Taken: Blue Barbarian Series (Blue Barbarians Book 3) Read online

  Drakar and Niki begin to pass the boxes out, and they’re snatched up by greedy hands.

  “Any sign of the aliens?” Lucie asks as she digs through her box. She’s not picky, she’s delved right in and speaks around a mouthful of food. Me, I’m trying to identify body parts.

  “Two are dead in the ship. I think the other four are dead outside. You can’t travel in the dark here. Drakar showed me outside a window and it’s pitch black all the time. Not a star in the sky, not a moon. All the other predators have night vision, so we’d be running blind.”

  “Where will we be going?”

  “Drakar’s…tribe is coming. Some hunters or something. He left a message in a cave and they’ll fetch us, hopefully in the morning when it’s light.”

  We stop talking and begin to eat.

  “Oh. Em. Gee.” Someone squeals when she takes a bite. “It’s Kentucky Fried Chicken!” She’s licking her fingers and smacking them something fierce, as she chomps on a drumstick-looking thing.

  Mine is beef. My eyes widen in surprise because it’s delicious.

  There’s more talking, and some laughter, and we’ve gotten used to Drakar’s strange looks. His blue skin, his long black braid. The muscles and the fact that he’s giant, like seven feet tall.

  Then one by one, we finish eating, and pass the empty boxes up onto the shelf.

  “Let’s rest up,” Niki says. “Hopefully at dawn we’ll be out of here.”

  We all head over to our mattress pads. Drakar hoists a couple of the pads over to the far end of the room and takes Niki by the arm to keep her with him. Then he reaches out to snap off the light.

  As we lay in the dark, I hear soft snores begin. I can’t sleep yet, my mind is going a mile a minute. Will the other blue men look like Drakar? He’s a whole lot possessive toward Niki. I certainly don’t need that. In fact, if I had been smart I would have broken things off with Michael when I first felt the urge. Now look at where I am.

  * * * * *

  A rush of light fills the room abruptly. I sit up, disoriented.

  Just when we get used to the blue alien named Drakar, there are a dozen more. This time, they are much harsher looking, especially standing together in a group. They’re even bigger than Drakar, though to be fair, he was a captive and none of us are at our best right now. Knives are strapped to muscled thighs. These new guys look savage, with war paint covering half their faces, spears attached to their backs, and a whole lot of nakedness.

  One of them is staring right at me.

  Holy crap.

  I look away, hoping to break eye contact. I sense his eyes following me and step closer to Jezebel, who grabs my hand. Someone lets loose a scream, and it triggers more. Then, Cammie next to me presses in closer and we all run to huddle in the corner of the room, forming a protective barrier from their intense stares.

  As if we could hide.

  But one of the blue savages is still Drakar. We just didn’t recognize him with the new war paint spread on his face. He speaks to Niki, and she turns to us.

  “Gather your mattresses and capes,” she says. “We have to travel all day to reach a cave before night falls and the monsters emerge.”

  We begin to scramble, avoiding looking at the blue barbarians. Avoiding them doesn’t make them go away however. They step in close, way too close, and gather our mattresses for us.

  The one who stared at me earlier approaches. He grunts, and takes my mattress from my hand. Then his hand captures mine, and slides my cape free of my fingers. His strange blue skin touches me, and he doesn’t feel any different than anyone else. He drapes the cape around me, fastening it at my neck.

  He’s huge. His biceps are massive, and his eyes are a beautiful light blue, framed by thick, black lashes. His cheekbones are high and he’s scary, while at the same time handsome. But more on the scary side, so I huddle behind the rest of the girls and breathe deeply until he finally steps away.

  When we’re packed up, they usher us outside. We still hide in the corner of the hallway, until one barks at the other barbarians to go through first. Once they’re further away, one by one we step through. Lucie’s brave, she goes first. When it’s my turn, I step through also.

  I blink at the sight of daylight here.

  Their planet looks like a barren desert, except there are trees with lush leaves. Obviously there’s water somewhere, yet it’s hot as hell and the lighting is strange. I look up at the weird sun. It’s red. It’s pretty. And it matches the pink sky. The clouds are a strange mix of yellow and blue.

