Captured Obedience

by Tasha Winters

  It felt as though they were treating her as a child and not the woman she was to them. However, until they took care of Lakan and she was ready for documentation, they couldn’t risk giving her any more freedoms right now. They always had a united front when Sterling brought home an immigrant, and they should now. It was even more important because she mattered to them on a deep visceral level. She wasn’t a child. She’d be their wife. Not that he disagreed with Zander, but there would be days they would have different views. But that wasn’t today.

  “No, it isn’t fair. But until we have you assimilated, Lakan gone from our lives, and you married to us, there will not be any changes in our responses.”

  “But I can lure Lakan…”

  “No, you will not. And that is the reason you’re staying inside, under Darla’s watch. We’re protecting you. In your tribe, what would you do if there was danger and the great men of your tribe or clan told you to stay away from it?” She frowned. “That right there is why you’ll stay inside. If you change your mind, you know how to call us.” He kissed her lips and left out the door he’d entered.

  “Are you ready to learn the equipment?” asked Darla.

  “No, I need to soak first. I’ll be back.”

  “All right, Maya.”

  After her long soak with the bath salts and herbs she knew must have come from Paxton, the achiness was much better. She wondered in that moment why Paxton felt like the leader. Sterling was the one for whom she first felt an affinity and he seemed to be more judicial. The word businessman came to her mind with a visual flash of a government man in her time and another one that must be from this time. Sterling’s medicine was something she knew nothing about, but it was strong. He was clever and tried to think about things that would make a person feel out of balance and fix them, sometimes with Paxton’s herbal remedies.

  Paxton’s medicine was what she understood, but he wasn’t the same man as Sterling. Paxton said he was a botanist and researcher first and then a businessman. He rarely changed his mind but when he did, he was thoughtful about it. He was stricter and had less rules but expected more obedience. And she was always safe.

  Zander was easy and loving. However, his reputation for rejecting those who would not be honest with him was renowned, even with her. Maya had heard that he fired many assistants due to their inability to tell the whole truth. She knew she should not have challenged him by withholding her plans. It had been a mistake to let any of it slip out. She loved how hard he worked to understand her thinking and often gave in to her but today, he was like Paxton and Paxton was like Zander. They confused her.

  She walked into the kitchen to learn how to cook with all the things on the counters and in the cupboards. It was hard to learn at first, with the visual images produced when Darla would say an unfamiliar word or identify odd equipment. The pictures made it easier, but it was also more distracting. The implantation had been frightening but the affects were more so. The ‘chip’ sent so many flashes of pictures and chaos throughout the day and night she thought she was going crazy.

  It was difficult having so many illustrations flash in her mind’s eye. The information became scrambled and she slammed outside before she knew it. The alarm went off and she returned inside, running into her bedroom. She covered her eyes and closed them. The noise in her head subsided without stimulus. It was the first time she questioned whether she could follow her life’s path. It was so hard.

  By the end of day three, she had near fluent understanding of her men, which made things easier and harder. It cluttered her mind so much she had a headache every evening. Thankfully, things had calmed down by the end of the week and the headaches were less dramatic.

  Her men had been solicitous and tried to lessen the strain and chaos whenever they could, especially in the evenings. It worked enough to allow her to sleep. She loved them for their care. Now, after a week, the pandemonium didn’t follow her into the night and a nap would end the beginnings of a headache during the day. No one objected to naps during the day and doing nothing more than sleeping at night.

  Control was established at a slow but steady pace. In her head, anyway. Control in other parts of her life had also improved but so had the consequences for making unacceptable choices. Finding that common, agreeable middle ground still hadn’t presented itself to her in every situation. Like this morning. Her personal security was a little more relaxed now and Maya could wander throughout the compound alone. Her daily work and instruction schedule remained the same, but she could choose most of her activities. Sterling was confident of her assimilation results now.

  Her men had decided she was less likely to need them to play watch guard and allowed the compound security system to keep her tracked. Lakan continued to cry out at night and in her dreams. But with the fence charged when darkness came, there was no sign he had entered the compound again. The guys were sure he had moved on—if they had ever believed he existed at all. But she knew different. She understood he was waiting for his time. She had to wait for Lakan.

  “I want you to understand that while we’re giving you more choice in how you spend your time, you’re not to leave the compound under any circumstances,” instructed Sterling again.

  “And don’t answer the security gate because no one should come to the house without our acceptance. Oh, and no answering any calls,” added Zander’s broken record addition.

  “I understand. Stop telling me,” was her ill-advised rejoinder.

  “Attitude and tone are also important, my little rabbit. If it isn’t adjusted soon, my hand is itching to help you. We’re trying to give you more freedoms when all we want to do is hold you tight to our sides.”

  Pax, her chief, exercised his spanking hand often. Maya loved it in sensual, sexy ways and hated it when he was making a point. She knew men disciplined their women and she was accepting of that fact, but she wondered why only Paxton did it here. Maybe some women refused that option because their men were not careful. She didn’t worry about it. He never hurt her. Not like she had seen before with others in her tribe.

