by Mary Auclair
So easy. It would be so easy. She wouldn’t even resist.
Then Aliena moaned into his mouth. The sound, so sweet and innocent, shed a cold lucidity over his lust. This was wrong. He couldn’t do this to her. He couldn’t make her his lifelong mate without her consent.
His fingers held her chin and he pulled back. His body rebelled against it, pushing him to bite down, make the female his by spreading the Venom into her bloodstream. With a final push of his will, Kamal opened his eyes to see her face, stricken and flushed with passion.
Her eyes fluttered open.
“I’m coming with you,” Aliena said.
Kamal pulled back, breaking the contact. With one last look at her face, he turned and walked away.
“Then you’d better keep up or fly, Little Bird.”
Aliena
She stood in front of the entrance to the network of caves where her people had taken refuge after the crew of the Mellark landed near their old village ground. Uncertainty still filled her mind, and she was all too conscious of the dozen or so eyes burning holes in her back, waiting for her to move.
Only a few of Kamal’s crew had been chosen to make contact with the humans. There was Marmack, Kamal’s right hand; Tailan, the crew’s navigation expert and the only other female; and four others of whom she didn’t know the names. That Wyol hadn’t been selected was a relief, but still, Aliena was about to reveal the last hiding place of the free human population to alien races that used to hunt and sell them for profit.
Her instincts rebelled against her, preventing her hand from reaching behind the curtain of evergreen hiding the mouth of the cave. She knew it was futile, as they were already there, but still, her body refused to move.
Humans had been hunted, sequestered and enslaved for so long, trusting alien nations went against her entire upbringing.
A hand closed around her arm and Aliena turned to stare into the breathtaking eyes of Kamal.
He’s a pirate, an outlaw. You shouldn’t trust him.
Kamal and his crew were smugglers, criminals, men without honor. Her conversation with Rose had changed everything but the doubt still remained. She was gambling the fate of her entire people on the trust she was putting in Kamal.
He squeezed gently, as if he understood how hard it was for her to trust them, trust him. This, more than the grumbles of the crew behind them, steadied her resolve. She had chosen to bet everything on her faith in her cousin Rose’s words, and she wasn’t about to back down now.
“Follow me.” Aliena nodded to Kamal, then turned to lift the evergreen masking a makeshift wooden door. “Whatever happens from now on, stay behind me. They won’t hurt me, but they won’t have the same qualms about you.”
Kamal’s face stiffened and he opened his mouth to counter with something, but Aliena turned and pushed the door, not giving him time to answer. His hold on her arm loosened but he did not let go.
Quietly, the half dozen crew members who had been picked for the mission followed her steps in procession, the complete darkness of the cave surrounding them.
Aliena walked, navigating in the darkness with confidence, one hand in front of her, brushing the wet, cold wall. Kamal’s footsteps followed, steady and regular behind her.
He’s like a cat.
“Mind your step, Little Bird,” Kamal warned as Aliena’s foot slipped and he tightened his grip on her arm. “There are low hanging rocks right ahead. You don’t want to open your skull on those.”
“How would you know?” Aliena turned her head slightly, seeing nothing in the liquid dark.
“Infrared vision,” Kamal answered simply.
“Of course,” Aliena scoffed, shaking her head in disbelief. He had so many physical advantages, she was beginning to think he had no weaknesses at all.
They kept going in silence, the crew behind them holding to one another, under Kamal’s guidance, until a faint shine began to sparkle on the wet walls. The village was near.
“Now, stay behind,” Aliena commanded. “And don’t say a word.”
Kamal grunted, and Aliena pushed up the pace.
“Stop!” A young male voice echoed against the curved ceiling of the cave, bouncing around, hiding his location. “Stay where you are.”
“Hansel, is that you?” Aliena spoke clearly, standing up straight well away from the walls, so the boy could see her from his hiding position as sentry.
“Aliena?” another male voice—deeper and more manly—called.
