“Nova—”
“What am I doing wrong now?” I cut Surkah off as we stepped onto a huge ramp that was lowered to the ground of Ealra.
I was anxious and felt highly out of place, and every step I took, I seemed to do something wrong. First, I walked ahead of Nero when I was supposed to walk behind him then I smiled and said hello to a male who was also escorting us—he was so caught off guard he looked at Nero with panicked eyes. Apparently, no male is allowed talk to me without Kol’s permission.
“You have to wait for the Guard,” Nero answered.
I looked at Surkah. “The Guard?” I related.
She nodded. “They’ll be here in mere minutes.”
I looked at Nero. “Can I talk to any members of the Guard?”
Nero gnawed on his lower lip. “By law, you shouldn’t, and they shouldn’t reply if you do speak to them, but the Guard members coming to escort us are you brothers-in-mate, so no matter what Kol says, they’ll talk to you. They’re his older brothers, and they give him a hard time whenever possible.”
I sucked in a strangled breath. “What if they don’t like me?”
That was such a trivial thing to be concerned about, but it was what worried me at the current moment.
“They’ll adore you,” Surkah said with a loving smile. “They’ll be shocked that Kol has mated, but then they’ll be joyful for you both.”
“How can you be so sure?”
“Because”—Surkah winked—“I know my brothers.”
Surkah was trying to reassure me, but my nerves were still spiked.
“Change the topic. Discuss something else to distract me until they get here.”
Nero drew a blank, so I focused on Surkah who was deep in thought.
“Housing,” she suddenly announced. “All the human women should be excited with their housing.”
“Housing?” I repeated incredulously. “You have housing on Ealra?”
Surkah muffled a giggle with her hand. “Of course. Where did you think we lived if not inside a residence?”
I paused. “I… I guess I never thought of it.”
I never thought about what life would be like on Ealra, which was stupid considering I had a one-way ticket to the planet. Thinking about my life there should have been on my mind, but it seemed Kol had taken up all my focus over the past six days.
Surkah vibrated with laughter. “We have modernised homesteads for our citizens. Each family builds their own on their land. The Revered Father gifts every new family a plot of land as a mating gift.”
That’s nice of him.
“But I’m the only human female who has mated so far.” I frowned. “There are no other new families.”
“That is a technicality,” Surkah said with a wave of her hand. “Each female will eventually take a mate, so my father thought ahead and had large family-size homesteads built for them in advance. Each homestead has five floors. It consists of a large kitchen, a living area, a washroom for clothing, fifteen sleep rooms, and six cleansing rooms—each has a relief pod.”
It sounded like they built mansions and not just simple houses.
I raised a brow. “How far in advance were these homesteads built?”
“Construction of the human housing started five years ago,” my sister-in-mate replied.
I whistled. “Your father was certain Earth would give its women up, huh?”
Surkah grinned. “Pretty certain.”
“So each human woman will have a home of their own?”
She nodded. “Two thousand homesteads were built in a new brand-new section of Royal City. We weren’t sure how many would be needed. We hoped for two thousand females, but we’re overjoyed to have many more. Royal City is the name of our main city, in case you were wondering. It was named by the people. The human housing section is very large itself, so it has been given its own name as it’s now an official district of Royal City.”
“What is the new district’s name?” I prompted.
Surkah devilishly grinned. “Human Burrow.”
I almost instantly burst into laughter. “Is it really called that?”
“No,” Surkah tittered. “It’s called Harmony.”
I shook my head, amused. “I’ll live in Harmony with the other humans?”
Surkah shook her head. “No, you’ll live in the palace with the rest of us royals.”
Oh.
“Right,” I exhaled. “I’m a princess now.”
Surkah’s eyes gleamed. “You don’t like being a princess… do you?”
I swallowed. “I’m just scared. I really don’t want to mess anything up.”
“You won’t,” she assured me. “You can’t beat anything I have ever done to bring dishonour to my family.”
That intrigued me.
“What have you done to bring dishonour?”
“As of late?” she asked, her lips quirked.
I nodded.
“I snuck aboard the Ebony for this mission without permission.”
I felt like the floor fell away from beneath my feet.
I screeched. “You did not!”
“Oh, she did,” Nero mumbled to himself, earning a muffled chuckle from the male beside him.
“I did.” Surkah giggled. “My brothers, Killi, Arli, and Arvi were chosen by Mikoh to watch over me while he was away on the mission to retrieve our new females, and as usual, I was not asked what I wanted, so after Mikoh bid me farewell, my brothers escorted me back to our palace where I pretended I was tired and went to my quarters. While I was there, I changed clothing, left a note for my brothers so they wouldn’t think I was abducted, covered my face and body, and snuck out. The Ebony was still boarding goods into the cargo hold, so I slipped in there and just sat down behind a large crate and waited.”
