by Ella Maven
They flitted around a large area that resembled an industrial kitchen. One stirred something in a pot while another flipped a bread-like disk in a pan. A purple-haired woman with skin still clinging to the remnants of a tan sang and swayed and her hips while she gathered plates. She glanced up as we stepped inside and nearly dropped her handful of dishes as she screeched. “She’s here! The gang’s all together now!”
In seconds, I was surrounded by women. Hair tickled my neck and arms wrapped around my waist and neck, while my hands was gripped in a firm hold. I stared at Miranda over a bare shoulder in front of me to find her smiling, her eyes a little misty. “We take support seriously here,” she said softly.
I almost burst into tears again, and only just held back a torrent of happy sobs.
“We’re crowding her!” Frankie yelled from somewhere behind me. “Back up! Introduction time.”
I learned the purple-haired one was Tabitha. The small one with long dark hair and very pale skin with freckles was Naomi. Justine was the one with a black bob and tattoos all over her light skin.
“I’m Reba,” I said. “And I’m sorry I caused all this trouble by running away.”
Justine waved me off. “Look, I’ll be honest, there were a good few days I was jealous you got away. Not that any of the males hurt us, but I didn’t trust them yet.” She shrugged. “You made a choice to try to save your life and I can’t fault you.”
I felt my cheeks heat. “Yeah, well, I made the wrong choice.”
“Hindsight is 20/20,” Frankie quipped. “We have plenty of time later for our horror stories. Let’s eat. Mama’s hungry.” She rubbed her stomach, and my gaze immediately landed on her belly. For a petite woman, she did have a small little bulge, but then I’d never been one for the media’s obsession with baby bumps. Still, I asked. “Mama?”
Frankie pulled her finger from her mouth as she’d just sampled whatever was in the pot. “Yeah, Daz knocked me up.” She grinned and Miranda threw her arm around Frankie’s shoulders.
This was the time I was supposed to say congratulations. I was supposed to return the women’s smiles. Yet all I could think about was Gaul’s words at a time where I’d never felt so hopeless in my life. I felt the color drain from my face and my skin grow cold.
My hand immediately dropped to my stomach as Gar’s insult about how Ward would never choose me echoed in my ears. “I—I—”
“Oh shit, she’s going down.” Miranda lunged forward just as my knees buckled.
Hands wrapped around my back. Strong hands. “I got her,” a firm male voice said. I blinked up into the face of a long-haired warrior. His dark braid swung in front of my eyes and his mouth split into a wide grin. “Hey there. Let’s get you sitting down. Some food in your belly. My lioness will be here in a minute to check you over.”
“Lioness?” I heard myself ask in a whisper as he placed me on a chair and held onto my shoulders.
Food appeared in front of me. A cup of qua. My stomach recoiled at the thought of food, but when the cup was brought to my mouth by a female hand, I drank. When food was placed at my lips, I bit, chewed, and swallowed.
When a female I hadn’t met yet with kind blue eyes and a soft smile picked up my hand and cradled it, she said. “Hi, I’m Valerie. I was a registered nurse back on Earth. Are you okay? How are you feeling?”
She pressed her fingers into my wrist, feeling my pulse, and still with that caring expression that made me want to melt into her, she touched my forehead. “You feel okay and your pulse is only a little fast. Just overwhelmed?”
My lip started trembling and I bit it. “I might be pregnant.”
Frankie sucked in a breath, and I heard Justine mutter under her breath. “Fucking virile bastards.”
Valerie didn’t even flinch. “Well we can check for you. Rokas has a test for Drixonian females that works on us.”
“Is that how you found out Frankie is pregnant?” I asked.
Valerie’s eyes flitted to the woman in question before shaking her head. “No, but we can explain that another time. Rokas’s test is how we found out that I’m pregnant.”
“Oh my God,” I breathed.
“Yeah,” she said with a quiet laugh. “Justine’s right. The Drixonians are virile bastards.”
“Or maybe just the Bakuts!” The male with the braid yelled from over by the stove where he was munching on a piece of fruit.
