Taoree: Taoree Trilogy #1

by Michele Notaro

  Everyone gave him some kind of answer in the affirmative. I went with a simple, “Yeah.”

  “Good,” he said. “We should probably find somewhere to stop. Mandy is hungry.”

  Mandy lifted her head off his shoulder to look at him. “How did you know I was hungry?”

  Orrean looked at her with amusement and affection. “Your stomach has been growling for the last five minutes.”

  Mandy blushed in embarrassment, which made me hide a chuckle. “You heard that?”

  Orrean smiled widely at her. “I think everyone heard that.”

  Mandy groaned a little as she buried her head back in his neck to hide her face that I knew from experience was turning bright red.

  “It looks like there might be a fallen tree over there.” Colt pointed up ahead. “Maybe we could sit on it while we eat.”

  We all walked over to the log. Not everyone could fit on it, so I sat on the ground facing the log. I watched Colt walk over to Orrean and, though he was being quiet, I still heard him say, “Thank you for saving her.” Colt held out his hand to shake Orrean’s.

  Orrean stared at it for a second before taking it and saying, “Of course.”

  Then Colt walked over to me and sat so close to me, he was practically in my lap. I had to put my arm over his shoulders to get comfortable, so I said, “You did that on purpose.”

  “What?” he asked as he dug in his bag.

  “Sat so close I had to put my arm around you,” I said with a grin on my face.

  He snorted. “Obviously. You know my tricks well.” He started to scoot over a little.

  I pulled him back into my side even farther. “I like you close, so don’t even think about moving.” I kissed his cheek, then sucked his earlobe into my mouth, making him squirm a little.

  He laughed lightly and said, “You suck.”

  I breathed into his ear so only he could hear, “Maybe later, Baby.”

  He pulled away enough to look at me and I could see the lust in his eyes. “Promise?”

  That made me laugh out loud, but I said, “Oh yeah.” I was fairly certain we could be quiet enough, even though we had more people to worry about now. We’d just have to make sure everyone else was asleep first.

  Colt pecked me on the lips with a little smirk on his face, so I grabbed his cheek and licked his lips, bringing out another laugh from him. When we finally settled down, I looked up to see that Cal and Nolan, who were used to us at this point, hadn’t even batted an eyelash, and Wes just looked amused. Little Mandy kept peeking at us and giggling, so I took that as a good thing. But Orrean had gotten up off of the log and walked away, looking around and scanning the area. He was noticeably looking everywhere but at me and Colt.

  I tried to ignore him while we all ate, but after a while it really started to bother me, so I got up and walked over to where he was sitting by himself, eating something that sort of resembled bread. I glanced at it, but chose to ignore it since it was probably some weird alien food or something.

  Instead, I asked rather bluntly, “Do you have a problem with me and Colt because we’re gay?”

  The alien’s eyes widened in surprise. “Are you serious?” When I just continued staring at him expectantly, he got the hint and replied, “I do not have a problem with you being gay, Jeremy.” He sounded worn out suddenly.

  I furrowed my brows at him. “Then what is your problem?” He shook his head, but didn’t answer, so I said, “Are you sure you don’t have a problem with it?”

  “Of course not,” he answered. When he realized I was waiting for him to fess up about his issues, he added, “I am gay too, Jeremy.”

  “Oh,” I said. Well, don’t I feel like an ass now. “Sorry, I didn’t mean…” I trailed off, unsure of how to explain myself.

  Luckily, Orrean just waved me off. “It is okay.”

  I nodded to him and started to turn around, but instead, my big fat mouth opened up and came out with, “It’s.”

  “What?”

  “It’s. You should say ‘it’s’, not ‘it is’. We shorten everything. Contractions, or whatever the hell they’re called. ‘I’m’ instead of ‘I am,’ ‘don’t’ instead of ‘do not.’” I shrugged, not knowing where I was going with this. “We never really speak the way you do unless we’re trying to emphasize something.”

  “I will keep that in mind,” he said with an unreadable expression.

