by Octavia Kore
Ky saw the light of her fushori reflected in her female’s eyes as she lifted their youngling into her arms, carefully laying her against her chest. “I need to go back out soon.” She said, tilting her head to take in Eina’s sweet, comforting scent. “You will need food and more galak.”
Esme looked up, her body stiffening as she pulled the pants over her hips. “I’ll be here alone?”
With Xuvri.
She didn’t say the words, but Ky knew what she meant. Esme didn’t want to be alone on the ship with their male, and to be perfectly honest, Ky didn’t want that either. There should be mutual respect among mates, and Xuvri had crossed a line. She wasn’t willing to leave their female and youngling with him until Esme was comfortable with the idea. Still, they needed supplies. Gathering the herbs in the dark had been a challenge, but it should be far easier now that the sun had risen.
“I will ask him to come with me,” Ky told her, arranging one of the cloth diapers, as Esme called it, into a triangle before laying Eina on top. With practiced hands, Ky wrapped the younglings bottom, tucking the ends into the folds at the back since she’d found nothing they could use for pins.
“What if he comes back on his own before you finish?” Esme stared at the closed door, her teeth worrying her lower lip as she moved toward the wall. “On the other ship, there were manual locks, sort of like a backup for the electronic ones.” Her hand moved over the metal, sliding along the inside of the frame until Ky heard a faint click. Esme pushed against the door, turning back with a victorious grin when it didn’t budge. “Got it.”
“I will try to be quick,” Ky said as she stepped out into the dark, empty hall. She looked back at her mate, taking the female in for a moment before leaning down and pressing a kiss to her forehead. “Until the Sun meets the Moons.”
When her female and offspring were safely locked inside the room, Ky made her way back through the halls of the ship, following the shuffling and clattering sounds to the large room they’d all occupied before Eina’s birth. She stood just inside the doorway, watching as her mate rummaged through the drawers and cabinets. He had pulled nearly everything out, creating small piles on the floor. His sorting system didn’t make much sense to her, but not much of what he had done so far did.
“I need to leave the ship,” Ky said, stepping into the room. Xuvri didn’t stop his search, but he grunted in what she assumed was a response to her statement. “Come with me.”
“I’m busy.” He grumbled, knocking items from the shelves onto the floor.
“It was not a question. Come out of the ship with me. Now.”
“Female…” he hissed, his body going rigid. “Do not push me.”
“I will push you out the door if I need to,” Ky said through gritted teeth. “We are both leaving the ship.”
Xuvri spun on her with a growl, his red eyes narrowed as he stalked across the room. She felt like prey caught in the sights of a hungry predator, but she refused to give into the fear that tried to rise up within her. This was her male, the future sire of her offspring, and she would not back down.
Her lips twitched, pulling back into a snarl as he approached, crowding her, forcing her into the hall until her shoulder blades pressed into the cold metal wall. They glared at one another, and Ky struggled to find the male who had woken up and called them mates, who had told them his life story, who had held her against him with such care after the birth of their daughter.
Xuvri lowered his head, ignoring Ky’s warning growl. His breath huffed out against the side of her face, rushing over her xines and disturbing the loose strands of her hair. He was scenting her, drawing her in. A low rattle worked its way through his body, washing over Ky as he nuzzled the side of her neck and jaw before his lips moved against the lobe of her ear.
“It won’t be much longer, female,” he whispered. “I can smell your heat.”
As if in response to his words, Ky felt the cramping return even stronger than before, stealing her breath. Xuvri’s claws skimmed down her belly, tracing lines on her skin as her muscles contracted. It wasn’t a matter of if she went into heat, but when. Most females bled within a few days after the cramping began, and if that were true for her, Ky was due to begin within the next day or so.
“My beautiful females,” he murmured against her skin as he moved his lips down her neck and over the top of her shoulder. “I’m going to breed you.”
Excitement jolted through her body at the promise she heard in his words, and the female within her who had longed for this her whole life fought against the one who knew this male wasn’t Xuvri. This was not the male she wanted, but some impostor who slipped in and took him over. Ky pressed her hand against his chest, feeling for the opening where his plates hadn’t grown back before pressing her claws into the soft flesh of his healing wound.
Xuvri grunted, his head lifting as he stared down at her hand before those red eyes turned on her face again. It was like watching a mask being lifted, and that terrified and confused her. His eyes cleared as his mouth turned down into a frown. Was this something he could control, or was this thing controlling him?
His frown deepened as he took her in. “What are you wearing?” he asked suddenly.
The question caught her off guard. “Clothing,” she said, cursing herself the moment the word tumbled from her mouth.
Xuvri’s lip twitched. “I can see that.” He ran his finger over the ties on her shoulders. “My clothing.”
“Oh…” Ky wet her lips as her fingers moved to the top she’d fashioned.
“I like the way they smell on you,” he murmured. “And the way they look.”
“Esme needs to eat,” Ky said, her palm flattening against their male’s chest as he leaned in. “If she is to produce enough milk to feed Eina, she needs more of the galak and food. Neither of which we have here on the ship.”
