Broken (3 page)

“Finally,”
she breathed, tipping more into his mouth. He swallowed again. When she got the
whole cup in him, she sat back and scrubbed at her hair. It itched. She looked
longingly at the back of the cave. A tunnel led to one of her most prized
possessions: a hidden cave with a freshwater spring, complete with waterfalls,
but she decided she couldn’t risk washing. If he woke up, he’d probably hurt
himself trying to walk. And if he
did
manage to walk, she didn’t want
him to see her naked.

“Good
thing I keep my hair short,” she said, giving her fire a quick glance. She’d
only cooked a small portion of the bird because she’d be damned if she was
going to eat any of it. It tasted vile.

****

Of
course, the
Xyran
finally woke up right when she was
in the middle of skinning a rabbit for her lunch.

“Who
are you?”

Sky
whipped her head around, hands bloody to the elbows. Her heart gave a hard
thump when she saw him, awake and truly alert for the first time. He had black
eyes and lovely hair and the most irritating expression she’d ever seen on a
man.
Alien.
Whatever.
Unfortunately, he also
looked damned handsome, even wrapped up in her makeshift splints. His muscles
rippled as he tested his injuries, and she couldn’t help staring. She’d touched
him, sure, but he’d been a patient.
An uncooperative lump of
flesh.

“Well?
Answer me, woman,” he demanded.

Sky
bristled. She had fur stuck to her cheek and it itched, but if she tried to
scratch it, she’d just get more blood all over her face and look ridiculous,
besides. “I’m the woman who saved your ass,” she snapped, not pleased with his
tone. “So, a little courtesy would be nice.”

He
scowled at her from her bed. “What did you do with
Zoen
?”

She
scowled back at him, heart going a million miles an hour. He had a stupid,
lovely voice, with a sexy accent.
Dammit
.
“I didn’t do anything with
Zoen
because I don’t know
what a
Zoen
is.”

“
Zoen
is
a who
, not a what. He is
my blood-sworn kin.
My right hand.
Where is he?” The
alien glanced around, taking in her primitive cave with a sour expression on
his face.

Sky
snatched the fur off her cheek, blood be damned.
This creature is such an asshole.
“I found you. No one else was
around. End of story.” She turned back to her lunch. She needed to get the damn
thing on the spit before she starved to death.

“I
am hungry. I require food.”

She
snorted and eased the rabbit onto the stick. As if.

“Now, woman.”

Sky
set the rabbit to cook over the fire and nonchalantly turned around. “Oh, did
you say something? I thought I heard a crow cawing, but it must have been my
imagination.”

He
growled and heaved himself up off the floor. The moment he put weight on his
broken right leg, he hissed, and dropped heavily back down.

She
smirked. “Ah yes, your thigh is broken.
Badly.
So is
your other leg.” She turned back to the fire, rotating the rabbit. It already
smelled good, and it wasn’t even close to half-done.

She
could hear him breathing.
Asshole.
The
oxycontin
I gave him must be wearing off,
she thought
to herself.
And you’re still an idiot for bringing him back here. If any of
the others find out you’re harboring a
Xyran
…
her
thoughts trailed off when something hit the back of her neck. She whirled
around to find him glaring at her. She looked down. The empty cup that had held
the broth she’d forced down his throat lay on its side on the floor.

“Bring
me food,” he growled.

She
stared at him for a moment until she could think of a proper response. Nothing
came to her.
Ungrateful bastard.

“Are
you deaf?” he asked her.

That
was enough. “You’re an asshole,” she gritted out, beyond irritated and into
furious territory. Then she got up and walked out of the cave.

****

Jaxt
stared speechlessly as the woman turned her back and ducked out of the cave.
How
dare she?
he
thought, outraged. He needed medical
care and food and something to drink. Where did she get her the temerity to
just walk away? Why was she not afraid of him?

He
stared at where she’d stood, trying to make sense of her. Her hair looked like
someone had chopped at it until it stuck out from her head and shoulders like a
bird of prey. It was so many different colors, for a moment he thought she was
Xyran
, but then he realized she must have dyed it. Brown,
gold, red, white, black… all the shades of camouflage needed in a desert.
Not
stupid,
he realized, somewhat bemused. She was clearly no slave. She acted
like no other female he’d ever met. Maybe she wasn’t a female at all…
No,
she has breasts. And long legs and a lovely ass.

He
growled, abruptly realizing he had more pressing concerns than daydreaming
about a stubborn, ill-mannered female. His bladder was near bursting, and he
couldn’t walk. He glanced around, eyes landing on a battered plastic container
set near his hip.
Hmm.

A
few minutes later, he lay back down, feeling immensely better. If he had enough
urine to fill half that container, then he was clearly not dehydrated, so the
female must have cared for him adequately. He would test her to discern her
knowledge of healing and hunting, as well as her strength. Decision made, he
closed his eyes, contemplating revenge. His crew, if they weren’t already dead,
soon would be. They’d betrayed him. He wasn’t surprised. No one approved of his
blood-oath kinship to
Zoen
. He didn’t care.
My
father can rot,
he thought fiercely, not regretting a moment of anything
that he’d done.

Chapter
Three

Day Three

“My
name is Sky, not Woman,” she said, warily handing
Jaxt
a piece of dried rattlesnake.

He
narrowed his eyes at her. “That is a bizarre name for a female.”

Sky
surreptitiously spat on the next piece of dried meat she handed him. Then she
got up and walked out.

