by C F Rabbiosi
One evening as they lay together on top of the bear’s fur they had fought only a month earlier, a voice jarred them from their happy state. A man with a graying beard entered the cave and held a gun toward Brekter.
“Dad!” cried Maria, holding a blanket in front of her.
“Get back!” the aged man said to her, and Brekter stood, his monstrous form hiding Maria behind him. “I’m gonna kill this son of a bitch.”
“No. Don’t hurt him!” she said. Taking his hand, she slid out from behind him.
Her dad puzzled at her bruises and cocked his weapon. “It’s okay, honey. He’s got you in some kind of hostage state but—”
Brekter moved so quickly he was a blur and snapped the weapon away. The father put his hands up and two more men rushed in behind him.
Maria touched his back, and he lowered the weapon. “This is my family,” she said. “My brother and—” taking a deep breath, she thumbed the gold ring on her finger. “And my husband.”
“We got stuck behind the pass during the blizzard,” said her father. “There was no way to get back to you until the weather changed.”
“I thought you were dead!” Maria hugged him and brought her brother and husband into it as well. Brekter felt his world slip away as he watched them, and fury set him aflame at the sight of her husband. She never spoke of him, and that worried him, because maybe she still loved him and couldn’t speak of him out of guilt or pain. He would have to kill him.
“Are you all right?” her husband asked, deep worry marring his pleasant face.
She nodded and hugged him again. “I’m fine, Adrien. Are you?”
He looked at the massive Koridon’s naked body and the state of Maria’s. “What has he done to you? Did he make you—”
“No,” she said, taking his thickly corded arm. She was flooded with confusion and guilt, Adrien having been her world before she had lost him that winter. Even before the alien ships were bombed, leading to core reactor meltdowns that ended the whole world, he had been the strong, jealous type. An alpha in his own right. And now he stood there betrayed and hurt, knowing that not just another man, but the enemy and a being from another world, had been with her intimately. She knew her husband hoped she had been forced, but she wouldn’t lie. She loved Brekter, entranced by his otherworldly heritage and their strange relationship.
But she still loved Adrien.
15
Calypso
The dying light of the mounted candles flicker across Brekter’s face as he tells me about his first love. Crouched in the corner, he appears different to me, the cruel, confident guard pulled down, and though I don’t feel anything for him, I’m fascinated by his story. “What did she do?” I ask, imagining as her husband and family return through the winter pass once spring began.
“In that moment, I wanted to kill them all and take her choices away.” He jumps up to walk away, but I take his hand with both of mine.
“Tell me.”
His eyes dart around and his back hits the wall. “She chose him.” He shakes his head, trying to find the words. “I had a choice too, standing out in the dark, between two worlds, and I chose her. I chose death as long as I had her.”
I sigh, remembering all the times he called me little animal, how nasty it sounded, but now I know the power behind the name.
“I never touched another woman after that. I was mated to Lorai eventually but was driven mad by the memories every time a woman was near. Their scents danced through my blood and sent fire through my veins.” He grips me painfully and I edge back, feeling the danger seep from his pores. “My mate did not feel like Maria. She was cold and passionless. I could not stand her.”
“But you broke your vow with me,” I say. He had seen in me an opportunity to gain power over Kassien and seized his moment.
“You aren’t exactly human, are you?” He trembles as he smooths the tresses from my face. I could stand it no longer. The pain of desire, the jealousy every time he touched you—”
“You took me from Kassien to have a child with me. You knew we would be the most powerful couple in your society.”
“That never mattered!” He pulls me into his arms. “I did not want the child for power,” he shakes his head slowly, “or even for the survival of my race.”
He lays me back again and rests his head on my chest as I stare at the ceiling. A child grows just like he wished, and I wonder if this is my only choice now. Should I accept him, knowing Kassien may never come for me, and because a whole world relies on our successful union? His story helped me understand some of his bitterness toward us, but his cruelty is still unforgiveable. But he’s a completely different species than I am, rough and unharnessed, making it hard to hold all of it against him. Anger cringes my bones; I don’t want to be with Brekter, but what could it mean for my people?
“Brekter, if I’m to make a life with you, there will be demands.” I swallow the knot in my throat and let my fingers drift through his dark hair. “I will need you to be at my side for the rights of humans.” If he truly wants to get into my heart, he’ll do this for me.
His arms tighten and something sorrowful bleeds into me. “I am sorry for making you hate me. I only sabotage myself in doing so. I cannot tell you why I have done these things to you.”
Maria walked away from him, the first being he had ever loved. He was forever destroyed that day and uses me to release the rage. “Make it right with me, and I will accept you.”
He lifts his chin and his lips find mine, something he’s never initiated before. I let his desperate kiss penetrate my defenses and try to care for him, try to feel the good in him.
A female voice drifts up the stairwell, and we sit up. “You like the new girls, I see…” she says, and before Brekter can stop me, I dash down the stairs.
“No!” he begs me to stop.
