Page 10 of Devin (Warriors of Etlon #5)

Val

W hen Val woke up, she was pleasantly surprised by the fact that her face was back to normal again.

Her stomach too, judging by the rumblings of hunger that were getting hard to ignore.

The large green alien by her bedside was even harder to ignore, especially when he was staring down at her with such an intense glare.

At first, Val had been sure that he was some sort of day dream that her whacked-out brain had conjured. She was going to meet her husband, after all, and that guy fit all the dream qualities. He was a light mottled green that seemed to flicker over his skin.

She wanted to stroke the bald head but that would require sitting up. No, instead she traced one of those black spirally tattoos on his perfectly sculpted abs. And then he growled at her. He actually growled.

Sitting up, she could see how tall he was with muscular shoulders and large hands that were crossed over his chest. What did they say about the size of a man's hands and did that apply to aliens as well?

If she was going from prison life with a few quiet orgasms hidden under the sheets to that hot monster, she was all for it.

And then he dropped the bomb.

"I am Ofetlon. You have healed. I will see you returned as soon as possible," he said.

When he turned and left, she thought he was going to come back. She waited for five minutes, before realizing he had no intention of coming back and having a discussion with her. Apparently, she was not Ofetlon's problem.

"Great," she said to herself, not knowing whether she should continue waiting or look around.

She stepped out of the cube of a doctor's office and nearly ran into a tall woman with a dark pixie cut, who wore her pregnancy like a badge of honor. The woman shoveled an armful of clothes into Val's embrace and then grabbed her chin to inspect her face.

"Lookin' good. No matter how many times I see it work, I'm always impressed by alien med tech. You hungry? I'm Jane."

"Val."

"I figured you needed some clothes. I grabbed some of my stuff for now.

I think that tank should work, even though you're a lot bustier than I am.

And those shorts are stretchy, because I think you've also got more junk in the trunk.

And around here, that is not a bad thing.

The boys love it, though Devin probably won't admit it. "

"Who's Devin?"

"Mr. Tall Green and Grumpy?"

"He said his name was Ofetlon."

Jane laughed and rolled her eyes. "His name's Devin. He's from Etlon, the planet. Or at least half of him is. All the Mahdfel around here are Etlonian. Big, bald and green. Mine is the pilot that brought us here. I don't suppose you were awake for that.”

Val started peeling off her clothes that stank of vomit and someone else's sweat.

"Oh, I know,” Jane said, wiggling her eyebrows. “You want a real shower? With water?"

Val froze. This place just got better and better. Most places had replaced water showers with the cheaper, more energy efficient sonic showers that just sort of buzzed you clean in a few seconds. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d actually used water.

"Who would I have to murder?" Val asked.

"Come on." Jane grabbed the gray sweatshirt like it was diseased and held it out at arm's length. "You're fine in your bra. Half the women around here wander around in bikinis all day anyway."

Val followed Jane out the door and two square boxes down to a unit that she just strode into. There was another tall green alien waiting there. Jane winked at him.

"Make yourself scarce for an hour, would you?" she asked.

"Jane," he said with a nod. Val assumed this was Zenik, Jane's husband. He didn't look nearly as grumpy as Devin, but he did look concerned. He stared at Val as if she were a half drowned puppy that he'd just rescued, but didn't want to be responsible for.

Great. She'd already been relegated to shelter pet. Still better than inmate, though.

"The woman needs a shower. I love you, now get lost," Jane repeated.

Zenik left without saying anything else.

"I don't want to cause trouble," Val began.

"No, don't worry about it. The Mahdfel can be a bit stuffy, and they have some pretty backward rules about things. Most of them are ridiculous and you just have to ignore them."

Jane waved her into the shower. It was glorious. Water streamed down her curves and the act of washing and scrubbing her hair free of vomit and prison stank was liberating.

Val refused to let any other thoughts run through her brain. She was safe and she was clean and there was nothing anyone on Earth could do to smash her face in right now.

Out of the shower and wrapped in a fluffy towel, Val realized that her underwear had disappeared.

