She turned and looked at the room of people, maybe there forty or fifty of them in the room.
“How could that happen and there’s so few of them, why don’t they just blend in?”
A male stood up, he was seated by himself. He was tall and thick, muscular with dark black hair that fell past his shoulders and storm gray eyes. He walked over to them with a lazy grace.
“You are simply seeing a few of my people. We’re spread out all over this city as well as cities across the world. The unacceptable or the street people as we have come to call ourselves. They left us to die, with no light.” He gestured to the lights overhead. “No running water and lots of rodents for company. No one thought we would make it, but we knew something they didn’t.”
Brook looked around at the people sitting there. They weren’t dirty or run down. They didn’t even look like their life was so hard that any moment they would just give up. Although she could see the struggle on their faces, she also saw the strength.
“What did you know?” She looked up into those storm grey eyes that seemed to be moving with intensity and was caught up in needing to know what he knew.
He gave a quirk of his lips. “The land wasn’t dead and the people they barred from ascending were the same people who could make the Earth sing again.”
“Ascending?” She frowned. It almost sounded like he was talking about them going to paradise.
He nodded again. “Living in the clouds was called heaven on Earth. They were to ascend, the one thing their fathers and fathers before them had always wanted to do. It was written in the good book that one day they would ascend, but only the good. Only the worthy, those that weren’t worthy,” he looked over his shoulder briefly, “they would stay on the ground and maybe even descend.”
“That’s not what the good book meant.” She cast Ash a rueful look and shook her head.
“Doesn’t matter,” the male said to her, “that’s how they interpreted it.”
“Brook, meet Josiah. Josiah, meet Brook, my mate.”
He stretched out his hand to hers and gave it a strong pump. “Call me Josh, everyone else does.”
“Thanks. So how did you get the lights working in here?”
“It’s more than just the lights it’s the whole ground infrastructure. First, we determined that the people in charge didn’t really care where the money came from as long as it came. That was the easy part. Then with the help of Ash and his brothers, Dante and his brothers and years of work, we rebuilt. We have thriving businesses down here and we sell our products to the Galleries. They don’t care where the product comes from as long as the customers eat the merchandise up.”
“Then there is no poor?”
He gave her a smile that didn’t make her feel overly optimistic. “There will always be poor.”
She agreed, no matter what…there would always be poor.
“Josh, I just wanted you to know that Brook and I would be around. Let the others know.”
He reached out and pulled Ash to him giving him a quick hug before nodding and walking away.
“Where are we going now?”
“To explore.”
“Ash,” Josh called. “Be careful. The Patron has eyes even this far down. I heard about your triumph. Remember some people can be bought.”
Ash threw him a smile before taking Brook’s hand and walking away.
“What did he mean by that?”
“We’re not safe here. There may be someone down here who is willing to pick up the contract the Patron has out on you.”
“How do you know the Patron has a contract out on me?”
“Because I saw it this morning. It was lucrative, more than enough to tempt a street person unable to join the upper echelon of society.”
Would this be her life? Scared to trust anyone she met because they may be planning her death behind her back? Ash and the others would tear whoever murdered her limb from limb but that wouldn’t do her any good.
“You’re worrying for no reason.”
“That’s easy for you to say. You change into a huge beast. I’m just me.”
Ash wrapped his arm around her pulling her to his side. He nuzzled the side of her neck.
“You’re right. I would worry also if I were going through what you are. All I can say is that I will die to protect you. The Patron doesn’t give up easily, but I won’t stop until he understands you’re mine.”
She hugged him and gave him a brave smile. “I know.”
He led her out of the refitted store into the crisp air of downtown, New Pittsburgh.
All of a sudden, you’re brave. Shh, she told her inner voice, this wasn’t about being brave. It was about living her life. How could she enjoy the world, see new and beautiful things through Ash’s eyes if she was living in a world of fear? Maybe tomorrow but not today.
They walked down a street she couldn’t even recognize. Nothing of the place she remembered was here. The streets were wide, looking like they were waiting for something to set down on them.
“Why are the sidewalks so far apart?”
“They were built this way so scout ships from space craft overhead had a place to land.”
“I thought all aliens left after the war.”
“Not immediately. The people of Earth didn’t like aliens but they had no problem allowing them to help rebuild. That’s why there is a tower on almost every building. We like the stars and build places to see them when we’re not flying between them.”
“I know this place. I am so glad to see it survived all these years.”
She wandered ahead of him knowing exactly where she was going for once. There was a river on either side of her and one directly ahead of her. The fountain was gone, but that point was still there. The land was covered in tall grass. It was wild with flowers and trees.
This place was her own personal touchstone. It said quietly that it wasn’t a dream. She really wasn’t going to wake up tomorrow to her shadowy world with her parents calling her name. She walked as far up as she could and sat down. She needed to simply watch the water and imagine the boats that used to cruise on the rivers.
