Chapter 16 Logan
Chapter sixteen
Logan
The landing on Earth was rough, though Earth’s security forces had been warned we were coming and guided us to a big field in Montana where row upon row of escape pods stretched out, making a little village of sorts.
Looking at all the escape pods lined up row after row highlighted the sheer enormity of the space station in a way I’d never considered while on board.
There were thousands of pods, far too many to be housed in the big palace where my sister had first met her husbands.
I stepped outside, my legs feeling a little funny as I stood on solid ground for the first time in months, and looked for my sister before finding her husband, T’ukka, walking in our direction.
“They want as many people to stay in their pods as possible,” T’ukka said, skipping the greetings.
“We’re going to have to use them as temporary housing while we sort out what to do with the American government and the global governments.
Apparently, there is some conflict to do with us choosing your country as a place to settle.
Obviously, at the time, we were not aware that your world was so divided. ”
“And I can just go home?”
He smirked at me. “Well, technically you should be able to, but I’m not sure how your neighborhood will respond to the new purple Logan.”
“Plus, I wouldn’t be able to take Ra’odah or Olzi with me.”
He nodded, then frowned. “And you wouldn’t be able to protect Olzi. He’ll need it, you know. Ra’odah has submitted her brainwashing research, but we are still waiting for a consensus on what to do with those Vul who are submitting to an Aunga’ri for monitoring.”
I glanced back at the pod. “There’s still a chance they’ll take him?”
“Because he’s bound to you, I don’t think so,” he said. “But it’s difficult to say, since you’re technically human.”
I sighed. “I’m never quite going to fit in anywhere, am I? Too human for your people, too alien for mine.”
“We can only hope for a good integration. For now, go be with your loves,” T’ukka said, smiling. “You have those that accept you no matter what. And having a prince as a member of your family won’t hurt things, either.”
Shaking my head, I wandered back inside the little emergency pod. It was a bit like a high-tech camper, clever and utilitarian, with more functions than you could see at first glance. “T’ukka said we should get used to the escape pod life. I guess this is home for now,” I said.
Ra’odah stood, straightening her shirt. “I have rooms near my labs,” she said. “I’ll leave you two to get settled in.”
“What about you?” I asked dumbly, desperate to understand.
“It only makes sense to be near my labs for work,” she said. “And this is small for three, don’t you think?”
After that epic sex, she wanted to leave? I frowned, glancing at Olzi, who shrugged, looking as confused as I was. And while we were staring at each other, blown away by her casual insistence that she wasn’t actually ours, she slipped out the door, taking a chunk of my heart with her.
Listen to her. At first I thought Olzi was speaking out loud, but then realized his words were in my mind.
“Well, that’s weird as hell,” I said, using my voice, because I wasn’t entirely sure I could grapple with the other thing just yet. Olzi burst out laughing.
“I meant for you to listen to her that way,” he said. “To her mind. The way she thinks is intriguing and a little chaotic. And quite lovely.”
“How?”
“You sort of reach for her, but with your brain?” He frowned, and I could tell that he was struggling for an explanation. Hell, I could FEEL that he was struggling for an explanation. I’d felt them both during sex, but I didn’t know it’d be constant.
I closed my eyes and attempted to reach out with my mind, though I wasn’t sure what that would be, so I pictured a big cartoon hook, the kind they used to yank people off the stage, sneaking out and getting her.
And I thought I felt her. I opened my eyes and glanced at Olzi, and he snickered a little.
“That’s where your mind went with that? You’re weird, man.”
“Shut up.”
“That’s all right. I love that you’re weird.
” He paused and swallowed, his eyes darting to the floor, and I considered pressing to get the truth I knew he held inside.
But the thing was, I already knew it. We loved each other unconditionally.
It was a sharp, clear, well-defined kind of love, one that bound us together with such permanence that it didn’t need to be put into words to be true.
“I’ll protect you,” I whispered. “With everything in me. We’ll get married, if that solves it.”
