Trauhn: A SciFi Alien Barbarian Romance: Rakui Warriors - Book 1

by Grey, Lena

  Once our needs are taken care of, a green guy tosses two dirty animal hides in our direction. “Sleep,” is all he says.

  Four of the aliens head into the trees to keep watch. Four of the ones still in camp settle their backs against wide, twisty tree trunks and close their eyes. I guess it’s Spike’s job to keep an eye on us. He looks alert as ever, his weapon in hand, and I don’t doubt he’d shoot us if we tried to escape. He might not shoot to kill, but a laser gun like that could do a lot of damage to a shoulder or a thigh.

  We lay down on one hide, side by side, and pull the other one over us because that’s what we’re told to do. I’m on the end closest to the woods and turn away from the camp to stare into the trees. Jillian chatters against my back about all the things she’ll do to these guys if she gets a chance. I choke back a laugh when she says she’ll cut off their dicks and feed them to the serigs.

  Jade and Layla are on the opposite end of the row, whispering so quietly I can’t hear what they’re saying. Emily is crying. She seems so fragile, and I wonder how she’ll survive on this planet. Reese is so quiet she might be asleep.

  Movement in the shadows of the forest catches my eye. It’s probably one of the aliens on patrol or an animal hunting for its dinner. Still, my muscles go taut as I watch the area intently.

  There’s nothing more for the longest time and then I see something else. Not movement this time. Not exactly. A flash or a spark, maybe? I see it again and recognize what it is.

  The glint of moonlight reflecting off a blade.

  Chapter 24

  Trauhn

  * * *

  Rakuis are descendents of a great warrior race and fighting is in our blood. Yet we are also skilled hunters. From the time we are old enough to stand on two legs, Rakui males are taught how to wield a sword in defense of ourselves and our tribe, and how to stalk and kill the tastiest of beasts.

  Eliminating the four males standing guard away from the camp seems almost too easy. We pick them off with a quick twist of the neck or a blade sliced deep across the neck from ear to ear. If they are trained fighters, they have greatly underestimated us, their enemy.

  When we are certain there are no more guards, we re-group to discuss our next plan of attack and come across the body of a rogue we did not kill. Although the light from the moons is dim, we can see enough to know that his death was caused by a magic weapon.

  “Why would they kill a fellow tribesman?” Deek asks. He and Darht are two of our youngest warriors and still have much to learn about the harsh realities of life outside our village.

  “Because rogues have no honor or loyalty,” Remmel states. “They will gladly eliminate one of their own to gain the smallest advantage.”

  I nod in agreement. “Remmel speaks the truth. They are not a true tribe that bands together like the Rakui.”

  “There are five of them left in the camp, including the leader,” Harek says. “If we take them by surprise, we can overpower them before they can shoot their weapons.”

  Zeleck shakes his head. “Storming the camp would mean certain death for some of our brothers. We must first eliminate more of the fighters.”

  I agree. “We can create a disturbance to draw one or more of the remaining rogues into the forest.”

  “I do not like that idea. It would eliminate the advantage of surprise,” Harek argues.

  “Yes, but that will be a worthy sacrifice if we then have fewer enemies to conquer,” I say.

  “Creating a disturbance appears to be the best option,” Lukka says, siding with me and Zeleck.

  “What do you think, Remmel?” I say. A simple majority is enough to move forward with a decision, yet I would prefer that all of us agree on our plan of attack.

  “I think a disturbance is the best choice,” Remmels says.

  “Are there more arguments against this plan?” When none of my warrior brothers speak up, I say, “It is settled then. Here is what I think we should do.”

  * * *

  Kenzie

  I want to tell the others that the Rakuis have come for us, just like I said they would. But I can’t be sure they’ll keep quiet and I don’t want to blow the guys’ cover by drawing extra attention our way.

  It would be suicide for them to attack the camp with nothing but knives and spears and I hope Trauhn is smarter than that. I shudder at the thought of Spike using his laser weapon to kill him or the other Rakuis who’ve put their lives on the line for us.

