If I was safe, I usually woke to silence. If there was a sound, no matter how minimal, it usually had a bad outcome for me. Today, I awoke to humming, soft singing, and beeping. Loud, constant, annoying beeping. I opened my eyes, and when a damaged concrete ceiling didn’t come into view, I began to panic. I tried to sit up, but I couldn’t. I looked down at my body and saw I was in a white gown of some sort with thick black straps covering my arms, chest, and lower legs, pinning me to the spot.
Oh, my Almighty.
My heart slammed into my chest, and I began to hyperventilate as I struggled against the ties that bound me to the unexpectedly comfortable … bed. I paused in my struggle and looked down once more. I blinked, surprised at what I found. I was on a real mattress and not one that was years old, flat, insect infested, and matted with dirt. A clean white linen sheet covered this one, and it had a lot of cushion in it. It felt incredible as if I was lying on a soft cloud.
The comfort astonishingly calmed me down and gave me my bearings to scan my surroundings. My jaw fell open when the room I was confined to registered. It was clean—really clean—and undamaged. It had all its walls, the floor was intact, and so was the ceiling. It disturbed me greatly because I had never seen any place so pure and beautiful; it was somewhere that didn’t look it was dying. I had never seen anything like it.
The shock from taking in the beauty of the room was quickly replaced with worry. Many questions ran through my mind.
What’s going on? How did I get here? Where is here? Why am I strapped down to a bed? Is that somewhat fresh smell coming from me?
I stared down at arms and legs, and I couldn’t believe when I spotted clear patches of skin. Usually, my skin was so matted with dirt it was hard to tell the colour of my skin, but not anymore. Someone had gone to great measures to cleanse me. While they had done a good job, I could still see patches of dirt and catch the faint stomach-churning twang of stale sweat. I knew my hair hadn’t been washed, considering how itchy my scalp still was. I wondered who cleaned me, but my thoughts on the matter suddenly fled and my body tensed when I sensed I wasn’t alone. I had heard humming and soft singing when I awoke, but those sounds were now mute, and for a moment, I wondered if I had imagined them. That was until I looked to my right and saw it.
A Maji.
The Maji staring at me from across the clean room was clearly a woman. I could see her skin was a vibrant grey, the irises of her eyes were the most eccentric colour of pink I had ever seen, and her hair was as white as the sheet was I lying on. She was huge in stature and leaner than anyone I had ever seen. Apart from those differences, she looked completely human. That was the part that freaked me out the most. She was very similar to a human woman, and I didn’t like it.
I need a weapon.
“Oh, my Almighty,” I whimpered when the woman slowly approached me.
I had to crane my neck back to look up at her when she neared me. She must be at least six feet tall, give or take a few inches.
“Be still, female,” she said, her voice surprisingly gentle. “I mean you no har—”
I screamed before she could finish her sentence.
“Female,” she repeated, her features contorting in dismay. “I implore you to be calm. I mean you no—”
The centre of the wall across from me opened like a hidden door and in stepped another Maji. He was even taller and broader than the woman trying her best to quieten me. He had a different coloured skin; it had more of a blue hue to it than grey. His hair was tight to his head, black as darkness, and his eyes were blood red with streaks of silver flicking through them in a pattern like lightning strikes. I lost my calm all over again. I began to scream even louder than before, and it caused the female Maji to plug her ears with her fingers. The man did the same, and he had a look of pain on his face.
“Silence!” he bellowed after a few seconds.
I clamped my lips shut and ceased breathing altogether.
“Mikoh,” the alien woman snarled. “You’re scaring her!”
She actually snarled at him, and the sound reminded me of a vicious animal I’d normally encounter in the woods.
Mikoh lowered his hands from his ears. “She was scared before I entered, or was she screaming for another reason?”
“Leave.” The woman growled, her posture rigid. “She is my charge, and you being here is making my introduction to her more difficult than it needs to be!”
Mikoh lazily grinned, and it caused me to scream again because he had gold caps on his … fangs. Not mythical vampire kind of fangs, but fangs that would do a hell of a lot of damage to someone’s throat all the same. It was weird, but the fang observation made it concrete in my mind that I definitely couldn’t refer to them as man and woman anymore because they most certainly weren’t a regular man or woman. They were male and female.
They were aliens.
Mikoh quickly stuck his fingers back in his ears, and so did the alien female, but she was glaring at Mikoh, not me.
“This is your doing, you intolerable fool!” she hissed at him.
Mikoh laughed, and the sound was almost human, only it had a lot more gruffness to it. I stopped screaming because I ran out of breath, but also because I wanted to see the exchange between the two Maji who eyed each other with such obvious distaste.
“Must you blame everything on me, Surkah?” Mikoh asked, still grinning. “Surely, the little alien is terrified of your face, not mine.”
“Leave!” Surkah shouted and threw a sharp object at him, but he ducked, easily avoiding it.
I momentarily wondered where she got the sharp object from. I also wondered if there were more so I could avail of one and use it to defend myself if I needed to.
“I’ll do so happily!” Mikoh snapped back at Surkah. “If the little alien attacks you, do not cry for my help like you did when the tiny Earth rodent entered your quarters yesterday!”
“I didn’t cry for you,” Surkah mocked. “I cried for anyone, and it wasn’t tiny, it was the size of my foot! It could have killed me.”
Mikoh laughed, ducking again when Surkah threw something else at him, then left the room quicker than he’d entered. I shook my head, feeling like my eyes and ears were betraying me. I wondered if I imagined things, or did I really witness two Maji argue with one another? It seemed like an awfully human thing for them to do, but that was impossible. Other species weren’t like humans. They were just … different.
I blinked and looked at the female who was now watching me with more interest than before. She made no attempt to talk or move closer to me, and I felt better because of it.
