by Hazel Gower
Heather gave the slightest shake of her head and gripped her hand tighter. “I can’t believe what is happening to us. It’s only been a little over a month since we were kidnapped by the friggin’ aliens, and now we are in a fight for our life against ugly monster aliens in a universal war. Who the hell do we root for?”
“I’m definitely rooting for the Inteli,” Opal muttered. She was. The Inteli were growing on her, one Inteli in particular.
The two Inteli women stopped talking to each other and glared at the two of them. “You need to have faith in us. We have had a treaty for a century and have not sat idly and done nothing. We have advanced and made ourselves better than the Doomickros. We have been war-free for years,” Uvinya said.
“I am glad that at least one of you humans is rooting for us.” Dannina smiled at her.
Opal blushed knowing that they’d heard every word that she and Heather had said.
“How do you do that? Change color? It’s fascinating,” Uvinya said in wonder. “My youmnda can’t wait to get his hands on you two.”
Opal gasped. She’d heard about Uvinya’s mate, the crazy scientist. Cleaning her throat and knowing she must sound like a squeaky mouse she asked, “Really, why would your youmnda want to get his hands on us?” Opal knew the reason, but she wanted to be one hundred percent sure so she knew to avoid him.
“He is a scientist. They do like to discover new things. And he would love to know how you work.”
Heathers nails dug into her hands, and they inched away from Uvinya, but the women didn’t seem to notice. Their focus had changed, and they stared at the wall as it burst open and two huge ugly creatures came in. The Doomickros. Dannina and Uvinya shot up off the bed, moving fast to the opposite wall where they pressed a button and grabbed weapons that looked like a Star Wars light-sabers.
They threw some smaller light-sabers on the bed, and Dannina yelled, “Catch.”
Opal and Heather scrambled for the weapons as the Doomickros came at them.
Holy Crap. They were going to die.
Chapter Eleven
The Doomickro had boarded his ship. He’d put his second in charge at command and run down to the room that held his mate. Danickra could feel through their link her terrified state. Along the way he killed as many Doomickro as he could. How the hell did they know where they were? Had the Doomickro been exploring and discovered them by accident? That seemed very unlikely, so now the question needed to be asked. Who had betrayed them? Surely it could not be one of their own. Everyone was all for the decision not to become extinct.
Danickra told himself to focus on the problem at hand and worry about a possible betrayal later. He arrived at the room and momentarily froze at the sight before him. The room was full of Doomickros. Dannina, Uvinya, and Cavlar were fighting with light-swords, but that wasn’t what had him frozen. It was the sight of his youmnda fighting. Her movements were light, quick, and graceful. Opal looked a lot like she was dancing. While her sword movements weren’t fluid she had the sense to use the weapon to protect herself. Heather was much the same. They used the small light-swords like an extra body part. Oddly enough, Opal’s height seemed to work to her advantage as she avoided body parts and the acid spit.
A Doomickro’s acid spit hit Opal, and Danickra roared slashing the enemy and gaining their attention. Danickra felt Doomickro acid spray hit him from behind. Spinning he turned to an oncoming entourage charging at him. Ripping both long light-swords from his back holster, he swung them around cutting the first Doomickros charging at him. Brown pus streamed from their bodies, and they fell to the ground.
With no time to rest as more Doomickro came at him, his hard-plated skin took the impact of the acid of their spit and the green goo that oozed out of them. Danickra prepared himself to be bombarded as three Doomickro attacked him, their mouths closing around his body parts. His hard eyelids lowered to help shield himself from the burning spray that came at him from all angles.
Giving a war cry he swung out his arms slicing the Doomickro from his body and out of his pathway. Danickra’s rage magnified as he heard a gut-reaching scream of pain from Opal. More determined than ever he finished off the last of his enemy and went straight to his youmnda.
