by Marla Monroe
Della wasn’t too thrilled with the possibility that they might need the room to protect themselves in the first place. She sure wasn’t going to allow them to divide her and Caro up. So when they came around telling them what group they were in, she argued with the man when he tried to put her in a different one than Caro and Kane. She felt safe with Kane and wasn’t about to subject Caro to more harassment.
“But there are only six in a group,” the man said with a frown. “You’ll be right behind their group.”
“I don’t care. I’m staying with Kane and Caro,” she said, gritting her teeth.
“What is going on?” Veran asked stepping up.
“She won’t go with the next group even though she is the seventh person. She belongs in the next group,” the man said.
Veran looked over the group the man was trying to place Della in and shook his head. “She will stay with this group. She is comfortable with the human male, Kane, and would not want to be separated from him.”
That seemed to satisfy the male counting them off, though he did give Della a nasty look before turning to leave. She smiled up at Veran. He had been up front with Gressen since they’d finished breakfast, making plans and such on how to proceed while the rest of them were divided up into groups of six where at least one in the group was a Levassian who would know the way and how to handle any of the wild life that showed up.
“Thank you. I didn’t want to leave Caro and I knew Kane would watch out for both of us,” she said.
“He will. He is a good male. I will travel with you off and on, but have to help guide as well.” Veran looked as if he wasn’t happy about that, but didn’t say as much.
“Don’t worry. I will protect them both with my life,” Kane told him.
Veran actually smiled. “I know this or I would not leave them alone.”
Della was glad they were getting along, as she really didn’t want them fighting over her. She had no intentions of choosing one of them over the other. She’d remain single if necessary and remain friends with them both. She didn’t have to get married or mated or whatever it was. She would be perfectly happy alone with her friends nearby.
Sometimes I can be so delusional. There’s no way I will ever be able to resist one of them if they push me. I like them both way too much.
As each group was helped out of the ruined vessel by the giant males standing at the door, she realized just how massive everything was around them. Looking through the portals, it hadn’t been so obvious. Now, as they stood looking up at the dense vegetation above them, she couldn’t see the tops of the trees and wondered how the two suns had managed to penetrate the canopy of odd-looking trees to provide so much light to them. When they walked farther away from the ship, she understood how. They’d plowed a giant path through the jungle-like, area allowing sunlight to illuminate the entire area.
She shuddered, realizing again just how lucky she’d been not to have been killed or seriously hurt. She hadn’t known her two husbands well at all, and they had obviously not been happy with her as their wife, but she wouldn’t have wished them harm or to die either.
The group began moving forward and for the next two hours, they walked at a comfortable clip without encountering anything dangerous. Several times they heard roars off in the distance that had all of them rubbing the goose bumps from their arms, but mostly the noises had been lighter and much less intimidating. Once, a small animal that reminded her of a squirrel had run across their path, chattering in a high-pitched squeak that was cute.
Though they had stopped frequently for short breaks, they finally took a longer break after two hours. Della hadn’t walked that much at one time in a very long time. Her legs tingled and her feet ached, but she wasn’t about to complain. Poor Caro was in much worse shape. She wasn’t used to tennis shoes or the walk. She’d spent most of her time in heels on a runway, not powerwalking across Central Park in New York.
“How are you holding up?” she asked her friend.
“I’ll make it, but I know just how much I need to get in better shape now. Zumba didn’t prepare me for this,” she said with a laugh.
“I’m not doing that much better myself,” she told her. “I’m used to treadmills and tracks. The path we’re walking on isn’t really a path. I’m scared to death I’m going to trip over something and land face first on the ground.”
They both laughed but then saved their strength while they had the chance to rest. Kane made sure they drank sips of water while they walked and now he urged both of them to chew on a protein bar while they had time.
“You need to keep your strength up. Don’t drink too much water at a time or you will have a bellyache,” he said.
When they began the journey again, Kane watched them closely, as if he were afraid one or both of them would fall out at any minute. Della wasn’t and she was fairly sure Caro would be okay if they stopped again soon.
Several times as they continued the trek through the dense jungle Veran stopped to check on them. He would talk with Kane for a few seconds before smiling at her and continuing whatever he was doing. She could see that the two men were becoming friends. She was happy about that and realized she wasn’t really considering Veran an alien anymore. In all actuality, they were the aliens, since they weren’t from Levasso or even whatever galaxy they were in.
They appeared to look just like them except they were much taller and had different coloring. Then maybe that was why Kane identified with them so much easier than the other males. He was often considered different because of his Native American heritage. The African American people in their group had also been looked down on even hundreds of years after slavery had been abolished. There were always going to be those who had to be top dog and to do that they had to make others smaller and lower in rank than they were. It was a sad condition of the human race. She wondered if the Levassians had that issue or not. If they didn’t, they were definitely more advanced than humans.
