Chris stopped at the edge of the clearing. Lycaon of every age and color came out of their dwellings and stared at the women on the litters. Chris flushed bright red. Would these aliens really take them in and care for them? She had only the word of a woman she just met that they would.
Turk and Caleb strode past Chris and Marissa into the clearing. Caleb called to his people, and one by one, they took custody of the women. One by one, they led the new arrivals away to their dwellings. In a few cases, they picked them up and carried them away.
Chris watched them disappear into their make-shift shelters until only she and Marissa remained in the clearing with the last of the warriors. She couldn’t exactly call these women her friends, but they'd been kidnapped together and crashed together. Now they were vanishing before her eyes, just like Sasha. No sooner did someone come into her life than they passed out of it without a word of warning.
Chris’s gaze met Marissa’s frank eyes, but she didn’t have the courage to ask the question that plagued her mind. Marissa smiled at her. “You’re going with Turk. He’ll give you something to eat and a warm bed. The world will look a lot brighter in the morning.”
Chris glanced across the clearing. Turk stood next to Caleb near the now-empty litters. He studied her from afar with his sharp eyes. Chris snorted. “I’m not going anywhere with him.”
Marissa started back. “Why not? He won’t hurt you, if that’s what you’re worried about.”
“I’m not worried about him hurting me,” Chris shot back. “I’d smash his head in if he tried. But I’m not going anywhere near him, not after the way he attacked me last night. I wouldn’t go within a hundred miles of him.”
Marissa stared at her. “You’re the one who attacked him, remember? All he did was hold you still until you calmed down.”
Chris turned away. “Find another place for me. I don’t care where, but I’m not going with him.”
“You can’t be serious,” Marissa exclaimed.
Chris rounded on her. “You can’t expect a single woman to stay with a single man. He could do anything he wanted, and I would have to defend myself anyway I could. Even these crazy people must have some laws about that.”
Marissa laughed. “So that’s what you’re worried about? Well, you don’t have to worry. He lives with his mother and two sisters and his sister’s two children. You won’t be alone with him, and his mother will make sure you’re comfortable and you have everything you need. Does that satisfy you?”
Chris turned away again. Turk stood in the same spot. His ears twitched toward her. He heard every word she said. “Forget it. I’m not going with him.”
Marissa sighed. “Then you better come with me. It’s the only other place in the village. If you don’t want to come with me, you can sleep right here on the ground if you’d rather.” She walked away into the trees.
Chris couldn’t see any dwelling in that direction, but no one else remained in the clearing but Turk and Caleb. Caleb murmured something to Turk and strode after Marissa, leaving only Turk staring at her.
Chris stared back at him, and their eyes sparked in the space between them. Why couldn’t she accept basic hospitality from these people? They didn’t kidnap her to be sold into slavery. They brought her to safety when she had no prospects at all, and now the Lycaon took her into their homes to give her shelter. What more could she ask for?
But it wasn’t the Lycaon she couldn’t accept. Not even their great size and strange features could make her throw their hospitality back in their faces like that. It was him—Turk. She couldn’t accept it from him, not even if it came from his mother and his sisters and his sister’s children. He caused a reaction in her she couldn’t handle. She couldn’t go home with him, no matter how much she needed shelter. She would rather sleep on the ground.
He put his arms around her and held her against his body. He imprinted his essence on her skin, and even now, more than twelve hours later, she couldn’t shake it off. He was still in contact with her now, even when he stood across the clearing and stared at her, and she couldn’t stand it.
She stared at him as long as she could, but he had all the advantage. This was his territory, his home village. She was the stranger here, the outsider, the alien from another planet. She spun on her heel and hurried after Marissa.
Marissa was long gone, but Chris caught sight of Caleb and followed him to another dwelling tucked far back into the trees. She never could have found it without following him. He didn’t go inside, though. He went around behind it and disappeared still farther back into the dense forest. Chris ducked into the entrance with a sigh of relief.
