by R. R. Banks
"I can't really think of anything." She sighed and I saw a look of nervousness flood over her face, "I know at some point I'm going to have to go back to my mom's house and get my stuff. They said I needed to be completely moved out by the end of the week."
Her voice sounded so defeated it made me angry, but I didn't show it. This was a girl who had seen enough anger and aggression in her life turned toward her when she didn't deserve it. She deserved gentleness and compassion now.
"I'll go with you," I offered, pouring another cup of coffee now that I was starting to feel a bit more awake.
"Thank you," she let out a tremulous-sounding breath, "I'm way too scared to go by myself."
"Is your stepfather going to be there?"
She nodded.
"He's not working anymore. He doesn't have anything to do but sit around the house and terrorize whoever gets in his way."
"He won't terrorize me."
The mug slipped out of my hands and shattered on the floor at my feet, sending a wave of coffee splattering across my legs. I gasped and jumped out of the way before I looked up to make sure that my eyes weren't deceiving me. Ero was standing in my kitchen.
Samira looked shell-shocked and didn't move from her seat, but stared at him, wide-eyed.
"Ero!" I managed to gasp.
"Who is she talking about?" he demanded, pointing at Samira.
I blinked at him, not sure what I was supposed to be thinking in that moment. Was he seriously standing there, in my kitchen, on Earth, asking me about Samira?
"Ero?" I repeated, "What are you doing here?"
Finally it seemed that his attention returned to me and he crossed the room toward me in two long strides.
"I came for you. I left two days after you did," he said, then looked down at my coffee-soaked legs, "Oh. I'm sorry."
That's when it hit me that I was still in pajamas, no makeup, and hadn't even brushed my hair yet. Embarrassment flooded over me and I pushed past him to rush toward my bedroom. I heard him following me and I tried to shut the door so that he couldn't get inside, but he was too fast and too strong for me to hold him back.
"What are you doing?" I asked, spinning around to face him.
Ero grabbed me, wrapping his arms around my waist and pulling me to him for a kiss that took my breath away. When his mouth lifted off of mine, I looked up into his eyes and saw that there was no longer a hint of green, only intense orange.
"Your eyes," I said, not letting go of my grip on his shoulders, "They changed."
"They changed because of you. That's why I'm here. I haven't been able to get you out of my mind. You are my mate."
I pushed out of his arms and stepped away, combing my fingers back through my hair.
"I heard what you said about me, Ero."
"I know, and I am so, so sorry. I don't know what I can say to you to make you understand that, but please, tell me and I will say it. I will do anything you need me to do to convince you that I didn't mean to hurt you and that I would never, ever do it again."
"I have spent too much of my life feeling bad about myself and being told that that's how I should feel because of the way I look."
"I don't want you to feel that way," he said, closing the space between us and pulling me into his arms again, "I want to spend every day of the rest of my life making you feel as beautiful as I see you. I know that you don't trust me yet, but please, just give me the chance to show you. Come back with me. Everyone on Uoria misses you so much already."
"I was only there for a day."
Ero laughed softly.
"They must just realize how wonderful you are." He nuzzled me with his nose and kissed me gently, "I'm sorry it took so long for me to get here. No one from Uoria has ever travelled off of it before, especially to Earth, and it took a couple of days for us to arrange transport."
"At least you're here."
"Does that mean you're willing to come back with me? Give me another chance?"
"I will come back, but only on a trial basis. Like you said, I don't trust you yet. I can't just let myself get swept away by you."
"Thank you," he said, sounding so relieved and happy it made my lips finally curve up in a smile, "And definitely don't forget your books. I've only been here for a day and what I went through trying to find you and navigating this ridiculous planet tells me that there is a lot more to learn about Earth than we ever expected."
I laughed and he met the sound with another kiss, pressing his body to mine so that I could feel him getting hard beneath his clothes. My knees weakened a bit, but I forced myself to resist the aching of my body and gently eased him away from me.
"Not so fast. I told you I'll go back with you. That's all you get for now."
He gave a sigh, but nodded.
"I'll accept that. Now… tell me who is terrorizing that woman in the kitchen."
Chapter Six
Ero flexed his fists as he stood on the outside of a white wooden door, waiting for whoever was inside to respond to the doorbell he had just rung. He waited for a few seconds and then rung the doorbell again, following it up with a few pounds with his fist on the door. Out of the corner of his eye he could see Zuri standing at the bottom of the front steps of the house, her arm wrapped protectively around Samira. The teenager had her head buried in the older woman's shoulder and appeared to be shaking with fear. The sight made him even angrier and he pounded on the door again.
"What the fuck do you want?" an obviously drunk man said as he wrenched the door open.
Ero pushed into the house as soon as the door was open enough and immediately turned to the man. This was the first human man he had ever encountered, and he was struck by his size. On Uoria, Ero was tiny compared to the other warriors. Here, though, he towered by several inches over the man, who stumbled back, his red-rimmed eyes fixed on Ero's white hair and orange gaze.
"I'm here for Samira's belongings," Ero said, keeping his voice low, but ensuring there was enough intensity in it that the man understood he was not to be challenged.
