by Poppy Rhys
Soren was hardly around those weeks either, except to sleep. Once Grams and Frellie had discovered his claws made gardening easier and his capability of lifting heavy objects, they didn’t want to let him go. Soren seemed to enjoy digging around in the dirt with Zan and the jaw rubs Grams would give him. When they weren’t abusing him, Gramps was challenging him to one more game of moco. It was always one more. When Gramps wasn’t challenging him to another game, Rafe was discussing technology with him and they were both working to upgrade systems around the residence. Turned out, Soren had a knack for it. It made sense, since when she’d first met him he was fixing the sensors of the stolen merchant ship and he knew the systems inside and out every time a glitch happened during their week of travel.
When Rafe wasn’t enticing him into working on upgrades, her father was discussing the Assembly with him. They spoke about many things, including how many members the Assembly had; which was two hundred and forty. There were six representatives from each territory; two members from three households. Both her grandfather and her father were part of the Assembly, though Gramps had announced his desire to pass his seat soon. Rafe was the next logical option, since Frellie didn’t want anything to do with it, but Rafe was torn. He preferred his work in the technological field, which no one could blame him. He was good at what he did. Nova had no interest in the Assembly either and Lucia really felt she was too combative for such things. Gramps would be forced to continue on until someone ascended or pass the seat to another residence. It happened, but not often.
During meals was the only time Lucia really got to be around Soren, and even then it wasn’t a sure thing. By the time he returned to her wing of the residence, he was crawling into his makeshift bed on the couch and grumbling in his sleep. Lucia couldn’t help but chortle to herself and be proud that her family was being so kind and welcoming to him. Even her mother was being nice, in her own way. She taught him how to address people formally, what gifts to take to what kind of events, what kind of robe was acceptable for partnering ceremonies; everything proper.
The weeks had given her time to reconnect with her crew, who had stopped by to visit. Mima was almost fully healed and back to being full of piss and vinegar. They’d been best friends since they were children. Once Mima had met Trey, who had been two years her senior, they were introduced to Raz. They’d joined his crew as soon as they’d been legally able to venture off world without a parent at nineteen years old; young and idealistic. Though not much had changed five years later; they were still young and idealistic.
Mima and Trey had announced their intentions to partner before their last job and Nova and Angus had been overjoyed. Mima was like a third daughter to them. The only problem with that was, each time Mima was brought up, Nova would hound Lucia about partnership. This time was no different. After her friends had left, Nova sighed and everyone prepared for what was bound to happen.
“Lucia,” Nova began as she gingerly sat down in one of the oversized chairs of the den. It was evening and the constant breeze was helping everyone to remain cool. “You’re twenty-four; it’s time for you to stop gallivanting about space on your planet research with your friends.”
“Is that what you think she does?” Frellie looked up from her glass tablet to glance at their mother, disbelieving. Lucia was perched in a chair across from Soren, beside Gramps as they teamed up against him in moco. Her head snapped up to glare holes into Frellie’s skull, and if looks could kill…
“What do you mean?” Their mother was highly confused now, looking back and forth between her daughters and then to Angus, as if they’d all been conspiring against her.
“She’s a thief!”
“A bounty hunter!” Lucia bit out.
“A glorified thief!”
“It’s not thievery if what I’m acquiring has already been stolen,” Lucia said pointedly. “I’m really doing those pirates a favor and returning the product back to their rightful owners.”
Frellie scoffed.
“Most of the product,” Lucia amended.
Frellie cocked her head to the side, folding her arms.
“Okay, some of the product. Regardless!” she waved her hands in exasperation. “My crew always turns them into the Coalition when we find them. I simply take a finder’s fee and we’re all safer with one less pirate ship on the loose.”
“You reported Ta’Ra’Enn to the Coalition?” Soren asked curiously.
“Well, no. We didn’t have a chance, because the ship was exploding. There was no point in leaving a tracker.” Her mother blanched at the mention of an exploding ship that she’d been on.
