Savage Seed: A Sci-Fi Alien Romance (Warriors of the Oasis) Read online

  Revenge.

  I trudged up a dune as the tang of blood sweetened. Would she put up a good fight? Or would she try to flee yet again?

  We had been playing this game of chase since I had first laid eyes on her. It was rare to come close enough to a sand tiger to land a fatal blow. When I had first spotted her so long ago, she’d been in our livestock pen, devouring a rajin that had been too slow to scurry to the corners of the enclosure with the rest. She had been distracted and hadn’t noticed my approach. And so I, emboldened by anger, had lunged toward her without a second thought.

  But my killing blow had met nothing but air. By the time I regained my feet, she had dexterously fled the pen. I had leapt over her abandoned meal and followed, making it as far as the edge of the village before hearing my father’s thundering voice commanding me to stop. Despite our differences in opinion when it came to tribe politics, he was still our king and I his son. I had to obey when he gave a direct command such as this. Kade, leave the beast. Return to where you belong.

  All that time ago, I had gritted my teeth as I watched the tiger disappear into the distance. Slowly, with heavy footfalls, I turned and faced my father. He was standing back a hundred yards away, arms folded across his chest. He looked strong, powerful. Fitting for a king. But I knew the hard look in his eye was as much for the village as it was for me. He wouldn’t be disobeyed so publicly, and I dared not continue without his permission.

  But that was then. After she had continued to help herself to our livestock month after month, I finally decided to hunt her down.

  I reached the top of the dune, shaking away my father’s image from my mind. He wouldn’t approve of my continued pursuit of the sand tiger, even after some time had passed since my first encounter with her. So I had left before he could command me to stay. No doubt there would be a punishment once I returned, but those concerns could wait. I was close.

  I paused at the top of the dune, spotting smoke rising into the sky a short distance away. Strange, since there were no known tribes in this area. I had been tracking the sand tiger for a few days and had traveled a great distance into an unknown part of the desert. It was possible there were settlements my people hadn’t yet encountered, but any tribe would be foolish to live so far from fresh water.

  Oases dotted the landscape on my home planet, each one occupied by a different tribe, but there weren’t any nearby. Still, it was possible to survive in even the harshest areas of the desert if one had a gift for trading. We were all kin in one way or another, and trading with each other was becoming more and more a necessity to survive. The more daring of our tribes even traded with the outsiders who had claimed the northern region of our planet. The outsiders offered us technology beyond imagination, and sometimes, women more fertile than any we had among us.

  But I had no fondness for these outsiders. There were many, and their numbers seemed to only be growing. They were digging into our lands, and they wouldn’t stop until they had taken all they could. My lip curled at the thought.

  They knew nothing of our land. And cared even less.

  The tiger roared again, this time from the direction of the smoke. I slid down the edge of the dune and started running, kicking up sand in my wake. My muscles burned, but I welcomed the sensation, pushing harder to move even faster. If I was going to catch up to the tiger, I had to use all my strength and speed. My body was toned and strong after years of training for this moment, and I again tasted blood on my tongue as her scent filled the air.

  Something was definitely injured and bleeding; the smell was unmistakable. I only hoped it wasn’t my tiger. That kill belonged to me, and only me.

  I reached another crest of sand and slowed my movements to survey the situation. There was metal strewn across the landscape, some pieces of it smoking, others still afire. I had no doubt of its origins: It was a craft built by the outsiders. Quickly assessing the situation, I spotted two young sand beasts approaching two females—humans, judging by their tiny forms. One outsider was badly injured and clearly the source of the blood I had smelled moments ago. She was disposed of quickly and efficiently, leaving just one outsider alive.

  My nostrils flared as I took notice of her. This female outsider was different from the others I’ve seen. Entrancing. Supple in all the right places. I knew it was a strange thing to notice while she was fighting for her life, but the sight of her brought out something primal in me. My cock twitched beneath my loincloth, startling me with its interruption.

  She wouldn’t last long with only a small blade for protection, and it was obvious she wasn’t a born and bred fighter. Though she might leave a mark on the sand beast, it would undoubtedly defeat her. And for some reason, I couldn’t accept that.

  I should have simply turned away and returned to my hunt. I didn’t like outsiders. They were a stain on our lands, and I had to focus on the sand tiger.

  But this female…

  I moved forward again, this time toward her instead of my intended prey. I could still taste the blood in the air, but now something much sweeter assailed my senses, making my pupils dilate. My heartbeat quickened when the sand beast clawed at her body. I knew I should have been watching the creature’s movements. Any fighter knew to watch the bigger threat. But I couldn’t take my eyes off her.

  She wore more coverings than I was accustomed to seeing on females, but what skin she did show, my eyes eagerly devoured. I longed to tear the garments from her body, if not to sate my own growing desire, then to allow her to better fight. She was trying admirably to harm the beast, but her clothes restricted her movements, and she was too slow to make contact with her blade.

  I admired her attempts and knew that with some proper training, she could turn into a real fighter. But she would never realize that potential if the beast got to her first.

