Ruwen: Mated to the Alien

by Kate Rudolph

  A translator, not a control chip. That was actually… helpful.

  Under the light of the ship she got a better look at him than she had in the dim light the night before. He’d changed his clothes from the dark fatigues he’d been wearing on his mission to a snugly fitting pair of dark pants and a light green t-shirt that practically made his skin glow neon bright. He didn’t look like any of the aliens who’d made their homes back on Earth. They mostly had horns and scary tusks protruding from their jaws.

  The strange punch of attraction hadn’t vanished. She could still feel it curled up in her belly, heating her from the inside and making her want to lean forward and pull him completely into the room so that she could have her way with him on the bunk.

  But it wasn’t like the night before. Sure, she wanted to let him take her long and hard until they were both spent, but she had control now. It was barely even a fight, more a minor struggle.

  “Thank you,” she said for the translator. He wasn’t threatening her yet, so she tried to keep her tone civil. Escaping would be so much more difficult if he was on edge. “Where are we?”

  Ruwen smiled and glanced around, “My ship.” He said it with the same pride an Earth man would use to speak of a well-maintained twentieth-century vehicle.

  His ship. She’d gathered that. “On Polai?” She bit out each syllable with immense caution, worried that she’d need to run again if she said one thing wrong. This was her first chance to get any information since she left Earth and she needed to use it.

  Ruwen nodded, seemingly unperturbed by her caution. “Yes. I’ve prepared a meal, if you would follow me. I am certain you must be hungry.”

  Her stomach growled at the mention of food, ruining her chance to bluff. Her mouth watered. “I could eat,” she replied, trying not to imagine just how good anything would taste after so many days of energy bars.

  He led her down a narrow hallway covered with small compartment doors sealed shut with leather straps. Extra storage was the most precious commodity on a spaceship. The hallway led to a small galley where Ruwen had placed food on the table and plates for two. The chairs sat opposite each other. The galley was more hallway than room. She spotted a door leading somewhere unknown but most likely to the cockpit about five feet beyond Ruwen’s chair.

  Talk about cozy. His ship might not have been any longer than a freight truck.

  She took a seat and the smell of the food on her plate hit her. Lis hadn’t eaten anything but protein bars in days, and they had come nowhere close to satisfying the hunger that gnawed in her belly. But still, she exercised caution. He could have done something to the food. So she waited.

  Ruwen studied her, those red eyes of his tracking her every tic. They should have scared her. Back on Earth it was said that demons had red eyes. Some ancient monk might have mistaken Ruwen for one, but Lis didn’t fear for her soul. It was absolutely absurd, but sitting across from him, she felt comfortable and at ease. Two things she couldn’t remember feeling very often even when she was at home.

  He seemed to realize that she wouldn’t eat until he did. Ruwen picked up his utensil and cut off a small slice of the meat on his plate and piled it onto the slice of bread. He took a bite, chewed and swallowed with deliberation, and then smiled at her.

  She didn’t smile back. And the paranoid part of her whispered that he could have poisoned her plate. But when Ruwen reached for her food and swapped his plate for hers, she could have fallen out of the chair from shock.

  Her hand flew to the translator at her neck.

  “It doesn’t allow me to read your mind,” he said, reading her mind. “And if you would prefer something else, my processor is at your service.”

  Lis lowered her hand and grabbed the edge of the small metal plate, pulling it close. She ate in silence, trying to wait at least five seconds between every bite. If he hadn’t been there, she would have swallowed it all as quickly as she could.

  She finished off the plate, leaving nothing but a few crumbs from the surprisingly delicious and filling bread. Cobwebs cleared from her mind as her body began to process that she was well fed for the first time since she’d left Earth.

  Ruwen took her plate. “Would you like some more?” he asked in a tone one would normally reserve for a feral cat.

  Lis shook her head. He seemed to understand that it meant no.

