Ryock

It feels as if we have a noose above our heads and it’s slowly lowering down to wrap itself around our necks. We’ve been waiting five days for Isla’s sister and her husband to get here, and we can do nothing but wait.

Fishing for food, hunting for meat, and swimming are the only things we can do to fill the void of our depression.

Isla is hurting now inside of herself, I can feel it through the bond so fiercely that it causes me to ache. She is devastated to know she has been missing for so long. A year and a half with absolutely no memory of what or how it happened. I want to tell her it’s fine, but it isn’t. Not for her. She knows she was abducted and then she was tossed into the cage with the Gararl. Nothing else, no memories or faint recollections.

It’s one giant void.

I’ve tried searching with her through the bond we share, hoping perhaps she had put up some mental wall around the memories. But there is simply nothing there. It’s as if she simply did not exist for all that time. It’s terrifying for Isla to think about.

While she has been worried about that, I’ve been racking my brains in a way to stop the inevitable arrival of her sister.

It’s when, not if, she gets here that she will be trying to take Isla to somewhere safe.

Meaning there is no guarantee that she will understand that Isla and I have bonded. Have merged our souls so closely together that they have become one whole.

I know she feels my fears as much as I feel hers. She tries to reassure me that everything will be fine, that nothing will come between us, but I question whether she truly believes that. A lot of things can happen once we’re ‘rescued’ and I highly doubt her sister means to give her much choice in the matter.

My life now, so complete with Isla’s love, could easily be shattered if she were to be taken from me. I will fight to the death to prevent it, but would it destroy her as well because of the bond between us?

It’s beyond my knowledge.

We’ve tested the bond a little while we’ve been waiting. Using emotions and trickery to play with each other, and found that it is quite wondrous. We can soothe and comfort, arouse and enflame. But there is also a worrisome side to the bond we found rather unkindly. If we are separated by too far of a distance, it becomes quite painful in a physical way. The further we are apart, the harder it is to move, to keep our composure.

I pray to the stars this won’t have to be tested. I pray it will be accepted that we are a package deal.

At times, over the past five days, our lovemaking has been frantic as we try to fill each other with our very beings. And at other times, it is slow as we savor every second we are joined in our shared pleasure.

I can feel each time she wants to say she loves me now, her heart nearly bursting with the emotion. But something has been holding her back. Holding her from giving that final part of her heart to me.

I’ve tried not to show the pain it causes, to bury the emotion deep inside of my mind and body. But it’s no use, it comes out in what I fear might be desperation. We’ve tried talking about it, but it hasn’t worked, and I don’t think either of us know why. She has a wall there in her mind, one she isn’t ready to let down just yet.

How strange it is that we can read each other’s feelings so completely, but sometimes words will not follow when they should.

Wrapping my arm around her sleeping shoulder, I pull her tighter to my chest. Each night we go to sleep in this skiff, listening to the birds, insects, and animals of this world singing their song. Me on my back, her pulled tight into my arm. Her head on my chest.

It’s moments like this, when I wake before her and simply enjoy her body against mine, that I feel so at ease. So many warring emotions will fill my mind soon, but for these brief instances I get to simply enjoy her.

Beep. Beep. Beep.

Fuck.

Fuck, seems to be a good word. Fucking damn the stars, seems to be a good use of it too.

“Mmm?” Isla mumbles.

Beep. Beep. Beep.

I squeeze her tightly to myself one last moment.

Perhaps our very last moment.

“Shit!” Isla yelps. “Why are you tickling me?!”

Shrugging as I pull my fingers away from her armpits, I say, “I figured since you’re quite grumpy when you wake up, well, you might not be so grumpy if you’re laughing.”

“Ugh! That is so…”

Beep. Beep. Beep.

The transponder sounds off again.

“Better answer the transponder, my dear,” I say as I smirk at her.

Narrowing her eyes at me, she says, “I’m going to remember this, Buster.”

Furrowing my brow, I ask, “Who is Buster?”

Rolling her eyes, she sits up and scrambles to the transponder. Mumbling something about it’s a good thing I can regenerate.

Sitting up with her, I watch as she sets the transponder down on an empty food case and aims it at the wall.

Pressing the button, we watch as her sister’s image is beamed on the wall.

“We’ve just dropped out of warp drive. What took you so long to answer? I was worr—” Lexi starts before Isla raises a hand to stop her.

