Chapter 7
I bit off a chunk of my lunch, another protein bar.
I’d started the apocalypse with six flavors.
But comfort eating and blind optimism had prompted me to eat through my stash of the best flavor in the first month and I was left with birthday cake (gag), peanut butter(eh) and the best of the bad, mint chocolate chip.
I missed the matcha flavored bars like an old friend.
The dry, vaguely toothpaste tasting bar in my hand was a chore to eat, but I had literally no other food, so I was doing my best to pretend it was a turkey sub. Even my Olympic level delusion skills couldn’t make it more appealing.
I hoped Tovis followed through on his promise to bring me food, just for the sake of variety.
The jerky he’d given me had been the best thing I’d ever eaten and I wished I’d had the self control to save some.
Scurvy was becoming a real threat the longer I lived on these gross bars.
I almost believed the alien male had been part of some loneliness induced dream.
What were the chances I’d really met a six-foot-tall alien, with horns and red skin? It seemed far more likely I’d just hallucinated the whole event and for some reason that depressed me.
As if summoned by my thoughts, a loud knock sounded from the back door, followed by a,
“I’m back! Jessa!”
I choked on my bar, hacking and coughing as I stumbled to the back room and wrenched the door open. Sucking in a desperate breath, I inhaled a fleck of bar and felt my eyes bulge as my throat seized around the invader.
Tovis stood outside the door, his brows rising as he watched me sag against the door frame, pounding my chest and gasping for air.
“Hi,” I wheezed out, closing one eye and struggling to dislodge the protein bar dust. He stepped forward, one big hand landing on my back and giving me several hard strikes that almost took me to the ground.
Stumbling under his helpful assault, the debris in my air way finally cleared and I held up a hand as I took a shaky breath.
“I’m good, I’m good,” I choked out. “Thanks.”
Tovis eyed me worriedly and I gestured him inside, quickly locking the door behind him.
“I didn’t expect you back so soon,” I said, doing my best to pretend the last few minutes never happened.
He lifted a huge sack that looked like it was made from a bedsheet.
“I brought gifts.”
“Oh.” I stared at the bugling sack, unable to hide my excitement. As if sensing my thoughts, Tovis strode to the empty package table and dumped a pile of food out. One hand went to my chest as I stared at all the goodies he’d brought me.
There was canned food, everything from sweet corn to ravioli. Candy, little plastic single serve bowls of soup and noodles, and a single huge package wrapped in brown paper.
The smell of roasted meat filled the air, and I stared lustfully at the brown paper, covered in grease stains.
“Is that meat?” I whispered.
“It is,” he said proudly, picking it up and presenting it to me. I reached out and he set it in my hands, the paper was still warm and I could barely restrain myself from ripping into it like a feral cat.
“Amy said it is venison. It was cooked this morning.”
“Venison,” I breathed, inexplicable tears welling in my eyes. “Holy crap, thank you so much.”
It had been months since I'd eaten real food. I hadn’t been big into wild game before, but this was better than my wildest dreams.
“She also sent a care package.” He reached for his belt and handed me a purse, bursting at the zipper. I shakily accepted it, unwilling to let go of the fresh meat to look at whatever was inside.
Tovis scratched the side of his face and scrunched up his nose.
“She said there was lotion, meds and fem-femine-something for women.”
“Wow.” I couldn’t decide where to look, there was so much to appreciate in his haul. “Um, come in. I’ll find a place to put all this.”
The meat was going straight to the break room table, because I was going to gorge myself.
Tovis stuffed everything back into his sack and followed me out of the back room.
I hadn’t turned on the lights in the main area, and it felt strange, hearing someone else's steps echoing through the dark empty space.
I hadn’t imagined Tovis, he was real and he’d come back. Which meant the humans he knew were real, too.
“Can you tell me about the other women?” I asked, leading him to the break room and plopping the wrapped meat in the center of the empty table. Tovis handed me the sack and I quickly started sorting through everything.
