Sloane

by D. A. Stafford

  The boys stood there, eyes as big as saucers. One of the younger boys close to Jessie tugged on her skirt. Several of the men and even the queen gasped. Jessie bent down to eye level with the boy. “Is she nice?” he whispered.

  Jessie looked as though she were about to lose a battle with her tears. “Yes, of course she’s nice. Why would you ask that?”

  The little boy looked at the ground and murmured, “Some are mean.”

  Jessie stood and turned her back to the little boy as the tears started to fall. With a determined stride, Sloane walked up to the little boy. “What’s your name?” she asked with a smile.

  The little boy answered, “Coyak.”

  “What a strong name for a handsome, strong boy.”

  Coyak stuck his chest out in pride. “Thank you, fara.”

  “What’s fara?”

  Coyak smiled. “They’re beautiful helpers of the Goddess. They do her bidding and help the world be a better place.”

  Sloane bent down and opened her arms to him. He walked into her hug without a second thought. She held him while the other boys whispered to each other.

  A hushed silence fell over the crowd when Lian and Lyon came forward to collect her. “Sloane, we must look at the facility to assess what’s needed. This will need your input. Maybe the children can show you the facility?”

  Sloane nodded and ended the hug. Coyak looked at her, bringing his tiny hands up to her face. “I’m happy you’re here, fara.”

  “So am I, sweetie. So am I.” Sloane picked Coyak up and positioned him onto her hip. “Do you want to show me your room?”

  Coyak’s smile was infectious. “Yes. It’s that way.”

  When she started toward the door, she held her hand out to another boy. He grasped it like a lifeline and smiled up to her. She looked back to find Jessie clearing her tears and following her lead, holding both her hands out to some boys. All the boys converged around the two women and followed closely behind, pointing out different things about the facility before they even stepped foot inside.

  The boys flocked to the women, as Cloray proceeded to take them on a tour of the facility. Some of the children would reach out to pet the women’s arms just to make sure they weren’t a mirage. Queen Maya joined in taking the hand of a child, even with her husbands’ insistence not to. Sloane had pointed out some things to the queen and kings. They took in the disheveled look of the facility as they toured the numerous bedrooms, kitchen, dining room, rest rooms, outdoor gardens, and livestock.

  Once Maya was satisfied that Cloray was doing the best job he could, she assured him more supplies would follow in the next couple of days. Some children played with the princes, Lian, and Lyon, while others showed Sloane and Jessie pictures of things they’d made.

  After several hours, the time had come for everyone to leave. They all gathered to say their farewells. Sloane hugged Jessie and whispered, “Thank you. You’ve saved me twice. Once on Earth in the hospital and again with these boys. You’ve given me a life I could never dream of having.”

  With that, Sloane broke the hug and gave Jessie a deep bow of respect. It was Jessie’s turn to pull Sloane into a hug. “Are you sure you’ll be okay? I can’t leave you if you have any doubt.”

  Sloane nodded. “This is what I want.”

  Jessie whispered into Sloane’s ear, “Try to give Lian and Lyon a chance. They’ve given up a lot to be with you. They wouldn’t have done that if they didn’t care for you.”

  “I can’t promise anything, but I’ll try.”

  Jessie broke their hug just in time for Looch and Leigh to comfort her. Looch finally asked, “Why are you so sad, my love? Your emotional scents are extremely heightened and confusing. One minute you’re happy and the next you’re upset. We can also scent your fatigue. Leigh will examine you when we return to the palace. We’re worried about you.”

  Jessie smiled as tears streamed down her face. Sloane noticed Jessie draw in a long, ragged breath. “He doesn’t need to examine me, because I know what’s wrong.”

  Looch and Leigh’s eyes widened. Both men gently grabbed each of her arms as if she’d faint. “Did you ingest something you shouldn’t have? Are you in pain? Have you been poisoned?”

  Looch and Leigh asked the questions in rapid fire. Jessie unhinged her arms from their grasps and gently touched their cheeks. With a sheepish grin, she said, “I’m pregnant.”

