END GAME

THE ALIEN GAMES: BOOK FIVE

AVA YORK

CONTENTS

Alyssa

Lor

Alyssa

Lor

Alyssa

Lor

Alyssa

Lor

Alyssa

Lor

Alyssa

Lor

Alyssa

Lor

Alyssa

Lor

Alyssa

Lor

Alyssa

Lor

Alyssa

Lor

Alyssa

Lor

Alyssa

Lor

Alyssa

Lor

Alyssa

Lor

Alyssa

Lor

Alyssa

Lor

Epilogue: Alyssa

Rekker

Rogue Mate

Rescued by her Alien Mate

Kazan

ALYSSA

I  stared at the cage surrounding me. Solid panels encased rolled steel bars. Strips of dim lights glowed along the edges of the solid panels, illuminating little, but deepening every shadow.

I could feel the cage move through the air. My stomach flopped and clenched as the cage lowered and raised, like a roller coaster. I pressed my back against the bars and sank to the floor. My eyes darted everywhere, searching for anything hidden in the shadowed corners.

Emily always enjoyed those things more than I did. The aliens are probably recording the look on my face right now, too. The roller-coaster snapshot from hell.

I drew in deep, slow breaths, just like I did in dance class. I may have grown out of the I-Want-to-be-a-Dancer phase by the third lesson, but I never forgot my breathing exercises.

Time to think, Aly. What do I know? Abducted by aliens. Beam of light…

A flash of Emily’s truck rolling, nose first, into a ditch flashed through my memory. The whole rig had gone dead before that beam of light sucked us up. A flash of Emily, telling me to put on Texas swagger, followed the first memory, as it had over and over again my entire trip in that cage.

Yes, yes, then translator implantation, and cages, and that Charlotte woman…but what she said makes no sense…intergalactic survival reality show? Shouldn’t aliens with this kind of tech have better things to do than torture other species?

I felt so alone. Trapped in this cage, I felt cut off from the world. I had always had so much space before. Were I having a bad day, I could walk through massive, ancient oaks and along the streams fed by small springs bubbling up from the aquifer.

I could visit with the animals around the ranch. I could reach out and feel them with my hands. I could feel the cool breeze on my face and I savored the memory. I held onto it, filling my mind with the sights, tastes, and sounds of home.

I tried to forget that, at that moment, when I reached out, I could feel only cold, hard steel outside of my sweetest memories.

How am I going to get out of this? Emily would know what to do. She always knows what to do. When Mom and Dad died, Emily knew what to do, even so long ago. When Grampa passed, Emily kept us going. I have to get out of here and find Emily.

I searched the shadows again. While I had yet to see anything more than my imagination resolve from the shadows, this was space. Hollywood had made it clear that anything could happen in space.

And, when I do get out of here, my brute of a partner awaits me. Who will he be? Will he even be humanoid? What if he’s one of those giant snails I saw at the intergalactic slave auction? What if he looks like a giant snot bubble? Emily probably already has a plan to kick asses all the way out of here.

I giggled despite myself, then sighed.

Why worry about it? My partner is who he is. I am who I am. We are where we are, and complaining about it will change exactly nothing. We will have to make it work, whatever that looks like for us.

For reasons I could not pinpoint, I left lighter and more hopeful.

We must be getting close. This…feels like…the end of interminable waiting...

The cage shuddered to a stop, then dropped to the ground. I quickly suspected the ground must have been uneven, because my entire cage tilted against one side. I slid down to the bottom corner, slamming my shoulder into the bars.

Pain streaked up my arm. I hissed and inspected it. Finding no blood, I appreciated the red patch beginning to form where my body had smashed into the steel. I cradled the sore arm with one hand and looked around.

The cage whirred and clicked. The solid side panels tried to fall away, but most of them got stuck around my tilted prison. The doors on the ends of the cage opened. The one trapped below my feet stuck with only a three-inch gap. The door at the top of the cage remained far out of my reach.

Great. Now I get to choose between trying to climb out on a bad arm or trying to crawl under unstable metal panels after kicking this thing loose. If I don’t break my foot in the process of kicking solid metal. Delightful.

“Hello?”

My voice rang off the mess which had been my cage, echoing within their metallic confines. Sweat stuck my shirt to my chest.

Humidity so thick, I could cut it with a knife. Speaking of knives…

I patted my pockets, identifying their familiar contents by touch. In the pockets of my jeans, I located my pocket knife, whetstone, cell phone, and a ring of keys which had seemed so vital before my abduction.

A lighter, a spare twenty-dollar bill, and a hair tie remained tucked in my bra and grandpa’s Cross pen remained clipped to the small notebook in my shirt pocket.

I rotated my shoulder, trying to start working through the soreness in my arm and tried again to get my partner’s assistance.

“Hello? Are you up there? A woman named Charlotte said I should be partnered with a br— very strong individual. Well, I’m hoping you’re out there, because I’m going to need help out of this cage, considering the way it landed…”

I heard a susurrus hiss through the leaves near the upper part of the cage. I shaded my eyes, trying to get a clear view, but no head popped over the side.

“Hello? Please tell me you’re not a large predator…”

A long, thick vine unfurled over the side of the cage, the end landing within reach. I grabbed it, wrapping it under my rear end and climbed out, feeding the vine between white-knuckled fists.

At the top of the cage, panting from the sustained effort, and struggling against the pain in my arm, I threw out a hand, desperate for help. A massive hand, metallic-skinned, like dark silver with gunmetal shadows, grabbed mine and lifted me easily out of the cage.

An intense burst of white-hot energy seared me where we touched. My lungs seized in my chest. A flood of images, information, memories, and the barest wisps of thoughts flooded into me.

I jerked my hand out of his grasp. The raging tumult of energy disappeared as if it had never been. Contact broken, I sucked in jagged breaths.

What the fuck was that?

LOR

F or the first time since the Snaughians captured me at Fogslef VII, I felt at peace. The constant pressure of sharp, Snaughian minds at the experimental military lab where they studied me drove me half mad.

Since I woke up in this cage, though, I had not sensed another intelligent mind. Instead, I sensed immense pressure and depth, hidden pockets of heat and water, and veins of ore twisting into the distance.

The glow of plants and small animals filled the cracks and crevices, following the flow of water through stone. My mind flowed with them, expanding for the first time since the Snaughians had torn me from my peaceful retreat from the crush of a civilization-level concentration of minds.

The galaxy turned out to be a harsh place for my people.

I laid on the floor of the cage, relaxing into the subterranean world around me. My cage sped through vast tunnels, crossing a continent. While I assumed the cage had a destination, I had little desire to arrive just yet.

This may be the first time in years I’ve been able to relax. I sense no cities, no villages, no hamlets…only the peaceful hum of a wild world.

I drew a deep breath and let my mind drift in the moment. Thoughts came and went, some my own, others wisps of the small creatures which lived in the dark places. My cage ascended and I drifted into new, more complex minds.

Small rodents and deep taproots, insects and soil, and a huge sense of green, of interconnected life, flowed past me. Then I heard a call ring through all the rest. I opened my eyes. My cage came to a stop.

Entirely open, I sensed a being with an entirely new mind, a mind I had never before experienced. It shone like a star on the horizon, calling to me, piercing through the green haze of the rain forest surrounding us.

The cage opened, solid side panels falling away from the rolled steel bars of the cage. I stepped out, eyes confirming what my mind already knew. Trees towered into the sky, draped with vines. Thousands of life forms called to each other through the air.

“Hello?”

Her voice sliced into me. I gasped. Her cage had tilted and fallen. I sharpened my focus, trying to tune out the background noise of burgeoning life around me.

She is trapped. She is injured—arm…hurt.

I grabbed a handful of vines and yanked them down, tearing them from their moorings among the wide-leafed greenery. The vines fell into a heavy pile. I picked out the thickest and dragged it over to the other cage.

I threw one end over the top and set my end of the rope around my body. A moment later, I felt her tug. She groaned with the effort of the climb, but she managed to get to the top. She thrust out a hand. Before thinking, I grabbed it and pulled her all the way up, next to me.

Her touch seared my flesh like a star. A jumble of memories, fears, life experiences, desires, and the purest compassion I had ever seen slammed through me, knocking all the air from my lungs.

She jerked her hand out of my grip. My knees buckled and I crashed to the jungle floor. Air flooded my lungs.

What the fuck was that?

I heard the thought—but it wasn’t mine. Having sensed no danger, and being so much more completely open to the world than I had been in years, I had forgotten to turn on any filters, or bring up any walls or shields to block out the constant flood of psychic information I usually filtered.

When we touched…

When we touched, what?

I slammed my shield into place, raising my hand to her to keep her back until I could think again. She tilted her head to the side and leaned against a tree, cradling her injured arm.

Afraid, but…determined…curious…

“Your people…are telepathic…”

Her eyes widened with surprise and she pointed at her chest.

“My people…you mean, Humans? Ha. Some people think so, but we certainly have no proof. Maybe your people are telepathic? Is that what that feeling was? Like touching the sun…or are you like an electric eel? Will it always feel like that to touch you? Do you—”

I held up my hand again, still panting too hard to respond.

She must be. Perhaps she has a latent talent…

She stepped closer, reaching out a hand, coating it in soothing energy. I scrambled back, shaking my head. I grabbed a tree trunk and pulled myself to my feet. I closed my eyes and begged softly.

“Please… have you never heard of the Zorberu people?”

“No. Is that your species? Zorberu? Honestly, I found out life definitely existed outside of my home planet when I was abducted right before this. It’s hard to tell how long ago that was. I have memory gaps. I think they knocked us out for transport—”

“Wait. Slow down. Yes, I’m Zorberu. We are telepathic. I have never met a Human before. It was, uh…an overwhelming experience.”

She nodded at me. A small smile spread across her lips. Her essence threatened to pull me in. I could see her glow in the ancient way of minds and souls.

I don’t think she even realizes she does it…that she reaches out with her soul every time she tries to connect…but…I thought only Zorberu—and then, only between…could it be—or is it just Human?

She laughed, deep and strong.

“Oh, honey. I’m from Texas. No one knows what to do with us and we pride ourselves on being an overwhelming experience.”

I blinked a few times, working my jaw, trying to decide how to respond. Eventually, I laughed.

“You may be the first being I’ve ever met who proudly self-applies such a description. I am Lor and please have patience. I’m still recovering from the torture the Snaughians put me through.”

She gasped, hand flying to her mouth.

“Oh, that’s terrible!”

Once again, her compassionate instincts sent her hand reaching for my shoulder to offer comfort. I flinched back.

“Please, not yet. I’m still recovering from your first touch. With some rest, I will be far less sensitive.”

She smiled and stepped back, nodding.

“I’m Alyssa. My sister Emily was abducted with me. We have all been forced to play some stupid intergalactic reality game, apparently, and you’re my partner.”

ALYSSA

“W ell met, Alyssa.”

“Call me Aly.”

Lor stared at me, the strangest mix of expressions flickered across his face.

But, you just said your name was Alyssa…

“I know, but it feels so formal. Aly is more casual.”

How did you get back into my thoughts?

It felt like someone slammed a door in my face.

“Do you have to talk in my head?”

“Aly, I am not talking in your head. You keep sneaking into my head.”

The humidity finally passed my point of no return, threatening to stifle me if I insisted upon wearing so many clothes in the jungle. I stripped off my top and used it to wrap my hair up, off my neck. Sweat dribbled down my spine.

“I’ve never been able to do anything like that before, yet you admit you read minds. Humans aren’t psychic, that I have proof of. Aren’t you the likelier culprit, here?”

Lor sighed and waved me back.

“Light existed before eyes, yes?”

“Uh…I suppose so. Sounds logical. Why do you ask, Lor?”

He pointed at my head.

“Light existed before eyes. Some tiny cell became light sensitive and after generations of genetic changes, eyes now come in many forms, yes?”

I nodded, gesturing for him to continue, then plopped down to remove my boots so I could deal with my pants.

“You are proof that Humans sense the light, too, even if they don’t understand it yet. I’ve just never met anyone who could hear me so clearly—who wasn’t Zorberu. And physical contact is…intense.”

I slipped off my second boot and asked the first question which popped into my head while sliding my jeans off my ass.

“Maybe I’m just easy to read. I try to live honest. Don’t much appreciate liars and I hate to think of myself as one.”

Lor seemed to recover himself, as we spoke. He no longer stared at me, at least. I could feel him, even when my eyes did not fall on his silver body. Crystalline horns jutted from his head, sparkling in the rain forest’s diffuse light.

He sighed deeply, his shoulders relaxing. I pulled out my pocket knife and began sawing the legs off my jeans.

“What are you doing, Aly? Won’t that dull your knife?”

“I carry a whetstone. It’s too hot for long pants. That’s just askin’ for chafed thighs. If you can read me so easily, why did you even need to ask?”

“It doesn’t work that way… How do I explain?”

Lor began to pace while I fought the sturdy denim.

I could just go in these boy shorts…they wouldn’t ride up, like a thong. Points for the practical underwear choice.

Lor froze, then turned to look at me.

“Looking at you, in the way of minds and souls…is like standing in front of a sun—in the moment before it burns you away…there is so much, all at once, so bright…it’s too much to sort. The Snaughians—”

Flashes of a medical center—a prison—played in my mind like a movie…memories of events I never experienced. Lor’s tortured screams ripped through me. Searing pain, flashing memories of injection after injection followed by endless interrogations, and the exhaustion of holding out, flooded through me.

“They tortured you…”

He gasped. He looked at me. In his eyes, I saw fear and pain. Behind those feelings, I felt hope. I wanted to reach out to it. Shimmering like a green jewel, throbbing with a heart of red smoke, Lor’s hope called out to me like an old friend.

“Stop!”

My mind snapped back to reality. My eyes flicked up, locking with Lor’s. He panted heavily. Whatever part of him I had glimpsed had lived through excruciating torture at the hands of Snaughians wielding equipment reverse-engineered from yet another race I had never before seen.

“Aly, listen to me. I know you’re excited. You’ve felt it your entire life, just on the edge, out of reach. You learned how to reach people. You somehow know exactly what to say, right?”

I nodded, licking my lips. My mind felt like it spun a mile a minute inside my skull. A thirst I had never recognized before bloomed in my chest. I wanted to know everything. Lor raised his hands before I could speak.

“But you have to slow down. When we touched…something changed and I don’t know what it was or what it means, but you must stay back until I can heal. After the things they did to me…my powers seem to be a bit erratic.”

I pushed myself to my feet, nodding. Unsure how to rein in whatever that first handshake unleashed, I imagined I’d grown too big for my clothes, like an over-inflated balloon, then sucked myself back inside.

“Excellent, Aly. That’s, actually, exactly how to do that…”

“Thanks. That’s enough talking. We’re burning daylight and we have to find Emily.”

“Wait.”

I turned back to Lor and noticed how handsome he was, like a creature made of liquid steel. His horns flashed a dim glow and he tossed his head around, then peered off, far beyond the trees surrounding us.

“We are the only intelligent minds for five miles, at least. I sense energy which crackles like tech—drones. Those, I can keep away fairly easily, unless I’m under a lot of strain…”

The need to find my sister nagged at me, but Lor made sense.

“Good point. What should we do first, then?”

“We need to weave some mats we can tie in trees to make sleeping platforms.”

I looked up. My stomach tried to mutiny and run screaming from the prospect of rolling out of a tree in my sleep.

“Aly, you will not roll out of a tree while you sleep. Imagine your head is like a hangar bay and your mind is a shuttle. You park your mind in your own head. “

Lor gestured at his own skull. A smile spread across my mouth with a blush. I wasn’t trying to flirt, but Lor was just so darn cute. His eyes popped wide.

Oh, no! he heard me!

I imagined slamming a big, red, wall button to close the doors on my thoughts. My mind closed like a creaky old garage door because I kept getting lost in Lor’s eyes.

LOR

I  sighed, relieved Aly’s mind had finally retreated. I gripped my throbbing head with my hands and slid to the jungle floor. My fingertips found the edge of a wound and stitching on the back of my skull.

What have the Snaughians done to me?

My mind wobbled and the edges of the world around me felt sharp and too crisp. I closed my eyes and practiced Zorberuvian relaxation rituals until my mind calmed. Tension drained from my neck and shoulders and the throbbing in my skull subsided.

I opened my eyes and rose to my feet. I looked through the foliage until I found a large leaf spotted with drops of dew. I waved Aly over and showed her how to gather the water to the middle to drink.

“I have survived the jungles of many worlds, Aly. Water collected this way is generally safe to drink. Though, it is better to boil it first, if you can. At the moment, I can’t wait for that. I need the water to help flush whatever they injected me with out of my body.”

Aly shuddered, drawing my gaze.

“So, that was your memory? And not just my imagination? The…medical torture?”

I nodded, holding the raw memories at bay. I took a few breaths before responding.

“Yes. Everything becomes jumbled after that. Whatever they injected me with has left me raw, like an exposed nerve. Things which should be easy, like keeping you out of my head, feel impossible…did they experiment on you, as well?”

Aly thought about it. Memories flashed through her mind faster than I could fully appreciate them.

“I know they injected me with a translator at one point, but I have big time gaps and I have no idea what happened between passing out in the beam of light that abducted me on Earth and waking up at the slave auction, or what happened between receiving the translator and waking up caged.”

Watching her mind think helped me understand her better and I set the back of my mind to the task of calibrating my reception of her species’ mental frequency.

Let’s hope this helps clear up all that feedback so I can sort some of this out…

“If I’m supposed to stay inside my own head, mind sharing your thoughts?”

“You are like looking into a star. This is unusual and I’m trying to understand why, so I can adjust. You…you are like meeting a wild Zorberu…one who has just come into their powers and has not yet learned the rituals to manage them.”

Aly laughed. I looked at her. An amused grin hung on her face. She found a tree root she liked and sat, head tilted.

“You were recently drugged and experimented on, yes? And, by the looks of that wound on your scalp, they probably tried to mess with your brain, too, yes?”

“Yes…”

“And now you’re super sensitive.”

“Yes. And I’m trying to figure out what they did to me, exactly, because I’ve only ever been able to interact with other Zorberu this way.”

Aly picked at a leaf while she thought. The throbbing in my head faded to a dull ache. I grabbed some vines dangling nearby and ripped them down. I stripped leaves from the length, untangling the mass.

“My sister Emily usually handles these kinds of things. When I don’t know what to do, she usually helps me make sense of it.”

“What would she say, then? Surely you know her well enough to imagine.”

Aly laughed, then grabbed some vine and began stripping the leaves from it, too.

“Well, unless you’re dead, dying, bleeding, or need to go to the hospital, you can still work.”

I had to laugh, though I immediately regretted how it squeezed my head.

“And what would you say next, Aly?”

“Drink to flush whatever meds they had you on from your system, rest, think of something pleasant. Let yourself recover. You’ve been through a lot.”

Is she really…so truly kind? Or am I still simply overwhelmed? Only the touch of a Zorberu’s fated mate should create such a strong reaction…but…no, that can’t be. I still don’t know what all the Snaughians did to me—there could still be other explanations.

“Yes…sound advice. Hard to tell what is going on with all these drugs.”

“And whatever they tried to do to your brain.”

I touched the stitching on the back of my head.

“They tried to install a control system they reverse-engineered from Quislik clone technology they recently captured—”

My mind flashed back to the moment the Snaughian scientists tried to engage the Master Control chip. My mind remembered the searing pain as the MC chip came online.

“When they turned it on…so much pain—I lashed out without thinking…the Master Control chip shorted out…”

Aly leaned forward, a hand over her mouth.

“Those bastards…”

“But not just the MC chip in my head, electronics sparked and shorted throughout their systems. I tried to escape. The control system they installed kept misfiring without the MC chip. My powers lashed out, randomly. Objects flew. Snaughian heads exploded…”

I remembered a metallic smell and the hiss of gas. Somewhere, in the chaos of that moment, I had lost consciousness. I opened my mouth to try to explain, but Aly’s voice stopped me.

“It’s ok. You don’t have to tell me. I saw. Rest your mind for now. Show me how to make these mats. Working with my hands always makes things easier for me, when the world feels like too much.”

I nodded and breathed, then showed her how to make something she would be able to sleep in. I set a perimeter alarm in my mind, to warn me if anything which might want to eat us approached and focused on the movements of my hands on the vines.

Aly learned quickly and I felt my mind fortify itself each minute. By the time we finished the mats, Aly’s stomach rumbled. She had been eying a clutch of berries for a while.

“Want me to show you the Zorberu ritual for determining if food is safe to eat?”

Aly laughed. She turned her face to me and grinned.

“I would love for you to try and teach me. Then you will see I’m not psychic.”

ALYSSA

L or sighed and waved me over to the berries over which I had been drooling, though I had been too fearful to try eating one. He stood tall, muscles rippling along his back. His horns flashed in the light. He nodded at the berry-laden brambles.

“Are they safe?”

“Reach out to it and see.”

I sucked in a breath and reached out to the berries, laying a few on my hand. I glanced at Lor.

“Now what?”

“Reach out to it the way you did before, when I asked you to step back. In the way of minds and souls. Open yourself and listen.”

Like I had so many times before, I took a moment to think about the plant. I thought of the long brambles and the stems and…a strange glow I hadn’t noticed before over layed the plant and my hand.

Like a movie projected against a brick wall, I could see the signals racing through each piece. I focused on the berries. Large, juicy, deep purple spheres of throbbing sustenance shimmered in my mind’s sight.

“Lor…it looks delicious!”

He chuckled. I looked back at him, but he seemed a blank against the jungle.

“Then it is most likely safe for you to consume.”

“Why do you look like a giant, Lor-shaped blank?”

Lor closed his eyes and waved a hand over his horns.

“Sorry, I have been on the run for a long time and part of that is trying to remain as difficult to notice as possible. I prefer most people to forget they even saw me.”

I tossed the berries into my mouth and bit into the sweet, juicy fruit. I returned to sawing the remaining leg off my jeans before washing up and eating more of the berries shining on the bush.

Now that I know what to look for, I see more berry bushes shining everywhere. This is really cool.

“That sounds terrible, Lor. I usually enjoy getting to know new people. Each one has their own story, their own life! Heartbreaks and loves and—”

“And pain and lies.”

I turned back to face him.

“Yes. We all have those.”

“You seem to be taking all of this well.”

I shrugged and reviewed the memories of life since abduction.

“I’ve thought about what it would be like, and read, or watched, stories where others wonder what it would be like to have superpowers like telepathy, and what it would be like to meet aliens. Once I got past the we’re-really-doing-this stage, the rest looked like an adventure.”

Lor tilted his head at me. He no longer looked like a blank. He gazed at me with eyes of the palest blue, set deep in his metallic-looking skin.

He pointed at my hands with a flick of a finger.

“Are you done with those?”

I held up my new pair of cut-off shorts and grinned.

“Yep. Gimme a second here.”

Lor nodded and began looking through the various plants surrounding us, picking and eating bits and pieces of several different varieties. I pulled on the shorts and tied a knot at the bottom of one of the severed pant legs and handed it to Lor.

“It’s not much, but you can use it as a bag until we find something better. You know, in case we find anything useful.”

“Thank you, Ali.”

Lor took a length of vine and added shoulder straps to the pantleg bags and carrying straps to our mats. I put my socks and boots back on and tied my hair back. We slid our mats, two pantleg bags, and coils of vine over our shoulders and began to walk.

We pushed through thick leaves and tangled branches. Vines dangled hundreds of feet from trees towering above our heads. Strange birds called out to each other. Insectoids buzzed, searching for food or the chance to pass their genes to the next generations.

Having to step over tree roots and avoid getting stuck in vines, we travelled much more slowly than I had hoped we would. We ate while we travelled, taste-testing anything which my mind told me was safe and edible.

I always thought having mind powers would be fun… Lor tells me these are mine, but I’ve never seen anything this way before—though I have felt it… Wait—is he listening right now? Are you listening right now?

My eyes darted over to Lor. He pushed through endless foliage ahead of me, but gave no sign he heard me.

“Did you really not listen in on my head just now?”

Lor looked back at me and shook his head.

“Zorberu consider it rude. We practice from a young age to stay out of each other’s heads without invitation. In fact, I apologize for earlier. My internal walls are working again, now. I should have much better control.”

I let my eyes flow over him, taking him all in.

“Thanks. I’m sorry for talking in your head, then, too, unless it was really you the entire time and I’m just borrowing your powers, somehow.”

