I looked back at the pair and jumped when Surkah let out a vicious roar that was quickly silenced by Mikoh. He leaned in and bit her neck; I watched as his gold-capped canines, and other teeth, sank into the flesh of her neck. Surkah let out a cry of what was obviously pain, but Mikoh didn’t retreat; he simply held still with his teeth in her neck. I could hear him growling, and I felt horrible for Surkah because her cries had turned into whimpers. It reminded me of the sound a dog would make when they were hurt and needed help.
I didn’t care for Surkah, and I knew she was lying to me, but she had saved my life when she healed my destroyed arm. And it was for that reason alone that I concluded my anger at seeing her hurt was out of genuine concern for her. It would probably prove me a fool in the long run for trying to help an alien, but I couldn’t stand by and watch her be attacked. I just couldn’t. Anger gave me the courage to struggle against my ties, but I could not break free. The material rubbed against my flesh, and it stung like hell. When I pulled too hard, it began to chafe my skin.
“Help her!” I ordered the shipmaster. “Right now!”
He looked at me and blinked as if he forgot I was there.
“No,” he said nonchalantly.
“No?” I repeated incredulously. “She is your sister, and he is hurting her!”
“He is disciplining her for attacking him and threatening him with death.”
“Disciplining her?” I repeated, dumbfounded. “He is abusing her, you fucking idiot.” I looked at Mikoh and shouted, “Let go of her, you big bastard!”
This made the shipmaster laugh, and I didn’t know why.
I jumped when Surkah let out a cry again, but it was only because Mikoh had retracted his teeth from her flesh. I raised my eyebrows when he licked at the bite wound that he caused. He didn’t move an inch; he stayed put and continued to pin Surkah in place as he cleaned her wound like an animal.
“Hey!” I shouted again. “I’m going to get free of these ties, pick up the nearest object to me, and bash you over the head with it if you don’t get away from her right now, you piece of shit!”
The shipmaster laughed again, and so did Mikoh, but he quickly refocused on Surkah and asked, “Okay?”
She nodded once, and a few seconds later, Mikoh released her. She spun away from him, keeping her head low as she returned to my side. She fussed over me while I glared at Mikoh who she was obviously, and rightly, now afraid of.
“You’re a fucking arsehole!”
Surkah clicked her tongue at me. “It is fine.”
I jerked my head in her direction. “It is not! How dare he put his hands on you in that forceful way and then to bite you and make you cry? He is an arsehole.”
“It is our way. I challenged him, so he reacted,” Surkah explained. “He was declaring his dominance, tiny one. He didn’t hurt me; he’d never hurt me. I am female; I have no physical chance of harming him while he is at full health, and he knows that. He was letting me vent my anger, and when he’d had enough, he forced my submission.”
“I’ll declare my dominance and force his submission by putting my foot up his ass!”
This caused both males to burst into gleeful laughter, and I even caught Surkah hiding a smile. I didn’t understand any of what was happening, but I was spitting mad.
“You’re not fearful anymore,” she said happily.
“No.” I agreed. “I am angry because he hurt you.”
Surkah shook her head. “He did not.”
“He bit you, and I heard you cry. Don’t lie to me. I know what I saw and heard.”
“His bite has already begun to heal,” she said and showed me the teeth marks that now looked like day-old red insect bites instead of fresh wounds, which freaked me out because there was no natural way they could have already healed that fast.
“And my cries were of annoyance because I cannot best him. It hurts for a few seconds, but that is just to get my attention. He was warning me that his patience had worn thin and I had better stop fighting, or I could get hurt.”
I didn’t understand how she dignified what he had done.
“Do humans not fight a lot when they need to let off steam?” she asked when she saw my expression.
“Not most,” I replied. “We take a walk or something. If a man harmed a woman, he would be looked down upon and classed as weak. Well … that used to be the way.”
Before everyone started killing each other.
“Females are precious to us,” Mikoh angrily growled. “We would never harm our females, no matter what they do. A female could try to kill me, and my only objective would be to restrain her and make her submit so she wouldn’t harm herself. Surkah is my intended; I’d die before I bring her harm.”
He said that word ‘intended’ like it meant something important.
“What’s intended mean?”
“They’re to be mated soon,” the shipmaster replied to me, his voice encircling me like a warm blanket.
I looked at Surkah who was busying herself with a machine next to me.
“You’re marrying this guy?”
She glanced at me. “What does that mean?”
“Is he going to be your husband, the person you spend your life with?”
“Oh,” she said then nodded. “Yes, Mikoh has been my intended since my birth. When I am of age in eight more moon cycles, we will be mated.”
What. The. Hell?
“Wait just a second,” I said as I tried and failed to sit upright. “Who decided he would be your intended if he has been that since your birth?”
“My father, of course,” Surkah said with a smile. “Do human fathers not pick their daughter’s intended?”
“No,” I said, managing a snort. “We pick our own. Arranged marriages are a thing of the past. Now that I think of it, marriage is a thing of the past, too.”
“Oh, well, our males can pick who they want and so can females, but females usually prefer their father or eldest brother to choose for them. The females do have a say just in case she does not like the match, but a rejection is rare. They trust their father or brother to pick them a good male.”
I raised my brow. “Do you have a say?”
“Yes, but Mikoh has always been my intended. All of the people know it, and if I now decided against the pairing, no other male would mate with me because of his position. That, and Mikoh would kill them if they touched me.”
Mikoh’s growl of agreement made the shipmaster chuckle.
“I don’t understand,” I said, terribly confused. “I thought you didn’t like him. From how you both interact—”
“We don’t like one another,” Surkah cut in. “But he is still my intended, and that won’t ever change. In eight more moon cycles, I will belong to him.”
“Like property?” I asked on a gasp.
“No, not slavery.” Surkah giggled. “He cannot force me to do something I do not wish to, but he will be the lead Maji in our homestead. He will make the decisions and so forth. I will be his female, and he will be my male.”
It was hard to digest that.
“That is so different to the human way.”
“Really?” Surkah quizzed.