“Please,” I whispered when I was sure she wasn’t going to move. “Don’t kill me.”
Surkah frowned, her thick white eyebrows furrowing. “I wish you no harm, tiny one.”
Tiny one?
“Why am I here then?” I asked, trying to keep my composure.
My heart was beating so fast it felt like it would burst. It was then that I noticed the beeping I had heard earlier was louder now and faster. It began to hurt my head.
“You were injured.” Surkah shrugged as she pressed the machine next to her, silencing the beeping. “I mended your injury, and now I’m tending to you because you’re still unwell. You’re in my charge, and it is my duty to care for you.”
“I was injured?” I questioned.
Surkah nodded slowly. “Badly. You lost a lot of blood, and I feared your bones would not set and mend correctly when you were brought to me. I healed them as best as I could then I tended to your minor wounds, bathed you briefly, and dressed you in a wrap made for humans … though, I think it is too small for you.”
I was relived she had been the one to bathe me, but I didn’t linger on that thought long because confusion gripped me, so I closed my eyes and thought. Hard. What was Surkah talking about? She said I was injured, but how? How was I injured, and how on Almighty’s Earth did I end up in a Maji’s charge?
Think, Nova.
I remembered scouting the WBO, and I remembered being attacked by watchmen. I… I killed one of them and fled from the other, only I didn’t get far. I opened my eyes when my memories resurfaced. The watchman who would kill me was instead killed by the huge Maji with violet eyes and sharp teeth. I fainted, and they brought me to Surkah for treatment, but why?
Why would they want to help a human?
I looked down at my arm and stared at my virtually unmarred skin. I vividly remembered my radius sticking out of my flesh and a deep, jagged slice in my skin surrounding it that pooled with blood. I touched my skin carefully and pressed gently. There was no pain. There was no anything. Not even a mark.
“How?” I asked, my voice raspy. “It was dislocated, and the bone cut through—”
“I healed it,” Surkah cut in. “That is what I do. I am one of the healers aboard that is assigned to humans.”
Healer?
“So … you’re like a doctor?”
“I do not understand.” Surkah frowned, her forehead creasing. “The word ‘doctor’ does not translate into Maji language.”
“Um, a doctor is a person who cares for the injured and sick.”
Surkah considered this. “That is what I am, but we use the term healer.”
“Well … I … Thank you for … healing me.”
I didn’t understand how she did it, but I was grateful nonetheless.
Surkah smiled, and I was pleased to see she didn’t have fangs like Mikoh. Her teeth were sharper than mine, but they weren’t scary or something I’d stop and stare at. I silently thanked Almighty for that.
“It is an honour to tend to you, tiny one,” she said, and she sounded very … excited. “You are the first human I have healed, and I am very happy there were no complications. While you were resting, I scanned you with my lissa because I feared your biology would differ greatly from Maji and that our medicines, or my ability, would have no effect on you, but to my delight, I discovered we’re one hundred percent compatible. I cannot believe the results; it is truly a gift from Thanas that we came here. My shipmaster and my people will celebrate greatly with the news.”
What in the fresh hell is she talking about?
I had a whole bunch of similar questions floating around in my mind, and I didn’t know which one to ask first. Instead of voicing them, I kept flicking my eyes from Surkah to the section of the wall that opened before. I heard a noise outside, and I tensed. I was so scared Mikoh would re-enter the room.
I really need to get free and get a weapon.
“Why are you fearful?” Surkah asked, gaining my attention. “I scent it on you.”
Excuse me?
“What did you just say?” I asked, baffled. “You smell my fear?”
“Yes,” she replied, sniffing the air. “Fear has a sickly sweet scent, and you reek of it.”
These aliens can smell fear?
“Well …” I swallowed. “It’s just … I was kidnapped.”
“By who?” Surkah growled. “I will break their bones in places they won’t mend correctly.”
The animalistic noises she made silenced me.
“Speak, tiny one,” she pressed. “Who kidnapped you?”
I blinked. “Your people did.”
Surkah gasped and placed her hand over her chest as if I’d physically wounded her.
“We did not abduct you,” she stressed. “My people saved you.”
I looked down at the straps that bound me to the bed and then back up at Surkah. She winced.
“Those bindings are for your protection as well as mine. We weren’t sure how you would react when you awoke. The shipmaster ordered the restraints.”
The shipmaster?
“Okay,” I said, trying to understand her point of view.
“Surely, I would not have healed you if we meant you harm?”
I bit my lip. “Well, other species had kidnapped men, woman, and children from trading posts before and sold them into slavery on other planets, and they didn’t harm them as to not … devalue them. I guess I’m just worried about something like that happening.”
And about you eating my flesh.
I had heard all sorts of horror stories over the years about the aliens, and the worst one was that some aliens enjoyed eating human flesh while blood still flowed through their veins. The thought terrified me.
I really needed a fucking weapon.
Surkah’s eyes blazed with anger. “No one will kidnap or harm a human whilst Maji take hu—I mean rebuild Earth.”
Her slip of tongue didn’t go unnoticed by me, and it only made me even more wary of her. She was lying to me, but I didn’t know why. To avoid drawing attention to the fact that I knew she was lying, I played dumb.
“Rebuild the Earth?” I repeated, tilting my head to the side. “I’m sorry, but what do you mea—”
“Surkah!” Mikoh’s voice shouted from outside the room, gaining both our attention. A second later, the wall opened, and Mikoh stood in the doorway but didn’t enter the room. “The shipmaster requests an update on your scan of the human. He disapproves of you unlinking your comm from the system, and so do I. I told you I need to be able to contact you at all times when I am not in talking distance. Our comms provide that, so why must you disconnect?”
