by K. Webster
“I’ve cut your sabrevipe into tiny pieces,” he boasts. “And your green-bunches are the greenest, which means they aren’t as bitter. Should I cut those up for you too?”
“This is perfect, Hadrian. I can manage.”
He nods and scurries off. She smiles and blushes under my intense stare. I don’t want to eat. I simply want to look at her. When she realizes I’m not eating, she picks up a piece of her meat with her fingers and holds it up to me.
My mouth waters to taste her more than the meat, so I pounce on the opportunity. I clutch her wrist and draw it closer. Tugging the meat from her grip, I quickly eat it and then dart my forked tongue out. Her breath hitches as I lick the remnants of the meat from her flesh.
“Wow, uh, it’s warm in here,” she murmurs.
We continue our meal and she tells me all about waterfalls and islands. I don’t know about these things but the way she describes them sounds lovely. If I could give them to her, I would. Eventually, we finish and I guide her to the command center, which has been set up for more of our date.
Inside, we find one of the computer screens on. I help her settle into one of the seats and start the recording. This was the trickiest thing, and I have no idea how it turned out. I’m hoping Hadrian didn’t make a mess of things.
When it starts, she gasps.
And then laughs.
Laughs and laughs and laughs.
I laugh too.
That mortarekker did not disappoint, and how he managed to rope Draven into it, I haven’t a clue. They made her a movie. They’re all in it. Galen, Avrell, Calix, Draven, Oz, Jareth, Sayer, Theron, and finally Hadrian.
Acting.
Each male plays himself except Hadrian and Draven. Draven is me, and I must admit his growling is on par with the way I do it. I’m impressed at how tough he looks as he struts along.
But Hadrian? Hadrian is pretending to be Aria. I’m laughing so hard, tears leak from my eyes. Aria is still laughing too.
“Oh, beast, show me your naked cock again you giant rogstud,” Hadrian says, his voice high-pitched. He flits around making a fool of himself.
Draven growls. Again. And throws Hadrian over his shoulder. “Alien, I’m taking you to my lair to put my seed in you over and over again until you’re fat with my young.” He slaps Hadrian’s bottom, and he screeches.
“Not so hard, you mortarekker!”
Draven beams at the source of the recording as he walks around the facility “working” with a squirming Hadrian pretending to be Aria thrown over his shoulder. They even mimic a hunt, where Hadrian whispers loudly for Draven to set him down. Then he’s back to being Hadrian, and he kills the “biggest sabrevipe in all the land.” Once he struts around, showing his muscles, he dances off the screen and then returns, pretending to be Aria again.
“Hadrian, you’re so brave. When the old man kicks it, I’ll take you as mine. You can put your seed in me and—”
Draven whaps him in the nog. “Don’t disrespect the commander.”
“I mean,” Hadrian backtracks in his high Aria voice, “I’ll be so distraught over the handsome commander that I’ll never crawl out of my bed again.”
Draven nods, pleased. “’Tis a good thing I am still alive.” He starts to unzip his minnasuit—but then he waggles his finger at us. “To see more, you’ll have to catch the next one,” he says.
All of the morts take a bow and the recording ends.
“Oh my God,” Aria giggles through her tears. “You really do pay attention to everything I say.” When she settles from her laughter, she stands from her chair and crawls into my lap. “I don’t know what could make this date any better aside from the happy ending we’ll get later.”
I stroke my fingers through her hair. “Candy?”
She moans. “Don’t even tease me like that.”
With a grin, I pull the pouch from my pocket and hand it to her. Her wide eyes twinkle with excitement as she hurries to open it. The scent permeates the air and she gasps.
“Butterscotch?”
“Not exactly,” I say. “They’re goldenroot candies. Galen hopes they are to your satisfaction.”
She plucks one from the bag and sticks it on her tongue. Her eyes flutter closed and she moans. The good kind of moan. When she reopens her eyes, a foreign emotion swims in them.
