Alan
How could I have been so stupid. The experiments were the last thing I wanted to talk about. They were painful, embarrassing, and best left in the past. But sometimes at night I would dream that I was back on the Tureis ship with Catalina. But bad memories were nothing new to me. In one way or another, I’d dealt with bad situations, bad memories, all of my life. But I’d accidently let the cat out of the bag and I knew that if the situation were reversed, it would drive me crazy not knowing. I should’ve kept my damn mouth shut. But I hadn’t.
“I woke up in a cell on a Tureis ship.” As I let the memories spill out, I thought, Just say it once and let it go. It helped that I could barely see her face. “When I woke up, I was strapped to a table.” Breathe, in and out. “There was a tube in my urethra, and someone stuck a needle in my testicle.” God, the sweat had poured down my face when I awoke in so much pain. “I’m not sure they knew what they were doing.” She hopefully didn’t know what a urethra and testicles were, and maybe she wouldn’t ask. I could only hope.
In a low voice, I heard her say, “Why?”
“How could they?” I scoffed. The pain was so bad, I remember passing out before they started sedating me. After that, I would wake from the sedation and wonder what else they had done, and if my dick would still work. “One day, they brought a woman and laid her in my cell. I knew then. I knew what those bastards were trying to do.”
“What?”
“Make human babies.”
I heard the barely audible gasp. “Did it work?”
“No. But they tried, that’s for damn sure.” I was getting angry just thinking about it. I breathed deeply, then continued. “Catalina became my friend and I loved her dearly, but more like a sister.”
I remembered all the humiliating times when we each turned our back so the other could use the bathroom. All the times the aliens brought us back to the cell naked. But Kattlyn didn’t need to know any of that.
“The Curazins rescued us. Toran offered to help me look for Krista, and I couldn’t ask that of Cat.”
“Cat?”
“The nickname I gave her.” Using my fingertips, I swept Kattlyn’s hair behind her ear. “Toran invited her to live with them. Apparently, they are having trouble finding a compatible race to have kids with.”
“She wanted this?”
“I couldn’t ask her to stay with me and look for my sister. What if I’d never found Krista?” I shook my head even though Kattlyn couldn’t see it. “Toran assured us both that she could live peacefully, and if she wasn’t happy, he’d take her anywhere she wanted to go.”
“That was nice of him.”
Thinking about Toran made me smile. I wondered if he’d made it to Earth and found someone of his own. Hopefully.
“How long did they hold you prisoner?”
Too long. Way too long. But not long enough to figure out how to get Catalina pregnant. Thank God. “I don’t know. Without the rise and setting of the sun, it just seemed like one endless nightmare.”
She leaned up and snaked her arms around my neck. I hugged her close and basked in the comfort of her arms. It did make me feel better. Kissing her temple, I whispered, “Go to sleep. Tomorrow is a big day.” She slid back down and laid her head back in my lap. I ran my fingers through the strands of her powder-white hair. At some point, I drifted off to sleep.
~~~~
I was awake long before the first rays of the sun streaked the sky. As much as I hated to, I needed to wake her so we could be on our way.
“Kattlyn”—I gave her a little nudge— “we have to go.”
Sleepily, she blinked her eyes open. “What? Where are we?”
“We have to get going.”
She sat up and stretched her arms over her head and yawned. Blinking some more, she finally held her eyes open. I got to my feet and extended a hand down to help her up and then dusted the leaves off her clothes.
“Did you get any sleep?” she asked, still yawning.
“A little.” I took her hand. “We need to go.”
All day we traveled, trying to stay near the forest edge in case we needed to take cover. Deep inside, I knew the others would eventually catch up to us. Call it a gut feeling. I kept my ears and eyes open. The only times we stopped was for a quick drink of water at a creek or lake. By my estimation, we were still a long way from the castle.
“I need to stop,” Kattlyn said as her stomach growled like a wild animal.
“I’m hungry too.” But I didn’t know what to do about it. I didn’t know which berries or plants were safe to eat. Maybe if we could catch some fish. “Let’s head back to the lake we passed.”
“What are you going to do?”
“Try and catch some fish.” If it was possible. And then I had to figure out how to cook them. Impossible.
The entire walk back, I tried to think of a way to catch a fish but I kept drawing blanks.
“What kind of fish live in the lakes?”
“What do you mean?”
“Do they have huge jagged teeth? Are they aggressive? Will they walk out of the lake and eat me?”
