“And not a moment too soon.” Liorax helps me to my feet. “Put some weight on your leg,” he encourages. “Can you walk? It’s almost time for the detsena to make an appearance.”
I know the Zorahn have superior medical technology. After all, they came to Earth with a cure for leukemia. But knowing something and believing it are different things. I put my broken leg tentatively on the ground, bracing for a shockwave of pain. It doesn’t come. My skin is smooth; all signs of my wound have disappeared.
Relief floods through me as I place a mental checkmark against ‘Step 1: Fix my broken leg.’
Gotta be honest. Liorax and Zunix could ask me to blow them right now, and I’ll get on my knees gladly. I’m that grateful.
It’s almost dark. There’s nothing more I can do tonight. Tomorrow morning, on the other hand? Time to focus on Step 2.
Viola, Ryanna, Harper, and Sofia are out there. Hopefully, they’re still alive. I’ve got to figure out a way to find them.
Everyone’s still awake when I get to Dariux’s treehouse. Not a shocker, I guess. It’s only been ten or fifteen minutes, though it feels a lot longer. “Your leg,” May exclaims. “It’s fixed.”
“Zorahn magic,” I reply. There’s some residual tenderness when I walk, and I’m not going to run a marathon anytime soon, but this is still miracle territory. “Wow, this is snug.”
Dariux’s treehouse has been built for one person, not five. There’s barely enough room for all of us to stretch out on the floor. There’s only two sleeping bags, and surprise, surprise, Felicity has managed to commandeer one of them. “They don’t live in the height of luxury,” Bryce agrees, making room for me. I sit next to her, leaning against the wall. As soon as I’m settled, the women resume their conversation.
“Do you think they’re lying?” Paige asks. “About there being no way out?”
Bryce shakes her head. “I don’t think so,” she says soberly. “When the two aliens got to our ship, they didn’t even see if it was salvageable. They just stripped everything off it. And remember what Raiht’vi said when they tried to get her out?”
I’d rather drown.
Good for Bryce. She certainly knows how to keep her head in a crisis. More than the other women, she’s paying attention to what’s going on.
“What does that mean?” Felicity’s voice is shrill. “We can’t live here for the rest of our lives. We can’t. Look at this place. There’s nothing here. Do you know there are no flush toilets? I asked one of the aliens, and he pointed me toward the woods.”
“Well, it is a prison,” I interject dryly. “I doubt you’re going to see Club Med style amenities. Think of it as camping.”
“I hate camping,” she says flatly.
I don’t have time to deal with her BS. “I’m going to sleep,” I announce, unbuttoning my NASA-issued shirt so I can roll it up and use it as a pillow on the hard wooden floor. “I’m sure we’ll find out more tomorrow.”
At the crack of dawn, there’s a knock on the door. Bryce, who’s closest to it, looks around to make sure we’re all clothed before she cracks it open. “We have a gift for our mate,” a voice announces.
Let the wooing begin.
“Umm, okay.” She blinks in confusion. “And which one of us would that be?”
It’s Paige. The two Draekons at the door smile broadly when she steps outside onto the narrow platform that surrounds the treehouse. “We went hunting at dawn,” one of them says, offering her a leaf-wrapped parcel.
“Thank you,” Paige says, her voice faint. “I’m Paige Watkins, by the way.”
The Draekons are Rezzix and Magnux. I’m good at names, but even I’m going to need a notebook of some kind to keep all the Draekons straight. They linger for a little bit, and every time their eyes fall on Paige, she blushes a little. I don’t blame her. Every Draekon I’ve seen so far is hot, and these two are no exception. Plus, when they speak to her, there’s a kind of smoldering intensity in their eyes.
I give the computer programmer from Dallas a month, tops, before she succumbs to their charm.
Paige’s suitors are followed by another pair, this time for May, who also arrive with a gift of food. Before Felicity pouts too much, her own duo shows up, carrying three portions of breakfast. They offer her one and give me the other two. “Courtesy Liorax and Zunix, and Belfox and Herrix,” they explain. “Dariux has decided that until we come to an agreement about you, neither pair will be allowed to contact you directly.”
