- Heidi -

“Heidi!”

I can barely hear it over the hellish cacophony of the approaching dactyl swarm, and at first I think I'm imagining it.

“Heidi!”

No, that's definitely a voice. Deep and powerful. And I think I know it. But it sounds like it's coming from above?

All I can see is the dactyl swarm, very close now.

And a huge dactyl that's flying in the opposite direction, straight for them, right over me.

I adjust my glasses. It has a weird hump on its back.

No, that's not a hump. That's ...

“Dar'ax!”

It definitely is. I can see the yellow of his eyes, the stripes and his luminous hair, streaming out behind him as he rides a freaking dactyl right into the swarm, waving his long sword.

And his white grin as he recognizes me.

“Heidi! Will you marry me?” His thunderous voice easily overpowers the dactyl screeching and seems to fill the whole jungle.

I jump up in joy as if trying to touch him. “Dar'aaaax! Toooooh!”

Because that he'll get in his own language.

The other girls are exchanging glances. “Do you know that guy?”

“Yes! That's-”

The rest of my sentence drowns in noise. Somehow the dactyl screeching intensifies when the large dactyl Dar'ax is riding plunges right into the swarm and ruins their plan.

I can see the steel of his sword flashing in the moonlight, the wings of his dactyl are flapping lazily and the other monsters are clearly confused about what the hell is happening.

Then one dactyl falls out of the sky and lands with a loud thud in a chaos of wings and talons. It's quickly followed by another and another, and now the swarm is breaking up fast as Dar'ax cuts through it like a knife.

The screeching has weakened a lot, and now it's more confused. The dactyls are clearly not used to being attacked from the air, and they appear to be totally weirded out by it. Their own attack is broken off, and now I and the other girls are whooping and cheering with every dactyl Dar'ax sends crashing down to the ground.

Many of them are now flying away fast, realizing that staying around isn't worth it if they're meeting the kind of resistance Dar'ax is giving them.

His dactyl turns and loops and swoops down on the others, and Dar'ax is standing up on its back, hacking at the enemies with an ferocity and wildness that I've only seen from him sometimes.

Yeah, that's his rage.

But now I don't mind it. He fights like a god of vengeance, and I love seeing it. The dactyls didn't know that they were committing the worst possible offense in Dar'ax's eyes: They were attacking me.

Suddenly the swarm of dactyls just disperses, and Dar'ax pursues a couple of them before he breaks off and comes swooping down towards us.

I duck as his airliner-sized dactyl passes overhead with a mighty whoosh and a shockwave that almost knocks me over.

“Yeaaahhh!” I scream, dancing and jumping, delirious with happiness that we'll live after all. And that Dar'ax is here.

Caroline smiles and takes my hand. “So you're engaged now?”

Oh yes, and that. “I guess I am. I had no idea he even knew what that is.”

Emilia hugs me from behind. “The cavemen know a lot more than they say. Their whole religion is about their women coming back to them.”

Aurora puts her bow on her back. “Gods, that's your fiancé? Riding a fucking dactyl?”

“He's pretty awesome,” I say through happy tears. “I can't believe he came back for me.”

“You must be his Mate,” Sophia points out and gives my wrist a little squeeze. “He will only do this for you if you are.”

Delyah thoughtfully taps her lips with one finger. “Not a bad Mate to have. We need more guys for our tribe still. And if he can tame dinos, then, yeah ...”

The dactyl easily lands on two sturdy legs, and Dar'ax jumps off it. Then the breath catches in my throat as he walks to its head and puts a hand on the beak. Right now it could bite him in half without lifting a talon.

But it doesn't. He pats the dactyl, and then he's sauntering towards us, replacing his sword in his belt.

I can't stop myself, and actually I see no reason to even try. So I run towards him as fast as I can and throw myself into his arms. He laughs into my ear as he spins me around and holds on to me so hard I hope he'll never let go again.

Then he gently puts me down.

I elegantly wipe my nose with my forearm. “You came to help me.”

“I came to help you and my tribe.”

“This tribe?”

“If it will have me.”

“And the old one?”

He holds me tight and puts his nose into my hair. “They have been avenged already. The planet is taking its revenge on the Nusin by killing them off slowly. They have no hope. No Lifegivers to keep their tribe going. No village. No honor. No joys. If I kill them now, it would be a mercy and not a revenge. I wish them no mercy. Xren is avenging my tribe much better than I could have.”

I smile up at him. He's making me very happy. “You can give life now. Not death.”

“I suppose. But those things don't matter. The only thing that matters is that you're my Mate and I love you.”

I just stare into his yellow eyes, letting the warmth in them spread through all of me.

Ar'ox and Jax'zan come over to us. Not aggressively, but with the cautious respect that the situation warrants. I'm starting to grasp caveman etiquette, and these three have to look each other over before they'll be friends.

Ar'ox points to the dactyl and asks a question, Dar'ax answers easily and draws figures with his hands, Jax'zan comments on it, and then they're deep in some kind of technical conversation, in the same way I've seen many guys bond on Earth, too.

