Bethany's Heart (Unearthly World Book 3) Read online

  Through a hazy fog of misty snow, Finn peered. Grunting sounds caught his attention. A large, lumbering figure was ambling towards him. The creature, which had been walking on all fours, stood. It matched Finn in height. The creature was covered in a mass of white fur. Except for the long snout and ears it might have resembled a Zargonnii female, except females weren’t so portly, or as furry.

  “Are you in battle form, female?” Finn asked, though he realized once spoken his sentence made no sense, females didn’t need a battle form, they were formidable enough. At least on Finn’s planet. Finn stepped closer.

  The creature roared and swung at him. When it made contact Finn was shoved a little to the right. He laughed. He realized it must be an animal of sorts, perhaps like a pet toff only a little larger. The creature wrapped massive arms around Finn and squeezed. Finn shoved it away.

  “I have no time to play with you.”

  The creature was again after him, large white teeth settled onto an arm. Finn sighed. What could it hurt to humor the creature? Perhaps it was feeling lonely, or maybe it was in search of a mate and was confused. Finn disengaged its teeth and shoved the being. It toppled over into the snow, paws flailing. Once upright, it studied Finn.

  “Second thoughts?” Finn laughed. “Come now, I won’t hurt you.”

  The creature roared and lunged at him, knocking him down. Finn laughed as he was mauled. Using two hands he pushed the animal off his chest. The beast took wild swipes at his face causing no damage. Finn made certain to keep his touch gentle or he might disembowel the being by accident. Suddenly the animal was tossed back off of him. The creature landed harmlessly on all four feet ten feet away.

  “Will you quit fooling around?” Blu said, and growled.

  The white creature gazed at both warriors. Blu stomped his foot at it and waved his arms. The beast turned tail and ran. Finn stood up and brushed the snow off his pants and furry chest. A tiny sound caught both warriors’ attention. A set of startling dark eyes peered out of a surprised face from the entrance of one of the ice homes.

  The human was crouched on all fours near the small opening, gazing up at the warriors. A flap of fur on the human’s head fell back exposing long, inky dark hair and a beautiful, tanned roundish face. The expression was shocked to say the least. It was a human female, Finn was certain. Finn was tempted to grin at her but knew the sight of his jagged fangs would scare her. Instead, he splayed his hands and approached, stopping after a few feet; he was afraid of chasing her off back into her home. The female did disappear for a moment but soon reappeared carrying a long pointed stick. There were frightened shouts coming from inside the home as she exited and stood gazing at the strangers.

  No more than fifteen feet away, the human waved the stick and shouted at them. Blu snorted. Then laughed. Finn stood still wondering what the little human hoped to accomplish. She looked so delicate she couldn’t really think to take on two warriors. Apparently he was mistaken.

  The human threw back her head and belted out a battle cry that might have scared a two-year-old Zargonnii male—maybe—no not really. She ran forward looking formidable—or as formidable as she could, shaking her stick, yelling, slipping, stumbling, falling…Up again, covered in snow, running, slipping, falling…Up again. Falling…Up again. Finn watched her approach with amusement and dread. Each time she fell, she got up again. He hoped she wouldn’t impale herself.

  An accident-prone female and a healer, no better combination.

  The stick she was holding jabbed into Finn’s midsection, an oval bald patch of skin. Her momentum propelled her forward as the stick splintered right down the middle, shattering it until she was in his embrace.

  Boy, that was easy.

  Finn never thought a human female would simply race into his waiting arms. Setting her back a little, he studied her. She was struggling wildly; her hair was whipping around her head. Finn was surprised; Kobe’s mate’s hair didn’t do that. Easily enough he hefted her higher from under her arms while she continued to wiggle and kick. She resembled an air dancer, except she was human; an air dancer was a bird Finn had seen on a different planet.

  Hairy little thing.

