by Hope Hart
And apparently, they’re guarded as if they’re gold.
I’m making the best of my life here. At least until we can get off this planet. But the truth is, I miss Earth so much that I still sometimes wake up, convinced I’ve slept through my alarm and I’m going to be late for my shift at the hospital.
I sometimes wonder what I would’ve done—if I’d known life as I knew it would be stolen from me. Maybe that’s why it’s better to have no warning. Every day, we get up and make plans based on the assumption we’ll have years left of the same routine.
Oh, we know—in theory—we could die anytime. That something catastrophic could happen and shake us out of our normal lives. But our brains aren’t designed to live with that fear. So we ignore it until it actually happens.
“Hand me the zavia, child.”
I jolt, realizing I’m staring into space. I grab the salve and lean over, handing it to Moni. My gaze can’t help but be drawn to where Sarissa has pulled up her dress, her calves on display.
Long, winding scars cover her lower legs, and I blink.
The corner of her mouth tips up as she watches me.
“Pretty gnarly, huh?”
“What happened?”
Her eyes turn wounded, her face paling, and I instantly regret asking. I open my mouth only to jump as one of Rakiz’s warriors storms into the kradi.
“We need healers,” he snaps. “The Dokhalls attempted to take their ship back. They took our warriors by surprise.”
I jump into action, running for my own kradi. One of the first things I did when I was back on my feet was create a first aid kit. I haul it with me, joining Moni as the warriors hurry her along.
They don’t argue when I reach Hewex, who is mounting one of the mishua.
“Tagiz won’t like this,” he mutters as he pulls me up in front of him.
“Save it,” I snap, and he chuckles but turns the mishua toward the forest, urging her into a teeth-rattling gallop.
Relief is clear on the warriors’ faces when we arrive. Rakiz is already there, holding one of his warrior’s hands as the guy chokes on his own blood. Moni hurries toward them, and I scan the clearing. The trees are still burned-out husks after Dragix fought the Dokhalls here a few weeks ago. To the left, the ship is still standing, and it’s evident these warriors guarded it with their lives.
Three of them are already dead, and my heart hurts at the sight. I push it away, focusing on what I can control right now. Five more warriors are injured, not counting the one Moni is treating. One of them is holding a blood-soaked shirt to his head, and I kneel in front of him, pressing two fingers to his neck. I attempt to ignore the frustration that rises. What I would give for a pulse oximeter or an EKG. Even a simple wristwatch would be handy.
His pulse isn’t thready or irregular though, so I pull a skin of clean, boiled water from my first aid kit and irrigate his head wound.
“What’s your name?” I murmur as he winces.
“Gravis.”
“I’m Zoey.”
“I know,” he says.
He gives me a tiny smile and then winces again as I move his head slightly so I can get a better look as I check his pupils.
“What happened here?” I’ve heard about the attack already, of course, but I want to see if he’s dealing with any confusion or forgetfulness.
“Dokhall bastards,” he scowls. “Came out of nowhere. They must’ve been watching us for some time, waiting for their chance.”
“Thank you for guarding our ship.”
He smiles at me again, and I reach for the antiseptic paste Moni favors for these types of wounds.
“This will sting.”
He takes it like a man, although his jaw clenches as I smooth the paste in place. The biggest worry on Agron is infection, although I sometimes wonder if the Braxians are less prone to infections compared to us humans. They seem to recover from wounds more quickly as well.
“It doesn’t look like you’ll need stitches,” I tell him. “Hold this for me and I’ll bandage you up.”
He does as I ask, and I examine his face. “Any other injuries?”
He shakes his head, and I tie the bandage in place. “You’ll need that changed. Come to the healers’ kradi in a few hours or earlier if it bleeds through.”
“Thank you.”
I smile at him and turn to the next warrior, who has a deep slice in his shoulder.
“Zoey.”
I turn at the sound of Tagiz’s voice. His jaw is tight, and he looks displeased with me. Again.
I sigh. What else is new?
