Page 72 of Caveman Alien's Bride

“I will do something worse,” I state. “I will not even waste single thrust of my blade on him.”

“Thatisworse,” Korr’ax agrees. “He will not enjoy the rest of his life. Now, let’s go.”

We start walking back the way we came.

I replace my sword in its sheath. “How did you find me?”

“I saw that you were gone. The tribe wanted me to stay with them and let you go. But I they need me at my best, and I am not at my best without you. I commanded every man to search for a track outside the wall. They all searched in the dark of night. One of them found a trail that could only be from a woman. I sent the men back inside the village, leaving Breti’ax in charge. And then I tracked you. Oh, this is yours, I think.” He hands me the small stick of dried-up mascara from my pouch, the one I dropped right after I was allowed to go behind the bush.

I replace it in my precious make-up pouch. “Thank you. I dropped so you would see it.Ifyou came to get me.”

His eyes flash. “IfI came to get you? You didn’t think I would?”

“I not know. After I left the necklace in cave.”

We walk in silence for a while as we struggle with this new development.

Then Korr’ax clears his voice. “A marriage is worthless if only the wife or the husband wants it. And when you took off the necklace, you showed me that you don’t want it.”

“You forced me,” I state softly. “After that, it was good. It was! But I can’t trust a husband who had toforceme to marry him. When Dren’in came to me with fake message, I wanted to tell you. But the tribesmen don’t like me and you… I not be sure what you would say.”

Korr’ax stops and stares into the jungle. “I am the chief of two tribes. Both tribes are better than they were before I took over. I am to have two Lifegivers. Maybe three. I am the most powerful man in the jungle. Other tribes will come and ask me to take over from their chiefs. I can’t have any of those things if I want you.”

“I know,” I say in a raspy voice. “The tribes think I’m their enemy. And maybe they right.”

He puts his hand on my cheek. “Let’s go and find a good place to live. The beach, if you want. The trok won’t be there for a long time now. We can build a hut with two floors, the way we like it! I’ll hunt and protect you, and you will help with your blinding disk.”

I’m stunned. This is not what I thought he would say. “That means you’ll give up everything you worked for!”

“But only if youwantto,” he rumbles. “If youchooseto. If you don’t want to be married to me, I will still give you all the protection I can. You may have to live closer to the tribe. The Tretter tribe, maybe. The Borok tribe distrusts you too much now. In time, when the men realize that you’re not sent from theDarkness, we can find a place for youinthe tribe. I promise that I will not bother you.”

“I see how happy you are when chief,” I tell him. “The men love you, and the tribes doing really well. I hate to take that away from you.”

“And now I don’t want any of that. What I want is you. But only ifyouwantme, too.”

“I do want you,” I state sincerely. “There’s nothing I want more. Korr’ax, there’s something I want to know.”

He raises his eyebrows. “Yes?”

“Are you planning to capture Piper and give her to the Krast so they will make you their chief?”

“I was thinking of it,” Korr’ax admits. “It was an obvious possibility. But you painted her on the totem wall, and I realized that Piper and you are the closest friends I’ve ever seen. Pulling you apart would be wrong. It was no longer a possibility then. If ever it was one. Because it struck me that Piper might not want it.”

“Youthink?!” I exclaim in an exasperation I just can’t hold back. “You think she might notwant it?!”

“Yes,” Korr’ax says, taken aback. “Perhaps she would prefer to not live with a tribe where the men would expect her to do things that she might enjoy, but still not want… well, you know what I mean.”

I guess that’s the most profound ethical insight I can expect from an alien caveman right now.

“I think you right that she not want that,” I agree. “I also think that because you plan that, she had to leave Borok village.”

He frowns. “If she didn’t want it, she could just say so.”

“She saw you force me to marry you,” I point out.

“And she thought I would also force her to go with the Krast tribe,” he ponders. “I wouldn’t have done that, but I see how she could think it. And she feared it so much that she’d rather live alone in the jungle, with all the dangers! This is terrible! We must find her, my wi— Bryar! I must make sure she’s safe—”

I take his hand, strangely heartbroken he didn’t call me his wife. I have tortured him enough now. “I can’t live with the tribes. But if you follow me to the beach, we see if she’s there and you and I stay. Stay married, too. Myhusband.”

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