I was fascinated.
“How did no male see or scent you?”
Surkah grinned. “I sprayed fotha essence on my coverings.”
“What is fotha?” I asked, perplexed.
“It is a repellent for tiny creatures that like to eat flowers in my mother’s garden. It stinks when freshly sprayed. The tail end of the Ebony was situated right next to a flower field that was recently sprayed with the repellent, so to the males stocking the cargo, the air would have just smelled like the fotha, not a female.”
I blinked. “You’re like an evil genius.”
Surkah devilishly grinned.
“Was no alert sounded when your brothers realised you were missing?”
“My brothers know never to interrupt my sleep cycle because I can be really cranky. I knew I had at least five to six hours before they would worry and enter my quarters to check on me. I also knew, according to Kol’s flight plan, that he planned to active warp on the fifth hour after takeoff. Once warp is activated, they wouldn’t have been able to return me back to Ealra. It would have cost too much fuel and caused problems with Kol’s schedule since we already knew Earth was dangerously close to imploding.”
I smiled widely.
“I’m really impressed,” I exclaimed happily. “This is seriously great.”
“I’m glad you think so.” She chuckled.
“How did Kol and Mikoh find out you were on board?”
She giggled. “A crew member was retrieving some goods from the cargo hold, and he happened to need the goods from a crate that was behind me. I had already removed my coverings at this point and stuck them inside an empty crate, so I couldn’t scent them. The male that found me is the youngest male aboard the Ebony. He is only thirty-five years old, and he froze with fear when he realised who I was. He stared at me then said ‘princess’ before he dropped to his knees, pressed his head against the cold floor, and begged my forgiveness for his making eye contact and speaking to me directly.”
I pouted. “The poor kid.”
The irony that I was calling someone who was twelve years older than me (even older in Ealra years!) a kid was not lost on me.
“I know.” Surkah grinned as she rocked back and forth on the heels of her feet. “I pardoned him so he’d stand, and then I ordered him to the bridge so he could have Mikoh come and fetch me.”
“Surkah!” I said, giggling.
“I know,” she beamed, pleased with herself. “He was in disbelief when he entered the cargo hold with my brother and Nero right behind him.”
I lifted my hand to my mouth and lightly chewed on my nails.
“What happened next?” I asked.
She blushed, and it only caused me to squeal with delight.
“Tell me!” I demanded.
“Mikoh spanked me,” she whispered, her cheeks aflame with purple.
I sucked in a breath. “No!”
She bobbed her head, “As my intended, he has the right to inflict simple physical punishment when I endanger myself, and the cargo hold is very dangerous. I took the spanking even though it made me cry. Of course, my tears caused all three males to lose their anger and gain a whole lot of sympathy for me. They quickly began to fret over me like a child. Mikoh insisted I strike him to take my revenge for the spanking he gave me, but I didn’t, and it distraught him even further until he apologised over and over.”
I shook my head. “You have everyone wrapped around your little finger.”
Surkah only smiled, and it made me snort with amusement.
“Will you be in trouble when you disembark the craft?” I questioned.
I hoped not.
She nodded with a reluctant sigh. “Yes, but it’s not like I can really be punished. I already can’t leave the palace without an escort. My father will refuse me food for a few days as punishment, but the second I say I am hungry and cry, plates of food will be shoved under my nose. Being female on Ealra has its advantages.”
I cackled. “As I said, you’re an evil genius.”
Surkah beamed as she stared down the ramp before looking back at me.
“You bathed?” she asked, sniffing the air.
I grinned. “I have used the cleansing unit three times a day since that first day in the medical bay.”
“Why so many times?” Surkah asked, shocked.
I shrugged. “I’m making up for lost time, I guess.”
Surkah processed this then said, “Well, you smell wonderful.”
I laughed. “Thanks.”
“Are you ready to meet some of my family?” she asked as I moved closer to her.
“Are you serious?” I grumbled. “I could wait another ten years if I was given the chance.”
“It will not be bad, I promise. They will be overjoyed that Kol has mated.”
“Even though I’m a human?” I questioned.
“It will be a shock, so expect wide eyes, but Mother and Father will not oppose the mating. They’ll celebrate it.”
My stomach churned. “I’m scared they won’t like me.”
“They’ll adore you,” Surkah assured me. “We’re already best friends, so they’ll see how wonderful you are… Just give them the chance to get to know you.”
“The princes approach,” Nero murmured from behind us.