“What?” Nova blustered, her lips opening and closing like a fish as her eyes threatened to fall from their sockets. “This whole time? Did everyone know?” She looked betrayed.
“Not everyone,” Lucia hedged. Only Frellie and Grams, but she didn’t oust them.
“I think it is an admirable profession,” Soren looked over at Lucia with doe eyes. He was getting more comfortable in his conversational skills. “She saved me from Commander Ta’Ra’Enn.”
Lucia frowned at the reminder of his enslavement.
“Commander Ta’Ra’Enn?” Nova asked.
“Yes,” Soren said, never breaking his gaze with Lucia. Lucia’s mouth opened as she attempted to stop him, but he spoke before she could. “My master. My former master,” he amended, as the room seemed to stand still. “I was a slave when I met Loo-Sha.”
Lucia’s brows knit together in a frown. Part of her knew Soren needed to talk about his enslavement, that maybe he felt he was withholding truths from everyone, but the other part of her didn’t want him to. She didn’t want anyone treating him differently. Lu didn’t think her family would, but once it was out there, it couldn’t be taken back.
“Soren-,” Lucia began but was cut off again.
“I was slave 892,” he said evenly. “I did not have a name. I did not think. Slaves do not think. Slaves do not feel. Slaves only do.” His pupils were the only sign he was feeling any extreme emotion talking about his enslavement. They widened as they kept staring at Lucia; only at Lucia. “I watched as Commander Ta’Ra’Enn would torture and often eat those who he stole from. But I did not feel. A slave who felt was not a good slave. A bad slave would be put to death.”
Lucia bit into her bottom lip as she listened to him talk.
“When I met Loo-Sha in the craft she took from Commander Ta’Ra’Enn,” he gulped. “I felt. When she told me she was my new owner, I felt relief. When she gave me a name, I felt honored. I was conflicted, because I felt.”
Lucia’s vision swam and blurred, but she didn’t blink.
“When Commander Ta’Ra’Enn found us, I felt fear for Loo-Sha. I wanted to tell her to run, because Commander Ta’Ra’Enn lies and would hurt her. It was not my place as a slave to advise, so I said nothing. I prepared myself instead.” Soren continued to stare across at Lucia and paused to let this sink in for her. “Commander Ta’Ra’Enn would make me watch as they tortured, raped, and ate her.” That was the only time Soren visibly tremored with fury. His claws grew another inch before he noticed and closed his fists around them. “When we landed on Sanru and Loo-Sha told me she never intended to give me back to Commander Ta’Ra’Enn, I felt confusion and relief that Ta’Ra’Enn would not hurt her.”
“When the lome threatened her safety,” he continued slowly. “I felt need. Need to protect. Need to rip flesh from bone. Need to keep her safe. And I felt satisfaction when my claws tore through the beasts’ throat, because it could not hurt Loo-Sha.”
Lucia took a much needed breath.
“But I failed. Loo-Sha was hurt.” His eyes were completely black now. “The thorns marred her skin and gave her a fever. When she woke, she thanked me. She let me touch her, even though I failed.” Soren purposefully didn’t speak about the rest of that night, for good reason. “When we reached Dor Nye, she told me I was free. I was no longer a slave. I should have been happy, but I was sad. I
would not see Loo-Sha again and this felt painful.”
Someone sniffed.
“When she asked me to go home with her,” Soren smiled then and Lucia felt her frowning lips twitching. “I felt elated. When she called me her friend, I felt joy.”
Lucia stood, her chair scraping across the floor as she flew around the table and bashed into Soren’s chest, tumbling into his lap. She was already sobbing in ugly bursts as she clung to his neck. Lu hated that she was crying –again!- in front of people, but she couldn’t stop the flood once it began. What had gotten into her? And to make things worse, Soren was comforting her. After everything he’d gone through and the things he’d felt and worried over and confessed, she felt like she should be the one comforting him.