Lor chuckled. He looked up, inspecting the trees around us.

“No, Aly. This is not just me, but I do believe our physical contact triggered something in you. You have used these things your entire life.”

“And now?”

“Now you can see what you’ve been doing all along.”

“Interesting, Lor…”

You’re not my first skittish soul…there must be a deep history there.

“Aly, I think we’ve found the right spot. All my senses tell me this is an auspicious place to camp. We can secure the mats between those branches…”

I pointed where he looked.

“The big ones? I hope”

“Yes. Look again, but imagine your head is a house and you look out through a window…”

I imagined the scenario he presented. Among the branches glowed an illusory platform nest strung high above my head. I laughed.

“That’s really cool, Lor…oh, if only I had this all the time with everyone…”

A smile, far less strained than any I had yet seen on his face, spread. Amusement rolled off him like waves of heat. Then he sighed, pain rolling across his face.

“These…abilities are easy enough, out here in the jungle, miles away from others. Here, we are surrounded by the natural cycles of a living planet. The way we experience the mind and soul of the jungle—is different from the competing bursts of thoughts and emotions of a crowd of intelligent beings.”

Sorrow, deeper than a well, flowed from Lor. I had always been good at feeling what those around me felt. Lor, I experienced so much more intensely than anyone before. I couldn’t tell if it was him, me, or some combination of both, which led to our dizzying predicament.

He is the most fascinating being I’ve ever met. Even if all of this disappears when we part ways, I would regret wasting even a second of my chance to find out more. Besides, we need each other to win, right?

“Tell me of your people, Lor. If I may ask such a thing. I don’t know your customs, but I would love to hear your story. I mean, how did you end up here?

LOR

M y mind shied from the memories of my people. The pain rooted in them threatened to overwhelm me, but I took a deep breath and buried the memories deep. Instead, I brought out the bare-outline script I used to speak of the past.

While I told her the summary of my tale, I worked on securing the mats to the thick branches.

“Hundreds of years ago, the galaxy discovered the Zorberuvan home world. My people had known little cruelty or crime in generations. We greeted our planet’s interplanetary visitors as we would another Zorberu…”

Alyssa groaned, seeming to melt.

“Oh, no… they didn’t take it well, did they?”

I hung my head, shaking it, and barked a bitter laugh.

“No, they did not. When one’s species lives as a collective of telepaths, one learns to maintain very strict boundaries, or every stray thought could ripple through an entire community in moments.”

“But, once they discovered your natural talents, the galaxy became determined to either use you or eradicate you, right?”

I meant to only glance at Alyssa, but her eyes caught my gaze.

She feels it, even when she’s not trying to…the pain of my past…even the short version. Is she really this…perfect? Can it be? I could look again, now that my mind has begun to recover—but what would I discover? That Aly hides nothing? Or that I missed the darkness, when I first looked into her?

I shook my head to clear the thought before it could leak past my shields. I glanced at Aly. I could see her soul glow around her edges, as if she couldn’t help herself. Her smile drew me in. She…felt like safety and comfort and— I broke my eyes away.

What a heady drug, such openness—but is it true or have the Snaughians scrambled my senses?

I returned my focus on lashing the mats to the tree limbs. I crawled up to the branch and Aly handed me vines I used to secure our platform. I padded it with big leaves, even finding a few which promised to drive away biting insects.

“So, tell me about you. How did you end up captured?”

“I was hiding in a young colony on the outermost edge of Draskian territory, living quite happily in a quiet, spiritual retreat when the Snaughians came. First, they seeded the planet with slàr polyps—”

“What are those?”

I paused my work, trying to find a way to explain before giving in to the inevitable.

“May I simply show you? Mind to mind?”

“Sure.”

I imagined a slàr and shared the mental construct with Alyssa. Her eyes popped wide open. She squealed and ducked. I let the image go and she stood, looking around.

“That’s like a house-sized Kraken! Are they really that big?”

“Eventually. They start out about the size of your hand, but they grow fast and eat everything, infesting any body of water.”

Aly shuddered, then offered me more vine. I waved her hand away.

“I think we are done.”

I leaned down, offering my hand, bracing myself for the swirl of feelings her touch brought. She took it and I pulled her up to the platform. She inspected our perch, looking around. She pointed to the side.

“Maybe I can just have a little net, here, in case I roll out. I roll a lot when I sleep.”

I took some extra vine and knotted a net. We secured it as she indicated, and Aly smiled.

“Thank you. I think this will work. Why did we need to sleep in a tree, again?”

“Many jungle predators are nocturnal, but few of the ones likely to bother you also climb trees.”

“I like your thinking, Lor. I have a good feeling about you.”

I smiled. I enjoyed her praise far more than I should…

It has been so long since I have enjoyed much of any company that, maybe, this simply feels extra…

The humidity grew dense as the sun sank toward the horizon. Below us, a small forest creature dug through the forest floor with a long, pointed snout. It stepped carefully on tiny hooves, ears swiveling constantly.

I reached out to its mind and sent it soothing energy, whispering soft words of thanks and exchange. The creature bedded down, laying on its tucked hooves. I carefully dropped from my perch, snatching the sound of my feet with a quickly whispered gust of intention.

The creature lay down its head and closed its eyes. I spoke the hunting ritual, communing with the creature’s soul.

I hunger. Will you sustain me?

In the whispered way of minds and souls, the creature answered.

Such is the pact, Hunter. You have won the contest between predator and prey. You have caught me, and I am yours. I join my ancestors’ herd.

The creature let go, spirit slipping from its body.

Thank you.

I cleaned the creature, carefully collecting every piece I could utilize. While I worked, Aly built up a fire. By the time I had the creature prepared to cook, a bed of coals glowed gently in the fading light.

Something passed my mental alarm barrier. I spun in the direction of the alert.

Electronic, swift, aerial…not alive—

A drone, fitted with a transceiver and a display screen, popped into view, speeding in our direction. Two Snaughian faces grinned at us from the screen. Aly squealed and jumped.

“Where the fuck did that come from?”

“The Snaughians. They are filming us, remember?”

“Oh yeah. What do they want?”

The broadcast drone flew over near Aly.

“We’re so glad you asked, Aly! Aren’t we, Kvorkt?”

“Yes, we are, Plabz. Yes, we are! Haha!”

Alyssa pointed at the screen.

“Now, y’all are an interesting pair, aren’t you?”

“I certainly think so, Alyssa. Plabz, would you like to get this party started?”

“Yes, I would, Kvorkt, thank you for asking.”

Slightly squatter and less lumpy than Kvorkt, Plabz looked a slightly snottier green, as well. Huge smiles I seriously doubted had ever been natural sparkled at us. The face of Plabz drew in a deep breath and began the introduction.

“Welcome to the 34th season of Intergalactic Love Death Match, where five lucky couples are matched and sent to wild and exotic locations! Which couple will make it to the Altar of Freedom first? Will they survive? Will they fall in love? Will they win their freedom?”

“Will the audience help or hinder their epic struggle across the vast continent of Tikalc on the planet Garglax II? Stay tuned and find out. Now, a word from our sponsors…”

“These two have a secret, Aly.”

“Oh yeah? What secret?”

I shook my head, trying to track down the source of the certainty in my mind.

“I don’t know, yet, Aly…it’s just a flavor of suspicion in my mind.”

“Haha, Plabz. Listen to the Zorberu! Threatening to tell all our secrets!”

“Haha, Kvorkt! What spirit! These two will need it, after what The Great Snaugh’s R&D department put Lor through!”

“So true, Kvorkt. So true… Well, then there’s only one thing to do, and that’s get back to the show! Let’s introduce our couples…”

ALYSSA

W hat a strange and beautiful place.

Sparkling, warm, golden light surrounded me. My body didn’t exist here, but I didn’t need that here. I felt peaceful, content, safe and loved. I felt the pulse of energy moving and swirling around me. Something called to me. I moved in its direction.

Yes. I’m coming. I want this.

“Aly? Aly, wake up.”

The golden light faded and I fell back into my body. My heart nearly broke from the connection being cut. I started to cry.

“Aly? Aly, what’s wrong?”

His voice is so tender and soothing.

I opened my eyes. Lor gazed down at me. Slowly, reality drifted in. I laid in my woven hammock, sore, sweaty, and hungry.

“Hello, Lor. Nothing’s wrong. Just a dream.”

“But you were weeping. What in your dream made you cry?”

“I just had the strangest, most wonderful dream. It was so beautiful and perfect and peaceful. I was content and fulfilled and connected to something I couldn’t see.”

Lor looked at me.

He’s probably as exhausted as I am. Maybe more, since he takes care not to smush me while we sleep.

“Anyway, when I started to wake, it felt like the connection broke, and it made me sad. Just silly dreams. I’ve always had them, but this one felt—different.”

“You have always had these dreams?”

“For as long as I can remember. The dreams are never the same, but the feeling of connection is. All I could ever figure, it’s my brain trying to deal with something.”

Lor looked like he might choke on something.

“Lor, you seem... uhmm …confused by this. It’s normal for Humans to dream in their sleep. I’m starving. Let’s see what we can scrounge up.”

I got out of the hammock, climbed down, and got to the business of finding food and water. The morning light made the world look pleasant and cool, but the air remained hot and humid. By the time we found a decent amount of food and water, I was sticky and tired.

We found some shade and shared our morning meal.

“I have never worked so hard for a meal.”

“Is this too difficult for you, Aly? I could make this my responsibility.”

“Oh, no, Lor. I’m used to a hard day’s work. On our ranch, we rise before the sun is up and have lots of chores to get handled before we even get to eat our first meal. It’s just this humidity. It makes the air thick and it’s harder to cool off.”

“I see. This environment does not exist on Earth.”

“Oh, it definitely does. There are some rather large places just like this, but the people who live there have acclimated to living in those places. I am from Texas, and there are places in the state where the humidity is one-hundred percent all day and night, but that’s not where our ranch was, so I’m not used to this.”

Lor looked across the clearing at something I couldn’t see.

“What’s going on, Lor?”

“One of their machines is trying to get past the boundary I set up after the first drone. This one is different from the first. It’s carrying something.”

“Maybe we finally got a delivery from the fans?”

“Perhaps. The Snaughians’ treachery knows no bounds and I am loath to trust them.”

I shrugged off his concern and winked. I cupped my hands around my mouth and shouted into the air.

“Hey there, drone! Drop the package and scram!”

Lor stared at me, again. He blinked through a short bout of shock, then grinned.

“I didn’t know such a tiny creature could be so loud.”

“Emily and I raise herds of animals back on Earth. When you’re moving a hundred cows from one pasture to another, it’s loud and there’s a lot of distance between you and the other hands drivin’ cattle. You learn to project. Like an opera singer—watch the memory in my head…”

I remembered operas, opera singers singing, driving cattle with Emily, then I imagined an opera singer driving cattle and cracked myself up.

“Sorry, that last one wasn’t a memory. I’ve never seen an opera singer drive cattle.”

We walked over to where Lor sensed the package the drone had dropped. He scanned the forest around us. He pointed at several spots in the towering limbs.

“There are recording drones nearby.”

“I think they will be with us the whole time. I’m not too bothered by that, if it gets us help. Here it is!”

I pointed at the edge of his anti-drone boundary, where a small box had dropped. Slivered shards of metal shimmered on the ground.

Must be bits of the drone that smacked into the barrier.

I grabbed the box and we walked back to camp. Once safe in our space, I opened the box. Inside sat a thick disk with a hard, rubber-like casing.

Looks like a hockey puck. What the hell, fans?

My brain must have yelled loud enough for Lor to hear because he suppressed a laugh when he took the disk from me.

“Aly, this is a holo map.”

He squeezed the disk and a three-dimensional image appeared above it.

“A holographic map. Have you never seen one before?”

“No, on Earth all our maps are flat. Or on 2D screens.”

He waved his hand above the image, and it scrolled over.

“A holo map not only gives you detailed information about where you are and where you are going but can also give you real-time information about what’s around you in the immediate area. We just need to calibrate it and set a heading.”

He tapped the top center of the disk and it scrolled back to our location.

“We need to get to a high place where we can match features of the land to what’s on the holo map.”

Lor looked around and walked over to a nearby tree.

“How do you know that’s the tallest?”

“The tree told me so. It’s rather proud of the fact. Also, it has the thickest trunk.”

He touched the tree and smiled, then swung himself onto a low branch. After a brief pause, he went on to another, then another. He moved as if he instinctively knew which branches would support him.

Does the tree tell him that, too?

I watched him effortlessly move higher and higher until he climbed out of sight. It was hard to avoid noticing his strength—or how his muscles flexed and tensed as he moved from one branch to another.

Mmmmm… his muscles. Bet those muscles could hold me up against a—

A little zing against my mind stopped my dirty thoughts in their tracks. It felt like amusement.

Weird. Maybe he yelled and I didn’t hear him.

I looked up and yelled at Lor with full projection.

“Did you find anything, yet?”

“Do you want to see?”

What in heaven’s name is he thinking?

“I am NOT going up there!”

“You don’t have too, remember? If you want to see, just close your eyes and take a deep breath.”

Well, shit. If we are going to compete as partners, I guess I may as well get used to this, right?

I took in a deep breath, closed my eyes, and exhaled.

Open your mind. Open your mind. It’s fine. Just open your mind.

In a heartbeat, I could see the sky and the canopy of the jungle above us.

Holy shit! Am I seeing this through his eyes? It’s beautiful!

I looked all around and saw, in the distance, a mountain taller than any I had ever seen.

That must be Central Mountain. That’s where I will find Emily!

The vision ended and a few moments later, Lor dropped from the tree’s lowest limb. He whispered something to it before coming over to where I sat.

“Are you well, Aly? That was a big step for you.”

“That was beautiful and… intense. Can you do that with everyone and every... thing?”

“You are the first non-Zorberu whose mind I can mesh with at that level. It’s different with plants and animals. They don’t have words, more like primal urges and energy. It’s like a wave of energy. If you can find it, you can interact with it.”

“And you’re saying I can do that, too?”

“Aly, we don’t know what you can do. Which, without some training, could be as dangerous as your cattle stampeding.”

Without thinking, I walked over to the tree Lor had climbed and put my hand on its trunk.

“I don’t know if I am doing this right but thank you for helping us.”

I felt a surge of gratitude go straight to my heart. I turned to walk to Lor and a single bloom from the branch above me landed on my shoulder.

It heard me!

I held the little orange bloom against my heart as my eyes misted.

I can see the forest for the trees. Grandpa would get a kick out of that.

Happy memories of Grandpa telling us stories about his life over dinner…Emily and I asking a million questions and wanting answers to every single one…a cascade of good memories unfolded in my head like a waterfall of photographs.

Family. Home. I miss y’all.

I lost myself in homesickness as we gathered our supplies. Lor untied our mats and handed them down to me. I packed them for the trip while Lor calibrated our destination. Our only remaining tasks were to walk and try to gather food and water before our next campsite.

I’m coming, Emily.

LOR

G arglax II is a new world for her, yet she looks at everything with wonder and joy.

We woke early, packed camp, and travelled for several hours, gathering food and water along the way. Each time we found something useful, she thanked whatever plant she took it from.

“Tell me about living on the ranch, Aly.”

Aly shrugged and smiled.

“I really enjoy it. Emily is very practical about it all. She runs the ranch with the same patient determination to get through the mountain of work as Grampa used to. I always took care of the sick or hurt animals first. It’s tedious work, they need more companionship, and I could get them taken care of while she put out the rest of the morning feed.”

The moment I had let her see through my eyes had been effortless, as if our minds had been connected a thousand times before. It had taken a great deal of control to explore no further.

It was a constant struggle not to touch her, but I knew if that happened, her untrained mind would reach out to mine. I did not know if I had recovered enough to make sense of it or hold any chaos at bay. If I failed, I could lose her.

I cannot lose her.

“A space penny for your thoughts.”

“What is a penny?”

“A penny is a form of money. A ‘penny for your thoughts’ is just a figure of speech to get your attention.”

“You have my attention. You needn’t give me a penny for it.”

She threw back her head and laughed. The sound fed my soul. I enjoyed making her laugh.

“Lor, you best be careful tossing promises like that around. I might take you up on it.”

“Aly, I…usually do not enjoy interacting with most, but…you make it easy.”

“Aww, aren’t you just the sweetest?”

Something primal and fierce in me rattled its cage.

She’s not ready. I’m not ready. She needs to be ready. She doesn’t even have enough control over her powers to even consider a relationship with a Zorberu. Sharing minds too quickly…one of us could get lost.

I watched her cheeks turn a lovely shade of pink. She took a step closer to me and raised her face to mine. I could feel the heat of her breath on my chest. Aly’s eyes explored my face, as if searching for clues to some mystery.

We gazed into each other’s eyes for an eternal minute. This was the closest I had let myself be to anyone in years and it was excruciating not to touch her. When she pulled away, I finally breathed.

She turned and walked toward another berry bush. My eyes followed every sway of her hair, hypnotized by her every gesture.

Control yourself, dammit!

“You’ve listened to me chatter the whole day, Lor. Why don’t you tell me about your life?”

I sighed and shook my head. I rubbed my horn beds, trying to relieve the dull ache in my skull.

What do I even tell her?

“You don’t have to share the ugly parts…if you have to relive them in the telling of things.”

Her walls had come up, like she feared something.

“What do you want to know?”

“Oh, just everything about you. Your family, your home world, places you’ve seen and travelled. This is my first alien abduction, first strange planet, first glimpse of the greater galaxy— I’m curious about all of it. Everything. Every species out there, every critter…there is so much left to see.”

“I’m afraid it’s not as fascinating as your ranch on Earth.”

“Now I know you aren’t reading my mind! All of this is fascinating and new to me. Up until recently, my whole world was our ranch. I knew other places existed, but entire other planets and species, and people? I’m dying to know more!”

It had been so long since I had been in the company of someone of whom I wasn’t suspicious, the stories seemed to flow from my lips. I told her things I had never shared with another living soul.

She listened with rapt attention and asked many questions about things I had not thought much about before. Running from the ugly truths of existence for so long, I had forgotten all the beauty and joy which also existed.

She knows all the horror exists but doesn’t let it diminish her sense of wonder.

The more she listened, the more I wanted to share with her. Like a balm, her presence soothed the loneliness and pain I had refused to deal with while trying to survive. Her thoughtful and kind responses invited me closer to her healing warmth.

I feel free…how long has it been since I ever felt free?

The weight of years of restraint and constant vigilance began to lift from my sore shoulders. I could see the world as it was, both the painful and the wondrous. For once, I could see that my existence was not simply a series of terrible disappointments leading to a tragic end.

Hope. I have hope.

“Lor?”

“Yes, Aly?”

“Why do I feel like we are being hunted?”

Something warbled close by. Something else trilled a reply.

“Aly. Stay very still. When I say run, go as fast, and as far, as you can. Don’t look back.”

“But—”

“Run!”

ALYSSA

W hat the hell is chasing us?

I charged through the brush as fast as I could in the direction away from whatever hunted us. I could hear the trilling and chirping draw closer and turned my head to look back.

“Aly, be careful!”

Too late.

I tripped on a tree root and tumbled face first into the damp jungle ground. Having no time to put my hands up to stop my fall, I spun myself to avoid breaking my nose. I landed on my bad arm and knocked my head against something hard. I saw stars.

“Aly!”

My head spun. My ears rang.

“Aly, are you hurt?”

“I’m just dizzy. Help me up. I can keep running.”

“Oh, no, you can’t!”

The trilling and chirping sounded closer and louder.

We’re running out of time.

“Aly, do you trust me?”

“Yes.”

“Good. Forgive me later.”

Lor tore the sleeves of my shirt off and wrapped them around his horns. Then he lifted me into a tree.

“Climb as high as you can. I will be back for you. I promise.”

Lor shot off in the direction we had been heading before he stuck me in a tree. I watched him disappear into the endless green and felt an overwhelming sense of abandonment. Then, I heard the memory of Emily’s voice in my head.

No time for pity parties. Get moving! We’ll figure it out after we get out of this mess! I’m scared, too, but better afraid than dead.

Emily always had a way of cutting right down to the quick of things.

She’s right, of course. Bless you, sister. Wherever you are.

I climbed higher into the tree and leaned on a branch which let me peek through the leaves. I looked down, onto the path we had followed. The chirping had slowed, and I could hear footsteps scratching on the ground nearby. The jungle around me fell silent.

Stay still. Don’t even breathe.

A huge, bird-lizard sniffed the air. Large, curved talons tipped the Velociraptor-looking, giant, chicken thing’s scaly toes. Short, feathered arms twitched. A long, muscular tail undulated behind the beast. A cock’s comb, striped with red, white, and yellow, crested its head like a rooster. A ridge of brightly colored feathers adorned the creature’s back and arms.

Who the hell created fancy chicken-raptors? Universe? Did this really have to be a thing? No world needed this…

Another chicken-raptor burst from the foliage from the direction in which Lor had run. This chicken-raptor looked smaller and less colorful than the first and it sported a wattle instead of a comb.

The creatures warbled and chirped at each other as they sniffed the ground. The larger one walked over to where I had fallen. It gouged a massive scar in the ground with its giant talons. They shrieked while they shredded my denim pouch. Berries flew everywhere.

I don’t think they wanted berries.

The raptor-chicken tried to eat something shaped like a berry from a nearby bush. It stabbed the small object with his talon and a large puff of fine sparkles appeared. It tried to eat the sparkles, then slowed, wobbled, and crashed to the ground. The chicken-raptor shrieked and ran in the direction Lor ran.

Is it dead? Only one way to find out.

I descended to the ground, making sure I stopped every few seconds to listen for more chicken-raptor noises. As long as I heard their calls, I knew two things. Lor lived and I could move safely.

I got as close as I needed to see the chicken-raptor did in fact, lay dead. I used the Zorberu technique for testing plants and made sure the sparkles wouldn’t hurt me.

I undid my bra and slid it out from under what was left of my shirt. I sighed in relief as my breast relaxed and settled, having escaped the confines of my bra. I folded the bra over, so the cups were on top of each other, and tightened the straps around my head like a mask.

I need a bath. But first let’s go knock out some giant chicken-raptors.

I found six, decent-sized puff balls and used my hair tie to string them together. The chirping grew more frantic.

Like coyotes, when they are closing in on the sheep!

I started walking as quickly and quietly as I could toward the fray. I found the ruckus about thirty yards from where I had hidden. Lor now faced off with another chicken-raptor. The previous was nowhere in sight.

Did he kill it already?

Distracting Lor could be deadly, so I tucked myself close to the ground, ready to sprint when the moment felt right. Lor and the raptor danced in half circles, moving closer and closer to the edge of the clearing behind Lor.

It’s playing with him.

I searched the jungle behind them, looking for a hint of the alpha. Sure enough, a bright orange feather caught the light in a berry bush behind Lor’s right shoulder. The first drove him into position like Emily and I would drive a herd. The alpha crouched, preparing to grab Lor from behind!

Fuck you, chicken-raptor!

I charged across the clearing, screaming as loudly and wildly as I could, startling the combed chicken-raptor away and forcing the alpha to give away her hiding place. The alpha snatched at Lor’s shoulder, but he had felt her movement and dodged her strike, landing a solid punch to her temple.

Dazed and angry, the raptor pulled back and lunged at Lor again. Lor fell backwards and rolled to the side, kicking the beast in its throat. It screeched in pain.

“Hold your breath, Lor!”

I dashed between Lor and the alpha, smashing the puff balls and shook their contents toward the chicken-raptor. The wind caught the particles and surrounded the chicken-raptor's head.

Chicken-raptor screeched and thrashed in its hiding place. Branches and leaves flew in the air with the spore cloud for long seconds before the screeching slowed, then ended. The chicken-raptor’s body fell through the brambles between us, landing on the ground with a soft thud.

“Aly! Are you ok?”

“I- I think so. Is it dead?”

Lor removed my mouth covering.

“Whatever you drugged it with was a lethal dose, Aly.”

“The chicken-raptor was trying to kill you. I couldn’t let it hurt you.”

“That gaxiss was trying to kill us both.”

Lor gently led me back down the path to where we had abandoned our gear and supplies. He used some of our water to clean me up and wash my bra. Having nowhere to hang it to dry, he simply put the loops over his horns.

“What are you doing?”

“Your garment requires drying, and this is a simple and effective solution.”

I opened my mouth to speak, but only a guffaw escaped. I shook my head and fought the urge to smile.

“You look ridiculous!”

