Chapter 17
Maya
They weren’t going to make it to the waystation before nightfall.
“We need another plan,” Maya said, eyeing the darkening sky. “You might not remember, but I do. This planet gets very dangerous at night. We can’t be out here when the sun sets.”
Ranek peered down the long stretch of road in front of them. “We will look for shelter.”
As they kept walking, the effects of the flowers faded from her system, but Maya never let go of Ranek’s arm and he never released hers either.
Her mood stayed lifted too, despite the approaching dusk.
She let herself enjoy his presence as they settled into a comfortable pace, clearly slow for him, but perfect for her.
If it weren’t for the fact that Ranek kept looking behind them and at the sky like he thought the pirates would appear right there, she could almost pretend they were on a leisurely hike together.
Commander Chaos wanted to sniff everything, but worried that he might eat something poisonous or chase a random animal right back to its giant mama, Ranek kept his leash tight.
Was it bad that a part of her almost wished that Ranek would never remember his past? She didn’t care what horrible crimes had brought him out here, and she didn’t want to know. She just wanted to pretend to be his and bathe in his love forever.
She knew the happiness would end eventually, though.
She also knew that part of the lovey-dovey feelings was caused by whatever the pleasant flower had released.
But not all of it. Because if she had to be very honest with herself, she’d already been falling for him since last night, and that was when he still remembered that she couldn’t be his mate.
And now he was actively trying to win her over and whispering such sweet promises. She was lost. He seemed to truly believe it too.
It wasn’t fair. She felt like her heart was going to break even as she was falling in love.
After about another hour in the grueling heat, they’d found a small, mostly hidden road leading to a single building that reminded her of those temporary trailers they set up at job sites back on Earth. Except this one was sleek and gray and most definitely alien-made.
She squinted at the glyphs. Despite having spent years trying to learn the Tallean language, she still came across new glyphs on the daily.
“That glyph says it’s a station of some kind, but I’ve never seen the second word before.”
“It’s a relay station.”
“A relay station? What’s that?” She had a feeling it didn’t mean the same thing as it did on Earth.
“It was most likely a shipping hub so the Dominion could get the food and supplies distributed efficiently to all its outposts.”
“Oh, that makes sense. I bet they have a map!”
The door was already unlocked, and by the looks of it, the pirates had already gone in a long time ago to clear out anything useful.
It was, however, still powered, probably due to the panel she’d seen set up out front.
A small place like this wouldn’t need much to keep it lit.
They found a large map on the wall. It was dusty and faded, but not so much that it was unusable.
“Those blue squares are the supply hubs in the areas,” Ranek said, pointing to the two large blue shaded areas on the map.
“Oh! Supply hub, not waystation.”
“Close enough. I understood you. The translators are usually quite generous with meanings. But it cannot fathom these D’s that you wanted.”
Maya furrowed her brows. What the hell could he possibly mean? The D’s that she wanted? Her face heated up as her mind went there for a fraction of a second before she realized what he meant. It was something totally innocent and not suggestive at all.
“Oh! Mickey D’s! It’s a fast-food joint back home. I really miss it. Did you know someone on Reka 5 is trying to replicate the food? He’s getting close too!”
“This is food you enjoy?”
“Well, it’s junky comfort food, I guess. It’s not amazing for you. Sometimes it’s, well… I miss it.”
“It makes you think of home,” he finished.
“Yeah.”
“I know I should know this, but how did you get to Reka 5 from your planet? And where is this planet? What is your species called?”
Maya had never had to explain her situation to anyone, human or Tallean, before, since so many living at Reka 5 shared a similar past. She tried to find the simplest way to say it.
“I’m a human from Earth, and I was taken by the Dominion as a slave along with hundreds of others that day. I was lucky, and we were freed during our trip and dropped off at Reka 5. I’ve been there for a few years.”
Ranek looks pensive. “So the Dominion has found another source of free labor.”
She laughed. “Hell no! We gave some so much grief that they had to try breeding us to be more docile. By the time I got to Reka 5, there were already plenty of established humans there. Do you really not remember anything?”
“Some of my memory has returned.”
Maya paused in her perusal of the map. Did that mean he remembered his old mate?
“I remember that I have a brother. He is very intelligent. More so than me. His name is Vasek. And I must be honest, I also remember that I worked for the Dominion, but not anymore.” Ranek looked worried, like he thought she might hold it against him.
“If you think I’m going to hold it against you, I’m not. There have been plenty of Talleans who switched sides and started fighting for the other planets in recent years. Did you know Ulrek the Horrible is on our side now?”
The outraged look Ranek sent her almost had her laughing.
“Ulrek? Are we speaking of the same male?”
“Highly decorated Dominion captain? Kind of an asshole. Did some shady business with Kean, the Euphora dealer.”
Ranek stilled as he took in the information, then he stumbled back a step and sat down in a chair. His face was sheet-white, a difficult thing considering his rich complexion.
“Are you okay?”
“No,” he said, his voice shaking. “I am not. I am missing many years of memories. I know Kean and Ulrek personally. We’d thought Kean was lost after a pirate attack, but then he resurfaced, and there was talk of him making Euphora in the outer planets.
I thought perhaps I had come out here to join his new venture, but… ”
“It’s not a new venture anymore. He basically rules Vosthea now.”
“Vosthea? But the Dominion rules that.”
“Not for years.”
“Fuck!” His hands went to his head. “And Ulrek?”
“I don’t know much about him, just that he started freeing human slaves and sending them to Reka 5. I was part of the last run he did for the Dominion. And that was even before Kean took over Vosthea.” Maya decided that was all she’d say. Ranek was obviously distressed with his lack of memory.
