C.L. Scholey - Zuri's Zargonnii Warrior (Unearthly World # 2) (8 page)

“Wait, Zuri.” He grabbed her flailing arms. “A Holiday to me is when a female and male mate. Obviously, it doesn’t mean the same to you.”

She was back to yelling in her own language. She spoke too fast; it was as though her mouth was machine propelled. She was giving him a headache. His nose wrinkled as her arms waved back and forth. Her smell was becoming unpleasant. First her insides had thrown up on him, spewed vile filth as a war tactic, now she exuded a stench from under her armpits.
Ew
. Kobe was beginning to wonder if human females were to be wary of more than their males.

“You talk too fast.”

“Are you calling me mouthy?” She bellowed.

Kobe didn’t understand the word mouthy but if it meant too yappy she was indeed
mouthy.

“You smell,” he blurted. That stopped her. Her face went red. He rushed on trying to get a sentence in before she blasted him again. “I have a washing stall you can use. I can find you a towel. Maybe you can rinse your clothing out. I think we need some time away from each other to calm down.”

For you to calm down.
Was what he was really thinking. He had no idea human females were so high maintenance. This was going to take careful consideration. Citun might have to reinforce the human area with a wild human female. And sound proof, definitely sound proof.

Kobe released her arms. She followed him, back arrow straight, into the next room where there was a large stall for washing. He showed her how the large black faucets worked. After dropping a towel onto the floor near the stall he left and closed the door. He was feeling none too happy. Maybe he
was
a dumb ass moron. Why would a female want to Holiday with him when he had captured her? It wasn’t time to Holiday, why would he even suggest such a thing? Why where his hormones running amok? Perhaps he should have let Citun take her. It was embarrassing to be dominant and not dominate. That hadn’t worked out at all.

His thoughts were rolling. Zuri wasn’t really a captive just because he caught her. She didn’t belong to him, as Citun had pointed out. Perhaps it was for the best she be placed in her new home and Kobe could go back to his normal lifestyle. He would meet a normal Zargonnii female at his next Holiday, more than likely be dominated, properly, and with any luck he would have a son.

There wasn’t any reason to think he and Zuri would be compatible regardless. She was cute, different, a curiosity.
Vulnerable, sad, lonely.
Poor little thing. And he was a big idiot for trying to take advantage. From now on, he would leave her alone. He would ask Citun for longer shifts to stay away from her.
Far away.

Kobe heard Zuri scream. It took under a second to break through the door to get to her.

* * * *

Zuri was so angry. Why on earth would the big dumb alien think she wanted to have sex with him,
Holiday
with him? What the hell kind of word for sex was that anyway? Was getting laid their idea of getting presents? Typical male attitude from any species. Zuri hadn’t had sex in at least two years. No one on the planet interested her in that way, and the year previous she had been trying to survive on earth. By the time Zuri’s turn for a shuttle had come, half of the planet was under water.

For a second, her head hung as she stood naked in the shower stall. Her belly rumbled in hunger, she hoped boiling the food would help; she couldn’t bite through any of it. She wondered how Cash and Leo were doing. Wondered if they were feeling as hungry and lonely as she was. Zuri’s head dropped further in dismay. She was not going to cry, she repeated the phrase in her thoughts. Zuri tried to convince herself the new planet wouldn’t be so bad. Citun, the prick, had said there was an area for humans. Really, how bad could the planet be? Kobe was a little scary looking, but he hadn’t hurt her. It wasn’t possible anything on the planet could be as big as he was. In a way, he reminded her of Leo. Only shallow people can’t get past looks to the real true soul beneath. All too often she had been reminded you can’t judge a book by its cover.

The Tonan had been handsome—then deadly. For a while, she honestly thought she could be in love with the sight of the Tonan. Except his soul was ugly—he was hideous. Not just because he changed into a monster—he already was a monster. The 2BKs sold them out, not that she blamed them. They were gentle creatures who saved their lives once. They weren’t so bad. The Gorgano were a huge threat, even though Zuri was positive in a physical confrontation she could kick their skinny asses. As for the Zargonnii, the language barrier was hard; but surprisingly, she was picking up the strange guttural language easily.