“If my solution also makes you smile, I shall dry all your garments this way.”

I could not help but laugh. We continued walking. Before we got very far from the sight of the chicken-raptor battle, Lor stopped. I tensed in anticipation of another attack.

“What is it? Do we have to run again?”

“There are gaxiss nearby. I can sense them, but they are not moving, or breathing.”

“More chicken-raptors?!”

Carefully, Lor walked into the brush on our left. He waved for me to follow, and I squeezed through the gap he had made in the underbrush.

“Look, Aly.”

Before us laid a bundle of grass, woven together and partially tucked into the hollow of a tree. It reminded me of an Earth weaverbird’s nest. The grasses in the center of the nest opened to reveal four grapefruit-sized eggs.

“Gaxiss eggs.”

My heart sank.

They weren’t trying to eat us; they were protecting their babies!

“Oh no. They definitely intended to eat us. I felt their hunger during the chase. They were preparing to feed their hatchlings.”

“Oh. We had no choice then.”

“We had no choice, Aly. Let’s get these packed up and get out of here before any other elders show up.”

We wrapped the eggs up in our refashioned pant bag, and stuffed grass around the eggs to cushion them.

“I have heard that gaxiss eggs are a rare delicacy.”

“Wait! What? You don’t mean you want to eat them, do you?”

“Aly, they are close to hatching and will be extremely hungry and very dangerous.”

“Listen here, Lor. I just killed their mama and ran off their daddy. They have no one else to look after them, so we are going to.”

“Aly, gaxiss are dangerous and ferocious creatures.”

“That’s never stopped a Texan before. I’ve tamed all kinds of wild things before. I can do it again. They’re just big chickens, after all.”

LOR

W e woke the next morning and rose to commence our new routine, eating and packing, gathering and preparing more easily the more we worked with the accessories of our new life.

After bringing down and storing our sleeping platform, we drank our fill from the collected morning dew, then rolled mats, securing them with sturdier vines. Stuffing our pant leg bags with the gaxiss eggs, we padded them with grasses until their little minds hummed with comfort, then hung the bags from the mats.

I cut a few lengths of a thick reed, filling their natural hollow centers with more dew. I stuffed wads of leaves into the tops of the reed canteens and added braided-vine handles, then slung them over my shoulder. With everything we owned hanging from our backs or shoulders, we trudged on through the jungle.

Sweat rolled down my spine. Alyssa trudged beside me, having to take two steps for each of mine. Even with having to lift her legs so high to step over the ferns, tree roots, and vines, a content smile hung on her face.

Her mind hummed happily, reaching out around her to explore her world with each casual touch of a leaf.

She doesn’t even know she reaches out. She seems…entirely open.

I moved my attention from her before fascination drew me back in. It had been so long since I could share the world with another sensitive in the way I was.

Were she already predisposed—as she proves anew to me every moment—connecting to me, a Zorberu, as mates would explain everything because we would share— No, stop that thought right there. It must be something the Snaughians did to me or her…

I shook my head

I blanked my mind, shoving all thoughts right back out every time they tried to float in, and focused on each step through the thriving rainforest and endless green. We trudged up hills and carefully stepped down the slick slopes of unexpected ravines.

Soon enough, humidity and fatigue overtook us. When the sun began to set and the shadows grew deep, we stopped and camped. We grazed on nearby fruits, nuts, and plants and watched the evening Intergalactic Love Death Match broadcast.

On that night’s broadcast, Plabz and Kvorkt seemed to really enjoy describing all the vicious creatures they had imported to Garglax II. I had hoped to see something about Emily, but Plabz and Kvorkt never stopped harassing us long enough to mention any other couples.

We settled in for the night and I drifted to sleep on a single thought.

If it were true…if Aly really could be my mate, it could mean hope for the Zorberu…so few of us left. If…if it could be true, then Alyssa could be hope. Is Alyssa my future? Or, do I simply desperately want her to be?

We woke early the next morning and passed the day much the same way we passed the day before. We fell into an easy rhythm, as if we had worked together our entire lives. I checked on the eggs and adjusted their padding until their little minds fell into a formless sleep.

We trudged about as far as we had the day before and stopped near the pool of a waterfall cascading down the side of a towering cliff. We set up camp and Aly stripped down to her underwear and jumped in.

She dove and darted back and forth, thoroughly enjoying the swim. I stripped down to my small clothes and joined her. I walked in and sat on a rock, plunging waist deep in the pool. The water felt good on my skin.

I scanned the plants around the edge with my mind and found one good for cleansing skin. I thanked the plant, then harvested it. I crushed it in my hand and washed myself from horn to toe.

When Aly swam over, I showed her which plant and how to use it. She gratefully cleansed herself while I caught some small herbivorous animals from the pool’s marshy shore. Bath and swim done, we carried our catch back to camp.

Aly convinced the fans to send new outfits while I cleaned dinner and started a fire. I felt the drones pass my mental alarm’s perimeter. A moment later, drones buzzed in with a maglev crate.

Aly squealed and opened the crate. She dug through the contents, pulling out various items. She pulled out two packs, a few food knives, one very large knife she called a machete, and other random things.

I returned my focus to cooking dinner until she appeared in front of me. Aly spun in a circle, arms outstretched. She wore a very short shirt with shorts. I read the words written across the widest part of the chest out loud.

“Abducted by aliens and all I got was this shirt.”

The evening broadcast drone arrived and we settled in to watch Plabz and Kvorkt, broad leaves piled high with our dinner.

“Welcome to Intergalactic Love Death Match. Kvorkt? Can you tell us more about what the contestants might face on Tikalc? Garglax II is still a wild planet, is it not?”

“It is, Plabz. After the Great Snaugh’s exploration fleet discovered Garglax II…”

I chuckled. I detected a familiar flavor in their mind.

Those two really are up to something…I can sense it—something hidden deep—

“I agree, Lor.”

I turned to look at Alyssa. She raised an eyebrow at me.

“You read my mind again. It really isn’t just me, Aly.”

Her other eyebrow joined the first. She sighed deeply before responding.

“What do you mean? I just agreed with what you said, is all.”

“Aly. I didn’t speak it…you read my thoughts.”

She shook her head.

“No way. You must have spoken aloud. I keep telling you, it’s just you, I’m not really—”

“Haha! Kvorkt, I think we need a replay, Don’t you?”

Kvorkt smiled a huge, toothy grin.

“What a phenomenal idea, Plabz. I do believe we need a replay. One moment, while I find the perfect moment…there!”

Kvorkt pushed a button and replayed the clip of Aly answering my unspoken question. The barest whisper escaped her lips.

“Well, shit…”

I waved at the replaying clip.

“See, Aly? It’s not just me.”

“I thought you were just trying to cheer me up…”

ALYSSA

L or’s horns glowed, highlighting the contours of his dark, silvery skin in streaks of purples and blues. His eyes seemed to look into Plabz.

“What is your secret, Snaugh—”

“And, now a word from our sponsors! Lay off Plabz, Zorberu!”

Kvorkt’s toothy grin snapped into a snarl so fast, I gasped. Lor leaned toward the drone, horns glowing brighter. He smiled wide. He looked so scary, had I not known him so well by now, I would have pissed myself. A whisper hissed from his predatory grin.

“I’m getting close to your secret, Snaughian. I can feel it beating in your mind, like a heart, drawing me closer. I already know the Xunon’s Master Control chip is busted, too…when I busted mine—”

“We only have thirty seconds left, so listen carefully—and you, out of anyone, should know if Plabz or I lie. Stop searching our minds for our secrets and we’ll keep finding ways to corrupt your footage to give you some privacy, deal? When your team stops making money because we can never get footage of you, the producers will give up on you two. Right, Plabz?”

“Oh, absolutely, Kvorkt. Emily is making enough of a show to carry the entire season, financially, with the way the fans respond to her… Maybe we can keep the producers distracted enough to leave you alone.”

Lor hissed. I could feel the offer tug at him. The desire for, even temporary, privacy which ate at his soul. Lor leapt for the lifeline he saw in the hosts’ offer.

Aly, they speak the truth. I’m taking the deal.

I nodded, hiding my desires inside my inner walls. I wanted to take his hand, to comfort him, and to take comfort in his strong embrace, but I held back. He had made his need for distance clear from the beginning and I respected that—but I didn’t have to like it.

“Deal, Snaughians—”

“And I want regular updates on my sister. And regular supply drops. That’s the price for my silence.”

I put on my most serious face, raising a single eyebrow and bowing up my neck like a sheep about to fight. Kvorkt grinned and Plabz nodded.

“Deal, Lor. Stay out of our heads and we’ll stay out of your business. We can’t sneak in too many supply drops, so don’t start asking for anything from ColonyMaster or SurvivalCorp—but we can send the basics. Can’t we, Kvorkt?”

“We can, Plabz. We can. Goodbye, Aly and Lor. Do call us for a little fluff here and there, will you? A little fluff of you two being boring would go a long way to justifying just enough fake fan accounts to send you supplies—”

“Yes it will, Kvorkt. A little cooperation will go a long way, Lor—”

“I will cooperate, Snaughians. Time’s up.”

“Haha. We seem to be having some technical difficulties with the live feed. Don’t worry, folks, we’ll play clips of Alyssa’s best snores…”

The drone buzzed off, into the woods. I looked at Lor.

“It feels like we just won something.”

Lor threw back his head and laughed. Exhausted from the day, we soon slept. I drifted into endless dreams of Lor’s silvery skin under my fingertips.

We woke early to a morning rain shower. Little we had stayed dry for long, under these conditions. When the shower ended, I changed into a dry outfit from the crate and began looking for breakfast.

I found, and gobbled up fruit, nuts, and berries by the handful, dropping the peels and seeds to the forest floor at my feet. The seeds landed with tiny puffs of gratitude which warmed my heart. I found a root which promised to taste good and bent to dig it out of the ground.

“Alyssa! They’re hatching.”

I turned at Lor’s shout and dashed over to join him. He had removed the eggs from the pant leg bags and laid them on a nest of leaves. I crouched next to him and watched the eggs rock where the babies worked to escape their confines.

I glanced at Lor. He smiled, enchanted by the miracle of new life, but I felt fear in him. I couldn’t see his fear the way I did when he showed me things, but I realized I had always been able to feel other people’s moods.

Joy, pain—what people feel has always rolled off of them. I’ve always felt that. Isn’t that just normal empathy? Everything is just so much clearer since meeting Lor. I can’t even remember how long we’ve been here.

I looked around at the alien forest surrounding us.

It feels like forever, already. And in a good way.

Lor crouched over the eggs, radiating patient wonder, understanding, and comfort… He radiated everything which looked like sanctuary to me. My cheeks burned. I returned my gaze to the eggs.

Small cracks traced jagged paths across the shells. I sat nearby and watched the drama of the hatchlings’ first moments of the world outside their shells. Small egg teeth opened holes and small bodies emerged in tiny struggles.

Lor lost himself in their experience. One shrieked a tiny cry as it struggled with a bit of shell stuck to an arm. Lor reached for it, but I raised a hand, speaking gently.

“Don’t. This is part of their process. Interfering before they stand on their own, even to remove eggshell, could hurt them. They are extremely delicate.”

“They have gaxiss on your planet?”

I chuckled, shaking my head.

“No. Our planet once supported life forms much like this, but we had chickens and ducks on the ranch. One year, Grampa got a couple of grouse, but the coyotes got them fast. They're not real smart, but they are tasty. And they eat bugs. We let them loose in the garden.”

A half-grin hung on Lor’s face, but he withdrew his hand and waited with me while the gaxiss struggled from their shells, endeavoring to achieve a state of fluffy puffs of down on bird legs.

Within an hour after birth, the fluffy little balls of bright, yellow feathers had found their feet and followed Lor and I everywhere we walked. When I sat to rest, they piled atop my lap and chewed on my clothes.

I glanced up at Lor, also covered in baby gaxiss. He held his arms up, afraid to crush a baby. Though obviously awkward, I could feel how much Lor enjoyed the company. My heart melted a little more for this Zorberu.

I can’t lie to myself, Lor really is just so, fucking, drool-worthy hot.

Lor yipped. His head spun around to me. I could feel desire ignite within him.

Oops… Oh, no… I was thinking out loud again, wasn’t I?

LOR

A  wave of raw desire rolled through me. Surprised, and slightly scandalized, I spun around. Aly watched me, eyes heavy lidded, cheeks shining. She chewed on a thumbnail, an intense, but wistful expression on her face.

Yes. Yes, you were thinking out loud again.

Panicked, terrified she would detect how I felt for her, I slammed all my mental shields in place.

I want you, too, Aly…more than anyone I have ever known before—

My thoughts bounced off each other in my head like an asteroid field. My heart raced, yearning for her. My hands twitched, arms imagining holding Aly. I closed my eyes and drew in deep, slow breaths.

How do I resist? How do I even keep her out, when she already dances so deeply in my soul? Could it really have been only a touch, with the way she walks through all of my carefully constructed guards?

We passed the remainder of the day in awkward silence only relieved by the hatchlings’ antics and fluff. I wished to speak to her but failed to discover a combination of words to explain myself.

We travelled in silence. We camped in silence. We ate and watched the nightly broadcast in silence and, when we laid our heads to sleep, hurt leaked from the edges of her newly constructed mental shields.

My heart tried to jump into my throat and choke me, but the words would not come. We slept in agony, separated far more by the silence between us than the careful physical distance I keep from…everyone.

I continued looking for clarity the next day and late into the night, but my own mind felt like an empty room. In a place which had always bustled with thoughts and minds, I saw only open space and blank walls.

I couldn’t even find a way to explain how I felt to myself. Plagued by self-doubt, and filled with fear warring with the desire ignited in my soul, I remained as silent as possible. I had thought I feared embarrassment, or giving offense, or taking advantage of her, or… I feared so many things.

After another day of thinking in silence, I realized I most feared rejection, tragedy, and loss. I slept that night on a single, simple revelation.

I fear the pain of possibly losing her.

Morning dawned and we woke. Alyssa didn’t even try to communicate. She rose and went about our routine in silence. Her glow had dimmed. Despondency crept into her movements. She ate little.

Maybe shutting down, and shutting her out, is simply cruel. To both of us.

Her entire being begged me to speak, like a walking, open invitation. The threads of her soul suddenly glowed gold in my mind. They reached out for me, only to hit the outside of my internal walls.

I dared glance at her. Eyes laden with hurt, loss, and abandonment flicked away from me. The golden tendrils retreated. Aly turned away, returning to her tasks. The places we had connected, before my retreat, looked like open wounds.

I closed my eyes, rubbing them with my hand.

She had no idea she was psychic. She doesn’t understand how quickly two psychic minds can become entangled… Zorberu youth are taught these things, like the consequences of melding yourself with another…

I looked away and sucked in a deep breath. The pain radiating from her sizzled the edges of my mind. My soul moved, struggling against the constraints of my inner walls and shields. The surge demanded I draw her into my arms and hold her.

But…her people never prepared her for this—her people don’t even believe any of this is possible! They never prepared her for the consequences…

I tried to shake the thoughts from my head, but they hung on, tenacious and demanding to be heard.

I have been running for so long, pushing the world away for so long…maybe I should—I keep worrying about giving Alyssa a choice, but did I even really give myself one? If I push her away? As I have pushed everyone else I have met away in order to survive all these years on the run?

A voice of truth pushed its way to the top.

But I never had to push everyone away. I could have indulged in a conversation on countless nights at countless taverns, but I didn’t. Because I was afraid. I was afraid I would find someone worth staying for.

I stopped in my tracks. The voice of realization in my mind refused to be ignored or denied a moment longer.

I have found Alyssa. And I have left her alone with her budding new sense of the world around her. She opens her new, internal eyes where, before, she only felt the effects. With no family to help her through the awakening, no rituals, no community—

I groaned, hanging my head.

Once I let her in…if I let go…I will never be able to keep her from my mind again. The bond pulls at me too hard. I know…I know this is it. This is the bond of a fated mate.

I sucked in a deep, jagged breath. Words sat on my tongue, loaded, ready to spill out as soon as I could open my jaw, and I had no idea which words sat there. Hurt and loss rolled off of her in waves.

What do I want? To be perpetually alone? Or to embrace a future with Aly for the remainder of our lives?

ALYSSA

I  hate this. What good are mind powers when you can’t communicate with the one you love? Holy shit! Did that just happen? Did he hear me?

I stole a quick glance at Lor and he didn’t seem at all affected.

Baby gaxiss cooed and one nipped my pinky finger. I gasped and put my finger to my lips.

“Owie! Now there, you little rabble rouser. No biting the mama.”

Tiny eyes looked at me adoringly. The little fluff nugget had the audacity to wiggle his tiny arms and bounce on my lap. When he started to hiccup, I didn’t know which of us was more surprised.

“You little stinker. Y’all know I can’t be mad at you little floof boots.”

Pinky biter’s hiccups knocked him onto his bottom. His siblings circled round my feet staring at him, hopping and chirping in unison with every new hiccup. Pinky was not amused. I thought it was the cutest darned thing I had seen in forever.

“You know, it’s really hard to believe that, someday, you will be a six-foot-tall chicken-raptor.”

I cupped Pinky in my hands and stroked his head with my thumbs. A couple of pats on his back and he let out a little burp. His eyes opened wide. He realized the hiccups were gone, sighed and nuzzled my hands.

I kissed Pinky on the head, then put him on the ground with his siblings. In a flash, Pinky’s brothers and sisters mobbed him, making sure he was okay. Pinky was even less amused than before.

“That oughtta teach you ‘bout nipping people. It’s bad manners to bite the hand that feeds you.”

Out of habit, I turned, expecting to share the hilarity with Lor. He sat under the shade of another tree.

Is he…sulking?

A single chick nipped at him, trying to get his attention. She reared back, then charged at Lor headfirst, trying to get some love and he hadn’t even noticed.

After several more tries, the little, hardheaded floof sat, exhausted. She plopped on her bottom and glared at Lor. Her tiny arms didn’t reach far enough to cross over, but the look she gave Lor said it all.

Sweet girl, I feel the same way. And it’s about high time we end this, for all our sakes.

My exasperation exploded.

“Lor! What is going on with you?”

“Why are you shouting?”

“Because you’ve done that silent brooding thing for a day and a half and have barely made a sound. You haven’t even spoken a word to me.”

“Aly you don’t understand—”

“Damn straight, I don’t understand, and whose fault is that? How am I supposed to understand when you shut me out?”

Hardhead puffed her chest and trilled at Lor. I walked over and picked her up. I turned to walk toward the rest of the flock. I felt something lift, like when a barn door finally slides open after being shut too long.

“When I shut all of you out?”

Memories not my own flooded my mind’s eye. Flashes of pain and fear, of hopelessness and determination to survive.

And loneliness, painful, endless, loneliness.

My heart broke into a million pieces.

“Lor, I—”

“How could you know? I didn’t know myself”

I paused, knowing he needed to speak his truth. I gave him my full attention.

“For as long as I can remember, this is how I have lived. Running, hiding, keeping to myself—it’s what I had to do, what all Zorberu had to do—to survive. Those who didn’t, perished in ways too painful to explain.”

His horns radiated shadow, as if they hid from the light.

“I learned how to conceal myself from everyone and everything, severed any connections I had and did what I must to survive. I wanted to live, but I had nothing to live for except to see the next day.”

Lor stood and walked toward me.

“I have had nothing to live for, nothing to hope for, in longer than I can remember. There’s no room for hope or love or connection when you are being hunted. I had forgotten what that felt like…had given up the dream of having those things myself.”

I knew I shouldn’t be excited by him sharing his pain, but my body refused to comply. My heart raced. I barely breathed.

“And now, I have been caught and tortured and imprisoned. I have been made a slave for the entertainment of my captors. This is the nightmare I have been trying to escape my entire life.”

Excuse me?!

Please listen, Aly, please let me tell you.

The whisper of his mind touching mine felt like a million caresses. I sighed.

“Now that I am here, I found the nightmare is not the only thing I have been avoiding.”

“I hate it when that happens.”

Lor laughed. When the laugh subsided, he stepped closer.

“I cannot keep running from it.”

Then don’t.

“It’s not that easy, Aly. I haven’t been surrounded by love and happiness like you have.”

“Do you think I haven’t been lied to and hurt, as well, Lor?”

“Well, I—”

“If connection is the very thing your culture is founded on, doesn’t constantly denying yourself connection drive you away from your very self?’

“Yes.”

I stood in front of him, a breath away from touching him. I gazed into his eyes.

“Do you think, maybe, you’re running from us, now? I can feel it—stronger than anything I have ever felt, Lor…I can feel you in pain. I don’t know why, and I’ve never felt anything this strong, but I feel you. Even when you try to hide.”

“Aly.”

“Yes, Lor?”

“I feel you, too. Stronger than anything else I have ever felt. I want you, want to connect with you, in every possible way. And I don’t know how to stop fighting it.”

“Yeah, but, why are you even fighting it? Do you trust me?”

“Yes, Alyssa.”

I closed my eyes and leaned up to kiss him. I let myself lean against his warm, muscular body and felt him inhale just before my lips reached his.

Let me show you.

What happened next, I had no words to describe.

LOR

I  love her.

Every shield I had left between us disappeared with my realization of the truth. Shadows lifted off my soul. My self-made prison vanished.

I let myself feel the warmth of her presence, the goodness of her spirit. A unique and singular beauty radiated from her entire being.

She is here and she is not afraid.

Her eyes softened and drew me in. Her hair smelled of flowers. She opened herself to me and whispered sweet promises. I ached for her.

I want you, Lor.

Alyssa kissed me, obliterating my last shred of self-control. What had only been a spark burst into an inferno. Her mind reached out to mine with seductive invitation. Desire clamored to be set free. She bit my lower lip and my need for her turned feral.

I snarled and claimed her mouth. I inhaled her breath. Our tongues tasted, teased, discovered. Her heady scent intoxicated me. My mouth watered and my thoughts spun.

I wrapped my arms around her waist, lifting her higher, kissing her deeper. Her body heat radiated against me, driving me closer to the edge. Her mind purred, begging for my touch.

I love you and I am not afraid.

Her surrender to our mutual desire obliterated all other thoughts. I growled and kissed her, hard and fierce. Aly’s body melted against me, pressing her soft flesh against my hard flesh.

She wrapped her legs around me, freeing my hands to explore the skin underneath her shirt. Her warm, silken flesh burned its memory into my fingers. Aly wrapped around my soul in golden swirls, restoring long-neglected wounds.

I kissed her lips, her chin, her jaw, her ear. She tilted her head, exposing the graceful arch of her neck. My mouth worked its way to the junction of her neck and shoulder, lingering whenever she moaned.

Lor… yes!

Physical reality and the realm of minds and souls blurred. Physical sensations echoed in the ether where our souls conjoined and rejoiced in reunion. Waves of pleasure, desire and euphoria consumed us.

Together at last...

I removed her shirt and tossed it away. I caressed her breasts and she leaned back. I lowered my head and feasted on her breasts. Her nails dug into my arms and her legs trembled around my waist.

More, Lor.

Yes, more.

I knelt onto the ground, easing her onto her back. She pulled my mouth to hers and pressed the center of her desire against my hardness.

I growled. She smiled. I grinned back.

I captured her wrists and slowly worked my way from her mouth to her breasts. When she bucked against my gentle assault, I pressed my steeled cock against the soaked V of her shorts.

I relished her passionate abandon. I gently tugged a nipple with my teeth and felt a gush of wetness where our bodies met. Aly moaned.

I trailed my fingers down her stomach, past the waist of her shorts. Her thighs clenched around me.

With devilish glee, I took the other nipple in my mouth, giving it the same adoring treatment as the first. She rewarded my efforts with a gush of wetness.

My hand journeyed to the soaked junction of her thighs. I rubbed my fingers over the damp fabric. She cried out. Again, she moaned.

My fingers splayed across her sex, alternating pressure, speed, and rhythm. Her hips bucked against my hand. I could feel the wave building in her.

Her body tensed and her moans became whispers. I watched the pulses of pleasure travel through her. I experimented with my fingers until I matched her favorite rhythm and pressure, gradually gaining speed. I felt and saw the tendrils of her pleasure coil in anticipation.

Passion clouded Aly’s eyes. She panted, breaths hot and shallow. Her gorgeous breasts rose and fell with each gasp of pleasure.

I slid my fingers underneath the fabric and felt her open for me. My thumb found her clit as I slid a finger into her. She pressed her body to my hand.

