As he moved closer his features cleared. She’d never encountered a male so dangerously handsome, regally rugged, and with classical beauty. His powerful muscles flexed as he moved with easy strides, his air was royalty mixed with warrior. No doubt a leader.
High Tide had been filled with men, all mainly assholes, so it surprised her when this man’s features stirred her and made her flesh tingle. His differences were appealing.
“Where am I?” Her stammer was little more than a whisper.
“Sitnalta.”
“You brought me here.” Meadow swiveled to look around and winced. Her side ached. Her hand pressed to her ribs, and she couldn’t help the grimace of pain she shot in his direction.
“I’m sorry I can’t heal you. It might be disastrous.”
“Disastrous? It always takes time to heal a wound.”
He looked upset that he couldn’t help, which was confusing. He’d just saved her from sharks and from drowning.
“Not always, not here with my people, but with humans it can be catastrophic. Something we recently discovered. We’ve had a healing device since the beginning of time. There is a special drink the healer prepares. He is from a long line of healers. If one cannot swallow, the ingredients are injected into the machine, you are then submerged in a larger dose with other elements to aid healing. The machine systematically heals your wounds by invading semi-permeable skin in the places where it’s needed most. It usually takes no more than a few moments. There is one small problem with the healing machine though.”
Meadow looked at Arax, not understanding what he meant, but it seemed important enough that it piqued her curiosity. “What problem?”
“We have used the device only once on a grown human. It was that or death. I am solely to blame for what occurred, and I’ve taken responsibility.”
Meadow swallowed hard. She again noticed his differences. He was neither man nor fish. There were lines across either side of his throat—gills. He had three large toes on his feet. He wasn’t ugly by any means. A handsome race, but different than humans. If their machine was geared to heal his kind, what would it do to a human?
“What happened?” Meadow asked with dread.
“See for yourself.”
Arax clapped his hands. A female of Arax’s kind came forward. Her features weren’t as noticeable at first, she was half-hidden by a bundle she carried. The alien woman was beautiful in a strange way. She resembled Arax but petite, her gills were smaller, her pure white hair to her waist. She wore little and nothing from the waist up. In her arms was a small bundle that she extended toward Meadow. This is a grown human? Meadow prepared herself for a monstrosity. A blob. A face with no arms or legs, or worse, a tail and fins with arms and legs. The female pulled the blankets away from the bundle to reveal what lay underneath. Mouth agape, Meadow stared at a human baby of about nine months old. Meadow took the child into her arms and checked it over. The child was perfect. Her brows knit in confusion. She thought he was going to show her a problem caused by a machine, not a beautiful baby.
“This baby is human,” she said, surprised.
“Yes, she is.”
“She?”
“Yes, she.”
“Where did you find her?” Meadow was confused. She and Arax had been talking about the machine. Here she sat with a baby. Where was the grown human? She wondered if Arax had saved the baby from the ship when he saved her. There were few babies onboard, and Meadow didn’t think there were any this young. Then again, mothers were known to hide infants from the pirates. The pirates thought of small children as a waste of space, too small to work, only good at eating. But an accident was bound to happen with zero birth control. A baby was a possibility.
“This female crash-landed some time ago in a small vessel. After we had learned of her species’ fate with the Zargonnii.”
Meadow shook her head. “A baby crash-landed? What’s a Zargonnii?”
“Aliens.”
Other aliens?
“Where are her parents?” Why would aliens have a human baby?
“She was alone when she crashed.”
“But you said Zargonnii… My God, who would put a tiny baby in a shuttle all alone?”
“The Zargonnii did it to save her life. The Zargonnii are a new species to my people, but through small interaction they have proved…honorable.” He seemed to chew the word with some distaste. “But there is a larger problem.”
“What?”
“This was no baby when she came here.”
Meadow looked at him in confusion. “What do you mean?”
“I mean when the shuttle crashed she emerged as a full-grown female human.”
“Okay, I’m not following.” Her mind was reeling.
