return his smile. Was he helping me or had he stolen the dragon’s meal as his own?
Two eyes, a nose, and a mouth—that was where our similarities ended. Slit pupils expanded within his purple iris as he stared at my face. I must appear just as strange to him. He wore very little. In this heat, who could blame him? My own jumpsuit seemed too thick and heavy. Skin the consistency of velvet pressed against my face. Soft and tough at the same time, compared to my paper thin flesh.
The others were depending on metoreachthe second half of our ship to turn on the emergency beacon but the radiation was killing me. Tammy, the ship medic, had given me a few days. So I didn’t have time to play Jane to this guy’s Tarzan. I had a mission.
I had been on my way there to fix the problem when I had run into this giant.
He trailed a pointed claw along my face and said a few lyrical words. Dark spots covered his hand—black on black—trailing up to his forearm like some weird tribal tattoo.
“What do you want from me?” I whispered entranced as he cradled me closer.
I had tried to tell my crewmates what I’d found, that we weren’t alone on this planet, but the transmission had been so static filled I doubted they’d understood anything. We weren’t alone. There were man-eating dragons, tree roads, and an alien race of giant people who might help us or eat us. It was still fifty-fifty.
I needed to spend more time with Spot before letting him know there were more of us. I’d seen enough movies to know alien encounters could be either peaceful or…not.
To make matters worse, I’d lost my headset as we swung across the canyon of almost-shit-my-pants. The last thing my sister heard was me screaming during a dragon attack. They probably thought me dead and digested.
I wasn’t doing so hot at this saving the day thing.
Spot pointed at a thick stand of leaves and spoke in his language. I pretended he was telling me there was an all you could eat buffet on the other side and grinned in response. He beamed back and pushed aside a leaf revealing a quaint, rustic shelter. A tree house—tent?—of sorts.
Made of woven small branches and their broad leaves, the tent offered more shade. Spot lifted me in his arms again as if I was incapable of walking and set me upon a cushioned pallet made of some sort of fiber. He shoved aside a couple of leaves to allow a few sun beams inside to light the place and a cool breeze to cross ventilate the room. It was tall enough for Spot to stand and roomy enough for a couple of people. Simple design but I was impressed as hell.
This was the first time I had a chance to take a good long look at my friend. He had a tail. Long and dexterous, it was covered by the same dark skin as his body, except at the end there was an adorable tuff of hair, much like a lion’s. It swung gently back and forth as he moved around the shelter gathering hidden supplies stored in bags tied high in the curved branch-woven ceiling.
Each hand had three long fingers tipped with sharp claws, and on his feet were leather sandal-like shoes.
When he crouched in the shadow to search within one of the bags, his skin blended with the darkness, making him difficult to see. Broad of shoulder and narrow of hips, he reminded me of an athlete.
In one smooth motion, he rose and crossed the room. Corded muscles slid under that velvet skin. He wasn’t human. Not in the way he looked or moved and probably not in the way he thought. I came back to my original question. What did he want from me?
He knelt, unhooking a leather bag from his belt, and held it to me. His long hair, woven in many thin braids and the occasional bead, pooled over his shoulder and fanned across his well-defined chest.
I caught myself holding my breath as I watched his masculine beauty up close. Maybe the radiation was getting to me, but I was starting to have a thing for Spot. I took the bag. It sloshed, full of liquid. I sniffed the opening, my throat suddenly parched. But was it water?
He took the bag from my hand and showed me how to drink from it as if I were simple. Maybe to him I was. Here he was offering me a drink and I was acting like he’d given me a puzzle box.
I tipped the skin and took a mouthful. I was dying anyways. What was a little more unfiltered water from an alien world going to do to make things worse?
Cool liquid slid down my throat. Once I started I couldn’t stop. It quenched my thirst and filled my empty belly. I lowered the mostly empty bag.
He looked pleased and crept closer. The fear I’d initially felt eased. He’d had plenty of opportunity to harm me and had only helped instead. At some point, I had to trust him.
I remained where I was and let him approach.
He set his hand on his chest. “Venturi ‘al Durab i Pallopa.” Then he pressed his fingertip on my breast bone and waited.
And waited.
“Forty-two?” It just came out. He seemed so expectant and forty-two was the answer to the meaning of life after all so… I glanced at the half empty water skin.
Then again, I might be a little punch drunk after everything I’d been through today.
“I don’t understand you. I wish I did. This would be so much easier and I don’t have time to play charades—”
He cupped his huge hand over my mouth to silence my nervous babble. Then once again, he patted his chest. “Venturi ‘al Durab i Pallopa.”
With more feeling, he repeated it before poking my chest.
Venturi
Understanding finally dawned in my mate’s eyes on the third try. Good, I was starting to worry she was simple.
She rested her hand between her tits. “When-di.”
I waited for the rest of her name, but she didn’t offer. Was that it? I repeated my full name again.
She swallowed visibly. “Vent uree all Dur-ur-ur—” She had trouble rolling my name in her throat and her tongue didn’t move right over the vowels, yet when she spoke her own language it came out in a flood of sound.
I brushed her lips with my fingertips, gently prying her mouth open. How did she manage to speak so fast? Did she have two tongues?
She swatted my hand off. Her expression fierce before patting her chest again. “When-di.”
“When-di.”
My mate with a short name. We would correct that and she could have part of mine. My family was large and name sharing wouldn’t be an issue.
“Venturi.” She touched
my chest, a pleasant shock to my flesh as spots bloomed under her fingers, then faded—not ready to be permanent yet.
I gasped. Burning desire flooded my veins. If she wanted to shorten my name, I took no insult. I pressed my hand over her tiny one. “When-di.” The promise of what I wanted to share with her filled my voice and needed no translation.
Her fingers curled under my hand and her gem colored eyes widened with what I hoped was comprehension.
I was fascinated by her. The mated males of my clan said there was nothing like being with your chosen one. That the mating barb would intensify our pleasure tenfold and I wanted that. I wanted my When-di not just sharing my sleeping pallet, but at my side. A family with pups. They would have her eyes and my tail.
I ran a hand over her leg and she flinched. Pulling back, I recalled the wound on her upper thigh. Red fluid covered my palm. Her blood?
The color was shocking, though it explained the lovely shade of her skin. I wiped my hand clean on my pants as I searched the nest for the basic supplies left for hunters. I poured the remainder of our water in a wooden bowl, on a young leaf I had torn from the wall. There were healing properties within the delicate greenery.
When-di leaned forward, asking me a question. I assumed she wanted to know what I was doing.
I pushed her flat on the pallet and fingered the odd fastenings. I couldn’t believe I’d forgotten her injury. I should have tended it earlier.
She slapped my hands away again. Apparently, my touch annoyed her. She tried to sit but made a pained noise at the sudden move and clamped a hand over her injury.
It didn’t matter how irritated she was, her wound would fester if her body was anything like mine. I pushed her back on the pallet easy enough and pinned her with my hand to her chest. “I want to tend your wound.” I pointed to her leg then the water.
Her gaze followed my finger. It was difficult to tell if she truly understood since she was so alien. I released my hold on her chest.
Venturi, Complete Serial Parts 1-4: Alien SciFi Romance (Crashlander) Page 5