“Because I don’t like having males inside my head twenty-nine hours of the day!”
Twenty-nine hours of the day? Comms? What on Earth are they talking about?
“We aren’t just any males, though,” Mikoh said, his eyes focused solely on Surkah. “Just give me the update, and I’ll pass it onto the shipmaster since you won’t reconnect. He is giving me a sore head.”
Surkah did something that surprised me then; she squealed.
“It is a positive result, Mikoh.”
Mikoh’s jaw dropped open. “Truly?”
“Truly,” Surkah gushed. “Humans will be our salvation.”
“That’s earned a huge what from me,” I cut in, feeling great unease about the conversation happening before me.
Mikoh locked eyes on me, and I tensed when he leisurely ran his eyes over my form. I didn’t like how he looked at me; it reminded me of a wolf and how they would stare at their prey before they gobbled them up.
“Are you sure we’re compatible?” he asked Surkah without looking away from me. “She is very small.”
What the fuck does that mean?
“My lissa does not lie; human female internal organs are very much like our females in function. They’ll benefit from our medicine, and the essence of a mating bond would even extend their lifespan. I’m positive.”
“I’m going to throw out another what here if anyone is interested?” I said, my eyes wide with confusion.
Mikoh switched his attention from me to Surkah, and he stared at her with disbelief.
“I’m not convinced,” he said gruffly.
I might as well be invisible.
“What else would you have me do?” Surkah demanded of Mikoh. “My lissa does not lie. You know this, Mikoh.”
What the hell is a lissa?
Mikoh closed his eyes for a moment, and when he reopened them, he said, “I’ve sent for the shipmaster. He will be here momentarily; we will await his decision on the results.”
“As you wish,” Surkah said through gritted teeth.
Mikoh backed out of the room then the doors began to close, but before they shut completely, his electric red eyes flicked in my direction, and he winked. A second later, the doors closed, sealing him from the room.
“Stubborn male,” Surkah grumbled to herself before turning her attention to me. “Are you well, tiny one?”
Her voice was so clear and well-spoken that for a moment, I felt dazed at the soothing calmness it provided.
“I have so many questions.”
“Ask away.”
You got it.
“How can you speak English so well?” I asked, blinking.
She tapped on the section of skin behind her right earlobe.
“While you were sleeping, I inserted a tiny translator into the kornia section of your brain. There is no translation for kornia, but it is a region of the brain. I feared it would take a long time to work, but as we can hear each other clearly, it is working perfectly.”
I touched the spot behind my ear, but I felt nothing.
“So right now,” I began, “do you hear English or your own language?”
“When you speak, I hear Maji language, and when I speak, you hear human language. Your selected human language anyway. I cannot believe there are so many. There is only one Maji language.”
I exhaled. “That is crazy. I don’t hear anything other than perfect English when we speak.”
Surkah smiled. “The translator makes it possible.”
“I loosely understand that, but what I don’t get is the Maji who … saved me from the watchman. They spoke English, a choppy version, but it was English, and I understood that. I didn’t have this translator in my head then.”
“It’s hard to explain, but the Maji would have thought their words, and through their comms, the translator would relay the message to them in your language, and they would just verbally repeat it. It is the reason it sounded odd. The Maji were just repeating the words since your language is foreign to us. The males informed me that it is difficult to make the correct sounds when speaking your language because their tongue moved too much. They’re trying, though; even now, most of them are talking in English, Spanish, and Italian to those without translators to try to … fit in. Many have practiced on our journey here, and others for even longer.”
What is a Comm, and how can the Maji silently communicate with it?
“I’m so confused.”
“About the translator?”
“About everything.”
“Ask more questions,” Surkah encouraged. “I will answer them as best as I can.”
“Okay … what is a comm? Mikoh said you disconnected your comm from the system, and you just said the males who saved me used their comms to speak English to me.”
Surkah tapped behind her left earlobe.
“Comm is short for communicator,” Surkah explained. “At birth, a Maji has his or her comm inserted into the vixer. I am also aware the vixer has no translation in human language, but it is simply another name we have for a certain region of the brain. After insertion, a comm remains dormant until our tenth year and then activates. We Maji use a greater percentage of our brains compared to humans. Our comms grow with us like an extra organ. With it, we’re all connected to a system that connects all Maji. Of course, the higher your rank in our society, the more access you have within the system. Mine is restricted on Ealra—my home world—and on board the Ebony—that’s the name of this ship. I am only allowed access to the medical wing, its equipment, as well as the life pods in case of emergency evacuation. Mikoh and the shipmaster are the only Maji I can contact and who can contact me, but I was tired of listening to them give me orders and telling stupid jokes, so I disconnected myself from the system. I’ll reconnect later, but for now, I’m enjoying a non-crowded mind.”
What. The. Fuck.
“I’ve never heard of anything like that before in my entire life,” I said, amazed.
Even our augmented humans couldn’t mentally talk to one another, not that I knew of anyway.
“Is it strange?” Surkah asked, seemingly amused at my shocked reaction. “I have never given it much thought. It is part of the Maji way and always has been.”
“This is a lot to take in.”
“I am sorry; I thought humans were educated in other species.”
“We were aware of other species, but we were never allowed to be thoroughly educated beyond what the Earth’s government wanted us to know. Knowledge is power, and that is something our government doesn’t want its citizens to have.”
“That is a great shame.”
You’re telling me.
“Where is the Earth’s government?” I asked, frowning. “Why am I not with a human doctor right now?”
Surkah licked her lips. “It is not my place to say.”
That was another red flag in my mind, so I tried to steer away from the topic of Earth’s government until I wasn’t strapped down to a bed. Surkah had healed me, but I knew it wasn’t out of the goodness of her heart. No one did something for no reason; there was always a reason for someone to help someone else, and there was also always a price to pay. Surkah was being kind and answering my questions, but I knew it was just to keep me calm. I was in this room for a reason, and I didn’t want to stick around to find out what that reason was.