  Great. I probably offended him. Again. “I’m sorry, I really—”

  “It is… It’s,” he sort of hissed the word before trying again, “It’s okay.”

  As I turned to go again, I caught a glint in his eyes that made me turn back to look at them. His all-black eyes were staring right back at me. Before I knew what I was doing, I took a step closer to him. He was sitting on a stump, so I was suddenly nose to nose with him. I looked closely at his eyes, surprised by what I was seeing.

  “Holy shit,” I whispered, “they’re purple.”

  “What?” he whispered back.

  “Your eyes. They’re purple, not black. I thought all Taoree had all-black eyes. Your eyes looked black at night, but they’re purple. Really, really dark purple, but purple all the same.” I was still whispering right in his face as I stared, fascinated by the deep, dark color that seemed to go on forever.

  “Many Taoree have some color in their eyes,” he told me just as quietly.

  “I can see your black pupils,” I told him, “They’re vertical slits. Wow, your eyes are…” I cut myself off before I told him how beautiful his eyes were. I stood up straight from where I was leaning over talking to him and staring at his really mesmerizing eyes.

  I cleared my throat and turned away from him to find Colt standing there with his arms crossed. I informed my boyfriend, “His eyes are dark purple, not black.”

  Colt eyed me for a moment before doing the same to Orrean. Then he looked back at me and said, “That’s interesting,” though he sounded anything but interested in my discovery. “Come back over here for a minute. The others are almost finished eating, so we’ll have to be on the move again soon.” He held his hand out, which I took eagerly. “Will you come sit with me while they finish?”

  “Of course,” I answered as we walked back over.

  I sat down against a tree and pulled his back against my chest so I could hold him. He seemed to need it in that moment, and considering how often I’d needed him to hold me lately, it was the least I could do. Plus, any moment with Colt in my arms was a good moment. I would hold this man every second of every day if I could. Bonus, his neck was super ticklish and in this position, I had perfect access to it with my mouth.

  ***

  “We could take a car,” I suggested as we walked close to a street, but down a hill so we couldn’t be seen.

  “We’d be too much of a target that way. Their ships would track us too easily,” Colt said, grabbing my hand.

  “But we could get there faster. And we could abandon the car as soon as we heard a ship coming,” I argued.

  “No, we wouldn’t hear it over the engine,” Colt argued back.

  I thought about that, but knowing he was right didn’t stop me from saying, “We can’t get there fast enough on foot. Babe, we need to try a car.”

  “Listen to me, Jeremy,” Colt said, “it isn’t worth the risk. A car could get us all killed.”

  “But—”

  “No, we can’t risk it,” he said with an air of finality.

  “Colt is right, Jeremy,” Orrean interrupted us. “The Taoree ships will be looking for cars. There is no way to avoid them finding an automobile if it were moving.”

  “This is fucking ridiculous. It’s gonna take us six fucking weeks to walk there. We could be there by tomorrow morning if we drove. We need to get there as soon as possible.” I was so pissed.

  Orrean coolly said, “We would not make it out of the state before they caught us. We would be discovered within the hour. If we take a vehicle, they will kill us all. They have special e
quipment set up to recognize and locate vehicles and large groups of humans. We are at enough risk as it is. There is no way we would make it, Jeremy.”

  I glared over at him and just hummed at him angrily. Then I let go of Colt’s hand and sped up, walking in front of everyone else to work off some steam. Why couldn’t the rest of them see that walking was taking just as big a risk… more so, even, with Colt and Wesley’s lives? I couldn’t bear to think about what might happen to them.

  As I stormed off, I heard Colt say, “He’s just angry and hurting, let him go.” I didn’t look back to see who he was talking to, but I had a pretty good idea that it was that damn alien behind me.