“There are five mated females in my band,” he said, watching intently as I stacked the precious canned goods on the barren counter.
I’d told him I had plenty of food, but it had been at best an optimistic exaggeration.
I rationed harshly, but after six months I didn’t have a lot of food left and the thought of running out kept me up most nights.
Tracking calories like a psycho, I allotted myself fifteen hundred a day, to the point of cutting up my protein bars just so I didn’t accidently overeat by even ten calories.
Once my protein bars were gone, I’d have to choose; stay in my safe haven and starve, or face reality and venture out into the apocalyptic wasteland I hadn’t even had the courage to look at yet.
Based on my calculations, the food Tovis had brought me would let me live in denial for a few more weeks than I’d hoped.
“Amy is mated to Kes, Penny is mated to Adak. Hope is mated to Aeko and Taz is mated to Dargo. Carn and Naomi live nearby but they aren’t truly part of the band.”
“Why not?” I asked, my mind spinning with all the new names.
Tovis shrugged, an uncomfortable look crossing his face.
“Carn was a gladiator. We were all enslaved to the sytos, many of us were forced to fight for their entertainment, but Carn...” he trailed off before shaking his head. “His reputation in the arena makes the others distrust him. He killed too many of us, it's easier for them to live apart.”
My hands stuttered mid stack at his words. I wanted so badly to ask questions. Who were the sytos? Tovis had been enslaved? A human woman was mated to an alien so violent his own people didn’t want him around?
But his answers would upend my reality. Right now, I was doing my best to pretend he wasn’t an alien, that the world hadn’t ended, that I was in some small way, safe and in control of my future.
I knew aliens had invaded, but I didn’t want to know about Tovis’ part in it. There was no way I could be comfortable around him if I knew details.
“Did you pass on my invitation to the women?”
He nodded, leaning casually against the table.
“I did. They plan to visit you in two days.”
“Two days!” I dropped a can of corn. “I have to get ready, clean.” My heart thundered with excitement and nerves. In two days, I’d see people again, humans. “Are they all coming?”
Tovis bent over and saved the can of corn from its roll across the floor.
“All but Taz, she’s on a supply run with her mate for the next few days.”
“Do all the women do that?” I asked, picking at my nail polish. My manicure would be wrecked after I scrubbed every inch of the spa, so I wasn’t too worried about preserving it now. My eyes fell to his hooves, still sparkling from the shimmering polish I’d applied yesterday.
“Most of them,” he replied easily. “Penny and Amy have stayed in camp since they got pregnant.”
My eyes shot to his face.
“They’re pregnant?” I gaped at his inhuman face. The red skin, the bulky features, the huge horns arcing off his head. Someone that looked like Tovis had knocked up a human?
“Yes.” He cocked his head to the side as he met my stare. “They’re mated,” he said like that explained everything.
“H-how did that even happen?” I stuttered, something about his expression made my throat seize up with nerves. He was watching me so intently I felt like he could see under my skin.
An impish grin broke over his face.
“Do you want me to explain how a turoch breeds his mate?”
“No!” My face flamed with embarrassment. “I just meant, how did five human women end up with aliens.”
“The males claimed their mates, in the way of our people.” His smile didn’t fade as he took in my discomfort. “Is it so different for humans?”
“Humans don’t claim mates,” I said a little starchily.
“Then humans are wasting their females. From what I’ve seen, you’re all too appealing not to be claimed.”
My face was so hot I wanted to fan myself, barely holding back the urge. I was pretty certain Tovis was hitting on me, and I didn’t hate it.
Obviously, I’d been alone so long that any attention felt good. I couldn’t really be attracted to him, could I?
“You don’t have a mate,” he said slyly.
“I was what humans called ‘perpetually single’,” I muttered. “Not that it matters now.” My lack of a love life had been the least of my concerns until just this moment.
“It matters.”
“Why?” I asked nervously.
He winked at me.
“Because when I bring the other females back here, I’m going to claim you as my mate.”