“Breccan?”
“Yes, Madam Commander?”
“You did well. Very well.” She smiles. “I want a kiss.” Her eyes darken and she straddles my lap, where my aching cock is hard beneath her. “With tongue.”
12
Aria
I still haven’t told Breccan I have his armband.
I know I should, but I can’t keep from thinking I may need it at some point. Besides, he got a new one anyway, so it’s not like he misses it. Life with the morts has been…indescribable. In my roles back home, I used to act out the happy family, but here…here I’m starting to actually feel it. It’s a feeling I don’t want to lose, and I know if I were to tell him I stole the armband, and have been holding onto my little backup plan, it would destroy that happiness.
We lie in bed, my body still frozen in the aftereffects of the toxica, a few mornings after the unbelievable date they’d planned for me. The paralyzing effects aren’t as strong as they used to be, and I’ve also come to enjoy the way they prolong and enhance my pleasure. It was an aspect I hadn’t considered the first time it happened, that giving into it, trusting him to take care of me, would heighten the sensations and draw them out.
“What consumes your thoughts, my mate?” Breccan asks as his claws rake patterns down my bare back.
I smile against his chest, feeling more content than I’ve ever been in my life despite my worries. “I’m happy.”
His claws retract and the smoothness of his fingertips replaces them. He cups the cheeks of my ass and spreads my legs over his hips. I can feel the pleasant thrust of his cock between my thighs and it makes me sigh.
“This brings me pleasure. All I want is to make you happy.”
“And what would make you happy, Breccan?” He presses me more firmly against the growing hardness between us. “Besides that,” I say, but my voice is practically a purr. It should be against the law how skilled these aliens are at lovemaking. Well, my alien anyway.
“You are all I need to be happy.”
I blurt the next words, unaware they were even a fear until they spill from my lips. “What if I never get pregnant?”
We’ve been having sex pretty much daily since I woke up, except for a few days when he was “courting” me. The worry is plain on Avrell’s face each time he does a scan and informs me again and again that I’m not pregnant. Breccan, however, has been stoic, resolute. If he worries, he’s never let me see it.
He tips up my chin to study my face. His own is serious as he considers his words. My mate may be hotheaded and stubborn as a mule, but he’s a leader for a reason and I’m, cautiously, learning to trust him. “Has this been bothering you, my mate?”
I shift uncomfortably. “Sort of…I mean, that’s the whole reason you wanted to keep me. If I don’t ever get pregnant, then all of this was for nothing.”
My heart is in my throat as I study his face, but he merely smiles. “Mortania, there are other females who can produce young.” His eyes turn predatory. If my whole body wasn’t lax from the toxica it would have melted at his words. “If it worries you this much, we can always put more effort into breeding.”
“More effort?” I screech. “You have me in the morning before rounds at the command center and at night before sleep. Sometimes you find me in the middle of the day! If we put more effort into it, we’d never leave the bed.”
He takes my mouth for a searing kiss. “I’d be okay with that.”
Our morning antics make Breccan late for his rounds, but he merely growls and stalks off, a pleased smile on his lips. A smile I put there.
I can only hope what I plan to do next won’t steal that smile away
for too long.
Once I settled into my life as a part of the faction, Hadrian and Oz had fought to give me tours to familiarize me with the layout of the facility. The cryochamber is down in the medical bay next to Avrell’s office. I head there once Breccan is out of sight and hope no one stops me along the way.
Sayer, the linguistics expert, nods when I pass him near the nutrition bay, but he doesn’t stop me. I say a quick prayer of thanks for his propensity to have his nose stuck in some book or another because he barely looks up as we cross paths. A sigh bursts from my lips and I press a hand to my churning stomach. Mouth bone dry, I gnaw at my lips and hope no one else is roaming the halls.