She’d been so caught up in her own thoughts that Della didn’t hear the low growl to her left until it was too late. The noise finally penetrated her hazy thoughts as the creature crashed out of the leafy vegetation to grab her and start dragging her back the way it had come.
Kane was instantly on it, pulling and hitting at the creature. Della fought to breathe with the arm or whatever it was wrapped around her neck dragging her back into the undergrowth that was still three feet high. Whatever the creature was, its skin was like thickened cowhide from a saddle or a pair of worn boots. She couldn’t get her nails to dig into it enough to do any damage. Kane wasn’t having any luck either.
The creature roared in her ear and turned quickly to knock Kane off of him, sending him flying to land hard against a tree. To his fortitude, the Native American pulled himself back up to charge the beast again, but Veran was there in front of him, wrapping the head of the thing in his massive arms and pulling back until she heard the sickening sound of breaking bones. Instantly the grip around her neck loosened and she dropped to the ground on all fours, gasping for breath.
“Are you okay, little one?” Veran knelt next to her, one hand hovering over her head as if he was afraid to touch her.
“I’ll—” She had to swallow around the tightness in her throat. “I’ll be fine. Catch my breath,” she finally got out.
Kane appeared next to Veran and knelt as well. She looked over at him and winced. He had a lot of scrapes from fighting the thick-skinned creature. She figured his back had to hurt from hitting the tree as hard as he had.
“You okay?” she asked him.
“I’m fine. I’m sorry I failed you. I have never dealt with something like that before,” he said.
“You kept her alive and kept the Aragus from carrying her off where we wouldn’t be able to find her. That is nothing to scoff at,” Veran told him.
“Thank you both for saving me. I was so scared,” she finally said. “I’m sorry. Did I do something wrong? I thought I was staying in the g
roup okay.” Tears began to fall in earnest now. She was sure it was reaction but she detested crying regardless of the reason.
“Shh, little one. You are safe and you did nothing wrong. With so many of us walking through the area there were bound to be some problems. We will get our healer to check your neck and throat when we arrive.” Veran stood up and nodded at Kane. “Hold her and help her relax while we rest for a bit.”
Della saw that Gressen had arrived and was comforting Caro, who probably was a nervous wreck since she’d been right next to Della when the beast had attacked her. She wanted to tell the other woman she was okay, but couldn’t speak as her teeth started to chatter and she began shaking all over.
Chapter Six
I am not worthy of her. She could have died and there was nothing I could do about it. On this planet, she is better off with one of the Levassians who can keep her safe.
Kane wanted to yell in anger and despair but instead, he pulled a now shivering Della onto his lap and comforted her for another man. It tore his heart in two. He’d already begun to think of her as his woman and was fast becoming attached to her.
With shock setting in, Kane whispered to her that everything was okay. She would be fine. He knew the symptoms well from his years in the Marines where he’d been a medic. He wrapped his arms around her though it was hot as blazes with the heat of the two suns giving rise to a steamy swelter. She rested her head against his chest and sobbed for a few minutes, then slowly regained her composure.
As soon as she seemed more herself, Kane allowed her to get up. He climbed to his feet beside her and stood with her while she cleaned her face, shielding Della from the others curious stares. Then Caro came over to comfort her and Kane retreated to stand next to Veran and Gressen.
“I have never seen anyone attack an Aragus like you did, Kane. Few would go against them no matter what was at stake. Our own males dread coming up against them, as there is very little you can do to stop them short of breaking their necks. Their skin is thicker than most any weapon we have. Even our knives do not penetrate them unless a great force is behind them,” Gressen told him.
“Veran had no trouble at all with it. I was useless,” he said.
Veran moved closer to him. “No, you were not. They are able to scamper away with their victims very fast. Had you not fought and kept him busy until I arrived, our Della would be gone now. Did you not see that neither of the two Levassians in your group attempted to fight the beast? They know there is nothing they can do.”
“But you killed it as if it were nothing,” Kane argued, looking at the two males now checking over the dead creature.
“Only because I’ve trained to kill them. There are few who have. I should have had one with you that was trained to do that, but I put them with the ones carrying the injured since they would be most vulnerable. I may have miscalculated…” Gressen interrupted him.
“No. You made the correct decision. That is where they need to be. This trip is dangerous. We knew it would be,” he said.
“So you said you can train to kill them? How? Why don’t all of your men train, then?” Kane asked, thinking that would be the smart thing to do.
“We are slowly doing this, but it is hard and difficult. It requires capturing one and under controlled circumstances, the student learns their ways and how to position their arms in order to leverage themselves to break the neck. It may have looked easy, but it was not easy and was the result of years of study,” Gressen assured him.
Then it hit Kane what Veran had said earlier. Our Della. What did he mean by that? Was it just one of their sayings? He scoffed at the thoughts that were circling in his head now. It didn’t matter. He wasn’t the one for her. She needed one of the warriors who could kill this Aragus. She needed Veran as her mate. He would content himself in knowing she was in the best of care with the Levassian.
