Page 18 of 80% Beef 20% Cake (Alien Fated Mates #2)

18

N ebula’s Technicolor display seemed to burst from thin air. She pranced over the aqua-colored moss to the blankets and curled into the depression I’d just left beside JayJay. Is she lonely? What if she was the last remaining dorat on Tern and the Fires That Cleanse had destroyed the others? That would be the worst kind of hell.

My gaze shifted to JayJay. Under our glossy ebony dome, he smiled in his sleep. Just because my past relationships had never stuck didn’t mean I never wanted someone special in my life.

JayJay’s sleepy purr muffled my shuffling around in my suitcase. I cradled the armor I’d made for him in my lap. The nap of the thick leather glided under my fingertips, and each interconnected lunal ring that formed the chain mail glowed in the dim orange light. When he woke, would his eyes light up the same way as when I’d given him the elephant charm bracelet?

Nebula’s gaze assessed the offering, and her tail flicked as if to say, ‘That’s acceptable. Now be on your way.’

I didn’t want to lead him on now that I knew the strings attached to gift giving, but his clothes were useless. He had an important job, and he needed to be clothed properly. If there was one tiny thing I could give back to him, it was functional clothing. Nebula nested perfectly in the curve of JayJay’s elbow and my heart swelled. Instead of remaining detached and focused on my health, my stupid heart had gotten involved.

I needed to focus on rebuilding my career, not starting a relationship when I’d be returning to Earth as soon as I could. A bit of distance should do the trick. I buckled up my suitcase and tip-toed out of the cave.

The new lights in the tunnel matched my bright smile. Today, my joints rolled smoothly as if freshly oiled. The suitcase that trundled behind me, echoing over each bump, was the only thing preventing me from jogging. Though I didn’t know how long the results would last, I was going to suck up every moment of vitality. A retro tune found its way to my lips, and by the time I reached the command center, I was full-on singing.

After exiting the tunnel, I lifted my chin, inhaling the spring breeze drifting through command central. I spotted an untamed lion-like mane near the map projection and wove through the enforcers, eyeing their cups full of thick black sludge, toward Makir’s morning hair.

“Where’s mine?” I nudged Makir’s shoulder.

“Ginger, there you are.” He smiled.

From a nearby cart, he poured me a cup of javae, the bitter syrup that passed for coffee on Tern. Caffeine was caffeine, so I took eager sips, warming myself in the cooler air.

His blue thumb brushed under my eye and he squeezed his tail around my calf. “And with no shadows darkening your fair skin.”

Enforcers darted back and forth, carrying messages down the tunnel where coms didn’t reach. The somber mood hit me like a wall. Usually, a goofy comment broke through the bustling atmosphere here and there, but not today.

“What’s going on?” I asked.

Makir’s fluffy tail patted the back of my calf. “Last moon, while luring the hellsna away from a Nacer, two enforcers were lost. The Nacer didn’t survive.”

“Oh, no. That’s terrible.” But at the same time a bolt of gratitude jolted through me. Thank God JayJay hadn’t been on duty. The pseudo-coffee turned acidic in my belly, and I set the cup into a notch in the volcanic rock wall.

Makir started walking toward the exit. “Our trip is still going ahead as planned. Geo’s with Sisip, organizing the scouts.”

Geo waved us over from across the room, where he stood in front of the elevator with two enforcers I didn’t know. Their grim faces emphasized the fact that the fight against the hellsna had worsened.

Geo wrapped an arm around my shoulders and took my suitcase. “Well, at least there’s one good thing about today. You look fantastic.”

“Thanks. I feel amazing.” Though it didn’t feel right to say so at the moment.

Bright sunlight and a crisp breeze welcomed us as we exited Starry Volcano, and I pulled my wool coat from my suitcase.

Makir frowned when we reached the hoverbikes. “There aren’t enough for us all.” He hitched his trailer to the back of a machine that had seen better days.

When I eyeballed the dented metal and corroded pipes, Makir flicked the fluffy part of his tail at me. “Who do you think fixes these things? It may look like it belongs in the wastelands, but this baby purrs.”

I laughed as he said, “baby”—clearly Geo’s influence. Then I held my hands up. “I didn’t say a thing.”

