by Ravenna Tate
As she walked back to the office, she made up her mind to tell them. She was moving in with them. Today, if possible.
Chapter Eight
Rune smiled at Gia, strapped into one of the extra chairs inside the spacecraft they’d borrowed from Cortez, Cord’s cousin. Cortez was a Regum and had more money than all of them put together. When he heard they wanted to visit Addo, he’d lent them this craft. Rune and Arlo manned the controls, but any of the men on board could fly it.
Gia had moved her stuff into their leased condo Wednesday after work. They’d insisted she have the spare bedroom as her own, in case she ever felt she needed space, but that night they’d all slept in Rune’s bed after making love to Gia again.
Would he ever get enough of this woman? He’d waited his entire adult life for someone like her, and those longings had only intensified once he’d spent time with Vaughn, River, and Marianne before taking this new job with Thane. Watching the three of them had brought home how empty and lonely his life actually was.
Sure, he had his work now to keep him busy. Losing the freight business had taken an emotional and financial toll on him and Thane alike, but they were far from destitute. In matters of the heart, however, they were pathetic. And neither man had ever had much of a sex life. But all that had changed now. At least, he hoped it had changed, and not only short-term.
They cleared Sera airspace and then were given permission to land on Addo. It wouldn’t take more than half an hour to reach the planet. He relaxed and gazed over at Gia once more. She and Fallon were talking like old friends, and he smiled as he watched them.
This had been the best thing for Gia. Coming to their department and being able to work with another Earth woman. Fallon may not have gone through what Gia had, but she’d gone through enough to understand what it felt like to be a prisoner. She knew her planet had been invaded, and she knew it was practically uninhabitable now, unless the people left on it banded together and figured out how to stop the Tyranns.
But they couldn’t do that. They had no resources left, and more than eighty percent of their population, if the figures the Ministry received were correct, had been taken already. Not only did the Regum and Addonians need to stop the Tyranns, but they had to find a way to help the people left on Earth rebuild their lives once more. It was more than they owed all of them for allowing the Tyranns to become as powerful as they had.
Rune watched Gia and Fallon talking, and a violent shiver ran down his spine. What if that did happen? What if this mission really worked, and the Tyranns were annihilated? And what if the Regum and Addonians then banded together and helped the people of Earth rebuild their planet?
They certainly had the capability to do it. To pull off the mission they’d formulated together. The question was in the execution, not the planning. The rumors he and Thane had mentioned to her on Wednesday were more than mere rumors. They were fact. The plans had already been set in motion.
After she had moved her things in, Rune and Thane had talked while she set up her bedroom. They had decided to let Vaughn and River tell her everything about the mission since those two, along with Jakara, had been in instrumental in putting it together. They didn’t want her to worry until there was something to worry about. She’d never asked again about the rumors, so they’d let it go.
By the time Fallon, Cord, and Arlo had returned from their meeting Wednesday afternoon, no more than half an hour after their sexy interlude with Gia, Gia’s focus had been on moving out of her apartment. But now, once they reached Addo, this visit would allow them to bring up the subject of the mission with her. She needed to know this was going to happen. It would give her closure and peace. At least, he hoped it would.
But the thought that sent nasty shivers down Rune’s spine wasn’t Gia’s reaction to the upcoming combined mission of the Regum and Addonians to rid their world of the Tyranns once and for all. It was the lingering question of whether she’d want to return to her planet and help her people rebuild it. It was her home, after all. It always would be. And her introduction to this solar system hadn’t exactly been welcoming. Why would she want to stay here if given a choice to go back to Earth instead?
Sure, they’d given her a respite from her horrible memories. Rune was sure she even cared for them. He could see it in her eyes and feel it in her touch. But this wasn’t where she saw herself living out her days. How could it be? They were aliens to her and always would be. To hope for more than a few precious weeks or months with her was a fool’s dream.
She didn’t belong to them. As much as he and Thane wished she could, Rune knew she never would. Not really.
****
Thane held Gia’s hand as the six made their way in a land craft toward the Great Western Ocean. “We’re close to the quarters where Rune and I spent most of our time until two weeks ago. It’s part of the compound that used to house Tyrann warriors and their space and land crafts, until the Addonians took over the bases on this planet and forced the Tyranns back to Voyeur Moon.”
“Do you miss working there? At the compound?”
He shook his head. “We haven’t really stopped working for Jakara. We’re only in the Ministry as consultants.” Everything would change soon. They were going to get the official explanation and plans from Jakara, Vaughn, and River. And then Gia would know, too. But for now, he wanted time with her before she worried over this mission.
“I mean do you miss being on Addo?”
He smiled. “We’ll be back one day. Sera isn’t home anymore.”
She narrowed her eyes. “Such a cryptic remark.”
He pulled her close and gave her a tight hug. “Relax. Enjoy the scenery. Isn’t it pretty here? So lush and green.”
She sighed, and he followed her glance out the window at the forests in the distance, and the flowering bushes lining the roadway. “It is very pretty. And a bit warmer than Sera was.”
