by M H Ryan
“I will remove your bonds when you do.”
She nodded, patted her heart, and then patted mine. I wasn’t sure exactly what it meant, but it felt as if we were bonding and getting closer. I wasn’t lying when I told Du’Kupha that she was special to me. I hated seeing her leave. I wanted to ask her to stay with us, but her family, her kind, could be in trouble. What kind of person would I be if I forced her to stay here?
Shaya ran toward the shore, the group of male Crultar running with her. They jumped into the sea, disappearing under the waves.
“Well, now I feel like even more garbage,” Hanna said. “I set fire to that island because they said they were holding our friends as prisoners. That they were going to cook and eat them like they’d done with the rest. I was so pissed off. I want to kill them all for hurting my friends. But they were helping them. Everything was a lie. Please, let me burn them all for this, Jack. It’s the only way I can make it right.”
Du’Kupha watched her but made no movement or any sign he would defend themselves.
“I want you to treat the women with me as if they were part of me, which they are. Understand?”
“Service to you and yours.” He bowed deeply.
“Can we expect a retaliatory attack today?” I asked.
“No, the Mulshar are days past the great divide by now. They will stop at nothing to bring the king his treasure.”
I sighed, knowing that the treasure had been the last two women from the ship. Well, them and Victoria. I still couldn’t believe her ship was still out there. The image from the screen of that ship felt burned into my brain. That ship and its captain could be the only way off these islands.
“I want you to set up a perimeter around this island and make sure no harm comes to us. I will leave the details to you on how to treat your men as far as breaks or shift changes or whatever you think is necessary to keep morale. You and your soldiers have been through a lot in a brief time. I have given you freedom of speech—use it.”
“We are in your debt. What should we call you? King?”
I took a deep breath. “Listen, I’m not really into titles or anything like that. Jack Sawyer is my name, and you can just call me Jack.”
I stepped forward and extended my hand.
He looked confused and glanced around, wide-eyed, as if this was some sort of test.
“You grasp my hand in yours, and we shake on it. Where I come from, it’s a form of greeting or an agreement.”
Du’Kupha stood and, with a hesitant hand, clasped his firmly around mine. I felt the strength in that hand, but I squeezed his hand just as hard and shook it. I released his hand, and he took a step back.
“Jack,” Du’Kupha said and bowed.
“Will they do anything you ask?” Aubrey said, nudging up behind me.
“I think they will,” I said, getting the strong sense of duty and commitment from Du’Khupa and all the rest of the Crultar.
“Then let’s get the last of our girls back, Jack.”
Chapter 26
The sun had set, and a cool breeze blew in from the ocean, carrying with it a strange crackling sound and the occasional boom. The island shook from the largest of these noises. Hanna said the noise had been a constant since she’d been on this island, and it seemed to frighten the Crultar. We scanned the horizon, and for the first time, saw nothing but open ocean.
I sensed the Crultar out there, in the ocean. They were patrolling it, moving in small groups around the island. They had the same sense of commitment to me that they’d once had to the king. The sea creatures were agitated but scarce as if they were avoiding this part of the ocean.
The clear sky let the stars shine brightly, with a nearly full moon glowing in the sky, giving us enough light to see each other’s faces. I kept my attention on our newest member, Hanna, and listened as the girls got caught up with her.
“So, let me get this straight,” Aubrey said. “You can control fire like some badass, but you can’t create it?”
“Well,” Hanna said, looking at her hands. “No, I don’t create fire, I just control it or move it or amplify it.” She shook her hands and then wiped them on her small, pink skirt. “How the hell do you control the weather?”
“I don’t know, I just do,” Aubrey said. “It’s… it’s like an argument for me. I demand from it, and it pushes back, but my will is stronger, so I win. It bends for me. It’s like reluctant obedience,” Aubrey said.
“Mine isn’t like that at all. It feels like it wants all of me, pushing everything through me, and I slow it down to a trickle because if I let it go, I feel like I’ll burn to a cinder,” Hanna said.
