Page 4 of Keeping Freya (Warriors of Arracate #3)

Freya

T ap, tap, tap, my foot echoes on the metal floor.

The guy, O’Rec, I think, has been gone for a while now.

I’m not entirely convinced he’s returning, but the trio seemed close.

Human mates, well, I’ll be damned. I have seen this fated mate thing he’s referring to.

It mostly happens with the more furry aliens, and once they get a whiff of their mate, they won’t let go.

I stubbornly ignore the fact that the big scarred one called me his mate.

I am not on the market, I’m on my way home.

I hear footsteps approaching, and O’Rec peers out of the tube they attached to our ship.

“Hello again,” he sings. Please, do not shoot; I brought friends.” I sigh. This guy is impossible to hate. He is all charm, smiles, and good manners.

I don’t lower my gun just yet, but when two very pretty women step out of the tube, my mouth falls open and I lower my weapon.

“You… you’re human!” I am astonished as they both sm ile. O’Rec smiles at a petite white girl with short blonde hair, and the brunette with long braids waves at me.

“Hi, I’m Lauren! And this here is Mara. Mara is O’Rec’s mate, and I think you put my D’Var in your holding cell.”

I start to feel embarrassed, but she laughs. “It will teach him some humility,” she winks.

I gesture at them to follow me. “Come with me. I’ll take you to meet the other girls first, and then we can figure out what to do. We’re a democracy, and although they made me captain, I won’t make decisions like this by myself.”

“So… you’re keeping the guys locked up?” Mara asks, and I nod.

“Call it an insurance policy.”

We go to the Control room where the rest of the girls wait. I make introductions, and we hover around the table in the back, which is way too small for us now.

“Why did you enter our ship?” I ask O’Rec, because there is no point in beating around the bush.

“You are traveling on a Sternotheri ship; they are our nemesis. We were tracking another of their ships, which led us here. We lost their trail, so we decided to look for answers. Our scans showed human lifeforms, and since we have human mates, that gave us an extra incentive to make sure you were not held captive by those assholes.”

I look at the girls, a mix of conflicted emotions on their faces.

“Can you get us home?” Anna asks.

“I’m sorry,” Mara says. “We haven’t been looking into Earth yet, but it’s not a planet that’s well known around here.”

“So, we’re not in the Milky Way?” Daphne asks.

“No, we have no idea where we are, somewhere far, far away that’s for sure, but where and more importantly when is a big question mark. ”

My mouth sets in a tight line. I refuse to accept this.

“What can you do for us that we can’t do ourselves?” I know my tone sounds hostile, but damned, I’m pissed.

“We can take you to a safe place,” O’Rec says, unfazed by my hostility. “We have allies on a planet called Novarron. You will receive sanctuary there and be free to live as you please.”

“Will anybody research going home?” Anna says, her lip wobbling. “I just wanna go home.”

Daphne puts an arm around her for comfort. “We can look for a way home, can’t we? You appear to have superior tech to anything that’s known on Earth.” She gives O’Rec a hopeful look.

He hesitatingly nods, “We can see if we can find something, but I cannot make any promises.”

Frowning, I assess the situation. It all sounds like a lot of bullshit to me. I won’t argue with them just yet, but this is not the end of this conversation.

“Will you release my crewmates?” O’Rec asks, and I look at the girls.

“Anybody against it?” Nobody says a word, so I rise. “Okay, that’s settled then. I will free them, and then you can go back to your ship, and we can have a meeting about what we want to do.”

“We can stay on the ship and do a couple of repairs?” O’Rec suggests.

Before I can shut it down, Daphne already beams at him. “That would be wonderful! I, for one, am sick of dragging that rotting hand everywhere to open doors.”

I huff, irritation sparking inside of me. I feel angry and ignored, and I can’t believe the other girls are so quick to forget that we shouldn’t trust strangers. “Watch your backs,” I warn them as I walk towards the doors .

“Wait for me!” Lauren says, and she rushes after me and winks. “I think I’d like to see the agony you put my mate in.”

We walk back to the cell block in silence. Although Lauren seems nice enough, I don’t trust her, and I have zero desire to make small talk with her.

D’Var immediately rushes to the bars when we enter the area.

“L’Ren!” he says, butchering the pronunciation of her name, but she doesn’t mind and smiles at him.

“You have gotten yourself in quite the pickle, D’Var,” she jokes, and he leans forward, hands through the bar.

“Nah, we can easily break out if we want to.”

“Oh, you think that?” she smirks, and he nods.

“Absolutely, but I don’t want to break the cell in case we need it later,” he winks.

The other guy still stands in the back, but his presence looms over me even from a distance.

I don’t know what it is, but I feel drawn to him, and I don’t like that, not one bit.