  With expressions of combined elation and horror, Looch picked her up, cradling her to his chest, and frantically shouted, “Where are your medical devices? She needs care.”

  Sloane thought Looch was joking until she saw Leigh racing around to find his instruments. "Wait! I said I was pregnant, not sick,” Jessie protested.

  Sloane wanted to laugh over the absurdity of it, but the sheer horror plastered on all the men's faces was quite evident. Jessie started to struggle in Looch's arms, trying to break his hold. "Put me down!"

  Leigh found his instruments and was trying to get a reading by placing a flat, round probe on Jessie's cheeks and forehead. All the while, Jessie shook her head back and forth to avoid the examination.

  Queen Maya interjected, "Sons, you’ll cease what you're doing and release the princess."

  "Mother, she's pregnant. We can't allow her to injure herself. We—"

  Leigh was cut off by a fierce bellowing voice from his mother. "As your queen, I command you to put the princess down this instant!" The queen's proclamation was so powerful that not only did Looch put Jessie down, Leigh stopped fiddling with his instruments, and every male lowered himself onto one knee, bowing their heads. The only people standing were Sloane, King Raiden, King Taavi, and a disheveled Jessie. Queen Maya came forward, smiling at Jessie. "When you told me of your suspicions of being pregnant, I was afraid this might happen. My dear, Arenian females are basically sequestered to their sleeping chamber for the remaining term of their pregnancy. For this reason, females wait as long as they can before revealing it to their males."

  Jessie huffed out a breath. Since Looch and Leigh were still kneeling with their heads bowed, she playfully cuffed them upside the head. “Let’s get one thing straight. I’m not sitting in a room for nine months! If it doesn’t hurt the baby, I’ll do everything I normally do. I might be a little slower at it in the end, because I’ll probably be as big as a house.” Looch and Leigh looked to their mother for guidance.

  “You may all rise. My sons, please take your female’s emotions and concerns into consideration. They’re from another world and do things differently there. Nine months is a long time to find a middle ground.”

  Jessie cocked her head to one side with a thoughtful expression. “What would that work out to be here on Arenia?” Sloane watched Jessie tap her finger to her temple. “Twenty-five-hour days, ten days in a week, five weeks in a month, ten months in a year . . .”

  Leigh interjected, “What are you trying to figure out?”

  “How many months I’ll be pregnant on Arenia.”

  Looch, Leigh, Queen Maya, Lian, and Lyon all said in unison, “Nine months.”

  Jessie paled and even Sloane paled at the revelation. “No, no, no, no, no. That can’t be right. That’s like . . . four hundred and fifty days.”

  Looch smiled at her. “Precisely.”

  Sloane watched Jessie sway on her feet. “Oh my God. I think I’m going to be sick. This is not happening.”

  Everyone started buzzing around like frantic bees again. Looch tried picking Jessie up again, but she batted his hands away. Leigh tried his instruments again and Jessie batted that away, too. Finally, Sloane walked up to her and cradled Jessie’s pale face in her hands. “Breathe, sweetheart. You’re the strongest woman I know. You have two men that love you very much and will stand by your side no matter what. You have friends who will protect you with their last breath, and you have a mother and fathers-in-law who are here for guidance. You can do this.”

  Jessie gave her a couple of slight nods. “I’ve got this,” she whisp
ered. Sloane thought it was more for herself than anyone else. Jessie nodded with finality. “I’ve got this.” She looked to her husbands and repeated with vigor, “I’ve got this.”

  Chapter 5

  Once the queen and kings were loaded on the transport, Looch and Leigh guided a stunned Jessie onto the transport. When it was in the distance, Sloane turned around toward the facility and was stopped short when she realized every pair of eyes were focused on her.

  It wasn’t the boys’ nor Cloray’s looks that unnerved her. It was the hungry looks she got from Lian and Lyon. Pulling her gaze from them, she looked toward Cloray. “What would you like me to do first?”

  Cloray’s face was a mask of uncertainty, as he looked to Lian and Lyon for guidance. The two men strolled toward her and explained, “They’re not used to having a female in their presence to begin with, so for you to offer to do something is like discovering aliens actually do exist. It will take them time to assimilate.”

