by Elin Wyn
Looking back at original satellite images, I was able to see that the jungle actually expanded several hundred yards in two directions thanks to the transplanted trees.
Add in the falling snow, and the place seemed nearly mystical in nature.
It could almost be a place I could call home.
If it wasn’t for the fact that one of the reasons I might be interested in calling it home, was nearly turned into a Xathi hybrid.
I knew that she wasn’t that anymore, but there was still something about that part of her past that bothered me.
I wasn’t sure if I could trust her motivations, her thinking.
I was confused by her.
I was confused by my feelings for her, by my assessment of her. She was tough. She was a fighter, a survivor, an intelligent woman with tremendous skills and abilities. She had shown me absolutely nothing to have lost or questioned my trust in her.
It was me.
I had lost faith in who she was because of what the Puppet Master had told me.
The instant he had said that she had been infected by the Xathi, I became unsure of who or what she was.
Something about her had changed in my mind, and no matter how hard I tried to tell myself that she was cured and there was nothing wrong with her anymore, I couldn’t shake the feeling that there was something hidden deep inside her that would one day come out and change who I had come to know.
I was standing in an airfield on the edge of the city waiting for Dax to arrive for a pickup. Standing thirty yards to my right were nine crates, each of them filled with food, medicine, and equipment needed to help new civilizations grow and to help combat the anti-alien factions that were still looking for ways to get rid of us.
I only had to wait a few minutes before his shuttle appeared on the horizon.
“This is shuttle Beta-three-seven, coming in. Am I clear for landing?”
I clicked on my comm. “You’re all clear Beta-three-seven. Good to hear your voice Dax.”
“You too, Tyehn. What’s the load?”
“Nine crates, just short of two-thousand pounds.”
“Damn, nice supplies. I’m coming down.”
I watched as he brought the shuttle to the airfield and brought it to a hover just a few hundred feet above the ground. Retro rockets came on and began to bring it down slowly. In less than thirty seconds, he had it landed on the ground.
As I began my approach, the shuttle bay doors opened and there stood Dax, a man that, even though we were similar in size, he made me feel small. And it wasn’t that he was vicious or intimidating, quite the opposite.
He was a good man that abhorred violence.
However, he was exceedingly talented at violence, and his mini-rail gun was enough to even the odds in any fight.
“My friend,” I greeted him with a handshake and hug.
“Brother,” he said in return. “Whoa. Didn’t expect those crates to be so large.” I looked back at the crates. I hadn’t thought it odd that four of the crates were larger than me while the other five were only slightly smaller.
“Think you got enough room?” I asked with a grin.
“Depends on who’s packing,” he smiled back. “How are you, my friend?”
“I’ve been better, if I was being honest.”
“And if you weren’t being honest?”
“Then I’m doing great.”
“Good to hear,” he said as we made it to the crates. “Okay, crates one and three go in first on the right hand side, my right. Then bring in the smaller ones and finish off with two and four on the left to offset the weight imbalance,” he directed the loading crew.
As they started getting their gear together to load the shuttle, he turned to me. “Come on, let’s talk. I don’t have to be back at base until sundown, and it’s barely breakfast time.”
He had a point. The early morning sun shone on the snow, and I myself was feeling a bit hungry.
We made a quick trip on a small hover bike to a nearby cantina that was just opening. They seemed a bit intimidated by two massively sized men coming in as they opened their doors, but they were cordial and polite as they showed us to a table.
We ordered our breakfast and sat back as we waited.
“Talk to me,” Dax said as he sipped from his morning coffee.
“Do I have to?”
He sipped at his coffee, and shrugged. “No, but then I won’t let you train on my new toys.”
“Okay. Fine. It’s about something that the Puppet Master told me.” I looked away and stared out the window of the cantina. “He told me that Maki used to be a hybrid.”
“Say what now?”
