by Octavia Kore
“Is that why you got punished?”
“Hm?” My brows furrow and my head whips back toward the little girl. “What was that?”
“Did you get punished for drinking the tea? Or was it because you talked to strangers?”
My eyebrows nearly climb to my hairline and I can feel my cheeks start to redden again. “What do you mean?” I ask with a nervous laugh.
“I heard you get punished last night.” Her gaze is curious as she watches my face, her little foot tapping the ground as she waits for my answer.
“That’s a conversation for when you’re bigger.” I manage to choke out.
She huffs, folding her arms over her chest just as Aquilian walks into the room. “You told me we could talk about anything!” Doxal laughs at my discomfort again, drawing Aquilian’s gaze. Quills rattle softly as my gentle alien scoops Kareen up into his arms, he presses his face into her ringlets and she giggles when his crest vibrates against her cheek. Her little hand wraps around one of his quills, something I’ve seen her do often when she is seeking comfort, and she snuggles into his chest as he settles himself on the floor. “Why can’t we talk about your punish-”
“Kareen,” I warn softly. She’s a kid, they’re curious, but I’m not ready to have a conversation about my spanking and subsequent fucking with my six-year-old charge. “We can talk about anything, but let’s save this conversation for when you’re older, alright?”
She looks like she’s about to argue her case some more when a soft rumble, not quite a snore, comes from Aquilian.
“Is he sleeping?” she whispers, trying to twist her head to see his face.
“Aquilian is really tired.” I crouch down next to them, brushing my fingertips lightly over his crest. “He stayed out all night and found Ettrian hurt in the forest. Let him sleep a little longer.”
Kareen’s blue eyes widen. “Is Ettrian okay?”
“He’s going to be fine, little one,” Both of us turn to Doxal as he pushes away from the wall he had been resting against. “Actually, I’m going to get more blooms for him now.” We watch as he disappears through the opening in the tree.
A minute or so passes after he leaves and I look directly at Kareen, making sure she is listening. “You are going to stay here and take care of Aquilian, okay? Make sure he gets some sleep.” She nods, her eyes following me as I stand. “Do not leave his side. Got it?” Another nod. “Good.” Bunnyfly bounces into the room, zeroing in on the snuggle pile at my feet.
“Where are you going?” she asks, her free hand petting Bunnyfly when the little beast jumps up into her arms.
“I’m going to go get us some food.” The lie practically burns my tongue, but she doesn’t catch it. The tree opens for me and I pause just outside to look back at them, feeling my heart squeeze a little.
It feels like I’ve been walking for hours behind Doxal, maintaining a safe distance between us in the hopes that he doesn’t notice me. All I can see are his black tipped quills when they rise in response to each little noise. Keeping up with Doxal’s long stride is forcing me to acknowledge just how out of shape I am. Sweat drips from my brow, down the side of my face, and I use my forearm to wipe it away. The path is hardly easy to follow and it makes me wish I hadn’t left my woven shoes back at the tree. Each time a twig juts up between my toes I seriously consider burning the forest down, or at least giving up and turning around.
Logically, I know what I’m doing isn’t very smart and Aquilian will probably have a thing or two to say about it once I get back to the tree, but I need to know what kind of aliens these brothers are. They admitted to being sent down here to “breed” me, but I’m still not sure exactly what that means or who sent them here for that purpose. Neither Doxal nor Yssig have been anything other than helpful since last night, but there is something in the way they look at me that puts me on edge.
Another sharp jab to my foot has me gritting my teeth together against the pain. I love plants. I will not burn the forest down. It’s my own stupid fault for not grabbing my shoes. There’s a soft snap from under me as I step down and I freeze when Doxal stops in his tracks. Shit. I watch anxiously as he turns slowly, scanning the trees off to his left.
“Why are you following me, Inoxia?” His head whips in my direction and I gasp, stumbling backward as his black gaze lands on me.
“Um, I thought you were going for fruit and I wanted to learn how to get them.” The lie is unconvincing, even to my own ears, and it makes me cringe.