“You contacted me a couple of hours ago, Lex. Nothing has happened since then.”

“Yes, but…”

“We’re fine,” Isla grins at her sister. “Or at least I am. Ryock might not be once we get off this call.”

Chuckling behind her, I get a very good idea and decide to see if it will work.

Pushing gently up behind her, I peer over her shoulder and smile. “Good morning, Lexi.”

“Umm… Good morning Ryock.”

A small gasp comes from Isla as I shove a large dose of arousal through the bond. As usual, my cock has been rock hard since I woke up, and the throbbing I felt earlier now comes back to me in full force as I let Isla feel the need in my loins.

“Isla, is something wrong?”

Isla shakes her head at her sister and turns back to me, whispering, “You keep that up and I’ll hide your two very best friends from you for a week.”

“Whatever do you mean, my star?” I ask in a low, husky voice.

“If you want to play with the girls, you better behave.”

She certainly doesn’t like to fight fair, I guess. But then again, neither do I.

“What are you two whispering about?” Lexi asks in confusion.

“Nothing!” We both burst out in laughter.

Letting out a very quiet purring vibration against Isla’s back, I ask, “You said you just dropped out of warp drive? How close into the system did you get?”

“We are going to enter the atmosphere of your planet in thirty-one minutes and forty-five seconds,” the small silver orb speaks as it zooms onto the screen and stops to hover next to Lexi.

If they’re calling it ‘our planet’, I wonder if we could not just come back here when everything is settled and make a home here? Perhaps leave the rest of the universe to itself for a long while.

“I was worried you would miss our call and you would try to contact me while we were breaking through the atmosphere. It’s going to be the only time our transponders won’t work right,” Lexi explains.

“Oh, how long until you get to us?” Isla asks.

“We will be arriving at your location in approximately thirty-three minutes and five seconds.”

“Get ready, Isla! We’re coming to take you home!” Lexi says with happiness.

And instantly the somber mood that has shrouded us for the past five days envelops us once again.

This time it leaves me almost breathless in desperation.

“We’ll see you then,” Isla says, and before Lexi can respond, Isla reaches forward and turns off the transponder.

Damn.

“Isla.”

“Ryock,” she says back. Leaning back into my arms, she tugs on them and wraps them around her waist. “What are we going to do?”

“Stay together,” I growl out.

Anger is slowly filling the spot where the somber depression of not knowing our future was.

Anger at the injustice of our impossible situation.

But we will find a way. Even if I have to steal a ship and become a pirate, I will have Isla by my side. We are bonded. That cannot change. Ever.

I don’t think Lexi or her husband Maul know the depths to which we have become so bonded. How could they?

“Forever?” she asks quietly.

“Yes, Isla, forever.”

* * *

We have to pack our belongings into our backpack and make our way out of the jungle towards a clearing that Lexi’s husband Maul could land the ship in.

For some reason Lexi can’t explain, Maul couldn’t meet us closer to the skiff.

As we approach the sleek black ship, the ship’s cargo bay slowly opens and a ramp extends down to the green field of tall grass.

There, standing in the doorway, is Maul, the large silver Rathturian, and Lexi, who looks strikingly like Isla.

“Sorry we didn’t walk out to meet you!” Lexi shouts as she cradles her tiny son in her arms. “But this was the best compromise I could get out of Maul.”

My Isla chuckles, then says, “Ryock won’t let me leave his side either around here. Not that we have much choice.”

We already discussed the bond that binds us together and agreed it would be a good idea to establish it as soon as it’s appropriate. We do not want to risk them trying to separate us. Not after the small episode with how Yarrel treated us.

“This is a fine-looking warship,” I say as we stride up the ramp.

The small silver orb called Marketh shoots towards us and begins to zip this way and that as we walk. “We prefer the term ‘family vessel’.”

Looking to the silver Rathturian, I meet his steely gaze with my own. “Maul.”

“Ryock,” he says with a hard edge in his tone.

Rathturians are known to me. The Crima, while not at war with them, still consider any outside of their race the enemy. As such, I’ve heard too many tales of Rathturians and their mighty battle prowess.

Isla has embraced her sister and nephew in a tight hug and tears begin to flow freely down both of their cheeks.

“I’m so thankful we’ve finally found you, Isla. I feared…” Lexi doesn’t finish the statement, but I can easily see in her eyes how deathly worried she was for my bondmate.

