Craving: A SciFi Alien Mail Order Bride Romance (TerraMates Book 8) (29 page)

"It's so primitive," I uttered.

To my dismay, Bellona quickly moved the slab back into place. "It has to be. Anything technological risks being picked up by scanners. Very few people know the tunnels exist. There aren't many entrances. Just the temple. And the docking bay. And the kitchen."

"The kitchen?" I asked, surprised. I'd spent a lot of time in the kitchen working as a porter. I couldn't imagine where a door could be hidden.

"The bread oven," Gallia said, reading my mind. "The door is at the back of the bread oven, behind a metal panel."

I sat on the altar trying to process everything. I wasn't disrespectful; the altar was only for show, holding no real ceremonial value. "How does this help us?" I mused.

"As Gallia was saying, we have to get back to Earth. The only way we can do that is if we steal back our ships," Bellona told me. "The tunnels give us access to the docking bay. There are plenty of cargo ships we can use."

"But they're heavily guarded."

The way her face twisted told me she needed no reminding. "I'm working on that."

"Do we want to go back to Earth?" I asked without shame, thinking of the other women. "They tried to kill us."

Gallia scowled. "Not us – the Surtu. We're warriors. We came to the Fortuna–"

"We came to the Fortuna knowing we may have to sacrifice our life for the protection of Earth," I finished for her, having heard it before. "I know. But we didn't die in battle. We didn't go down fighting. We almost died as bait. You said it yourself – we were always just bait."

She couldn't argue with what she had said, but she didn't back down either. "I'm no traitor, and I hope you aren't either."

Bellona held a hand up before I could respond. "No one here is a traitor, Gallia. Let's not go there. We need each other." She turned to me. "I understand where you're coming from, Terra, but think of your family, of your parents and your brothers. They need your protection. All of our families need us. To hell with whatever President Bentford's intentions are. Our families are why we must go back."

"Of course," I sighed, unable to argue, thinking of the humble little house in the desert where I grew up. "We have to find a way to get to the ships."

"That is the plan," Bellona said again, but none of us had a plan. It would be difficult to do. There were almost three hundred women on board the Fortuna. We couldn't exactly sneak away, not even with the tunnels.

The Surtu had us trapped.

I thought of Lucina, a captive in her quarters after being claimed by the brute Kalij, unable to break free because of a mechanism Kalij had installed into the lock of her door. The Surtu were far more technologically advanced than we were. Who know what other tricks they had up their callous sleeves?

"In the meantime, we have to free Lucina," I decided. "Kalij can't touch her integrity, so he pushes her around. She can't survive his abuses much longer. I don't think she has the will to."

Bellona clenched her fists. "The bastard is on my hit list, but I can't get to him, not without revealing myself."

"I can. He patrols the docking bay. I have permission to be there. I can kill him." I spoke without thinking, but I stood by my decision.

"You?" Gallia asked with disbelief. "Miss 'I think weapons should be the final ultimatum, not the first.' Can you do it?"

"Lucina needs help. I have the skills. I've always had the skills. I just never wanted to use them. We have to think through all the options, but if we want to save Lucina, there is no better way."

"You are one of the best," she agreed. Gallia looked satisfied. "But you'll have to be fast, like Bellona. Move in the shadows. Can you do it?"

Once again, I glanced up at Fortuna on the ceiling. "With a little luck."

"Luck won't cut it," Bellona sniped. "Meet me in the tunnels after dinner. You're a fine warrior, Terra, but I'll teach you to be an assassin."

I nodded, remembering how broken Lucina had sounded when I last talked to her. Before Kalij claimed her, she shined brighter than the sun. "I'll be there."

Gallia clapped her hands together. "This is progress. Terra, access to the docking bay is invaluable. Don't lose it. First, you'll free Lucina from the swine who holds her, and then you'll free us all."

* * *

J
IDDEN

I claimed her. Terra was mine. No other man could touch her.

I felt like a fool – weak, like a human. Or worse, like Kalij.

When I'd gone to the lower deck to check on the dead soldier, I'd seen the wildflowers she'd left for him. They had to be from her. Flowers were not of our custom, and no other human would have been allowed past my men.

Her reverence for the dead man was honorable. I couldn't control myself. I wanted her. I had to taste her again. Our time in the woods had not been enough to satisfy my appetite for her.

But I was never meant to claim her. It was a promise that would go unfilled. I cared for Terra, I preferred her company over any other, but I could not light bond with her. Light bonds led to children. I couldn't be a father. I didn't have the will or the time, not with a war to fight and a promotion to earn.

I could not shake the disquiet I felt when she looked at me like I was her enemy. We did not consider human women our enemies. They were a prize and necessary for survival.

I was no prize to Terra.

I was her destruction.

"Sir," Kalij called, finding me near the dead soldier where I was checking on him once again. I'd come here for privacy so that I could think. Dead men did not interrupt my thoughts the way the living did.

"What?" I barked. Of all the soldiers, Kalij was the least tolerable.

For once, he didn't seem to mind my authority. He was smug like he had won a victory. Against who was anybody's guess. "I received a communication from Captain Fore's office. My light bonding ceremony has been approved."

Right. I'd received the same communication. With the exception of Terra, I cared little for the women on the Fortuna. They were a means to an end. I pitied the little blonde claimed by Kalij.

