Chapter 10

The prime waited in some kind of sitting room in one of the other buildings on the edge of the street. Well, it couldn't really be called a street, more like a walking trail that was neatly arranged along the front of the row of buildings she had seen from the opposite side of the park. Plush furniture in blues and grays had been arranged around a massive low table littered with papers and what very much looked like a map of the city...or a city, anyway. Other drawings showed the small park and houses that were currently being used...many more than she had guessed. It was oddly shaped, but from the scale, she managed to figure out that the border encompassed an entire city block. Behind the markings that represented the current buildings, there was a large red rectangle outlining several more, with strange writing along the border. Mia memorized as much of the map as she could before turning her attention back to the room.

On the wall of the room, strange shapes that might have once counted as art hung, contrasting light and shadow and giving the room a definite alien feeling. She studied them before movement caught her attention.

A man sat in one of the large cushioned chairs, a cup, a real cup, of steaming liquid in his hand, leaning over the red highlighted area on another map. Mia's breath caught in her throat. She had thought Kenahi was attractive, this man put the rest to shame.

The dim lighting of the room highlighted a strong, square jaw and high cheekbones. Vivid blue eyes focused on the papers before him, peering out from beneath heavy eyebrows. A strong, wide, catlike nose did nothing to diminish the plump full lips that would be a bit too effeminate for a male earth model…not that the rest of his body would detract from the job. Deeply brown skin shimmered in the artificial light. Darker, almost black stripes seemed to originate somewhere behind him giving his appearance an incredibly exotic feel, like an ancient tiger god.

His face definitely caught her attention, but the rest of the package was just as devastating. Even through the material of the gray shirt he wore, she could detect muscles defined by years of use.

When he looked up at her, the focus of those pale blue eyes shot through her. Both danger and awareness pushed to the forefront of her being. For a second, she lost her breath.

Not good, Mia, she warned herself. Remember what you just learned. No getting distracted by a pretty face.

“Ah, you are Mia, the warrior woman who faced the Griecher. I am Draven,” he announced. His voice was smooth chocolate, rich and deep, and he stood, offering his hand as though they might shake. He watched her with an intensity that was unnerving. Instinct, and polite, ingrained culture almost had Mia returning the gesture. He waited a moment, and then when it was clear she wasn't going to comply, he dropped his arm, gesturing to the seat opposite himself. “Sit, please.”

Again, Mia had the urge to resist. The alien's expectations of her had crawled beneath her skin and stayed there, like anger simmering in a hot pan. She was, however, curious, and so she crossed the room and took a hesitant seat on a chair that did a fine imitation of a marshmallow. She studied the map with keen interest. Across from her, Draven sat, as well.

“Tea?” he asked.

She looked up and must have made a face, for he chuckled. The sound sent tiny shivers along her skin.

“It is not Ooluc, the tea we use for long journeys. It would be an unfortunate tragedy if you assumed that is what we drank for pleasure. This tea,” he gestured with his cup, “is made from the Macier fruit, and several herbs. You had some of the fruit, I believe, with your meal. The other women have compared it to Earth's chocolate.”

Mia hesitated, and then nodded. It likely couldn't hurt to seem civil, and she liked sweets. Draven poured her a cup from an oddly shaped kettle sitting on a nearby table. He rose, his body towering over her as he offered the drink. The situation made her feel oddly vulnerable, not in the way one felt when facing danger, but the feeling one had when they stood in front of another, with their entire focus on them. She reached up for it, intending to take the cup and hide behind it to get her composure back. Her fingers brushed his warm calloused ones and a shock of awareness ran through her. Nope. That wouldn't do at all. She made to pull the cup away but found he held it firmly. Surprised, since he had offered the drink, after all, she looked up.

“That's better. Here we meet each other's gaze when accepting offerings. It is only polite.”

Mia frowned. Was that a chastisement?

“You have beautiful eyes, you should not hide them, not when I already know you are braver than that.” It felt very much like an intimate conversation and Mia found herself flushing. Thankfully, Draven had mercy on her and moved away, taking the seat opposite once more.

“I have had report of the journey, and your part in it. You are an interesting woman, Mia. Why did you attack the Griecher?”

This is what he wanted to talk to her about? Mia sorted through her battered emotions. She didn't really even think she had been fully aware during the attack. The creature had just released her and her adrenaline had been high. She only remembered that she couldn't let the monster get him. Draven waited patiently for an answer, watching her.