“Me too. I can’t even begin to explain…” Isla starts, before shaking her head. Once again, I can feel the confusion and anger over missing a year and a half of her life.

Holding each other tightly for a moment more, they separate as Isla looks down into the small silver child’s eyes and gasps happily. “Are you my nephew Thorn?”

Smiling at her sister, Lexi nods her head as she lifts the large baby up and offers him to Isla to hold. “This little guy sure is. He’s fresh from his nap.”

“I can’t believe you have a baby, Lexi…” Isla says as she gently takes the child into her arms.

I can feel the stirring of something deep in Isla, but it’s cut off when Lexi says, “It was a long nine months.”

“Maul…” The silver little orb flies over to the Rathturian who has continued to try and stare me down.

Fucking Rathturians.

Perhaps if I hadn’t been through hell and back waiting for my soulmate, I would be worried. But nothing scares me but the loss of her.

Not anymore.

“I’ve completed initial bioscans on both Isla and the male. We should all head inside. The trip back home is going to be complicated.”

Both of us turn to the silver orb, and I’m curious to know what the hell that means.

But Maul just stares at it for a brief moment before nodding his head. “Lexi, we must get going. Perhaps we can continue this during the flight home?”

Handing her nephew back to Lexi, Isla walks over to me and takes my hand in hers. Her cool, slender fingers slowly interlace with mine and I feel a slow sigh of happiness coming through our bond.

“Of course, Maul. Marketh, can you help me get Thorn ready for takeoff again?”

“Again? I told you the last time. I. Am. Not. A. Baby. Toy.”

“But he calms down so easily with you,” Lexi says with a smirk.

“What exactly are you?” Isla asks the silver orb.

“I’m Maul’s symbiote. I’m a highly advanced—”

“Marketh, humor Lexi again, please. We need to get going. I do not like the idea of staying too long in a place that isn’t watched closely by the Tribunal.”

Looking back at Maul, I’m sure he can see my mouth slightly open at the name. Just as Isla can feel the sudden tension flowing through our bond.

Her head snaps up to look at me and I just shake my head. Now is not the time. I know I should have recognized a Rathturian flying this type of ship had to have some connection to the Tribunal. Damn.

“Ryock, if you could come with me while the women go to—” he begins to say.

“No. We have to stay together,” Isla says in a cool, firm tone.

Lexi, looking at us both, asks, “What?”

“We have to stay together. Look, it’s kinda hard to explain,” Isla says as she looks to me.

Shrugging my shoulders, I pull her closer to me. “We are bondmates. I doubt you have heard the term before.”

Marketh, the little orb, snorts loudly. “Shit.”

“Where?” I ask as I look down at the bottoms of my feet. “I don’t believe we ha—”

Isla chuckles quietly as she squeezes my hand. “It’s another word we use, like fuck.”

Both Lexi and Maul turn to look at me as I shrug my shoulders. “It is a good word to use on many different occasions.”

Isla taps the side of her head by her ear as she says, “I didn’t always have a translator attached to me, so when we first met in the Crima’s testing cages we had to learn how to talk the old-fashioned way.”

“So, you said fuck a lot?” Lexi asks in confusion.

“Yes. She used the term at the oddest of times. I couldn’t believe she would be thinking of fornication when we were being shot at.”

“You were shot at?!” Lexi asks almost shrilly as she stares between us both.

“Yes,” I begin to say but I’m quickly cut off.

“As much as I’m enjoying this story, we really do need to get a move on,” Marketh says to us as his little form vibrates briefly. “As in now. We don’t need anyone figuring out where we are at this moment.”

“What’s going on?” I ask Maul as he heads towards the front of the ship.

As we walk, I determine that this cargo hold isn’t the typical cargo hold of a warship. At least not the type I’m familiar with. With a cargo-hold of this size, and the nice armament on the sides and top, the sleek lines of the ship give me the impression that this is a smuggler’s ship, and a very nice one at that. Top of the line type of ship. There was no visible damage on the outside of it which also gives me the impression that it might be pretty new.

Looking around, I catch Lexi’s eyes as she stares from me to Isla and back again.

“I apologize for any confusion we might cause during our trip,” I say. “We have quite a delicate situation that will need to be discussed.”

Snapping her eyes to me, Lexi asks, “What kind of delicate situation?”