Uvinya and Dannina were standing in front of Opal. She held her arm as it sizzled and blood spurted out from the wound. Heather was pressing all of the buttons on the wall and yelling at Cavlar, who was finishing off the last of the Doomickros. Heather screamed at him, telling him he needed to hurry up so he could help her friend. Two of his soldiers came in to help fight the remaining Doomickros.
Danickra went to the wall and pushed Heather out of the way and pressed the correct button for medical supplies. He went to Opal and berated himself for stupidly leaving his mate. He should have stayed with her to protect her. He snapped the blue cylinder with the healing cream in it, squeezing the whole tube on Opal’s arm. She flinched as the cream cleansed her skin and sealed in any of her good skin.
Knowing his enemy had been disposed of, he leaned down to lift Opal only to be stopped and pushed out of the way by a battered and bruised Heather.
“What the hell were you aliens thinking when you kidnapped us from Earth? Taking us away from everything we have ever known, to be thrown into a universal fight with the scariest alien creatures that I have ever seen. We don’t want to be mates. I don’t want to be involved in this. You’ve hurt my best friend. Take us home now.”
Danickra didn’t have time to listen to the woman rant. He snarled at Heather, picked her up and moved her out of the way, and gently lifted Opal with his tail curling it around her and holding her away from his acid coated body.
Using his hands he grabbed the sheet off the bed cleaning his face and body of the chemical. Then Danickra brought Opal up to his face and kissed her, holding her still at a distance. As he reluctantly eased away she glared at him and tried to move out of his hold. Danickra was amazed and praised the goddesses that his youmnda was still alive. He had no idea his little human had such potential to be a warrior like that. With the right training, she had the potential to wield the light-sword adequately.
“Do not move. It is hard to hold you with only my tail. You will make your wounds worse. Stay still. I am taking you somewhere I do not want to as medical bay was destroyed.”
Opal raised her eyebrow at him and opened her mouth to say something but stopped and deflated into his hold. Relief washed over him. He didn’t want to argue with her. He wanted to get her to Olrica, which he’d thought he’d never hear himself say.
Walking through the corridors that were littered with dead, mostly Doomickros, he sped up when his spotted Salamanda. He joined them going straight to Heather. They started arguing, and Danickra chuckled when Salamanda shrugged, grinned, and threw Heather over his shoulder and continued to follow him down to the labs.
Danickra stepped over Doomickro’s and sludges of acid to come to the science base. He opened the panel quarters and cleared a table, and then he gently placed Opal down. Olrica looked up annoyed for a moment, but then his eyes widened as he took in the woman.
Olrica frowned. “You broke them already? What did I tell you? They are too soft and breakable.”
Glaring at the idiot, Danickra pushed Olrica closer to the table not bothering to answer his stupid question.
Uvinya answered it for him. “Olrica, I think you are wrong. The humans fought and even killed Doomickros. The reason we are here is that they can’t handle the puss or the acid coming from our enemy. It’s eaten through their protective skin.”
Olrica shook his head. Then he focused on Heather looking her over before he slowly turned back to Opal. Danickra watched as Opal gave a dramatic shiver at the calculating look on Olrica’s face. Danickra moved closer to Opal and growled at Olrica. He needed him to fix her not kill her so he could dissect her. Danickra told himself not to kill the man as no one else knew anything about humans to help his mate.
Opal glared at Olrica and moaned.
“Please tell me you have some brilliant alien technology that will fix my arm? Or right now I would love some really good pain medication.”
Danickra bit his tongue as Olrica took Opal’s hand and gently examined it. Danickra watched his youmnda clench her jaw, and the water leaked from her eyes again.
Dannina gasped. “She is leaking again. She’s sad, upset, and unhappy.”
“Oh great,” Heather groaned. “We have been abducted by Idiot aliens.”
Danickra turned to Heather.
“Of course she’s crying, you idiots.” Heather let out a big sigh. “Opal’s in pain. So tears are coming from her eyes. Humans cry when we are in pain.” Her brows furrowed. “The Inteli don’t cry when you’re in pain or hurt?”
