That was the one good thing about Ar’ar. He’d taken her from Earth just as other human women had been to be mates to g’hir warriors but he wouldn’t force her. With his size and strength she wouldn’t stand a chance and as aroused as he made her, her body would betray her to pleasure if he took her as sure as the cold water raised gooseflesh on her arms now.
He’d claimed her; he brought her back to his clan—proof of his hunting prowess or some such crap. Nightly he tried to seduce her, that rumbling sound making her wild with need. His fangs flashed in annoyance every time when she, trembling with arousal, refused him, but he didn’t insist on anything more than sleeping beside her.
But no plea or demand or efforts to reason with him were going to get her back to Earth either.
Ar’ar’s father, Mirak, clanfather of the whole damned Betari enclosure himself, had told her in no uncertain terms that this world was her home—and Ar’ar her mate—no matter what she wanted.
With a hard splat she smeared mud on the outside of the pack too.
The capital city of Be’lyn lay due east of the Betari enclosure and she had a long haul to get there. Also contained in her bag, rolled into another set of practical clothes, was a fortune in jewels that Ar’ar had gifted her, as the Betari’s future clanmother, enough to buy or bribe her way back to Earth.
Completely covered in muck, Summer shouldered her pack again and started east.
She would get home—and in time—no matter what.
The dried mud started to itch even before Hir’s twin suns—the Brothers—rose. By midmorning it took a lot of her willpower not to scratch. The mud might be disguising her scent from the g’hir but it felt heavy and stiff in her hair and some flaked off as it dried, irritating her nostrils, bitter in her mouth. Gritty on her tongue, it was very like its peaty smell and, even through she knew she shouldn’t waste the moisture, she couldn’t help but spit to clear her mouth of the nasty taste.
It was hours since Ar’ar must’ve awakened to find the place beside him empty, since he’d gone in search of her within the confines of the Betari enclosure, realized she was nowhere to be found . . .
Summer batted at insects, slapping the biting ones, moving through the forest as fast as her leaden legs would allow. She wasn’t sure if his pride would insist he come alone or if the Betari’s leader would send clanbrothers with him to bring her back.
But Ar’ar was hunting her now.
Her stomach growled but she ignored it. She’d stopped briefly at dawn to rest and eat but she didn’t want to stop again until—
One instant the cay’ik wasn’t there then it was.
She gasped as dozens of spindly black legs propelled its worm-like body along the ground toward her. About the same size as Granny Delilah’s dachshund, with a pale, waxy yellow body, the creature scuttled forward.
It made a scorpion look positively cuddly. With venom that paralyzed the victim even as it liquefied flesh for the cay’ik’s consumption, it was one of the most deadly—and revolting—creatures on Hir.
Its black gaze fixed on her and her eyes widened as its round mouth opened to reveal rows and rows of sharp teeth. Fumbling in her pocket for the tiny blaster as the cay’ik lunged, Summer backpedaled so fast she lost her footing, landing hard on her butt.
The fall knocked the blaster from her hand and it bounced out of reach.
The cay’ik hissed and spit and Summer kicked hard just as it launched itself at her, catching the wretched thing in the face with her heel. Like quicksilver its body whipped around and the creature’s mouth clamped down on her boot.
Yelping, she scraped at it hard with her other foot to dislodge it. The cay’ik flew though the air to land on its back but it was stunned only for an instant, its many legs waving for a moment before gaining purchase enough to flip it back onto its belly. Summer threw herself to the side as it jumped right at her face.
The cay’ik exploded as her blaster bolt caught it square on.
Shaking with reaction, gripping the blaster so hard her hand hurt, Summer realized a venomous bite would get her off Hir quick too and not in any way she’d intended.
But she didn’t feel any pain. Liquefying flesh would hurt, right? Wiping her foot against the forest floor, she cleaned the top her right boot off quickly to judge the damage. To her astonishment—and relief—the cay’ik’s teeth hadn’t managed to breach the tough leather of her boot.
Green goo and a few still-twitching black legs were spread over a full square yard, some even sticking to the bark of the trees behind where the cay’ik had been.
Summer pushed her mud-caked hair out her face. “God, I hate this fucking planet!”
Her legs felt a little shaky as she got to her feet and skirted the remains. Cay’ik were fiercely protective of their large territories so she wasn’t likely to come across another for hours.