Alien Mine (38 page)

"I will carry you to our bed and you will rest."

She glared up at him. "I'm not going anywhere and you might be a warrior but you are not strong enough to take me away from my sons when they are sick and need me."

"They are not sick."

"I don't care, I'm not leaving them."

He stayed with her but she had the impression it was more to stay with her than concern about the children. Zurian and Azagor came to look in on them and acted as if everything was normal. She balled her fists to stop from screaming at them. As it was, she wanted to pound Zacar until he hurt for not being there immediately when she and their sons needed him.

The next morning, they were still lying unmoving and she feared they would never play cowboys and Indians again. Or tickle her toes.

"Why aren't they waking up?" She looked up with desperate pleading at Zacar, who was holding her breakfast. Did he really expect her to eat at a time like this?

"This is normal. When I went through my first change, I slept for eight of your days."

"Oh." To them it might be normal but she was a nervous wreck. She eyed the food in his hands. "If you try to make me eat that, I'll throw it up all over you." If she hadn't been so frightened for her children, she would've laughed at the haste with which he took the food away.

***

Her sons woke a week later, and she had to swallow her tears when first Larz and then Zorlorf opened their eyes. She rushed to their sides and knelt down, laughing and crying at the same time.

"How do you feel? Do you need anything?"

Larz fixed his red eyes on her. He almost had the face of a grown warrior. To strangers, the boys would have looked identical but she could tell them apart by the small differences only a mother would know. Larz had higher cheekbones, more prominent than his brother's.

"We're fine," Larz answered, much to her surprise.

"You can talk?" Even though Zacar had told her that they would speak in a few months, she didn't think they would be able to speak yet. She was amazed. Up to the moment they'd started to groan in pain from their first change, they'd never said a word.

"Yes. Our DNA is not as primitive as human DNA. We have command of languages after our first change."

"Oh." It was lowering to realize her DNA was considered inferior by her own sons. She would have to have a serious discussion with them about respect. "But you look tired. You should rest."

Zacar walked in and both of them moved to stand in front of her. She recognized the stance as one the warriors practiced every day. How could they know these moves when they haven't been allowed near the warriors when they train? Were they born with this knowledge as well?

His greeting to the boys seemed very cold to her and she frowned at him.

Larz, who seemed to be the spokesperson for the twins, immediately addressed her. "Do not worry. Our greeting may seem cold to you but it is our way. We do not feel slighted by it. In our race, we normally do not even crave the attention of our mothers."

Zacar growled at him and to her surprise, Larz growled back. She thought Zacar was amused at his daring.

"We are different and need closeness with you," Larz explained. "Father said that is how it should be. He made sure we would have a connection with you to ensure you never feel sad and lonely and want to die."

"How do you know this, Larz?" she asked, feeling faint with surprise. They were only two months old.

"Zyrgins are born with the knowledge of their forefathers. We are imprinted with the knowledge of a warrior and how to fly our spaceship," he said. Zacar growled again and Larz hastily continued. "But we won't, since we are not acknowledged warriors...Yet." He said the last with a very defiant look at his father.

"Oh." For the life of her she didn't know what else to say. While she was still trying to assimilate the changes in her sons, they walked to the door of their tent.

"Mother, we are off to train."

Natalie nodded and bit her lip. What if they practiced with the older warriors and one of them got hurt? They wanted to be considered warriors, but the swords the warriors practiced with were sharp. What if they hurt her sons by accident?

Suddenly, she was airborne and squealed like a teenager. "Zacar, what are you doing?"

He growled at her and carried her to their tent.

"Oh."

He had refrained from making love to her since the boys' birth. Now, his patience was clearly at an end. To be truthful, she'd missed the four-hour-a-day sessions with her alien as well.

"You are healed?"

Natalie nodded shyly.

Viglar had told her very bluntly a week ago, "You can fuck again."

It was bad enough not having a human doctor, without having to have such blunt conversations. He put her down on her feet and she stood facing him.

Zacar unbuttoned her shirt, tearing the buttons off in his haste. She flattened her hands on his shirt and pushed the front apart. As long as she lived she would never tire of seeing the way the fabric parted, as if by magic. He bent his head to her breast and, cupping her, suckled fiercely. She moaned and twisted closer to him. Every part of her body seemed connected to where he suckled. Even her toes curled up. She was aware only of the sensations his hands and mouth caused, which raced through her body.

