Page 186 of Galaxy Games Four-Book Box Set (Galaxy Games)

186

Blood and Sex

M aya

“Can you explain what’s going on?” I ask. “ Machta ? This?” I motion to my fully healed hand.

He takes a deep breath as he seems to contemplate how to answer my question. Maybe I’m imagining things. It’s probably wishful thinking, but he seems energized. His eyes seem more golden than the sickly citrine color they were a moment ago.

“My species was experiencing problems after a virus struck our planet. Even our best healers and scientists weren’t able to resolve it. Most females died. Female younglings didn’t survive more than a day or two after birth. My species was within a generation of extinction. We sent out this ship, an arc, in search of females to bring to our planet, to help us repopulate.”

“And?” I ask with a shrug.

“And there was a problem when we arrived here. We came prepared to offer females a better life. We didn’t come to rape. We came to find lifemates.”

I nod, encouraging him to keep going.

“Males of my species enter a process called machta when we bond with our lifemates. Maybe it’s that I’ve been in cryo for so long, or maybe it has something to do with human pheromones, but my body has decided you’re my mate. Usually it occurs after courtship, after a bond of affection occurs. Somehow, my biology has skipped those steps. I’m in machta with you.”

If I thought he was crazy, I don’t think I’d be this terrified. I’d chalk it up to different cultures or losing his mind after nearly two thousand years in a box the size of a coffin. It’s that he’s so serious and so… sane, that fear flares through me from the soles of my feet to the top of my head.

I lurch to my feet and stride to the opposite wall to wait for him to finish his story.

Whatever happened to buoy his energy, it’s flagging. He’s panting again, and the color of his eyes is fading right before my eyes.

“Keep talking.” I motion with my hands to urge him on.

“I’m hearing what I’m about to say through your ears, Maya. I doubt you’ll believe.” He pauses and spears me with a doleful look. “And if you believe me, you won’t like it.”

I nod and motion again for him to keep talking. I have a feeling he’s right. He’s too serious for me not to trust what he’s saying, but it seems both our lives might depend on whatever he’s going to tell me next.

He’s breathing funny. Kind of like movies I’ve seen of women doing Lamaze breathing. Only after every exhalation through his gritted teeth, he pauses, as if even the act of inhaling is too painful for him.

A shrill shriek pierces through the metal door. It’s so loud it catches both our attention. He somehow finds the strength to open his eyes, sit up straighter, and stand, ready to fight off intruders.

When the fight ends and it’s quiet out there, his muscles slacken, and he returns to his labored breathing.

His back is to the door on the wall with the video, so he didn’t see it, but The Game’s live-action feed is projecting on the wall.

“It was two women. One of those gray ones with the wrist spikes versus a mottled green humanoid. It’s impossible to tell where they were in the ship,” I inform him, then remember he can’t understand me.

When his eyes snap open, I point to the screen. With effort, he walks across the room. He steps into the weapons closet and latches his arm laser into the matching charging bracket on the wall. Grabbing my discarded bazooka, he places it in its socket, then comes closer and slides to the floor, his back to the same wall I’m leaning against.

He’s ten feet away from me, but even though he’s sick and unsteady, his presence looms large.

He hasn’t hurt me. Hasn’t made a move to harm me. In fact, I gaze at my palm, he healed my palm. He’s weak and in pain.

“Water?” I ask as I dig into the contents of my pack and offer it to him.

When he nods, I roll it to him. He downs it in one motion, then returns to his labored panting.

“Food?” I grab a couple of nutrition bars.

His eyes open and he slowly turns his scary head toward me.

“There’s no easy way to tell you this, Maya. My species is far advanced from yours. We developed space travel over two thousand years ago. We have laser weapons. But our biology still dictates our needs at a fundamental level.”

He tips his head back and takes a deep breath. I’m not sure if it’s to give himself a minute to rest, or to avoid telling me what’s coming next.

“On Xenon, a male and female have courted, have affection, and perhaps love for each other when machta hits. At that point, the couple is considered mated. They go somewhere private and family delivers meals twice a day because…”

He glances at me, his irises almost white.

“Because they feed each other and feed off of each other. It’s a mutual exchange of blood and sex.”

He pauses, watching my response. I try not to react at all. It’s not hard. I don’t think I’ve absorbed his words yet.

“Did you notice my condition improved when I licked the blood off your hand? It was all I could do not to suck more from you, but that would be stealing.”

My body feels like lead. I don’t think I could move if I wanted to right now. Under any other circumstances, his little story would buy him a trip to the looney bin, but he’s telling the truth. I know it. He did get better after he healed my hand.

“My species need their mate’s blood and essence in order to survive. I don’t know how it will affect you, Maya. But I know my body is breaking down as we speak. If what I read was correct, I’ll get weaker and then die if I don’t take my mate’s vein.”

What’s more surreal? That I’m sitting ten feet from this ugly alien with the world’s most beautiful body, or that he’s a vampire who wants to drink my blood? Or maybe that he called me his mate ?

The most famous line from the Wizard of Oz floats through my brain. I’m not in Kansas anymore. I’m here. People are killing each other out there, and sooner or later, one of them will find us. As if the females aren’t scary enough, the males from the cellblock certainly will be.

I’m here. This is real. And A’Dar says he can fix it. The catch is, I have to fix him first.

For the moment, I pretend I didn’t hear the final part of his sentence. He’d said “blood and sex .” I will not contemplate the sex part. I can’t suppress my repulsed shiver.