by Marla Monroe
“Ease down, men. They are assisting us with our injured. Let’s get everyone back to the holding bay so we can take care of them,” John said, walking over to the search party, still grumbling.
“You can let me go now. No one is going to hurt me. They’re my people,” she told Veran.
“When there are fights, it is often the innocent who are injured. I wasn’t going to allow that to happen to you,” he said, looking down at her as she walked around him.
“Um, thanks. Let’s go.”
She watched as the aliens simply picked up anyone who wasn’t able to walk and carried them as if they weighed nothing. The men gawked at them at first, then gathered up supplies to carry instead. She found herself with Kane on one side of her with his pack bursting at the seams and Veran on the other side of her, carrying more supplies. She’d had to wait until they had all they could manage before she picked up her pack, now full of more supplies since they’d refused to let her carry anything before. Now they both scowled at her. She ignored them and started walking.
“You do not need to carry anything. We will return for anything left behind,” Veran told her with a frown.
“She is stubborn that way,” Kane told the golden giant.
“I’m not stubborn. I’m perfectly capable of carrying a pack. I’m not helpless,” she argued, looking from one to the other.
“Just because you are able to do it doesn’t mean you should,” Kane told her. “You should let us do the work so you are not tired out.”
“Kane, carrying a pack isn’t going to tire me out.”
Kane gave a harrumph that she nearly burst out laughing at. Veran stopped in his tracks with a snarl. She stopped and looked back at him in confusion.
“What’s wrong? Is it your arm?” She walked back to look at where the bullet had taken a strip out of his upper arm.
“Are you his?” he asked, his voice much deeper and more growly.
Kane walked up to where they stood with a questioning expression.
“What? I don’t understand? Of course I’m not his. I don’t belong to anyone but myself,” she said, completely lost with what he was talking about.
“Is he your male? Are you mated?” he demanded.
“No! Why would you think that?” she asked, completely astonished.
Kane smiled as much as she’d ever seen him smile before. “He wants you as his mate and is worried that you are already mine.”
Della opened her mouth to set him straight, then closed it again, unsure how to even answer that question. It was far more complicated than that. She was married to two men who she had no idea if they were even alive anymore, and now she had a seven-foot bronzed alien wanting her for his own. She didn’t know what to say.
“No, she is not my mate, but if her mates were killed in the crash as I believe, I would take her for mine. She is a strong, brave woman and would make a perfect mate,” Kane said, further astonishing her.
Veran growled low in his throat, but nodded and began walking again. What the hell was going on? Yeah, she thought both men were hot in different ways, but it didn’t mean she was ready to jump into bed with either of them. Well, maybe in her dreams, but that was different.
Once they arrived back at their camp in the holding bay, it was obvious that a lot had changed. The aliens had reorganized to get everyone ready to leave the shuttle. How had they convinced the remaining men to go along with that? Then she worried that they’d done something to them, but as Mark and the others talked to the two who’d been left behind, it was apparent that he agreed with them.
It scared her to think of leaving the shuttle, if only because it was her only connection to her old home on Earth. Deep down she knew she needed to get over it and move on, but she was still homesick to some degree and now the two men who she’d begun to get used to being her husbands looked to be gone as well.
“What is wrong?” Kane asked, using two fingers to tip her chin up. “There is a deep sadness in you now.”
The low growl behind her had Kane pulling her closer to him and Della trying to pull back. She didn’t want them fighting, especially not over her.
“Stop it, both of you!” she snapped.
“She is hurting for some reason. Don’t make this about you and me, alien. This is about her,” Kane snarled at Veran.
Veran immediately stepped closer, concern all over his handsome features. “Where is she hurt? What happened?”
“It isn’t physical,” Kane said. “Her soul is crying.”
Veran cocked his head to one side and watched her closely. Or maybe he was trying to hear her soul crying, because he finally shook his head.
“I don’t understand.”
Kane had let go of her but had remained close enough to pull her away from the giant standing on her other side. Now he stepped closer to both of them.
“Something is bothering her and making her sad. She is probably missing home now because we are obviously leaving the vessel to go to your city.”
“It is not safe here, Della. There are other species here that might decide to explore. You are not equipped to handle them,” Veran told her.
“I understand, but it doesn’t make leaving any easier. Everything I had left of my life on Earth is gone now. I have no pictures of my family or anything else. Now my husbands are gone as well since I haven’t seen them anywhere.” She felt the tears burning at the back of her eyes trying to get free. She fought them, refusing to appear weak in front of two such strong men.
“I am sorry, little one. I had not thought of it like that. You are like a lost young of our people whose family died in the scourge with no one familiar to cling to. I apologize.” Veran stepped back and nodded at Kane. “She needs comfort and I’m obviously not able to give her that right now.”
For some reason, she felt as if Veran had been talking about himself and the lost young had been him. She felt silly for being so weak when he was obviously so strong.