  Zander said he had other ways, like choosing to leave her alone with her discontent or bad choices. It killed her when he would simply walk away. She had no one to argue with. And then Sterling analyzed the situation so much, she almost wished for Paxton’s solution. Each were effective in their own ways.

  Sterling always added one more reminder. “And check in with us every hour.”

  “I have many things I want to do. It’ll be difficult and annoying to stop every hour.”

  “Nonetheless, you will stop, touch that button on your watch, and speak into it, telling your location and what you’re doing. Then you’ll be able to return to your activity.”

  Zander had been careful to teach her how to use the most important daily electronics, but Maya had found it difficult to learn. Things were not easy; she had not the slightest understanding of the uses. She was dropped into this wild, scary world and what made it go ‘round was still foreign. The words did not complete the foundational concepts necessary to understand things like computerized watches.

  It was because of this discomfort that still settled around her new existence that she longed for a quiet place in nature to be alone. Nature was all around them, thankfully, and when the men went into the city, she hadn’t accepted the invitation to go back. So, several times a week, they invited her and each time she declined and retreated into the woods around her. She understood the forest and she could relax there, be more of the person she knew before all of this happened.

  Maya sighed. “Fine. I promise to follow your rules. Men are always making rules for women but none for themselves.”

  Sterling shifted her hair off her shoulder and slid his hand to her neck, rubbing, massaging, leaning down to kiss her sensitive spot. It was comforting. “Do you truly believe that?”

  Her smile was apologetic. “No, not with you. You’re all protecting me and trying to make things easier for me but men in
general, yes. The men in my birth tribe, without a doubt. You’re my tribe now, my clan, but you make too many rules.”

  Zander tried to lessen the effect the rules had on her. “If you look at it as a way of life, they won’t seem like rules, just a different culture.” She nodded in an accepting but mournful way.

  Maya knew enough about womanly wiles to appease her men with words of connection and still get her wishes met. She knew they might be from this time, but they were men and men loved to own, be master of their world, and their women. And these men, love them though she did, were not any different than their counterparts hundreds of years earlier. They had claimed her and each night, when she crawled in bed with one of them, they claimed her again, either by making love to her or with their words.

  “Maya, you know what will happen if you play the wounded puppy routine, right?” She effected a sad look and found Paxton’s laughing eyes.

  “Okay, I get it.” Except for Paxton. He was the least affected by her womanly wiles because he seemed the least worried about losing her affections. Smart man.

  While life returned to pre-implant, Maya’s nights were continually disturbed by dreams of Lakan stealing her from the place she was beginning to feel was home. Only she could save herself. It scared her because she didn’t see how she could do that. She needed guidance to deal with things from her world that confused her men in this one. Maya had paid attention to the evils and they were so much worse here, than she ever knew in her time. She was becoming physically and emotionally weary of the same vision waking her up night after night without a conclusion.

  Her fatigue must have shown. Sterling was giving her inquiring looks, but he hadn’t walked in her dreams in a long time. Maya was practicing closing her thoughts off. Maybe it was working. She had never heard her men’s thoughts even in her dreams, but maybe it was because they were foreign. Now, she could get smatterings if she concentrated.

  Maya settled into her list of things to complete and looked with longing at the sun. She understood from her instructional materials and from her men that the sun was much more destructive now than in her time, so she had to stay inside the dome during the hottest part of the day. Maybe it was because they were not used to the sun the way she was. She needed fresh air not reprocessed, scrubbed, cleansed air.

  Sterling was working on reports and researching a paper she needed before she could join, no marry them. He wasn’t intent on watching her. Maya turned off the droning of yet another educational program meant to cue her implant to fill in the mental pictures. Sighing with relief, she wandered into the inner garden. Paxton was growing delicate plants in the specialized dirt he’d sterilized. She looked at the chart where he was recording his plant data. They were growing so fast. She touched the plants, murmuring a word or two at each plant before moving on. Paxton walked in and she stopped.

  “Don’t stop. Are you naming the plants as you would call them?”

  “Yes.”

  “Then do it for all of them. Darla audio-video record Maya’s movements and words while in the garden until she says stop.” He turned to her. “I want to know what you call them and if I see you walk and talk, I’ll know your words for each plant. It’s interesting to me.”

  He wandered off and Maya was content to name each plant she knew. Most were herbs. And she even said what she used them for in her ceremonies. When she saw the herbs he was drying, she knew it was a way to prepare her to meet Lakan and destroy him.

  She thought of how she’d use the herbs for her cleansing and strengthening to take on Lakan. She didn’t need the physical strength, she needed protection and to have a pure heart. After gathering a bunch of white and other sages, Maya clipped lavender, laying it on Paxton’s worktable before she picked up scissors and went to cut sweetgrass.

  She gathered string that Paxton always had in his shed and made smudging sticks. Paxton would understand and not scold her for using them to cleanse herself. Her man Sterling would not understand though he trusted Paxton to know. Soon, she hoped he’d trust her.

  “Darla, can you find me an abalone shell or large clam shell?”