Chapter 4
A hole in the roof let a shaft of light into one round room inside the dwelling. Dust filled the beam of light and obscured the surroundings. Only a shadow on the far side of the room showed Chris where Marissa was. She sat next to a smoldering fire in a pit, and Chris barely recognized her.
She wore a light top of pale tanned animal skin hanging off one shoulder, and another wrap of animal skin around her waist, but her legs and arms shone bare and bright in the light streaming down from overhead. Her shoulders hung rounded and relaxed from her body, instead of standing square and sharp the way they did when Chris met her at the crash site.
She smiled at Chris. “So you decided to come after all. I wondered if you would, or if you would settle down in the clearing.” She laughed to herself. “I wouldn’t be surprised if you did.”
Chris blushed and dropped her eyes. “You fit right in here. I didn’t think you could. I thought you’d be too different from those... those people.”
Marissa chuckled. She picked up an earthenware pot and set it on the glowing coals. She dropped a handful of dried herbs into the water and stirred them with her forefinger. “It took me a while to relax here. It took me almost six months before I would take off the clothes I was wearing when the Romarie abducted us. I wouldn’t wear these skins. I thought I wouldn’t be human anymore if I changed my clothes.”
“Are you still human?” Chris asked. “Do the...whatever you call ‘ems....to they keep their distance from you because you’re a different species?”
“I’m not a different species,” Marissa replied. “The pack is everything to the Lycaon. If you belong to the pack, nothing else matters. I’m Caleb’s mate, and the pack worried he would never find one after the plague. So the whatever you call ‘ems are very happy to have me. They don’t treat me any differently than they would a female of their own species.”
Chris couldn’t look her in the eye. “I don’t think I could ever live like this.”
Marissa regarded her for a moment. Then she waved her hand. “Sit down. You can’t stand there all day long.”
Chris hesitated. If she sat down, she had no choice but to sit on the floor. And what was so bad about that? She’d sat on the cold, dirty ground dozens of times on camping trips back home. Yet somehow, sitting down on the dirt in this hovel carried a finality she couldn’t face. If she sat down here, across from Marissa, she would be accepting this life as her own. She would be accepting her fate, that she was on this crazy planet for good, and she would never get home again.
None of the other women would suffer these doubts. The Lycaon carried them into their houses and laid them on the floor, or on the bed, or wherever they laid them, no questions asked. They were here, whether they wanted to be or not. They had a long way to go to recover from their ordeal with the Romarie before they started wondering if they belonged on Angondra or not.
Only Chris was strong enough and healthy enough to worry about getting stuck in this place. Only someone as fortunate as herself, with hands outstretched on all sides to help her and make her comfortable, could doubt the blessing of her circumstances. She had to shoulder this burden alone. No one would help her cross the gap between herself and Angondra.
She raised her eyes and found Marissa watching her. She read every nuance of Chris’s express
ion, and a twinkle of understanding danced in her eyes. She’d lived all those doubts and anxieties herself before settling into this life. If anyone could help Chris bridge that gap, it was Marissa.
Chris lowered her eyes again.
Marissa pursed her lips. “Sit down....Sorry. I don’t even know your name.”
“Chris.” The memory of Sasha lying lifeless and still flashed through her mind. Sasha lay across the body of the Romarie who killed her, out there in the rain-drenched field, where Chris left her. She would never be buried. Chris swallowed hard. “I'm Chris Sebastiani. From Humboldt, California.”
Marissa smiled again. “All right, Chris Sebastiani, from Humboldt, California. Have a seat and drink a cup of tea. You’ll feel better.”
Chris looked around the room again, like that was going to do her any good. Not one piece of furniture occupied the perimeter of the dwelling. Only indiscriminate bundles lined the circular walls. An assortment of furs and blankets lay in a pile under one of the lodge poles. Chris blushed again. Marissa slept with Caleb on those furs. Where would she sleep? She might wake up in the night to the sound of them mating.