“How soon until we can move everyone back to the camp?” Tagiz asks.
I turn back to the warrior currently sitting with his back against a tree. His dark eyes are hazy with pain, but like all the Braxian warriors, he’s silent and stoic.
“These guys are both okay to move, but I’m not sure about the others yet.”
“We need to leave. Soon.”
I glance back over my shoulder at Tagiz, but he’s scanning our surroundings. He gestures to a few warriors, who move closer to Rakiz, and I get it.
He doesn’t think we’re safe here. And he’s probably right.
I survey the warrior. He’ll definitely need stitches, so I cover the wound with a thick bandage, wrapping it tight in the meantime.
“Any other injuries I need to know about?”
He shakes his head. “I took them down.” He gestures toward a pile of purple bodies behind our blackened tree, and my stomach swims. I usually have a rock-solid stomach, but that was a massacre.
I glance away from the detached limbs and heads and turn to the remaining injured warriors. Rakiz lays his hand over a warrior’s eyes, closing them as he breathes his last breath, and my throat aches at the look on Rakiz’s face as he gets to his feet.
The other healers pronounce the remaining warriors good to go, and they’re loaded onto the mishua. Hewex gestures for me to join Tagiz, and I narrow my eyes at him, but he ignores me, helping one of the injured warriors onto the mishua in front of him.
Tagiz is silent behind me. For about two minutes.
“I don’t want you leaving the camp,” he murmurs in my ear, and I almost shiver. “It’s too dangerous.”
“I’ll take that under advisement,” I say.
I can practically hear him grinding his teeth behind me.
“You’re still healing.”
“I’m almost completely recovered, Tagiz. I know you think I’m fragile, but I’m not.”
“You’re human.”
The way he says human pisses me off, and I glower over my shoulder at him. “Braxians aren’t exactly invincible, you know.” I gesture at the mishua, who are being guided by stone-faced warriors making sure the bodies of their friends don’t fall to the ground.
He’s silent, but his arm around my waist clutches me closer to him.
“Stay with me, Zoey. You need to fight. Fight to live.”
It’s ironic, really. Because when he’s around, I no longer feel like someone is sitting on my chest. I can…breathe.
Part of me wishes it had been anyone but Tagiz who helped rescue me that day. Because when someone sees you at your worst, it’s hard to remove that memory from their minds. I’m pretty sure every time he looks at me, he sees me gasping for air and choking on mucus.
Sexy. Real sexy.
I firm my lips. I’m going to make him see me as a woman. And when he does, I’m going to make him beg for me.
Chapter Two
Zoey
Nevada calls a meeting when I get back to camp. The warriors will be having their own meetings, but she acts as our intermediary, keeping us informed about everything we need to know. She also passes any important information on to Rakiz and negotiates with him when we want to do something the Braxians probably won’t approve of.
Usually, we’d all file into one of the spare kradis. But with the new human women, we can’t fit. So we meet in a small clearing instead. Nevada
trained our sentries herself, so I know she takes this attack personally. Unfortunately, the Dokhalls are much smarter than the Voildi, and they’re motivated by the fact we have their ship.
Our ship.
I sigh as I glance around the clearing. Sometimes I still have to pinch myself when I wake up to an emerald sky. What would I have changed if I’d known I’d end up on this planet? What would I have done differently?
There’s no point looking back. I know that now—after so many days in that cage, waiting to die. All I can do is look forward, even though I have no idea what my future will hold.
“How are you feeling?” I ask Nevada as she scans the clearing, her foot tapping impatiently as she waits for everyone to arrive.
“Like I have a brick sitting on my bladder,” she murmurs.
I laugh, and she meets my eyes with a smile.
“Here.” She grabs my hand and pulls it to her stomach, waiting a moment, and I grin at her as a tiny hand or foot makes contact with my palm.
“That’s amazing. I’m so happy for you, Nevada.”
