by Poppy Rhys
My eyes darted to Preta, her pupils dilated, her sun-brown skin flushed a dark rose. “Stop!” she yelled.
The dragons, as if they couldn’t defy her words, halted their offense, and my valos—no longer being attacked—slowed, the uneasy stance between them palpable.
They regarded each other with a grudge that literally spanned hundreds of years.
Zaid’s fingers flexed on my arm, and I peered up at him. “Don’t let Ghishwy win.”
A muscle in his jaw tightened, and he blinked slowly, as if he were letting my words sink in. I didn’t know who these huge valo creatures were—other than Kahav—but they listened to my sister. She knew them.
Zaid turned his attention to the other three, and gradually, the dark clouds dissipated, the lake water rushed back against the pebbles, and the greenery retreated, thorns and vines shrinking into the forest.
All valos turned and started heading toward the shore where the rest of us remained.
Water magically formed out of thin air, and it squirted into one of the dragon’s big eyes just as the ground came up to literally trip Dason.
He went down like a sack of bricks, and just like that, his spiny fins fanned his body, and he was toe to toe with the dragon, their growls adding tension to everything.
“Could you guys just, I don’t know, relax for one damn minute?” I tossed my hands in the air once Zaid let me go.
“If flounder over here wasn’t a fuckin’ dic—"
“Hey!” Preta snapped over her shoulder, her voice softening when she said, “Only I can talk to my sister like that.”
The man’s brow flattened, and he mumbled, “Fucking aliens.”
I stiffened.
A guard.
Immediately, every ounce of my being screamed danger. He had harmed Preta somehow—I just knew it. He was holding something over her, over the Kahav, otherwise he’d be dead. Right?
My feet carried me forward, but Preta grabbed onto my arm, halting me. When had her grip ever felt so solid?
“He’s a guard, Preta!” I regarded her for a split second before my attention went back to the human man favoring his leg. His uniform was gone, replaced by a loincloth, but there was no mistaking the look the hive-minded military had. Uncle Sam’s soldier.
My body felt like the bull and he was a red flag, just waving around, asking to be skewered.
“He helped me,” she pulled me back so her body was between me and my new target. “He’s special to me. One of the good guys.”
The curl of my upper lip was almost a knee-jerk reaction as I stared at my sister like she’d grown a second head. “None of those guards were good guys!”
The guard shifted in my peripheral past Preta’s shoulder. What did he do to get my sister to say these things?
“Just relax, okay?” Preta half grinned, and I was reminded of Dason’s cheeky nature. My sister always had a way of getting the people around her to calm down with her clever quips, and lighthearted disposition. It worked like a charm on our dad, and I couldn’t count how many times she weaseled us out of being grounded when we were kids.
I nodded, uneasily. Preta was still Preta. She knew how to defend herself, and with the guard favoring his leg, she would’ve been able to take him down too easily if he really was a threat.
Still set my nerves on edge.
“Now,” Preta smirked, her playful nature back on display, “why are you naked?”
I looked down at myself, having forgotten my nudity. “That is the least interesting thing I have to tell you.”
We laughed, and then Zaid was pushing a wet dress over my head, grumbling the whole time. I snarled, half joking, because he was a little rough in his haste to cover me.
And it was a wet dress.
Just as quickly, they manipulated the water and did that reverse shower thing until my skin and hair and clothes were dry.
“Much better,” I smoothed my front, and then reached up to pat Zaid’s chest. “Thank you.”
“I have something to tell you,” Preta’s cheeks were that dark rose pink again, and I realized I had news for her too.
“I also have something to tell you.”
“On three?” Preta suggested, catapulting me back to our childhood. Whenever we both had news, we’d both come out with it on the count of three.
I nodded, the familiar game and Preta’s presence clicking the missing shard back into place. I was complete. Despite being on an alien planet, I’d finally accomplished the last task given to me: find Preta. Our serendipitous reunion had filled me with a heady relief.