  Pink sky. We’re so far from home. For a minute I’m melancholy and then I realize my feet are hot. I hop from foot to foot, and the ground burns to touch.

  “Ohmigosh, look at that,” someone says, pointing to the sun. They’ve noticed the strange color.

  Drakar is speaking to Niki, and she heads toward us. “Come stand in the shade of the tree. The ground will be cooler. But don’t touch the bark. It’s poisonous. Drakar and the guys are going to get us something to wear on our feet, but we need to memorize what this tree looks like in case we run across another.”

  We follow her to where a large tree stands and it doesn’t look dangerous. But Niki explains more.

  “This is how we killed one of the gray aliens. Drakar and I tricked him into touching it yesterday and he died a slow, painful death. We found his body in the ship.”

  We stare at the tree, trying to commit it to memory.

  “The bark has a strange, wrinkled pattern,” Lucie says.

  “Yes. More of a pattern than a normal tree would have,” Jillian agrees.

  “The color of the bark is a different shade. It’s more of a brown mixed with black, than say…that tree over there.” The other tree is more of a basic brown, a lighter shade mixed with some red.

  “Good observation,” Jezebel says. “I know colors. Miranda’s right. This brown doesn’t have any red or yellow undertones.”

  I’m aware of the strange blue barbarians watching us. The one I cut eye-contact off with earlier heads to us and stops right in front of me. He grunts something in their barbaric language. I stare at him, because it’s directed at me. Me. Why me? Why the hell has he pegged me?

  Then he kneels down and out of the blue lifts my foot. I’m so startled, I fall backward. My arms flail, but he doesn’t bat an eye. Or one of those long, lush eyelashes.

  Smooth as can be, he reaches out and catches me in his beefy, blue arms. Damn, he’s strong, and masterful, and…sexy.

  “Oomph,” I say, and remember the new me. I’m no longer the prude. I’m the one who decided I will never get tricked by a charmer again. No, instead I’m the one who will be the charmer. “Wowser. Those are some big biceps you have.” Because I can’t help it, I reach out and run my open palm along the bulge of hard, tight muscles.

  His lip lifts and he gives me the tiniest smile from the side of his mouth. The smile transforms him. He has one small indentation in the side of his face, making him seem younger suddenly. He looks lean, mean, and…gorgeously sexy.

  He settles me on his thigh, using his leg as my ledge. His thigh muscles tighten under my ass. Then he takes my foot in his large hand, rubs the sole gently, and then slips something onto it.

  It’s a flip-flop of sorts. The barbarians found some kind of hard, spongy leaf and strung a vine or something through the front, between the first two toes.

  Then he takes a bone knife and cuts the excess off the portion that extends from my heel, shaping the sponge-like leaf to my foot. He pokes a hole in the back and strings another vine through it, while knotting it underneath the sole. He wraps the back vine around my ankle and ties it. The front vine attaches to the ankle loop and voila. I’m wearing a sandal.

  “Wow,” someone murmurs.

  I place my arm around his shoulder, as if I need additional support. It feels right to sit here, in his arms. But I refuse to let it feel serious. Instead, I lean back to flutter my lashes at the rest of the girls, and feel a grin s
pread across my face. “I feel like Cinderella. With a blue prince.”

  I extend one leg out, pointing the toe of my bare foot.

  “Bitch, please,” someone else groans.

  The alien takes my pointed foot and does the same thing with a new sandal.

  “Notice how he’s not even tired? Squatting there with a full grown woman on his thigh? Like she weighs nothing?” Gigi asks.

  “We notice, we notice,” Tessa says, and she’s staring at the muscles of my guy’s butt.

  A spark of jealousy erupts in me. But then I’m distracted by the big, blue barbarian who places a finger on my jaw, turning my head back toward him. He wants me to concentrate on him.

  Vaguely I’m aware of the other aliens grabbing the rest of the standing, gawking girls to work sandals onto their feet. But I’m focused on my alien, who’s trying to tell me something.

  “As. Cher. Oh.”

  “Huh?”

  He points to his magnificent, broad chest with his thumb. “As. Cher. Oh.”

