by Belle Harper
I nodded and sniffled. “I wanted to tell you, but any time I felt like I could, I would remember the girls in the room. If I told you, would something happen to them because I didn't keep my mouth shut? Would Booker kill them because I spoke up? Or kill me? I pushed you all away. I wanted you to hate me, avoid me, so that I wouldn't slip up and tell you. Pushing you all away to keep the others safe. But we are safe now…”
There wasn't a dry eye at the table; all of us were crying now. The mates had no idea what to do with all their females crying. They fussed and brought us food and water. But no matter what they did, we cried it out. Sometimes it’s the only way to get past something.
For me, it was healing.
Chapter Six
K’Tem
It only took eight hours in the smaller craft to get to mine eighty-seven. As I stepped out and into the humid air that was Aaryzn, it was when reality really hit me. I was here. My feet were on the same soil as my fated. I felt a huge sense of relief; I was so close. My hearts beating in overtime at the thought of having her soon in my arms. I just had to track to where she was and that was now the difficult part.
I turned to see some prisoners unloading food and drinking water from the cargo bay. I questioned why we had drinking water transported here when there was an abundance of water on Aarzyn.
“The water is for the M’Mori only. Where the mines are, the water has been contaminated. Sometimes the prisoners run off in search of fresh water, but we always find them and bring them back. They all have trackers, so we don’t lose any. Sometimes I let them go close to the natives… just for fun. To see what they would do.” He chuckled, but I didn’t laugh with him. What the hell was he saying? He let prisoners close to the Aashi to see what they would do? Did he mean the Aashi or the prisoners?
He tilted his head, waiting for my response. I nodded at his words, although I didn’t agree with them. I saw then they were unloading cages full of slaves.
I felt a hand on my shoulder as I watched the males from a planet I only knew from my books during my schooling years… Zalli. The males were similar to the human males on earth, they had the protruding nose, two arms and legs. Yet, they were colored differently to humans. I knew from my books that the color came from the different tribes and places they lived on Zalli—like the Aashi—except these were much easier to tell.
I saw blue and green males in chains moving out of the small cage, being forced to walk as a soldier used a holo-wand on them. The holo-wand was charged with an energy that would burn and scar the skin. My feet moved towards them, I wanted to stop the guard for his treatment towards them.
“Ah, these warrior males are strong. You watch them out there working. You will see. They are better than any of the shit they send us from Xurdo.” The soldier was referring to the planet that housed hundreds of thousands of prisoners. Xurdo Prison Planet. It would be where I ended up if I were caught leaving my post.
I just hoped that R’Nam could make it look like I traveled back, and no one would ask questions or come looking for me. Which meant I would be leaving all my weapons here. They would be tracked. I didn’t have a tracker on me other than my M’Mori government issued datawatch. All M’Mori carried one, which was also a translator for those who chose not to get the implant later on—if you could afford one. Having a brother who was good with tech meant my whole family had the implants. So, I would leave my datawatch behind because I would understand the Aashi language, but I wasn’t able to speak it fluently. I would take only my datapad with me for the trip I had ahead. I had the human language of English programmed in there, also the Aashi language, in case I needed to speak with them and I needed a better translation.
I heard a guttural call and looked up as one of the blue males was on his knees, the soldier was now holding the holo-wand to his neck. Everything in me screamed to go to him, stop this brutality, this taking of warriors from their planet and enslaving them here, to live their lives in the mines. Then, if they survived that, sent to Theros Six to fight in the gladiator rings for the remainder of their lives.
I just hoped that with all the information I had supplied R’Nam, he would be able to somehow stop this from continuing. I couldn’t take this anymore. I turned and followed soldiers to where my sleeping quarters were. I would rest this night and begin my journey in the early hours of dawn.
I had packed my bag. I included eight days worth of food. As M’Mori, we were meat eaters and I knew the Aashi were mostly vegetarian. So, this was something I would need to get used to. I knew what was edible here on Aarzyn, so once I ran out, I would be able to eat the same foods my fated does.
My gun was with me for now. I didn’t want to leave that behind in my quarters. It would hint to something being wrong and I didn’t want that. I wanted time on my side. I ate a quick meal with two other soldiers who were bragging about how much damage the holo-wand had done to the Zalli warrior’s throat last night. It made me sick that these were the types of people that the M’Mori could become. That anyone could want to inflict that kind of pain on anyone.
“You’re in Section A, do you have the mine downloaded on your datawatch?” I nodded to the supervisor. I did have the map downloaded so I could make my way out of here. I would get to Section A, but once there I would leave my watch and gun.
I followed some of the soldiers out and into the mine. It was huge, the dust and dirt was purple and white. It was deep in many sections where they had dug down low to get the aket. I was finally alone, walking to my post in Section A. The others broke away to man their sections, chatting to each other like this was a normal day on Mori Mori. Except they abused and took advantage of unarmed slaves.
Section A came into view. There was a post high above the mine here, it was to watch the prisoners and make sure they were doing their duty. I had a list of numbers that referred to each prisoner and slave that worked and lived in this section.
