CHAPTER 1: ALANA
"Do you think if we asked them to strip down and wrestle naked, they would?" Chastity muses aloud. That earns her a playful swat from Serena, but all the ladies and I laugh as we sit here, lounging in the shade of a huge alien tree - a tree with bright red leaves as big as a person and a scent not dissimilar to black licorice.
"You know these alien boys are crazy obsessed.” Even as I say the words there are clusters of the Trixikka aliens, all keeping their eyes trained on either our little group of girls or where Bea and Skye are over by the cookfire, having absolutely insisted on helping prepare the food. “They’d be tripping over their own damn tongues to do anything you ask."
Chastity twists where she sits cross-legged on the ground to face the rest of us women. "Oh, I can think of something better for them to do with their tongues." Her brows rise as she smirks and I can't help but let out an undignified bark of laughter that earns our group even more attention.
Today is the day that apparently the two big-wig chiefs; Serena's man, Rynn, and the other 'High Spear'...Zorroor whatever his name is - have agreed the two tribes would gather together. Serena's spin on it is that the Trixikka are doing this so that us human girls have a chance to meet up and see each other. Ever since these huge, winged, Trixikka guys saved us from their alien-jungle-of-death a couple of weeks ago, us women have been split between the two tribes. I've tried to bring up the idea of Skye, Tessa and Gwen coming to live with our tribe, but I get the feeling the tentative peace between the two groups of bird-men would explode if that were to happen. And as for today's little organized shindig, while no doubt us girlies getting to be together is a bonus, I, on the other hand, can see it for what it really is; these himbo slabs of muscle and feathers are trying to coax theirsuper-specialheart-sparkles to twinkle.
Speaking ofsuper-special-sparkles, Mavyx stands at the other side of the clearing, arms crossed over his massive chest as he glares in my direction. I justknowthat meat-head over there thinks because he's got a case of the twinkles over me that I belong to him or some bullshit.
No, thank you.
He better take that notion right back to where he got it, ask for a refund, and a special discount for future purchases, becausenobodyhas a claim over me. And certainly not just because his skin is having some sparkly-ass-rash reaction.
The fool doesn't evenlikeme. We can't say one civil word to each other without me wanting to strangle him with his own God-damn tail.
He's still watching me with those golden eyes of his though.
Closer in the weird white grass clearing, a few pairs of Trixikka are performing fighting maneuvers, trying to impress us 'females', no doubt. Every now and again, Mavyx will bark an order to correct a stance, but I can feel his eyes on me like he's just waiting for me to piss him off so he can bark orders at me too. Stupid ass bird-man.
For the most part, since we've been rescued by the Trixikka I try to keep busy and far away from'Second Spear'Mavyx - which is hard to do when he insists on being the only one to fly me places like here today. I wouldn't mind, except the guy looks like he's sucking on a damn lemon with the sour face he has while he carries me through the skies. I need to tell him to grow up and let a different bird-man carry me next time because I've had enough of looping my arms around the neck of a man who clearly hates me but feels he has some claim on me. Even after he sets me back on solid ground again, there's an odd sensation on my skin where Captain Twinkles held me.
Mostly over the past few days, I like to keep myself occupied by helping around the tribe where I can. If I keep busy, then I don't think. Thinking is dangerous because along with thinking, comes realization - and I've got a shit-ton of realizing coming my way just beyond the horizon, I can feel it. It's waiting for me just around the corner and I can't-
-I can'tdealwith freaking out right now.
I've been numb since my last day back on Earth. Ever since I walked in on Josh with that girl bent over his desk, her pretty, buttercup yellow sundress flipped over her perfectly perky ass. My life has been in a tailspin since that day but I don't break easily. I refuse to break. Nuh-uh.Not me. If mom could raise a child single-handedly working crusty-ass cleaning jobs one after the other - working her fingers to the God-damn bone to put me through college, then I can-... I candealwith whatever's coming my way from around that corner. I just need a few more days to get my head in the game. A few more days of numbness before I face the facts of what's happened to me - what's happened to all of us human women. Where we are now. What our new reality is. And...
And, maybe in a few more days, my damn period will come. It's late. Likelate-late. It should've been and gone by now like a bad hookup.
But maybe it's stress. It's gotta be the stress, right? Women skip their period in times of stress and what, if anything else, do you call being abducted by God-damn aliens and then abandoned on a whole other primitive, jungle planet, if not a'time of stress'?
"Hey," a small voice says beside me. Bea has come back over to our little huddle with Skye. She brings a hollowed-out wooden bowl with her from the cookfire and places it down in front of me as she seats herself on this weird, white alien grass. The same grass I seem to have been pulling out in clumps while staring at nothing at all. "You okay?" She nudges the bowl toward me. There's fine slices of medium-rare meat in there - most likely from the maroon-colored deer-like animal the Trixikka seem to favor hunting.
