"Answer me," she said, the tension in her jaw causing pain to radiate down the sides of her neck.
Without acknowledging her any further, Ciyrs turned sharply and walked out of the house, letting the door slam behind him.
"Get up," Pyra said down to Maxim.
As soon as Maxim was out of her lap Ivy jumped to her feet and stepped up to Pyra.
"What is going on?" she demanded.
Pyra turned away from her and Ivy reached out to grab his arm. Pyra thrashed his arm out of her grip, turning and pulling his hand back as if he was going to strike her, but then lowered it to his side. Ivy stared up at him unwaveringly. Even his tremendous size and aggression weren't frightening her. She didn't care about the reputation he had built as the most forceful and violent of all of the Denynso warriors, or the fact that he was leader of the group of men. He wasn't going to force her back.
"He is expected at the meeting hall with the others."
"He has a name."
"I don't care what his name is," Pyra said, glaring over her shoulder at Maxim. "That creature will go to the meeting hall with the others of his kind."
"And who are you to demand I, or any of my kind, do anything?" Maxim demanded, stepping up behind Ivy close enough that she could feel his chest touch her back.
His hand rested protectively on her hip and Ivy found comfort in the touch.
"I am the lead warrior of the Denynso. I am who brought them here and I am who came to your kingdom and brought you here. Where there is no control, I am that control. You will do as I say or I will eliminate you now."
Ivy felt her spine straighten and her chest swell angrily toward Pyra. She knew that she was tiny compared to him, but at that moment she felt like anything that he had was little compared to the anger that was swelling inside her. She no longer felt compelled to follow him, to assimilate to the ways of the compound or to even follow through with her part in the university program. This was not what she had intended when she agreed to come along to help George with his research. She thought that she would be coming to the beautiful and mysterious planet of Uoria to learn more about the Denynso and the planet itself. She thought that perhaps they would do experiments that would teach them more about the environment, the plant life, and how the Denynso and another creatures they encountered lived and be able to record enough information that they could write up reports that would finally get her name in the scientific publications at home. She had not anticipated the turmoil that she would walk into or the tumultuous journey that she would have to go on to go to the settlement to help the lost humans locked there. She had not anticipated meeting another species, one that was so like her own and yet still different, and falling so deeply in love with one of those people. She had especially not anticipated listening to the rage in Pyra's voice or standing in the middle of what was becoming an impending war.
Ivy felt Maxim's hand tighten on her hip and apply pressure so that he guided her back toward him rather than allowing her to advance toward Pyra like she wanted to. She could hear him making soothing, quieting sounds into her ear as if attempting to quell the words that hadn't even started out of her mouth yet. She wanted to lash out at Pyra, to tell him that this was not the way that the world worked, but she realized that when she was on Uoria, this was the way the world worked. She was at the mercy of other species who lived a life so incredibly different from hers it was nearly impossible to reconcile them from many angles. As much as she had dreamed of coming to Uoria and had been so looking forward to the time that she would get to spend on the planet, now all she wanted was to bring Maxim back to Earth with her and pretend that, other than him, the time on the strange planet hadn't happened.
"You aren't going to threaten him," Ivy hissed.
"It's alright, Ivy," Maxim said, tightening his grip even more. "I have nothing to hide and neither does any other member of my kind. We are a peaceful kind. We will go to the meeting hall like he asks and hear what he has to say. We can decide then what we will do from there."
Chapter Two
"Pyra, how can you know what you are saying is true?"
Pyra looked up from where he stood on the platform in the well of the meeting hall and met eyes with Gyyx. They were gathered in the meeting hall as they had been just a few days before, but the feeling was completely different than it had been then. In that first meeting there was a feeling of tenuous connection and the beginning of hope for a cooperative future. The steps of the well had been a mix of the different species as they mingled amongst each other, created new groups and pairs, and sat independently without the need to be aligned with their own kind that had defined everything Pyra was accustomed to. There had been a sense of excitement then, even as they remained cautious and somewhat unsure about how they would proceed forward, but now there was a feeling of tension and suspicion hanging heavily in the air around them.
Rey and his men were clustered in the first few rows of the well while the Denynso warriors created a wall around them, a few of the humans filling in the spaces between the larger, more aggressive warriors to create a physical barrier that surrounded the beautiful creatures that had become such as source of suspicion and terror for Pyra. His eyes fell on each of them in turn, evaluating them, scrutinizing them. Finally they rested on the young man who sat beside Ivy, the angry open wound on his arm evident and visible. He searched for the man's name in his mind, but the level of anger and sheer aggression within him kept it from his lips. Finally his attention returned to Gyyx.
"There has only been one other time in my life, in any of our lives that we have heard of a creature that changed from being beautiful and kind to being a disgusting, vile species set on only destruction and bloodshed. One species that has been the scourge of our kind since before any of us were born." He turned back to the injured man and saw his eyes meet his without hesitation. The lack of fear, intimidation, or even a sense of shame that should come from him knowing what they were spurned Pyra's anger on even further and he pointed at him forcefully. "What is your name?"
