Alien mask, p.24
Alien Mask, page 24
“You really don’t need to worry,” I piped up. When his bright sight stars swung down to my face, a wave of nerves hit me, wondering if I’d been too insolent or something. I’d gotten used to human women talking to the Sea Sand Gahns pretty much however they wanted to. But he remained silent as if waiting for me to continue, so I did. “If you’re part of the alliance now, no one’s going to try to cause you trouble as long as you stay peaceful.”
“But that is just the thing, Little Lerokan’s mate. If she chooses not to come back with me, like these others say she might, I do not see how I could remain among the others in peace.”
Little Lerokan’s mate? OK, I could see why this guy had been such a thorn in Lerokan’s side that he hadn’t even wanted to mention him. Trying to keep the unimpressed scowl off my face, I reminded myself of cultural differences and not to be an ethnocentric human twat. Although I had a feeling that even among this culture, Gahn Errok was kind of a cocky asshole.
Which is pretty much what I thought of Lerokan when I met him, to be fair.
“We already told you. No taking women from the settlement!” Chapman barked. “That’s a core tenet of our alliance. If she agrees to come back here, that’s a different story.”
Fallo bared his vicious fangs beside her. “You are only one Gahn to our five. We will destroy you if you even try.”
“Well, I bid you a good journey, brother!” Lerokan said cheerily, smiling widely. “Try not to get your head lopped off!”
Gahn Errok stared back at him flatly, then looked at me once more. “You see what I have to deal with?”
I couldn’t help but smirk. I see Lerokan’s not the only one with a flair for the dramatics.
Gahn Errok’s voice softened slightly, and a genuine smile overtook his features. No cute little dimple, though. “It is very good to meet you, by the way, Priya.”
OK. Maybe he’s not an entirely unlikeable prat.
“Who’s your mate?” I blurted, realizing that hadn’t been addressed yet.
Gahn Errok sighed, his hulking shoulders rising then sloping with the movement. “That is part of the problem. I’ve described her face to the others but apparently, a few women share her features. Which seems absurd to me, since clearly, my mate is unique even among her own people and is above all others. And they refuse to round up and deliver all the women who meet the description to me!”
OK. We’re back to the prat thing.
“Looks like you’ll have to go and get her then. And convince her to come back with you,” I said sharply.
“I do not understand why everyone keeps reminding me of this,” Errok said, glowering. “She is my mate, she will agree. She will want to be with me, to come with me.”
“We’ll see,” Chapman said ominously, her voice clipped.
“Go, brother,” Lerokan said. “There is no other way to claim her. Go find your mate the way I have already found mine.” Lerokan’s arm tightened around my shoulders, and he raised his chin, chest puffing out. I couldn’t help but smile and shake my head at the obvious pride he had holding me at his side. The one thing he’d one-upped his brother in, apparently. Growing up as an only child, I’d never really seen dynamics like this up close and personal outside of shows on the telly. My mom had had a sister, Beena, but whenever they got together they bloody loved it. They always laughed so hard together that one (or both) of them inevitably ended up doing a bit of a wee.
“Besides,” Lerokan added smoothly, “I am no longer an exile. I can keep the tribe running and protected in your stead.”
“That makes me want to leave even less,” Gahn Errok retorted. He narrowed his gaze at Lerokan, his mouth thinning into a grim line before he snapped his tail in finality. “I will go. I will win her. As I have won everything else.”
With that, he turned and swept imperiously away back towards his men.
“I do not like that one,” Gahn Fallo seethed, watching Gahn Errok’s retreating back.
“Do you like any of the other Gahns?” Chapman countered.
“No,” was his growly reply.
“Well then, this should be no different,” Chapman shot back, poking him in the side. Then she turned to face Lerokan and me.
“So,” I began, unsure how to put what I was feeling into words. I wanted desperately to see my human friends and everyone at the settlement. But even more than that, I wanted to stay here. At least for a while longer. With Lerokan. “So, if Gahn Errok’s mate decides she wants to, she can come back here? Even stay here?”