“Yes,” Maul growls as he stops outside of a cabin door. He stares at the silvery orb. “Just occupy him until we get out of the atmosphere. The internal grav fields irritate his eardrums.”

“Yeah, yeah, oh wondrous Master. I shall watch your spawn for you,” the little orb retorts before making a buzzing sound of annoyance.

The cabin door slips open and Lexi smoothly walks into the room. Dropping the child gently in his protective seating, she quickly fastens the straps to secure him in.

From my knowledge of Rathturians, and the size of this young one, I would guess he should be moving freely on his own soon, if he can’t already. But then again, with a human mother I don’t know how the biological necessity of survival would work.

Marketh floats close to the baby, a gentle fluting noise emanating from his little orb.

Snickering, Lexi blows a kiss to her baby and then the orb. “Thanks, Marketh. It’s good to know you’re good for something beyond being sassy.”

“If you blow one more kiss at me, I’ll show you the sassy end of my zapper,” he grouses at her.

“Is Thorn going to be okay by himself during takeoff?” my soulmate asks worriedly as she looks into the room.

I like seeing this side of her. It’s different than the women of my planet, who could care less whether a male will survive or not—unless the child is gifted. Then they only care that he proves himself in battle and is able to breed.

“Oh, yes!” Lexi beams at her sister as she walks to Maul.

“Rathturian children grow quickly when hatching from the eggs of its mother. He is not nearly defenseless as most alien races offspring can be,” I say as I watch the child swipe his tail at the silver orb as it dodges around.

“You laid an egg?” Isla asks Lexi wide-eyed, her expression almost comical.

“No, not me silly. I had him the good old-fashion way, like earth women do.”

“Oh…” Isla says. “Did he grow much since then?”

“He’s only a week old. He’s put some size on him since then but not much.”

“Shit! He’s huge,” Isla says as she watches the child, then murmurs to me. “Not shit in the literal sense, Ryock.”

“Our offspring will be about the same size,” I grin down at her.

All three sets of eyes turn towards me as Marketh chides from the room. “Shit, indeed.”

“We need to talk, like right now!” Lexi grabs Isla’s hand and begins to pull her towards the sleeping quarters where the child is.

“How far away is the bridge?” I ask Maul as I stare down at Isla’s panicked look.

“About one hundred and twenty feet.”

Looking down at our hands, I say, “We should be okay, my dear.”

Nodding her head slowly, she says, “I’ll send a tug down the line if I need you.”

I nod and look to Maul as I drop my soulmate’s hand. “What trouble are you expecting? Perhaps I can be of service.”

Pulling Isla into the room, I hear Lexi ask, “Explain the phrase ‘down the line’.”

Walking towards the bridge, Maul gives me a stern look of disapproval. “I do not care for your intentions on my sister.”

Sister? Last I knew, my soulmate is human. “What do you mean sister? Is she not human?”

“My family has claimed Lexi as their own. By extension that means Isla is my sister. What is it you have over her head? Why is she so reluctant to leave a…” I can see the contempt in his eyes as he debates on what to call me. “Another race’s side?”

If I didn’t have to worry about upsetting Isla through our bond, I wouldn’t be suppressing my anger as much as I say, “We have bonded. She is my soulmate. Regardless of your claims.”

Stopping directly in front of his command station, he turns his back to me as if in dismissal while he plots in a course to leave the planet.

Motioning to the chairs on the bridge, he says, “Sit before you fall.”

Sitting down in one of the seats, I slowly fasten the belts as I watch the Rathturian make a few more adjustments to the plotting screen.

Taking a seat in the captain’s chair, he turns it to look at me as he says, “I can’t exactly say I’m comfortable with my sister being with a Argmarath. Considering your race works for the Crima.”

Holding my hand up, I try to contain my annoyance. “My race, not me. I’m an outlawed heretic. I hold no love or loyalty for the Crima.”

“That’s what you say, but—”

“Did Yarrel tell you where they found Isla and I?”

“He said he pulled you from a ship. He wasn’t as forthcoming with the details as I would have preferred.”

“Before I say anything,” I begin. “What’s the current political landscape look like? Are both sides still honoring the truce?”

His face gives me all the answer I need. The Crima and the Rathturians have always been at odds. Only the twenty-three races of the Tribunal keep both sides in check. The Tribunal itself is full of infighting as it is, but the fear of an all-out war keeps most sides in check

“Let me start with something you should be made aware of. We were not found on some random transport ship or prison ship,” I say as I feel the sudden rumble of the ship’s large engines winding up for takeoff.