Marissa’s eyes pierced Chris’s soul. “Sit down, Chris. I won’t bite you, and you’re making me nervous, standing there. You’re a guest in my home, and I’ve offered you a cup of tea. The least you can do is sit down.”
Chris hesitated one more minute.
Marissa’s voice softened. “Sit down, Chris. You won’t lose your humanity by sitting down and drinking a cup of tea. If anything, it will help you stay human.”
Chris buckled. So Marissa understood after all. She wasn’t alone. Chris inched her way around the fire and sat down near Marissa. She folded her legs under her and stared down at her hands. “Sorry. I don’t mean to be so rude. I don’t know how to understand all this.”
Marissa took the pot off the fire and poured steaming tea into a cup. She handed it to Chris. “You don’t have to understand it. In a lot of ways, the others have it easier than you. They don’t have to wonder if they’re doing the right thing by accepting the Lycaon’s hospitality. You’re the only one who has to think about it.”
“I just don’t want to get stuck here,” Chris explained. “I want to go home.”
Marissa nodded. “I know. But you have to remember you’re not signing any contract by spending the night here. You’re not agreeing to anything. You’re just spending the night. You can decide to leave first thing in the morning, and the Lycaon will send you on your way.”
“I’d have nowhere to go,” Chris pointed out.
“You could go to one of the other factions,” Marissa pointed out. “When the other factions find out we have a bunch of Earth females here from a crashed Romarie vessel, they may want to take some of them in. The other factions are just as desperate as we are for females. I’m sure the Alphas will have to negotiate about it.”
Chris’s eyes widened. “You wouldn’t sell these women to the other factions, would you? That would make you just as bad as the Romarie.”
“We wouldn’t sell anybody,” Marissa replied. “No one would go anywhere or do anything against their will. But these women have to find homes somewhere, and families somewhere. If they don’t want to stay with the Lycaon, they can go somewhere else. I’m sure some of them would be more comfortable with the Felsite, or with the Ursidreans, the same way my friends were. I can contact them and find out if they have room in their own factions.”
Chris shook her head. “I don’t like this. You make it sound like some kind of mail-order bride service you’re running.”
Marissa patted her hand. “You’re a really good person, aren’t you? You don’t even know these women, and you want to protect them and make sure no one exploits them again the way the Romarie did. You’re a natural leader. Well, don’t worry. Nothing will happen to them until they recover their strength. Then they can decide for themselves where to go.”
“I’m sure some of them will want to go home, too,” Chris pointed out.
Marissa gazed down into the fire. “I’m sure they will.”
Chris peered into her tea cup. She still didn’t dare to put it to her lips. “I wish Sasha was here. She’s much more of a natural leader than I am. She was going through the crash site checking on everybody when you showed up.”
Marissa shrugged. “Sasha’s not here anymore, but you are. You have to be the leader now, and as long as I’m around, no one will do anything to those women. You have my word on that.”
At that moment, Caleb entered the room, followed by Turk. Caleb scanned the room and nodded. Turk frowned when he saw Chris. Then he turned his eyes away. Caleb sat down next to Marissa and kissed her on the cheek. Turk sat across the fire, as far away from Chris as he could get.
Marissa handed Caleb a cup of tea, and then handed Turk one. Both men drank the fragrant liquid, and Marissa refilled their cups. Then she opened a bundle from the side of the room and removed a chunk of meat. She cut it into pieces on a flat rock by the fire and set it to boil in the pot.
Caleb turned to Turk. “We’ll have to call a council to discuss these women.”
Turk nodded.
Chris’s head shot up. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
Turk frowned at her. “Don’t you think they will want to help you any way they can?” He waved his hand at Marissa. “These women have been living alone among the factions since they escaped from the Romarie. Marissa came out to the meadow to see you and help you and make sure you had everything you needed after you crashed. The others will want to do the same thing.”
Chris glanced at Marissa. “I didn’t think you....”
