He grinned, reaching out to cup her face with his hand. The man had great hands. Rough skin brushed her cheek. She almost turned her head to look at his palm but that meant she would have had to tear her eyes away from his and she just couldn’t do it. He nodded his head.
“I turn you on?”
Blue eyes narrowed, his nose flared, as he softly growled. Thick lips parted, showing his sharp teeth. A sigh came out next. Tearing his gaze away from her, he turned his head to stare behind them at the falling water for long moments. His body tensed when he looked back down at her, pointing to the water.
“You want us to leave? But we just got dressed. We’ll get wet again and those men are out there looking for us. If they find me it’s one thing but nobody can get a good look at you. You know what will happen if someone sees you, don’t you? They’ll take one glance at you and know you’re different. They’ll—”
A growl cut her off. He shook his head, the hunger in his eyes replaced with anger. Casey bit her lip. Had he been captured before? Was that why he looked furious? Had someone once hurt him? She really wished that they could talk to each other. He took a deep breath, letting his touch fall away from her cheek. His fingers brushed down her arm to grip her hand, turning his body, tugging her gently to the water.
“No,” she dug in her heels while yanking on his hand holding her. “We need to stay here where it’s safe.”
He chuckled as he turned quickly to face her. Casey saw him bend over and in the next instant her world turned upside down as her hip hit his wide shoulder. He was carrying her again over his body, his arm locked behind the back of her knees to make sure she stayed there. The backpack next to her cushioned some of her body from his back.
“Damn it! Put me down. You don’t understand that when you attacked those two assholes they would have called for backup. More people are out there looking for us, searching my property, and if we go out there they will find us. No one knows about this cave so they won’t find us if we hide out here where it’s safe. We should stay hidden. We should—”
Casey gasped as the man just jumped from the ledge through the waterfall. Pounding icy water soaked her for a heartbeat before they were plunged into the river. She couldn’t make a sound as her lungs seized in shock from the frigid cold. Her upper body floated in the water as he broke the surface of the river, the arm still firmly locking her thighs to his chest. He was moving, swimming quickly for shore, and she felt the jar of his boots as he found purchase along the riverbed. She turned her head, felt air and gasped in a deep breath.
He walked out of the river still carrying her as if all hundred and fifty pounds of her wasn’t a burden as he stormed for the woods. Using both of her hands, she shoved her long hair away from her face. There wasn’t an inch of her not freezing from being drenched in river water. It was growing dark so she knew they were only going to get colder as the night wore on.
Fear crept into Casey when he stopped and growled deeply, his body tensing over something he obviously saw or smelled. It was probably the state police who would have been called in when the two deputies had been attacked. That’s how it would be looked at even though Casey knew that Bigfoot had really protected her and taken her to safety. She knew for sure that’s not how the police report would read. Now they were both going to be caught because he hadn’t listened when she’d warned him how unsafe it would be to leave the cave.
“Shit. What is it?” she whispered in case they hadn’t been spotted yet. “Take us back to the cave.”
He growled deeper. What scared her was the fact that she heard another growl respond that she instinctively knew hadn’t come from the man carrying her. It was farther way but close enough to let her know it came from something within easy range of them. She twisted, shoving frantically at the wet brown hair that fell over her face, trying to see around his wide back, but she couldn’t see around him. Were there two of them?
What if Bigfoot had a brother? She wasn’t a sex toy, damn it. She didn’t roll that way. If he expected to share her with another man he was going to learn differently. Worse, what if they were enemies like two bears crossing in the woods? Bears fought each other when they met up unless they were of the opposite sex and both in the mood for some loving. She’d heard bear fights from her home. It was rare but she knew the large beasts roamed her woods. What if it was a bear? The man holding her tightly was big but he wasn’t a match for a large, vicious animal.
