My mate, the resonance of my khui, my new reason for existing, has just planted her tiny, strange foot in my chest and kicked. It’s almost as if she does not want to mate.
Her strange, dead eyes are wide with fear, no comforting glow in them. I want to tell her that she’ll be fine. That she’s mine now and I’ll take care of her. That we’ll take down one of the monstrous sa-kohtsk and pull a new khui from its depths so she will no longer suffer.
But I’m puzzled as to why she would hurt herself. I rub my chest where her tiny foot landed. Without her leathers, her body seems even smaller, and she’s soft and ridge-less. She seems to have forgotten this, too, as she gives me an indignant look, then howls with pain and clings to her foot.
I don’t understand her. Maybe her lack of khui is affecting her senses. “I will not harm you,” I say to her slowly, because she looks terrified. “You are my mate, now.”
“Tht hrt dmmt!”
“Let me see your foot,” I demand. If she has no khui, she probably does not heal as she should, either. When she continues to give me a frightened look, I reach forward and place my hand on her ankle.
She bellows something and thrashes at me again. Her hand curls into a fist, and she smacks it into my face, knocking my lip against my teeth. A flash of pain shoots through my mouth, and I snarl.
She immediately goes quiet, flinching backward, her hands raised to shield herself.
I am sickened at her reaction.
This woman, this small creature who has half the stature of a sa-khui is my mate. How can she possibly think I would harm her? But she is cringing back even now, as if expecting a blow to fall. Rage fills me, because this is not a normal response.
Someone has hurt my mate in the past.
I reach forward and turn her pale face toward me. She fights, but her eyes close again, and she begins to tremble. I gaze at her small, flat features. Her skin tone is regular, except for mottled bruising along one side. There is the evidence I suspected.
“Who did this to you?” I ask.
BARBARIAN ALIEN (Liz’s Story)
Book 2 – Now Available in KINDLE UNLIMITED! Click here to borrow.
Twelve humans are left stranded on a wintry alien planet. I’m one of them. Yay, me.
In order to survive, we have to take on a symbiont that wants to rewire our bodies to live in this brutal place. I like to call it a cootie. And my cootie’s a jerk, because it also thinks I’m the mate to the biggest, surliest alien of the group.
* * *
RAAHOSH
My khui is an idiot.
It must be. Why else would it ignore the women of my clan and the moment we enter the den of the dirty, ragged humans, it begins to bleat in my chest like a quill beast? Or that it chose the frailest of the sick humans to select as my mate?
A mate that glares at me with knowing, angry eyes and refuses to eat the medicinal broth that I bring her? That pushes aside my hands when I try to help her to her feet? Who scowls when I bring her water?
It's clear that my khui is full of foolishness.
"Did you resonate for anyone?" Aehako asks at my side. He stuffs a fur into a traveling bag. We are preparing the humans' cave for travel, since they are too weak to do so. Everything must come with us, Vektal says. It does not matter that it is stained and filthy, or useless. The humans have so little that he is sure they will treasure whatever they have, so it must come. Two of the hunters that resonated for females have been sent off to get furs from the nearest hunter caves, because the humans are poorly equipped to face the harsh snows, and they have no khui to keep them warm.
This will be remedied shortly, however.
A sa-kohtsk is near. The large creatures carry many khui, and we will hunt one for its meat and ensure that the humans will not die of khui-sickness.
I think of the hollow eyes of my new mate and how miserable she looks. Most of the human hides are a pale color, but my human is paler than most. That must mean she is sicker. I will insist she be one of the first to get a khui.
Aehako repeats his question. "Raahosh? Did you resonate?"
I don't like to lie, but i also don't want anyone to know, not when my mate is glaring at me as if she is furious.
Raahosh is scarier than most.
Her words cut. She is smooth and pale and weak, and yet I am the one lacking? I shrug and shoulder the pack. "It matters not. We will see what happens when the khui are in the humans."
"I didn't resonate." Aehako looks glum, his broad features downcast. "Do you think more will resonate when they come into season? Perhaps they're not in season." He gives me a hopeful glance.