Chapter 4
CHAPTER 4
Ahmya sat atop her pallet with her legs crossed and a blanket on her lap, running a wooden comb through her hair. A soft morning breeze blew in through the open window, carrying the scents of the jungle—moist earth, potent vegetation, and fragrant flowers.
Every day was surreal to Ahmya. She woke up each morning upon a bed of fluffed silk and cloth, in a home high above the ground on a ginormous tree, in a village where she lived alongside spider-like aliens, and wondered to herself if she was dreaming. How could any of this be real?
When she’d left Earth aboard the Somnium , ready to start a new life on Xolea, she’d certainly never imagined anything like this. Humans had never made contact with other intelligent lifeforms, had never found evidence that such beings even existed. And yet, here Ahmya was, one of seven survivors out of the thousands who had been on the Somnium , living in the jungle with the vrix.
The vrix, who humans could procreate with.
Even after everything, after all the wondrous, terrifying things Ahmya had seen since awakening on this unfamiliar world, that was the most staggering discovery by far. Not that humans could mate with the vrix, but that they could breed with them.
Such a thing shouldn’t have been possible. Humans and vrix were so different from each other.
Diego guessed it was due to the injections the colonists had been given before departure. They’d been told all those shots were supposed to build their immune systems, amplify their resistance to toxins and diseases, and help their bodies adapt to their new world.
Apparently, the injections also allowed human bodies to adapt to alien sperm.
Setting the comb on the small wooden table beside her bed, Ahmya drew in a deep breath and slowly released it. She was going to see Ivy this morning. Despite the screams and cries having continued well into the night on the day Ivy had gone into labor, she and the baby had thankfully survived and were perfectly healthy. Exhausted, but healthy. It had been an immense relief for everyone.
They’d already lost one friend. They hadn’t wanted to lose another.
The next day, Callie, Lacey, and Cole had waited until the evening to visit Ivy, giving her and the baby—Akalahn—time to rest. Ahmya hadn’t joined them. There’d been an anxiousness within her, roiling and overwhelming, that had bordered on panic throughout the day. She still wasn’t sure where it had come from or why it had stricken her so suddenly…
You know why, Ahmya.
It’s because you’re next.
“I’m not.” She flipped the blanket off her legs and pushed herself to her feet.
You are, and you know it.
“Stop it. I’m not…I’m not having spider babies.”
Ahmya had to admit that the thought petrified her. She’d always been afraid of spiders, and she was still creeped out by any and all insects and arachnids. Though the vrix were definitely not spiders, she could not ignore their many, many arachnoid traits. She’d grown comfortable around them over time, but to have sex with one?
You mean to have sex with Rekosh?
She glared, cross-eyed, at the voice in her head. “No more from you.”
You know you’re curious. You have been ever since you heard Ketahn and Ivy mating. All Ivy’s pleasure-filled cries, Ketahn’s guttural grunts and growls ? —
“Ugh. Shut up.” She shook her head as though it could silence that pesky inner voice and the sounds that were so entrenched in her memory.
Plucking a couple green, serrated leaves from the xal’keishahl —the spiceblossom—growing from a clay pot on the table, she slipped them into her mouth. The leaves’ cinnamon-like flavor burst across her tongue as she angrily chewed. The leaves’ texture, while not exactly pleasant, worked well for cleaning teeth.
“There’s nothing wrong with being a little curious,” she muttered.
She was a virgin, but she wasn’t ignorant. Ahmya knew what happened when people had sex, knew that it could feel good—though she’d never experienced anything other than self-pleasure. And considering Cole was the only human male available…
Ahmya straightened, tugging down the hem of her silk skirt. “No. Just…no.”
Cole was handsome, and he’d changed a lot in the time she’d known him, having become a genuine friend to her since they’d left the Somnium three months ago. At heart, he was thoughtful and dependable. But he just wasn’t her type, and she felt no attraction toward him. The only other single humans were Callie and Lacey. They were both gorgeous, but Ahmya wasn’t interested in either of them sexually.
That left her with two choices—die a virgin or mate with a vrix.