Valerie rolled her eyes. “That’s Sax. He’s—”
“I’m her baby daddy,” Sax waggled his brows and we all just started at him. He frowned at Tabitha. “Did I get the phrase wrong?”
Tabitha was bent at the waist, gasping for breath between peals of laughter. “Oh my God, no. You got it exactly right.”
Valerie ignored them. “What would you like to do? A tour? Get some rest? Or take the test?”
“I, um,” I swallowed and came to a decision. “I’d like to take the test. I wanna know.”
Val smiled. “I thought you’d say that. Come on.” She waved a hand at everyone else. “You all eat and come find us in Rokas’s hut when you’re finished.”
My eyes caught on a tattoo on her wrist, and I noticed she had a similar pattern on her other wrist. I reached out and ran my finger over them, amazed at the golden tone to the ink. “Wow, where did you get those done?”
She went still for a moment, and I withdrew my hand, worried I’d overstepped. “I’m sorry, I—”
“No, it’s okay,” she rushed to say. “They aren’t tattoos. They are…” She gestured to Sax, who thrust forth his wrists. I hadn’t noticed before with his blue skin, but now I saw he bore identical marks, like inked decorative bracelets.
“Did he put those on you?” I asked, mildly horrified.
“Fleck no,” Sax said. “They appeared when Fatas chose her as my cora-eternal.”
There was that phrase again. “What does that mean?”
Frankie stepped forward then to roll up the sleeves of her thin, long-sleeved shirt. “I have the marks too. Mine match Daz’s.”
Hers were a different pattern that Valerie and Sax’s, but no less real. “Who is Fatas?”
Frankie explained that Fatas was the center of their belief system. A bit like karma, she either blessed them or cursed them based on their actions. Cora-eternal pairings used to be rare, but then the Bakut brothers—Sax and Daz—both found their cora-eternals among our ragtag group of kidnapped women.
“I can’t communicate with Daz silently or anything,” Frankie said. “But I can always sense him in my mind and feel his emotions. We call that sensation our auras.”
“Wow.” I found myself rubbing my bare wrists. This Fatas wouldn’t choose me for Ward. Not when I’d nearly gotten him killed.
Valerie placed a hand on my forearm, stilling my movements. “Come on,” she said gently. “Let’s get you to Roka’s hut.”
Right, this was stupid, suddenly wanting something I hadn’t even known existed moments ago. It was probably some brother thing that Daz and Sax had anyway. I went to stand. Before I was even steady on my feet, Sax scooped me into his arms. “I got you. Can’t have you falling and hurting yourself or that little life you got growing inside you.”
He carried me outside and I squinted into the sun. “I might not be pregnant—”
“Doesn’t matter,” he shrugged. “Because if you aren’t, as soon as Ward heals up, he’s going to spend a whole lot of time making sure you do get pregnant.”
I didn’t have anything to say to that, so I didn’t say anything at all.
Ward
When I opened my eyes, the direction of the sun’s rays in my hut let me know it was late morning. I moaned as I lifted a hand to my head, which throbbed slightly. My mouth felt as dry as dirt and I smacked my lips.
I rolled my head to the side to see Daz sitting on a chair beside the bed, flipping through a tablet Nero had given him which held, among many things, the security feeds from the clavas perimeter.
“The Red Hands will
attack,” I rasped, and he jerked in his chair, his dark gaze shooting to me before he dropped the tablet on the furs and reached for a jug of qua.
“Drink,” he ordered, and I guzzled a few mouthfuls before trying to speak again. “Nit,” he ordered. “More.”
I drank until the jug was empty and then gulped down a plate of food that he handed to me.
Only when I was finished did he permit me to speak. “Start from the beginning,” he commanded in a clipped tone.
I wondered how much he knew. Had he talked to Reba? What had she told him? It didn’t really matter. As commanded by my drexel, who I respected more than any male on this planet, I indeed started from the beginning. I told him how she’d been taken by Rizars and I led us to an escape. I explained how we’d found an old hideout with a stash of tech so that I was able to update my implant and give her one so we could communicate. I glossed over that time, not yet ready to tell him the more intimate details of what Reba and I had done.