We’d all agreed that the human women would stay together at the settlement. We’d made the Gahns upend their lives over that rule.
But Chapman nodded, confirming my words.
“Yeah. We’re actually going to set up a human base in the neutral territory out here. Well, the last bit of territory that remains neutral now after those two Gahns argued endlessly about the borders.” Her grey eyes flicked to Gahn Thaleo, who I realized was still standing quite near, watching and listening, utterly still.
“We’re going to take the shuttle back to the settlement for now,” Chapman continued. “We’re not quite ready to just stay out here. But pretty soon, we’ll bring the shuttle back here, park it near the base of the Lavrika’s, or, shoot, the Vrika’s, mountain, and use that and the surrounding caves as our base. We’ll have tech to communicate with the main ship in the desert. Since we think the Earth forces want the Lavrika’s blood, and there’s evidently more of the same stuff out here, it makes sense to keep at least some kind of post active in these mountains. There’s no guarantee Earth forces will attack at the Cliffs of Uruzai first. There’s also the Kell’s milk, but since the source of that supply is deep underwater, I think that’s a less likely target.”
I nodded, all of that making sense and buoying my hopes.
“So... If I wanted to stay here... Before this new base is ready...”
Chapman’s orange eyebrows rose slightly. She rubbed her chin thoughtfully, looking at the pair of us.
“Alright, well... You’ve accepted him, then?”
“Yes,” I breathed, feeling warm from more than just the sun beating down.
“Hmm. I still don’t like the idea of leaving you alone out here, though.”
“She isn’t alone,” Lerokan growled.
“But still,” Chapman said, frowning. She turned to look back towards the ship. “Oxriel! Come here, please.”
I gasped, joy stretching my face into a smile to see Oxriel jogging over.
“Oxriel! You’re alright! I didn’t see you over there!” I cried. I wiggled out from Lerokan’s hold and tossed my arms around his waist. He made a little laughing sound of pure, shocked joy and returned the embrace, being careful not to crack any of my weak human ribs with his strength.
“I am glad to see you well, too, Priya. We worried endlessly for you. They had to keep us bound and guarded the entire time, otherwise we would have fought our way out to find you.”
“Yes, well, that worry was entirely unnecessary, thank you. Because her mate came to find her,” Lerokan seethed.
Lerokan’s looming shadow drenched Oxriel and me, the darkness of it so heavy it almost became a physical sensation. Oxriel cleared his throat and let me go. I noticed Dalk, Vaxilkai, and Bariok too, standing in the shadow of the ship. Thank goodness! They all look healed and healthy. Gahn Thaleo held up his end of things.
“Oxriel,” Chapman said, “you can stay here, too. I’d like to have a familiar face around here if Priya’s going to stay.”
“What?!” exclaimed Lerokan. “Is my face not yet familiar enough for you, Gahnala?” He bent down so his face was level with hers, prompting a snarl from Gahn Fallo. The snarl was ignored.
“Here, take a good look at it,” Lerokan said, moving his head around so she could see his face from multiple angles. “Make my face familiar. I do not want this man” - he jerked a claw at Oxriel - “staying here as some sort of guard for my mate.”
“Oh, trust me. Your face is very familiar to me now,” Chapman said, staring him down. “It’s pretty much the same as your brother’s, and I’ve been arguing and trying to negotiate with him all morning.”
Lerokan jerked back as if Chapman’s comment had been a direct strike to the face. Or ego.
He muttered something about a grave insult, but Chapman talked over him.
“Oxriel is staying.”
“Is that OK with you, Oxriel?” I asked. “You’ve been out here a while now.”
He smiled. “It is fine, Priya. I have no mate or cubs waiting for me. I am happy to go wherever needed if my Gahn approves.”
Chapman called over to Gahn Taliok, clearing the plan with him, and he grunted his agreement back at her.
“Alright, that’s all decided, then,” Chapman said, nodding. “So, you’re good to go, Priya? You’re sure you don’t want to come back with us today?”