“So,” I said, changing the topic. “Why did you say you didn’t like to have males in your head twenty-nine hours a day? Why that number?”
Surkah raised a brow. “Well, a typical day on Earla is twenty-nine hours long.”
Woah.
“It’s only twenty-four on Earth.”
Surkah smiled. “I am aware.”
Clearly, her kind was aware of Earth if they were here. That brought me to my next question.
“I’m confused as to why you are here, and why you think humans are the salvation to Maji, and about how humans and Maji are compatible. What does all that mean exactly?”
“Well—”
I jumped when the doors to the room opened once more, and instead of Mikoh standing there, it was a different Maji. A tall Maji with grey skin, violet eyes, and menacing gold-capped teeth. It was him, the Maji that saved me from the watchman. He had on the same uniform as Mikoh, but my alert state allowed me to notice what I hadn’t noticed about him before. He had cropped black hair, and on the section above his ears, the hair was tightly braided to his scalp, keeping the hair from falling forward into his face. His eyebrows were dark, thick, and nicely positioned above his large eyes. His jawline was so sharp it could have cut something, and on his neck, a jagged white line peeked out from underneath his jumper top.
Oh, my Almighty.
“Greetings, Shipmaster,” Surkah said as she closed her fist, placed her right arm on the left side of her chest and bowed her head. When she looked up, the shipmaster nodded, his lips turning upwards at the corners.
“Greetings, Surkah.”
His voice was super deep.
“My lissa garnered positive results from my scan of the human, and they’re better than we could have ever possibly imagined.”
The shipmaster’s eyes seemed to light up with curiosity. Those hypnotic eyes flicked to me for a moment then switched back to Surkah.
“Mikoh informed me… It is a definite match?” he questioned.
A match of what?
“Yes. It is a hundred percent match,” Surkah beamed, sounding giddy. “We have succeeded in finding our primary objecti—”
The shipmaster suddenly said something in a strange language that cut Surkah off. She frowned and glanced at him then me and back again before nodding once.
“What was that about?” I asked Surkah. “Why couldn’t I understand him?”
“Because I momentarily disabled your translator so you could not understand me.” He answered instead.
Oh, shit. That didn’t sound good. He didn’t want me to know what they were talking about, and I didn’t need to be educated in their species to know that was bad news for me.
“Why?” I asked him, without looking at him.
“That is none of your business.”
His clipped answer caused me to tense.
“I don’t understand any of this,” I said, feeling helpless. “Why am I here?”
“It will be explained but later,” Surkah assured me. “You need your rest. Your wounds are healed, but your body still needs to recover from the blood loss you sustained.”
I nodded but said nothing further as I turned and stared at the Maji shipmaster who was staring right back at me. His stare was unnerving but captivating at the same time. He looked from me to Surkah and frowned.
“You seem tense, sister. Are you well?”
Surkah is the shipmaster’s sister?
“I am troubled.” She sighed. “She feared she would die by Maji hand or become a slave. I assured her we wish for peace with humans, but she remains unconvinced.”
You’re damn right I remain unconvinced!
“Surkah speaks the truth,” the male rumbled. “Humans need not fear us. We are here to help.”
So you say, you huge son of a bitch.
“Okay,” I mumbled.
Surkah made a sound of displeasure.
“She does not trust us,” she said. “Her fear stinks the room.”
The shipmaster nodded. “I can scent it, but it is to be expected after her … ordeal last night.”
I’ve been out the whole night?
“We were informed that no human citizens come close to your World Base of Operations,” the shipmaster said, interrupting my thoughts. “But you came very close last night … why?”
I hesitated in replying, and this prompted the shipmaster to say, “Be truthful.”
I pondered on that request for a moment. I wasn’t sure what would happen to me if I told the truth. Would they hand me over to the watchmen? I looked at Surkah.
“If I tell the truth, will you keep your word that you won’t allow any harm to come to me because I’m a human?”
“Yes,” she replied instantly. “Human females are just as important as Maji females now. No male or female of my people would allow any harm to come to you. You are … precious.”
Why are humans so damn valuable to this species?
“Okay,” I said slowly before looking back at the shipmaster. “I came here because a trader I met told me that the power was down at the WBO and that the watchmen had retreated to the wall. I wanted to see if that was true.”
“A very risky move,” the shipmaster commented.
“Every move I make is risky,” I countered.
He raised a thick brow. “I’ve noticed.”
“In case you haven’t noticed, Earth is currently in a global civil war. There is no law, no order, no humanity, and now, the sun is affecting things. Earthquakes happen nearly every day; just last week, I had to hike hundreds of miles to avoid a flooding so bad it would consume a five-story building in hours. Things are … falling apart here. It’s why your arrival has everyone even more on edge than usual.”
“If what you say is the truth, then we have arrived just in time.”
“What does that mean?” I asked, flustered.
Every time one of them spoke, it only resulted in me having more questions, and it was pissing me off.
“Rest,” the shipmaster responded. “We will converse when you’re stronger.”
“I’m not sure humans get much stronger,” a voice said from the door, earning a menacing growl from Surkah.
I turned my head and stared at Mikoh, who was leaning against the door panel with his massive arms folded over his broad chest. He winked at me, which earned another growl from Surkah. He looked at her, puckered his lips, and made kissing sounds, and when she advanced on him, the shipmaster moved into her path. He was grinning like a fool.
“Please do not maim my second in command, sister.”
I mentally stored the information about Mikoh’s rank. Surkah kept her focus on Mikoh, her lips curled up and her teeth bared at him.