She stepped out of the bathroom and could also see that the number of women present had multiplied.

Jane was gone and another woman was sitting in the chair next to her.

She was shorter and plumper and equally as pregnant.

Were all the women around here sporting baby bumps?

The woman put on a big smile welcomingly.

"Yup. I think you're right," the woman said to Jane.

Jane stood up and pointed to the stack of clothes on the corner of the bed.

"We put them in the sonic cleaner," she told Val.

"No use wasting good water on clothes," the other woman added. "I'm Meadow, by the way. Jane thinks you're closest in size to Gweneth, but she lives in the other camp, so we'll probably just replicate you some things for now based on her measurements and we’ll get yours later."

After prison, getting dressed in front of two strangers seemed less odd. She slid on her underwear and put her bra on. The tank top Jane had found was a little short in front, but the shorts were stretchy and came down to just above her knees.

Meadow handed her a brush and Val went to work getting her mane back in control.

She slicked it back into a pony tail and used her hair tie to attach it in a big bun.

That way, the bulk of it was off her neck in the heat of the jungle.

Inside seemed to be perfectly climate controlled.

One wouldn't know they were in the jungle until Jane pushed a button and the front wall retracted leaving nothing but the view.

"They're screens," Meadow supplied when she saw Val's face. "Keep everything in, even the sound. And no one can see in. It's an interesting feature."

"By interesting, she means that you can totally bonk your husband in full view and no one can see or hear anything," Jane added.

"I usually take the new girls on a tour of the camp, but well, there's not much to this one.

You can pretty much see everything from here.

And besides, wandering around in that heat hurts my ankles.

" Meadow pushed a button on the side of the chair and it popped out a footrest. She elevated her feet and smiled.

"I think this calls for some frozen daiquiris. Virgin, of course."

"And you want me to get them," Jane stated flatly.

"It is your house and you are standing up." Jane rolled her eyes and went over to the replicator in the wall. She pushed a few buttons and three pink drinks slowly built themselves up from the bottom.

"Now these are not the best we have to offer. But I'd have to get Goru to make them from scratch and that takes time, and frankly, I'm too lazy for that," Meadow said, holding out her arm for her drink. Jane handed one to Val and Meadow and kept one for herself.

Val tasted hers. Honestly, she couldn't tell the difference between these and the ones at the last bar she waitressed at.

Frankly, it said more about the quality of the bar than her ability to tell the real thing from replicated.

The bastard that owned the place had probably been printing drinks from a black market replicator and charging real prices.

Val's head was spinning and the reality of her situation was starting to push into this nice dream.

"So where's the nearest home base?"

"You mean Terran?" Meadow asked. "That's what the Mahdfel call Earth.

Terra. We're Terran in space, not Earthlings, because you've got to admit, that sounds a little funny.

Makes us sound like kids in space. Although most of the Mahdfel think of us as kids.

Our tech is so far behind their own. But we get along.

I guess the closest would be Shackleton. "

"That's on the moon," Val said.

"Yeah. The moon is the closest base I think. Clover said it's about a month on a fast ship to get to Earth. I hope you don't plan to go back. It's a long haul and it's really out of the way to get there."

"No. There's nothing left for me on Earth."

"No family?"

"None."

"My parents are still back on Earth. I might go visit when this one gets a little older.

Or when the city is built and we actually have a hotel here, I might invite them out here.

Think of it, we could have an entire retirement community here.

Invite all our parents and they could live out their days in a brand new Mahdfel city," Meadow mused.

"No," Jane said. "There's no way I want my mom out here. I'd never hear the end of it."

"Well, fine, we don't have to invite your parents."

"We have enough trouble with the wives," Jane said.

"True that. Charlette, for example."

"I should have slit her throat when I had the chance."

Meadow laughed. Val's face must have been a mask of horror at the two pregnant ladies' discussing murder so coolly.

"Honestly," Meadow said. "The first moment she got here, she started making trouble, like real trouble. She nearly got people killed on her first night. And nothing's really got any better."

