Page 7 of Claimed By the Alien Barbarian

With widening eyes, I stared at the human woman standing near the tree. She held a bow in her hands, the arrow pointed at me.

“Don’t make any sudden moves,” she said softly. “I can hit almost anything with this baby even at fifty feet. One wrong move on your part will be your last.”

“Who . . .” I croaked. My throat felt like I’d been crawling across the vast, open sandy plain I’d only seen once in my lifetime. The Browze Clan lived there, though I couldn’t imagine why or how. There appeared to be no vegetation there, let alonefood or water. But they might say the same thing about the forest where I made my home.

“I’m Kerry,” she said. “Who are you?”

“Nevarn.” I swallowed past a throat coated with dust. “Traedor of the . . . Celedar Clan.”

“You have tusks.” Her gaze locked on my mouth, and her attention made a strange thrill shoot through me.

“You do not,” I said.

“What do you rip into with teeth like that? Arms? Legs?”

“I don’t . . . really know. I suppose my ancestors might’ve used their tusks to tear through meat. I prefer to cut it with a knife.”

“What knife?” she barked, scanning my body. “I didn’t see one on you.”

“Stolen.”

“You’re unarmed, then?”

“Never.” The woods surrounded us, and they’d answer my call.

I needed to craft weapons soon if I was going to fight off whoever tried to kill me. They may have left the area for a brief time, but I’d bet anything they’d be watching, waiting for the chance to finish me off.

“Who stabbed you?” she asked.

I shrugged and bit back a groan as pain spiked through my belly. “I don’t know.”

With a grunt, she took one step closer to me but kept her arrow cocked. “I’ve been watching, but no one has come near. Whoever did this to you seems to have left the area.”

They’d be back. I had no doubt about that.

The stony look in Kerry’s eyes told me she not only knew how to use her bow, but that she wouldn’t hesitate if I gave any indication I’d attack. Good. She’d need to be on high alert untilI was strong enough to stand beside her. Then, we could protect each other.

Mate. She was mymate.

“I won’t hurt you,” I growled, though I wasn’t angry. I was frustrated that I felt pinned to the ground while she stood over me, confident and strong. But I sensed if I tried to move my limbs, they’d only flop.

Her low laugh rang out, the sweet sound tickling down my spine. “I don’t believe you’re capable of causing even my groundhog friend harm.”

Groundhog? I wasn’t sure why I focused on that. Perhaps because I’d otherwise gape at this female’s beauty. Her hair wasn’t silver like a Zuldruxian’s or dark like Vanessa’s. It was like she’d reached up into the sky and captured the sun, sliced it into tiny strands, and draped it around her shoulders. It curled at the tip of her braid, also unlike a Zuldruxian’s straightness.

Her blue eyes were lighter than mine, and her pale skin was dotted with brown specks marching across her tiny nose. Actually, everything about her was tiny, from her two—instead of four—breasts to her slender body, to her booted feet barely longer than the palm of my hand.

“You’re sure you don’t know who did this to you?” She nudged the tip of her arrow toward my belly.

“A Zuldruxian like me.”

“That’s your species? I assume this area is called . . . Zuldrux?”

“This planet, yes.”

The strips of golden fluff above her eyes lifted. “And you didn’t see them attack you?”

“They rushed up to me from behind and they wore a mask.”

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