Brekter nearly careens into me from behind as I hide behind a bookshelf. I bring a finger to my lips as he shakes his head in warning at me. Creeping through the parlor, a male voice echoes. “Never would I touch another woman like I touch you.” It sounds like Drakon, but all I can see, hiding behind the furniture, is shadows. A strong hand yanks her clothing off and he lifts her off the ground, her legs wrapped around his back. Her voice is soft and her body so small; this isn’t the mate seen at his side during dinner.
“Ohhhh,” she utters, her head whipping back as he moves inside her with long, careful strokes.
“You are the only one I will ever touch,” says Drakon, and he pulls her face into his. “You are mine.”
“And what about your old, dusty mate, Trepedda?” the girl asks.
Drakon squeezes her until a whimper squeaks from her throat. “She is nothing compared to you. Do not even speak her name again as though on the same level.”
“Then why haven’t you taken me as your queen?” Palms into the wall, she pushes and Drakon stumbles back. He catches her as she falls and roughly holds her against him. “Perhaps soon you will throw me into the House of Pain with the other tortured humans. Is that what you’ll do?”
I look at Brekter with confusion, but he doesn’t acknowledge me. What place is she talking about?
“Never.” He leans toward her lips but she tips her head back. “Damn you,” he breathes, his eyes lingering hungrily upon her neck. “How can you say that now?”
“Because now more than ever I see how little I mean to you.”
He slaps his hand into the wall beside her. “Our time will come.”
He tries claiming his kiss once more, but she’s stone to the touch. “Until then, put me down. I’m going to bed.” She wiggles out of his hold.
“No, not until I have spilled inside you.” The shadows struggle as Drakon overpowers her easily. I see the young servant in my mind’s eye, her strange presence as she placed my plate down, the look on Drakon’s face that was so obviously desire now.
“You will stop,” she yells, “or I’ll wake everyone in this house.”
&n
bsp; His hand lands over her face. “Do it then. Scream, foolish child, there’s no one here that can stop me” She hits him in the chest as he holds her down and struggles with her in the dark. Her cries muffle into his hand. She flails, her sobs filling the room, and Drakon jumps away from her with a roar. “Come here.” He holds a hand out to her, and after catching her breath, she takes it. “I have never been told no before by a woman. Forgive me, drakkara.” He rocks her as she shakes.
“No more sex,” says Andromeda. “Marry me, and have my body and heart as one forever. Or enjoy me carnally no more.”
“Cruel girl.” He tosses her aside. “Get to bed as you so wish.” She moves toward him and he gently pushes her back, but she keeps coming until she’s worked her arms around him. Their lips meet. Brekter pulls me away, but as I strain my neck for one last look, the female shadow dashes away.
“Your leader is in love with a human,” I say once we reach the top of the stairs. She’s the reason he went along with Brekter’s plan to break their laws and make women available for breeding.
“No. I think he only enjoys her to mate with.” Brekter stands in front of the large window overlooking the coast and I move behind him, entranced by the black clouds that stream across the moon.
“If he wanted to mate her, he would have,” I say.
No, it was her heart he wanted.
* * *
The next day I loathe waking, having stayed up half the night with my betrothed, but up Vaerynn rushes me and into the bath.
“What’s it going to be today?” I ask, running sweet-smelling soap through my hair. “More being hunted by werewolves followed by pointless cruel brandings?”
“No,” replies Vaerynn. “Worse. Today is your—oh, how do you say it? Marriage day?”
I slip under the water and stay there until my lungs burn. A tempting thought to drown myself rises up along with a little wicked glee, but soon bubbles burst from my mouth. I come up, spewing soapy bath water. “Already? Why?”
“You are pregnant with a Koridon child. Best to give you to the father by law now and get it out of the way. Mary-Shelly’s will be tomorrow, her most ripe day of the month.” She pats my abdomen and I nearly bite her.
“I’m still not sure I want this.”
“When has it ever mattered what a female wants?” She splashes me, and I wipe stinging water from my eyes. “Our mating ceremonies are dry, mechanical acts of sacrifice. We do what we must and endure for the good of our race.”
My head screeches with torment, like teeth grinding, gnawing at rock, at the thought of accepting Brekter into my body in front of an audience. “I already endured the demeaning public ceremony with Kassien. I won’t do it again. I can’t. I can’t let Brekter, the one who forces himself upon me, now do it for an audience of my enemies.”
“You will do what is Koridon. Now and forever. You must be mated by the male who has claimed you in front of the pack. They must see his possession of you and respect it. It is not a stimulating event for us. It is duty.”
“It isn’t anymore! What we experience with them is purely stimulating. And all of you that watch will feel it like never before because you will be awakened!” Doesn’t she understand that doing this in front of all the males could be dangerous? Granted, they can show control, but why risk it?
Vaerynn steps back, her mouth open, a glimmer of recognition biting at her. Maybe she has felt what I speak of, and I wonder what she’s hiding. “You will prepare yourself for the night ceremony.” she recovers her solemnity quickly. “Prepare your little gash to be used for all to see by the one you hate.”
I squeeze my lids shut and ball my fists, trying desperately not to hold her under the water until her cruel mouth shuts forever. It’s hard to believe she and I share the title of female.
I won’t do it. I’ll find Brekter and convince him that while I might have to be mated to him, it’s wrong to make me bare my naked body before his brethren.
