Savior (15 page)

They lifted her shirt and felt around
her stomach with their tail-hands before they placed two small
screens on her.

“
Turn your head to the
left,” said Griva.

“
Oh. My. God.” Opal could
see the outline of three tiny babies and their three pounding heart
beats. She brought the hand not held by Danickra up and traced each
outline. She didn’t know how long she stayed like that staring at
the screen and tracing the images of her babies.

“
Do they have plates?”
Bablin asked, shaking her out of her trance.

She glared over at the Purple Leader.
“I don’t care if they do or—”

She was cut off by Griva. “Yes. I can
see the plates starting to develop.” He pointed to the
outlines.

Her mind felt like it was about to
explode.

Danickra cleared his throat. “Do they
have tails?”

“
This is amazing. Yes, all
three do. Our genes must be strong.”

Danickra had an almost blinding smile
on his face, and she didn’t think anyone could sit up any
straighter. He looked so proud of himself.

Opal turned back to stared at the
screen. Her babies were going to be hard-plated and have tails. The
doctors here knew nothing about humans. What happened if they only
looked like Inteli? What if the rest of them were human? The Inteli
knew nothing about humans. What information they had been lost in
the attack they’d had on their way home. Opal needed someone. She
needed a human.

Opal hated what she was going to
demand next and get them to do, but she wanted her and her children
to have every chance of survival. “You have no idea about triplets,
let alone human pregnancies. I need to go home.”

Danickra snarled.

She took a deep breath and told
herself she was doing the right thing. “Or I need a human doctor
and nurse. I can’t believe I’m asking this, but you have to take a
baby doctor, an OBGYN and a nurse. Make sure they’re not married
and have no close family.”

Just as she thought, the room erupted
into chaos at her demand. The panel opened, and Cavlar and his men
and all the clan leaders came in.

She half listened as they fought and
argued over what to do with her.

“
We cannot go out so soon
after the Doomickro attacked. We need to protect your Queen,
Danickra, and Salamanda’s,” the Red Clan Leader said.

“
That is why we need to go
again, you fool. You can see she holds not one but three young
inside her.” Opal was surprised to hear Bablin say this.

“
We haven’t found the
traitors yet. We cannot leave and bring more potential danger,” the
Green Leader said.

“
I will take a small
fighter ship, just me and a small crew and sneak away,” Zinoro
said, quieting everyone.

Opal had had enough. She sat up and
looked around the room at the leaders, medical staff, and Cavlar
and his two men. She had to take control, be the clan Queen. Opal
had to show these men that human woman were strong. “Is this room
secure? No one can hear what’s going on in here?”

Danickra squeezed her hand. “Yes. It’s
secure.”

Opal turned nodded. “What we have
talked about and what you have found out stays in this room. I hate
to take more women, and I don’t like putting any of you in danger,
but I need human medical people.” She got off the table and pulled
down her shirt. “This should also be a good experiment. We will
know if anyone in this room is a traitor if anything happens to
Zinoro. Also if anyone outside of the room learns I carry more than
one child we will know.”

All the clan leaders studied her with
something akin to respect.

“
She is correct. But how
do we explain my absence?” Zinoro asked.

Opal smiled. She knew from Danickra
talking to her on the ship that Zinoro was his best friend. “You
are going to start spreading the word, quietly though, that you
need to get away as your best friend’s happiness and the joyful
news of him expecting a baby is making you jealous and you need
time to yourself.”

Zinoro grinned. “You are good. The
traitor may even slip if he thinks I’m disgruntled.”

Bablin cursed and stood forward. “I
have an idea to bring the traitors out also. Everyone knows
Danickra and I are not close. We have fought and argued about
almost everything.” Everyone around them nodded. “Let us see if I
show my hatred of Danickra taking a human and so on, I can get
whoever has betrayed us to come out and seek help from
me.”

“
Great idea,” Opal said as
she grinned at Bablin. “You need to leave now and leave yelling and
screaming anything nasty you can think of.”

Danickra growled. “I do not like this.
This is not our way. We fight, interrogate, and we will find
out.”

Opal sighed. She’d had an uneasy
feeling early on when she walked here and all the women gave her
funny looks and some turned their backs, that something wasn’t
right. Opal had a feeling they weren’t dealing with the type of
traitors the Inteli men were prepared for. Stroking Danickra’s arm
she murmured, “Give it a day or two. I have a feeling this plan is
going to work. But Bablin needs to leave now before the rest of do,
and Zinoro needs to leave as soon as possible.” She peered up at
Danickra as she pleaded. “Please try this for me.”

The Orange leader spoke up. “She is
right, Danickra. I can feel it.”

“
Okay, if we all agree
start arguing, so when Bablin walks out they see we are all out of
sorts.”

Opal bit her tongue to stop the smile
that wanted to spread over her face as everyone started arguing and
Bablin got into his role, yelling as he left that they would all
regret their decision to have humans.

****

The celebratory dinner was one of the
most uncomfortable events Opal and Heather had been to, and that
was saying a lot with how they grew up. All the men were happy and
excited to see them; it was the women who weren’t.

The women gave her and Heather the
evil eye all night. The frustrating thing was that the men didn’t
seem to notice the hostility towards them.

Danickra sat next to her and frowned
as he said for the third time. “I’m sorry I have no idea where
Triniea and Siatia are. They seemed eager to meet you and wanted to
come on the trip when I told them I was going to Earth. It must be
something important to keep them away.”

“
No that’s fine. I’m sure
I’ll meet them soon.” Opal didn’t hold out any hope.

