by M. A. Church
Finally, finally a small, timid smile broke across John's face, which brought a halt to the lecture I was fixing to get from my irate mate. Doc inhaled sharply, obviously affected when John smiled. John still hadn't said a word, but he was interacting with those around him now.
"Dale..." Keyno trailed off. "I need to return to Thryrr, our command center, soon. I'll escort you and Chad to your quarters. I must know where you are at all times, especially right now."
Oh, yeah, I got the message loud and clear. He wanted to speak with me—meaning I was due for a lecture—but he'd wait until we were alone. I was relieved that he sensed chewing me out in front of John could undo all that I'd accomplished. I also grasped that there was still trouble with some of the new mates. I patted John on the hand as I started to get up. John suddenly grabbed my hand and shook his head frantically.
"Whoa," I said. "It's all right."
"Don't go," John whispered.
I wanted to pump my fist in the air and shout, "Yeah!" He finally spoke, and the relief in Doc's face was overwhelming.
"Look, I can come back and visit you." I looked at Keyno, who nodded his head yes. Granted, I'd put Keyno on the spot doing that, and would probably hear about it, too.
"You will?" John asked.
"Yes, but in return I want you to eat something, okay? Doc's worried about you."
John fiddled with the sheet for a moment. Finally he released a deep breath and nodded his head. "Okay."
"Try to remember what I told you—Doc won't hurt you." I patted a sheet-covered knee. "I'll buzz Doc later and tell him when I can come back. In the meantime, I want you to try and eat, and then maybe take a nap, okay? It'll make you feel better."
As I eased off the bed, a very relieved Doc hurried to his new mate's side. This time John didn't shrink away from Doc. I waved goodbye, and then Keyno, Chad, and I left their quarters. The next thing on my list was to make sure Chad didn't get into trouble for our little adventure. I barely opened my mouth when Keyno tapped me on the lips and shook his head.
"You've done enough talking for one day, chosen. I'm going to walk you to our quarters, and then escort Chad to his. And no, he isn't in trouble. I'll let Gibor know who was responsible for this."
I entered our quarters to wait for Keyno. Unable to settle, I paced for a while, fixing myself some hot chocolate while I waited. Keyno returned shortly and came to stand in front of where I sat, curled up in a chair. Shit, here we go. He took my drink, placed it on the table next to me, and pulled me to my feet, enveloping me in a hug. Of all the things I'd expected, this never entered my mind.
"Doc buzzed me on my way back here." Keyno spoke against the top of my head. "Seems like John is at the table, eating a meal, and Doc's sitting with him."
"Thank God."
"And that's not all. John's actually talking to Doc." Keyno pulled back and smiled at me. "He told Doc that the extraction team showed up to collect him while he was assisting a bone marrow transplant."
No wonder he was so interested in what I told him. "Talk about bad timing,"
Keyno shook his head, and stepped back from me. "You don't understand. The extraction team—the human extraction team—removed him during the transplant, Dale. My men were willing to wait until it was over."
My mouth fell opened as the implications hit home. "They contaminated the surgery."
"Yes, and they were working on a small female who had leukemia. From what I hear, they took John out of there screaming and kicking."
Rubbing my hands over my face, I groaned. "Well hell, no wonder he reacted like he did when I told him what was wrong with me. If I had known... Keyno, that's horrible. Why would they do that?"
"There have been several occurrences like this, reported to me by my men. Your people want us gone, and want us gone now." Keyno sighed. "One of my men—who happens to be trained as a nurse—stayed behind to try to undo the damage."
"Well, thank God for small miracles. Did everything work out?"
"We think so. My man did what he could. Then he had to leave. John knows this now." Keyno breathed deeply as he rolled his shoulders.
"What they did—I don't have words to describe what they did." I wrapped my arms around his waist and hugged him hard. "They could've killed that little girl. And for what? Because they were impatient?"
"Exactly. I am grateful for what you tried to do for Doc and John, but that doesn't excuse your behavior." Keyno eased me away from him, his tone changing. "I'm the captain of this ship, and I expect everyone to follow my orders."
