Another Uoria Holiday: A Sci-Fi Alien Warrior Holiday Romance

by Scott, Ruth Anne

  “The Maccabees sheltered in caves,” she said softly, almost absently as if she wasn’t quite saying it to him but instead was reminding herself, reaching within her to what was comforting and familiar to soothe her as darkness settled around them.

  He was beginning to respond when he heard a deep, rumbling breath close behind them. His heart gave a painful thud and he tightened his hold on Emerie’s hand.

  “Do you hear that?” he asked.

  There was another long breath and he felt Emerie’s head nod against his shoulder.

  “Yes,” she whispered. “What is it?”

  “I don’t know,” Kyven whispered back.

  The sound of the breathing grew deeper and louder and he knew that whatever it was was coming closer. They stood and walked backward along the wall. He could feel the presence of the creature coming into the space with them and the low sound of the breaths filling the cavern around them.

  “Get your light,” Emerie said, sounding slightly desperate.

  Kyven reached into his bag and felt around until he found the light stick. He pulled it out and activated it. As soon as the bright green light spread around them, he heard a grunting sound and the shuffling of massive feet moving across the ground. The breathing grew softer and eventually disappeared, restoring the stillness of the cavern.

  “It’s withdrawing from the light,” Kyven said. “As long as we have the light, whatever it is should stay away.”

  Emerie nodded.

  “You said that the light stick has already been partially activated. How long do we have?”

  Kyven glanced at the light stick and shook his head.

  “Not long,” he said. “But all we can do is wait. It will last as long as it has left.”

  “And then?”

  Kyven guided her back toward the wall and eased them down to sit.

  “And then we decide.”

  Chapter Five

  Maxim stood slowly, not fully convinced that the creature beneath him was truly dead even though he had felt the last breath slide out of his body and the heart deep within his chest slow and stop. He wanted to be prepared, just in case he had been fooled and whatever this being was lashed out again. When he stood straight again he stared down at the creature’s body for several long seconds until he felt assured that it was truly dead. The sound of its screaming reverberated in his ears. He would never forget that sound. It was unlike anything that he had ever heard.

  Out of the corner of his eye Maxim saw Ivy step back from the body, her hand coming up to cover her mouth. He turned and watched as she stumbled backwards, out of the building and back out into the compound. Maxim hurried after her.

  “Ivy!” he whispered loudly. He got outside and reached forward to take her by the arm. “Ivy, you have to be careful. You don’t know what else might be out here.”

  Ivy turned around to face him and Maxim saw tears sparkling in her eyes. He knew that what they had just gone through was unnerving, forcing her to face violence in a way that she never had before and likely making her realize just how serious this situation was. The look in her eyes, however, was beyond the fear that he would expect her to have. There was something more in that expression that sent a shiver of concern through him. He took hold of her upper arms and tilted his head down to look more deeply into her eyes.

  “Ivy? What’s wrong?”

  As if his words had broken through whatever was happening in her mind, Ivy’s eyes widened slightly and she shook her head.

  “Nothing,” she said. She stepped out of his hands and wiped a tear that had broken through away from her cheek. “I’m fine. We should keep going.”

  She walked around him back into the building. Maxim turned and watched as she leaned down and lifted her blade off of the ground. She paused long enough to wipe the blood off on the creature’s robes before walking back out of the building and crossing the compound in long, determined strides. It was as though she were trying to get away from the building as fast as she was physically possible. Maybe she was trying to get away from him.

  Maxim ran after her, using the incredible speed that was characteristic of his kind to catch up with her before she was able to get far. He took hold of her wrist again and pulled gently to stop her. She stopped, but didn’t turn to face him. Her head dropped and Maxim could see her shoulders trembling. He stepped up behind her so that his body enveloped hers and he wrapped his arms around her protectively. Kissing the top of her head, he murmured a soothing, quieting sound into her ear.

  “Everything is going to be fine,” he whispered. “We’re going to get through this. I know that none of us expected this to happen, but I know that we can handle it.”

  Ivy turned toward him, the tears now dry in her eyes as she seemed to scrutinize his face.

  “What are you talking about?” she asked.

  Maxim narrowed his eyes at her.

  “Being here,” he said. “We thought that we were going to go to Earth and rescue everyone there, but we ended up here. I know that you’re afraid, but we always knew that we were going to fight. Jonah, Azra, and the others will get to them. They will be safe. And we will be victorious here.”

  Ivy didn’t speak for a few moments. She shook her head and took a step back away from him.

  “Is there something else?” he asked.

  “I can’t tell you,” she said, sounding drawn. “Not now.”

  “You can tell me anything,” Maxim said. “It doesn’t matter where or when or what you need to tell me. I need to know what’s bothering you so much.”

  “Maxim, please. This isn’t something that I can talk to you about right now. Not with everything that’s going on. You have enough on your mind. I can’t put this on you, too. I just can’t. You have to focus on Ryan and the lives of everyone who depend on you.”

  “You are the life that matters the most to me, Ivy,” Maxim said. “If there’s something that’s hurting you, there’s nothing else that I’ll be able to think about until I can help you. Please. Tell me.”

