Chapter 11
Alanna
It was her uncle! Those familiar arms, that familiar, woodsy scent. He was holding her so tight, it seemed like he might never let go. She might not have minded.
But then, rushing forward – she couldn’t believe she had missed them – were her parents.
Robert and Keisha Townsend were both wearing formal suits.
Her dad had dark circles under his eyes and her mom had new wrinkles and grays since she last saw them.
How much of that was a result of her going missing and worrying them?
“Mom! Dad!” She released her uncle and was immediately enveloped by both of their arms. Her mom was crying. Her dad was shaking. A moment later, she felt another pair of arms and, turning her head, she saw her aunt joining them – she wasn’t crying but it was a near thing.
“Holly!”
The cry made her turn her head again. This time, she saw a blonde woman in a simple, maxi dress running across the lawn. She was crying, tissues in her fist. A man in a military uniform was right behind her, and behind him were five young men. All blonde, all pale, all obviously Holly’s family.
A second later, Holly was there, having run out to meet them. She was immediately swallowed by the group that surrounded her. Romival had followed, but he stayed back, out of the way, smiling warmly as his mate was reunited with her family.
Another call made her look the other way. Hattie was being hugged by an older couple – the woman covering her face in kisses as the man pretended not to cry as he squeezed her. Another man, closer to Hattie’s age, stood behind them. Hattie caught sight of him and looked confused.
“Keith? What are you doing here?” She asked, surprise clear on her face.
Keith? Wasn’t that her ex?
He beamed and hugged a very confused looking Hattie, loudly exclaiming how much he missed her, though the older couple didn't let her go to make it easier for him. Behind her, Tuvo’s eyes narrowed on Keith, no doubt realizing something was up.
“My baby!” A loud wail made her turn again. This time, it was Scarlet who looked confused, though at least she was smiling, as she patted a shorter woman with bleach blonde hair on the back as she wailed against her.
“Mom, I’m fine,” she promised as Havali smothered his chuckles.
Then, there was Peony. She was talking eagerly to someone Alanna identified as a cousin just based on their conversation.
Apparently, they hadn’t seen each other in a long time.
The young woman and her husband were Peony’s only family and, though they weren’t close, the two had been worried when they were informed Peony had gone missing.
Alanna turned back to her uncle. “Did you do this?”
His grin was self-satisfied but genuine as he rubbed her back. “I shouldn’t be the only one who gets to see their family again.”
Her parents stepped back, her mother looking her over carefully. She had grabbed her cheeks and was searching her face. Alanna could only smile at her.
“You’re okay,” her father said, it wasn’t a question.
“I’m wonderful,” she promised, beaming. She turned and waved Survii forward. “I want you to meet someone. This is Survii.” Switching to Standard, she said to Survii, “This is my uncle, President Townsend. My mom Keisha Townsend, my aunt, Harriet Townsend, and my father, Robert Townsend.”
He put his fist over his heart, saluting them formally. “I am honored to meet you all.”
Alanna translated it for their benefit, and her family’s own polite greeting in return. That was when Halvdan inserted himself.
“Greetings to you, our friend from the stars,” he said with a formal solemnity that Alanna translated as Atem and Peony approached them again. The others were still being embraced by their family and so weren’t involved in the conversation.
“Greetings in return, our new friends,” Survii returned smoothly, matching his energy.
“We, the Earth, look forward to stepping forward into the universe, and we approach you with humility and hope.”
“Peace among us, and a long, fruitful relationship. We want nothing more than to help the Earth and guide you forward.”
Halvdan had an unmistakable – at least, it was to Alanna – gleam in his eye. He was definitely eager to learn what the aliens could do for him, for Earth, though he didn't say as much.
A loud screech made them all jump and turn. It had come from Holly’s mother who was looking at Holly’s hand. No, she was looking at the crystal ring on her finger that Romival had given her – the exchange of rings was the human tradition they had kept while among them.
“You got married?!” Her mother yelled, unconcerned with the multitude of cameras that were staring at her.
“Technically, we’re mated,” Holly laughed nervously. “It’s kind of the alien equivalent.”