She approached him instead, offering comfort. He pulled her into his lap, and she let him hold her.
When he finally spoke again, his voice sounded strange in the stillness. “I remember something else.”
“What?”
He hesitated.
“It’s okay, you can tell me.”
“I do not know if you already know.”
Had he remembered his old mate? If he did, he did not change the way he touched and held her.
“Tell me,” she urged.
“The males in my line are cursed.”
Well, okay. That was new.
“Your body language tells me that I have not told you.” His body felt tense against hers, and he took in a ragged breath before he said, “There has not been a happy mating in generations. They say it’s bad luck, but some call it a curse.” His arms tightened around her like he was afraid she’d run.
“What does that mean?”
“For generations, our mates have rejected us and we’ve gone mad. Or fate stole them from us early. To get around this, my sire contracted a female to bear my brother and me. I have never met my mother. It was the only way.”
That was a lot to take in.
She didn’t really believe in things like bad luck and curses.
Oftentimes, they only seemed to exist because of the person’s own actions, kind of like a self-fulfilling prophecy.
But it seemed to have affected him anyway because according to him, he had already lost his mate.
Maya wasn’t sure whether she should tell him.
What if it made things worse? Especially since she had no information about this mysterious woman and couldn’t answer any of his questions.
What if she’d misunderstood and told him the wrong things?
It was better for him to remember on his own; that way, all the memories would be his and his alone.
She didn’t want to accidentally influence him.
So, despite it not being the ideal solution, she kept quiet.
“I don’t know how to react to that news,” she finally said honestly. “My kind can’t form mating bonds at all. Instead, we rely on love alone, and sometimes that goes sour. It’s just something we have to deal with, a fact of life.”
As Ranek mulled that over, Maya could see the gears working in his head. “You cannot form a mate bond to me,” he finally started.
“That’s right. I cannot.”
He grinned, the smile making him look devastatingly sexy. “Wonderful. I might have found a solution to my curse.”
“I don’t…” But even as she shook her head, she understood what he meant.
The curse might overlook her simply because she was incapable of forming a bond. If a curse did exist, perhaps it would consider her inability to bond with him as an acceptable outcome, regardless of how she really felt.
“I think I understand,” she said. “You think my inability to form a bond could be a loophole.”
“Exactly! I could bond with you, and you can love me. And…”
“Wait! Stop!” Maya put her hand up. “I could be the solution, or I could not be. We don’t know for sure. Don’t get too excited. Let’s just take things one day at a time, okay? Please?”
When he remembered his past, he’d understand her hesitation. Maya didn’t want him disappointed when things didn’t work out.
“Of course,” Ranek said, a little more reserved.
But Maya could see and hear the excitement simmering just under the surface.
“Let’s focus on getting out of here. I must find my brother and run it by him.
He’s very smart. If I’m out here, then he must be as well.
” His eyes went back to the map on the wall, but this time with renewed energy.
“There and there.” He pointed to two large areas shaded in blue. “Those are the two supply hubs serving this continent.”
“Back on the road, there was a fork,” Maya said. “The one we took went to one of the hubs. It has to be this one, because the other one wouldn’t make sense.”
“Your reasoning is sound.” Ranek agreed. “And this must be the relay station. How long did it take for the pirates to get back to the hideout from the mining station?”
Maya tried to remember the ride from this morning. “I’m not good at estimating time, but not too long. It must be the closest station. And…” She scanned the map again, looking at the terrain. “Here’s the swamp my pod landed in, I think.”
Ranek sent her a confused look, clearly not remembering the pod or their meeting at all.
“I think we found our mining station,” she continued. “But we didn’t have any pirates on our tail on the way here, which must mean they went back that way, thinking they’d catch us there. How safe is it to actually go back there?”
“They probably know by now that we didn’t go in the right direction. If we loop around and travel fast in the morning, we might be able to avoid them.”
This was as good a place as any to settle down for the night. If the pirates here valued their hides, they’d be hiding out too.
Whoever had once worked here had lived here as well, and alone too, because they found his living quarters at the back of the trailer. It was nothing more than a bed to sleep in and some personal storage, all ransacked.
They didn’t have a scrap of food, and all the water they had was the package Maya had been clutching in her hand as they escaped the brig.
“There is still light. Stay here, I will see what I can hunt down.”
“But you were passed out most of the day, you shouldn’t…”
But Ranek was already stepping outside, leaving her with Commander Chaos who was already falling asleep at the foot of the bed. He’d run a long way, and he was exhausted.
Maya was too. She’d planned only to sit down for a second, but the moment her ass landed on the mat, exhaustion rolled over her, and she started to doze off immediately.
She was jolted awake by the sound of something stepping into the trailer. Ranek held up a handful of old food bars, packages that looked like alien MREs, and water packets.
“Found these in the shed at the back of the warehouse behind us.”
“Warehouse?” She hadn’t seen anything like that on her way in.
“It’s open air. Just a big floor with a roof. The ore is all gone, probably taken by the pirates. But they left the stuff in the supply shed. It’s not quite the hunting I planned to do, but the food bars should still be edible at least for Commander Chaos.”
He unwrapped one and tossed it to the dragus, who was instantly alert at hearing his name. Commander Chaos wolfed it down greedily and immediately started begging for another.
“I can go back out and hunt for something fresh if you want meat,” Ranek said.
“No, it's fine,” Maya said, not wanting him to leave again. “I’d rather you stay. I’m so tired, and you must be too. And I don’t want to be alone.”
Those last words seemed to do the trick because Ranek relaxed, and they settled in for the night.