Sidney
I scanned the room like a nervous puppy at its first veterinary appointment. The room was cold, with no pictures on the walls and thickly carpeted floors. It felt so strange to have Tessoul in my space, but it was a feeling I was becoming quickly accustomed to. It felt so domestic to bring him in, to see his immense form standing by my light green kitchenette and the old pots and pans I'd scavenged from a supermart some years ago.
Ed had stayed with us as well, making me absolutely glow with motherly adoration. I had grown to love the little creature in a way I hadn’t with anything else before. It was the only thing I’d ever had to take care of, to play with, and it felt like home when he was around.
Same, I supposed, could be said for Tessoul.
To see his ripped body on my bed felt unreal; it turned me on, sending shivers down my center and causing a heat between my legs.
We'd spent out weeks together less focused on our mission, irresponsible, and more focused on one another's bodies and all the different ways we could please one another. I was addicted to him, feeling more and more attached than I ever thought was possible.
"How are you finding my crew?" I teased and sat on his lap, straddling him and kissing his neck, sliding my hand along the limp spire that lay under his cowl and draped down his back. I was ravenous for him.
I couldn't get enough of him, and it scared me in the best way possible. He was less and less associated in my mind with monsters and more the man I wanted to be with. The more I thought about it, the more it really seemed like this could work.
It seemed he wasn't ready to give back the same lusty, animal passion I was when he responded, "Oh, just fine. Your camp looks at me like I'm some murderous creature and there's snow everywhere so... Yeah, great time."
"Hey, relax," I cooed, brushing his face with my hand and licking his lips, hoping to get his interest. "They don't exactly have the best experience, but we'll get there."
He cocked a brow, and it seemed to smooth his face somehow. "Is that so?” he dared.
"I saw you in Baxley's trailer," he said, grabbing me by my arms and pushing me away so he could get a better look at me.
I shrugged. "So?"
"What's that about?” he thinned his lips, and suddenly I could tell we were in a fight.
I tried my best to laugh it off, flirtatious and light. "Well, he's my commodore and he wants to know I'm alright. I survived a..." I trailed off then, trying to choose the best phrasing possible. "I've been missing," I finally landed on. "He keeps a close eye on his team; that's all."
"That's all?” he repeated, unbelieving.
"Uh-huh."
"You know what's funny?" came his terse reply. "You didn't touch me at all yesterday."
"I'm doubling over with laughter," I scoffed.
"Hilarious," he said with an equal amount of annoyance.
“Fine! Well, it’s going to make some people uncomfortable, okay? As far as most of the people here are concerned, you’re… you’re dangerous! You stole our crew, killed our people, and took our land. Not everyone is as excited to have you here.”
He looked at me then and perked a brow with a calculated irritation: offense. “And here I thought you’d offered me forgiveness,” he said quickly, pushing me off of him and standing.
“Just stop it,” I said with a sigh.
“You stop it,” he repeated petulantly. “It seems there’s been a lot of lies slung around for my benefit, Sidney. Or should I call you Sid?”
“Jealousy looks terrible on you,” I laughed evilly. “Just saying.”
“I’m jealous?” he scoffed.
“Is that a statement or a fact? Because the answer is pretty obvious.”
He blinked and paced around my trailer with crossed arms; fingering over knickknacks and countertops. “I’m not jealous. Of what? Baxley? Is there something to be jealous of?”
He stopped then and focused his attention outside my window, watching the militia gather their supply of guns together at a far trailer.
“All I want is to be with you, and I’m not getting that same idea from you,” he said slowly, still not looking at me.
“It’s just temporary, until we get settled, okay?”
He turned his profile to me and began in a husky tone, “I find you inexplicably desirable.”
I chuckled. “Big word.”
“You are… wild and fierce. I knew it the minute you rallied me to fight you by the mountain. You are endlessly brave.”
“Okay,” I said slowly. “First you’re pissed, and now you’re complimenting me? So, what? I mean, you’re obviously mad about something so why don’t you just come out and say it instead of playing games with me?”
“I feel uneasy,” he said, toneless, as though he wasn’t sure how to say the words. “A pulling.”
“Because you don’t trust me,” I said flatly.
“Something else,” he said, growing lost. “Something so familiar.”
I scoffed and repeated, “Because you don’t trust me.”
“No!” he yelled, a hollow roar coming throat his tone that sent a sick pang of white fire through my heart. “Not everyone is like you, Sidney! Not everyone is waiting to be double-crossed.”
I felt a pang of guilt bubble up in my stomach then. Not only was he right to be suspicious about my past with Baxley, but we were waiting to double-cross him. And he had followed me right into the arms of the beast.
I swallowed hard and walked over to him, quiet steps sounding like raindrops against the carpet. I put my hand over his and whispered, “I’m listening.”
