Captive: Blue Barbarian Series

by Rena Marks

  “That would be great,” Niki says. “Not that I’ve used mine, but the Blaedonian women are curious. We taught them to shave their pits.”

  Jessie’s eyes are huge. “Oh, boy.”

  “Technically, they taught us how to make margaritas, so we’re even.”

  “It sounds like no one misses Earth.”

  “Not in the slightest.” Niki looks at me and Miranda to be sure.

  I shrug. “Nope.”

  “In the meantime, ladies, enjoy the amenities of a hot shower. I’ll get breakfast started and when we’re all ready, Neo and I will drop you off at home.”

  * * * * *

  We’re beamed just outside the gates with a load of stuff, and wave as the spacecraft takes off. A couple of the men come out and help us carry everything, gaping at the mirrors. It’s been a day of surprises for them, as the guys have already dropped off the artifacts and glow-rocks we picked up from the caves. They’ve set back out with the rafts to have the lumber floated down the river.

  The mirrors Jessie has given us are huge. I think she pulled them from closet doors, or else I just don’t remember them coming in that size. We explain to the guys hauling them that they’re fragile and to take them to my ballet studio for now.

  After they’re propped safely along the rock walls, I head out to the main gates to wait for the guys. I’m surprised that both have left me. Usually I can count on one of them to stay with me while the other tends to business. I’m a little hurt, too. But I can get over it by seeking out my own guys.

  Finally I see a group of men marching back, carrying the rafts up high. In front are Tijar and Jeroc. I wait until they place the rafts down to approach, and Tijar kisses me warmly. Like he should, since we’ve been apart for a whole day.

  Jeroc kisses me, but he seems a little distracted.

  “We’re just going to get these put away,” Tijar tells me. But there are a ton of Blaedonian men out, all picking up lumber to take to a storage cave. He’s watching Jeroc out of the corner of his eye, and Jeroc has made his way down a bit further.

  “Tessa,” Jereek yells out from inside the cave. “Can we have a practice session now that you have mirrors? The others want to try, too.”

  “Are you sure you’re up for stretching?” Tijar asks me.

  I nod. “Everything is perfectly normal.”

  “Go ahead,” Tijar says. “We’ll be putting all of this away.”

  I nod, and turn to Jereek. “Okay, go round everyone up. They need to wear leggings.”

  He snickers. Last week he tried to have class in his loincloth, complaining it was too hot.

  I head to our cave to change into the slim, soft leggings Jeroc made me. Tijar had captured a waterbeast, which makes for the stretchiest skin. Jeroc custom-sewed them, and softened the leather until they look like thin suede. They’re a soft, orangey color and they remind me of him.

  I put them on and tie my hair up into my ballerina bun, then head down to the dance studio. The kids are gathered in the waiting area, where they’ve been instructed not to touch the mirrors.

  “Everyone get your ballet slippers on,” I instruct, and they reach for the baskets where they’re kept. Technically, they’re moccasins with reinforced toes. But only because they’re brown. If they were in pink, they’d totally be slippers.

  “These moorings are cool,” Jereek says, making a face.

  “Mirrors,” I correct. “And you have the shiny rocks as mirrors.”

  “But they don’t show you everything exactly, like these do,” he says.

  “Just remember to stay away from them. If they break, they’re lost to us forever.”

  His eyes are huge. “I promise, Tessa.”

  “Okay, everyone. We’re going to stretch at the barre, today, instead of on the rock ledge like we normally do.”

  They’re just as impressed with the barre, touching it over and over to feel the smooth roundness.

  In the waiting area, I see Jeroc and Tijar’s moms come in and take a seat to watch. I take the kids through their lessons, and I let them dance, mostly to burn off rambunctious energy and to keep them out of the way while the men decide where to store all the lumber.

  While they dance, I go and visit with my mothers-in-law.

  “Tessa,” Serrata says. “Tijar told us of your kidnapping. Are you all right?”

  “I’m fine. No lasting effects.”

  “I am terrified that something like that can happen on our planet.”

