“Commander, go outside on the patio and cool off. Let me talk to the captain,” he ordered, putting his body between the two men. “Katherine was one of my best commanders and she deserved respect, not this shit. The last thing we need is bloodshed before saying goodbye to a comrade.” He eyed Aroc. “And someone’s wife.”
Oliver grumbled, stepping back before shoving a finger at Aroc. “You let her die, alien.” Anger and tears thickened his words. “The best…she was the best and your sorry ass didn’t protect her from getting pregnant.” He fought Captain Holston’s hold.
A violation of the bond between him and his family, that’s when he snapped. This was his time to grieve, feel the loss, and mourn the void about to consume his life without his female. Heart broken, Aroc lunged forward, hands around the commander’s throat, wrenching him from Holston to ram him into the wall.
Oliver clawed at Aroc’s hands, digging into his flesh. “One more word and I’ll crush your windpipe, throwing your lifeless body off the station into space.”
Oliver struggled manically to breathe. Aroc’s nostrils flared as Katherine’s voice filled his mind, telling him she hated seeing them fight. He released the tension in his fingers on Oliver’s neck, letting him drop to the floor coughing and choking, fingers clasped around his throat. Oliver’s skin flushed red.
“Without Katherine and my child, your life means nothing to me. Stay out of my way, human.”
Captain Ryner Holston from Sector Five helped Oliver to his feet, ushering him to the exit bay doors of the hospital. Security kept the room from exploding into a full-blown massacre. Aroc drew a hand over his face, fighting the pain in his heart. He listened to Holston’s words to Oliver.
“Commander Cantrell, you can’t beat the hell out of one another because you’re upset. That shit only works in prison, and you’ve settled your past and moved forward with your life.”
“If this were prison he’d be dead already.”
“Or you would,” Ryner said, gripping Oliver’s shoulders. “Listen, your last four missions were challenging assignments. As of today you’re on leave for a month.”
Oliver jerked his shoulders back, but Holston retained his grip. “I don’t need a break. I need to bash in the head of a karuntian with a pipe.” He held his nose.
Holston shook the man’s shoulders. “Not in the hospital, Commander or anywhere else I have to respond to.” He glanced around the room. “The lobby’s not the prison yard. Settle your problems outside. Aroc is a captain. Respect the title if not the male.” Ryner leaned back, observing Oliver’s nose. “That’s swelling fast,” Ryner said, shaking his head. “Go down to the emergency bay. I may need this face for an assignment.”
Aroc regarded the only human he considered his equal. Captain Ryner Holston. Although human, his dark skin gave him an otherworldly fierceness. The strongest human he’d ever met with a disposition to rival any karuntee; Aroc trusted him to handle the matter to his satisfaction.
“Dishonoring the memory of my wife and child will get you killed, human,” Aroc said, the pain eating away at his soul. The human captain directed his attention on Oliver, huffing and puffing, blood seeping from his hands.
“This here is exactly why you’re going on leave. This treaty between the karuntee and us is essential for the well-being of the earth.”
“I’m calm,” Oliver muttered, holding his nose while seething under his breath.
Ryner snorted, shoving him back. “That’s why you’re posturing like a mongoose in a hen house. Bring it down, Commander.” The captain spoke low. “I know it’s hard, but try and relax. Katherine loved you like a brother. Act like it and respect her husband. Like it or not, I can guarantee Katherine won’t be the last woman to find them attractive. You can’t go around dragging our women back like some rutting caveman. So don’t sever the ties between us getting revenge for an act of nature.”
Oliver drew back, his fingers balling in tight beside his thigh. “Nature didn’t kill my partner.”
“Commander Cantrell, you forget Katherine was my wife carrying my child.” Aroc paused. “You made every attempt to blacken me in Katherine’s eyes, hating that she loved a karuntee. One day, at the wrong moment, in the wrong space, you’ll beg for your life.”
Oliver threw his hands out wide in an aggressive pose. “Whenever you’re ready yard dog, I’ll be waiting. Katherine deserved a man, not some mutation off the back of the moon.”
