by Keira Conrad
Vaka worried they would never escape, but the ones who had what he so needed finally made a mistake. They entered the treatment room to help with malfunctioning equipment and he seized his chance. He crushed the creature’s neck and unlocked his collar before the rest realized what was happening. He freed those he could and they flew to freedom.
He hated what had been done to them and ached to annihilate the entire city. His appetite for revenge, however, was tempered by thoughts of the Obeday women and children living there. He had no desire to become monsters like they were.
They denied it, but he knew the Obeday still held some of his people in pockets of the city. A cruel deterrent to any attack. He made a devil's bargain to save those he could and signed a treaty. He dreamed of going back to save the rest of his people, but they lacked the numbers and technology to mount a successful mission. Those who were left retreated to their ancestral home in the mountain with a renewed sense of suspicion and vigilance.
"It's not them," Callie said as the slowed to a walk. They reached the edge of the forest and had a clear view of the camp. There was no sign of an attack, but they both saw something equally troubling as they approached the perimeter. Several members of the security team surrounded Riyad and were trying to restrain him.
24
"What's the meaning of this?" Vaka called out as they approached. A chill ran up the nape of his neck when he saw they had placed metal restraints around Riyad's wrists. He swore his people would never taste bondage again. His temper flared.
"Great, now we're all here," Captain Hudson said as he clapped his hands together. He stood casually among four of his men and tried to look relaxed, but Vaka could tell there was anger simmering within him as well. "Now we can get to the bottom of things."
"Captain, you better explain yourself quickly," Callie said. She crossed her arms over her chest. Vaka could hear the displeasure in her voice and the way she challenged Hudson warmed his heart. She would be a powerful ally for his people. He admired her strength.
"Actually, you're the ones who need to do some explaining." He pointed to Vaka, Riyad, and Callie as she spoke. "Several of the cryotubes have gone missing. I'm hoping you can shed some light on the situation."
Vaka had no idea what they were talking about and felt momentarily relieved. He knew Riyad was blameless, too. His friend understood the importance of their alliance with the humans and would not risk such an inflammatory action without Vaka’s approval. It must be a misunderstanding. They would clear things up easily enough.
"They should be simple enough to find, with the tracking beacon and all." Callie dropped her arms to her side. She didn’t try to hide the annoyance in her voice. "Did you ask Andromeda about it? She checks on them all the time in the med bay."
"Andromeda's the one who noticed they were gone. She brought it to my attention a few moments ago," Hudson said. He was getting louder as he spoke. His tone made Vaka uneasy. They needed to de-escalate the situation, not rile things further. "The tracking doohickeys aren't going to help because they were removed from the tubes and left right in the med bay."
Callie shook her head. She wasn't buying it. "They can't all be gone," she said. "They're each the size of a large oxygen tank. How could someone remove them unnoticed?"
Hudson shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know how it was done. I just know they're gone. We lost our entire inventory of Earth’s plants and animals in the span of a few hours."
"What did you see on the security cameras?"
"Not a damn thing,” Hudson replied. “Someone evaded them very skillfully."
"Or they never left camp." Callie threw up her hands. "This isn't the way to handle things, Captain," she said as she motioned to Riyad’s restraints. "There has to be a reasonable explanation. Why don't you let Riyad go and we can sit down and talk about this like reasonable people?”
Callie and Hudson continued their verbal sparring, but Vaka didn't hear them. He was lost in thought. Something the Captain had said was lodged in his mind. He turned the words over and examined them carefully and searched for a possible harmless meaning. He couldn't come up with one.
"Why do you have an inventory of Earth’s plants and animals?" He asked, interrupting them. "I thought this was a research mission."
Hudson gave his men a sidelong glance. He hadn't meant to disclose that information. Vaka realized Callie had not been honest with him. His stomach sank at a dizzying speed. He turned to her, and the expression on her face told him it was true. Her lips trembled and her eyes watered.
“You’re colonists,” he said as he backed away from them. He’d heard tales of their kind before. They invaded a planet, terraformed it to their desired specifications, and then populated the world with their own kind.
She took a step toward him. "Vaka, it's not what you think," she said.
"You will fill the planet will your people, your plants, and your creatures and wipe mine from the planet." He practically spit the words out. He wondered if it had all been an act on her part. Had their situation even been as dire as she claimed? Was she just trying to buy them time? Riyad reported that they were truly struggling, but was it just an act to put them off their guard?
"That's not how it was supposed to happen," she said and then corrected herself. "That's not how it's going to happen. There's plenty of room here for all of us. I haven’t technically lied to you about anything. I told you, our scientists thought this planet was uninhabited. We planned for a scenario that became unethical once we arrived here and encountered your people."
He could see the logic in her words, but his mind wasn’t in control at the moment. His heart led the charge, and he felt betrayed. Personally and on behalf of his people.
"Does everyone share your view, Callie?" Riyad finally spoke and broke the silence. “I am not so sure.”
Vaka turned to Callie. "You kept this from me." The malice in his voice was troubling. He tried to calm himself and behave as a rational leader. Tried to keep a level head and turn the situation to his advantage. But he was infatuated with Callie and she had cut him to the quick. He couldn’t keep passion out of it.
