Ar'Tok - Alana Khan Page 0,40
admit,” I tell Maddie as we file toward our hover, “on our way here I was thinking there were definitely better things to do on a Pleasure Planet than watch someone cook. I was mistaken. That was uber fun.”
“Definitely one of the highlights of my life,” she says, her face beaming.
Here she is—they all are—abducted from their lives less than a year ago, stranded in space, and thrown into the crucible of hardship. And yet, they’re all making the best of it. Many are mated, most are in relationships, all of them are . . . happy.
And me? I feel so different from when I woke up this morning. I’m accepted by everyone. My spontaneous statements in front of hundreds of people, that were captured on vid and will be played across the galaxy in perpetuity? That was me. I’m figuring out who I am when I’m not locked alone on a satellite in the middle of nowhere.
I wonder if I can ever go back to that life.
When Ar’Tok and I are in our seats on the hover, I ask him what happened back in the hangar when he got so quiet and serious.
“Profound gratitude.”
“Really?” He looked sad, not grateful.
“I know I shouldn’t look back. My life wasn’t . . . good. But all my emotions welled up in me. I wasn’t being bitter. I was comparing where I was to where I am now. Look what I have.
“These people aren’t friends, but they could become them. Happy people who want to get to know me and protect me. I didn’t tell you, but Captain Zar himself wants to teach me how to spar. Not to make me into a gladiator so I can make money for the ship, but to teach me mastery. I’m part of something for the first time in my life.
“And there’s you, with your ridiculous Earth slang and your even more ridiculous nails. All of us males know you tricked us. We were having too much fun to put a stop to it.”
“You knew it wasn’t for males?”
“Do we look stupid?”
“No. You look handsome.”
I can’t pull my gaze from him. His cirr reach out and stroke my hair.
“This right here. I have this. I never thought I’d have this. I’m not certain I deserve it.” His eyes dip as if he can’t hold my gaze.
His poignant words fist my heart. I want to kiss him right here on this crowded bus, but Savannah interrupts.
“Okay, listen up.” She’s standing at the front of the hover even though we were expressly directed to stay harnessed into our seats. She was military on Earth, and I wouldn’t want to be her enemy—she can be all business.
“We’re on our way to the hiriashi facility. Dahlia got her trip to the nail salon, Maddie brought us to the Peripatetic Epicure, and I’m taking us to play paintball. They call it hiriashi here. Potato, potahto, it doesn’t matter. I’m dividing you into two teams.”
She raises her hand up and down the aisle. “Those of you on my right are the Eagles, on the left are the lions. No offense Zar.”
“Wait!” Dax interrupts. “I’m an eagle. Is my translator correct? A bird? And I’m pitted against a large feline? This doesn’t seem fair.”
“Okay. If you want to take this literally.” She looks heavenward as if she’s praying for tolerance. “On my right are the Bengal tigers, the left are lions. How’s that?” She glares pointedly at Dax who gives one swift nod of approval.
“Eventually, though, no matter what team you’re on, it will come down to the fact that only one can win. Or one couple. When we arrive, we’ll be issued padding and paintball guns. Then they’ll usher us into a large room, maybe half the size of the Epicurean set. It will have places to hide, climb, and attack from. If you get hit, you are out. Last man standing wins.”
“So the women don’t get to play?” Ar’Tok asks, his tone indignant.
“Aliens!” Savannah says, but she’s smiling. “Last person standing wins.”
Ar’Tok nods happily as if he just won an argument.
“Just so you’re all aware,” I say, “the males all know.”
“Know what?” Savannah asks, her brow furrowed in suspicion.
“That Earth males don’t wear colored nail polish.”
The women gasp in unison.
“You told?” Petra turns in her seat, her eyebrows so high in surprise they almost touch her hairline.
“We’re not stupid,” her mate Shadow pipes up. “You really thought I wanted my nails to match my eyes?”
“It does bring out the color of