“Listen to her first,” he said, holding eye contact. For a guy who had once been so ridiculously obsessed with self-preservation, this was an interesting turn of events.
Had she felt that between us and thought that she didn’t fit? But how could she not? Olzi and I might be so bound that it was as if we were one being, but we were one being that loved her. Because I had loved her before I’d even met him.
I studied him for a moment before closing my eyes and sending the cartoon hook out in her direction again.
And oh shit. “We need to go right now.” I stood and grabbed his hand, taking off at a sprint, following her pain across the courtyard, pushing through the bustle of Aunga’ri huddled together, discussing the sabotage, probably, but I didn’t care.
She was ahead of us, her arms folded around her waist, walking slowly.
“Ra’odah!” I yelled, and she looked up, and okay, like fifty other Aunga’ri looked up, too, but I pushed on, dragging Olzi behind me by the hand. “How do you feel about some roommates?”
She frowned. “I already have a roommate. The medical bay in the compound has two people in a room. Probably more, all things considered.”
“What if you didn’t sleep in the overcrowded med bay?” I asked. “What if you had a couple of boyfriends who can’t bear to be without you at night?”
She swallowed, her eyes darting from me to Olzi, then back again. “What?”
“It’s what humans call their lovers,” Olzi said. “I know you take things literally, but he means we want to marry you. When you’re ready for that.”
“Oh,” Ra’odah said, blushing and ducking her head.
She glanced around at the gathering crowd.
There had been a slew of weddings since my sister’s, as her people started to loosen their tight reins on their emotions and sexuality, it had been revealed that there was an underground segment of the Aunga’ri population who’d been having sexy fun all along.
I wondered how many of those people were out there now, watching my proposal to the most by-the-book woman on their crew.
“You don’t have to decide right now,” I said. “But we miss you like crazy already.”
She stared at me for a moment. “I am interested…” she trailed off and took a deep breath. “I am interested in studying how our bodies respond to natural reproduction.”
“Fuck yeah, breed her!” Axel had appeared from somewhere, and I rolled my eyes at him. He laughed, shaking his head. Ra’odah, meanwhile, was turning a much more pink-toned shade of lavender.
“Axel, your input might not be that helpful,” Cix said, stepping up beside him.
“Besides, I’m suspecting that you’re confused by the biological process of breeding.
You keep saying you’re going to breed me.
” At that, Axel started laughing, and still hadn’t stopped when Cix dragged him off, demanding an explanation.
“You’d… Breed me?” Ra’odah asked quietly, stepping closer to Olzi and me. Her big purple eyes were wide and… dilated?
“Oh shit, babygirl, are you turned on by being filled with our cum like that?” I whispered. “By having your fertile little womb filled with our baby?”
She poked me. “Shut up. Why did you chase me?”
“I think he meant to say something sensitive and moving about how much we care about you,” Olzi said.
“Was I? Or was I going to drag her home to dick her hard?” I asked.
“Why did I think you’d have smooth moves?” Olzi muttered. He hooked his elbow through Ra’odah’s. “Here’s the deal. You live with us now. There’s really no other choice.”
“That’s your smooth move?” I asked, then turned back to Ra’odah.
“We’ll be whatever you want us to be. A science experiment on breeding?
We can do that. Your loving partners? We’re here for that, too.
Your husbands, best friends, or anything else you need.
But only what you need. We’re not here to push you beyond what you’re comfortable with. ”
“But you and him are…”
“We’re bound, yes, but that doesn’t mean our hearts aren’t available to you.”
“Why?” she whispered.
“I’ve loved you from the first moment we met, Doc,” I said, grinning.
“You were so serious, and you didn’t get a single one of my goddamn cancer patient jokes.
And… I don’t know. That was it for me. Not because you saved my life.
Honestly, when I fell for you, I had some serious doubts that you’d be able to do that. Just because you’re you.”
“I hurt you when I turned you away.”
“Yeah, but that’s okay, because it led me to Olzi. And I can’t imagine life without him.”