Page 12 of Devin (Warriors of Etlon #5)

Val

A fter sleeping in a prison bed for forty-two days, Val fell asleep in the oversized alien bed far too easily.

It was the most comfortable thing she'd ever slept in, despite the warning that her husband-to-be or not-to-be might return at any time.

Jane didn't seem to be worried that he'd hurt her.

In fact, Meadow had hinted quite a lot that he might be hornier than fuck and ready to get it on the moment he found her there.

Val really had never contemplated having sex with a stranger before.

Even when she'd been close to homeless, she couldn't imagine letting one of those assholes pay to take advantage of her body.

The whole idea made her shiver. But this was different.

The only payment he could offer was security, and as Meadow had repeated, absolute assurance of fidelity.

Mahdfel men didn't sleep around. They might be big green and well-endowed, but once they made up their minds to mate with a woman, that decision was permanent.

There was something appealing to that. And despite having only met him for all of two minutes, Val knew that he was damn sexy.

She wanted to see if those swirly tattoos continued down into his shorts.

When she woke up, the room was empty and the light was just dawning in the sky.

It suddenly occurred to her that she hadn't asked about the number of hours in a day.

The fact that had just hit home was that this was not Earth.

She was on the far side of the galaxy on a planet with alien creatures and apparently full of pregnant women.

She didn't recognize the one standing at her door with two bowls of something. If she had to guess by the apologetic look on her face, this was probably Humility, Kave's wife.

"I brought you some breakfast, considering I missed the introductions last night," the woman offered.

"Humility, right?"

"That's me. Kave’s ridiculous plan that brought you here is partially my fault. Usually, he tells me when he's about to do something this stupid."

Humility sat down at the table, settling her large belly into the chair with care.

Val joined her in the other chair. Breakfast was some sort of yogurt and berries, though the yogurt had a tang to it that Val could not identify, and she was pretty sure that the neon purple raspberries did not grow anywhere on Earth.

Of course, since the invasion, many new species had been introduced, but those delicacies were generally reserved for the people who could shell out cash without blinking at the size of the sum, and Val had never managed to work at a bar with that kind of swankiness in its customer base.

The berries were tart and a delicious complement to the creamy flavor of the yogurt.

"Did he tell you that I stabbed him when we first met?" Humility said casually.

"No."

"Surprising. He tells everyone that. He'll show the scar if you want. Kave pretty much says anything that comes into his brain, so don't tell him any secrets. But he won't make a promise unless he can keep it."

Val nodded.

"He promised me that he'd see you were taken care of, even if Devin continues to be stubborn."

"I don't want to go back to Earth," Val said with a little more urgency than she intended.

"Jane said you were in pretty rough shape when you got here." Val wasn't sure if Humility was fishing for more information or just stating facts. Val really didn't feel like giving any answers. She just nodded.

"I think worst case scenario, we can ship you over to the main camp and send you to Etlon with my sister. I'm sure they'll find someone for you there."

"Your sister?"

"Another one of Kave's fun, well meaning but poorly thought out side plots with it'll-all-work-out-in-the-end moments.

You see, he poisoned me nearly to death, then told everyone I was dying and that my family needed to join us immediately.

He got a special dispensation and my dad and sister transported out only to find me back already in perfect health. "

"That was nice."

"Oh it was, but what he failed to consider is that Wendy was seventeen, which meant she'd be up for the lottery on her next birthday without any chance of falling in love with an Earth guy.

He doesn't always think things through. But I forgave him, mainly because it was the only way to get my father here and under Mahdfel medical care. He had blue lung."

Blue lung was a nasty disease. The Suhlik, when they'd invaded Earth, had not been shy about wiping out the population with chemical weapons.

Most people that got even a whiff of the immense cloud were suffocated on the spot.

Blue lung sufferers were survivors, but they became former shadows of themselves, forever having to drag around a can of oxygen.