Our eyes lock, and he stalks towards the door, pushing his shoulder against the bars. With one push, the door swings open.

I stare, dumbfounded, did he just…

D’Var laughs, and his friend stalks towards me.

I swallow, taking a step back, my back meeting the metal wall.

He steps into my space, and I should be revolted, but I’m not.

He leans in and takes a deep breath. Is he smelling my hair?

I pull myself together and brace both my hands against his chest - his extremely well-formed chest - and shove him away.

“Get off me.” Then I turn around and walk away.

Daphne has the guys, the Warriors of Arracate, fixing the things we broke when we took over, and D’Var is also fixing the holes they made in the ship.

Lauren and Mara joined us in the control room and invited themselves to our meeting, or the other girls did, I don’t know.

I have a feeling there’s more to their stories, but right now, they seem perfectly happy with their Arracate mates.

“What is this planet your mate was talking about?” Crys asks Mara, who gives her a reassuring smile.

“Novarron is a beautiful planet, ruled by a just and peaceful Queen. The planet is cloaked, and she has made it into a Sanctuary for alien species from across the galaxy. There are more humans there, but everybody mixes with everybody. There’s a special suburb called the Sanctuary, where refugees can find a place for themselves and find some sort of peace and purpose.

” She grabs Crys’ hand and gives it a squeeze.

“I know it’s hard, believe me, we both do, and ultimately it will be your choice, but I would strongly suggest seeking refuge on Novarron.

You can always come with us to our home, but it doesn’t have the care facilities that Novarron has.

The Arracate are a race of Warriors, and that shows in our home.

There’s always the option of going your own way, but it’s not safe for humans out here, please trust me on that. ”

“Well, that’s hardly a choice now, don’t you think?” Jodie huffs.

“There is always a choice,” Mara starts, but Jodie interrupts.

“Did you have a choice?”

Mara pales, then slowly shakes her head.

“Yes and no, maybe because my choice was simple, because I had nothing to return to. I was abducted from Earth when I was a small child, and I grew up as the personal slave to the daughter of the Sternotheri ruler. When I met O’Rec, I was a shell of the person I am today.

He made it easy to choose him. But if he wasn’t my mate, and I could seek refuge on Novarron, I would take that in a heartbeat. It’s a safe place. A happy place.”

“But it’s not home,” Daphne says.

Silence falls over us like a heavy blanket when Crys speaks up. “I don’t think I can go home.”

We turn to her, and my shock is mirrored on the faces of a couple of the others.

She shrugs. “Can you imagine going back to your normal life? I was an accountant for God’s sake. I can’t work a 9 to 5 job anymore. And how would we explain where we’ve been? I’d say it’s been at least three years for me.”

Brittney nods. “I agree, I have nothing on Earth anyway.” Then she gives me the cheekiest of winks. “I could do with a hot alien mate, though.”

“Brittney!” Multiple voices chime in, and Lauren burst out laughing.

I stare at her and shake my head. Unbelievable. Brittney starts shaking with laughter, and tears are streaming down her face before long.

“I’m sorry,” Lauren hiccups. “But you are hilarious. And I can tell you all about the perks of a hot alien mate.”

“Easy for you to say,” Jodie grumbles.

Lauren sobers up real quick. “None of it was easy,” she bites out. Mara squeezes her arm, and she inhales deeply, closing her eyes.

“Sorry, I should not have snapped at you. I know things are hard right now, but respectfully, you have no idea what I’ve been through.

It wasn’t easy; it was hell. A hell D’Var quite literally saved me from.

These guys are saviors. Protectors. And it may not feel like you have a lot of options right now, but you are damn lucky we found you.

For me, choosing D’Var was easy because he gave me a chance to be happy again, and to be loved.

And I took that chance with both hands, but hey, that’s just me. ”

Her words hang in the air as she gives each of us a pointed look. Jodie turns bright red, and I think we all feel a little bit of her shame. I decide it’s time for me to take charge, I really don’t want us to be bickering all day.

“Sorry, Lauren. We shouldn’t have assumed anything about you, nor about you, Mara. I guess we are just in a bit of a shock, but it’s unfair to pass those feelings onto you in any kind of negativity.” The girls murmur in agreement, and a weight lifts off my chest when Lauren smiles at me.

“We should vote,” Daphne says.

I step up and take charge. “I agree. So, does anybody want to stay here and figure shit out ourselves?” Only my hand goes up, and I give them a wry smile. I figured I would be the only one who wanted that option.

“Who wants to go to Novarron, seek refuge, and see what comes next?” Five hands rise, and I know enough.

Daphne smiles. “I guess we are going to Novarron.”

“I guess so.” I manage to reply before I grumpily stalk away to my quarters.