I slid another finger in, turning my fingers with every thrust. She grew wetter, hotter, tighter. I lowered my mouth to her clit, teasing the swollen, fleshy nub through the flimsy fabric. She grabbed my horns and pushed my head down.

The perfume of her essence filled my mind, overwhelming all thoughts. I ripped her shorts from waist to seam, exposing my treasure. I lowered my head and devoured her, licking, lapping, tonguing her lips, clit, and entrance.

“Lor, please...”

“Not yet.”

I dove in again, lapping deeper, longer strokes over every part of her delicious slit. I slid a finger into her and pumped it in and out as my lips and tongue toyed with her clit. I brought her to the brink faster and higher, watching her arousal throb and peak.

Aly’s body shook, then exploded. Her rapture shattered us both. I gloried in her ecstasy.

Transformed, I did not know in which realm we floated. I heard her whisper my name. Her voice left me breathless and raw—and enticed. I kissed her again.

I kissed her again.

“Lor. That was- “

“We are not done yet. Nowhere near done. Patience, Human.”

I spent the rest of the night exploring her body, discovering its secrets, and pleasuring her. The great mystery of the universe brought us together through the strangest of circumstances, like the greatest of ancient stories. I chose to believe in Aly, I saw destiny.

Her surrender liberated us both.

ALYSSA

I ’m so happy here, so happy I found it. I never want to leave this place.

I felt warm, safe, loved, and wrung out. Comfortably wrapped in Lor’s embrace, the world could go to hell, and I wouldn’t care.

Except for Emily.

I sighed and wiggled closer to Lor. My body slipped right into a comfortable position and the heat of his body lulled me back to sleep.

Like we were made to fit.

“Aly, don’t do that.”

“Hmmm? Do what?”

“Don’t wiggle like that. It’s too tempting and you’re still weak from last night.”

“But last night was incredible, and I’m not weak.”

I felt the rumble of a chuckle against my back.

“No, my love, you are not weak. But last night was your first time—”

“It was not my first time Lor.”

He laughed again.

“Last night we traversed dimensions.”

“I’ll say.”

“That takes an energetic toll. If you don’t allow yourself to recover from that kind of expenditure, you could get stuck, or worse.”

“What’s worse?”

“Some of my people have gone mad, or lost control of their powers and wreaked tragedy on the people around them.”

Lor’s voice trailed off into nothing and I saw flashes of his time with the Snaughian scientists. I felt his fear and knew he remembered when the Snaughians had pushed his mind too far. I felt his helplessness.

“Lor, they cannot hurt you.”

I pulled him closer and looked at him. He gazed far into his own mind. I took his chin in my hands and pulled his face around to look at me.

“You’re not there anymore. You are here, with me. Feel the breeze. Listen to the trees. Feel the ground under your feet. Hold onto me...and my love.”

“You love me, Aly?”

“It’s like my soul knows it’s where it belongs.”

“On this wild planet which keeps trying to kill us?”

His face said he was joking, but his heart told me he needed to hear it.

“With you, goofball. I belong with you.”

He hugged me tightly and I felt the tension in his chest release. I hugged him back and kissed his chin.

“I mean, it could just be that my brain is warped from interdimensional sexcapades. After all, who wouldn’t love that?”

It took him a second longer than I liked to realize it was my turn to make a joke. When he laughed, my heart sang.

“Aly, you are the most refreshing, gentle, and pure-hearted person I have met in all my travels. I, too, wish to stay with you.”

“Good! Now that’s all settled we can talk about some practical matters.”

“I’m listening and open to suggestions.”

“I’ve been thinking that, well, Lor, you can’t come to Earth, and you can’t keep running, either. And there’s really no one other than the players on this planet, so... what would you think if we just stayed?”

“Aly, won’t you miss Earth? And what about Emily?”

“I thought about that and, well, after this place—I can’t really go back anyway. Earth folks don’t really treat alien abduction survivors too well. As for Emily, well… she’s going to win. She always finds a way to come out on top.”

He stayed quiet for a moment. I felt him consider all the ramifications of what I suggested. I deliberately kept my mind in my own head. Though I wanted to know, I also didn’t want to know.

“Aly, are you sure you don’t want to win? Are you sure Emily will?”

“People measure their happiness in different ways. There’s a lot more to life than winning. At least, I always thought so. And isn’t happiness the greatest win of all?”

“Are you certain of this? We are not far away and we could still—”

“Lor, think about it. If we win, then Emily can’t win. If we don’t win, she has a chance to be free and happy. I’m already free and happy with you.”

He kissed me on the forehead.

“You are certain this is what you want?’

“Read my mind why don’t ya? Or you could just take my word for it.”

He smiled and his horns glowed.

“Point taken, my love. We shall begin looking for a suitable location to build our new home as soon as we are done here.”

“What exactly do we have to finish here?”

Let me show you.

Maybe my brain was tired, but I could swear I heard the air sing.

LOR

S omehow, the day shone brighter that morning. Alyssa lay in my arms when I woke, soul radiating a contented thrum fogged by sleep. Old memories of my home world, faded by time played through my mind.

An Elder, horns curled to the side with age, spoke low words against the flicker of a fire, casting an ancient ritual over the gathered children. He spoke the history of our people, the stories of Zerberuvian culture, passing to us enlightenment.

We sat, attention rapt, long into the night, living his stories together in a psychic space created by the power of his storytelling. Elder Nuuna, body bent and twisted from centuries of life, was said to be one of the greatest of our people’s story tellers.

The memory of Elder Nuuna’s voice spoke from deep in my past. He whispered of fated mates, of love and loss, of the sacred nature of the happy thrum of a mate’s soul. He showed us his memories of that love, so we would all know it when we saw it.

I never forgot, Elder. Now…now I understand.

I kissed her gently on the shoulder and rose. Aly rose soon after and we prepared to face our day.

Together.

The babies danced around our feet the entire time, slowing all progress until we stopped to feed them. I scanned the surrounding jungle until I located prey the babies could catch for themselves, then led their minds to it, clue by clue. When they reached the nest, their natural instincts kicked in and they fed.

Babies tended to, we packed and returned to the trail, eating the jungle’s bounty as we walked. Alyssa soon discovered a taste for small reptilians which clung to the trees. I showed her how to catch them. She laughed and glanced at me.

“Lor, I never thought I’d like the taste of space lizard. I know it’s not an Earth lizard, but it looks a lot like them.”

“This is true for many worlds. Certain combinations of traits happen frequently in similar environments. This world must be much like the worlds we both came from, or we would not be able to breathe the air. Anything in these biomes must survive under similar conditions, but each world has their own special favorites.”

Alyssa nodded. I helped her over a fallen log.

“Speaking of suitable habitats, let’s talk about the perfect place for a home. I’m thinking basics here. Nearby food source, fresh water, and the ability to keep predators out. Keeping bugs out feels important to me, too.”

I chuckled, then looked around. I gestured at some trees.

“We’ll need to find some large trees between which we could build a house and some sort of storage.”

“Oh, I always wanted a treehouse! Grampa couldn’t stand the thought of Emily and I falling off, though, so we never got one. Make no mistake, we would have fallen off. We climbed everything.”

I laughed. Aly shared a memory of climbing to the roof of a rugged building filled with squares of dried grass. I shared a memory of me, as a child, clinging twenty feet up the side of a cliff. Alyssa laughed, then nudged my side with an elbow.

“You were always a troublemaker, weren’t you?”

We spent the rest of the day walking at a casual pace, sharing little bits of memories. I had been without such joy since I left my people and treasured each moment, each memory, each laugh.

We camped near a lagoon fed by a cascade of short waterfalls. Giggling, we stripped and swam, cleaning ourselves with an aquatic plant which promised to be perfect for cleansing our skin. I thanked the plant and the plant thanked me for dispersing its seeds.

Aly swam off to rinse her hair. I watched for her to return to the surface. I felt a jolt of her shock, instead. I dove in. Some sort of long, flat creature had wrapped around her leg. I ripped it from her and we swam to the surface.

Her head bobbed above the water and she wiped hair out of her face.

“Thanks for the assist! I did not expect to fight a space eel.”

“It will make a wonderful dinner.”

I held up the space eel. Aly shuddered and swam away.

“Sounds like a great job for you, Lor. You do the gross stuff and I’ll make the fire.”

“I accept.”

I chuckled and left to clean dinner. I tossed all the extra bits to the gaxiss babies who fought over each scrap. Aly joined us and started a fire. We ate and watched the evening broadcast, covered in gaxiss hatchlings.

When we crawled up the tree to sleep, the babies gathered into a pile at the bottom to rest until we returned. We slept deep, wandering through each other’s dreams and woke with the dawn.

With the goal of looking for a good location to settle in for our life together, we didn’t bother to pack. Instead, we began our first day of a new routine. We woke and bathed. We built up the fire, ate, and fed the babies.

We flirted and I showed Aly new rituals and techniques. She hugged me, arms and soul. I slid my arms around her. Our hearts beat faster. She turned her face up to me and I leaned in for a kiss—

The sound of a drone interrupted us. We groaned and turned to face the broadcast drone’s screen.

“What do you want, Snaughians? I was about to kiss Lor.”

“We don’t have much time, do we, Kvorkt?”

“No, we do not, Plabz. No, we do not.”

“So, get on with it, then, you piles of goblin snot!”

The mental image Aly projected when she yelled at Plabz and Kvorkt made me laugh.

“Haha, Plabz. What spirit!”

“Yeah, yeah, listen up, love birds. No matter what we say next, we really are on your side—”

“Welcome back to Intergalactic Love Death Match, where five lucky couples compete for love and freedom!”

“And for their very survival, Kvorkt.”

“Too true, Plabz. Too true. We have had a difficult time keeping up with our current couple, but we have them now.”

“Yes, we do, Kvorkt, and just in time, too.”

“In time for what, Plabz?”

Plabz looked at me, smile stretched painfully wide. I heard his mind beg me to believe he and Kvorkt hated doing what they were about to do. I raised an eyebrow.

“For the first Challenge, Kvorkt!”

“That’s right, Plabz. Rest well, love birds. Tomorrow, you challenge!”

I heard Aly laugh in her head.

“No thanks. We’re fine. We’ve decided to stay. Haven’t we, Lor?”

ALYSSA

“H ahaha! Did you hear that, Kvorkt?”

“I did Plabz, I did. Unfortunately, the two of you have been so boring, the producer has decided to liven up your story.”

“Hahaha. Who could have predicted that?”

Lor glanced at me.

They speak the truth, Aly.

I sighed, crossing my arms and playing along.

“Oh, yeah? We’ll see what happens tomorrow, then. I’ll let you know if I find any fucks to give about what your producer thinks makes compelling entertainment.”

“Who knows, Alyssa. Maybe your Challenge reward will be worth the danger.”

“It better include my own ship outta here with enough room for everyone, Plabz, or I suspect I can pass.”

I walked away, done with Snaughian bullshit interrupting my make-out with Lor for nothing. The drone zipped away under cloak.

Wasting my time, those two—lumpy lumps of snot!

I heard Lor chuckle next to me and darted my eyes at him.

“Oh, Aly. Underneath all that empathy, you have an impressive mean streak.”

A smile forced its way onto my mouth.

“Oh, honey, bein’ nice is a choice. Always has been. It in no way indicates my capacity to get stubborn or fight. I just think, in most cases, it’s the better idea to try compassion first. But, just ‘cause I didn’t start this fight don’t mean I won’t finish it. Those two, they got a lot comin’ their way.”

“You think so?”

“I’m already laughing just thinking about how Emily handles those two.”

Lor grinned and looked into the distance.

“I hope to meet her one day.”

“Shit, she’ll find me just as soon as she gets ahold of a vehicle capable of getting here. Nothing stops her once she gets an idea into her head. Win or lose, we’ll see her.”

We spent the rest of the day resting, stretching, and enjoying all the goodies which arrived in our supply drop. We joked and swam and kissed, enjoying the pleasure of each other’s company.

We watched the evening broadcast. We watched clips of Emily and Ralkor training cubs. I explained all the intricacies to Lor, sharing clips of memories from life on the ranch until I ached for my sister’s embrace.

Charlotte and Jasek’s strange cocoon hatched, then they had to run from a flood. I leaned in close, chewing a thumbnail while I watched their plight. The trapped space mammoth creature brought me to tears until it’s familial reunion.

Plabz and Kvorkt teased us about the next day’s challenge but assured us, silently, that they had little choice. After the broadcast, we crawled up the tree to sleep. Lor drew me into his arms and we made love soft and slow before drifting off in each other’s arms.

We awoke and prepared ourselves. Babies fed and all our needs met, the drones arrived. Plabz and Kvorkt grinned at us from the broadcast drone’s display screen.

“Are you ready for your first Challenge, contestants?”

“I haven’t even decided to care yet, Plabz, and I don’t hear you talking me into this any time soon.”

“Haha, Plabz. That, right there, is what makes this game so fun. We’ve already come to know Emily as a fierce competitor, but will her sister turn out to be as fierce?”

I glared at the broadcast drone. Even knowing that Plabz and Kvorkt were literally just doing their jobs, the entire thing still irritated me.

“What if I simply refuse to participate? I don’t care about getting to the Altar of Freedom, so why should I dance for you?”

Plabz smiled at Kvorkt. Kvorkt smiled at Plabz.

Aly, they swear they apologize—

Plabz raised a hand, eyes wide and wild.

“Then we’ll just have to release a swarm of terrifying predators. Won’t we, Kvorkt?”

“That we will, Plabz. That we will.”

Plabz slammed a button. I thought I saw a tear shimmer in his eye.

“Oh, shit, Aly. Run. Grab what you can and run—no time to pack!”

My head spun to face Lor. He pointed back, past camp and I ran for all I was worth. The babies roused from their pile and followed me. I gathered them into my arms and ran even faster.

All I need is my pocketknife. Everything else can be replaced.

I cast my mind behind me, past Lor, trying to sense what chased us.

Just run, Aly.

Lor showed me a flash of twenty like minds gaining ground on us. I could see their communications streak between them as they scented or sighted us. Lor held out his arms and I handed him two of the baby gaxiss.

I held the other two against my chest.

What chases us, Lor?

He shared a flash of the closest creature. As soon as I saw it, I shook my head.

“Nope. Not here for fucking space monkeys. No fucking way.”

I ran even harder, remembering every video I ever saw of monkey attacks. Fueled by fear and adrenaline, my imagination ran wild, pumping my legs harder than they ever should have run, but being jumped on by packs of predatory monkeys topped my list of Things I Never Want To Do.

The unfamiliar, floating tentacles on their backs only made it worse. I sent my mind back, trying to locate them, myself. Looking behind while running as hard as I could turned out to be a bad decision.

I ran right over the edge of a cliff. Lor ran off the cliff a step behind my leap. My mind immediately reached out for Lor. His mind reached out for me, encircling all of us in a bubble. He grimaced with concentration. I could feel the strain of his effort every time our bubble bounced down the craggy waterfalls below.

I…I’ve never done this before, Aly. I can’t hold it much longer, but we are so close to the bottom of the ravine.

Save the babies, Lor. Save the babies.

I shoved my two gaxiss into his arms. The protective bubble began to fizzle around the edges, disintegrating before my eyes.

Get above me, Aly. Let me brace your fall.

I pushed off the interior of the bubble, flipping my body above Lor and curled into a ball. Lor cried out as we landed. My body hit his—and bounced. The protective bubble popped and I bounced right off of Lor’s abs and onto a damned rock.

I felt my left femur snap. My world blanked.

LOR

A ly bounced off my body, limbs thrown wildly in the air. Faster than I could intervene, she landed against a rock. I heard the crack of her thigh bone as it snapped against the rock’s hard edge.

I felt pain sear into her, racing for her brain. Before I could think what else to do, my mind reached out in a way I had never experienced before. My mind slid between Aly’s pain and her consciousness.

The memory of Elder Nuuna, speaking of powers granted to fated mates, flashed through my mind. I opened to her, to Aly, my mate, and gasped. I saw who she was in exquisite, overwhelming precision.

Shocked at experiencing any mind in such detail, I marveled at the brilliant delicacy of Aly. I wrapped her mind in golden threads and performed the most drastic of the Zorberu’s healing rituals I had studied.

I panted, terrified the rituals would not work for a Human mind—that I would hurt her while trying to help, but I knew not what else to do. I worked at the speed of thought, separating her from the agony of her wound.

I whispered the words which focused the efforts of my mind, slowing her processes and even the way time passed for her body in places. I cast rituals to fortify her body and regulate temperature and oxygen exchange. When I finished, I fell to my knees, gasping for breath.

After creating the protective bubble for the first time, and casting rituals to greater detail than I ever had before, my body shook. Aly laid on a clear patch of ground, safe in a state of perpetual stasis. I cast the last ritual, a thin shield around her body I wouldn’t need to maintain, then collapsed into a dreamless sleep.

Tugging on my arms and legs pulled me from my rest. My tongue stuck to the top of my mouth and my head ached. I pulled open swollen eyelids long enough for a shaft of light to stab into my eyeballs.

I covered my face with a hand and rolled. I blinked, looking again. Aly lay next to me. I reached out, mind exhausted, and inspected the rituals I hoped would preserve her life until I could find a way to fully heal her body.

I drew in a jagged breath and reached out a trembling hand to stroke a strand of hair from her face.

Oh, Aly. I am so sorry. I will keep you safe until we can heal you.

Aly remained silent, of course, her mind retrained in a state of rest. She couldn’t respond.

We only just found each other, Aly. Your absence…leaves an Alyssa-shaped hole inside of me.

A sharp tug on my foot pulled my sunken eyes from Aly’s face. The baby gaxiss trilled at me. I had never heard a more mournful sound. I sent a puff of reassurance to them. One tried to nuzzle Aly’s hand but bounced off the protective shield.

“Sorry, Hardhead, Mommy must stay protected for a while.”

Another of the gaxiss picked up a few bits of leaf litter from the jungle floor and tucked it around the shell near her head. The others joined in, bringing bits of sticks, seed pods...anything which caught their eyes.

“Don’t get too excited, little ones. I have to find a good place for our little home…”

I fed the babies and tasked them with guarding Aly, then searched for a good place to camp until Emily came for Aly, or I found a way to repair her body’s damage.

If she were Zorberu, I would know what to do, but she’s Human. I haven’t studied Human medicine and the details matter. I’ve used all the rituals I know.

Zorberuvian psychic medicine, while powerful, carried extreme risks. Push a little too hard here or there and one’s patient dies—or lives with irreparable damage. The rituals we learned in our studies helped focus our minds to successfully complete a task without harm.

Healing rituals had never been my strength and I knew only a few of them.

With the way my powers have been growing, lately, the risks of trying to heal Aly blindly, without ritual, are far too great. I will have to make a home here and keep her safe—for as long as it takes.

After a few hours of searching, I heard the sound of water and came across the opening of a cave a short climb up the cliffside. I searched the first few cavernous chambers but sensed no minds occupying the space.

Fresh water ran nearby, and I quickly identified a good place for a fire. Satisfied the cave would suit our needs, I prepared an area on a natural rock shelf to place Aly. I piled soft leaves over the stone to cushion her body, missing her more as each second passed.

I jogged back to where Aly and the gaxiss waited. The babies heard me coming and ran up to me, swarming my legs.

“Let me get Mommy. Then we go to a new home. I think you’ll like it.”

The babies, who looked a lot less “baby” than the last time I saw them, trilled and chirped, leaping about. I stepped up to Aly and dropped to my knees. I slid my arms under her body, intending to cradle her to my chest.

The thin shield kept her body flat as a board and I ended up tucking Aly under my arm to carry her. Though I missed holding her close, Aly’s shield made certain her body never caught in spiny vines or scraped against a tree trunk.

The gaxiss trailed me, eating everything they could catch on the way. They looked bigger every time I looked at them. Soon, we arrived at the cliff wall. I carried Aly up the narrow path and into the cave.

I lay her on the bed of leaves. The babies carried in bits of things, adding to Aly’s nest. I ran a finger across her cheek.

Aly, I will find a way. I swear.

ALYSSA

I  woke in a haze of soft light. I stretched, rolling and stretching in the softest sheets I’d ever slept in. Confused, I opened my eyes and realized I laid in the biggest, most perfect version of my bed at home.

A lifetime of posters, photos, signs, and décor covered walls which looked a lot like my room on the ranch. A small vanity, covered in cosmetics, sat to the side of a window. Outside the window flowed the giant leaves of the Garglaxian jungle.

One of these things does not belong…

I thought back, seeking out my memories of the day before.

Chased by carnivorous space monkeys. Ran. Off a fucking cliff. Good move, Aly.

I looked around again. My Grand Champion Market Swine ribbon fluttered in the perfect breeze floating in through the open window.

How does falling off a cliff end up in paradise? Shit! Am I dead?

“You are not dead, Aly.”

Lor’s voice startled me. He sat on the edge of my bed. Fatigue pulled at his shoulders, but he smiled at me like he hadn’t seen me in years.

“That’s a good place to start. Can we talk about where the fuck I am, then? Like, this place is nice, but it seems really improbable…”

Lor laughed. I waited for him to catch his breath. He sighed deeply, resting his arms on his thighs. Fatigue radiated from him. He looked faded and gray. His head hung down and he rubbed dark-circled eyes.

“Do you remember breaking your leg?”

I looked at my leg. It looked fine. I opened my mouth to say so, but Lor interrupted me.

“So, no, it’s not as fine as you think it looks. You really did break your leg. That was real.”

“Damn. I was really hoping that was just a bad dream, to be honest.”

He raised his head, a tired smile stretching his lips.

“I’m sorry, I had no time to ask your permission before, so I’ll ask now. Your left femur snapped in half. I don’t, personally, know how to fix it properly. I vow to study Human anatomy as soon as I can—”

I raised a hand to his lips. My fingertips buzzed lightly where they contacted his skin.

“Hush, Lor. Take a breath and just tell me. I can only deal with what I know. Did I lose the leg?”

Lor shook his head, chuckling again.

“Have I been invaded by a colony of brain-sucking space worms?”

Lor chuckled harder. He shook his head again, but I saw the knots twisting him inside begin to unravel. He drew in a deep breath and explained.

“Before the pain of your leg could reach your mind, I cast a Zorberuvian ritual which…enclosed your mind in a protective shell, away from the pain—”

“Ain’t that a neat trick—”

“Aly, please. Let me get through this. I don’t know enough to safely heal you completely, so I…put your body in stasis. I cast other rituals to preserve you in this state until I can get you better help. Some parts are trying to heal, but only very slowly…”

I grabbed his face in my hands.

“Lor. Lor, look at me. Thank you.”

Lor released a relieved breath and wrapped his arms around me. We held each other for a long moment, our energies overlapping in a deep comfort.

“I’m so sorry, Aly.”

“What are you sorry for? I’m the one who ran off a cliff, though I’m not certain what other options we really had. There were so many of those carnivorous space monkeys…”

I shuddered at the thought of having to fight a throng of fanged, tentacled space monkeys leaping up to bite off my face. Lor chuckled.

“I had no idea what I was going to do once they caught up to us. I feel bad for Plabz and Kvorkt, though. They really didn’t want to have to do that.”

“Yeah, well, my mouth walked us right into that, too.”

I looked around my room.

“This is a psychic construct in your mind—”

“Partially made from my memories, right? A place for my mind to stay active, even though my body lays in stasis?”

Lor grinned at me and nodded.

“Yes, exactly. I tried to make it pleasant.”

Lor suddenly faded until I could see through him. He turned to look over his shoulder at something I couldn’t detect.

“Lor? What is it?”

“I’m sorry. I have to go feed the babies. I used a lot of my reserves creating all of this. I need to recover before I am anywhere near full strength. So…right now, I can only stay here with you while I lay a hand on the shield surrounding you.”

“You have to go, don’t you?”

“Only for a short time, Aly. I love you.”

I sighed, nodding my head.

“Before you go…have you heard anything about Emily?”

“Emily is ‘kicking ass’, as you say. She and Ralkor seem to work very well together. It looks like Brannic and Sophia died in a fiery explosion.”

“Oh! That’s awful.”

“I don’t know. The entire scene felt…off. I think there is more going on than the cameras captured. I’m sorry, Aly, I really have to go.”

“Go, already. So you can come back to me that much sooner.”

Lor faded until I could see him no longer. I drew my knees up to my chin and stared out the window. I watched the jungle trees on the other side sway in a sequence of movements repeating on an endless loop.