"She's a con artist, pure and simple," Jane added.

"Anyway, enough about her. What about you?" Suddenly both of the women were staring at her.

"I uh- not much to tell. I'm a war orphan, grew up in a group home. Spent most of my time waitressing for different restaurants around town. Got matched, and here I am," Val explained.

"You left out the part about how you got socked in the face," Jane noted.

"Some woman sucker punched me."

"And the clothes?" Jane asked.

"Mine had blood on them. They didn't want to send me covered in blood. It was all they could find." It was the truth. It was just very selective. Meadow appeared to be buying it. Jane did not. Val just sipped her drink and prayed one of them would change the subject.

"It's a fresh start here," Jane said after a moment of silence. "Your past doesn't matter. It's what you do with the future."

"Jane, here, is the sheriff," Meadow supplied.

"Though mostly, you'll find that your husband will be in charge of keeping you out of trouble," Jane said.

"Can I stay if I don't have a husband?" Val asked.

Meadow sighed. "I know they are big and green and a little scary, but you really will find that they are not all that bad."

"But that Devin guy said that I was getting shipped home. That there was some sort of mistake. I haven't been here long, but it seems like an okay place. I mean, I can work to pay my way, if that's what it takes. I'm a quick learner and I'm good with customers."

"Oh sweetie," Meadow said. "Nothing around here is ever about money. It's like it doesn't exist. We're pretty cashless around here."

"And Devin was in to you. Trust me. I've seen a lot of matched Mahdfel, and he was sporting the hots for you. Probably just got a little nervous," Jane said.

"I'm not so sure about that," Val said.

Another green tattooed Mahdfel approached the habitation cube with Zenik, hot on his heels. He was unlike the previous two that she had seen. He was actually grinning from ear to ear.

"You are here! Wonderful!" the newcomer said as he gave Val a once over.

"Kave," Jane said. "What did you do?"

"What do you mean, what did I do? I am the warlord. I may do what I like." He crossed his arms defensively over his chest and glared at Jane.

"Oh, he didn't!" Meadow exclaimed.

"I did. And rightly, too," he said proudly.

"What did he do?" Val asked.

"Didn't you learn from the last time?" Jane asked.

"The last time brought Odette, and then you and Meadow. And Humility. It all worked out perfectly!" Kave said Humility with a bit more wistfulness than the other names. That was probably his mate.

"Did you tell Humility what you were planning to do?" Jane asked.

Kave opened his mouth to speak, but his skin rippled into a sickly green color.

"You didn't, did you," Meadow said, eyeing him up and down.

"I didn't want to bother her in her condition."

Both of the women scoffed at that remark.

"I can't believe you'd do that again," Jane said.

"What did you do?" Val asked again.

"When a warrior wants a mate, he submits a form to his warlord, marked with preferences and whatnot.

The warlord signs off on it, and the request goes to the central computer which finds him a mate with the closest match.

Like a giant cosmic dating service. Except Devin stated that he specifically did not want a mate.

He repeated it several times," Meadow said.

"He will change his mind," Kave said, sure of himself.

"When we first got here, we heard stories. This one," Meadow pointed to Kave as she ignored his comments, "had apparently been put in charge after ordering a mate for his warlord without permission. Because his warlord had forbidden any of the warriors to have mates."

"It is unnatural for a clan not to have mates," Kave said.

"So he ordered up Odette and then, get this, made her jump out of a cake!" Meadow exclaimed.

"Is that not a Terran tradition?" His voice was weaker, as if he knew the correct answer. The two women glared at him. "Well I know better now." His skin was turning a rather unappealing shade of neon green.

"Then you should have known better than to order up a mate for Devin!" Jane said.

"It all worked out in the end. This will too. I think Humility is probably awake." Kave turned on his heel and practically ran out of the cubicle.

"So what does this mean?" Val said.

"It means that Devin is going to have to change his mind," Meadow said.

"Or we're going to have to change it for him," Jane added.