When her breakfast was done, she went into the bathroom and ran hot water into the tub. She used some of the soap she’d found in an abandoned store to make coconut-scented bubbles, and then stepped into the soothing water. Music filled her ears as she leaned her head back against the edge of the large tub.
Rager had told her that one day, everything that was old now would be made again. Things like soap, razor blades, all of it would be made again. One day. For now, they were still having to make do in many ways. She wasn’t going to complain a bit. She wasn’t one of the wolves, she wasn’t a servant. Sometimes she watched them, saw how they rarely smiled, how many walked around with their shoulders bent, and wished she could do more to help them.
Rex had said the most terrible thing to her, that he hoped she died giving birth. He thought she was a traitor to their kind. But she wasn’t his kind anymore, she reminded herself as she let water fall between her fingers. She lived a life of privilege that she couldn’t have imagined a few years ago. Even a few months ago, she’d have said this was impossible.
Sure, she and her little band of a family might have been able to find this house, they could have made do in it, but how would they power it? Would they have even made it this far? Many of the wolves had turned into cannibals, they’d started to eat non-wolves, which wasn’t quite cannibalism. Or was it? Ann wasn’t sure, but she knew it was close enough that it made the world dangerous.
The aliens put those wolves to death, and left only those that had never intentionally, murderously, tasted human blood. Now, those that had survived were virtually slaves. She hated to think about it, she didn’t want to think about it, but she did. The same way she thought about the words Rex had spit at her.
Guilt plagued her, she’d been so in love with Rex for most of her life, but even before the aliens came she’d started to question that love. She’d given him so much devotion, and all he’d ever shown her was disdain. As if her loyalty was owed him for being a high school sports star and nothing more.
Now that she thought about it, he hadn’t lifted a finger to save any of them, not even his parents. It was her father that did that. Not Rex, the homegrown hero. The hero of nothing. Not like Rager, either.
Rager had crossed galaxies, universes with his people, and then, they’d started to save what was left of life on Earth. With their advanced technology and science, they were recreating the world. With the help of the humans and the wolves left, they had started to bring the world back to life mechanically as well. Power plants were operating again, and she’d heard that there would be a medical center opening soon.
Which reminded her that her mother had tripped over… nothing. Something? She wasn’t exactly sure what had happened that made her mother smack her head like that, but she decided she’d call later to check on her. Her mother had never been a clumsy woman and that trip had left a nasty gash on her head.
The water started to cool, but instead of getting out, Ann ran a little more. It was decadent, indulgent, but her thighs were sore. Which made her remember her mate and what he’d done the night before. In so many different ways. Her body was covered in his marks, bruises from fingers that clenched a little too hard for an earthling, the love bites his lips left on her thighs, the scratches from his nails along her back. It all needed to be soothed.
The hot water swirled along her body as it mixed with the cool and she sighed in bliss. She wouldn’t complain about her new life, how could she? She just wished everyone had the same privileges. It wasn’t fair that Amanda and Stephan Wolfson were servants while Ann and her parents lived in what was now luxury.
Her father worked for his privilege, she knew that, but her and her mother? It was almost like being in the 19th century again. She and her mother were the ladies of the manor, posh and privileged. In reality, they were just ordinary people that managed to survive the end of the world, or the near end of it.
With a frown, she sat up, put her MP3 player a safe distance from the edge of the tub, and started to clean up. She’d have to figure out a way to make this all right. Okay, so the aliens didn’t want the wolves mixing their DNA with the humans. For a moment, she wondered if it was only racism that caused that kind of thought. But then she thought about those wolves that had killed non-wolves.
Maybe it wasn’t racism.
There was only a fraction of a difference between her DNA and Rager’s, enough to ensure they weren’t related and enough to know they were different. His eyes were orange, after all, that wasn’t really a color that showed up in the Earth population. All of the aliens were huge men, more like the Nordic people than her own. Tall, broad, and fully muscled, they were all made for battle and hard work.
Earth didn’t need to be a battle zone, though, she thought as she ran a sponge over her legs. Rex had talked about a resistance movement. She could understand that the wolves wanted to change their fate, nobody wanted to be enslaved, but did it have to come to the war Rex seemed to crave?
There’d been a hungry gleam in his eyes every time he’d talked about fighting the aliens. It had made her wonder about his sanity, that gleam, and the way he talked. Surely, he’d noticed how little effort it took to conquer their world? Rager and his merry band of aliens had basically waltzed in, sat down, and declared themselves the rulers of this world, because they could.
Even if Rex and his cronies managed to take over a military base, they wouldn’t be able to defeat people that could basically fold time. That’s how Rager had explained it, as a kind of folding of time until the travel time was shortened because all of the extra space had been removed. When he’d explained it, the whole thing made perfect sense. She wasn’t sure anyone on Earth would be able to build the kind of technology it would take to be able to do that, but it made sense to her. In theory.
With a final rinse from the handheld showerhead finished, Ann stepped out of the tub and wrapped herself in a huge towel. She smoothed some coconut oil into her skin and dried her hair before she put on a white linen dress. It was light and sleeveless, with a row of buttons down to her knees. It would get her through the day.