“She was injured in the landing. So much so our healer determined she might die and we took her to our healing machine.”
An icy cold finger slid down Meadow’s spine. This was the human he was talking about. This was what he considered a disaster.
“We both felt there was no other solution, she would be dead if we did nothing. Not only was the blood loss too extensive but she had many broken bones piercing her skin. She was in agony. I could do nothing.” The last was a plea, and she remembered he blamed himself for what had occurred. “Obviously, the machine has side effects for humans. You see, our machine takes a person’s body back in time before the injury occurred, normally only a few hours or less. She was injured at this age on Earth. A bone was broken, and even though it healed, a mark of the damage had remained without the aid of this machine. The machine returned her to the time before her very first injury.”
“Well, change her back!” Meadow exclaimed.
“We cannot.”
“You mean she’s going to stay like this?”
“She will age normally. We noticed her hair and fingernails growing, which means she will age from now on. But yes, she will stay the same until she reaches maturity in a normal fashion.”
“But her mind and memories.”
“The memories are gone. She is mentally the age that she is in physical body. The healing process requires all memory of any traumatic event be wiped clean. She is a very content and happy baby, and she should be no trouble to a human female. She is yours now.”
“Mine?”
“My people have no idea how to look after a full-blooded human baby. We’ve never seen one. At first I thought she was deformed until I really took a hard look at her. She is a miniature you. She is under my protection, not that any here would harm her—purposely.”
“What do you mean purposely?” Meadow narrowed her eyes. It suddenly occurred to her why Arax saved her life. She was to be a glorified babysitter.
“The female I chose to watch over her asked me a question that made me realize I can’t let the child too far out of my sight.”
“What question?”
“She wanted to know how long she should let her sleep underwater.”
“Good Lord!”
“Our infants spend a great deal of time underwater in the first two years of their life. So you see, she is better off in your care. With me guarding you both.”
“Does she have a name?”
“I think she said her name was Bertha before she blacked out. She said some interesting things before that. All of them rude and derogatory, mostly about the Zargonnii, something about Titus. Some strange things about an ice home. She was babbling somewhat incoherently. She called for a female named Adan and Bethany. Not much made sense. Except she was exceedingly obnoxious.”
“So I’m holding a demon baby?”
“Not necessarily.” He scowled at her. “Her life experiences may have made her bitter. Her last ramblings were that of how cruel males can be. In your experience how often do babes of this age break bones?”
His quick defense of the baby came as a surprise. An endearing quality Meadow noticed immediately.
“I’m guessing she was abused,” Meadow speculated.
&nb
sp; “I think that would be a safe guess. She remembers none of those memories, and she will never remember them. She has a fresh start, and nothing bad will ever happen to her here.”
She again took note of his passion for one so vulnerable.
Arax sat beside her. “I admit I’m at a loss. I need your help. She needs your help.”
Huge, green eyes gazed up at Meadow. A cheeky grin flickered on the baby’s lips. Tufts of light hair were downy soft when Meadow ran strands of it through her fingertips. The baby was beautiful. And alone in a place where no one knew how to look after her. There would be no returning to Earth. There was nothing left there for either of them—except they now had each other. What else could she do? She noted Arax’s eyes filled with anxiety and hope. This male had gone to great lengths to aid the baby. Braving shark-infested waters, saving Meadow from death.
“Can I change her name? I mean, there’s nothing wrong with the name Bertha, but if she’s going to have a fresh start, why not a new name?”
“Of course. She’s yours.”
Meadow sighed. Saved and then plunged into motherhood within a matter of hours. She held the baby in the air, and she chortled and kicked her feet. “I think I’ll call you Neola. It means new or young one. Either fits. New beginning, new name.”
“Sounds like a fine name.”
Meadow watched as Arax shifted. He seemed a bit wary of something. “Why haven’t you contacted these Zargonnii and told them what happened?” she asked.
“Our alliance with the Zargonnii is tenuous.”