Chapter Five
She’d pulled her long brown hair back in a ponytail, but Kane knew for travel by foot through unfamiliar territory, it would be best braided to keep it from snagging on things. He’d been completely surprised when she’d agreed to allow him to do that for her. The silky strands felt soft and inviting to his fingers as he deftly wove her hair into a tight braid that would give her more freedom as she moved. The long heavy plait would also help her to keep balance with the uneven ground they were sure to travel over once she became used to how to use its swinging back and forth.
It had bothered him at first to have the bronzed alien hanging over his shoulder watching everything he did, but he couldn’t help but admire the male for backing up when he understood Della’s sadness. It told Kane that he truly cared about her already and wanted only for her to be happy.
Well, Kane wanted her to be happy as well, happy with him. He could provide for her and take care of her. He was human, more like her than Veran. Yes, he was American Indian and of darker skin than Della, but the barriers on Earth didn’t exist in space. The only real issues were how strong you were, how well you could adapt, and how resourceful you could be. Kane prided himself on being excellent at all of that. He might not be as strong as the giants that inhabited this planet, but he could take care of Della.
“Thanks. I haven’t braided my hair in years. That feels good and strange all at the same time.” Della smiled at him when she stood up from the seat she’d taken while he’d worked on her hair.
“It looks good on you,” Veran said. “I have never seen that done before. We always just tie ours with lengths of material to keep it out of the way.”
Kane hesitated, then sighed. “I will show you how it is done and you can teach the others.”
Veran cocked his head in a now familiar move that said the alien was either confused about something or considering the consequences of something.
“Thank you. I would appreciate that. For now, we should gather with the others to hear the strategy for ou
r return to Levastah, our city.”
Kane nodded and walked on one side of Della while Veran shadowed her other side. He didn’t push as close as before and didn’t touch her now. Kane took full advantage of any reason to place his hand on her. She appealed to him in so many ways. Not only was she beautiful and tall, but her voice held just the right touch of huskiness in it to awaken a man’s need without seeming fake. Her skin was soft pale compared to his and the alien Veran. Of course, her friend Caro’s skin was almost white it was so pale, and that didn’t appeal to Kane at all.
John and the Levassian leader, Gressen, reviewed the plans to return to his city first thing in the morning. It had been decided that since it would take between five and six hours on foot with so many injured, that it was safer to wait until first light.
“Don’t you have trucks or some sort of vehicle that they could send after the injured?” someone asked from the back.
Gressen smiled. “Yes, we have many transportation methods, but we haven’t developed this area on purpose to keep the many species that live here alive with no reason to encroach on our cities. We would need to clear paths to get them here and that is not feasible in a short amount of time. The transports will be waiting on us once we arrive at a clear area they can reach.”
“So we’re going to spend the night here then get up at first light and hike out of here. Everyone needs to get as much rest as possible. Gressen tells me that it will be a difficult trip. We did manage to locate the weapons, but they are not to be used unless there is no other option. They don’t hunt or kill the other inhabitants of the planet. As long as we follow their lead, we will be fine,” John told everyone. “We’ll hand them out once get ready to leave in the morning.”
The meeting seemed to have adjourned as everyone began milling about, talking about what to expect the next morning. Caro walked over to where Kane stood next to Della, Veran still close by but talking to another of the giant aliens. The pretty woman’s expression seemed frightened.
Della immediately noticed and reached out to the other woman. “What’s wrong?”
“Derrick is driving me crazy. He wants me to agree to be his wife or something, but I don’t really like him. He says that if I don’t choose a man now that the aliens will claim us since they don’t have women on their planet.”
“You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do, Caro. First of all, I don’t believe Veran or Gressen’s people would do that. I have no doubt they are going to be interested in the women, but they don’t appear to be aggressive that way. I mean, they preserved this area of their planet to give the inhabitants their own area so they wouldn’t be wandering over into their cities.”
Kane agreed with Della in that he didn’t believe the aliens would steal the women, but he had no doubt that Veran would be courting his Della in full force in the near future. The other males of the Levassian race would be doing the same thing with the other women from Earth. It was only natural. The men from the shuttle had a lot to worry about, but scaring them or bullying them into choosing one of them wasn’t right or fair.
He didn’t like doing it, but he knew Veran wouldn’t allow anyone to bother the women and he was already after his Della anyway. Kane needed to talk to John about the issue and warn him there would be problems if the men did this. He felt he could leave Della and Caro with Veran while he did it.
He eased a little close to where Veran talked with a taller male with a very dark bronze look to his skin. He caught Veran’s eye and the male excused himself to approach Kane.
“What is wrong?” Veran’s eyes immediately located Della and he relaxed when he saw she was safe and busy talking to Caro.
“I need to talk to John about something. I don’t want to leave Della and Caro alone. Some of our men are trying to talk them into accepting them as their husbands and I don’t want them near Della or Caro. Caro is already nervous from someone trying to scare her into joining with him.” Kane watched as Veran’s eyes widened with obvious anger.
