Zebir (The Mating Games Book 10)

by Catty Diva

  “Why do you know so much about these people?”

  “I have other clients that had me investigate them. Trust me, I know enough to feel certain you’re not after the man or men in charge.”

  “Do it. Handle this by whatever means necessary.”

  “Consider it handled.” Cash said just before the connection faded.

  Zebir sat there a moment thinking over what he’d discovered and all the things Cash hadn’t said. If only all his problems were solved so easily. Hasaf would still be messaging him and it would get more and more desperate, but Zebir knew nothing would happen to his friend or Hasaf’s family. That was the most important thing after all was said and done. All he had to do was leave the situation alone to play out as it must. Even with all the sympathy he felt for Hasaf, he could come up with no other solution. His heart wanted to let Hasaf in on the plan, but his mind cursed him for a fool to even think of it. His daig side knew Hasaf would tell his mate never believing she was involved. Zebir just couldn’t be sure, so he would trust no one involved.

  He worked on those treaties he could and left notes for Mimi to set up the meetings he needed. Nowell was a big help, but it was a relief to have even just one more person helping.

  Chapter 5

  A Busy Week

  Zebir knew things were about to get busy and he didn’t mind at all. Nowell was excited, more positive responses were being received to the replies Mimi sent. It was like she seemed to sense exactly what each female wanted from the new positions she offered them. Whether it was more money, which she explained the women equated with security, assurances that it was possible to find a good male, or concerns for their younglings like education and acceptance. Mimi spent the time answering each email in detail, convincing all but three of the females to come to Oison. What his female could get done in just a day was amazing.

  Tonight, after work, they had a date and Zebir was excited. He only hoped his female’s excitement would match his. Never before had he been on a date. His plan was simple and would test their compatibility. The plan was to get her alone and do something interesting. It was his hope Mimi would find it interesting too.

  Once the day was finally over, Zebir approached his woman. “Will you be ready in an hour?”

  “Yes, I wish you would tell me where we are going.”

  “I want to surprise you. If you don’t like this, I have a backup plan.” Zebir smiled showing a confidence he didn’t truly feel.

  “Okay, I’ll be ready.” Mimi said.

  Zebir’s heart soared at the thought of spending a little time alone with his chosen one. Mimi was beautiful, perfect for him in every way so far. She left to go home and prepare while he finished off a few replies about treaties. He had prepared everything for their date so he had nothing to do. Work would kill the time until he could go pick her up. Finally, it was time to get his female. Now that the time was upon them, he was worried. Would she enjoy spending time with him? Would she like the activity he had selected?

  Driving to Mimi’s, all kinds of doubts surfaced, but he pushed them away. His brothers had discovered they shared many interests with their mates, he would have the same experience. This was a way for Mimi to get to know him better. As he pulled in the driveway, he waved at Jorgr and Georgie. They were leaving with Mimi’s girls, and all the girls, their own and Mimi’s would be taken care of, and staying with his parents for the night. With a whole night to work with, the stars were the limit.

  Once he got out and to her door, he knocked. Not his usual impatient knock which his brothers informed his annoyed their mates, but a lighter slower version. He could hear Mimi as she headed for the door. Opening it, she peered out at him.

  “Do you want to come in, or should we just go?”

  “Why don’t we just leave? We can go eat first since you can’t have had time to.”

  “Alright, I am a bit hungry.”

  Zebir drove them to the diner where they had the cheeseburgers and fresh cut fries. Mimi seemed relaxed so he thought it was a good start to their date. “Do you want dessert?”

  “I’m stuffed, so I’ll have to pass.”

  “I’ll pass too. Why don’t we leave now?”

  Zebir was a gentleman just like his brothers. He helped her get in and made sure her harness was fastened. Once he was in and they were headed on their way, Mimi noticed they were headed away from the community and out into the dessert surrounding them. This was where they played the mating games that had so much influence on their lives. Recently several matings had been made outside the games, but the games had hung over the heads of the couple until their mating was final.

  Mimi wondered, would the matings have been concluded so quickly or even at all if they hadn’t felt pressed for time because the games loomed in the not too distant future? Was that the driving force behind Zebir’s increased interest in her? Maybe he felt the need to make his own choices even if the choice might be wrong. A chemistry between them flared whenever they were physically near each other, but was that enough to base a lifetime of commitment and a family on? It made her glad they were dating so she had more than physical attraction to base a decision on.

  Zebir pulled up to the foot of a mountain and got out. He unloaded some things before he returned to her side of the car to help her out.

  “What in the world are you up to?” Mimi asked completely clueless.

  “I have what you would call a hobby. Online I take courses in archeology. Georgie mentioned you have an interest if the past.”

  “Are you sure she didn’t say an interesting past?” Mimi giggled. “So we are going to dig for old stuff?”

  “I hoped you would want to. This is a proven site and we have found several interesting artifacts from the previous life forms that lived here.”

  “It’s just lying around under the sand?”

