Savior (10 page)

Opal rolled her eyes. She was anything
but little and fragile. She’d been teased her whole life for being
chubby. In primary school, when they started to get into fights
over the kids teasing her and Heather, they had both gotten hurt.
They had decided to learn karate to help defend themselves, but
since they were foster kids, they didn’t have money to pay. So they
negotiated that they would tidy up before and after class and do
some odd chores if they could be taught. Heather and she were both
black belts, and as soon as they got a job they joined other
classes. It kept them away from whatever home they were in and out
of trouble.

“
I’m not little, or as
fragile as you think. However, since you feel so strongly about me
not going anywhere alone with them I’ll stay away. I would like to
see them again and have a talk now I’ve had time to think.” She
smiled as innocently as possible.

He let out a loud breath. “Fine. I
will organize for them to come in a day or two to meet
here.”

Opal grinned, and told herself she
would have to find a pen and paper so she can write down her
questions for the women, because there were some questions a woman
couldn’t ask a man.

Turning back to watch the men’s
tail-hands and claws fly over the screens, she stood and got closer
to two men with a big screen between them charting the dots. She
wanted to learn something, do something to help. Opal looked up and
stared out at the universe. She was going to earn learn something
so she could have a job.

****

Okay, she needed to talk to someone
besides Heather. It had been almost a week since Cavlar had become
her guard, and he was driving her insane. All he did was follow her
about. He never spoke. No matter what she did to him or what she
said, he said nothing.

Most Inteli were scared to come near
her. She had once snuck away and was talking to a nice green Inteli
about records being put into the computer about Earth, or fixing
something so her iPod would work. He was telling her the best
person to talk to is Trecno their technology guy. The green Inteli
had started giving her directions but froze when he saw a furious
Cavlar coming towards her.

Opal needed women with
power, women who knew how to handle Inteli men, because Opal wasn’t
getting anywhere with any Inteli men. She’d tried talking to
Danickra again, but he got within arm’s length of her and all he
wanted to do was make love. She’d had it. She was going to make
Danickra listen to her. Opal needed to talk to those women she’d
first met, Dannina and Uvinya.

Chapter Ten

His little human had guts. It had been
a week since she gained Cavlar as a protector. The only time she
spent in their quarters now was when she slept, or when he went in
search of her and carried her into their room for some
love-making.

This morning she’d been in one of her
moods. Humans, he was learning, were very moody beings. He’d awoken
to Opal pacing.

“
What is wrong?” Danickra
got out of bed and wrapped his arms around her stopping her
pacing.

“
No more stalling,
Danickra. I need to see Dannina and Uvinya.”

Danickra had known he couldn’t hold
her off talking to Dannina and Uvinya any longer. He worried they
would experiment on Opal or tell her things he wasn’t ready for
Opal to know yet about their bond. Nodding, he turned her and
kissed her. “Fine. After lunch came to command and they will be
there.”

She’d smiled up at him and showed him
how happy she was with him by making love to him. Now though she
and Heather sat on either side of him staring at Dannina and
Uvinya, who sat across the table as they had when Opal had first
meet them.

“
We have so many questions
to ask you.” Opal said. “I would have liked to have talked in
private, but Danickra thinks as soon as you get Heather and me
alone, you’ll try to dissect us.”

Danickra watched as Uvinya and Dannina
grinned and eyed Opal and Heather. “We couldn’t dissect you, as we
need you whole to conceive young.”

Opal gasped, and her eyes widened. Her
hand sought his and she squeezed. “Oh, um, have you taken a human
before and studied them, or are we the first
experiment?”

“
You are our first for a
good century or so,” Dannina said as she eyed Opal. “Humans have
evolved a bit from what I’ve seen, and we’ve learnt from your
satellites. I have watched the ships’ archives and see you are
still very moody creatures.”

“
You had no right to look
at the archives. I did not give you permission,” he snarled at
Dannina.

“
Boy, you need to watch
how you speak to me. You may be the most feared Inteli with your
control and brutality, but you cannot command me. I have a good
three hundred years on you.”

“
Oh my God,” Opal
whispered.

“
Holy fucking shit,”
Heather mumbled.

Opal let go of his hand and stood
facing him. “How old are you?

He debated what to say. He knew from
the information they had humans only lived, if they were lucky, to
ninety. “I am two hundred, still very young.”

Opal went white and turned to Dannina.
“And you?”

Dannina sat tall and proud. “Five
hundred and thirty-three.”

Salamanda walking to their table, and
Heather stood and asked him the same question, joining Opal as he
answered. Together they backed up towards the exit of the
room.

“
We don’t live that long.
Do you plan in fifty or so years to get new humans? What will
happens when we can’t produce babies anymore? God, if we can do it
at all,” Opal murmured. She shut her eyes, and Danickra
stood.

“
We have a way for you to
live as long as us. We hope it works on you. It should, your
anatomy is similar to ours. From the information we got you have a
lot more eggs than we do. So the Nanos will keep you in peak
condition, including your precious eggs and young-making
skills.”

“
Shit,” Heather swore
again. “And here you were embarrassed about asking about pads and
tampons, Opal, as we’re due for our period soon. So the Nanos will
keep us alive longer and keep us in peak condition?”

Uvinya came and stood next him. She
grabbed the girls and dragged them back to their seats. “Sit. We
will answer all your questions, but you must sit and listen. And
yes, this is what the Nanos should do.”

They both nodded, and Opal this time
sat next to Heather and moved her body away from
Danickra’s.

“
Why won’t the Nanos fix
you and your women so you can have children?” Heather
asked.

Dannina sighed. “We’ve messed with
them too much, and they think what we are now is our
peak.”

