“Food, yes,” Vektal says and nuzzles my brow. “And warm clothing. And you shall sleep in my furs tonight.”
I blush because I feel like that is an obvious way of saying “we’re totally doing it” to his buddy, but Raahosh doesn’t blink an eye. “Come,” the new alien says and gestures for us to follow. “There will be many questions.”
“I am ready for them,” Vektal says.
“I’m not sure I am,” I chime in. The thought of being quizzed by dozens of staring aliens makes me feel exhausted, and we haven’t even entered the cave yet. “We’re still going after the others in the morning, right?”
“Others,” Raahosh says, and there is more than casual interest in his gaze.
“Georgie has arrived with five other humans,” Vektal says. “They are in need of rescue.”
“Five other humans?” Raahosh asks, his glowing blue eyes going wide. “Do you speak truly?”
“All female,” Vektal says in a low, almost reverent voice.
As I watch, Raahosh staggers. “Truly?”
“Truly.”
I’m starting to get worried, and I haven’t even told them about the six other women in the hibernation pods. “Is this a problem?” I ask. “Vektal, you said your people would help mine.”
“It is not a problem,” my alien says in a grave tone. He caresses my cheek. “It is a blessing. There are only four adult females in our tribe, and all of them are mated.”
“Do they resonate?” Raahosh asks in a harsh voice.
“They have no khui,” Vektal says. “But I resonated for Georgie. Others might resonate to a human female.”
I stop in my tracks. “Wait, what? This isn’t open season on human ladies! I thought we were getting rescued, not playing matchmaker.”
Raahosh simply stares at me like I’m insane. My words probably don’t make sense in their language. I don’t care. I’m trying to get help for my friends, not hook them up with alien boyfriends. I think back to Vektal’s “greeting” of me in which he just grabbed me and initiated sex. Sure, I orgasmed a few times, but that didn’t give him the right to make the decision to mate me, nor did it give him the right to decide the others got mates without their say so.
“No one is being mated without their agreement,” I say, crossing my arms. Then I wince because I keep forgetting my one wrist is total shit.
“It is agreed, my Georgie,” Vektal says. He caresses my cheek again. “I am the chief. They will listen to me. Any male who wishes to mate a human woman must have her agreement.”
I relax a bit at that.
“Agreement?” Raahosh sputters. “But resonance—”
“Doesn’t happen for humans,” I say sweetly.
“It is something to be argued about later, when my mate is not cold and hungry,” Vektal says, breaking in before Raahosh protests at me again. He puts a protective arm over my shoulders. “We have traveled far, and we will be traveling far again in the morning.”
“Of course,” Raahosh says stiffly. He turns and heads back to the trees, and Vektal and I follow him in.
The trees thicken, and as we approach the cliff, I see the entrance to an extremely large cave. The mouth of it is enormous and wide, bigger than any human or sa-khui—even if I stood on Vektal’s shoulders and tried to touch the ceiling. It narrows down further in, and this is where Raahosh and Vektal lead me. I cringe at the thought of spending endless hours in a deep cavern. It doesn’t strike me as safe.
But as we make our way through the winding tunnel, the air gets warmer. Noticeably so. It feels like we’re going down, so shouldn’t it be getting colder? I’m puzzled by this until the cave opens up into a larger chamber and the faint smell of rotten eggs touches my nose.
And then I’m just stunned.
The hill the sa-khui live in is hollow. The cave opens up into an enormous cavern that reminds me of a gigantic hollow donut. It’s circular, and the center is composed entirely of a large, incredibly blue pool. Another heated spring, I realize with wonder. That is why it smells so strongly of eggs.
I pinch my nose and look around in surprise. There are people bathing in the pool, a tiny child with nubs for horns splashing in the water as a man holds it and a female laughs nearby. The cavern walls round upward, and the roof has a hole in it, almost like a sunroof. From here, I can see snow drifting in, but it melts in the presence of the warmer air and drips down harmlessly.