Casey finally twisted enough so that she spotted the second male who looked a lot like the Bigfoot holding her. She stared opened-mouthed, upside down, at the new male who wore a similar leatherlike outfit that matched the ones Casey and Bigfoot wore. His hair was long and wild like Bigfoot’s only it was shades lighter than black. She saw glowing eyes, a different shade of blue, and those eyes locked on her. He growled deeper.
Casey’s Bigfoot growled back. It sounded like a threatening kind of growl that a predator put out to warn off another animal. Fear inched up her spine more at the thought that they might fight. Were her woods full of these things? Where the hell had they come from? She had a ton of questions but not a single answer. The man holding her took a deep breath, jerking his head at the other one and growled again. He wiggled his shoulder so the backpack hit the ground.
The second man tore his concentration from Casey. With a jerk of his head he walked closer, grabbed up the backpack and stepped away while he lowered his face, almost bowing, before he spun around. Casey was stunned as she watched the male march into the woods a second before her Bigfoot moved to follow him.
“Put me down.”
To her annoyance Bigfoot ignored her. He kept walking, carrying her over his shoulder, so Casey was left to put her hands on the curve of his back where it turned into his firm ass. She shoved upward trying to lever herself so she wasn’t dangling over his shoulder. All it got her was shifted on his body so her hip was hooked higher on his shoulder. It made her center of gravity off so it was impossible to lift her upper chest away from his back. It also brought her face closer to his ass and she knew he did it on purpose. She pushed but gave up when she realized he wasn’t going to put her down.
Casey was afraid as they walked quickly through the woods. She didn’t know there were going to be two of them and she had no idea where they were taking her. What if they had a few dozen Bigfoot men camping out on her land? She wondered if they all got together every year like a family reunion. Was her land their version of a park to hold it at? The sun went down, getting so dark that she couldn’t see a thing anymore, but it didn’t slow down either man.
Casey was starting to get a headache from all the blood settling in her head. She sighed. “Bigfoot guy?”
He softly growled at her, his hand rubbing her leg, but he didn’t stop walking. They must have traveled for miles but he wasn’t even slowing down.
“I’m getting a headache from this position. Do you understand? All the blood in my head is causing me pain.”
Relief swept through Casey when he stopped. He shifted her on his body to slide her down his chest, adjusting her in his arms until she was almost nose to nose with him. He held her firmly off the ground with one arm around her waist securing her to him. She could barely make out his shadow in the darkness. The moon hid behind dense trees overhead making him just a dark shadow in a darker terrain. Her hands gripped the curve of his shoulders.
With his free hand he shifted her legs for her so she understood. She clamped her legs around his hips as her arms wrapped around his neck. Two large hands cupped her ass, holding her against him. She locked her ankles together and then threaded her fingers behind his neck to help her hold on. She felt watched, but she wasn’t sure if it was her Bigfoot or if it was the other one.
“You can put me down. I can walk.”
He released her butt with one hand only to reach back to grip her bare foot, rubbing it. Casey nodded. What he was trying to tell her came across.
“Right. I don’t have shoes. I’ve
got to be heavy though. Isn’t your back hurting? Your arms? Hell, the shoulder you’ve been lugging me on? I know you’re big and strong, but geez.”
He chuckled and then softly growled at her. He released her foot to cup her ass, holding her firmly in front of him, nuzzling her cheek with his. Understanding what he wanted, she turned her head to let it rest against the warmth of his neck. She inhaled his wonderful scent since her nose was touching his throat. Now that she wasn’t blocking his view anymore, he started to walk again.
Casey relaxed in his arms, enjoying the feel of her Bigfoot holding her. If he was determined to carry her then she was going to let him. Blindly traipsing barefoot in the woods at night while she was cold and wet didn’t hold any appeal. She shivered as the chilly wind blew through the trees and branches whispered above them. His body heat helped her stay warmer where she was pressed against him.
He stopped. Casey’s eyes flew open and she turned her head to see what he was viewing. It was too dark for her to see a thing, but light suddenly flared from the sky in the distance. She frowned, looking up, studying the small light that was streaking toward them. Her eyebrows shot up. Was it a falling star? She tried to wiggle out of Bigfoot’s arms. The flying thing looked like it was coming right at them.