“Do they have swimming pools in the air?”
Ash sat beside her, not touching just looking at her, trying to impart strength with his gaze.
“They do, but they have no boats. The children only know what a river or an ocean looks like from an agricultural class.”
“Agricultural?”
“That’s where they learn about old Earth and the different terrains that can be found here.”
“That’s sad.”
“War is sad.”
“Can I see your beast?”
“If you wish.” He stood, moving away from her. “I will still understand you while I am in my other form. Don’t run, Brook; I would never hurt you.”
She nodded her eyes bright with expectation a soft smile on her lips as she waited.
He took a deep breath and changed. It was fluid, one minute he was a male standing before her beautiful in his nakedness, the next he was a beast who was… umm…hung, just like the male in his nakedness.
He approached her slowly acting as if she might be scared of him. She probably should be but she was too busy drinking him in. He was hers, both sides of him. The hair covering his body was glorious. The long fangs coming from his mouth looked dangerous although she knew he would never hurt her.
She rose and met him carefully lifting her hand to touch him. His hair was perfect, slightly coarse making her fingers tingle. She ran her hands through it not being able to touch him enough. She brought her hands to his shoulders feeling how broad they were. Sliding them down his chest, she wondered what a world full of Ash’s would look like. Would they all have red hair and eyes or did they come in other beautiful colors?
He reached out to touch her. The razor sharp nails on his hands retracted so just the pads of this claws were there. He soothed down the side of her face, his paw almost bigger than it.
<
br /> She looked him in the eyes and fell with a small stifled sound.
Chapter Seventeen
Where was she? Looking around, she realized she was alone even though she sat in the middle of a trail. Was this Earth? Had she gone back in time? She blinked unable to see. It was all a dream. An angry tear threatened to fall but she dashed it away. Her heart was being ripped out of her chest at the realization that Ash was just a dream. But where was she? Her parents wouldn’t leave her sitting in the middle of a mud road.
The sound of something big coming her way made her stand. Her ears demanded she run, preserve herself. Her throat ached as she held back the scream of terror on her lips. Her hands were at her side, her legs pumped and her feet moved without her brains permission. She was running a race in which she never wanted to participate.
“I’m going to die,” went through her brain, scaring her more.
“Brook.” She thought she heard her name but she wasn’t stopping.
There were lots of things she didn’t know but she was sure of this one. This wasn’t her world. This wasn’t Earth. Her lungs caught fire as she ran and her legs slowed. No, no, no, she chanted repeatedly. It would get her, harm her. No, she screamed as she tripped over a log—was it a log—and fell face first into the dirt. Dirt that happened to be red.
“Brook.” A red monster stood over her, his voice was soft and sad. “I told you not to run.”
“Ash?” She looked up at him still unable to see clearly.
Was this still part of the dream she had? Had what she lived so far been real and this was somehow an extension of it?
“Shh, let me help…your eyes. Close them, Brook, trust me.”
She trusted him. There would never come a time she didn’t trust him. It was instinctual, this belief that he would destroy the world to keep her safe. She closed her eyes.
A huge weight settled on her eyes pushing her down into the ground then something warm bathed each eye gently. She felt a peace that seeped through her when he finally moved away from her giving her some breathing space.
“Open your eyes, Brook.”
She did taking it slowly hoping to be able to see, but not wanting to expose her healed eyes to too much light. A smile took her lips—she could see. Ash was sitting across from her hunched down ready to chase her down if she ran.
“I won’t run from you.” He settled down relaxing a bit. “Guess I got confused, turned around. I didn’t know what was happening or where I was.”
“You’re in the world of my beast. The dominant portion of my DNA. I wasn’t expecting it either. None of my brothers described it happening like this for them, but they did caution me that it happened differently for each of them.”
“Does this mean anything?”
“Just another confirmation of what I have known for hundreds of years. You are my mate.”
She went to her knees and crawled over to him, with a sigh she settled into his embrace.
“I love lying against this side of you as much as I love lying beside the male.”
“I tease my brothers and call them tame. I went to see Sergey once, he and Lorali were outside. They were lying beside the pond, he was in his beast form, and she simply snuggled up to him.”
“Did it make you sad?”
“Yes. I was happy for them but I wanted that. I wanted you to be by my side and to not fear me.”
“I don’t. I was confused thinking it was all a dream and maybe I was back in Cryo.”
He nodded stroking her body. “Do you want to explore the world?”
“I thought you would never ask.” She tilted her head before lifting up and placing a chaste kiss on his cheek making him growl. She giggled liking the feeling of his growl against her sensitive skin.
“How are we talking?” she asked as she managed to get to her feet.
“We connected, I’m not sure how. You’re in my thoughts, memories that I have of my father. The dominant part of my DNA.”
“Why do you keep saying that?” She placed her hand on his huge forearm and followed him as he led her down the road.