“And?”
“Though the female obviously hated the Zargonnii she could have been a mate to one. She constantly mumbled about Titus and mating.”
“Who is Titus?”
“Leader of the Southern Zargonnii.”
“Oh shit.”
Arax reached over and took the baby into his arms. “Do not use that kind of language around my child.”
“Your child? I thought she was mine?”
Arax squirmed with her question but kept the baby close. Neola looked perfectly content to be with him.
“Wait a minute. Oh my God, you’re attached to her.”
He doesn’t simply feel obligation toward the baby, he cares for her.
Arax cuddled the baby to his chest. “I’ve already offended the Zargonnii once. Worlds and galaxies are at war. Sides are being chosen. If Titus finds out I turned his mate into a baby, he’ll kill us all for sure.”
Meadow tilted her head in thought. “You could have disposed of her you know. Titus never would have found out. Only you and your healer would have known.”
Arax stiffened and ducked his head before returning her gaze.
“I see, you already thought of that. So who got cold feet?”
“The healer will not kill. I can think of no crime more heinous than a grown male killing a female child. Or any child. The thought made me sick, and I dismissed the idea immediately. But she is my responsibility. You must swear secrecy. You must swear to all the baby is yours. No one will know except the doctor and me. I rescued you both together. Everyone thinks the grown female is dead. This little one’s life might be in your hands if war between the Zargonnii and water warriors comes. She has suffered enough. My planet has its own troubles that don’t belong to her.”
The weight of an entire species rested on Meadow’s shoulders. If the Zargonnii found out their treachery death would surely follow judging by the way Arax spoke. But this Titus, poor thing, to go through life always wondering what happened to his beloved mate… Even if he learned the truth, the damage had been done.
“How would it feel to have to raise your own mate from infant to adulthood?” Meadow’s words were soft, but she saw Arax flinch.
“I don’t want to imagine.”
“I’ll keep your secret. You were only trying to save her life. If she were my spouse, I’d rather her live like this than be dead. But you better have a good excuse to explain us. Does anyone else know about me? I can see most of my clothes are gone.” Her tattered layers were gone as well as shoes and socks, but the bare essentials were covered. She was surprised she hadn’t noticed earlier, but the shock of where she was and who she was with was finally easing.
“Only our healer. He looked you over first. He didn’t dare put you in the healing machine for obvious reasons.”
“It’s a good thing he didn’t,” Meadow said. “I broke my arm when I was five.” She shuddered, thinking of waking up at five years of age, wanting her mommy and daddy, remembering them and needing them. A horrible memory tugged at her. Something awful had happened the day her arm broke, a fleeting memory that fizzled and fled.
Neola was lucky she was only a baby. But it made Meadow wonder. A baby’s bones were hard to break. She pondered what had happened to the child and how the injury occurred.
“You brought me back to be a babysitter?”
“No, I opened the portal hoping to find a human female. A mother for her. Since you were floundering in shark-infested areas I thought that wouldn’t really work for me if you died. If you were to drown or be eaten.”
“So you brought me here.”
“It seemed the logical choice. It was also the only choice.”
Meadow knew she couldn’t go back to Earth. They’d been living on borrowed time. It seemed she had been given a reprieve.
“All those other people. Gone, dead.” Her heart filled with sadness.
For a fleeting second Arax lifted his hand and cupped her jaw in a tender fashion before looking uncomfortable with the intimacy. He let his hand fall, but there was kindness in his expression. “A number of them were killed, yes. But didn’t you see the sky filled with spaceships?”
“I saw strange things. I thought I saw a huge, winged man swoop down from the sky and grab a woman and her two children. They all disappeared into an egg that vanished.”
“The Dalanee are winged, dark warriors. They keep humans as slaves. They’re a strange sort of creature.”
“I saw a black hole open and others were scooped up. But I was so scared I thought it was my imagination.”
“I’m guessing they were Castian.” Arax chuckled. “It would seem all sorts of species went fishing in the same pond I did.”
