by Lynnea Lee
The fearsome forest monsters, being opportunistic, were attracted to both the commotion of the fight, as well as the miasma of blood and carnage that now formed a tempting perimeter around the colony. They needed to clear the area outside of the fences of the dead and dying. Then, they had to repair the barrier the best they could with what they had.
They also had injured to care for and dead to grieve. They had won, but their victory was bittersweet, as many victories were throughout the history of all people.
Holden blew out a breath, and his shoulders sagged. He was tired, and all he wanted to do was go home and jump in the cleansing unit-or into a warm bath. Ryek’s place had a full-sized bath, and Holden wanted to relax in it with his mates. Then he would eat and relax with his new family. But that would have to wait. There was still much work to do.
He called in his team. Every face, Tallean or human, looked equally exhausted. Splitting his team into several groups, half of them of small and mobile colonists, and the others with big strong males, he sent them out to their tasks.
The more mobile groups of females were sent to locate and mark on the map bodies that needed to be cleared. Then, the teams of stronger males would pick up each corpse and pile them together in front of the down fencing. The resulting fires, dotting strategically around the broken fences, would serve to both eliminate food sources for the forest beasts and drive them away. This would give Holden and the other guards time to repair the perimeter.
With his teams out on their mission, Holden dragged a hand over his face. The stretch of fencing that had come down in his area was extensive, and he doubted they had the available resources to fix it. They would have to reset the border so that the fence covered a smaller area. It would leave a storage shed stuck outside the fencing, but that was a small price to pay.
“Holden?” Angie’s voice sounded like drops of rain after a drought.
He turned and saw her standing there so small and vulnerable. Despite the bags under her eyes and worry etched onto her face, she was still a sight for sore eyes. Pulling her close, he enveloped her into her arms.
“Thank you for warning us of the small group destroying the fence. If it weren’t for you catching it on the sensors, they would have breached the wall much earlier.”
She shook her head against his chest. “I should have caught them sooner.” She stretched up and kissed him on the side of his jaw. “They don’t need me by the monitors anymore, so Ryek sent me to check up on all the teams protecting the new colonist area. You are my first stop.”
“I think you misunderstood the orders. You are supposed to check up on, not check out. You are obviously here checking me out.” He grinned.
She scoffed and then clicked on the screen of her comm. “I am officially reporting your team as ‘okay,’ but I’m also adding a note that you are annoying.”
He bellowed the laugh. “Ryek would love that. But on the topic of checking me out, I don’t think you need to worry about Jennifer jumping me anymore.”
Her face darkened at the mention of the female who had been interested in him for so long. “And why not?”
“She saw me with my fangs out, and my cheek creases extended. She almost pissed herself. I don’t think she’s ever seen one of us Tallean like that. Not all of us get gripped by bloodlust so easily.”
When the first of the attackers had broken through the fence, Holden had been one of only a handful of Tallean males who had uncreased their cheek creases and unhinged their jaws. In this altered state, he had fought with his teeth and claws, ripping into the Dominion peons' flesh instead of shooting with his blaster.
“What? You are totally hot when you fight like that. That’s her loss. You getting all scary looking when you fight would only make me jump your bones more.”
“That’s why we are perfect for each other. Some of the other colonists and guards who came to help also let their fangs descend, but most Tallean colonists chose to use their blasters. Fighting the old way is considered barbaric.”
“Ha! Then you can be my alien barbarian. You are fucking hot when you have your jaws unhinged and your fangs out!” Then she looked thoughtful. “I wonder how Ryek looks when he fights.”
He sobered. “How is he holding up?”
“He’s stressed but happy that we have beaten back the Dominion. He looks almost surprised that we won. I don’t think he quite believes it.”
“Ryek always underestimates his abilities and strengths, and in extension, the strength of his colony.”
“I can’t wait until all this is over.”
“Me too.”
“This morning on our way out of his home—”
“Your home now, too,” he interrupted.
She scrunched her nose at him that cute way she did often. “If I recalled correctly, I never agreed.”
“And if I recall correctly, we are both bigger than you.” He made a show of towering over her, getting into her space. “We can do anything we want to you, and you won’t be able to stop us.”
The blossoming scent of arousal reached his nose, and he growled at her. For a moment, he considered taking her quickly here, right on the ground. But responsibility was a cruel mistress, and he decided smartly against it. Instead, he said, “If I’m moving my things into Ryek’s place, then you have no choice. You are doing it too.”
“Fine! But you are doing all the heavy lifting.”
Holden laughed.
Angie didn’t own many things. He knew she’d been waiting to find a mate before she invested in her home. She’d picked out some furniture when they’d lived together years ago. But this felt like a fresh, new start, and they should pick things out for their new home together and include Ryek in the decision-making process.
It would be a positive change for Ryek to make some decisions about his own life now, instead of continually worrying about the colony. Holden had watched as the lines of age and stress crept onto his friend’s face. He took on too much, and it was time he lived life for himself.
