by Stasia Black
She shakes her head rapidly and then pushes the door open. How did she fix it so quickly? Clever and beautiful.
I grin at her and put my arm around her shoulders as we turn to present ourselves to Shak and his mate.
“Hi,” Ana says, giving a little wave. “It’s me.”
“Ana,” Shak’s mate gasps, pulling away from Shak and taking several steps forward. “No. Tell me you didn’t.”
Ana goes tense beside me, all her muscles rigid.
I can’t help the low growl as I urge Ana behind me.
“Juliet.” Shak’s voice is a harsh snap in the fresh midmorning air. “Do not move another step.”
He moves in front of his mate. I have changed my mind about the Queen. She is ugly and mean, to so carelessly upset Ana. Even now, Ana trembles at my back, clasping my belt buckle.
“Don’t be silly,” the Queen says. “Ana, come out from back there. I just want to talk.”
“Do not address my mate,” I snap.
“You do not have permission to talk to your Queen.” Shak speaks in a tone that says any friendship between us is gone if I press this matter. “And certainly not with such disrespect.”
I grind my teeth together. No wonder Ana was reluctant to come here and wanted to put it off. I should have known that one Queen is no better than another.
The last Queen was a manipulative snake and it appears Shak has fallen prey to the wiles of another, just like his father did.
“We are leaving then,” I state, and turn my back on my King and longtime friend. I cleave now only to my mate and the family we will make. So be it. I take Ana’s hand and attempt to guide her back towards our vehicle.
“Stop,” Ana says. She pries her hand out of mine. “Everybody just stop.”
She takes a deep, heaving breath. She’s so upset, the water films her eyes and is only moments away from spilling. I want to pick her up in my arms and sprint away from this place.
“Juliet, this is my decision. You said you wanted a woman who knew all the consequences and welcomed them. That’s me!” Ana throws her arms up in the air. “You know how much this means to me. How I’ve always wanted to be a part of something…bigger. But it’s about so much more now.” She looks my way and her face softens. “Now that I’ve met Ezo.”
She looks back to the woman who is supposed to be her friend. “You know how fast it can happen with them. You know how intense the connection is. I— He’s—”
She throws her hands up again. “This is what I want, okay? This is what we want.” She takes my arm, snuggling close to my side. I grip her arm firmly, wanting to give her my strength. “I hope you can respect me enough to trust me,” she finishes.
“It’s not that I don’t respect you,” the Queen says, eyebrows pinching together. “I just don’t want you getting in over your head. This is all a lot to handle. Sometimes you don’t handle change all that well and I’m just trying to prot—”
“Jesus, are you and Giselle ever going to let that go? Yes, in college I was really lonely, I got overwhelmed, and I—” Ana breaks off, looking lost.
I glare at the Queen. She is attacking my mate for no reason. It is only out of respect for Ana that I keep my mouth closed, but I do not care for this woman and her rude opinions about a life that isn’t her own.
Finally Ana squares her shoulders and looks back at the Queen. “I got help. I went on medication for a little while. I got my head on straight. But you and Giselle will never let me forget it. It’s like you want me to stay sick so you two can always feel superior to me.”
“That’s not it at all!” the Queen says, her features stricken. “It’s just that whenever you get deep into one of your fixations, we worry that—”
“My fixations?” Ana’s voice goes unnaturally high. “You mean my hobbies? Like looking for the deeper truth of things in the world around me? What’s so wrong with that? I work all day in retail, for Christ’s sake! If I didn’t have something more meaningful to do with the rest of my time, I’d want to put a bullet in my brain.”
What is a bullet? This does not sound good. I frown down at Ana but she’s already moving on.
“I know you don’t respect my research, but it’s literally what keeps me sane. Not to mention, that, hello? I was right about the freaking aliens!”
Ana is breathing hard when she finishes her speech and I clasp her hand, hoping she’ll allow the contact now. She does and she squeezes back, like she’s glad for my support.