"Who are you?" the man stammered.
"I'm the mate of a very dear friend of Samira's, which means that she matters to me and I don't like to see her cry or be scared because some full of himself asshole has been using her as a punching bag since she was 10, not to mention other things that I can't even get myself to say or I will pick you right now, snap you in half, and bring you home with me to use you as Klimnu bait."
The man took a swing at Ero, who immediately caught his fist in his palm and squeezed until he felt the bones shattering into pieces beneath the man's skin, causing an agonized scream to echo through the house. When Ero released him, the man cowered back against the wall, cradling his hand to his chest.
"Never try something like that again. Not against me, not against your stepdaughter, not against your wife. Not against anyone. I've traveled once. I can do it again, and if Zuri doesn't decide to stay with me on Uoria, I will be doing it again, which means I will be here all the time. Do you understand me?"
His voice had lowered to a fierce growl and he could see the terror in the man's eyes. Behind him he heard the women climbing up the stairs and he extended one hand toward the door, gesturing for them to come in, but not taking his eyes away from Samira's stepfather. They stayed locked in that position for several minutes while Samira and Zuri rushed through the house packing everything that she could fit into her luggage. When she was finished, Ero took another step toward the man. He met his eyes and stared intensely at him for several long seconds before turning and walking out of the house, slamming the door so hard behind him that the glass in the window shattered.
The three were silent until they were back at Zuri's house sitting in the living room. Samira finally looked calm, relaxed as if she had been vindicated.
"Thank you," she said, turning to Ero, "I can't tell you how much that means to me."
"It means a lot to me, too," Zuri said.
Ero turned to her and smiled, re
aching up to stroke her face.
"You mean everything to me," Ero said, "I'm so glad you're coming back with me."
"You're going away again?" Samira asked.
Zuri nodded and Ero noticed the sad look in her eyes suddenly disappear.
"Come with us," she said, leaning toward Samira and grasping her hands.
"What do you mean?"
"Come with us. Come to Uoria with us." Samira started to protest and Zuri shook her head, leaning closer, "No, no, listen. It could be perfect. It would get you away from everything and give you a break. Ciyrs and Eliana have been working on creating healing ointments for the warriors to bring with them into battle, and you could help them. No one understands chemistry and biology like you do. This is a real way that you can use it. It doesn't have to be forever. It doesn't even have to be for long. I don't even know how long I'm going to be there. Just come. Please. It will make it even better for me there with you."
Samira looked back and forth between Ero and Zuri and Ero saw a change come over her. He smiled at her, reaching to take Zuri's hand and join in the encouragement for Samira to join them on their trip home. Through his bond with Zuri he had built an affection for the young girl, and more than anything he wanted to make Zuri happy.
He knew that back home the women were putting together the surprise they had planned for Zuri, getting it ready in the hopes that he would be able to convince her to come back with him. It had been a major risk to ask them to do that for him and to climb into a spaceship as the first ever Denynso to travel through the galaxy, but she was worth every single risk, every single moment of fear, and every single moment of doubting himself and his ability to be the mate that she deserved.
Chapter Seven
For the third time in less than a month, I climbed out of my pod and stretched. I didn't feel as stiff as I had the first two times and I couldn't decide if it was a good thing or not that my body seemed to be getting used to compressing into the pod and going through five days of space travel.
I wanted to get out of the ship as quickly as I could. Ero had had to return in a separate ship because of the short notice of our travel and I found myself missing him intensely during the five days of the voyage. It was a strange feeling. I still didn't trust him completely, and there was doubt in the back of my mind of whether I was going to stay on Uoria for more than a few days, but when I was away from him, I wanted to be near him. It was like I was connected to him in a way that I had never been to anyone else. Sometimes I found myself thinking about him and it was almost as though I could hear his voice in my head.
Samira followed me timidly out of the ship, looking around as if she was waiting for something to happen. Unlike my first time arriving at Uoria, no warrior stood at the base of the platform.
"I guess they figured that you didn't need an escort."
I heard Ero's voice from the other side of the platform and my heart lit up. I turned to him and he came toward me slowly, reaching out to intertwine my fingers with his.
"I think I have my own," I said softly.
"I hope so," he replied, "Leave your bags here. I'll have Pyra take care of them."
"Did you let anybody know that I brought Samira along with me?"
Ero nodded.
"I told them when I arranged my transport back home. They have everything arranged."
"Will we be sharing a house?"
He looked at me with an expression I couldn't quite decipher and shook his head.
"No, Samira will have her own quarters while she's here."
Before I could ask anything else, I saw the three women coming toward me with their mates and a man I didn't recognize. They were all smiling and I felt a surge of happiness to see them again. Leia looked at Samira strangely for a moment, then seemed to realize that she recognized her.
"Samira?" she said, "Do you remember me? I helped you with a research project about a year ago."
Samira leaned closer and her face lit up.
"Leia? I heard that you signed up for the exchange program," she climbed down off of the platform and stepped into Leia's open arms, "It's good to see you."
