by A. G. Wilde
The door opened with a hiss as she stepped outside and it closed quietly behind her. Outside was warm, surprisingly warmer than she’d thought it would be, and she looked up at wonder at the pink sky as she walked down the little path.
A sound to her left had her freezing for a second before she saw what had made the noise.
It was a tall animal with a neck so long it reminded her of a giraffe—except it was purple with a lighter pattern of purple circles across its skin. Its head was shaped like a brontosaurus’ and its large round eyes blinked at her.
For a moment, she wasn’t sure what to do. Should she run? Would it try to bite her?
But when the animal dipped its head and licked her right from her waist to her head, she found herself sputtering out a laugh.
“Eww! Thanks, big guy.” She wiped the saliva from her face. “Guess that’s you saying hello?”
The large animal looked down at her from its elevated neck.
“Guess you don’t speak much.” She eyed the beast. “A bit like your owner then?”
The animal dipped its head once more and Lauren stiffened. One lick was enough. But it didn’t lick her again. Instead, it rubbed its head against her side.
Tentatively, Lauren reached a hand out and petted the animal.
Its skin was like leather and it let out a soft humming sound at her touch.
She stood entranced by it as she petted it for a few minutes, amazed by how soft and calm such a huge creature was.
It closed its large dark round eyes as she rubbed its head.
“I’m looking for your owner. Any idea where he is?” she asked.
As if it could understand her, the animal lifted its head and looked toward another set of buildings down the path. The large, brown double doors of the building were open and she could hear animal sounds inside.
Patting the animal’s head, Lauren smiled. “Thanks, big guy.”
As she walked toward the building, the warm ground underneath the soles of her feet, she continued looking around.
Now that she was outside, she could see the layout was much different from she’d expected it to be.
It was more like a petting zoo than a farm. She had to pass several enclosures with animals she’d never seen before in her life, some she couldn’t have even imagined, and there was a common theme with all of them.
The enclosures were made in such a way, it was easy to interact with the animals if she wanted to.
And that meant the animals could also escape if they wanted to.
Except, they weren’t escaping.
In each enclosure, the animals all seemed happy. Content.
There was a lot of noise coming from the large brown building, and as she neared it, the noise level only increased. It sounded like…whistling? It was the only way she could describe it in her head—a bit like a cacophony of whistles and wheaks together.
As she entered the building, she stopped in her tracks.
In front of her was enclosure after enclosure of round, furry…no, woolly animals just like the one that had licked her leg on that first day.
The din was coming from the round animals and farther into the building, she could see why.
The big blue alien was there, opening what looked like a bag of grain.
He was wearing his shades and face covering again so she couldn’t see his expression but it seemed he was completely focused on pouring grain into the first enclosure. As he did, the round animals in that enclosure stopped screaming and raced to devour the grain.
The same thing happened for the next enclosure and the next one. The animals were all so eager to get their food that the scene made a laugh bubble within her.
As she moved to the enclosure closest to her, the animals within the space looked up at her, doing their wheak-whistle thing, no doubt demanding that she feed them too.
Stretching down, she patted one of them on their furry head and it paused for a second before whistling at her indignantly.
It wanted food, not love.
Lauren giggled and a deep masculine rumble reached her ear.
Looking up, she realized the noise in the “barn” had lowered considerably now that most of the animals were eating and that Riv had finally become aware of her presence.
And…he didn’t like that she was touching his animals?
Raising her hands, she backed away from the enclosure, only for the little round animals to whistle-wheak even louder.
Riv was glaring at her, she could feel it without even being able to see his eyes, and she could hear him curse as he moved toward the animals and gave them their grain.
He said nothing to her as he continued feeding the others and she kept out of his way, opting to just watch him instead.
This close, it was hard not staring at him—his presence dominated the space, demanding that she keep him in her sight.
She was so caught up watching him work that she didn’t hear the deep rumble behind her.
As the growl sounded again, this time much closer, a chill ran down her spine.
Huge bass speakers.
It was definitely a large, predatory animal of some kind.
Eyes widening a little, she froze. Everything in her being told her not to move and when the blue alien raised his head and looked her way, whatever he saw behind her had him freezing as well.
“Phek,” she heard him mutter.
“What is it?” she whispered. “It’s something bad, isn’t it?”
She knew she should have stayed inside. Staying inside was what had kept her safe for a year.
Bravery was not rewarded in this new life.
The alien didn’t reply. Instead, he stood, his arms outstretched, palms down.
She knew what that meant.
That was universal-speak for “don’t fucking move.”
With the dark glasses, she wasn’t sure if he was looking at her or at whatever was advancing behind her.
“Don’t move, female.” And then he cursed underneath his breath, muttering something to himself that sounded like him saying females were trouble.
