Chapter 27
It was hard to believe my new life wasn’t a dream. The other mated couples had found a new place to live and had returned with a large wheeled platform to help move the camp. The human’s called it a ‘trailer’ and were busily arranging sturdy straps at the front so six males could pull it at a time.
Adak stuck by my side despite the angry looks from the rest of the band and I was thankful his presence prevented any violence.
He seemed to be unofficially in charge and I knew it was the only reason I was still here.
It had been years since I’d been this close to turochs I wasn’t killing and I both craved the feeling and hated it.
I’d earned the anger I saw in their faces, and yet, I was starting to believe I didn’t deserve it.
Maybe one day they’d see past the blood I’d shed and forgive me, but if not, I would have Naomi and any sons we made together. A future I’d never imagined now stretched out in front of me.
“Hey, big guy,” my female murmured, bumping her shoulder into me.
“Hello, fearless female.” I hefted the heaviest of the water barrels onto the trailer. The band didn’t want me close, but I was big enough to do the work of two males, so they couldn’t begrudge me the chance to help a little.
A wry smile quirked her lips and she rolled her eyes.
“Not fearless, just determined.”
I shrugged, convinced there wasn’t a difference.
“You mated a male that warriors fear to meet, and you never showed fear once.”
Naomi pressed herself to my side and hummed happily.
“I just saw you for what you were, a big softy that needed a little love.”
My mate had been willing to brave a hostile world at my side and leave behind her own people rather than be parted from me. There was nothing little about the love she showed me and I hoped I could find a way to show her what it meant to me.
One of the mated females called out to her and she pressed a quick kiss to my arm before heading over to help tie the growing tower of supplies onto the trailer.
“Need any help?” Gigi appeared beside me. He’d shed his uniform at some point, donning a simple breech cloth like most of the males and the singed skin on his arms and face was a darker shade than the rest of him.
“Can you lift one of these?” I asked, pushing the water barrel firmly into place.
His tentacles curled and he chuckled. “Probably not, but you’re the friendliest face in camp at the moment.”
“You seem to be fitting in.” I gestured at his lack of clothes.
Gigi rubbed a self conscious hand over his exposed belly.
“I’m starting over. The uniform just made me stand out more.”
I didn’t point out that his smaller statue, blue skin and obvious lack of horns weren’t going to change. If the syto wanted to live like a turoch, I wasn’t going to argue. As Naomi had pointed out, his life on the cruiser wasn’t worth missing.
He tagged after me as I headed back for the last barrel. I poked one of the weeping blisters on his neck.
“I don’t think you are made for sunlight.”
He cringed away from my finger, his eyes slitting in pain.
“The women promise my skin will toughen up with enough exposure, though they did offer me a lotion to ease the process.”
“You should take it.” I hefted the barrel and made my way back to the trailer. The camp was nothing more than a dead fire and a few empty tents now. The sight of turochs strapping supplies to their backs as they talked triggered a wave of nostalgia.
I was on a new planet, surrounded by strangers that hated the sight of me, but this was the closest to home I’d been since I was a child. Some of my first memories were of packing up camp to follow the herds.
Gigi helped me push the barrel onto the trailer and frowned.
“I didn’t want to appear weak. I know turochs prize strong males.”
My tail flicked in amusement. Despite my red skin, I was just as much an outsider as the syto here.
His desire to fit in was almost charming.
Adak had taken a syto prisoner of his own, I’d seen Captain Uriish skulking around the edges of camp when he wasn’t hunkered down in the shuttle they’d stolen.
“Turochs respect males who contribute to the band. If all your skin burns until it splits, you’ll be laying near the fire while the females tend you like a sickly elder. Take the lotion.”
He shuddered at the thought and nodded.
“I will go find Penny and accept the gift.”
I watched him hurry toward the females, his head limbs squirmed when they called out a greeting and I wondered if he’d find his place here.
Before Naomi, I would have said no syto could ever be accepted by our kind.
But Earth was not Oska. We were taking human mates, and collecting sytos nearly as quickly as humans.
A band on this planet would not look like the community I remembered from my childhood. I mourned the life I could have had if I’d never been stolen from Oska. But I wouldn’t trade this new life for that impossible future.
Here I had Naomi, and she was worth everything that had brought me to this world.
***
THE PLACE ADAK AND his mate chose for the new camp was unlike anything I’d ever seen. A flat, stone plain stretched out in front of it, yellow and white lines painted on its rough surface. Towering metal poles dotted the open space and a large blocky building ringed two sides.
“This is actually perfect,” Naomi admitted as she watched the band drag the trailer to the biggest door.
“What is it?” I asked, wishing I could understand the massive symbols over the glass doors.
“It’s a strip mall, a bunch of stores all squished together.” She scanned the huge space critically. “There’s tons of space, between the grocery store and the sporting goods place, I’m guessing there’s more than enough supplies.”
The admiration in her tone twinged at my gut.
“You are certain you don’t wish to stay-”
“Carn!” She cut me off with a glare. “The fact that they have easy access to snacks and sleeping bags doesn’t make me love you less. Plus, I guarantee they’ll share their stuff, we just need to give them space.”
Something swelled in my chest as she spoke, the surge of affection nearly painful in its intensity. She didn’t even hesitate to turn her back on the safety and companionship the band offered. I knew the weight of being alone, my mate was willing to make great sacrifices to be at my side.
“Besides,” she said in a quieter tone. “Don’t tell the girls, but I really don’t want to live this close to that much testosterone or be dragged into girls’ nights. I’m more of a stay home and read person.”
I followed her gaze to two younger males who’d started an impromptu sparring match, their horns crashing together as they fought to kick the hooves out from under their opponent. I could see how the number of males could be overwhelming to a human.
Battle was a part of us. Even if there were no sytos to worry about, male bands were always filled with chaos and duels.
As a child, I remembered my mother grumbling about the noise when the young males would cross our paths hunting for mates.
The quiet of my mother band would be drowned out for days until they moved on.
“They do not need our help.” I tugged her closer. “Should we find our own camp nearby?”
“I’ll love you forever if you find me a bookstore,” she said, spinning smoothly on a single crutch and speeding away from the new camp.
“I do not know what that is,” I called, chuckling at her eagerness. “But I will do my best.”