She smirked. “Did you really just ask if the fish would walk out of the lake and eat you?”
“Hmmm . . . I am on an alien planet.” I knew how stupid my questions sounded, but I really needed to know if Azziar had normal fish according to Earth standards. The ludicrous questions were to make her smile. And it worked.
“All right. Would you stand there and let a fish walk up and chomp on you?”
I laughed and she knew I was just joking with her. “Seriously, how about those teeth?”
“I don’t know of any jagged-toothed monsters attacking anyone in the lake.”
“Good to know.”
Stepping up onto a large rock, I peered into the lake, trying to spot a fish. It took a few minutes, but I finally caught the shadow of one swimming near the edge. Now for the hard part.
I stepped off, and with my hands on my hips, looked around for inspiration.
“Ah ha!” I grinned. If I could break a limb off a small tree just right, maybe it would leave a sharp pointed edge. Maybe. It was the best shot and all I could think of. Unless I bashed the fish with a rock.
It took several tries, but I finally got two good limbs and handed one to Kattlyn.
“What do we do with this?”
“Stab a fish if it gets close to the edge.” I laughed when her face twisted in horror. “If you want to eat.”
It took too long, but we finally managed to spear a couple.
“I got one!” Her eyes lit with amazement.
“Good job.”
“Now how do we cook it?” she said excitedly.
I hated to break it to her but . . . “We don’t.”
“Then how do we eat it?”
I didn’t want to, but I needed protein and I needed my strength. I held up my fish and she watched intently as I bit into it.
“That’s disgusting!”
When I swallowed a bite, I said, “Close your eyes and pretend it’s sushi.”
“It’s raw fish.”
It took her a few minutes, but she finally started eating hers. There was a look of torture on her face every time she chewed.
I waited, and when she finished eating I held out my hand. “Ready?”
“Yes.”
We started walking. The taste in my mouth was terrible but my stomach was happy. We walked for hours just talking, getting to know each other.
My heart slammed into my chest when Lottia snatched Kattlyn as we passed a tree. An ambush! Someone tackled me to the ground while two others watched. I punched and kicked at the one on top until I finally bucked him off and jumped to my feet. It wasn’t easy—he was a big son of a bitch.
“No one needs to get hurt if you’ll come peacefully.” Heaving, I stared daggers at Lottia, not believing a word that hissed from between his teeth.
All three circled. One looked a lot younger and a little more hesitant. I had no idea how I would take on the three of them, but when Kattlyn threw a hard elbow into Lottia’s side, I took the cue and landed a spinning back kick, knocking one of them on his back. Then I crunched his face with the bottom of my boot. That’s one.
The other two came at me swinging. A fist collided with my cheek, a gash opened on my cheek, and I felt a trickle of blood. Another hard punch landed on my other cheek, making me stagger before I got my bearings.
Kattlyn grunted a time or two and I fought the need to make sure she was okay. It about killed me not to be able to rush over and defend her, but I couldn’t draw my eyes away from the two that circled me. But her grunts made me focus. I could feel my left eye swelling and needed to end this as quickly as possible and save Kattlyn.
I quickly spun and landed a kick on the side of the guy’s face, knocking him to his knees. One hard elbow to the back of the head, and the Azziarin fell over face first.
The younger one now looked even more hesitant and a little afraid. Good. With my hands balled into fists, I advanced. He took a small step backward.
“Stop!” The order boomed through the forest. The young one froze, and when I turned around, my heart almost stopped. Lottia had a knife at Kattlyn’s throat. “I have no quarrels about slaughtering someone from the ruling house.”
I had no doubt this asshole was telling the truth. In my peripheral vision, I could see the other guy hadn’t moved, so I edged closer to Kattlyn and Lottia, needing to be closer. If he hurt Kattlyn, there would be hell to pay.
I could see not only fear, but anger in her eyes. Good. She’d need that anger for courage. I held her gaze and hoped she would understand. Now only a few feet away and still staring at Kattlyn while Lottia rattled on about something, I widened my eyes and gave the tiniest nod.
It all happened fast. Kattlyn stomped on Lottia’s foot, causing him to loosen his grip slightly. She ducked under his arm the same time I tackled him to the ground. The knife flew from Lottia’s hand and scooted along the ground and the two of us scrambled to get to it first. We rolled around, taking turns on top until I finally found an opening and crawled away.
On my hands and knees, I grabbed the knife and rolled over onto my back at the same time Lottia came down on top of me. Blade pointed up, the knife sunk deep into his chest. Lottia’s face froze in surprise, in horror. For extra measure, I twisted it in his chest and then shoved him off me.
