by Abigail Myst
“What are you doing? You were told to rest until morning.”
“I’m not tired.”
“Then what are you doing?”
“Going for a swim.” She didn’t stop. By now, she was thigh deep in the water.
“Come back here.”
He was far enough back that she was sure he couldn’t see the tears. Odette turned and sunk to her knees. The water buoyed her body. He took a panicked step forward and then stopped.
“You can’t swim, can you?”
“It is not in the Mahdfel training.”
“Well, I can swim, so go back to the beach.”
“Woman!”
Odette backed deeper into the warm water. He took another step forward and then paced along in the knee-deep water.
“First of all, you’ve made it pretty clear that you don’t want me. That pretty much means that you don’t have the slightest right to order me about. Second, I have a name. Use it. And third, I don’t fricken’ need a babysitter to go for a little swim.”
Odette did a bit of backstroke to illustrate her point. That was apparently the end of his patience. With a great deal of splashing, he lunged toward her. Before she could regain her feet, his arms encircled her and he began hauling her toward the shoreline. She kicked him. She might as well have kicked a tree, for all the good it did her.
He dumped her onto the sand with a disgusted grunt. Thoroughly pissed, she scrambled to her feet and headed straight back out to sea. She didn’t get very far before he caught her and threw her over his shoulder.
“You asshole!”
This time, he didn’t stop until he was back at his room. He dumped her soggy form onto the bed. She sat up, like a wet cat, but Athen pushed her back down again then pinned her arms.
“You will not move.”
Could not, more like. The way he leaned over her, pressed her into the bed, damn the man if she wasn’t getting wet in other ways. But she knew he wasn’t feeling the same, judging by the stormy look on his face and the dark patches that formed on his skin, making him look almost sinister.
“Your word,” he said.
“My word what?”
“That you will not get in the water again.”
“I come from a planet that’s over seventy percent water. We have entire sports dedicated to swimming, diving, rowing. I can teach you, if you want. I mean, you live right next to an ocean. Sounds like a necessary skill to me.”
“Woman.”
“Warrior. Stubborn bastard.”
“While you are under my protection, you will follow my orders.”
“I will follow the orders of my husband. My mate.” He flinched. She knew she had touched a nerve.
“If you do not, I will have you confined to quarters until you leave.” Except the walls of her quarters were made of netting. What kind of threat was that?
“Whatever.”
He stood up and glared at her once again. Odette could not help but notice the obvious tent in his shorts.
“You know,” she smiled up at him. “I’d be happy to help you with that erection problem you seem to be having.”
His eye twitched but that was the only sign that he had heard her. She doubled down and peeled off her wet tank top. She could swear that he had stopped breathing.
“I should take of my skirt too, now that it’s wet.” She laid back down and bucked up her hips. He retreated from the module with just enough speed to prove that he wasn’t running.
Odette laughed loudly. Her power was going to be in making his body want what his will did not. He’d pay for it all.
Chapter Eight
Athen
He had to get rid of her as soon as possible. It was not as easy as it sounded. The transport station that had brought her here was one way. It would take a ship to remove her, and the only ones that would even think of coming would be the ones not in the battlefield. No, a battleship for his little Terran would not do anyway. She’d probably disobey the captain’s orders and blow the bloody ship to pieces.
That thought bothered him more than it should. Seeing her drop in the water had been terrifying enough. The bloody woman had been taunting him. Who knew what kind of dangers existed under the surface of the relatively calm waters. They had yet to do a survey of what larger sea creatures were there, mainly because none of the Etlonian Mahdfels had been trained for water missions. Their skin didn’t mimic the blues and whites of the ocean without deep concentration or the adrenaline rush of battle, so the Suhlik and future freed generations had seen no need in including it in their training.
When the monitor blinked at him, Athen took a deep calming breath. He really didn’t want to talk to Etlon, but the fastest ship would be arranged through him.
“Councilor,” Athen started.
“Son. I heard you have news.”
Figured. Of course his father already knew.
“I need a ship. This planet is no place for a Terran female.”
“No pleasantries? No, ‘Hang up, Father, so I may get back to planting my seed deep into her womb?’ Just ‘I need a ship?’ ”
Athen disconnected his father. He would not let him gloat. He would either send a ship or not. Either way, they’d arrive (or not arrive) in less than a fortnight. All he had to do was stay away from her until then. If he did bed her, sink himself deep inside her, Athen knew he would not be able to tear himself away from her.
He left the HQ, and a short walk later, he neared the hammocks strung for the warriors that preferred the outdoors. He would sleep there, despite the prying eyes. Only Hartung was there, close to sleep. He nearly fell out of his hammock when he realized that it was Athen climbing into the rope bed next to him.
A warrior could sleep anywhere - up a tree or in between the roots of some ancient trunk. The hammock swung in the breeze, like the tops of the trees. Athen took a deep breath when he settled. He swore he could still smell her. Even from here, she floated toward him like an invisible hand waving him forward.
Athen had mastered every task the Mahdfel set before him. He would master this Terran. His desire for her would fade, and his skin would not betray him as it did with all of his warriors. His self control would be an example to them.