“I’m s-such a beast,” Lucia wailed around sobs and let out a frustrated high growl. “I don’t know why I’m crying!” Soren rumbled a laugh into her hair as he stroked her back. “I don’t c-cry!” She gushed as another sob shook her shoulders and she made a choked sound as her family chuckled. “D-d-don’t laugh!” she blubbered, which only caused the opposite effect.
“Sweetling,” her Grams said softly, close to her and Lucia looked up, still trying to wipe her face and calm herself. “It’s okay to cry. I’m glad you brought Soren home, and not because we planted the garden in half the time it would’ve taken us normally.”
Soren grinned. Lucia sob-laughed and accepted the tissues her Grams gave her.
The night went on as her family asked about the lome, the festival, planet Sanru and other things pertaining to their little adventure. Her parents weren’t pleased, of course, but couldn’t express their thanks enough toward Soren who had kept her safe.
In the back of Lucia’s mind, a small trill of humor tickled her senses as she imagined their reactions if she brought up the orgy that had taken place. Instead, she shared a knowing grin with Soren and kept that to herself.
When everyone tucked in for the night, Soren started toward the couch and Lucia toward the bedroom, but then she stopped. “Soren?” He turned around and raised his hairless brow. “Will you sleep in my bed tonight? With me.”
Soren hesitated and his pupils widened and shrunk with uncertainty before he slowly followed her through the curtains. He stood just on the inside of them, unwilling to venture any further without instruction. Lucia could feel his eyes on her as she let the dress slip her shoulders and fall to pool around her ankles. She grabbed her nightgown and fit it over her springy curls and the material fell in a soft whoosh to her thighs.
When Lucia waved him over to the bed, he crawled under the sheet and allowed her to tuck into his side. The warmth emanating from his skin and the low rumble of his purr sent Lucia to a dreamless sleep in a matter of moments.
Chapter 11
Lucia woke to the tickle of her hair being played with. Her eyes fluttered open and she startled to see Soren lying beside her, just watching her. Her head snapped back on her neck as she shrunk and snorted, lifting the sheet over her face.
“Don’t you know it’s rude and slightly creepy to watch people while they sleep?” Lucia peeked out over the sheet.
“You snore.”
“Wha-” Lucia sputtered, blushing profusely. “I do not!”
Soren’s lips tipped up into a slow smile. “You do, but I do not mind.”
“I refuse to believe it!”
“That does not make it less true,” he shrugged a shoulder lazily, his eyes sparkling with amusement. Lucia grabbed a pillow and hit him with it. His chest shook with laughter that sounded muffled by the pillow until he removed it.
“I’m surprised you’re not up and being hogged by someone other than me,” Lucia said, liking the feel of her legs tangled in his. After his confession last night about how he saw their first week together, Lucia could feel a slowly blossoming something in her bones, but she wasn’t sure what yet. She just knew that Soren had touched a new place in her being.
“Soren?” she whispered. He watched her, his fingers still playing with a few locks of her crazed morning hair. “Do you ever wonder if…” she swallowed. “…if you have a mate back home or a family that’s searching for you?”
Lucia’s chest squeezed at the thought he might actually leave one day and she’d lose a friend. Just thinking about his absence put an ache in her belly, but the thought that he might have a mate out there that cried for him every night made her feel selfish.
“Sometimes, yes,” he rumbled. “I am conflicted, though. I sometimes hope I had a family who cared for me as yours cares for you. I sometimes hope that I had a mate who awaits my return.”
Lucia felt a swell in her throat and she gulped it back down. Don’t be selfish.
“Then,” he said in a softer tone. “Sometimes I hope that I do not have any of those things. I do not know how long I was enslaved, and I would not wish the loss of a son or mate on anyone.” Soren trailed his knuckles down Lucia’s arm, once again comforting her.
Lu moved into his arms, laying her head under his chin. His familiar scent and warmth filled her lungs. “Do you ever wish there was a way to get your memories back?” she whispered. Soren was quiet for a long moment, just trailing his knuckles up and down her arm lazily.
“There are times I wish I could remember something, anything,” he began. “I fear the unknown and crave it. The person I cannot remember may have deserved enslavement.”