  “We believe this wasn’t a desert at the time. There are indications that this was a lush forest. Some diggers have found petrified remains of trees among other things.”

  Mimi seemed to be getting caught up in what he’d planned. He had screened boxes he’d made himself to sort through the sand. Zebir intended to let Mimi do that so she would be the one to discover any artifacts. Digging down about a foot. He senses something in the sand.

  “Come here sweetheart.” Mimi steps closer and he dumps some sand in her screen. She shakes it and finds a small petrified twig.

  Mimi shrieked in excitement. “Wow, you’re right. This is some remains from a tree.”

  “It certainly is. Let’s see what else we can find.” He dug down further and more petrified remains showed up.

  “Hey, look at this.” She held up an amber ball. “This reminds me of an old dinosaur movie. It’s beautiful.”

  “Why don’t you add it to the pile and we’ll look it over later?” She did as he asked and they continued to dig.

  Once he got deeper, rocks of various kinds began to appear. They were different sizes, colors, and shapes. “Look at these!” She exclaimed as she help out her hand full of stones.

  “Maybe this was a river.”

  “Would that explain all these rocks?”

  “Yes, they would be washed down from the mountains. Once down here, they could have fallen to the riverbed and stayed there for eons or been washed further away.”

  “This is really enjoyable. I’m surprised no one is doing this full time.”

  “Oison is a big world, slightly larger than Earth. We are severely underpopulated based on size and basically heading into what one might call an industrial revolution. Mazlans barely have the personnel for what is considered essential. That’s why we encourage hobbies like this among our people and encourage mothers to work, even if part time.”

  “That explains a lot. I wondered why a world trying to draw in mates and increase the population would give stay at home mothers the smallest piece of the pie.”

  “Oh, you are talking about the citizen’s share of the income? Yes, that is exactly wh
y. Those of us who work are overloaded. So far, every mate in my family has elected to work, even if part time. I am proud of the example they are setting.”

  “Are you embarrassed because I stayed home when I first came here?”

  “No, it is important for each person to adapt to this world in their own way. You did that and now you have gone back to what you are familiar with and good at.

  “I’ve not done much yet, but we will be taking a trip soon.”

  “My brother will want you recruiting for them too.”

  “That may be harder to do. Once we take these employees away, the other companies will be watching theirs closely.”

  “It is not right to give them so little and force them to stay.”

  “It’s not, but it is the way things are done there.”

  The date was over and it had gone well. The point wasn’t sex, it was to bond on whole different level. They had explored what they had in common and discussed their views. As he stood on her porch bidding her goodnight. He pulled her to him for what he intended to be a chaste kiss. It didn’t turn out that way and it wasn’t completely his fault.

  Mimi responded to the light touch of his lips with a passion that made him burn. She drove her tongue into his mouth and explored with wild abandon. By the time she pulled back, his whole body burned.

  “Thank you for a wonderful evening.” She said her breathing as rough as his. He knew deep down that this female would soon be his. No other possibility was acceptable.

  “Good night, Sweetheart. Until tomorrow.” He turned to go knowing that it was not yet time to claim her.

  Once she saw who had agreed to come, she sent out a second wave of emails until she had more than twenty five positive responses. It was time now to plan the trip. There was danger, but only if they were caught. She typed up a memo and sent it to Zebir and Nowell. The time had come to schedule the pickup and she couldn’t wait.

  Tonight, she would see Zebir who had been busy all day long. She knew he tried to catch up on the things he could, to make it easier on everyone while they were gone. Mimi had talked to those in charge of ships and one was arranged to take them on their trip in three days. It would be fueled, loaded with supplies, and have the needed crew to get them there and back. Whenever she began to worry, she had told herself things would work out alright. She knew most of the people she had recruited quite well. Most of them had been friends and a few acquaintances for years. There was still the worry that someone would turn on them to claim a reward.

  Three days and then they would know if it was worth whatever the cost might be. Some investigator on Earth had checked out every woman on her list and they had divided them up according to risk. It was smart and it made sense to limit the risks to themselves, their crew, and the new employees as much as possible.

  With two days to go, Zebir took Mimi and the girls out to eat. Once they were done with the meal, he took them to their house and they played games until the girl’s bedtime. In the morning, they would go to school, but they would go to Jorgr and Georgie’s house after school. They would not return home until Mimi came back from the trip. Once the girl’s went to bed. Mimi walked Zebir to the door. It was no surprise when he pulled her in his arms and kissed the stuffing out of her.

  This male drew her in as no one had before. It made her question why she held back, she knew it was fear of what she’d gone through in the past. That was no way to live her life, but she couldn’t turn it off. “I want you more than I could ever imagine. Do you think someday you might care for me?” Zebir whispered.

  “I do care for you. I just have years of fear to overcome. My mistakes in the past haunt me making it hard to trust anyone.”

  Zebir sighed. “I’ll be here as long as I can be.”

