Authors: Tracy St. John
The man’s eyes widened and he jerked his head to the left to look at another Kalquorian. That one wore four silver bars on the chest of his formsuit instead of the one or two Katherine saw on the rest of the aliens. Perhaps they denoted rank?
The man with four bars spoke in staccato bursts of a foreign language to the man Katherine had approached. The first Kalquorian nodded and returned his attention to her.
He said, “You must speak to Nobek Miv. He is responsible for answering your questions.”
He nodded to the man directly to his right, a dark look of jealousy crossing his face. Katherine looked at the other Kalquorian.
Like all of them, Miv was big and muscular. To her, he looked a little harder edged physically than the rest, as if he used his body in strenuous activity often. His features were stunning, in the way a wild animal like a bear or wolf would be. His nose was slightly crooked, and there were small scars on his face: one beneath the left eye, one slightly below it on his cheek, and one on his chin. Rather than detracting, they added to his masculine beauty, making him seem a battle-tested hero. He was extremely tall too, perhaps a full foot taller than Katherine’s own impressive five-foot-ten-inch height.
He looked at Katherine with an expression of astonishment. His large cat-slitted eyes were wide, as if in shock. His startled gaze moved to the man with the four silver bars. He only wore two, and he looked younger than the other man.
Katherine wondered why she was to speak to someone other than the ranking officer. Perhaps that man didn’t speak English? She also wondered at the way Miv’s face softened as his gaze returned to her face, almost as if this primal creature was in awe of her. It made him much more approachable, and her galloping heart eased back a little.
She gathered her courage and moved over to address him. Even with that astonished expression turning his features almost boyishly innocent, Miv was still intimidating. Katherine’s legs felt like jelly as she neared him.
“Nobek Miv?” Her voice trembled, but there was nothing she could do about that. Besides, why pretend she wasn’t frightened? The aliens already knew they were all terrified.
He blinked down at her. At first Katherine didn’t think he would answer, but at last his lips moved. The voice that came from them was a low purring rumble and as hesitant as hers. “Yes … yes, Matara?”
Katherine licked her dry lips and noted his gaze dropped to watch her do it. His pupils widened and he swallowed. She had no idea what his reaction meant. It didn’t matter. She had to find out what was going on.
She told him, “I am Sister Katherine. Your people do realize this is a convent and not a military station, don’t you? That we are a peaceful religious colony?”
His gaze lifted to meet hers again. He nodded. “Yes, Matara Sisterkatherine.”
“Then why are you here?”
For such a fierce looking creature, Miv had a gentle tone. “An important Earther general landed on your colony. We followed him here. He has information we need for the war.”
Katherine’s brows drew together. An Earther general on Europa? The only such person she could imagine coming to the convent would be aspirant Cassidy Hamilton’s grandfather, and his visits were few and far between. It made little sense General Patrick Hamilton would be on Europa now with a war going on, but Katherine couldn’t think of anyone else in the military who would bother with them.
War was not her business. The girls under her care were. She steered her thoughts back in their direction. “Did you find this general during your invasion?”
Miv nodded. “Yes, Matara.”
“Then why are you still here? Why are you taking innocent women prisoner?”
He glanced away, as if to ask for help. Katherine didn’t look at the superior officer Miv sent a silent entreaty to. She kept her eyes on the Nobek in front of her instead, her silence insisting on an answer.
Apparently, Miv was on his own when it came to her questions. He looked down at her once more, unhappiness flitting over his expression before his jaw firmed. In a no-nonsense tone, he told her, “This is wartime. You are spoils of war. Kalquor claims the lifebringers. You are our mates.”
Katherine’s legs nearly liquefied in sudden terror. The Kalquorians had come to rape them after all. She could barely breathe in the fear that consumed her.
Miv’s eyes widened. “Matara? Sisterkatherine?” He grasped her elbows, keeping her upright as she swayed under the wave of dizziness that took her over.
Somehow, his touch not only steadied her on her feet, but settled her mind as well. It was as if he poured strength through the contact, making her calmer. Which made no sense, not if he planned to force himself upon her.