  I ventured farther away from them than I probably should have, but I was too angry to do anything about it. Why couldn’t they understand that I just couldn’t lose anyone else? This whole time I’d had one goal in mind: get to my family. Only, most of my family was already gone by the time I got there. And now, I could lose Wesley too; the only one left. To top it off, I could lose the love of my life as well—I hadn’t said the words yet, but I knew they were true as soon as the thought flittered through my mind. I had Cal, Nolan, and Mandy, and yes, they were my family too, but I just couldn’t stand it if… if… Wesley and Colt…

  I slowed down my pace so the others could eventually catch up to me, but I still wasn’t ready to face them. My emotions were all over the place thinking about Mina, my parents, and Wes and Colt. I just didn’t want to have to be strong in front of anyone else right now. I’d spent the last two weeks in constant company of at least one other person—I just needed a few minutes to get my head around everything that had happened—was still happening.

  I heard a rustle behind me, so I grabbed my shoian, or whatever the fuck it was called, and turned to face my attacker. I shouldn’t have been surprised that Orrean walked through the break in the trees, but I was. I lowered my weapon as I rolled my eyes at him, then looked back to see that the others were still following behind me, far away, but still within sight. I had no clue how or why this Taoree had circled around without me noticing.

  I turned my back on him and marched away. Away from him and the others. Unfortunately, Orrean easily kept pace with me and ended up walking next to me instead of behind, which only made me roll my eyes at him again, and it pissed me off.

  “I don’t want to talk about it,” I eventually said when I realized he wasn’t going to leave me alone.

  “I did not ask you to,” he replied in a soft voice.

  “No. You’re just following me instead of respecting my need for a private moment,” I said angrily.

  “That… was not my intention,” he told me. I suppressed the eye roll that time. He added, “It is not safe to walk by yourself.”

  I stopped walking and turned toward him. “For fuck’s sake, I’m fifty feet in front of everyone.” I waved in the general direction of the others without looking away from him. “I’m fine.” I turned and continued walking.

  “One hundred twenty-one.”

  “Huh?”

  “You are one hundred twenty-one feet in front of them. At that distance, no one would be able to get to you quickly enough if a Feral attacked you. If more than one attacked you at the same time, well, it would not be good,” he said, still in the infuriatingly soft voice.

  I glanced over my shoulder to see that he was probably right about the distance. I muttered, “Fuck,” and slowed down my pace again. He slowed down with me and we walked side by side without speaking for a few minutes. I was still annoyed and pissed, and I didn’t really know who to direct it at, but I didn’t think it was fair to direct it at him since he really hadn’t done anything wrong.

  When I could no longer take his silence, I asked him, “Can you just understand that in the past two days, I’ve lost my parents, my little sister, and now you’re telling me that I may lose my little brother and boyfriend too? I can’t…” I took a shuddering breath. “I can’t lose them. Any of them,” I waved in the general direction of everyone behind us again. “They’re all I have left.” I couldn’t look him in the eye because I knew I’d see sympathy there and if I saw it, I wouldn’t be able to hold in my tears.

  Out of the corner of my eye, I saw him slowly reach out a tentative hand until he patted my shoulder. I flinched at first and immediately felt guilty for it, but he either didn’t notice or ignored it, because he slid his hand to my upper back and rubbed it in a comforting manner. His hand felt overly warm through my jacket, but somehow still sent a shiver through me. I had to stop walking and close my eyes to keep the tears from falling at the relief I felt under his supporting hand. For some reason, this strange creature had a way of getting under my skin. It made no sense, but I was happy to have his comfort, and in some way, his understanding.

  I snapped my head around when I heard a loud sound behind us. There were two Ferals running at us full speed, both with guns in their hands.

  “Oh, shit,” I said as one lifted their rifle and pointed it at us. I pushed Orrean to the side where the trees were and jumped behind one with him as a bullet hit the tree trunk. I looked at Orrean. “I didn’t think they could use guns?” I half-stated, half-asked.

  He looked just as confused as I felt. “Normally they cannot. Unless—” he was cut off when another bullet hit the tree trunk.

  “Unless, what?” I prompted as I covered my head with my arms, trying to protect myself as much as possible.

  A bullet passed the tree we were hiding behind and hit one behind us instead.

  Orrean looked at me. “Unless they are not Ferals.”