"Vaka, we've known each other a week." She stepped closer. Her voice trembled. She tried to rest her hand on his arm, but he jerked away as if her touch pained him. She was undeterred.
"We're all trying do the best with the situation we're in,” she said. “I'm sure you haven't told me everything about your people. And it's not because you're a bad person. It's because you're just trying to do right by your people and navigate a trying time."
He knew she didn't want to have this discussion in front of the others. He didn't want to have it at all. He needed time to process what he had learned. Time to think about everything that had happened between them. It hurt his heart, but he needed to be away from her.
He nodded to Riyad. The warrior broke free of his restraints like they were made of paper. He joined Vaka's side.
"I advise you to permit us to leave," Vaka said as they walked away. He turned and tossed his parting words over his shoulder. "You couldn't stop us if you tried."
25
Callie fought the urge to chase after him. She hated that she wanted to. She never imagined uncovering such weakness within herself. It was a horrible feeling, like lifting your bedsheets and discovering a snake. She never imagined she would need someone like she longed for him. It had been a long time since she let herself need anyone. The stabbing pain in her heart reminded her why.
Could they recover from this? She hoped so. She prayed he just needed a little time to cool down. She knew she could make him understand if she could just talk to him again in person. He was a reasonable man. Every fiber of her being told her to go to him, but she knew waiting was the only answer.
She threw herself into her work. She volunteered for every crappy task that nobody else wanted to do, and she started to make inroads with the colonists who had shown her the cold shoulder. That wasn't the purpose of her penance, thoug
h. She wanted to punish herself for her misdeeds.
She had misled Vaka when it came to their mission. She saw the hurt in his eyes, and she couldn't stop thinking about the child he was hoping for. How would he look at her when he learned that dirty little secret? Guilt swelled within her. By the time this was all over, he'd wonder if she was capable of telling the truth at all.
If it was up to her, she would have spilled her guts and come clean with him, but the situation involved more than the two of them. An entire ship of colonists depended on the cooperation of their people. She had to think about the big picture.
"A messenger brought this to the gate." Flora stood next to her bunk with a scrap of tattered paper in her slight hand. Callie hadn't even heard her come in. All the double shifts were taking a toll. She’d planned to take a quick cat-nap before dinner, but she hadn’t been able to quiet her mind.
"You're the first person to get alien mail,” Flora said. “How lucky!" Callie reached out and took the offering. She hoped it was a note from Vaka, but a quick peek at the contents revealed handwriting that was decidedly more feminine.
"What is it?" Flora asked as she hovered over her friend. Callie had always found Flora's innate curiosity rather charming, but she would have rather been left alone at this moment.
"It's from Shiva," Callie said. She had shared nearly every detail of her initial visit to the alien camp with her roommates and they were as fascinated with the tribe’s only woman as she was. Once she skimmed the content of the brief note, she read it aloud for Flora. "Callie. Our one visit together was brief, but I find myself longing for more of your feminine company. Please join me for a meal. Bring friends if it makes you more comfortable. My nephew will wait at the gate and bring you here."
“Do you think that’s the best idea right now?” Flora asked. Their camp was tight knit by necessity, and word of the confrontation between the humans and the Verakai tore through camp in record time.
“Shiva knows everything that goes on in that camp,” Callie said. “She wouldn’t ask if we had anything to worry about.”
“She said you could bring friends.” The excitement in Flora’s voice was plain.
“I’ll probably just go alone,” Callie teased as she tossed back her blanket and stood up.
"Please take me with you," Flora begged. "Riyad has been telling me all about their village and I really, really, really want to see it for myself."
Callie was disappointed Vaka had not volunteered to collect her himself, but she felt a glimmer of hope nonetheless. Surely Shiva wouldn’t invite Callie to camp without his signoff. Maybe this was his way of trying to reach out after their strained parting. A lightness came over her that she hadn’t felt in days. Once she had a chance to explain things to him, he would understand.
"Of course, you can come along," Callie said as she rummaged through her footlocker for clean clothing. She was wearing a dingy, shapeless coverall from her latest shift and needed to change into something more proper. Something with less hydraulic fluid on it, at the very least.
"Come along where?" Andromeda asked as she pushed through the tent flaps.
"Callie got an invite for dinner in the alien camp and she's letting me go with her." The words tumbled out of Flora's mouth in excitement.
"You can join us, if you like." Callie hoped she would accept. The two of them needed to have a private conversation. Callie figured Andromeda was the one who tampered with the cryotubes and they needed to get on the same page.
"I'd actually love to." Andromeda had been a type-A workaholic as long as Callie had known her. She'd been picking up just as many double shifts and Callie was sure she could use the break. "Should we track down Juno? Make it a full family outing?"
Callie hesitated. "I think maybe it's best that she sits this one out. The situation is a little delicate right now." Juno was like a bull in a china shop when it came to handling emotionally charged situations, and Callie wasn't willing to add fuel to a fire already in danger of burning out of control.
"We'd have to tear her away from the build site, anyway," Flora explained. "She's determined to get the pipes installed and the water running ASAP. She's been talking nonstop about how good it would feel to take a shower."
