So the Hascions had a legend about a body-snatcher demon and Nallah’s brother had used it to terrorize her as a child—of all the rotten fucking luck!
Reeve strode back and forth, pacing the bedroom floor with his hands clenched in his hair. His attempt to tell Nallah what he really was had been a complete disaster. She’d looked at him like he was a ghost or a demon—something that meant her harm. Thank all the Gods that she hadn’t believed he really was this “Hallorook” thing!
But in the meantime, what were his options? He had no way to tell her who he really was and no idea how he would avoid hurting her at this fucking Ritual coming up tomorrow night. Also, he had no clue how he was going to get her away from this fucked-up world when she didn’t even know who he really was.
What in the Seven Hells was he going to do?
“Why don’t you fake it?” Olivia asked when he explained later that night after Nallah was fast asleep on her side of the bed and he was able to leave Harryx’s body for his nightly rendezvous with the Mother Ship.
“Fake it?” Reeve frowned at her but he was eager to hear her opinion. The Earth woman had become a valued ally in the time he had been on this mission. She didn’t seem to judge him for being a snatcher and she was easy to talk to about Nallah.
“Sure.” She shrugged. “Fake it. I mean, how closely are those judges or priests or whatever they are even watching?”
Reeve winced. “Not too closely, I don’t think. I guess I can go back and study Harryx’s memories to be for sure but I fucking hate to do that.”
“He was pretty rough with her, huh?” Olivia’s voice was low and compassionate.
“He raped her,” Reeve said shortly, running a hand through his hair. “Every fucking time he ever took her it was like that. Not an ounce of tenderness or kindness just…” He shook his head, trying not to recall the awful things he’d seen in Harryx’s memories. “Gods,” he burst out finally. “I know that’s not how her people see it—it’s probably not even how Nallah herself sees it. She just thinks she’s being a good wife and submitting. But that kind of brutality…entering her when she’s not ready, holding her down, making her cry…” He couldn’t go on.
“Seeing that must be really hard for you,” Olivia said quietly.
“That doesn’t begin to cover it.” Reeve drew a deep breath, feeling the rage build inside him. “I just wish I could kill him for her. You have no idea how hard it is to go back inside his body knowing what he’s done. I fucking hate the sadistic son-of-a-bitch!”
“He sounds like a horrible person,” Olivia agreed. “Do you think Nallah will ever be able to move past what he did to her?”
“I think maybe…in time. She’s warmed to me quite a lot even though she thinks I’m him, just because I’ve been treating her like a person instead of a sex toy. But if I have to penetrate her during that damn Ritual…” Reeve rubbed a hand over his face, hearing the scratch of whiskers against his palm. Gods, he really needed to shave. His body was getting neglected while he spent so much time out of it.
“Then don’t penetrate her,” Olivia said softly. “Just simulate it—pretend. Get close to her and, you know, grind your hips.”
Reeve frowned. “I guess that could work—as long as the priests don’t come and check to make sure I, uh…” He cleared his throat. “Came inside her.”
“Check to make sure they don’t in Harryx’s memories,” Olivia directed. “And then just pretend.”
“It might work.” He nodded slowly. “I just wonder though, how traumatic putting her in that position will be.”
“You mean going to the temple or—”
“I mean literally putting her on her hands and knees,” Reeve said dryly. “It’s the only way he ever takes her. As impersonal and as painful as possible—that seems to be his fucking motto.”
“Don’t do it like that, then,” Olivia counseled. “Pick a different position if you can. Maybe face-to-face so you can reassure her.”
“That might be the best I can do,” Reeve admitted. He nodded at Olivia. “Thanks. You’re…very understanding.”
“Something bad happened to my sister, Sophia back when we were in high school,” she said in a low voice. “So I know a little about it. When Sylvan found out…” She shook her head.
“What did he do? Did he kill the bastard who hurt your sister?” Reeve felt the blood-lust rising in him. He wanted nothing more than to murder Harryx for hurting Nallah.
Olivia shook her head. “No, but he took a gelding machine and went down to Earth and made sure he could never hurt any other woman again.” She grinned a little. “It was extremely effective as I’m sure you can imagine.”
“I want to do more than castrate fucking Harryx Parokk,” Reeve growled. “He’s been hurting Nallah for years now. I wish I could double the pain he’s given her and feed it back to him—preferably with my fists.”
“I guess you’ll have to put that on hold until you finish your mission,” Olivia said.
“Oh, I’m going to finish it, all right,” Reeve assured her grimly. “Commander Sylvan is right—there’s no fucking way the Hascions ought to be allowed to spread their brand of sadistic sexism throughout the universe.” He sighed. “But I want to do more than stop them from spreading—I want to get Nallah out of there.”
“Would she come?” Olivia asked. “If you told her? If you explained what you are and how you’ve been using your talents to, uh, control her husband?”
“I don’t know. I just don’t know.” Reeve shook his head tiredly. This extended snatching was wearing him out and he’d had a hard time getting into his body again. It was worrisome. “I tried telling her something about it,” he admitted to Olivia. “But apparently her people have some kind of legend about a body-snatching demon who takes over people and makes them into monsters or something.” He sighed. “I don’t know if Nallah would be up for coming home with a confirmed Hallorook, even if the alternative was staying on Hascion Five.”
Olivia frowned. “A what-a-rook?”
“A Hallorook. It’s what they call the body-snatching demon,” Reeve explained. He sighed again. “Besides, wouldn’t swooping down through their protected airspace so I could kidnap one of their citizens cause some kind of war between their people and ours? I thought Commander Sylvan wanted to keep things subtle.”
“Just leave that to me,” Olivia said mysteriously. “My husband, Baird, is the head of the Kindred Fleet and he tells me they have some excellent new stealth tech. After all, the Hascions can’t call kidnapping if they have no evidence that anyone was ever there to take Nallah in the first place.”
“You’d help me like that? Even though I’m a snatcher?” Reeve couldn’t hide his surprise.
“You have a good heart,” Olivia said firmly. “I can see how deeply you feel for this girl, Nallah. And it sounds to me like the Goddess put you in the right place at the right time to help her.”
“I just don’t want her to be hurt anymore, especially if I wake up her bastard of a husband getting in to trash their wormhole research,” Reeve growled. “It’s not like I have any, uh…” He cleared his throat. “Any romantic designs on her.”
“Oh no, of course not.” But there was a little smile on Olivia’s lips. “Speaking of Nallah, shouldn’t you be getting back to her?”
“I probably should—I’ve been here an hour already.” Reeve sighed. “Not long now. Tomorrow is the Ritual day but the day after that I’m back at Harryx’s work and hopefully into the lab.”
“I’ll see you tomorrow night, then. Or Sylvan will,” Olivia said as he laid back down on the sensu-bed which automatically began to massage his arms and legs.
“See you then.” Reeve smiled at her. “Thanks for being easy to talk to.”
“I’m a nurse.” Olivia smiled at him. “It goes with the territory. Now go spend some more time with Nallah. I’m sure she’s missing you.”
“As much as she can when she still thinks I’m her abusive asshole of a husband,” Reeve said darkly.
Then he closed his eyes and sent his spirit flying outwards into the blackness of space, speeding towards his host’s body and the woman he had to admit he had fallen in love with.