Chapter 5 #2
There had been an earlier discussion about whether the monster was evil.
Victoria didn't think so; he was just selfish and didn't care about others and what they wanted or needed.
His only concern was what he wanted or needed, and how he could obtain it, even if it meant taking it away from others who also needed it.
That was clear in the fact that he was raiding the tents that belonged to others.
The two females he attacked showed that he had a biological urgency to mate and didn't care who he mated or how they felt about it.
One of those females was a fourteen-year-old, which most societies considered far too young, but he apparently had no problem with it.
Even though he possessed a certain type of intelligence, reasoning about what he should do and his risk of being caught was not part of that intelligence.
Two days passed without a monster sighting, and everyone wondered where he was hiding and what he was doing.
Roll calls were taken every day in every section to ensure that no one was missing.
That still left small children up to the parents to safeguard, but from what she had seen, he wasn't interested in the little ones.
That's why it was shocking when a little one went missing.
The search parties immediately gathered, dropping everything, and began looking.
It was both a relief and an aggravation when the child was found hiding under a tarp outside her home.
Both parents were terribly embarrassed. She was sure that they would be more careful with their little one since it was the only one they had.
She wasn't surprised that the scare had happened, only that more of them hadn't happened sooner.
People were on edge, and the stress was starting to show.
All they had to do was last another week, and the ship would be here.
It was a ship that could scan for the monster and remove him from the planet.
It was unfortunate that only the original ship that the chief had come on had that technology.
“What are you thinking?” Oret asked.
“That someone watched us as we made our way up.”
“I sensed that too. We will have to be extremely careful. He is hunting us.”
“Hunting us or hunting me?” Victoria wondered.
There was nothing else to do but get to work, so she and her mate got ready and went to work.
It was amazing to see the difference two experienced, capable people could make in just a few hours.
That didn't get them completely back on track, but it helped.
They quit at supper time when everyone except the guards headed down to the cafeteria to eat.
The food was good, and they ate with the others in the dining room, which was unusual.
Everyone seemed to be ignoring the elephant in the room and trying to pretend that the monster was not lurking out there.
What else could they do? They would be careful, and they would continue living their lives and doing the best that they could.
When an opportunity arose, they would address this issue.
That opportunity might not occur until the ship is in orbit.
“You’re gone again,” Oret observed.
“I was just thinking about how everyone is trying to ignore the monster and hoping that it will leave us alone until we are able to deal with it.”
“What else can we do?”
“Nothing, and that bothers me because normally I'm able to take action and get something done,” Victoria admitted.
“When you're dealing with hundreds or thousands of people, sometimes you have to wait until you can take action.”
“Are you talking about when you take charge of the moon?”
“No, I'm talking about right now.”
Victoria thought about what he said and realized that he was right.
Even though she was in the second tier of management in a small colony, many of the rules were the same as they would be if Oret and she took over governing the moon.
She wasn't sure if she could handle that much loss of control, as she wasn't accustomed to it.
It was her way of taking charge and getting things done, rather than waiting for someone else to do it for her.
She finished eating her food, and now she would go home with her mate to rest.
“Why don’t we go to your place and get frisky?” Oret suggested.
“Are you kidding?”
“No, we are newly mated.”
He had a point, and they’d not had much time alone. She began to think about how wonderful the sex was, and she was sure Oret could scent her need. There was no need to say anything as they made it to her tent. Her mate pulled her into his arms the second the door closed behind them.
“We need to clean up first,” Victoria insisted.
“I love shower sex.”
Victoria felt her face heat slightly, but she had to admit that she liked shower sex too.
They stripped quickly and got the shower going.
There were only canvas walls, which made things a little more difficult.
She was glad that her mate was strong and had no trouble holding her up even without a wall.
He was also big, and she could feel every inch as it slid in.
There was no way to hide the moan that broke free.
His suggestion had turned out to be a good one, and she fully intended to enjoy every minute of it.
With nothing to lean on, Oret held her in place at his waist and pounded into her.
It felt so good as she felt her climax rushing at her.
As soon as she exploded, he followed her.
She slid down his beautiful manly body, and they finished their shower, cleaning up, then getting ready for bed.
All those years without a man had been hard on her.
She’d locked her feelings away, and now she was dealing with things she’d ignored.
Oret would help her and mating him had been the best decision she could have made.
They lay down in her bed, and he wrapped himself around her.
Sleep came right away as she sank into his body and felt protected.
When she woke, she had to admit that she felt the best that she had felt in a long time.
She was finally rested for the first time since she had arrived.
Was it the sex or was it the companionship?
Maybe it was a combination of both. Whatever it was, she needed it, and from the rested look on her mate’s face, he needed it too.
It was time to get on with things, and they both got up, dressed, and headed to the cafeteria to get some food.
After breakfast, they headed to the mine.
As they put on their gear, she realized that in two days the ship would be in orbit.
Hopefully, it would be soon enough that they would prevent any more problems with their monster infestation.
It was an issue that they could not handle on their own, and assistance was required.
After several hours of hard work, they stopped for lunch, and as they headed to the cafeteria, Victoria once again felt eyes on them.
She wasn’t paranoid; she knew the monster was watching and waiting for his chance to take some action.
Due to their security measures, he'd been unable to enter the camp to steal food or take a female.
It was lunchtime and she was leaving the mine with her mate behind her. That's when she saw the shadowy figure at the mine entrance. As she recognized him, it was the monster. Oret immediately realized what was happening and stepped in front of her, pushing her back to a safe spot.
“You can't have her, she is mine.”
“I take her,” the monster said.
“You'll have to go through me.”
“That I can do.”
The two males surged up against each other, each trying to take the other down.
That monster looked like he might be a little stronger, but her mate was faster, and he knew how to fight.
His blows were hitting while the monsters were not.
Oret ducked under a punch, and his fists slammed into the monster’s stomach.
She couldn't tell if it had any effect or not because the monster's face did not show it.
What she could see was that the monster was being driven back a little bit at a time.
It worried her because there was about a thirty-foot fall at the edge of the pathway that headed into the mine.
Victoria didn't care if the monster went over, but she was afraid he might try to take Oret with him.
She wasn't sure if either of them could survive a fall like that because at the bottom, there was hard ground and a few rocks, which would hurt if they were hit.
She was sure that her mate was trying to drive the monster off the edge.
As far as the monster went, he seemed to be completely concentrating on trying to cause some damage, and he was having little luck doing so.
Victoria stayed back to give her mate room in case he had to retreat.
It was important not to be in his way and to leave a clear path for him, even though right now he wasn't needing it at all.
Just a few more feet and the monster would fall off the edge.
No one else was around, not that they could have helped anyway.
This fight was going to play out one way or the other.
The monster might not show the pain he was in, but there were places all over his body now that were bleeding.