TAUSHEN

The human called An-shee does not speak much as she leads us across the beach. It is not as if I need a guide; I have been on these shores many times with my tribe. But she seems to feel it is her task, so I let her. My Brooke is disturbed by her pregnant belly and shoots me worried looks. I am less worried than she is. If An-shee does not have a mate to feed her and her kit, the tribe will help out. All kits are welcome amongst us and treasured by all.

As we approach, I see clusters of people on the beach itself. Cashol casts nets into the water, speaking with a pair of males that look strikingly similar to each other. Their skin has a ruddy cast to it, which makes the blue of their khui seem that much brighter in their faces. They have been awake for some time, then, if the tribe has hunted sa-kohtsk for them. Normally I would be sad to miss such an exciting hunt, but I was with my Brooke. Nothing can be better than that.

We pass Leezh teaching two strange human women to make fire. She looks up at us and nods, then slaps the hand of one girl when she reaches for a coal with bone tongs. “Don’t touch that shit. What are you, five?”

The girl pulls her hand back and gives Leezh a wounded look. “Sorry.”

“It’s bone. All our utensils are bone. Bone burns. It took my ass twelve hours to carve that shit and I don’t want you burning it.”

Brooke opens her mouth to say something, but I tug on her hand and pull her along. There will be time enough to greet all the newcomers. First we must find our chief.

Near the mouth of one of the larger caves, Har-loh and Rukh sit with a cluster of females, helping them with their sewing. “You want to reinforce your seams, like Rukh is doing,” Har-loh says, gesturing at her mate’s sewing. “You don’t want your leathers falling apart on you, because the reality of it is, you’re not going to have that many changes of clothes. And any hole will make a really unpleasant breeze.”

The females lean in, gazing at Rukh’s stitches, and then one looks up at me. She elbows her friend, and then everyone is staring at Brooke and myself.

“Hi,” Brooke says with another wave of her hand. “Uh, we’re back.”

“I’d get up to hug you but it’ll take all day,” Har-loh says, with a pat on her belly. Her face is wreathed in a happy smile. “I’m glad to see you two.” Her smile at me is more uncertain, but when she realizes we are holding hands, her smile grows once more. “You’ve missed a lot.”

“I can tell.” Brooke squeezes my hand. “I’m just glad we ran into you guys again. I’m surprised everyone’s still at the beach.”

Har-loh’s expression falters, and she exchanges a look with her mate.

“You should find chief,” Rukh says to us, and touches Har-loh’s knee possessively. “Much to talk about.”

“That is where we are headed,” I tell him. “Where can we find him?”

Rukh points inside the largest of caves, and I nod and all but drag Brooke behind me.

“Bye,” Brooke calls out, trotting after me. “I’ll be back later!”

The females giggle, and one says something under her breath that makes their laughter grow.

“So many new people,” Brooke tells me, breathless. “It’s going to take some getting used to. We’re not the new ones anymore!”

“No male can claim you now,” I say to her. “You belong to me.”

“That’s adorable that you’re getting all caveman on me again.” Brooke nudges me with her elbow. “Don’t tell me you didn’t see those girls checking you out.”

“Checking…out? What were they checking?” I frown.

“Your butt, most likely.” She pulls her hand from mine and pats my bottom. “It’s a really nice one.”

I can feel my face grow hot. “Well, I am yours. They can look all they want, but I belong to you.”

“My thoughts exactly,” she says with a happy sigh, and I notice she keeps her hand on my bottom even as we walk. I guess I am not the only one that feels possessive, and the thought pleases me greatly.

Vektal is inside the largest cave, surrounded by baskets of supplies. He sits with another human, this one rounded like Mah-dee but with dark hair. She has a rock that she scratches on, and shakes her head at Vektal when he puts a fur into one pile. “You can’t put that there,” she tells him. “I’ve already counted those. It goes in the other stack. I…” She pauses, blinking at us. “We have visitors.”

“Eh?” My chief turns, and then a look of relief crosses his face at the sight of us. “Finally you show your faces.”

Brooke squeezes my hand, showing me support.

“We have returned,” I say boldly. “Brooke is my mate.”

“I would hear this from Buh-brukh’s lips,” Vektal says, crossing his arms over his chest.