  “Technically, it can’t. The Stargazers allowed it because they wanted to know how much the Drurians knew about us, and how they were able to track me. They found out I had a device implanted.”

  “Didn’t they check you when they were here the last time?” Geviva asks.

  “They checked everyone else out. I was skipped, and I didn’t think it was important at the time.” I also didn’t want to explain how I was altered, so when I was overlooked, I just let it happen.

  “You were probably distracted with our sons,” Serrata says.

  “You got that right,” I say ruefully.

  “They always were a handful,” Geviva says. “Jeroc was going to come over tonight. I imagine he’ll cancel now that Tijar is home from his shift? Drakar has given him a few days off because of your ordeal.”

  Jeroc was staying at her house? He usually spent time at her place, but that was back when he was trying to give Tijar and me time alone after Tijar’s shifts. In the last few months, we’ve kind of gotten used to all sleeping together.

  “I haven’t even had a moment to talk with the guys,” I say. “They’ve been unloading the rocks and lumber.”

  “Either way is fine by me. If he wants to cancel to care for you, that’s understandable.”

  I smile. “I really am fine.”

  “And she has Tijar,” Serrata reminds her. “The kids probably enjoy alone time every now and then.”

  “Tessa! I think I’m ready for my performance,” Jereek calls.

  I head back to the floor.

  * * * * *

  By the time I’ve washed up in the pool and head back to the cave, I smell dinner cooking outside. But Tijar is home alone.

  “Where’s Jeroc?”

  “He’s spending the night at his mother’s.” He carefully avoids my eyes.

  “On my first night back?”

  He shrugs.

  “What’s really going on?”

  “He’s got a lot going through his head right now.”

  Obviously.

  Tijar tries to make it up to me. We eat our dinner outside, under a tree. “Try this, my love,” he says, giving me a piece of spiced fruit.

  “It’s delicious. Someone in the kitchen has been experimenting. We have spiced apples at home.”

  “Do you miss your home?” he asks.

  “No. Not now that I have this. I would trade a thousand Earths for my life with you and Jeroc. But I can’t believe he isn’t with us right now.”

  Tijar sighs. “He feels responsible for you getting kidnapped. Just give him time, and don’t let your feelings get hurt.”

  “I’ll talk to him,” I murmur. “Of course it’s not his fault.”

  “No, but he thought he lost you. It scared him. The last person he lost was his father.”

  “So he thought he lost me, but now he avoids me?”

  Tijar’s smile is rueful. “I know. He’s all goofed up in the head, sweet. It’s okay, it’ll work itself out. In the meantime,” he rolls on top of me, “I get you to myself. Just like old times.”

  I giggle as he grinds his cock suggestively into me, but then the giggles stop. And when Tijar carries me to the cave, he makes love to me in a different way. Loving, and slow. More like Jeroc would. He’s trying to make up for our third mate.

  I wake up the next day more determined to seek out my other, other half. But Jeroc avoids me, purposely leaving areas where I show up. Finally, I see him outside the gates. He walks quickly into the caves ahead. I narrow my eyes
and follow. He heads into the cave and he’s grabbing a change of clothing by the time I slip in. I sneak up behind him.

  “I missed you,” I say, wrapping my arms around his middle.

  He turns and wraps me in his arms, holding me too tight. “I missed you, too, Tessa.” He’s stiff for a moment. “Are you feeling all right after everything that’s happened?”

  “Of course. I just miss you, Jeroc,” I say softly. For a minute he clings to me, but then he pulls away. “I’m sorry. I should have just told Tijar to stay with you at the Stargazer vessel. I thought you’d want some time with the other females on the ship.”

  “The other females were fine. But even if Tijar had stayed with me, I’d still miss you, Jeroc.”

  He sighs. “I’m sorry. I am not a good mate for you.”

  “Baby, you’re my entire world. You make me happy. You and Tijar.”

  He stays quiet.

  “Come, sit down. Let’s talk.” We move over to the pillows on our nest. He sits on one, and holds another to his middle.