You know exactly which vrix.
She groaned and scrubbed her hands over her face. “Why am I thinking about all this now?”
Because Rekosh is back, and you know the truth.
Ahmya snapped off the spiceblossom’s pink flower. “I’m done talking to you.”
She walked toward the doorway, only to come to an abrupt halt. Her head tipped back as she stared up at the ceiling. “I’ve been spending way too much time alone with my thoughts.”
And wasn’t that how it had always been? When she was still living with her father, it had been hours in her room doing homework, broken only by silent, stifling family meals. She’d been alone when she finally moved out, and though she knew that wasn’t the case here, it felt like it sometimes.
Especially for those first few days after Rekosh had departed a month ago.
Vrix had excellent senses of smell, and they apparently reacted...excitedly when humans were ovulating. Ivy had explained it to Ahmya, Lacey, and Callie. It was like when female vrix put out their pheromones, only stronger.
So when Ahmya ovulated for the first time since awakening, she’d been forced to spend several days cooped up in her little den, avoiding contact with all the vrix. She could only imagine what it would’ve been like had Rekosh been around when a male thornskull scented her during that time.
The peace between Rekosh’s kind and the thornskulls might’ve been put into jeopardy.
To say it had been an unsettling experience would’ve been an understatement, but the worst part had been the quiet. Even though she’d still seen Lacey, Callie, and the other humans every day, something had been missing. Something that had become so natural a part of her days, that had become so natural a part of her life.
Not something. Someone.
Don’t you dare, Ahmya. Don’t you dare admit that...that you missed Rekosh being around. That it was too quiet without him. That…
“Okay, time to go!”
Proceeding to the door, she tugged on her boots, slung her backpack over her shoulders, and brushed aside the silk hanging to step outside. Bright rays of sunlight gleamed through the canopy above, casting dancing shadows of the leaves and branches swaying in the breeze. She walked along the platform toward the descending stairway. There was no sign of Callie or Lacey. This early, they were either sleeping or having breakfast in the lounge. Cole was always up with the dawn, either busy with one of his many projects or joining the thornskulls’ hunts.
What was Rekosh doing? Was he resting, or was he awake? How would he spend his day?
Ha! See, still thinking of him.
Ahmya sighed. The last few months had been filled with labor as the humans worked alongside the vrix to help make a place for themselves here in Kaldarak. Most nights, she’d gone to bed exhausted, with every muscle in her body aching, and had passed out the instant she hit her pallet.
But there’d been other nights when she’d lain awake, longing for the days when it had just been their small tribe. When they’d all gathered around a fire beneath the stars and talked. Everything had been so much more intimate then, and they hadn’t been so busy and scattered. Sure, they’d been running for their lives, but…Ahmya had enjoyed that time with her newfound family.
And during this last month, she’d missed Rekosh’s presence. She hadn’t realized how bright her days had been when he’d shown up to work alongside her, watch over her, or talk to her—which he’d done often, as he was eager to learn English. He made her feel seen. Made her feel included. He didn’t treat her like a burden or make her feel like she was in the way.
Then he was gone, and every day had been gloomier than the last.
Rekosh had been kind, supportive, protective. He was her friend.
You know that he wants to be more, Ahmya.
Her thoughts flashed back to two days ago, when Rekosh had come to speak with her after his month-long absence.
Words from my heartsthread, kir’ani vi’keishi .
My little flower.
Ahmya’s heart thumped, and she pressed a hand to her chest. What had he been about to say? What had he been about to profess?
His unspoken words were an unknown that loomed as large and as intimidating as what she’d faced by boarding the Somnium to leave Earth.
But they weren’t entirely unknown, were they? She had a pretty good idea of what he might’ve confessed, and if her guess was right, it only led to an entirely new set of uncertainties.
He…he wanted her as his mate.
Ahmya chewed on the inside of her bottom lip.
Was that so wrong? Was it so unappealing? Ivy was mated to Ketahn, and she was happy. Based on the sounds she made when the two had sex, she was really happy. But their relationship went well beyond sex. They loved each other, cared for each other, and it was evident in everything they did, even when they weren’t together.