  Maxim saw Ivy’s hand lift and briefly brush across her belly. It was an absent gesture, one that he didn’t think that she even realized that she was making, but it was significant. He knew instantly what was weighing so heavily on her.

  “Ivy,” he said. He reached forward and touched his fingertips to her belly where she had just touched. “Are you…”

  His voice trailed off. He couldn’t bring himself to say the words, as if saying them would be too much of an admission to himself. Ivy glanced down at his fingers on her belly and then back into his eyes. She nodded, the tears beginning to sparkle against the green depths of her gaze again. Maxim felt like the breath was taken out of his body. He felt himself shaking, his mind starting to spin as he tried to process what she was telling him. Ivy shook her head and started to take a step back away from him.

  “I didn’t want to tell you,” she said. “I don’t want to be something else that you have to worry about.”

  “How long have you known?” Maxim asked.

  “I’ve thought it for a few weeks,” she said.

  “And you didn’t tell me?” he asked.

  “Are you angry?” Ivy asked.

  “You should have told me,” Maxim said. “You shouldn’t have had to think about it alone.”

  “Are you angry?” Ivy asked. “About the baby?”

  Maxim couldn’t believe she would ever think that. He shook his head, stepping forward and resting his hand flatter against her belly.

  “No,” he said softly. “Of course I’m not angry about the baby.”

  He looked down at his hand, seeing his palm tenderly cupping Ivy’s belly. Just saying the word “baby” seemed to have returned all of the breath back to his body. He stroked her with his thumb and then looked back into her face.

  “Come on,” he said. “We should get back to the shuttle.”

  “We haven’t gone through the entire compound,�
� Ivy protested.

  “It’s fine,” Maxim said. “We’ve seen this much of it. We can tell the others what it looks like and what we encountered here. You need to get back to the shuttle, rest, and eat.”

  “Maxim,” Ivy said, “this is our responsibility. We can’t just walk away from this. Everyone is trusting you and looking to you to protect them.”

  “This is my responsibility,” Maxim said, pressing lightly on her belly. “I understand what my father was feeling more now than ever before. Protecting my kind, my comrades, and my planet is important to me, it is the goal of my existence, but it is nothing compared to how important it is to me now to take care of my child. When he walked into battle that day, he wasn’t just thinking about the Order or even the kingdom. He was thinking of Kyven and of me and of our mother. That is a motivation unlike any other and it only makes me more determined to finish what we started and go home to Uoria. For now, we need to go back to the shuttle, gather together with the others, and find out whatever they all learned about the planet. It will be night soon and we can’t afford to be out in the dark without any type of preparation.”

  Ivy finally nodded and they started walking together back toward the shuttle. Maxim couldn’t stop looking at her as they walked. Even through the fear, her face looked happy and at peace in a way that came from within her, going beyond the thoughts that told her that she should be worried to a place of contentment. It was getting dark by the time that they reached the shuttle again, and Maxim was relieved to see it rising against the horizon, the lights glowing from the windows. He got to the door and positioned Ivy to the side.

  “Stay here,” he said. “I’m going to scan the shuttle and make sure that none of the Valdicians or hybrids have gotten inside.”

  “They don’t have the codes,” Ivy said, referencing the locking codes that Elise had given Maxim to ensure that he could properly secure and access the shuttle.

  Maxim shook his head.

  “It doesn’t matter. They have their ways. Remember what Rain told us about the Valdicians compromising their shuttle and sabotaging their navigation system when they were first here.”

  “Ships are different now,” Ivy said. “Largely because of that. After the Nyx23 team disappeared, the government commissioned stronger ships with fail safes designed to prevent unauthorized access when the ships are stationed.”

  “Yet they were able to take over this shuttle and force us to come here,” Maxim said sharply. He took a breath and got his voice under control. “I know that this is one of the most advanced shuttles created and that it was designed to prevent anyone from getting inside when the ship has been properly secured. That doesn’t mean that I can just pretend it is invincible. The engineers on Earth have never encountered the Valdicians or any of these hybrids. They don’t know what they are capable of doing. No matter what we do, we can’t ever be sure that they haven’t found a way.”

  Maxim touched a kiss to Ivy’s lips and headed deeper into the shuttle. He wove through the rooms strategically, wanting to find any creatures that might have boarded while they were all away, but also not wanting to leave Ivy vulnerable and alone down in the main chamber for too long. Finally reassured that the shuttle was empty and secure, he returned to the common room and rested his bag and weapon to one of the chairs lined against the wall. He held his hands out to Ivy and she stepped forward to take them. Maxim guided her into the room and settled her into one of the large lounge chairs so that she could rest. He took her bag from her and placed it with his, and then knelt at her side so that he could rest his head against her belly.

  Ivy laughed, the sound causing her body to shake his head. Her hand rested on his head as if to hold it in place as she continued to laugh.

  “You’re not going to be able to hear anything, Maxim,” she told him. “It’s still too early.” Suddenly she stopped laughing. “I think. I mean, it’s too early for a human pregnancy for you to be able to hear or feel anything.”