  “You know that from the tracking device Jessie and Persephone pulled out of me, they could have beamed me from anywhere, at any time, right? I could have been here in the village. We’re lucky we were among the trees with just a few others and they weren’t tempted to take the rest of you.”

  “I cannot stand to think about what could have happened to you,” he says, looking tense.

  “The worst has already happened to me, baby. I’m fine, we’re fine.”

  “A hunter may have been better able to protect you, Tessa.”

  “That’s not true. Tijar was right there, and there was no way he could keep them from beaming me.”

  “It wasn’t him that was standing next to you.”

  “No, but it could have been. It was simply chance that it was you. Jeroc, I want you to understand that there was nothing you could have done. But more important than that, it was not your fault.”

  “What if you had been with child?” he says, and his voice is anguished.

  Suddenly, I have a feeling this is about his father’s death.

  “Baby,” I say. “Life happens. We can’t always control the bad things. But we can live for today. Live each day and make it fulfilling. I’ve never known such love as when I met you and Tijar. If something happens tomorrow, at least we had this time together. Let’s not waste any of it.” He stays quiet and I’m not sure if I’m getting through to him.

  So I take the pillow he holds protecting his midsection, and I scoot close enough to straddle his lap.

  “I don’t want to make this difficult for you,” I tease.

  His eyes finally reach mine. “Difficult?”

  I nod. “I’m perfectly willing to make you be happy again. I don’t like to use force, but I will if I have to.”

  “Force?” He almost snorts. “How can you force my happiness, sweet one?”

  I smile, and lean in to whisper against his lips. “The same way you forced me to be happy again. After what the Drurians did to me on their ship, I was changed forever. I didn’t want to continue on. And then I met you and Tijar. And I don’t want my happiness to stop. So I’m going to make you be happy, too.”

  His lips part, but before he can speak, I lock mine to his. I move my lips against his, and when he begins to kiss me back, I slip my tongue into his mouth to explore.

  Jeroc groans. “My Tessa.”

  “I love you, Jeroc. I’ve loved you since the first moment I saw you. Let me show you how much.”

  I kiss down his neck, turning his head a bit so I can nip the outstretched tendons there. I lick his collarbone.

  And then the stubborn man pulls away again. “I can’t. This is for your own good, Tessa.”

  He’s not getting away from me that easy, though I let him leave for now. I follow him outside, where he says something to Tijar, and it looks like they argue for a bit before Jeroc leaves him, too.

  Tijar heads toward the outside gates. Funny thing is, I noticed he strapped his knives and gear on. And wouldn’t you know it…so has Jeroc.

  I head back to our cave and get my Drurian cape, my night vision goggles and a small bone-knife that is strapped to the wall. Apparently the guys are heading outside without me. I sneak out to the main gate, where a guard isn’t posted because it’s broad daylight out. He usually stands at the side door, and in an emergency he’ll lower the main gate first. But there are people who wander in and out so it’s not hard to blend.

  It’s a good thing I decided to follow Jeroc and not Tijar. He’s walking so dejected, I doubt if he tracks to see if anyone follows. Tijar, on the other hand, is a hunter, born and bred. He always has an eye out. Still, I follow at a safe distance behind him. He doesn’t go far, a couple miles at the furthest, and we’re near a first level cave. But he skirts past it, and heads for what sounds like a waterfall. Suddenly he disappears, and when I get to where I last saw him, I understand why.

  He jumped.

  Right off the edge of a cliff. Well, drat. Obviously giving the Blaedonian swimming lessons has helped tremendously, because he emerges from the water and moves to where Tijar sits on a rock. I’m peering down below, wondering if I should jump too, when I notice a portion of dirt that has sunk away. It’s created a sort of tunnel.

  “We cannot be long,” Tijar says, and his voice is clear as a bell from where I sit up above the tunnel opening. “I don’t want Tessa alone. What is your problem, Jeroc?”

  “There is no problem any longer. I’ve reached a decision. She will be your mate.”

  “The three of us are already mated. We’ve each felt the calling.”

