Stowaway

by Elliot Cooper

  They both needed this moment, this closeness, and he wouldn't let Lox's gruff mood ruin it. He worked his other hand back from between their bodies and wrapped it around Lox's middle again, turning his face to breathe in his lover's hair. Nose buried in the silky black strands, he felt his tesak bud in his mouth. Cleanliness was best, but it didn't stop him from appreciating Lox's natural, musky scent.

  Lox bucked into his hand, gripping the edge of the tub for leverage. The more Korsik let him take over, sloshing the water with every rolling thrust of his hips, the more delicious friction his own staff received. He fought the urge to rut against Lox's backside. Instead, he focused on remaining relaxed, not tensing as his pleasure ramped up and his tesak descended. Listening to Lox's groans, feeling his staff flex in his hand, and the sense memory of burying his own hardness in his lover's body brought Korsik's release with a heaving breath. It was too soon, but not soon enough.

  He gave into the need to bite and sank his tesak into Lox's shoulder. His lover groaned anew, shaft throbbing in Korsik's hand with his release. Lox's hips rocked shallowly once, twice more, and then he settled back against Korsik with a heavy sigh.

  "We've wasted the water," Lox said, voice rough. He cleared his throat and swallowed audibly, but the anger had gone from his tone.

  "It wasn't a waste," Korsik insisted, a smile turning up the corners of his full lips.

  Chapter Three

  Thalia carefully removed the bundle in her bag and unwrapped the protective layers of fabric providing its bulk. She held up the glass jar, a quarter of it filled with thick amber sweetness, and swallowed hard. It was the last thing she had to remind her of her family.

  "Honey," she said, showing the jar to the Alphans. "One of Earth's last great treasures … or at least that's what my dad told me. He traded for this jar so we could have something sweet to go with all the slop and scraps."

  "And now that's all you have left?" Glyn asked.

  Thalia nodded and put on a brave smile she didn't quite feel. She didn't want to part with her treasure, but Vall had mentioned the Alphans' strict regulations regarding foreign foods, plants, and animals. If she didn't share it now, it would be confiscated and destroyed.

  "You've both treated me with kindness when you didn't have to. I want to share it with you. As thanks." She opened the jar and placed it on the table where they'd laid out their meal. She hadn't expected them to share their food with her and had tried to convince them she'd brought enough, but they wouldn't listen. It was an argument she'd been grateful to lose. Hospitality was a foreign concept to the Xyrans, and she'd missed it more than she'd realized.

  "That's quite a gift," Vall said, sounding taken aback. He lifted the jar and inspected the honey by tilting the glass container from side to side. "We have something similar on Alpha, but it's not this color. Insects on your planet make this? From flowers?"

  "That's what my dad taught me." Thalia nodded, feeling bolstered by her memories of her family. Her father's stories had been so important, so varied. At times, she and her brother had seemed to live off his many tales of what Earth was once like, the people who'd done incredible things for mankind, the beauty that sounded too good to be true. He'd given them hope. Dreams. Love. And they'd followed the path of the heroes in Dad's stories as best they could. They'd looked out for one another, taking care even when they'd stolen food and working heat cubes from hoarders who only wanted to profit from the more destitute.

  "It's a beautiful color, like Vall's eyes." Glyn beamed a beatific smile.

  Vall ignored the compliment in favor of dipping his table knife into the jar. He tried to let the excess honey drip off, but became impatient, scraped it against the jar rim, then touched his tongue to the flat side of the sweetened blade. "This is excellent. Like sweetened thaspan cider, but … richer, thicker. It's a shame we can't save it for later use."

  "Try it on the bread," Thalia recommended with an easy grin. She wasn't used to the sprinkling of Alphan words in conversation yet, but she hoped she'd pick up their meanings quickly. She'd collected a smattering of Xyran words out of necessity, but this time it would be on her terms. It might be prudent to learn the language of her new home anyway, even though Glyn had assured her most Alphans were fluent in English. What better way to show her respect and admiration?