Aroc stiffened. Human’s judged on appearance and not on character, and that’s what kept Aroc from fully opening his space station. The sole reason he detested Oliver.
Katherine had thought his retractable spine unique. The patch of hair on his shoulder she caressed in her sleep and the things she did with his double penis…he was proud to be a seven-foot tall karuntee. As captain of the karuntee clan, Aroc held pride like any other male for his species. “It burns you that Katherine loved this mutated yard dog.”
“She’d still be alive if you stuck to your kind. Our women on the Space station aren’t a play toy. She was my partner!”
“And my mate!” Captain Farkus answered in a commanding tone, making it known Katherine was, above all, his wife. Cantering his neck until the tendons stretched, and the muscles relaxed he added, “Consider this a warning, Cantrell. Today is for mourning my family. Every day after that is protecting their memory.”
Aroc rolled his shoulders back upon hearing his name called over the murmurs of the room and rotated to see a man waving.
The Doctor.
“Captain Farkus, can I speak to you. It’s urgent.”
The captain hurried after the doctor disappearing around the corner. What now?
Chapter 2
Earth
Georgia 1960
Human nature dictates, that one day everyone’s parents will die. Sadie knew it was unavoidable, no matter how hard she’d convinced herself through the years that her parents would be there forever. Most children do even into adulthood. It’s a selfish way of hanging on to youth. However, when it happens—rest assured, it will happen—it’s guaranteed to be the worst day of your life.
Preparing for it was an altogether different animal with sharp teeth. The task seemed near impossible when they’d been an essential part of who Sadie was as a person. There guidance reflected in her choice of friends, lovers, and careers. The way she lived her life or didn’t live it, was shaped by the two people that loved her when she didn’t know who she was.
Sadie Ochi Alexander sensed their absence throughout her body hours before the call reached her at work. A hollow void in her heart, life, and soul. Oh, she wasn’t a child. At thirty, she’d been semi on her own for years. Shared a Brownstone with her sister and held a decent job. Although trained as a nurse, she was hired to be both caregiver and maid. She worked the last seven years for a wonderful family out in Beacon heights. She took care of a banker, his wife, and a little boy five days a week, sometimes six, depending on what party they were throwing. Savannah Edwards was the stereotypical socialite. Unlike the company she kept, Mrs. Edwards knew the importance of Sadie having some time off to handle this wretched disfiguring of her life. Sadie requested two weeks leave and the way she felt, she could use two more.
Death of one parent held enough grief, but it was a double-fisted blow to the spine when a tragic accident hundreds of miles from home takes both parents at once. No chance to say I love you, or how much they meant to you. All you have is a sheriff standing at your front door forcing back the lump in his throat with thick audible swallows.
Well, Sadie Ochi Alexander’s day was a week ago today. Now, with the partially hidden sun suffocating the air with its heat and the swollen clouds bursting every thirty minutes making the grass wet and soggy, she and her sister had the dubious honor of burying their parents.
The funeral she never wanted to see arrived under the green tent protecting the side-by-side open burial plots and caskets, each covered in flowers. Her father's in all white carnations. Her mother's in pink.
Each step across the graveled path brought back every funeral they’d attended over the last twenty years. Varying headstones marked each location like addresses in the old neighborhood full of people she knew and loved.
Lord, this was depressing.
Sadie smoothed a hand down the black dress that came to her knees, the tips of her black pumps dusty on the toe from the gravel she’d have to clean tonight. These were her favorite. She toyed with the single strand of pearls resting on the underside of the collar of her dress. Her grandmother’s gift to her on her deathbed, and Sadie’s most prized possession.
“Honey, sleep downstairs in my apartment tonight,” her sister, Theresa, pleaded. “I hate the thought of you upstairs alone with this day on your mind. Please stay with me.”
Sadie fought not to crumble under the pity in Theresa’s warm eyes and relented to her just to appease her sister.