Breathing heavily, I rolled over and sat up slowly.
“Alan!” Kattlyn rushed over and grabbed my arm. “Are you all right?”
When I finally got to my feet, I wrapped my arms around her, kissing her temple. “I’m okay.” Just holding her in my arms made everything okay. It didn’t matter that my vision was blurred a little. She was safe in my arms.
I knew there was still one left, but he was gone. That made me worry. What if he went back for reinforcements? We needed to leave, put as much distance between us as possible.
“We need to get out of here.” I squeezed Kattlyn a little tighter. I’d almost lost her, which only made me more cautious, more aware of the dangers out here. This was not as peaceful a place as everyone made it out to be.
I held her for a minute longer, still scanning the area in front of me. Making sure the other two were still out.
“I’ve been looking for you,” a deep voice rumbled behind us.
In a flash, I stepped back from Kattlyn and spun around so she was behind me. Nobody . . . nobody would take her from me.
Takkeo stood beside a tall beast that resembled a mutant horse. I watched as Takkeo scanned the scene, the dead Azziarin, and the way I shielded Kattlyn with my body. After the talk we’d had at first meal, he had to know that I had been talking about Kattlyn that morning.
He scrunched his nose and pursed his lips. “It looks like I missed the fun.”
Still shielding Kattlyn, I shrugged and said nonchalantly, “If you want to call it that. Then yes, you did.”
“Everyone is looking for the two of you.”
“I assumed.”
The adrenaline in my veins kept me on edge, high alert. My body visibly trembled slightly, not from fear but from my heightened senses.
“Alan”—Kattlyn tugged on my arm— “it’s okay. It’s Takkeo. He won’t hurt us.”
The tension started to drain from my shoulders a little as I scanned the area one more time to make sure it was just the three of us. When I was certain we were alone, I told Takkeo, “One got away and those two over there are not dead.”
Takkeo spun, also scanning the area. “Let’s get back before they wake up or the other one brings reinforcements.”
Kattlyn stepped forward. “They took our hover vehicle and we do not have a kul to ride.”
A kul, that must be the furry beast next to Takkeo.
“I have another one loaded with some supplies. It’s not far. Come.”
Kattlyn held my hand as we walked away from the gruesome scene. She looked ahead and said to Takkeo’s back, “How did you know where to look for us?”
“I was walking around outside when I spotted the two of you leave in a hover vehicle. When you never returned, and everyone started to panic, I contacted Risshi. He said he hadn’t seen you.” Takkeo looked over his shoulder and smiled. “Then I suspected you went to see Kepa.”
“You knew about him?”
“Of course. I was young, but I still noticed. He even approached me a time or two.”
“Seriously?”
“Don’t sound so surprised. I was young and impressionable at the time.” He grinned over his shoulder. “But then I thought, No she would not. But the more everyone searched, the more I knew you had. I didn’t know where the outlanders were located, but I knew which direction you headed, so I took a chance.”
“Does Father know?”
“He knows that you ran away with Alan. That much he surmised.”
“And Krista?”
Takkeo laughed. “She’s clueless. She can’t understand why you would be with Alan, or why Alan would run away with you. I can tell by the way Sydney and Cloe are acting that they know. Even Jakke knows, but everyone is keeping quiet.”
When we reached the clearing where a kul stood tied to a tree, Takkeo took the satchels from its back. He undid a strap, reached in, and brought out some food, handing it to us. “I thought you might be hungry.”
“Thanks,” we said in unison.
Takkeo waited for us to eat and then said, “You can have this one.” He patted the kul’s back. Looking over at me, he scrunched his nose. “Do you know how to ride it?”
I studied it, Kattlyn’s hand in mine. It couldn’t be much different than riding a horse. I looked down at Kattlyn and swept her hair behind her ear. I could’ve lost her today. Knowing that steeled my resolve. No more hiding, no more internal debate. It felt so strange that after just a few days, I couldn’t imagine life without her. And I was tired of running from it.
She was mine.
We would find our way together.
With my hands on her waist, she jumped while I lifted, and sat sideways on the beast. I jumped, swinging one leg over and straddling its back. Kattlyn leaned back against me as my arms circled around her to take the reins.
When I started to ask Takkeo if he was ready, I caught him staring strangely at the two of us. When Takkeo’s eyes snapped to mine, they widened before he quickly turned away.