There was nothing respectable about him.

"It'll be historic," he added. "The first light bonding ceremony on Earth."

"We're not on Earth," I corrected, offering him no glory.

He ignored the comment. "After that Commander bitch lied to me about being light bonded, I thought the Captain had denied me my rights, but as it turns out, she tricked me. There was no light bonding ceremony."

He had my attention. "What about the Commander?"

"She told me she had light bonded with a Surtu man and she was now one of us."

That didn't make sense. "When did she tell you that?" I demanded.

"When she brought those disgusting things," he said, pointing at the wildflowers. "They make my nose itch."

That explained how she'd gotten onto the ship. Kalij was a useless soldier. He didn't care about order or authority. He only thought of himself. He would throw one of his fellow soldiers into an incinerator if he benefited from it.

"So you believed her lie?" I asked. I emphasized that there was no truth to it, for both our sakes. "Because that's all it was – a lie to fool the idiot guarding the docking bay."

Kalij's face began to show a sneer, but he showed an uncharacteristic self-restraint. "I'm glad it was a lie. It means I'm the first."

"Very well," I said, wanting him gone. He was no longer of interest to me. "We will send our dead off properly, and then you can have your light bonding ceremony."

He was indignant. "I have to wait for a corpse?"

"Just be thankful it's not you on the table." If Kalij had died, there would be no table for him. I'd leave him on the floor.

"Yes, sir," he said, standing down. "But I will be the first?"

"Stay out of my face, and you can have your ceremony the day after next."

He smiled. It was grotesque. At home, the women thought him handsome, but his looks could not compensate for his foul nature. "Thank you, sir," he said, and he left the room.

I pitied the girl whose life I had just signed away.

* * *

T
ERRA

The encyclopedia was heavy in my hand as I pulled it out of my bookshelf. Inside was the key Gallia had given to me. The handle of the key was a crescent moon, similar to the moon shining in the sky. The sun was gone by now. Our hours of sunlight were rare on the Fortuna.

I tucked the key in the cleavage of my jumpsuit just as there was a knock on the door. It wasn't like Jidden to knock. Worried he would see the key, I pushed it down further.

"Hello," I said, opening the door to my quarters.

It wasn't Jidden.

"Terra," a woman with curly chestnut hair greeted in return. It was Minerva, from the winter plains on Earth. "Is this a good time?"

It wasn't, to be honest. I was supposed to meet Bellona in the tunnels, but I could see how upset she was. "Come in," I allowed.

Minerva sat on my bed, about to crumble. "There's a rumor going around the station that the explosion we heard earlier was a nuke sent from Earth to destroy us. Is it true?" She was disgusted.

"We're not sure what it was," I lied. I'd done a lot of that lately – lying. But I didn't mind. Minerva needed consolation. "But if it was a missile, it was only sent to protect those we love."

Minerva shook her head. "I never trusted President Bentford. She would sell her soul to the Surtu if it meant keeping her seat." Then her face fell into her hands, crying. It was a rare sight to see on the Fortuna, rarer than the sun. Warriors did not cry, but we were human, and we were all reaching our breaking point.

"I can't take this anymore," she sobbed. "All this uncertainty. Are we going to be slaves? Are we going to be set free? I feel like I have no purpose. I'm just equipment."

I sat down on the bed next to her and put my arm around her. "You're a valuable person here. We all are." I dropped my voice. "I don't know what Earth's intentions are, but I know what I'm going to do. I'm going to make sure we escape here, one way or another."

Her tears dried, but she didn't look convinced. "So none of the neighboring military stations will help us? Everyone will leave us to fend for ourselves?"

"I don't know," I admitted. "If they don't, we'll figure it out. No one is going to be a slave. We have Fortuna on our side. She watches over us."

I finally reached her. She smiled. "We're an army of goddesses."

"Yes, we are," I agreed.

"Then I'll wait for your orders, Commander," she said, rising. "I'll follow you."

"We'll follow each other," I said, seeing her to the door.

She left, and I fell against the wall, my hand on my chest where the key was, wondering if I was capable of living up to Minerva's expectations.

The door opened again.

"Did you forget something?" I asked.

This
time, it was Jidden.

"I see you had company," he remarked. "Is she a friend of yours?"

"I'm her Commander," I replied. "And we're all friends here."

"Apparently, that includes the Surtu, since you're one of them now, due to your light bond." He studied me, but he wasn't angry.

"You talked to Kalij," I guessed.

"I did. You're lucky no one pays attention to him. Otherwise, there might have been trouble."

I shrugged. "I did what I had to do."

"No, you did what you wanted to do."

I didn't say anything.

"Come here," Jidden urged, smiling as he held his hand out to me. "I have nowhere to be right now. Let me show you just how much trouble you cause."

I wanted to go to him more than anything. In his arms, I forgot the war rising around us, but I couldn't let him find the key, so I held back. "I'm not feeling well. I think I better lie down for a while."

"I can help with that," he offered.

A few days earlier I had been stabbed in the stomach. The wound was fully healed now, and only a scar remained. Surtu medical treatment was wonderful, but this time, I had nothing to cure. "That's okay. I'll be fine. I just need to lie down."

"Okay," he said, yielding. "I'll leave you be, but first I'd like to invite you to a send-off tomorrow."