by Zara Starr
Some day, if I was relegated to remaining here, I would ask what it was and why it wasn’t used anymore. I would figure out what was hidden beyond the swamp.
As we walked through the brush, on the footpath, I realized why the women never left their home caves.
This planet was a death trap, teeming with all manner of beasts that wanted to eat you, plants that could rip you apart, and who knew what else lurked in these woods.
This fact only multiplied my sadness because it meant I would never be able to go outside without having an escort to accompany me. Talk about killing a woman’s independence.
I loved that this planet had a sense of chivalry like nothing I’d ever seen on Earth, but to think that I literally couldn’t do anything for myself was such a bummer.
We emerged before the massive lake on the edge of a beach and I smiled, realizing that I had been here before. Karr walked toward his raft and pointed at it.
The four of us boarded as he prepared to launch us out into the water. I sat atop the raft as it bounced over the waves, and after a while, Karr stopped and pointed in the water.
I leaned over and looked down into the mystifying blue and shook my head.
“There’s nothing here,” I sobbed softly. Karr approached me and placed a hand at the small of my back. “Look, it’s just miles and miles of water, and that’s it.”
I waved my arm broadly to include the lake and everything in it, feeling entirely hopeless.
I wasn’t sure what to do now, having gotten my hopes up prematurely, only to have them dashed to the ground. Dew placed his hand over his head as he frowned at me.
“Sad?” he asked.
I nodded as the tears began rolling down my cheeks. There wasn’t much else I could do, but sitting there like an idiot didn’t suit me.
I leaped from the raft and began to swim around in a circle, diving down every few moments to look around. Still, I found nothing. Nothing but open and eerily quiet blue waters that couldn’t tell me any more than Karr could.
I swam beneath the waters for several moments until I noticed a pale white thing moving in the distance.
I quickly began moving toward the surface, my head breaking through the water as a snarling worm crashed through, rolling its coils and knocking me into a wave that tossed me into the current.
I struggled to keep from sucking in a breath and drowning. I fought my way back to the surface just as the creature came bounding up toward my feet.
Suddenly, Karr’s arm was around my waist and he was prying me from the waters. But the worm’s jagged teeth broke through the surface and I felt the sting of it pierce through my ankle as Karr finally managed to pull me from the lake.
I gasped as blood began spurting from my leg and Bahl knelt down beside me, applying some sort of bandage to it while Karr tossed a handmade harpoon toward the beast. I trembled as I backed into Dew and began shaking my head.
“Get me out of here. Please, please just get me back to the cave!” I cried.
Karr redirected the raft and I watched as the waters turned a bluish-black, evidence of the creature’s wound as it bled out into the otherwise crystal blue lagoon. Still, I was traumatized and worried that Karr hadn’t injured it enough to keep it off our trail.
I had a new set of questions but, considering how the purples had saved me more than once, I realized in an instant that maybe I had finally found what was home.
At that moment I had everything I needed, but mostly, I had my own family.
Karr
I had never understood Ella’s arrival here, but I thought it was my duty to give her what she asked for, even if that was devastating to our triad.
We had bonded and I had hoped for a family with these males. I had especially looked forward to having Ella and giving her everything she wanted.
Today, she wanted to go home.
I might have been homesick, too, being away from this place and the people I was familiar with for such a long time. So, rather than argue with her, I decided that I would take her back to the place I had found her and see if we could figure out a way to return her to her own home.
However, in my heart, I had to admit that I hoped it would be impossible. I didn’t want her to be upset, but I felt like she would get used to it here.
She had already come a long way in her acceptance of our foods, except for meat, and our customs, including the incredible mating ritual we had so recently completed.
Of course, I thought she had finally learned her lesson about the danger of wandering alone after the almost fatal incident in the swamp with the leeches. This should have helped her become more at peace with spending most of her time in the cave.
I had not imagined that we would have faced danger in the lake. I knew it was the origin, and that it was possible that she could find the answers she was looking for about going home, whether or not she even could.
But instead of helping her with my gesture of kindness, I had nearly managed to get her killed once again.
It was good that she had chosen her mates wisely because there weren’t many of us who carried the right sort of bandages for such an injury—that held salves to stop the flow of blood from a fresh wound.
Ella shivered until we arrived at the home cave and we were able to find her something else to wear while the beautiful dress dried. Wrapped in soft skins, she sat with her shoulders sagging as if in resignation.
I realized that she would not ask to go home again. I wanted to make this her home, wanted her to feel as welcomed and comfortable here as she did in her own home, in her own world.
I vowed at that moment to work harder with communication so we could talk to each other the way that she probably talked to her own people and the way that I spoke so easily with Dew, Bahl, and the rest of my kind.