The Queen has taken a step back and blinks repeatedly, her mouth open. “Shit, Ana… I didn’t know you felt that way. I— I’m sorry.” Her eyebrows furrow and though I’m still not expert at reading human facial expressions, I believe what I see on her face is remorse. It appears genuine… But it could be false. A manipulation of some kind.
“I’m so sorry, Ana,” Shak’s mate continues, her words a rush now. “Please. Can you forgive me? I’ve been a horrible bitch. I was just in mother hen mode for so long, I didn’t see that you grew up. And God knows I’m in no position to judge. I stayed with Robbie and lied to you guys for years.”
The Queen’s face crumples and now water streams from her eyes.
Ana moves forward but I hold her back by my grip on her hand. “It could be a trap,” I whisper.
Ana just shakes her head. “She’s my best friend. It’s okay.”
Reluctantly I let go of her hand and she hurries forward. She and Shak’s very pregnant mate embrace. Before long, both of their eyes are gushing waters but they are laughing at the same time.
Shak comes over to stand beside me. “Strange creatures, these human females.” He tilts his head and peers at them, then a smile breaks over his face. “Strange and wonderful.”
Finally, I smile too and clap him on the back. “Your words have never been more true, my friend.”
We stand watching our mates in peace for several long moments when the noise of a loud motor vehicle behind us has me turning in alarm. Shak must not have closed the gate after we came in.
“The guest is expected,” Shak says when I reach for my scylathe which, of course, is not at my side. I was not allowed to bring any of our weapons or technology down to the surface with us. I’m sure Shak has one somewhere, since he’s King.
I’m not without my defenses, though. The Draci are more than three times faster than the humans and four times as strong.
The car comes to a stop beside Ana’s and another female gets out. She’s tall and has long, yellow hair.
She puts a hand over her eyes to shield them from the sun, looks at me and Shak, then over to Ana and the Queen’s water-streaked faces. “Damn, what I’d miss?”
Chapter Eight
Ana
“Wow,” Giselle says, sipping her coffee and glancing between me and Juliet. We’re sitting in Juliet’s opulent living room, looking out on the huge, beautifully landscaped garden within the compound’s high walls. It seems almost impossibly lush for Northeast California and I wonder if they borrowed some terraforming tech to plant it.
Shak and Ezo are outside attempting to grill in the backyard. Juliet asked if they wanted any help but Shak looked offended and just said, “I can perform this common human male task to provide cooked meat for my mate.”
Apparently he saw it on TV—some bro dude show about manly men grilling—and took it as a directive that he’d been failing Juliet in a crucial male duty.
“So now you’re both shacked up with aliens.” Giselle shakes her head, glancing out the window for a long moment before looking back to us. “Are they good to you? Just tell me if they’re good to you.”
“Oh honey,” Juliet says, reaching out and grasping Giselle’s hand. Because she’s at home, she’s wearing a loose spaghetti strap maternity top, and the golden scales along her breastbone, forearms, and upper arms shine in the sunlight from the window. She has her wings tucked in but whenever she opens them… It’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen. “Shak is the best.”
&
nbsp; “Ezo too,” I agree, my eyes lingering on her scales. I want it so badly, a thousand times more after spending yesterday with Ezo. I want concrete physical evidence that we’re tied together for the long haul.
Giselle laughs, swiping at a stray tear. “You’ve only known him for a day.”
Juliet and I exchange a look. I don’t think either of us knows how to explain that after even a single time sleeping with one of them, you can feel more connected than you ever have before to any human. It’s not love at first sight…or, er…at first sex, but it’s deep. I feel like I’ve known Ezo for months, not hours.
“It gets intense pretty fast with these guys,” I say and Juliet nods emphatically. Giselle’s eyes again go to the window. I know Giselle’s wanted a steady boyfriend for a long time now. All she seems to meet are losers and guys who are just looking for a one night stand on the dating apps she uses.