  I wish I knew what they were planning so we could help—or get out of the way if a fight is about to break out.

  Jillian nudges my back. “Hey, do you hear that?” she whispers near my ear.

  Muffled grunts and thrashing sounds are coming from the trees, although the sounds are on the other side of the small camp. “It’s the Rakuis,” I whisper back.

  Spike hears the sounds in the trees, too. He gets up from his vigil and kicks one of his sleeping thugs. “Wake up, you worthless arghn,” he says in the alien language. “It sounds like the guards are engaged in a fight. Go investigate.”

  The guy doesn’t seem too excited about the idea. “I would be of more use to you as a protector of the females.”

  Spike’s not having it. “I make the decisions on this mission. Do as I say or I will tell our evac captain to leave you behind.”

  The reluctant mercenary heads into the woods and Spike wakes up the rest of his crew. “We need to move the females. I do not know how the dumb barbarians found us so quickly, but they have.” Spike’s the dumb one if he hasn’t considered that the Rakuis know these woods like the backs of their hands. He points to a green guy. “You, go fight with the others.”

  Spike comes over to us and yanks off the hide that’s covering us. “On your feet,” he says in Gactic Common.

  “What’s happening?” Layla says, rubbing her eyes as if she’d just woken up even though she was never asleep.

  “No talking,” Spike barks while waving his gun in our direction. “Line up and get moving.”

  Emily starts crying again when the three aliens herd us like cattle out of the clearing and into the woods, prodding us to move fast.

  The thugs Spike sent to fight don’t catch up with us, and there’s been no sign of the guards. I hope that means the Rakuis took them all out. I still don’t like the odds, though. Three mercenaries with high-tech laser weapons is too many.

  We haven’t walked very far but I’m tired and it’s hard to see where we’re going. I stumble in the low level moonlight and almost fall on a plutcy bush. That gives me an idea.

  While I’m walking, I keep my eyes on the ground, looking for the perfect spot to stumble again. This time on purpose. When I see another plutcy bush, I pretend to trip and fall to the ground next to the poison shrub. “Oh, shit!”

  Spike stops our little processional and snaps out an order. “Get her up and keep moving.”

  I extend my hand toward the alien closest to me. “Can you help me?”

  When his warm, clammy palm closes around mine, I jerk his arm forward while kicking his shin with as much force as I can muster. I’m sure I don’t hurt him, but he loses his balance and falls face first into the plutcy bush. Bullseye!

  “UNGNGNG!” The alien yelps and sputters what I assume is an expletive that my translator doesn’t understand. He reaches out to grab me but I scramble away.

  When he gets up, he has a bunch of plutcy bush needles sticking out of his face like a horrifyingly twisted acupuncture treatment. And the dude is super pissed.“Terran bitch, I will—gurgleglug.” The alien’s eyes go wide with surprise when he chokes on his words. Then his body stiffens, and he drops to the ground, immobile.

  I don’t even have time to celebrate my victory before Spike’s remaining thug—the other green one—throws his arm around my neck, slamming me against his chest, and points his gun at my head. “What did you do to him, female?”

  “Nothing!” I lie. “He fell on that bush when trying to help me up and then he just…coll
apsed.”

  Spike pushes the rest of the girls together and says, “Move and you are dead.” Then he comes over to check out all the drama. “Tell me why he should not kill you.”

  “Because Earth Gov won’t be happy about it?” I suggest.

  Spike just laughs. “Why should I care whether Earth Gov is happy or not? They are not paying our bounty.”

  Bounty? Were these guys slave traders? “Who is paying you?” I ask. The arm around my neck tightens.

  “That is none of your concern,” Spike says. “One less female will reduce our cut, but making an example out of you will be worth it.”

  “Give me the word, boss, and I will take care of her,” green guy says. I’m worried he might actually pull the trigger.

  “Wait!” Jillian says. “You can’t kill her. She’s…”

  “She’s what?” Spike sneers.

  “Pregnant. With a barbarian’s baby.” The other girls gasp at Jillian’s pronouncement.