Aliena felt the smile spread on her lips as a tall, slim figure emerged from between the rocks, carrying a burning torch. The glow from the fire bounced off the water dripping from the walls of the cave, giving the cold space a merry shine.
A shine that wasn’t reflected in Martin’s cold, hard stare.
“You led them here?” Martin’s harsh tone contrasted with the approving glint in his eyes as he looked at Aliena, slowly assessing her new, healthier look. Then his gaze went up to the hand closed around her arm, and to Kamal. “What have you done to her?”
“What you couldn’t,” Kamal answered, but Martin’s face didn’t show any sign of comprehension. “I healed her, I fed her, and I kept her safe.”
Martin glared at Kamal, standing in the middle of the path, his torch at the level of Kamal’s shoulders. The men obviously didn’t need translators to convey the meaning of their words. It was a male challenge in its most primal form, and Aliena was immediately alarmed by it. Kamal wasn’t the kind of male to accept a slight, and Martin had this new look on his face, an expression infinitely older than the one he’d worn just a few weeks before.
Behind them, Marmack whispered orders to Tailan and the others in a low, urgent voice.
Aliena’s skin prickled with an instant warning. Something wasn’t right. Something was very, very wrong.
Martin raised his free arm above his head, his hand open and flat. Right then and there, Aliena understood Martin’s intention. It was a signal. He was going to attack first, use the element of surprise as his only advantage.
Men moved out from their hiding places, about two dozen, carrying bows with arrows at the ready, spears and rocks. The pathetic weapons of a starving people. The flickering light of the torch cast shadows on their thin faces, playing cruel tricks on their protruding cheekbones. They were shells of the men they used to be. Shells of the men they should be. They were all that was left of an entire people.
But they weren’t about to let their families be caught without a fight.
They’re all going to die.
Behind her, Aliena felt the current of tension travel to the members of the crew. Tailan let out a crude curse, then went silent. A low buzz invaded the air, the powerful pulse of weapons in the confined space, ionic blades and guns at the ready, capable of sending electric charges of millions of volts to rain death and maiming blows around like cursed kisses. Kamal’s crew was outnumbered, but with their advanced weapons, it was far from a fair fight. At the first sign of aggression, blood would be shed, and then nothing would prevent an all-out massacre.
“Martin, no.” Aliena took a step toward Martin but Kamal’s hold on her arm was like steel and she couldn’t move away. “They’re here to help. Trust me.”
Martin’s eyes darted to Kamal’s grip on her bicep, and rage spread across his face like wildfire, fast and merciless. He thought she was a prisoner. Worse, he thought she was a traitor.
“What did he do to you?” Martin face was twisted with anger as his gaze remained latched on to Kamal’s hand on her arm. “He’s keeping you against your will, is he not?”
“No!” Aliena countered, understanding instantly. Martin wasn’t fitted with a translator, so he couldn’t understand what Kamal, or any of the crew, was saying. She was the only one able to act as translator. “They came here to protect us.”
“And you believed them?” Martin’s voice was as cold as his stare, and he shook his head. “Whatever they said, they lied. I’m sorry, but I can’t let them lea
ve, not now that they know where we are.”
A wave of short muttered outbursts traveled amongst Kamal’s crew and Aliena knew her time was up. She had to stop this, and now.
“They saved Rose.”
Martin’s face froze and he locked gazes with Aliena, suddenly ignoring Kamal and his crew. Around him, the men shot nervous glances at each other, disbelief clear on their skeletal faces.
“What are you talking about? Rose is long gone.”
“Rose is alive. She’s alive and she’s fighting for us, right now. We’re going to be a free species again, recognized by the Ring. Only we need protection until then. We need to prove we can fight for ourselves. We need allies.”
“Is that what you are?” Martin spoke to Kamal. “An ally?”
Kamal stood straight, his surreally glowing blue eyes never faltering. After a while, Aliena feared he would say no and choose bloodshed, but instead, Kamal nodded.