In the end, she shrugged. “It had your man and he had just saved me. I'm not sure what else I should have done.”

Draven grunted. “Running away, screaming in fear, or fainting are, by our studies of Earth females, not out of the realm of possibility. Yet you did none of that. We are, of course, exceptionally grateful. Once returned to our medical care, Brine seems to be doing better and is expected to recover fully, eventually. Our numbers are very limited, and each of my men is very important to me.” His face tightened for a moment before relaxing once more as he looked at her. “In exchange, I would like to offer you a reward of your choosing. There is much Callaphria has to offer. Would you like a unit to make a home of your own? For now, the women are stationed in dormitories, they will receive a unit-home once they choose their mates, for you we would make an exception.”

Mia shook her head.

“If you want to reward me, then take me home, my real home.”

Draven frowned and leaned back against his seat.

“You have watched the orientation presentation?”

Mia frowned again.

“Then you will understand why that is not possible. We have stretched our very small resources on this venture. Our last hope for survival is with the Earth women we have chosen. It is why we have risked so much. I would not put my men in such danger once more to return you and choose another.”

Mia sat in silence. She had figured as much, but it was worth a try. Besides, she would have insisted he take all of them home, not just her. She studied the map as she went through arguments in her head, but none came out with the drive she thought would reach him. His men were desperate, he was desperate. There was no argument she had that would convince him he had been wrong.

“See these lines,” a long masculine finger interrupted her view. She looked up at him, startled. For once, he wasn't looking at her and she blinked, struck stupid by his beauty in profile. It took her longer than it should have to follow the direction his finger was pointing. “This is the newly proposed boundary. For now, we have managed to get a solar storage large enough to protect our small area, and provide light and water for the buildings here, if we manage ourselves properly. This,” he tapped the map in the center of the sectioned off red boundary, the writing was concentrated in that area, “was once a water plant in its own right. It siphoned water from an underground stream and treated it for the residents close by. If we can acquisition it and repair its own ingrained energy system, we would be able to divert some of our own power to the energy field we use to protect our boundaries. With all luck, we would be able to expand the field to include all of the property you see highlighted by red. It would be enough for several dozen families and provide extra resources for a learning center for children in this building, here.” He pointed at one of the larger structures that sat within the compound, just on the edge of the current boundary.

Mia frowned at him. She hadn't forgotten where he thought he was getting those children.

“The energy field is so important then? I was under the assumption that the war was over,” a new fear seeded beneath her concerns about being turned into some kind of alien breeder. Whatever weapon could devastate a city...an entire world, if these men were to be believed, it would wipe out such a tiny settlement without a blink.

Draven sat back.

“To the best of our knowledge, the biological weapon that ended our world backfired on our enemy. We came across many of their vessels with desiccated crew. The last shreds of information we were able to glean from our network system before it crashed showed that, towards the last visages of our own population, the Kirich reached out to our remaining leaders, seeking the research our people had done towards a cure. Unfortunately, for both our peoples, the weapon was too greatly effective.”

“So the energy field?”

“Callaphria is inherently a dangerous planet. Unlike Earth, the majority of animal life here are either a top grade predator like the Griecher you battled in the grassland, or has a variety of vicious countermeasures to predation. My men are able to protect themselves, if they work in shifts, but we wanted something wholly secure if we were to bring women here. When the city was functioning, the field surrounded it all, but, of course, that was the first defense to fall.”

Mia sighed and studied the map once more. The lines and boundaries were hand drawn with a kind of loving precision. It was hard not to empathize with their plight.

“Our cause is a worthy one, Mia...” he murmured gently. A disturbance at the door of the room had him looking up, and adopting a more formal, tone. “You have done more than expected already. My people honor such acts of selflessness. Please, tell me your pleasure, it would make us happy to reward you.”

She shook her head. As hard as their position was, they were still her kidnappers.

“There is nothing I want from you.”

Draven's face grew shuttered. “If that is your wish, you are free to leave for the dormitories. Morkuth,” he gestured. Morkuth appeared from beyond the doorway somewhere where he had been waiting. “Mia is ready to return to the others.”

“Yes sir, come, Mia, I will show you the way.”

Mia stood and followed Morkuth from the room but not before she saw Draven sag against his chair.