"Maxim," he responded evenly.
"Come here."
Maxim didn't move, but continued to stare at him defiantly. Pyra felt the frustration building in his belly and the tension of the anger tightening his chest. For a moment he was angry with himself for leaving his weapons at the house, but then he thought of Eden and forced the feeling away. He gripped the necklace that she had Jem make for her, stroking the pendant that represented the two of them and the child that they would be welcoming soon, telling himself that he had to calm down. Starting a war now would only put him and the other men in danger, and create danger for the rest of the compound, including Eden and the baby, and that was something that he had to try to avoid as best as he could.
"Maxim," Rey said calmly. Pyra watched Maxim turn to look at his own leader. "Do as Pyra asks. We agreed to come here to help him with what he needed. Let him assuage his fears so that we can all move on from this."
Maxim rose to his feet and walked down the steps of the well until he was standing at the base of the platform. Pyra stepped aside to provide more space and Maxim stepped up to stand beside him. The younger man's jaw was set firmly, but he was still showing no fear. It was defiance that seemed to be a silent threat.
"You wanted something with me?" Maxim finally asked, his voice low and controlled.
"Show them your arm."
Maxim remained still, continuing to stare up into Pyra's face as if he were evaluating the Denynso warrior just as he was being evaluated.
"Maxim," Rey said leadingly, "go on."
Pyra watched as Maxim turned to the rest of the group in the room and extended his arm, revealing the wound. The area that Ciyrs had touched was burned so deeply it revealed the bone of his arm while the area around it maintained the slimy white texture that seemed to be expanding. Several people in the crowd gasped and Pyra heard a few of the warriors mutter obscenities under their breath when they saw
the wound. He knew that his men recognized the color of the skin immediately.
"Now you see," Pyra said. "You see the way his skin is changing. What else have you ever seen that looks like that?"
"What happened to you, Maxim?" Rey asked, the concern in his voice evident.
"I went for a walk outside of the boundary of the settlement. I took a rest in a field of flowers that I've never seen before."
"When was this?"
"The day of the first meeting."
"And when did you start noticing the reaction on your skin?"
"The first small spot appeared two days later. It has gotten worse since then."
"And it burned down to the bone?"
At this point Rey was walking toward Maxim, the worry in his voice now reflected in his eyes.
"No," Maxim said, lowering his arm and turning to glare at Ciyrs. "The great healer of the Denynso did this to me."
He spat the words with such viciousness and disdain that Pyra felt his hands clenching again and the desire for vengeance taking over his need to control himself.
"He was testing what we know now to be true," he said angrily, stepping in the way of Rey so that he couldn't get closer to Maxim.
"And what is it that you think is true about our kind?" Rey asked.
The soft gentleness in the man's eyes had faded and been replaced by sharpness that seemed to exaggerate the clear blue color that had so fascinated Pyra when he first saw them. Pyra straightened, squaring his chest to the smaller man in a show of dominance.
"What I know is true about your kind is that you are the Klimnu, the vilest, disgusting, and hated of all of the species that the Denynso have encountered."
There was a rush of voices through the well and several of Rey's men stood to their feet. The Denynso warriors and the human men stepped toward them, some touching the weapons that they wore at their hips. Pyra could see that there was a violent and potentially bloody conflict stirring and he raised his hand to stop the warriors and bring them under control. He knew what he wanted to do with these creatures, but before that happened, he needed answers, and the only way that that was going to happen was if he kept these men alive long enough to confront them.
"How dare you bring such accusations against us? What could you possibly have that would support that?"
"The reaction on that man's arm is exactly what the skin of the Klimnu looked like."
"You have decided that we are some sort of fearsome, bloodthirsty race based on a reaction to some flowers that has damaged Maxim's skin?" Rey asked incredulously.
"We know what the skin of the Klimnu looks like," Ty said from the back of the crowd.
There were a few shouts of agreement among the warriors.
"We have been up close to them in battle," Ero added, "killed them with our own hands so that they couldn't kills us."
"Rescued our women from their grasp, including my own who suffered nearly to death in that prison that your kind built," Gyyx added.
"Our kind has lived in the same kingdom for the entirety of our existence. We told you that during our last meeting when we were discussing the Covra and our history with them. We live in the same place, in the same homes, and with the same traditions of our ancestors. We have never once transformed into any type of gruesome creature and waged war with you," Rey said. "Don't you remember when we first met? I told you that my kind has revered the Denynso as legends, almost myths. If we had been at war with you, don't you think that we would have remembered?"
"You told me yourself that half of your group split off from the others after the war with the Covra ended."
"Yes, they did, but no one knows what happened to them after they left the kingdom. We never heard from them again. We assumed that they fell victim to their own vices and simply died off."
"What do you mean their vices?"