Lor reappeared, returning a sense of life to my endless days alone in my mental tower. I ran directly at him and jumped into his arms. I kissed him and his lips felt real. The warmth of his arms felt real.

We passed a haze of days in intermittent domestic bliss, laughing, eating every meal my mind could conjure within my mental cell. On one of Lor’s visits, I imagined a couch and a movie screen and we played old memories on it.

When he left, I felt complete isolation. People, Animals, and nature had surrounded me for most of my life. I missed reaching out and sharing a moment with a flower or an ornery old barn cat.

I felt my soul wither as time passed, though I had no way to measure anything beyond my coma world. I watched the sun rise outside of the imaginary window and broke down into tears.

“I want the real sun! I want out of here!”

LOR

T he not-so-little gaxiss tugged me awake, hungry and ready to hunt. I pushed myself to my feet from the bed of leaves next to Aly, where I had slept. I swept the juvenile gaxiss out of my path with a foot and began my day.

I washed up as fast as I could and checked on Alyssa. She laid still in her protective shell, suspended in the moment between injury and feeling the pain of that injury. I stroked my fingers over the protective shell.

Though I yearned to reach through the barrier and visit her, I knew I would linger with Alyssa far too long. I needed to take the babies hunting first. I could always tidy up later. I turned before I lost my resolve and strode out of the cave’s mouth.

I opened my mind, expanding the perimeter until it touched the minds of all four gaxiss juveniles. They hardly needed me anymore, after so many hunting sessions, but they enjoyed my company.

I enjoy their company in return.

The gaxiss took turns guarding Aly and me when I visited her or slept. We worked as a team. Having been alone for so long, my life felt full.

Now, I live with five other minds I cherish.

I felt the mind of a medium-bodied herbivore on the other side of a ridge. It stepped on a stick, snapping it with a tiny crack. One of the gaxiss detected the tiny sound and spun to look. The other three moved in unison.

They cocked their heads side-to-side, listening from various angles. I showed them an attack plan. They chirped and trilled to each other. I watched their meaning streak from mind to mind. They squawked at each other, reaching a consensus, and disappeared into the trees to find their prey.

I followed their minds as they executed their plan. They charged and the chaos of the ancient hunt ensued as mind pursued mind. Synchronized, the pack-hunting gaxiss out played their prey at every turn. Within a handful of heartbeats, the contest was finished and the babies each tore off their share of the kill.

Breakfast over, the babies hunted again. This time, they brought me their kill for my own breakfast. I thanked them and we returned to Aly, only stopping to refill my canteens. Each time we returned, the baby gaxiss brought new bits of leaves and sticks to pad her nest.

Eagerly, I lay on the rock shelf next to her. I padded my head with a pillow Plabz and Kvorkt sent in their last supply drop and reached through the shield protecting her. I took her hand in mine and slipped inside the mental world I had created for her.

Aly’s room spread out around me. Aly ran into my arms and kissed me. Deep contentment filled me.

“You’re home! Oh, I missed you, Lor. I know you have to go, but I hate it.”

“I am home. I hate it, too.”

I sunk my face into the tumble of hair on her shoulder and held her tight.

“Tell me everything. How are the babies?”

I opened my memory of the breakfast hunt. Aly watched it, gasping and making proud cooing noises over the, now waist-high, gaxiss. Aly froze in place. She turned to face me.

“Lor, what if you carried me in your mind, like you kept track of the babies’ minds during the hunt. How much effort would it take to establish a connection? A small one—one just big enough for me to be able to watch through your eyes, even if I couldn’t talk—”

I smacked my head with a hand.

“Aly, you’re brilliant. Why didn’t I think of that? Let me try something…”

I let go of her hand, breaking the connection and examined the shield surrounding her.

If I connect here…adjust there…

I created a two-way tunnel in my mind. I attached one end to myself and opened the other end. I felt Aly pop into my mind.

This is so cool, Lor!

I chuckled.

Wow, I look dead. Ow, that leg looks fucking awful. I’m so lucky you could save me. That leg is a slow, painful death in our current circumstances. So, this is what it looks like from your height. I must look like something you worry about stepping on…when I’m walking around.

I waved my hands, all my yearnings soothed by the happy thrum of my mate’s soul.

“I am so happy you enjoy it, Alyssa.”

Can we keep this even after I’m better?

I shook my head and went looking for the babies.

“No. As much fun as I’m certain you find this, the structure created by the ritual is a modification of the shield. The connection will be severed as soon as I unravel the shield.”

Too bad. Oh! Those babies are huge now. How did they grow so fast? Has it already been so long…since my leg?

“No. I read in Plabz’s mind that the producers modified most of the wildlife to mature extremely quickly.”

I felt the horror of such interference rattle Aly’s soul. Then I felt a backbone of steel rise from inside of her, born of endurance and hard work, of inner strength and a clarity of vision.

Oh, do I have a few choice words for whomever is responsible for this nonsense!

Righteous indignation burned from Aly. I relaxed and breathed easily for the first time in far too long.

“Oh, how I have missed you, Alyssa. I have not enjoyed living this much in a very long time.”

I still miss touching you, Lor. I can feel you, in this room, but I know it is all in my mind.

Aly’s yearning stabbed deep into my soul, pulling at me.

“Oh, Aly. I miss you, too. I miss you so much, but your body needs to heal far more before we dare try to wake you. The pain would overwhelm you. The shock of that, alone, in the absence of Human medicine…could shut down your system.”

I could feel Aly agree and detest having to agree.

Well, I don’t have to like it.

“No, Aly, you don’t. I wouldn’t wish your situation on anyone.”

ALYSSA

L or let me hang out in his head most of the time he spent awake. While the gaxiss guarded my healing body, Lor took us to see every beautiful vista he had discovered during our time here.

He took me to see the waterfalls next to the cave and a place high on the cliff wall where we could see for miles over the jungle’s canopy. We laughed and joked and pointed out new, fascinating lifeforms.

We wandered home and Lor ate dinner. We even watched the evening broadcast together through Lor’s eyes. Eventually, I returned to my coma-world room so Lor could sleep, though he struggled to remain awake for my benefit.

The next day, he climbed the highest trees just to give me a perfect view, showing me the world through his eyes. Threads of vibrant energy spread everywhere. Even the tiniest minds glowed, throbbing with life. Thoughts sparkled and meaning streaked across the sky on every bird call.

“Lor, this is amazing, but you grow tired. For days you have wandered everywhere just to humor me. I love you for it, but let’s go back. We both need rest.”

“As you wish, love.”

Lor walked back to the cave, snacking on the way.

“I want to try waking up.”

Lor froze in place, almost missing a step.

“I worry it is too soon, Aly.”

“I feel like a ghost haunting you.”

Aly shared a few memories to explain what she meant by ghost. I chuckled, shaking my head.

“Humans… I enjoy your company. This is not the worst arrangement imaginable. Emily has yet to arrive. We have time for you to heal more.”

“Yeah, but I miss your touch. And kissing. Real touch. I miss the real world, Lor. I am alone in that room…”

Lor sighed heavily. Longing swirled through him.

“I dream of holding you, again, Alyssa.”

“How long has it been? Since we touched?”

Lor shuddered, longing fueling his desire.

“It has been difficult to keep track of days, but I know I have counted the passage of at least fourteen days.”

I felt like I’d been punched in the stomach.

“Two weeks! Has it really been so long? It feels like no time at all has passed…and forever, all at the same time. I want to try waking.”

“If it is too soon, the shock could damage your entire system, Aly. It could kill you.”

“I think it’s worth the risk. I want to try.”

Lor hung his head. Worry streaked through his soul.

“Very well, Aly.”

We returned to the cave, worry clinging to Lor.

“It will be ok, Lor. Just a trial, ok?”

Lor knelt beside my body. The gaxiss ran up and rubbed their heads all over Lor. They radiated a happy thrum, cheering us both up.

“We will have to sever the connection first, so I can remove the shield. I will only open a small window between your conscious mind and your body, at first. Until we know how this will all go.”

“Sounds like a plan.”

I watched him calm the baby gaxiss and task them with guarding us while we attempted our experiment. They streaked away to their posts—and the joy of playing out in the jungle.

Lor returned to my body and knelt beside me. Hand trembling, he reached through the protective shield and took my hand. Lor closed his eyes. The power of thought shimmered down their length, glowing in the dark of the cave.

I felt his power grow with each beat of his heart. Through his eyes, I could see a yellow shimmer surrounding my body, a long tube of yellow energy stretching out, to Lor’s essence.

“Back to my dream world. I love you, Lor.”

“I love you, Aly.”

I pulled myself through the pathway Lor had created and back into my coma-world room. Oversized bed and delicate vanity faded into existence around me. Posters and ribbons hung from walls wallpapered in patterns of small, delicate flowers. All-too-familiar trees swayed outside the open window in predictable patterns.

I scurried to my bed and laid on my back, in the same position my body slept in real life. Having no idea what to expect next, I closed my eyes and breathed.

I will bring you up, now, Aly. We can stop any moment.

“Let’s do this.”

Lor opened the door to my coma-world room. Pain rolled in like fog-bound lightning. I became aware. My body’s condition slammed into me like a wrecking ball. I sucked in a deep, jagged breath and realized the fall had cracked some ribs while snapping my leg.

I tried to scream, but the pain squeezed my lungs, refusing to allow me to draw a breath. I panted shallow, terrified of stressing creaking ribs or jarring the mind-numbing horror that was my left leg.

“Oh, fuck…”

The world faded to a distant gray around me. A wave of pain rolled through me. I held my breath, trying to ride it out, but there was no “being brave” or “sucking it up”.

Too much…

Lor stepped in, whispering soft sounds of comfort. My eyelids dropped. A soothing wave washed through me, separating me from each screaming pain nerve. Lor closed the gap in the shield between my mind and body.

I sat up in my coma-world bed. Lor sat beside me.

“I’m so sorry, Aly. We just needed more time…even a day will help.”

I nodded, clenching my fists.

“I know you’re right, Lor. I just don’t want you to be right.”

Lor wrapped his arms around me, drawing me to his chest. My mind knew everything in this room was imaginary, but he felt real and I melted into the comfort of his arms. Big, fat tears of frustration and grief rolled down my cheeks.

“I miss living, Lor. We find each other, we both finally realize what we have together—what we could have together—and I go walk off a fucking cliff because of those awful space monkeys!”

I screamed. I screamed out every ounce of resentment and frustration. When the screams refused to come, I cried. Lor held me the entire time. When my tears dried, I slipped into a deep, dreamless sleep.

LOR

F atigued limbs leaden from exhaustion, I collapsed to the floor. The rituals required to accomplish our experiments sapped all my strength. A baby gaxiss sprinted up to me and dropped a dead bird bigger than my head at my feet.

“Thanks, Hardhead. I see you’re growing a lovely wattle.”

Hardhead cooed and nudged the bird carcass toward me. I groaned, grabbed the offering and stoked a fire. I drank an entire canteen of water and stretched, then got the bird on the fire. I tidied up camp and bathed in the nearby pool.

I returned to the cave, ate the bird, and fell into a deep sleep next to Aly’s shielded body. In my dreams, Elder Nuuna weaved the highlights of my memories of Aly into a new story. I slept late and awoke ravenous.

Three of the nearly adult-sized gaxiss and I hunted. The gaxiss no longer required my guidance, but they enjoyed my company and I learned much about how they developed their hunting strategies.

On that day’s hunt, the gaxiss brought down a herbivore which weighed nearly as much as I. I realized the four gaxiss could have taken me down any time, since growing so large.

They choose to keep Aly and me in the pack.

Humbled, I thanked them for including me. They rubbed their heads all over my arms, back and chest, then head butted my arms before returning to their lunch. I returned to the cave with my portion.

I wrapped it in a wide leaf with a bulb of a plant Aly said tasted like garlic and a sprig of a salty herb. I put the bundle in the fire’s glowing coals and checked on Aly. I considered visiting her and reached out to see how her healing progressed.

She might be able to bear the pain level today, but…the more she rests, the faster she heals.

I decided to let her rest and heal more, though I missed her company, though I knew she tired of solitude. I almost gave in and chose differently, but a new sensation tugged at the furthest reaches of my consciousness.

“Rest well, Aly. I want to investigate this strange tickle. I sense wisps of familiar notes, but the source remains at the edge of my senses. I will return, my love.”

I walked out the cave’s mouth and climbed up the cliff wall to a higher perch. I scanned the horizon, trying to home in on the source of the minds tickling my senses. I closed my eyes and cast my mind out.

The combined life of the jungle throbbed, creating a background of life-sign static. I pushed through the murmuring mass, looking for one, specific flavor. I dropped shield after shield around my mind, stretching further and thinner than I ever had before mating with Aly.

I caught the barest wisp of the flavor I sought…

One Human mind and…that mind can only be the Good Emperor Brannic, the Just.

Exultant jubilation bubbled up inside me. I looked back over my shoulder, where Aly lay in the cave.

“You were right. They are coming, Aly.”

I spun my head back, reaching out to locate the minds again.

Sophia and Brannic. Of course, they’re not dead.

I laughed long and hard. Tears streamed from my eyes. I knew Emperor Brannic was a good man for a long time—since I decided to hide on that world on the edge of the Draksian Empire.

That’s why I hid there, Emperor. I hoped to finally find peace and safety.

I breathed deep, filling my lungs with air the way my soul filled with relief.

You can’t even hear me, at this distance. Keep coming. I feel you approach. Keep coming, Emperor. Just get close enough and I will tell you just how relieved I am to discover you faked your death.

I should tell Aly.

I turned back to the cave before stopping myself.

No. I should let her rest as long as possible so she can recover as much as possible before they arrive. She will want to try to wake for that.

I spun around again and watched Sophia and Brannic’s minds grow closer and clearer. Sophia’s mind reminded me so much of Aly’s I had to chuckle. I already knew I would enjoy her company and looked forward to finally meeting in person.

The sun hung low in the sky when Sofia and Emperor Brannic turned away.

“No! You are so close!”

I glanced at the cave. The gaxiss gathered around, sensing my distress. In one, last act of desperation, I threw a single thought at Emperor Brannic’s retreating mind.

WE ARE HERE.

I compressed into that single thought every ounce of energy I held within me, hoping the thought reached Brannic before degrading into incomprehensible gibberish. I had met Draks before and tailored the thought bomb specifically to him.

“Well, there’s nothing left to do but wait.”

Even so, the Draksian Emperor lives and, with him, so does hope.

A new object buzzed toward us, setting off my perimeter alarms. I focused my mind on it.

Drone…mag lev crate, supplies, food, a communicator! Drone coming in fast…oh, no…

I heard the drone’s buzz. The gaxiss heard it, too. They turned and sprinted for the incoming supplies. I climbed down the cliff wall as quickly as I could scramble after the gaxiss, but they easily beat me to the prize.

In an amazing stroke of misfortune, the drone dipped low just as the gaxiss babies reached it. In a breathtaking display of natural athleticism, the chicken-raptors, as Aly called them, leapt upon the supplies, clinging by sharp-taloned feet.

“Get down! Don’t break—”

Hardhead bit the semi-thawed chunk of meat dangling from the drone and scratched at it with a taloned foot. The other gaxiss leapt upon the strained drone, overwhelming it’s carry capacity.

The gaxiss and the drone went down in a pile of squealing chicken-raptors. The drone died in a shower of sparks and a pathetic, electronic groan. I reached the pile, chest heaving from my run and pushed the gaxiss to the sides, searching for the communicator.

I found the communicator under Hardhead’s feet, little more than a pile of junk, thanks to the gaxiss’ talons. I sighed deeply.

“Thanks, Hardhead.”

Hardhead trilled and happily ran off with the meat.

ALYSSA

L or nudged my shoulder. I groaned and rolled over in my bed, pulling my blankets over my face. I drifted somewhere between sleep and wakefulness and sleep whispered sweet nothings to me.

“Aly. Aly, wake. I have news.”

I flopped my hand around until it smacked into Lor. I grabbed at what turned out to be his arm and pulled him into bed behind me.

“No. Tell me later. Cuddle me, now.”

I felt Lor’s lips on my shoulder. I smiled, moaned, and wiggled my imaginary, coma-world butt at him. The fantasy of waking with Lor in the dreamy comfort of domestic bliss popped.

My mind awoke. I sighed and rolled over in my imaginary bed. I stroked Lor’s face, wishing my real skin touched his.

“Good morning, Lor. I missed you. Give me an imaginary kiss before you give me any news.”

Lor leaned in and I twisted in his arms to meet his lips. He kissed me long and deep before I drew away with a happy sigh.

“Are you ready for the news, yet?”

“I don’t know. Is it bad news?”

“No.”

I twisted around to face him. Trembling in terror of hoping, I could muster only a whisper.

“Is it…good news?”

“Yes.”

I gasped, slapping my hands over my mouth. I sat up, eyes wide.

“Tell me.”

“Are you sure you want to know?”

I slapped his shoulder. Lor laughed more easily than I had seen in far too long.

“Tell me. End this torture.”

“First, as it turns out, Sophia and Emperor Brannic live.”

I slapped both hands over another gasp.

“No!”

Lor nodded. I waited for him to continue, but he simply lay there.

“Is that it? How do you know? What happened? Tell me! Show me the memory. Something—”

Lor chuckled. I slapped his shoulder again.

“I sensed them flying this way. They didn’t get close enough for traditional communication, but I tried my hardest when they turned back.”

“You didn’t see them? Speak to them? At all?”

Lor shook his head. I punched a pillow.

“But, I’m certain they know where we are.”

“How?”

Lor propped himself on an elbow.

“I sort of lobbed a telepathic message at them and I don’t know if it went through, but they did send some supplies. Since they knew where to send the drone, I assume they know where to return.”

I punched the pillow some more.

“So close! What about Emily? Did you feel Emily?”

Lor shook his head.

“No, I’m sorry. Just those two.”

“It’s ok, Lor. They’ll be back. I need to heal as much as possible. I want to be awake when Emily gets here.”

Lor stroked my hair.

“I don’t know how long that will be, yet, Aly.”

“It doesn’t matter, Lor. If Sophia and Brannic are still alive, after all this time, they must have a means of travel the Snaughians can’t detect. If Emperor Brannic is the man you think he is—”

Lor grinned ear to ear.

“He is, Aly. I could read that much.”

“Then he will return soon enough with Emily. What did they send with the supplies?”

Lor fell back on the bed, sucking air through his teeth.

“Well, there was a crate with some food, rolls of very thin paper—”

“Toilet paper. To wipe your bum. You know…”

Lor chuckled.

“What else did they send?”

“There was a communicator. Unfortunately, there was also a huge chunk of meat, too…”

“Oh, no…”

“Oh, yes. Let me show you.”

Lor shared his memory of chasing the gaxiss to the drone, and the aftermath of broken pieces on the ground. I groaned.

“That is just bad luck, honey.”

I patted Lor’s shoulder. Lor shrugged and smiled at me. He opened his arms and waved me in.

“Come get a hug. I have much to prepare and you need all the rest you can get.”

I walked over and curled up into Lor’s arms. I snuggled into the comforting warmth of his presence.

“I know, much to do. But I will miss you.”

I tilted my head back, seeking out his kiss. My lips found his. Lor moaned and leaned in, parting his lips. My tongue found his. We tasted each other. His arms drew me in close and I melted.

Then I remembered all of this was only in my head. I drew back. Lor gazed into my eyes.

“These may not be our physical bodies, but we are, still, us. Our minds embrace with the same love as our bodies, Alyssa.”

I smiled at the thought, inspecting his face.

“I know, Lor, but I want all of you. I’m grateful to have together what these circumstances allow us, but I still want more. If this was all we could have, I would learn to live with it, one day, but I’m nowhere near that resignation, yet.”

Lor stroked a strand of hair from my face.

“When we get you healed, Alyssa, I will never stop appreciating the simple beauty of holding you in my arms, I swear.”

“When I get my body back, Lor, we’re making up for lost time, that’s all I’m saying. How dare a cliff get between us. Not to mention what I’m going to do to those Snaughians.”

Lor laughed and shook his head.

“They really didn’t want to release those space monkeys.”

“Yeah, they still did it and I still don’t appreciate it.”

“Aly, we may not even see them when we get out of here.”

I leaned back and raised an eyebrow at him.

“Listen good, Lor, once Emily and I are back together, those two little piles of snot are our first stop, I don’t care how bad they feel now.”

“They’ve left us alone since. And sent supplies, or I wouldn’t have been able to spend so much time in here with you.”

“I never agreed to let Plabz and Kvorkt escape the consequences of their choices. They didn’t have to take this job, did they?”

“Aly, I honestly don’t know, but I think we should find out. That’s all I’m asking.”

I didn’t understand him, but I agreed anyway.

What harm can it do to hear them out?

LOR

I  remained awake only long enough to cook and eat the flightless bird Pinky dropped at my feet. Since I sensed Emperor Brannic on the horizon, the weight of the impending future settled upon my shoulders.

While I cooked, I cast Zorberuvian rituals of protection, strength, endurance, and fortune over our family. The gaxiss readily accepted the boons and thoroughly enjoyed testing out their heightened abilities.

They stalked, pounced, and wrestled each other, hearts joyful and free. I cast base rituals over the cave entrance, creating a lattice upon which I could sculpt other rituals. I stepped out onto the shelf outside the cave’s mouth and examined the terrain.

Whatever vehicle they arrive in will require somewhere to land.

Jungle stretched out from the shelf and I looked down upon the ground below.

As long as their vehicle has landing gear, they should be able to land down there, at the bottom of the slope.

My eyes followed the slope.

Too steep to land, but only a short run. I can carry her the distance, but that is the perfect spot for an ambush. The Snaughian producers won’t make it easy, at this point…

I whispered the words to focus my mind and opened it. I cast a ritual to the lattice around the cave mouth and extended a framework tunnel down our most likely path of escape to our rescuers’ most likely landing point.

I formed a thought burst, encasing it in a proximity shield. I floated it out to the landing site and set it to detonate within three-hundred feet of Emperor Brannic’s mind. I turned back to the tunnel framework and attached small, shield-generating rituals along its length.

I rested, panting, and inspected my work. The familiar buzz of a broadcast drone zipped through the air. It stopped within an inch of my nose. Plabz and Kvorkt smiled at me in terror. I slapped a hand on the screen and pushed the drone an arm’s length away.

“Interesting timing—”

“Welcome back to Intergalactic Love Death Match, fans. This season has been a complete surprise, hasn’t it Kvorkt?”

“Yes, it has, Plabz. Yes, it has. In thirty-four seasons, this is our first cooperative player revolt. Just watch this recap of the previous thirty-two seasons!”

Kvorkt pushed a button.

“Listen up! The producers are livid. Brannic’s return surprised us all. It’s chaos here at the Intergalactic Love Death Match production office.”

“Haha. Yes, it is, Kvorkt. Yes, it is. When the onsite producer, Vlerk, discovered Brannic lived, well, haha, it wasn’t pretty—”

“No, it was not, Plabz. No, it was not. In retaliation—”

“I figured they were going to set a trap around us and try to spring it when everyone gets here.”

Plabz and Kvorkt looked at each other and laughed.

“That’s right, folks. In a few, short hours, expect them to release everything they’ve been holding back. Don’t you agree, Kvorkt?”

“Oh, I do, Plabz. I do.”

Plabz and Kvorkt turned their massive, toothy grins to face me. Their minds begged me to believe they would do everything they could to help.

“I understand, you still have to make it look good. For the cameras.”

A single laugh exploded from Kvorkt.

“Yes, we do, Lor. Don’t we, Plabz.”

“Yes, we do.”

I sighed and nodded my head. With one last laugh, Plabz and Kvorkt’s broadcast drone zipped away. As I watched them disappear into the trees, a familiar anxiety woke in the back of my mind.

How will it feel, surrounded by other noisy, intelligent minds again? Aly is a joy and the gaxiss, I have grown accustomed to. As horrible as it has been worrying over Alyssa, this cave has been a sanctuary from the overwhelming omnipresence of civilization.

I turned and walked to the cave. With few possessions to pack, all which remained for me to do was swim, eat, and update Alyssa. Once my eyes fell on her face, I forgot everything but seeing her again.

I lay next to her and cast out a series of thin nets set to notify me when Brannic’s mind once again approached. I closed my eyes and took Aly’s hand in mine. Aly’s dream world faded in around me.