She picked up her phone, the only thing she could think to call the device, and went downstairs to the kitchen. She talked with the cook about what they would have for dinner and then went out to the garden. She saw her animals out in the fields and smiled. Soon, things would almost be back to normal.
But this was a fresh start. Did they really want normal? The old normal? With all of the political bullshit and families torn apart over things that didn’t really matter in the grand scheme of things? Did they want all of that hate and anger back?
She sat down on a bench and watched as the gardeners went about their duties. There were imaginary lines here, in this new world, lines that she didn’t like. Lines between wolves and non-wolves, aliens and humans. Wasn’t that enough?
She knew there could never be utopia, people were far too flawed even when they thought they were perfect. But couldn’t they create a world that was close?
Rager and his soldiers came here looking to expand their own world, to have more room to grow. Did they have to follow the rules of that world? Couldn’t they break some of those old laws that kept them tied to ways that had never worked?
Throughout history men had tried, over and over, to force people to bow to a new way. To their way. Those ways had succeeded for a time, sometimes, but empires had fallen, time after time. With a sigh, Ann plucked one of the flowers from the white jasmine bush at her side and smelled it. Couldn’t life be this simple? Take what you need, give something back, and just let people be happy?
The problem was with people like Rex. Douchecanoe Rex. What an absolute shit, she finally decided as she got up to head into the house to get out of the heat. Her love for him had been a childish thing, something that only a child could feel. She hadn’t understood what a grown woman could feel, how much she could feel. She might have been naïve, stupid even, but she’d come to know that grown-up love was
different.
Rager was a man, there was no doubt about that. A very skilled man, that took his time, that made sure she was right there with him at every stage. Whether it was in bed, or out of it, he asked her opinion, he made sure she was on the same page as him. Except for the whole wolf thing. That was different.
Did she love him, she wondered as she went into the library to find a book to take back up to bed with her? Her fingers played over rows and rows of leather-bound books, old books that might have fetched a small fortune back in the old world. She didn’t even notice them. Her thoughts were on his smile, the way it sometimes revealed a crooked molar in the back of his mouth, on the right upper side. And the way he’d look at her when his thoughts turned to… other things.
He could burn her up with those eyes, if she hadn’t already melted into a puddle. She hadn’t known any of this was possible, that you could become so fascinated with pleasure with someone, that you could be almost… addicted to a person. Was that love? Or really only addiction?
She didn’t know, and she didn’t really have anyone she could talk to here about it. Amanda and her mother would probably listen, but it would be awkward. She wasn’t really sociable enough to know the other female mates in their area. She’d met them, spoken to them, but she’d always been distracted, her thoughts tangled up with Rex in the early days, or with Rager now.
She pulled out a more modern-looking book, with a dust jacket, and drifted back up the stairs to their bedroom. Her phone buzzed and she pulled out an earbud to answer it.
“Hello?”
“Hello, sweet Ann. How are you?” His voice purred into her ear, a sensation that she’d only experienced with him.
“I’m a very happy woman, thank you. I love your gift.” She leaned back against their bedroom door as she spoke, a new smile on her face. “It’s perfect, really.”
“I’m glad you like it. I thought it must be important to you.”
“It is. Music is one escape I’ve missed terribly, and you’ve given it back to me. It’s perfect, really.”
“Good. I only want to make you smile.”
“You do, don’t doubt that for a minute.” Since their wedding night, it had been like this. He’d made the world rock for her all over again, and since then, well, she felt a bond forming unlike any other she had, and sometimes there were awkward silences, but not often.
Now, if only she could find a way to make sure the rest of what was left of this world got to smile too.
3
“The league is meeting again tonight. Rex wants me to make sandwiches. Like his silly group is some women’s luncheon or something, and I’m his personal cook. I told him I wouldn’t. He can do it himself if he wants to.” Amanda’s voice stopped Ann as she walked toward her mother’s kitchen the next day.
“Good for you. He really needs to just… stop!” Her mother’s voice, in the same hushed tones as Amanda’s, kept her still against the wall.
Ann wasn’t sure why she hid against the wall and listened, but something told her to wait.
“I know. This isn’t the way to change things. It’s just so stupid, and I’m afraid.” Amanda’s voice broke on a hushed sob and Ann couldn’t just stand there anymore.
“Hi, I’m here,” she called, guilt all over her face, she could feel it.
“Oh, hi, honey.” Mary looked at Ann, her own face flushed with guilt, and Amanda turned her face away from them both. She saw the other woman was chopping onions so she could blame the sob and the tears on that, but Ann knew it wasn’t that at all. And they didn’t want her to know.
Ann’s heart twisted in her chest as she realized the two most important women in the world to her didn’t trust her. Why, she wondered as she sat down and started to shell peas from their pods? Was it because Rager was her mate? Or was it because of how Rex had treated her? Surely, they didn’t think she would use his activities against him in some stupid idea of revenge. She wasn’t that kind of person, and never had been.
“What’s up, ladies?” Ann asked, and looked at each in turn. They shared a glance and put on pleasant smiles.