Years ago when they inherited the brownstone, Sadie claimed the upstairs apartment as it held the most sunlight. From the bedroom window, she had an unobstructed view of Salem Park. At night, the moon lit the tops of the trees down to the open expanse of lawn.
“Theresa, I’d rather be alone tonight.” Approaching Theresa’s car, Sadie opened the door to the old Ford, and placed her purse on the back seat. Heat from the closed up car rolled out in moist waves. Gripping the stick holding the program, she fanned her face, sweat trickling down her back. The rain had stopped, and the humidity rose, curling the edges of her hair. She watched the hive of well-wishers swarming her way to offer condolences. The part she didn’t care for were the fake smiles and hugs that lasted too long to be appropriate.
If one more person said it was a blessing for them to go together, Sadie would scream. The grimace of her compressed lips must have scared off the next round of comments.
It was time to go home and get ready for the guests. She loved her family, but they hadn’t given her a moment's rest since the accident and all she wanted was to lie down and cry. Sadie scooted in, got comfortable then settled back to let her mind stop spinning.
She waited for the tears. They never came. In her heart, resentment for the careless driver ate at her soul leaving her too upset to cry.
***
At the house, cars lined the curb down to the corner to wrap around the block. Inside, she worked off the heels, setting them on the stairs. Sadie slid her feet into her well-worn greenhouse shoes while tying on an apron, protecting her dress from the overflow of food covering the table. She straightened the lace tablecloth bunched up around the dishes and platters of food covering the dining room table. Collards, green beans, black-eyed peas, fried corn, cornbread, spaghetti, fried chicken, a small plate of ribs, and enough desserts to open a bakery. Sadie reclined along the wall to the back stairs. She’d fielded her last marital status question and headed up to her apartment. By nightfall everyone had gone, leaving behind an echo in the house.
She changed into comfortable, although well worn, shorts and a tank top. Grabbing a garbage bag, she helped Theresa restore the first floor to the immaculate apartment they’d left before the funeral this morning. Before the mourners arrived, with mounds of tissue and stories that were partially correct and half made up along the way.
Mosquitoes buzzed in the twilight. She grabbed the trash bag from Theresa, still in her suit. There was no point in her sister going when she’d already changed and was on her way out to hang the clothes. She sprinted into the alley beyond the brick shed. The metal can lid clanked on the cement after she dropped it to lift the two bags of trash. She slid the lid on the can. The waning evening light caught and held her attention.
Tomorrow’s a new day full of possibilities for a fresh mental start.
The grass gave off its leftover raindrops to coat her bare feet as she ran in then grabbed the basket of clothes she’d washed to keep busy. Outside, she fished out a pillowcase from the basket. She gave it a hard snap then hooked one end of the line. The close line creaked as she secured the clothespin over the corner of the material. Momma would have gone crossed eyed knowing she hung clothes out at night. Out of nowhere she laughed, laughed hard from her stomach like a child. It progressively got louder and louder, then the tears streamed down her face. Her grip on the bag of pins weakened. The pieces of wood scattered over the grass mimicking the shattering of her heart.
Agony settled on her shoulders. They began to tremble, and her arms were suddenly heavy. Momma gave her those pillowcases when she moved out of their house years ago.
Around her in the backyard, crickets chirped, June bugs bounced off the screen door, lightning bugs dance in the air, and her quiet cries added another layer when an arm came around her waist. Sadie struggled against the hold, screaming into the hand now covering her mouth and eyes. The hand was enormous.
Her body prickled, with tiny bites of electricity coursing through her limbs. She caught a glimpse of the hand under the moonlight on her face. Impossible. It held a reddish-pink tinge to the skin. Warm breath coated her ear. Panic worked a second sheen of sweat over her body under her clothes.
“Let go,” she mumbled into his hand, and stiffened when his mouth touched her ear.
“You’re mine now.”
Terrified, Sadie struggled against the hold. A sizzling sensation ran over her skin as a lightheaded haze drew spots before her eyes. His unearthly deep voice filled her head.