by Sonia Nova
The nurse wished her good luck and the men escorted Olivia out of the room.
The urge to run away was overwhelming, but Olivia knew she’d have gotten about two feet before one of the soldiers stopped her. All that running would do was embarrass herself. She still took a step backward automatically as they reached the teleport room, and she felt the soldiers tense. She wondered how many people did run.
But the next step she took was forward. She walked past the soldiers and into the room where she’d disappear from Earth – possibly forever – with her head held high and almost managing to hide the tremors in her hands.
Inside the room was a huge cylindrical machine. A teleporter. She’d never seen one in person before, and once again wanted to back away from it like a scared little girl.
“Okay,” one of the soldiers said, moving away from Olivia and standing at a control panel by the teleporter. “You’ll just stand in the chamber, and I’ll make the teleportation happen. You’ll feel nauseous when you arrive at your destination, but the mint will help. The nausea will be worse the more you move, so I advise standing still.”
Olivia nodded numbly. The room didn’t even have windows. She wouldn’t even get one last glimpse at the outside world before she was taken off the planet and sent to her new home. Her last image of Earth would be the nasty gray concrete of the office where her fate had been sealed.
It was almost enough to make her cry.
She walked into the chamber of the teleporter and closed her eyes as she listened to one of the soldiers tap on the controls.
And then, with a flash of light, she was off.
CHAPTER 2
KRAEV
Kraev reached up and picked a piece of fruit from one of the trees in the greenhouse. This was his favorite place to spend his off-duty time on the barren and icy planet of R-2841. The greenhouses were huge domes on the surface of the planet that managed to stay warm despite the harsh environment, and they were filled with colorful plants from all over the universe. But most importantly, they produced fruits from his home planet, Raewan.
Despite the food replicators that could make him any meal in the known universe or even create fruit-imitations, those were nothing compared to picking something straight off the tree.
“I heard there was another Suhlik attack last night,” his friend, Zevyk, said as he walked up to Kraev.
Kraev bit into his fruit and swallowed before responding. “Yes. The arrogant lizards thought they could get on the surface. It was a full-frontal attack. Hundreds of Suhlik ships right outside the planet. I blew up at least a dozen of them.”
Zevyk grinned. “I wish I had been there to see it. I had just finished my shift in the control room and was sleeping.”
Kraev chuckled. “You didn’t miss out on much. They were pathetic. I doubt they’ll try again for a while.” He paused, taking another bite of his fruit. “But I don’t want to talk about Suhlik while I’m off-duty.”
Zevyk picked a piece of fruit as well and sat down next to Kraev. The purple-and-blue amihae were delicious and reminded Kraev of their home. “What do you want to talk about then?”
“Anything. Like the pleasant weather of this planet.”
Zevyk laughed now. Neither of them was particularly enamored with R-2841. It was a hostile and dangerous planet. But it was also vital to the Mahdfel.
Hellstone, an incredibly rare mineral, could be found in abundance in the volcanoes of R-2841. The mineral had a unique quality that could prevent teleportation, and it was important for the defense of any Mahdfel location. It was Kraev’s duty as a pilot defending the planet to ensure that the Suhlik never gained control of the mines.
Among the warriors stationed on R-2841, the planet was affectionately nicknamed “hellhole” after hellstone and the barren landscape. The name was very fitting, which is why Kraev escaped to the greenhouses whenever he could.
“Well, I think the weather has been warming up the past few days,” Zevyk said, a contemplative expression on his face. Kraev could tell his friend was joking, but he was probably the only one who could. Zevyk was often so serious that not many understood his dry sense of humor.
Kraev was about to make another witty remark about the weather, when a sudden beep and a flashing white light on his wristband interrupted their conversation.
A new message has arrived.
Kraev tapped on the screen of his wristband, and a cool voice spoke in his ear.
