22. Chapter 22
Mika
“She’s absolutely perfect,” Iris said, bouncing Nadia on her lap. “Yes, you are! You’re such a perfect little baby. Look at you grab my dress. What a strong grip. Yes, you’re so strong!”
“Was I a strong baby?” Mia asked. She was sitting on Damascus's lap, halfway through a small plate of sweet bread. I recognized the insecurity in her tone and was quick to reassure her.
“I’m sure you were a super strong baby,” I assured her. “But I know you’re even stronger now. Nadia really appreciates that you’re here to help keep her safe. She can’t even walk by herself yet. Not like you. I bet you can even run!”
“Yes, I can run really fast!” Mia said, nodding her head rapidly and sending some flakes of bread flying. She focused on Nadia. “Don’t worry; I’ll make sure you don’t fall.”
“Show me,” I demanded. Mia was quick to wiggle off Damascus’s lap and show us all how fast she could run and how high she could jump. We all made appropriately impressed sounds at every moment.
“You’re good,” Iris said quietly to me as Mia executed a move she called the twirl but was really running in a tight circle.
“I helped my mom raise my youngest brother and sister,” I explained. “Mia reminds me of Brack. He had a good heart, but sometimes his insecurity got in the way.”
“Had?” Iris said.
“He died about five years ago,” I said with a little shrug. “Industrial accident.”
It was a common story, and I’d cried all my tears for Brack. Being human in this universe meant learning to live with loss.
“I’m sorry,” she murmured.
I shook my head. “My family has been lucky. So far the rest of us are all alive, as far as I know.”
“Hey, should I find a rock to give Nadia?" Mia asked. “If she’s going to be my littler sister, she should have a rock, right?”
“That’s such a wonderful idea,” Iris agreed, then had Mia make a fist. “It should be that size and completely smooth.”
Mia nodded and rushed to dig into the container of rocks we’d brought into the galley from the lab. She began carefully pulling each one out, comparing it to her fist then setting it down.
She’d made a complete circle of rocks around her by the time Maz set steaming mugs of tea in front of us. We were on our second mugs while the guys hadn’t wanted even a first round.
Nadia reached for Iris’s mug with a happy gurgle.
“That’s not for you," I said and moved it out of the way. I leaned over to give her forehead a kiss, and one of her little fingers got hold of my collar.
It came loose and fell to the table with a loud, metallic clink.
Damn it, I’d warned Maz the latching mechanism wasn’t strong enough! He’d made the collar out of some bits and pieces in his lab. After trying it on for the first time, I’d told him to use a different kind of latch, but he refused to use anything that could actually lock.
His consideration might’ve just revealed us.
“Huh, that’s weird,” Iris murmured as Damascus picked up the collar before Maz or I could grab it.
“This isn’t standard issue,” he said, examining it closely. “It can’t even lock.”
I tried to laugh it off. “Uh, I, um, it got wet in the rain and keeps doing that.”
Iris looked up, her eyes boring into me. “That’s highly unlikely. It’s much more probable that it was never a real collar and you and Maz are pretending to be owner and pet.”
My mouth dropped open.
“Explain your implication,” Maz said, jumping up and plucking Nadia away from Iris. The baby laughed at the movement, enjoying her flight through the air. I jumped up also and stood next to Maz.
Damascus sounded a warning rattle. “Don’t overreact. We don’t pose a risk to any of you. Listen to Iris before you do something regretful.”
I could tell Maz was as surprised as I was by Damascus deferring to Iris.
I put my hand on Maz’s arm. “Remember when you said that you’d listen to my instincts? My gut is telling me to let them talk.”
He remained still, eyes focused on Damascus for another few seconds. Finally he shifted those beautiful purple eyes to me. He leaned over and put his mouth to my ear.
“If I say go, you know what to do?”
“Yes,” I said. It was a last resort plan we’d come up with.
Straightening up, he used his body to move me around Mia and near the open door to the galley. Mia only looked up to make sure we weren’t leaving then went back to sorting through her rocks. She seemed completely unbothered by Damascus’s rattle and Maz’s movements.
“You can both talk from there,” he said. “We’ll stand here.”
Iris rolled her eyes but then nodded. “Sure, whatever makes you feel better. Let me start with telling you about Hesarium, the first Talin I met and the male who saved everyone I love.”
“Oh!” I exclaimed, I hadn’t expected that. “What happened to Hesarium?”
“He’s scent-bonded to my friend Rain,” she said casually, as if it wasn’t extremely illegal. “They live on Talarian with all the humans rescued from Omanal. There are also humans from a mining colony there. From the outside, we’re pets. Inside, our Talins know we are their equals.”
