Out of the Ashes

by L. A. Casey

  Kol growled, and I jumped with fright.

  “Why’re you growling?” I tentatively asked.

  “Thane has a profession that impresses you… I will fight him if you smile at him or show interest in him.”

  My stomach lurched. “Are you serious?”

  “As a heart attack,” he all but snarled.

  I blinked. “Kol, you can’t just fight men—I mean males—that I smile at.”

  “I can, and I will.”

  I didn’t know why, but I laughed.

  “This is not funny,” Kol continued to growl. “Why are you laughing?”

  “Because I am now part of a community of people who don’t want to kill me, rape me, or sell me. I am one of the people, I am safe, and for the first time in my life, I have someone to keep me safe from all harm… and you’re telling me I can’t smile at anyone when smiling is all I want to do because I’ve never had any of this. Even when my father was alive, we lived our lives day by day, but now… now I can imagine a future and not think myself a fool for doing so.”

  Kol’s angry expression fled from his face, and compassion washed over him.

  “I am sorry,” he said. “I misunderstood.”

  I tilted my head to the side.

  “I’m not angry with you,” I assured him. “You aren’t human, so you don’t react to things the way I would. You have more animal instincts than not… and I kind of like how possessive you are of me.”

  A rumble started at the back of Kol’s throat, and it sounded like a rougher version of a purr.

  “Does that sound mean you’re happy, angry, or sad?”

  He licked his lips, and the sight of it ignited a fire in my lower belly.

  “It means I’m having lustful thoughts and would love nothing more than to act on them.”

  Oh.

  “You’re having lustful thoughts about me?”

  “Since I met you, the only thoughts I have are of you, shiva.”

  My legs threatened to give way underneath me, and the fire in my belly seemed to be catching. Kol suddenly sniffed the air then his eyes fluttered closed when he inhaled deeply, and the rough purr rumbled louder this time.

  “You’re aroused,” he rasped, his eyes opening and focusing on me. “The air is so thick with your scent I can almost taste you on my tongue.”

  I sucked in a startled breath and pressed my thighs together.

  “I’m not… you must be mistaken… I…”

  “Nova,” he purred. “I want to taste you.”

  If Kol hadn’t surged forward and grabbed me when he did, I’d have probably dropped to the floor like dead weight.

  “Give me permission, shiva,” he whispered into my ear, licking the lobe. “Let me taste what is mine.”

  Almighty.

  “You can’t… we’re just supposed to sleep so you—”

  “Will only have a small taste,” Kol cut me off, his voice sounded deeper, huskier.

  I suddenly felt lightheaded, and a fast-paced throbbing thrummed away between my thighs.

  “Ealra,” I squeaked, trying to regain my composure. “Tell me about Ealra, about your family, about you.”

  Hunger shone brightly in Kol’s violet eyes but so did amusement.

  “What would you like to know?” he asked, not releasing his tight hold on me.

  “Everything,” I blurted. “We’re going to be married, so we should know everything about one another.”

  Kol’s lips twitched.

  “Okay, shiva,” he rumbled. “Ask your questions, and I will reveal all there is to know about my home, my family, and me. Then I’ll taste you.”

  I swallowed. “You’ll answer all my questions?”

  “Every. One.”

  I blinked and then asked a question that had been on my mind since I accepted Kol’s offer to be his intended.

  “I’m going to be your mate, and Surkah said that males are the lead Maji in each household… does that mean you’ll be the boss of me?”

  At the teasing glint in Kol’s eyes, I wasn’t sure I wanted to know the answer to my question.

  “You look scared, little one.” Kol smirked.

  His smirk might have been teasing, but the intensity in his eyes was anything but.

  I swallowed. “I’m not scared of you, Kol.”

  I wasn’t sure exactly when that happened, but my feelings towards Kol had changed. Fear was not something I felt towards him—not in the slightest—and like everything else, it freaked me out.