He takes a step toward me and every cell in my body shivers at the danger I know I’ve put myself in. “I said I was coming out here for the blooms.” The stare he pierces me with makes it obvious he doesn’t believe me. “Why are you lying to me?”
The forest around me is filled with strange noises and even stranger creatures. While following Doxal, I’ve kept an eye and ear out for anything that might try to sneak up on me, for any beast that might be waiting to attack, but now I see that I was following the real beast the whole time. Where is the Doxal from last night? Where is the Doxal who told me he was trying to help me? Everything around us has gone silent and I’m standing across from an alien who knows I’ve lied and what I see in his eyes terrifies me.
The only thing I can hear is the sound of my heart beating quickly inside my chest, and the soft rustle of the leaves as the wind pushes through them. There is hardly a breath of space between us as he comes to a stop in front of me, our feet almost touching as he stares down at me. The tension between us is palpable. It reminds me of an article I once read about what it’s like moments before a tsunami hits, when it feels like the whole world holds its breath as the wave looms over the shore. Instead of a wave crashing down on me, Doxal’s strong arms clamp around my body, pinning my own arms to my sides as I struggle against him. His face drops down to mine, his lips brushing against my cheek as his quills rattle loudly.
“I’m sorry,” he whispers in my ear. “They’ll kill her if I don’t do this.”
His sister. They mentioned her last night, but my mind had been so clouded by the tea that I hadn’t thought to ask about her. “Wait!” I try to dig my feet into the ground only to realize I’m no longer able to feel it beneath me. “Put me down!”
Doxal grunts and shifts me in his arms. “I can’t. You don’t understand them.”
“Then make me understand! Tell me who they are, what they want from you, from me!” He ignores my plea. “Aquilian! Help! Aquilian!” I reach out along the bond.
This gets Doxal’s attention and my neck snaps to the side as I’m yanked in front of him. “You can shout along the bond all you want, but you will accomplish nothing aside from drawing every predator in the area to us.” His lip curls up in a sneer as he watches my face. “Aquilian may be your mate, but you are not Dauur and have not yet learned how to control your thoughts. He cannot hear you from this distance, but …” He pauses, something sinister and unstable flashing in his eyes as he leans down to whisper to me, “my brother is still with your mates and your kit.” The threat is unmistakable. If I don’t listen to him, Yssig will harm the people I care about and there is nothing I can do to stop it. I can’t reach Aquilian and Ettrian is still healing; there is no way for me to warn them that they shouldn’t trust Yssig.
“Please…”
His grip on me tightens again as I’m lifted higher. “This isn’t what we want either.” He sounds exhausted.
I want to feel sympathy for them, but I’m finding it difficult. Sure, Doxal makes it sound like he doesn’t have a choice, but don’t we all? They are taking away what little freedom I’ve had since coming here. They are taking away my choice. Just like Trent had. I feel the old panic surge inside of me. So many therapy sessions and medications, so much hard work I’d put into heal myself from his abuse and I could feel all my control slipping away. Breathe. Get control of yourself so you can figure out how to get out of this situation and back to the tree. I try not to think about the fact that I may never see Kareen, Aq
uilian, or Ettrian ever again. Even not seeing Bunnyfly has me choking up a little. I push all of those thoughts aside because I will find my way back to them.
“Kareen will be safe?” Doxal nods. “And Aquilian and Ettrian? They won’t be hurt?”
“You’re the one they need.” Is his only response.
Well, fine then. He carries me under mushrooms taller than he is, through trees that twist this way and that, and around animals that I don’t have names for. They look like they have scorpion tails, talons like a bird, white fur, and deceitfully innocent looking eyes. They’re absolutely terrifying!
Doxal walks until he reaches a solid wall of what looks almost like glass. His hand moves along it until he finds something that I can’t see and a light glows beneath his palm. The glass slowly breaks down, seeming to dissolve into a doorway just big enough for us to fit through before snapping closed behind us. Has this been keeping us in or out this whole time? My eyes are searching everywhere for something to slow him down, but I see nothing. There is nothing I can do. If I kick I am only going to piss him off and I don't know where Yssig is at this point or if they can still communicate from this distance. Me fighting him could put everyone at the tree in danger.