  I broke out into a run, unmindful of the consequences. Under no circumstances was I allowed to interact with outsiders; it was a rule my father put in place after I had killed a trader crossing our territory, inciting the anger of our closest neighboring tribe. But I had no intentions of harming this one.

  Quite the opposite, to my surprise.

  The female fell to the ground, and I was shocked how my heart skipped at seeing her in grave danger. The creature moved closer to her, and I could feel the blood pounding so loudly in my ears that I nearly missed the roar of the sand tiger. She wasn’t far away now.

  But the sand tiger would have to wait. There would be another opportunity to catch up to her. There might never be another opportunity to find a female like this. Her spirit shone clearly through her actions. She was clumsy but determined, fighting for more than just survival.

  Fighting for what, I didn’t know, but I was intrigued. And more than that, I couldn’t stop myself from intervening. I had to save her. My body knew this before my mind could catch up.

  The tiger’s previous roar had paused the female’s fight long enough for me to close in on them. Even though her arms were raised to strike, I knew such a movement would leave her torso open for attack. And the beast was much faster than her.

  So I had to be even faster than the beast.

  And I was, closing the distance in seconds. I lunged forward with everything I had, landing atop its armored back and forcing it to the ground. With the creature caught by surprise, I braced my knees against its back and reach both hands up to its head. With one hand braced against its skull, I forced my other hand into its mouth, gripping the lower mandibles with all my strength. Letting out a mighty growl, I ripped its jaws clean off, flesh and blood scattering.

  I wasn’t finished yet. From my position on its back, I tore one of its arms out and tossed it behind me. That knocked the beast off balance, exposing the rest of its many legs to me, which I continued to rip out one by one. I was so filled with rage and bloodlust that it was only a matter of seconds before I had pulled the entire carcass apart. The other sand beast, seeing what became of its friend, abandoned the corpse it was eating and
scurried away.

  Chest heaving, I surveyed the surroundings once more. Besides the deceased other female and the dead sand beast, me and this little human were alone. We were safe for now.

  The female stared up at me, her mouth agape. Whatever fear she had for the sand beasts, it paled in comparison to the terror on her face now.

  Had I scared her? Perhaps. Tearing the sand beast apart section by section might have been overkill, clearly, but it felt necessary. It felt right, even though it was inefficient and ultimately a waste of energy—energy that was unwise to waste in the desert.

  But I couldn’t help myself, because it felt like the sand beast was attacking something dear to me.

  I only paused for a moment to wonder what that meant, but I pushed the thought aside.

  The female sprawled her limbs, as if ready to retreat from me. The spreading of her legs drew me to her even more, but her body was not inviting me as a reward for saving her life. Instead, her eyes, a blue as bright and beautiful as the seas I called home, were clouded in confusion or fear. Perhaps a bit of both.

  I grunted, not wanting to scare her away, but also not inclined to let her leave. She was unable to fend for herself and would die out here in a matter of hours. The next step was obvious.

  She would have to come with me.

  I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t excited at the prospect of traveling with the female, and I was again surprised to feel my cock throbbing at the thought. But first she had to trust me, and trust that my intentions were to help her.

  I took a few steps closer to the female and held out my hand, waiting to see if she would take it, or if she was as fearful of me as she was of the sand beasts.

  4

  Leslie

  Oh. My. God.

  One moment I was ready to kill the sand beast, knife raised, jaw clenched to keep a war cry from tearing through my throat and alerting it of my intentions, and the next… Whoa.

  Another creature appeared—no, not a creature—a native. A Xeki. His skin was a pale, silvery blue, and his entire body was covered in dark stripes like a tiger.

  Could he actually be some kind of human-tiger hybrid?

  But the strangest part of all was that as I watched this native jump on the sand beast’s back and rip it apart, my body shivered. I was already a bit strung out from the attack and my own adrenaline, but this reaction felt different. I raked my eyes over his body as he worked, pulling the sand beast apart as easily as if he were breaking bread, and my mouth actually salivated.

  I swallowed. I’d analyze that another time.

  Once he was finished obliterating the beast—because “obliterate” really was the only way to describe what he had done—he turned to me with a hunger in his stare. And his eyes… They glittered like emeralds. Dark and dangerous… but beautiful, nonetheless. I shivered again and prayed he wouldn’t notice.

  What the hell was wrong with me?

  When he put out his hand to me, my options were simple: take his hand or don’t. It was clear my brain wasn’t firing on all cylinders because what I really wanted to do was take this man’s hand and accept his help. But everyone knew to avoid the natives at all costs, especially if you were a female. They were wild and untamed, living without the rules and regulations the rest of us lived by. Everything I knew of them was from the stories I had heard in the mines. And none of them were good.

  He was still waiting for my answer. I had half a mind to slap his hand away and stand up on my own. Maybe that would turn him off and make him lose interest.

  Because judging by the bulge beneath his loincloth, he was more than interested. Either that, or murdering sand beasts was a huge turn on for him.

  But I doubted I was that lucky. And for some odd reason, I was more flattered than terrified that he might be attracted to me.

  An alien barbarian as gorgeous as him, attracted to me?

  Nah, no way. He probably wanted to eat me or something. There was no other explanation.