  Mimi understood the games loomed in front of them and Zebir was signed up to compete. It was the custom of his people and she wasn’t sure he had a choice to refuse if he was unmated when the time came. The thought of losing him pained her, but she still couldn’t overcome the fears she lived with. Logic didn’t seem to help either. Her logical mind knew, but her fearful mind refused to agree. Maybe her heart would finally speak to her.

  Chapter 6

  The Journey

  The air felt unexpectedly cold this morning as Zebir got into his car to pick up Mimi for their off planet jaunt. It was preferable to think of it in those terms than to consider the danger he might be placing Mimi in. it gave him no peace to remind himself this was her idea, he was the male in charge of this mission had that made the responsibility all his. Justice had sent him basic information on Earth security as far as alien spaceship landing directly on the planet went. It was terribly lax, less than that of most space stations.

  Pulling in the driveway, he saw Mimi waited for him with her suitcase on the porch. He got out to grab it. “I hope you have coffee on the spaceship for me.” She demanded.

  “All the crue you can drink.” He smiled.

  Mimi made gagging noises. “That better not be all you have.”

  “I’ll get you whatever you need, Sweetheart.” He loaded her bag and then helped her in. Buckling her harness for her, he checked to see everything was in place before shutting her door. Zebir made his way back to the driver’s seat. This whole plan worried him and he thought about canceling it. Mimi and Nowell would never forgive him. Calming himself, he put his actions on autopilot and drove them where they needed to go.

  Once they reached the loading area, he helped her into the shuttle letting one of the crew grab her bag and his. The shuttle took them to the space station where they gathered with other passengers and boarded another shuttle to the ship. It was too large to dock at this station.

  “Oh, my God, that ship is the biggest one I’ve seen yet.” Mimi whispered.

  “It’s the newest addition to Oison’s fleet. Its assignments will be trade and defense. This mission is of course trade.”

  “How does this qualify for trade?” Mimi asked.

  “We will be making stops along the way, trading at space stations and planets. Acquiring new personnel will also aid trade.”

  “What we are doing is more like raiding personnel.”

  “People should have the right to leave a planet and explore job opportunities wherever they choose. In that way, I guess we are on a basic human rights mission.”

  “I agree, but Earth will not. If you relationship with them was not already wretched, I would caution you that it would be now.”

  “See, we have nothing to lose in that regard.”

  “We must be cautious or we will lose in other ways.”

  “That is something I am more than aware of, Mimi. We have planned well and I hope we will be successful. I recognize many things can go wrong, but we will use superior brain power and make things work.”

  Zebir stopped talking as the shuttle lurched into the bay of the ship that would be taking them to Earth. Once it came to a stop, people moved in a hurry to get off jostling and pushing. He frowned and held Mimi back when she prepared to join the rush.

  “Let’s wait. Someone could get hurt.” No sooner had he said that, then there was a scream from near the doorway. Zebir hurried to the location of the wail and found a female being trampled. He growled and everyone around him stilled. “Everyone leave the shuttle in an orderly manner. The ship will not take off until everyone is safely out of the shuttle and accounted for. This is not a race.”

  Scooping up the injured woman, he motioned for Mimi to accompany him. They would stop off in medical. The female was injured, but he thought she would be okay. There would be some dark bruises that might take a while to heal. She scented fully human, she was either a visitor or an Oison employee, she wasn’t a mate. This trip had a large number of visitors to Oison, returning to Earth or space stations along the way, as well as humans that had relocated to Oison going back to their former homes or where family members lived to visit. They knew the risk, the Earth government might not let them return. Zebir didn’
t blame them for wanting to see their families. It was a risk he would have taken too if he was in their situation. Over five hundred passengers were leaving Oison with them. No one could guess how many might return.

  They reached medical. “What do we have here?” The medic on duty asked.

  “She was trampled by overanxious passengers trying to reach their rooms.” Zebir explained.

  “Put her in the first bed. I’ll scan her and give her whatever treatment is required. Do you know who she is?”

  “I have no idea. This is the first time I have seen her.” Zebir admitted. The medic looked at Mimi.

  “I don’t know her either. Sorry.” Mimi responded.

  “It’s alright. The scanner should ID her for me.”

  “Once you’ve scanned her, let me know how she is.” Zebir directed. “We need to get checked in so the voyage isn’t delayed.” They left medical to check in with one of the guards. This trip was already off to a rough start. It could be because of the unusually large number of passengers on this trip.

  One of the new benefits workers had been given was the chance to catch a ride on trading vessels for free. This was the first opportunity and it seemed many were eager to visit new world or family and friends. Rules would have to be put in place to prevent accidents like people getting trampled, from happening.

  They located a guard quickly, turns out they were searching for them. Most of the guards on the ship and several of the crew were humans. “Sir, everyone has been looking for you. Let me escort you to your cabin and I will have your luggage sent to you.” The guard said.

  “Our cabin?” Mimi asked one delicate brow raised in question.

  “It’s a suite, we’ll each have our own room and share common rooms. It’s usual when traveling with a PA.” Zebir explained and it seemed to satisfy her.