My eyes travel over the shrubs as we pass by them and I’m startled for a moment by what I see. Hiding just between some trees is an actual Venium warrior. His long white hair hangs loosely around his shoulders, black skin blending in with the bark on the trunks of the trees, and scars cross over his body as his green fushori glows softly. I quickly turn my face away, not wanting to alert Doxal to what I’ve seen. Think, think, think! As quietly as I can, I wave my hand at the male, my eyes locking on his. Please help! Please don’t be a part of this. The Venium cocks his head to the side and narrows his gaze before I lose sight of him.
Aliens, trees that you can talk to, strange animals, some sort of barrier keeping us in, and a Venium warrior that I’m not sure is native to this planet. At this point, I’m not sure much else can surprise me. I’m proven wrong when I glance up and my mouth drops open. Where there was once just a forest of trees and the hint of massive mountains in the distance a structure is visible that must have been cloaked before. The white building forms a hexagon and little pods branch off from the main segment which is topped by a large dome. My heart pounds against the inside of my chest as the doors at the front begin to open. My first look at the aliens who have apparently sent Doxal and Yssig to breed me drains all the blood from my face. Disgust rolls through me and I clutch at Doxal’s arms in panic as we draw closer. “What the fuck?” These guys are giant freaking houseflies!
Chapter 16
Ettrian
Someone is crying out for help. The sound of their screams bounce around inside of the dark depths of my mind, clawing, and hammering at me relentlessly. Xia? Why does she sound so distressed? My fingers reach out to the shadow of her but come back with tendrils of smoke instead. Why can I not reach out to her? The bond, which is already weak, is growing weaker and weaker by the second. I cannot tell if this is another nightmare or if I have been captured again. Suddenly, a familiar soft voice breaks through the darkness as I struggle to push myself toward consciousness.
“Ettrian?” Kareen whispers. “I don’t know if you can hear me inside the tree, but I wanted to tell you that I’m really scared.”
Again I shove against the darkness trying to rise above the sea of emotion that floods me. The need to be free and help my mate is so strong that I feel overwhelmed by it. Everything within me screams to reach out to her, but I find nothing when I try. She is not there and that terrifies me more than anything. The fear in my kit’s voice breaks my heart and I fight harder, swimming up through the gloom that pulls at me.
“Xia told me she was going out to get more food while Aquilian took a nap. She said he was really tired because he found you and you were hurt.” She sniffles quietly. “I’m sorry you got hurt. The other guy that came in last night is being weird and Xia isn’t back yet. I don’t want Aquilian to leave me here to go look for her, but I want her to come home.”
The other guy? Sweet Sun Father, the other males that were sent by the aliens must have discovered my family before I made it back here. I am going to tear them to pieces. Again, I shove at the darkness. I will not let Kareen be afraid another moment longer.
“Please! I don’t want anything bad to happen to Xia. She’s the best mom I’ve ever had.” Her voice breaks and I hear her begin to cry. “I don’t remember my real mom, but I remember the first time I met Xia. She has a really, really big garden called a greenhouse and she showed me all of her flowers and how she plants them. Her mom and dad are super nice and I wanted them to be my grandma and grandpa, but now we aren’t on Earth anymore.”
The urge to comfort the kit is overwhelming. Warmth works its way through me and my muscles begin to twitch. Get up! Wake!
“I don’t want you to be gone either. I like having a mom and I really, really like having two dads. I don’t know anybody who gets to live with both of their dads. Please don’t leave us, Ettrian. Please come back so we can find Xia.”