“It’s true. We even resonated,” she tells him, and pats her stomach. “Bun in the oven and everything.”

“Resonance, hmm?” Vektal rubs his chin and then gives me a look. “Rokan told me of what he confessed to you. That Buh-brukh was to resonate soon, and that was why you stole her. I have to admit, I am not pleased.”

My breath catches in my throat. I sense exile is coming on, and the thought makes my heart hurt. I will lose my friends, my home, everything. But when Brooke touches my arm, I straighten. I am not afraid of whatever punishment he doles out. It will be worth it. Brooke is everything to me. I would risk exile a thousand times to have her at my side. “I understand you are angry, but I would do the same thing all over again. For Brooke, I will risk everything. She is my mate in all ways, and if you must exile me, do so.”

The chief snorts, shaking his head slowly. “I have learned over these seasons that punishing for such things is impossible. It does not stop the actions, and as long as the female is happy, I see no reason to make matters worse.” He gives us a stern look. “Do not think that you are getting away easily simply because my mate is not here.”

“We would never think such a thing,” Brooke tells him, and I recognize she is using her sweet voice on him, the persuasive one. She holds my arm and leans in against me, looking soft and fragile. “And we can’t thank you enough for being understanding.”

“It is less understanding and more that I have bigger problems,” Vektal admits, glancing down at the female at his feet. “A happy resonance is the least of my worries.”

“You ain’t lyin’,” the female says with a shake of her head.

Vektal frowns at her, as if displeased with her agreement, but the female does not seem to notice. She takes the fur he has placed in the pile, moves it to another pile, and then makes a mark on her rock again.

“What is it?” I ask, curious. “Did something go wrong with the ship?” The humans we passed seemed content enough, and they were taking lessons from the tribe. I did not see fighting or anger, only surprise that we had arrived.

“Oh no, he burned our only chance of escape and then sank it. He did that just fine,” the mouthy, round female says and makes another mark on her rock. Her words sound bitter and playful all at once.

My chief rolls his eyes at the female. I suspect he has heard this argument before. “Ha-nah, take Buh-brukh out and introduce her to the new members of our tribe. I must speak with Taushen privately.”

The human—Ha-nah—gets to her feet. “Come on, you get to meet our fun crew. We’re a total party and a half, wait and see.” Her tone is dry and odd.

Brooke’s mouth twitches with amusement, and she pulls me down and gives me a kiss on the cheek. “Be good,” she whispers, and then pats my bottom one more time before turning to leave with the female.

I flick her bottom with my tail, and she squeals with laughter, holding her backside before she trots away. I do not miss the human female rolling her eyes, but I do not care. I am happy with my Brooke, and she is happy with me. I do not care what anyone else thinks.

Vektal watches them go, a tired expression on his face. “That one is like Leezh, but without the charm,” he comments.

“Leezh has charm?”

The chief grunts. “Ha-nah is like many of the others—they are not happy the ship was destroyed. They think they could fly themselves back to their planet, even though none of them know where it is or how to fly a spaceship.” He rubs his brow. “Even Har-loh says they are like herding snowcats. They do not listen well, they are helpless, and they make me wish I was at home, tucked into the furs with my mate and my kits sleeping nearby. It has been far too long since I have seen their faces.”

I nod agreement, watching out of the corner of my eye as my mate and the other female stop to talk to a male, one with strange, mottled golden skin. He smiles and laughs at them, and I have to fight the possessive surge in my belly. Brooke is mine. She has resonated to me. Let that male laugh and flirt with her all he wants. Her heart belongs to Taushen. I turn back to my chief. “So…no exile?”

Vektal just flicks his hands, dismissing the idea. “There is far too much going on to think about that right now. I will tell my Georgie that Buh-brukh was happy to go with you. There is nothing to punish if that is the case. We have different problems to figure out. I need every hunter right now.”

“You said as much. What is going on?”

“Bek, Rokan, Zolaya, and Raahosh are out searching. One of the males was…not right in the head, and we have no healer. He has been crazed ever since we gave him a khui, something I now regret.” Vektal’s mouth thins and he looks frustrated. “We had to keep him tied so he would not hurt himself or anyone else, but one night he stole away…and took a female with him. It was not mutual. This female was shy, easily frightened. She would not have gone with him on her own.”