I have to definitely find out what kind of ship this is, because while the engines definitely vibrate us, it is nearly silent on the bridge.

“Isla first came to my notice when she was pushed into the cage of a Garlal that was right across from my cage. And it wasn’t a prison type of cage. We were on a research vessel, and from what I gathered, Yarrel wouldn’t have been able to get anyone near that ship if it hadn’t been for the information they were hoping to find.”

“What do you mean?”

“It was an experimental research vessel. The type that doesn’t stay in one system for very long. Always on the move. Isla was to be used in a breeding experiment with the Gararl. I scented her before the Gararl could catch her, thankfully.”

“Why would they give her to you? Were you a part of their breeding programs?”

Peering over his shoulder, towards the window, I focus on the calm feelings in my mind. I don’t need to upset Isla with my memories.

The landscape has quickly faded away. Blue skies edging on the blackness of space.

“No, I was a part of the other type. You know my race’s abilities, I don’t doubt. Or at least have an idea?”

“So you’re one of them, then?”

I nod my head. “Yeah, they wanted to test the limits of what my body could and would endure before regeneration no longer kicked in.”

“Regeneration of what?” Marketh asks as he zips into the bridge.

“How are they doing back in the cabin?” Maul asks.

“Why are you asking me? You can feel it just as well as the big oaf over there can.”

Maul’s eyes snap from Marketh to me. “Explain.”

“As I said, we bonded. The bastard bugs had me strapped down when I smelled Isla. The technician that was with me believed me to be docile, and I was, until I smelled her. Something drove me into a rage when I caught scent of her. I killed the technician and demanded they bring her to me. When I damaged the glass cage they confined me in, they pulled her from the Gararl.”

“What happened from there?” Maul asks.

“They gave the Gararl a Paxzy to squash his anger. He died by my hands during the escape.”

Maul flinches at the word Paxzy, but I can’t really figure out why.

“That’s not all you should be aware of, though. It wasn’t just Paxzies and Gararls on that vessel. They had two Rathturians there as well, and a couple of other Tribunal races, if I’m not mistaken.”

Mauls anger is palpable enough that I can feel it radiate from his very being. “Be careful you do not lie to me.”

Snorting at his thinly veiled threat, I can’t help but not fear him. Rathturians and Argmaraths are two races that should never go up against each other. We Argmaraths may not be as plentiful as Rathturians, but we are more than their match in combat.

“I tell no lies. I have no reason to.”

“That would explain the scanning the Crima have been doing in this sector of the galaxy. They know their vessel lost races who could quite easily cause embarrassment to them. Experimentation on one of the Twenty-three…” Marketh says quietly.

“Yes, it would also explain their sudden new inquiry into our bond. Perhaps they have information they are trying to parcel together,” Maul says, still angry.

“Why are you so mad, my love?” Lexi asks as she walks onto the bridge.

Isla walks behind her with Thorn in her arms.

“The Crima are pulling new stunts,” he says.

“Aren’t they always?” she asks.

“Yes, but it’s not on members of the off-limit races like humans. They’re pulling them on Tribunal races as well.”

“Oh,” Lexi says as she walks over to stand by her bonded.

“Explain the link if you can, Ryock,” Mauls says.

Looking to Isla, I send a quick burst of love towards her. Seeing her hold a child stirs something deep down inside of me.

“We were forced to mate on the research vessel under the threat that they would kill her if we did not. It began then, then it formed its completion on the planet. I know of your race’s bonding rituals. I believe they are similar to what I have found with Isla. We are bonded at the soul. We can feel each other’s emotions and desires.”

I shrug my shoulders, unsure how to explain what we have. Words don’t really seem to be adequate.

“Maul, as soon as we are settled into a returning path to Rathturia, I would like to begin examinations on both Isla and Ryock,” Marketh says.

Nodding his head, Maul looks to us both. “If you, dear sister, do not mind. And Ryock, with your permission.”

Looking to Isla, I again find myself shrugging my shoulders. “As long as her safety is guaranteed, I will do anything you ask.”

Marketh buzzes around the room for a moment before he says, “Let’s not go the direct path back, Maul. I believe a roundabout way would be better. Something tells me that the Crima are not going to be too happy about us having these two on board.”