“K’Tem, I assume. You’re younger than I expected.” I stopped and stood tall in front of the M’Mori who greeted me. His uniform was unwashed and he had an odor about him that wasn’t pleasant. He was my superior, so I had to show him respect. Not that I had any for him. Or any of the soldiers here.
“Yes, first time here. Working my way up,” I replied, hoping he could hear the fake enthusiasm in my voice and not the shame I had for being M’Mori in this moment. He looked me up and down, then spat over the side of the post. I couldn’t see much below, the fog covered most of the mine this morning.
“Ah, one of them achievers. Well, you will take watch on the ground, make sure these fuckers don’t get out of line.” He nodded for me to follow him inside. “Put your shit in there and move down into the mine. Don’t worry, aket takes months to cause damage… Maybe not the best place to be if you ever wanna have kids in the long run, kid. Might want to pick somewhere else to work up the ranks.”
I froze at his statement. I had never heard of aket causing fertility damage. I felt a hot wave wash over me as I realized what we had done. And how a vicious cycle was starting to be made. The Aashi were struggling to give birth to females. They needed females, we gave them humans in payment to mine aket. This was the reason they needed the humans in the first place. We had upset the balance here. Nature. We were slowly killing out the Aashi race and they didn’t seem to care.
I knew then I had to call my brother. I couldn’t leave today. I would have to leave tomorrow. He needed to know, he had to warn the Universal Federation on what was going on here. How did they not know this?
First, I would do what I could to help the Aashi, then I would find my Jessica.
Chapter Seven
Jessica
I had been staying in a hut that was very small compared to the other girls’. The stupid chosen guys had been locked away in a primitive jail cell. They would call out randomly and threaten the males here. They didn’t know what to do with them. I was asked what I wanted, and well, I didn’t want them dead, that was for sure. Because, yeah, that
was an option. I just wanted them to leave me alone, so they were set on their way back to Clan Ariaan. They left without any issues. I was glad to have that behind me.
I had spoken to a few of the single guys here. I had no intention of doing more than that. I wasn’t going to just pick one because I had to. We were here now, and everything was good. Well, as good as it could be. One that I enjoyed talking to was Koh. He was a builder here, and apparently had been here from the start. He was working on a special hut just for me. He had been the one to organize all the building around here. Quinn had him constructing a large covered hut for the main eating area.
“Do you like Koh?” Brooklyn asked as she pointed to where I just left him. I shrugged. I was kinda getting annoyed with her trying to set me up with single guys.
“Yeah, he is nice, but that’s it. I told you to stop trying to set me up. We’re just friends and I like that he doesn’t follow me around like a dog, so it makes it easy to talk to him.”
Plus, he was nice and made me happy when I was around him. He was always asking what I would like in my hut, which I thought was wonderful. He was making sure it had everything I needed. I wanted a smaller room in there where I could put the “pot” used for peeing. I didn’t shit in it. I would just have to deal with digging a hole and squatting behind a tree like everyone else did for that.
But the thing I liked best about him was he didn’t follow me around with puppy dog eyes and leave me gifts like so many others did. I saw them watching me and I had no interest in this; I wasn’t here for them. I was here because I thought the girls would understand me needing to go to the Goddess Arena to find K’Tem.
“I’m sorry, I don’t mean to.” Brooklyn’s face fell and I knew I had been a little snappy.
“I’m sorry, I have my period and have really bad cramps.” It was the truth, but still, I shouldn’t have been rude. I had just started to really form close friendships with all the girls, and I didn’t want to set myself backwards because I was feeling crabby, but my period had come just like clockwork. Which was why I didn’t bathe like the others did this morning. I took some water with me and washed to the side. I just told them I wasn’t feeling like a bath. The fog in the morning hid everyone, but it wasn’t the warmest time to be in the water. It was barely warm. I needed something hot to help with the cramps.
“Oh wow, yeah. That’s gotta suck, and there is no Advil here to help out with the cramps. Did you want anything? Shit… What are you using to… you know? I could ask one of my mates or maybe they wouldn’t understand… No, I think that would be new for them because their females go into heat and this is not the same…” I smiled and shook my head at her. Brooklyn was one of a kind, that was for sure.
“I have it all under control. Don’t worry, I don’t need you to tell anyone. I don’t want more males chasing after me.”
She nodded in understanding. I was worried if they knew I was in “heat,” as their females were, they might up their game. And I didn’t need any more than what I was dealing with already.
“No, you’re right. I wouldn’t want to think about mates and stuff while I was cramping. Which, sometimes I feel cramps and I worry that I’m losing the baby. But it’s a strong little baby. I hope childbirth isn’t too hard.”
I looked down to where she held her belly again. And for someone eight weeks along, she sure was showing big. I worked with a woman who you couldn’t tell she was pregnant until she was six months along. Brooklyn was two months, and for her tiny frame, she really had this little round belly.
“You mean babies?” I questioned. She had to know she might be baking more than one. She laughed and nodded.
“Yes, we have all been talking about how there must be more than one in there. Or one really big baby.” My eyes widened at that thought. I wouldn’t want to have a baby here on Aarzyn, well, without medical help. I wanted to be a mother, that was something I had dreamed of since I was a little girl.