"Oh Zacar, it has been too long."

"Yes need to increase the hours I fuck you."

She giggled and moved her hands over his beautiful chest down his sides to stroke down his flanks, admiring the way his muscles rippled under her hands. He sank onto his knees, kissing his way down her stomach and she forgot everything but his lips and tongue spreading fire everywhere.

Suddenly she was picked up and tossed on the bed. She grabbed his arms and drew him down on top of her. He sprawled next to her and leaned over her, his hard muscled body covering hers without crushing her. He was truly magnificent. She couldn't think of him as an alien anymore. To her, he was the ultimate man.

"This time I'll be ready and I'll drive a hard bargain," she teased.

"Six hours," he said promptly and she erupted in giggles at his words but also because he touched her ribs with curious fingers.

"Stop touching me like that. And I will agree to two hours and I get to be on top every second time we make love."

He moved his fingers over her ribs again. "You do not like this."

"No, and please stop. It's not nice to tickle a ticklish person."

"Does kissing cause this tickle," he asked so seriously she giggled more from the earnest expression on his face than his finger strumming her ribs.

"Why don't you try it and find out?"

He kissed her ribs and then sucked her nipple into his mouth until she twisted and moaned and the last thing on her mind was being ticklish.

"Six hours and you are on top only when I say."

"What, you expect me to bargain now?" She moaned again when he moved to her other breast. He suckled hard before lifting his head and spearing her with a look hotter than fire. "Six hours, Natlia."

She kissed his neck and explored his muscled body. Two could play this game. She licked him everywhere she could reach, her hands moving over his back to clasp his firm buttocks. They flexed under her hands. She writhed against him, lost in pleasure. What did she want to say to him, something important about hours?

"Six," he grated against her ear.

"Two," she moaned against his.

He growled.

"All right four, but please hurry, I need you."

He moved between her thighs, rose over her, and entered her in one smooth motion. She clung to him, enjoying the too-full, almost-uncomfortable sensation she hadn't felt in a long time.

"I missed this," she gasped against his ear.

"You will not miss it anymore. I will pleasure you many hours." He leaned down and kissed her then moved down and scraped his teeth over her neck. Then he moved his hips.

Before his second stroke she shattered apart. She heard him roar through the pleasure burning through every inch of her body.

When she came back to her senses, he held her clasped against his side, his hand slowly stroking her stomach in lazy circles.

"I love you, Natlia. More than I want to be a warrior, I love you."

She rose on her elbow and looked down at him. "I love you, too, Zacar, more than my trees or my mountain, I love you."

***

The next morning, she woke up alone. She stretched lazily, her muscles deliciously sore. Where were the boys?

Probably training with the warriors,
she thought indulgently. She would see them at breakfast. She'd hoped Zacar would get tired of feeding her every meal, but he still did it. When he wasn't there to feed her for a meal, Viglar watched her like a hawk.

***

Zacar and his warriors had developed a new routine. Every morning, they worked on a long narrow tunnel opposite the one leading to their space ship.

She walked over to Zacar where he stood talking to Zurian. "Are you making space for more spaceships?"

Zacar cupped her face and looked down at her with what she'd come to recognize as tenderness. "It is a surprise for my breeder wife."

Natalie smiled and stretched up to kiss him. After the incident with Murdoch, she could now enter the tunnel leading to the ship any time she wanted, but with Zurian living on the ship, she avoided that area like the plague. She suspected the warrior had a perpetual bad mood and after she'd seen him in just a towel she was definitely not his favourite person.

She pressed closer, twirling her forefinger over his chest. "So when can I have my surprise then?"

"Soon." He flatly refused to say anything more.

With the snow melting, the warriors now exercised outside the cave, beyond the force field. Sometimes, she took a blanket and sat outside, watching them. She was determined to enjoy the good weather while it lasted. The cold and snow could return anytime. Or maybe they would have a year of summer like that time a few years ago.

She was standing at the entrance of the cave, smiling at Larz and Zorlorf practicing with their wooden swords, when the hairs on the back of her neck stood up. Even after all this time, her body still reacted when Zacar appeared behind her.