  “Not scared of me?” he hummed, clearly amused. “Surely, a tiny female such as yourself knows an Elite warrior like myself can be very scary.”

  I lifted my chin. “I also know that you, a big mighty warrior, will drop to your knees before me if I asked you to.”

  Kol’s eyes locked on mine. “Is that so, shiva?”

  “Yes,” I replied, noting my voice wasn’t as firm as I’d have liked it to be. “Surkah told me that a female mate is really the lead mate because her mate will do everything in his power to make her happy.”

  His lips twitched. “Surkah talks a lot.”

  I tensed. “So do I.”

  Sarcastically, he said, “I hadn’t noticed.”

  At that, I laughed. Kol smiled too as he lifted an arm from around me so he could brush the tips of his fingers over my cheek. His eyes followed the trail his fingers made, and when he brushed them over my lips, he audibly swallowed. His face hardened, his body tensed, and his sharp teeth dug into his plump lower lip.

  “You’re supposed to be telling me about yourself,” I reminded him, my voice barely a whisper.

  Kol lowered his hand, removed his arm from around my body, and stepped back. He was still tense, still biting his lip, and he still gazed at me as if we wanted to eat me.

  “Go to the bed so you can relax,” he ordered, his hands flexing. “I will remain here and answer your questions.”

  I raised a brow. “Why don’t you just come with me? It’s a mighty big bed.”

  He growled in response.

  “Okaaay.” I exhaled.

  I quickly turned, scurried across the room to the bed, and sat on the edge of it.

  “Questions,” Kol practically barked. “Ask them.”

  He is so bossy.

  “Surkah said you come from a family of sixteen children,” I began. “How many children did your parents have by the time you were born?”

  “I am the twelfth born son,” he answered. “I have eleven older brothers, three younger brothers, and one sister.”

  Wow.

  “List everyone,” I said, amazed that he had that many siblings. “In order of birth.”

  Amusement flashed in his violet eyes.

  “Ryla, Silis, Kaiba, Aylee, Talin, Raze, Komi, Ezah, Killi, Arli, Arvi, me, Aza, Remi, Nesi, and Surkah.” At my wide-eyed expression, he said, “Killi, Arli, and Arvi are from the same pregnancy, and Remi and Nesi are from the same pregnancy, too.”

  “Triplets?” I asked, amazed.

  I had heard of such pregnancies happening in the past amongst humans, but I had never thought they were possible. I always thought my father and uncle were joking about multiple babies in a single pregnancy because they just didn’t happen in the time I lived in. Echo and Envi were the first human twins I had ever met.

  Kol blinked. “Yes, that is what my brothers are, but we don’t have words for it like you do.”

  “What do you refer to them as then?” I wondered aloud.

  “Three offspring and two offspring.”

  I giggled. “Maybe some human words should be adapted by the Maji.”

  “We will see,” Kol mused.

  I thought back to his siblings. “Are you close with them?”

  Kol shrugged. “Some more than others but only because my five eldest brothers are in outer space.”

  I frowned. “When was the last time you saw the five of them?”

  I watched Kol as he thought of an answer to my question.

  “Twent
y-two years ago,” he eventually answered. “Ealra years, not Earth years.”

  I gasped with surprise. “That is an awfully long time.”

  “Yes, but they will be home soon enough,” he said, and he looked happy with that statement. “They have been returning home from their mission for nearly two years, and they will reach Ealra within the next two years. They’re on the final leg of their journey.”

  I whistled. “I hope they found whatever it was they were looking for.”

  That was a hell of a long time to be out in space.

  “They didn’t,” Kol answered. “I did.”

  At my raised brow, he said, “Their mission was to find compatible females.”

  “Like humans?” I asked.

  At Kol’s nod, I frowned. “Earth is only a few days away from Ealra, so with your warp speed, why have they been gone so long if Earth is so close by?”