“Is it okay to make this near you?” Kara asked, hunched over with Carmen next to the pile of firewood at the center of our circle.
“Oh, yeah, I like fire. I’m not made of gasoline or anything. I have control,” Hanna said.
Emma sat next to me on the sand, holding my hand and nestling her face against my shoulder. I had begun to get used to the idea of her knowing every thought I had. She seemed to enjoy them, and it felt like the most open relationship I had ever had with a person.
“It is,” Emma whispered. “I love your mind and would have a hand on you every second if you would let me.”
A flash of me having sex with my various wives and then an image of me fighting, all with Emma holding onto my hand as Yoda did Luke when they were training. She could ride on my bike as Yoda did, and guide me through the force. But I could fuck her at the end of the training. Then a thought of Yoda naked entered my head, and I pressed all ideas out.
I sucked a deep breath, trying to clear my mind.
“Don’t,” Emma said. “I like those thoughts, those fantasies. Your mind is fascinating and where you go with your thoughts…” She took a deep breath. “It’s strange, but I love it.”
“I want to see what’s in that mind too,” Eliza said, sitting on my other side. She leaned against me and put her head against my shoulder. “It’s not fair… does he like me as much as I do?”
“He loves you,” Emma whispered.
Eliza smiled and kissed me on the side of the cheek. “Good, he better. I’m going to see if Benji needs any help with dinner.”
Eliza got up, kicking up some of the white sand as she walked over to Benji. The Crultar had proven useful in getting us a few fish to cook and collecting things we needed from the boat. Most of the girls were thrilled to have some manual labor around the camp and were already making plans for the shelter back home.
Benji had a small, cooking fire going, and I smelled the fish and fruits roasting on top of the pan Cass had made for her. Benji smiled and hugged Eliza and then quickly put her to work.
“You really do love them, you know,” Emma said.
“I know,” I said, then thought about how lucky they are to have me, and how soon I’d be having them all in leather, whipping and flogging them, and making them call me daddy as they pulled me on a chariot. My beautiful train of women pulling me around like a god.
Emma laughed. “I can tell when you’re messing with me, even in your thoughts. There’s no hiding from me, Jack Sawyer.” She squeezed me harder, and I wondered if Emma wanted to be my wife as well.
The thought surprised me, and she took her head off my shoulder. She let me go, breaking our connection.
“I was just thinking about it. Many thoughts come into my head…” I said, searching those pretty eyes of hers.
“Jack, I know how you feel about me, but there are some alpha females with claws into you that I wouldn’t want to upset for anything in the world,” Emma whispered. “I need a little time with this, and I don’t need to be touching you to know what’s going on in there. You have a million thoughts a minute, and I’m not putting a bunch of weight on one of them. If I did, I would think you’d want me topless 24/7.” She laughed, but that was the truth. I would want her topless.
I thought it was a shame to have such beauty bottled up. With her not touching me, I let my thoughts
trail to the deviant end of the spectrum.
“Yeah, that would be a real shame,” I said, taking in her massive pair, bound by that sparkly bikini top.
She smirked, adjusted her top a tad, and walked over to the growing group around the imminent fire they were preparing. Tendrils of smoke were wafting up from a pile of dry grass as Hanna looked on with great interest.
“Hey there, stranger,” Sherri said, snuggling up against me.
I put my arm around Sherri, and she put her head against my chest
“Hi there,” I said and kissed the top of her head.
Her hair and skin felt so soft to the touch, and even out here, in the middle of the ocean, she smelled wonderful, a sweet mixture of aloe and coconut. The girls must have made some sort of lotion, but nothing they had shared with me.
“It’s fucking awesome to have Hanna here, right?” Sherri said.
“What’s her sport? Swimming?” I said, looking at her slim body. I could picture her diving off a platform wearing a next-to-nothing bikini creating the smallest splash possible.
Sherri laughed. “Hey, Hanna, Jack asked if you were a swimmer.”