“Maki used to be a hybrid. She apparently was able to fight them off before she was fully converted. She managed to get some of Evie’s serum to help her get the rest of the way back to normal.”
“Okay then. She’s normal. What’s the deal? What, you like her or something?”
I was unable to answer as our food was delivered. I had come to enjoy steak and eggs with hash browns and bacon.
I noticed that Dax had gone with some sort of meat covered in breading, a brown colored gravy, and chopped potatoes with onions and bell peppers.
“Luurizi fried steak with gravy and potatoes. I love this stuff,” he murmured as he grabbed his utensils and began cutting into his meal.
I grabbed a bottle of some steak sauce that had a bit of a tart taste to it, and poured it on my steak.
“Breakfast. Love what these people come up with for it,” I said in awe.
“Same here. Now, answer my question,” he said over a bite of food.
I chewed down my bite of steak and proceeded to do just that. “Well, yeah. She’s different. She’s fearless in ways I never anticipated a human to be. I just, I don’t know anymore.”
“Let me guess. You’re wondering if something is still buried deep inside her that will turn her against you and the rest of us. Am I close?”
I nodded as I put another bite of steak in my mouth.
He shook his head. “You’re an idiot.”
“Excuse me?”
“Have you not heard of Sylor and Evie? Have you not heard of her fight against one of the Xathi queen?”
“Of course, I have,” I answered. “What about it?”
He shook his head in exasperation. He pushed his plate to the side and leaned forward onto the table. “Think it through, dumbass. She was invaded by one of the Xathi queens. She had the queen in her head. Yet, she fought her off and we all trust her because we all know that she’s strong and that she defeated the queen. What makes you think that Maki is any weaker?”
I stopped, my fork stopped just shy of my open mouth as my brain absorbed what he had just said. Maki had defeated the Xathi control, just as Evie had. And I trusted Evie with my life.
So, why was I questioning Maki’s abilities?
Dax started chuckling. “Now you get it, don’t you?”
I looked up at him, chewing on his food as he gave me the ‘you’re a moron’ look. “I hate you,” I mumbled as I put my fork in my mouth and bit down on the amazing steak that I had ordered.
“No, you don’t. You love me, and you know it.”
“Ha, ha. Come on, the eggs are getting cold. We better eat,” I said.
He nodded. While we ate, I thought about what he had said. He was right. If I could trust Evie, then I could trust Maki. I had to find her. I had to apologize to her and make things right. I felt bad for what I had done, and I was determined to fix it.
After breakfast, we returned to the shuttle and finished supervising the loading of the crates. “It’s been good seeing you, Tyehn. Don’t be an idiot with Maki. Guaranteed you won’t find someone like her again.”
I nodded. “Thank you. I appreciate you helping me pull my head out.”
“I was wondering what that popping sound was,” he laughed as we struck fists. I stepped back and watched the door close. I turned and walked away, getting out of the
path of the shuttle as it began it’s flight sequence. As Dax left, I waved a good-bye and turned back towards the city.
It was time to apologize to Maki.
Maki
Revelations always troubled me. Sometimes they could be for the better, but most times they knocked you on your ass, leaving you confused and afraid.
This was one of those times.
I was savoring being able to commune with the Puppet Master again, and our latest meeting was no different.
However, it’d been a tiring one, overwhelming in what I’d learned and what we hoped to achieve moving forward.
I wanted to be able to give the Puppet Master more details about when the Xathi had infected me, but I didn’t know where to start.
The memories were there, we both knew that much.
However, I wasn’t able to tap into them as easily as I’d have liked: my mind was blocking the trauma.
I wasn’t sure if this was a byproduct of what I’d gone through, or a safety mechanism my own body had created. Either way, it was screwing me over right now.
The shock of reliving my hybrid past was still tangible. If I thought about it too long, it burned at the back of my eyes, threatening angry tears and self-doubt.
When I’d first seen the humans the Ancient Enemies had possessed, I’d been scared that I could fall prey just as other humans had.