Katherine drew a deep breath and pulled against his grip. Not with panic but steadily, as if she wasn’t truly afraid of him. As if she had every right to expect he would let her go.
Shockingly, Miv did release her. His brutally handsome face still registered concern and his hands hovered close, as if ready to catch her if she went weak again. It made no sense that he would seem so worried for her welfare, not if he was planning to force himself on her. Katherine doubted her own senses.
I’m in shock and I’m scared. My mind is interpreting things in such a way to keep me from being horribly traumatized
.
That had to be it. However, she still had the others to fear for, to protect if at all possible. Especially the weak.
Thinking of her girls, especially the smallest ones, brought anger to the fore. It chased away some of the horror that wanted to make her fall to her knees before this Kalquorian. Katherine let the fury rise and consume her. She stood as tall as she could and spat out the foul words that came.
“Spoils? You claim us? Including the children? You would attack little girls for your profane sexual pleasures, Nobek Miv? What cowards are Kalquorians that they would do such a thing?”
Miv’s eyes went perfectly round at her words, and his mouth dropped open. Katherine waited for the stunned expression to turn to anger. For his still hovering hands to clench into fists, which he would use to hurt her.
Instead, the Nobek’s expression went horrified. To Katherine’s surprise, his tone was desperate as he answered her accusations. “Matara, no. We would never touch the little ones in such a way. They are not to be harmed.” Then his expression did turn mean. “I would kill any man I saw hurting a child. I would rip him apart with my bare hands and make him scream until I tore his beating heart from his chest.”
The purple eyes glittered with rage, and Katherine saw fangs appear behind the man’s square teeth. Miv had gone utterly primitive with the idea of little girls being attacked.
Every hair on Katherine’s body rose at the bestial fury. She had no doubt the Nobek meant what he said. He was not going to hurt the children, and he would not countenance such actions from his fellow Kalquorians.
“I believe you,” she whispered. She put a hand on his shoulder, feeling how he shook with suppressed rage. “I believe you, Miv.”
He drew in a deep breath. Then another. The alien’s body eased and stopped trembling. He closed his eyes and nodded. “No one hurts the younglings, Matara. No one.”
Katherine was aware of the silence all around them, of the breathless weight of the others’ attention. Good. The other women knew the children were at least safe. The rest of the Kalquorians did not refute Miv’s assertions, so Katherine took some comfort in hoping they were all on the same page.
She still wanted to know for sure the little ones were all right. “I need to see them. Where are they? Let me go to them.”
Miv opened his eyes and shook his head. His voice contrite, he told her, “I cannot. You must stay here for now.” As Katherine started to speak, he held up a hand to forestall her. “The little ones are safe with the old mothers. I swear to you on my honor, they will be fine.”
Katherine clenched her fists in frustration. “What will happen to them? What are Kalquor’s plans for the children?”
“No plans. They will be left here when we leave. We will take only the lifebringers with us.”
That brought cries from the women behind Katherine and renewed sobbing. Miv winced at the sounds. His eyes stared into Katherine’s, almost as if begging her forgiveness.
Katherine tried to take comfort in Miv’s insistence that the children would remain untouched. However, her guts churned at the thought that she and others would be enslaved by the aliens, that they would be forced to breed with their captors.
Before she could question Miv further, two more Kalquorians entered the room. They did not appear as feral as the men guarding the dining room. In fact, the face of one of the new arrivals was open and gentle.
The two men glanced at her and bowed slightly. Then they looked over the other frightened women. Their faces softened in compassion, and they bowed to them too.
The man with the extra silver bars went to them and they spoke in lowered voices. The three cast looks in the direction of four of the huddled women. Tina was part of that group, and they knelt together on the floor praying.
Katherine asked Miv, “What is going on? Isn’t that the man in charge here? The one with four silver bars on his chest?”
The Nobek nodded. “Yes, Matara. Weapons Subcommander Osopa is the ranking officer in the room right now.”