“
Then why take them?” Opal
looked between Uvinya and Dannina.

“
Because our species would
die out before we could find a cure or repopulate.” Danickra could
hear the hopelessness in Dannina’s voice.

“
When we turn thirty we
drink the Nanos down, and they help keep us young and alive. They
do die, but we keep them active by drinking from our mates and
swapping blood.” Uvinya flashed her sharp teeth at Opal and
Heather.

Danickra glanced at Opal to see her
touching her neck and shoulder, and then her fingertips rested on
her lips. “You’ve bitten me before, Danickra, and you forced
something for me to drink. Was that your blood?”

He clenched his fist unsure if he
should tell her what he’d done. This was why he didn’t want Opal to
talk to Dannina and Uvinya. For the first time in his life he was
truly terrified, and he didn’t like the feeling. Straightening his
shoulders, he unclenched his fist, reached over and pulled Opal
onto his lap, and held her to him. She struggled for a moment
trying to get off him, but he wasn’t letting her go.

“
Yes. I did give you my
blood, and I took yours. It changed your smell. That’s how everyone
knew we were mated, as you call it on Earth, married. The mate bond
we have is stronger than your marriage. We have no divorce. The
exchange of blood also helps me to know where you are.” He cupped
her face. “You are special, my Opal. We are not just mates but true
mates. This gives us extra advantages, like not only can I tell
where you are but I should feel if you are in danger, or lost. My
planet may be a lot like yours in some ways, but in others it’s a
lot different. There are more dangers as everything is larger.
We—”

Tarik, his second in command,
interrupted him. “We have an enemy ship approaching.”

Danickra told everyone to get back to
their posts. The other eight clan leaders rushed in and to their
sections.

A buzzing sounded around them as the
ship shook. Danickra held Opal tight to him and turned in his seat
to yell at his men to divert everything to their
shields.

He turned back to see Salamanda moving
Heather to sit on his lap, second and third in command on either
side of him.

Zinoro came up to him, leaned over and
whispered. “The Doomickro are hailing us. We need to get the women
out of sight.”

“
Why are they over this
far in the galaxy?” Danickra asked, not expecting an
answer.

Zinoro shook his head. “I don’t know,
and I don’t like it. They are ready for a fight. We are not within
the treaty zone. I’m really worried that if they find out about the
women we will have a lot more problems.”

Danickra nodded. “We need to get the
women to a safe place. Olrica is in the laboratory, and I hate to
say this, but it is the safest place.”

Zinoro’s eyes widened, and he glanced
at the women. “You are willing to let your youmnda be with that….”
His voice became so low Danickra strained to hear it “dicks-head,
crazy Inteli. She might not survive what he will do to
her.”

“
I have to trust that this
is the safest place to hide her from the Doomickros.”

Opal groaned in his arms. “I can hear
you. I can take care of myself. I’ve been doing it for twenty
something years. I’m not as breakable or defenseless as you think.
I can help y-”

Tarik yelled, cutting Opal off.
“Shields up. Impact in three, two, one.”

Danickra’s tail flew forward to help
keep his balance. This time the Earth women screamed. Danickra kept
a hold of Opal, noticing her looking around and her skin turning
white.

Danickra looked around him at the
chaos and knew he had to stop stalling, but he was scared. He’d
never had anything worth losing. The woman in his arms was too
important to him and the whole Inteli race.

Feeling like he was going soft, he
growled, “I have no time to baby any of you.” He turned with Opal
still in his arms to Heather, Uvinya, and Dannina. “We need to get
you out of here. I don’t want the enemy to know we have women
onboard.”

He stood and placed Opal on the floor
next to him. “Dannina, I don’t want Heather and Opal to go to the
laboratory near Olrica. We’ll take them to your cabin and brace for
light speed. I am going to try to lose them in warp.”

Two more blasts hit the ship causing
it to shake. Sirens went off around him, and Salamanda picked up a
screaming Heather and ran to the exit. Danickra followed suit
grabbing Opal and yelling, “We need to get them secure in case
gravity gives out. We will put them in your room, Salamanda,
instead of the labs as it is closest to central
command.”

Cavlar came through the doors and
straight to him. Danickra eyed him, knowing his loyalty would be
put to the test. “I trust I don’t have to ask you if you are
willing to still do this Cavlar.”

Cavlar looked at Opal, and he smiled.
“Clan leader, I will protect her with my life.”

Danickra nodded and stood in front of
Opal knowing Cavlar was at her back.

Salamanda, already ahead of him, was
sliding the panel doors open and running down the halls towards his
quarters. Once there he opened his door. Danickra watched as
Heather was placed in the middle of the bed and strapped in. He did
the same with Opal setting her next to her friend.

Cupping Opal’s face in his hands, he
wiped the water leaking from her eyes. “I will never let anything
happen to you. You will be safe here. Cavlar will be guarding the
door.” Kissing both cheeks and lingering on her mouth he made sure
there was a gravity system around the bed and checked the spare
oxygen just in case they needed it.

Uvinya and Dannina came in and sat
next to them telling the women that they would stay and answer
their questions and keep them company.

Catching Opal’s gaze he narrowed his
eyes on her. “Stay where you are. If something does go wrong, stay
out of sight no matter what happens and don’t leave this
room.”

Opal nodded in jerky movements, and
Danickra backed out of the room focusing his attention on her. She
seemed caught in his stare, unable to move or blink. He had never
seen eyes that showed so much emotion, scared, confused, and
frustrated, all at once. He wondered if all humans were like this.
Shaking his head he told himself he had to focus on the problem at
hand. He could ask Opal about her people after they were
safe.