Hanna stared for a second longer as the grass ignited, and the flames licked up the sides of the wood. A small ball of fire rose from the fire and hovered just above her hand. She seemed to study it for a minute before dropping it back into the fire, igniting much of the wood in flames as if gasoline had been poured over it.
The girls oohed and scrambled back from the larger flames.
“I hate swimming,” Hanna said, turning to me. “My sport is of the stationary type. Chess.”
“Oh yeah?” I asked. “I used to play chess with my dad all the time. It was fun.”
“Well, my mom forced me to play, and every time I made a mistake, she would hit me with a willow branch,” Hanna said.
“Okay,” I said, not sure if that was a joke or not. “Well, you must be good at it.”
“I’ve won a few matches.”
“She’s being modest,” Sherri said, getting up from my chest. “She is the bad boy—or bad girl—of chess.”
Hanna groaned.
“What?” Sherri said. “You were on the cover of Sports Illustrated.”
“Online edition only,” Hanna corrected with a scoff.
“That was a sexy ass cover, though,” Cass said.
“You said you’ve never even seen it!” Hanna said.
“I lied,” Cass said. “I sort of stalked you. She has over twelve million followers on her gram.”
“Damn,” I said, thinking of my Instagram and the seventeen followers I had. Not that I even cared to be followed. That sort of thing wasn’t my jam. The girls, on the other hand, took it as clout between them. Up until now, Emma had the most followers among them
“Should be thirteen million by now,” Hanna said, looking at the sky. “But most of that’s just thirsty boys zooming in for nipple slips and bumps.”
“Remember when they tried to eliminate you from the state champions because of the dress code?” Carmen said, laughing.
“Oh, yeah,” Kara said. “You were too distracting for your male opponents.”
“They’ve definitely tried to contain me over the years, and each time they did, I went twice as hard after, because, fuck them,” Hanna said.
The flames in the fire seemed to burn larger and brighter as she spoke.
“Lame,” Aubrey said. “Freaking chess people.”
“They were scared of something different, something changing in their world,” Hanna said. “The last tournament I was in, I wore this exact outfit.” She put her hands on her hips and did a little spin as she made eye contact with me.
She was the epitome of cute and sexy. The kind of girl that would be worshiped wherever she went. As a young man, I would have struggled to concentrate in a match against such a beauty. I also could imagine the hateful comments by others, the whispers you could hear, and the glancing looks that cut ever so lightly.
“You must have been popular,” I said.
She stopped her sexy look and frowned. “No, I wasn’t. They hated me. The boys I beat made excuses, and the women called me every name in the book when they thought I couldn’t hear them. But I could hear them—every word. The acoustics in a gym are quite good. Being hot isn’t always the best.”
“Sorry,” I said. “I haven’t even noticed that you’re hot. If that helps.”
“Ha!” Emma said, near Hanna.
Hanna smiled, tilting her head as she stared at me. A month ago, she would have melted me as much as any opponent she faced across the chess table. Now, I locked eyes with her with only a few extra heartbeats.
“You’re interesting, Jack,” Hanna said. “In a short time, you’ve gathered up half this group into self-branding brides. You look a lot different out here than you did on the ship,” Hanna said, keeping that eye contact, which felt closer to a contest now, one I wasn’t going to lose.
“I think these islands have changed us all,” I said. “Tell me, how has it changed the bad girl of chess?”
She looked away.
“It’s not been good. I’ve done things to…” She trailed off, looking at the sky before continuing. “It’s humbling. This place has given me the greatest respect for the simple things we took as nothing back home.”
“Jack’s building us a place,” Eliza said. “You’ll love it. It’s like magic.”
“A real toilet, sink, and shower,” Aubrey said. “And a heated swimming pool.” She eyed me. We’d spent more than one encounter in those heated waters.
“Really?” She seemed shocked and eyed me again as if reassessing. “Well, I can’t wait to see this place.”
“Dinner’s ready,” Benji said.