“It will be cooler near the ocean. Wait until you see this house. It’s almost as large as some of the palaces the highest orders of Regum live in on Sera.”
“I can’t wait to meet Vaughn, River, and Marianne.”
He gave her another squeeze. “Jakara and Callie live there, too. And they’re all very excited to meet you, too.”
Her eyes widened. “Another Earth woman? I didn’t realize I’d be meeting Callie, too.”
Fallon turned in her seat. “I know, right? Now there will be three of us to talk to about things only we can understand.”
“Five, actually,” said Thane. “Marianne’s aunt and uncle live there, too.”
While Fallon and Gia reminisced, Thane hoped Gia would be just as excited to spend time with them when she learned that he and Rune would likely be going along on this mission. It was their hope that Fallon, Gia, and Callie would stay together until the mission was over. He didn’t want Gia to return to Sera and stay in their condo alone. He didn’t think she’d be comfortable doing that.
They had encouraged her not to break her lease on the apartment for a reason, even though she told them she didn’t want to keep it. If she didn’t want to stay in their condo with Fallon and Callie, she’d at least have her apartment to return to.
They’d known this was coming, and wanted to make sure she had a place to live until they could return to her one day. Because Thane knew they would return. He only hoped Gia realized that, too.
She’s not yours to keep.
The thought popped into his head, dark and foreboding. Fuck that. He pushed it away. She was his for now. That would have to do. Whether she stayed on Sera and worked at the Ministry, or came to Addo with him and Rune one day when they returned wasn’t his decision to make. It was hers.
But he wasn’t a fool. One of the key points of this mission was to help Earth rebuild their planet. That was her home. Of course she’d want to return there one day. He couldn’t pin his hopes on anything else. This was an interlude, nothing more. A sexy, wonderful, heart-stopping, joy-filled interlude, but a temporary
one, just the same. This wasn’t permanent, and he had to remember that or he’d lose his mind.
She would never truly belong to him and Rune. He had to accept that, enjoy the time he had with her, and then figure out a way to forget her one day.
****
Gia gasped as the ocean came into view around the next curve in the road. It wasn’t the size of it that took her breath away. She’d grown up in Boston, and the sight of the Massachusetts Bay and the Atlantic Ocean beyond it was nothing new. But she hadn’t seen such a large expanse of water in two years, and the memories evoked by the sight of lazy waves crashing onto a sandy beach made her heart ache. She put a hand on her chest as they merged onto an elevated road that passed next to the water. “It’s breathtaking.”
“Are you okay?” asked Rune, gently.
“Yes. Just … I haven’t seen an ocean in so long.”
“Does it look like home?”
She smiled. “The beach is a heck of a lot cleaner, but yes. It looks the same.”
“They live close by. We can walk along the beach next to their home, if you’d like.”
She gazed into Rune’s eyes. “I would love that. Thank you.”
“You won’t be afraid of the expanse?”
She shook her head. “No. The one place I could never feel fear is near the water.” Or any place with you two. The thought popped into her mind, unbidden, making her pause for a few seconds. Did she really believe that? She hadn’t acted that way.
Even after moving in with them, she’d only gone outside if they were with her, and then only for short periods of time. And she hadn’t yet ventured into the courtyard when all their neighbors were around.
They hadn’t pushed her on the issue, but she knew they loved being outdoors and were used to spending as little time as possible inside, especially at home. The fact that they were willing to forego that for her comfort level should have made her heart sing with joy, but right now it only made her sad.
They’d changed their lives for her. Why? It wasn’t for sex. Well, it might be, but she didn’t believe they were that shallow. They’d asked her to move in with them. They had turned their day-to-day lives upside down once again, and this time it hadn’t been for a temporary job. They’d done it because they now wanted her with them all the time.
So, if they were only living with her so they could have sex whenever they wanted to, or at least more often than they could if she’d still been living in her apartment, they wouldn’t have stayed indoors when she wanted to. Or come inside when it was obvious she’d reached her comfort level. They both constantly watched her and gauged whether she needed anything, or looked apprehensive. Men who only wanted sex didn’t do any of those things.
Her thoughts were cut short as the home came into view, and Gia gasped one more time. They hadn’t been kidding about it looking like a palace. It was built one story off the sand, the way homes along the Atlantic shore in the Carolinas were, and she wondered whether this area was prone to hurricanes. She’d have to remember to ask them.
The columns underneath the house were thick—at least four feet in diameter. The home was covered in clapboard siding, or what looked like it, at any rate. Most of the homes on Sera were made from materials similar to brick or stucco. As they drew closer, she realized the clapboards were actually made of something more durable, like a plastic derivative or even metal of some kind. They had been painted or stained to give them a rugged appearance.
Soaring windows and interesting angles dominated the design, and there were so many balconies she lost count. The roof was made of the same tiles as most homes she’d seen on Sera were.
“What do you think?” asked Thane, his voice as proud as if he’d designed the home himself.
“It’s amazing.”
“Wait until you see the inside.”
“Did you two live here?”
He shook his head. “No, but we visited a few times before taking the job on Sera.”