  Kol laughed. “Trust me, the rage my brothers and their crew feel at travelling for so long and going so far when we just had to search your galaxy is mind consuming for them.”

  I frowned. “I bet they’re lonely.”

  “They have each other for company.”

  I flushed. “That’s not what I meant.”

  At Kol’s grin, I blushed harder.

  “They have sexborgs aboard their vessel. Do not worry.”

  I felt my mouth drop open. “Aliens have sexbots, too?”

  I thought it was just creepy humans who had those.

  Kol laughed at my horrified expression. “It is required to have sexborgs aboard a vessel at all times. Maji males have very high sex drives, and if they did not share sex with a sexborg… I don’t even want to think about the fighting that would ensue between the males. We can get very… edgy if we go for long periods of time without sex. Short haul journeys like this are terrible, but any longer and a wing would be created to house the sexborgs.”

  That was the most male thing I had ever heard in my entire life.

  “Are your sexbots Maji-like?” I quizzed. “I’ve seen some broken sexbots on Earth, and they looked so lifelike at first, I thought they were dead bodies.”

  “Our sexborgs look and feel just like a real Maji female. They offer pleasant company, too. They were designed to trick a male’s senses into feeling as though a real female is in his presence; it helps calm a space traveller, or a male in general, when a female is close.”

  I raised my brow. “Your species sounds obsessed with females.”

  “Very much so.” Kol nodded, not in the least bit ashamed. “Females are everything, and we males know that. They make everything better.”

  I was doubtful.

  “Does every male feel that way?”

  “Yes,” Kol replied.

  “Even the gay ones?” I quizzed.

  At Kol’s puzzled expression, I said, “Males who are sexually attracted to other males.”

  He choked on air. “I’ve never heard of such a thing.”

  I didn’t know if he was disgusted or genuinely shocked.

  “Meaning it doesn’t exist in your species, or you’re just too pigheaded to believe it does?”

  “It doesn’t exist,” Kol said firmly. “Maji are definitely not like humans, Nova. We are driven by instinct, the need to mate and breed drives us. Males can’t produce offspring together, and our bodies are only in tune with females, so no sexual arousal could occur between males.”

  “Oh,” I said, wincing. “Sorry, I thought you were being homophobic.”

  “Being what?”

  “Never mind,” I said with a wave of my hand. “Being gay on Earth is punishable by death. My species is backwards in more ways than one.”

  “Where would a male even put his cock in another male?” Kol then asked, looking more confused than I had ever seen him. “They both have cocks so where—”

  “I regret ever bringing this up,” I said, speaking over him.

  “Where do your human males put—”

  “Kol,” I cut him off, my face burning. “Forget it.”

  He shook his head. “I’m curious.”

  I covered my face and blurted, “The asshole.”

  Kol sounded like he would pass out. “That is a waste canal!”

  “Seriously,” I pleaded. “Change the fucking subject!”

  Kol suddenly erupted with laughter.

  “I can’t wait to tell Mikoh of this.” He chuckled.

  I shook my head. “Let’s get back to talking about your brothers. Why didn’t they check my galaxy on their mission since it is close by?”

  If six trillion miles is considered close.

  “When they set off on their mission, nothing was known about your species,” Kol explained as he leaned against a column in the room and folded his arms across his broad chest. “We Maji don’t interact with many species unless on a mission. At a docking station on Vada, Vaneer’s home world, long away from here, my brothers searched different species, and an image of what a human looked like was incorrect. The creature they saw had no head, just a body and many arms and legs. It was not compatible with Maji, so my brothers blacklisted your galaxy as Earth is the only habitable planet then they continued their search which led them further into the cosmos.”

  “Okay,” I began. “That’s understandable, but how is it that you came across humans? And how did you get Sera to join you?”

  I had wondered about the augmented woman since my encounter with her, and I couldn’t figure out why she was with the Maji. I didn’t understand the benefit for her. She wasn’t defenceless on Earth. If anything, as augmented, she’d be pretty powerful. She was lethal, smart, and didn’t have to do the things I had to do to survive.