Next I told him how we’d been caught by the Red Hands, and all I’d had to do and lie about to stay alive. Yet Gaul had sensed my deception anyway and sentenced me to rot while he planned to keep Reba for himself and raid the Night Kings clavas for the remaining females. “I didn’t tell him we had more,” I said. “He guessed correctly.”
Daz stared out my window, his jaw clenched. “I wouldn’t expect Gaul to believe the Uldani only requested one female.”
“But,” I swallowed around my dry throat. “I failed you, drexel.”
His head snapped to me and his brows drew in. “How so?”
“I took what wasn’t mine to take.” Daz’s brows furrowed, and I soldiered on, knowing I needed to accept whatever he felt was a sufficient punishment. “I mated with her. I don’t regret my actions, because I couldn’t ever forget what Reba and I shared, but that was against your wishes. For that, I’m sorry. The women were supposed to remain untouched and unharmed. In that, I failed you.”
Daz exhaled and dropped his head. He rubbed his forehead, and his shoulders shook. I struggled to a sitting position. “Are you laughing?”
He raised his head with a smile splitting his face. “Yes, I am.”
“Why?”
“Because you’ve missed much since you’ve been gone.” He unsnapped a leather bracelet from around his wrists. When I saw the markings there, I sucked in a breath. “What… what is that? Loks?”
“Frankie is my cora-eternal and is pregnant with my child. Sax met his cora-eternal in the Uldani dungeons, and she’s pregnant as well.”
I blinked as I processed his words. “Sax? Sax is here?”
His grin widened. “He and his human busted out of that prison leaving behind a blood bath and a crashed hover car. They only just got back and recovered.”
“What?” I hollered. “I’ve been gone, what, nine rotations? Ten How has this much happened in that time?”
Daz leaned back in his chair and stretched out his long legs in front of him. “I should be asking you the same thing. You were locked up for six of those rotations and still managed to get your cock wet.”
“So, you’re not angry with me?”
Daz barked out a laugh. “Angry? No. I’m angry at the Uldani for bringing these females here in order to breed them with us.”
I was so shocked, I couldn’t speak.
He nodded and explained the Uldani were holding Sax and Valerie in order to get them to procreate to recreate a new race of Drixonian warriors that the Uldani would be able to train from rotation one.
“That’s…” I nearly sputtered. “Is that why they’d been experimenting on us?”
“We think so. When Sax escaped, he stole a data chip that Nero has been working on decoding. We are hoping more information on their breeding program is there.”
Breeding program. My hands curled into fists, and I had to work to keep my machets calm.
“Frankie is pregnant, Ward,” Daz said.
My mind reeled at what this meant for our species. I clutched at my chest which had grown tight and briefly closed my eyes. “So, the Uldani were right. We can mate with humans successfully.”
“We can. But they didn’t want us to know. Now we know.”
“So why did they want us to deliver the females to them in the first place?”
Daz jabbed his finger at his chest. “They wanted me. As a breeder. The Bakut brothers siring a whole new litter of Drixonian-human hybrids to do the Uldani bidding.” He rubbed his palms together. “Valerie, Sax’s cora-eternal, is pregnant too.”
“Two cora-eternal pairings?” This was almost too much for one conversation. My brain was spinning as I contemplated all the implications of this news.
Daz grinned. “Thank Fatas.”
“Thank Fatas.” I murmured.
“One more thing.”
“Not sure I can take more.”
“I met with Tark,” he said. Tark was a lonas, a male without a clavas after challenging and killing his corrupt drexel. “He is a lonas because he has a human female. She arrived about ten cycles ago.”
“Fleck,” I gasped.
“And they have a chit. A female. About five sun-cycles old.”
My mouth dropped open, and my cora picked up a steady pulsing rhythm. “So, it’s possible for the females to have our young?”
“It is,” Daz said. “It’s not just possible. It’s been done.” He clasped me on the shoulder. “You’re my most loyal warrior. My right hand where my brother is my left. You fulfilled your duty.”