“Shit,” she whispered.
The hands on her ass squeezed her gently. She turned her head to look at him but he was just a very dim shadow. A soft growl came from the other man and the mouth inches from hers responded. Casey turned her head when she heard a slight engine sound. What in the hell? Her jaw dropped open in shock when her eyes found the streaking small light again. With the light and the sound it looked like some kind of plane, but it sure wasn’t one she could identify.
She’d heard and seen plenty of loud helicopters in her lifetime. Even small planes didn’t sound like that and they had blinking lights on at night. Not even a small plane could set down in a heavily wooded area unless they were by a long stretch of straight road. A pilot would have to be insane to even try to land on any of the narrow country roads in this area. They were too thickly laced with trees that slanted over the roads. This was something new.
Whatever it was, it hovered above them. She stared up in shock as she saw a door opening wide, until the light blinded her. She looked at the area around them that was bathed in bright light. She could see they were in a small clearing with trees edging around them a good twenty feet away. Her gaze flew to her Bigfoot, clutching at him in terror.
His beautiful eyes sparkled with amusement while he studied her features carefully. Releasing one side of her ass, he pointed up, a grin splitting his lips.
Casey shook her head no in disbelief. “You can’t be serious. We aren’t going in that thing, are we? What in the hell is it?”
He continued to grin at her. It startled Casey when something dropped near them. She would have leapt out of his arms to run away but his hold on her tightened. He seemed to sense her terror of the unknown. Shock turned into horror when she saw what had dropped.
“Hell no.” She frantically shook her head. “No.”
He was moving before she could struggle. Her Bigfoot gripped the harness type contraption that dangled from the hovering vehicle above them. She tried to make him put her down, but Casey couldn’t get free. He growled at her, his amusement totally gone, as he released the harness to grip her with both his arms again.
Frantically shaking her head, she glanced from him to whatever was hovering. The lighted thing had to be a hundred feet above them. No way was she letting him strap her to something with a weird rope and have her raised into the air. Being arrested to go see her ex-boyfriend wasn’t sounding so bad at that moment.
The other Bigfoot was suddenly there next to them to strap the harness on Casey’s Bigfoot, since he wasn’t letting her go. Those arms might as well have been steel bands locked around her waist. The other man’s hands shoved between Casey’s body and the man gripping her tightly to secure the harness. The other man stepped back as the binding clicked closed. Their bodies swung in the air as Bigfoot’s feet left the ground. Instantly she stopped struggling. Casey wrapped around him tightly, gripping his body with her legs and arms. She clung to him, not wanting to fall.
Wind battered them as they got closer to the bright light. Casey buried her face in Bigfoot’s neck. “Oh God. Don’t drop me!” she yelled.
She could have sworn he chuckled. His strong arms were wrapped tightly around her. She already knew he was brawny but he’d been carrying her for miles as they’d walked to this spot. Now wasn’t the time for him to tire. She didn’t want to look down.
The engine sound got louder. She braved opening her eyes as they were lifted up into a metal room bathed in light. She stared in alarm at another Bigfoot. This one had wild red hair with glowing bright green eyes that fixed on her. He wore the same leatherlike body-encasing outfit, making her think it was a uniform. Every damn one of them was tall and muscular.
She had a really bad feeling that she’d been all wrong about Bigfoot. The mythical creatures were solitary according to legend and they sure didn’t have aircraft that hovered. Was he some kind of super soldier the government had made? Maybe some crazy scientist had made these men into some kind of secret Army experimental project. Who would volunteer though to have their DNA changed? She sure as hell wouldn’t. If her guy was some secret Army person why was he taking her back to his base? A whole new fear flooded her as they were lifted away from the open door to a metal floor. Bigfoot touched the ground. His body relaxed slightly but he still gripped her tightly.