“Kraev ek-Tayn, a genetic match has been found for you. The details on your match are the following. Name: Olivia Griffin. Species: human. Planet of origin: Earth…”
Kraev almost dropped his fruit.
Zevyk frowned at him. “Kraev, what’s wrong?”
“…Your match will arrive at your current location on R-2841 within the next hour,” the message continued. “Congratulations.”
A huge grin broke out on Kraev’s face. “Nothing is wrong,” he said. “In fact, everything is very right.” He turned to Zevyk, his entire body buzzing with excitement. “A match has been found for me!”
Zevyk’s eyes widened momentarily before he grinned right back. “The fates have favored you this day.” He clapped Kraev on the back. “Congratulations, brother.”
He and Zevyk weren’t actually siblings, but they were as close as it got without being blood-related. When Zevyk’s family had been killed in the war nearly twenty-five years ago, Kraev’s family had taken him in and the two of them had grown up together.
“The message said she is a human from planet Earth.” Kraev frowned. Not that her species really mattered, but… “I’ve never seen a human before. Have you?”
Zevyk shook his head. “I don’t think there are humans on R-2841. I’m not even sure there are any on Raewan. Isn’t Earth the newest planet the Mahdfel have made an agreement with?”
“Maybe…” Kraev’s voice faltered, but it wasn’t nerves or doubt in his voice. He could hardly stay still with how excited he was. “I can’t remember news of humans going to Raewan.”
“It’s a long time since we’ve been home.”
The longing to see his family again tugged at Kraev. It had been a long time. Two years, maybe even more. But as soon as the melancholy hit him, it disappeared, replaced by joy.
“I can’t wait to have a big family of my own.” He was the oldest of six brothers, and he wanted just as many children. “A family of strong warriors to carry on our traditions.” He grinned. “I can’t wait to meet her.”
Zevyk gave him a short, one-armed hug. “I’m happy for you, my brother.”
Kraev was hit by a sudden wave of nerves. He hadn’t expected a match, not right now. Of course, he had always hoped for one, but… Had he tidied his quarters well enough? What about the gift he’d had for years, sitting ready and waiting to give to his mate when she was found? Was it good enough?
It was a Raewani tradition that a male gave his mate a gift to demonstrate his commitment and ability to care for her. Had he gotten enough to demonstrate that to his human female? He looked at the fruit in his hand. Maybe he could collect some to take to her as well. She would most likely have never had anything like this before on her home planet.
His wristband flashed again and he expected it to be an alert that his mate was being teleported. His nerves vanished and then returned in full force when he noticed the color of the message. This time, the light was orange. His whole body stiffened in horror. From the corner of his eye, he could see that Zevyk’s wristband was flashing too.
In alarm.
Despite Kraev’s earlier words that the Suhlik probably wouldn’t dare to attack anytime soon after their failure last night, it seemed that the lizards had not only attacked the planet again… They had breached its defenses.
This was the worst possible timing. His mate would be coming here now, and she would be walking right into the middle of a deadly attack if the Suhlik managed to land.
“I have to go,” he said, fighting back the rising panic. He�
�d never panicked in the face of a Suhlik attack before. He was a warrior. All Mahdfel went through vigorous warrior training from birth. He had been trained for this his entire life. He’d never been afraid of the Suhlik before.
But now, he was terrified. The first place the Suhlik would try to take control of on R-2841 was the planet’s most tactical location: the teleport base. The very teleport base where his match was currently being teleported.
A hard lump stuck in Kraev’s throat and his stomach felt suddenly empty despite the fruit he had just eaten. He might lose his mate the moment he got her. He might not even get to see her alive.
“Go, Kraev,” Zevyk said, bringing him back from his panicked thoughts. “You need to get to the teleport base. I’ll report to the Warlord that you have been matched and that you have gone after your mate. It will be fine.”
“Yes.” Kraev rose immediately to action. It would be fine. It had to be.