  “It this true, Kenzie?” Emily asks, horrified.

  “I, uh—” Before I can finish my thought, a knife zings past my head and lodges in the throat of green guy. It must hit a major artery, or whatever aliens have that act like arteries, because thick, black blood oozes out like hot lava during a volcanic eruption.

  The alien pulls the knife from his neck, tightens his grip on me and whirls us around in the direction of the incoming blade, using me as a shield while shooting his laser gun blindly into the trees. Then, all hell breaks loose as more blades come flying toward him and Spike both.

  “Get down!” I yell to the other girls as I wrench myself out of the alien’s grip and drop to the forest floor. We do our best to crawl away from the action.

  Trauhn must have my stun blaster because a beam of laser energy pulses from shadows and hits green guy squarely in the chest. He collapses, twitching, just like the serigs.

  A panicked Spike, who’s injured and all alone now, turns toward us with his weapon pointed in our direction. “If I am dying this day, I am taking you all with me. We should never have accepted this mission. The entire galaxy knows that Terran females are cursed.”

  Before he can get off the first shot, a spear sails through the air in a perfect arc and lodges deep in his right shoulder, causing the gun in his hand to wobble. Spike screams and shoots, but by the grace of God doesn’t hit any of us.

  He falls to his knees and looks directly at me, his weapon shaking in his hands. With a demented grin on his face, he says, “Prepare for your child to die, female.”

  Everything’s happening so fast but time slows to a crawl. An innate, maternal instinct kicks in and the thought of losing my baby hurts more than the thought of losing my own life. I don’t want to die, but even more than that, I want my baby to live.

  As tears spill from my eyes, I squeeze them shut and shield my abdomen with my arms, as if that will stop his powerful weapon from killing the tiny life there. I can’t help but think about Trauhn and what might have been.

  Zzzttthhhhttt.

  Zzzttthhhhttt.

  Zzzttthhhhttt.

  I hear the laser weapon discharge once, twice, three times and wait to feel the pain of impact. When it doesn’t come, I realize with a half-laugh, half-cry that I’m not hit.

  I’M. NOT. HIT.

  I open my eyes and see that Spike’s the one who’s dead and Jade is taking one of the alien’s weapons from a Emily’s shaking hands. She killed Spike and saved my life. She saved all our lives.

  The two aliens disabled by the plucy bush and stun blaster are dead now, too, finished off by the Rakuis who made it through this whole thing with nothing more than a few scratches. It’s impressive when you think about it.

  Strong, golden arms scoop me up, and I cling to Trauhn as his lips descend on mine. He kisses me with possessive abandon and for the first time since our escape pods launched into space, a sense of peace, happiness and knowing washes over me. I belong here, with Trauhn.

  “Ken-zee safe,” he says when he finally breaks our kiss.

  “Because you came for me. For us,” I say.

  “Trauhn will always come for Ken-zee.” He takes my hand and places it over his heart. “Ken-zee here. Forevermore.”

  Chapter 25

  Kenzie

  * * *

  By the time we make it back to the Rakui village it’s early morning, although the sun isn’t up just yet. After a couple hours of sleep, the rescue party will leave to look for the rest of the girls. It’s already decided that Trauhn and I will stay behind. Me because I’m pregnant and him because he refuses to leave my side in case the rogues come back.

  Trauhn tries to drag me off to his hut to sleep, but I need a few minutes with my friends. Their survival packs and sleeping furs are moved to the North Caves and I want to make sure they’re settled before I go to him.

  We salvaged gear and weapons from the dead aliens and we’ve turned the smallest cave into a storage room for what we’re calling our spoils of war.

  Layla’s messing with a communicator she found in Spike’s pocket that was damaged when he was shot. “If I can get this working, I might be able to send out a distress call.”

  “Or maybe you’ll end up contacting the slavers instead,” Jillian grumbles.

  “We don’t even know if the aliens who kidnapped us were hired by slavers,” Jade counters.