“That’s what you meant when you said you were still free,” I said, excited to know more. “Tell me everything.”
Iris gave me an approving smile then told a story I wasn’t prepared for. It was full of romance, danger, and a narrow escape where they almost lost Rain, but she survived and they successfully escaped Omanal.
But she wasn’t finished there. Later, when they all thought they were safe, Iris, Mia, and Rain were kidnapped to be sold to another Talin for political favors. That also had an incredibly satisfying and happy ending.
I was starting to think Iris was blessed by the universe or something!
She pointed to Damascus. “Now we have the ability to travel just about anywhere looking for humans or checking on ones that have been recently acquired by a Talin.”
“Like me and Nadia,” I finished for her. “That’s why you invested in the planet, so you’d have an excuse to meet us.”
“That was a lot of wealth,” Maz said. “I’m impressed with your dedication.”
“This is an important cause,” Damascus said.
I had the feeling it was important to Damascus because it was important to Iris. If she wanted to do something else, Damascus would throw himself into that. The way he was devoted to her was heartwarming.
It reminded me of how Maz treated me and Nadia.
“I’m glad to find you healthy and happy,” Damascus said.
“And being treated as a sapient creature,” Iris added.
“What would you have done if you found that I was abusing or neglecting them?” Maz asked.
Damascus focused his eyes on Maz. “When we arrived we would have discovered that you’d had a terrible accident and we couldn't find either of the humans you’d bought. It would all have been very tragic.”
I gasped at the blatant threat. “You’d have killed all of us?”
Iris shook her head. “No, we would’ve killed Maz and then taken you and Nadia to Kalor or to live with Baz and Ari on Talarian. You’d be living among friends at either location. It’s easy to forge a sales contract from a non-Talin station to pretend we bought you ourselves.”
The plan wasn’t bad, but it was still disquieting to hear them talk so casually about murdering Maz. To my surprise, their answer made Maz relax.
“That’s good,” he said. “Your answer tells me that you would truly do anything necessary to protect Mika and Nadia. I’m going to file a contract so you will receive ownership of them if anything happens to me.”
“Enough!” I said. Up until that moment, I’d been calm, but suddenly I couldn’t take it any longer. “No more talking of murder or death!”
Everyone shut up and looked over at me, and Nadia stopped burbling. Her face clouded up, preparing to cry. I took her from Maz and jiggled her, forcing myself to smile.
“Ahhhpooof!” I said.
Her smile came back and she repeated the sound. “Ahhhpooof!”
Purring loudly, Maz moved behind me and put his hands on my shoulders and lowered his face to rub his scent glands on the top of my head.
“I’m not planning to die. I only want to make sure you’re cared for if anything happens to me.”
I kept my smile in place for Nadia, even though I didn’t feel it. “I understand, but thinking about you dying makes me want to cry. I love you, Maz. I don’t want to live without you.”
“You’re my scent-bonded partner,” he murmured.
We stared at each other, and my heartbeat calmed. No one was dying anytime soon, and it looked like we had new friends. That made me feel a lot better.
“I have a proposal for you,” Iris said, drawing our attention from each other and back to the other couple.
“Yeah?” I asked.
“We have a healer on our ship who specializes in humans. Would you like her to give Nadia a checkup?”
I loved that idea, but by the sound of Maz’s negative rumble I guessed he didn’t.
“We won't be trying to kidnap you,” Damascus said, clearly annoyed. “You know our secret, and we know yours. All our crew has been with us for solars and have as much to lose as us if they let anyone know about how we’ve scent-bonded with our humans. What more do you want?”
I touched Maz’s arm. “I want Nadia to have a checkup. This would also mean we don’t have to trust a healer we don’t know.”
“I suppose this is safe,” he agreed grudgingly.
“Thanks,” I murmured, then went up on my toes and waited for him to lean over so I could give him a quick kiss on the cheek.
He was a little stiff, but I’d be too if I was him.
I’d grown up in a culture where small displays of affection were expected.
He came from a species that seemed to abhor any of the softer emotions.
Honestly, he might be wealthy in credits and possessions, but I was definitely far richer when it came to understanding and experiencing happiness and love.
It took longer to talk Mia into packing her rocks and leaving Maz’s ship than the trip from the planet's surface to Damascus and Iris’s ship.
The moment we docked the healer was there to meet us, along with most of the crew. They were excited to meet Nadia, but they were also polite about it. We weren’t mobbed, and they all maintained a polite distance and kept their voices low and calm.