Something she said seemed to bank the desire she felt rolling off of him. “Eina? You chose a name for the offspring?”
“I hope we did not overstep, but neither of us liked calling her ‘the youngling’ or ‘the baby’ over and over,” Ky shrugged, slipping out from between his big body and the wall. “She needed a name, and Esme and I chose one that fit her.” Ky jerked her head toward the end of the hallway. “Come.” Without waiting for him to respond, she made her way through the darkness, smiling just a little when she heard his footsteps echoing behind her.
“You are her dams. There was no overstepping. Where is Esme?”
“She is locked inside the room with Eina,” Ky told him.
“You mean to leave them here alone?” Xuvri’s hand shot out, gripping hers when she reached forward to pry the door to the outside open. “What if something comes for them?”
Ky frowned. “I certainly do not mean to bring them with me, and the only thing our female fears coming for her right now is you.”
Xuvri stumbled back as if she’d physically struck him, and she wondered for a moment if she had spoken too harshly.
No, she decided, not too harsh.
Ky squared her shoulders as he stared down at her, his tail coiling along the floor at her feet before he nodded slowly.
“As long as they are safe,” he ground out before turning away and pressing his hand against one of the metal panels. It sank into the wall, sliding open to reveal a shallow storage space filled with a variety of objects. “To gather the food,” Xuvri said, pulling a few mesh bags from their hooks and handing them to her.
“Thank you,” Ky said. “I am not sure if you noticed, but there is something I wished to speak with you about concerning Eina.”
Xuvri paused mid-step, turning to look back at her with wide eyes. “Is there something wrong with her?”
“I would not consider it wrong, but it did seem unusual to me.” Ky fidgeted with the corner of the mesh bag. “When we bathed her, Esme and I noticed that she was born with very small and very delicate wings on her back. I am not sure how we missed them before, but I wondered if t
hey might be a side effect of the experiment the Tachin spoke of.”
“It is possible,” Xuvri said with a frown. “If they really were adding DNA to try and create something more Tachin, then perhaps that was what caused them to form. We cannot know what else will come of it until she is older.”
Ky pushed open the door and stepped out into the forest, gratefully drawing the fresh clean air into her lungs. Her hand slid over her hip, and she frowned when she remembered her knife was back in her room inside Oshen’s family home. The claws on the ends of her fingers were enough to defend herself if she needed, but priestesses weren’t normally taught any sort of hand-to-hand combat.
There were more important things for females like her to learn, but her sire hadn’t agreed. She’d been taught the basics, just enough to give her time to escape a messy situation. The knife her sire had given her afterward was one of her most treasured possessions and Ky hated that she hadn’t had time to grab it before running into the forest after Esme.
“Missing something?”
Ky shook her head as Xuvri slid the door to the ship shut, making sure it was steady before he stepped back. “I forgot I left my knife behind.”
“Here.” The male reached into the black pants he wore, pulling out a sheathed blade with a long-worn leather belt attached to it. “I’m not sure who this belonged to, but it was in one of the drawers.” Xuvri crouched down in front of her, slinging the belt around her hips and fastening it securely.
“Thank you,” Ky said, watching him rise. A cramp tore through her lower abdomen, and she winced at the piercing pain that accompanied it. They needed to gather everything and get back before she went into heat.
One of the trees the ship was wedged up against happened to be a massive galging tree. Their dark, nearly black trunks were stocky and pitted, which made them popular among the younglings for climbing. Pretty orange and yellow speckled leaves shaded the ground, and sitting high up in the branches was the smooth purple-skinned fruit the tree was named after.
“Gather some of the galging fruit from this tree.” Ky jerked her chin up toward the outstretched branches. “We need as much as you can carry.”
“Where are you going?” Xuvri asked when she turned toward the opposite direction.
“I will gather more galak for Esme. The younger kelpora trees growing near the herb patches are fruiting and I want to pick a few to bring back.” Ky paused, thinking about Laurie and the decomposed body of the alien Xuvri had called a Tachin still inside the ship. “After we have fed Esme, we should bring Laurie and the Tachin out. We honor our dead by burning their bodies and scattering their ashes, but—”
“The Tachin deserves no honor,” Xuvri growled.
“Of course not, but Laurie does.” Ky stepped closer, reaching out to brush her fingers over the nearly healed wound on his chest. “We will meet here after and build her a pyre.”
Xuvri inclined his head. “Be careful,” he said before walking away, his long, deadly tail trailing along the ground behind him.
Xuvri might confuse and frustrate her, but the sight of him in the broken light of the sun as it came through the trees made her body feel as if it were on the edge of something, just waiting to be sent over. With one last lingering look at her mate, Ky moved deeper into the forest. Pink and orange beams of light filtered down through the branches, sending a welcome warmth over her skin and reminding her of just how long it had been since she was on the surface like this.
It didn’t take her long to find the patch of wild herbs in the early morning light, and Ky gathered as much galak as she was willing to take from this location, tucking her bundle into one of the deep pockets on the altered pants she wore. The ring of kelpora trees she’d spotted on her first trip away from the ship came into view as Ky pulled herself up and over the twisted trunk of a fallen tree. Kelpora was her dam’s favorite, and Mitera had passed on that love for the fruit to Amanda during her time with them.
