Domestic Duet: Domestic Alliance & Asset

by Cora Blu

  “Officer, handle the humans, we’ll take care of the karuntee,” Oliver directed, running to catch up with Aroc.

  Sadie waved Oliver on down the path. Darting to the left, she ran full out, leapt on the man coming at Aroc from the side, and rolled him to the ground her legs catching him about the thighs. The uneven ground served up a large rock, catching the front of her thigh. Pain splintered up her leg. Her eyes watered behind the weakening sensation claiming the muscle strength in her leg.

  Grappling for purchase, they slammed into a bush full of thorny brambles. She shielded her face with her hands and the man was on top of her before she could roll out of the way.

  "You're helping that freak of nature, the karuntee," he accused, cursing, turning her onto her back to straddle her waist.

  Richard Edwards.

  The sight of his smug face snarling down at her fueled her anger. Jerking herself loose, Sadie shoved him to his side and got to her knees. Hands in the air, fists close to her face, she braced for a fight.

  “I knew you were up to something, always in my office, pretending to help Savannah.”

  “No you didn’t, or you’d have stopped me,” she chastised him and in that moment, it didn’t matter that she was black and could go to prison if this went bad. Anger fueled her fight. “You stole from the government without regard to placing Savannah and Timothy at risk. They worshipped the ground you slithered over, you snake.” She watched his face twist and as if in slow motion his arm drew back, hand open wide. Sadie shoved her hips in the air, lifting him high, and was jerked over onto her stomach. Scrambling to her feet, she realized Aroc had crashed into the man heavy as a brick wall taking him to the ground. A second man leapt on Aroc's back.

  Had he never seen a karuntian’s anatomy? The spikes.

  Sadie hustled over the uneven ground, legs on fire, when a set of hands clamped around her body dragging backward. Fighting the hold, she threw her hand back, catching the man on the forehead. Her fingers brushed a clean-shaven head. Montage’s steal-like grip held her suspended in the air, with her arms trapped at her sides.

  He shook her once. “Detective, never ever, get behind a karuntee in battle,” he warned, his fierce tone vibrated over her cheek.

  Digging her nails into Montage’s arm, she steadied herself. An army of Karuntee arced around her building a semi-circle of protection out of their bodies.

  “We’re your army, Detective. You’re one of us now. You never fight alone again,” Montage exclaimed handing her off to another male…Crandall. “Keep the Detective at your side or answer to me.”

  Crandall made a hand gesture over his heart she was certain to be some sort of oath acknowledgement. What had Aroc told them about her?

  Sadie stepped back as they formed a circle around her.

  The fight roiled around them and she missed Aroc’s fighting the man. Karuntian fanned out around her fighting.

  Crandall shot her a look. “Detective, use your phaser. You’ve never come up against a karuntian.”

  Why was he certain she couldn’t fight? “Thanks for the vote of confidence, Crandall.” Then she saw why he said that. Rogues and humans were coming at them in numbers.

  “Take this one and I’ll take the other,” he directed, indicating the short man running for her.

  Sadie dropped into her stance and let him come to her. Heartbeat pounding in her ears, she jammed her shoulder into his gut. A jolt of pain slashed through her body, sending her to stumble back, but stayed on her feet. He fell back, bouncing off the ground cursing as he groaned.

  Crandall turned and smiled at her. “Bakta Ron! Warrior female,” he exclaimed through labored breaths, eyes gleaming with pride. Sadie, returning the smile, backed up as Crandall hooked his arms under the man’s shoulders, dragging him into the shadows.

  Pivoting on the balls of her feet, eager for the next fight, Sadie heard the menacing groan of Aroc’s voice, three times darker than normal.

  In his arms, tightly bound around a man’s neck, and another on his back, Aroc appeared composed. Why was he fighting alone? She bolted over the ground, arms pumping to get to him, and fighting her way through the mayhem when her feet left the ground. A hard body pressed at her back, body heat penetrating her clothes to her skin, the scent of musk and sweat filled her nostrils.

  Montage.

  “Watch…learn…respect. What do you see, Detective?”