“Resonance, perhaps?”

“Unlikely. Ashtar—that is the gold male—resonated to a human female named Vuh-ron-ca. No one else resonated. If the two missing ones resonated, then it did not happen while they were at camp.” He shakes his head again. “And there were signs of a struggle. We are not sure that the male and female will know how to take care of themselves, so the others are searching for them. And they are not the only ones we are missing.”

I am surprised. “There are more that have disappeared?”

His expression looks bleak. “Two more, and I fear this is my fault.”

I hate to see him so unhappy, so uncertain of himself. This is not the chief I know. I have always looked up to him, first as an older hunter, and then when he took the mantle of leadership after his father died. Vektal has always been sure of his place in our tribe, sure of himself, sure of everything. To see him like this makes me see him as…like the rest of us. A regular hunter with problems, as I am. We are one and the same. “Tell me what happened. Perhaps I can help.”

Vektal begins to pace. “It was the ship. Mardok and Har-loh were unhappy with the thought of destroying it, and I was focused on them and not paying attention to all my humans. We set it on fire and it floated for a time in the waters, steaming and hissing. It took many long hours for it to sink, and when it finally did, that is when we realized we were missing two of the human females—Lo-ren and Mar-ee-sol. We could not find them anywhere. We looked, and their packs were still here at camp, so they could not have left into the wild without them. They were just…gone. I realized after a time that we did not check to see if they were out of the ship before we set it on fire and rolled it down the beach and into the waters.” He scrubs his face. “Foolish of me. I should have known. Mar-ee-sol likes to hide because she is frightened of everything. But I did not think, and there was so much going on…” He sighs heavily. “They are my responsibility, and I am failing them.”

He speaks as if they are still alive and not dead with the ship under the waves. “Then…they live? You have seen them?”

“No. There is more to the story. Two days later, Mardok came to me and said he and Har-loh had hidden some of the ship’s equipment away, just in case we needed it. They assured me that the enemy would not be able to find us with what they kept. I was not happy to hear this, but Mardok tells me that he gets readings of two humans, very far across the water.”

I blink, surprised. “Across the water? Are they…floating on something?”

“Mardok thinks there is an island behind the fog. I think he has been talking to Jo-see too much.” Vektal’s smile is wry. “The fog never lifts, so there is no way of knowing, and Mardok says his readings are not always correct. That they disappear and appear again over and over. He does not know if the equipment is broken or if they are truly alive. He and Farli go up and down the beach every day, trying to get a better reading.” He sighs heavily. “So until we find out if they are alive or dead, we wait. Until the feral one brings back the missing female—or the others find them—we wait.” He clenches his jaw and shoots me a frustrated look. “And I stay here, away from my mate, who carries our kit, and my daughters, who I miss more than I thought possible.”

I clasp a hand on his shoulder. Missing a mate, I understand. Brooke has only been gone from my side for the space of a few breaths and already I long for her return. I cannot imagine being apart from her for a full turn of the moon. “We will find them. We will not give up. Tell me what Brooke and I can do to help.”

BROOKE

The vibe at camp is totally different with the new humans. There are sixteen newcomers, all told. Three guys and thirteen chicks, and Hannah is quick to tell me all about how the others went missing. “That’s probably what they’re talking about,” she tells me matter-of-factly. “Vektal won’t shut up about it.”

“Do you hang out with Vektal a lot?” I ask, curious, as we head toward the group Harlow’s teaching. The chief didn’t seem to appreciate her presence much.

“Oh, I’m his assistant.” She gives me a nod, as if that explains it all. “The man’s clearly overwhelmed, so I appointed myself his helper. He’ll thank me for it someday.”

I’ll bet. I bite back my chuckle, because Hannah seems nice enough, if a bit bossy. She’s short and round, with brown pigtails and dimpled cheeks, like she’s just stepped off of Gilligan’s Island and into, well, Gilligan’s Iceberg. I wouldn’t say she’s a cheerful sort like Mary-Ann from the show, though. She’s definitely more of a grump, or, as Liz refers to her, the “salty daughter I never had.” Doesn’t surprise me that the two of them get along.