Carefully, I blanked my face... it was lecture time.
"You knew you were supposed to stay away from levels fifteen through twenty." Keyno ticked my first transgression off on his fingers. "Doc's quarters are nearby on level fifteen. Plus, you didn't tell me of your plans."
"Well, you didn't tell me 'no' last night, you just didn't say 'yes'," I pointed out.
Keyno tapped my lips. "This is one time you might want to be quiet. You knew better, and that's transgression number two. Then you involved Chad in this little stunt of yours." Keyno held up three fingers. "This meant I had to explain the situation to Gibor. I don't normally find myself in the position of explaining my actions, or, in this case, my mate's actions, to my senior staff, Dale."
I dropped my eyes. I hadn't thought about how this would affect Keyno.
"You had a Senior Staff member—who is a well known stickler for rules—defending you, even though he knew you were in the wrong." Keyno waved four fingers at me. "You have no idea how out of character that is for Doc."
My shoulders slumped.
"Finally, I was worried when I couldn't find Chad or you. I had to use the Central Computer to locate both of you," Keyno huffed. "You know that we're having problems with the new mates."
Man, I felt like an ass. "I'm so sorry, Keyno. I didn't think about all the repercussions my sneaking off to see Doc would have. I just wanted to help." I felt awful. "I really messed up. I promise I won't do this again."
Keyno drew me back in his arms. "If you had asked me, I'd have let you go with a guard. Don't sneak around behind my back."
"I won't."
Keyno's tail rubbed up and down my back as he looked at me. "I swear, I don't know whether to kiss you or put you over my knee."
My eyes widened.
"Ah, that attracted your attention," Keyno teased.
"Ah, I'm not... No one has ever..." I stuttered, surprised and a little aroused. "Would you really spank me?"
"Of course not," Keyno answered, and then leered outrageously at me. "Unless you want me to." The leer vanished as Keyno became serious again. "But I do need you to listen to what I tell you, just for your safety."
"Will you let me visit with John later? I kind of put you on the spot earlier about that. It just kinda popped out of my mouth before I thought about what I was saying."
"Yes, you did. I do have to wonder if that's a recurring bad habit we might need to break you of."
Shaking my head, I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, good luck with that."
Keyno snorted. "I do like a challenge. But yes, you can go visit. I'll ask Gibor if Chad can go, also. To be safe, I'll send a security guard with the both of you."
"Thank you. I really am sorry." I sighed. "I didn't think, and that was stupid of me."
"I need to know you're safe. Things are very tense right now," Keyno replied quietly. He leaned down, and kissed me thoroughly—his small, sharp canines nipping at my lower lip as he purred his pleasure into my mouth. We separated and his face grew serious again and his purr disappeared. "I have a bad feeling about some of these new mates."
Once Keyno gave me permission to visit John after our "little talk", he also spoke with Gibor about letting Chad go with me. I ended up apologizing to Chad's mate for dragging him with me on my mission to "save the frightened human." Gibor just laughed and told me not to worry; he was well aware that his mate didn't do anything he didn't want to do.
"You may visit
with John for several hours, or until Doc runs you off." Keyno ruffled my hair. "I'll be late getting back. I'm meeting with the new males to explain the concept of the auction."
"Damn. To be put up on an auction block, stripped of all dignity, and sold to the highest bidder." I shuddered as images roared through my mind of scantily dressed young men being led out on a stage—in chains, no less—and bid upon while someone stood off to the side, reeling off prices.
"Which is why I'm meeting with them. It doesn't work that way." Keyno rolled his eyes in disgust. "Dammit, Dale, where do the Earthlings come up with these ideas? These young men are treated with the utmost respect. They are to be mates. They are the most treasured thing on our world—we would never abuse a mate in such a humiliating way."
"I just meant... that is to say... Well, I just assumed..." I stammered. Keyno stood with his hands on his hips, a sure sign he was annoyed with me. "I assumed—wrongly from how you're glaring at me—an auction would involve..." I threw up my hands. "You know! Hell, stop looking at me like that. You guys are the ones that used that word to describe what is done, Keyno."