“Wha-... But-... My baby got married without me!?” She wailed, tears falling.
“No! Mom, no!” Holly rushed to reassure her. “The domini claiming is very informal. I wouldn’t have had a formal ceremony without you.”
Romival was suddenly there behind her, touching her back gently as he looked at her mother. His English wasn’t perfect yet, but he could understand conversations already.
“Please, no cry,” he said in heavily stilted, accented English. “Much eager to meet you, my mate’s family. Will do honor to you. To Holly. Promise this to you.”
Holly’s mom hiccupped, staring at him through watery eyes.
The entire area had gone deadly silent as they stared at them.
Alanna’s belly tightened with nerves. This was not how she wanted to bring up the idea of hooking up with the aliens.
She should have had the girls take off their rings.
At least until they had the chance to broach the topic carefully.
Holly’s mom had a nice aura – sweet and maternal, if a little wild from worry and fear that was only now starting to be dispelled.
But just knowing someone’s aura didn't guarantee how they would react to news like this.
And it suddenly felt like the entire Earth was waiting for her reaction.
For her to set the precedent for how this kind of news should be received.
She wailed and held out her arms, taking him into a hug. Romival was the shortest, leanest male among them, but he still stood over a full head taller than her. He chuckled as he patted her back gently.
“My baby!” She sobbed, grabbing him by the face and looking him over. “Oh, look at you. So handsome! You’re a scholar? They said you’re a scholar. My baby married a genius! Toby! Look!”
“Let him breathe, sweetie,” Holly’s dad grinned, touching his wife’s shoulder as he gave Romival a searching look. “Much honor to my daughter, huh?”
“Love and honor only,” Romival promised, saluting him gently.
“Alanna.” Her uncle called her attention back to him. He was looking around, noticing the obvious coupling of every female to a male. “What is going on?”
Alanna smiled, touching Survii’s arm. A move that earned stares from all four of her family members as they glanced between the two.
“The domini don’t have a concept of marriage,” she said, explaining herself to both her family and the world at large as they looked on. “They have mates. A person that they look at and begin to love based on instinct. While we were gone, most of us were mated.”
“Were you?” Her father asked sharply, giving Survii a quick look. Survii was just standing there, smiling completely innocently. He might not know exactly what was being said, but he could probably guess based on context.
“Survii has chosen me,” she said, wanting to be honest. “He’s begun courting me because the domini understands that humans do not know their mates on sight, and he respects my space and boundaries. It’s still very new to us. But the others have all been mated much longer.”
“Hattie, what the fuck?” The furtive whisper from Keith might have been too soft to have been picked up by the microphones she could see clipped to almost everyone’s chest, but it certainly wasn’t too soft for Alanna.
Or Hattie, who suddenly looked uncomfortable. Her head was hanging as she held onto herself, clearly uncomfortable with her ex’s heated stare.
Her discomfort was making Tuvo aggressive. His tail was still, stiff and straight as his hands formed into fists. She could see his throat bob as he barely swallowed a growl.
His aggression hadn’t gone unnoticed by Atem who was now looking at Hattie, noticing her discomfort with a glare, and tracking it easily to Keith, who still had an arm around her. He could not resist the reflexive need to growl.
And, for the first time in a while, as all the humans near him stiffened, Alanna remembered just how scary that sound was. It spoke to their deepest lizard brain, their basest fears, because there was no mistaking it as anything other than the warning of a predator.
“Er, excuse me,” she said loudly, brightly, looking at Keith. He looked fearfully at Atem, but it changed to contempt when he saw her. Deepening when she said, “Please, take your arm off Hattie.”
“She’s my girlfriend,” he said, squeezing her tighter. Making Atem growl louder.
Out of her periphery, she saw the suit wearing security personnel all reaching for weapons concealed by their suit jackets. Getting ready.
And once again, the entire clearing was tense. Waiting. Breathless.
Keith, unlike Holly’s mom, did not have a good aura.
She would describe it as slimy. An oily kind of slick that might cast pretty rainbows in the right light, but overall was thick and sticky and uncomfortable.