“Created history 101. We are a mixture of one female and several different blends of male DNA. Each group of six share the same DNA but in differing amounts as if the scientist were trying out each blend to make the deadliest warrior possible.”
“Is that why you and your brothers look so different? The same with Dante and his brothers?”
“Yes, in each of us the scientists picked a new DNA specimen to be the primary and added bits of the other to spice up the cocktail before they impregnated the female.”
“How did they get the female to agree to that?”
“She didn’t. They killed her and harvested her eggs and any other DNA material they felt they needed from her.”
“Ash, I’m so sorry. To never know your parents.”
“You miss yours?”
“I do.”
“If you could go back?”
“I would love to go back, Ash, just so I could hug them one last time, but the past can’t be redone and I won’t leave you.”
The trees were giving way to more open areas. In the distance she saw a city of light and wonder.
“Is that where you’re from?” Awe was etched in her voice because it was truly the city of the future that she expected to see on Earth but obviously not yet.
He picked her up and ran getting them closer to the city with his long heavily muscled legs. She laughed and clutched his neck. When he put her down, she realized they were standing in an area that reminded her of a park. It was on the outskirts of the alien city.
“Are we going in?”
He nodded moving as if he were in a trance.
“Ash,” she shook his arm. “What’s wrong?”
He blinked his eyes and looked at her. “I…I don’t know what happened. There was someplace I needed to be, something I needed to see, but what?”
He held out his big paw and she took it. They walked into the city. The buildings were skyscrapers higher than she could see disappearing into the clouds. The vehicles in the sky were more sophisticated than the hovers she had seen on Earth.
The aliens walking the street looked just like Ash only in a range of colors. They were beautiful with eyes that ran from diamond clearness to black onyx with a sheen that made them glow.
“Do you wish you were here among your people?”
“They are only part of my people, Brook, and no I have no desire to be here except maybe to visit one day when we do a walk about of the galaxy.”
His strides lengthened forcing her to run to keep up with him. They walked into one of the buildings that was elegantly appointed. He stopped at the door holding a finger up to her and motioning her to stay still. One movement from him and they were on a different floor in a room that looked like an elaborate court where royalty met.
“I don’t understand?” The woman speaking was smaller than the male in the room. The hair that covered her body was a soft brown and she had green shimmering eyes.
*~*~*~*
“The A’rouk.”
“What do I care about the A’rouk or some insignificant blue planet. I care about you and the fact that you’re planning to die for something the A’rouk told you. If I could I would wipe them out of the galaxy!”
“Don’t speak like that.”
“Why? It’s ok for them to suggest that the mate of my heart give up his life for their visions, but I’m not allowed to threaten their lives.” She screamed at him kicking a colorful pillow on the floor.
“Please, Akton, don’t do this. I don’t care about the son you will one day father with your death, I care about us and our children. If a war comes to our planet we will survive it and you know it.”
“What about what comes after the war? What about the greed, the overwhelming need to reach out and control? What then, my heart? Should we close our borders and allow the other planets to fend for themselves, or should we send an emissary to help to b
ring peace back to a dying galaxy?”
She was softly crying this time. “A peaceful galaxy will not negate the fact that you’re not here. It won’t keep me warm or help me with our youth as they grow. Why can’t your brother do it? He is alone with no one to call the mate of his heart.”
“It is my task. Only I can do it.” The door opened as four children ran to them hugging their parents.
“We’re back, we had so much fun. Teacher took us to the new park and explained life before we came together as one,” the tallest one said basking in the spot light.
His father ruffled the fur on his head. “You will have to tell me all about it.”
“Did you know that others died to make our world peaceful?’ The short one spoke, it was the sweet voice of an adorable little girl as she drew out her words. Her wide eyes looked at her mother.
Her mother bent down and picked her up burying her head in her daughter. She whispered, “I know, Emokun—daughter of my heart. Sometimes we have to make the hard choices for peace.”
With a final look at Akton, she walked out taking the children with her. Akton fell to his knees.
“My son, what I give up for you is a good life. I live with the mate of my heart. I love her and my children. You will be my last son. What you bring to your world is necessary and will allow this world to continue to thrive. Do whatever it takes to protect those around you. By doing that you will protect what I no longer can.” He rose and followed his mate.
*~*~*~*
“Ash?” Brook gave him a look not understanding.
“That was my father, Brook. He gave his life so that I may be born, that my brothers may be born because they carry a part of him also. I carry the most.”
“How can we even be here, seeing this?”
“My mother’s contribution.”
“What does it all mean?”
“Long before any of us were created, someone, maybe the A’rouk,put a plan in motion.
“You know the name of the medical center I was revived in is A’rouk.”
“The irony of that is not lost on me. It’s time to go.”
Ash: Love Me Harder - Alien Paranormal Romance Page 11
