by Amanda Milo
Preta’s arm brushed against mine as I attempted to huddle close to her, a part of my body in contact with our children and my sister—four of the most important people in my life.
As much as I wanted to do something to help—and I knew by Preta’s programming, the look in her focused gaze, she wanted to protect her unit, her family—I didn’t have the capabilities to assist in this fight.
Neither of us did.
“Shh,” Preta crooned to Dan, her skin flickering invisible in various patches with every held breath in between inhales.
The hiss of a shriek could be heard, the bug warning Ammos and Mace. Its arthropod legs shifted, jabbing at Mace who bit down, eliciting another hiss-shriek from the creature.
This thing wasn’t going down easy. What would’ve happened if Preta and I had come upon this creature alone?
I shivered.
Zaid dove into the tarn, quickly followed by Dason, the ripples upon the surface spreading in the shape of an arrowhead. The water lashing the shoreline began to recede, leaving the colorful pebbles to glint in the rays of the sun.
My eyes lifted. Ammos and Mace returned to their nosediving, pushing the monster farther and farther downward.
Then I realized—they were going to drown it.
Water sucked toward the middle of the tarn, a wall of liquid reaching skyward like a god-sized fist.
Mace roared, drilling down into the roach so he was just in reach.
The fist grabbed it.
Its wings beat out of sync, the water closing in around its huge body and dragging it into the deep tarn.
Liquid splashed like an underwater bomb was exploding, Kahn and Lonan diving in.
Streaks of light cut through the rupturing surface.
They were electrocuting it. Taking no chances of the thing survivi—
It broke the surface, hiss-shrieking so loud I winced.
“No!”
My eyes darted to the tarns side at the bellow. Someone—a woman?—ran with inhuman speed, a blade in her hand.
“No!” she shouted again, reaching the bank and leaping, covering the space of several hundred feet, landing precisely upon the sputtering head of the beast and easily dodging its swiveling antennae.
“What the hell is going on?” I blurted at the same time Preta said, “Who the hell is that?”
She and I shot upward nearly in the exact moment, the possibility of a new threat throwing off our strained attempt at calm.
The stranger positioned her blade at the back of the creature’s neck so quickly, if I’d blinked, I would’ve missed it, and drove it home. Its struggles momentarily increased before she cranked the blade to the side with so much ease, it almost appeared she’d cut through butter.
Movement stilled, its wings surfacing as it floated on the water dead.
“Charlie! Preta!”
That voice.
Once again my gaze darted to the treeline as a tall figure took shape. I wasn’t sure if I was hallucinating.
Preta clutched at my arm, her body going invisible again before her next rough exhale. I knew he was real then.
“Dad?”
FIFTEEN
GERARD
When we broke from the treeline, it was hard to say what shocked the fuck out of me more; the trees weren’t actually endless like I’d feared and half-started to believe all these months—a real, honest-to-God clearing was spread out before me—and there were dragons.
And a giant... cockroach?
Aw, hell. Nori had described what she was looking for, but it was so much uglier in person.
Person. People... I stared. Three men, two women!
“Charlie! Preta!” I yelled, running toward them.
They turned.
It was a testament to how badly I’d needed to see them alive, and whole, because my first thought was, they’re safe.
Forget the fact that there was some sort of raging battle going on—I was used to warzones, and I knew what mattered—we were all here. They’d survived prison, torture, the pod crash, and who knew what else since they landed here. But we’d made it.
My attention was split between my girls—my girls were alive, and safe!—and my girl. Nori was doing something batshit crazy, relaxing on the floating cockroach as she worked to peel something from it, no more concerned than if she were sitting on a mechanical bull she’d pulled the plug on.
One thing I knew: my woman could handle herself. I smirked when I saw the other creatures frozen in various positions, unsure what to make of her.
Good luck, fellas.
Nori’s safety and wellbeing assured, I turned to my kids. “Fuck. Long time, no see from your old man.” I opened my arms to them.