“How are things with the new job?” Juliet asks diplomatically.
“Uh uh,” Giselle laughs, eyes coming back our way. “No way. You’re about to pop any second with a brand-new interspecies baby and this one just hooked up with hot bachelor number two. Sorry girls, but I know my little human life is just not that interesting at the moment.”
“No,” Juliet cries. “Of course your life is interesting. Everything’s just the same as it always was. Three Musketeers, forever.”
Giselle doesn’t look convinced but she still lifts her coffee cup. “I’ll toast to that.” Juliet toasts with her herbal tea and I join in with my coffee. The only thing I dread about pregnancy is giving up my daily caffeine fix.
“Okay, so my boss Erica is a little hard to get along with,” Giselle finally says.
“Aka, she’s a total bitch, but Giselle is just too nice to say so,” Juliet interprets.
I nod and Giselle rolls her eyes and then continues, “Jorge in accounting asked me out again—” Juliet and I make oooo noises but Giselle waves a hand “—and I let him down gently again.”
“Booo,” Juliet and I say in tandem.
Giselle laughs and continues, “Then he asked out Madison and apparently they had a terrible first date. It was the gossip of the office for the week. Okay? That’s the extent of my oh so fascinating life. Now, you two. Go.”
Juliet waves her mug of tea in my direction. “I’ll let Maverick here go first. Last I knew she was all excited about the latest episode of Mercury in Retro and now she shows up with an alien mate.” She lifts her hands defensively. “Which I totally support! We just want to hear the story of how it all went down.”
Giselle leans in. “Yeah, share with the class. Does he have the—” She breaks off and wiggles her eyebrows, “—double trouble downstairs, too?”
I can’t help giggling and covering my mouth with my hand as I nod.
“Oh my God, you’ve already done the dirty with him?” Giselle exclaims.
I don’t want to tell them my real reason for sleeping with him so fast—that I wanted to seal the whole mate thing and make sure he wasn’t going to pass by me for some other girl. So instead I arch an eyebrow. “Have you seen him? Plus, they get really excited to explore new things with their tongues.” That at least is true.
Juliet nods emphatically and rests her hands on her ginormous belly. “You have no idea. The other day, I caught Shak licking a cactus. It took me an hour to get the spines out of his tongue.”
“Oh my God,” I cackle, “I could totally see Ezo doing that. He wouldn’t stop licking my dashboard yesterday.”
Juliet’s face suddenly scrunches and her hands move down to the sides of her belly.
“What is it?” Giselle asks, jumping to her feet.
Juliet exhales slowly through her nose and waves Giselle back down. “Just little Thrax reminding me he wants to come out soon.”
“How soon?” I lean forwards.
“Ugh, if only I knew! Being the test case for this whole interspecies baby-mama thing has some sucky downsides.” But then her sour face transforms. “Mostly its upsides, though. Did I show you guys the new pictures? I don’t think I did. Shak wouldn’t let me text them. Privacy being the first directive and all, blah blah blah.”
She grabs the arms of her chair and tries to lift herself with an awkward waddle but Giselle waves her to sit back down.
“Just tell me where they are and I’ll get them.”
Juliet nods. “Beside the refrigerator. We printed them out.”
Giselle hurries over to get the pictures and starts to squeal, flipping through them on her way back.
“No fair,” I call. “I wanna see, too.”
Giselle all but skips the last few feet to the table and hands me the pictures she’s already looked at. They’re incredibly detailed 3D sonograms.
“Holy shit,” I exclaim, sitting up and squinting to look closer. “You can already see his wings!”
“Yep,” Juliet says proudly. “It went a long way with calming some of the more unruly Draci upstairs.”
Upstairs is the euphemism we’ve taken to calling the three motherships circling the Earth. Some, especially on Draci II, were less than ecstatic to call Shak their new King. The Draci have a caste system and while Shak was the son of the previous King, he was a bastard, and to some, that was equal to being among the lowest castes.