  After their filling meal, she joined both Alphans in the cockpit. They were fast approaching Alpha and pointed out several stationed battleships in the vicinity before relaying communications with a brusque sounding Alphan planetside.

  Another ship raced by, leaving as they slowed to approach speed.

  Thalia noted the image recorder on the dash, the same one Glyn had shown her on their second day of travel. He'd been happy to show her pictures of their home, their bondmate Summer with her haunting brown eyes and straight blonde hair, their war trophies, and their friends.

  She picked up the recorder again and skipped through the images. A pang of longing struck her like it had when she'd first looked at the device's trove of memories. Most of her memories had faded with the passage of time. She could barely remember her brother Harnell's voice other than his infectious laugh and angry pleas to Tark to let her go. Her mother's face, her smile, were vague—but Thalia remembered her short black hair, the way her wispy bangs swept over her dark olive skin above the deep warmth of her brown eyes. Her father was the most vibrant in her mind's eye: the square set of his wide jaw covered in the tight, black curls of his soft beard, the way the corners of his eyes crinkled when he was proud of his children, his large brown hands moving animatedly as he spoke.

  The recorder showed a group photo of Vall, Glyn, four other Alphans, two human women, and two children. She recognized the blonde with ivory skin as Summer now, but she'd forgotten the names of the others. One Alphan stood with the aid of a cane, a serious look on his face. The man next to him was even more handsome than Glyn, but looked menacing with his thick arms crossed over his chest and a dark glare etched into his striking face. The other Alphan strangers looked much more open and happy, and she hoped they were the ones who weren't yet bonded to a human. She'd been so tired when Glyn had gone through the images with her three days before that she couldn't remember.

  A clipped Alphan voice came over the communications channel again, pulling Thalia out of her thoughts.

  "We're cleared for landing. Strap in," Vall said as he took his own advice.

  Thalia followed suit and held the recorder on her lap after turning it off. The planet's colorful blue-green surface, partially obscured by fluffy white clouds, loomed ever closer as they entered the atmosphere. She smiled and pictured her hopeful future of a job, Alphan men to fall in love with, and an image recorder of her own to capture all the new, happy, memories she'd forge on Alpha.

  She spared a fleeting thought for Bryn and the others she'd left behind. Would they let Tark domineer them without the help of his brutes? Or would they find the courage they needed to rise up against their unfit "king" before he could find reinforcements? Thalia remembered the terrible talk she'd had with Bryn, though, the one that made her more determined than ever to remember she was only playing the part of Tark's little pet.

  "I wish he'd look at me the way he looks at you," Bryn had said with the wistful sadness of someone lost to a love they couldn't fight.

  Thalia wouldn't lose control of her emotions like that and fall for the wrong sort of man. She'd meet as many eligible Alphan men as she could, get to know them, then make an educated decision and let love follow. She was the pilot of her dreams, and she wouldn't give up the controls for anything or anyone.

  ****

  "Who's this? You weren't cleared to bring a human back with you." The bulky Alphan officer, in a caped uniform similar to the ones her new friends wore, leveled them with a hard look. His bald head glinted in the late afternoon sun over the courtyard of the stately gray building they'd landed beside.

  "This is Thalia, our stowaway," Glyn announced in a stern tone that didn't
suit his boyish voice or vibrant personality. "She escaped Xyran captivity and wishes to claim Alphan bondmates."

  "Escaped or was rescued?" the officer asked, narrowing his eyes at Thalia.

  Vall sucked in a breath and opened his mouth to speak.

  "Escaped," Thalia said before Vall could utter a sound. She didn't need her friends to stand up for her. "I waited for Alphans to come, then snuck onto their ship while the Xyran who kept me as a slave fought them."

  The Alphan officer's thick black brows rose in surprise.

  "She knew about the beacon, Aron. Which was destroyed, as mentioned in our report," Vall said.

  "Yes, very well." Aron gestured for them to follow him toward a section of the building with various flags and banners attached to the edges of its roof.

