Page 22 of Claimed By the Alien Barbarian

The thought that I couldn’t protect my mate kept roaring through me, making me want to gnash my tusks and growl. We were on our own until we reached my old clan, and even once there, we would not be safe. Not until I’d exposed Weela’s murderer and made them pay not only for taking her life, but for trying to kill me.

Assuming this was her murderer trailing us. It must be. No one else would bother tracking me like this. If they’d wanted my pouch and weapons, they would’ve stolen them, then run as far from me as they could. Wounded me to slow me down, perhaps, but getting that close to me meant they had to risk that I’d defend myself and injure them instead.

No, they were after me and now my mate. Stealing my food and weapons was only a part of killing me. Without supplies or a way to defend myself, my odds of surviving were small.

We’d retrieved two of Kerry’s precious arrows, and I’d help her make more if I could coax the gods into providing the best wood.

My spear had been broken by the hungry abadeer, but it could be replaced. As for the one the gods had sent, I’d thrown it at the culendars, and it also broke. I was sad to leave it behind, but it wasn’t worth carrying.

“We’ll make camp,” I said.

Stopping beside a wide place in the river, I found a good tree to settle beneath, where I could watch the trail and see a short distance in both directions. If whoever hunted us wanted to attack, we’d see them before they reached us. I liked that the tree stood alone, too, because that meant the Zuldruxian couldn’t jump to the branches above us from another tree and attack us from there.

I gently lifted Molly off my shoulder and placed her on the ground. I’d already seen her value on the trail. She’d hissed before the Zuldruxian chased the culendar pack our way. She’d let us know if anything came close.

She peered around and started to purr, reinforcing my belief that we were safe here—for now.

While she drank at the river and started grabbing insects from the shrubs and eating them, I caught fish for dinner. Kerrydug roots she’d discovered were edible, joining me in our camp spot beneath the wide canopy of the tree to prepare our meal.

In no time, I’d dug a shallow pit in the ground and encircled it with good-sized rocks. I was taking a chance with a fire because it could be seen for quite a distance, but if my suspicion was right and the person still trailed us, building a fire wouldn’t make a difference to them. It would, however, keep some predators away.

“Good idea,” Kerry said. “I can collect wood—”

I held up one finger, and she paused, her breathing coming to a halt.

“Nothing’s coming near,” I said softly. “But we must take care with everything we do. Tonight, we’ll build a big fire and sleep in the tree. Tomorrow night, we’ll rest in relative safety at the Dastalon Clan. And we’ll start investigating after that. The quicker we discover who killed her, the quicker we’ll be safe.” If there was a place I could leave her where I was sure the Zuldruxian couldn’t get to her, I’d do so, but she was safer with me than anywhere else. Safer than being on her own.

Closing my eyes, I hummed to the Celedar gods, hoping they’d respond now when they hadn’t earlier. These gods weren’t aligned with Helena, but in the past, I’d sometimes been able to get those in my clan’s area to respond. Most remained dormant, however, and no longer heard our call.

At Kerry’s gasp, I opened my eyes, smiling as wood dragged itself from the area around us, stacking itself nearby while other branches skittered up over the rock surround, settling in a loose pile inside the circle. Even Molly paused to watch, rising onto her haunches and clutching her small front paws to her throat.

Since the Veerenad had stolen my pack and fire stick, I’d have to start the fire the old way. After collecting some fluff from a plant growing along the bank of the river, I hunkereddown beside the pit and started rubbing down a slender stick to generate sparks.

“Want to use my lighter?” Kerry said, holding out a narrow tube in a bright pink color unlike anything found in nature.

What was a lighter?

“I’d like to ask how you got sticks and logs to move into our campsite on their own,” she said, “but I’m going to hold off on that.” She sounded breathy, but we hadn’t been running. “Watch out, little one.” Lifting Molly, Kerry placed her off to the side. She leaned close to the wood stack and used the device to make a scratchy sound. Flames licked across the tip.

Worried she’d be burned, I smacked it from her hand. It landed on the ground, its flame extinguishing right away.

Molly hopped over to sniff it before snorting and scampering around to the other side of the firepit.

“Oh, um . . .” Kerry retrieved the pink thing, holding it up between us. “This is a lighter. When I engage it,” she swung it out to her side, away from me, and with a flick of her thumb, generated the scratchy sound and a flame again, “it makes fire.”

“Amazing,” I said, staring at the flames flickering in the light breeze.

“Not as amazing as logs that move on their own.”

“I asked the trees to give us wood, and they did.”

The fluffy clusters of hair above her eyes lifted. “Just like that?”

“You’re not of the Celedar Clan yet, but once we’re home, I’ll teach you how to speak to the wood gods. Helena is our clan god, but she occasionally speaks with the others. Some hear, some do not. Many went dormant after the clans abandoned them.”

“This . . .” She shook her head. “I’m lettingallof this go for now. Anyway.” She flicked her finger across her device again, and it hissed. “Lighter. Fire. You built it and I’ll ignite it.” Bending forward, she used the device, the flames flicking aroundthe fluff I’d collected and across the dry wood. Our fire soon crackled merrily in the pit.

“I’ll slice the tubers. Do you need help cleaning the fish?” she asked, sitting and tugging her pack closer. She pulled out a pan and her small, slick-blade . . . No,twitch-blade, before looking up at me. “Cat got your tongue?”

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