  He came back to the table with two bottles of water and sat one in front of her. That he hadn’t tampered with the food made it easier to trust him, and she didn’t wait for him to drink first. She drank down half of the bottle in greedy gulps. She’d taken several long sips of the hot water in the shower, but she hadn’t come close to satiating her thirst. When she finished off the bottle, she was finally ready to talk.

  “Who are you?” she asked. A name was not enough.

  He leaned back in his chair and rested his hands on the table. The claws at his knuckles had retracted so that only the smallest tip peaked out, a subtle reminder of deadly power. “My name is Ruwen NaNaran. But everyone calls me Ru. I’m a Detyen and a contractor. I came to Polai for a job.”

  “I’ve never heard of Detyens.” Every week there was a media story on a newly met alien race, so Lis had heard of plenty of aliens before.

  His eyes darkened, the ruby irises going nearly black, and his postured tightened. “We are… limited.” He didn’t explain further.

  There was a hurt in him that she couldn’t bring herself to disturb. She forced herself to be satisfied with that explanation. “Why did you bring me here?” If he was going to answer her questions, she wouldn’t stop asking them. She needed all of the information that she could get.

  But Ruwen—Ru—stumbled over her query. “Polai is no place for a human.”

  “I gathered that.” Despite the circumstances that had brought her to the ship, she was grateful for the food and the reprieve from the harsh sunlight. “But…” She really didn’t want to bring this part up. Still, Lis had made a life out of doing things she didn’t wish to do. “But that doesn’t explain why I’m here. Or why last night we…”

  “I would like to apologize for my behavior,” he interrupted in a rush before she could accuse him of anything.

  “What?” She couldn’t remember a man ever apologizing for kissing her, especially when the kiss had been unwanted and unexpected.

  Ru stood and pushed his seat flush against the table in a practice motion. He leaned against the wall opposite the table and looked down at her, crossing his arms. “I did not expect to find yo—no, that’s not right. Let me start from the beginning.”

  “I think that would be best.” Was he a threat to her? Or was this all the result of some larger than life misunderstanding?

  Ru’s lips pulled into a wry smile. “You see, you’re my mate.”

  Wait, what?

  “M-mate?” she stammered out. Lis pushed back from her seat at the table and took a few steps away from him, keeping her chair between them. She stayed in the galley, but only by an inch. There were weapons she could use in there, if she just had a second to find the knife drawer. She wasn’t letting him get a step closer.

  Ru lifted up a hand, the smile vanishing from his face. “I mean you no harm. I swear it on my life.” He said it so seriously that it gave her pause.

  “I don’t have a mate.” Humans didn’t. That wasn’t their thing. She’d heard rumors of alien species that bonded through strange quirks of DNA, but she’d never heard of a cross-species—cross-planet!—bond. It wasn’t possible. Even though… No, it couldn’t happen.

  Ru placed his hand on his heart but stayed in place as if he was afraid he’d cause her to run again. “I know this is difficult to understand—”

  “No, no, no,” she interrupted, head shaking, “Not difficult at all. That was some weird fight or flight thing. I don’t just make out with any random hot alien I see. I was starving and delusional.” Did she just call him hot? Shit.

  Sure, his shoulders were broad and muscular and sh
e thought she could climb him like a tree and he wouldn’t feel the strain. And, all right, his lips were unexpectedly soft under her own and she’d felt almost safe in his arms. And… as the madness whirled in her mind, she realized that she’d taken a half-step toward him, an arm outstretched.

  Okay, she conceded internally, there might have been some strange connection.

  Lis didn’t know what to do with that information. She couldn’t be this alien’s mate. But, a dark part of her whispered that she could use that. Her eyes narrowed and she studied him again. He seemed content to wait for her to come to some sort of decision. Ru held still, posture relaxed, but with the bearing of a fighter.

  This was no warrior standing before her. She could tell from the shape of his ship and the small blaster hanging from his belt. He’d called himself a contractor earlier, but that was just the polite way of saying gun for hire, or maybe smuggler. She’d done a fair bit of ‘contracting’ herself.