“Something’s happening,” he said with such an urgency that it made me want to throw up.
“To you?” I asked, desperate.
“No. But I feel something… a calling.”
“To me?” I asked, now feeling stupid.
“No! I mean,” he traced his fingers across my face; kissed me. “Of course, but… it’s something deeper.”
I looked over his features and reached back in for a kiss, pressing my body against his, and felt displaced just knowing that he was hurting on some level. I wondered what the hormone did to him: what being ‘reborn’ must have felt like. The guilt that came with that.
Before I had a chance to respond, our kiss snapped apart like shrapnel as Baxley burst through my door, walking in with such familiarity I wondered if Tessoul would start a fight right in front of him.
“We gotta talk,” Baxley snapped, looking at Tessoul before slamming the door shut behind him.
My eye darted up across the room and immediately made my way to the door, following after Baxley with my hand firmly locked in Tessoul's. He stayed at the kitchen counter and pulled me back toward him.
I yanked him forward and offered him another kiss for comfort before we stepped out into the cold.
We sat in a semi-circle around a raging fire that was lit in an oversized tin barrel in the center of our camp. Tessoul was quick to warm his hands by the flames, and I couldn’t say I blamed him. It was freezing, and the Vithohn weren’t used to our temperatures.
“Baxley,” Baxley offered the first official introduction as he shook Tessoul’s hand from across the fire. “I’m the commodore here.”
My lover nodded uncomfortably and said, “Tessoul.”
“So, you’re the one who’s wrangled our soldier, hm? You don’t seem like the others we’ve run into. I understand that one of our scientists, one whom your people captured, actually, believes they can trigger something in the Vithohn system that numbs your tendency toward violence.”
Baxley was great at making speeches. I used to find this endlessly charming, but Tessoul clearly didn’t feel the same way.
With his guard up, Tessoul shrugged and offered, “I don’t know what it is, but it feels like waking up.” He looked at me and met my eyes with an expression that gave me butterflies.
Baxley flicked his brows up in dismissal and looked down into the fire. “Well, ain’t that romantic.”
“Just the truth,” Tessoul bristled.
“Huh,” Baxley breathed. “And your people, the ones who have mated with the two females in your base, how do they feel about the human race?”
“As far as I know, their goal is to save them from the destruction that we’ve caused. Nothing more, nothing less.”
Baxley parted his lips and licked across them nervously before looking back up at Tessoul. It was a meeting of male egos. “Is that right?” he tested slowly.
“Not all of the Vithohn feel that way, of course,” Tessoul offered, splaying his palms out before Baxley. “I used to be one of them, though. That’s how I know we can fix it: the thinking.”
“I heard Sid was attacked at your base,” Baxley spat.
Tessoul looked uncomfortable then; Baxley had a talent for narrowing in on insecurities. “Like I said…”
“Right,” Baxley dismissed. “And Sid says you want to make an alliance with us?”
Tessoul looked at me again, the group of us all watching one another in a meeting that was growing tense somehow. I began to feel agitated just watching them interact.
I knew that the militia deserved to know the plan: to get a feel for the Vithohn I’d brought into our camp. To see that he was on board, but I was starting to feel like Baxley had more in mind for this meeting than I knew.
“I want to stop this war,” Tessoul offered quickly. “And if you or your scientist thinks there’s a way to make us work together, then I think that’s worth exploring.”
“I see,” Baxley nodded. “And you wouldn’t be leading your people back to our camp?”
Tessoul narrowed his eyes, and I laughed uncomfortably.
“Baxley,” I breathed. “Come on. Manners?”
The look Tessoul gave my commodore was discomforting, and neither replied to my comment. The camp was still and quiet.
I looked over Tessoul's distinct features and sensed a rubbery tension; the way he looked at Baxley let me know he was suspicious. He could feel the hostility; he just couldn’t place it yet.
I bit my lip and moved my tongue over my teeth, hoping not to be found out. Then suddenly a bulb of unease crossed through me, and I felt the sudden urge to stop the whole conversation.
“When you found her,” Baxley began, but Tessoul interrupted him with a raise of his hand.
“She found me, actually,” he said, and the words were so filled with love that I could burst.
Baxley didn’t take it the same way. His eyes flicked to mine, brown and enraged, and then back to Tessoul as he snapped, “I know she did because I told her where to find you.”
The next series of moments played out like a blur. Tessoul looked at me with betrayal in his eyes: a deep-cut pain that made me sick. I went to speak, but Baxley let off a barrage of gunfire: a stun gun that sent Tessoul careening backward with an electric shock.
Our crew piled around him, disarming him and using all their might to restrain him, and all I could hear was my own scream.