Angie cleared her throat, pulling his attention back to her. “Before you so rudely interrupted, I was saying that I noticed a big tub at the back of the master bathroom.” A playful smile ghosted on her lips. “I wonder if we all fit?”
Then she gave him a quick hug and was down the path to the next team before he could reply.
Chapter 17
Stay put? How could she stay put when there were so many things she could be doing to help the colony?
Angie had finished making her rounds collecting and recording updates from all the guards regarding their teams and their sections of the fence. There were numerous fence sections that needed fixing and even more chores to do to avoid luring the forest beasts into the settlement.
She had returned to the security and comms office to find Ryek still out working with the colonists. So she sent him the report, and as a reply, he had sent her a message to stay put. He obviously didn’t know her well enough. Angie was not one to “stay put” when there was more work to do!
She dug out her comm and called Ulia. After a few long buzzes, her friend’s face filled the screen. Ulia was panting, out of breath, and moving quickly through the forest.
“Angie! Glad to see you are okay.”
“Hey Ulia, Ryek has me sitting around doing shit all. What task are you doing now? Maybe I can help you?”
“Holden sent us out to scout for anything that might draw in the dragus, mostly dead Dominion. I’ll let you see my comm location. Come join us.” Then quietly, whispered into the comm’s microphone. “Jennifer is on my team, though.”
“I’m not worried about that anymore.” She thought of Holden when he got all feral after a fight and had to resist fanning herself. If the other woman couldn’t appreciate the hunky Tallean when he was all intimidating claws and fangs, that was her loss. “I’ll see you soon.”
Ulia was easy to find; her small group was just a short walk outside of the f
ence. The team was mostly females, but Angie recognized a few human men who had recently come to the housing office. She greeted everyone, including Jennifer, who nodded at her but wore a wan, sickly look.
“Come on, let’s go to the next area. The quicker we finish, the better. I think some members of our group are going to lose their breakfast.” Ulia checked off their current area on the comm map before circling the next one. “Seeing corpses up close and personal fucks you up good.”
It did. But it was a price they had to pay for freedom. “Beats being a slave.” A few of the humans agreed enthusiastically.
They moved to the next area on their map and fanned out in pairs to look around. Angie partnered up with Ulia, and the two used the opportunity to catch up on the last few days.
“So, what’s going on with Ryek?” Ulia was nosy and had no qualms about straight-up asking for details. Most Talleans were this way, preferring to be blunt. Angie appreciated it.
And Angie had known Ulia would ask the first chance she got. “It’s complicated.”
“Are you really going to be tight-lipped about it?” She was also known to be persistent in her curiosity.
“Yup.” Angie kept her answers to short as she scanned the area for anything suspicious.
“Well, at least he’s keeping you away from Holden. Didn’t you say you wanted to stay away from him?”
“Nope.” She wondered if her friend would be able to guess that they were all in bed together. It wasn’t uncommon among unmated Talleans. But Ryek wasn’t known to search out such experiences.
“Stars, that is complicated.”
“Yup.” Again, a one-word answer.
The Tallean female growled at her. “You’re no fun! What’s the point of joining me if you aren’t even going to give me all the saucy details?”
Angie laughed. She planned on filling Ulia with the details after she’d gotten everything figured out. “I’m helping the colony!” A glint of metal caught her eye. A booted foot stuck out of the bushes. “Over there. Mark it on your comm.”
Ulia did, keen to avoid getting a closer look.
“I’m going to have nightmares for days.” Ulia shuddered.
They walked a little more, bumping into Jennifer and another newer human female Angie did not recognize.
“I guess that’s the end of our range. Let’s all head back to the center together.”
“Wait,” the female Angie didn’t recognize said, pointing to just out of the area. “Look over there. I see something glinting in the sun.”
Angie turned and squinted, and sure enough, something metallic showed through the foliage of the trees. The area they were covering was thickly forested.
“I see it too,” said Jennifer.
“It’s just out of our zone, but I guess it won’t hurt to go check it out and mark it. Just to be safe, let's all go together.” Ulia started towards the metallic glint, and all three followed.
As they neared the metallic glint, they stopped, confused. The glare came from the metal badges of several Dominion jackets all hung neatly in a row on a branch.
“I don’t like the look of this. Let’s get out of here.”
“Too late, females,” a voice boomed from behind them.
They whirled around and found a Dominion soldier with a blaster trained on them.
“It’s a pity they make even the females do the fighting here.” Two more soldiers stepped out from behind a tree.
Shit! Trouble had found her again.
Holden absentmindedly rubbed at his chest as he worked on the fence. He wondered if Angie was back at the office where Ryek had told her to stay, or if she was off getting into some sort of trouble or another.
“I can’t believe you told her to stay and expect her to do it.” He sent Ryek a disapproving look. Didn’t he know Angie never did what she was told?
“It’s the last time I’m making that mistake. I already got the news that Angie joined one of the teams marking the corpses to be burned.” Ryek held up the fence panel as Holden attached it to the existing fencing and drove the spikes into the ground.
The thought of Angie searching out dead bodies didn’t sit well with him. “She’s going to get nightmares.”