Athen closed his eyes and willed his erection to go away. It began to rain. He smiled. The rain would wash away the scent of her. For that reLeif, he’d face a downpour.
Odette
Odette stepped out of the module and was immediately met by two hulking green brutes.
“Good morning,” she said pleasantly and stepped to the side. One of the not-so-jolly green giants moved to intercept her.
“You are not to leave your quarters.”
“But I’m hungry. On my planet, we eat at least three times a day.” She added on, “And a day is twenty-four hours.” There was no guaranteeing that the planet, Noven Ninety he had said, had the same rotation around its axis as Earth. She had no idea how long she had slept, but the rumblings in her stomach reminded her that she hadn’t eaten anything for a while.
“Perhaps, you should try the replicator.”
“Or perhaps, you should go find me some food. Real food. You know, the stuff that is grown from the trees?”
“Our orders are to-”
“I bet they are just to make sure that I don’t go jumping into the ocean again, right?”
The warriors exchanged glances that told Odette she was right. “Why the hell are a bunch of big brave warriors such as yourselves afraid of getting a little wet?”
“We are not afraid of water.” As if on cue, the heavens opened up in a downpour of warm rain. Sure enough, they didn’t flinch. She wasn’t going to flinch either. She’d secured her red locks in a braid and could take a warm shower anytime.
“And I’m not afraid of you, so you will get out of my way.”
They didn’t, but that didn’t stop Odette. She turned to go back into the module and then sprinted in the direction of the mess. If they hadn’t second guessed th
e consequences of putting their hands on their warlord’s female, she never would have made it. As it was, they trailed along after her, barking orders. Odette ignored them until she reached a group of warriors seated at the mess playing some sort of dice game.
She recognized Leif and Goru, the two that had escorted her to the camp.
“Hello boys! What does a lady have to do to get a drink around here?”
She sat down at the table and was greeted by five pairs of wide eyes. She didn’t miss the fact that the warrior next to her tried to sneak a sniff.
“A drink. You know, liquid? Food would be good too. I mean, I haven’t had anything to eat since I was halfway across the galaxy.”
“Further than that. We are not in Terran’s galaxy,” said Leif.
“Lovely. Then we will have to find a substitute for my Great Auntie Arlis’s famous peach cobbler.”
From Odette’s experiences, the replicators were good at ingredients like flour and sugar, but when it came to complex recipes that relied on caramelization or long, slow cooking times, they just couldn’t match the flavor of the real thing. It didn’t generally do fruits very well either.
None of the warriors moved. They all just sat there, staring.
“Food. Put in mouth to make stomach stop grumbling? Goru. Help a girl out.”
Goru bolted up so fast that he tipped his chair over. He ran back into the module behind the mess that Odette assumed held the food stores.
By the time he came back, the rain had abated and was more like a light mist. He plopped a veritable feast down on the table. The poor guy had probably found one of everything.
“So. This is all safe for Terrans to eat?” she asked.
“I checked. Your dietary needs include fewer calories, but generally the nutritional guidelines are similar.”
“So I’m not going to keel over from anything on the table?”
He nodded.
“You know I can’t possibly eat all of this. We eat three smaller meals a day.”
“I didn’t know what you would like. But you shall test, and I shall record the data. If my wife is Terran as well, I shall have a baseline.” He took out a datapad and swiped a few times on the screen.
No pressure at all in defining the Earth pallet for an entire planet. She decided to start with the plainest looking one. It was a square, nearly the consistency of a granola bar. Leif looked disappointed with her choice.
“What’s this?”
“It’s a field ration. Why did you give her that? It has no taste.” He punched Goru on the arm.
“Research. If we ever need to pack light, I want to know if my mate will respond well to them.”
Odette took a nibble. “No one would respond well to that one. It has all the taste of a piece of cardboard.” The warriors all nodded in agreement. Her two bodyguards actually began to loosen their stance behind her.
“How about this one? It’s my favorite.” Leif pushed an orange cube at her. It had the consistency of firm tofu but it had a citrus scent. With smile and nod, Odette took a bite. Sour filled her mouth. It was like taking a bite out of a spongy lime.
“Whoooo!”
“You don’t like it?
“Well, I think it’s the kind of thing that goes a little for a long way. Like chop that up and put it in a glass of soda and vodka? That would be awesome.”
“Vodka?”
“Alcohol. Made from potato. A starchy vegetable? You got alcohol around here?”
The guilty looks back and forth told her they did, but they probably weren’t supposed to. Several of the warriors developed splotchy colored patches on their skin. Wow. Their skin would make them very bad poker players, Odette imagined.
“So what’s next?”
Next was a sandwich of some sort, or more like a pastry with some sugared meat in the center. She didn’t want to know if it was real meat or just fake, but the whole thing was a little weird. After that, she tried a brown bread that was loaded with fiery cinnamon.
“You guys don’t do taste halfway, do you? It either is bland as dirt or it punches you in the nose.”
Suddenly, all seven warriors had their own opinion on what she should try next. Odette was sure it was going to end in a round of punching. She held up her hand and magically they all shut up at once.