  “Too bad the Rakuis killed the last two guys before we interrogated them,” Layla says. “It would be helpful to know who brought them here and how they planned to get off the planet.”

  A random thought pops into my head. “Did any of you get the horny TEASE feeling from the alien mercenaries?”

  “I didn’t,” Reese says, “but I felt like jumping our Rakui rescuers.”

  Layla raises her hand. “Same.”

  “Me, too,” Jades adds.

  “One look at those creeps and my TEASE closed up shop,” Jillian says. She doesn’t mention the Rakuis…or Remmel.

  “How about you, Em?” I ask.

  Emily just shrugs in response. She’s always been the quiet type but has been extra quiet ever since she shot Spike. She’s not crying anymore, which is good, but she has a dead alien’s gun belt cinched around her hips with the weapon still seated in the holster.

  “I wonder if our TEASE implants can tell the difference between good guys and bad guys,” I say.

  “Or maybe SPECIES SURVIVAL MODE is programmed to respond only to Rakuis.” Layla says the quiet part out loud.

  None of us say anything more because the possibility that Earth’s government is using our implants to make us desire a specific species of alien is almost too much to fathom.

  After we say our goodnights, I slip into Trauhn’s hut. The layout is simple, yet comfortable, just like the hunting cave we stayed in. There’s a pile of furs that serves as a bed and my survival pack is sitting between a stack of wood and Trauhn’s weapons.

  There’s a fire burning in the center pit and a crude, handmade pot holds water that’s warming over it. Trauhn’s washing up, completely naked and sporting a raging hard-on, and greets my look of surprise with a sexy grin. The glow from the fire reflects off his scales, and his physical perfection takes my breath away.

  I refuse to believe that my feelings for him aren’t real…or that they’re artificially generated by a sick, military-sponsored science experiment. He’s everything I’ve ever dreamed of and I won’t let doubt sabotage my chance at happiness with him.

  “Trauhn wash,” he says, once again stating the obvious. I lick my lips when he runs the leather cloth up and down his substantial erection.

  A sponge bath sounds pretty good, especially if he’s doing the bathing. “Will you wash me, too?” The heat in his eyes tells me his answer, and I strip off my clothing and go to him.

  “Ken-zee mine,” he says, then seals his declaration with a kiss.

  “Yours,” I agree.

  He wets the leather cloth and gently washes my face before dragging it slowly
along my arms, across my back, around my breasts. His sensual caresses set my entire body on fire and by the time he brings the cloth between my legs I’m soaking wet and aching for his touch.

  Then his fingers are there, plunging inside my warmth. “Trauhn! Oh! Wow!”

  * * *

  Trauhn

  There is no sweeter sound than my name on Ken-zee’s tongue as I pleasure her. I should savor our mating, but it is late. My mate needs to sleep and my cock is eager to find its way home.

  When she’s had her release, I bury myself inside of her with a single thrust. Her arms wrap around my waist and her legs cross over my hips and she pulls me toward her, urging me deeper. I kiss her soft lips, our tongues sparring, as our bodies move together in perfect harmony.

  Her breaths soon come in pants, her heels pressing into my flesh, and she clenches around my cock. “Ohgod. Imcomingagain. Ohyes!”

  I do not need to understand her words because her cunt speaks a universal language. She has found release again and her body slicks the way for me to thrust faster, harder, deeper. My sac tightens, and a low groan vibrates in my chest. Then, my muscles tense and my seed spills forth, filling her channel with my hot, sticky seed.

  After a time, I roll onto my back, bringing Ken-zee with me, our bodies still connected and her head resting against my chest. The thought of losing her, of losing our kit, makes me shudder and I push the thought away. For now, she is safe in my arms.

  She lifts her head and places her hand over my heart. “On Urth, when we feel that someone is here, we say, ‘I love you.’” Her soft lips brush against chest. “I love you, Trauhn.”

  She looks happy and content, and I am relieved to see that the sadness she carried after telling me about our kit is now gone. I cup her cheek in my hand and repeat her Terran words. “Ey luv yew, Ken-zee.”