“I’m sure,” I replied firmly. I knew I’d be back to visit at some point in the near future, and it sounded like I’d see some of my friends in the mountains soon anyway, at the new base.
“Alright then,” Chapman said with a nod. “We’re going to get going. I want to try to find a non-quicksand spot to touch down and check on Varrow.”
I gasped.
“Hold on. Varrow?”
“Yeah,” Chapman replied. “He’s been recovering from an arrow wound in the Death Plains. Camille and Kohka are with him.”
Tears sprang to my eyes, and I grinned widely at her. Lerokan and I had been reunited, peace was tentatively reigning in the mountains, and now the news that Varrow had survived the battle? Best fucking day ever.
“I am glad but surprised at this news,” Oxriel said slowly, sounding bewildered. “I saw him take an arrow right through the heart. Not long after that, I was distracted by the fighting and then commanded to follow the man who’d taken Priya.”
“It’s pretty wild,” Chapman replied. I stared at her, totally agog, hanging on her every word. “Apparently the Lavrika – Vrika – was flying by and touched down and healed him. He wouldn’t have survived otherwise.”
“Ah, yes. We saw the Vrika on its flight,” Oxriel replied, his warm sight stars misting into a thoughtful haze.
“I suppose the Vrika does not only meddle in the affairs of the Deep Sky men, but those of the Sea Sand men too,” Lerokan mused.
“And thank goodness it does,” I said, my cheeks aching from my wide smile. Hearing about Varrow had been the cherry on top of this day.
Now, I could finally truly relax.
I turned to my mate.
“Come on,” I said, placing a hand on his chest. “It’s time for me to see my new home.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
Lerokan
When the final conversations and agreements concluded, those of us not native to Gahn Thaleo’s mountains prepared to leave. We watched in wary wonder as the large vessel ascended, taking the strangers with it. My brother had refused the offer to fly back with them, saying that he wanted his mate’s first view of him to be on the back of his own braxilk, not being escorted like some sort of child. It was determined that he would fly back to our mountains with us, then prepare for the journey from there.
And, since my brother was convinced I would somehow turn the mountain upside down in his absence, he commanded that his closest advisor, Zakkar, remain behind to act as his stand-in. This may have annoyed me at one point, but not now. No, let Zakkar busy himself with the mundane tasks of leading the tribe. Meanwhile, I will busy myself licking my mate’s perfect cunt.
I thought about it the entire flight home. I held Priya more tightly to me than ever, relishing the feel of her narrow back against my chest and abdomen. The whipping winds tore away her scent as we flew, forcing me to bend my head and breathe it in directly from the source as we went.
She kept her eyes closed much of the time, her face scrunched at yet another flight. Meanwhile, I kept mine wide open, letting in the light and the brutal beauty of these mountains. Everything felt more saturated, more clear, more meaningful with Priya on my mount with me. This is destiny. This is what a man’s life should be, I thought as we sliced together through the bright sky. This was true goodness. Boundless skies above, flashing peaks below, and my mate pressed against me.
Once, I had fought this. I had fought it with every fang and claw.
But no more.
I was ready to embrace this. All of this. This new life. This new woman with all her strange loveliness.
We flew a little more slowly than we had on the way to Gahn Thaleo’s. Now that we had no battle song in our hearts, and no woman to rescue, we did not have to go at such a break-wing pace. The result was that we did not approach our territory until the sun began its descent. By the time we approached the main mountain of our home, flying towards the open wall of the hall, the light had all but disappeared.
“We are here,” I murmured against Priya’s ear. She forced one eye open and then sagged backward against me in relief as we landed in the hall.
The hall was large, but not large enough to accommodate the entire army landing with their mounts. Most of the warriors continued flying upwards to the open-roofed roosting caves above where their braxilk would rest, showing Oxriel the way.
Therefore, it was only Gahn Errok, Zakkar, and I who drove our mounts to land in the hall.