He started on a fast-paced run out of the greenhouse and toward the entrance of the volcano where the fighter ships were kept. He was a pilot. He could do this. He could push the ship as quickly as possible toward the teleport base, where his mate would be waiting.
He would get to her before the Suhlik did.
He allowed himself a single glimpse at the sky and saw that it was full of Suhlik ships, and the Mahdfel ones flying fast to meet them.
With his heart in his throat, he quickened his pace.
He wasn’t going to let anything happen to his mate.
CHAPTER 3
OLIVIA
Olivia gasped for air.
She felt like she hadn’t been breathing for minutes. Her head spun and she stumbled on her feet, her legs threatening to give in. Leaning onto the metallic frame of the teleporter, she tried to balance herself. Her heart pounded in her chest and her breath came out in short pants.
When she had entered the teleporter, a bright white light had swallowed her, penetrating through her eyelids and blinding her completely. Everything around her had disappeared and she hadn’t been able to see or hear anything, like she had been sucked into some sort of a vacuum – which was probably a very accurate description of what had happened.
Now, her senses were slowly returning to her.
She dug the mint out of her pocket, stuffed it into her mouth, and sucked hard. The cool flavor of the candy decreased the spinning in her head just a little, but she still felt like sitting in front of a toilet until the nausea passed. She hoped it would pass.
After closing her eyes for a second and getting used to the sicky feeling, she realized that no one was in the room with her. There wasn’t someone waiting to greet her or lead her away to her alien husband. Even to just explain to her what was going to happen next. There was no one else in the room at all.
Olivia stepped out of the teleporter. The room itself was quite small, with only one entrance on the other side. The teleporter took up the vast majority of the space and blocked her view from the rest of the metal room.
Orange lights were flashing. Strangely, it gave the cold metal interior an almost warm feel. But orange didn’t seem like a reassuring color for flashing lights. Was it some kind of alert? Was that why there wasn’t anyone here to greet her?
She turned back to the machine and looked at the control pad on the side. This was what the soldier on Earth had used to send her here. Maybe she could use it to send herself back. If no one was here to receive her anyway, couldn’t she just leave?
None of the buttons were labeled, though. Olivia turned back to the room and waited. Surely, someone would come pick her up. Weren’t the Mahdfel desperate for females?
But when the minutes ticked by and no one came, Olivia started to worry. The room was eerily quiet and the silence made her feel uneasy. Somewhere deep inside, she sensed that this wasn’t normal. This wasn’t how it was supposed to be here.
Gathering up her courage, she called out, “Hello?”
Her voice echoed slightly. That’s how dead quiet it was around her. She waited again, for someone to answer her or for anything at all, but only silence surrounded her.
When no one answered her for another minute, Olivia stepped back into the teleporter, hitting on some buttons and hoping for a miracle. Hoping that it would suck her back in and throw her back to where she came from. She could explain that it was a mistake, that she’d gone but there was no one there. It obviously wasn’t meant to be.
Then, out of the corner of her eye, she spotted something. A crumpled light blue figure sprawled across the floor, behind a desk. The alien’s head was shaved except for a series of thick braids running across his skull in lines. Two large horns protruded from his head and a smaller third one from just above his forehead. Turquoise eyes stared unseeingly into the room.
Olivia gasped. She wanted to scream, but the sound got stuck in her throat. Blood pooled underneath the alien from a large wound in his stomach, exposed by a gaping tear in the embroidered fabric of the top he was wearing.
The scream finally came when another alien appeared in the open doorway of the room.
Unnaturally tall, it had golden scales and eyes with a reptilian slit that stared straight at her. The retractable claws in the alien’s hands and elbows extended as he glared at her. Inches long, they were sharp as knives.
The Suhlik looked exactly as she remembered them. Beautiful. Eerie. Creepy. Dangerous.
She took a singular step away, her back hitting the end of the teleporter. The alien’s thin lips spread into a humorless smile, revealing rows and rows of sharp teeth.