Besides, Kobe was right; she definitely needed a real shower. Too much sweat from fear and exertion had taken its toll. Sighing, Zuri reached to turn on the faucet. It took some strength to thrust the lever up. Zuri stood directly under the foot long wide rectangular opening in the stall where she assumed the water would come out. She stared at it puzzled for a moment when nothing happened. A loud rumble began and Zuri took a hesitant step back.

That does not sound good at all.

The water hit her full blast in the chest knocking her off her feet. She was slammed into the nitride-eel see-through wall, howling. Zuri tried to get away from the force of the blast, curling into a ball in a corner the water barely reached; it still stung like pins and needles as the water bounced. The pressure was agonizing, she couldn’t find the door, couldn’t reach the faucet. Droplets hit the floor so fast they jumped and stung when they hit her.

Zuri heard the bathroom door explode open. The shower door was almost ripped off. Kobe was suddenly standing in front of her, shielding her. He pulled her up into his arms. Water danced over his back, absorbing the pressure, spraying her gently. Soon his furry front was soaked. A stream sluiced over her head, washing her hair. Before long Zuri felt strong hands rub a slick substance over her body. The soap was black, the smell was pleasant. Kobe was once again crooning in the lulling tone he had.

Gasping in air she clung to him. It felt nice to relax against a strong solid body. Kobe took the brunt of the power wash while droplets cleaned her harmlessly. When Kobe pushed her a small way from him she tensed as his hand touched her chest. He swore when he noted the red mark and tiny fine line of blood that had almost ceased flowing.

Reaching back behind him he turned off the blasting water. Gathering her into his arms he strode through the battered shower door. Kobe wrapped her in a towel and took her to his room where he placed her on his bed. Once more he studied her chest. Using part of the towel he pressed it against the bloody mark.

“I’m so sorry, Zuri. This is my entire fault.”

He looked so contrite with his long white hair dripping all over him. He centered his gaze onto her, his eyes lit brilliantly and she felt tremendous warmth cover her. Her body began to dry. She gazed at him curiously.

“My eyes have the capability of heat or fire. We can warm and dry our infants with just a look. Or we can incinerate an opponent.”

The wet towel she was in dried. He left the room and Zuri heard the shower running again. When Kobe returned he held out her washed and dried t-shirt and panties to her. He went to a wall where a dresser drawer opened. Turning his back to her he stripped off his wet pants and boots.

His ass was chiseled rock, almost hairless. The backs of his legs were covered in the same white fur of his chest. His feet were large with ten toes, five on each foot; they resembled human feet except for their size and the fine layer of fur covering them. Scary he might be, but kind and powerful he was; the gentle giant was back. Zuri struggled into her clothes while hiding under the towel. She stood up and wrapped the long fabric he had originally given her around her waist.

“How long will it take to get to your planet?” Zuri asked. She substituted as many of his Zargonnii words as she could hoping he would understand.

“About a week and a half, barring any unforeseen problems.”

“I can’t shower in your stall.”

“Yes you can. I have seen you unclothed, you have seen me unclothed. We can shower together. I can shield you.”

“That’s not really appropriate.”

“Neither is being smelly. I have mentioned about our Holiday, does your species have a set time to Holiday?”

“We call it sex. A Holiday is different for us. We celebrate many different things at different times of the year.”

Kobe sat on a large overstuffed piece of furniture. He patted the place beside him. “We have lots of time to get to know each other. Let me tell you about my planet. I want to know all about yours. I want to know how you can be with a male and not feel the need to battle. You say you are friends with those human males. I’ve never had a female for a friend. Be mine. Share your story with me.”

He sounded so sincere. Zuri could use a friend. Lonely wasn’t something she did well.

