Page 25 of Claimed By Brothers

“There’s plenty of obsidian to use as blades and tools down at the caves,” I say, but my mind quickly wanders back to everything I did in those steamy caves, and my loins quiver with longing for Binzen and Izzo yet again. “I can get some and hide it behind the house. We can work on it in the evening when everyone gathers for dinner.”

“Good,” Jewel says. “We’ll get water from the river.”

Alicia nods in agreement. “I can snatch some tools and other useful stuff whenever I help around the kitchens.”

“Jewel, how do we get close enough to the Sky Tribe?” Cynthia asks, growing more impatient by the minute. Something tells me she’s itching the most to get out of here, mainly because of her dynamic with the Hadana twins. As much as she hates it, I can tell she’s becoming attached to them. They’ve yet to claim her, but I think it’s only a matter of time. “They’re hostile and vicious, and given their constant skirmishes with the Fire Tribe, you know they’ll be twice as cautious. Particularly at night.”

“Once we’re out of the Fire Tribe’s reach, we will work on a calm and quiet approach,” Jewel says. “We’ll get close enough to one of the Sky Tribe’s cities to observe them. The three of you will stay out of sight, and I will do some scouting every day until I learn more about their habits, until I find out where they keep their starships, and until I figure out which one of those bastards can help us. Albeit at knifepoint.”

“Sounds easy enough,” Alicia mutters sarcastically.

I can’t help but sigh, my shoulders drooping in defeat. I put Valen down on his soft blanket. My arms get tired. He’s as big as a five-year-old despite being just two. He may be the sweetest little thing, but my human frame clearly wasn’t designed to hold him for as long as a Sunnaite mother would. That’s one more reason for me to pull away from this world and quickly get back to mine.

“We’ll need some time and patience,” I say. “It’s crazy, yes, and it may even be impossible. But we have to try. We’ve survived this long, and it might be the universe’s way of telling us we could actually do it. We could actually go home.”

Cynthia gives me a bitter smile. “Won’t you miss your two horned gentlemen?”

“I don’t know,” I tell her. “This bond they keep talking about—”

“Do you feel it?” she asks.

“Yes. But I don’t believe it’s unbreakable. You said so yourself, Cynthia. It’s probably purely biological. Maybe an addiction of sorts. Their hormones and mine have mingled somehow.”

I haven’t told them about the grass of love nor my feelings but given that we’re on our way out of here, I don’t really see the point. “Once we leave, once I’m far away enough, it’ll wear off. Surely, it will wear off.”

“What if it doesn’t?” Jewel says.

“It won’t matter anymore because we’ll be back on Earth,” I say. “Jewel, all that matters is that we succeed in this. Our people need to know about this. We may have been the first human women to be kidnapped by Sunnaites, but you heard Binzen and Izzo the other day. The Sky Tribe lost us, and they will likely try again. Where Umok failed, other generals will succeed. And more human women will inevitably be kidnapped to Sunna, kicking and screaming. Our leaders, our governments, they must be warned. We can’t let this happen to anybody else.”

Jewel gets up and stretches out her arms, welcoming the warmth of the twin suns on her face. “That’s settled, then. We’ll continue with our plan and start gathering supplies somewhere safe. In the meantime, I will keep studying the guards’ nighttime movements. Sooner or later, we’ll find our way out.”

Our conversation returns to the peoples’ culture and traditions. We’ve learned plenty about them in the days since we’ve been stranded here. They may be big and deadly by natural design, but their society used to be a lot more advanced than ours. Were it not for the plague, Alicia thinks they would’ve gone even further. And since our planet was already on their map, she thinks they would’ve eventually attempted first contact at some point in the future.

But all that is a thing of the past. The Sunnaites of today focus on surviving and saving their species. The Fire Tribe clings to the old and natural way of communing with the planet’s so-called inner fire, isolating their surviving females while they hold on to their territories. I don’t think it’s the best way forward, but it sure beats the Sky Tribe’s decision to fly out into the stars and kidnap women from other species in order to push the Sunnaites into a different kind of evolution.

In another universe, they could’ve just reached out to us for help. Our labs, our biology experts, and our technological advances might’ve helped them. Hell, if Cynthia had all the tools and knowledge she’d normally need in order to find a cure for this plague, perhaps she could’ve used our human blood to synthesize some kind of antidote. We could try talking to the them about it. We could offer our help and equipment in exchange for a flight back to Earth.

The girls and I have discussed this before, but we have no guarantee that our government would even consider it. They still look to the heavens with one finger on the nuclear launch buttons. I shudder to think what our people would do if these big-ass horned creatures showed up in their starships asking for help. Mankind is notorious for shooting first and asking questions later.

8

Amber

Another week passes, and Izzo takes me away to meet the Tallas clan while Binzen stays home with Valen. We’ve had visits from Tallas representatives already—one of whom seems to have set his sights on Alicia. His name is Helios, and he will be hosting Izzo and me for the evening. I have a feeling I know why we’re here, and I’m pretty sure Alicia won’t like it. At the same time, I don’t mind getting to know these people better. Every bit of information I can gather might help us in our eventual escape.

According to Izzo, the Tallas clan is more on the scholarly side, as they rescued many books and manuscripts from Sunna’s cities before they fled to the desert. In a way, they’re more attuned to Alicia’s curiosity and professional expertise as historians and anthropologists since they keep records and continue to observe the evolution of their species. They steer clear of conflicts, however, which has bothered Izzo for a long time.

“We need all the help we can get,” Izzo says as the barge brings us closer to the riverbank. “Once the Sky Tribe finds out we’ve been harboring the four human women Umok was supposed to come back with; they will try to recover you and your friends. And we need everyone to fight.”

“How do you imagine that will happen?” I ask.

We’re about a hundred miles up the river from the Mal clan’s town. This region is bushier than ours, with lush, bright purple vegetation adorning the river plateau. The trees are taller, with thicker trunks and greater crowns. The flowers bloom in bright pinks and yellows along the water, while the orchards hold heavy branches that reach for the ground with their ripe, plum-shaped fruits. The grass is tall and almost blue under the sunlight, while the river itself seems cooler.

“The Sky Tribe will send some scout ships first,” Izzo says as we get off the barge and onto the large wooden pontoon at the base of the main steps. “And then they will bring in the cavalry by land.”

“What will you do then?”

“Either we fight to keep you and your friends, or we surrender you.”

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