Andromeda agreed and the three of them quickly readied themselves. They strolled to the gate like women heading out for a night on the town and ignored the disapproving stares of the other colonists.
"Get a load of that tall hunk of hotness," Andromeda whispered as they approached the gate. Callie hadn't come across a Verakai warrior who was less than handsome, and Shiva's nephew was certainly no slouch in the looks department. Callie had never heard Andromeda wax poetic about a man before, and it amused her.
"I'm Cyril," he said. "Hop on."
"A man of few words,” Andromeda whispered as she hopped into the seat behind Callie. “I love that."
The speeder he’d requisitioned was a larger model, and it fit the four of them easily. Cyril was a talented pilot and the ride to the mountain was fast and smooth. Callie had fun watching Andromeda and Flora enjoy themselves, but her nerves started to act up as they drew closer to camp. She desperately wanted everything to work out.
Their arrival at the village reminded Callie of her first appearance there. The warriors stopped what they were doing and watched as Cyril led the women to Shiva's tent. Everyone seemed curious and friendly and Callie assumed Vaka and Riyad had kept the content of their discovery between themselves.
Her breath caught in her throat as she entered the dwelling and saw Vaka. He was seated on the floor next to Riyad and Shiva, but he leapt to his feet when he saw her. Callie's heart pounded as she read the anger and surprise in his body. He hadn't known she was coming, and he certainly wasn't happy about it.
26
"How could you think you're welcome here?" Vaka asked as he approached her. Shiva tried to talk, but he silenced her with a wave of his hand. She had done nothing the past few days other than try to change his mind about Callie and the other humans. He should have suspected she'd resort to something like this, but he'd thought her moxie had faded in her old age. He'd express his displeasure with her later.
"I...I was invited here." Vaka felt torn in two when she stammered. She was still his beautiful Callie, but she looked tired and her eyes were dull. She was hurting as much as he was. He was sure of it. He wanted to yell about her betrayal, take her in his arms and comfort her, and bend her over the nearest chair and fuck her senseless. Did love always make such fools of men?
"We were all invited," Andromeda said. "We're here as guests. If you're going to be an asshole to her about it, we'll pack up and head back. Just say the word." She wrapped an arm protectively around Callie's shoulder.
It was Vaka's turn to stammer. Shiva's maneuvering had taken him by surprise. He knew humans were joining them for a meal, but he thought members of the security team were making the trip to discuss the missing cryotubes and try to salvage their agreement. His dander had already been up in anticipation of dealing with Captain Hudson. When Callie walked through the door looking all vulnerable and lovely, it threw his emotions into a tailspin.
"I apologize for my behavior." He took a deep breath and struggled to calm his heaving body. "Please, join us." He motioned to the seats on the floor.
He was still determined to punish Callie. He tried to take a seat as far from her as possible, but Riyad, who talked of nothing but returning to the human camp, quickly settled next to Flora. Andromeda showed an immediate interest in Shiva's nephew, and Cyril eagerly cozied up to her. That left the two seats closest to Shiva. He lowered himself to the ground begrudgingly and went to work ignoring her. He wanted to make her hurt like he had when he learned of her lies.
Shiva entertained them with stories of the Verakai, but Vaka didn't hear a word. He feasted on his favorite foods but didn't taste a single bite. He was close enough to Callie to smell the fragrance that perfumed her hair, and he worried it would drive him mad. All he w
anted to do was gaze upon her face and memorize every detail, but he forced himself to keep his eyes off her. The meal was agony for him, and he breathed a sigh of relief when it finally ended. He rose to his feet and headed for the door. Shiva looked appalled at his manners.
Callie sprung to her feet and chased after him. She caught him just outside the door. "You never have to see me again, if that's what you want,” she said, “but you're going to give me five minutes of alone time to try to explain things to you. You owe me that much." She didn't look sad and retiring anymore. Anger flashed behind her eyes. She hadn't enjoyed the way he'd dismissed her at dinner.
"Follow me," he said as he led her away. His mind raced for a suitable place where they could talk away from prying ears. He led her away from the center of town and steered her into an abandoned corridor in the rock. He knew things were about to get loud.
He wanted to yell and curse her. Shame her for her lies. He was planning his assault of words when her open hand cracked across his face. He stared at her, mouth agape, as the skin of his cheek reddened. The sting of it was inconsequential but the shock of it caught him unaware. Her chest heaved with each gulping breath of air and her breasts jiggled from the impact. Her nipples poked against the thin fabric. He felt the blood run to his cock as it sprung to life. He was so damn pissed, but she was the only thing he really wanted in the world.
She raised her hand to strike him again and he grabbed her arm. She would not unman him again. He forced both arms above her head and pinned her wrists against the wall. He held them with one hand while the other slid past the waistband of her pants in search of her pussy. She pressed her thighs together and struggled against him, but when his fingertips brushed her soft curls she groaned with lust.
He plunged his fingers between her swollen pussy lips and massaged her silky flesh. Her wetness already coated her inner thighs. He slipped a thick finger toward her opening and her greedy pussy swallowed it up.