The shrieking commenced.
Hell, I’d forgotten they did this. Whenever they got excited when they were young, it sounded like a pod of dolphins beached themselves in our damn backyard. Or the garage. Or in my living room.
Basically, wherever the little squeakers were following me.
We rushed each other, them making their racket, us all hugging. Or trying to.
“Dad?” one of them said. I wasn’t actually sure who said it.
Because I was looking at what they were holding.
Babies.
My babies had babies.
My eyes shot to the men and their pet dragon. The dragon was sort of stealing my attention, until my recall caught up and it hit me who one of these men were.
“Drogan?”
Then I saw one of the other men, one of the blue-skinned, shiny-scaled men, had ahold of a struggling toddler with a mop of curls like I hadn’t seen in over twenty years.
This was Charlie’s boy. He looked just like her.
My throat closed up.
And I realized I needed Nori. I wanted to share my joy with someone—with her—that was something I never really had the luxury of experiencing, becoming a widower so early, twice. The sharing of the once-in-a-lifetime moments. So many of mine were spent alone, wishing the women I’d loved could have been there to see our life milestones. But I had no one. They were stolen from me.
But Nori was all mine—she wasn’t going anywhere unless it was with me, and I wanted her at my side when we met my grandbabies, and when I reunited with my girls.
As if my thoughts had called her, I felt her presence next to me, smelled her alluring leaf oil and grease scent that had become my kind of sexy.
I felt Nori’s fingers brush against mine as she offered me her hand.
I took it. Together, we surveyed my family. “Nori, this is my Charlie, and this is my Preta. Ladies, this is my Nori.”
I heard Nori’s internal parts buzz as they picked up speed; she was happy to be claimed. To be loved.
The pet dragon turned into a man.
I was glad Nori had ahold of my hand or I might have embarrassed myself by taking a step back.
I’d been so focused on my kids that I missed when the other dragons had landed, and the two swimmers I’d spotted earlier had emerged from the water and were making their way to us.
I focused on them. A pair of dragons that also turned into men.
I looked at my girls.
One of my kids lived with fish, the other one with reptiles.
I blew out a breath and reminded myself I had to be cool about this, considering I was with a classic car of a woman. “They treat you good?”
I could hear their eyes roll. But I could also hear the softness, the emotion in their voices when they said, “Yeah, Dad. They do.”
My chin almost touched my chest as I let my head sag in relief. “Thank fuck.”
The baby Preta was holding sprouted a... flower.
While Nori and I stared, everyone laughed.
“See?” Drogan drawled as he threw an arm around my daughter’s waist. “Not just me, Sol.”
He seemed to catch himself, freezing for a beat before his eyes shifted to me, who—it was disturbing to note—he formerly referred to as Sol.
&
nbsp; Drogan was looking distinctly uncomfortable.
I watched him in stony silence.
My eyes narrowed. “Let me guess. You call out Sol—” when you have sex with “—when you’re with my daughter?”
The kid looked like he’d take the option of chewing off his own arm if that would get him out of this.
I shook my head before holding out my hand. “Gerard.”
He breathed a sigh of relief. “Thank you, sir.” He put his hand in mine.
I gripped it too long to be comfortable.
In the middle of an epic stare down, I couldn’t see her, but from his side came a groan of disgusted dismay that I recognized all too well. I was hit with a pang of bittersweet amusement.
“Baby of the Family Syndrome. Again. Dad! This is why I stopped bringing home my dates!”
I smiled at the memories. It wasn’t me who nearly made one of the kids piss his pants.
It was Charlie.
That was worth looking away for. I caught Charlie’s grin, and I knew she was remembering the good old days too. The night that boy was supposed to pick up Preta, Charlie happened to be cleaning her entire collection of guns and knives. In the living room. At a card table she set up right in the foyer.
I loved this girl.