“No one deserves that,” Lucia mumbled. He grunted.
Lucia’s comm next to her bedside table beeped and Nova’s voice came through. “Wake up sleepy head! Come down to first meal.” Then it zipped off.
“We’re being summoned,” Lucia groaned. She rolled out of bed and grabbed a sheer morning robe to wear over her nightgown that draped to the back of her knees. Soren was still in his sleeping pants that hung nicely along his hips and he didn’t bother grabbing anything else. “I’ll meet you down there,” she said as she ducked into the cleansing room.
Lucia washed her face and then stared at herself in the long mirror over the double sinks. Her stomach growled with hunger and she rubbed her hand over it as she turned to leave. Lucia paused, turning back to the mirror and lifting her nightgown up over her stomach. She ran her hand over her abdomen, looking at it in the mirror and then slightly turning. It was marginally more rounded than she remembered.
It’s official. Not working is making all those sweets go to my belly.
That could barely be considered a pouch. You’re being ridiculous.
No, that’s a definite pouch!
Lucia let her gown drop back down and made her way to the terrace where her family was enjoying first meal. Zan attacked her legs with hugs and began talking excitedly about his plans for that day. Lucia snatched up a berry and dipped it into the cream as she stood beside Soren’s chair. She ‘mmm’d’ and did a little dance with her brows as she delighted in the tart and sweet flavors singing along her taste buds before swallowing.
See, this is what’s causing the pouch, her inner voice chastised her.
Lucia stopped short when she felt something warm and wet gush along her thigh. She looked down to see green slime mixed with blood running down her leg and pooling under her right foot.
“Oh my god-” Frellie said shrilly.
“What the-” Lu started but then a pain shot through her abdomen that felt as if a serrated knife was digging in and twisting. Her knees gave out beneath her as she began to shriek with the overwhelming agony of it all. Soren caught her under the arms before her knees slammed into the terrace stones and the pressure of being touched at all just made Lucia clamor more fervently.
Lucia tried to speak, but only stuttered as she tried to bite around the pain in between gasping. Sweat beaded on her forehead and spittle dabbed her lips when she shrieked again as a burn that could only be described as a chain of razors scraped up her insides and lit a fire. Her eyes watered and it began to spill down her face. Lucia’s muscles tightened so badly she feared her bones would crack beneath t
hem. She was vaguely aware of her family crowding her and asking her what was wrong while her mother yelled for someone to call the doctor. Then everything went dark.
****
Lucia’s eyes fluttered awake for the second time that morning with Soren staring at her. His orbs were fully black, and she could hear the relaxing sound of water flowing. She opened her mouth to speak but only a wheeze came out. Her hand flew to her throat and her gaze swept about her surroundings. She saw the curling vines of an air purification plant sprouting across the far wall from a pot in the corner. Its yellow veins pulsed as it worked hard to suck in impurities and pump out oxygen. They were always strewn around hospitals.
I’m in the hospital.
Why am I in the hospital?
The white synthetic band curved around her wrist monitored her vitals and displayed everything on the large glass sheet against the wall she was facing. She watched the numbers raise and lower, counting pressure and heartbeats and everything else that she didn’t understand. Lucia looked back to Soren who was crouching next to the bed she was in as it hovered above the floor. She could hear her parent’s voices outside of the room as they spoke to someone.
“What’s-” she tried to speak and Soren shook his head. He grabbed a glass half filled with water beside her bed and gently held it to her lips. Lucia took a sip and instantly her throat felt better. She took another swallow, larger that time and then pushed the glass away. Soren set it back on the table and crouched beside her again, hesitantly slipping his hand under hers as it lay upon the white sheet. Lucia’s brows knitted together in confusion and she laced her fingers as best she could through his.
“Why am I here?” she asked, just as her parents and a doctor entered the room.
“Congratulations!” the doctor exclaimed and grabbed a long, white wand from a cabinet. His brown eyes lit with excitement. “You’re going to be a mother.”
Lucia snorted.
“Excuse me?”