The big male nodded and moved closer to the two women. “I will watch. You take care of this with your leader.”
Kane wasn’t sure if that would happen or not, but he was going to bring it up to the man in hopes he would set the others straight. Scaring them into agreeing to be their wives was the same as force to him. It wasn’t something they normally would have wanted to do so it wasn’t truly consent.
The Major and Gressen were going over some of the things they would need to watch out for and how to avoid conflict with some of the creatures they might see. When he walked up, Mike looked up with a frown.
“Is something wrong?” he asked.
“I think it would be a good idea for you to have a talk with the men about trying to talk the women into being theirs. In some cases they are even scaring them into believing the aliens are going to take them and make them be with them if they aren’t already claimed.” Kane waited to see how the man would take it.
Mike sighed and ran a hand over his face. “I’ll talk to them. All they are doing is screwing things up for themselves. Gressen has assured me that his people will not force any female to be with them but that we should understand that the males of his race will openly vie for their attention.”
“Are you referring to the female Caro?” Gressen suddenly asked, his gaze having never left the woman still talking with Della.
“Yes. She’s been approached and told that if she didn’t chose a human male that one of your males would grab her and force her. She was very upset.” Before Kane finished the last word, Gressen had stepped off the small platform where they’d spoken from and was stalking toward where Veran stood guard over the two women.
“I guess Gressen has intentions of courting Caro,” Mike said with a small smile. “It looks as if you’re vying for Della’s attentions with Gressen’s second in command. How is that working out for you?”
Kane could tell that Mike was poking at him but wasn’t sure if the man was doing it out of fun or because he didn’t like Kane. Kane chose to be honest, mostly.
“He is an honorable male and isn’t pushing Della. I wish to make her my wife, but would never threaten her or scare her into choosing me over the big male. In all honesty, he has much more to offer her than I do. I am on a strange planet at the mercy of these aliens, without means to provide for her at this time. All I can do is be myself and hope she will want me more than she wants whatever Veran can provide her that I can’t.” With that, Kane walked off, hoping that Mike wasn’t a bigot who would eventually get in the way of their two species finding harmony between them.
When he walked up to where Veran and Gressen were talking quietly near the two women sitting on a large crate in front of them, he could tell that Veran was filling Gressen in on what had happened to Caro. While Kane admired the two men for their willingness to help intruders on their planet, he was worried that he didn’t really stand a chance with Della.
“Kane? Did you talk to him?” Della asked, pulling him from his thoughts.
“Yes. He said he would talk with the men about their actions.” He turned to Caro. “You don’t have to worry that the aliens will force you or take you away from us. Make your decisions based on what is best for you. Della will do the same.”
Della’s face grew slightly pink before she yawned, covering her mouth. They were all tired, and Della and Caro had reasons for being that way. He was still amazed that they had led the aliens in a quest to locate more trapped. Derrick should have taken point instead of allowing them to face not only danger, but the possibility of seeing their promised men dead somewhere.
“I believe the females are tired,” Gressen said. “We should see to making them comfortable so they can sleep.”
Kane nodded and pointed over where several crates had scattered during the crash. They were large enough that he didn’t think even the giants before him could move them, but they had formed a small cove of sorts he thought was perfect to keep the two women safe. He no
w had no doubt that Gressen planned to remain close to Caro, and Della wasn’t letting Caro out of her sight again.
“There are already pallets secured there. It would be a safe place for them to rest and we can block the entrance to keep anyone from bothering them during the night.” He waited to see what the two males said.
They both studied it from where they stood and nodded in agreement. He smiled and turned to alert the women of their plans, but a hand on his shoulder stopped him. Looking up, Veran was the one who’d gently squeezed his shoulder.
“Thank you for trusting me to see to them while you were gone. Thank you also for warning us of the issues with your males seeing us as adversaries for the females. While we are to some degree, we would never force or steal one. It is not honorable and any who did it would be looked down on.”
The three of them ushered Caro and Della to their chosen spot and spread out the sleeping mats so that the two women were safely inside the curve of the crates while he, Veran, and Gressen positioned theirs as a barrier to the interior of the cove-like area. He lay against one wall of a crate with Veran on the other side of him. Gressen had the other side of Veran and the other crate to his back.
Despite his worry that one of the other men would try to get to the women during the night, he was exhausted from so much hard work after months of only a gym to use to keep in shape. He fell asleep and dreamed of Della and Veran together.
* * * *
After everyone had eaten the next morning, Mike and Gressen divided everyone up into groups of six to make negotiating the trail easier. They would allow the group in front of them to get a few paces ahead then start out so that they weren’t crowding each other as they walked. Gressen had also explained that if they encountered one of the more aggressive creatures on the planet, it would give the men room to fight if need be.