And while I couldn’t call our dad and tell him she was alive and well and safe, I knew it to be true, because here she was, healthy and glowing and whole right before me.
“One...”
“Two...” I said.
“Three!”
“I’m pregnant.”
“I’m pregnant.”
Our mouths dropped open, and in sync again we asked, “What? You’re pregnant?!”
When the inevitable oh my gods came about, and the semi-excited, disbelieving obscenities—because our dad instilled into us a colorful vocabulary, thanks to the military—and the incredulous I’m going to be an aunties followed, the valos shifted around us.
“Why are they echoing each other?” Kahn uttered.
“This is how human women communicate,” the guard grunted, closer now, and I didn’t much like that.
“But how?” Preta tilted her head, confusion pinching her brow.
I squinted. “What do you mean how? Same as you.” My arm arced toward the dragons, though I had no idea how that worked. They were enormous. The physics weren’t computing in my mind, but I quickly shook that thought. “Valos.”
Preta canted her head to glide her gaze over the Kahav before slowly regarding me. “This baby isn’t valo,” she rested a hand on her bare stomach and there was a small bump there I’d completely missed. Her eyes darted to the guard almost too quickly.
For two shakes, nothing made sense, and then it dawned on me.
“You fucked a guard!”
“The guard has a name, and I’m right here,” he groused.
“His name is Ryan,” Preta offered, giving the guard an indulgent look.
“You fucked a guard, willingly?”
This can’t be real.
My body was already moving toward Ryan—he defiled my little sister, and it would seem my physical urges to choke him were overriding my impulse control—and Preta stopped me again. Her fingers closed around my shoulders, giving me a good shake.
“Jesus, Preta.” I scowled. When had she gotten so strong? I felt my eyeballs rattle that time, but it worked. I wasn’t paying attention to the guard anymore.
She gave me that look. The look. The one that said, I’m two seconds away from punching you. And, despite everything, I laughed. Because I’d given that look to Kahn not so long ago.
“Definitely sisters.” Ryan’s smirk had my teeth clenching, but when Preta glared at him, I felt a little better.
“All right.” I took a deep breath, vowing to accept the weird situation. If Preta said he was a good guy, I’d do my best to believe he was. I trusted her.
My arms wrapped around her again because I was still reeling that we’d found each other.
“I have so much to tell you,” she sighed, squeezing me back.
“Maybe we could start with how you found dragons.” Because, naturally, dragons were real, not fiction, and they were all watching me hug my sister when they weren’t sharing scowls with my guys.
So fuckin’ weird.
IT WAS LATE WHEN I lay on a bed of leaves in the spare room of the underground home Preta shared with her valos after an exhausting day. Rezz was passed out beside me, my fingers playing with his poofy, soft feathers. Occasionally his tail would rattle.
I could hear Kahn pacing, his footsteps muted against the ground. They were all too keyed up to lie down, I thought.
There was much to think a
bout.
Now that I knew Preta was safe and happy, I felt rested. The only thing eating at me was the fact our dad was back on Earth, and he had no idea he was going to be a grandpa.
I was still adjusting to the news. Motherhood. That and I was going to be an aunt.
There had to be a way we could contact him. Preta’s dragons could fly, which meant they could cover ground faster, and they’d have an aerial view of Sonhadra. Maybe there were other parts of the ship that crashed here.
If the main hub was one of those parts—and able to be powered up—it may not be an impossibility, sending a message to Earth.
I wouldn’t hold my breath, but it wouldn’t hurt to try.
Then there was the other thing. If other parts of the prison crashed on Sonhadra, vile criminals—the worst of the worst—would be running around, surviving the harsh world.
It set my nerves on edge.
I wasn’t afraid for myself or Preta, after I found out just how much the lab had changed her, but I feared for the helpless lives we’d eventually bring into this world.
Dason crawled onto the bed, cuddling up against my back and looping an arm over my middle to flatten his palm over my abdomen.