"And you're the ones that put such an evil connotation to it. But then, you all do." Keyno rubbed the bridge of his nose, and a little frisson of guilt crept over me at the look on his face.
"I jumped to the wrong conclusion, and I admit it. But Keyno, do you understand what the word 'auction' means in my language?"
Keyno's ears twitched as he frowned. "It's an online bidding source. We did research on your culture. 'Auction' was referenced to your eBay."
I laughed, although it really wasn't funny. None of this was funny, but now it made more sense. No wonder we weren't communicating.
"Uh... no. EBay is something that happened in the last decade or two. Auctions have been around for hundreds of years. They're public sales, Keyno, where property, goods... usually unclaimed, unwanted goods... are sold to the highest bidder." His beautiful, alien eyes went huge at the implications of what I'd just told him. "See, in the United States"— my voice went deliberately soft— "when the country was first getting started, slavery was legal, and, well, people were the property and—"
I felt his arms go around me, his lips press against my temple, and the intoxicating scent of cloves envelop me. "Oh, my chosen," he murmured. "I'm sorry. I didn't know. I forget sometimes that Tah'Nar is not the only planet to have struggled." He sighed again. "No wonder all of the humans that we collect react so negatively to hearing about the auction."
"So, if it isn't a public sale, how does it work?"
"It's more like your dating services on Earth. It's also why we don't take that many males from one planet."
"What do you mean?"
"When we have enough Tah'Narians who are ready for a mate, they fill out a form that specifies what type of males they are interested in. We collect a small amount of males that have those characteristics. Then a Tah'Narian can go online and look for a mate who interests him," Keyno explained.
"Where are these guys kept?" I asked.
"In a large building near the Capitol. It has every amenity that one could ask for, too. And yes, there are chaperones there, for the new mates' safety. Just in case a Tah'Narian gets too pushy."
"Okay, that doesn't sound too horribly bad—not great, but not as bad as I first thought. Then what happens?"
"A Tah'Narian will talk with that mate for a while, see how things go. Finally, they meet with that mate to see if they are compatible. They spend time together—'date' is the word I think you would use. A match usually happens pretty quickly, especially if a new mate is already attracted to a certain Tah'Narian. We don't want a group of males just sitting around unclaimed."
"What then? And what happens if there are several bids on a mate?"
"If a bidding war starts, then that mate gets to choose the Tah'Narian he's most interested in," Keyno said. "Whatever the bid's at is the price paid."
I didn't say anything. It was all nicely explained and wrapped up in pretty words—and still came much too close to slavery for me. One being paying for another. That said slavery to me.
"The fee collected goes straight to the government to fund our space program and the harvesting from other planets. Then the Tah'Narian gets the papers on his mate."
"Whoa, whoa hold the presses and just a damn minute." I slapped a hand on Keyno's chest. "What the hell is this about papers?"
"It's just a printout on that mate. It shows his age, health, IQ, education—a personal history. I have your papers locked in my office."
"Well shit, that makes me feel... owned," I whispered. "I really, really don't care for that, Keyno."
"It's not meant to make you feel that way." Keyno ran his hand through my hair, tugging on the white stripe. "It's for safety. In the beginning, we had some mates kidnapped. Even now there are wealthy Tah'Narians who will pay a private collector to harvest a specific male, but our government frowns on this. Think of the papers like a Tah'Narian... passport. They show you were harvested legally."
"Exactly how civilized is your planet?" I tried to keep my tone light, joking, but I was more than halfway serious in my inquiry, and I think Keyno knew it. In the back of my mind, I also couldn't see the difference between those private collectors and what Keyno's own men had done in collecting me... choosing me outside of the government lottery. But I held my tongue.
"Things are better than they used to be, but we are warriors." Keyno laughed as he peeled my hand off his chest. "That reminds me, we need to talk about the tattoos you'll be getting when we get home."
"Excuse me?"
"It's nothing to panic about, Dale. The symbols that are on my neck will be tattooed on yours," Keyno replied. "It won't hurt, I promise."