By now, I’m close with all the human women I arrived here with. But I have a special bond with Nevada. She saved me when I was certain I was going to die. And she did it in style, blowing up the horrible building where I was being kept in that cage.
Of course, she didn’t do it alone. Rakiz, Hewex, and Tagiz were there with her.
“Just keep breathing, female. I’ll get you out of here.”
I shake off the memories, laughing as the baby kicks my hand again.
“Do you know when you’re due?”
She shrugs. “Moni said it’s not uncommon for Braxian babies to be born after four or five months. Since it’s nine months for us humans, I’m guessing it’ll be somewhere in between.”
That explains the size of the bump. “Wow,” I say. “I don’t know if I’d be able to deal with the mystery of it all.”
She snorts. “You’re telling me. I’m attempting to be Zen about it, but it’s not my best thing.”
I laugh and leave her to wrangle the women as they arrive. I wave across the clearing to Maez, who’s currently deep in conversation with a woman named Emma. She raises her hand with a grin, and I find a seat next to Ellie, who smiles as I plop down next to her. She’s also pregnant, and I take her wrist, automatically pressing two fingers to her pulse. Her smile widens, but she’s quiet as we watch everyone arrive.
“Where’s Charlie?” I ask.
“She and Dragix are doing regular flyovers. Turns out, purple is easy to spot from up high. They’re hunting any Dokhalls they see.”
I smile at that. I never could’ve imagined dragons existed. Or that they turned into incredibly hot men.
Shows what I knew.
The clearing begins filling up as more of the new women arrive, and I study them.
The women were on the ship of Dokhalls, on their way to be taken back to the Dokhalls’ planet after they had been bought at the slave market. Just like we were. It was their lucky day when the Dokhalls were sent to check out this planet instead. The Dokhalls were looking for their “products” that had escaped, and instead, many of them ended up dead.
But not all of them.
Sarissa leans back against one of the trees, her eyes serious as she watches everyone and everything. She managed to keep the other women from losing their minds when they first got free, and since then, she seems to have handed over leadership to a woman called Clara.
Clara immediately heads toward Nevada when she arrives, and they murmur to each other for a moment. I feel a pang as I realize I’ve only spoken to Clara once. I’ve mostly been burying myself in the healers’ kradi.
Alexis steps through the trees, and I jump to my feet, throwing my arms around her.
“What are you doing here? I thought you and Dexar were staying at camp?”
“We were until this attack. I’ve been examining the ship regularly, and Dexar lost his shit when he heard the Dokhalls killed Rakiz’s men.” She chews on her lip. “He says he won’t let me go near any ship again until the Dokhall issue has been ‘resolved.’”
Sarissa snorts from where she’s still sitting against the tree. “Resolved. I like it.”
Alexis grins at her. “Same.” Her grin falls. “But I can’t figure out our next step with this ship until we’ve handled the Dokhalls.”
Sarissa nods and opens her mouth, but Nevada raises her hand, gesturing for everyone to shut up.
“Holy shit,” Alexis murmurs. “Is she wearing a…dress?”
I laugh. “Yeah, there were only so many times she could adjust those leather pants.”
Nevada can’t possibly hear us across the clearing, but she glances over at us with a scowl, as if she knows exactly what we’re talking about. Alexis gives her a finger wave, and Nevada glowers at her even as her mouth twitches.
Ellie is further along in her pregnancy, but the way Nevada is carrying makes her seem like she could have her baby any day. She looks healthy and strong, although she’s rubbing her lower back as she surveys everyone in the clearing.
“Okay,” Nevada says. “I misplaced my microphone, so y’all need to be quiet and wait for question time.”
A few women chuckle at that.
She waits for the last few women to file in and then gets straight to the point.
“We need to take care of our little Dokhall problem. Rakiz and Dexar are currently meeting to figure out a plan. We had thought it was just the Dokhalls we needed to worry about, but there have been reports they may be allying with the Zintas.”
A small blonde woman raises her hand, and Nevada nods at her.
“The Zintas?”