“Surkah!” a booming voice bellowed. “You’re a deceiving little terror!”
Surkah groaned. “Go away, Killi… and take Arli and Avri with you.”
I instantly moved behind Surkah as three huge figures appeared at the end of the ramp and began to trek up it.
“Oh, I think not, darling sister,” another voice stated. “We have means for a quarrel with you.”
“I’ll tell Father if you even think of circling me, Avri.”
That made her brothers, and Nero laugh.
“What does she mean?” I whispered to Nero.
“When males circle a female,” he whispered back, “it is usually because she has played games that each male was unaware of. When a female is circled by a male or more than one male, her instincts are to automatically bow to show submission. Surkah is a fierce female, but her instincts would force her to bow to her brothers if they circled her and that would wound her pride. It a harmless revenge antic that males have for females.”
“I think you deserve to be circled.”
“Arli, as my favourite brother, you should not say such things!”
All the males snickered.
“I am your favourite now?” Arli asked jokingly. “It was Ezah last moon cycle, Killi the moon cycle before that, Kol the moon cycle before that, and Aza that mo—”
“Oh, close your lips,” Surkah hissed, earning her more chuckles.
“You should not have stowed away aboard the Ebony,” Killi spoked firmly when the chuckles ceased. “The worry and fear you caused were cruel, Surkah.”
I knew Killi, Aril, and Arvi where now stood in front of Surkah, but I couldn’t bring myself to step out from behind her and face them.
“I did not mean to cause any of those emotions,” Surkah replied, her voice cracking like she was about to cry. “I just wanted to help Kol, and our new females, and—”
“You defied direct orders from your intended,” Killi cut her off.
“I know.” Surkah sniffled. “He already punished me for it.”
“Not nearly as much as he should have.” Killi growled, the sound just enough to show he was displeased and not truly angered. “You have lost my trust and will not win it back so easily, do you understand?”
“Yes, Killi,” Surkah whimpered. “I am sorry.”
“Your tears do not sway me, sister. Your actions do.”
Killi was a fucking hardass.
“Before you continue, brother, can someone address why a small alien female is hiding behind our sister? And why she scents of Kol?”
Oh shit, that’s me.
Nero cleared his throat. “I believe Kol should formally be the one to answer that, but as he is not here, Surkah… you can do it.”
Surkah looked over her shoulder and glared at Nero, her eyes red and swollen from crying. She turned back to face her brothers and said, “She is our sister-in-mate.”
Silence.
Long fucking silence.
“Almighty,” I whispered.
“I don’t believe it,” Killi stated, the shock evident in his tone. “Kol has mated? One of the alien females is his?”
“Yes, he has,” Nero answered. “He is behaving worse than any newly mated male I have even seen, too. He has contacted me seventy-three times since I began our escort for an update. He’s attacked Mikoh over her more times than I could count, growled at me and Thane, and even Surkah. If I ever think about taking a mate, I will think of Kol’s behaviour, and it will quickly kill that urge.”
Kol’s brothers burst into gleeful laughter.
I peeked out from behind Surkah and gasped when I took in the three males. They were each massively tall, and their bodies were thick with muscle, but their grey skin looked a lot more vibrant than any of the other Maji I have encountered. There attire distracted me for a moment because they didn’t have on matching navy top and bottoms with armour plates on them. The had different coloured loose fitted pants… And that was it. No shoes, no socks, and no t-shirts.
They looked like they belonged between the pages of a thin, worn paper book I had found years ago on Earth where attractive men and women were spread out in the pictures. It was easy to see the family resemblance between the brothers, Kol, and Surkah. They were, to be honest, very beautiful.
The male to my far left had shoulder-length silver hair, silver eyes, and a splash of white dots over his nose and under his eyes. His cheekbones were high, his jawline sharp, and his mouth was shaped exactly like Kol’s. A quick glance at the other two males confirmed similar features, only they both had black hair like Kol. None of them could ever deny that they were relatives because it was plain as day to anyone who looked at them.
The male with silver eyes locked them on mine, and before he could say a word, I got spooked. I sucked in a harsh breath, turned, and ran like the devil himself was on my heels. I ignored Surkah and Nero’s calls for me and somehow navigated my way back to my and Kol’s quarters. I ran into the cleansing room and hid inside the cleansing unit, hoping and praying for my heart beat to return to normal.
I felt like a coward. One look at Kol’s brothers had me fleeing. I had always prided myself on how tough I was, how I could take care of myself and deal with any situation, but the second an alien male locked eyes with mine, I bolted.
Almighty, I thought. What I would give to be back on Earth.