  As they walked through the courtyard, Thalia's eyes wandered to the enormous, leafy trees she could see in the near distance beyond the small collection of buildings. The air smelled of fresh flowers the farther they moved away from the ship, and she noted colorful blossoms covering a latticed archway to their right.

  "It is unfortunate you should arrive at such a trying time for humans and human lovers, Thalia. Without bonded mates, I'm afraid we'll have to send you back to your homeworld," the officer said.

  "What? Why?" she blurted out, bare feet taking root on the sun-warmed stones. The Alphans stopped, too, and looked at her, then one another. "I'd heard stories about Alphan men taking human women as lovers. Vall and Glyn confirmed it."

  She left out mention of learning about their culture from their hated enemy. If she was going to fight for her right to stay on Alpha, she didn't want to chance saying anything that would put an irredeemably sour taste in an authority figure's mouth.

  "This is a most unusual situation." Aron gestured at her with a grumble, his cheek twitching as he fought a smile or frown—it was impossible to tell which. "Typically we go to Earth to seek out bondmates if we have earned the right, not the other way around. Then the bond has been formed before arrival on the homeworld, a claiming ceremony assures it, and the bonded human is seen as a citizen of Alpha. By most."

  "The Purists?" Vall's face screwed up into an ugly snarl.

  Aron nodded and heaved a sigh. He reached up to scratch at the base of one of his thick, stubby horns. "They've become more vocal. More organized. And they're certain to take immediate notice of an unclaimed woman. They'll see her as a fresh avenue to sullying our bloodlines."

  The pieces fell together for Thalia, and her dark brows creased as she frowned.

  "There must be a way to avoid them until she can secure bondmates," Glyn said. "She wants to be claimed."

  "I have nothing to return to, either," Thalia said. She swallowed hard against the swell of tense emotion deep in her chest. The week of fresh, hopeful fantasies while they'd traveled had filled her with an alien optimism she didn't want to lose. Now her dreams threatened to crumble in front of her, only a few yards from the ship she'd arrived on.

  "Let's see what the ambassador has to say. He's up to date on the current issues regarding the Purists." Aron gestured again for them to follow him through the latticed archway, then through a door into the building.

  They moved quickly down a long, bustling corridor, then entered a side chamber that must have served as an office. A group of Alphans stood arguing in their native language, and Aron stopped Thalia and her companions short with his arm.

  ****

  "We won't be leaving, and we won't sit idly by while this filth continues to contaminate the strength of our species!" one angry Alphan said to the ambassador.

  This is shaping up to be an uncomfortable welcome home, Vall thought. They hadn't been gone more than three weeks and the Purists had gained a local foothold? His ire threatened to rise beyond his control. Instead of letting his anger take hold, however, he took care to memorize the faces of the bigots.

  "Sorry to interrupt, Ambassador Renlit," Aron said in Alphan. "Should we make an appointment?"

  "No need, Aron. The local Purist committee was just leaving." Ambassador Renlit leveled a cold look at the five Alphans opposite him, daring them to contradict him.

  The committee members grumbled amongst themselves and glared at Thalia as they filed past the newcomers. Vall stood to his full, impressive height and half-stepped in front of his human friend. She didn't deserve their derision.

  Aron closed the door behind the last Purist.

  "Now, who is this you've brought to see me?" Renlit asked in English and ran his hand over his gray-streaked beard. "I know Aron has no interest in women, and the two of you have already claimed a human mate."

  "My name is Thalia," she said, squeezing out from between Vall and Glyn's protective proximity. "I came here to find Alphan bondmates. Can you help me?"

  "Ah! So you're an unclaimed immigrant. Wonderful! And a pleasure to meet you." Renlit smiled for a moment, but then heaved a sigh. "Typically I'd welcome you as a new citizen, but this local committee of Purists … I can't afford to shirk the regulations they've managed to enact on human immigrants now that they're here, looking over my shoulder. I'll lose my position, which is exactly what they want."

  "We can't let them put a Purist sympathizer in an ambassadorial seat," Vall said. The obvious trickle-down threat to their way of life, to their future children, was too much.

  Glyn and Aron nodded in agreement.