“One,” she said, pointing to the warrior to the left of Leif. She numbered the rest of them counter clockwise until she got to eleven. The crowd had grown. “In order. You may present one item for me to try.”
She was on seven when a warrior plopped a fruit down on the table. It was large and pear shaped, more the size of a butternut squash.
“What’s this?”
“It is fruit.”
“And it’s name?”
“Fruit. It has no other name. It grows here.”
“We are forbidden to eat it,” Goru said in a rush.
“Pardon?”
“Athen has forbidden us from eating it.”
“Ah. Well then, let’s cut that sucker up. I mean, what harm can come from eating forbidden fruit?” She waited for the laugh, and then realized there wouldn’t be one. Odette noted that Bible jokes fell flat in space. Leif cut a single slice out of the side of the yellow fruit. Its flesh was a watermelon pink inside.
“Wait a second. What will happen to the rest of the fruit now that you’ve cut into it?”
“I uh-” Leif stammered. “It will go to waste.”
“Then you should cut eleven more pieces. No use having it go to waste.”
He looked up at the other warriors, as if waiting for someone to object. When no one did, he quickly sliced it, cutting out the little black seeds as he went. She reached for her slice and then, only after she had put hers to her lips, had the rest of them scooped up their choice.
“To forbidden fruit!” Odette took a bite and finally had found something without equal on Earth. It was a buttery, tangy, goodness that if put in a cobbler, would make her Aunt Ardie hang her head in shame.
“What are you doing?” It was the calm even tone of a man ready to explode.
Leif shoved the rest of his slice in his mouth, whether it was to hide the evidence or to eat every last drop to be worth the punishment his warlord would dole out. The entire group of warriors turned blotchy with guilt around her.
Odette spun about in her chair. “I am having breakfast, since someone decided to not feed me, or come by and see if I needed anything.”
It irked her when he didn’t turn all splotchy with guilt the way his men had.
“Come, woman,” Athen said.
All eyes were on her. Odette suddenly got the feeling that picking a fight with him in front of his men would be a losing battle. A rather one-way losing battle. Fine. She wouldn’t injure his pride in front of a dozen of his men.
She turned toward the module but froze and looked back. “Thank you gentleman for a lovely breakfast. I look forward to experimenting with you in the future.” Another flush she didn’t recognized washed over them.
Odette continued toward the module, but stopped short just outside it.
“You know, you can’t keep me locked in a box all day.”
“You are not locked in.”
“Semantics. You know, on my world, I had a job, a reason to be useful in life. To get up and wash my face. So tell me, what alien Mahdfel rule was I breaking by looking for something to do?”
“This planet is dangerous, and until the ship arrives to take you home, you are my responsibility.”
“And what trouble could I have gotten up to in the middle of twelve of your warriors? It wasn’t like I was hacking my way through the jungle, looking for new and exotic plants to study.”
The moment the words were out of her mouth, Odette knew that’s exactly what she should be doing. Somewhere out there could be the cure for everything, and by the looks of the warriors here, none of them had done any serious research.
“You were encouraging mutiny.”
“They wer
e doing that all by themselves. But that’s not the point. The point is that I’m not going home. Ever. Do you know what happened the other day? My fiance, the one I was supposed to marry, I walked in on him.” By the look on Athen’s face, Odette realized he didn’t understand the phrase. “He was fucking another woman.”
“What is his name?”
“Cleveland? Why?”
“Because I will kill him for you.” There was something about the matter of fact tone that made Odette believe that he was completely serious.
“Thank you, but that’s not necessary.”
“Is he already dead?”
“No. That’s not how we do breakups on Earth.”
“Have you no father or brothers to avenge you?”
“No. My dad was blown up by the Suhlik.”
Athen spit on the ground. “The devil lizards are not long for this universe, but I shall avenge your honor and his death with copious amounts of slaughter.”
“Okay. You do that. You go and slaughter all the scary evil aliens you want, but Terrans kinda get offended if you murder one of their own.”
“To avenge a slighted honor is not murder. No, I shall challenge him to honest combat and he shall lose.” He'd lose all right. Cleveland was no match for any Mahdfel.
“That would be like fighting a child. How is that fair and honest?”
Athen crossed his arms across his chest. For a guy who didn’t want to be anywhere near her, he sure seemed concerned with killing her ex.
“So. You do me a favor. You go and make a list of all the things I can do in camp and all the things I can’t and then we’ll sit down and talk about it like adults.”
“Woman.”
Odette closed the distance between them and his pride did not let him step back. She put her hands on his chest. It was warm and hard. He looked down at her, his green eyes blazing. “Of course, if you’d rather make a woman out of me, I’ll be in your bed.”
Odette turned and sauntered back into the module. She spent the rest of the day making a list of her own. All of the supplies she would need to get started on a basic botanical survey of their surrounding areas. She also spent a good portion of the day learning the ins and outs of space alien computers. Strangely enough, they weren’t all to different than the ones at home, although that was probably due to the fact that Earth had heavily borrowed from Mahdfel technology in the past few years and had made leaps and bounds in that sector.