Katherine looked from him to the trio including the officer. “Why am I talking to you then? Why not him?”
Before Miv could answer, the three men started walking towards the knot of praying women. Those nuns and aspirants didn’t notice their approach, but others did. A couple of the women cried out.
Katherine’s eyes widened as the three Kalquorians reached the women. All their attention focused on Tina. She asked, “What are they doing?”
Without waiting for an answer, Katherine started for the group. A gentle but firm hand closed around her elbow, stopping her. She stared at the large, scarred fingers of Nobek Miv holding her in place.
He said in quiet voice, “They are claiming their Matara. Stay here, Sisterkatherine.”
Katherine looked from the hand on her arm to Tina. The young woman and the others had stopped praying, their wide eyes focused on the trio of Kalquorians. One spoke quietly to the red-haired aspirant. She shook her head at whatever he said and turned her frightened gaze to Katherine, seeking her out.
“Sister? He says I have to go with them.”
Katherine gasped as the officer Miv had called Osopa leaned down to swoop Tina in his arms. She struggled against the tight grip, shoving and punching as she screamed. The man holding her never flinched from her blows. He simply carried her towards the door, his two companions flanking him.
The other women also screamed and reached for the man bearing the girl away. The guards surged forward, making those who would defend Tina drop back in terror. The air split with Tina’s terrified shrieks and the sobbed pleas of the rest.
“No!” Katherine shouted. “Let her go! Where are you taking her? Stop!”
She yanked violently against Miv’s grip, trying to get to Tina before the poor girl could be taken away. Not able to escape the Nobek, she turned on him, pounding his shoulder with her one free fist and kicking. “Stop this! Let me go!”
Much like Osopa, Miv had no reaction to being pummeled by an Earther woman. He urged her, “You must all stop yelling and crying. You are frightening her.”
The
women
were frightening Tina? Katherine paused to stare at Miv for a moment in openmouthed shock before redoubling her efforts to pull free of him. “Are you mad? Let me go!”
But as she jerked around, it was already too late. Tina’s abductors left the room with her. Her cries trailed into the room until the door slid shut and beeped an acknowledgment that it had locked behind them.
The guards went back to their original posts and Miv released Katherine. She stared up at the big Nobek.
His voice tight, he told her, “She is with her clan now. They will take good care of her, as your clan will care for you. You are safe, Sisterkatherine.”
Safe? How could he say she was safe when the aliens were taking women away against their will? When he acknowledged that just as Tina had been forced to go with a clan, so would Katherine?
He didn’t look happy, but there was no compromise in Miv’s expression either. Katherine knew no argument would sway this man, or any of the others of his kind. They would take the women they wanted without the least care of the crying and begging. Even the compassion she thought she saw in Miv’s eyes was no comfort, because there was no escape. No mercy.
Katherine backed away from the alien male. She stumbled her way to the other sobbing women, her eyes never leaving the Kalquorian who watched her so closely.
Miv watched Sisterkatherine whisper to the other frightened women, her trembling hands stroking through hair, caressing faces, hugging bodies convulsed by sobs. The other females shook and cried, but Sisterkatherine had confronted the Kalquorians with the fearlessness and strength born of protective resolve. The fierce Nobek couldn’t help but be impressed with such a woman. More important right now however was Nobek Osopa’s assertion that she was Miv’s woman.
He had heard that those clans with all three male members in place would be allowed to select a Matara. Miv had assumed Simdow would wait to make a decision until he looked the prospects over and discussed it with himself and Vadef.
Vadef had shown a strong reaction to Sisterkatherine, just as he had. He must have alerted Simdow about their interest in the woman with the cloud of curly blond hair. Miv’s Imdiko was the ship’s research specialist, so he would have gathered all the information he could find on the nun. Presumably, he’d sent it on to Simdow, who must have agreed she was a potential candidate for their Matara.
The thought of Sisterkatherine as his mate excited Miv. She showed courage. Strength. Character. She also worried him. The looks she cast his way, looks of horrified accusation, did not sit well with the Nobek.