The woman would go back with him, he arrogantly determined. She was now his. The woman had saved his life, hadn’t she? The knife wound might only be a scratch, but she hadn’t known that. She had thought she had saved his life, and that was what counted.
To him.
When the Martians had kidnapped his ancestors from Earth for breeding purposes, they had mainly taken the males. It was only after they had returned to their planet of Mars that they had realized their mistake. Human males weren’t the ones who produced the babies. What few women they had taken from them were able to birth their offspring, but once they were past the childbearing age, the women were returned to live among the Viking males. The Vikings who had been starved for the females fought among themselves, killing each other off, determined to have the women for their own. However, planning on escaping the Martians when the means became available to them, they couldn’t face the loss of any of their males.
It was their original chieftain who had come up with two bygone laws. In a ritual, each woman would choose who would be given the honor of being her husband. Only those Vikings who wanted the woman would take part in the ritual. The other law took into account the women’s bravery. This gave the women the opportunity to take a Viking who had not wanted to take part in the ritual. If a woman saved a Viking’s life, they were now considered wed.
To find himself wed brought great joy and sorrow. His days of leading the men in battle would be over once their official marriage ceremony was completed by their current chieftain. Once the ceremony was over, the male was expected to give up his place as a warrior to settle down and make a home with his bride. They were also expected to be faithful husbands and ensure the protection of their wives, to assure future generations of Vikings would be born.
Having to deal with a human woman just as they were about to battle the different species that had taken over Earth would be difficult, but not insurmountable. She would remain on the ship until he was ready to ask for Thorsen to perform the ceremony.
As the tightness in his chest eased, he carefully reached over the sleeping woman to drag the dried alien skins closer, draping them over her. His own body didn’t need the added warmth. To him, it was a refreshing change from the hotter temperatures he was used to.
Listening for any sounds of approaching enemies, he spent the remainder of the night on watch. He would see what she planned to do come daylight before he opened his eyes. So far, he had been able to hide that he wasn’t from Earth, but once she realized the whites of his eyes were red, she would run. Until his lungs were fully recovered, he wouldn’t be able to give chase if she managed to escape his hold.
The small carrier he had used to come to Earth was a distance away. He needed to be at full strength in case he came upon more attackers. He could not face another shame if he was beaten twice, even if he had been in a weakened state.
While he wasn’t ready to complete the ceremony to make their marriage official, he wasn’t willing to risk the safety of his wife. If a male from another species captured her, especially if she did have Viking blood, despite his thinking she didn’t, he wouldn’t be able to ransom her back until it could be determined if she was meant to be tru-mated to one of their men. The clan wouldn’t even be allowed to battle for her to keep her from being traded off.
“What?”
He heard her startled mumble as she sat upright, jerking the skins off her.
“Ew … I must have reached for them when I was sleeping.”
Remaining still, he felt her hand on his wound.
“No bleeding. You’re going to have a wicked scar when that bad boy heals.”
Did she know he was only pretending to be unconscious? Was that why she was talking to him?
“At least you slept through our cuddle time. I didn’t want you to think I was taking advantage of you sleeping. On the other hand, it would make it much easier if you would wake up. I need to take the food back to the others, and even if I left the food behind, there’s no way I could get you to where we’re hiding by myself.
“I don’t want to leave you here unprotected, either. You’re not exactly in any shape to fight anyone if you’re found. I could go and be back in a couple of hours with the others to help and get the rest of the food that I wasn’t able to carry.”