Breeding Ground Part 12

Fija nodded. Her gaze locked with Alex's. "I do not know that I believe you. But I do know this-I don't want you dead before I decide if I believe you or not."

Alex snorted at that. "Gee, thanks for the honesty. At least I always know where I stand with you."

The Amazon's smile came slowly. "Quite welcome."

John whimpered. Peac.o.c.k's mouth dropped open. Vlad's breathing was so still that he looked like the tin man from The Wizard of Oz after the snowfall had frozen him.

Alex's nostrils flared. "It's the dress of a warrior headed to battle," she gritted out. "Unless you want me to look like a pansy and watch the three of you get sold off right from under my nose, I suggest you stop staring and get used to it."

Peac.o.c.k's mouth worked up and down but nothing came out.

John blew out a breath. "No, Al, we don't want you to look like a p.u.s.s.y-I mean pansy!" he quickly corrected when she glowered at him.

Vlad coughed into his hand and glanced away.

Alex frowned. The outfit was awful and she knew it. She looked like the result of a skirmish between Ben-Hur and a pleasure droid. So much for the brief flicker of hope she'd entertained that a body-plate might actually cover her body and allow for modesty. The taku, as Fija had called it when handing it over, was embarra.s.singly obscene. Still, it beat the h.e.l.l out of walking around with all of her intimate parts bared to the world.

A see-through, clingy black gauze material shrouded Alex's body from neck to toe. Two unforgivingly tough silver metallic cups encased her b.r.e.a.s.t.s over the gauze, but managed to show off more than they concealed. A metallic g-string-like thing covered her lower half-barely-and was made of the same impenetrable material as the breast cups. A pair of metallic knee-high combat boots and a weapons-belt similar to her own finished off the "body" part of the body-plate.

Yet somehow the worst aspect of the entire ridiculous outfit, she conceded, was the outlandish helmet she'd been given to wear on her head. Where the body portion didn't offer enough protection to her way of thinking, the head portion offered far too much. She felt like a moron with a gigantic cone sitting on her head, her blonde hair coming out of a hole at the apex of it and flowing down around her shoulders.

Good Lord, what a hat. She looked like the Grand Poobah of the s.l.u.t People, she thought grimly.

"Are you finished staring?" Alex ground out to her crew, her eyes narrowed. "Or should I sell you three already?"

"Let us be gone," Fija loudly intoned from across the makes.h.i.+ft camp, interrupting the dressing down. "We've three hours of trekking left to us before we reach the Takuri stronghold." Her males immediately took to their feet, preparing to leave. "The night comes soon."

Alex raised an eyebrow as she watched the Amazon pick up her weapons and secure them to her body. She wondered why the night mattered so greatly to Fija. That was the second time she'd mentioned it. It was a question she had a feeling needed an answer, but one she also sensed would have to wait. For now, they just needed to get moving.

"I'm sorry if we made you feel like an idiot," John begrudgingly muttered, snagging Alex's attention. He wasn't one for apologies, but it sounded sincere, if a bit gruff. "That was wrong."

"Same here," Peac.o.c.k murmured. "I know you're wearing that thing to fit in for our sakes more so than your own." He frowned. "Hopefully your efforts will keep me out of a certain harem."

Alex held up a palm when Vlad opened his mouth to apologize. Her crew had always respected her as a tough leader. She didn't want them responding to her like a girly-girl with soft feelings just because they now had a pretty accurate guess as to what she looked like naked.

"Hey, this isn't necessary. Really. You were shocked. I don't blame you. Let it go, okay?" She waited for their nods then turned the subject. "Keep very alert while we walk," she said under her breath, her gaze flicking toward Fija. "We still don't have a clue as to what all we're facing out there so I want you ready to rumble at a moment's notice."

"Got it," John said, nodding.

"My Laser-5 is fully charged," Vlad added. "I'm ready."

"Me too," Peac.o.c.k sighed. "I can hardly wait to explore the great red yonder," he said sarcastically.

Alex snorted at that. "Just try not to be too feisty in front of the ladies, oh black-skinned one of the foul temper. I'm a bit too tired tonight to fight to the death over you." Her eyebrows rose. "Maybe tomorrow."