In another circumstance, she might have pointed out that she wasn’t trouble at all but whatever was behind her was so close now, she could feel its fur against the back of her legs and it took everything within her not to bolt.
Bolting could be bad. What if it was the sort of predator that wanted you to run so it could chase you and rip you in two?
Fucking hell.
“Grot.” The big alien advanced slowly. “Don’t,” he said.
“Don’t what?” Lauren whispered. “Don’t eat me? Don’t rip me apart? Being specific is probably good here. I’m pretty sure I can feel its teeth on my back.” She took a deep breath. “I’m going to die and I won’t even see what killed me.”
She was pretty sure she was about to urinate on herself right about now.
“Grot…” the alien said again.
As Lauren tried to keep from trembling, movement to her side had her looking down without moving her head, only for her eyes to lock with the four-eyed gaze of a terrible dark beast.
Its teeth were bared and saliva dripped from them to the floor beneath.
It was paying no attention to Riv. Its only focus was her.
Lauren looked at it in horror, everything within her telling her to run, while, at the same time, she was frozen in shock.
The thing was huge, about the size of a great mastiff or bigger. So big, it almost reached up to her breasts and that was the only reason she didn’t run.
If she’d run before, it would have pounced on her in a second.
It looked like a dog—a monster-sized one—only that its snout was a bit rounder than any dog’s she’d ever seen and its four eyes didn’t help either.
Long fangs protruded over its lower lip and right now they were dripping with strings of saliva hanging from them.
From what she could see, it had four legs and a shaggy dark coat. So black, it looked like a shadow dem
on.
Did Riv call it Grot? It should have been named ‘demon from hell’ instead.
The animal sniffed her as it circled her, its eyes on her the entire time as she tried not to tremble.
“Grot…” Riv said again, his tone firm but reasoning.
The way he called the thing was as if he was asking it nicely not to bite but was pretty sure it would anyway.
Shit.
This was the animal she’d heard trying to break into her room. This was death come to meet her.
As the animal circled her and came in front of her, she just had enough time to blink before the thing pounced on her.
Its weight forced her unto ground and the wind was knocked out of her as she landed on her back, the only saving grace being the fact that the ground was covered in thick blades of cut grass.
Thanks to that, the fall hurt, but not as much as it would if the ground had been bare.
A scream erupted from her as the animal opened its mouth over her head, its sharp teeth bared, and Lauren squeezed her eyes shut, knowing what was coming next.
But it never came. One moment she was looking into the mouth of death-dog and the next a thick, wet, velvety thing moved over her face.
Confused, she opened her eyes as the animal’s tongue descended on her once more.
What?
It was licking her?
Was this some kind of pre-meal ritual?
A sound of annoyance came from somewhere in front of her and the animal was promptly hauled off.
It took a few moments for her to swallow some air, enough so she could raise herself on her elbows.
Still stunned, her gaze landed on the large animal.
Now that it wasn’t snarling and baring its teeth at her, it didn’t look as terrifying—that wasn’t to say it didn’t still make her want to run.
Her gaze moved to the alien standing beside the animal.
Riv was holding the death-dog by the scruff of its neck because—and, in her retreating shock, it took her a few moments to realize this—the animal was still straining to get to her.
Behind it, a shaggy tail wagged and after a moment, its tongue hung from its mouth as it panted.
My God…it was a dog. An alien dog. A very large alien dog. But probably the closest thing she’d find to a dog nonetheless.
Finally finding the energy to stand, Lauren stared at the thing.
It was straining to come toward her so much that it actually pulled its master a little. It moved till it was close enough to brush its head against her skin as it wagged its tail.
It liked her.
Tentatively, she outstretched her hand to touch its cool nose and its tail wagged even faster.
A little laugh left her lips along with the relief that flooded through her.
“You weren’t trying to kill me, were you?” she asked, as the animal brushed its nose against her hand. “You were just protecting your master.”
Her eyes rose to the animal’s master then and she almost shriveled in her clothes.
Even in his shades, even with the cloth covering his nose and mouth, she could sense that he was snarling at her.
What was his problem?
As he released the animal and it moved to rub itself against her, she heard the alien growl before stalking away.
Confused, she watched him leave.
What had she done?
13
“Grot,” Riv called his tevsi as he stormed off, only to glance behind him to see that Grot was still rubbing himself against the female.
Another annoyed growl left his chest as he stalked from the umu building.
What had gotten into the tevsi?
Grot rarely took to strangers.
As a matter of fact, it had been the exact reason why he’d rescued the animal as a pup all those years ago.
Grot hated people as much as he did. That’s why they got along so well.
He could still remember that day he visited the exchange on his usual trip to check if any mistreated animals were up for sale there. He usually made the trip whenever he visited the port city.
It was a ritual.
And every time he went, he was guaranteed to find an animal there that was abused in some way.
He couldn’t save all of them, but at least he tried. And he would keep trying.