But being able to produce a mostly Draci child after two hundred years of infertility? It will legitimize his reign and secure his position.
And Ezo and I will be right behind him. Or at least we should be…if only I would get pregnant already.
To say I was disappointed when I woke up this morning and there were no scales on my arms would be a massive understatement. And then I was so immature about it and ran to hide in the bathroom. God, I could’ve died when I freaked Ezo out so much he broke the damn door down! Gotta remember, alien dudes aren’t used to girly human emotions.
But then he was still so sweet and understanding. I’ve never had a guy be that nice to me when I cry. They usually just walk away, not break down a door to get to me.
I stare down at the picture in my hands some more. “He’s beautiful, Juliet.”
The most contented smile lights her face.
“So you really don’t have any idea how much longer it will be?” Giselle asks.
“Unless God hates me, it will be soon. Apparently Draci pregnancies last three months and obviously ours are nine. It’s been four but the Draci doctor’s scans show that the baby is pretty much full-size now. So it could be any day.”
“Have you been back to the ship?” I ask, absolutely jealous. I can’t believe she got to see inside an actual alien spaceship. I about died when she told me. It’s only been my dream since, I don’t know, forever.
Juliet shakes her head. “Shak will barely let me go to the grocery store. You think he’s going to allow interplanetary travel?” She laughs. “You’re cute. No, he brought the doctor and equipment to me.”
“Oh my God, one of them was down here and you didn’t call me?” I squeal.
“Uh, you do realize you’re mated to ‘one of them.’” Juliet arches an eyebrow.
Whoa. Sitting here and chatting with the girls like we always do, I forgot for a second. But I don’t really think of Ezo like that. Like an alien, I mean. Obviously he is. But apparently the rest of the ones without any human DNA look sort of reptilian. Like dragon people, basically. You know, considering they can literally spit fire. How freaking cool is that?
Shit, how have I not asked Ezo to breathe fire yet? They can do it even in their human forms. That’s definitely number one on the list of cool shit to do with my new boyfriend.
The back door pounds open and Shak makes a triumphant announcement. “Your males have prepared the feast of meats! Come, females, and partake of the ritual.”
Juliet rolls her eyes but can’t contain her grin. “Be right there, oh conquering hero!” she calls back.
Chapter Nine
Ezo
We spend all day with the King and Queen. I�
��m so happy to find that my first impression of the Queen seems to be wrong. I watch her closely throughout the meal and afterwards as we lounge around a small body of water that humans call a pool.
Unlike all Draci females I know, the Queen smiles and banters easily. She doesn’t cut others down with her wit and intelligence but instead includes my Ana and their other friend, Giselle, in conversation. She is a gracious hostess. She asks me questions and seems interested in my answers even though I’m of such a low caste.
But most important of all, she makes Ana smile. My mate smiles all afternoon in fact, the tears—I have learned that is what the eye water is called—of this morning long forgotten.
Ana is always by my side, too. There’s rarely a second she is not touching me in some way. Her arm glancing against my arm while we eat the meal. Her hand on my thigh afterwards while we chat amiably. And while we sit by the pool, she curls into my side on a lounger.
The afternoon is something out of a dream, to be honest. The sun is warm on my body. Draci was so bitterly cold at the end, sometimes I thought I’d never be warm again. The ship wasn’t much better. The cold, empty vacuum of space seemed never-ending at times. Those of us who were awake for the entirety of the long journey, seeing to maintenance, could barely keep going some days, half-starving to conserve the dwindling rations…
To imagine a day like this… Well, I’m still not sure if it can be real.
Because how often does a man get all he ever wanted?
It doesn’t happen.
But since the day I stumbled back into my frozen village and found… I shake my head to dispel the memories.
I just never thought I would have a place to belong ever again. I never thought I would feel warmth in my soul. And this cannot be a dream because I never even dreamed of someone like Ana.
Ana and I go home and as soon as the door closes, we are in each other’s arms.