  She knew his type, and she knew that fighting him head on wouldn’t see her back on Earth anytime soon. Mate. Payment. It sounded the same to her, and if he thought she belonged to him, he wouldn’t let her go.

  But… well, he’d definitely get her off of this goddamned rock. And she now had a translator, something she’d need if she was ever going to find her way home. Lis could ignore the strange attraction and suppress any weird thoughts about mates or anything equally impossible.

  What she couldn’t ignore was an opportunity. Ru wanted her. She wanted off Polai. It seemed like they were a match made somewhere in the Milky Way.

  He just didn’t need to know that he wouldn’t get to keep her.

  Lis schooled her expression into something less guarded and placed her fingers on the back of the galley chair. She took a deep breath and tried to look like she was barely collecting herself. She pulled back the chair and sat once more. Life in the Wastes had given her plenty of practice at fooling people who wanted to believe in hope.

  “I’m sorry,” she said, slipping into the role of the beleaguered victim. “So much has happened in the last few days that I just… I need time. Can you start again? And explain slowly?”

  She needed every nugget of intel that he would give up.

  Chapter Six

  Ru knew that he should have trusted his denya. If she had been Detyen, he would have. But Lis had calmed too quickly for him to believe that she was ready and willing to join with him on this journey.

  He’d need to move with caution. No doubt she would try to run at the first opportunity, perhaps even risking herself in the wilds of Polai rather than seeing what he had to offer. It should have frustrated him.

  Instead, he was intrigued.

  This was not the type of challenge he’d ever expected to encounter. Still, as with all things, he’d face it and triumph. If he needed to make her love him so that he could claim her, he’d throw his entire heart into the campaign.

  There was nothing more important than mating with his denya.

  He could sit here all day and explain the entire history of his people, but Ru wasn’t ready to bore her with a school lesson just yet. He stepped up to the table. “Would you walk with me?”

  Lis narrowed her eyes, her fingers curling against the synthetic tabletop. “Where?”

  Ru kept his smile to himself. She reminded him of the angry stray cats that lived on every space station on this side of the galaxy. They bit the men and women who fed them and then ran back for more. But Ru could endure a few scratches. “I would like to show you my ship.”

  Lis eyes widened and her lips pulled into a close mouthed smile. Her hands quit moving and she held herself still as if any movement would send her bounding up from her chair and down the passageway to spy everything on the ship.

  Ru silently revamped the tour, cutting out any visit to the cockpit. The cruiser ran on a biometric key system so she could only get it started if she somehow rewired the ignition. Or if she dragged his unconscious body to the pilot seat.

  Yes, he’d hold off on that part for now. No need to tempt her into doing him harm.

  As she stood up, Ru offered a hand, hoping to feel the soft pressure of her skin against his once more. But she placed her hands in her pockets and looked away from his offering as if by refusing to acknowledge it, it would disappear.

  Without another word, Ru led her back toward the sleeping quarters. “You’ve seen the crew quarters.” He didn’t bother to open up the crew door or his own room.

  “You mean the prisoner hold?” she shot back.

  For a fleeting second, Ru sent a prayer to his gods that he would wake up and discover that this was all a mistake and his denya was actually a wonderful Detyen woman who understood the way of their universe. Almost as quickly, he banished the thought. Lis was his and he would not betray her by thinking her unworthy.

  But the thought of her out on this planet alone chilled his blood. “Polai is no place for a human,” he said. “I was concerned that you would be confused when you woke.”

  “After you shot me?” She was incredulous, but then took a deep breath and smiled, her tone softening. “I mean, the shower was nice.”

  Did all humans dissemble? And did they do it so poorly? He doubted she would enjoy the question or answer it truthfully. “I am glad you enjoyed it.”