The sentiment sounded so genuine I felt a twinge of emotion in my throat. These were women who had been through so much. Seeing them coming together for a moment of empathy and strength was truly beautiful. On the other side of the two women I noticed a man who I didn't recognize. He was tremendous, nearly as big as Pyra, but there was something soft about him that made me question if he was a warrior. His eyes were focused on Samira and I thought I saw a flicker of fire in his eyes.
"Eden," Ero said, looking at Eden.
I glanced over and saw the pretty redhead holding her mate's arm and leaning her head lovingly against him.
"Everything's ready, Ero. This is Ty," she looked over her shoulder at the man and I noticed he was wearing an apron slung low over his hips, "He's going to keep an eye on Samira."
I watched Ty meet Samira's eyes and it was obvious that he thought she was as gorgeous as everyone else did. With long dark hair, eyes to match, and olive skin, she stood out anywhere she went.
"Keep an eye on me?" Samira said, but didn't take her eyes away from Ty.
"It's kind of an Uoria thing," I told her, "Human visitors get babysitters."
"Guards," Ero corrected.
"He'll bring you to your quarters and I'll go find mine and we'll meet up later with the other women, ok?"
"Actually," Ero said, giving me a gentle pull on my hand, "you have other plans this evening."
"I do?" I asked.
Ero nodded and I saw Eden introduce herself to Samira and then hand her gently off to Ty. Pyra scooped up all of my luggage in one arm and Samira's in the other and followed them. She turned around just before they disappeared into the darkness away from the lights of the ship.
"Ero, when you get to the chocolate, thank Ty. He made it."
They walked away and I felt Ero turn me so that I faced him.
"Chocolate?" I asked.
I was confused, but the sparkle in Ero's eyes intrigued me. He guided me down the steps of the platform and we walked slowly away from the ship. There was a brief moment after we stepped away from the lights of the ship where the darkness around us was almost impenetrable, then my eyes adjusted and I felt the moonlight washing over me. The light pooled at our feet as Ero continued to guide me away from the compound toward an area of the planet I hadn't had the opportunity to see during my short first visit.
"Are you going to tell me where you're taking me?" I asked, something about the situation causing me to nearly whisper rather than using my full voice.
"No," he said.
"Why?"
"Because then it wouldn't be a surprise."
I fell silent and allowed him to guide me along until we reached what looked like a small, still lake of purple water. The surface glittered with tiny candles tucked into large blue flowers that floated on top of the water. It created an almost mesmerizing effect and I barely noticed him leading me toward a blanket stretched across the ground.
"A picnic?" I asked.
"You don't like it?"
I turned to him, feeling the beginnings of tears in my eyes.
"It's perfect."
We settled onto the blanket and Ero opened the square basket positioned on the edge. He started pulling out containers containing a variety of foods that I didn't recognize.
"Do you know what any of that is?" I laughed.
"Most of it," Ero said, tilting one of the containers to look through the bottom at whatever was inside.
He pulled another container out and I immediately knew what it was. I took it from his hand and opened it, pulling out a piece of brownie.
"Do you know what this is?" I asked, not knowing how familiar the Denynso were with Earth foods.
"Chocolate?" he said, sounding like he was making a complete guess.
I nodded and pulled onto my knees so I could lean toward him.
"Have you ev
er tasted chocolate?"
He shook his head and I crawled slightly forward so I was close enough to him to hold the piece of brownie to his lips. Without taking his gaze from mine, he opened his mouth and let me place the brownie on his tongue. I watched as his eyes widened and then darkened slightly as the taste flooded through his mouth. His lips closed over my fingers and I withdrew them slowly.
"Thank you, Ty," he muttered and I laughed softly.
Ero reached into the container and took out another small piece of brownie. I parted my lips so he could feed me, letting my tongue slip across his finger as I closed my mouth. He drew in a breath and his face came close to mine. His lips brushed mine softly and he paused, keeping them hovering close enough that I could feel his breath on my face. He waited until I leaned closer to him, offering my mouth to him, to kiss me again. This kiss was deep, passionate, and tasted rich like chocolate. When he pulled back, we were both breathless.
"Are you hungry?" he asked quietly and I shook my head.
"No."
"Come with me."
He helped me to my feet and led me around the edge of the lake. I watched the candles floating on the surface of the water as we walked, and it seemed like their glow was guiding me away from everything in the past and toward something incredible that I hadn't even begun to imagine. When we reached the opposite side of the lake, he paused and gestured toward a steep path cut into a rock face.
"Are you serious?" I asked.
"Trust me."
"Is this your way of trying to get me to lose weight?"
I was joking, but I felt his hand come to my lower back and apply pressure to my hip until I turned around to face him. He stepped toward me so that I stepped back and pressed to the rock wall. My breath caught as I felt his body brush against mine.
"I never want to hear you say that again, do you understand?" I nodded breathlessly, overwhelmed by his sudden exertion of power. "Because I love you," he dipped his head down to kiss the curve of my neck and shoulder, his hands coming to my hips, "Every inch of you," his touch traveled to my waist and up to my ribs, "Every single beautiful inch," his thumbs brushed across my nipples and I gasped, "I haven't seen enough of you. I want to see more."