They lock me up in one of the rooms on the third floor to rest and await the moment they come for me tonight. I imagine what my village friends are enduring today and wish I could talk to Scarlet. Nervousness twists my stomach as the minutes tick by too quickly, and my cries to bring Brekter to me go unanswered. Slaves bring up food and tea full of nutrient X2, but I can hardly touch it. Please. I try to focus as the liquid quakes in my shaky hands. I need to drink this to be strong. I need this to survive tonight. My fingertips tingle as I struggle to breathe, my chest heavy with panic. Kassien, my everything screams out to the universe. I’m begging you, come now…
I sob, and tears burn against my cheeks as I pace the room. When my pain is too heavy to stand any longer, I hit my knees and grab my belly.
I know he’s not coming. And if he does, he’ll have no choice but to cast me away when he finds out about my pregnancy. It’s not like he can just kill them all and we can run off and live happily ever after. Isn’t that what I used to read about? My momma was right. Books are absolute fantasy, meant to help someone escape their cold reality, and that’s all.
Brilliant pink light ascends across the atmosphere, infecting my sadness with its beauty. But it also means it’s almost time.
A knock at the door brings Andromeda inside, holding a black bag. “I’m here to get you ready for—” she stops short and takes in my crumpled, broken form. “This is going to take some work.” She sets the bag down and helps me to a chair. “What’s wrong with you?” She wrinkles her nose as she brushes my long locks back.
“They’re forcing me to be bedded by a monster tonight.” My voice is as hollow as my soul.
“Oh, that’s funny. I thought tonight you had the honor of marrying into a superior race.”
I grab her hand and squeeze until she squirms. “I am already superior, girl. And I’m also already married to a Koridon of the highest order.” I toss her hand away, and the brush clanks to the floor. Her affair with the commander of these lands may be about ambition for her, but for me, this marriage is world-ending.
“Can I finish getting you ready, or are you planning to assault me some more?” She pulls out a charcoal pen and aims it toward my eye.
I grip white fingers into my thighs and sit back. “Finish. I would look ravishingly beautiful for my fucking funeral tonight.”
The little servant gives me a smoky look around my eyes that mimics the dark coloration Koridons have naturally.
“Are you trying to get pregnant?” I ask her, wondering if she knows the risk.
She rubs me down with a sparkling liquid. “I wouldn’t mind. It would give me position.”
“I agree that the Koridons are capable of honorable love, but Drakon—”
“You don’t know him,” she says.
No, I guess I don’t. I don’t know him, or much about their damn species at all. But one thing’s for sure: it won’t end well for her. Especially because I won’t hesitate to use her against him if I have to. I should treasure her life, but if it comes down to mine or one of the girls I care about, she’s done for.
After I’m dressed in glittering lavender and my hair’s braided in unique patterns, she packs up and moves toward the door.
“You know,” I say as she reaches for the handle, “playing games with Drakon, dangerous sex games, will get you broken into a crumpled mass of flesh.”
She turns around slowly and her brows pop up. “He won’t hurt me. He’s my slave.”
I’m summoned and walk down to the banquet hall where my friends were branded with heavy steps. I think about my last ceremony and what it was like to pass through the invisible barrier into a beautiful, warm greenhouse full of hybrid plants, extraordinary flowers never before seen, unique and made better. Just like me. Tonight will be nothing like that, but at least there’s no question of who I am this time.
An altar sits in the middle of the room flickering with candlelight, and the Koridons kneel around it. The ladies from my village, the future brides, sit in chairs behind them. This will be the
ir first experience with this bizarre custom, so I have to be strong for them. Brekter meets my eyes from beside the altar and he’s stunning, unfortunately, with his facial hair trimmed and his hair slicked back in an intricate braid. They part to allow me through, and Brekter kisses my hand. I wonder as I walk toward him if he envisions Maria.
“I found something for you,” he says and nods toward one of the servants in the back. A beautiful sound strikes up, like a voice, a song, but with many instruments that meld together, and my heart flutters.
“It’s music,” I say, remembering mention of the piano and violin in books I’ve read, but I had never heard such sounds before. I let it rush through me, caressing my senses, but it quickly turns bittersweet. Another wonderful thing of my past tainted by my present.
With magnanimous faces, Drakon and his mate begin a round of applause. My fingers burn, begging to scratch their fake, entitled faces right off, and the song in the background rises. Brekter’s timing may have ruined music for me forever. I loathe the sound even now.
My betrothed lays me down before his people in shadow, and again ice water floods my veins, my chest crushing with anxiety.
Drakon announces, “This is the official mating ceremony between Koridon and human. Before us will be the evidence of their eternal entwinement, body and essence.” He waves a hand. “You may proceed.”
Eternal entwinement? If he truly believes in this concept, then Kassien really is dead.
The enemy’s hands slide up my thighs and remove my undergarments below the sparkling dress, and the cruel feeling of exposure touches my sex. Now is Brekter’s moment to show them what a dominant alpha he is, what a creature of strength and reproduction over his new female he is. Where is his first mate, Lorai? Oh no. No, no, could she be here, watching? I haven’t seen her, but that doesn’t mean she didn’t come here with him.