Rozun was rich with plant life, with wild, and untamed vegetation that stretched across most of the planet.The actual colony itself, where the markets and shops and center lay, was towards the south.Devix could see the high, stone buildings, reinforced with black metal, where the Rozian council sometimes met.
The soil was soft and its color was light grey beneath their feet.It was still early dawn, but the air was humid yet cool.And the sky was unlike anything he’d ever seen.He didn’t appreciate the beauty and calm of Rozun nearly enough.
“It’s beautiful,” she breathed.“And the sky!It looks like the northern lights.”
Devix tilted his head back to watch the swirling colors of green and blue and silver.It only appeared that way at dawn and dusk.
“It looks like this on Earth?” he wondered.
“Only in certain places,” she replied, eyes rapt on the sky.“And only during certain times of the year.”
“Do you like it?” he couldn’t help but ask, wondering if she could like living there.
“From what I’m seeing right now,” she started, tearing her gaze away from the sky to look at him, “yes.”
Devix purred, eager to get her to his home…to their home.He needed to taste her again.He’d grown addicted to his little mate and needed his next fix.
“Are you ready, female?” he asked, leading her over to a transport craft.
It would be a long journey to his dwelling, not just distance wise, but because Devix wanted to be careful.No being on Rozun knew where he lived and he intended to keep it that way.They would need to take multiple transport crafts and then walk on foot to where he’d stashed his own before they could finish their journey.But first, they would need to buy supplies at the market, especially since he wanted his female to have a good, fresh meal.
“Yes,” she murmured, squeezing her hand, which was wrapped around his forearm.
He marveled at her bravery.It was a frightening thing, confronting a new place, especially when she’d told him humans had yet to discover that other beings existed in the universe.He couldn’t even imagine what must be running through her mind.But hisluxivawas strong and she made him proud to stand beside her.
Cara smiled up at him, taking a deep breath, and said, “Let’s go.”
FIFTEEN
Jostled awake, Cara blinked and looked around, realization of where she was returning in an instant.Devix had her in his arms.His skin was a swirling silver, illuminated by what took Cara a moment to realize was the sky.
It was nighttime, or at least she assumed so.The sky had turned a deep hazy grey, but the same streaks of swirling light lit up the sky, only instead of greens and blues, like it was that morning, it was a luminous silver.
“We have arrived,” Devix murmured to her, carrying her off the transport craft, as he’d called it.His own, not one that they rented, and Cara couldn’t remember where they’d picked it up.They’d taken many that day and she couldn’t help but wonder if it was because it just took a long time to reach their destination…or because Devix was taking extra precautions.
Cara blinked, trying to clear the sleep from her eyes.“We are?”
Her vision was slightly blurry as she looked around and she wondered how hard she’d slept.Obviously all day.The last thing she remembered was the central market that Devix had taken her to.
Thatmemory cleared the last remnants of sleep from her foggy brain.The market had been an adventure, for sure, teeming with aliens of all species.Some looked at her, or Devix, who’d been walking beside her.Others paid her no mind.Either way, Cara was pleased with herself that she hadn’t minded.She’d been too busy trying to take it all in.The beings she’d seen had been dressed in bright, or pastel, or drab colors, all speaking different languages, some languages ethereal and flowing, others made up of guttural grunts and screeching trills she’d never be able to reproduce.Devix had spoken to every vendor they’d visited in the same tongue—Rozian, he’d told her, a language that had grown and evolved just like the colony.
And the vendors…dozens and dozens of vendors selling different wares or food or spices or clothing.
Devix pulled her from one stall to the next.The smells of one stall had drawn her in because the cooking meat smelled like richly marinated beef.Her mouth had been watering even before Devix had purchased lunch for both of them.And there, in the bustling, strange, loud market, she’d eaten her first real meal since she’d been abducted.
And it had been so good that she’d almost burst into tears right there and then.
Thankfully, she hadn’t, but Devix had watched her closely and squeezed her waist when they left.
It would’ve taken all afternoon just to see all the stalls, but by the time they were done, Cara’s feet ached and Devix’s pack was loaded with fresh, cold, raw meat, some strange roots he’d told her he liked, colorful balls of something she assumed was a kind of fruit, three sets of beautiful new clothes for Cara—even though she’d protested and said she could make her own—supplies that Devix needed wherever he lived, and little sacks of spices he’d told her to pick out.
It had been the most fun she’d had in a long time.Too much fun, since she’d fallen asleep like an exhausted baby not long after they took their final transport craft, cruising over miles and miles and miles of deserted, but lush land.
And now, she was in Devix’s arms, being carried bridal-style to wherever ‘here’ was.
“Is this where you live?” she asked, clearing her scratchy throat.
“Tev,” he murmured to her.“My dwelling.Yours now as well.”