  Nervous, her fingers digging into his muscled forearms snug beneath her breasts, she watched. Her mouth going slack, the seconds ticking away in slow motion as Aroc morphed into a weapon before her eyes. Legs braced under the weight of the two men, Aroc, using the man in his arms as a weight, shoved backward trapping the struggling man at his back to the ground.

  Tossing the other man off and using that upward momentum as leverage, he threw his legs in the air, driving his body into the man below, and then a crunching sound filled the air. Bones cracked. Grunts became screams. Limbs trembled. His spikes were tearing through the chest cavity of the man beneath him on the ground. Violent, angry, and bloody—the picture made her stomach roll as the man jerked with his last gasp of air, before going motionless.

  Sadie slapped a hand over her mouth as bile rose in her throat. Heavy hearted, she sucked in a breath to keep her last meal down that threatened to rise.

  Blood seeped out around their bodies to glisten in the dark night.

  Montage’s arms kept her upright. She felt a strong grip on her shoulder. Turning her face to see Oliver, eyes concerned as he took in her reaction, she didn’t try and hide her disgust. “You sure you’re ready for this?”

  She wasn’t. “Doesn’t matter…Aroc needs me and I’m not bailing on him because my stomach can’t handle it.”

  Montage relaxed his hold, allowing her feet to touch the ground.

  “Then let’s go finish this fight. I have a little girl I need to meet.”

  “Let’s do it!”

  During the fight, Sadie realized time and time again, Aroc protected her, never allowing her to go it alone, yet leaving her with her victories.

  The ground rumbled, dragging her attention to Oliver signaling the shuttle to open its doors. The wide doors made a soft whooshing sound as they slid apart. “Sadie, take the ladies to the station,” Oliver directed.

  Savannah and Theresa sat wide-eyed. Timothy hunched forward, struggling to break free of Savannah’s grip.

  The shuttle lights faded to cloak mode. A loud crack brought her around to see a man lying broken next to Aroc's feet and another man in his arms. Mr. Colson from the Edwards’ home. Blood ran down the man's temple and Aroc walked across the dusty ground toward a police car and settled the man in the back.

  Sadie ran over, placing a hand to his waist before drawing back upon encountering something more than blood. Pushing away to stand under a sliver of moonlight, she eyed her hands and became sick to her stomach…gore.

  Her stomach continued to churn. She closed her eyes and took a breath.

  “Are you okay? You look pale?”

  She eyed her hand as if it would leave a stain. “That’s nasty.” Wiping the gore on the hem of Aroc’s canvas vest, she didn’t bother identifying the bits that were already stuck to the material. She sagged against him and released a gust of air over his chest.

  Aroc’s voice filtered down a whisper of understanding. “Better, sweet female?”

  "Eventually,” she answered honestly. “What are you doing?" Taking her eyes off the mess, she couldn’t avoid the scent of sulfur and different bitter body smells. Mixed with the pine trees and grass, it came across as a burning field of pot.

  Aroc tended to the man like a bleeding child, with care and compassion.

  He angled his chin enough to make eye contact. "You need someone to take responsibility for this massacre." He winked, pressing his chin to her fingers on his pelt. "He volunteered…with my help.”

  Stunned, she said the only thing her wriggling nerves would allow, “Thanks.”

&n
bsp; He winked. “I’m keeping track of my good deeds, Detective. They’re beginning to accumulate."

  “Take it up with payroll, Captain, I’m just a worker.”

  “Interested in working overtime?”

  “For you?”

  “Yes,” he taunted, chucking her chin with his knuckle.

  “What’s the job pay?”

  “What are you expecting? As payment?”

  Trembling, Sadie thought of a number of ways he could compensate her efforts. Then the visual of his special assets filled her mind.

  “Double time, in a safe secure work environment,” she teased, her chin raised high in the air.

  He brought his face closer. “I’ll need you to start tonight and stay forever!”

  Heat swamped her body making her shiver. “Not a problem, Captain. I’ll be there…forever!”

  What were they doing out here? Fighting aroused her karuntee and from the bodies on the ground, the beads of sweat on his forehead weren’t all from fighting…neither were hers. Sadie looked back at the landscape to get away from those eyes and took in the blood bath of officers and a handful of karuntee sprawled out over the ground. What just happened?