I’m not doing anything wrong. But it just feels wrong not to be completely honest with my guys. I’ve come to know and appreciate them and the last thing I want to do is betray them. But before I truly accept my fate here, I need to see the other women for myself and then talk to Breccan about what their plans are to wake them up. For most of my life, I’ve let things happen to me and those around me…not anymore. A weird twist of fate brought us here, and I’ll be damned if I don’t take care of the other girls.
Maybe it’s all the talk of breeding and responsibilities. Maybe it’s because I’ve spent so much time around the guys and long to see someone like me. I didn’t realize how lonely it was to be the only human among a bunch of aliens. Whatever the reason, I reach the cryochamber and wave my armband under the scanner with my heart knocking against my ribs so violently, I fear I may pass out.
The screen beeps the familiar access tone and my bones turn to jelly in relief. I glance over my shoulder as I step through the door. The cameras will record my presence and by the time they question my visit, I’ll have come up with an explanation. I don’t think I’d get in trouble for being here, but I don’t want an audience either.
It’s not until I turn back around that I find I’m not alone in the room. The door closes too quickly behind me for me to slip back through, and then I’m trapped with a several cryotubes—the one I came from empty, the others still occupied—and a mort. I can’t tell who.
I can’t go back out without gaining his attention; it’s a miracle he didn’t notice me the first time. I hesitate for a few moments before I realize what he’s doing. It takes a few minutes because the only light in the cryochamber is a faint blue color that emanates from the vertical tubes. The sleeping women don’t require light, so most of the room is bathed in shadow.
At first, I think it’s Avrell. He always seems to be running back and forth, checking their stats and testing them for genetic compatibility with the morts—something I’ve tried not to think about. I had a choice—if not at first, then certainly later—but these women don’t. Maybe that’s why I’m here. To give these women one.
I take a step closer and the mort shifts toward me.
Calix.
The blue glare from the tubes reflects on his glasses so I can’t see his eyes. The stylus he carries religiously is tucked behind his pointed ear, forgotten. His claws are extended and scrape against the glass, the sound muted by the humming from the machines. Maybe that’s why he didn’t hear me enter. That, or he’s so entranced with the woman in the tube in front of him that one of those geostorms could happen right now and he wouldn’t notice.
My throat clamps closed, making speech impossible as Calix keys in a command on the tube’s touchscreen that causes the window in front of the woman’s body to slide open. He braces one arm on the cryotube over his head and lifts the other to press to the material of the thin gown she’s wearing.
I try to rationalize what he’s doing. He’s the disease specialist. It makes sense that he’d be running tests on the women, but he doesn’t have any equipment with him and the way he’s touching her surely isn’t clinical. The expression on his face is reverent, awed, but my brain skips right past that and to the violation that feels all too familiar.
“What are you doing?” I bark.
Calix blinks slowly, as if caught in a dream. “Aria?”
“Get your hands off of her.”
He jerks them back and they tighten into fists by his side. “Does Breccan know you’re here?”
“Oh, he will soon enough. What were you doing to her?”
“Doing?”
My stomach churns as Kevin’s face swims in my vision. The image is fleeting, but it causes what little breakfast I’ve been able to eat to slosh uncomfortably. “Touching her like that.”
“I wasn’t hurting her.” He looks appalled at the notion, but my anger isn’t swayed.
“You shouldn’t be touching her.”
“She’s to be my mate, Aria.”
I press a hand to my belly and spin around, sure I’m going to be sick. “I’ve gotta go.”
I don’t even care if he sees the armband as I wave it in front of the sensor frantically. Calix follows close behind, but all I can think about is getting somewhere safe before I throw up all over the floor.
“Aria, wait!” he shouts behind me.
I can barely hear him over the ringing in my ears. He could catch me if he wanted, but he keeps a safe distance between himself and the crying female.
I run forever until I find Breccan near Galen’s labs. He immediately smiles, but it turns into a frown as he rushes to my side. “What’s wrong, my Aria?”
Calix hurries to us and Breccan growls. Calix immediately takes a cautious step backward. “I didn’t harm her, before you tear out my throat.”