  "What regulations?" Thalia spoke up again, her voice strong but full of concern.

  "All human immigrants must be claimed by Alphans or face deportation back to Earth." Renlit leaned against his desk, arms crossed over his vibrant blue shirt. "The spirit of the regulation's wording is meant to ensure no unclaimed humans may remain on Alphan soil. It calls for immediate deportation. But I can grant you one week—"

  "One week?" Glyn's face screwed up in anger.

  Vall held up his hand to stop any further protest. It was important to all of them that Renlit remain ambassador. If a week was all he could manage safely, then Thalia would have to work within that timeframe. If they all stood around arguing about it, he might decide it wasn't worth his trouble to stretch his neck out for one wayward human.

  "We'll help you, Thalia." Vall patted her shoulder awkwardly, but wasn't sure how else to provide emotional support to a human friend. He knew humans enjoyed physical affection, even between friends, as he'd witnessed between Summer and their neighbor's human bondmate, Mina. However, he didn't feel comfortable hugging a woman who was not his.

  "I'll be certain to keep my eyes and ears open for any rumors within the officer's ranks," Aron offered. "My bondmates and I may not have desired to seek out a human mate of our own, but they're the obvious help we need as a people. These Purist scum … to the void with them!"

  "Aye," the ambassador said with a deep nod. He turned his gaze back on the human in the room. "Will you need lodging, Thalia?"

  "I … yes," she said, sounding unsure of herself.

  "She can stay with us," Glyn said in a rush.

  "That might draw more attention than—" Vall tried to voice reason, but Glyn turned a glare up at him. He grunted in annoyance at his bondmate. He was the entire reason they hadn't turned their ship back around and avoided this entire fiasco playing out around them. "We want our new friend to have a true chance at attaining her goal."

  "Which is exactly why she should stay with us while we're on leave. We can safeguard her. Summer and Mina can help educate her on our way of life. We can host a party, invite the eligible men we know, increase her chances of success." Glyn's eyes had lit with the internal fire of passion. He'd found yet another pet project he'd see through to the end, whether Vall went along with his schemes or not.

  "That sounds perfect. If it's all right with you, Vall," Thalia said. Hope radiated from her smile and the confident set of her shoulders beneath her lumpy cloak.

  "Very well." Vall didn't like the idea, but Glyn's arguments were heartfelt. It would cause more strife between them than it was wo
rth for him to oppose playing host for one short week.

  "Thank you!" Thalia launched herself at Vall's middle in a grateful hug.

  He smiled in spite of himself and patted her fluffy curls. The look of happiness on Glyn's face made him feel confident he was doing the right thing for his family, new friend, and even his people. There was no gain without risk, after all. Battle had taught that lesson time and time again. Why would the rest of life be any different?

  Chapter Four

  The tour of their lovely home with its high ceilings, several ornately embellished fireplaces, and several empty but spacious rooms meant to become the bedrooms of future offspring made Thalia feel overwhelmed. She'd never been in a home that looked so warm, so welcoming, yet so tidy and luxurious at the same time.

  She stared up at a large painted portrait over the great room's monstrous hearth. Vall, in his armor and a gem studded cape, sat in a handsome chair with Glyn, dressed the same, kneeling beside him. Summer, in a pale blue tunic adorned with sparkling gems and slim white pants stood between them, dwarfed but lovely.

  "It's incredible, isn't it?" Summer said in her soft, gentle voice. She smiled up at Thalia and placed a pale hand on her arm through her cloak. "Vall and Glyn had it commissioned from a prominent artist before they went on their latest mission. They can't stop giving me gifts."

  "Yeah, incredible." Thalia nodded and swallowed the lump she felt form in her tightened throat. Her dream was right there, on canvas, being lived by the diminutive woman standing next to her. She was so close.

  But she was so nervous none of the Alphans she met would be up to her standards. She wouldn't settle, she told herself. She couldn't. This dream would be realized on her terms. And if her terms couldn't be met, well … she didn't want to think about the possibility. There had to be some local men who were as charming, kind, and handsome as her new friends.