Page 8 of Monsters in Love: Lost in the Stars

Ma’el wakes me up by growling, standing and shoving me behind him. I have no idea what is going on, but it’s obvious that my alien is pissed. I’m disoriented for a few seconds but then I hear it: Cara.

“Abbie! Abbie can you hear me?”

Ma’el growls and I rush out to put my hands on his chest. “It’s ok! It’s my friend, They are my friends!” I pet his chest, because I need him to know that these are good people that he shouldn’t crush like the drone or tear to bits like the scary animal.

“Cara! I’m in here!” I turn my attention back to Ma’el. “Abbie.” I indicate my chest. “Ma’el” I tap his. “Cara.” I gesture out the door with a smile. “She’s my friend.”

Ma’el frowns, clearly annoyed by our limited communication, and he digs into his ear again. “Abbie, Ma’el,” he says, hugging me close. “Cara,” he says, slashing his hand through the air and shaking his head. He might as well have said, “do not want.”

He repeats the gesture with the combinations “Abbie, Cara” “Abbie, Cara, Ma’el” and “Ma’el, Cara” finishing up with another hug and a smile for the combination “Abbie, Ma’el.”

Okay, so it seems like he’s worried about relationships or something…but that’s really not a concern he needs to have. I repeat the same combinations and gestures back to him and he seems a little happier afterwards.

“Abbie!” Cara calls. It sounds like she’s still outside the temple compound and I don’t want her to be hurt.

“Give me a minute, I’ll come to you!” I look around, how the hell do I tell this guy that Cara is safe, she’s my friend.

I remember that the entire courtyard is filled with statues that are likely frozen dudes just like Ma’el. I run outside and stand kind of far away, indicating one. “Ma’el…” I raise my brows and shoulders, because I don’t know this statue-soldier’s name.

“S’ven,” he supplies.

I reach for his hand and drag him over next to S’ven. “Ma’el, S’ven!” I high five myself, idiotically trying to indicate that they are buds. “Abbie, Cara!” I high five the air, and throw my arm around an imaginary Cara, thumbs upping and I’m convinced I’ve finally lost it.

“Ma’el, S’ven, Abbie, Cara?” he asks.

“Yes!” I jump up and down and into his arms.

“Ma’el, Abbie,” he whispers into my hair.

“Ma’el, Abbie.” I kiss him, and almost get caught back up in him, when I hear Cara again.

“Abbie? Are you okay?”

“Yes, be right there!” I wiggle so Ma’el will put me down, and tug on his hand again. “Come on, I want to introduce you to Cara!”

Though his steps are slower than normal, Ma’el follows. Hopefully, he will see when we meet up with Cara that he has nothing to worry about.

We leave the temple, and well… maybe he has a little something to worry about. Cara is there along with a few others, and everyone is toting guns.

“Hey guys!” I say cheerily. “Sorry to scare you!”

“Abbie!” Cara squeals and starts to run toward me but I wave her off. “Are you okay?”

“I’m great, Ma’el here saved me from a wild animal and then healed me up. Sorry about the drone!”

Cara backs off and looks a bit worried. “Ma’el? Is that who you have there?”

“Yeah, he-uh can’t speak English though…”

“Oh, you’re really ok then?”

“Yes, promise.”

Next to me, Ma’el’s eyes flash back and forth between us and he has that look of cataloguing every interaction.

“So what happened?” Cara asks, settling down to sit in the grass. She looks tired, it’s not like she prepped for the big hike in or the increased oxygen.

“I hurt myself… a lot. You probably saw that from the video. And then at night I was attacked by something from inside the temple. I freaked and ran outside and then this guy came to life and–”

“Sorry, what? Came to life?” Cara looks at Ma’el like he’s got three heads.

“Uh…. yeah, I think he’s like, some kind of alien gargoyle or something?”

Now her eyes are so wide they are about to bug out of her head. She’s not taken her vision from Ma’el, who admittedly looks a little wild. He’s banging on the side of his head now, shaking it and digging around in his ear canal. My dude, if you could look a little less crazy, it might help my friend believe that you are not a serial killer.

“Is he…okay?” she asks.

“I think so? He does that sometimes.”

“Oooookay, well. Are you good to keep going then? What do you want to do? Do you maybe want to wait it out for a new partner or–”

“No.” Ma’el interjects.

“Excuse the fuck out of me?” I shriek. “You could speak English this whole time?”

“No new partners.” He nods, as if it’s final and grins.

“Can we go back to the part where you know English now?” I put a hand on his arm, hoping it helps him focus.

“Unfortunately, my translation chip was malfunctioning, or it did not have a big enough language sample of this ‘English’ to locate a large enough language database until Cara joined us. I am sorry to have misled you, but I am now quite capable of communication.”

Cara and I sit dumbfounded, because neither of us clearly know how to handle this series of events.

“I am the only partner Abbie requires, thank you for your offer. I am unsure what sort of challenge Abbie is facing, but as I assure you, she needs no other partner. As her mate, I will see her safely through this challenge. Thank you, you may leave.”

Honestly, I hadn’t given any thought to what I would do for the rest of the challenge, but having Ma’el help me is actually not a terrible idea. He protected me from that animal and he’s from here, so he probably knows the planet better than me.

Cara’s eyes are wide, but then he touches her own ear, the one that I know has a monitor in it and nods as a smile spreads over her face. “I mean, if you are cool with it, it sounds like the director and network are cool with it…”

“Okay then, yeah.” I can hardly believe the words coming out of my mouth but this man has clearly fucked the sense right out me. “Let’s do it.”

Thank you for reading Bare Survival:Deep Space ! Ma’el and Abbie’s story will continue this fall in Bare Survival: Deep Space Episode One-Alien Gargoyle’s Mate .