by Lily Thomas
“Well…” Olivia climbed into one of the pods. “I just need to see if the signal is still being sent or not.”
Olivia punched a few buttons, waking the systems up. Vlek’s head popped over her shoulder. His eyes widened when buttons lit up.
Yeah, leaving humans here really wouldn’t harm these people anymore. They had already been ruined by their crash landing and would continue to be ruined.
“Damn.”
“What’s that?”
Olivia swiped a hand down her face, as she schooled her features. She couldn’t giggle every time she had to explain a word to him. He might get sick of her laughing at his questions.
“It’s a cuss word. A word that insults but can also be used to describe something in a harsh way. Don’t use it. Trust me.”
He eyed her for a second before he asked. “What is wrong?”
“The signal.”
“It isn’t working.” He filled in for her.
“Yeah. There are going to be some disappointed women back at camp.” She sighed. There was no telling if the signal had reached anyone. But now that it wasn’t putting out a signal, she could assume they’d be stuck here on this planet for the foreseeable future.
“Can you fix it?”
Olivia shook her head. “No. I’d have to be up there.” She pointed towards the sky, as she left the escape pod and powered it down.
“Disappointed?”
Olivia shrugged her shoulders. “Don’t take this the wrong way but having the choice to stay is better than knowing there is no choice.”
Vlek went quiet, as he watched her with his piercing eyes.
She had no idea what he was thinking, but they had to get back to camp, and she had to break the news to the other women. Some of them would be crushed, and others would be excited about the challenge and opportunity they would now be facing.
Vlek wanted to comfort Olivia, but he couldn’t help the emotions raging through him. He could understand wanting to have a choice, but he would have feared her leaving if she did have an opportunity. Her people didn’t have mates. It was a new concept to him. He still wasn’t sure how they found their lifelong partners if they didn’t have mates.
“It’s the choice. Do you understand?” She cocked her head to the side as she lowered it and tried to make eye contact with him.
His chest rumbled. “You’re my mate, and you will stay here.”
Olivia’s mouth opened and closed. “You can’t just keep me if I want to leave.”
He bared his fangs at her. He didn’t want to be the bad guy here, but he wasn’t going to let her think this was nothing to him. “Mates only come once.”
“What if I die? You don’t get another?”
Vlek growled again, not at her, but at the idea of her body laying lifeless at his feet. He’d destroy the whole forest if he had to when it came to keeping her safe.
“You wouldn’t have another mate?” She raised an eyebrow as she crossed her arms.
“It happens sometimes, but not always. Not everyone is lucky enough to get another mate.”
“Well, you won’t have to worry about it anymore.” Her brown eyes flashed with annoyance, as she headed back in the direction they’d come from. “I’m stuck here.”
Vlek trailed after her, leaving her some space. She could be so lovely and sweet, like last night, and then she could get a thorn stuck in her side at another moment and turn so fiery. He enjoyed her volatile spirit.
When she kept stomping through the rainforest, he eventually grew annoyed. She was going to alert every predator in the area to their presence. If he were alone, he wouldn’t worry, but he had her to protect and their recent discussion about not getting a second mate weighed heavily on him. He wanted her, not some other woman. Whether she liked it or not, he was going to look after her.
Vlek swooped in behind her and threw her over his shoulder.
“What the hell are you doing?” She barked in his ear.
He shifted her more over his shoulder so that she couldn’t yell in his ear again. “We have a long way back to the village, but with me carrying you, we’ll make it back to the village by morning.”
“Put me back down!”
“Not until we get to the village.”
“He’s being a beast.” Olivia grumped to Scarlett the moment they were back in the camp.
Scarlett rolled her eyes. “You’re his mate. Of course, he’ll be a little rough around the edges, when you tell him you’d like the choice to leave. Doesn’t sound the best when it’s spoken out loud. Trust me on this.”
“Who knew we’d be in this situation,” Brooklyn commented from where she sat, trying to make a basket with grass. “I never liked being one with nature, yet here I am fiddling with grass instead of technology.”
Olivia smiled. The grass basket was looking a little wonky, but she wasn’t about to say anything since Brooklyn had been working on it for several hours. She was one of the women in the group who wouldn’t want to remain here on the planet. That woman was joined at the hip with technology.
“I never signed up to be someone’s mate, but… I do like him.” Olivia said as she watched Vlek walk past with some warriors. She saw his nose twitch as he picked up her scent, but he didn’t look in her direction.
“Does it matter? We know plenty of aliens who take mates, like the Krocosians. You could’ve been claimed by one of them, at some point.”
Scarlett had a point. They all went through space, knowing that at any moment they might have an alien man chasing them down. And when Scarlett put it in terms like that, it made this seem like not such a far-fetched idea. She and Vlek could make it work.