Danickra shook his head. “What does leaking from the eyes have to do with pain? If we are in pain we groan, or in extreme pain we roar. It doesn’t make sense to leak water.”
Opal groaned then let out a pitiful roar. She then turned to him. “Is that better? I was crying so I didn’t complain too much as you think I am weak and fragile.” She rolled her eyes. “Maybe if you saw that I can handle this,” She waved her good hand about. “That I wasn’t so fragile after all and not as breakable as you think, you might let me leave the room without my body-guard.” She looked behind him and showed her teeth. “Not that you’re not a great body guard, Cavlar, because you are. These last couple of days have been awesome. The silence is fan-fucking-tastic. But it’s just that sometimes women need some alone time, or they need to talk and not stay in their rooms all day.”
His eyes shot to her arm, and he saw the gaping wound. She was fragile, and she was breakable, but she was also one tough woman, and he was one lucky Inteli.
****
The creepy purple Inteli with the long green hair came and took her wounded arm, studying it. He put glasses on and got really close to her arm. Opal tried not to wince as he gently prodded and touched her. After what felt like hours but must have only been minutes he staggered back.
“Goddess, Danickra. Did you blood exchange?”
Danickra nodded. “Yes I completed the mating ceremony.”
Olrica grinned and pulled a long thin pen like thing out of his pocket. He grabbed her good arm and stabbed the pen down. Opal felt a prick, and she let out a gasp.
Danickra growled. “What are you doing, Olrica? I gave you no right to take blood from my youmnda.”
Olrica laughed and ignored Danickra, turning to Uvinya and Dannina. “What wonderful creatures these humans are. The Nanos have taken to her nicely, and as we speak they are slowly repairing the damage she sustained. She will be back in peak condition before you know it.”
Opal started to feel woozy as the needle took too much blood, and she’d already lost a decent amount. Danickra noticed her distress and took the device out. Olrica took the long pen-like thing off Danickra and ran to a huge machine at the side.
“Danickra, give her more of your blood. She needs it, and she’ll heal quicker,” mumbled Olrica as he fiddled with his machine.
Great, Opal thought. It looked like she was going to become an experiment after all if the look in Olrica’s eyes was any indication.
Danickra left her side for a moment whispering, “I’m going to go clean off all the acid. I will be right back.”
He was back a moment later, but Opal barely noticed as she watched the emotions on Olrica’s face, getting more terrified as his grin widened and his eyes grew bright. Danickra lifted her and placed her on his lap. Then his mouth came down on hers, and she tasted the tangy, fruity-wine liquid she had tried once before.
A clap resonated around the room. “Danickra, stop. Don’t give her too much. The human has done the impossible twice.”
Danickra’s mouth left hers, and she spat the blood from her mouth. Opal turned to see Olrica practically dancing. “Not only has she adapted to the Nanos, she also carries your young.”
“Holy mother of God,” Heather gasped.
Opal looked to Danickra to see him staring at her in wonder. His hand came to her stomach, and he rubbed it.
Oh no, she had heard correctly. How on Earth could she be pregnant? She giggled as she realized what she’d just said. Earth wasn’t close; Opal wasn’t even on it, and she was knocked up by an alien, who right now was making goo-goo eyes at her.
This cannot be happening. I’ve only starting to get used to the fact that I’ve been abducted by aliens. Horny, controlling, brooding aliens who barely speak. Opal laughed at herself as she released she’d just exchanged one lot of men she had no idea about for a new lot.
“I can’t be pregnant. I barely know Danickra. Sure I’ve been on this ship for over a month, but all Danickra does is growl, snarl, and have sex with me. I want children with a man that at least will have a conversation with me once in a while.”
Opal didn’t realize she’d spoken out load until the room went quiet, and everyone’s gaze turned to her.
“What? It’s a lot to take in, and I haven’t even started thinking on the fact that I was fed blood and have Nanos in my system that are repairing the skin on my arm that got acid spat onto it by ugly alien creatures that attacked us. I have a right to be angry and frustrated.”