Makir’s attention jumped to Geo, who kept looking over his shoulder. “The dogs will be fine here. They won’t even notice we’re gone with all the snacks they’re fed in the kitchen.”

The Nacer enforcer pointed a spread wing to her hoverbike. “Ginger, you’re with me.”

I exhaled when we launched. JayJay would wake any moment if he hadn’t already. As much as I would’ve loved to see his expression when he put on his new protective gear—and his leather-wrapped muscles—I wasn’t prepared to answer all the questions his eyes would hold.

We swept past lunal weeds twined around crumpled buildings, glistening with morning dew.

I didn’t know what to do with the swirling emotions inside me. A day never went by now when he didn’t impress me. His courage to tell us of his conviction. His endless drive to rid Tern of hellsna. Selflessly offering up his body. But his pride frustrated me.

I tried to put myself in his shoes and sympathize, but I didn’t have the faintest idea how being falsely accused of a crime and then banished would’ve affected me. A lost career, a life’s work stolen… That I could relate to. Which made his lack of faith in me all the more aggravating. How could he have thought I wouldn’t believe him? Time apart would help us sort through this mess.

The beautiful home Geo, JayJay and the Rock Dweller building crew had constructed for Makir came into view. A courtyard dome, teeming with plant life, rose above the pink adobe exterior, promising a humid oasis.

“Thanks for getting me here safe and sound.” After parking in Geo and Makir’s hoverbay, I led the scout toward the inside entrance. When I opened their door and slipped off my boots, I shuddered in delight as the geothermal floor warmed my socked feet. Voices rumbled from the courtyard. “They’re just through there.” I pointed toward the sliding doors.

Anxiety reared its ugly head and my underarms grew damp as I hugged Geo and Makir goodbye. “You guys’ll be careful in the wastelands, right? Hoverbike parts aren’t that important.” I redirected my anxiety to the enforcers. “And you’ll watch them as if they were your own brothers?”

The two enforcers stood straighter, and the Nacer’s wingtips fluttered. “They’ll be safe with us.”

But it didn’t lessen my worry.

The two scouts idled in the air on their hoverbikes while Geo, about to climb behind Makir, ran back toward me. “Com us if you aren’t feeling well, and we’ll come back. You’re sure you want to stay?”

I nodded and hugged him one more time.

It turned out the peace and silence I’d been craving was a lie.

After two days hunched over, cutting and sewing nonstop, the silence turned oppressive, and an ache crept into my chest. After weeks of living with the loudest species to ever evolve and then bunking with newlyweds, the sudden silence was like a vacuum, sucking away the feeling of family and leaving a quiet that unnerved me. Charz and Pika had been jumping at my side for a year, and I missed them.

I flipped through my sketchbook. A certain Rock Dweller had found his way into most of the designs I’d planned for the competition. It seemed I missed him too. The distance wasn’t helping my confused heart as I’d hoped. Maybe TeyTey would have some advice.

With the blue snow melted, the pink soil beneath showed shoots of new life. A woodskie’s loud squawk filled the air, and I ducked the same way I would at home to avoid the swooping gulls of my seaside neighborhood. Though the mouthwatering aroma of graneth puffs baking filled the street, an eerie silence accompanied it. Yurstille’s citizens, the few who were out, moved with purpose, constantly peering over their shoulders.

An overhead chime rang when I stepped into the bakery. “Hey, D’ovey. It smells wonderful in here.”

His dark skin gleamed with the heat from the ovens, and an apron circled his torso. In my mind, I drew a stylized slogan across the white fabric while my hungry eyes ate up the display case.

“Is that a donut hole?” I tapped the window.

He lifted one of the tiny balls covered in some kind of powder out of the case. “Don’t know ’bout that, but what they are is delicious. I call them wow-ees.”

Razor-sharp teeth filled his wide smile, but I’d grown used to Boolas’ vampiric grins. They no longer phased me.

He laughed, the tie around his apron stretched taut over his round belly. “You know, ’cause you have one bite and your mouth goes, wow-ee!”

Without a second thought, I devoured the entire treat in a single gulp, savoring the warm, gingery explosion on my taste buds. Sully and TeyTey’s kids would love these.

“A pack of graneth buns and a dozen wow-ees, please.” I held my wristport out to him so he could deduct the credits.

