“She taught me. And yes.” He strode five paces away, head tilting back and nostrils flaring, scenting the air with whatever alien senses he possessed.
His attention moved to the trees and distant forest murk. “But I’m not speaking English.”
“What?” She processed what she’d just said and realized the word “what” didn’t sound right. It had sounded more like “yurt.” Testing it, she said, “The rain in Spain falls mostly on the plain.” Not a word rhymed, and “Spain” was the only part that sounded right. “How did you do this?”
He held up a finger. “Silence. I’m listening.”
“Apparently not to me!” It was easier to be angry if he didn’t look right at her. “Take me back to Earth. Now.”
He wheeled on her and advanced so quickly that Rae sprang back, flush to one of those scales. It was coarse like sandstone and just slightly warmer than rock.
Garr pressed forward until there was only an inch of air between them and she came only up to his chest, so close her breath must have tickled that nova marking over his heart. “You are claimed now. Obey your prime.”
Rae firmed her mouth. It took every ounce of her courage to say just the one tiny syllable: “No.”
Garr scowled and touched her chin again, tilting her jaw up so that he could bore through her with his gaze. “This is Kaython’s will. You are my mate.”
His arrogance galled her and she balled both fists at her hips. “This is not how we do it on Earth. You want to ‘mate,’ fill out a dating profile and I’ll get back to you.” She dared to cross her arms.
Garr’s huge mitt wrapped around her upper arm. While Rae had never been a twig, he made her feel diminutive. Though he didn’t squeeze or manhandle her, as she feared he might, it was distinctly an act of possession, and he tilted near so that his mouth was by her ear.
In spite of herself, Rae’s breath hitched. The threat of having him near made her body aware of every twinge of motion in him, right down to the dangerous vibration in his voice.
“This forest is the Skorvag. It spans the planet and rules our kind. You are woven into it now.”
“Is that what Kaython is?” she asked.
“Kaython is one domé. The Skorvag is broken into over one thousand domé, and she is the one who rules me.”
So this Kaython was a goddess and a region in the world’s biosphere all rolled into one. Rae’s analytic mind gathered from her surroundings that the Skorvag was techno-organic—a mixture of organic and nanotech components.
Chances were good that Kaython was literally inside her bloodstream in the form of microscopic machines, adjusting her to their language—perhaps even their atmosphere, which seemed slightly too oxygen rich.
“Let me guess,” she groused. “We’re in the middle of Kaython’s territory right now.”
“No. The portals belong to domé Lyr. And Lyr has blessed Vaya and I to walk her hallowed grounds—but not you. Disobey me and I won’t need to punish you.” He gestured to the forest. “Lyr will.”
“Hey boss!” The giantess stooped beneath an archway of branches festooned in green vines. “Just communed with Lyr. She’s signaled that we should cut south-by-southwest and scale an old-growth nautilus spire out of the valley.”
She pushed the branches up with one muscular forearm, stepping into view—revealing three more arms. She had four in total.
The purpose of that pea coat she’d worn became clear. It had hidden a second set of arms stationed below her first. At present, Vaya was eight feet tall and wore leather pants and a vest that “X”ed around her upper and lower shoulders, meeting at her small bust.
The tight fit in her clothes and bare midriff revealed a longer-than-normal abdomen with a two-pack of lean muscles, broad shoulders, and a feminine face that grinned Rae’s way.
“What species are you?” Rae asked abruptly.
Vaya’s brow furrowed.
Feeling vaguely embarrassed that she’d been rude—and squelching that emotion, since kidnapping was far ruder still—Rae waited for a response.
“Ythirian. Same as your mate.”
“But—”
“The arms?” Vaya held them up for inspection. “My gift from Kaython.” She flexed them all at once.
“Look, sticking to the stock model body is a human thing. Place like Ythir, it helps to let your domé add some after-market modifications.”
She recognized all of Vaya’s words and Rae realized she was speaking English.
Garr noticed too. “Why aren’t you speaking Ythirian?”