****

Day Four

“I
didn’t have to save you, you know,” she said, skinning yet another rabbit. She
really wished she could bag a turkey, but they rarely ventured this far into
the mountains and she couldn’t leave the
Xyran
alone
yet. He couldn’t put any weight on his legs or he’d screw up all her good work.
And of course, he kept pushing it, trying to stand. Every time he struggled up,
she had to poke him so he’d stop. “I could’ve just left you to die, out in the
wasteland. The buzzards would’ve enjoyed picking over your carcass.”

“If
you bring me a communicator, I will tell you my name,” the
Xyran
said haughtily.

“Still
an asshole,” she said under her breath. Too bad his lovely outside didn’t match
the
jerkish
inside.

****

Day Five

“Did
you splint my wounds all by yourself? How is that possible? You are so puny,
like most humans I have observed,” the
Xyran
said,
looking her up and down.

Sky
walked out.
Again.

****

Day Six

Yes!
A turkey!
She couldn’t contain her
grin as she walked in carrying the creature by the neck. It was scrawny, but it
would taste far, far better than the rabbits. She unhooked her quiver from her
vest and set the arrows by the wall. She’d have to drag the big pot back inside
so she could blanch away the feathers. She hadn’t used it since she’d dragged
that dammed vulture home.
Ugh
. Even
scouring it with sand and stone hadn’t gotten
all of the
stink out. She’d finally left it out in the sun, hoping the light would bleach
out the smell. Without even a glance at her patient, she dropped the turkey on
the ground near the fire pit.

“You
clearly know nothing of hunting or preparing food,” the
Xyran
said as she walked out to get the pot.

She
kept going. And so what if she flipped him the finger? He didn’t know what it
meant anyway.
So, there.
Still, it was a pity.
She hadn’t had a guy to fool around with in a long time, not since that one
traveler, and the
Xyran
was very, very hot. Of
course, no amount of good looks could make up for the brutish personality.
I
wouldn’t touch his dick with a ten foot pole.

****

Day Eight

The
Xyran
chewed the turkey slowly.

Sky
narrowed her eyes at him. This was the second time he’d done this. She’d cooked
it in a pit oven yesterday, and when they’d finally gotten to eat it last
night, it had been so tender and delicious she’d moaned over almost every bite.
Her patient hadn’t complained, which was a first. In fact, he ate so slowly she
worried he was getting another fever, but he’d finished everything on his plate
and leaned back with a sigh. Without saying a single disparaging word, he’d
closed his eyes and gone to sleep.
Astonishing.

Now,
she watched him chew, mesmerized. His lips were indecently plump, just the sort
she liked to nibble. The only problem was when he spoke: he magically turned
into a jerk.
A person’s true nature always comes out in the end,
she
thought regretfully.

“This
is delicious,” he said.

She
sat up. “What?”

He
frowned. “You heard me.”

Sky
stared at him. “You like it?”

“Yes.”
He grabbed another piece from the plate and began to eat it.

“What
the hell?” she asked.

“I
do not know what this hell is you are talking about,” he replied.

Sky
choked,
then
began to laugh. Even when he demanded
that she stop, growing angrier by the minute, she couldn’t. She laughed right
in his sexy face as he glared at her, helpless.

****

Day Ten

“You
have no more turkey,” the
Xyran
told her.

She
snorted. “Is that a hint?”

“And
I smell.” His forked tongue slipped out as if scenting the air.

She
watched him a moment, then sat back on her heels. He had a point. “I can get
you some water.
For washing.”
She mimed wiping at her
armpits.

He
shrugged.

“
Hmpf
. Ungrateful,” she complained, even as she grabbed a
basin and clean towel.

She
most definitely did
not
enjoy watching him wash himself. Not even when
he took off his shirt.

****

Day Thirteen

“You
smell.”

Sky
looked up from where she was painstakingly cutting out a pattern she’d chalked
onto a thin piece of leather. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

He
frowned, pursing his lips as if he’d tasted something rotten. “I am not. You
smell like dirt. And sweat. And your hair is all…” He made a motion that
indicated something falling down.

To
her horror, Sky felt her cheeks go hot. She rubbed the locks at her temple
between her fingers and pursed her lips. He noticed her hair? She tried to look
at it, but she’d cut it so short the last time she couldn’t see a thing.

“Your
eyes will freeze that way if you keep doing that,” the
Xyran
said arrogantly.

“Asshole.”
Sky stood up and grabbed a clean shirt and her favorite soap. The one she saved
for special occasions. He couldn’t walk, right? There was no way he was going
to follow her to the pool and spy on her. No way.

“My
name is
Jaxt
, not Asshole,” he called as she walked
into the tunnel.

Sky
almost ran into the wall.

****

Day Fourteen

“So,
Jaxt
,” Sky said, trying out his name for the first
time the next morning. “What happened to you?”

He
glared at her.

She
raised an eyebrow at him.

He
looked away, mouth closed mulishly.

“I’ve
got all day. Plenty of dried
rattlesnake
in the back.
And cactus.
Yum, yum.”
She rubbed
her stomach in an exaggerated fashion.

“You
are attempting to bribe me?”
Jaxt
asked finally,
sounding intrigued, of all things.

“Bribe?
Oh no, now would I do that?” She grinned toothily. “I may have happened to see
turkey tracks down by the rocks in the valley yesterday, but who cares? No
sense in tiring myself out, after all.” She stretched, taking care to work out
the kinks in her neck. “I could use a day off.”