If there’d been someone like him out there doing the same when he was a chid, then maybe he’d have had a better life. Maybe he’d have been found in that same market.
Grot had been in that market many orbits back, abused and stolen from his home planet.
He had been put up for sale as a hunting animal and Riv was sure what would have become of the little beast.
They’d have worked Grot to the ground, hardly fed him, then he’d have been left for dead when he could work no longer.
He knew, for it’s what had almost happened to him.
So he’d bought the little black thing, despite how it had snarled at him, and despite how it had growled, its four eyes watching him warily the entire time he’d traveled back to the Sanctuary.
It had hated him.
It took many turns for Grot to trust him and once that trust had been established, the tevsi never left his side.
So, why in Polvrak’s name was Grot acting like that with the female?
Had years on the Sanctuary made him soft?
He could see how that would happen. They hadn’t had much contact with anyone since he’d brought the animal so far out to live.
Maybe Grot had forgotten his hatred for strangers.
The only contact they both had with beings that weren’t the animals on the Sanctuary was contact with his younger brother, Sohut, and the occasional visit from his one and only friend, Ka’Cit.
In a short space of time, this female had entered his Sanctuary, changed the place with her scent and had even gotten Grot to like her somehow.
It had to be her scent.
They liked her scent.
Riv swallowed hard as he walked.
He only knew that because her scent still lingered in his nose even now.
Heading to the tilgran enclosure, he entered their pen and slammed the gate shut. The animals lifted their long necks to look down at him, as if he was being aggressive.
“I’m not,” he muttered, grabbing the tool he used to shovel their feces.
The tilgrans still looked down at him, blinking slowly. “Look at me like that and I’ll leave you to shovel your own dung.”
The animals turned away, ignoring him.
As he went about the chore, Riv frowned.
The animals better not get used to having anyone else around. People couldn’t be trusted.
If his brother, Sohut, hadn’t left the sanctuary on some business, the female would be in his hovercar heading back to Geblit immediately.
He’d take her now. Right now. Only, he couldn’t leave the Sanctuary unattended without planning first.
The animals needed him.
The umus alone would make such a racket, they would be heard for miles if they didn’t get fed on time.
Glancing back toward the building he’d left the female in, Riv shoveled harder.
Despite that she’d been spending most of her time inside, he was still very aware of her presence.
Just what had Geblit been thinking, dropping her off without warning him first?
If he had known it was a female in that box—heck, if he had known it was an intelligent being, he’d have turned Geblit away, favor or not.
With an angry grunt, he piled the dung he’d shoveled in a bucket and hauled the receptacle from the tilgran enclosure.
One of the tilgrans swooped its long neck to bump its head against his back and Riv growled.
At the sound, the animal hummed softly.
“Yea, I’m angry at you too,” Riv muttered, locking the enclosure behind him.
As a matter of fact, he was angry at everything.
Females were…
&
nbsp; Poison.
The image of his mother materialized in his mind and Riv squeezed the handle on the bucket as he moved toward the fruit fields. He couldn’t quite remember what his mor looked like, just bits and pieces.
Frowning even more, he pushed the memory of her from his mind and continued walking.
The tilgran dung would make great fertilizer for the plants in the fruit field. The tilgrans were the only animals in the Sanctuary whose dung could do that. All the others was too devoid of any valuable nutrients and was only good for fire light.
Glancing behind him as he moved, he saw no sign of the female and that was good. Grot probably had her busy. He knew the tevsi wouldn’t hurt her, and he wouldn’t have allowed him to.
But it seemed Grot had come to his own conclusion about the female after he’d sniffed her out and found her worthy of his trust.
So quick to trust.
Grot had clearly been on the Sanctuary’s lands for far too long.
The tevsi had forgotten.
But he wouldn’t forget. He’d never forget.
Not when he bore the scars to remember…not when his nights were a constant fight because the dreams would come.
It had been years but that didn’t dim the pain of the events that played like videos in his mind at moments when he tried to forget or tried to rest.
It was there all the time, reminding him.
As he trudged through the fields, the tall yellow-orange grass swaying around him, the serenity of his surroundings was the only thing that helped calm him.
It was why he was so far out, why he stayed away from people. The calm helped.
It helped a little.
Even now, alone in the middle of nowhere, memories threatened to break through his resolve.
He could see his mor, his mother, the first woman he’d trusted…and the one who had hurt him the most. She appeared before him again like an annoying specter.
He’d been just a chid when she’d sold him and his brother for just a few credits. Apparently, that was all they’d been worth, just enough for her to buy woogli smoke so she could get her next fix and hide away from reality.
The female she’d sold them to had been a Tasqal, one of the members of an elite race that was known for its exploitation of civilizations and beings young and old alike. That’s who his own mother had sold him to—as a chid!