But I sure as hell knew I didn’t want a big baby coming out of me. Maybe it was one but it had all those extra arms and tails taking up space? It was going to be interesting to see what the babies looked like when they all arrived. I was excited for that part. I wanted to be here and support all the girls. Even if I didn’t have a mate.
“Let’s go help out Makee and Tomlee. They are stripping some leaves for us to make baby blankets. It will give us something to do. Pass the time.” I nodded. Sounded better than working myself up on a guy that didn’t seem to be coming. I knew it wouldn’t be by choice. He did say it would be hard. I just hoped he wasn’t in trouble.
Brooklyn wrapped her arms around me. I sighed as I wrapped mine around her. I needed that. My chest already felt lighter. “Thanks,” I whispered into her hair.
She pulled away and gave me her beautiful smile. “I love hugs and it looked like you needed one. Anytime you want a hug, I’m here for you.”
I followed her over to where Makee and Tomlee, his brother, were stripping the leaves. I had seen how they made them into blankets last week but I hadn’t joined in. Until now.
“Hello Jee-seka,” Tomlee greeted me. He had been one of the guys hanging around me a lot. And yes, he had brought me a gift of a blanket, but when I told him no, he was understanding and took it away. He hadn’t done it since, but I knew he was still interested.
“Hi, Tomlee.” It was quiet and awkward for a few moments as Makee and Brooklyn started making out. Seriously? Right here?
“We will be right back, I gotta pee so bad. I need to pee like a million times a day.” I nodded, but when Brooklyn and Makee got up and started to walk away, they both looked back at me and I could see the sly grin on Brooklyn’s face. I realized this was just a set up, and I wanted to scream at her for tricking me. She had a big thing about me choosing Tomlee as a mate. I just felt bad that he thought he had a chance.
“Just so you know, Brooklyn is a meddler. I have no intentions of taking a mate. I’m waiting for the mate I chose. The M’Mori mate I have told everyone about. You understand that, right?”
Tomlee listened to only half the translator words; he knew a lot of English. Way more than most.
“Of course, Jee-seka. I know of this. I will be your friend. I hope your mate comes. He is very lucky to have such a wonderful mate.”
I looked up and saw him smiling, ugh… He was too nice. And sweet. But his sweet charms wouldn’t work. They wouldn’t… Nope, no way. Wasn’t happening. I wasn’t having more than one mate. That’s all I wanted.
But why was I always getting that little bit worked up around him… Why did my body sing to be touched by him?
Ugh, was there something in the water? Was that why the girls had so many mates? If so, I was staying away from the water hole.
“I’m going for a walk.” I needed to be away from him. Maybe it was my period. It was different to my usual ones so maybe the water was doing something to my hormones. I walked away as fast as I could, turning to see all the different males watching me. One of them smiled and waved. I rolled my eyes.
As soon as I got out into the woods, I knew how far I could go before one of them would be by my side. What I didn’t expect was to see Quinn… naked.
I gasped and covered my mouth. Was that? I squinted my eyes and realized that was her mate. The one that was missing an eye. She was sucking his cock while he hung in the tree upside down and he had his face buried in her pussy.
“Suck it,” I heard him growl out to her. I quickly spun on my heel and ran back towards the hut I was staying in. It was like everywhere I turned, there were happy and very satisfied women, pregnant bellies, and loud fucking, day and night.
Just didn’t expect to see it today… At least it wasn’t in the water hole.
Chapter Eight
Koh
I had been very careful with the way I acted in front of the beautiful Jee-seka. She was setting my mating hormones crazy and she had spoken so many times of waiting for her mate. I didn’t mean to overhear her, I just
wanted to know if she was happy or sad. She was mostly sad; she cried many times in the first few days. Begging to be taken to the Goddess Arena where her mate would come for her.
I was building her a hut; I wanted her to have something special for her mate when he came. I wanted to also talk with her every day. And letting her decide what she wanted for her hut made it easy for me to have to speak with her.
When she ran past me and back to her hut, I started after her. What happened to cause this reaction? Did she run into more males trying to show how good they would be as mates? I knew she had many males wishing to be chosen by her, but the other two women who came with her did also. Yet, they had yet to take on more mates, but Zigur—Luna’s mate—had told us all that they were willing. But they would do it like Brooklyn did with her dates.
“Where are you going, Koh? There is more work to be done. This hut is more than we have ever built, with many rooms inside. This is not like regular huts. And it is taking longer than we expected.” I turned to see my longtime friend, Apak, pointing to where the hut was being built.
He was right, it was more than we had ever done, but I was also hoping to one day live in it also. I loved that I could build something different, that I could use my skills, ones I had to hide in my past clan. And being a part of Clan Wolf, it was as if I started living for the first time when I was accepted here by Luna and her mates.
“I was going to see Jee-seka. To see if she was feeling okay. She rushed back to her hut and I was concerned.” Apak chuckled and shook his dark hair at me.
“Ah, you are affected by this one, yes?” I didn’t answer him; I didn’t want it to be known, didn’t want her to avoid me if she found out, but yes. She made my cock hard, and I stroked it more than Daku did when he was around Luna for the first time.