It was bitter-sweet knowing that I couldn’t. All of me should have been glad by this, but in learning my past, I’d lost part of my present.
Tyehn had turned on me.
Ever since the Puppet Master’s words, he’d been a royal jerk. He’d quickly distanced himself, so much so that our tryst from the previous night before seemed nothing but fantasy.
Worlds I’d dreamed up… All those times where he’d softly kissed me, how I’d led him to that empty house and he’d pinned me against the wall… It suddenly became a part of the past that he wanted to forget.
Tyehn wanted them to be fantasies, for them to be a distant memory until he figured out what he was feeling.
They weren’t any of those things, though. They’d been real. But he was determined to undo all that we’d become thus far.
Tyehn had snatched it away from me because he was too blind to see that people could change, that I had changed. I hadn’t even been aware of the infection taking place, my mind obviously numb to what had happened. It was fine when Keith had behaved that way, but me? I was scorned for it.
Shunned by no one else except for him. I was that troublesome woman he’d foolish had sex with, believing her to be a safe bet when she wasn’t.
Normally I’d fight tooth and nail for the truth, however I didn’t have the energy anymore.
If he wanted to be a jerk, he could do it on his own time.
Without me. I wouldn’t succumb to his subconscious suspicions.
Fuck him.
Cradling a cup of jasmine tea, I moved further into my room, trying to sweep away the niggling doubts my head now harbored.
It had been easy enough to requisition an unoccupied house in town for while I was here.
The problem of staying here by myself though, was that I was haunted by thoughts of Tyehn.
They just wouldn’t leave me!
If I thought of Tyehn, I got angry. Then I got angry at myself for not knowing what I once was. Lastly, it all gave way to vexation and despair, leaving me more frustrated than when I started. There was never any peace.
A swift set of knocks on the door alerted me.
Settling my cup down, I moved to answer it.
As I opened the door to see Tyehn’s apologetic face, I already knew I wasn’t in the mood to deal with him.
His apologies didn’t interest me, not anymore. Still, I moved aside to let him in.
“Maki, I, I don’t know where to begin — I’m sorry,” He looked as genuinely ashamed as his speech sounded, however it all felt a little too late for me. I couldn’t forget how he’d been. The image was burned into my retinas.
All those looks I’d given him, seeking his comfort, only to be rejected from afar — he was asking me to forget a lot. I didn’t know if I had it in me to overlook his mistakes so quickly. When I’d been a hybrid, I hadn’t been in control.
While he’d acted the ass, he’d been fully aware of what he was doing.
“You’re sorry, really? Well, if that’s all you’ve got, you can get the hell out.” I was venomous as I bit back.
“Please don’t be like that.” He began, his eyes wide. “How would you have reacted?”
“I wouldn’t have turned into this unfeeling, cold-hearted jerk like you have! It was bad enough learning about my past that way, but for you to just drop me, that stung the worst of all.” I was fired up now, unstoppable and ready to unleash my fury. “We’d been seeing each other, growing closer, and that new information was enough to paint me untrustworthy?!”
Tyehn sighed.
It was heavy, defeated, almost as if he couldn’t handle the guilt he felt. I didn’t care. I didn’t want to know. He deserved to feel guilty for what he’d put me through. I wasn’t upset enough to cry, those moments had long past — I was now just angry.
“Maki,”
“Don’t Maki me. You abandoned me the moment you thought I was dangerous, conveniently forgetting all the times we’d spent together. You were an asshole.”
“Reck, I know.” Exasperation forced him to reach out to me; I reacted instantly.
Flying into a rage, I punched with all my might at his chest.
My knuckles rebounded off of his firm muscles, yet still I persisted. One hit turned into two more, and then a torrent of them came. I was raining down my fists on him again and again… yet he never moved.
Never tried to stay my hand.