“I won’t cause permanent damage,” she hissed. “I’ll rip open his thigh and leave it to heal naturally. That will make him rethink bothering me in the future.”
Mikoh laughed, and this caused the shipmaster to sigh.
“Mik, she will harm you,” he informed his second in command.
“Only because I won’t hit back,” Mikoh teased. “We all know that Surkah just wants to get her hands on me, and on a region close to my cock as well. A coincidence? I think not. You’re not hiding your lust for me very well, my intended.”
Surkah roared and knocked the shipmaster’s arm aside and charged at Mikoh.
With wide eyes, I watched as he pushed away from the wall and took up a defensive stance with a sadistic grin on his face. He caught Surkah the second she jumped and crashed into him. They both moved incredibly fast, but Mikoh was faster, and within a couple of seconds, he had Surkah spun around and pressed against the wall with her arms pinned behind her back. Mikoh had her legs spread apart and had his knee between them to stop her from being able to kick him. One hand held both of her wrists at the base of her spine, and his free arm was pressed on the base of her neck to likely put a stop to her using her head as a weapon.
“Do you feel better?” Mikoh growled low.
Surkah growled back, and she sounded meaner than he did.
“You won’t be aware of when I harm you,” she warned him, her voice gruff. “I swear I will kill you.”
I glanced at the shipmaster and jumped when I found he was watching me. His gaze was intense yet curious at the same time. I couldn’t break eye contact until he did. He turned from me and looked at his sister and his second in command and just stared at them with obvious interest. I could have sworn I saw him smirk a little, too.
I looked back at the pair and jumped when Surkah let out a vicious roar that was quickly silenced by Mikoh. He leaned in and bit her neck; I watched as his gold-capped fangs and other teeth sunk into the flesh of her neck. Surkah let out a cry of what was obviously pain, but Mikoh didn’t retreat; he simply held still with his teeth in her neck. I could hear him growling, and I felt horrible for Surkah because her cries had turned into whimpers. It reminded me of the sound a dog would make when they were hurt and needed help.
I didn’t care for Surkah, and I knew she was lying to me, but she had saved my life when she healed my destroyed arm. And it was for that reason alone that I concluded my anger at seeing her hurt was out of genuine concern for her. It would probably prove me a fool in the long run for trying to help an alien, but I couldn’t stand by and watch her be attacked. I just couldn’t. Anger gave me the courage to struggle against my ties, but I could not break free. The material rubbed against my flesh, and it stung like hell. When I pulled too hard, it began to chafe my skin.
“Help her!” I ordered the shipmaster.
He looked at me and blinked as if he forgot I was there.
“No,” he said nonchalantly.
“No?” I repeated incredulously. “She is your sister, and he is hurting her!”
“He is disciplining her for attacking him and threatening him with death.”
“Disciplining her?” I repeated, dumbfounded. “He is abusing her, you fucking idiot.” I looked at Mikoh and shouted, “Let go of her, you big bastard!”
This made the shipmaster laugh, and I didn’t know why.
I jumped when Surkah let out a cry again, but it was only because Mikoh had retracted his teeth from her. I raised my eyebrows when he licked at the bite wound that he caused. He didn’t move an inch; he stayed put and continued to pin Surkah in place as he cleaned her wound like an animal.
“Hey!” I shouted again. “I’m going to get free of these ties, pick up the nearest object to me, and bash you over the head with it if you don’t get away from her right now, you piece of shit!”
The shipmaster laughed again, and so did Mikoh, but he quickly refocused on Surkah and asked, “Okay?”
She nodded once, and a few seconds later, Mikoh released her. She spun away from him, keeping her head low as she returned to my side. She fussed over me while I glared at Mikoh who she was obviously, and rightly, now afraid of.
“You’re an asshole!” I hollered.
Surkah clicked her tongue at me. “It is fine.”
I jerked my head in her direction. “It is not! How dare he put his hands on you in that forceful way, and then to bite you and make you cry? He is an asshole.”
“It is our way. I challenged him, so he reacted,” Surkah explained. “He was declaring his dominance, tiny one. He didn’t hurt me; he’d never hurt me. I am female; I have no physical chance of harming him while he is at full health, and he knows that. He was letting me vent my anger, and when he’d had enough, he forced my submission.”
“I’ll declare my dominance and force his submission by putting my foot up his ass!”
This caused both males to burst into gleeful laughter, and I even caught Surkah hiding a smile. I didn’t understand any of what was happening, but I was spitting mad.
“You’re not fearful anymore,” she said happily.
“No,” I agreed. “I am angry because he hurt you.”
Surkah shook her head. “He did not.”
“He bit you, and I heard you cry. Don’t lie to me. I know what I saw and heard.”
“His bite has already begun to heal,” she said and showed me the teeth marks that now looked like day-old red insect bites instead of fresh wounds, which freaked me out because there was no natural way they could have already healed that fast.
“And my cries were of annoyance because I cannot best him. It hurts for a few seconds, but that is just to get my attention that his patience has worn thin and I had better stop fighting, or I could get hurt.”
I didn’t understand how she dignified what he had done.
“Do humans not fight a lot when they need to let off steam?” she asked when she saw my expression.
“Not most,” I replied. “We take a walk or something. If a human man harmed a human woman, he would be looked down upon and classed as weak. Well … that used to be the way.”
Before everyone started killing each other.
“Females are precious to us,” Mikoh angrily growled. “We would never harm our females, no matter what they do. A female could try to kill me, and my only objective would be to restrain her so she wouldn’t harm herself. Surkah is my intended; I’d die before I bring her harm.”
He said that word ‘intended’ like it meant something important.
“What’s intended mean?”