It went on like that most of the
night. None of the women willingly spoke to them. Opal’s uneasy
feeling got worse as the night wore on. Something definitely wasn’t
right. From what Opal remembered being told on the ship, she
thought everyone was happy to have the humans help them find a way
not to become extinct. But after tonight Heather and Opal knew that
wasn’t right.

Heather and Salamanda left early
because her friend had convinced Salamanda to go home and make
babies. “The more sex we have, the more chances we have at babies,”
Heather said. Seconds after she said that Salamanda carried her out
of the room.

As the party wound up two gorgeous
yellow Inteli woman come in the room with a couple of other women.
The two women who walked in first came up to Danickra and ignored
her.

“
I’m sorry we missed the
celebration, brother,” the taller one with long blue hair almost to
her bum said. Her yellow eyes darted to Opal for a moment before
turning back to Danickra.

“
We got held up with a
discovery of our own,” the other one said. She had purple hair and
the same yellow eyes.

Danickra sighed. “I knew it had to be
something important. I’m sure it could have waited. It is no excuse
for you two not coming. I’m going to have to pun—“

“
Don’t be a sourpuss.”
Opal interrupted Danickra, hoping that if maybe she stuck up for
his sisters they may get rid of some of the hostility radiating off
them.

“
I am not this sourpuss
you call me,” Danickra growled.

Opal grinned. She loved it when
Danickra got worked up over one of her sayings when he had no idea
what they meant. “Yes, you are. Give you sisters a break. Introduce
me, please.”

Danickra brought up the hand he held
and kissed it. “These are my sisters. The one with the long blue
hair is Triniea, and the one with the purple hair is
Siatia.”

“
Hello,” they said
together, but they turned from her back to Danickra.

“
We have to go. I have
just learnt of a new breakthrough.” Siatia seemed excited as she
said this and almost ran out of the room with her
sister.

The unease in Opal got worse, and she
prayed that what she was thinking right now was wrong. She tried to
say something to Danickra, but he wouldn’t hear it. Instead he took
her back to their rooms and made love until she fell asleep of
exhaustion.

****

Opal stretched, loving the feel of her
well-used body. They’d come back from the party and Danickra had
made love to her, telling her he didn’t like all the men eyeing her
and wanting her. She was his. He’d proven she was only his as she
screamed it over and over again. Opal slowing came awake only to
freeze as she felt eyes on her.

Opening one eye she saw the two yellow
Inteli women she wanted to avoid, Danickra’s sisters, Triniea and
Siatia.

“
He said we shouldn’t wake
you, but I wanted to see you again. They are saying you have some
kind of power over my brother.”

Opening her other eyes she stared at
the two women. “What else are they saying?”

“
Some say Danickra’s gone
too far making you his Queen.” Siatia gave a snort. “I have to
agree. My brother is one of the most, if not the most, powerful
clan leader on Vennous. I had it all planned that he would make my
friend Grinato his youmnda. Then you humans had to come and ruined
it all. I would have figured out how to save our race. I just
needed more time.”

Opal wrapped the sheet around her
naked body and glared at Danickra’s sisters. She’d had her
suspicions last night, but this morning confirmed them. Opal needed
to keep them talking for as long as possible so Cavlar or Danickra
could come and rescue her. She wasn’t stupid. Opal knew she would
never win a fight between these two women. With her also being
pregnant she didn’t want to chance hurting her babies. “Okay then,
why didn’t he mate with her before he left?

“
Well, Danickra is quite
fierce. Most of the females are scared of him.” Triniea crossed her
arms over her almost flat chest.

Opal grinned. “Really? I think
Danickra’s a sweetie.”

Danickra’s sister Siatia’s eyes
widened. “No, he’s not. I’m sure you learned that from provoking
him when you arrived. I’m surprised you still live.”

Opal giggled. She couldn’t help it as
her punishment came back to her. “Oh, Danickra can punish me like
he did when we arrived anytime he wants.” Her giggles burst into
laughter as the two women stood glaring at her like she’d lost her
mind.

“
They say you are with
child. How can you laugh about this? You need to be careful. An
accident may befall you.” Triniea’s yellow eyes grew
darker.

Opal stopped her laughing and stood,
not caring about her nakedness as she stared at the two women who’d
just threatened her. “I’m laughing because your brother would never
hurt me or harm me in any way. He may drive me crazy insane, and I
sometimes want to strangle him for his overprotection, but he’s
never hurt me. I love him.”

The two women’s mouth gaped opened as
they studied her. “You love my brother?” whispered
Triniea

Opal didn’t hesitate. “With all my
heart.”

Just as she said that the Inteli in
question walked in with a scowl on his face which he turned on his
sisters.

“
I cannot believe my own
sisters have betrayed us.”

Opal got up off the bed and wrapped
the sheet around her and went straight to Danickra hugging him in
the sheet so she could comfort him. He looked heartbroken as he
stared at his sisters. She stood on tip-toes and pulled his lips
down to hers giving him a quick kiss, hoping it would ease the
angry and pained look on his face. She snuggled into him, and his
arms came around her and helped hold the sheet to her.

“
What am I to do with you
two? Opal told me last night something wasn’t right. I didn’t
believe her. I told her my own kin would never disobey me or
disrespect me. I was wrong. I don’t know how I’m going to kill my
own sisters.”

What the hell? Opal step away from his
embrace and stared up at Danickra. He was serious. He really was
going to kill his own sisters. “You better bloody well not kill
your sisters. That is just barbaric. They didn’t act alone and
haven’t admitted to anything. If you kill them it will only make
the situation worse.” Opal remembered Earth’s history, and she’d
learned from it and didn’t believe in the death penalty. Too many
innocent people died. It also gave the people in the wrong the easy
way out. She was Queen now, so she had power to help change
things.