Could Ahmya find that same happiness with Rekosh? When she’d first seen the vrix, that answer had been a firm heck no , but in the time since …
Ahmya jogged down the stairs to the main platform.
In the time since, her heart fluttered with Rekosh’s every crimson glance, her skin tingled with his every touch, and she ached and yearned for him in a way she had for no other.
Seeing him again had reminded her of all that, had made her body react, had made her crave. And last night, when Ahmya had given in to temptation and touched herself in the darkness of her den, it had been Rekosh she’d imagined as she stroked her clit. It had been his name, muffled in her bedding, that she’d cried as she came.
Cheeks flushing, Ahmya shoved that memory aside. “Ivy. I’m going to see Ivy and the new baby.”
She crossed the rope bridge connecting the humans’ platforms to the rest of Kaldarak and hurried toward Ketahn and Ivy’s den, replying to the thornskulls who greeted her along the way in their own tongue, albeit a bit haltingly and likely mispronounced. But the natives of the tree village were used to the strange accents of the humans who’d become their tribemates, and they’d found ways around the lingering language barriers.
When she finally reached her destination, she found Telok standing on the platform outside the den, scanning Kaldarak with his bright green eyes, both sets of arms folded across his chest and abdomen. He turned his head toward Ahmya as she approached, mandibles ticking upward.
Ahmya smiled wide. “Good morning, Telok.”
He dipped his chin in acknowledgement. Though he wasn’t nearly the largest vrix she’d encountered, he might’ve been the most intimidating. With all those scars on his black and green hide, that piercing gaze, and a deep, rasping voice, he often seemed rather intense. But she’d seen how deeply he cared, and how quickly he’d come to the aid of the members of their tribe when there was trouble.
“Everything okay?” she asked .
“Yes.”
“Why are you standing out here alone?”
Telok huffed and waved toward the rest of the village, replying in English, “All go here to see. I tell all go away. Ivy and Akalahn no rest with thornskulls seeing.”
“Is it okay for me to see them if they’re awake? I won’t stay too long.”
He closed his hand into a fist and raised his thumb in a gesture that Cole and Will had taught him. It was both strange and comical seeing him do it. “Awake now.”
Ahmya grinned. “Thank you.” She knocked on the intertwined branches of the doorframe. “It’s Ahmya.”
“Come in!” Ivy called.
Shifting aside the cloth door, Ahmya slipped inside the warm den. It had been given to Ivy and Ketahn when they’d first arrived in Kaldarak, and it was larger than those that had been built for the humans—a den for a mated pair.
There were spears standing next to the doorway, nets and coils of silk rope hanging on the wall, and built-in pockets and shelves containing all sorts of items, including tools, herbs, and small jars. Clay pots and woven baskets sat in one corner, and near them was a vrix-made furnace crafted from slabs of stone. The slabs formed a box that was open on one side, revealing a bowl with a low, blue-green flame burning within.
And beside the fire were Ketahn and Ivy, resting upon a mountain of fluffed silk. It would have put the biggest, comfiest bean bag to shame.
Looks like someone was busy.
As Ahmya stepped out of her boots, she wondered if making fluffed silk was an instinctual thing male vrix did in preparation for their broodlings. Kind of like what women would call nesting.
With the soft fur rug beneath her bare feet, she approached the couple .
Ivy reclined against Ketahn’s chest, her golden hair woven into a braid which rested over one shoulder, and the big black and purple vrix sat behind her with his lower pair of arms around her middle. She cradled a blanket-wrapped bundle in her arms.
Ahmya stopped in the middle of the room. “I hope I’m not intruding.”
“You are,” Ketahn said.
Her eyes widened. “Oh.”
Ivy chuckled and glanced up at her mate. “Hush. It’s okay, Ahmya. Thanks to Telok, we were able to get some sleep without being interrupted by an unending stream of visitors.”
“I can come back later if you’d prefer,” Ahmya said. “I know it’s kind of early.”