He was not a diplomat like her family, and he definitely wouldn’t know how to hold his tongue.
She could see it in the defiant glare in his eyes as he looked at her.
Her specifically, because he wasn’t brave enough to offer it to the large domini males that, even now, were all bristling as they noticed Hattie’s obvious discomfort.
Tuvo and Atem especially.
“It’s a family thing,” Alanna hastened to say as Peony whispered to Atem, reminding him to calm down his protective instincts.
She might as well have told a bird to stop his flight instincts.
“You telling me these aliens are so possessive, they won’t let Hattie come back to me?
” Keith’s arm tightened around her. Hattie’s face was burning red, and she was trying so hard to hide from the cameras.
Her discomfort couldn’t be more obvious, and that only made Tuvo and Atem angrier.
Their growls rose along with the tension.
“Of course, not,” Alanna said cheerfully. She could feel the weight of every camera, every eye, on her – waiting.
There was great danger here. Keith was too smarmy to realize that he would be punched in the face if he pushed the wrong person too far. And Atem was certainly not one to push. But if the first thing the aliens did upon landing was attack a man, it would immediately turn the Earth against them.
The shuttle was still idling behind them. Still waiting to return all of them to the Stor just in case they had to quickly escape.
Alanna’s uncle gave her a look that she saw only out of the corner of her eye. Silently asking her to address this before it became a problem.
“The domini have a great capacity to love,” she announced to everyone, though she kept her eyes on Keith. In her mind, she begged Hattie not to move. If she tried to pull away and Keith didn't let her, Alanna didn't know that either domini male would take it well.
Keith just kept glaring at her – not Atem or Tuvo. He might act tough, but he wasn’t dumb enough to directly challenge males twice his size.
“They are a devoted and protective people,” she continued, taking hold of Survii’s arm.
He continued to smile – though he didn't understand her, he was doing his best not to add to the tension. “Their family clans are incredibly important. And Atem has adopted us as his sisters. That wasn’t just a gesture or a title – we are, to his heart, his sisters in all but blood. And that means one of his jobs is to protect us from all threats.”
“I’m no threat!” Keith hissed, dumb and insulted.
“Of course, not,” Alanna said as though shocked he even had the thought.
“But when it comes to romantic prospects, Atem has to challenge them. Not to protect us from you, but so that you can prove to him that you’re capable of protecting us in his place.
Romival had to challenge Atem for Holly too, and Romival is one of his trusted counsellors.
He doesn’t know you, and you haven’t proven yourself to him. That’s all it is.”
Keith looked like he was about to say something – nothing good – but her uncle was suddenly there.
John chuckled, putting his arm around Keith’s shoulders and, in a smooth motion that looked incidental if one wasn’t watching closely, knocked Keith’s arm off Hattie.
She was quick to step back against her parents – her dad was eager to take Keith’s place and that stopped the growls.
“That’s wonderful!” Her uncle said, beaming as though relieved. “I admit, I was still worried, but it’s good to see them so concerned over you. He really does love you all like you’re his sisters.”
“We’re very lucky.” Alanna smiled. “And it’s not humans. It’s anyone. Watch.”
She rested her head down on Survii’s bicep. On cue, unable to help himself, Atem began growling and didn't stop until she released Survii and sent him an affectionate grin.
“Can’t say I disagree,” Alanna’s father announced, putting a hand on her shoulder. “As a father, I don’t enjoy the idea of giving up my little girl either.”
“Especially not when we just got you back,” her mother added, hugging her again.
The tension didn't completely break, but it did finally ease as the other politicians, all trained in diplomacy, began making attempts to ease it.
They laughed and chuckled and greeted the aliens as though they were old friends.
It was all very performative, but at least no one was trying to paint the domini as possessive or controlling.
Nothing could be further from the truth, though she knew it would be easy to mistake it if you didn't know domini culture well.
Eventually, Halvdan welcomed them to come into the UN building. They accepted formally and, finally, the shuttle was sent back into orbit.
Alanna didn't even watch it go as she walked forward, Survii still at her side, her family surrounding her, as everyone moved together.