When and if someone came for them since their research wasn’t due to be over for a few years at least, she might not choose to leave. Vlek had a way of pleasing her sexually, and when he wasn’t throwing her over his shoulder, she did enjoy his company. And he had expressed interest in children, whether they were related to him or not. It appealed to her and was a pleasant surprise.
“He’s watching me.” Olivia murmured.
Scarlett elbowed her. “Probably thinking about sexing you tonight.”
Olivia took another bite of her meat. This planet’s pig-like creature tasted pretty good. Perhaps she wouldn’t miss bacon as much as she’d previously thought.
“None of the women in the clan like me yet.” Olivia wasn’t too sure what to think about that.
“They don’t like any of us.” Riley chimed in. “They might like us better if you accepted their leader as your mate. I heard some of them dissing you because of it. They don’t understand how you can dishonor him by refusing him.”
“We’re too sexy, and they know it.” Scarlett stuck her tongue out at the rest of the women.
“Or some of it could be that they’re pissed about you taking the attention of their leader,” Avery said from where she was enjoying some dinner.
“Thaz prwobawbly wit,” Scarlett said over a mouthful of food.
“Disgusting. Keep your trap shut, while you’re eating.” Avery looked away.
Scarlett’s eyes widened. “Wuz zhe twalking tah meh?”
“She speaks for all of us.” Brooklyn grimaced.
“Even the men are watching us closely.” Chloe pitched in, as a few Feosua warriors passed by.
“Probably wondering if any of us could be their mates since their leader was able to find a mate out of one of us.”
“I wouldn’t mind if one of them wanted me,” Scarlett said over another mouthful of food, but this time being careful to annunciate over it.
“I would!” Chloe coughed. “Have you seen those claws of theirs?”
“Not all of the men like us. Some don’t know about having us around, because they fear what we might bring. We are pretty mysterious, especially since the story about us shooting out of the sky got around.”
“We might get voted off the island.” Chloe worried. “We won’t survive in the rainforest without these peop
le.”
“That’s it. I’m talking to Vlek.” Olivia declared.
“Go get some girl.”
Olivia turned to glare down at Scarlett, but Scarlett did keep the mood lightened, which was what they needed as they adjusted to life on this planet.
It didn’t take long to find Vlek.
He watched her with his golden eyes, as she made her way over to him. Amazing that she’d slept with him a couple of times in a rainforest, yet she’d never been inside his tent yet.
Who knew, she’d be a fan of doing it in a rainforest, but it was fun and kind of sexy, especially when he held her up against a tree.
“Hi.” She waved a hand in greeting. “Can we talk?”
He nodded and guided her to a spot where they wouldn’t be overheard by anyone in the village.
“I’m worried about my people.” She waited to see if he would say anything. When he didn’t, she carried on. “I’ve just noticed a lot of glares being cast our way, and some conversations have been overheard that make me concerned.”
He folded his arms over his chest, and she took a moment to take in the image he presented. She knew those arms were strong enough to hold her up against a tree and drive her insane with lust, but they also presented the image of a man who had to survive in a rough environment. Being with him would be anything other than ordinary.
“You could solve your problem easily enough. Accept the matehood.”
“Like it’s that easy.” Olivia rolled her eyes.
“It is. Those glares you get are from females that would kill to take your position yet you refuse it.” Vlek shook his head. “It doesn’t make sense to them… or me.”
“They wouldn’t kill me though, right?” Olivia twisted her hands in front of her. Any of the Feosua women could take her easily. Olivia would give one of them a hell of a fight, but it probably wouldn’t amount to much.
“None of them would dare kill you. It would be against village laws, and it would assure their own death. Accepting the matehood would mean you rule the village beside me, and you would take over managing all the females in this village.”
“Oh.” Did she want to be queen bee of an alien village? It seemed like a huge and daunting task. She’d just recently signed up to lead a small band of human women, and now she was being asked to rule all the women in this village. And it wasn’t the tiniest village either.
“The warriors would enforce your rules.” He reassured her.
Well, that definitely made it easier for her to rule when she had a lot of strong men to aid her. At least, she wouldn’t have to face down any of the native women.
“I… I need time to think about this.” Olivia dashed away before he could cast her more glares. She knew she had to make up her mind. She’d been sleeping with him, discussing children, and now she was being a chicken. She had to get it together, and she knew just who to talk to, Scarlett.
“So, what did you find out when you went to the escape pods. You never did tell us.” Scarlett asked the moment Olivia entered their communal tent.
All the hopeful eyes in the tent turned towards her, and she felt the pressure rise. Great. Now she was going to have to tell them all something they’d been dreading.
“We have a problem.” A few of the faces in the tent fell, but she continued. “The distress signal in the space station isn’t working anymore.”
“What about the distress signals in the escape pods?” Chloe asked, her big blues piercing Olivia. Damn Chloe for being so cute and puppy like.