“You’re fine. We’ve been awake for a little while.” Ivy beckoned Ahmya with a hand. “Come closer. You don’t have to stand all the way over there.” She grinned and patted Ketahn’s arm. “Despite his threats to do so, Ketahn won’t bite.”
Ketahn snapped his mandible fangs together, and his violet eyes settled on Ahmya. “If I must bite to ensure you get rest, my heartsthread, I will do so.”
Ahmya shuddered. She would not want to be caught between his fangs—or any other vrix’s.
Except for Rekosh’s?
Shut up, brain.
“He’s being extra protective right now, but he won’t hurt you, Ahmya,” Ivy said.
“No bite, no eat,” Ketahn said with a chitter. “No fun.”
The women laughed.
He lowered his head and nuzzled Ivy’s hair before looking back at Ahmya. “I will not hurt you. Come. See my pride, my hearts, my love. See our broodling.”
Unable to shake her nervousness, Ahmya closed the distance between them. Her unease wasn’t due to Ketahn. He’d definitely scared her in the beginning, but he’d since become family. She knew he wouldn’t hurt her, knew his threats had been jokes. She’d seen firsthand just how selfless he was when it came to protecting Ivy, the other humans, and his friends—his tribe.
No, Ahmya’s anxiousness was due entirely to the baby in Ivy’s arms.
As Ahmya drew closer to Ivy, she noted the woman’s paler than usual skin and the dark circles beneath her eyes. Ivy was clearly exhausted, but she still bore a glow of vitality, and was as beautiful as ever.
Ahmya smiled and lifted the pink spiceblossom, offering it to Ivy. “For you. It’s not much, but there’s not exactly an abundance of flowers up here for me to make a bouquet out of. This was the first to bloom.”
“Aw, thank you,” Ivy said as she accepted the flower by the stem, bringing the blossom to her nose.
“How…did it go?”
When Ivy lowered the flower, Ketahn gently took it from her. His big hands, tipped with black claws, delicately slid the stem into Ivy’s hair behind her ear, tucking back the wayward blond strands.
“Truthfully? It was scary,” she said, taking Ketahn’s hand and lacing her fingers with his. “There were moments when I thought I couldn’t do it. When I thought I…wouldn’t make it. No matter how many times or how hard I pushed, the baby wouldn’t come. I was just so exhausted, constantly in and out of consciousness, but the urge to push was as powerful as ever.”
Ivy looked down at the bundle cradled on her arm and smiled. “When he finally came, it was such a relief. Then I saw him. He was so beautiful. And he’s…he’s perfect, Ahmya.”
She looked up with a short laugh. “Tore me up something fierce though. Thankfully Diego patched me up quick, so yay for Earth science. But despite all that pain… It was worth it just to hold our son. To look into his eyes. I would do it all over again.”
Ketahn growled and pulled her against him a little more snugly. “Not again, Ivy. You will not suffer that pain again.”
Ivy rolled her eyes, released his hand, and reached up to pat the side of his face. “Unless you’re willing to give up sex, it’s bound to happen again.”
His mandibles drooped. “I do not like these choices.”
Ahmya chuckled.
Ivy grinned at him. “It’s one or the other, spider man. Your choice. I know which one I choose.”
“I choose for you to be safe, Ivy.” His voice was raw and thick, and his face, though unable to change expressions, still managed to convey all that emotion and vulnerability. “You were in pain, and I could not help. Now you both are safe”—his eyes flicked to the baby—“and I will not risk you again.”
Her gaze softened, and she stroked her thumb across his jaw. “Childbirth is natural, Ketahn. There will always be risks, will always be pain, but that can’t stop us from living. Has it yet?”
Ketahn pressed his headcrest to Ivy’s forehead and trilled, caressing her cheek.
Blushing, Ahmya turned her eyes away. She couldn’t help but feel like an intruder during this intimate moment between the couple.
But she also felt a deep longing to share moments like this with someone. To experience the affection and adoration she’d only ever seen secondhand, to be the source of someone’s strength, to be supported in her own weakness. To share comfort, companionship, and laughter. She longed to share her life with someone.
Longed to be loved .
Her chest constricted, and she pressed a palm over it as though that could ease the growing ache of loneliness .