  Nodding in understanding, she turned to Cloray and tried again. “I don’t know your routine yet, so go ahead and do whatever it is you do. When I’m done settling into my room, I’ll jump in where I’m needed. Sound good?”

  With a slow nod, Cloray swung his arm out as if to say, ‘after you’. Sloane started toward the facility with Cloray, Lian, and Lyon close on her heels. Once inside, Cloray pushed past her and led her upstairs and down a long hall to a door at the end. He opened the door and allowed her, and the two healers, through.

  From her tour earlier, she noticed her room was bigger than most of the other bedrooms, but what caught her attention were the three single beds. The heads of each bed touched the wall, with a walkway in between each of them. Her meager possessions were placed neatly on the middle bed, but she didn’t recognize the luggage on the other two. Turning back to Cloray, she said, “I think there’s been a mistake. All of this stuff isn’t mine.”

  Cloray bowed as if she were royalty. “My apologies, Sloane. We have so many children that there’s no other room for healers Lian and Lyon. Princess Jessie told me these accommodations were acceptable, but it’s evident you’re uncomfortable. I’ll move into the dining room and healers Lian and Lyon can move into my room.”

  Sloane reached for his hand. “It’s fine, Cloray. If this is what Princess Jessie thought was best, then we’ll-” she gestured to Lian and Lyon, “work it out. You’re too important to the boys’ lives to be losing sleep.”

  Cloray looked astonished at her words. “Thank you, Sloane, but you’re mistaken. It’s you who are too important to be inconvenienced. You’ve already brought so much hope and love to everyone’s lives here. Mine included.”

  With that declaration, she gave the older man a hug. Lian and Lyon snarled at the contact. With her back to them, she raised her arm and gave them a one finger salute. She knew they didn’t know what that meant, but it achieved the desired effect, because the men stopped their growls.

  Cloray was stiff in his movements but managed to pat her back in appreciation of the affection. He broke from her embrace and she could see a blush cross his cheeks. “I’ll leave you to get settled,” he said before retiring from the room.

  “I’m going to take the bed in the corner there so I’m out of your way.”

  Lian stopped her from moving her things to the bed on the side. “It’s wise that you stay on this bed, so Lyon and I can protect you if the need arises.”

  Sloane stepped back, perplexed. "The boys wouldn't hurt me, would they?"

  "No, of course not. It's just that, since this place is surrounded by dense forest, there are wild animals in the immediate area. The children would know the sights and sounds of the indigenous creatures. You, on the other hand, wouldn't. You know what an orax is, right?"

  Sloane shuddered. "Yes. It's like a bear on our planet, but it can camouflage itself and has rows of sharp teeth like a shark. They look scary in the images I've seen. I wouldn't want to meet one in real life."

  "Exactly, but what you wouldn't know by looking at an image is that they have a very distinct scent even a human could smell and are highly aggressive."

  Horrified, Sloane whispered, "Do they break in and eat people?"

  "Although it’s rare, it’s happened in the past."

  She looked from the middle bed to the bed in the corner, still trying to justify in her mind the move.

  Lyon interrupted her thoughts. "That's just one of the many meat-eating creatures here. Let's not forget about the kaythal. Do you know what they are?"

  "No, what's that?"

  Lyon continued with his explanation, "They're small but ferocious creatures. Although they sleep most of the time, they come out at dawn and dusk to feed on smaller animals; I think you call them rodents."

  "Do they have sharp teeth?"

  "Yes."

  "And claws?"

  "Yes. They're the animal which will most likely be in your bed at night."

  "What?" Sloane screeched.

  Lian corroborated Lyon's story. "My brother is correct. They’re a smaller animal, so they can make their way into our room with little effort."

  "Why would they be in my bed and not yours?"

  "Well, you see, they too are a male-dominated species who try to breed with as many female kaythals as they can. The males are usually attracted to any female's scent, therefore, if one comes into the room, they will snuggle up to you for warmth. Screaming will upset the creature and it might bite you, so just quietly get our attention and we'll move our beds toward yours."