She smiled at me from the vanity’s bench seat. I crossed the distance between us and drew her into my arms. She sighed, soft as a falling leaf.

“I missed you, Aly.”

“I missed you, too. Tell me the latest.”

“Well, the others are on the way.”

Aly sat up, excited, hand clutched in front of her.

“Did you sense them? Was Emily with them?”

“No, Plabz and Kvorkt tipped me off. They also confirmed my suspicion that the show’s producers would find our moment of rescue a perfect time to attack. Though they also swear to try to help…while releasing every terrible thing they have left upon us.”

Aly giggled, falling back into her blankets.

“This is going to be so much fun…”

“Fun? I tell you, with the healing leg, that we’re about to run through a battlefield…”

Aly laughed and took my hand.

“We’ve made it this far, honey.”

“How are you not afraid?”

“I am afraid. Take a look. But I can’t let that fear make my decisions. I’d never get anything done and there’s no use worrying over things you can’t control. I know this looks pretty dire, but so do a lot of things. Doesn’t mean we can’t take it.”

I kissed her forehead. She grabbed my face and kissed my mouth. She pulled away and left me panting. I leaned my forehead against hers.

“It will be ok, Lor.”

“What if so many minds, all in one place…”

Aly grabbed my face in her little, human hands and pulled my eyes up to hers.

“It will be ok. I promise. You’re much stronger than when we arrived. Have you even noticed how much your horns have grown?”

I felt my horns, amazed.

“I didn’t notice… They grow throughout a Zorberu’s life. They connect to a network of structures which tie a Zorberu’s abilities together and allow us to work in the way of minds and souls with such effect.”

“See, you can do so much more, now. The other contestants look like good company. And, I want to be awake when they arrive.”

I sucked in a breath. I almost argued with her, but I clearly saw she had made up her mind. I nodded and drew her close.

“As you wish, my love.”

ALYSSA

L or stood in front of the door to my coma-world room. Concern softened the planes of his rugged, dark silver face. Eyes of the palest blue gazed at me from between his softly glowing horns. He waved at the door.

“Are you ready, Alyssa? I could carry you in the stasis shield.”

“Yeah, no. I’m done with coma world. You said I should have healed sufficiently…”

Lor raised his hands in defense of my sudden glare.

“You are much healed…it’s only, well…”

“Spit it out.”

“Spit what out, Aly?”

I grabbed him by the shirt and pulled him down to my eye-level.

“Your sentence.”

“Remember when I mentioned I used Zorberuvian healing rituals?”

“Yes?”

“They stitched together your salvageable Human parts with Zorberuvian parts.”

I cocked my head to the side and considered Lor’s words.

“Will I live?”

“Yes. It all functions. I checked.”

“Do I look like a hideous monstrosity?”

Lor chuckled, shaking his head.

“No, you are beautiful always, Alyssa. You do have silver markings where the rituals healed you, though. Better to see for yourself.”

Lor’s head snapped to the side. His horns glowed. His eyes looked far away and he seemed to fade for a moment.

“Trouble?”

Lor turned to me and smiled.

“No, love. They come. They passed the furthest of my alarms webs.”

I blew out a lungful of air and walked to the door. Lor opened it. I heard my body calling to me. Where before I had only sensed injury and pain, I sensed soreness and ache, but also a vibrancy which had been missing at my first attempt.

“Here goes nothing.”

I stepped through the door. My mind slid into place, expanding to the furthest tips of my body. I felt…paused, like a movie.

Shall we proceed, Aly? Is it bearable?

Yes, Lor.

I felt Lor unravel the rituals maintaining my body’s stasis and managing my body’s healing. A dull ache filled my limbs with lead. I coughed out the vestiges of my last breath and drew air into my lungs.

My cracked ribs twinged, but I could bear it. I opened my eyes. Lor knelt near me, face worn. Physically weak, I raised a trembling hand to his lips for a moment. Silver scars swirled on my arm and shoulder.

“Are those the...”

“The Zorberu scars, yes. You had several bad gashes, but the leg was the main concern. How is it, this time?”

I took a few breaths and pushed myself up to my elbows on my bed of leaves and stone. I looked at my leg. Bands and long swirls of silver crossed my flesh like a shiny tattoo. I moved my big toe. Pain stabbed up my leg.

I stopped trying to move my toes and panted for a moment. I opened one eye and looked at Lor.

“Hurts like hell. But I’ll make it. How close are they?”

Lor turned his head to the cave entrance. He closed his eyes and I could feel his mind reach out.

I could see it all so much more quickly from inside his mind. Will I ever be able to see the way of minds and souls like he does?

“Close. Can you walk?”

“Not a chance. Carry me? Just try to be gentle. I do not look forward to jiggling that leg.”

Lor muttered a few words and his horns glowed. A ritual formed around my legs, cushioning them from excess motion. I nodded and he scooped me into his arms with care.

With slow, sure steps, Lor carried me from the cave. The gaxiss ran up, chirping happily. Pinky dropped an animal at our feet, but Lor told him to bring it along. Lor took a moment to explain to the gaxiss we would soon meet more family and to stay close.

We walked out of the cave and to the lip of the rocky shelf outside of our cave. A sudden wave of thought slammed into me.

Do not lower your shields. Ambush. We will come to you.

“Wow. What was that?”

“A thought bomb. Emperor Brannic must be within three-hundred feet.”

Something blew air past us, whipping my hair into the wind. The trees underneath our ledge cracked and snapped as if something massive sat on them. A moment later the mass which crushed the jungle below popped out of cloak.

“Is that a fucking entire house, Lor? Am I still in the coma world?”

Lor chuckled, shielding his eyes from the wind of the landing house. Massive tracks, like a tank, began to roll up the steep side of the cliff. To my amazement, the house remained level.

“If they would just stop, I had a shield ready to protect us the entire way there…”

“Too many Humans in there with a concept of curb-side service.”

Lor cast his mind out to the house. The housetank slowed to a noisy stop a minute later and lowered itself until the front porch lined up with our cave. Lor ran. Drones zoomed in with a flock of massive birds.

Lor, giant birds!

Lor ran directly for the housetank’s front porch. As he ran, small shields flickered to life, creating a tunnel from the cave entrance to within feet of the housetank. The giant birds swooped at the house tank. People rushed to the balconies with long guns and opened fire.

The gaxiss whistled to each other and leapt the two-foot gap between jungle floor and housetank porch. Lor leapt behind them, sliding to a halt at the housetank’s front door. Hands reached out and pulled us and the gaxiss inside.

Jasek closed the front door behind us. Emily squealed and ran for me. Lor held up a hand, gently stopping her with his mind.

“Emily, I love you, but don’t pounce. Broke my leg. Still hurts—”

“Damnit, Aly. You were supposed to take care of yourself ‘til I found you!”

“You try not running off a cliff when you’re being chased by tentacled space monkeys!”

Emily broke into laughter. A walking plant pushed past her. It brought a face wider than a hula hoop within inches of my face. I heard Emily’s voice from behind the creature.

“This is Fishguts, Aly. I trust Fishguts with my life.”

Fishguts took my face in its tentacles and reached out, in the way of minds and souls. A wise mind stared into my eyes.

You are no longer entirely human. Do you wish to return to your Human beginnings or would you stay part Zorberu?

“I don’t want to go back.”

Fishguts turned to Lor and viny tentacles stroked Lor’s head.

Would you sacrifice for your mate?

“Yes—”

Fishguts grabbed one of Lor’s horns and snapped it in two. Lor bellowed, eyes rolling. He fell to his knees, sucking in jagged breaths. I could feel the pain of the wound radiate through me. I turned to Fishguts to object, but I sank into a writing mass of viny tentacles and slipped into unconsciousness before I could get a word out of my mouth.

LOR

P sychic pain seared through where Fishguts had snapped off my horn. I grabbed my head and staggered. On instinct, I attempted to surround myself with a repellent bubble, to keep everyone away, but the pain from my horn burned through the pathways in my mind.

I stumbled to my knees, unable to draw breath. Fishguts coughed a glob of slime on my head and I turned away, shocked. A soothing cool flowed into me where the slime coated me. I quickly coated my broken horn with the slime and the pain faded.

Ask for milk, Zorberu.

“Fishguts says to ask for milk.”

I gasped at the power and presence of Fishguts mind.

I will heal her.

“May I speak to her? Or, will that interfere?”

Fishguts leaned back and turned its attention to the gaxiss. I sucked in a breath as the slime sealed my wounds.

“So, who you talkin’ to, there, Lor?”

I turned my head to a voice so similar to Aly’s I knew it must belong to Emily. I turned to her and bowed.

“I am honored to finally meet you in person, Emily. Aly speaks of you often.”

“I hope she only tells you the good things.”

I stood straight and chuckled.

“She says she tries to only speak the truth—”

“Well, I’m fucked.”

Everyone laughed.

“Emily, if you will give me a moment, I can connect to Ally’s mind—”

“You psychic, or something, Lor?”

“Yes, Emily. As is Alyssa.”

I closed my eyes and sought out Aly’s mind. She lay dormant, surrounded by the syend’s body. Fishguts showed me a route through the glowing threads of its own structures healing Aly’s body.

I gasped at the complexity and perfection of the syend’s structures and delicate manipulations of time, space, and the energy connecting all life.

“Thank you, Ancient One.”

I am newborn, but my tendrils are entwined with all life here. And really, I just answer to Fishguts.

I threaded myself down the path Fishguts indicated and met with Aly’s mind. I opened the golden connection Aly and I will always share and drew her out, into my mind. I opened my eyes and turned to the crowd facing us.

“Aly can see and hear. She shares my mind. Oh, to answer your question, Emily, I was talking to Fishguts.”

Emily shook her head, hands on her hips.

“That’s some wild shit, Aly. Well, come on in and make yourself comfortable. Are you hungry? I can warm up some stew for you while you get those…”

“They are gaxiss, but Aly calls them chicken-raptors.”

“Chicken-raptors to the back yard. Introduce them to the cubs. Also, say hello to Mabel and see if she needs anything.”

Emily smiled and walked to the kitchen. I chuckled.

Welcome to the family, honey. I think she likes you.

I don’t know, Aly…

Aly’s amusement filled my mind and lightened my heart.

If she didn’t like you, she would have told you to your face, first thing. How is the intelligent-mind overwhelm doing?

“I think you were right. I think I am stronger…even after Fishguts took my horn as an offering.”

Told you. Good people. Now, let’s go eat. I want to see how you experience everything.

I led the gaxiss to the backyard through an open glass door. The cubs noticed our arrival and turned their heads to look. The cubs’ minds measured the gaxiss while the gaxiss’ minds measured the cubs.

I showed them all the feeling for friend, collected promises not to eat anyone travelling with us, and returned to the house. Jasek met me first, shaking my hand.

“My, haven’t you grown since your Master Control chip shorted out?”

Jasek blinked, dropping my hand. His partner, Charlotte stepped up and introduced herself.

“Hello, I’m Charlotte. What has Jasek speechless?”

Jasek turned to her and whispered.

“He says my Master Control chip is non-functional, Charlotte.”

“Oh, yeah? For how long?”

“I disabled all Master Control chips within miles right before they caged us.”

Jasek turned to look at Charlotte. Breathless, he drew her into his arms.

“My Master Control chip has been broken the entire time I’ve known you, Charlotte. Do you know what that means?”

Charlotte smiled and stroked Jasek’s arm.

“It means all the choices you’ve made since it broke were your own choices and not Quislik programming. It means you really do love me because you want to and not because anyone told you to.”

Jasek and Charlotte’s essences thrummed happily. While they gazed into each other, I watched the edges of who they were fuzz and blend as their love existed in the same space simultaneously.

That’s so beautiful, I may ugly cry, Lor.

I slipped away while Jasek and Charlotte slid into their moment and found Mabel, the Jersey cow. Mabel lay on a bed of hay next to a top-of-the-line combat mech parked in the yard next to two dyàks.

“Hello, Mabel. I am Lor. Emily’s sister, Aly, is currently riding in my head while Fishguts heals her body. Is there anything I can get you?”

“Nice to meet you, Lor. You have been such a mystery. Plabz and Kvorkt never show us clips of you.”

I laughed. Mabel twitched her tail.

“That is because I threatened to reveal their secrets if they did not leave us alone.”

Mabel tossed her head high.

“That’s funny, Lor. I like you.”

Tell her she is beautiful.

My head snapped over.

“Fishguts asks me to tell you that you are beautiful.”

Mabel licked her side and flapped an ear.

“Thank you, Fishguts. Lor, I am well cared for, but thank you for asking. You can always bring me a carrot or something later, ok? We’ll talk.”

“I would enjoy that, Mabel.”

Aly directed me into a line of people snaking past the kitchen counter. Before we reached the plate Aly told me to take from the stack, Lena and Zelgor stopped us to introduce themselves.

Lena shook my hand. Genuine joy to have us aboard rolled off her in waves. Zelgor shook my hand next. He smiled and I could see Lena’s love, working inside of Zelgor’s soul. Aly smiled with my face, and we collected our plates.

Emily and Ralkor laughed and joked while scooping huge portions of steaming food onto our plates. Aly directed me to the first available seat and insisted I try everything I couldn’t identify.

Is this new for you? Being able to eat with people like this, without fear of their thoughts?

Very much, Aly. This is new…and precious. Thank you.

Lor! It’s time!

I felt Aly’s mind slip from mine. Fishguts expelled my mind from its matrix and prepared Aly’s body to disconnect from the system. I ran to the throbbing cocoon encasing Aly. Everyone ran close, Charlotte shouting over the commotion loud enough to be heard.

“Damnit, Fishguts! Why do you do this inside, anyway? It’s going to be a huge mess!”

Fishgut’s viny tentacle cocoon split. Slime flooded the living room. Small bots flooded from hidden hatches and began to clean the mess. Aly slid out of the cocoon and into my arms. She coughed and gagged, retching slime onto the rug.

Once she caught her breath, she looked around and spoke her mouth’s first words in weeks.

“I need a shower. Everything else can wait.”

Emperor Brannic walked up and pointed up the stairs.

“Take my old room.”

ALYSSA

“E mily? I will find you as soon as my hair is no longer caked to my head with slime.”

“Aly, you know that’s bullshit. You’re gonna get clean and jump your alien brute as soon as you’re clean enough and we all know it. We’ll leave snacks by your door and don’t show your face out here ‘til breakfast.”

Lor chuckled and carried me up the stairs.

“I swear, I love you more than sex, Em.”

Emily shrugged, and I heard her explain as Lor took the stairs five at a time.

“I just know that, all things considered, I’d want to kill anyone who got between me and Ralkor. In the same situation.”

Laughter and the clinking of glasses followed us up the stairs. On the wide, second-floor landing, we faced three doors flanked by luxurious bench seats and some sculptural houseplants. I scanned the rooms with my mind.

“The one on the left must be Brannic and Sophia’s room. It reeks of them. The door in the middle leads to the shower we both need, so the door on the right must be our room, Lor.”

“Let’s get you rinsed off and see what Fishguts did to you.”

I opened the door and Lor carried me through, kicking the bath door closed behind us. We stripped our clothes and threw them in a sanitation cycle, then stepped into the shower. I pressed random buttons until I found a combination of settings I liked.

For a short eternity, I stood under the water, letting weeks of stasis and Fishguts’ healing slime cascade down my flesh. I felt Lor step up behind me. I could sense him so clearly. My mind could see his essence shimmer.

I nearly cried when I found a bottle of shampoo. Chuckling maniacally, I squirted some into my hand and lathered up my hair. I worked thick slime, bits of sticks, and leaves from the tangled, matted mess.

My fingers touched something hard and smooth. I thought I found a rock, but I could feel my fingertips tingle through the strange masses on both sides of my head, too.

“Lor? What’s on my head?”

Lor kissed the back of my neck, sending shivers down my spine.

“Let me look, my love.”

Lor parted my hair and gasped.

“What? What is it? Tell me already!”

Lor gently stroked the protrusion. A thick streak of bliss shot through my body. I gasped. My eyes rolled and my eyelids fluttered. A breathy whisper escaped my lips.

“What in the world was that? Lor, start talking. Fast.”

“They are…horn buds, Aly.”

“What are horn buds?”

Lor drew in a jagged breath before beginning his story. He replayed old memories of an Elder Zorberu speaking the same words.

“When a young Zorberu first comes into their powers, their horn buds appear. From those buds, their horns will grow as their power grows. A Zorberu’s horns are sacred, Aly. They allow us to focus the way of minds and souls.”

I blinked, examining everything I sensed again.

“Everything is clearer. More like when I hung out in your mind. I get horns! Emily will lose her mind. I’m so excited. Quick, where’s the conditioner? We gotta finish this shower so I can see. What will it look like with dry hair?”

I conditioned my hair and scrubbed my body in under five minutes. I jumped out and ran to the steam-proof mirror. I searched my hair, parting it to look, turning my head into the light. Two small, amethyst twinkles flashed from my reflection.

I slapped a hand over my mouth and turned to look at Lor. Terror stretched his face.

Do you like them, Aly?

I felt around the horn buds on both sides of my head.

“They’re beautiful!”

I squealed, ran, and jumped in Lor’s arms. My arms slid around his neck while his hands slid around my waist. He nuzzled his face into my neck, laying sweet kisses along the soft flesh. Pleasure streaked through my skin, waking more nerves along the way.

I shuddered, leaning my head back. Lor licked up my exposed throat.

“Oh, I missed you, Lor.”

Lor opened himself and showed me the entirety of his longing. The raw intensity snatched my breath from my lungs. Lor never stopped kissing the nerves along my neck. I already ached for him, dripping wet.

I opened the memory of all my longing to him. He leaned in to satisfy each longing pain. Our essences swirled around each other, the boundaries between our bodies and minds receded with the world around us.

I have yearned to hold you for so long, Aly. I never want to let you go.

“I vow to love this idea until I need to go to the bathroom by myself.”

Lor chuckled and dropped me onto the bed. I bounced, squealing. Lor jumped on the bed next to me. I rolled into his arms, my lips seeking his. Lor’s lips met mine and parted. Our tongues danced, tasting each other.

Lor’s kiss left me panting, hotter than I had ever been. My arousal fed his. His arousal fed mine. Our minds met and danced with our bodies, searching, sharing, sensing pleasure streaking through each other.

Lor read each of my desires and indulged me, thoroughly enjoying driving me wild. My pussy throbbed, dripping, ready for him. Lor kissed all the way down my body, leaving a trail of pleasure from my mouth to my pubic line.

I trembled and shuddered, anticipating his next touch. Lor parted my knees with a big, firm hand and leaned in. I could feel his warm breath on my labia. I could feel his essence so close to the white-hot cradle of my aroused desire.

He breathed a deep lungful of my heady musk. He growled in appreciation, and I watched his essence fizz, intoxicated. Lor’s own arousal inflamed, burning through him. He buried his face in my folds and licked until I trembled on the precipice of mindless bliss.

“Oh, Lor…”

I want you, now. I want you in me, please, Lor…

With a deep growl, Lor rolled my body to the side. His body flowed into place behind me. The shaft of his thick, hard cock pressed between my ass cheeks. He threaded his fingers into my hair at the back of my neck and stretched me back.

I panted hard, ready for him. I wiggled my ass cheeks along his shaft, trying to tease him into filling me. Lor growled into my ear, snaking his free arm around my waist and pulling my body close to his.

Please, Lor…make us complete—

Lor kissed my exposed neck and rocked his hips. I felt the thick head of his cock smear precum along my ass cheek and between my thighs. With a deft rock of his hips, his cockhead found my entrance.

“I love you, Aly.”

I moaned. Lor thrust into me, sliding all the way to the bottom of my depths. I felt him stretch my walls around his thick shaft. His hips nestled against my ass. He held me against him, pressing me against his hard muscles.

Beyond thinking, I rocked my hips on his shaft, loving the feel of his cock filling me over and over again. Lor moaned with each wave of my pleasure. Even with my eyes closed, I could see we made a complete circuit.

Bound by bodies, minds, souls, and the golden threads of fate, Lor and I came together, over and over, waves of pleasure rolling from us like stormfronts. I forgot what time was. I forgot the rest of the world. I forgot everything but Lor and I locked in the throes of loving passion.

On the precipice of another orgasm, I cried out with my entire being.

“Lor! Please!”

With a grunting growl, I felt Lor’s cock swell and throb. He threw back his head and roared. He thrust into the deepest depths of me and came. The greatest orgasm I ever had crashed through me in waves of exquisite torture.

We floated together for a timeless moment, aware of the universe and each other, but nothing else. We collapsed together and fell asleep in each other’s arms.

LOR

A ly and I woke and prepared for our day. Aly raised an eyebrow at her clean outfit. She walked to the door, naked, and stuck her head out.

“Can I borrow an outfit? I’ve worn the same thing forever and this crap is ruined.”

We both listened for a response, but none came. I scanned the house for life forms but found none inside the house’s shield. I reached further, focusing on Emily’s familiarity. I felt her not too far away, thinking about breakfast.

Emily! Can Alyssa borrow an outfit?

I sensed Emily jump. She looked around. Thoughts cascaded through her essence. She spoke to a different mind. The mind responded.

Uh, Sophia says y’all can have anything in the closets which fit and the dick pic T-shirt wasn’t her idea.

Thank you. We will be down soon.

I’ll let everyone know it’s safe to return to the house.

“What did Emily say?”

“You can borrow anything in the closets.”

“Did she say why everyone left the house?”

I froze, then laughed, shaking my head,

“What’s so funny, there, Lor?”

“I forgot to put up a shield last night. It’s common courtesy for Zorberu to shield their love making.”

“Why?—Oh.”

Alyssa slapped her hand over her mouth. Her eyes grew wide and her cheeks shone. I tried to explain.

“The, uh…psychic…vibrations of Zorberuvian love making tend to, uh, inflame the libidos of all life-forms within range.”

“How am I supposed to look these people in the face? Everyone felt it?”

I shrugged and slipped my arms around her.

“It only made them want to make love, too. What harm have you really done? Before the Zorberu were hunted, many came to our people to bless their unions with children. Some saw us as fertility gods, or oracles. We travelled far, when we first left our home planet, counselling people who struggled. Let’s get dressed and eat. I’m starving.”

We streaked to Sophia and Brannic’s room and raided their closet, finding some fascinating tops which levitated Aly’s perfect breasts in a way which delighted her. I refused to complain. She put on a lavender top and paired it with some black leggings.

Not able to find Brannic’s clothes, we returned to the closet in the other room where we found Lor-sized outfits. Aly left me to get dressed while she ducked into the restroom. I put on a very decorative, but top-of-the-line combat suit I found in the closet. The suit adjusted to my specific dimensions and I joined Aly.

She inspected herself in the mirror. Her hair fell to the sides of the small, amethyst-hued, crystalline horns slowly growing in. I loved the look. I had loved all her looks, but I knew how much she would enjoy the horns made from the seed of my own, broken horn.

You look like you walked out of an anime, ready to battle. That’s sexy, honey.

Aly kissed me and we went downstairs where people began to shuffle in. Jasek made coffee in an apron. I read the message written across the chest.

“I passed my test.”

Charlotte turned, saw the apron, and almost choked.

“Jasek, don’t you dare explain that apron to anyone!”

Jasek turned to Charlotte, holding a skillet filled with sizzling bacon.

“Like how much I like eating—”

“Jasek!”

“Bacon.”

Charlotte slapped her hand over her mouth and guffawed. She nodded her head, then spoke in a strained voice.

“You can tell them how much you like bacon. I thought you were going to say something else.”

Jasek smiled and Charlotte slapped his arm.

“You tricked me, didn’t you?”

“Mabel said it would be a funny joke, Charlotte. We practiced this morning, before you woke up. She accurately predicted how you would respond.”

Charlotte hugged Jasek and gave him a kiss. I scanned the room with my eyes, my strengthened internal shield keeping stray thoughts at bay. Everywhere I looked, I saw couples in love and budding friendships.

For the first time I could remember, I enjoyed the company around me. These people, the other contestants and the families which had grown around them, radiated an energy together I could only describe as home.

We’re a family, Lor. We may have been thrown together by circumstance, but no one outside of this room will understand what we’ve been through here. Welcome home, honey.

Before I could respond with more than a wave of deep, sincere affection for Aly, Emperor Brannic waved his hands, capturing every eye in the house.

“If I may have your attention? Where is Sophia?”