“Then why does she look frightened?”
“I’m…not actually sure, Commander.”
“Explain,” Breccan orders me.
“I have your armband and went to see the women in cryo.” I say it all in one breath and don’t give him a chance to react before I continue. “Calix was there and he was touching one of the women!”
He gives me a look that says we’ll be talking about the armband later. To Calix, he says, “Is something wrong with one of the women?”
“No, Commander.”
“You have to do something about this,” I say.
“Mortania, I’ve known Calix my whole life. I trust him with it. I’m certain he didn’t mean her any harm. You’ve come to know him as well, I’d hope. We want nothing more than to protect you.”
I want to pull out my hair from the frustration. “We had a conversation about choices, Breccan! Doing anything to those women without their knowledge or consent is not okay.”
He waves Calix away. “We also had a conversation about our people, Aria. If we don’t impregnate them, and quickly, our men will soon die out.”
“I thought I was okay with that, but I can’t let you treat them like they aren’t people. They’re just like me.”
“You are my mate and will be the mother of my young. You will listen to reason.”
“I am your mate and the future mother of your child, but you don’t own me! My thoughts are my own and you promised I’d be safe here, free to speak my own mind.”
“You are in no danger. My men would die for you like they would for me. They’ve shown you again and again how they think of you as their own. Have I not proven my devotion to you?”
“Then listen to me. These women are people, just like me. They have feelings and hopes and dreams. Your men don’t get to treat them as less than human. If you can’t see that, then we have a problem here. I can’t be with someone who would allow such a thing to happen. Don’t you see?” A tear streaks down my cheek and I wipe it away. I hate crying. “Where do we draw the line? You may understand and respect me, but can you say the same for your men? What I saw Calix doing wasn’t clinical or any part of his duties. It was predatory. I won’t be a part of this cycle, not anymore.”
“The aliens are my concern, Aria, as I am the commander of this facility. My men are only doing their part and carrying out my orders.”
“But you’re the high and mighty commander. If you intend for me to be a part of the faction, if you intend for our child, who is ha
lf human, to be a part of the faction, then the way you treat these women must change.”
Breccan’s ears flatten against his head and I wonder if I’ve gone too far. How had we been so happy just a few short hours ago?
“Is that a threat?”
Another tear drops from my chin. I feel faint, but if this is the hill I choose to die on, I could choose worse. I remember how afraid I was when I woke up, alone, bleeding, and surrounded by strange aliens. As his mate, as a commander’s mate, I can’t help but feel like it’s my job, my duty, to protect these women. I may not be able to send them home, but I can protect them here. At least to the best of my abilities.
My heart breaks at the fierce look on Breccan’s face.
Even if it means losing the best thing that’s ever happened to me.
13
Breccan
My ears flatten against my nog. I want to rage and destroy. Not because of Calix. Not because of Aria. Just the situation. Why does everything have to be so rekking complicated?
“A threat?” she hisses, her tears steadily streaming down her cheeks. My mouth waters to lick them away because they’re so sweet but I know now’s not the time. “If you don’t care about my thoughts and feelings, then how can I care about you?”
I could choke Calix for causing my mate to become upset.
“Aria,” I say, my tone softer. “You don’t understand.” She doesn’t. She wasn’t here when we watched our families die off one by one. She wasn’t here when we were terrified out of our minds. Successful reproduction with these aliens is so crucial. It’s truly a matter of life and death of an entire race.
“I think I have my answer,” she utters out —then hunches over and vomits without warning at her feet.
“Aria!” I bellow, and start for her as she becomes wobbly and sways.
Thankfully, Calix is right behind her and catches her before she collapses.
I quickly pull her into my arms and charge down the corridor to Avrell’s lab. His eyes are wide when I burst in through the doors but he doesn’t waste any time and ushers me over to a bed. I lay her down and she blinks slowly at me, her face pale. Snagging her hand, I pepper kisses on the back of it.