  Understanding made my eyes go wide as I gasped, “You think they’re humans?”

  Another shot flew by us as he said, “Ferals would not be able to reload a gun, even if they did understand how to shoot it. I highly doubt they are Ferals.”

  “Well, that’s just great,” I mumbled when yet another bullet flew by. I looked down through the trees and thought I saw movement, so I could only pray that the others found someplace to hide.

  “Come on, you alien fucker,” a deep voice shouted, “Come out and let the human go.”

  Orrean and I stared at one another for a moment before I shouted back to the voice, “Don’t shoot. We don’t want any trouble.”

  “Let the human go,” the voice shouted back bitterly.

  “I am the human,” I yelled.

  The people with guns were quiet for so long, I was tempted to look around the tree and see if they had left, but I knew better, so I just stood still and waited. After what felt like ten minutes, but was probably less than two, the voice shouted, “Why are you with that scum Taoree?”

  “He’s on our side,” I shouted, not really knowing what else to say.

  The man let out a laugh. “I seriously doubt that.”

  “He saved my life,” I yelled. After a moment of reflecting over the last twenty-four hours, I amended, “More than once.” He did save me from a Feral and more than one Taoree in the short amount of time I’d known him.

  When no response came, I shouted, “Look, we don’t want any trouble. We’re just passing through.”

  “He really saved you?” that came from a female voice.

  “Yes. He saved me and the others in my group.”

  “He’s not holding you hostage?”

  “No, ma’am, he’s helping us.”

  I could hear them arguing amongst themselves until the woman finally yelled, “If you follow us, we will kill you both. Don’t come out for five minutes or we’ll shoot.”

  “Okay. We won’t,” I yelled back. “Thank you,” I felt compelled to say. They had tried to save me from an alien, which I appreciated even if it was unnecessary, plus they were leaving us alone… also much appreciated.

  We could hear their footsteps getting farther and farther away. I looked at the ground as I listened, unable to look into Orrean’s eyes—his dark purple eyes. Then I looked over his shoulder to see if I could see the others, but they were either hiding well o
r were too far away to see in the trees. I felt Orrean place his hand on the back of my neck, and my body betrayed me by leaning into his touch again. I closed my eyes, but didn’t make him remove his hand. It was helping my frazzled nerves.

  Once we could no longer hear the humans, Orrean dropped his hand and peeked around the tree before I could protest. He looked at me with a nod, and I immediately took off running toward the others. I found them about fifty feet away—having caught up a little when we walked slower—hiding in the trees. I saw Wes first and after hugging him tightly, I got crushed by Colt pulling me into his chest.

  He was shaking so badly. “Thank god you’re okay,” he whispered. “When I saw them, I was so scared. I had never been so relieved to hear you yell before.”

  That made a little laugh bubble out of me. “I couldn’t see where you guys were. I’m sorry I got that far ahead. I won’t do that again.”

  “Damn straight you won’t,” he murmured into my hair. He pulled my face away, cradling it in his hands as he looked me over. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

  “I’m okay,” I reassured him as I plucked his blue hat off his head and placed it on my own. I kissed his lips hard, but didn’t deepen it, then whispered, “I adore you, Colton Lyons.”

  “Yeah?” he asked. I nodded as he knocked the rim of the hat, making it cover my eyes.

  When we split apart, I scooped Mandy into my arms, kissing her cheek and carrying her for a minute while we started walking again. The poor thing was completely worn out and I started worrying about being able to travel every day for the foreseeable future with a ten-year-old. I was tired and worn out enough as it was, so I couldn’t imagine how she was feeling.

  I sat her on the ground, took off my pack and held it out to Colt, who automatically grabbed it from me. Then I scooped Mandy back up and swung her around onto my back. I reached for my pack, intending to put it on the front of myself, but Colt wouldn’t give it to me.

  Instead he said, “We’ll take turns,” as he strapped my bag over his shoulders so it lay across his chest. He looked goofy with two backpacks—one on his front and one on his back—but it seemed to work.