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wander off was almost encouraging. And even if it wasn’t, if Kane knew that if he had to run in this heat, he was likely to shear her damned head off when he caught up to her.
    He hadn’t gone far before he realized that he could hear water, and after another hundred paces, he could smell it as well. When the path opened out, it had brought Kane to the bank of a little river. It was mostly dried up, if the steep sides of the empty bank were any indication, but still deep enough at its center for his female to be standing in it up to her waist. She was looking at him, her hands still cupped to her half-cleaned face.
    ‘Patience,’ Kane reminded himself, his hand flexing on the dermisprayer. ‘She just wanted to wash up. So do you, so be patient. She’s got days to find out how badly she can be hurt.’ He smiled at her.
    She did not respond in any way.
    “Come here,” Kane said, and snapped his fingers at the same time. It was never too early to start training.
    She didn’t move.
    Kane’s smile faded on one side. “Human, I don’t want to kill you, but you are making me want very much to hurt you. Come here.” He snapped again.
    She lowered her hands, water spilling through her fingers and from her eyes. She took a step toward him and looked down at the dermisprayer in his grip.
    Kane’s temper was starting to scratch at him again. He took a deep breath and held the instrument up for her to see. “This is for you,” he said. “There was a problem with your blood. I’m sure you knew that.”
    She dropped her eyes, looked around at the water, and then met his gaze again.
    “I can fix it,” Kane continued. “Come with me. We’re going to travel for a few days and then I’ll let you go, and you’ll never be sick again.” He gave her another smile, this one showing quite a few fangs, and told himself that Heat was coming…Heat was coming and she was the only game around.
    She spoke for the first time, in a voice that was despairing, yet strong. “Fuck you,” she said. He had no time to wonder what that meant. She dropped beneath the water’s surface.
    “You
bitch
!” Kane snarled. He leapt into the river, pushing against the weight of the current to grab her back, but he could see her chest working and he knew it was too late. Her body was heavy when he reached it.
    She had escaped him after all.
    Kane looked in disgust at the dermisprayer in his hand and then expelled its contents into the river in a silver jet. “Bitch,” he said again, and dropped her with a splash.
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     

----
Chapter Three
     
    “R ise and shine, camper! Up ‘n at ‘em!”
    Tagen jerked awake at once, his hand flying for his gunbelt and striking a tree instead. His first fractured thought was that his father had dumped him in the woods again. He was hot and hungry and thirsty and sore; this had to be some sadistic new brand of training. He could smell smoke. He had lit a fire the night before, and he could smell it still, mixed with the sweat that pooled on his skin. Every other scent that came to him was horribly unfamiliar. It wasn’t until he saw the human that he remembered he was on Earth.
    Earth. Gods. How could a planet look so inviting and peaceful from orbit and yet be so dry and miserable once one had landed? Tagen had made his hundred kilometers hiking up a slope of crumbling stone, surrounded on all sides by towering trees. Everything was out to get him. Insects bit him, raising itchy welts wherever they could get at him. The roots of the trees protruded in crafty knobs and toe-catching loops, and Tagen had twice fallen. Even if he was lucky enough to grab a tree for balance, the bark of the things was rough enough to abrade his hands, and often was coated with a rancid-smelling sticky sap that never,
never
came off. The bushes here were nothing but thorns or burrs or grasping vines, which in their dried-out death-throes had become quite effective