He set a paper bag in front of me. “Let me know if there’s anything I can do to help them up at the volcano.”

I paused beside the deep windowsill lined with blooming plants. How had nobody thought of making the bakery an information hub? It was easily the most frequented business in Yurstille, and the enforcers were here all the time resupplying the base camp. It would be perfect. “They’re in desperate need of hoverbike parts. I’m sure they’d be compensated if anyone has parts to spare?”

The smile that lit the old Boola’s face warmed my insides. “You got it. Consider the word spread.”

By the time I reached TeyTey’s, my get up and go had got up and gone. My knees oozed like an ice cream sandwich on a scorching afternoon, and the tiredness, blissfully absent the last couple of days, returned with a vengeance. I sank onto the bench beside their front door and groaned while massaging my aching knee.

Damn it! Two days… That was it! That was how long I could go without treatment.

I tried to be grateful—any healing was an improvement—but it just wasn’t long enough. The flight back to Earth alone lasted two weeks. And I couldn’t just come back once I got home—it was crazy expensive. My next complimentary flight to visit Geo wouldn’t be for two years.

I tilted my head up to the bright sky and leaned into the sunbaked wall’s warmth with my eyes closed. I wouldn’t cry. There had to be a way. A couple of minutes later, with my sadness firmly compartmentalized, I reached over from where I sat and knocked.

When TeyTey opened the door and found no one there, she shook her head, likely thinking one of her boys was messing with her. I laughed, which alerted her to my presence, and passed her the package from the bakery.

“Surprise!”

“Ginger!” She hugged me tight, and her silky tunic rubbed against my cheek. “I can’t believe Geo and Makir would take you away from me and up to that unsafe volcano.” After releasing me, she hustled me into a comfy seat in her kitchen. “Then I said to myself, you’re talking about Ginger. The female who learned to ride a hoverbike faster than I can wrap my head scarf and manages not to strangle Geo’s puppy doggies when they wrap themselves around her feet all day long, getting in the way. That female isn’t going anywhere she doesn’t want to.” She paused for a breath. “You aren’t looking well. I’ve just the thing to fix you up, and then you must tell me everything that’s happening with those veiny white bastards.”

Oh, God, was there a way to pick TeyTey’s brain about JayJay without telling her about the treatment plan Dr. Ten had prescribed? Shit. In comparison, talking about hellsna would be easy.

TeyTey placed a Rock Dweller-sized glass of hiscus wine in front of me. As the first sip of wine met my tongue, I already felt looser. That should help.

In a springy-backed chair across from me, TeyTey sipped from an identical cut-crystal glass. “Sully took the boys to work this rotation. They’re shorthanded without Geo and JayJay. They’ll probably be more trouble than help.” She smirked. “So I’m pretty much having a rotation of leisure.” Her face sobered in a flash.

Keeping up with her emotions was giving me whiplash.

“What’s it like at the Starry Volcano? Have you seen a hellsna?” She whispered ‘hellsna.’ “Is JayJay taking care of himself?”

“JayJay’s fine.” My voice thinned to a squeak. “I haven’t seen a hellsna since I was trapped in the volcano with JayJay. But they’re out there. Did you hear that two enforcers and a Nacer were killed yesterday?”

She lifted her eyes toward the sunbeam streaming through her skylight. “May the goddess Sola be with them and the ancestors guide their way.” TeyTey drummed her fingers over her heart before dropping her gaze back to mine. “We’re completely in the dark. Occasionally I hear something from D’ovey.”

A glass of wine later, a plan had formed. I promised TeyTey I’d connect her with one of the injured enforcers at the volcano. They would update TeyTey on the news and what supplies were running low as they restocked the base camp in town, and she would write something up for D’ovey’s bakery.

With the wine doing its work, I plowed ahead. “So, I need your help with something.” I rose from my chair, the coiled back pushing me forward, and moved the bag of wow-ees closer to us, along with another bottle of hiscus wine. “We need reinforcements.”

Olive-colored fabric dotted in orange fruit I didn’t recognize covered her headwrap. “Are those payot?” JayJay’s eyes had lit up when he talked about them.

She rolled her eyes. “That’s not what you wanted to ask, is it? But yes, they are.” She refilled our glasses. “Now out with it.”