I bit my bottom lip, because it was cute and weird, and I was still adjusting.
Thankfully, my sister and I had a good pack of valos between the two of us. Them, and one surly human man who—I begrudgingly had to admit—was a decent guy. I’d even shared my dinner with him.
“Fuuuuuck,” he had moaned after taking a bite of fish Lonan had cooked. “Real food!”
I grinned. I liked his vocabulary. Dad would approve.
The colorful exclamations when he and Preta tasted the caramel fudge bug spray pudding that I’d squirreled into my pack—well, it was just nice to hear other humans use profanity to describe the deliciousness of something.
Lonan gently pushed Rezz’s massive frame off the bed, much to his bemoaned, growly disappointment, and took his spot.
“Hey,” I complained, “we were cuddling!”
“I’m capable of cuddling too,” Lonan countered, catching my mouth with his for a hasty lip lock. He was warm, and my hands gravitated to his chest as he smooshed against me.
It was almost complete, lying there being cuddled by Lonan and Dason, but Kahn and Zaid were still up.
“I’ve decided something,” I murmured and they both stiffened, erupting a quiet laugh from me. “Relax, I was just going to say we need a bigger bed so I can cuddle all of you at the same time.”
“Kahn likes to burn the sheets,” Zaid stated.
Kahn growled, his arms lighting up and I bit my lips to keep from smiling.
“We’ll work on it,” I finally said. “Strength training, right Kahn?”
I could see his scowl in the glow of his current. “Teasing. That’s your idea of strength training.”
“But it woooorks,” I sang, waggling my eyebrows.
He went back to pacing, but not before I caught the half grin.
I’d learned the reason they slept with me each night. Kahn had pushed multiple memories of the times I’d screamed and begged in my sleep, the nightmares of being waterboarded manifesting every time I closed my eyes, driving them crazy.
I kissed Lonan’s chest, unsure what I did in my life to end up with four valos who were perfect for me.
Deep down, I didn’t think any vile humans that may have survived the crash and Sonhadra’s myriad of predators could survive drowning or electrocution from my four, but if they did, Preta’s valos could make the earth open and swallow them whole.
I’d like to see someone dig their way out of a hundred-foot grave before suffocating.
Problem solved.
That brought up another uncertainty. While there was an uneasy truce between the Kahav and these Ghians right now, I knew my guys were tense.
“I want to stay.” The words were so quiet I wasn’t sure I’d said them aloud.
Dason groaned. “We thought you might say that.”
“Can you blame me?” My sister was alive, and pregnant, and the only family from Earth that I had here. And the Ghians hadn’t been very welcoming, even by the time I’d left. It wasn’t like my four were loved by their community either. They were pariahs, and I pointed all of this out.
“Don’t work yourself up,” Zaid’s growly voice gently commanded. The bed dipped and his big hands slid over my feet, rubbing them.
Instant moan.
A baritone ripple of laughter flooded the room. Clearly they didn’t understand how amazing that felt. Maybe one day I’d rub their feet in return so they could get a taste.
“We’ll stay,” Lonan whispered, kissing my forehead.
“Really?”
“Wherever you are, that’s where we’ll be,” Dason finished, kissing my shoulder.
Why my eyes were watering, I had no idea. I swallowed the lump in my throat.
“But what about your jobs? How will the city continue to be powered?”
“The blocks can run themselves now,” Kahn stated.
“We restructured the system to be self-operated and replenishing,” Lonan supplied, his hand stroking up and down my arm in a comforting gesture. “All these cycles, we just needed something to keep us busy. Ghi can operate independently.”
Is that what they’d been so busy doing the last week before I left?
All that time, they’d been intending to leave with me to search for my sister. They weren’t just placating me with soon and when it’s safe like I originally thought.
“Thank you,” I whispered, sincerely meaning it. If it was possible, my guys pressed further up against me, but it felt good. A comforting sense of protection surrounded me.