The redheaded man was as big as Casey’s Bigfoot. He looked at her with a friendly smile. Growling, his eyes turned to the man holding Casey. Bigfoot growled back with a wink. Casey had a really bad feeling as the redhead unhooked the tether from the harness and stepped back. Casey met Bigfoot’s eyes. He was smiling. He turned then, still holding her, and moved for a closed metal door. As they reached it he didn’t touch a thing. The door obviously had some kind of motion sensor that activated it since it slid open automatically. He strode into a corridor with her.
“Put me down,” Casey almost begged.
Bigfoot kept walking until he reached a corridor, completely ignoring her plea. He paused in front of one of many doors, releasing her with one arm, to slap his palm on an electric pad on the wall. The door buzzed softly before sliding open. He walked inside, the door sliding shut behind them as soon as his body cleared it. Casey twisted her head to frantically look around the room.
A big bed with built-in drawers under it took up most of the small space. Along one wall were shelves with more drawers built into it. The walls were made out of some kind of shiny black metal material that was as foreign to her as most of the things she’d seen since coming on the ship. There was an open door across the room that was clearly a bathroom with a large shower stall right in full view. She was distracted from studying the room when the arm wrapped around her waist shifted to lower her body from his hold.
As he eased Casey to her feet she stared up at him. He gazed back for a few seconds before turning away to walk to a small screen with buttons. It reminded her of some kind of weird looking computer or small television. She saw him touch it with one of his fingers, a bright blue screen coming on instantly, with weird symbols scrolling across it. He let his hand drop after he pushed a few buttons before turning, his gaze locking on her.
“Can you understand me now? This is a program running on the conis that should let us communicate easily.”
Casey swallowed hard as shock hit her. Her mouth opened but nothing came out. She’d seen his lips move and heard his soft growl, but English words had come out of speakers hidden in the room. She tried to speak again. She didn’t know what to think or what to say. Too many thoughts were streaming through her head. Something finally popped out of her open mouth.
“You’re not a Bigfoot, are you?”
A black eyebrow arched. “I have big feet compared to you.”
br /> “Sasquatch. You’re not one of them, are you?”
“I don’t know what that is. I’m not familiar with different breeds of humans.”
She needed to sit down. Humans? Her mind was spinning hard. He said it like human was a foreign word to him and he had pronounced it wrong too. It came out “hum-ins”. The way he spoke was strange. Different breeds of humans? They didn’t have different breeds of humans. They were made up of different racial groups. She took a few steps to collapse on his bed, never looking away from him.
A sigh escaped his lips. “You’re surprised that I’m not human. What did you think I was? What is a Bigfoot?”
“What are you?”
He hesitated. “I was told your Earth thinks life doesn’t exist on other worlds. I hate to give you a shock but that would be a wrong theory because there is life out there. I’m a Zorn warrior from the planet Zorn. We learned about your planet when a human woman was captured by another alien race and held captive with some of our Zorn people. My people escaped their prison and one of our Zorn warriors took that human as his bound. He is my brother. I believe you would call being bound a term called marriage. Some of my Zorn warriors came here to find human women to bound with. My brother and his human are very happy together.”
Casey was really glad she was sitting as she stared at the handsome Zorn alien man. Her eyes flickered over the tight outfit hugging his body. No wonder he was so buff. It made sense if he was a warrior. Another thought struck her. Were they some kind of warrior race that would attack Earth? Her eyes widened.
“Are you attacking my planet?”
A grin curved his lips. “No. Would you like me to?”
“No!”
He chuckled, reaching for the front of his outfit, starting to tug it open. “Good. War is something we don’t back away from, but we don’t start them either. We are an intelligent race. I apologize for not having an implant on me to insert into your ear so we could communicate. I wasn’t expecting you, Casey. I had gone down to the surface to get a look at your Earth. It is beautiful and different from my world. You only have one moon and it is too distant. Your wildlife is very tame compared to where I live. Is that why you are not a hunter or warrior race?”