“Ahmya?” Ivy asked.
Ahmya blinked and looked back at Ivy. “Sorry. I…kind of…”
“It’s okay.” Ivy lifted the baby. “I asked if you would like to hold him.”
“Oh.” Ahmya’s heart quickened as she stared at the swathed baby. “Um...”
“He’s pretty sound asleep after eating, so he won’t fuss.”
“Okay.” Ahmya eased closer and held out her arms.
Ivy relinquished Akalahn into Ahmya’s care, showing her how to hold the baby. He was both smaller and heavier than Ahmya had expected.
She looked down at his sleeping face, and her breath caught.
Though Akalahn had four eyes, currently closed, and a pair of small, fanged mandibles, his features were surprisingly human. His little nostrils flared with his exhalations, and his lips stuck out in a gentle pout that was both amusing and endearing. Instead of a headcrest, he had a full head of black and gold hair.
Ahmya brushed a finger over his cheek. His black skin was soft and smooth, but there was a toughness to it that made her wonder if it would harden into a thick hide like his father’s.
He stirred, shifting his arms and causing the blanket to fall open, then yawned, revealing his baby fangs. As he settled, tucking all four of his arms against his chest, Ahmya smiled. His little hands—each with five fingers instead of the four typical of the vrix—curled into fists. Tiny black claws tipped those chubby fingers.
Since awakening on the crashed ship, Ahmya had felt like she’d been in a world of giants. But here was Akalahn, so small, so precious, so adorable. Far cuter than anything she had imagined.
The anxiousness swirling within her eased, though it didn’t fade completely.
“He’s beautiful,” Ahmya said, gently rocking the baby .
“He is,” Ivy replied. “I didn’t know what to expect. I mean, we all thought I was going to lay eggs.”
Ahmya chuckled. “Now we can all rest assured that there will be no egg laying.”
We, Ahmya?
I’m not talking to you anymore.
Still, Ahmya couldn’t help but picture a vrix baby of her own, one with red markings instead of purple.
“Coming in!” announced a familiar feminine voice. “Hope your boob isn’t popped out. Not that I’d care.”
The curtain door flipped open, brightening the den momentarily as Lacey swept inside, jabbing her thumb over her shoulder. “You got ole fuddy-duddy on guard duty?”
She was dressed in a Homeworld Initiative jumpsuit from the ship, but due to wear and tear, it’d been altered into a two-piece outfit consisting of shorts and a sleeveless top.
“I do not know that word, Lacey. But if it means he is failing his duty, it is the right word,” Ketahn said with a rumble.
The curtain was moved aside again, and Telok poked his head through the opening, green eyes narrowed. “ Kess’ur ikar tes kir, Ketahn?”
Did you speak of me, Ketahn?
Ketahn gnashed his mandibles. “ Kir’ur ikar tes kess. ”
I did speak of you.
“Lacey kota ?”
Ketahn nodded.
Telok stepped fully into the den and jabbed a long, clawed finger toward Lacey. “ Ah’ur ven’dak zeta. Kir’ur ikar ven’dak nek ursh, ova ah’ur lenaal ahn’ganok saal saavix ursh .”
He was speaking too quickly for Ahmya to understand everything, but the gist seemed to be that Lacey hadn’t listened to him.
“Hey!” Lacey pointed at Telok. “It’s rude to talk about people when they can’t understand you. ”
“What thuddy-duddy ?” Telok asked in harsh, accented English, glaring at Lacey.
She smirked at him. “It means you’re boring, dull, no fun. Like you have a stick rammed up your spider butt.” Lacey finished that sentence by swinging her fist like she was jabbing said stick up there herself.
He narrowed his eight eyes further, reducing them to faintly glowing green slits. “ Arvok ah’ur ikar, Ketahn?”
What did she say, Ketahn?
Ivy covered her grin with a hand, but it didn’t hide the mirth in her eyes.
“ Kess’al shon uniran ah’ani ikarahl, Telok , vux kess’al zeki ah ,” Ketahn replied.