Kahn leaned over Lonan’s form and brushed his lips against my cheek. “There’s nothing we wouldn’t do for our female.”
“That was kind of sweet, Kahn,” I grinned. “You should try that more often.”
He snarled when the others laughed. Before he pulled away I lifted my arm, wrapping my fingers around the nape of his neck to pull him down for a kiss.
He wasn’t so growly after that.
“Where will we live?” I asked, unsure if I could sleep on a bed of leaves—albeit a comfortable bed of leaves—for the rest of my life.
“One day at a time,” they all said in sync, their tones reassuring, if a little exasperated with my human prattling.
The beam that spread my lips was almost painful, and my shoulders shook with silent amusement. What would they do without me?
I closed my eyes, echoing their words. “One day at a time.”
EPILOGUE
FIVE MONTHS LATER...
Pregnancy was for the birds.
The gigantic, alien birds.
I had nothing to compare this pregnancy to, so I had no idea if it was normal for human babies to hang around the ribs, but my babies did. They kicked me like they were trying to break out of jail.
“Listen, you two,” I growled at my stomach that was moving around like aliens were roving underneath—oh, wait, there were!—as Lonan and Zaid placed their hands upon my skin there. “Chill out or I’ll never eat the bug spray pudding again!”
They loved the bug spray pudding, just like their mama.
Zaid chuckled, kissing my protruding belly, while Lonan kissed my forehead.
My stomach settled down.
To say I wasn’t worried would be a fat lie. I was only five months along, and I looked full term. Yeah, there were two babies in there, but... it wasn’t normal.
That, and weird things were happening.
I’d randomly pop with static when neither Lonan or Kahn were around. My hair had stood on end quite a few times until Dason or Zaid manipulated the humidity and crooned to my belly.
Fucking strange.
First time it happened, I had to take a minute to myself and calm the hell down. One of the babies could already manipulate electricity, and he—or she—wasn’t even born yet.
It wasn’t strong enough to do much more than create an annoying static—thank god! I’d had to rationalize that out, because I’d worried the babe would accidentally cook me from the inside.
Stressful. Very stressful.
The other one could manipulate water, and they liked to let me know it. I’d been taking frequent trips to the tarn—the big lake where I’d first reunited with Preta—to help relieve the stress on my bones, and that’s where the first incident occurred.
Floating there, a mini whirlpool formed and spun me around slowly. Nothing insane, but it was strong enough that I knew it wasn’t normal.
“Is that you?” I asked Dason, annoyed.
“No,” he shook his head, droplets of water dripping off the ends of his hair as he watched with fascination while the water gently twirled me. “It’s our young.”
“Great,” Ryan griped, and I flipped him the bird, eliciting a giggle from Preta.
He’d been getting used to the valos and vice versa, but none of them could refrain from picking on each other: cold water falling out of thin air and dumping down someone’s back, painful pops of electricity burning someone’s ass or a vine snapping up to slap one of them upside the head.
The line had been drawn when Mace—one of Preta’s valos—buried Zaid five feet underground after some snide remark had been thrown.
Fuck, that nearly started another battle. A repeat of darkening skies brewing dangerous storms, and dragons shifting, and foliage exploding with thorns came about in five seconds flat. My valos stood off against Preta’s valos.
Trying to break that up had been fun.
Insults had become a thing that didn’t warrant physical retaliation now. Ryan was teaching them bad human words to throw at each other to combat their murderous urges.
All the valos were still trying to figure out what Ryan meant when he called them “raging woody’s” and “thunder-cunts”.
I wasn’t explaining that.
The whirlpool day was when I figured out the babies weren’t genetic twins. One could manipulate water, one electricity, which meant they had two different fathers. I knew it happened on Earth on rare occasions, but it just surprised me.
These babies weren’t even born and already they were wreaking havoc on my nerves. I didn’t know how I was going to cope with terrible twos for toddlers that could create a storm in the living room.