“Tell him we are here to protect them until my brother comes with a full contingent of Eok warriors to protect your village.”
Aliena translated, word for word, and watched closely as Martin’s face gradually cleared of doubt. He was still staring at her.
“You trust him?” There was a new hardness in his eyes, something she had never seen before. “An Eok, of all species?”
“Yes, I do.” Aliena glanced at Kamal and met his strange, surreal eyes. “I would bet my life on it.”
“What about the lives of our families? Are you ready to bet their lives on it, too?”
A current of tension traveled across the people, and the human men’s eyes turned cold and deadly. Movement at her back told her Kamal’s men were ready to answer any sign of aggression with blood.
Aliena turned her head to face the men from her village. She knew every single one of them and, more importantly, they knew her.
“I already have.”
She met their gazes, facing their fear and anger straight on, allowing them to see that she was telling the truth. That she would never have endangered those she cared about if she wasn’t certain. After a while, Martin lowered his arm and one after the other, the men followed suit. Rocks and spears were lowered, arrows pointed to the stony ground. Faces, human faces, hollow and caked with dirt, stared at her in quiet disbelief. This was not what they’d expected.
Martin swallowed, the movement making his Adam’s apple bob up and down. His eyes scanned the crew of aliens behind her, one by one, then paused on Kamal for a long time.
He looked back at Aliena, his face set in hard lines. “Pray this ends well.”
Martin turned, then walked into the deep belly of the cave. Soon, Aliena followed, and with her, the future of humanity.
Chapter 5
Kamal
They pressed around his crew in the center of a large rounded cavity. The stench of unwashed flesh and sickness stuck to them like a second skin, overcoming the mineral aseptic scent of the cave. Their faces, caked with dirt, looked up at his crew with distrust. Desperation, as plain as the pallor of their skin, was visible in every sunken pair of eyes, in every baby’s wail.
They were a dying people.
“Where is she? Where have your people taken Rose?”
The human male named Martin crossed his arms over his chest, facing him directly, although he knew they could not speak. Kamal locked gazes with him, all too conscious of the eyes of his crew on his back, judging. Waiting to see how he would react to the smaller, weaker male’s bravado.
As he glared at the human male, he noted the sunken eyes, the hollow cheeks and bone-thin frame. This male was no challenge to him. Martin was starving, same as the rest of them, trying to protect what was left of his people.
Kamal wasn’t about to hurt one so obviously weaker than him.
“We come at the request of the Eok nation.” Kamal turned his head slightly to the side. “The human female named Rose was taken as bloodmate to the Commander in Chief of the Eok armies, a position of great honor. A full contingent of Eoks are on their way to protect you all. You should be glad for their protection.”
Aliena scowled at him but took on her role as translator, leaving out the part about being grateful for anything. Kamal thought about telling her to translate properly but decided against it. He wasn’t on a diplomatic mission, he cared little what a bunch of humans thought about him.
“So more of you are coming, and you expect us to do what?” Martin kept going, his face twisting in anger. “Allow you to round us up like cattle? You must think us pretty stupid to assume you will ever leave this place.”
Kamal lifted his chin, his eyes never leaving the leader of the humans. What was the human thinking, threatening him like that? Kamal could wipe out his entire force by himself, without weapons. Kamal’s eyes reduced to slits and he took one step forward, knowing full well the impact he had on the weaker, less combat-ready group.
Martin’s face drained of blood and his Adam’s apple moved fast as he swallowed. Fear was finally seeping in.
“Stronger people than you have gone on to regret threatening me and my crew.” Kamal kept his voice purposefully low. “My help is free, but keep going and it might not stay that way.”
Aliena whispered the translation, her face as pale as Martin’s. She shot fearful glances from him to the human male, and she moved subtly to the front. Kamal knew she would try to put herself between Martin and him should a confrontation follow.