Flustered, I stopped. I was embarrassing myself by acting out like this, he was just being diplomatic by humoring me. That was worse than him asking me to stop.
“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have… I’m just… I’m sorry.” My words felt hollow and untrue, however the meaning behind them was real. I genuinely didn’t mean to behave like a child.
“It’s okay,” Tyehn replied. My eyes narrowed as I regarded him once more. “I treated you badly, I deserve all I get. You’re tired of me, bored of the man I am—”
“Oh, hell no. Don’t put that shit on me, not only is it patronizing but it’s not true.” He wasn’t going to play the victim, not on my watch.
“I know it is.” Came his feeble response. And that was when I saw red.
I went to slap him, my hand reeling back to land a full blow. However, before I got a hit, he caught my arm mid-air, asking me, calmly, to stop hitting him.
When I yanked free and rounded for a second swing, he lifted me up and folded me into his arms. His voice had lost its calmness now, the annoyance in him growing.
“Stop hitting me, Maki.” He growled.
My arms were sandwiched by my sides, rendering me useless, so I opted for a new weapon. Rearing my head back, I slammed my forehead into his with tremendous force. The two of us immediately recoiled from the other.
Naturally, he released me, my body slumping to the floor. Seizing an opportunity to strike another damaging blow, I brought my legs around in a fluid motion, executing a clean leg sweep. As he tumbled down, I was ready.
I moved onto him, climbing on top so that I could be crowned the victor. Tyehn wasn’t content to let me win though, his arms grabbing me so that I rolled onto my back as he switched our roles.
Instinctively, my hands flew up to beat at his chest again. I’d take any way possible to hurt him, to land as many blows as possible but he overpowered me.
Before I’d landed my third hit, he pinned my hands above my head. My chest heaving wildly, my lips parted in a twisted grimace, I glared at him. He returned my stare, his eyes burning into mine.
For a few seconds we were locked in a soundless battle of wills, our bodies too exhausted to move.
Then he kissed
me.
At first, I fell into it just as I’d done the other times. Then my mind screamed at me that this man was a bastard, that he’d done me wrong.
I pulled away, but his lips came crashing back to mine. And while I wanted him to pay, I also wanted to feel the weight of him on me, pushing me down, taking what was his.
The next time I tried to turn away, he handled me with more force. My body responded in kind. My kisses became fervent, crazed even. All I could think about was tearing his clothes off and him screwing me right here, right now.
No holds barred.
I wanted it dirty and aggressive.
The way we’d just fought was how I wanted us to make love; it wasn’t to be anything but a frenzied rush to the finish line. I knew he could take me there, and I intended to seize that chance.
Tyehn
This wasn’t how I’d foreseen this going. I’d envisioned her angrily throwing insults at me, and rightly so, for hours to come. In fact, I’d anticipated needing to grovel for days on end, if not weeks.
Yet here we were, rolling around, the two of us tumbling about as we tried to determine who’d be on top. Quite literally.
I was fighting for dominance, my natural personality making me want to take ownership of her; I wanted her to submit to me, just as she’d done when I’d pinned her down.
But Maki was anything but predictable.
Nor did she care for what I wanted. I knew she could take me to the most earth-shattering climax, however she wasn’t going to do it by listening to what my body wanted. Maki was going to follow her instincts, and in turn, I’d get the fix I also craved.
Her delicate figure was dwarfed against mine, the tight curves of her body contrasting nicely against the rugged muscles of my broad physique.
There were still plenty of garments between the two of us, but as we thrashed about, gyrating against each other in fervent lust. As we went, the items lessened. Soon she’d be naked. Soon she’d be mine, pressed against my bare, green skin.
I longed to melt into her.
As her pelvis rose up to meet me, I landed kisses along her collarbone. Tiny murmurs erupted from her rosy lips, the way they sounded sweeter than the most divine music. People could live a thousand years and they’d never hear delights as intoxicating as her moans. They rose and fell in time to my caress.