Chapter 5

With hesitance, Zuri approached Kobe. She perched much like a timid animal waiting for a creature to eat her. He wondered what to say, how not to frighten someone so small. Kobe and Zargonnii warriors were used to protecting their male offspring; it was natural. Never once in his life had he protected a female; never once in his life did he ever expect to. It was almost unheard of in his culture. He thought for a moment he had done Zuri a disservice by not allowing Citun to watch over her. Citun had been dominant during the Holiday; he was older and stronger than his warriors. That meant the female he had challenged and won was under his care for the duration of the Holiday. Kobe wasn’t certain what it entailed, but could guess the battle had been impressive.

For some odd reason, the idea of handing her over to his leader bothered Kobe. Citun wasn’t cruel, just arrogant. He had reason to be, but not with a tiny human female. Zuri had enough to deal with without fending off verbal insinuations. And Kobe had no idea how Citun would react to a physical assault. Kobe was a fierce warrior, though he seemed to have more patience than most warriors. He had to admit holding a baby was high on his like list. Now, sitting with Zuri was approaching the same like list. He never expressed his feelings with anyone but his dearest friend. He could tell Atin all about Zuri when he got home—Atin would understand. Not once had he made fun of Kobe’s gentle side. Hopefully Zuri wouldn’t.

“My planet is very beautiful; you will love all the colors. No planet smells sweeter. I’m certain it is far different from yours,” he began. “Citun told his warriors your planet was destroyed by bad weather. Our weather is stable; you needn’t fear storms destroying the human area set up. I am afraid we do have some large animals you will need to be protected from. I’m sure your Earth must have been void of animal dangers.”

“Oh no, we had bears, sharks, poisonous snakes.”

Kobe listened to her strange words and shrugged not knowing what any of those things were. Zuri got up and made a face he supposed she thought would be construed as scary, he refrained from laughing. She curled her tiny hands into laudable claws. Next she snarled, Kobe did laugh then.

“
Roar,”
she bellowed. “Bear.”

Kobe put his hand over his mouth to keep his composure. If that was a bear, he would love one for a pet. Then Zuri made a hissing sound, she wriggled around trying to look sinister, something a child would do during play. She bit at the air then fell over onto her back, arms and legs danced and jerked for a second until she lay still. He presumed unconscious, or dead.

She peeked up at him. “Snake.”

Uh huh.

Kobe couldn’t wait for the shark. He wasn’t disappointed. Zuri stood, narrowed her eyes onto him as soullessly as possible. That got his attention; she was pretty good at this one. Silently she approached—her facial expression void of emotion. Her fingers peeled back her lips exposing as much of her teeth as possible. In one fluid motion she suddenly snapped her hands together. Kobe almost jumped.

“Oh, do I ever want one of those,” Kobe said excitedly.

Zuri slumped her shoulders then flopped down beside him. “Sharks bite.”

“Awesome.”

“No awesome, moron. Dead.”

“Well, I can see how it would scare a human; but really, Zuri, have you actually looked at me?”

Zuri was looking at him, she was frowning. “Worse monsters on your planet?”

She thinks I’m a monster?

“Yes, worse monsters than me.”

“No, Kobe, you’re not a monster. Different. Sweet, kind, gentle.”

Kobe smiled then thought about the Earth males. They were different from him. Almost bald like Zuri. Kobe realized why the males had appeared so annoyed with him; he sure as hell would take offense if someone thought he was female. Zargonnii females were majestic, but male was male and female was female. One of the male humans had a space between his front teeth but Kobe knew humans’ teeth didn’t expand and grow into sharp daggers. Humans couldn’t gain in height when in battle mode. Even when Zuri was angry, she remained the same size. Though he had been certain for a second her head would spin around in a creepy gesture, it hadn’t.

“These creatures on your planet you claim are dangerous, how did you battle them?” Kobe asked.

“Mostly you just stayed away from them.”