I can never leave her, not even when my body grows old and frail do I think I will be able to part from her. Everything that I am is my mate, my partnership, my family, my kit. My kit needs me. My body starts to respond, my fingers flex, my toes wiggle. From what my kit has said, she has been alone for too long already. I will not let her down again… I will not let them down again. My eyes fly open and I gasp for breath. I am inside the seed pod. Aquilian must have gotten to me in time. Outside, Kareen gasps as the entire pod shakes from the force of my struggle.
“Ettrian?”
“Move away, Kareen!” Her little footsteps retreat and I slam myself into the side of the pod once, twice. On my third attempt, the seed pod shatters and I fall to the floor of the tree.
“Ettrian!” she screams before launching herself at my body.
I catch her and pull her tightly against my chest, squeezing as I gently rock us. “Shh, no more tears. We will fix this.”
Her raw emotions beat against me stronger than ever before as she clutches at my neck. Terror, love, and sadness wash through her so fast I have a hard time latching onto any of them. “I missed you.” Her little hand snakes up to wrap around one of my quills in the way I have seen her do so many times with my twin.
“I missed you too, daughter.”
“I thought you were going to die in there,” she sniffles.
“The seed pods make you better. They won’t hurt you.” My quills rattle softly as I grab her delicate hand. “Besides, how could I leave you alone? You would tear apart the whole tree.”
Kareen pulls away to touch my face before she plants a tiny, soft kiss on my cheek. “I want my mama back.”
My throat constricts at the sight of the big tear that rolls down her cheek and I know I will do anything in my power to keep her from feeling this way ever again. “We will find your mama.”
“Do you pinky promise?”
“Do I what?” I shake my head, not knowing what ‘pinky promise’ means, but it is not important. I need to know what has happened in my absence. Speaking out loud for the first time in my life is an odd feeling. “Tell me everything.”
“And then she got punished by Aquilian, but she wouldn’t tell me why. She said I have to wait ’til I’m older.” Kareen’s lower lip pokes out in the same way Xia’s does from time to time. Since the day I met her, I have never heard the kit speak so many words at once. Even when she is upset and ‘throwing a tantrum’ as Xia calls it, she never talks this much. Especially not to me. Aquilian has always been her favorite and it is not hard to understand why. My twin has endless amounts of patience and love to give and it makes my heart happy to know she loves him just as fiercely.
The last thing she says finally filters into my mind. “Punished?” By Aquilian?
“Yeah! She got in big trouble for talking to strangers. You aren’t supposed to do that.” she adds
in a whisper.
Anxiety eats at me and I feel the overwhelming need to find my twin and get the rest of the story. I am beginning to think that something terrible has happened to Xia. What concerns me the most is that, according to Kareen, my mate and one of the other males have gone missing. Worry settles like a stone in my stomach and I ruffle the kit’s head fur, holding her close to my chest as I stand and follow the pull of the bond to the main room where I can feel Aquilian’s presence.
Aside from my twin’s sleeping form, the main room is empty. I stomp over to Aquilian, annoyed and frustrated that he could possibly fall asleep while two strange males are in our dwelling with our kit and mate, but I stop short. He looks like a kit himself, one arm beneath his head while the other curls protectively around the rammit Kareen has adopted. I do not remember the last time I saw him look so at peace and I almost feel bad for having to wake him.
Nudging his curled leg with my foot, I reach out along the bond, prodding his mind softly. Kareen’s little hand is still clutched in mine and she flexes it gently, rubbing her thumb along my skin. She might not be the daughter of my blood, but she certainly is the daughter of my heart and I cannot imagine my life without her or her mama in it. Panic surges within me and I kick Aquilian a little harder.
“Brother! Get up,” A frustrated growl tears from my throat when he merely turns over, ignoring me. “Aquilian, our mate is missing! Wake up!”
His eyes shoot open and he bolts upright, sending the rammit fleeing in a panic from the room. A rattle works its way through his quills as his eyes dart around the room before they slowly land on me.
“Where did she go, Kareen?” He asks groggily.
“She said she was going to get something to eat. I was supposed to stay right next to you, but I got scared.” She ducks her head meekly into my neck as if she is afraid Aquilian will be angry with her.