  Looking skeptical, she asked, "Why would that help?"

  Both men moved closer, sandwiching her in between them. Lyon's voice took on a husky timbre. "The scent of two strong, virile males in your bed will override your scent. We'll be able to move the kaythal back into the hall, so it won't be squished, panic, or lash out at us. The drawback for you is that, to keep the animal from coming back, we'll need to remain in your bed."

  All she could do was look at Lian's lips as he spoke, while feeling Lyon's breath slip over the skin on her neck like silk. Her breathing hitched as her insides became a pool of lust. Clearing her throat, she sidestepped them both. "Be that as it may, this doesn't change anything. Since you haven't figured it out yet, I'm going to let you in on a little secret: I’m an independent woman who makes her own decisions. I don't need a man, or men for that matter, telling me what to do and when to do it."

  The men looked at one another then chuckled.

  "What's so funny?" she spat.

  Lyon stepped up, trying not to laugh. "With the exception of a couple of disagreements during this last month, you've had two men," Lyon gestured to himself and Lian," telling you what to do and when to do it, in your therapy, with no provocation." Lian couldn't seem to help it and let out a healthy laugh. Lyon wasn't far behind in his laughter.

  Chapter 6

  Sloane seethed as she listened to them laugh at her while she walked downstairs. Standing on the bottom landing, she lowered her head and sucked in several deep breaths through her nose to calm her anger. Lifting her head back up, she saw several boys and Cloray staring at her. They were all peeking out from doorways, behind furniture, and some were bold enough to just stand in plain sight to look at her. The looks on their faces varied between shock, concern, and anger.

  She forgot she couldn’t get past the whole alien, super-smelling thing these people had. Plastering on a smile, she spoke, “Everything is fine. Lian, Lyon, and I just had a small disagreement, but we worked it out.”

  The boys’ faces all crinkled in thought, then determination etched their expressions. Clapping her hands together, she strolled forward. “So, what can I help with?”

  Everyone looked questioningly at her. “Why don’t I watch you in the kitchen? I haven’t been able to cook for a very long time and would love to try.” She saw Coyak in the corner of the room, smiling at her. “Will you show me where the kitchen is?”

  “Yes, fara,” he said as he strolled forward and placed his h
and in hers.

  Cloray and almost all the other boys followed them into the kitchen. Once inside, her senses were assaulted with delicious aromas wafting through the air. Coyak smiled up at her and gave her hand a little squeeze.

  The boys in the kitchen preparing food stopped what they were doing and looked over at her. She laughed, “Guys, you’re giving me a complex. I’m just a woman. I’m here to teach and to learn. Let’s all relax, okay?”

  Most just shrugged and went back to what they were doing. Cloray stepped up beside her and whispered in her ear, “You don’t need to help. Domestic duties aren’t suitable for a female. The children do the cooking.”

  “I’m sure the children also do the cleaning and the gardening, and the hunting. One more set of capable hands will help ease the burden. I enjoy cooking. It soothes me.”

  Just as she finished her sentence, Lyon fell through the swinging kitchen door. All the boys laughed at Lyon’s grand entrance. What struck her was the little boy she saw earlier when she was upset with the men, standing in the propped-open door with an evil gleam in his eyes. Lyon turned over and roared at the little boy.

  She hurried around the kitchen counter as best as she could. Squatting down, she patted Lyon’s chest, trying to calm him. “I’m sure whatever happened was an accident.”

  Lyon looked at her in astonishment. “Based on his scent, I’m positive he meant to trip me!”

  The boy looked at her first, then to Lyon, and unceremoniously stuck his tongue out at Lyon in defiance. He ran as Lyon tried to get up from the floor to catch him.

  It was her turn to giggle a little. Lyon’s gaze shot to her. She caught both of her lips in between her teeth as she tried to stifle her laugh.

  As the boy ran away, Lian took his place in the doorway as he caught sight of his brother sprawled on the floor. When she looked up at him, she noticed he wore a red, angry bump on his forehead. She stood to look at the welt. “What happened to you?”