Ky knew she should let her dam know she was safe, but her time here was precious and she was afraid that if she told anyone outside the truth about what was happening, then this fragile bubble they were living in would burst. Then there was her heat to worry about. Explaining to Esme what was happening to Ky’s body and what she would go through over the next few days was something that needed to be done when she returned.
The small, lumpy green fruit weighed down some of the lower branches, allowing Ky to pluck them easily, storing as many as she could in her pockets and the rest in her bag. High above her, in the sturdier branches near the top, grew the larger kelpora. They would have the richest taste with the softest flesh, and she wanted them for her female.
It had been a long time since she climbed a tree, but her hands gripped the ash-colored limbs and she hauled herself up onto the lowest branches, keeping an eye on her feet as she searched for limbs strong enough to hold her weight. When she finally reached the top, Ky grinned, pulling the fruit free and dropping them into the bag with the rest. The faint smell of smoke on the breeze reached her, but it came as no surprise. Small brushfires were common after the bigger storms and normally burnt themselves out quickly.
The mere thought of the fires brought to mind the many times Ky had found herself sneaking through the forest, trailing Gulzar when he refused to let her hunt with him or when she’d worried over his state of mind.
If her brother knew she was there, he never let on, but Ky understood what it was like to have that mental bond with someone, to constantly feel them. While the link was a gift from Una, it was not without consequence. There had been times in the past when males and females were driven mad by it, especially those who were never able to find their mate. To think the same might happen to someone she loved had broken her heart and made Ky thankful she’d learned early on how to erect her walls.
A soft rustling sound from the ground had Ky reaching for the knife Xuvri had given her, withdrawing it from the sheath. She crouched down on the thick branch, her tail wrapping around it as she listened carefully for another sign that someone or something was near. The muffled curse that reached her ears had her brow ridges furrowing. Ky recognized that voice.
The shimmering rainbow sheen of Trakseer’s plating caught her eye, and she huffed, both frustrated and relieved to see the village’s chief picking his way through the brush. What could have possibly brought him all the way out here? Ky moved to a lower branch as he drew closer, watching as the male paused to scent the air and scan his surroundings.
They never think to look up, Ky mused with a grin as she sheathed the knife.
She slipped farther down the tree until she was directly above him. “You are far from the village, Trakseer.”
The male stumbled backward, his eyes darting up into the trees as he raised the long spear in his hands. “Kythea?” Trakseer squinted against the sun as she made her way down, sliding along the smooth trunk before dropping the remaining distance to the ground. “What were you doing up there?”
He’d once been her chief, a male who she had felt obligated to answer to, but now she was free. Trakseer had no power over her anymore. They had been friends once, and despite the way he treated Gulzar and the horrible mess he made of the situation with Amanda and Oshen, Ky didn’t believe he was entirely without redemption.
“I was gathering kelpora,” she told him, lifting the Grutex bag that hung at her side. “Why have you come so far out here?”
“The smoke,” he replied, nodding in the direction from which she’d come. “I was with one of the hunting parties and thought it might be wise to make sure all was well. Do you know the cause of it?”
Ky’s heart was pounding frantically within her chest. If the smoke was originating from near the ship, there was a possibility that Esme and Eina could be in danger, but she tamped down her fear, wary of giving herself away in the company of the other hunters she saw approaching them.
“You came all the way out here for a fire that will most likely burn itself out long
before it reaches the village?” Ky narrowed her eyes, noticing that the garments he and the others wore weren’t those of a normal hunting party. “What are you really doing out here?”
Trakseer’s gaze moved over her, and she stiffened when he took a step forward. He wasn’t as large as Xuvri, but he was still larger than she was. Her hand instinctively went to her hip, gripping the handle of the borrowed knife.
“What if I said you had inspired this hunt, that I came all the way out here for you?” he asked, his eyes tracking the movement of her hand.
Goddess help me to resist the urge to gut him where he stands, Ky thought with a roll of her eyes and a derisive snort. He was up to something, and she doubted harassing her was the sole purpose of their journey.
“You know as well as I that every member of your hunting party can scent my impending heat, and it is obvious it was not triggered by you or any of those males lurking in the trees. Why not tell me what this is really about?”
Chapter 11
Xuvri
Xuvri scented the air, drawing in the rich smell of his female. It helped to soothe him, acting like a balm to the wounds on his heart. Behind him, the smoke from the pyre he’d created for Laurie’s body rose high into the sky. He hadn’t stayed long after igniting the wood, unable to bring himself to watch the female who had given him so much turn to ash. The words he’d spoken so long ago, his promise to return her to Earth, would never be fulfilled.
Where had Ky gone after she left him at the ship? There had been some mention of gathering herbs and another fruit, but he wasn’t familiar with the things that grew on Venora and her scent was the only clue he had. Veering off between the trees to his right, Xuvri scanned the path ahead of him. She was close by; he knew it by the way his xines writhed in excitement. This might not be the hunt the elders spoke of, but he was beginning to enjoy this little chase.