  “I am prepared to be alone for the rest of my life.”

  “Why?”

  “I love her, as much as I’ve loved anyone. But she will be better cared for by you. There is not a doubt in my mind.”

  “And when do you plan to tell her?”

  “I’m going to stay away for a few days. It’ll be easier for you to tell her. When I return, I will move quietly back into my mother’s cave. By then, Tessa will be happy with you.”

  “That is the most ridiculous plan I’ve ever heard. How do you think she’s going to take the news when I break it to her?”

  “Not well. And I understand if you do not wish to tell her. If you wish for me to return to tell her myself. I’m simply trying to make things easier on her.”

  “You are a fool. I am so angry with you right now. I don’t wish to talk of this any further. I’m heading back to the village where I can be a good mate, and cuddle with my small female while I have the time off. You go ahead and destroy her heart, because I’ll be there to pick up the pieces.”

  He jumps into the river, and swims downstream. Of course, it would be much faster to swim back, than it would to climb up and walk.

  Jeroc sits on the rock, and just as I decide I’m going to jump, he gets up and walks away. I try to watch which direction he heads, and then I get up off my belly. But just as I head to the edge of the cliff to dive, my foot gets stuck in a vine and I catapult headfirst into the tunnel where I’d been listening. I’m pitched down, dirt and rocks cutting through my skin, before I tumble down at the bottom, sprawled out where I’ve clunked my head on a rock. I try to get up, but dizziness swirls through my vision. I lie back, and force myself to calm. I know which direction Jeroc headed, I’m sure I can find a trail where he’s headed to a first level cave. And it’s still early enough that dark won’t hit. I’ll be fine.

  But a noise wakes me, and something flutters against my cheek. There’s a funky creature that stands on one leg, eyeing me. I startle, and the one-legged creature opens its mouth, showing rows of teeth in a snarl, before it flies away.

  My heart pounds and I see it’s much later in the day now. Shit, I must have passed out for a while. Groggily, I sit up and head toward the direction where I saw Jeroc. I don’t dare swim back to the village.

  There’s smashed vines where he must have trudged up a hill, and I take that r
oute. It’s getting darker as the sun moves south and I try to hurry. It seems like it takes forever to head up the hill, where it took me but a few moments to fall down the tunnel. Finally, the brush clears and I close my eyes. If the sun is setting in the south, I would have come from the opposite way. That means a first level cave must be…south. So I head toward the dropping sun, praying that it’s the right way. With the light fading, there’s no room for mistakes.

  I finally find a row of caves, with one that has a boulder across it from the inside. That’s a first level cave, and someone is inside. I hope it’s Jeroc.

  I pound on the outer boulder, but it’s solid and I can’t hear a thing beyond it. I shudder. I can’t imagine getting all the way up here, dried blood and tangled leaves in my hair, just to be eaten outside the cave by night predators.

  I pound harder, and scream his name. But there’s still nothing. I try to push the boulder, but it’s too heavy for human strength. Jeroc must have wedged it in by himself, and the irony pisses me off. He didn’t think he could care for me? He’s twice as strong as I am.

  I look around. There must be another way in. The caves usually have a top opening where smoke escapes. But there’s no way to climb up there.

  Chapter Twelve

  Then the boulder moves, and Jeroc peers out.

  “Tessa! What are you doing here?” His eyes dart around, seeing no one else. “Are you hurt? Where is Tijar?”

  “There’s no Tijar. I came by myself.”

  He bends down to pick me up. “You’re bleeding. Get inside, it’s almost time for the predators.”

  “Then why did you come out?”

  “I was just going to see if it was dark yet. If not, I was going to search for an aglaia fruit. You know better than to come outside the gates on your own,” he chides.

  I’m suddenly pissed. He’s put me through the wringer, and now treats me like a child?

  I raise my eyebrow. “I think you know better than to sneak out of a cave right before dark. What if it had been dark and something grabbed you? Or what if you twisted your ankle? Passed out? You’d be defenseless and alone while the creatures came.”