I have no idea how far a drumah is, but I hope it’s far. “How many aliens on board?”
“Sixteen.”
Ulp. “You can tell there’s sixteen? Seriously?”
“Affirmative. This unit is connected to a satellite orbiting the planet that allows the ship’s computers to track and record information.”
“Like how many sa-khui are here?”
“Affirmative. There are thirty-five modified sakh and twelve modified humans currently on the planet.”
Huh. I wonder what the point of recording all the information is for. Before I can ask, there is a sharp tug on my ear and I yelp.
“Please remain still as the extraction begins,” the computer’s sweet voice tells me.
Then, there’s a blinding, red-hot shot of pain that seems to jolt directly to my brain and the world goes black.
AEHAKO
My heart stops beating when the wall spits Kira out. She’s crumpled on the strange bed, small and still, and there are bloody bandages pressed over her ear. Her strange metal shell is gone but her face is so pale, and she’s unconscious.
Mouth dry, I touch her cheek to rouse her. When she doesn’t stir, I collect her in my arms and take her away from this room. I don’t trust it. I don’t trust the elders’ cave, with its strange magic and glowing walls and disembodied voices. I want to take Kira back to my own cave and lay her down in my furs—
Well, it’s not really my cave but my family’s cave, and it would be awkward to lay her down in my furs and mate with her with my younger brothers and my parents looking on. But I’d find someplace quiet to take her and comfort her. To hold her and make her mine.
None of that matters, though. Kira’s unconscious and not well. I scent Haeden somewhere nearby and follow my nose until I locate him, still at the front entrance, staring at the strange stone doors with a grim expression. He gets to his feet at the sight of me with Kira in my arms, his scowl deepening.
“What is wrong with her?”
“They removed her shell,” I say. “But she won’t wake.”
He grunts. “She might be tired. Perhaps the walls chatted her ear off.”
I cradle her closer to my chest. “Are they talking to you?”
He nods. “It keeps asking me if I wish for anything. I wish for silence and for stone walls not to speak to me.”
“Ask the stone walls where a bed is. If Kira is going to sleep, I will stay with her until she awakens.” I look around. “Where is the other human?”
Haeden shrugs. “Does it matter? She has to come out through here to leave.” He gestures at the closed cave-mouth.
My friend has no love for the humans. He might be the only one in our tribe who was not beside himself with joy at the discovery of so many women. I turn and look at the strange stone walls with their flashing lights and moving wiggles. I decide to address it. “Where is a cave? I wish to set my mate down to sleep.”
Haeden arches a brow at me but I ignore his silent question. Kira is my mate, even if neither my body nor hers realize it yet. They just need time.
The computer speaks in the human language. “Living quarters are in the south wing.”
“Lead me there,” I demand.
The floor lights up as it did for Kira, and I hold her close, pushing my way into the bowels of the cave. I don’t like this strange place, but it seems to be safe from predators. The strange lights lead me down another winding path, and stop at a cave with a half-open door that shivers as if trying to shut itself. There is a broken piece of the wall hanging down from the ceiling that prevents it from closing, and I slide under and into the cave itself.
It’s a small, too-square compartment with more of the flashing panels, but I’m pleased to see that there’s a square pallet covered with a soft, squishy, strange-feeling animal skin. I toss my cloak down over the pallet and gently lay Kira down onto the bed so I can examine her again. Worry makes my heart pound and I smooth a hand down her arms and legs and chest, looking for hidden wounds I might not have seen before. She seems healthy in body. I peel back the bandages over her ear. There are reddened holes along her lobe, and dried blood crusted inside her ear canal, but otherwise I see no issues.
There’s nothing to do but wait for her to awaken.
I slide onto the bed next to her and wrap my arms around her. She fits against me so perfectly. I sweep my hand over her hair and press my mouth to her strange, smooth forehead. “You are safe with me, Kira,” I murmur in a low, soothing voice. “No one will harm you while you are with me. I will fight to the death to keep you at my side. Enemies will look upon my spear and recoil in fear.” I run my hand down her small back. “Then, you and I will get a cave of our own. I am not sure how, but we will manage. And we will set up a nest of warm, thick furs to keep your fragile human body warm, and I will press my mouth to every inch of your soft skin and show you how much you mean to me.” My fingers graze over her face, tracing her small nose, her tiny brows. She is strange looking compared to the women of my tribe, but I have a great appreciation for her flat brow, pale face and sad eyes, and her small mouth that so rarely curves into a smile. I decide right then and there that I will act a fool around her if it will only bring a happy look to her face.