  Aschero. Is that his name?

  “Aschero?”

  He nods, the same tiny smile grazes the side of his lip again. He focuses on my lips.

  “I’m Miranda. Mir. Ann. Da.”

  “Meer. Ann. Duh.”

  “Miranda.”

  “Meeranda.”

  Close enough, big guy. I run my hand up his arm. He tightens the muscles at my touch and oh, yeah, that’s sexy. But then, he places his blue hand on the pale white skin of my thigh. He inches it upward and heat radiates from his palm.

  He slips under the edge of my alien-hospital gown, along my upper thigh. It lets me know exactly what it is he’s interested in. But he’s respectful, and leaving his hand right there, instead of going for the gold.

  At least, there’s no pretense, not like with Michael. The blue alien is letting me know we could pleasure each other mutually. I’m okay with a bit of exploring.

  The others are distracted anyway.

  I reach out and trace his lip. He’s got high cheekbones and his eyes are the palest blue, much lighter than the blue of his skin. His lips part and his teeth gleam white. But they’re sharp and he has small fangs. I shiver. Obviously, their species are meat eaters. Hope he realizes my skin is tender, should we ever do the full-on dirty and he decides to nip.

  The man who has Lucie appears to be a leader, like Drakar. He barks out an order and my sexy blue alien sighs, then stands, setting me onto my feet. I don’t leave his side though, and when another alien steps too close, I move toward Aschero.

  He brings me into his body protectively, and I feel positively tiny. The other alien holds up his hands and backs away. They say something in their strange language, and I wish I understood what it was.

  Chapter Two

  We walk for hours. They allow us to stop for bathroom breaks and it’s awkward as hell. I’ve never peed in front of anyone in my life. Neither have any of the girls.

  Lucie is arguing with her blue alien and then Niki joins in.

  “Okay, here’s what’s up, ladies.” Niki looks exhausted, with dark circles underneath her eyes. “We’re going to pee in pairs. Safety in numbers. Because there’s nothing we know about the land here. For instance, can anyone tell me if that’s the poisonous tree we studied this morning?”

  We stare at it, and sadly, I’m too tired to tell one from the next. Every tree looks the same in my fatigued state.

  No one answers. I shrug.

  “That’s what I thought,” she says, and her look gentles. “I know it’s hard to have a new way of life, but hey, we’re all girls here. Sisters of Earth. We all pee, and we’re going to have to have each other’s backs. So lose the reservations and let’s go.”

  Drakar takes her to a rock and then she comes back. “Lucie and Miranda,” she calls.

  We head with her and see her darkened spot where she’s peed. She hands us a couple of leaves from a tree and says, “Squat here. The rock is safe to touch.”

  It takes a minute, but I hear the sound of Lucie’s tinkle, and then my own stream starts. I almost groan at the gush of relief.

  “I know, right?” Lucie says.

  I wipe with the leaf, and cover my liquid with the leaf.

  The ground opens up and swallows the leaf. I yelp and jump up.

  “Oh, shit. I forgot to tell you it does that. Sorry,” Niki says.

  “Why? Why?” I mutter, in shock.

  “I guess they give thanks and offerings to their planet. And it accepts them. Your turn to go grab a couple of girls and bring them to the rock. The leaves are from this tree here. And remember to tell them about the ground-swallow.”

  I head back to where Cammie and Tessa are waiting. I signal to them, aware of Aschero’s attention on me the whole time.

  “Ok, we pee here on the ground. I’ll grab a leaf off this tree for you to wipe with. Don’t be shocked, when you fling the leaf over your pee, the ground will swallow it.”

  “No way.”

  “Yes way. Something about offering thanks to the ground and it accepts the offering.”

  I walk to the tree while they do their business, and then I come up behind them with the leaves. I hold them up over their shoulders and look away while they wipe.

  “Cool,” Tessa says, and the ground has silently swallowed up her leaves.

  The world swims, the brown of the ground blending with the reddish skyline which lightens to pink further up.

  “Miranda? Miranda, are you conscious?”

  It’s Niki’s voice, but I’m confused. Niki isn’t here, she and Lucie left to talk to the other barbarians.