  His hand remained outstretched for me. I bit my lip, trying to ignore the way his nostrils flared when I did so. If I didn’t take his hand, I’d be forced to trek through the desert alone. The likelihood of that going well was slim to none.

  I needed him.

  That was just something I had to accept.

  I sighed and reached for his hand. He gripped mine—hard!—and hoisted me up. The strength with which he pulled me made me feel as light as a feather. I ended up tumbling forward and into his chest, and he stiffened as I fell against him. His hand was massive and engulfed my own, sending a burning heat up my arm. I shivered again and took a step back, feeling his hand on my waist slide away as I moved.

  When had he put his other hand there?

  I cleared my throat and pulled my hand away, grimacing when I saw orange goo on it. Sand beast blood. Gross. I hastily wiped it on my pants and watched the alien warrior from beneath the blonde strands of hair that had fallen in my eyes. I knew there would be a language barrier between us, but I had learned a few words and phrases in Xeki in case I ever needed it.

  “Thank you,” I clicked in his language, the words clunky on my lips. The warrior’s eyebrows shot up, and I noticed that he had one dark stripe on his face across his eyes, further accentuating the shimmer in their depths. I tried not to get distracted as I continued.

  “I know little Xeki,” I tried in his language, hoping I was coming close enough to the right words. “I come from the star port. Near sundown.” I pointed in the direction I believed the star port to be. “My father offers a large reward for my safe arrival.”

  He just looked at me. Stared at me. Did I have some blood on my face? I shifted my weight and swallowed, avoiding the urge to swipe a hand across my cheeks.

  “I am Kade,” he said in Xeki. Great. I knew his name. That was a start.

  “Leslie, my name,” I clicked, the effort to speak Xeki making my tongue ache. I must have gotten enough of the language right for him to think I spoke fluently, because he charged ahead, his words coming out so fast that it all sounded like nothing but garbled noise. I shook my head frantically to get him to realize that I didn’t understand him. After a minute, he paused, and I could see a vein in his neck throb.

  We stood in awkward silence for what felt like an eternity before he grunted and turned away. I felt a twinge of panic. He didn’t seem to care about the reward my father could give him. Or was it that I said a word wrong—insulted him, even?

  He stopped to look at me over his shoulder and beckoned for me to follow.

  This was it: my last chance to turn back. A big part of me wanted to keep convincing myself I had control over my situation. But the truth was, I needed him. Going with him was my best, probably only, chance of surviving and of seeing my father again. I picked up my knife and followed.

  Part of me was worried that he was from one of those clans that claimed women. I’d heard those stories all the time, when the men in the mine didn’t think I was listening. They’d tell a story about how their cousin’s wife’s sister had been taken by a native and turned into a member of their tribe. I didn’t know the specifics; the miners’ voices would always drop low at this point in their stories. But I got the gist. These natives… they had different customs. And according to those customs, they could claim outsiders—like me—for breeding.

  And the concept of breeding felt so… alien to me. Being used for reproduction and nothing more, like an animal.

  But why would any alien want to claim me? Clearly none of the men I saw on a daily basis took any interest, so some mysterious alien stranger couldn’t possibly want me. I was plain. I had been my entire life.

  I thought of my mother again, my mother who was so sought after, and frowned. I definitely didn’t want to take after her, so maybe being plain wasn’t so bad after all.

  I took large steps to catch up with the alien native—Kade, I reminded myself—and we stopped just as we reached what was left of the stewardess’s body. The sand beast that had
attacked her must have retreated upon seeing Kade, because it was nowhere to be found. But the damage it had done to the stewardess was clearly evident, and massive. I couldn’t bear to look at her and averted my eyes, trying my best not to gag at the smell.

  Kade crouched down by the stewardess and examined her wounds. I had no desire to look at her any further, but I was curious about what he was doing. Seemingly satisfied, he shook his head and stood. When he did, I caught the shine of the scimitars strapped to his back and blinked. If he had those the entire time, why the hell did he attack that sand beast with his bare hands?

  The sound of Kade’s voice pulled me out of my thoughts. It seemed I was at least a little better at speaking Xeki than understanding it when spoken, because I still couldn’t understand a thing he was saying. But he was motioning toward the stewardess’s gnarled leg while he spoke, and I believed I understood what he was trying to tell me.

  There was nothing I could have done to save her. Sand beast or not, her wounds had been catastrophic. Without immediate medical attention—and perhaps even with it—she wouldn’t have lived much longer.

  And he wanted me to know that. He wanted me to not feel any guilt. I looked away, my emotions all mixed up. Maybe he wasn’t as savage as the stories about the natives claimed all Xeki were.

  Kade motioned once again that I follow him. I took a few steps before realizing that we were going in the opposite direction of where I believed the star port was. “Wait!” I cried, not even trying to speak Xeki. “Please, wait! I have to get back to my father! I need to help him set up a rescue team for Ava and the others. They’ll die if I don’t get back fast.”

  He paused, giving me hope. Could he understand me, after all?

  But then he grunted, his eyes piercing through me. What was he trying to tell me? That I was foolish for thinking I could rescue my team? That he was taking me wherever he wanted, and would do whatever he wanted with me?