Crap. So this was how she died. A few minutes onto a planet halfway across the universe and she’d stepped straight into the path of a Suhlik warrior for the first time since they’d first invaded Earth. Hadn’t the nurse said she wouldn’t be sent anywhere unsafe? Because this seemed pretty damn unsafe.
She almost wanted to laugh. This was just her luck. Be matched to an alien and then ripped to shreds by another.
She looked at the Suhlik directly in the eye. He was lean and muscular – and probably faster than a cheetah. If she waited for him to act, he would have her pinned down in a split second.
She didn’t wait.
She hopped out of the teleporter and jumped to the side. The Suhlik leaped after her, but in doing so, he moved away from the door. Taking her chances, Olivia charged as fast as she could away from the lizard and toward the now-clear opening.
She dashed into the corridor, pure adrenaline fueling her legs and completely removing the nausea that had moments before been almost crippling. She could hear the Suhlik start to run behind her. The orange lights flashed in the corridor around them and now, she could hear the sounds of fighting somewhere in the distance too.
Olivia had never been an athlete, but now, she ran faster than she ever had in her life.
It wasn’t enough.
It wasn’t long before the Suhlik caught her with his long legs. The lizard had always been going to catch her.
He threw her against the wall with one clean sweep of his arm. She twisted on her ankle as she fell and slammed her head against the metal wall. The Suhlik dragged her straight back up again and shoved her, knocking the back of her head against the wall this time. She groaned, pain shooting through her skull and fear making her heart thud against her rib cage.
With all her strength, Olivia struggled desperately in the vicious alien’s grip as the male hissed and almost seemed to leer at her. She knew she was dead, but instincts demanded that she keep fighting. She wasn’t going to just give in.
Then, suddenly, the lizard’s grip on her loosened. She slumped and, for a second, she thought he was going to collapse onto her and crush her completely. But something intervened, pulling the monster away and flinging its corpse to the side.
It wasn’t until the Suhlik hit the ground – she couldn’t keep looking at the horrifyingly beautiful golden face – that Olivia saw the round hole through the side of his head.
Her eyes flicked back.
Looking ahead, she saw the man who had saved her.
A huge, muscular, bright blue alien stood in front of her with a chiseled but worried face. His eyes were clear turquoise and his head was shaved except for a mass of braids that ran down the center and down his back. Two longer horns protruded from the side of his head, and a smaller one poked through the middle of the braid. A long tail swished behind his back. He wore a colorful embroidered tunic that looked like some kind of light armor, and she could see a mass of swirling tattoos on the hardened muscle of his blue arms.
Looking at him was the strangest experience.
Olivia had never been face-to-face with a friendly alien before. When the Mahdfel had come and liberated Earth, she had been hiding away from them. Her father had insisted that they not interact with them, as if she would have ever gone and attempted to be friends with an alien power, even if they had just given Earth their freedom back.
But this man had just saved her life. Now, he was standing opposite her, staring at her with his pupil-less, turquoise eyes, and she didn’t know whether to be terrified or grateful.
She chose grateful for the moment. “Thank you.”
Part of her didn’t expect the translator in her ear to actually work, but the man nodded, his eyes still fixed on her. “My mate?” he asked. He reached out as if to touch her, and she flinched away automatically. He dropped his hand immediately.
“You… you’re Crave?” she asked, skeptical. She couldn’t remember if that had actually been his name. The half an hour or so since hearing the words “you’re a match” had been such a blur, made only worse by the teleportation that had messed with her head. But the alien smiled.
“Kra-ev. Kraev,” he corrected, his voice so deep her stomach fluttered. She’d never thought an alien would elicit such a response in her. “And you are my mate.” He breathed deeply as if her smell had any relevance to that statement. “Owl-ee-vee-a.”
He pronounced her name so carefully and slowly – and so utterly wrong that Olivia couldn’t help but smile despite everything. She immediately felt better about getting his name wrong. “Olivia,” she said. “Short i’s.”