“We should get started again. Do you think Della is ready to continue?” Gressen asked Kane.
“Yes. She is okay now,” he said, and turned to return to where the two women still held hands with their backs to the dead Aragus.
“Time to continue,” he told the two women. “Stay on the inside of us.”
To his surprise, Della wrapped her arms around him and kissed him soundly on the lips before letting go and joining Caro in the middle of their group. He almost forgot to start walking when the group ahead of them was a good ten yards ahead. The kiss had completely taken him off guard. Just that brief contact had been the stuff of dreams to him. Even now, he could still feel the soft tingle of her lips against his.
When had she become so important to him? Was it only because he’d decided she would make a good wife for him, with her bravery and strong build? Could one talk oneself into falling in love with someone or was it just meant to happen? Kane wasn’t sure what to think.
Am I in love with Della already, or am I just lamenting over something I don’t deserve and know I can’t have now? Even if she would have picked me to be her new husband, I can’t allow her to make that mistake. She needs someone like Veran who can keep her safe and already has a place for her to sleep at night.
He had nothing to his name. Until he found something he could do there on this planet they’d crashed into to earn a living, he wouldn’t expect any woman to want to tie herself to him. He just hoped that there was something there he was capable of doing so he could survive. To look at the Levassians, you would think they were less civilized and advanced than Earth had been, but he’d seen them speak into devices attached to their uniforms much like their police did only, the devices were much smaller. They had also talked of traveling to other planets in their galaxy looking for females who were compatible with them for mating purposes, so they had space travel.
Kane had little to offer anyone in the way of technology. He wasn’t a computer specialist or mechanical engineer. They’d all been chosen more for their ability to survive on an uninhabited planet with the tools and supplies they’d been given. They weren’t supposed to have much need of technology at first. That would have come later once they had the original settlement built. More would arrive with even more supplies and soon they would have had everything they needed to support themselves.
Now they were on a planet that sounded to be just as advanced if not more so than Earth had been and he was only good at living off the land. Kane felt as if he was worthless to them in that moment. Why hadn’t he ended up with the ones going to Alpha or the other planet to build the settlement first before the women were sent? While Omega had been thought to be essentially safe, the other two planets were known to be inhabited by strange creatures and the women were held back a year to give the men sent there time to build a safe place for their new wives. He couldn’t help but wonder how that had turned out.
“Kane, do you know how much farther we have to go?” Caro asked. “I’m starting to have leg cramps now.”
He realized he’d been so busy tearing himself down that he’d neglected the women. Cursing under his breath, he watched as both women seemed to be limping more than walking. He walked up to one of the Levassians in their group. He would be able to call ahead and tell them another rest break was in order if they weren’t nearly there.
The huge man nodded and spoke into the device on his uniform then a few seconds later turned back to Kane.
“We will be there in, um, ten of your minutes I believe. Not long. Can they walk that much longer or do they need rest now?” the dark-skinned warrior asked.
He turned and looked at them. They were doing okay, but miserable trying to walk and stamp away the muscle cramps, too.
“They will be okay. I’m going to give them something to eat and drink to help with the cramps they are having.” He started to slow down to rejoin the women but the male frowned.
“Cramps? Do they need medical help now?” he asked.
“No. the drink I’m going to give them has potassium in it and should help with the cramps.” The other man nodded and Kane
dropped back, pulling his pack from his shoulders to pull out the bottled water with the electrolytes mixed in it. He handed them each a small bottle and cautioned them to only sip at it slowly.
“Here is another protein bar. Eat it slowly as well. Wait a few steps between bites. I don’t want you to get sick, but you obviously need some nutrition. We’ve only got about ten minutes left till we arrive at the place where there are transports.”
“Thank God. I’m about dead on my feet,” Caro said with a weak laugh.
“I’m not much better,” Della agreed.
Her voice still sounded gravely to him. It worried him that she had been injured more so than she had let on. He would insist that the moment they arrived at their city that a healer check her. He was only a medic and despite his training, Kane wasn’t confident that she’d been truthful when he’d checked her neck and throat before.
They continued walking for what felt longer than ten minutes, with him paying closer attention to the two women. He wasn’t going to allow them to fall out because he hadn’t been diligent in watching over them.
One of the giant males in their group turned and smiled at them. “We are here. We are stopping now, but will slowly move up to where the transports are. Rest.”
The women laughed with huge smiles on their faces as they stopped walking and clung to each other. Kane thanked the male before handing more water to Della then Caro, warning them to drink slowly.
A few minutes later, Veran walked up, stopping to talk to the two males for a few seconds before stepping back to where they were.
“How are you doing?” he asked Della.
“I’m good. Caro and I were just talking about how good it would feel to finally sit and ride for a change,” she said.