Chapter Seven.

She kept alert, her eyes constantly scanning the horizon for activity, as the group made its way up the steep, rocky terrain. The obsidian metallic mountains grew silvery in appearance the further they climbed, visibility drastically plummeting as the red-tinted air grew thicker.

Alex's eyes narrowed thoughtfully as she considered the quandary of Fija. Aside from the discrepancy in their height and basic musculature, there didn't seem to be much difference between them. She found it a bit odd that a hundred million years of evolution hadn't managed to change the human race very significantly and found herself wondering if there was perhaps more to the Amazon and her males than met the eye.

Surely something had to be different, she thought. Something more than gaining a few inches in height and possessing more innate muscle ma.s.s. But if there were differences, Alex had yet to discover them.

There was something peculiar, though. Something Alex hadn't picked up on right away and still wasn't certain meant anything. It was nothing really, an almost absurd observation, but twice in the last hour Fija had come to a dead halt and started...listening. That's all. Just listening.

The listening in and of itself wasn't peculiar. What was odd was that she seemed to be able to pick up on inaudible sounds and vibrations that not only Alex and her crew were unaware of, but sounds and vibrations Fija's own males didn't seem to pick up on either.

Or at least that was what Alex was beginning to hypothesize. She couldn't figure out any other explanation for the sudden stops they'd made followed by the Amazon's intent listening. Then again, nothing out of the ordinary had resulted from any of it, so she supposed it was possible Fija wasn't hearing anything the rest of them weren't. Maybe she was just paranoid and stopping every so often to make sure no threats loomed in the vicinity. Whatever the case, Alex's hand was securely fastened around her Laser-5.

The group came to a standstill when Fija once again lifted her hand and motioned for silence. Alex shared a curious glance with Peac.o.c.k, who stood to her right, then trained her gaze on the motionless alpha female.

What is she listening for? Alex wondered, intrigued. What does she hear?

Fija was so still she could have pa.s.sed for a statue. Not a single muscle seemed to flex as she stood there staring off into the distance, her head c.o.c.ked in such a way it was readily apparent she was listening for...something.

"Fija," Alex whispered, "what is-"

"Shhh," the Amazon's males hissed in unison. One of the harem visibly gulped. "She needs must listen," he shakily murmured.

A chill raced down Alex's spine in reaction to the male's nervousness. She had no idea what it was Fija was listening for, but only an idiot couldn't figure out that whatever it was, it wasn't desirable.

"They rise early," Fija said softly, her eyes unblinking as she continued to listen. "They hunt already."

The tiny hairs at the nape of Alex's neck stirred as she, too, began to sense some invisible ripple in the environment. She didn't know if she was imagining things or not, but she felt as though she could register a faint buzzing, almost a hissing sound, in the farthest corridor of her conscious mind.

Her eyebrows drew together. She glanced toward John. If his impa.s.sive features could be believed, he hadn't picked up on any strange sensations. Nor had Peac.o.c.k, she thought perplexedly, as her eyes met his. Nor Vlad...

Alex blinked rapidly, purposely warding off the strange fog that had momentarily enveloped her. She shook it off as best she could, the foreign awareness creepy to her.

"Alex?" John murmured, one dark eyebrow raised. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing." She took a deep breath and expelled it. "Nothing at all."

"I think they've gone," Fija murmured. "We are too far uphill for our scents to be tracked."

"What?" Peac.o.c.k snapped. "What is gone?" When the Amazon didn't so much as glance up at him, his nostrils flared. "Listen, lady-"

"Fija," Alex interrupted before he verbally tore into her, not in the mood to see a fight break out. Truthfully, however, she felt just as exasperated as Peac.o.c.k. These social rules of females only speaking to males they owned were dumb to the point of being problematic. "What just happened? What did you hear?"

The Amazon blinked. She glanced up, her dark gaze finding Alex's. "They are called loma in our tongue."

"Loma?"

Fija frowned as she s.h.i.+fted her weapons belt further to the left. "There is no translation, which is why the device in your brain cannot decode it. The closest word I can think of for you would be...hmm...snake-worm, I suppose."

"Snake-worm," John muttered. "Great."