  Maxim sat up and looked at her. Ivy’s brow was furrowed with what looked like a blend of thought and concern.

  “What do you mean?” he asked.

  “Eden’s pregnancy was different than a human pregnancy when she was carrying Lysander,” she said. “He is half-Denynso and half-human, so her pregnancy had characteristics of both species. He developed more quickly than a normal human baby, but not quite as quickly as a Denynso baby. He was also born differently than a Denynso baby.”

  “How are Denynso babies born?” Maxim asked.

  Ivy shook her head.

  “I don’t know. The midwives only told Eden that they are born differently than human babies are.”

  “So Rey had to help Eden deliver,” Maxim said.

  The memory had come to him as if through a fog. It felt like that day on top of the ridge as they looked out over the badlands was a lifetime ago. Now, though, he remembered standing with Ivy in his arms as they listened to Eden’s groans, all of them afraid of what might happen to her as she bore the first child of the new generation.

  “Yes,” Ivy said. “He said that his family had been the midwife to the human women in the settlement and that they taught him to deliver the Mikana babies.”

  Maxim nodded.

  “They are very similar,” he said.

  “How long is a Mikana pregnancy?” she asked. “I may be further along than I think.”

  “Seven months,” Maxim told her.

  “Shorter than a human pregnancy,” Ivy said.

  She touched her belly again, running her hand across it tenderly. Maxim lifted her shirt carefully, for the first time recognizing the soft slope of a tiny bump there. He smiled and kissed it, then stood.

  “That makes it even more important that we defeat Ryan and get off this planet as soon as possible,” he said. “I will not have you go through the end of your pregnancy on this wasteland. You need the midwives to take care of you and watch over the baby.”

  Ivy lowered her shirt back over her belly and looked at him with a serious expression on her face.

  “I don’t want anyone else to know,” she said.

  “Ivy,” he started, but she shook her head, silencing him.

  “Maxim, I’m serious. Everyone needs to stay focused now. They can’t know. At least not yet.”

  As much as he wanted everyone to know about his precious child cradled within Ivy and ensure that she, and their baby, would be protected, he knew that she was right. They all needed to put everything into the war and knowing about the pregnancy would only distract them. At least for now, they would have to keep the news from them.

  Chapter Six

  Emerie slid closer and Kyven pulled her against him with the arm that wasn’t holding the light stick. They were huddled against the wall, remaining as still as possible in the green glow. Since he had activated the light they hadn’t heard the breathing of the unknown creature, but he knew that the illumination wasn’t going to last much longer. It was the same light stick that he had been traveling with since they left the kingdom and he hadn’t taken the time to restore its power cell. Kyven had never needed to restore one of his lights. They were designed to provide so much illumination and until the Denynso came he hadn’t left the kingdom.

  Guilt gnawed in his belly as he felt the rise and fall of Emerie’s breath against his arm and the slight shiver of her body. It was his responsibility to protect her and to make sure that she had everything that she needed. He had failed her, though he didn’t realize what he was doing at the time. It was something so simple, so completely ridiculous. He never could have imagined that his life and the life of the woman he loved may hang in the balance of a simple light stick that he hadn’t recharged.

  Emerie shivered again and Kyven turned to rest a kiss to the top of her head.

  “Are you cold?” he asked.

  Emerie nodded and burrowed deeper against him. Kyven pulled her around so that she sat between his thighs and he could wrap h
imself around her. It was startling how quickly the chill had settled into the cavern. The daylight hours had been so brutally hot and now he could feel the almost painful sting of the air on his exposed skin. He wondered how much longer it would be until the others returned. He tucked her as close to his body as he could so that he was able to cover her skin and use his body heat to protect her.

  Around them the illumination from the light stick suddenly faded, the circle of glow closing in smaller around them. Kyven drew in a breath and lifted the stick slightly in an effort to keep the circle of light as wide as he possibly could. Even as he did, though, he could hear the return of the breathing. It was in the distance, somewhere beyond the darkness, but he could hear it. He knew that whatever was there had returned and was just waiting for the light to disappear.

  Kyven didn’t want Emerie to hear the breathing. She didn’t deserve the feeling of fear and uncertainty. He tucked his face down closer to her so that his own could replace the breaths of the creature.

  “Tell me about the miracle,” he said.

  “What?” she asked.

  “You said that this festival…” his voice trailed off as he tried to remember what she had called the holiday that she would be celebrating if she was on Earth.

  “Hanukkah,” she said.

  Kyven nodded.

  “You said that there was a miracle. Tell me about it.”

  “Why?” Emerie asked.

  Her voice had lost some of the peace and determination that it had held when she was first telling him about the holiday and he knew that he had to help her get it back. This was the one thing that had given her the strength to move forward. He couldn’t let it disappear.

  “It’s important to you,” he said. “This is something that matters to you and I want to know everything that I can about you. Besides, you said that they were like us. They were sneaky and brave, and there weren’t as many of them as there were of the enemy army. If you say that there was a miracle, I’d like to know about it.”