“They’re to be mated soon,” the shipmaster replied to me, his voice encircling me like a warm blanket.
I looked at Surkah who was busying herself with a machine next to me.
“You’re marrying this guy?”
She glanced at me. “What does that mean?”
“Is he going to be your husband, the person you spend your life with?”
“Oh,” she said then nodded. “Yes, Mikoh has been my intended since my birth. When I am of age in four more moon cycles, we will be mated.”
What. The. Hell?
“Wait just a second,” I said as I tried and failed to sit upright. “Who decided he would be your intended if he has been that since your birth?”
“My father, of course,” Surkah said with a smile. “Do human fathers not pick their daughter’s intended?”
“No,” I said, managing a snort. “We pick our own. Arranged marriages are a thing of the past. Now that I think of it, marriage is a thing of the past, too.”
“Oh, well, our males can pick who they want and so can females, but many prefer their fathers or eldest brother to choose for them. The females do have a say just in case she does not like the match, but a rejection is rare. They trust their father or brother to pick them a good male.”
I raised my brow. “Do you have a say?”
“Yes, but Mikoh has always been my intended. All the people know it, and if I now decided against the pairing, no other male would mate with me because of his position. That and Mikoh would kill them if they touched me.”
Mikoh’s growl of agreement made the shipmaster chuckle.
“I don’t understand,” I said, terribly confused. “I thought you didn’t like him. From how you both interact—”
“We don’t like one another,” Surkah cut in. “But he is still my intended, and that won’t ever change. In four more moon cycles, I will belong to him.”
“Like property?” I asked on a gasp.
“No, not slavery.” Surkah giggled. “He cannot force me to do something I do not wish too, but he will be the lead Maji in our homestead. He will make the decisions and so forth. I will be his female, and he will be my male.”
It was hard to digest that.
“That is so different to the human way.”
“Really?” Surkah quizzed.
I thought I saw concern on her face, but I wasn’t sure.
“Yeah,” I said. “Our women are very independent, and if a man ordered us about, he’d be dropped so fast his head would spin.”
“I do not understand your words,” Surkah frowned. “You would harm him?”
“No.” I chuckled. “But if my husband ordered me about and treated me like anything less than his equal, I’d leave him.”
Surkah gasped, and I could have sworn that the Maji males did, too.
“You would leave your intended?” Surkah asked, and I could have sworn she had a hint of horror in her tone because it was plastered all over her face.
“Well, yeah. Long before the war, humans got divorced, separated, or just disappeared all the time. It’s not a big deal; people change their minds.”
“Not Maji,” Surkah said firmly. “We mate for life.”
Nothing is for life.
“What if Mikoh cheated on you with another woman?”
“I do not understand.”
“What if he had sex with another female?” I clarified.
Surkah blinked. “That would be impossible. His loyalty would be to me, and my scent would be imprinted on him from our first mating as he would know going into the mating that I am his intended. He would open his senses to me and encourage the mating scent. He would never want another female because he physically would not be able to respond to her sexually; another’s scent would irritate him, and he would become aggressive towards a female. He would not harm her, but he would force her submission until she learnt her lesson. We may not like one another right now, tiny one, but once we mate, we will never part, not until death.”
“That is … crazy.”
“Is it?”
I nodded. “It sounds like your species has a chemical bond with your partners.”
“What does that mean?”
“Well, when Mikoh … mates with you, he’ll become addicted to you … your scent … right?”
“Well, yes, and I to him.”
Yep, so different to humans.
“So do you all wait until mate before you have sex?”
This prompted another laugh from the males and an eye roll from Surkah.
“No,” she said. “We can share our furs with another until a mating.”
“Then how does the intended thing work?” I questioned. “Why hasn’t Mikoh become addicted to another Maji female?”
Surkah shrugged. “None were his intended.”
“Yeah, but, what if he got addicted to another Maji female?”
“Then she would be his intended because he would not be able to part with her, but as that has not happened, I remain his intended. Sometimes a bond happens without knowledge, but most of the time a male or female will feel the connection to their intended and will the bond to occur. Mikoh already feels a strong connection with me, so our bond will snap in place fast; it can happen before we share furs if it’s strong enough. Besides, if Mikoh found another intended, my father and brothers would kill him for dishonouring me since he made the offer to be my intended when I was born.”
I widened my eyes as I looked at Mikoh.
“How old are you?” I quizzed.
I knew he wasn’t human, but he looked around twenty-five years old, if even.
“Two hundred and three,” he answered.
My jaw fell open. “Get the fuck out of here.”
“No.” He frowned. “You cannot make me leave.”
I laughed at him because he took what I said literally, but also because I was shocked and amazed by their lifespan.
The shipmaster nudged him. “Sera said their lifespans are greatly shorter, so she is probably surprised at your age.” He switched his eyes to me and asked, “How old are you?”
I shrunk under his gaze and murmured, “Twenty-three.”
“You’re a minor?” Surkah asked, her surprised lacing around her words.
A minor?
“No, on Earth and especially during these hard times, anyone aged thirteen and up is considered an adult. I’ve never known anyone to live past sixty-five years. Many years ago, some humans could get to one hundred years of age but not anymore. If you make it to sixty now, then you’re considered really old.”
My father had made it to fifty-nine.
“Maji are minors until our fortieth year,” Surkah informed me.
Holy Almighty.
“So you’re nearly forty?” I asked, my shock obvious. “Forty years?
Surkah nodded.
“Forty Earth years?”
“No, Ealra years. Your orbital period is three hundred and sixty-five days for one year; ours is five hundred and forty-one days for one year.”
That meant she was even older in Earth years, a hell of lot older.
“You look incredible for forty. Seriously, you look like you could be eighteen.”
Surkah smiled widely. “Thank you, but forty is very young in Maji culture.”
