So I move slowly, so carefully, detangling the wet mess of it with my talons. The rainstorm rages on overhead, the snails’ light winking out the further they travel from our bodies. I take my time, braiding it back in the Suevan way. It will stay out of her eyes like this, and when she undoes her braid, it will not be tangled. A loud peal of thunder crashes overhead, and she stirs in her sleep, muttering something about can-dee, before flopping towards me.
My breath catches in my throat.
Her cheeks are flushed, and I am relieved to see the color has fully returned to her spotted skin. The spots are endlessly intriguing, sprinkled over the high bridge of her nose and across those cheeks. They remind me of the asteroid belt that orbits Sueva, visible on the rare clear nights.
The asteroids are the first thing that Suevans use to navigate when learning to steer the space-to-land craft. I spent many nights as a boy and a young man memorizing the locations of certain asteroids so that I could become the best. So that I could find my way home.
I stare at the little brown dots dusting her beautiful face, and my heart squeezes.
I would memorize these, too. Because this woman, this human, she will be my home.
And yet, what kind of foundation have I built for us?
She is as alien to me as I am to her, with her smooth skin and fine hair, and strange round eyes. The people of Earth sent her to us unwillingly, ignorant of her purpose here, and without the translator in place, she could not have known what was happening.
And without being tied to the Suevan people, she would not have been allowed to access our sacred language.
I cannot imagine sending eight valuable warriors into this situation. I cannot fathom sending any of my people into a marriage and keeping them in the dark about it.
It is reprehensible.
It is a violation.
I turn it over in my head, trying to untangle it.
We might be mated, but no matter how much I want this woman, how much I need my Ni-Kee, I must woo her. Court her, in the old ways. Show her that I will be a good mate.
No.
I will be the best mate.
A plan begins to take shape in my head, and I smile to myself as I watch the beauty in my arms breathe deeply in sleep. I could court her. Prove to her that I am a good mate by bringing her food and caring for her, protecting her, tending to her every need, in the traditional way.
Yes. I will win her trust in this manner. Her love. Her body.
Perhaps it will take longer than I expect to reach Edrobaz, high in the mountain jungle. Perhaps it will be slightly more dangerous than our traditional courtship rituals, what with the separatists hunting us. I bare my fangs, arms tensing slightly. This human female has captured me as surely as a hunter and a jex.
This is a desperate plan, and a small, rational part of my brain acknowledges that, for I am desperate for the delicate warrior woman in my arms.
But when we arrive to Edrobaz, Ni-Kee will be mine, body and soul.
I wake hours later. The snails pulse gently against the inner walls of the tree, their intermittent glow a sign of approaching dawn.
The previous days’ events roll through my mind, and my eyes fly open. My mate. Danger from the separatists. The first fingers of dawn reach through the crack in the tree, caressing Ni-Kee’s skin. Her eyes flicker under their lids, and she murmurs something in her sleep, throwing a bare, muscular arm over her eyes.
My tail lashes behind me.
The sun should not wake her. After her ordeal yesterday, she needs her sleep, and a low snarl builds in my chest before I cut it off, determined to let her rest. Even more determined to prove to her what a good mate I will be.
Her breath stutters, and I pause, loathe to leave her, yet set on returning with provisions. My Ni-Kee will not be able to resist the sweets I have in mind. Gladness fills me that she shared her love of them with me. More ammunition for me to tear down her walls with.
I draw my purpose to me like armor, and gently extricate my arm. Her skin is warm, but not so warm that I fear she’s fevered, and lacks the concerning chill from last night.
Good.
I stand carefully, readjusting my traditional pants worn specially for our ritual. Armor would have been more prudent, in light of the attack, but we were foolish, and the thin trousers are all I have. Not my sword, nor my few pieces of armor. Just my scaled hide and talons.
It will have to be enough.
Better than my poor mate, who’s lips part in her sleep. The sun’s rays dance upon her small mouth, and jealousy stabs me. Never before have I been angry with the sun, but now, watching it slide across my Ni-Kee’s smooth skin, I want nothing more than to replace it, to drown it out in the shadow of my body.
I grit my teeth and stomp quietly from the tree trunk.
Truly, we were foolish to not have prepared a better exit strategy in case of an attack. Distracted by the thought of having our own females.
Females we put in danger through our oversight.
It will not happen again. My tail slaps across the ground.
The jungle swells with the sounds of creatures. Something large crashes through the underbrush, likely a troblek. The sight of a tusk a moment later confirms my suspicions, and the herbivore ambles past, unconcerned and untroubled by my presence. It’s too big to bring down for my mate and I, so I leave it be, grateful for the abundance of game.
Of course, I do not have my weapons, so taking down game will be all but impossible. I stretch my arms overhead, mentally tabulating all I can bring back my mate. Meat, yes, but it would need to be roasted. And with the separatists on our trail, we should keep moving.
I am loath to bring her to my mountain city without winning her over, though, and while a small part of me protests that I am being short-sighted, I ignore it, my cock growing hard with the thought of plunging into her soft body once I am successful.
Yes. We will take the circuitous route, so that I have time to show her how treasured she will be. How treasured she already is.
I can protect her. I am not the foremost Suevan warlord for nothing, after all.
I find the solman berries after walking several minutes, careful to keep track of the hollow tree my mate still sweetly sleeps in. Dark blue-black and tinged with red, the solman berries are a rare treat in Edrobaz, as they primarily grow in the lower altitudes.
I pop one in my mouth, and the sugary flavor explodes across my taste buds.
Excellent. This will please her greatly, I think.
I tear a zitsu leaf from a nearby tree, fashioning it into a crude pouch and stuffing it full of all the ripe berries it can fit. Pleased with my handiwork, I clasp the leaf and berries to my chest, when I hear her sound of terror.
It breaks across the noisy jungle, high-pitched and ominous.
All thought of berries leaves my mind.
My mate is in danger.
CHAPTER NINE
NIKI
I smell it before I see it, and it’s the foul odor that shakes the last vestiges of sleep from me.
It crawls across my chest, forked tongue flicking out as it tastes the air. I gag. Its breath is horrendous. I have no idea what it is, but I lie still, barely breathing, afraid to blink, as the creature’s disgusting smell overwhelms my senses.
I need a weapon. Claws sink into my stomach, not piercing, but sharp and uncomfortable all the same.