"After the war with the Covra, some of our kind felt that it was our peaceful, accepting ways that had made us so vulnerable to the Covra. They were angry and aggressive, and wanted to take back the power that the Covra had taken from us. My elders once told me that it seemed like the ones of that group had been infected by the Covra in that cruel and horrible way that they forced our kind to fight with one another so that that Covra didn't have to do it themselves. Rather than fighting with each other, however, this group seemed to be filled with the greed and cruelty of the Covra. They said they wanted more than just our kingdom. The other group refused. They told them that we had won our freedom from the Covra and that we should go back to living the way that we always had, just putting that dark time behind us. There was no agreement and the other group left the kingdom, vowing that they would be back to reclaim the land and the rest of the species. They never returned."
Pyra drew in a deep breath, his eyes narrowing as he looked at Rey.
"You have just confirmed everything that I thought."
Chapter Three
The coldness in Pyra's voice was more frightening than any of the words that he said and Ivy felt her breath catching in her throat. She wanted to go to Maxim, to be close enough to touch him. What could Pyra have meant by what he had said?
"I don't understand," Rey said, seeming to take a small step back away from the Denynso leader. "What do you mean I have confirmed everything that you thought?"
"The half of your group that split off from you didn't just disappear, and they didn't die out there on Uoria. With your resources and technology you couldn't have honestly believed that they would just go out there and die. They would be far too prepared, and far too smart, for that. The reason that they didn't ever return to your kingdom was that they didn't stay on Uoria."
"I still don't understand."
"My mate was held captive by the Klimnu for nearly two months in the prison that you built," Gyyx said. "During that time the one who captured her told her about the origins of the Klimnu. He didn't say anything about a kingdom or a war with the Covra. What he did say, however, was that their kind knew our king before, when they were still beautiful and happy. He said that they had come in contact with toxins that had begun to eat away at their skin and turn them into gruesome, slimy creatures."
Ivy felt like she couldn't breathe. The tension in the room was building so intensely that she was afraid at any moment one of the men was going to break out of the hold that the conversation seemed to be having over all of them and attack the others. She didn't want to be witness to a battle, but she also couldn’t even think about leaving Maxim behind. He was obviously in serious danger even if she was still unsure of what was happening. Her hands gripped the front of the step in front of her so tightly her knuckles were white and she could feel the joints ache. She watched Pyra nod at Gyyx as if acknowledging what he said.
"You said that the half of your group that had split off learned from the Covra. The Covra wanted to rule everything. The wanted to take over the entirety of the planet."
"If the rogue group wanted to take over the planet, don't you think that we would have heard from them again? We would have known that they were taking over areas of land and that they were fighting. They would have come back here and tried to dominate us," Rey said as if he were pointing out something that completely explained away everything that Pyra and Gyyx had said.
"That's true," Pyra said.
Rey smiled, but Ivy was too suspicious of Pyra to think that it was that simple. He was far too determined to just allow the situation to drop that easily.
"If this was the planet that they were trying to take over," Ciyrs said.
The smugness in his voice made the hatred and anger toward him surge even more within Ivy and she fought with herself to stay where she was sitting.
"I don't understand. We already told you that we can't travel off of the planet."
"No," Pyra said, "you didn't tell us that you can't travel off of the planet. You told us that you choose not to. You have the technology and are more than capable of leaving Uoria
and that is exactly what happened. You're right that if the rogue group decided to take over Uoria, you would have heard from them again. They would have come back to take over the kingdom. They wouldn’t have just let you stay here undisturbed while they fought with the other species of the planet and took over just those areas. If they were going to take over a planet, it wasn't Uoria."
"Then where did they go?" Rey asked.
Ivy would have expected him to sound angry, even defiant of the warriors who were making such horrible accusations of his kind, but instead, Rey sounded sad and somewhat wistful. She realized as she looked at him, his eyes wide as he waited for Pyra to tell him what happened to the group that left the kingdom, that he was feeling the same way that the humans had about the Nyx 23 crew. They had built a sense of attachment toward those that they had lost and the thought of knowing what had happened to them was an emotional moment for Rey even if the revelation wasn't something that any of them wanted to hear.
"Ynn," Gyyx said.
"Exactly," Pyra responded, nodding. "We always thought that the Klimnu originated on Ynn, but that isn't the case. They didn't start there, they went there. Unless I miss my guess, your kind is able to live on very little and can deal with temperatures and conditions that would wipe out other species."
"Yes," Rey said. "When necessary, we can go for long stretches of time without eating, can make food out of things that others aren't able to digest, and can tolerate extreme climates."
"That's exactly why it doesn't make sense that you would think that they had died when they went off on their own. This planet is far too lush and mild for them to be anything but comfortable even if they went to the harshest corners. No. They used the technology that they already knew. Knowing that it was a largely uninhabitable planet, but one that they could endure, they chose Ynn. Without many other species being able to endure the conditions of the planet, they knew that they would be able to completely take it over and create a paradise where they would be safe from any other invaders. They were prepared to fight any other species that might already be there or who attempted to come, but they knew the chances of that happening were slim."
Alien Romance Box Set: Uoria Mates II Complete Series (Books 1 - 10): A Sci-fi Alien Warrior Invasion Abduction Romance Page 41