We all lined up near her cooking station, which consisted of the metal panel on a few logs with a small fire near the middle, heating the food. Benji looked tired but smiled as we gathered around her. They all looked exhausted. The adrenaline of having Hanna back with them was wearing off, and the fatigue of what we’d been through over the last couple days set in.
We all took a large leaf or a plate stolen from Ben’s bunker and brought them back to seats in the soft sand next to the warm fire.
“This is really good,” I said, talking with a mouth full of what I thought was cod.
“Thanks,” Benji said. “I added a bit more pepper this time because I know Hanna likes it spicy.”
“Thanks, girl,” Hanna said. “This is the best meal I’ve had out here.” She took a deep breath and looked at the sky again.
We ate and chatted, filling Hanna in on the details about how we rescued the various girls. This seemed to bring most of their spirits up, as they each recalled the heroic deeds of the group. Hanna had wide eyes and an open mouth but didn’t ask many questions. She glanced at me here and there. I was used to being the one gawked at by the new girls by now.
The glares Benji was sending toward Carmen weren’t going unnoticed, either. Another problem I would have to deal with soon, but before I spoiled the night, I had a few questions for Hanna.
“Hanna,” I said. “What’s your take on this place?”
“Oh, I don’t know,” Hanna said, shrugging her shoulders and smiling at me.
I frowned at the response. I had been watching her since we met, and the woman looked around herself and assessed everything. Even the sky fell under her scrutiny. She was taking everything in like a sponge around her—something my very smart mother did, but she also played the game.
“Don’t do that,” I said.
“Do what?”
“Dumb yourself down,” I said.
“What do you mean?” Her eyes narrowed, and I caught some of that fierceness I saw in her when she lit up those fish-men in the hole.
“Chess is a game of the mind,” I said. “A game that requires high intelligence and the ability to see more moves ahead than your opponent can. This all requires an elastic brain. Put that brain in your body, and I imagin
e you’ve lived two lives: one where you show your prowess on the game board, crushing opponents with gray matter, and one where you pretend to be a normal girl so you can fit into our simple-minded lives.”
Hanna looked away from me and then studied her empty plate.
“Is that true?” Sherri asked.
“I mean, we know you’re smart,” Aubrey said. “No reason to dumb down shit, even for us doo-doo heads.”
“Doo-doo heads?” Eliza asked.
“It’s just a term for dumb people,” Benji said, patting Eliza’s knee.
“Strange, doo-doo, means poo, and I’ve heard of the term shithead, but it doesn’t mean dumb. Aubrey told me that meant being an asshole,” Eliza said.
“Aubrey, why are you teaching her such language?” Benji asked.
“Oh, fuck me, she’s a grown-ass woman. She can choose to do what she wants with the language,” Aubrey said.
“Fuck yeah, I can,” Eliza said, and then laughed, covering her mouth.
“I had a goat once that pretended to be a dog,” Emma said, stopping the giggles with such a strange comment. “One of the most peculiar things I’ve ever seen. It ran around with the dog, made a barking kind of sound around them, and even ate from their bowls. That was the key; it blended in to eat the dog food I reckon it had gotten a liking to. The dogs would normally bite a goat for such an intrusion, but it had blended in so well with them, they accepted that goat right in the group as a pack member.”
“Cool story, bro,” Aubrey said.
“I’m the goat,” Hanna said. “And not the acronym.” She took a deep breath.
“Why would you pretend to be something you’re not?” Benji asked and then side-eyed Carmen.
Hanna sighed and set her leaf down at her feet. “People think being smarter is a great thing, and sometimes it is, like when I’m stuffing some poser, duffer’s, king, but when you meet people, it can come off pretentious. So, over the years, I’ve…adjusted myself.”
“For someone so smart, that sounds dumb,” Cass said.
“Do you know how many friends I had before the sorority?” Hanna asked. “None. My mom paraded me around like the next Bobby Fischer, entering me in battles of wit, including chess. It meant everything to her and nothing to me. So, I rebelled. I threw matches and tossed out my ranking and chances for Grandmaster.”