“Furry bastards from across the water. They come over here to trade occasionally, and they have no problem with buying slaves. They bit off more than they could chew when they took Ivy, and our honey-bunnies made them see the error of their ways. The problem is there are so many of them, and we also don’t know how many Dokhalls escaped.”
She frowns, staring off into space for a moment, and then seems to shake herself. “Based on how many you guys said were on the ship, there could still be hundreds of them out there. Combine that with the Zintas and we could be in trouble.”
A voice speaks up from within the crowd. “They’re not taking our fucking ship.”
“Yeah,” someone agrees. “Finders keepers.”
Nevada nods. “They’re not. You guys want off this planet, and we’ll help you. As agreed. But you’re going to have to buckle in for what could be a long ride. The ship is damaged, the Dokhalls are out for revenge, and the Zintas are a threat.”
“Sure,” someone else mutters, and I crane my head to see a woman with long dark hair braided back from her face. “But we have a motherfucking dragon.”
Nevada grins at that. “We do. As far as weapons go, we can’t get much better. The problem is the Zintas know how Dragix operates, and they’re used to hiding their scent from him. If they’re teaching our new purple friends the same tactics, Dragix may not be all that effective until he can actually see them.”
The clearing goes quiet, and it’s Beth who speaks, her cheeks coloring as heads turn toward her. I didn’t notice her arrival, but she and Zarix must have traveled here with Alexis and Dexar.
“We need to set some kind of trap for them. Something that allows us to take them all out at once.”
Nevada nods, and Kate gets to her feet, turning to Alexis.
“What can you tell us about the ship?” All eyes are on Kate, and I wonder if she realizes how much pressure she’s going to be under if we can eventually get this ship off the ground. She was once a fighter pilot, and before the Arcav invaded, was working for a company attempting to send planes into space.
She seems cool and composed and exactly like the type of woman we’ll need piloting our ship if we can get it working.
Alexis grins at Kate and moves toward the front of the group. I only knew Alexis for a few hours before I was kidna
pped with Ivy and Beth, but her time on Agron has been good to her. She looks every inch the tribe queen, dressed in a long, gauzy purple dress with gold thread, her hair braided back off her face.
A breeze sweeps through the clearing, bringing the scent of meat cooking from the food kradi. My stomach rumbles.
“Okay,” Alexis says. “I want to be clear with everyone before we get started. I’m an astronautical engineer. On Earth. So yes, that means I’m probably a better choice for attempting to fix this ship than say…Nevada.” She grins, and Nevada snorts. “But attempting to understand how an alien ship works is like handing a Tesla to someone who has only ever worked on classic cars. It may have four wheels, but the technology is massively different. I’m working in the dark here. So I know you’re pinning all your hopes on me figuring this out, and I get it. But you need to accept that even if I can fix this ship, there’s a good chance I won’t be able to find the materials to do that on this planet.”
My heart sinks. “So our chances of actually using this ship aren’t high.”
“I’ve been traveling amongst this ship, the one we crash-landed here in, and the one that crashed here forty years ago. This has allowed me to compare some of the technology and try to understand what we’re working with. The ship was set on fire in the last battle, and the fuselage is slightly cracked, but the damage is mostly cosmetic. So far, I know for sure one of the thrusters is broken.”
Ellie raises her hand. “What is a thruster, and what does it do?”
“Thrusters help propel the ship into space. I don’t know if the ship can operate properly without all the thrusters working, but I wouldn’t risk it. The ship seems to run on artificial intelligence, which also isn’t working. I’m 95 percent sure the AI system relies on a control chip. A chip that’s currently missing.” She sighs. “I think whichever Dokhall was responsible for landing that ship took the chip with him as insurance.”
Silence.
Pale faces. And a few of the women have tears in their eyes. One of the women gets to her feet, the movement weary. “I’ve already decided to stay here,” she announces. “But so many of us want to leave. We want the Grivath to pay for what they did to us. Are you saying without that chip, they can’t get off this planet?”