We wind through the camp, stopping to talk to everyone. Names and faces blur together, but I try to remember most of them. Ashtar is the big, friendly guy with golden, scaly skin and whirling eyes that change colors despite his khui. He’s sweet enough, if a bit strange-looking—and this is coming from a girl who just mated a big, blue, horned dude. He dotes on Veronica, who seems like his polar opposite. She’s plain, soft-spoken, and completely average-looking, but above average in klutziness. If someone’s burned their fingers on the fire or spilled dinner, it’s Veronica. If someone needs to be rescued from the tide before it washes her away, it’s Veronica. If someone’s going to find sand-scorpions in her bed at night, it’s Veronica. I kind of feel sorry for her, and I haven’t said more than two words to her. She sounds unlucky as hell. She also doesn’t seem to realize how much Ashtar likes her, because she seems shy and uncertain around him. They’ll figure it out, I’m sure.

The other two new guys back at camp are twins. I don’t remember their names, nor do I remember them saying much when Hannah introduced us. They stare, intensely blue eyes narrowed, as if they’re sizing me up to either kill me or kiss me. I sincerely hope neither one happens, and I make sure to point out that my mate’s talking with the chief. They don’t look friendly. Hannah says they were gladiators of some kind. I think it’ll take me a while to get used to them. A long, long while.

Then there’s pregnant Angie, who seems to keep to herself. A lean, sweet-faced blonde named Raven (of all things). Chatty Devi, who used to be a scientist and now seems intent on talking Liz’s ear off. There’s Tia, who looks to be no more than sixteen, and Nadine, who’s got the most glorious, natural, kinky curls (I’m a hair stylist, I notice hair). There’s Steph, who’s redheaded like Harlow, but not freckled. A brunette. A Hispanic girl and a Filipina. A blonde. After a while, I hit saturation point and just nod, giving up on names. There’ll be time to learn everyone’s faces later.

They’re not going anywhere.

As the day wears on, more people trickle back into camp. Farli and Mardok return and give me hugs, and I even pet Farli’s goofy-looking Chompy, who slobbers all over my hands with happiness and then tries to eat my sleeve. “He likes the taste of leather best when it is worn by someone who resonates,” Farli tells me with a teasing grin.

“I’m going to say ew to that,” I reply, because I can only imagine what the hell Chompy smells on my leathers. Laundry day tomorrow, for sure.

She only laughs, pleased. “I have gone through more leathers in the last two turns of the moon than I have in many seasons. Hide your leggings when you sleep at night.”

It takes me a moment to realize that she knows we’ve resonated. I haven’t exactly been blasting it around the camp—except to the two intense-looking twins—because I don’t know how Taushen wants to tell everyone. Do we make a big announcement? Act cool about it? What? “How’d you guess?”

“Guess?” She laughs, a smile crossing her pretty blue face. “There is no guessing. I can hear you.”

I put a hand to my breast, and sure enough, I’m humming. It gets louder and louder, and a moment later, a big arm encircles my shoulders and Taushen pulls me against him, nuzzling my messy, tangled hair. “My mate,” he murmurs against my skin. “I have missed you.”

I feel myself blushing.

“Leggings,” Farli advises. “Hide them well.”

“Keep your ugly pony away from my shorts,” I tease her back as she walks away.

Taushen nips my ear, sending shivers through me. “We will have a private cave tonight, Vektal assures me. He understands well how demanding resonance can be and does not wish for us to wake the others.”

Oh, jeez.

Hannah wrinkles her nose at us. “Uh, yeah, I’m going to go and see if Liz needs help with the fire-making. Or something. You two keep making out. Don’t mind me.” She hurries away.

I just laugh. “I think we’ve become those people, Taushen. We’re PDA jerks.”

“What is pee-dee-ayy?” He licks the shell of my ear. “And why does that make us jerks?”

“Public displays of affection,” I explain to him, though it’s hard to concentrate when he’s nipping at my ear like that. “And it makes us jerks because we’re showing off.”

“I do not care if the world knows that you are my mate. Let them see how proud I am of you.”

He’s lucky he’s holding on to me, because my knees get weak at his words.