“Will they kill the humans?”
“Some species will. Hopefully, the Castians got to them first, or even the Dalanee. If it was the Gorgano, they would have no hope. Rogue Tonans would be just as bad. As I said, our worlds are at war. Humans are caught in the middle. Trophies or tragedies, one never knows.”
“And what exactly am I?”
“My guest.”
The baby began to cry. Arax jiggled her in his arms and smiled. “She’s fine, she’s just hungry.”
“How can you be so certain?”
Arax gazed at her as though it were so simple to see. “Her tears told me.”
“Huh?”
“Her tears. Oh, that’s right, humans can only sense the obvious. Tears tell a story. Right now her tears tell me the story of hunger, but we have dolphin milk.”
Dolphin milk? Gah.
Meadow watched as Arax strode off with the baby then stopped at the door. “I’ll take care of her for now while you heal.”
He nuzzled the baby as he continued on. Neola giggled and wrapped a little arm around his neck. Meadow could see a bond had formed whether the alien knew it or not. Arax no doubt loved her. His smile for the child was contagious and endearing. The children on High Tide never laughed, and hearing Neola’s sweet voice was a gift. Arax must be doing something right.
Meadow lay back down on the bed and closed her eyes. Maybe when he returned he might bring her food. She wondered if this place had food she could eat.
Hell, I’d even settle for dolphin milk right about now, ew.
Chapter 5
“How can something so small smell so bad?”
Meadow woke to the sound of Arax’s voice after her nap. It appeared he had returned with Neola as she
heard the infant squeal. She peered under an arm and watched as Arax struggled to change the baby. He peeled the stretchable clothing covering the babe’s behind off first. Arax twisted and placed a hand to his mouth, he looked like he might vomit. Meadow smiled and remained still.
“Phew, child, you would cause a panic if I set you down in a tiger shark area. They’d swim for their lives. I mean really, that’s disgusting.”
Neola kicked her feet, chortling, obviously having a fine time. Arax raised his hands to fend off filth as spatters went flying when she kicked. Arax grabbed her ankles in one hand and waved his other. Meadow’s eyes widened. A swirl of water rose from a basin and moved toward the girl in an instant bidet, swirling gently around her bottom and legs. With a wave of his hand the water vanished. The baby gave in to an outright peel of laughter. Arax chuckled.
For a moment he leaned down and tickled the babe under her arms. Her small fists waved in delight. The two were precious together. The idea sent a shiver through Meadow. Her dad had been as wonderful.
“That’s some trick,” Meadow said.
Arax cast her a quick glance before he slipped a strange cloth onto Neola’s behind. He lifted the child into his arms, hugging her to his chest. Neola grabbed his nose, making him laugh. She was bare from the waist up. From the fountain off to the side Arax made the water float toward her then dance across her skin. Neola was delighted. Around and around the water swirled, lightly cleansing her face, ruffling her tufts of hair, until settling back into the fountain.
A soft, fluffy blanket lay nearby and he wrapped her in it. He strode over to Meadow and sat on the bed. Both he and Neola looked at her wide-eyed. Neola rested her head against his chest and gave Meadow a tentative smile. A dimple teased in and out. She could see two teeth. This had to be the most irresistible baby Meadow had ever seen. She reached for her. With reluctance Arax handed the baby over. Meadow sat her on her knee.
“You obviously love this baby,” Meadow said. “Why not just teach another how to cope with her? Now you’re stuck with me, another human female.”
“I’m not stuck with you, I chose you. Some would consider that a great honor. The females here would care for the baby. They might even love her after a while, but I’m leader of the water warriors, and that is something the females here will never forget. I rule all here, even those who do not want me to. I wanted a human female, someone who doesn’t care about my position. But there are things you do need to know. We are at war with the shark people, rebels who refuse to fall under my rule, and they take up much of my attention. But right now they’re a little indisposed.” He grinned evilly.
In His Alien Hands Page 4