  His strong fingers found her face turning her until their eyes met. "You’re my warrior.”

  She watched him return to Colson, tucking his leg inside the car before stepping back to rise. He held the door and shoved it closed. Oddly enough, no one responded to screams and howls, but slam a door and everyone in the neighborhood is crowding the picture windows in the front room.

  Aroc moved them behind the white van. Lifting her off the ground, his corded steel-like arms clutched her to his chest.

  Face buried in the bend of his neck, slick with sweat from the battle. She didn't care. She'd wanted him and understood her reluctance to be with Oliver. She loved Aroc Farkus from her heart.

  “Marry me, Sadie?”

  “What?”

  “We’re mated, so in my world, you’re recognized as my life mate. Marry me, so in your world, I’m recognized as your husband.”

  Wiping her hands over his face, she kissed him in between murmuring, “Yes,” across his firm lips. Hearing Captain Holston calling Aroc’s name, she broke the kiss. “I have to get Theresa, Savannah, and Timothy off planet. I’ll meet you later.”

  He smiled. “Wait up for me and kiss our daughter good night.”

  “Our daughter?”

  “Yes, our daughter. It’s time we legally became a family.” His soft kiss, full of phrases and confessions meant for the privacy of the bedroom, left her staring hungrily into his eyes.

  She held his hand as he ran with her to the shuttle. The doors opened. She made no sound as he settled her onto the platform, lifting her wet hair behind her ear and letting his head rest on her face.

  “Wait up for me.” He jogged off as the shuttle left the ground in a hush and whisper to slink away into the atmosphere. They were a family now.

  Chapter 21

  On the station, after getting a message from Leslie, Ryner’s wife, that the housekeeper took Norese to their home, she picked her up. After filing her report and logging Savannah, Timothy, and Theresa as new citizens, she took them to guest civilian housing. The three of them were placed in the same quarters for the night, similar to Sadie’s, only on the civilian end of the station away from the engine room and docking bay.

  Inside, Sadie watched Savannah studying her with Timothy. Norese clung to Sadie's back, arms tight around her neck. Sadie waited to see what she would say or ask along with Theresa. She'd told both women everything about the government knowing of the karuntee and Richard abusing the treaty by undercutting the commander and trading in contaminated fuel.

  She couldn’t keep her mind off Aroc, or Oliver for that matter. One she loved from her soul and the other she cared about, from her heart.

  "So you were recruited by this Captain Ryner to work up here?" her sister asked, eyeing the other faces as they dialed in their meal of choice from the replicator, pushing buttons as if they would explode.

  "I was kidnapped by Aroc and held against my will for a month. The commander found out and knew I couldn't just be returned to earth, not with what all I'd seen.” Sadie paused, watched the ladies absorbing her words, and waited until the glassy doe eyes receded back to their normal stare. “He found out I worked for the Edwards, then explained everything to me about domestic help being a front to spy on those hurting the earth and the planets."

  "Are all maids in this program?" Savannah asked, gripping Timothy in her lap now.

  "No. It’s by choice. The commander recruits from domestic help on Earth. They don't have to join, but he'll erase their memory if they don't."

  "Did this Farkus...hurt you, sister?"

  Being sheltered from other races is harmful to mental growth.

  “Captain Aroc Farkus is an alien,” she admitted eyeing her sister. “Has he ever hit me or tortured me… is that what you’re probing me to know?”

  “You know what I mean, Sadie. Did he force you to have sex?”

  “No—”

  “So, you like living with him?”

  “I don’t live with him…yet.”

  “And you have sex with…him?”

  What next Theresa? Did she go down on him? Would that be the next rude question from her mouth? This wasn’t like her sister to be so crude.

  “You’re rattled. I understand this is a lot to take in. So why don’t you get settled, have a hot shower, then tomorrow with fresh eyes and some rest, we’ll sort out everything.”

  “You like it, don’t you? Like him or it or whatever you call a karuntian.”

  She did. “He wants to be as good a father to Norese as Daddy was to us, and I found that to be his biggest asset. So, yes, I do like him…a lot.”