I put on a smile. Not too bright to be suspicious, but not too wan to look forced. I think I nail it, but Bea seems unconvinced. "I'm fine," I tell her, taking a piece of the offered meat and putting it in my mouth. I'm not hungry at all, and I'm not a huge fan of the gamey flavor of the meat, but it felt awkward to refuse it. Chewing, I try again for that effortless smile I'm aiming for, the forced swallow and grimace probably ruining the whole damn effect.
Bea watches me a moment or two longer. She's a sweet, quiet little thing - a kindergarten teacher back on Earth, I think. Her intelligent hazel eyes give the impression that she sees more than she lets on. At least, that's how it seems when she decides not to push me further and instead nods her head to where I'm taking another piece of the sliced meat. "You don't have to eat it if you don't like it. Zyntarr gave me some kind of seasoning to try on it though, maybe that will improve the taste?" She reaches for a small hide pouch that's attached to a belt one of the Trixikka gifted to her. Opening it up, we both peer inside. There's a deep red ground spice flecked with something black, like peppercorns. Grateful to Bea for not pushing me to open up about how I'm feeling at this particular moment - or any damn moment for that matter - I take the pouch and give its contents a sniff. It smells similar to a blend of cayenne and ginger, but not quite the same. A little to the left of that, like there's something in there my brain can't quite comprehend the scent of.
Reaching into the stash of spice, I take a pinch while my gaze wanders across the clearing where the huge, hulking Trixikka who gave Bea the pouch sits by the fire. "He bothering you?" I ask, my fingers rubbing together to sprinkle a minimal amount of the seasoning onto the meat. Zyntarr is one of the bigger ones. Hell, all the Trixikka are huge by human standards, but this guy stands out even amongst them. He stands out for other reasons too. His body is littered with gnarly-looking scars. Even his face is twisted and slashed, marring what once must've been a pretty damn-fine-looking face - just like all these feather-brained himbos seem to have. From across the clearing, Zyntarr watches us, which isn't unusual, most of the Trixikka are keeping an eye on us girls. But Zyntarr with his one patched-up eye is staring pretty intently at Bea.
"Zyntarr?" she asks, doing an awful job of feigning indifference. "No, he's-he's just being nice." She blushes a deep, pretty pink.
"Mmm-hm." I make the affirmative noise and nod my head, but I'm not buying it for even a second. That huge bird-man wants sweet little Bea to tickle his heart-sparkles into existence, make no mistake aboutthat. The newly seasoned meat goes straight into my mouth and-
Well, I'll be damned. The rich flavor bursts on my tongue, taking me by surprise. This stuff tastes amazing! I let out a groan of appreciation and apparently, the whole jungle stops dead around me. When I open my eyes again, Skye, Chastity, Tessa and Serena have turned to check out what the fuss is about, and beyond them, all the Trixikka - both tribes - are standing still, staring, some looking like they had been in mid-conversation. Even the ones paired up to display their fighting skills had stopped to look. Shit. How embarrassing.
"That good, huh?" Chastity asks, smirking. I roll my eyes before my gaze catches on a scuffle in the crowd of alien bird-men. Mavyx's booming voice carries across the clearing and I see it's him that's shoving every single one of his men that he can reach, trying to snap them back to reality and stop staring.
"Uh," I stammer, picking up more of the seasoned meat and shoving it into my mouth. "Yeah, try it. This spice issogood."
Suddenly, hands from everywhere are delving into the bowl and it's soon apparent that the other girls agree with me. "Oh, fuck!" Chastity says, already sucking the seasoning off her fingers with a smack of her lips as she cleans each digit. "This stuff is amazing!"
"It's sort of like buffalo seasoning but...not," Skye adds, reaching for some more meat. "Now, if we can just find an alien potato substitute to make something resembling french fries and somehow conjure up a strawberry milkshake, I'll be a very happy girl."
"And what about my little-light?" The deep baritone of Rynn's voice cuts through all of our approving chatter about alien spices. He approaches, that roguish smile on his face as he sits down amongst us, his gaze not once leaving Serena. "What would make her avery happy girl?" He says these words while hauling Serena from her spot beside him and into his lap, his tail coiling around her ankle like a manacle. Serena giggles and leans into him. She doesn't seem to mind. "I have been sent over here as the only Trixikka with a mate, to infiltrate this female tribe and find out what it is that inspired those noises you were all making." His grin is cocky as he looks each of us in the eye before returning his full attention back to Serena.
I'm about to a) ask them to get a room, since they can't stop touching each other like they might throw down and start doing the nasty right here and now with the way they're both eye-fucking each other and b)whosent you to come find this stuff out? But I can guess. Any one of these feather-brained jocks would kill for a bit of insider information on how to entice a female into being his 'mate'. I don't get to ask any of that, though because the other chief-bird-man approaches us too.
