CHAPTER NINETEEN

 

 

- Hannah

I wake from what I hope was a cat nap with the blanket wrapped tightly around me again. I can hear Bren, Atticus, and Brock talking in low voices at the foot of the bed. Bren’s hand is on my ankle. He squeezes gently and then rubs his hand up and down as I start to come to my senses.

I feel happy. Now that I know that my alien doesn’t have a wife and kids he has been cheating on, I can relax. Of course, I could feel this sated from the incredible sex we had earlier. Even though it’s hard to say what will happen once we reach his home, it’s hard to get too worked up about it when I feel like I have absolutely no control. It’s in my best interest to just enjoy the moment like Bren said. I feel like I have been telling myself that a lot but the very simple fact is, I should’ve been dead already. I’ve been given a new life. One with Bren. Whether that ends up being in a zoo on his planet or in a spaceship traveling the universe doing whatever the hell it is that they do, it’s done.

I’m done. There is nothing more to fight. Not him or the way I feel or the facts. From the sounds of it, we’re not going to make it if we’re separated. I’m not exactly sure what would happen if we were apart for a long period of time, but it doesn’t sound like it’s good. And I certainly can’t take Bren back to Earth with me. Can you imagine?

He’s so big! His features are just different enough that he wouldn’t pass for human. He isn’t chipped and there is no way we could pull that off. Especially with my notoriety. Not that I’ve done anything bad but it’s better to just leave my history the way it is.

Holding the sheet carefully, I pull up and stroke my hand down his hair watching strand after strand pull out to wrap around my fingers. Every part of him seems to crave me and I feel the exact same way. I can’t even leave him alone when he is sitting in front of me like this! “I have a shirt here for you.” Bren pats the bed to my right by my leg. It’s a nicely folded blue garment.

Wow! I must’ve done something right if he’s going to allow me clothes. “I can feel your shock but it’s really just practicality. Maybe jealousy.” Laughter from the other two makes him shrug a bit as he holds it up and starts to put it on me like a child. “It helps that I brought it from home and it’s mine. I’d keep you naked all the time if I could.” My head pops out the head hole and he winks as he says this.

Smirking, I put my arms through the arm holes and try not to feel like everyone is staring at me even though they are. I’m getting the vibe that there is more to this than I realize. Even though we were just bantering, there is a serious look on everyone’s face. “What’s wrong?” Both doctors look away but Bren just holds my gaze.

This is the most serious I’ve seen him since he grabbed me off the Skylab. “What? You’re starting to scare me here.” He pulls me forward and I go up on my knees, so he can wrap his arms around me tightly.

“Brock heard from Chevepak and he has a message from Matthias.”

“That’s good, right?” My gaze bounces from Bren to Brock. “Is he alright?”

Bren pulls back to kiss my nose. “You are sweet and yes, he’s fine. But the message was somewhat cryptic and what we do understand is concerning.” Bren sighs and drops his head on mine.

Pushing him back, I wiggle in his arms and slap him lightly on the chest. “What? What is concerning?” Why does he keep me in suspense like this? I’m only going to think it’s worse than it really is! “Spill it.”

They all look confused for a minute, but Atticus shifts closer and picks up the conversation. “His brother’s message was that all the old laws for mates are still in effect. They were never changed or negated in any way. I don’t know exactly how much that is going to help us because really, not many of us even know those laws. Brock knows some but not a real lot of the specifics.”

Swinging my gaze to Brock, I wait for him to fill me in. I think I understand where this is going. It’s like how our laws have a precedent. So, their laws still have to abide by the precedent.

“The main one, the biggest one I do remember, is when a couple become mates, they are automatically accepted into each other’s territory. It’d be up to them where they preferred to live and there couldn’t be any territory disputes or not allowing them to travel together. We still have separate territories even though we are a united planet in the intergalactic government. Does this make sense?”

“I think so.” I’m trying to wrap my head around what they are saying. “Your planet has territories or areas with different governing bodies?”