Ryan scowled down at one of the other girls I loved. My little girl. “Dates?”
“Boy, you’d better watch that tone.”
Those words weren’t mine.
They were Preta’s.
Ryan grimaced and groveled so fast, I damn near teared up. “I’m so proud of you,” I told her.
She beamed at me. “So’s Charlie.”
Ryan’s eyes rolled skyward. It was weird how a part of me felt bro-commiseration.
I’d never felt this split before.
Hm. Wasn’t sure I cared for it.
Nori’s touch on my shoulder had me shifting my attention. “What is it, Charger?”
“What did you call her?” Charlie asked in disbelief.
I tugged Nori to me so I could drop a kiss to the top of her hair before I grinned at Charlie, and tipped my head to the men surrounding her and Preta. “Kiddo, seems like we have a lot to catch up on.”
I GOT TO MEET AND HOLD each one of my grandbabies.
Zeus was the brightest little boy I’d ever met, and not a shy bone in his body. Damn, he reminded me so much of Charlie.
So did Mira. I shook my head at the poor bastards who had the job of watching over this girl. She was just as pretty as her mother, and these guys did not know what they were in for.
I looked around the forest.
Hell—I didn’t know what we were in for. If a woman could meet guys with gills and guys made out of greenery, the father(s)-of-a-teenage-daughter dating gauntlet just revved up to a whole new level.
I was still smirking as I stepped back from shaking their hands, when Preta put the crank to my heart with the words, “This little boy is named Dan.”
Dan.
I choked up, and Nori moved into my side, silently offering comfort. These kids all thought it was because Preta’s boy was named after me.
I was touched, but for far more than they’d understand. I gestured that I wanted to hold him.
It was Ryan, gaze steady on mine, who placed him in my arms.
This kid had literally never met a stranger in his life, and he was fascinated. His eyes grew wide when my voice came out low and hoarse. “Let me tell you the story of a hero named Captain Dan Taylor.”
“WE HAVE TO RAISE WHAT?”
A baby cockroach a day keeps the rust away?
Not that she rusted. It was just now Nori would have a way to constantly stay on top of skin repair, a process I no longer took for granted in my fully automatic ‘dying’ human system.
Guess what we found?
When the Kahav (that was Preta’s husbands’ tribe) were skinning the giant cockroach for its weird groinskin (yeah, not gonna lie; hearing the girls shriek when they found out where their supple leather was sourced from was kind of a fucking hoot), and the Ghians (those were Charlie’s husbands) were expertly gutting it, they found an egg sac inside.
Still gave me the damn willies.
Really, the aliens were the only ones who weren’t creeped out by the prospect of raising cockroaches that had the potential to grow larger than a city transport hoverbus. Ugh.
In fact, Petrichor, one of the Kahav, was all kinds of excited. Apparently, animal husbandry was one of his life’s joys. Considering the fact that this would be very helpful to the woman I loved, I was glad somebody wanted this job, because although I didn’t consider myself squeamish about much, I’d come to find out that the raising of skittering vermin was walking a pretty close line.
I was so relieved that my girls were safe, I didn’t care that they were living the reverse harem lifestyle. Wasn’t even going to bat an eye at this point.
Nori finished sealing the large sac of uxía she’d been hunting the theraracha for. Its translucent membrane, that was supported by thick vines and hung from the mess of roots snaking across the ceiling, held a gooey, luminescent liquid, some of which occupied a wooden bowl on the stump across the room.
“That looks tasty,” I murmured with all the enthusiasm of a dying man.
“It isn’t.”
My sarcasm was lost on Nori. She was too focused on the bowl, and I knew she was about to drink it. All evening, she’d waited—patiently, I might add, as I visited with my, our, family—to get the stuff into her system.
I sat on the cushioned leaf-bed in the extra room of Preta’s underground home, watching. Wasn’t going to lie—I was insanely curious.
