“Hunting?” His brows draw together. “But you are female. You should not be hunting.”
“Did I take a wrong turn and land on Planet Chauvinist?” I ask. “I can fucking hunt! What, you think wild animals are going to be so enamored of my lady parts that I’m going to lure them like some Pied Piper of Pussy? What—”
Raahosh puts a calming hand on my shoulder. “The women of my tribe do not hunt, remember? They are too few in number.”
I snort. “We’ll see about that shit. You’re not exactly outnumbered three to one anymore.” And I make a big show of adjusting my bow on my shoulder, glaring at Aehako and Haeden.
Aehako just looks amused.
We clean out our small cave of extra food and blankets and pack up our water skins. I roll up the extra pelts and when the cave is in order, I give it one last look around. I feel a twinge of sadness that we’re leaving. I’m looking forward to seeing Georgie and Kira and my fellow humans again, but I have to admit, staying in this cave was kind of…nice. Cozy. Private.
And I kinda liked being here with Raahosh. The big jerk’s growing on me. Just when I get settled, we’re moving again. I’m craving someplace to call home.
But then Raahosh takes my hand, and the feeling of loss disappears. Instead of feeling uprooted, I just feel vaguely annoyed that our little idyll is interrupted just when things were getting super sexy.
Cockblocked by the aliens. Damn it.
• • •
We walk in the direction of the setting suns for a time. I’d say it’s west except that’s how it is on Earth, and this place is most definitely not Earth. When the skies turn pink and a washed out orange, we head for a small copse and make camp. Aehako has been picking up dung chips as we walk, and has a bag full of them for fuel.
It’s…probably a good thing I didn’t shake his hand.
We bunk down for the night around a campfire, and Haeden immediately stalks off to the ridge nearby and says he’s on first watch. Works for me. He’s not exactly a ball of fun, and I’ve got Raahosh if I want to hang out with someone quietly seething.
As I settle in near the fire and wrap my fur cloak around me, Raahosh grabs his spear and leans down to kiss the top of my head. “I will find some fresh meat for you.”
“Oh, but…” I watch him leave the small camp, and then it’s just me and Aehako, who’s feeding another dung chip into the fire. I frown at him. “You’re not going to go chasing after him?”
“Why?” Aehako shrugs easily. “He will return. You are here.”
Ah. So it’s not Raahosh that’s the hostage. It’s me. Gotcha. He’s right, though. As long as I’m here, Raahosh will return. Just the thought of that kind of gives me the warm fuzzes. Whatever else happens, Raahosh has my back. I’m determined to do the same for him.
But my feet hurt and it’s nice to sit by the fire, even if it’s cold outside and there’s no shelter from the elements. I scoot a little closer to it and prop up my wet, booted feet so they can dry a bit. “Tell me how the others are doing. Are they all well?”
“Healthy as can be,” Aehako reassures me, and a big smile splits his face. Despite the situation, I like the guy. I think it’d be impossible not to. “Your friends have brought much joy to our people,” he says. “For a long time, we thought a mate was a dream, and it is now a dream possible for many.”
His words make me wish Raahosh was here. I scan the trees, but my ‘mate’ — I’m still coming to terms with the whole situation — is blowing off steam by slaughtering dinner. “That’s nice.”
“We are all squeezed into our caves like quill-beasts in a snow storm, but no one is complaining.”
“Mmm. Did anyone, you know, get a vibrating cootie?”
“Resonate?”
“Yeah, that’s the word.” I’m sure Raahosh has said it to me before, but he also says things like ‘mine-mine-mine-mine’ and ‘your cunt is full of my seed’, so I sorta have to pick my words carefully around this guy. “Did anyone else resonate?”
“Oh, yes.” He stirs the fire. “Georgie you know of, of course. Pashov and Stacy resonated for each other right away, I think before her khui was even inside her. I am surprised you did not hear it.” He chuckles.
“Mmm,” I say again, because my memories of that night are of me saying ‘no’ to the cootie and Raahosh stepping on me to hold me down and forcing me to absorb it. That was not the big guy’s best moment. My betraying cootie purrs at the thought of Raahosh, though, and I rub my chest absently. “I don’t remember Stacy all that well. Is she the weepy one?”