I lifted my chin in the air, thoughts of chits and loks and the future of our race whirling in my head. “I don’t know if she’ll have me, but if she does, I’m declaring my intent to claim her.”
Daz tilted his head. “Is there a reason she wouldn’t have you?”
The food soured in my gut. “After I rescued her from the Rizars, I promised her I’d never let her be a victim again. I failed her in that. While she was held by Gaul, he did his best to erode her trust in me. I want the time to regain it and to make her feel safe.”
“You can have that time, but ultimately it’s her choice, Ward. She will choose where she lays her head.”
I nodded. “I accept that. Please make it known I want her in my hut, in my bed, until she decides she no longer wants me. She is mine, Daz.”
“Ward?” A soft voice filtered in from the doorway and I turned to see her standing there, hair a soft cloud around her as the sun melted in the strands.
“Reba,” I murmured.
For a moment, she didn’t move, and I expected rejection. Just because she rescued me didn’t mean she wanted to pick up things where we left off before we were captured. But then my arms were full of soft human and a wiggling ball of fur. Reba clutched me, burying her head in my neck as Luna lapped at my face with her wet tongue.
“You’re awake!” she cried, and I spotted the familiar drops of wet leak from her eyes. “I tried to get back as soon as I could, but I had to eat, and then Valerie wanted to, uh, give me a checkup.” She looked over her shoulder, and I spied more females in the doorway, craning their necks to look at me.
I nodded at them. “Hello, females.”
That seemed to be some sort of invitation, because they poured into the room, chattering and touching my things, filling the space with their hair and soft skin and pretty smiles.
Reba perched on the edge of my bed with her hand on my thigh as she engaged them all in conversation. Daz sat in his chair, arms behind his head and eyes half-closed as his mate sat on his lap. I’d never seen Daz this relaxed and happy with a small contented smile on his face. It wasn’t until I met Reba’s happy gaze that I realized I was smiling too.
She cupped my face as some of the women played with Luna. “How are you feeling?”
“Good,” I said. “Eager to get out of these furs and do something productive.”
Daz cracked open an eye. “Not until tomorrow.”
“What?”
“Rokas’s orders. Furs until
sunup tomorrow.”
“That’s—”
“My orders too.” Reba crossed her arms over her ample chest and shot me a stern look.
I pretended to think hard about it. “I concede as long as you join me in the furs. Until sunup.”
She rolled her eyes, but I didn’t miss the pink flush in her cheeks. “Well if you insist on my company.”
“I do.” I tugged her to me until she was forced to lay her head on my chest. I prodded my ribs with my fingers, but they were only marginally sore. As much as I wanted to get out and about, Rokas was probably right.
Daz tapped Frankie on the shoulder. “Up, cora-eternal. Let’s leave them alone to sleep.”
As the rest of the women said goodbye to Reba and filtered out, I spoke up to Daz as he approached the doorway to leave. “I told the Red Hands we have a weakness along the southeast perimeter.”
Daz stilled and met my eyes over his shoulder. A smile played at the corner of his lips. “Smart. Wouldn’t expect anything less from you. I’ll meet with the warriors. You rest.” His gaze touched on Reba. “Sounds like they will take a little bit of time to come to full strength again before they invade.”
“That sounds about right,” I answered.
With a nod, Daz left and shut the door behind him.
Sixteen
Ward
We drifted in and out of sleep. As much as it pained me to remain among the furs and not out with my clavas, Daz was right. I needed to heal completely before I began my regular duties.
During our moments of wakefulness, Reba told me how she escaped—that she studied her surroundings just like I taught her. She knew when the guards had a lapse in coverage. And best of all, she remembered spotting a hunner’s nest outside the gates. When I’d thought she’d left me, she’d instead been harvesting a numa vine, killing a hunner in sacrifice, and then leading them to the Red Hands compound.
“I never intended to leave you,” her small fingers were running circles on my chest.
“After what I had to do in front of Gaul, and all his lies to you—”
“I went with my heart,” she said. “My heart told me to trust you.”