Nori cradled the bowl in her hands and, with one last uneasy look in my direction, she downed the liquid.
Nothing happened.
“Nori—”
“Just wait.”
I heard it, minutes later, the whirring of her inner mechanics, her labored breathing.
I jumped up and crossed the room in two strides. “Nori?” My hands gripped her shoulders. “What’s...”
My words died on my lips when bit by bit her skin began to heal and pull together, creating fresh derma where only mech had remained.
Her dark tresses adopted a healthy sheen, and her new skin slowly brightened to a mouthwatering tawny glow.
No longer did I stare at a skinless left eye, but one with long lashes to match its twin.
Breath rushed from me. “Holy fucking hell...”
Nori’s forehead pinched, and she quickly laid a soft, warm hand upon my arm. “You don’t like it?”
I swallowed repeatedly, my Adam’s apple working overtime.
In my silence, Nori looked down at her body, as if checking for faulty hardware.
“No—”
The glow in her golden eyes dimmed.
“Nori,” my hands trailed her arms—heat emanated from her when it hadn’t before. “You’re gorgeous. I mean, you were beautiful before, but now—”
She silenced my babbling with a single digit. Her mechanics hummed, her eyes widened, and the golden hue radiated with a brilliance I’d associated with—
“I love you, Sol.”
That. When she said that.
I smiled against her finger and cleared my throat when the joy of my life in this moment—my daughters were alive, I had grandbabies, and one helluva woman to share it with—coalesced until I thought I’d burst.
Gathering Nori in my arms, I hugged her tightly to my body, no fear of breaking my indestructible lady. “Ah, woman, you’re stuck with me.”
Her soft laugh rolled over my ears and settled into my chest.
I was happy.
I was finally happy.
FUN TRIVIA
NORI - IRON SPELLED backwards. The element of this valo is metal.
Spathic - Nori’s creator. Spathic iron is a miner’s name for the mineral iron carbonate.
Yolla - the tribe Spathic created. Yolla is Alloy spelled backwards. Alloy is a type
of metal.
Galvanize - to coat/fortify in a protective layer of metal.
Theraracha - inspired by the Spanish word for Cockroach, cucaracha. Thera is an anagram of earth.
Uxía - the liquid Nori requires in order to repair her living tissue. Origin: Brazilian, meaning ‘A woman who is wellborn and well fed.’
Kevt’na - The Kahav creator. Inspired by ‘native copper’. One of the places it is mined Bolivia which ties in to our South America theme.
In one of the very original plotting sessions for Charlie and Preta as characters, Poppy mentioned Gary Sinise as her inspiry spark for Gerard Sol. So when Captain Dan Taylor walked onto the page...
*ducks* Look, WE didn’t even know that was going to happen!
His first name and Gerard’s middle name is a nod to the U.S. Army soldier Gary played in the movie Forrest Gump, named Lieutenant Dan.
NOTE FROM THE AUTHORS
THANK YOU FOR COMING along for the ride with Gerard Sol!!! We had such a blast writing his story—this foul-mouthed gentleman who loves his women just the way they are.
*happy sighs*
We hope he lived up to your expectations and that you had a great time! It was our mission to convey a relationship free from conventional human expectations. There are so many forms of intimacy between two individuals, and we wanted to explore that.
We never know what to say in these. You get to the end and you’re sad its over, but you’re so grateful you got the chance to share the story. This time, we got to share a story together—coolest fucking experience! We laughed a lot—and maybe cried a little about a certain dashing hero captain. (Tearing up now!)
We’d like to say this was a challenge, but seriously, it didn’t even feel like work. So many of you cheered us on; it’s been awesome.
If you get the chance to review this on Amazon, thank you so much! ♥
VALOS OF SONHADRA
(In Series Order)
Alluvial by Amanda Milo
Tempest by Poppy Rhys
Blazing by Nancey Cummings
Whirlwind by Ripley Proserpina