“Yes.” Everyone nods.

“Earth is similar with different countries and governments. Even most countries are broken down and can even smaller ruling bodies. So, if someone in another territory or area ended up being mates, they couldn’t stop them from automatically being part of each other’s territory?”

“Correct. At the time, the planet was much more divided. This kept mates from being separated. Which is another positive on our side.” Bren squeezes me and nods his head, as I listen to Brock explain for them all.

“So basically, I’m automatically part of Bren’s country or territory, right?”

“Yes, exactly. They can’t kick you out and they can’t separate you. What Matthias was trying to point out was that the old laws are what they have to try and use and there are more in our favor than we realize.”

Well, that is a relief! Maybe this can really be easy. There are a lot of factors but once they realize we just want to live in peace and enjoy each other, we can blend right in.

“What about his fiancée?” I turn to look at Bren. “This does mean you aren’t engaged anymore, right?”

“Engaged?” Atticus turns to Brock who seems to be his new walking English dictionary.

“The human term for the promised commitment. Fiancée. Marriage. Engaged.” Brock answers while I’m still looking at Bren pointedly.

Curiosity wins out though and I turn to Brock confused. “I’m puzzled how you manage to have a much more advanced grasp of the English language. You get the terms a lot faster than these guys.”

Brock laughs. “I didn’t get the streamlined download. I took advantage of all the information in our records and can also speak hundreds of other Earth languages and dialects. It just takes longer. These two were in a bit of a hurry to communicate.”

Atticus scowls. “I do know this term though—show off.” Bren’s laughter barks in my ear at Atticus’s fast comeback. His laughter relaxes me. If he feels comfortable enough to laugh about this, he must think that things will work out. I have to take my cues from him on this. I want to enjoy the shared joy he seems to have, and we can deal with this as a team. I’m glad they are finally talking to me and I feel like I’m getting up to speed. As long as they can not try to talk around things I want to know!

“No getting off topic though!” I won’t let them side track me on this. “If we are mated, then Bren is off the market for ‘Vina the Busy Vagina’, correct?” I use air quotes around my joke and Brock howls with laughter.

“Yes, of course.” Bren rubs his hand easily down my back as I visibly and mentally relax. That’s a heavy weight off my mind. But the others are looking at Bren pointedly, as if waiting. I can feel the other proverbial shoe waiting to drop.

“What?” Swinging to Bren, I look at him like the others. “What aren’t you telling me?” My eyes narrow and I notice that there is still some tension that I don’t think is mine, in my chest area. It’s as though I can feel his tension now that mine has subsided.

“We don’t expect her to take it well. I’m just worried—maybe unnecessarily.” He seems to add that on for me. Bren is good at this. It flits through my head that my alien mate is the captain of this ship. He’s used to only giving out the details that need to be at any given time. I’ve been playing catch up for a long time now.

Such bullshit. Turning to Brock, I zero in on him since he seems to the most forthright of the bunch.

“What other laws are in our favor?” Closing my mouth, I wait. No one else is jumping in, that’s for sure.

Now he looks uncomfortable, sifting in the tiny chair under his large frame. “See, that’s the thing. We don’t know. We have a pretty tight class system and the historians would be able to investigate that, but we don’t have one of those on board. If we start poking around, contacting different historians on the planet, we tip our hand before we get there. We were going to talk to you about YOU getting that information.”

“Me?” I’m confused. How the hell am I going to be able to get it if they can’t?

“Yes. As Bren’s mate and now a citizen of the territory Purlese, you have all the rights of a Quasar woman and Mated Union Lead. You can request them.”

“Okaaay. That sounds good. I think.” My hesitant voice gives away my serious fucking confusion. “But I still don’t really understand. Why will they give them to me and not Bren?”

Brock looks at Bren strangely and they all laugh.

“It sounds like Bren forgot to mention that our world is run by the females. As such, you are now a full citizen of Quasar and have the same rights as all the other Family Union Leads on our world.”

What the fuck?!