  “Open your eyes,” she instructs.

  I struggle, my heavy eyelids seem open already. But then suddenly, I’m looking up into the worried faces of Aschero, Niki, Lucie, and reverent mother, also known as Lachlana, our medicine woman.

  “It will be all right, Miranda,” Lachlana says. “You drank the wrong kind of tea. The tea you had is used to force the memories to run rampant in the mind. It is used to make one relive ugly memories they wish to bury.”

  I widen my eyes at that. No. Not that. Anything…but that. The Blaedonians are an honorable race. Should they find out I jumped into Aschero’s bed after killing my last lover, I’ll be banished to a fate of death just like they did Adretta. And she was a Blaedonian native. I wouldn’t stand a chance on my own. I try to convey my fear, but my lips won’t move. They won’t form words.

  “Relax,” Aschero says, his face near mine. “It is all right. Do not be frightened. I am here for you, Miranda.” His large, blue hand is wrapped around mine. I squeeze him in desperation. I have to tell him something.

  But I’ve forgotten what is so important as my wicked memories draw me back into their tangled web.

  * * * * *

  The village consists of a giant, gated community. The yards inside the gates are spectacular, and as you walk into the village there’s an entrance to a cave.

  Inside is a whole different world. The inner workings are huge, the ceilings fourteen feet high. Some areas, like the main area, reach higher, all the way up. The top of the cave has an opening that allows sunlight in. There’s a hallway that leads to a back and along the hallway are other smaller caves that I assume are personal caves.

  One of the caves is the healing hut, but the contents have been moved out to the main cave because the area is bigger for us all. The healer is Drakar’s mother Lachlana, who is called reverent mother. She applies a salve on our blistered feet. One by one, we’re carried to the pool to soak the tar-like salve off once it dries. Aschero moves to pick me up, his dark lashes sweeping down and shadowing his cheekbones. Out of the corner of my eye, I notice other Blaedonian men in the hallways of the cave staring at me.

  They’ve never seen humans, and we’re a novelty. Hell, there were a dozen hunters on the rescue party, and only ten women. That meant someone is always vying for your attention, trying to subtly sway you from whomever you were with at the moment.
r />   I like Aschero. Don’t get me wrong. But hell, I can’t understand him, and he can’t understand me. Niki’s too weak to transfer any languages to anyone else after Valencia, so he and I are settling for him chasing me around like a schoolboy. Once in a while I allow some heavy petting. I’m only human, and he’s a luscious man.

  But my good sense is obviously off with men. I refuse to fall for another. No, not me. I’ll play the field. Tessa is. Jillian is.

  I will, too. I have to. I can’t fall for this guy. He’s too perfect.

  ASCHERO:

  My Miranda wakes briefly, fighting the effects of the medicinal tea as best as she can. But she is human, and the dose she drank was strong enough for two Blaedonians. She is soaked with sweat, and she thrashes through her dreams as she sleeps. I feel helpless.

  It has been three days.

  Even reverent mother is beginning to look worried and she usually masks her face well. Niki and Lucie have not left Miranda’s side, and we’ve taken turns sponging her face and neck.

  Our king, Drakar, enters the healing hut. “How is she?” he asks.

  “Not well,” I say, and no one corrects me.

  His mate, Niki, sighs. “The problem is she can’t awaken. She’s stuck in the past, reliving the crash-landing on the planet, when we first met you all. At least, that’s what I’ve gathered from her mumblings. We’ve managed to rouse her once in the last three days, and it was only for a few seconds. If we can’t get her awake to get some liquid in her…” her voice trails off and I feel my jaw tighten.

  I know exactly what will happen.

  “I wish to mate with her,” I say.

  Drakar looks solemn. “Are you sure, brother?”

  I nod. “Miranda is everything to me. If these are her last days, I will care for her until she leaves this plane.”

  “She is yours.”

  Not even Drakar’s mate protests and she always argues when a hunter wants to mate with a human. Something about humans having their own choices.

  Instead, his mate says, “We’ll prepare a cave. The one in which the baskets and furs are stored.”