Page 40 of You're Not My King!

“So…” I twiddled my thumbs. “You guys have never thought of escaping?”

They shot each other a look at my deliberate conversation shift before Johnny set down his ladle and lowered himself onto the sand, facing us. “In the beginning, sure,” he admitted, hugging his knees to his chest. “We were snatched from our lives and sold to aliens on a planet we’d never heard of. Of course we were pissed off. I actually decked a guy when I got here. It was how I first met Fiona, ’cause I broke my wrist.”

They both snorted, and my brows reached my hairline. I couldn’t imagine him ever hurting a fly.

It was always the quiet ones.

“But after a while, I started to think… What did I have on Earth that was really worth fighting for? It wasn’t as if I’d left a loving family behind or tons of memories outside of a stifling kitchen. I came from being overworked and alone. My job was all I had. How fucking sad is that?”

That sounded familiar. Or, at least, on the same pathetic no-life life-story wavelength. I had memories, though. Good ones, if a little ancient. That had me clinging on, refusing to let go, but maybe—as Johnny seemed to have figured out himself—I was just clutching at straws, at this point?

“Took me time,” Johnny said with a smile. “But I realized the need to go back was an instinct, more than an actual want.”

Was this dude inside my head? Goddamn.

“We have better lives here than we did on Earth,” Beatrice chimed in, lightening the tone. “Good lives. I’m treated as if I actually matter. My skills aren’t taken for granted, and I’m needed in ways I never was back there.” She rested a hand on her belly and spared a wistful glance at one of the aliens she had arrived with—the dude who wore a permanent sneer, was a little leaner than his comrades, and lingered at the edge of the camp as if the thought of socializing was literal hell. Mood. “I’m loved. And we’re expecting.”

I’d guessed as much, but hadn’t wanted to assume. “Oh, congrats!”

She chuckled at my poor attempt at acting surprised. “The docs on Earth told me years ago that I couldn’t have kids.” She shrugged. “So, I’d never really thought more on it, but now that it’s actually happening, I’m super excited to be a mum. Scared shitless though. I mean, it’s half Ly’zrd, so it’s gonna tear me up on the way out.” Johnny and I cringed, our knees folding inward on reflex. “But Eh-fee dotes on me. I can tell it’s taking all his willpower not to be at my side right now.” Her hand moved to the center of her chest. “I feel it through our bond. It’s amazing. I’ve never known this level of devotion from another being.”

My mind drifted to Vo’ak—as it often did, for whatever reason. His gentleness, despite everything, and how he hadn’t forced me into bed again, though it was what both our bodies petitioned for. He still made sure I was fed and protected even when he wasn’t beside me, always seemingly on edge whenever I wandered too far. I’d never had that before. My ex, and everyone before him, had done the bare minimum or less to keep me. That should have been my cue to leave, but it had become the norm for me to expect nothing so I’d never be disappointed. I had no experience with someone doing the total opposite, and something about it made me feel kinda warm.

And out of sorts.

“Have you been mated long?” I asked to distract myself, and thankfully, she didn’t notice.

From his small smirk, I suspected Johnny had, though.

“It happened straight away.” She lit up, her gaze going to her mate again as if she couldn’t help it. “Well, he sensed it straight away, but it took nearly a year for us to make it official. I wanted to find my feet first, and get used to the life here. We just had a really long courting period.”

I frowned. “And he… was fine with that?”

“Had no choice,” she said, as if the very idea of him taking charge of the progress of their relationship was ridiculous. “I wasn’t budging.”

I found myself smiling faintly. “I like you.”

“She’s a stubborn bull, so she is,” Johnny teased in that drawl of his, and Beatrice gave him a shove. If I hadn’t known any different, I would’ve suspected they were siblings.

They reminded me of how Kat and I had been, once upon a time.

“I guess it’s good to have that decisiveness, otherwise nothing would ever be on your terms.” I smiled weakly, realizing too late how pitiful that sounded.

They both sent me sympathetic looks.

Beatrice leaned over to squeeze my shoulder. “Vo’ak couldn’t have risked waiting,” she said, and yeah, I’d heard that before. “But I hope you can still find some comfort and happiness here. With him.”

Was I really unhappy? Or was I just hell-bent on making shit more difficult than it needed to be? Jumping through hoops, chasing after a fantasy that might be better left in the past.

“Thanks,” was all I said. What else could I say? “So, has your guy told you not to work, or am I a special case in that, too?”

“Oh, he absolutely tried,” she said with a scoff, waving her hand. “Told me it was typical for their kind that one half of a mated pair stays in the hut, while the other provides, but I wasn’t having it. Once the babe is born, I’ll rest for a bit, but I just love fixing things. It’s so therapeutic. And, I tell ya, you need some type of outlet living with this lot, or you’ll go nuts.” She laughed, and both Johnny and I nodded in agreement.

That was something I definitely already knew.

It was weird, sitting around a firepit, chatting with strangers on an alien planet, and I hadn’t realized just how much I’d kinda needed it. I wasn’t one of those people who found themselves desperate for company, but being here was a mindfuck, so maybe a friend or two wouldn’t be so bad. We were three completely different humans, from three completely different backgrounds, but we had enough in common that I already felt a sort of kinship and solidarity.

A sense of ease.

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