"If we'd stayed put one more day, we would have been reunited way sooner," Penny's voice was morose.
"You didn't know I was coming back," Hope reassured her."It means a lot you guys went looking for me."
I snorted, dunking the soap and lathering up my uninjured arm.
"She was climbing the walls when you didn't come back.If you thought I was hard to live with, you'd have been shocked by Penny."
The conversation lapsed into awkward silence as I focused on getting as clean as I could with just a bucket.Soap and water had never felt so luxurious and I rubbed the bar directly on my short hair, not caring that I didn't have proper shampoo.
Finally clean, I hesitated to put on my filthy shirt, but I couldn't exactly wander around topless in a camp full of alien males, so I reluctantly pulled it over my head.To think I used to bitch about laundry day.
"So," I broke the silence, meeting their eyes."What's the plan?"
"Plan?"Hope frowned."We could head back to the party if you want, but I think it might get a little crazy once they start fighting."
"Fighting?"
"Yeah," she said, rolling her eyes."They're trying to choose a chief, so they've been beating the shit out of each other every night.Pretty much last man standing wins."
"Wow."What did it say about me that I wanted to see that go down?I forced myself to get back on subject.
"I meant, what's our plan moving forward?If you two are shacking up with your aliens, I assume you don’t want to get out of here."
Hope and Penny exchanged a cautious look before turning back to me.
"I go wherever Aeko goes," Hope started cautiously."I don't know what Penny's situation is, but if you two really wanted to leave, I think he'd go with you."
"I could leave right now," I said, half ready to march out into the darkness.The only thing that stopped me was the memory of the percer charging out of the shadows.
"I think staying is the wisest choice," Penny said, rubbing her hands over her knees, looking way too nervous for someone happily mated."We aren't equipped to deal with percers, or other aliens.And let's not forget that humans can be dangerous, too."
"Aeko and I had a run in with a band of turochs who weren't as friendly as our mates."Hope touched her forehead and for the first time I noticed a scabbed over cut over her temple."It sounds bad, but when it comes right down to it, having a mate is in your best interest."
Great, it looked like I was keeping my word to Dargo after all.
“I can’t believe I’m doing this,” I muttered.
“If you really don’t want to, you don’t have to,” Hope said.“But be prepared to be the center of attention, because every male here wants a mate, and you’d be the only available female.”
I waved her words away.“Dargo’s okay, I guess.At least I know him, and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t attracted to him.But the whole picket fence and kids thing was never part of my life plan.”
Hope smirked.“Oh, we know.Honestly, I’m shocked you made that deal.”
“It’s wasn’t my Plan A.Actually, I knocked him out and threatened to torture him to find out where you guys were.”
“You didn’t!”Penny sounded horrified and I grinned at her.
“Yup.Tied him to a truck and everything.I’ve been outside camp for a few days, trying to spot you.But then a percer crashed my party and I ran out of options.”
“Wow,” Hope blew out a breath.“And I thought I had an adventure.”
“Those things are terrifying,” Penny muttered.
I brushed my fingers over my bandaged arm.“And ugly.”
Hope snorted.“Yeah, one look at a percer and Aeko became my favorite person.Can you imagine if we’d stumbled on one of those before we found the guys?”
We shuddered in unison at the horrible possibility.Earth had never felt less like my home since aliens showed up.There was a new and exciting way to die waiting behind every corner.Eager to get my mind of my near death experience, I changed the subject.