  A few paces down from the crew quarters, Ru opened a completely ordinary door to a room black as the oceans of Nuxeria. He turned a dial on the wall and suddenly they were standing in the middle of an inky field of stars stretching out for lightyears. “I like to come here when the ship feels too small,” he told her. Even the air changed. It no longer felt like they stood in the middle of a tiny, insignificant cruiser.

  Lis gasped, and he saw her reach a hand up and wave it in front of her, grasping one of the sparkling stars between her fingers. Her voice was full of wonder when she spoke. “The planetarium back home had something like this, but it was an antique. Barely better than one of those big old movie projectors from a hundred years ago.”

  Ru’s heart lightened, and for the first time since she had awoken, he believed that she might truly be enjoying something. Now that she wasn’t looking at him, her shoulders relaxed and she made little sounds of awe as the stars swirled around her. He didn’t know what she meant by a ‘movie projector.’ His holoplayer barely functioned on the best of days and it should have been replaced a decade ago, but it was good enough for him.

  He reached back to cycle through another scene and trees popped up around them, blotting out the stars. Ru smelled the forests of his ancestors and heard a crying bird that had gone extinct before he was born. He turned the wheel once more before the rest of the vid played out. He didn’t need to see that. Not now.

  The next turn of the dial brought up an idyll beach, green waves gently lapping against bright red sand as the warm salt air circled around them.

  But Lis had seen Detya and her curiosity was piqued. “What was that?”

  “Nothing.” And Ru would not discuss it. Two chairs appeared almost out of nowhere and he gestured toward them. “I thought humans enjoyed the sun.”

  Lis blew out a derisive breath. He was learning to love the little sounds of emotion she made. “When it’s not trying to murder us.” She took his cue and sat on the chair and let one hand fall off the side, playing in the sand. He knew it wouldn’t feel like the real thing, but it was close. She didn’t look at him when she asked, “How do you know so much about humans?”

  Ru took his seat beside her. “I did my research,” he explained. “Besides, I’ve traveled around. Your lot may have not been in this universe for long, but you do certainly get around.”

  “We’ve had interstellar travel for nearly 150 years!” she protested, as if a century and a half meant anything on the galactic scale. “First contact was more than a century ago.”

  He laughed. “My people have traveled the stars for two millennia.” There were hundreds of planets that Detyens had discovered that had been ground to d
ust in that time.

  “Then how come I’ve never met them?” She didn’t mean it as a probing question, but it struck a chord.

  Ru thought of his parents and his brother and of all the countless lives that had been lost to senseless violence and an idiotic evolutionary quirk. No, now was not the time to explain his people to her. She’d run off the ship before he could finish the first sentence. He changed the subject. “I’ve three more days before this ship can safely breach orbit. The Polai are renowned for keeping people on planet.”

  “Why?” She stopped playing with the sand and finally looked up at him, eyes wide and concerned. She no longer looked at him as if he’d chase her down and capture her… again.

  But the Polans were easy enough to explain and not a subject that hurt his heart. “Their laws prohibit them from exploiting native Polans. No slavery. But anyone from off planet is fair game and not subject to the law. They can exploit them or ransom them for personal gain.” It was a disgusting arrangement, but Ru could not pretend that it was only the Polans who practiced it.

  For some species, the only intelligent life that existed was that native to their own planet. They found ways to justify it through religion, or commerce, or twisted logic. But Ru had never considered their reasons good enough to kill and enslave. It had made taking the job against this planet an easy enough decision, despite the danger. He would never hesitate to screw over slavers.

  Lis went pale and turned her gaze over to the distant horizon. “Do they ever buy people from off planet?” she asked quietly.

  “I couldn’t say.” He was not familiar with all of the ins and outs of the planet. So he told her what he did know. “But it’s not an unheard of place to drop off excess passengers. There are always bounties.” He wanted to ask her how she’d ended up on this wretched place, but he held the question back. She would open up when she was ready, not merely a few hours after she found herself in his company on less than willing terms.