Telok growled, casting his narrow-eyed glare at Ketahn before demonstrating another gesture he’d learned from Cole, Diego, and Will—lowering all but the middle finger on his hand.
“What did you say to him?” Lacey asked.
“Ketahn said he should learn your words so he can ask you himself,” Ivy replied with a chuckle.
Lacey smiled sweetly at the black and green vrix. “Telok wouldn’t like the words I have for him.”
Telok stared at her, eyes dipping to her mouth. Something intensified in his gaze, a building heat not unlike that which Ahmya had so often seen in Ketahn’s eyes when he looked upon Ivy.
Or Rekosh’s eyes when he looks at me…
And yet Telok offered Lacey the same gesture he’d just made toward Ketahn, raising his long middle finger.
Ahmya’s jaw dropped, and Ivy burst into laughter.
“Wow. I missed you too, smart ass. Anyway!” Lacey approached Ahmya and peered down at Akalahn, her expression softening as she brushed a finger along the bridge of his tiny nose. “I’m here to collect Ahmya. The thornskulls are ready to head out to gather supplies for the celebration.”
“Celebration?” Ivy asked. “What are they celebrating?”
Lacey gave her a droll look. “Ivy, you just had a hybrid vrix baby. That’s kind of a big deal.”
“Garahk and Nalaki wanted to celebrate right away, but Diego convinced them to give you a few days to recover beforehand,” Ahmya said. “He had to make them understand that giving birth is strenuous for humans and that you need time to rest and heal, so they want to use that time to go out and gather extra food.”
“They’re pretty much holding a village-wide feast in honor of you two and little Akalahn.”
Ketahn growled, hugging Ivy closer to his chest even as his eyes fell on the infant in Ahmya’s arms. “They may do as they like. My mate and broodling will remain here, resting in peace.”
“Suck it up,” Lacey said. “It’s not every day that a half-human half-vrix baby is born. And Akalahn is the first.”
Ivy cupped Ketahn’s face and peered up at him. “This is our tribe now, and they’re happy for us. It wouldn’t hurt to join them.”
He huffed through his nose, mandibles falling. “If it is your wish, my heartsthread. For a small time, we will join them.”
She smiled.
Once more, Ahmya’s heart squeezed in response to the open love passing between Ketahn and Ivy. She looked down at Akalahn and was startled to see four wide, luminous violet eyes staring up at her. “Oh!”
He didn’t cry, didn’t fuss or protest that it wasn’t his mother holding him, he simply looked up at her curiously.
Ahmya smiled at him. “Hi there, little one.”
“Perfect timing,” Lacey said.
It was, but Ahmya suddenly found herself reluctant to give him up .
“And you’re both going out with the thornskulls?” Ivy asked.
Ahmya shifted closer to Ivy and carefully returned Akalahn to his mother’s arms. “We’re gathering food and looking for herbs. I also wanted to take this chance to study more of the plants.”
Lacey smiled. “Ahmya’s itching to get back out in the jungle to explore.”
She was. It wasn’t often that she was able to venture outside of Kaldarak, especially as it was much too dangerous to go out alone.
“Is Callie joining you?” Ivy asked.
“Not this time,” Ahmya said. “She’s checking out a tunnel with Urkot and some thornskulls. I think she said its where they’re mining limestone.”
Ivy adjusted the baby in her arms, tucking the blanket more snuggly around him. “Just be careful out there.”
Lacey snorted. “What could go wrong? Giant beasties, carnivorous plants, floods? Pfft. Been there, done that.”
Ahmya’s scars flared with echoes of pain at the memory of the firevine’s thorns piercing her flesh. The encounter with that particular carnivorous plant had been so sudden, so startling, and so dangerous.
But it wasn’t enough to stop her from exploring. It wasn’t enough to make her love plants any less.
“Let’s…take a pass on all that,” Ahmya said with a soft laugh. “Going through it once was more than enough for me.”
“Agreed,” said Lacey and Ivy in unison.
“Now let’s get going before they leave us puny humans behind.” Lacey hooked her arm through Ahmya’s and led her toward the entrance, sticking her tongue out at Telok as they passed him.