“We have nothing to fear from the aliens,” Aliena intervened but did not address Martin. Instead, she spoke directly to the crowd, her voice strong and loud. “What they’re offering us, it’s not just protection. It’s freedom. Real freedom.”
Whispers traveled through the crowd. Eyes gleamed, some with hope, some with distrust. Kamal watched them move and speak in low, hushed tones.
“We have freedom,” Martin countered, anger showing on his lean face. “We need only to stay away from them, and we’ll be safe.”
“What we have is an illusion.” Aliena’s voice rose, drowning out the whispers of the crowd, forcing their attention. “We hide, we live in fear. We can be free of all that. But for that, we need to trust in Rose. She would never betray us. She’s too much like her father.”
At the mention of Rose’s father—Aliena’s uncle—people stilled, heads began to nod. The male obviously had status for these people, giving Aliena’s word a gravitas he had not suspected.
“So you have already risked all our lives on her word.” Martin spoke without anger this time. “Let’s just hope you made the right bet.”
“It’s too late for hope.” Aliena’s voice quieted down, and she shot a glance at Kamal over her shoulder. “What we need is a miracle.”
Kamal stared at the crowd of humans, unable and unwilling to speak. His eye caught the gray stare of a young female, not more than a child, with delicate bones and long, fire-red hair dangling around frail shoulders. There it was, that skeleton of steel under the layers of fragile flesh. Aliena had the same look in her eyes. The stare of a person who had lost everything except that tiny spark inside that would never give in, that would never lose its dignity. This, she held at her core, and nothing was going to take it from her.
They were a dying people, yes. A desperate, destitute people, but not a people without strength. It surprised him to think it, but they deserved freedom.
Kamal glanced at Aliena, standing just out of his reach to the left. Her face was lined with tension as she stared at the crowd of onlookers. Her profile was proud and delicate as she met the stares of her people without flinching.
Such strength under that fragile exterior.
“I never expected things to be this bad,” Marmack, his second-in-command, said after taking a few steps closer. “They need more than just protection.”
“They need everything,” Kamal answered.
Marmack grunted his assent, and they looked on as more humans pushed through to see the aliens in their refuge. A pair of male younglings wearing
ragged remnants of clothing pushed through and stood in the front of the crowd, their eyes large and white in their dull faces.
“Duncan! Illian!” Aliena rushed forward, embracing the two young males in her arms. “I’ve missed you both so much.”
Kamal watched Aliena embrace the younglings, pressing them against her body, her face a landscape of emotions too strong to describe. He knew the strength of those feelings must mean only one thing: those young males were family.
A tall, painfully thin female with large blue eyes and hair the color of bleached sand came forward and joined the younglings in her embrace.
This was Aliena’s family.
Mine.
A powerful urge to protect those people overcame him. His body, in claiming Aliena for his mate, also claimed her family under his protection. Kamal straightened, staring at the humans embracing each other as emotions coiled and rose inside him.
Finally, Aliena rose. She cast a long look around, her stare latching on to the dirty faces of her people. She offered a startling contrast to the rest of them. As weak as she was, she still looked healthier than almost all of them, with her clean honey skin and shining long hair. It made the rest of the humans look even paler, weaker in comparison.
Then she turned those dark, dark eyes to stare directly at him.
Her stare struck him deep in those corners of himself he’d buried so long ago, when he’d lost his family and his honor to save his soul.
“Marmack, take Nurnan and Tailan back to the Mellark and tell the crew to prepare to unload the cargo.”
From behind him, the silence of his crew spoke louder than words. Finally, a slim form appeared at his side.
“You’re going to give them the cargo?” It was Tailan who spoke softly, her tone carefully neutral. She took a step closer, drawing almost level with him, but was stopped by Marmack’s arm. “You can’t mean this.”
He turned to face his crew. Tailan stared at him, unblinking, ignoring her mate’s careful hold. Her expression was blank but her hesitation was proof of the danger of his order. Kamal understood her fear.