“Okay.” Is there a small part of me that’s disappointed that Zunix and Liorax aren’t here? A little bit, I have to admit.
Felicity is already digging into her food, completely missing the fact that Bryce, who does not have a set of Draekons wooing her, doesn’t have any breakfast. I pass her one of my packages silently, and she smiles at me in gratitude. “I can’t decide if being left alone is a good thing or a bad thing,” she mutters under her breath.
Me neither.
Like most of the others, my breakfast is a large slab of grilled meat. The package I handed Bryce is more interesting. For starters, it’s larger than the others. There’s enough food for at least two meals. There’s meat, but there’s also what appears to be some kind of salted fish. There’s a small handful of berries that have a creamy texture and a sweet, juicy taste, and there’s an assortment of fresh greens. “You should pick these guys,” Bryce says, chewing on a berry. “Everyone else just assumed we’d want meat. But whoever assembled this package put some thought into it. They gave you choices.”
Felicity makes a sound of disgust. “That’s all we need,” she snaps. “Every guy in the place fighting over Olivia.”
May looks up with a frown. “It’s not her fault that four guys became dragons,” she points out.
No, it isn’t, but that doesn’t mean I’m not going to take full advantage of the situation. For example, it’s completely intolerable that Bryce doesn’t get to eat because no one wants to jump her. I don’t care how messed up these Draekons are—the five of us have to appear united.
Ten minutes later, there’s another knock on the door. This time, it’s Dariux, and his expression is serious. “If you’re done eating,” he says. “We have some important matters to discuss.”
Time for the other shoe to drop.
6
Zunix:
Yesterday, Olivia had looked exhausted and drained. This morning, after a night’s rest, she looks much better.
The five women file into the clearing. I’ve learned their names now. The curly brunette already introduced herself yesterday; she’s Paige Watkins. The woman with the broken hand is May Archer. The one with pale yellow hair is Bryce McFarland, and the other woman, the one with hair as dark as night is Felicity Rollins.
And of course, there’s Olivia Buckner. Our mate.
Liorax has distributed translators to everyone in camp, asking for nothing in exchange. He didn’t do it to gain an advantage, but we’ve gained one nonetheless.
Dariux is perfectly capable of ruling against me if it means that I will be weakened. The two of us are too evenly matched, and our rivalry goes back a long way.
But Liorax’s generous action has ensured that if Dariux does something flagrantly unfair, the others will speak up on our behalf in order to repay the assumed obligation.
Dariux signals for quiet and the conversations die down. “We have ten Draekons that shifted when they saw their mate. Of those, six are easy.” He turns to the human women. “In exchange for your safety, I ask that the Draekons be allowed to court you. You will spend a portion of each day with your potential mates. If, at the end of three months, you have not completed the mating bond, you will be allowed to dissolve this arrangement.”
Olivia says something to the woman next to her, Paige Watkins, too low even for my Draekon hearing to pick up. Whatever it is, Paige Watkins nods grimly.
“Now we come to the more complicated situation. Olivia Buckner has two sets of potential mates. I have thought about how to resolve the matter fairly, and I propose a contest.”
Olivia looks up warily. “A contest?”
“Yes. Both pairs of Draekons will be allowed to court you on alternate dates. They will have six months to persuade you. In order to be fair to all, you cannot choose a pair before that time.”
So Dariux seeks to delay my ability to transform for six months. Maybe longer.
“What happens if I can’t choose?” Her voice is clear and unafraid.
Dariux’s gaze is cold. “The men will keep courting you until you decide. No matter how long it takes. There is no other option.”
Dariux is asking more of Olivia than he is of the other women. I wait for her to collapse in tears, but she surprises me by nodding her agreement. She’s full of contradictions, this woman. Yesterday, she was in tears because her clothing was left behind. Today, she seems in full control of the situation. Which woman is she?
Does it matter? She’s a means to an end. Nothing more.
“We begin today,” Dariux announces. “To decide who goes first, I propose a test.”