  Finn had thought humans were bald. This human was covered in a pelt. Perhaps it was because she was in the freezing cold. A bald female wouldn’t last long out here. Finn knew there were bald creatures who survived out here; he had been given a brief lesson while onboard the ship. Humans didn’t have the capacity to store massive amounts of blubber healthily, besides their skin was too sensitive regardless of their weight. Finn had added new words to his vocabulary and increased knowledge to his capabilities when he learned about frostbite and sunburns.

  “Look,” Blu said with excitement.

  Finn tore his gaze from his female and noticed more humans had emerged with sticks. All were covered in pelts carrying sticks. A stick was tossed to Blu, he caught it in one hand. The pointed tip broke when it made contact.

  “We keep breaking their gifts,” Blu complained.

  Finn chuckled. “I think they’re attacking us.”

  Blu held the flimsy stick up for a closer examination. “This is a weapon? I could use it to clean my teeth. My nephew Draven would think it was a toy.”

  The human Finn was holding had worn herself out. She hung limply, suspended. Her defiant gaze was settled onto his face. Beautiful depth-filled, dark brown eyes, slanted gracefully, glared back at him. Her features were different from the many human females he had seen. This human wasn’t pinkish white. She more resembled a few of the human females on Bagron who tanned in their planet’s two suns, except there was still something different. She was stunning. Finn set her down and released her. The human looked surprised. She backed away, her steps cautious lest she fell again.

  “Uh, Finn. Your human female is getting away.”

  “It would appear so.”

  “I thought females were bald. My brother gave his mate material to wear but it wasn’t fur. Do you suppose these ice humans molt in heat and grow winter pelts in colder weather? Maybe there are southern humans and northern humans,” Blu said, his look was of sheer puzzlement. “And what’s flapping at the back of her neck? Did she just shed her hair into a hood? Or perhaps it’s a pouch of sorts humans grow in cold weather. I hear they had odd creatures on this planet with pouches, a kangaroo I think someone said it was named. Also a few others, so it might be common. Except the humans don’t look like the images of a koala, definitely don’t resemble wombats. Human females are cuter than possums. There’s more I think, I didn’t really pay attention to the Earth lessons we got daily. I don’t want a human female.”

  “It looks attached. Maybe it’s some strange article of clothing. And you should have been paying attention regardless. Or do I bore you?”

  Blu scoffed. “Yeah sometimes. Your gums flap like her hood when you get all animated. Females don’t wear fur, the Zargonnii have their own, and I’ve only ever seen them naked.”

  “Our females are in a different element. My brother had worried over his mate when she was cold. But you are right, Zuri didn’t grow fur. Kobe kept her warm. We’ll have to get closer to study them.”

  “If they let us.”

  “Give it some time.”

  The little female was soon in the embrace of an older, much taller looking female. The humans, six in all, were of various heights and weights, clumped together. They were all chattering at once.

  “Now that’s something I remember,” Blu complained.

  “What?”

  “Humans capacity for never-ending yack-yack. Zargonnii females are blessedly quiet unless battling. Now what do we do?”

  “We wait.”

  Finn crouched low to the ground. The humans weren’t running and hiding. Some seemed curious. His little female was watching him. Her defiant gaze had turned to that of perplexed. She knew he was an alien, he hadn’t harmed her. The next move was hers. Finn grinned at her, his eyes blazed far enough to warm her face. Her eye
s narrowed as his gaze ran the length of her, claiming her. Now she knew he wanted her.

  Chapter 2

  Bethany stood with her arms wrapped around Tasia, her best friend. She had been her college roommate and having no family had followed Bethany to her homeland when disaster struck.

  “What the hell are those things?” Bethany whispered.

  “Looks like a big foot and a yeti got up close and personal and had babies. Big fucking monster babies.”

  Bethany thought Tasia could be right. “I wonder what they want.”

  “From the way that big one is staring at you, I think it’s obvious,” Tasia replied.

  “It’s kinda creepy-cool looking,” Bethany said. “In a weird way.”

  “I know it’s been a few years since we saw men, but you can’t be that desperate.”

  “He just keeps staring, with those red eyes of his, like he’s waiting for something.”

  “I think he’s waiting for you to make the first move.”