She went to get off the table, but Danickra’s arms tighten around her holding her still. “You may not be happy, but you need to stay still so your arm can heal.” There was a steel to Danickra’s voice that she hadn’t heard before.
Opal looked up, and even with his hard face she could tell she’d hurt Danickra with what she’d said.
Dannina came over to her side and patted her leg. “Ah human, Inteli men are not one to hold a conversation. By the sounds of what you just said that is a standard Inteli man. Are human men different?”
Opal looked at Heather, who winked at her. “Yeah, human men talk all the time. They listen to us and do as we ask. And when you find the right man they’re great companions. Right, Opal?”
Opal smirked at Heather. Here was her chance to make some changes. “Yes, Heather’s correct. Human men bond by talking with their woman. We get to know each other by telling our likes and dislikes and about our childhood and friends. We do some shopping, go on dates, and watch movies together. We do all this before we decide if they’re good enough to be our mate.” All the Inteli in the room eyed her like she was nuts.
“How do they show you they can protect you?” Do you both hunt for meat? What about a job? Do they have one?” Uvinya asked.
Heather answered, telling them all about her world and sugar-coating it all. Opal listened for a while until the adrenaline wore off, and exhaustion started to make itself known. She leaned back on Danickra and snuggled the best she could into him and let the pain take over.
****
Danickra had listened to Heather even when Opal passed out from the pain of the wound. She stopped and asked if they had anything to ease the pain, and he then told everyone what bad shape the ship was in. The medical bay was destroyed. The main data computer had taken huge damage, and Dangolng was doing the best he could to fix it, but they lost all the information about Earth and the data they had gotten from Opal and Heather when they bought them on board and scanned them. They’d lost data on all the planets they charted and explored on their way to Earth. He was unsure what was safe to give to Opal.
Danickra had left Zinoro and his brother Wizbe in charge, telling them to do whatever it took to get them back to Vennous as quickly as possible.
Olrica cleaned up Heather and took blood samples. She talked the whole time explaining about Earth men. Danickra didn’t mind some of the things human men did, but overall he thought them week and undeserving of the woman they had.
Uvinya told him to take Opal back to his room if it survived the attack and let her rest on a soft bed.
Careful not to jolt her, he stood and walked out of the labs and through the maze of carnage to his room. He opened the panel, relieved to see his quarters untouched.
Going to the
bed he laid his precious bundle down and joined her. Not ready yet to leave her, Danickra watched her as she slept, amazed at the gift she held within her. Right there in that moment he promised himself he’d make her want to be his mate. He’d talk to her and get to know her likes and dislikes and about her childhood. He tucked some hair behind her ear and stroked her cheek. He’d be careful with her from now on. No more sex until the young she carried was born. He would be as meek as a human male.
****
Opal awoke to only slight pain, and the wound on her arm was a lot smaller.
“Do you feel any better? Your arm has closed some.”
The Nanos she could see were working but slowly.
“How did you grow up?”
Startled by his out of place question it took her a while to answer, and she debated if she should tell him the real version or a sugar-coated one. The real one. It also should help him not to think of her as fragile.
“I lived with my mum until she died in a car crash when I was eight. She was a good mother. It was just the two of us. I’m not sure what happened to my father. My mum never wanted to talk about him. Anyway, when she died I had no one. Well, a grandmother who was too old to look after me, so they put me in a foster home.”
“What is a foster home?”
“A foster home is a place where another family takes you in for a while and looks after you. Some are nice places, others not so nice. It’s really luck of the draw. The government gives the family money, which helps with food and clothing and so on. I met Heather in the third home I was placed in. We hated each other at first and fought all the time. It wasn’t until a day at school one day when I was getting picked on by some other girls that she came over and stuck up for me. I asked her later as we walked home why she’d helped me, and she said, “Us foster kids have got to stay together. We’re all we got.”
Opal smiled as she remembered that day and hugged Danickra, realizing he was giving her something special. He was giving her a new family. She touched her stomach and whispered, “Thank you.”