  “My father led a mission to an unnamed planet ten years ago. It was home to another species, but it held some humans that had been taken from Earth’s trading posts over the years. My father went to the planet to trade for some samples of a new fuel the local scientists had created. It was dangerous, but fuel is vital to our space travel, and we’re always looking for reserves in case our current source dries up, so it was a mission that my father made a priority. My father met Sera, and he quickly realised that humans were very similar to Maji. He asked her what species she was, and they spoke a little. Sera was a slave to a docking master, so my father bought her for a small fee and offered her safety on Ealra. He wanted to help her and give her a chance at life, but he also wanted to have our healers examine her to see if we were compatible.”

  I processed that, and though Kol had answered a big question for me, it only left me wanting to know more.

  “It has been ten years since your father’s trade deal,” I said, blinking. “Why did it take ten years for you to come to Earth to make an offer to Earth’s government for us women?”

  “We have tried,” Kol stressed, his lip curling in annoyance. “We tried and failed six times within the first two years of our discovery of your species, but your leaders wanted an exchange that we would not agree to.”

  I felt a little sick at the thought of what my people would want from the Maji.

  “What did they want?” I asked, wrapping my arms around myself.

  “They wanted to come to Ealra with us, but we refused. Maji are not the only species to inhabit Ealra, and we did not trust your leaders not to ruin our planet, considering they greatly aided in destroying yours.”

  The sorry image of the Earth I saw from the viewing pane of the bridge flashed in my mind.

  “It was the right decision,” I said with a firm nod. “Our human leaders are filled with greed, and they wouldn’t have settled for living in harmony. Eventually, they’d have tried to take over Ealra as the dominant species, and Maji would have been slaughtered in the process.”

  Kol nodded solemnly. “That was our fear, so we declined their offer, and in return, they declined us any chance of having human females.”

  “Vindictive bastards,” I scowled.

  “It was why my brothers remained on their mission to fi
nd compatible females because we did not know if we could ever come to an agreement with your Earth government.”

  “I understand.”

  Kol licked his lips. “My father decided that we would bide our time, and come to your leaders when we knew our offer was one they couldn’t refuse. My father ordered my brothers home two years ago because he knew the Earth government would yield to our wishes eventually.”

  I eyed him curiously. “Because the Earth is dying?”

  Kol shamelessly nodded. “It is no secret that Earth is soon to be no more, so we used that to our advantage. We waited and waited, and when we went back to Earth days ago and made the offer for your females once more, your leaders jumped to accept our deal when we mentioned the unnamed planet was liveable for humans. They accepted our deal in exchange for credits and its coordinates.”

  I criss-crossed my legs and rested my elbows on my knees, completely invested in Kol’s tales.

  “I shouldn’t be astonished that they opted to save their own hides but to turn tail and run without even informing the rest of us that our race had a chance on a new world is hard for me to believe. It just seems so… evil.”

  Kol said nothing; he only watched me.

  “I really shouldn’t be surprised, though, right?” I said aloud. “The evillest acts I’ve seen and heard of were committed by humans… maybe it wouldn’t have been such a tragedy for my species to become extinct. When you think about it, it’s really a kindness.”

  I jumped at Kol’s growl.

  “Do not talk about dying,” he snarled. “I cannot think of you not being in my life.”

  That surprised me more than my leaders’ abandonment.

  “A few days ago, you didn’t even know I existed, Kol,” I said softly.

  “I am not human,” he repeated for what seemed to be the hundredth time. “Maji form bonds very quickly to those we care for because it is my nature. I can’t imagine you being dead. I won’t imagine it because it won’t happen for another thousand years or more. Thanas willing, I’ll go before you, so I don’t have to endure the pain of a mate loss.”

  I felt my mouth drop open.

  “A thousand years,” I stammered. “Have you lost your mind?”