  “Well, what the hell am I supposed to do? Invite it in for tea? It wouldn’t fit through the igloo opening. Do you think they have any intelligence?”

  “I think so. They’re wearing black pants of sorts. Will you look at the size of that one’s outlined cock; holy shit he’s monstrous. They’re wearing boots. Hairy things aren’t they? It had you and let you go and didn’t eat you—always a good sign. We’ve seen the space ships overhead. They have to have intelligence if they’re capable of space flight. Maybe they want to help. We all know the water is rising. It’s time to face the facts; we will drown soon, if we don’t starve or freeze to death first.”

  Bethany saw her friend’s chocolate brown eyes darken. Bleak wouldn’t begin to describe their situation. The rising waters had forced them to this area not long ago. Three shelters remained, one uninhabitable. Bethany had no clue what happened to the previous inhabitants. A strange frozen ghost town minus the tumbleweeds. Their shelters were made in parts of whale bone and old hides as well as ice and snow. Odd scents lingered to mix with new.

  Almost all of their food was gone, only a sickly amount of watered down walrus soup remained. After settling into the shelter weeks ago their hunting party had come across a walrus, old and past its prime, it was long since dead. The women had fought off a pack of three scruffy, wild dogs long enough to cut off a section of meat, some blubber and a single tusk. It was all they had been surviving on.

  Bethany considered herself skilled at living off the land, taught from a young age that she was part of the environment. She was educated to use everything nature gave them. She knew by four that burying their meat to age it made it flavorful. She knew by six the times of year each animal was hunted. Her mother passed on her love of traditional foods and Bethany loved to help make Aalu, a meat dip made of choice parts of seal or caribou cut small and mixed with blood and melted fat.

  Those days were long gone. In her heart Bethany knew she would never again taste the delicious treat of seal flippers aged in blubber. Her world didn’t seem like her world any longer; the land, the skies, nothing was the same or ever would be again. She had become a foreigner in her homeland. An unwanted intruder with Earth’s storms as Mother Nature’s merciless hit man seeking her and the others.

  Most of the fuel they used for heat was at an all-time low. Nothing seemed to exist anymore. Earth’s vast lands were being claimed inch by inch with water. Every year they had to travel farther north into the snow, only now it was monthly. Soon there would be nowhere left to run. A small, pitiful procession of humans and wild animals fleeing to survive—if possible. No matter where Bethany tried to hunt, she was forever fearful of falling into her death as the ice cracked and creaked beneath her wary feet. Water was becoming one with the Earth, a dominant lover claiming a submissive.

  Having watched the alien toss the polar bear as though it was a stuffed toy, Bethany could only imagine the power behind the creatures. They hadn’t harmed the bear which was no doubt hunting Bethany and the other women. The bear had recently killed the wild dogs that had begun stalking the women. Did the alien being even know it had possibly saved their lives? Then again, the meat would have been welcome. If there was the slightest possibility these aliens could be encouraged to hunt with them, it would be worth her effort to approach them, but cautiously.

  Looking at the huge alien crouched near the ground, Bethany knew with her first step all of their lives would be forever changed. She had to try something. They were desperate and desperate times and all…as the saying goes. Determinedly, she straightened her shoulders. Of all of the women there she felt she was the strongest.

  “Don’t you dare,” came a command.

  Bethany closed her eyes and counted to ten. It wasn’t right to hate a person, her Aama and Anaanatsiaq had taught her that, but in Bethany’s defense her mother and grandmother had never come across this witch. Bethany allowed her loathsome feelings for Bertha to wash over her until she settled her emotions; intense dislike wasn’t hate—oh, who am I kidding? Turning, Bethany grimaced at the ugly scowl Bertha wore. The woman was a shrew and a bitch. Nothing was ever good enough, there was never enough food, she was never warm enough—she was a thief. Worse, she justified her thieving by claiming it was her right to steal when she didn’t have enough. None of them had enough, but the others made do. Bethany had never encountered anyone with such a sense of self-entitlement, it boggled her mind. Bethany and the others worked their asses off daily; Bertha thought it her right to reap the rewards without contributing anything except her vile opinion.