  Getting to her feet, Theresa paced in front of the kitchen space. Her eyes trailed over Norese latched on to Sadie, her little arms secure around Sadie’s neck.

  They’d frightened Norese, her little girl.

  Is that the way I saw Norese, as mine, my baby? Why not? I’d helped raise her the last year and Norese loved me as any child would a parent. And I’ve loved Norese from my heart.

  The sound of her sister’s voice brought her out of her mommy cloud, the warmth hung close.

  “Is she okay?" Theresa’s eyes went wide obviously uncertain what she’d done to agitate the toddler.

  "Norese hasn’t seen this many humans. She’s cranky. I have to lie down with her or she'll be restless."

  "Does she have those same spike weapons I saw on Aroc?" Theresa asked, turning her mouth down into a frown.

  Sadie hated Theresa’s persnickety attitude toward anyone different than them, but she understood and felt a measure of pain for being so rough on Oliver.

  Sadie touched the little girl's face. "Normally I wouldn't put her on display like this, but if you're going to be up here, I want her comfortable with all of you. Norese sweetie, relax for me." Norese’s small eyes grew wide. A kiss to her forehead and the toddler relaxed. Sadie lifted the little girl’s shirt off her back to show her spine. "They're for protecting herself in a battle, of which I hope she never has to use them." Sadie ran her thumbs along Norese's spine and the spikes slowly raised up from her skin. Norese buried her head under Sadie’s chin. "She doesn't like it, so we're teaching her how to raise them slowly so the sensation doesn't overwhelm her."

  Savannah crossed her long legs, holding Timothy in her lap close to her chest. Sadie knew she was uncomfortable with Norese playing with Timothy, but she was still a child and that’s all that mattered to children. Savannah said, "Well, sounds as if you and the karuntee are already a family, Sadie dear. Do you not find human men attractive now? I mean does he act like a man...you know what I mean, suga." Savannah tipped her head in a coquettish angle of southern gentility.

  Was he a freak behind doors is what Sadie took the meaning to be.

  "Since I no longer work for you, I’ll be frank. Aroc’s s
ensitive, caring, is an amazing father to Norese, and behind closed doors, he’s a beast.”

  “Sadie!” Savannah exclaimed. “You’ve been with him in that way?” She twirled her ankle, her shoes swirling in a sensual motion.

  “Sister, you let him play with your...” Her eyes darted from Timothy to Norese before returning to Sadie. “Your, ah, peaches and cream?”

  Be brutally honest and they’ll stop asking, she convinced herself.

  “He wasn’t playing,” she admitted with a sultry shiver tickling over her skin. “They have the same needs and desires as humans; at least he does.”

  “Aren’t you afraid he might go beast on you one day?”

  Sadie heard the implication he was an animal under his skin. “What you see is what you get, Theresa. He doesn’t howl like a wolf man or change into a dog. And if we’re all honest, not every handsome man is attractive.”

  “And not every giant is gentle. I’m just looking out for your safety, sister.”

  Sadie had to pull back. She’d gone through the same questions when she met him a year ago. “I’m sorry, Theresa. I’m concerned with the battle going on down on Earth right now.”

  Savannah shied back behind her polished demeanor. “How long have you been in this program with the government?”

  “A year. I’m still the same Sadie you hired eight years ago, just with a different perspective on life and an appreciation for the planet.”

  She looked at Theresa leaning forward over her knees, picking at the hem of Sadie’s uniform she now wore.

  “Sadie…has Ryner ever tried to recruit me? Or erased my memories? I want to know,” Theresa urged, wringing her hands.

  Sadie touched her sister’s knee, shaking her leg. “Captain Ryner only recruited maids, as far as I know. You were safe down at the hospital’s administrative office.” Sadie waited. “You don’t like to cook anyway. Who’d hire you as a maid?”

  Theresa sank back in her seat.

  “Would you want to be?”

  Theresa’s dark eyes glittered nervously. “Never—I just wanted to know if anybody’s been messing with my head… Playing with my memories.” She sat, arms folded over her lap. “I’m just… So this is sanctioned by the government?”