  “I can make one.”

  “You can? How?”

  “I can program the printer. I’ll explain while I work on the task. Abalone or Clam?”

  “Abalone.”

  She spent the rest of the morning creating. Maya’s alarm went off to tell her it was thirty minutes to lunch. She gathered her treasures, cleaned the room and prepared for lunch.

  “I miss a friend.”

  “How about a hologram?” asked Sterling.

  “A what?”

  “No picture for the word, huh? Well, it’s lights that make a multi-dimensional person, which appears real but isn’t.”

  “What?”

  “Sterling let me try. It’s a hard concept. It’s light beams that create an image that looks real.” She still looked confused.

  “You’re just going to need to show her. Seeing is believing and all that. Besides, I think it’s a good idea. Incorporate this hologram with everything Maya should know about this time, including cooking, and everything we know about Maya’s culture and time. Then, she’ll have a companion that will understand her.”

  “That’s a brilliant idea, Paxton,” said Sterling. Zander was nodding with excitement.

  “Yes, I can do that. It’s perfect. Okay, honey, we’ll get you a friend,” Zander promised.

  “I’m excited about something I know nothing about. My, how you have changed me.”

  Zander said. “Don’t worry, by tomorrow night, I’ll have the best answer to all of your problems.”

  They ate in companionable silence for a short time before Sterling asked a question she had hoped to avoid. “How are the dreams?”

  She shrugged. “I’m not bothered.”

  “You’re still having them,” he deduced.

  “Yes.” She ate with her fingers. Sometimes they allowed it, like today.

  “How much?” Zander asked.

  “No more than usual.”

  “Every night then,” he responded.

  “Yes.” She busied herself with her lunch until a deep, stern voice spoke her name.

  She stood from the table, putting her half-eaten lunch on the kitchen counter before hot breath flowed over her ear and two strong hands clasped her around the waist.

  “Tell us.” Maya knew Paxton wasn’t requesting although he said it gently. He never allowed her to ignore him anymore. She sighed.

  “There is nothing to tell. Lakan steals me away from you and there’s nothing you can do. I must save myself.”

  “What happens exactly? Where does he take you?”

  “To the place I came to your world, the city. He takes me at night when the lights are low.”

  “Then what?”

  “He pulls me closer to the place with the wall but doesn’t look at me, so I cannot see his eyes to say his name.”

  “And then?

  “I don’t know.” She turned and cried her frustration into his chest. “It always ends without the answer but comes again, and again.” After a short cry she returned to the table.

  Sterling took her into his lap as Zander gave her something to drink. “Let’s see what we can learn from them. I need you to talk to Darla the next time it happens. Describe as much as you can. We’ll see what we can learn.”

  Paxton left the house. She knew it frustrated him. He was a man of action and she was not giving him anything he could do. Zander tried to come up with a few solutions, but he ultimately left the kitchen after kissing her lips. He was also at a loss as to how to help her. Maya knew they would keep trying until she could destroy Lakan. It might end her life as well or at least take her from their world. She didn’t want to think about it while in Sterling’s arms.

  “You know honey, we could always give you something at night to stop the dreams.”

  “No. I must dream. It is who I am. It’s how I came to you and how you knew me.”


  “All right. We’ll wait and see. But I’m about at the end of my tolerance for all of this. You wake us up if you hear Lakan again. Understood?”

  Maya agreed but she knew she wouldn’t. She needed Lakan to make a move, so she could.

  That night, when it was all quiet, she heard Lakan. He was outside Sterling’s window. She snuggled close to Sterling. He cuddled her closer and she was happy to sleep with his scent surrounding her. Lakan’s low growl filled the room with foreboding.

  She could have woken Sterling, as he said, but he would alert Darla and Lakan would run off. She needed to think of a way to lure him away from the house. It was the first time since the fence was electrified that she had heard him approach the house. He was getting desperate. She finally hit on the beginnings of a plan to trick Lakan before she fell, exhausted, into a dreamless night.

  Late the next morning, Maya came in to breakfast. She was tired but smiled as her men were finishing their meal. “No dream.”

  “That’s great. You should sleep with someone every night.” Sterling said with a relieved smile.

  “In case you haven’t noticed, I usually do.”

  “I mean to sleep, honey.” The men laughed but she knew it wouldn’t help. She had to end this curse, or they would never be happy or safe. And her children, when they came, would forever be in danger.

  Each day that passed without a solid solution caused Maya to become more irritable. She became more reckless, hoping to draw Lakan out. The more anxious she was, the less sleep she got. Around every corner there seemed to be danger that would not show itself. Her hands shook, her head pounded. She jumped at everything. Lakan was playing with her mind and she couldn’t get away. This is all because of the trickster, the coyote, the skinwalker. He has put his bad medicine on me because I ran from him and gave myself to others.

  She had found her place. He must crave one for himself. In her dreams, Lakan wandered without purpose except to take her away with him. He had gone crazy with desire in this frenzied world where he was a stranger. He was trying to bring her into his mad world with him.