Emperor Brannic spun, looking for Sophia everywhere. I noticed her mind in the backyard, playing with the gaxiss. I sent her the whisper of a thought to join us. A moment later, she entered the house.

“Ah! There is my Empress.”

“Yeah, out here, entertaining our distinguished guests while you’ve been hiding somewhere.”

Sophia walked up and kissed Brannic on the lips.

“Please forgive me for abandoning you to our esteemed guests, my Empress, but I was very busy and now have a surprise for you.”

“What do you mean by ‘surprise’, Emperor?”

A human bearing a striking resemblance to Sophia walked in from the first-floor hallway with a tall Draksian. Sophia screamed.

“Jakey!”

“Hi, Sophia. I’m here to help.”

Sofia squealed and ran to him, hugging him around the neck. Eyes teared up around the room, but we gave them time to hug and cry and catch up. Aly slipped her hand in mine and I could feel her joy thrumming inside of her.

“How did you get here, Jakey?”

“Captain Plorik and I flew here in a cloaked shuttle. It was a lot of fun, Sophia.”

The Draksian who arrived with Sophia’s brother, Jake, knelt before Emperor Brannic. Brannic waved a hand.

“On your feet, Captain Plorik. No one has time for formalities today.”

“Yes, Emperor.”

Captain Plorik rose to his feet and Brannic clapped him on the back with a laugh.

“Report, Captain.”

“We have brought the breather masks and are ready to pilot the housetank on your orders.”

“Thank you, Captain. Jakey will join you when we depart, as I am certain the Empress will want his company until such time.”

“Yes, Emperor.”

Captain Plorik saluted Emperor Brannic and walked down the hall. Brannic waved at the rest of us.

“Suit up. There are plenty of large combat suits in the closet in the right-hand bedroom. Go suit up while I meet Alyssa and Lor. Hello, Alyssa and Lor. I am Brannic, Emperor of the Draksian Empire.”

Brannic offered his hand. Alyssa shook it, then Brannic and I shook hands.

“Well met, Emperor.”

“Well met, Lor, the Zorberu. There is room for you with the Empire. If you desire it.”

Say yes, Lor.

“Aly insists I say ‘yes’, Emperor.”

We laughed. Sophia interrupted us with a mask for Aly.

“Hi, Aly. Wonderful to meet you, but we don’t have much time to chat, just yet. After we kill Plabz and Kvorkt, ok?”

Aly giggled and hugged Sophia.

“I have the feeling we have a long time to catch up, Sophia.”

They parted with smiles and Sophia moved on to the next Human who needed a breather mask. Brannic walked through the living room, bellowing as he approached the front door.

“Everyone to the front porch. When Captain Plorik and Jakey drop the shield, you jump. Does everyone understand? Plorik and Jakey will meet us with the housetank later.”

A chorus of yeses stuttered around the room. Everyone gathered by the door. I took Aly’s hand and smiled.

Tell them I hunger for Snaughian.

I turned my head back to the living room and relayed the message.

A cheer exploded around the room. The Humans threw their fists into the air and screamed war cries. Emperor Brannic opened the front door. Beyond it, the tip of Central Mountain’s spire rotated below us, growing closer as we descended into the caldera.

Aly pointed and shouted over the comms.

“I see the Altar!”

ALYSSA

P eople filed out of the front door, bracing themselves against the porch rails like riders on the politest public bus I had ever seen. When Emily got close, I pulled her into a tight hug. I luxuriated in the warm comfort of her soul’s vibration.

“I love you, Em. I knew you’d come for me.”

Emily hugged me, as fierce as her love.

“Oh, Aly, I am so happy to have you back. All I needed was to know you were well. Think how happy I was when you came back with horns.”

Emily and I melted into a pile of laughter. I leaned back and smiled at her.

“And Grampa always said you were the one was gonna grow ‘em, with as much trouble as we gave that man.”

“Speaking of, look what my new favorite fans sent me.”

Emily stepped back and showed me the handmade, leather rifle sheath strapped to her back. I gasped.

“Grampa’s rifle!”

“Took out two giant evil death-pigs when the Emperor arrived. Oh! Did I mention I’m a Queen?”

Ralkor stepped up, interrupting us. Emily smiled up at him and kissed him. He melted at her touch. Their love radiated from them, undeniable.

“Excuse the interruption, but it’s time to win this game and hunt Snaughians.”

Ralkor held Emily’s rope out to her. Emily nodded to me.

“Give it to Aly. I got the rifle.”

Emily turned and strutted out to the porch in her favorite boots. Ralkor handed me the rope and I adjusted it until it felt right, then joined the posse. We all strapped our breather masks into place and adjusted them until they felt almost natural.

Brannic’s voice crackled over the internal comms.

“Keep your masks on. Once they drop the shield, we’ll lose all oxygen on this porch. There is not enough oxygen to breathe at this altitude, so your life support is vital. Protect your mask first, always. Captain Plorik and Jakey will find us later.”

I squeezed Lor’s hand, worried he could see the jitters in my essence.

“Few of you asked to join this battle, but I hope you will help me win this war. When we land, wait to touch the Altar. We must all touch the Altar at the same time while touching each other. The Altar will then teleport us to the Snaughians’ broadcast facility. That’s when the fun begins.”

Emily tipped her hat, drawing all eyes. Her voice crackled over the comms.

“Yeehaw! Let’s teach these goblins a lesson.”

Hoots and hollers erupted over the comms. I groaned. A question popped into my mind.

“Raise your hand if you joined the Intergalactic Cowboy Coalition…never mind, I see it all over your minds—”

The shields dropped. Wind whipped hair into my face, stinging my eyes. Without another word, Emperor Brannic scooped Sophia into his arms and leapt from the porch into the dormant volcano below. I heard her scream all the way down.

Before any of the other Humans could react, our mates scooped us up and jumped off the porch, too. Lor assured me we would be fine in these fancy combat suits. I screamed the entire way anyway.

Lor landed on his feet, light as a feather, barely bouncing me.

When we get out of here, I want one of these!

Aly, they cost more than some moons.

My sister’s a Queen.

Lor laughed. The couples sauntered into a small crowd. To my shock, Lor raised his voice to address everyone.

“Emperor, you say we must touch the Altar simultaneously.”

Brannic nodded.

“If you will open yourselves to me, I can move all of our hands simultaneously.”

Lor opened himself, letting the full power of his mind unfold. I gasped. I had never seen him this way. My horn buds tingled, reacting to his naked essence. I saw my companions open themselves, one by one.

Lor took the thinnest strand of his mind, dividing it into nine parts. He tuned his mind to each of us in turn.

May I enter?

Yes…

Nine times, he asks the same. Nine times, we answered. In each of us, he embedded a connection, stringing our right hands together. I gasped at the intricacy of the ritual, wondering how the Zorberu ever developed such.

Lor set the last thread into place, connecting the circuit.

“Reach out and touch the shoulder of the person next to you until the circle is complete.”

Ten left arms gripped the shoulder next to them. Ten contestants breathed as one, moved as one, and touched the Altar at exactly the same time.

Nothing happened. We looked at each other, shrugging.

I lost my shit.

With my entire soul, I shouted into the air, certain a drone lurked nearby.

“Oh, hell, no! We followed every one of your shitastic rules, you little…little…snot goblins! Not a single one of your rules says we can’t all win this way!”

My horn buds burned with my raw fury.

A broadcast drone popped out of cloak. Plabz and Kvorkt’s faces smiled at us from the display screen.

“Welcome back to Intergalactic Love Death Match, where five lucky couples are trying to all win at the same time! Aren’t they Kvorkt?”

“Yes, they are, Plabz. Yes, they are. Too bad the producers claim this is an illegal way to win!”

“Oh, Kvorkt, I think the fans disagree! Look at all those angry faces on the producers’ approval rating!”

“Haha, Plabz! Wow, just watch these clips of rioting from across the galaxy.”

A series of shots of beings of every shape throwing furniture played for a minute. Lor began to sweat, still holding everyone’s arms in synchrony. The galactic rioting clips ended with a being who looked like a fifteen-foot-tall, four-armed, hot pink ape throwing vehicles through windows on a world with a red sky.

“Kvorkt, watch these clips I just threw together from recent fan submissions.”

Another sequence of clips played. Beings of every species imaginable tossed Snaughians off buildings on hundreds of worlds. In the final clip of this sequence, even Snaughians threw other Snaughians off buildings and out of windows.

Plabz and Kvorkt played a sequence of cheers from across the galaxy. They played clips of ILDM fans, many dressed as cowboys, swarming arena stands and trying to break into exec’s doors, then switched to video message after video message of fans screaming into webcams.

“They won fair and square! Even the producers need to follow the rules! Woot! Intergalactic Cowboys for life!”

“Wow, what a message, Kvorkt. I think the galaxy is serious. What do you think?”

“Haha, Plabz. I think we’re all dead if the producers don’t let every contestant win season 34!”

“Haha, Kvorkt! What a turn of events. Who could have ever predicted this?”

“Plabz, wait. I’m getting a message. Yes, yes. Plabz, the producers have come to a decision.”

“Tell us, Kvorkt, are we about to all die in a galactic revolt, or will all these couples be allowed to win?”

“The contestants win.”

Plabz slammed a big, red button. We disappeared in a flash of light.

LOR

I  released my psychic hold on everyone’s hands the moment before we vanished in a flash of teleporter light. A moment later, we reappeared inside a sparse, industrial room. I scanned the area around us.

Snaughian minds glowed throughout the building. Though I tried to find a familiar mind, they all identified so strongly as Snaughian, I couldn’t distinguish Plabz and Kvorkt’s minds from the others.

“I sense Snaughians everywhere. If I sense Plabz and Kvorkt, specifically, I’ll let you know.”

Emperor Brannic nodded and Emily hefted her grandpa’s rifle. Aly adjusted the length and coil of her rope. She twirled the lasso end a few times, warming up her wrist.

Sophia brandished a blaster, grinning like Death incarnate. Bloodlust dripped from her. Zelgor carried a massive knife and handed Lena a blaster with LOVE printed down the barrel.

“I made this for you, Lena.”

Lena took the blaster, chuckled, and kissed him.

The mean streak I had detected in Aly, earlier, rose through the haze of sweet kindness which was Aly—on most days. She turned a sharp-toothed grin at me. Strength rose inside her, straightening her back and squaring her shoulders like a backbone of steel.

I gazed around the room. Every Human in sight shone with the same determination. The Humans broadcast so strongly, I watched that strength spread through the entire room. When the wave hit Emperor Brannic, it amplified the determination he already radiated.

Emily turned to the room’s closed door.

“I claim this planet. C’mon, Ralkor, time to kick some ass.”

Emily slammed the door access panel. The door slid aside. A squad of green, lumpy, toothy, five-foot tall Snaughians guards pointed energy rifles on us. Brannic raised a hand and spoke with the full force of his Imperial voice.

“Join us.”

I saw the Snaughians choose to fire, instead, and cast a ritual shield between them and us. Their weapons vomited balls of sizzling energy. The crackling balls of barely restrained lightning slammed against my shield, exploding into innocuous flashes of light.

“Or die, I suppose.”

Ralkor threw a wickedly sharp single ax directly into the head of one of the guards. The force of the ax’s impact threw the guard back. His body flew through the air, over his companions’ heads, and landed in a heap out of sight.

“I just got that ax!”

Ralkor leapt into the pile. Zelgor leapt past. He tried to bounce off a wall, but the wall collapsed under his boots. Lena slid into the squad, low, slicing at legs with knives made from the long spines of some vicious predator.

Snaughians screamed. Some tried to run, but Jasek dashed after them. He thrust a fist at their fleeing backs. Bone spurs shot from his arm, flicking through the air. They thudded into the guards’ back armor, knocking the guards on their lumpy faces.

Two Snaughians flew out of the hole Zelgor had put in the wall. Zelgor crashed through the wall behind them, roaring. Two guards raced at us from a hallway on our left. Aly twirled her lasso and tossed it down the hallway. With practiced grace and precision, the loop floated over the guards’ heads. Aly jerked it back, setting her weight into the rope.

The lasso tightened, pinning the guards’ arms to their sides and their bodies together. They struggled, then fell. Brannic leapt in and knocked them both out. With a blood-curdling scream, Sophia charged down the hallway and took out another two guards who thought they might kill us.

We progressed through the building this way, everyone taking out anyone who even looked like they wanted to shoot us. Zelgor’s mind warned him of imminent danger. While he warned everyone to take cover, I cast another protection ritual.

As I set the ritual’s last thread, something on the other side of the building exploded. The building shook and creaked. Alarms blared to life. An aftershock flashed through us, shattering windows.

Dust and shards of glass filled the air with microscopic shrapnel, shimmering like crystalline rain. The building’s emergency measures engaged, sucking the contaminated air from the hallway. The life-support systems replaced the atmosphere a minute later with a rush of air.

I released the shield, and we turned the next corner. A guard lunged for Aly. On instinct, I burst a vessel in his brain. He sucked in a breath as his brain bled out and he died of the aneurism.

I didn’t know you could do that.

Neither did I, Aly.

Several guards clustered around a door at the end of the hallway. Beyond them, I sensed the wisp of something familiar. I nodded at the door.

“Plabz and Kvorkt are past that door.”

Emperor Brannic nodded. He engaged his combat suit’s emergency personal shield and stepped into the hallway, arms wide and hands raised.

“Listen, I don’t have anything personal against any of you and I want the day to end well for you. There’s really only one way for that to happen, at this point. Lower your weapons and join the Draksian Empire—”

The Snaughians fired. One of them lobbed a grenade. I shielded the other contestants clustered next to me. The Snaughians shots dissipated against Brannic’s suit. He sighed heavily.

“Have it your way and don’t say I never gave you a chance.”

Brannic dashed, faster than I could track with my eyes. He stepped through the Snaughian security guards with the supple grace of an Emperor. His knives flashed at throats and ankles and knees, slashing tendons and arteries.

In a series of acrobatic moves, he took out every guard. He paused to pant, then waved us all over. Brannic pointed at the door.

“What will we find on the other side?”

I opened my mind, searching past the door and the wall. The minds behind the door felt…

Splintered? Some kind of interference? No! I understand…

“Plabz and Kvorkt…and their last secrets.”

ALYSSA

E mperor Brannic opened the door and we all ran through, spreading out in a small broadcast studio suite. Cameras and a green screen with Plabz and Kvorkt’s familiar chairs took up the left side of the room. Banks of screens and keyboards surrounded by wires and blinking lights ran across the right side of the room.

Plabz and Kvorkt sat on stools, hands poised over a bank of buttons glowing in a spectrum of colors.

“Haha! Our guests of honor have arrived, Kvorkt.”

“Yes, they have, Plabz. Yes, they have.”

Everyone but Lor and I stepped toward the Snaughian hosts. Plabz held up a hand, pausing the onslaught of angry contestants. I saw Lor’s mind search the area. He raised an arm. All eyes in the room swiveled to him.

“Don’t kill them, yet. Hear them out.”

Sophia screamed in frustration, but held her blood lust. Plabz and Kvorkt never stopped smiling. Emily raised her rifle and aimed directly at Plabz’s head.

“Start talking, goblin.”

“Haha, yes. We have several things to explain, so try not to kill us until we get through the list.”

“That’s right, Plabz. First, and foremost, we’ve been helping you the entire season, haven’t we, Plabz?”

“Yes, we have, Kvorkt. Yes, we have. We, personally, made certain to only send you edible foods!”

“And we translated all the instructions so you and your teammate could both read everything, didn’t we, Plabz?”

“Yes, we did. We also made all those helpful brochures.”

“And wrapped your gifts.”

“Don’t forget about installing all the tutorials and updating all the software Plabz!”

Sophia laughed and lowered her blaster.

“Is that why the mech came with such an easy tutorial?”

Plabz and Kvorkt nodded at Sophia. Emily lowered Grampa’s rifle.

“Well, now I feel bad about wanting to kill them. Unless they’re lying.”

She aimed the rifle at Plabz’s head, again. Lor shook his head.

“They speak the truth. Tell them the rest, Snaughians.”

Emily lowered the rifle, and everyone returned their attention to Plabz and Kvorkt.

“It all started when Charlotte survived last season of Intergalactic Love Death Match, didn’t it, Kvorkt?”

“It did, Plabz. It did! That was the first year we survived, post season.”

Plabz nodded and leaned forward, still smiling.

“You see, every season, ILDM’s producers make a deal with the survivors. If they agree not to sue ILDM in galactic court, the survivors get to kill us.”

“They do, Plabz. Every season, they clone a new Plabz and Kvorkt.”

I gasped, interrupting.

“You’re clones? Like Jasek?”

Plabz and Kvorkt nodded.

“The producers made a deal with the Quislik for the first clones.”

“That’s right, Kvorkt. Then they reverse engineered the first Plabz and Kvorkt to be slaughtered by ILDM survivors.”

“Then, they captured Jasek’s generation of Quislik-designed combat clone and tried to reverse engineer the Quislik control hardware and install it in us!”

Kvorkt growled. Plabz patted him on the shoulder.

Lor spoke next.

“Then I disabled your chips when I shorted out my own, didn’t I?”

Plabz and Kvorkt nodded, eyes growing huge.

“Next to Charlotte, who saved our lives last season, you are our favorite being in the entire world, Lor. Isn’t he, Kvorkt?”

“Yes, he is, Plabz. Yes, he is. He set our minds free.”

I almost melted at the way their beady eyes flicked back and forth between Lor and Charlotte, worshiping them.

“You saved our lives, Charlotte—”

Lor sighed and prompted them to continue.

“Tell them the rest already! We’re not on camera. Stop dragging it out.”

Plabz and Kvorkt jumped to attention and began speaking faster than I had ever heard them speak.

“So, haha, in a corporate, cost-cutting measure, the producers had all the technical knowledge required to produce the broadcast downloaded to our memory banks so they could fire the staff, didn’t they Kvorkt?”

“They did, Plabz, they did. But, five couples is a lot of footage to handle!”

“Yes, it is! So they made a set of Plabz and Kvorkt clones for each couple, didn’t they, Kvorkts?”

Four more Kvorkts popped their heads over the top of stacked equipment crates in one corner of the room. They spoke in unison.

“Yes, they did, Plabz Five. Yes, they did.”

The Plabz in the chair pointed at himself. A Kvorkt dressed as a cowboy stood and walked up to Emily and Ralkor. A Plabz dressed as a cowboy popped up from behind some equipment shelves and joined Cowboy Kvorkt.

“We’re your Plabz and Kvorkt, Emily. We founded the Intergalactic Cowboy Coalition.”

Plabzes and Kvorkts paired off with their couples, staring at them with the saddest eyes. Brannic laughed.

“I joined that! I’m a card-carrying member of the Intergalactic Cowboy Coalition.”

Ralkor grinned ear to ear, then shook his head. Emily smiled. Cowboy Plabz looked up at her.

“I sent you your favorite boots and belt. Cowboy Kvorkt sent your hat and had your rifle retrieved from Texas.”

Tears welled up in Emily’s eyes. She wrapped her arms around Cowboy Plabz and Cowboy Kvorkt.

“You, two, are my favorite fans.”

“Yes, we are, Emily. Yes, we are. Aren’t we Cowboy Kvorkt?”

“That’s right, Cowboy Plabz.”

Plabz Five and Kvorkt Five looked up at Lor.

“We really didn’t want to release all those terrifying monsters on any of you, but the producers threatened to replace us with new clones. Didn’t they, Kvorkt Five?”

“They did, Plabz Five. After surviving and being freed from the Master Control chips, we didn’t want to die again.”

All the Plabzes and Kvorkts spoke simultaneously.

“Thirty-three deaths is enough for any Snaughian.”

I melted and hugged my Plabz and Kvorkt. Everyone hugged their Plabzes and Kvorkts. Then we passed our Plabzes and Kvorkts around so everyone got to hug everyone. A commotion in the hallway interrupted our hug fest.

Brannic looked at the Plabzes and Kvorkts.

“Would you join my rebellion?”

“Yes, Emperor!”

“Would you join my Empire?”

“Yes, Emperor!”

Lor chuckled. Everyone looked at him.

“I think I found the on-site producer and he’s trying to flee.”

The Plabzes and Kvorkts pulled shanks and shivs made from sharpened computer components from hiding places all over the studio. They turned to face us. Cowboy Plabz spoke for the group.

“We’re ready, Emperor. Yeehaw!”

LOR

Z elgor’s danger sense alerted with such power, I cast outward in every direction to find the source.

“Emperor, incoming security coming from behind us. In the other direction lies some security personnel and the producer who is fleeing to…an escape shuttle in the facility’s vehicle bay.”

“Thank you, Lor. Let’s make certain that producer doesn’t get away.”

“His name is Vlerk and he’s the Great Snaugh’s favorite nephew. Isn’t he, Kvorkt?”

“Yes, he is, Plabz. Yes, he is.”

We charged through the studio’s other door, ran through the Plabzes’ and Kvorkts’ dormitory facility.

Sophia gasped as we sprinted between bunk beds.

“They didn’t even give you your own rooms?”

“No, they did not, Sophia. No, they did not.”

Four security guards made the mistake of entering the dorm through the door we approached. Zelgor leapt the distance, curling his body at the last instant, and slammed his heavy-worlder bulk into two guards, crushing them.

Emily stepped up and took out the other two with Grampa’s rifle. Aly slid low, around a corner and tossed her lasso. She rolled, trapping the lasso behind her, gripped it in her hands, and braced her boots against the door frame.

Ralkor leapt over her, spinning, axe swinging. I sensed the Vlerk exit the building and ran to catch up. I pulsed a message to our small army containing a mental map to the producer’s location.

Target locked, our little army ran for the nearest external door. Brannic reached it first and kicked it open. The double doors flew wide and we ran out into the bright midday sun. Eyes blinded, I reached out for the producer’s mind.

Stop.

The producer stumbled over his own feet, landing face-first in the metallic grasses of the large lot between the building’s studio and the vehicle bay. Our army charged, bellowing war cries. Several new minds, whose flavors I remembered tasting before, swooped in.

I spun on my heel. Four of those giant birds I thought we had escaped in the jungle dove, scooping Snaughians up left and right. I prepared rituals to lull their minds to sleep, but they suddenly fell to the ground with great squawks.

Something flattened them. The housetank popped out of cloak. Empress Sophia squealed happily and ran for her mech. Captain Zelgor flashed me a warning.

Danger from the West.

I cast my mind out and detected three minds melded with machines. I relayed the information to our side of the battle. Emily’s dyàks leapt from the housetank in graceful, twin arcs. Emily and Aly ran for them.

I saw Aly’s mind reach out to the dyàks, sharing her plan and asking for their help. The dyàks ran near Emily and Aly. Emily and Aly grabbed the horns of the animals’ saddles and swung into the seats.

They rode directly for the mechs, Emily reloading her grampa’s rifle and Aly twirling that rope over her head. I cast rituals to protect them both. I returned to the battle and tried to focus on keeping every member of our army alive.

The mob of Plabzes and Kvorkts swarmed wave after wave of security guards, laughing maniacally the entire time.

“Ouch. Looks like you stabbed that security guard in the femoral artery, Plabz.”

“That I did, Kvorkt. That I did.”

“Death from massive blood loss is such a messy way to go. Be sure to pick up TowelieFresh, the most absorbent towels on the market.”

“Say, Plabz, we’re free, we don’t have to do the product endorsement deal any longer.”

“Force of habit, Kvorkt.”

Having lost track of the producer in the chaos, I searched for his mind among the writhing mass of security-guard fear. The distinctly panicked command to release all the beasts alerted me to Vlerk’s location.

I passed that bit of info to our side, so someone could hunt the Great Snaugh’s nephew down and returned to monitoring the battlefield. A series of gates opened at the far side of the lot near a blank, industrial wall.

Sophia, screaming her blood-lust-fueled war cries, swung her mech toward the oncoming stampede of galactic horrors. She opened fire with every weapon she could simultaneously use. Launchers belched plasma grenades and energy rifles spewed ball after ball of compressed lightning.

Brannic stopped nearby, panting.

“Do you need anything?”

“You know, Emperor, I’m Zorberu. I normally feel everything, but, since I mated with Aly, my internal shields are much stronger now. Normally this much war would have overwhelmed me. Oh, and duck, Emperor.”

Brannic fell to the floor, then twisted around, faster than my eyes could track. He interlaced his feet between his would-be attacker’s legs, sending the security guard sprawling. In a flash of movement, he buried his knife into the attacker’s throat.