I gestured towards Mikoh. “So you can’t marry him until you’re an adult?”
She bobbed her head up and down. “Mikoh does not want to mate me until I am at least one hundred years of age, he thinks I am too young right now, but I cannot share sex with another male unless he is my intended. Mikoh does not wish me to be in pain, so he has agreed to mate with me as soon as I am of age.”
“You’re going to have to explain that,” I said with a shake of my head. “Why do you want to get married straight away?”
“Because I fear the pain of my uva.”
“You’re what?”
Surkah gleefully laughed. “This has turned into a schooling lesson on the Maji way.”
The males chuckled while I waited for an answer.
“When a female Maji reaches adulthood, her uva activates. It means her body is now able to carry offspring.”
“Oh!” I said excitedly at finally understanding something. “You mean you’ll hit puberty? That means your body creates new hormones that help the growing body and enables a woman to bear children.”
“Then yes, my uva is to us what your puberty is to you. Does your puberty cause your body to hurt when you don’t share sex?”
I frowned. “Uh, no.”
“You’re lucky!” Surkah stated, her brows furrowed. “We females feel pain if we do not have sex after our uva activates. It is why our females are so sexually active and why our males have a high sex drive to be able to tend to our needs. Only pregnancy sates the uva.”
“So you’re telling me that when you and Mikoh get together, you will have sex … uh, share your furs, like horny animals every single day until he gets you pregnant? Pregnancy will be the only way to sate the uva?”
Bright purple bloomed on Surkah’s cheeks, and she dropped her head which earned a deep chuckle from Mikoh, but he said nothing as to not embarrass her further.
“That is not the wording I would use, but yes.”
“How many children would you bear if this is the case?”
I couldn’t imagine being in pain and the only way to make it go away was to have sex and get pregnant.
“I’m am the sixteenth child in my family,” Surkah said with a shrug. “But I know of a family with twenty offspring; originally twenty-three, but three of them died due to illness when they were infants.”
Wow.
“I am my mother’s last child. That is why Mikoh chose me. I am the only princess amongst our princes.”
Wait a minute.
I stared at Surkah. “You’re a princess? Like a real royal princess?”
She nodded.
I’m talking to a real-life freaking princess.
Surkah asked, “Are you a princess?”
I laughed. Hard.
“No, I am a commoner of my people … a peasant to some. Our royals lived behind big walls in a life of luxury. They have lived off the planet since the Great World War. No one knows which galaxy or planet they went to when they abandoned us.”
Surkah wouldn’t look me in the eye, but Mikoh and Kol would, but they almost glared at me, like I had said something I shouldn’t have about my royal family.
“Sera has informed us of the activities on Earth.”
“Who is Sera?”
They had mentioned the name several times.
“A human who has been with us many years. She has taught us about your people, but I must be honest, I don’t listen to her often. Therefore, I am fascinated with your explanation of your people and your ways. It sounds different because you have really experienced it.”
Oh.
I looked at the shipmaster. “So you’re a prince?”
He nodded.
I looked at Mikoh. “Are you important like them?”
His lips twitched. “No, I am the shipmaster’s jra when he travels.”
“His what?” I quizzed.
“There is no translation,” Mikoh replied, “but it’s a titled word for something you might call a protector or guard.”
“He is also his best friend,” Surkah informed me. “They are always together … like a mated pair.”
Both males hissed at Surkah, and it made her laugh.
“I will remember all your words when we’re mated,” Mikoh warned her.
She rolled her eyes. “Punishment for me means punishment for you, too.”
“I will endure it to teach you a lesson, young one.”
Surkah chuckled again, not bothered by Mikoh’s growl of annoyance.
“What does he mean?” I asked.
The longer this conversation went on, the more I found similarities between the Maji and humans, yet I didn’t know how to feel about it.
“He does not like my attitude because I talk back to him a lot.” Surkah grinned.
“You talk back to everyone a lot.” The shipmaster snorted. “Mother and father have spoiled you.”
“They like me best,” Surkah teased with a big cheesy smile.
Her brother laughed but didn’t disagree with her.
“Are you close to all your brothers?” I asked her, noticing the look of admiration her brother gave her.
“Of course.” Mikoh snorted and answered me instead of Surkah. “She is the princess, so they adore her. All the people adore her. She is precious to us.”
My lips twitched. “That’s really cute.”
Surkah blushed again. “I wish they would not fuss over me or treat me differently. It is why I like being out in space so much. My brother allows me free rein on his ship whereas back home, I’m inside a lot for safety.”
“For safety?”
“She is the lone princess to our royals,” Mikoh said, and his tone indicated he thought I was stupid. “Our disloyal Maji would take her without hesitation. Males outnumber our females ten to one. Our females are always protected, especially Surkah.”
“Because you’re a royal?” I asked her.
“Because my firstborn son will lead our people when my father steps aside or passes on to be with Thanas.”
I gaped at her. “What?”
“What?” she repeated and laughed at my expression.
“Well,” I began, “the firstborn son sired by the king and queen in the human royal family is the next leader.”
Surkah nodded. “I’m aware, but that is not the case for Maji. If no daughter is born, then the title of Revered Father goes to the firstborn son, but if a daughter is born, the title of Revered Father goes to her firstborn son then to his daughter’s firstborn son and so on. We have a long lifespan, so waiting for me to reach age and conceive is no issue. My son will likely reach my brother’s age or older before he takes the throne.”
I flicked my eyes to the shipmaster’s, noting he looked the same physical age as Mikoh—twenty-five, if even.
“How old are you?” I asked, shyly.
“Two hundred,” he answered.
Wow.
I looked at Surkah. “That is why you can only have sex with your intended? In case a random male got you pregnant?”