Here we go. After a deep breath, I began. “I have a rare blood disease—idiopathic blood degeneration.” TeyTey’s forehead ridge extended as I carried on. “I can’t go back to Earth until my red blood cell count increases.” Her forehead ridge extended further, and I wet my mouth with more wine. “Dr. Ten has prescribed JayJay’s”—I coughed—“erm…sperm…to treat me.”

“His what?” She leaned over the long table so far I thought her forehead ridge might jump off her face and grab me.

She’d heard me, so I ignored her question. “What I need to know is, how badly will I ruin JayJay’s life if I continue to do this? Will he still be able to find a life companion?” My stomach plummeted as I pictured a beautiful Rock Dweller woman holding hands with JayJay while Nebula sat on one shoulder.

After a moment, blank-faced, TeyTey got up to check on the casserole. She’d set a timer earlier. It didn’t need to be checked. Her words echoed inside the clay-style oven. “Well, of all the things I thought you might ask for help with, that never crossed my mind.” She smoothed her head wrap and ran her hands down her matching dress. “Okay, I think I’ve got myself together.”

After a head shake, a wow-ee and a glug of wine, she started. “The goddess Sola has her ways. JayJay would not think he was giving up a potential life companion. Males leave Yagras all the time in search of females, with so few of us left.” TeyTey’s gaze lifted to mine. “Do you know JayJay’s history? Why he’s on Tern?”

“Yes, and I don’t believe for one minute he committed that crime.”

“That’s because you are a reasonable female.” She cupped my hand with hers. “But because of his banishment, he has lost everything, most of all respect. He would never consider himself worthy enough to attract the attention of a female.”

The more I learned about JayJay, the more I understood how proud he was, and the more I hated Devile. To think he would never know love and didn’t expect to didn’t ease my mind.

“I’ve never known a Rock Dweller male to mate with more than one female. Might be possible if she died,” she muttered the last part.

Fuck, I really was messing up his life, and I had absolutely no intention of dying. So where did that leave us? I swallowed the hard lump in my throat. “Wha—”

As if catching herself, TeyTey sat upright and cupped my hand. “Blant, of course I wouldn’t want you to die. You’ll simply have to stay on Tern and be his life companion,” she said brightly.

“But I’m human. I can’t be his life companion.”

“Does tab A fit into slot B?”

I wrinkled my nose. What was she talking about?

TeyTey tried again. “Does he fit?”

“Oh my God, TeyTey!” I couldn’t help but grin. “Yes, he fits.”

“And do you like him?”

I was coming to the conclusion that I really, really did like him. Biting my lip, I nodded.

“Well, there you have it.” She smiled and popped another wow-ee into her mouth.

But I wanted to return to Earth. “But his moods have become erratic, and he’s grown kinda…shimmery, and”—I swirled my drink, running a chipped nail over the cut glass—“I want to go home.”

TeyTey’s jaw dropped, and I shrank under her intense scrutiny like a specimen under a microscope. “Does he have arm bands?”

I topped up my wine and took a large mouthful. “I’m not sure what you mean, but he’s scratching his wrists like crazy… You know something. What’s happening to him? Will he be okay?”

“I can’t believe it.” She traced the rim of her glass with one finger, deep in thought. “The ancestors have blessed him. Of course they have. He’s a worthy choice.” Then she looked at me. “You have no other options. The decision has already been made. A true mate bond is unbreakable, and you should not wish to break it. It’s a gift to you and JayJay that hasn’t been seen in my lifetime or the lifetime before mine.” Then her voice softened. “The conditions of JayJay’s banishment confine him to a lifetime on Tern and only Tern.”

But the competition? My career? Those concerns would seem shallow to TeyTey, so I kept them to myself. Overwhelmed, I couldn’t even form words to ask what the hell an unbreakable bond even meant.

I hadn’t asked to be selected for this gift. If I’d known a true mate’s bond would happen going into this arrangement, I would’ve chosen to remain sick. All I wanted was to go home healthy. Instead, I’d ended up with an unbreakable bond. Even worse, I couldn’t help but wonder if JayJay had known this would happen all along. But I quickly scratched that idea. He’d never conceal something like that. His deep-rooted sense of honor wouldn’t allow it.