Ryek laughed. “You are worried about a few dead bodies? It can’t be worse than watching you hold a severed head up like some sort of trophy. I think Angie is used to gory scenes by now.”
Shit. Ryek was right. Holden was a violent male by nature, and he needed to control himself better.
He passed the wrench over to Ryek so he could tighten his side. They worked together well. The company was ideal, and they were more effective together than apart. The only thing missing was their little female. Holden imagined her in a fitted jumpsuit, her curves on display, as she handed them their tools.
“We should get her fitted for a jumpsuit, a tight one. I just imagined her kneeling by the tool kit handing us our tools as we worked.”
Ryek rumbled in appreciation. “That’s a good picture. But this isn’t the type of work we usually do.”
“No, but I enjoy it. I like tinkering with things. I just haven’t had time to do much of it.”
They finished by connecting the wires on either end.
“I enjoy it too. You know the piece of junk vessel we confiscated recently from the Dominion spies that tried to kidnap our citizens? I’ve been thinking of tearing that thing apart and seeing if I could rebuild it.”
“You can’t possibly make it worse. That thing is falling apart, but the frame is still sturdy. You could do a lot with it. Do you want help? It sounds like a fun project.”
“We’ve been so busy, and I don’t think we’ll ever find the time.“
“We did promise Angie we would reshuffle our schedule to put in some free time for her and ourselves. We could add rebuilding a ship to that schedule.”
They walked to the next section of the fence needing repair, pulling their equipment along by cart.
“You’re right. Let’s do it.”
“Perfect! I’ll order Angie the tightest jumpsuit I can find, with attached kneepads so she can stay kneeling comfortably.”
That got him another hearty laugh.
Holden rubbed at his chest again. It felt even tighter now that they were talking about spending time with Angie.
Ryek squinted at him. “You’ve been rubbing your chest a lot. Are you injured from the fight?”
“No. I just have this tightness. It’s not bad. In fact, it almost feels right. I don’t know how to explain it. It gets stronger when I think of Angie and the life we are planning.
“My friend, are you sure it’s not a mating bond forming? I feel a pulling in my chest as well, and it grows tighter every time I think of Angie and the family we will build together. At times, it feels as though I can not breathe. And when I think of a future without you or her, I get filled with panic.
“I’m not sure what a mate bond feels like. But I’m willing to bet that we are both experiencing the start of a three-way bond with Angie.”
“Could it be? I have been wishing and praying to the Stars for years, but I’ve felt nothing until now.”
Ryek scoffed. “And I’ve been avoiding her for just as long, not wanting to poach. If I had made a move earlier, we would have both found our mate years ago.”
“Better now than never.” He rubbed at his chest one last time.
They cleaned up their equipment, noting what was running low and what needed replacing.
“We won’t be able to patch up all the fences at this rate.” Ryek ran a hand over his face. “Bax is on his way with more supplies, but I don’t even know how I’m going to pay him for the trip. The coffers are empty.”
“No, they’re not,” Holden said with confidence. “That group of programmers I was talking about: they’ve been making a killing working on their projects after hours. They have donated some of their earnings, as had several smaller merchants
who have settled here. When you took over Reka 5, it was small, and everyone had to work hard to keep everyone else alive. It’s different now.”
“I’m doing a shit job at running it.”
Holden saw the uncertainty in Ryek’s face. He really didn’t know what a great job he did.
“No. You are doing fine. The colony is just too big for one person to do everything.” Holden gave Ryek’s shoulder a reassuring squeeze. “The teams should all be back at the colony. Let’s go find our mate.”
Chapter 18
“I can’t believe my good luck. I didn’t even have to look for you. You walked straight into me!” The oddly familiar Dominion lackey rubbed his hands together as he leered at Angie. “You don’t remember me, do you?”
She shook her head, deciding it was best to play the part of an obedient female, for now.
“Jadig never did let me play with you. The human slaves were always reserved for traveling merchants.”
That was why he looked so familiar! He was Jadig’s personal guard. Angie didn’t remember his name and was disinclined to ask. She remembered him to be almost as bad as Jadig himself. He was a total bully who made the rest of the household miserable.
“We knew you were on Reka 5. Someone was circulating brochures about Reka 5, tempting the slaves to make a run for it. You were in the photo in the background. I hope you enjoyed your freedom, because Jadig is sending a shuttle for us right now.”
She didn’t reward him with a reaction. She just kept quiet and walked with the other females. The Dominion had captured two more after they found their group, taking their total to six captives and four captors. They had confiscated their comms but didn’t throw them away. Her comm was now inside one of the soldier’s pocket.
Luckily, she’d gotten a message out to the last person she had commed, Lettie. Just three letters: SOS. Angie hoped it was enough to save them from their predicament.
They moved through the forest at a quick speed, the human females struggling to keep pace. Angie purposely slowed the group down as much as she could. And Jennifer caught on quickly, slowing her pace as well and making a big show of being out of breath. Her partner genuinely struggled, panting, and wheezing.