Page 15 of Caveman Alien's Touch

It’s not. My smile dies on my lips when I see it’s the same one who kept screeching about how he hasn’t got a woman.

I grab his hand and try to pry the fingers off my arm, but he’s strong and keeps his grip on me.

There’s a nasty smile on his face, his eyes swimming with drunkenness. “No need to settle for a broken Foundling, woman. In the Borok village, of course you prefer a real Borok man. You don’t want to be impolite, do you?”

“Take hand off me,” I hiss, struggling to get away. “I will tell your chief!”

He doesn’t budge, just gives me an evil grin. “The chief will throw you into the jungle. He doesn’t like Foundlings in our village.”

“Chief Korr’ax is my friend,” I seethe. “Youthe one cast out!”

“You—” the tribesman begins, then stops. There’s a big hand on his throat, and a fan-like feature is visible behind him, dark red.

It’s Noker, whispering something in the tribesman’s ear. The grip on my arm is suddenly gone. I pull back, and Piper gently takes hold of my other hand. “Let’s stay back.”

The unpleasant tribesman is trying to move, but Noker has a good grip on him. I can’t hear what’s being said over the drums, but the man spins around and reaches for his sword. He doesn’t get that far before his wrist is caught in another hand. Noker must be much stronger than the Borok man, because he manages to pull him away. Brak gets between them and me, blocking my view.

The drums falter and go silent. The tribesmen look around, then focus on the scuffle next to me. Three burly Borok men march over, grab their drunk tribesman, and drag him away with them.

Noker is in front of me again, a tight smile on his face. “Some of these men drink too much. Thankfully his tribesmen came to his aid before he hurt himself. Pay him no heed.”

His words send a chill down my back. I don’t have any doubts about who would have been doing the hurting. Noker’s head fan is still deep red, which I have learned to associate with him being angry.

Two boys start clapping again in the confused silence, and it’s gradually taken up by many tribesmen.

The drums start playing, and the crowd gets back to dancing in their newfound way.

But the episode broke the magic for me.

I pull Noker’s head down to me. “Let’s go,” I say into his ear.

Taking my hand again, he walks ahead through the crowd, parting it. We emerge from the primal, pulsating crowd of cavemen on the side where there’s no torches and no fires, so after ten more paces and turning a corner, we’re away from the party.

“What a bad man,” I exclaim as I roll up my sleeve to examine my upper arm. “He touch me.”

“Many of the Borok men want to touch the women,” Noker rumbles. “Only Unin’iz was drunk enough to do it. But being drunk in the evening means being unwell in the morning. I wonder how he will handle the game of penk.”

“What is penk?”

He shrugs his massive shoulders, making his loincloth ride up. “I don’t know. We shall see tomorrow.”

“You like the… movements?” I don’t know the word for ’dance’, so I show the moves instead.

“The movements? We call itdancing. The boys in the clan sometimes do it. Yes, I like this. Look at them!” He nods towards the still pulsating crowd, wonder in his eyes. “They’re making enough noise to attract a pack ofkronk!And yet nobody is hushing them, nobody is scared of being attacked. They know they’re safe, despite the noise and the light and the smell of fried meat. And they’re right! Not even an irox is coming to snatch a boy from the shadows. In the clan, a night like this would never happen. This is a powerful tribe, Bronwen!”

The light flickers over his body, highlighting the contours of his massive frame and the thick muscles rippling beneath the skin. His strong features are etched with shadow, his eyes reflecting the warm flames. In this light, his blue stripes make it look like he’s made of fine marble. He has no idea thathe’sthe most powerful person here.

I quickly look around. There’s nobody nearby.

I get up on tiptoe, pull his head down to me, and place a kiss right on his mouth. Again, I swear he has something electrical going on with his skin. There’s definitely a blue spark, but no sting, just tingles that move downward through me.

I reach up to carefully touch his head fan. “Is pain?”

7

- Bronwen-

“Is nice,” Noker rumbles.

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