Page 6 of His to Mate

“Fine, just a headache.” Sometimes, like now, she was reminded that her father had been forced to basically trade her to the alien leader. Normally, she put it in the back of her mind and got on with life.

At the moment she was clearly reminded that’s exactly what had happened. How long would it continue, this arrangement where Earth women were forced to mate to alien men? Would there be alien women here eventually, or would they stay on their planet? That faraway place that Earth people couldn’t pronounce?

“I’ll get you some aspirin, Ann.” Mary went to stand up, but she plopped back down immediately. “Maybe we all need to go into a cooler room for a bit. My head is spinning.”

“Mom? What’s wrong with you?”

“It’s just the heat in here, baby, don’t worry.”

More of that brushing things off garbage. Ann sighed and rolled her eyes. “I’ll get the aspirin, Mom, you stay there.”

“I’ll get her a glass of cold water. You sit right there, Mary.”

“Fine, but I’m alright. I don’t know why you two are fussing so much.” Mary’s voice faded away as Ann walked back to the downstairs bathroom. There’d be aspirin in there.

Mary’s color had come back to normal and her eyes were clear when Ann came back, two small aspirin in hand.

“I poured you a glass of water too, Ann.” Amanda pointed at it when Ann sat down.

“Thanks.” She looked at the two women, her eyes narrowed. “Now, which one of you is going to start telling me some truth?”

“Don’t you take that tone with us!” Mary rebuked; her eyes narrowed. “I’m still your mother.”

“Fine.” Fat lot of good that did. She’d tried though. “Keep your secrets. I’m going to head home, I think. My head is not getting any better, and you two are driving me nuts with your secrets.”

“Oh, Ann, they’re not secrets, baby. It’s just, well, there are some things we need to work out first, figure out completely. Then we’ll talk to you about them, I promise.”

“You’d better. I’m the Supreme Overlord’s wife and stuff.” The words came out weakly, more rueful than anything. “Not that it does me any good.”

Amanda and Mary both laughed and stood up to hug Ann. The transporter was outside and she headed to that, her booted feet a loud clomp against the ground. She’d dressed for scavenging in black combat pants, heavy, steel-toed leather boots, and a black t-shirt. She probably shouldn’t be seen out scavenging, but she liked doing it.

Every layer of dust and dirt that she removed to reveal diamond rings or teething rings for babies, revealed a layer of history. This was who they used to be, who they wanted to be again. Ann hid any jewelry or valuables she found in an old camera shop close to her home. Nobody would be looking there for a while, she thought, and she didn’t want women like the ones at the party last night to have the silly things either.

They were very pretty rocks, but still rocks. Women like the ones that had suggested the uniforms, and those that had quickly agreed with her, would covet those rocks, would cause trouble for things like that. It was better to just keep them out of the way. They could find their own if they wanted them that desperately.

Ann headed towards a section of town she hadn’t explored before, there was a spice store there at one point and she wanted to explore it. Most of the spices would probably have gone stale by now, but there might be some seeds, like celery seeds or dill seeds, that she could plant. The seeds might produce plants, or might not, it was worth a shot. Both would be good plants for pickling vegetables, once they’d produced some proper vinegar.

She’d scoured a library until she found a book on how to make vinegar, pickles, and quite a few other ways to preserve food. She wanted to make sure there was enough, even if the winters did prove to be milder. If they turned out to be colder, that preserved food might prove useful.

That, and she really missed pickles.

She landed the transporter and hopped out, her headache already forgotten. With swift feet, she moved into the building through the empty doorway and made her way inside. The sun was still up so she could see just fine as she walked through the shop. There were six rows, and each one had different spices from around the world. Some of the cheaper items were in plastic bags and long discolored. They were too dry to do anything more than give off the memory of a smell, she found when she opened one.

There were some smaller metal cylinders and Ann’s eyes went wide when she saw them. She opened one to test it, and the smell of curry powder was prominent and so fresh that Ann’s eyes went round with pleasure. Oh, these might just be worth taking.

She loaded up the backpack she’d carried in with her, curry powder, chili powder, and a variety of others, all went into her bag. When that was full, she went to the front of the store. There were some reusable canvas bags there and she filled two more of those with spices, and then thought about it. She filled three more bags, to take to her mother, and started to load them all into her transporter.

She’d found cylinders of the seeds she wanted and hoped they would all prove to be just as well preserved as the powders. It took one more trip before she had all of the things she wanted for now loaded and she settled back into her driver’s seat. A quick stop at her mother’s house to drop the spices off and then she’d head home.

Something caught her eye as she started the transporter. A beam of sunlight that reflected off something as the sun started to go down. She put her hand over her eyes to shield them and squinted at the wall. A wolf’s head covered the side of the small building, with glowing yellow eyes that gave off waves of menace. The artist had done a good job of painting a rather fierce-looking wolf, but what did it mean? Was it a threat? A territory tag maybe? Like the gangs used to have?

She wanted to tell Rager about it, but she didn’t want to cause trouble for the wolves. She stared at the painting, lost in the sensation of being trapped between two worlds. Amanda, Stephan, and Rex had been a part of her life for as long as she could remember. They’d become family during their time in the bunker. But she was the supreme leader’s mate. Shouldn’t she tell him?

This all came down to loyalty, and just then, she felt as if she’d been ripped in two, one side with her old world and the other with the new world. She turned the transporter off and sat there, too overcome with emotion to move. Which side was she on?

Her body said it was all about Rager, it didn’t care what she thought. She wanted him, no matter what. Even now, torn in two, she wanted to go to him, to curl up into his arms, to feel his touch make the world disappear for her. Her mind told her body to shut the fuck up, and at this moment, it won.

Her head said she had to use her status to protect her family, all of them, and her body could dig out a vibrator from any of the shops she’d already raided. A vibrator didn’t have a heartbeat, though, or a voice that rumbled over her skin like a touch in its own right. A vibrator couldn’t touch her in all the right spots with wet kisses or fingers that knew just the right pressure to make her breath catch in her throat as endorphins flooded into her veins. It couldn’t make her feel like the most important, most beautiful woman in the world. Or the most cherished either.

Because it wasn’t just sex with Rager, there was more to the whole thing, it was that modalla thing that Agnar, the man that had made them mates, had spoken about. Their spirits were joined in a way she hadn’t quite wanted to face yet. She didn’t feel him as a touch along her spinal cord now, not like she had during their mating ritual, but she was always aware of him. And that was the worst thing of all, right now. She knew, no matter how much one part of her wanted to, she could never betray her mate. Not even for her family, she’d tear out her own soul if she did.