She must miss conversation as much as she missed her family and the ones she loved. If I could do something to make her happy and help her feel more at ease, that would go a long way in keeping her from feeling lonely or homesick.
She relied on me for protection, and she seemed to be most genuinely attracted to Bahl, but she took comfort in Dew, so I left him to provide the soothing she needed after her terrible experiences.
It had all started out so good, and then it had all fallen to pieces with her escape as we slept blissfully unaware. And now, she needed comfort and the safety of gentle arms. I could speak to her later if needed. She was good for now with Dew as a companion.
I motioned for Bahl to follow me outside, leaving Dew and Ella alone so she could gather her comfort and regain her senses without that fear in her eyes.
Bahl stood from the corner where he sat and followed me out the mouth of the home cave. When we were outside and far enough away that we were out of hearing distance, I stopped.
With a sigh, I told him, “I didn’t want her to leave.”
Bahl shook his head. “None of us did. She is such a precious prize, and we were graced with being her choices for mates. But I hope you didn’t purposely lead her somewhere that would pose danger to her just to get her to change her mind.”
I shook my head adamantly. “No, I would not have done anything like that. I want her to be happy. If that meant we had to suffer because she left, I was willing to make that sacrifice. For now, though, I don’t think we have to worry about it. The way she got here is obviously not so easy to explain and doesn’t exist in a way that it can take her back. I don’t think she’ll ask again for a very long time after this experience.”
“This is true,” Bahl said. “But I hope she has also learned not to run away or go outdoors without one of us. There are too many dangers, including the trueno that is still out there and even Arh who might try to take her from us.”
“I don’t think he will, but I agree.” I didn’t like the idea, but I had to ask anyway what I was thinking. “If she does ask to go home again, or if we discover a way for her to get there, are you prepared to help her?”
Bahl scowled, but the
n his face fell and his shoulders drooped with resignation. “I want to keep her, but if she doesn’t want to be with us, if she would rather go back to her first home, I would never keep her against her will. Are you prepared for that?”
I nodded. “I did it once, today. I will do it again if I have to. Let us only hope that it does not come to that. I think she will be upset about her near-death experience long enough that by the time she would have thought about going home, the need and longing will have faded so much that she won’t ask. If we’re lucky, she will want to stay. And if we are luckier yet, she’ll give us a child.”
Bahl smiled. “I like that idea. In fact, I think I’d like to work harder to make our family grow quickly.”
I couldn’t help but laugh. “I’m sure we are all eager to mate with her again. But I think she might need some time. When she is ready for a distraction from her sadness and fear, we’ll know. And then we can enjoy more intimacy with her, together and separately.”
“I know you’re right. I think I’ll just go collect some food and sustenance for her. We are a little low on her favorites, and I don’t want her to run out, especially when she’s fragile like this.”
Bahl turned and headed away. I stood alone trying to decide what I was going to do.
Ella didn’t need me right now and I had something I wanted to settle.
I decided to hunt down Arh to make sure he didn’t pose any harm. I thought he had had plenty of time to cool off and that his rage would have subsided enough that when he saw me, the intensity wouldn’t grow beyond his control.
Arh was a reasonable male and I knew he would be chosen by a good female, perhaps the next one to come of age. I just wanted to remind him that what was done was done and that he was still a worthy candidate for the right female.
As for Ella, she had made her choices, and after the mating ritual, I knew without a doubt that she was the right female for all of us.
Ella
It had been a few weeks since the mating triad celebration, and in that time, I had grown especially close to my three mates, realizing how special each of them was and how each had a special way of communicating with me that was entirely his own.
One morning, I awoke to find myself feeling queasy and immediately retched at the side of the bed furs, awaking Dew. Karr and Bahl had thankfully already gone about their chores for the day.
Dew rolled to his side and frowned at me, obviously quite concerned.
“Are you okay?” he asked me, having learned that sentence quickly since he worried so often about my health.
I lowered my hand to my stomach and shrugged. Why had I gotten sick first thing in the morning?
“I don’t know,” I groaned, still not feeling quite right.
Dew tilted his head. “Did your blood come?” he asked in his own tongue. I raised a brow and gasped as my mind followed his train of thought.
Was I pregnant?
I smiled as my hand flattened against my belly.
No, my period had not come in weeks.
I tried to recall how I had been feeling over the last week and the symptoms I was experiencing brought a huge smile to my face.
“Our family is growing,” I said proudly, and Dew nodded, his lips curling into the delighted grin that he had first won me over with.
How lucky I felt, stuck on this amazing wild planet with my three beloved purple males in a place called Eilahas, my new home.
The End
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Also by Zara Starr
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