“Those won’t reach outside of this system. Our only hope was the research ship’s distress signal.” Most of them knew that, but it was still hard to say out loud. This planet might just very well become their home.
Everyone turned to look at Brooklyn.
“Woah. Don’t turn your hopes and dreams on me.” Brooklyn raised her hands in the air as she leaned away from all their eager eyes. “The escape pods have nothing for me. Nothing on them will help me fix the ship. For all we know, the ship crashed on the other side of the planet. We might never see it again.”
Olivia pulled Scarlett aside while the women started talking about what they could possibly do.
“Should I accept Vlek as my mate and take the matehood to ensure our safety? We could be here for several years.” Her body tingled as she thought about sleeping in Vlek’s tent for the rest of her life. It wasn’t too hard to imagine how amazing that would be.
Scarlett shrugged. “I can’t help you make that decision. Just know that whatever you decide we will find a way to get through things.” Scarlett patted her shoulder. “If any of us judge you for making a life here, I’ll kick their ass. Okay?”
Olivia smiled. “Sounds good.” Because she could see herself making a life here.
Scarlett should have been Vlek’s mate. She would’ve made a strong and willing leader. That woman had a level head on her shoulders and a courage that could match anyone. But she wasn’t Vlek’s mate, and Olivia had to finally decide what she wanted to do. Now that they knew there wasn’t a distress signal beaming into space, she felt ready to accept Vlek’s matehood and see what the future held.
“I can’t believe I’m doing this.” Olivia wished she had a mirror to look in, but the Feosua had no mirrors. She supposed it didn’t really matter. She felt beautiful, and she was positive Vlek could care less what she looked like. That man would jump her if even if she was caked in mud.
“I’m just glad you forwent some of those matehood traditions.” Chloe shook her head, as she finished putting flowers in Olivia’s brown hair.
“Yeah. I didn’t want to see you and Vlek consummate your matehood in the middle of the village.” Scarlett commented with a fake gag. “I mean, I know I’m a close friend, but even that would’ve been too much for me.”
All the women in the tent chuckled.
“It took some work, but I made it clear to Vlek I wouldn’t go through the matehood with him if he didn’t let us make love alone in our own tent.” Olivia shook her head as she rolled her eyes. She understood other cultures had their differences, but there was only so much she could take before she was ready to run the other way.
“Ready? Because you look amazing.”
“Yeah?” Olivia looked down at the animal skin dress she was wearing, which was decorated with all sorts of beads and grass designs. She felt amazing.
Every woman in the tent nodded their heads and murmured affirmations.
Taking a steadying breath, Olivia made her way out of the tent and felt her breath hitch in her chest. Standing not too far away from her was Vlek, ready to accept his mate into his tent so they could begin their lives together. She had a lot to learn, but she’d start worrying about that tomorrow after the celebrations of tonight.
Note from the Author
As many of my readers probably already figured out, this sub-plot in the Galactic Courtship Series will finish when some of the other women get their own stories. Don’t want to spoil too much for you. Thank you to all of my readers for your lovely support!
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The next book in the series, His Human Temptation, will be released on October 31, 2018!
Read below for a small excerpt!
Chapter 1
Jessica stretched out near the fire, kicking her legs out an
d rolling her neck on her shoulders. The crackling and popping of the flames as they ate away at the thick logs relaxed her mind, which could be hard to do on such a stressful planet like this one. There hadn’t been any recent Hennian patrols on the planet, and for once she was letting herself relax fully. She’d been on this planet for too long. It’d been at least a couple of months, but to be honest, she’d lost track of time. Every day ran into the next. Survival was the key, and until recently she hadn’t the time to think of anything else.
She looked over the shifting orange and red flames to where a couple was cuddling, and a small smile spread across her lips. It might end up being short-lived, but she was glad those two had been able to find each other on this hunting planet.
Glancing over to her side, she watched Sabo whittle away at a piece of wood with his dagger as he laid on his side by the fire. He looked relaxed as well, but she’d known him long enough to know he was ready to jump to his feet and dash away at a moment’s notice.
He glanced up when he felt her eyes lingering on him. “What?” He grunted, never pleased with anything, at least as long as she’d known him.
“What?” She asked innocently as she blinked her eyes a couple of times in quick secession.
“You’re watching everyone.” He grumped as he continued to whittle away on the piece of wood in his hands. Chunks of wood flew in all sorts of directions, and her eyes followed a few of them.
Jessica shrugged. “Just glad to have met all of you. Without the help of our little group I wouldn’t have ever survived a single day on this planet.” It was the truth. When she’d first been dropped off here on the hunting planet, she’d had no idea what was going on. If it hadn’t been for this group, she was sure the Hennians would’ve had an easy hunt when it came to her.
Sabo smirked. “A lot of us wouldn’t have survived.” His grey eyes skimmed over their small group. “I am glad for it as well.” And she could hear his words ringing with the truth.