Many just died slow, agonizing deaths, unable to purchase more oxygen, or slowly drowning from the corruption of their lungs.

"Had?"

"The medical abilities here are practically magic compared to ours. And free. We could never have afforded treatment on Earth. I gotta pee. I have the bladder of a peanut with this big guy pressing on it."

Val ate the rest of her breakfast while Humility excused herself to use the bathroom.

When Humility returned, she waddled out of the bathroom and to the door to the quarters. She waved for Val to follow her.

"So, you got any hobbies?" Humility inquired.

"Not really." Honestly, Val'd always been too busy just working and trying to make money to really have much free time.

They stepped out into the jungle and Val was still surprised by the amount of humidity and jungle sounds that were kept out by the nearly invisible cube walls.

"You’ve got some options to keep yourself busy.

If you like to read, we pretty much have everything.

Meadow was a librarian in her former life, so she's full of recommendations.

Vids? Those too. If you want to learn how to crochet, I can teach you that.

You want self defense, Jane has taken down several Suhlik and is our own kickass instructor.

Don't let that belly fool you. She's also pretty good with a force rifle, but the guys really frown on that.

Goru is our local cook, Kave pretends to run things, Zenik is our pilot, and Brale is our chief engineer.

Haxit does the odd jobs. There will be more as stuff arrives.

Apparently, there's supposed to be a huge drop in about a month or so.

" It was a lot of information to take in at once, especially when Val had little to no idea what to do with herself.

“So just to be clear, I don’t actually have anything specific to do here,” Val asked.

“Be receptive to your new husband, but other than that, you can sit on your ass the whole day and no one will mind. Feel free to look around. There’s a force fence that you don’t want to bump into.

It keeps out all the nasties. Most of them anyway.

Apparently, once in a while these land squids fall from the sky.

If you see them, run. They’ve got a nasty bite. They’re pretty tasty though.”

Squids fall from the sky? Her confusion must have registered all over her face. Humility laughed.

“Don’t worry. I hear it’s seasonal.” Humility yawned and her hand went to her belly. “I think it’s naptime. This big boy takes a lot of energy to grow.”

Humility smiled at her and headed over to her cubicle, leaving Val to explore the rest of the camp on her own.

Jane and Meadow were nowhere to be seen, so she just started a stroll until she came to a buzzing wall of energy.

It was the force fence that kept out the creatures.

She was glad for that. She had already had enough aliens for the week, she didn’t need to find out where she fell on the food chain of her new planet just yet.

Her new planet. It would have new stars and new hours; she still had forgotten to ask about those basics. She’d have to make a list of all the questions she thought up as she went along. For example, did this planet have paper and pens or was everything digital?

Val saw a woman sitting off by herself with a tablet in her hand.

She was thin, and despite the blond locks of hair, kind of reminded Val of Maryland.

There was a twinge of guilt at what might befall Maryland now, although the lockdown had not been Val's fault.

In fact, she'd done all she could to help Maryland by scanning for her time and again, praying each time would send her off and out of that locked up life instead of thrusting Maryland onto a much-too-large alien.

Val approached the woman, and when she got close enough, the woman’s head popped up with a curious look on her face.

"Hello. You must be the unfortunate soul that everyone’s been talking about," she said.

"I guess so?"

"My name is Charlette. It's French." She placed the emphasis on the last part of the word. "The greenies still can't say it right."

“I'm Val. It's pretty easy to get right in any language."

Charlette laughed. "I can't believe what that incompetent idiot has done to you.

And the rest of them, they just excuse him.

I mean, I can't blame Humility because she has to fuck him, but the rest?

Do you know how he solves his problems? He beats the shit out of people.

I saw it. Last night, he beat Devin to a pulp, just because he didn't want a relationship right now.

I mean, can you blame him? He's got all of these responsibilities, and Kave wants to add building a meaningful relationship to the mix. It's not easy, let me tell you."