“Not a bad start,” Emilia says and grips my wrist gently, cavewoman style. “Ar'ox wasn't too happy about the yellow stripes, because they're associated with some kind of roaming raiders. But he seems to have no problem with this one. What's his name?”

“Dar'ax,” I state, enjoying the way the name feels in my mouth. “Yeah, there's a gang of assholes with yellow stripes, too. But theirs are a dirty yellow. And they won't be around for much longer.”

“Which tribe is he from?” Caroline asks. “Not that I know any of them anyway, so I'm not sure why I ask.”

“Formerly of the Bykri tribe. Now this one.”

Sophia nods. “Sounds good. I guess you better get ready to officiate at another wedding, Caroline.”

“Yes,” I say, taking Caroline's hand, “will you, please? Soon?”

She shrugs. “Any time.”

I'm tempted to say 'right now', but I guess we should probably get some rest first. And it's the middle of the night, and I want to be married in sunshine. “In a day or two?”

“Sure.”

I spontaneously hug her, and right now I'd even hug Fluffy if she were here. “Thank you.”

“I want us to get going,” Delyah says. “Any problems with us going back to the old cave, Heidi?”

“Nope. Dar'ax was alone back then. Nobody else knows about it.”

He comes walking, and I throw myself around his neck again. Hey, I haven't had a boyfriend for ages and I'm kind of overflowing with this whole thing. “We go back to tribe cave,” I purr in his ear. “With hanging fur to separate from others,” I add hurriedly to make it sound more luxurious.

“Good,” he says into my hair. “Heidi needs much sleep.”

“And other things,” I whisper, hoping he gets it.

And when I check his loincloth right after, it's obvious that he does.

The others pack their stuff and I give the gun back to Sophia. “This is the most effective message anyone could have sent me.”

She takes it and weighs it in her hand. “That's cool. But we didn't send it. Yesterday morning Emilia noticed that Alice hadn't been here for a long time. And I couldn't find the gun. We had no idea she'd gone to find you.”

“How did she even know I was alive?”

“We were all hoping it. I mean, from the tracks it was obvious that you had been abducted by the same caveman you saw outside the cave the night before. And you know Alice, she likes to roam around the jungle. And she's fast. She may have seen you at an earlier time.”

“I guess that may be it. Anyway, I'm glad she did. If not, things would not have been so good.”

She shudders and glances over at Jax'zan, who's green all over from wound-healing paste. “Tell me about it. But I thought it was a T. Rex he was riding?”

“That first time, sure. This dactyl is new. To me, anyway.”

“You think that thing will carry two people?”

I scratch my head. “I don't know. Seems they can be unpredictable like that.”

She winks. “Because newly engaged have the right to some privacy. It's the law, I think.”

I sashay over to Dar'ax. “We fly to cave on irox?”

He just takes my hand and leads me over to the dactyl. From this close, it's a huge bundle of barely restrained danger, all instinct and ferocity, and when it looks at me I gasp with the menace of it.

I immediately change my mind and tug at Dar'ax's hand, trying to turn around. “Actually, I think I'll walk. I need exercise. My behind getting very big now. The scenery is nicer when you walk nooo I don't want to it'll eat meee!”

But I don't struggle too much when he places me on the dactyl's back and sits down behind me. These things usually turn out okay when he's around.

The dactyl moves underneath us, and it's a very different movement than Gerk's or Fluffy's. This is more like sitting on a snake, just pure muscle always moving and writhing.

It gets up on its legs and beats its huge wings once, and then we're in the air and I squeal with the sheer terror of it. But Dar'ax holds around my waist as the dactyl soars, and I'm slowly able to relax and enjoy the flight. The wings beat calmly and powerfully, the wind is in my face and the jungle below. And the love of my life is right behind me.

“How you tame this?” I yell so he can hear me.

“Same as with rekh,” he says calmly. “I had an egg. And this one spotted it. Irox eggs are very easy to see from far away. So I jumped on it and rode it until it gave in.”

“That egg was in your secret bag,” I state as I suddenly understand it. “That's why you came to Bune in the first place. You not stalking me. You went there to get irox egg in case you ever wanted to tame one.”

“I was thinking that if Gerk ever left, I would try to tame an irox and ride that when I attacked the Nusin,” he confirms. “As it turned out, I found a much better use for it. And for the rage. When the dactyl came, it attacked me. I almost felt the Red Fog again. But then I remembered what you said: bring life, not death. And the Red Fog turned White, I still had the strength the rage gave me, but now I had control, too.”

I squeeze the arm he holds around me. He's making me very happy.

We're soaring high over the jungle, and I was never the bravest girl where heights are concerned. But the fear I'm feeling also does something else to me. Or maybe it's just him. I'd love something to take my mind of the danger. And quite frankly, this will be the coolest thing I'll ever do.

I adjust my position and flick my dress up in the back, like I did when we were riding Gerk, presenting my womanly charms to my fiancé.

And soon after, I feel the smooth head of his alien cock right at my pussy.

“Yeahhh,” I moan as he pushes easily into my wet and ready sex while we're flying on a freaking dactyl. I might as well give myself completely over to it. “Fuck me, my love, my alien caveman!”

Hey, I never claimed to have a way with words.