A Civilized Mating Read Online Free Page B

barbarians, but from what clan she didn’t know. These two looked somewhat different than the warriors she’d seen guarding Welcome’s gates. Like the others, they had similar coloring. Instead of flesh-colored tattoos, though, they had swirling symbols in red and orange that seemed to shift when they moved. They had a hardness to their gazes. Not just a fierceness, but she sensed a buried threat. She narrowed her eyes and looked deeper—with her psychic sense.
    Oh hell. They reveled in causing pain, found it sexually gratifying. A deeper psychic probe told her more than she wanted to know. Ew. Okay, not going to be best friends with these guys, then.
    She widened her stance and bent her knees while releasing her pack to the ground. She had no weapon handy. But then, phasers didn’t work in the East, and she didn’t think a knife would be a smart choice with these guys. Something larger, a staff or club to keep them at an arm’s length, at least, while she studied their moves to counterattack.
    Neither of them had made any threatening gestures. Yet. But her ingrained senses warned of an impending fight.
    “Who are you?” the one with the scar down his face asked.
    “Who are you ?” she retorted.
    The pair chuckled, and the one with slashing orange tattoos down his chest stepped closer. “We are the guardians of the East…offworlder.” He took a good hard sniff, and his eyes narrowed. “You are different.” He nodded to his friend. “Like the one in there, I think.”
    “Ah.” Scarface grinned. “So we have double the prize tonight.”
    Considering she’d never been called a prize before, Skye wanted to preen a little. But anything these two wanted to celebrate had to be bad. Scarface didn’t give any warning before he attacked. He came at her with a blow that would have snapped her head back and knocked her on her ass, unconscious. But she caught a slight hint of violence before it happened and dodged the attack.
    She countered with a sharp kick to his knees that surprised him into falling back.
    His friend guffawed. “Got you there, Fleen.”
    “Fuck off.”
    She had no problem translating the easy banter between warriors. And she was ready for Slash’s move. While Fleen got to his feet, Slash barreled into her and slammed her to the ground. Poised over her, he loomed with a large grin, his incisors a little too sharp for comfort. Had he filed them or been born with fangs? She didn’t recall the barbarians she’d studied about being vampiric in any way.
    “Such an easy conquest.” Slash snorted and turned to face Fleen. “You see how I—”
    Sensing a vulnerability at his throat when he turned his head, she struck with the side of her hand in four rapid chops, then drew her knees in and kicked out, hitting him in the stomach.
    Slash coughed and flew back when she added a telekinetic push.
    “Ah, not so easy, is she?” Fleen stood and planted his hands on his hips. “She’s full of surprises, but you can handle her while I grab the other one.”
    Slash growled low in his throat while she rushed to her feet. With Fleen heading toward the hut and Lisa, Skye knew she couldn’t wait much longer. She made the first move this time, diving to the ground at Slash’s feet and tucking and rolling, knocking him over. As he hit the ground, she hurried out of range, avoiding his return kick. She used the offensive skills she’d mastered on Earth and managed to put Slash in a chokehold, working to sever the flow of oxygen to his brain.
    Unfortunately his thick neck made that virtually impossible. It did serve to enrage him, though. While they struggled, she heard a roar from the hut and the sound of fighting. With any luck, Lisa had gotten to safety while Maht dealt with Fleen.
    Worried that if she didn’t hurry, more enemy barbarians might arrive, Skye stepped it up. She delved deeper into Slash with her inner senses, absorbing the knowing of his movements. Fleen and Maht broke through the wooden door