They parked outside the home, next to other land crafts, and before the six could disembark, a woman with dark brown hair and blue eyes came running out, shouting, “They’re here! They’re here!”
Gia loved her on sight. She reminded her of her friend, Becky, who was always running everywhere and was enthusiastic about everything.
Gia briefly wondered where Becky was now, but didn’t have time to dwell on it because the woman she guessed must be Marianne gave her and Fallon huge bear hugs that nearly took Gia’s breath away.
“Oh my God, wait until Callie gets outside. She’s going to be so excited! Where are you two from? Vaughn and River didn’t know, and Jakara is always too busy to talk about anything. I’m from Fox Chapel, just outside of Pittsburgh. Have you heard of it? And Callie is from Castine, Maine.”
Gia laughed and hugged Marianne back, and then she and Fallon exchanged an amused glance. “I’m from Boston.”
“And I’m from Manhattan,” said Fallon, giving Marianne a hug as well. “Central Park South, to be exact.”
“Oh my God, I always wanted to visit those places. I can’t believe we might—”
Her words were cut short by another shriek, and then a stunning dark-haired woman with big blue eyes ran out of the house. Gia glanced toward Fallon. “That must be Callie.”
After she hugged both Gia and Fallon as well, the four went inside. Gia glanced over her shoulder to see Thane and Rune grinning at her, following at a distance with Cord and Arlo. She gave Rune and Thane a smile, then walked inside the home with her new best friends.
Chapter Nine
Gia could barely take it all in. The home inside was just as magnificent as outside, but she had no time to explore because she first had to meet Jakara, Vaughn, River, and Marianne’s aunt and uncle, Blake and Betsy Williams.
There was food and drink, and as she sat down at a large table between Thane and Rune, she tried to follow all the conversations. The seven of them had been living here since shortly before Thane and Rune arrived on Sera to work in the same department branch she now did. Blake and Betsy had been inside Atkins Prison on Voyeur Moon, and they’d been the couple these men had helped rescue.
She’d already heard the story of how they were attorneys, and up until their imprisonment, had first worked for the Regum on Sera, and then worked for the Addonians, helping to keep political prisoners from being sent to the Zoo. When Marianne was discovered by an Addonian ship on Earth, bearing a letter the Tyranns had sent her, trying to trick her into coming to this system to be reunited with her aunt and uncle, the Addonians had brought her to Jakara, Vaughn, and River.
And now she lived here, and she was with Vaughn and River. If Marianne didn’t look like a woman totally in love with the two handsome alien men, Gia would eat the entire table. Marianne beamed every time she looked at Vaughn or River, and when she talked about how afraid she’d been after they’d gone to Voyeur Moon with Thane, Rune, and the others to rescue her aunt and uncle, Gia got goosebumps even though the house was warm.
She could hear the desperation and fear in Marianne’s voice, and understood it all too well. She may not have gone straight to the holding cells or the Zoo, which was the real intent of the fake letter, but she understood the pain of losing a loved one. She knew what it meant to feel completely alone on an alien planet, and to know you could never return home.
Marianne’s parents had died when she was thirteen, and her aunt and uncle had then taken her in. And when Gia heard her talk about her fiancé, Jacob, and how he’d been overseas in Europe when the first invasions occurred and she’d lost all contact with him, she had to wipe away tears. When Marianne told them how she’d later found out Jacob had died in the mines on Addo, Gia hugged herself.
Fallon then told the story of how her husband, Jim, had been killed while flying a Navy fighter plane in the war against the invasions. She’d only been married six months. And Callie’s family had all been taken in the invasions before she was. She later learned they’d all died on either V
oyeur Moon, or in the mines on Addo when the Tyranns still controlled them.
Each of these women had lost their families and their men at the hands of the Tyranns. And now they’d found love again with these alien men, and were able to help them in their quest to stop the Tyranns. When Marianne asked Gia if she’d be willing to share her story of her time on Voyeur Moon, Rune spoke before she could.
“She doesn’t like to talk about it. Too painful still.”
“No, it’s all right.” She gave him a reassuring look. “I think I can now, thanks to you and Thane.”
He beamed at her, his face full of pride, but she caught the undercurrent of concern in his eyes. “All right. But if it’s too much, they can hear the story another time.”
“Okay. Agreed.” As she talked, she pretended it was someone else’s story, and that she was merely repeating it. At one point, she clasped Thane’s hand on her right and Rune’s on her left, much the same way she’d done while telling this story to them at her new job. When she finished, no one spoke for several long moments. Gia could hear a clock tick somewhere in the house, and the constant sound of the waves outside was the only other background noise.
Finally, Callie cleared her throat. “I was taken to the holding cells by Jakara’s former Section Chief Logan, and a man named Walton who became a Section Warden in the Zoo after he betrayed Jakara. He used to be Jakara’s friend. But they were watching Jakara and others like him. Those Tyranns who opposed what the extreme faction were turning Voyeur Moon into. Jakara had been warned. Walton actually came to the home where Jakara had kept me hidden and told him to be careful.”
Gia swallowed hard. “I didn’t realize you’d been there, too.”