  Bertha was one of the reasons their supplies were so low. No one wanted to be in the same dwelling with her and her mouth. Because of her, they needed two of everything, two fires, two homes, two places to cook, more furs. The woman was dense. There was no reasoning with her. Her sense of self-importance was disgusting and pathetic.

  “What do you suggest we do, Bertha? Pretend they don’t exist?” Bethany asked.

  Bertha marched over to her, along with Chiyo, Adan and Dyani. All six women crowded around. Bethany studied their mixed lot. Bertha was a frumpy middle-aged, medium-built Caucasian who could have been lovely but was known too well, her insides were rotted with her garbage personality. The woman offered no information on her background when they first met.

  Chiyo, a friend as was everyone else, was a gorgeous mid-twenty Asian who loved to laugh and was a thinker and mediator. She had been a foreign exchange student who had also followed Bethany home.

  Dyani was a tall young Native-American with the sweetest smile and tenacity. Her traveling companions were left behind one by one in a sad trail of death until only she remained, before hooking up with the others. Tasia, the tallest of them at six feet, was a dark-skinned African American; she had modeled before the Earth died to put herself through school.

  Adan was a petite red-haired Caucasian Canadian aptly named, ‘little fire.’ Tiny in stature was Adan, but she had a heart of gold, and a mean right cross. The mean right cross had her thrown off an Earth vessel heading for a planet named Ulsy, which was supposed to be Earth’s humans’ salvation. The spitfire was trying to defend a woman’s right to board with her child. The woman and child had been allowed to board as long as Adan stayed behind. Adan had agreed, but not before kicking the captain in his family jewels. The second in command sported a black eye. Bethany had come to know each woman over the last five years as all banded together to form a little family.

  Bethany’s mother was Inuit, her father white. Her father had come to the far north twenty six years ago searching for adventure. He fell in love with Bethany’s mother and embraced her way of life. Bethany had been born in her mother’s little village and named after her father’s mother. Both paternal grandparents were deceased before she was born. She supposed it was her father’s lack of family which caused him to embrace a new lifestyle. He was a respected man in their community.

  Bethany had loved her parents and her way of life. Both parents died in an accident
before Bethany turned eighteen, but they had left her with an innate sense of survival. Her parents had done well teaching her about her surroundings; she knew at a young age, Earth could be volatile and merciless to ignorance. Her parents gave her the best of both worlds and her father had taken them traveling, though they always returned home.

  “Those things are hideous monsters,” Bertha argued.

  Bethany rolled her eyes. You should talk.

  “Look at them, red eyes, white furry chests. They have to be seven feet tall. And look at the white hair to their asses. It looks alive—Medusa is fifteen feet away. Don’t be so damn stupid, do you really think you can just march over and say, ‘Hey, how’s it going?’”

  “Yes.” Bethany grinned at Tasia and strode over to the aliens while Bertha howled she’d regret it, and there was no way she’d save her sorry ass. Bethany snorted. The only ass Bertha would ever save was her own.

  Her resolve began to crumble as would a stepped on stale cookie when she was five feet from the creatures. Only one remained crouched, the other stood with his wild hair flapping in the breeze as a storm picked up. They looked almost surreal with the vivid white background. Motionless snowmen, or were they the abominable snowmen? Bethany stopped three feet away. Slowly the crouched being stood, arms splayed. The beings were formidable to say the least. The term ‘massive’ wouldn’t do them justice. And strangely enough ‘majestic’ came to mind.

  The larger creature growled something. It took everything for Bethany not to flee. White jagged teeth flashed behind blue lips. Teeth sharper than a great white shark glistened, making her swallow hard. On his splayed hands were black two-inch claw fingernails. Bethany never thought anything would freak her out more than a polar bear—she was mistaken.

  Once more the creature growled. Bethany took calming breaths to regulate her pounding heartbeat. The growl was the same, a word perhaps? He must know his physique was enough threat alone; he wouldn’t need to terrorize her.