"What the hell?" I clenched my teeth. "Why do I have to...? You know what, never mind. We'll talk about this later." Much, much later.
Chapter Eight
Tattoos. Oh, God, I didn't want to delve into that right now, tomorrow—or next week for that matter. I was struggling with the fact I'd be the one to carry our young, I still had the headaches—and the last one had blurred my vision. I hadn't told Keyno about that, because it only happened that one time. Now I found out he had papers on me, and I was getting tattooed when we reached his planet? One damn crisis at a time.
Keyno didn't say anything more as he changed into his duty clothes. A communication came in as he dressed, and the anger on his face made me nervous. What now? I knew he planned to meet with the group of new males who were causing so many problems, but I blanched when he started strapping on weapons.
"Um, what's up? Why are you hanging weapons all over yourself? Do you really need to wear all of those?"
"Some of the mates are still fighting my men. There are thirty of them, Dale." Keyno continued to gather weapons. "I'm good at hand-to-hand combat, but even I might have problems with those odds."
"But... but... I thought you were just talking to them." I was mortified that he might actually be considering fighting other humans.
"I've already talked to them. I'm done talking, and because of what happened, that's no longer an option. I was just told that some of them attacked their chaperones last night. Had they more knowledge of Tah'Narian anatomy, they probably would've killed both my men. As it is, both are in the medical unit, probably for another day, at least."
"I didn't know that." I stared at him, not believing what I heard. What kind of idiots attacked aliens on their own ship? Keyno motioned for me to come to him and I did, slightly dazed.
"It's all right, Dale. I'm not going to punish them. They're angry and scared. They don't understand what's happening to them." He wrapped his arms around me. "They all seem to follow one particular male—they call him 'Colt', although that's not his legal name. He's very charismatic, obviously their leader. According to those papers you dislike so much, he's a genius. He made some demands, and I'm going to acquiesce in an effort to calm things down."
I put my arms around him and laid
my cheek against his chest, inhaling his scent. "What demands? I thought you said they had everything they could want."
"He demanded very specific foods." A wide Cheshire Cat-like grin crossed his face.
"But, why would they demand food? They have duplicators. Don't they?"
"Indeed they do, but apparently they don't realize they can use them to create almost anything. Or for the devout, it could be there are foods that have to be prepared a certain way for some of them to eat it." Keyno shrugged. "They should've listened when things were explained, but they were too busy hurling insults. I'm going to agree to have what they want created and brought to them. If it makes them happy, I'll do it."
"What else?" There was something more. Every line in Keyno's body said there was more that he hadn't told me.
A growl escaped Keyno and I almost let go of him. He kept his arms locked around me. "Sorry. That wasn't aimed at you. Colt demanded pornography. Quite a bit of it—both visual and hard copy." Keyno looked at me, troubled. "I'm going to give that to them, too."
Surprised, I looked at him. "You are?"
Keyno nodded slowly. "Yes. If they want images of fucking, so be it. They're welcome to pleasure themselves—individually, of course—as much as they want. But the instant one of them reaches for another, I'm going to use it as an excuse to put them all in seclusion until we're back on Tah'Nar." Keyno looked into my eyes. "Do you think less of me for it?"
I shook my head. "No. Difficult is one thing. If they start acting stupid, well, they deserve whatever they get."
"Thank you for that." Keyno hugged me again and left for duty.
Shortly after he left, a security officer showed up. We collected Chad and went to visit John. I called on the way so Doc would be expecting us. I assumed once we arrived at Doc's our escort would leave, but he stayed the whole time. The change in John was astounding. Gone was the shy, scared young man, and in his place was an excited and curious mate who was adapting wonderfully. Doc had decided to train John so he could help in Dosstkal, and John was beyond excited. John had been told about the changes in his body, and was actually looking forward to what was to come. Glad someone was. He wanted to document the changes we would go through since we'd been injected pretty close together. He did have a good idea; it wouldn't hurt to have a guide about the physical changes that males went through—like the stripe that every mate developed, the general increase in strength, and the reaction to their mate's scent.