Chapter 9
CHAPTER NINE
Samulin stared after Bralix in confusion, her heart beating a mile a minute.
“Hey,” Emery said softly. “They’re just going to Bralix’s room to give us some privacy; Phyrax thought you might need someone to talk to. She patted the duvet. “Come, make yourself comfortable.”
With a last glance to the door, Samulin climbed on the bed beside the other woman, wrapping her duvet tightly around herself like a hug.
And I could really use a hug.
“You know, living with Phyrax took some getting used to.” Emery smiled softly. “Of course, there is the culture gap, and the language gap, of course. That, and I wasn’t here by my own free will, at first.”
“So you were also kidnapped?”
Emery nodded. “Yeah—he put me to sleep and wheeled me right out of the hospital. I woke up strapped to the bed in the cargo hold.”
“So we’re both trapped?”
“Yes, and no,” Emery said. “At first, it was an abduction; later, after I received my symbiote and could make an informed decision, I decided to stay.”
“Your symbiote?”
“Ah, yes,” Emery said slowly, watching Samulin’s reaction.
“It’s a little creature they implant in your brain, that lets you understand every other language.
You won’t be able to speak every other language—you still need to learn them the old-fashioned way to do that—but you can understand them. Phyrax and Bralix also have symbiotes.”
Samulin stared. “A creature? In my brain.”
“I barely notice it’s there anymore,” Emery said. “It hurt going in, and I was deaf in that ear for several hours, but there are no lasting bad effects, and the trade-off is worth it.”
“Deaf in that ear? What the fuck?”
“Promise me you won’t freak out, okay?” Emery begged, reaching for Samulin’s hand in the folds of Samulin’s duvet.
“Please believe me that Phyrax won’t allow Bralix to do anything that could hurt you, or anything as permanent as a symbiote, without your consent.
Please don’t freak out, okay? It is your choice. ”
Emery squeezed Samulin’s hand, and Samulin took a deep breath, consciously relaxing her shoulders and willing the band of fear constricting her chest to loosen. “The pain isn’t permanent?”
Emery shook her head. “No; neither is the deafness. The symbiote crawls into your ear and repairs your eardrum behind it on its way into your brain. Your brain itself has no pain receptors. And after your hearing returns, it’s like it never happened, except your brain has had a software update.”
Samulin took a deep, shaky breath. “A permanent software update. I’m never going back to Earth, am I?”
“Samulin,” Emery squeezed her hand again. “Bralix wouldn’t offer a symbiote to a pet; he wants you as his mate.”
Samulin stared at Emery, her jaw agape. “His mate? We’ve known each other for two days! We’re not even the same species!”
Emery shrugged. “Only you can make this decision, Samulin. For myself, I’ve seen who Phyrax really is on the inside, and his character is good. Everything else can be worked out.”
Under the duvet, Samulin placed her free hand over her lower belly. No outward signs betrayed the life currently nestled inside her—no bump, no movement. Yet in just a few days, that little bean had become the focus of her decision-making.
She couldn’t afford to agree to a relationship with a sexy alien on a whim; she didn’t have only herself to consider anymore. She couldn’t afford whims of any kind—not anymore.
“If I say no, will they take me home?” Samulin asked softly.
Emery studied her for a moment. “Yes; if Bralix doesn’t, Phyrax will.”
Samulin nodded, squeezing her eyes shut. “Thank you.”
“Is there someone else for you at home?” Emery asked softly.
Samulin shook her head, a tear escaping. “No; I have no one on earth anymore.”
Emery gave Samulin’s hand one last squeeze before letting go. “Oh, honey; it might not look like it now, but it’ll all work out in the end, okay?”
Samulin nodded. “Thanks. I… I just need some time to think.”
“Of course,” Emery said. “Take all the time you need.”
Samulin climbed off the bed, and holding the duvet closely around her, she paused at the doorway. “Thank you,” Samulin said before heading back to the silence of the cargo hold.
Bralix led the way to his quarters, not bothering to turn on the light; the light from the corridor outside would be enough.
He needed to check on the symbiote for himself.
Most only survived for a few days outside of the breeding tanks or a host, and it had already been more than a week since Phyrax had bought this one from the Gavora spaceport market.
He carefully unscrewed the cap of the opaque jar, angled it so that the light from the corridor illuminated the tiny creature, and saw movement in the bottom of the jar as the organism moved to avoid the indirect beam of light.
Symbiotes didn’t breathe like other surface creatures, but rather absorbed the nutrients and oxygen they needed from their host through their skin, and waste was excreted in the same way, carried away by their host’s blood.
They weren’t meant to be kept in a jar, and if it wasn’t implanted soon, it might die.
“I hadn’t realized there was another symbiote in the jar,” Phyrax said quietly behind him.
Bralix nodded and replaced the cap on the jar. “I noticed it when I took the other one out. I didn’t know what I’d do with it when I kept it.”
Phyrax sat on the corner of Bralix’s bed. “Why do you want to make Samulin your mate, brother?”
Bralix scoffed in exasperation. “Would you make up your mind? One minute you’re urging me to make her my mate, and now you’re telling me I shouldn’t?”
Phyrax held up his hands in surrender. “I did nothing of the sort. I believe the point I made was that earth-born humans were not meant to be pets.”
“You’re splitting hairs.”
“You’re avoiding the question.”
Bralix glared at Phyrax, but faced with putting his feelings into words, he couldn’t answer.
He rubbed his hands over his cropped scalp and stared at the ceiling.
“You’re right; she’s not a pet. Any intelligent animal can learn a command and be conditioned to obey; if she obeys, I want it to be because she wants to please me.
“I want to know her mind; and I want her to know mine.”
“And our dairy farm?” Phyrax arched an eyebrow. “If you’re going to become a strictly one-human Nef’eal, where does that leave your farm? Your breeding herd of dairy humans with a bull or two to service them?”
Bralix sighed. “I still want my farm; I’m not quite ready to just give up on that dream. But if I have to choose between it and Samulin, I’d choose her.”
Phyrax smiled. “That’s good enough for me, brother.”
Bralix slipped the jar with the symbiote into his bedside drawer and stood. Every instinct told him to go find her, but he held himself back, Phyrax was right; she couldn’t choose him if he was her only option—and he so desperately wanted her to choose him.
“Emery,” Phyrax said, drawing Bralix’s attention to the door.
“Hey,” she said softly, walking into Phyrax’s embrace.
She rested her cheek on Phyrax’s chest, and after a moment of savouring her mate’s embrace, she opened her eyes to look at Bralix.
“I’ve explained everything as best I can,” she said.
“She knows about the symbiote and what it means. I also promised that if it was what she wanted, we’d take her home.
She’s asked for a little time to think about it. ”
Bralix’s heart clenched, and he hugged himself to try and contain the pain. “She won’t choose me,” he whispered. “I’d taken her against her will. She’ll want to go back to earth, back to her old life.”
Emery put her hands on her hips and frowned at him.
“So you’ve made up her mind for her, have you?
She might not have given you an immediate yes, but she also hasn’t given you a no, either.
She asked for time to think, so give her time to think.
Humans can take years to decide on a mate; she’s had two days.
She’s gone back to the cargo area—and we’re leaving the door open. It’s a room, not a prison.”
Phyrax put a hand on his shoulder. “Are you okay, brother?”
Bralix nodded; what other option did he have?
He’d give her time to think—even if it killed him.