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He placed his hand on Serenity’s shoulder. There was something in his weak, clammy touch that made her skin crawl, but she tried not to let that show.
“What do you say?” Patrick asked.
Serenity was now faced with perhaps the biggest decision of her life. She straightened her back and raked her eyes along the encampment one more time, taking in the sight of the other humans, all of them totally oblivious to the thoughts running through her mind.
Less than a day ago, Serenity would have said she would jump at any opportunity to get off this planet.
But the conditions of the escape Patrick was proposing were unexpected.
It wasn’t the danger that bothered her. Danger she could handle. The problem was the almost overwhelming sense of guilt knowing that the others would be left behind. She felt like she would be abandoning the other human refugees here in camp.
Then again, any one of the other human women would probably do the same thing in her situation. And besides, Patrick had made it clear that he had no intention of taking another woman with him if Serenity refused. None of the other women would be leaving this planet, regardless of her decision.
There was just one other detail that gave her pause.
The ukkur warrior.
The one who had saved her.
But that was pure foolishness. Yes, the ukkur had saved her life, and for that she was eternally grateful. But Serenity didn’t even know the warrior’s name. Didn’t know if she would even see him again. And based on the way he had treated her in the tunnel, she didn’t get the impression he was interested in getting to know her.
Serenity knew what she had to do. For the past six months, the only thing she had wanted was to get off this planet. She wanted it so badly it fucking hurt.
She would just have to learn to live with the guilt.
Serenity stood and looked down at Patrick who was still sitting on the boulder, skinny and oddly boyish in his primitive attire.
“All right,” she said. “I’m in.”
CHAPTER 8: HRUK
Jealousy.
That was what Hruk was experiencing. He did not use that exact word of course. He spoke and thought in the language of the nith. Like every other adult ukkur, Hruk had been created in a nith laboratory to be a slave on the ksh farms. His nith masters had instilled his brain with their language at his “birth” so that he could follow instructions.
And the nith were experts when it came to jealousy.
They had dozens of words for the concept. Hundreds perhaps. For example, there waskkzzkt, the jealousy of wealth. Andmakh’tik, the jealousy of food.Zsekk’mekhmeant the jealousy of rank within a military context whilezsekk’takhwas similar, but applied to political hierarchies. There was evenTzeenkh’nek’nok, the jealousy one felt when they shared the same enemy as another.
But none of these myriad words quite fit the intense emotion raging in Hruk’s chest.
The nith reproduced asexually, spontaneously expelling eggs from a tube between their legs every dozen orbits or so. As such, their language was largely devoid of vocabulary for things relating to mating, family, and especially love. The latter concept was utterly alien to their reptilian minds.
As a result, Hruk lacked the proper word to describe the jealousy that was scorching behind his breastbone.
Jealousy for a woman.
Earlier that day, Hruk had witnessed a human male talking with the human female. This had angered him, but he had maintained his self-control and stayed hidden among the shadowed crags on the other side of the canyon.
Besides, the male was small and weak looking. He would clearly be unable to force himself on the female as those other three men had attempted.
Plus, Hruk had been pretty sure the female was repulsed by the scrawny male. After all, she had regurgitated her food only a few seconds after they had started talking.
The ukkur had no reason to be jealous.
But then, a few minutes later, the female had flung her arms around the young male’s neck in an affectionate embrace. At this sight, Hruk’s powerful ukkur heart had practically exploded with rage. Just like the night before in the tunnels, his vision had faded into a red haze of fury. It was only by a supreme effort of his will that he had remained in his hiding place.
The curse, he had reminded himself.