Surkah nodded.
I looked at Mikoh. “Is that why you asked for her to be your intended? So your son would eventually lead your people?”
He narrowed his eyes at me and growled, but he relaxed when the shipmaster cut him a look and muttered something to him that I couldn’t hear.
“It is my honour to be Surkah’s intended. To be considered, let alone be granted permission by her father and have the approval of all her brothers, is the greatest compliment any male could give me. They’re confident in my abilities as a warrior to protect her and as a male to care and provide for her and our offspring. There is no greater honour that could have been bestowed upon me.”
Aww.
“Why’d you bicker with her then?” I questioned.
Mikoh grunted. “Because she has a big mouth and annoys me just to amuse herself. She has done so since her tenth year.”
Surkah smiled, not denying the charges against her.
“Do you annoy all males?” I asked her, grinning too.
I hoped they thought all my questions and now my grinning meant I was relaxing around them. I needed them not to be wary of me; I’d never escape otherwise.
Surkah snorted. “No, Mikoh would kill them.”
“Why?” I asked, shocked.
“Because she is mine,” he growled. “If any male that wasn’t her father or brothers spoke to her, I’d reach the edge in seconds.”
“The edge of what?” I asked.
“Of sanity,” Mikoh replied, curtly.
I looked at Surkah, my brows raised in question.
“The edge is a term we use when a Maji has gone passed the point of rational thinking and is acting on instinct alone.”
Riigghhhttttt.
I looked at Mikoh. “You clearly have anger problems.”
The shipmaster laughed, and so did Surkah; even Mikoh’s lips twitched.
“So that’s why you’re posted outside this room,” I said in understanding. “And why you keep popping in? You’re guarding her?”
Mikoh nodded. “We just tell the Hailed Mother my assigned job of jra is to protect Kol and Surkah just to appease her. She loves all her sons, so their safety matters just as much, but Surkah is my only real charge. Kol does not need protection; it would be an insult to his Elite status to suggest otherwise.”
I assumed the Hailed Mother was the title of the Queen—Surkah’s mother.
“Who is Kol?” I quizzed. “And what is an Elite status?”
“I am Kol,” the shipmaster replied. “And being an Elite means you’re a highly skilled warrior, and part of the Guard that protects the people. It is the highest status a warrior can obtain. To be a member of the Guard is an honour.”
Oh.
I couldn’t look the Maji in the eye—his gaze was too much—but I allowed my mind to repeat his name over and over.
Kol.
I cleared my throat. “Well, I’m Nova. It’s… nice to meet you all.”
“That is a stupid name,” Mikoh informed me.
Surkah grabbed a little black object from the top of a machine next to her and threw it at his head. He avoided it easily, but couldn’t dodge the elbow Kol rammed into his side. Mikoh growled and rubbed the spot.
“Iamui!” he bellowed at Kol.
I looked at Surkah. “What does that word mean?”
“It is an insult that does not translate well,” she whispered. “It means waste canal.”
An asshole.
I snorted and looked back at Mikoh, who shoved Kol and demanded, “What was that for?”
He sure didn’t talk to Kol like he was his prince.
“What is our mission?” Kol rumbled, his glare terrifying.
Yeah, what is your mission?
Mikoh straightened up. “The mission is perfectly fine. She—”
“Doesn’t like you because you’re being insufferable.”
“I apologise,” Mikoh grunted to the shipmaster, not to me. “It is because of Surkah’s presence; I’m growing … impatient to have her.”
I looked at Surkah and saw she rolled her eyes.
Kol clapped his friend on the back. “Four more moon cycles and she is yours, my friend.”
“That is when my lifelong prison sentence begins,” Surkah whispered to me.
The others heard her whisper, which told me how good their hearing was. I laughed when Kol had to restrain Mikoh, who looked like he wanted to paddle Surkah’s ass. She grinned at him, a flash of amusement in her beautiful pink eyes over his annoyance. She clearly liked pissing him off, and he wanted nothing more than to rip into her because of it.
“You have a beautiful smile,” Surkah said to me.
I blushed. “Thank you.”
“I am glad you are no longer scared—”
“Iamui!” Kol suddenly bellowed, cutting his sister off. “That broke the skin!”
“It was payback for your elbow. I think you cracked a rib!”
I screeched when a ground shaking roar filled the room. I jerked my head in the direction of Kol and Mikoh and was horrified to find them both on the ground, beating the ever-loving shit out of one another. I’m talking hard punches, kicks, headbutts, and it even looked like there was some biting going on. I could have sworn I saw red liquid smeared on Kol’s arm.
Did Maji bleed red?
My instant reaction was to flee and protect my life but being bound to the bed meant I couldn’t move a muscle. My heart pounded against my chest as fear and worry consumed me. Before I realised what was happening, my eyes rolled backwards, and I began to lose consciousness.
“Nova!” Surkah gasped.
I felt a hand on my head then a delightful shiver ran the length of my body, and a relived sigh left the one touching me.
“She is fine,” Surkah said, exhaling a deep breath. “She just… fainted.”
I heard Mikoh’s humourless laughter.
“And you say humans are the salvation of us Maji?” he sarcastically asked. “Watching us grapple has caused her to lose consciousness. They’re not meant for us.”
I practically felt Surkah’s growl.
“Sister,” Kol rumbled. “Watch over her. She is going to need all the rest she can get if she is to stand with us… and Mikoh, if you bite me again, I will break your nose in a place it will not heal correctly.”
“Your sister has a better chance against me than you, friend.”
“One more word, Mik. That is all I need.”
“Look at the bright side, my prince, the human fainted out of fear this time and not because of your ugly face.”
I heard more roaring, Surkah’s sighing, and the sound of my own heart beat before I blacked out completely.