“I tried to offer you all peace, but the Empress will never have it. Not after you released more manybends on her. She really hates those things.”

Brannic and I glanced where Sophia shot at a writhing mass of sharp, angular legs. Spindly legs flew as Sophia shot the bodies to a pulp. Jasek rode by on the back of what the Humans called an evil death-pig, swinging his bone spurs at every attacking creature in sight.

Emily and Aly reached the oncoming mechs, dyàks deftly dodging any oncoming fire. Emily and Aly broke to the left. The mech turned to follow, lifting a leg. Aly spun in her saddle, dyàk at a dead run, and tossed her lasso.

As it slid under the mech’s leg, Aly quickly wrapped the rope around the horn of her dyàk’s saddle and swung its head around to face the mech. She jerked the rope, tightening it on the leg before the mech’s driver even noticed.

The mech tried to step again. The seven-hundred-pound dyàk leaned back, until the machine tipped, crashing on its side. Emily’s two, huge fengkshá cubs bounded in.

They roared and bounded atop the mechs, biting and scratching at the clear, bubble hatches encasing the drivers. Seven-inch-long claws shredded doors, seals, locks, windows, and everything else the cubs clawed at.

They ripped the doors from the mechs and pulled out the drivers by the first available limb. Massive mouths crushed Snaughian skulls before the cubs tossed the bodies to the side and looked for more.

I heard—and felt to the depths of my soul—Fishguts roar. It leapt from the housetank and slithered on long, spiked, viny tentacles. Fishguts tossed dozens of Snaughians across the lot, over walls, and into the air.

I heard a blood-curdling shriek. From one of Fishguts’ vines dangled a Snaughian. His mind tasted like the producer, but the chaos had become so intense, the minds around me began to bleed together as they met and matched.

Wanting to be certain I had the right Snaughian. I grabbed the nearest Plabz or Kvorkt I could find, preserving my waning energy.

“Is that the producer?”

Cowboy Kvorkt looked at the dangling Snaughian, then shook his head.

“That’s Vlerk’s brother, Splaf. No one likes that guy.”

That one is all yours.. We seek your captive’s brother.

Fishguts swallowed the Snaughian whole.

I will search further, Zorberu.

ALYSSA

I  spun my giant-ass space deer in a circle, looking for my next target while Emily reloaded Grampa’s rifle. A few Plabzes and Kvorkts huddled around a broadcast drone, encircled by the other Plabzes and Kvorkts. Fresh out of security guards or monstrosities to take down, I trotted my dyàk over.

“What y’all up to?”

The Plabzes and Kvorkts turned their eyes to me.

“We used these drones to hack the security cameras, didn’t we, Kvorkts?”

“That we did, Plabz Three. That we did.”

Plabz Three pointed to the broadcast drone’s screen. A massive starship orbited a planet, belching smaller ships. The smaller ships arced away and fell into the planet’s atmosphere. Fire erupted from the smaller craft.

Cowboy Kvorkt pointed at the sky. I looked up. Fireballs streaked toward us.

“Friendly or—”

The Plabzes and Kvorkts all shook their heads.

“Fuck.”

I balled up all the information, like a basketball, and imagined passing it to Lor. He caught my thought football. He examined the information and turned to look at the incoming ships. His horns glowed, the broken one already growing back.

Lor turned back and info-thought bombed our army.

Drop ships. Twenty troops per ship.

Emperor Brannic spoke into his combat suit’s comms. He fell silent and listened. I could see the new information streaking into his mind. He looked at Lor, thinking so hard, his mind glowed.

I saw Lor touch Brannic’s mind once again. Lor nodded and reached out to other minds. Pods deployed from the first dropship to arrive. They streaked to the earth, decelerating to a smooth landing. The pods opened and fresh troops streamed out, screaming the same war cry.

“For the Great Snaugh!”

Jasek rode his evil death-pig through the first wave of Snaughian troops, scooping up three or four in one bite of his monstrous mount’s cavernous maw. The gaxiss swept into the opening pods, destroying troops as easily as they destroyed that comms unit back in the jungle.

“WHAT JUST HAPPENED, Kvorkt?”

Everyone’s heads swiveled to look at the mob of Plabzes and Kvorkts staring at the broadcast drone’s display screen. Hundreds of ships popped out of cloak and surrounded the Snaughian’s warship.

Brannic laughed, fist shooting into the air.

“Empress, our fleet has arrived.”

Sophia’s response crackled over the comms in Brannic’s combat suit.

“I never had a doubt, my love.”

We all returned our attention to the last of the drop ships’ pods belching troops. I turned my giant-ass space deer on its heel and ran toward the last wave of troops. Beyond them laid the entrance to the vehicle bay.

One of the minds before me spiked with fear. I pointed it out to Lor. Lor examined the flavor of the mind, then shot a message to Fishguts. Fishguts roared, tossed aside the Snaughians it held wrapped in its tentacles, and tentacled directly for the producer.

The gaxiss finished off the last of the troops before anyone else could reach them and we all rushed to the vehicle bay. A shuttle flew out of the entrance, aiming for the sky. Fishguts shot out a viny tentacle and caught the shuttle, midair.

A squad of security guards rushed from the vehicle bay, their weapons aimed at Fishguts. That’s when Mabel leapt for the housetank. She ran for the security guards wearing a suit of wickedly spiked armor.

She head-butted the first two security guards and tossed a third into the air with a swift jerk of her head. She spun, bucking and pitching. Sharp, split hooves slammed into jaws and backs, arms and guts.

The engines of the shuttle in Fishguts’ tentacle stuttered. Fishguts slammed the shuttle into the ground, then rolled it over, exposing the hatch. Fishguts gripped the hatch, working its vines into the seals around the door.

More and more vines pulled at the hatch until the machinery gave way with a metallic screech. Fishguts ripped the hatch off and tossed the hatch door at the last of the security guards. Fishguts flooded the vehicle with vines.

It pulled the producer out, screaming and kicking. It held Vlerk up, dangling the Snaughian by a foot. We all regrouped around Fishguts. I trotted close to Mabel.

“Where did you get the cow armor?”

“Jakey made it for me with the mini-factory. I just wanted to do my part. And look really cool, too.”

Mabel flapped an ear, strutting, head high and proud.

“You do look magnificent.”

“Thank you, Aly.”

Fishguts held the producer upside down in front of Brannic’s face.

Will you speak for me, Aly?

Of course, Fishguts.

I opened myself up to Fishguts’ message.

“Fishguts has asked me to speak on its behalf. Emperor, Fishguts the syend, ancient spirit of this planet, Garglax II, asks you to pass judgement on this Snaughian.”

Emperor Brannic nodded and stepped up. He looked over his shoulder.

“Plabz Four, Kvorkt Four, would you like to record this moment for posterity?”

“Yes, we would, Emperor Brannic. Yes, we would.”

Camera drones appeared and swirled around us, looking for the best angles.

“Welcome back to Intergalactic Love Death Match, season 34, and don’t we have a surprise for our fans, Kvorkt?”

“We do, Plabz, we do. Welcome to the rebellion episode, where season 34’s contestants have captured the Great Snaugh’s favorite nephew and plan to put him on trial for Crimes against the Galaxy.”

“Yes, they have, Plabz. Emperor Brannic, can you give us a hint at what is about to happen to this Snaughian producer.”

“I can, Kvorkt. Watch, while I declare the Emperor’s Justice—”

“This just in, fans and contestants. I have the Great Snaugh’s people on the line. Don’t I, Kvorkt?”

“You do, Plabz, and the Great Snaugh wants to negotiate for the life of his favorite nephew.”

Brannic turned to the Snaughian wiggling in Fishguts’ grip. The Emperor bowed to Fishguts.

“Fishguts, as the Spirit of Garglax II, will you consider mercy for Vorlp?”

“My name is Vlerk!”

Tell the Emperor that your sister claimed this planet. The choice should be hers.

“Fishguts says Emily’s the Queen of Garglax II, the judgement is hers.”

All eyes swiveled to Emily, sitting atop her giant-ass space deer.

“Tell the Great Snaugh to withdraw all troops from the borders of the Draksian Empire at once, and stay out, and we will spare Vorlp’s life.”

“Vlerk!”

“You heard the Queen. Kvorkt, this is a tense moment.”

“It is, Plabz. This may be the tensest moment this season. Will the Great Snaugh accept defeat and retreat? Or will he lose everything to the Intergalactic Cowboy Coalition ships currently in orbit around Garglax II?”

Plabz and Kvorkt’s eyes grew wide.

“Haha! The Great Snaugh agrees!”

Cheers rose up all around. Fishguts dropped Vlerk on the ground. Lor calmed the crowd and Emily spoke.

“As Queen of Garglax II, I sentence you to make it to the Altar of Freedom, if you want to live. Put him outside the complex and wish him luck. Let him fight for his life under the same conditions he imposed upon us.”

LOR

B attle won, we parked the housetank in a lovely valley close to the Broadcast facility and not too far from a river. Queen Emily had confiscated everything the Snaughians left behind, including several more housetanks.

Each couple claimed a new home and drove them to join Brannic and Sophia’s new neighborhood. Emily gave the Plabzes and Kvorkts free access to claim a home from season 34’s remaining stock.

The Plabzes and Kvorkts cried, hugged, and streamed into the stock to choose their first individual homes. About an hour after we parked the last housetank, the Plabzes and Kvorkts arrived in a convoy of trailers.

Everyone came together in the center of our first settlement. We built cookfires and cooked a feast. Drones we now controlled, since Emily confiscated everything on the planet, streamed in with beer and Charlotte pulled out a box. She opened it with a chuckle. From it, she pulled out a small white object.

She put it between her lips, lit the end, and inhaled the smoke. She winked at me, blew out smoke, grabbed a bag of crunchy snacks, and wandered off. We gathered around the fire and took turns telling our stories.

We ate and laughed, danced and celebrated life. Animals ran everywhere, and Hardhead, Pinky and the crew ran around the others, either making friends or making trouble.

Fishguts burbled in the corner, fat on Snaughian. The Plabzes and Kvorkts drank their first beers and I only had eyes for Aly.

I watched the sacred hum of a happy mate’s soul and felt deep satisfaction. Aly felt my attention and smiled at me from across the fire, where the Humans gathered around Mabel.

“I think I’m feeling that urge, Ladies. If you will excuse me, I think I’ll go find the mùdzho bull I smell on the wind.”

“Have fun, Mabel!”

“I’ll be back in an hour, Lena. Calm yourself.”

The Humans erupted in laughter, but Aly couldn’t keep her eyes off me. Eventually, Emily had enough and erupted.

“Aly, just go take that Zorberu home, already.”

Aly slapped her sister’s shoulder.

“Em!”

“And put up a shield or something, this time.”

I chuckled and promised to remember the shield. Aly grinned at me and I didn’t need any of my powers to know she was ready to take me home. We said our goodbyes and walked, arm in arm, through the light of Garglax II’s moons.

Aly opened herself to me and I opened myself to her. We walked home in the heady fog of our love and the happy thrum of our community.

“Guess what I want to do first when we get home, Lor.”

“Shower.”

“No fair, you’re psychic.”

A hearty laugh rumbled from my core.

“So are you, Aly! You’re the first Human-Zorberu hybrid! You’re growing Zorberu horns!”

Aly chuckled, thoroughly enjoying my mock outrage. I smiled, softened around her happiness. Her joy filled my soul and all the places inside myself I had kept empty for so long.

Her love catalyzed my own. By the time we stepped upon our front porch, the world had already faded around us, taking with it all concerns but being with each other.

I cupped her perfect face in my hand, stroking her cheek with my thumb. She nuzzled my hand, planting a soft kiss in my palm.

“Sometimes, Earth men carry their…mates across the threshold of their home…when starting their new life together.”

I scooped Aly into my arms, bringing her face close enough to kiss. I leaned in, laying my lips upon hers. Our lips parted and I kissed Aly will all the passion in my soul. I felt her arousal ignite with the intensity of a star.

The power of Aly’s love, fully unleashed, washed through me like a shockwave, snatching the air from my lungs. I broke our kiss, gasping. I opened the front door of our first housetank and carried Aly inside.

I kicked the door closed behind me while Aly stripped in my arms. Mag lev top sailed across the room., Aly’s perfect breasts fell and bounced against my chest. Mostly naked, Aly began clawing at my combat suit.

I placed her on her feet long enough to strip. She sat on the living room lounge in front of me and teased me relentlessly while I struggled with my combat suit. I would have struggled much less, had I bothered to look at what I was supposed to be doing but Aly refused to behave.

I could feel how much she enjoyed toying with me. I could feel, see, and smell desire roll off her in waves. I finally escaped the combat suit and Aly crooked a finger at me.

You know exactly what I want, Lor. I know you can read every fantasy, every passing thought.

I strode up to her and stroked my hand down her body from her lips to the soaking cradle of her pleasure.

I want you, Lor. I’ve been thinking of having you inside of me all night.

I know, Aly. I heard you every single time.

Aly stretched her arm out to my chest. She spoke in sweet whispers, tempting me to let go.

“Make love to me.”

“Forever, Aly.”

I put my hands on her thighs and parted her legs. I dropped to my knees between them, throbbing cock hard as a rock. Aly called out to me, mind, body, and spirit. The boundaries between us faded.

I slid my hand around her thighs and pulled her to me. I knocked my cockhead at her entrance. Our minds and souls aligned and we moved as one. Our hips rocked and my cock slid inside her.

Her body, every nerve alight, surged with pleasure. She cried out, arching her back. I wrapped an arm around her waist and held her against me. I knelt upright, bringing her with me, cock still filling her.

She wrapped her arms around my neck and clung to me. I rocked my hips into her, and with every thrust, Aly moaned harder.

“Lor…”

My name on her lips tore from me my last vestige of self-control. My heart, mind, and soul plunged into Aly with every thrust. She kissed me with fierce passion. My mind unfolded.

Every wave of love and pleasure radiating from me crashed into Aly. Her love and pleasure crashed into me. I could feel an orgasm build in her and her inner walls throbbed. I thrust deeper and Aly’s orgasm crashed into us both.

I threw back my head and bellowed in pure ecstasy. My orgasm released, filling her with stream after stream of hot come. Our orgasms catalyzed the love radiated from us. Our souls shone together, brighter than any star.

A wake of pure love rolled from our connected minds, bodies, hearts, and souls.

“The golden threads of fate bind us forevermore, Aly.”

EPILOGUE: ALYSSA

A  month later, I checked my hair in the mirror, arranging it around my growing horns. Though not nearly as long as Lor’s, I thought they looked cute. I checked my make-up, smacking my lips in the mirror.

“Aly, we must leave. We will be late for the ceremony, and I promised Queen Emily that I would get you there on time.”

I winked at the mirror and smiled at Lor.

“What do you think?”

“I think you are amazing, and I can’t wait to tear off your clothes and make love to you all over again, but I also have no intention of getting on your sister’s bad side.”

I kissed him.

“That is because you are smart. Especially since we forgot the shields, again.”

“Ah, but that’s what half the tourists come for. Garglax II is now the center of Galactic love.”

“That’s what the ad campaign Emperor Brannic and Empress Sophia came up with says. Come on, let’s get this show on the road.”

We left our housetank and walked over to a pavilion donated by the Intergalactic Cowboy Coalition. Mabel and Fishguts joined us on our walk. I scratched Mabel’s neck.

“Aly, Lor, Fishguts and I have been talking—thanks for donating a bit of your horn, Lor. Being able to telepathically speak to Fishguts has been such a blessing.”

“It is the least I could do for the two of you, Mabel.”

“You’re too kind, Lor. As I was saying, we want to offer you space at our temple. People already come to Fishguts to be healed, but many also seek counsel. You are uniquely qualified for such a position.”

Lor smiled and scratched Mabel’s jaw.

“I believe I could make time for such. On occasion.”

“Excellent. Come by the temple next week. We’ll talk.”

A Plabz and Kvorkt ran past our group, Plabz shouting at Kvorkt over his shoulder.

“We want the good seats, don’t we, Kvorkt Two?”

“We do, Plabz Two. We do.”

Two beings who looked creepily like mirror images of me and Emily ran up and shook my hand.

“Huge fans, Aly. Huge fans. Aren’t we, F’alala?”

The Emily look-alike elbowed her companion. The one that looked like me nodded so hard, I worried for my own neck.

“Oh, yes, Blablooo—”

“Aren’t you two the ones trying to save their marriage with the aphrodisiac edibles sent to Emily?”

F’alala bounced on my mirror-body toes.

“Yes! That’s us! After Blablooo made such a pure, public gesture, I had to take him back.”

“I’m a very lucky Varlaaaariad. We’re the ones who look after your grampa’s ranch on Earth.”

“That’s why you look like us—but, how?”

Blablooo and F’alala laughed.

“Varlaaaariad are shape shifters.”

“Oh, yes. Our natural forms drive most species mad. Tell her Blabloo.”

“She knows. Anyway, thank you for everything. We love our new life on Earth.”

We hugged. Emily walked out of the pavilion and waved us to hurry. Everyone funneled into the temporary seating set up in rows before a podium. I groaned.

What is it, Aly?

Anything set up like this on Earth usually means four hours of excruciating boredom.

Lor laughed and we found seats next to Jakey and Captain Plorik.

“Hi, Jakey. What’s new?”

“I joined Captain Plorik’s crew. I want to learn everything about starships so I can have my own someday. Sophia says that, when Captain Plorik thinks I’m ready, she’ll get me my own starship and I can be a Captain.”

Captain Plorik smiled and nodded.

“Jakey has been a true boon to my crew, and I am happy to have him. Also, he makes the most amazing grilled cheese sandwiches. I have developed an addiction, since Jakey made me my first.”

I gave Jakey a high five.

“That’s great news, Jakey—”

Emperor Brannic’s voice cut through all conversation in the pavilion and all eyes turned to him.

“Queen Emily has some announcements.”

Emily strutted up in her boots and hat, belt buckle gleaming from a fresh polishing.

“Welcome to my world, Garglax II, which will forever be known as a world for the lost. In that spirit, please welcome our newest citizens.”

Emily cleared the platform, clapping and the rest of us clapped, too. A series of shuttles landed nearby. Nervous, orange and red striped people stepped out of the shuttles. Captain Zelgor and Lena greeted each, welcoming them to their new home.

I covered my mouth with a hand and tears welled up in my eyes.

Oh, Lor. They are so hurt, Zelgor’s people.

Lor took my hand in his.

It looks like Mabel and Fishguts’ temple will need us for a while.

I smiled at him.

We have time, Lor.

Then I will tell Mabel and Fishguts we accept their offer?

I nodded and returned my attention to the stage. Cowboy Plabz and Cowboy Kvorkt walked up to the podium.

“We would like to announce that Garglax II is the new headquarters of the Intergalactic Cowboy Coalition! Wouldn’t we, Cowboy Plabz?”

“Yes, we would, Cowboy Plabz. Yeehaw, Y’all!”

Emily rolled her eyes as Cowboy Plabz and Cowboy Kvorkt left the stage. She waved Ralkor to the podium next. He walked up, glaring at it.

“Um, I would like to announce that, with the support of Empress Sophia and Emperor Brannic, Plabz Four and Kvorkt Four, we begin filming our new reality show, Slàr Hunters next week, so, please, submit your auditions. Thank you.”

The crowd chuckled and clapped. Ralkor leaned back into the podium’s microphone.

“It’s a lot easier to kill in the pits than walk up to this microphone.”

Another chuckle circled the room and Ralkor took his seat, relief wafting from him in waves. Jasek and Charlotte stepped up to the podium next. Grinning ear to ear, Jasek stepped up to the podium next.

“Hello, I am Jasek. Charlotte and I have heard rumors of other Xunon at the slave markets. We ship out to rescue them in three days and are looking for crew. Stop by our housetank anytime to sign up for a tour.”

Charlotte leaned in.

“A special thanks to Mabel and Fishguts as they have agreed to help any Xunon we rescue.”

Charlotte waved to the crowd. Everyone clapped and Charlotte and Jasek retreated from the stage. Emily returned to the podium.

“Does anyone else have anything else to say?”

She looked around the room. Everyone shook their heads.

“Then I declare this a party. Someone get me a beer.”

Cheers rose all around. We walked to the fire pits, where several Plabzes and Kvorkts grilled a Garglaxian feast. Lor and I gravitated to the Kirtaxian refugees. We reached out with our compassion, offering comfort.

Lor wrapped his big arm around a bent Kirtaxian elder and she leaned into the warmth of his soul. I took the hand of a Kirtaxian child, and we walked into our new life, ready to create a better world and fight for an Empire of love.

‘Tis destiny, Aly.

I heard him in my mind, and the answer came as easily as breathing.

Yours and mine, entwined and entangled together forever.

I HOPE you’ve enjoyed this madcap game! It was a ton of fun to write :)

Next up, we’re off to a new quest with the Vaznik Warriors. If you haven’t visited that world, start with Rekker!

Many thanks to all of you for coming with me on these adventures.

BEST,

Ava

REKKER

R ekker wasn't expecting to be matched.

On the eve of being sent to retrieve a mysterious artifact, he's sent something just as enigmatic.

A HUMAN WOMAN, lush and curved.

His mate.

Even worse, she wants nothing to do with him.

His blood burns for her, but the need to make her happy overrides everything.

He'll find a way to set her free, even if it means he'll be alone. Forever.

But when danger comes from an unexpected source, they're thrown together. And when his mate turns to him, he'll protect her.

KEEP HER.

Claim her.

Lila Kanes never wanted any thing but a quiet life on her family farm. She certainly didn't want to be claimed by a massive alien mate.

THROWN INTO THE STARS, she'll do whatever it takes to find a way home.

BACK TO EARTH.

Back to her family.

SHE COULDN'T POSSIBLY WANT to stay with the hot, horned alien with the amazing body, who made her feel like the most precious thing in the universe, could she?

RIGHT?

REKKER IS the first book of the Warriors of Vaznik, a stand alone series in the Warlord Brides universe. There's no cheating, and a guaranteed HEA for each couple!

CLICK HERE to keep reading Rekker, book one of the Vaznik Warrior Mates!

ROGUE MATE

S cience fiction romance is the destination of the Rogue Star…. Hop on board!

OUR RESCUERS ARE a group of pirates. Or smugglers. They're not exactly answering questions, either.

More importantly, they're giant, golden skinned aliens...

And their rogue of a captain seems very interested in the little human commander.

Me.

ROGUE MATE IS the first in the Rogue Star science fiction alien romance series. Click now to start the adventure!

RESCUED BY HER ALIEN MATE

I  thought being kidnapped by four-armed blue apes was as weird as life was going to get.

Boy, was I wrong...

We've crashed, our captors have fled, and now we've been rounded up by a group of tall, horned men. With scales. Who don't understand a word we say.

So why does my heart flutter when their leader touches me?  When his eyes flash silver, something deep inside me answers.

But if I lose my heart, how can I keep myself and the other women safe?

Rescued by her Alien Mate is the first book of the Warriors of the D'Tali science fiction romance series. Each book contains a complete HEA for our couple, and lots of steamy SFR fun!

Click to start the adventure!

KAZAN

A  mate is the last thing on my mind.

Especially one as sassy as the human female they say is my match.

Even if her lush curves call for my touch, and her fiery spirit is equal to my own.

I will endure the thirty days demanded by the Protocol.

But with every look, every word, I can feel us bound closer together.

Will I be able to leave her, even for her own safety?

KAZAN IS the first book of the Jorkan Protocol Mates. Click now to spend the night with this perfect steamy, funny science fiction romance escape. There's no cheating, and a guaranteed HEA for each alien warrior and his mate!

Copyright © 2021 by Ava York

All rights reserved. These books or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the Author except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

This book is a work of fiction. Any similarity between the characters and situations within its pages and places or persons, living or dead, is unintentional and co-incidental.

Table of Contents

Title Page

Contents

Alyssa

Lor

Alyssa

Lor

Alyssa

Lor

Alyssa

Lor

Alyssa

Lor

Alyssa

Lor

Alyssa

Lor

Alyssa

Lor

Alyssa

Lor

Alyssa

Lor

Alyssa

Lor

Alyssa

Lor

Alyssa

Lor

Alyssa

Lor

Alyssa

Lor

Alyssa

Lor

Alyssa

Lor

Epilogue: Alyssa

Rekker

Rogue Mate

Rescued by her Alien Mate

Kazan

Copyright