1
Cora
Fall has always been my favorite season, but I never thought I’d get to experience it on an entirely different planet.
Then again, there are a lot of things I never thought I’d experience that have become almost mundane by now. After several months of living on Kalix, I’ve become accustomed to walking past massive, bronze-skinned warriors with horns and loincloths on the street. I’ve gotten used to the two moons that shine in the sky at night, and the occasional whoosh overhead as a ship takes off from the docking bay, swooping over the city before heading up and out of the atmosphere.
It’s all real. Aliens. Life on other planets. So many things I never knew existed.
And even though it’s awful that the women here were all snatched from Earth against our will, I’ll always be grateful that the Kalixians rescued us from the disgusting Orkun warlords who intended to take us as their “tribute brides.”
God. What would’ve happened to us if we hadn’t been rescued? What kinds of horrors would we have had to endure?
A shiver runs down my spine, and I push away those dark thoughts as a crisp breeze blows my wavy hair around my face. I tuck a light brown strand behind my ear, inhaling deeply.
The air smells clean, like everything on Kalix. There are no gas fumes or other emissions here. All of this planet is, for the most part, pure and unspoiled nature.
The seasons on Kalix are much shorter than what I’m accustomed to on Earth, with summer being the longest of their seasonal cycles. And we’ve been told winters here are mild. I don’t expect to see snow unless we leave the capital city of Jocia to go up into the mountains for some reason.
“Let’s go to the stall that sells live flowers,” Lucy says, tossing her long blonde hair over her shoulder as we turn down the street that leads to the marketplace. “I want to surprise Tycran with a new plant.”
Harper chuckles. “I can’t believe that man likes to garden. He’s so reserved and strong and… brawny. It’s hard to imagine him digging in the dirt.”
“I know.” Lucy smiles secretively. “But there are a lot of hidden sides to Tycran.”
Her eyes shine when she talks about her mate, and I see Rose and Harper exchange knowing looks, glancing at each other with matching grins that say they both know exactly how she feels.
Rose was the first one of us to form a mate bond with one of the Kalixian leaders. She fell in love with Tordax, the commander of the Alpha Force, after they rescued us. Harper was a bit more resistant to her bond with Malav at first, although she came around to it before long.
Lucy’s bond is still pretty new, but one of the things that’s most surprising about the mate bonds—to me, anyway—is that they don’t seem to fade. Out of all the human women rescued by the Kalixian warriors, there isn’t a single one of us who hasn’t experienced heartbreak, or seen divorce, or been subject to the never-ending string of hookups that seems more common than commitment back on Earth.
But it’s as if whatever cosmic force chooses the partners for the bond does it perfectly. I’ve never heard of a mate bond dissolving, aside from instances where one of the bonded pair dies. And even then, those who lose their mates to death rarely seem to find another. Things that always seemed like fantasies back on Earth—unconditional love, one perfect match for every person, a spark of passion that never dies—all seem possible here.
For most of the women, anyway.
“I should get a new dress,” Rachel says thoughtfully. “Maybe I’ll wear it the next time there’s a festival, and one of the warriors will notice me.”
Lucy grins at her. “I can confirm that dancing is an excellent way to find a mate.”
Nadia, the youngest of the women rescued by the Kalixians, blushes a little. Her sister shoots Lucy a slightly disapproving look, although Lucy doesn’t even notice it. Brielle and Nadia were abducted together. They’re the only ones among us who didn’t leave behind everyone they knew on Earth, and maybe because they have each other to lean on, they tend to keep to themselves a bit.
I’m glad they came out to the market today. Although they’ve never been unfriendly or cold, it’s nice to see the two of them joining the rest of the group. The closeness that’s developed among everyone, especially considering how many of us were outsiders or loners back on Earth, is truly incredible.
As we approach the stall with the plants, all of us oohing and ahhing over the beautiful flowers and bright green herbs in their small clay pots, I have one of those moments where it strikes me all over again just how strange this really is. Less than a year ago, I would never have believed that I’d be shopping with a group of girlfriends in a market stall on an alien planet, looking at flowers that none of us have ever seen before.
But here we are. And we’ve stuck together since the day we woke up in that cell on the Orkun ship, without cattiness or fighting or jealousy.
It helps that we all know the mate bond is out of our hands, so there’s no need to compete over the men. But it’s also because, even though we’ve been completely accepted by the Kalixians, we’re the last humans each of us will ever know. It’s made a sisterhood out of us, a different sort of bond.
The Kalixians welcomed us and accepted the mate bonds between our two species because we can save them from extinction.
But here on Kalix, we’re the last of our kind.
“I want one that will bloom through the fall,” I hear Lucy saying to the seller as Rose leans against a nearby post, stroking her belly lightly as she tries to catch her breath from the walk. She’s showing heavily these days, her stomach full and round, and she tilts her head to whisper something to Harper, whose own belly is growing every day.
It won’t be long now until Rose has her baby, and we’ve been encouraging her to slow down, but she’s stubbornly insisted that the exercise is good for her. And on a beautiful day like today, I can’t blame her for not wanting to stay indoors.
She gives a little gasp, then laughs as she looks down at her belly. “Wow. The little bean is kicking up a storm today.”
“Sounds like you’ve got a warrior in there,” Rachel says with a chuckle, and the other women laugh too.
Everyone on this entire planet is excited about the soon-to-be-born babies, and I can’t help but feel a small twinge of envy as I watch Rose cradle her stomach with one hand. She and Harper are both pregnant, and from the whispers at Lucy and Tycran’s recent celebration, it won’t be long before Emma announces her own pregnancy.
Autumn has had a sort of secretive glow about her lately, and although Jade and Lucy haven’t said anything, I don’t doubt that they’ll follow suit soon. After all, part of the reason we’re here is because we can not only mate with the Kalixians, but produce the children needed to save their species.
I push the flicker of jealousy away almost as quickly as it comes, reminding myself to be grateful. The experiences of the women who have mates and those who don’t on Kalix are different in many ways, but we all have a wonderful life here.
“Cora! Will you help me choose a plant?” Lucy looks at me pleadingly.
“Sure. I wasn’t much of a botanist even back on Earth, but I can tell you which ones look prettiest to me.” I smile and cross over to the stall.