Chapter 31: Woumbers

"Why? Why are you so determined to fight them?"

"They touched you," he said, as if the logic of his actions should be clear to her.

"And for that, you attacked their camps?" It wasn't even the same raiders.

"I protect my breeder. They are woumbers and will be exterminated."

Natalie swallowed the bile rising in her throat. Even so, she couldn't find it in herself to feel sorry for the raiders. The atrocities they perpetrated and their criminal acts against innocent women and children were punishable by death. What scared her out of her mind was that a being powerful enough to kill that many raiders was claiming her as if she were livestock. What if his feeding and caring of her was only part of a breeding ritual?

Pulling her against him, Zacar lowered his head and brushed his mouth against her neck. His hands slowly moved from her upper arms to settle on her waist. She could feel the texture of his strange metal, leathery clothes right through her heavy winter pants and sweater.