Marissa lifted her eyes and smiled. “I know what you thought. You thought I was one of them, one of the warriors. You thought that’s why I was out there, to take control of you. But I’m not. I wouldn’t have gone if you weren’t my own kind.”
Chris’s shoulders slumped. “Sorry. I don’t know what’s wrong with me.”
“I do,” Marissa replied.
Turk faced Caleb. “Let’s let these women recover first, and then we’ll know what to do.”
Caleb nodded. “I should put you in charge, Turk. You have a good head for strategy, and it was you and your scouts who spotted the crash in the first place. You always find a way to benefit our pack. I’m nothing but a figurehead.”
“Even a figurehead needs his lieutenants,” Turk replied. “If I was Alpha, I would need you as my lieutenant, and I couldn’t function without you. You’ll meet with Renier and Donen and Aquilla, and we’ll find homes for these women, one way or the other.”
“Who are Renier and Donen and Aquilla?” Chris asked.
“Renier is Alpha of the Felsite faction,” Marissa replied. “His mate is Carmen Herrera. Donen is Alpha of the Ursidreans, and Aria McCray is his mate. And Aquilla is Alpha of the Avitras, and Penelope Ann King is his mate.”
Chris cocked her head. “How did it work out that you all mated with Alphas?”
Marissa shrugged. “It just worked out that way.”
Caleb listened to their conversation. “As a matter of fact, the Alphas were all present at the gathering where you escaped from the Romarie. We fought with them. That’s where I first noticed you.”
Marissa blushed and looked down at her work. “Caleb saved my life at the gathering. One of the Romarie fired his weapon at me, and Caleb stepped in front of the blast and was injured. After he and Turk brought me to this village, I couldn’t forget what he’d done for me. That’s how we came to be mated, and I became a member of his pack.”
Chris frowned. “You said the Alphas were at the gathering. What was Turk doing there?”
“The Alphas of the factions went along,” Marissa explained, “and most of them took their secondaries. The Felsite sent their whole Alpha clan. That’s the way they do things. The whole clan has to keep up with political developments in case anything happens to the Alpha and someone else has to
step in.”
“What’s a secondary?” Chris asked.
“Just what I told you,” Marissa replied. “It’s a member of the Alpha’s family who stands to take over if the Alpha can’t lead his people. Turk is Caleb’s secondary.”
Chris stole a glance at the two men. Something eerily familiar about the two of them struck her for the first time, even when they sat on opposite sides of the fire.
“This doesn’t make any sense,” Chris muttered. “You said the secondary was a member of the Alpha’s family. How could Turk be Caleb’s secondary? He’s only a lieutenant.”
Marissa shook her head. “He’s a lieutenant, and he’s a secondary. He’s practically an Alpha himself. He would be Alpha if he’d been born a few minutes earlier.”
Chris blinked. “What are you talking about?”
“Don’t you understand?” Marissa asked. “They’re brothers. Actually, they’re twin brothers.”
Chapter 5
Chris’s eyes popped open, and she took a fraction of a second to figure out where she was. Her eye traced the star pattern of lodge poles above her head, with a circle of clear sky in the center. A cloud of smoke covered the hole for a moment, and then the smell of roasting meat and strong tea stung her nostrils, and everything came flooding back.
She closed her eyes against the memory of Caleb and Turk sitting across the fire and sharing a meal with her and Marissa—at least, they shared it with Marissa. Chris couldn’t stomach the food, no matter how delicious it smelled. Everything she put in her mouth, everything that touched her skin, poisoned her in favor of this planet. In a little while, she wouldn’t be able to get this planet out of her system. She would turn into one of them, just like Marissa had.
Did the other women who landed with Marissa go through this paroxysm of alienation? Did they fight it the way she did? How long did it take before they finally accepted defeat and mated with these aliens?
Optorio Civil War Complete Series Box Set (Books 1 - 6): A Sci-fi Alien Warrior Invasion Abduction Romance (Optorio Chronicles Book 2) Page 36