Gahn Errok dismounted immediately. I did, too, helping Priya down. A hot frisson went through me when her feet hit the floor. She’s here. And she’s mine.
“Rest now, Togo, before we depart,” Errok said to his mount. Togo took off into the evening sky, his wings a dark spread against the indigo and fading orange. Zakkar’s mount soon followed.
“I will get ready to depart tomorrow morning,” my brother said, turning to face us. “Priya, I require your maps.”
How dare my brother demand anything of my mate?
I stepped between them, hissing.
“Make your own maps, brother,” I sneered. “Though I doubt you’re clever enough to do so.”
Pride flared at the reminder of my mate’s skill in this area. Something I knew few could replicate. That pride kept me planted before my brother, firm in my refusal.
His sight stars flashed, and I did not doubt that a painful wrestling match was in my near future.
But Priya’s voice from behind me made us freeze just before my brother leaped into a tackle.
“It’s fine. Gahn Thaleo already got a chance to study the maps, so it’s only fair Gahn Errok gets to look, too. You don’t want your brother getting swallowed up by Death Plains quicksand, do you?”
“I refuse to answer that question,” I replied moodily.
Gahn Errok did not look pleased by my retort, but his expression eased when Priya undid the straps holding her pack to the side of the braxilk we’d ridden. My claws tingled, my fangs grinding as she took out her maps and handed them to my brother with a sweet smile. In order not to drive my fist through Gahn Errok’s smug face, I busied myself removing the extra weapons from the braxilk. But perhaps that was a bad idea, because now I had spears in my hands to drive through Errok’s face instead of my fist.
I realized Priya was glaring as she walked back to me.
“What?” I asked innocently, tossing the spears down to the floor with a clattering sound.
“May I remind you that your brother risked his life and the lives of the army to go into Gahn Thaleo’s territory to get me back?” Priya whispered.
“And so he should. What use is a Gahn if he won’t defend the mates of his men?”
“You should listen to your mate, Lerokan,” Errok called over from where he looked at the maps. “She is very wise. Why the Vrika chose her for you, I’ll never know. Perhaps it sensed your lack of brains and hoped to make up for it in your mate. Your cubs at least have half a chance at cleverness, now.”
It was a very good thing indeed that I’d already tossed down the spears.
“Come, Zakkar,” Errok said, turning his attention from Priya and me. “We must strategize about my journey and subsequent absence from the mountains.”
The two of them walked away, their claws clicking on the stone. They moved to the back of the hall, beyond Errok’s carved throne, and into the tunnel that led further into the mountain.
Priya breathed out once they were gone and began turning in a slow circle.
“This place is really incredible,” she said. She spoke quietly at first, then grinned and called out a word that sounded like ekk oh. The word reverberated back to her, the melody of her voice filling the air.
I looked around the space, too, trying to see it through the eyes of a new arrival.
The evening fire burned heartily at the far end of the hall. Most nights, this was where Gahn Errok and all the unmated warriors feasted. Most mated men and their families chose to eat in their own caves, though families sometimes joined the hall fire. Apart from the fire, and a few seats and benches carved into the stone walls, including Errok’s throne, the place was an empty cavern, its blue glittering walls rising up into half a dome before us, the other half open to thin air behind.
Priya turned to face that open air, now. I caught the way she shivered, and drew her against my side.
“Does anyone ever fall off that edge?” she asked with concern, pointing to where the floor dropped off into the steep cliff.
“No one in my memory has ever fallen far enough to be badly injured,” I answered. “We are taught from when we are cubs not to wander to the edges of stone. Although, most children do not heed this warning. So, the next thing we are taught is how to catch ourselves when we do fall.”
She shivered again, more strongly this time.
“Well, I will be keeping far, far away from that edge, thank you very much.”
“Good,” I said quietly, clasping her clawless hands in mine and drawing them to my mouth. I’d meant to just press her knuckles briefly to my lips and be done. But we were alone, and she was so near to me, now, her scent rich, her eyes dark, her skin so painfully soft...
I sucked one of her fingers into my mouth.