“Nothing, baby, just ladies talking. How are you?” Her mother came over to her and stroked Ann’s hair. “You look good.”
Mary sat down beside Amanda and started to chop tomatoes, her head down, where Ann couldn’t see the expression on her face.
“Thanks. I had a good night’s sleep.” They’d had to go to a surprise dinner with one of the other villages’ leaders. Mayors as they’d chosen to call themselves. They’d left when other people started to leave, and by the time they’d traveled back to their house, it had been after midnight.
Rager had gone straight to sleep, and she’d slept in a little late. Which meant there’d been no playtime, something that hadn’t escaped her notice. Even now her body wanted to go to him, despite the fact that she’d just sat down at her mother’s. It was some internal craving, something that she’d started to think she’d never be able to control.
She reminded herself that she needed to stay for a while, Rager wouldn’t be home from work for a while anyway.
“Are there any problems?” Ann prompted, but both women focused only on the jobs they were doing. “You know you can trust me, don’t you? I’m no different just because the Supreme Overlord is my mate.”
“Everything is fine, honey, I promise,” Amanda said with a confident smile as she looked up at last. Ann could see still a red tinge around Amanda’s eyes, but the tears were gone. Not the onions then.
“I hope so. If there is trouble, I’d like to help, you know?” Ann looked right at Amanda, but the older woman’s head was down again, on the onions she still chopped at.
“How are things at your house, Ann?” Mary asked, and Ann turned her head to look at her mom.
“Fine, Mom, though our peas aren’t this nice.” She held up a pod and then shelled it. “I’ll have to get some of yours.”
“Of course, baby, you brought me those lovely tomato plants, you can have all the peas you want.”
“Thanks.” It felt too much like small-talk and Ann cringed a little. This wasn’t how today was supposed to be. “How’s your head?”
Mary’s blond bangs covered the cut on her forehead, but Ann noticed how she shook her head to make sure. Mary had on a sapphire blue, long-sleeved blouse, but the sleeves were rolled up to her elbows. Paired with black jeans, it wasn’t exactly the kind of outfit one might expect from a mayor’s wife, but Mary had always been practical, not flamboyant.
“I’ve heard the other wives of mayors want to institute some kind of uniform for us all. Have you heard anything about it, Mom?” Ann had overheard one of the wives talking about it the night before.
“No, can’t say that I have. What an utterly ridiculous idea. Why on Earth would they want to do that?” Mary looked at her daughter with obvious confusion.
“To make sure… ahem, to make sure that others know their, well, their places.” Ann felt ashamed to say anything like that in front of Amanda, but she knew the woman wouldn’t think bad of her. Amanda had on a black utilitarian house-dress, something a maid might wear, but she’d chosen that as a practicality. She’d been used to lab coats in their old life, her house dress wasn’t that different to her. She’d even said it was kind of reassuring, familiar even.
“That is just nonsense! I hope you put her in her place.” Mary looked at Ann expectantly.
“I’m still new to all of this, Mom, it’s…” Ann’s voice faltered as she looked for the right word, “intimidating sometimes. I don’t know how much power I have, what’s right or not, what’s expected of me, nothing.”
“Honey, you’re the mate of the Supreme Overlord of Earth. I don’t know in the world of their business, but here, in our midst, you have control of all of the women. Did Rager not make that clear to you? It’s one of the stipulations your father asked for. Rager was more than happy to agree. You’ll even be over any alien women that might come over.”
“
What? Why didn’t anyone tell me? I really need a copy of that agreement thing they brokered between themselves.” This news changed things a little, and she’d definitely make sure to speak up about this stupid uniform idea. They were not going to become some kind of hermit nation, with coded uniforms and bowing. For fuck’s sake, it all made her head throb. She winced and rubbed at her temples, the pain a surge that came up from behind her ear and straight into her temple.
“Are you alright?” Mary asked quickly and leaned over the table to look at Ann.
“Fine, just a headache.” Sometimes, like now, she was reminded that her father had been forced to basically trade her to the alien leader. Normally, she put it in the back of her mind and got on with life.
At the moment she was clearly reminded that’s exactly what had happened. How long would it continue, this arrangement where Earth women were forced to mate to alien men? Would there be alien women here eventually, or would they stay on their planet? That faraway place that Earth people couldn’t pronounce?
“I’ll get you some aspirin, Ann.” Mary went to stand up, but she plopped back down immediately. “Maybe we all need to go into a cooler room for a bit. My head is spinning.”
“Mom? What’s wrong with you?”
“It’s just the heat in here, baby, don’t worry.”
More of that brushing things off garbage. Ann sighed and rolled her eyes. “I’ll get the aspirin, Mom, you stay there.”
“I’ll get her a glass of cold water. You sit right there, Mary.”
“Fine, but I’m alright. I don’t know why you two are fussing so much.” Mary’s voice faded away as Ann walked back to the downstairs bathroom. There’d be aspirin in there.
Mary’s color had come back to normal and her eyes were clear when Ann came back, two small aspirin in hand.
“I poured you a glass of water too, Ann.” Amanda pointed at it when Ann sat down.
His to Mate Page 2
