Alien Redemption [Clans of Kalquor 06] (15 page)

What caught her attention almost immediately were the three framed drawings hanging on one wall. Not vid art, but actual hand-done work. She went close for a better look at the individual portraits of the clan, noting how Erybet’s face flushed at her interest.

“Good, aren’t they?” Sletran said, his voice filled with pride. “My Dramok is quite talented.”

Erybet shrugged and laid Rachel’s belongings carefully on the lounge seating. “They’re just sketches, really. I don’t know why Conyod insisted on putting them out.”

Rachel stared, noting that the pictures must have been drawn before the war. The three men so skillfully depicted had none of the haunted expressions that underlaid even the happiest moments she’d seen them enjoy. There was a hopefulness to Conyod, confidence in Erybet, and strength in Sletran that had been eroded in the present versions. More than ever she felt a kinship with the clan.

On her handheld she typed,
Don’t be so modest, Erybet. These are wonderful. I couldn’t
draw a straight line with a ruler.

Sletran read her message too. “What interests or hobbies to you have, Ray-Ray? Besides starting revolutions, that is.”

Rachel thought hard about the question. To answer him honestly, she would have to expose some hurts. They weren’t physically present but had left scars nonetheless.

She told herself
, No secrets from these guys, Ray-Ray, not if you plan to spend your life with
them.

Taking a steadying breath, she began the painful baring of her soul.
When I was very young,
I liked to sing and play the church’s piano. My parents scraped up enough money for a few
lessons. I thought I might be a musician some day, but then my dad got sick.

Erybet’s voice was soft. “Your father is dead? From Armageddon?”

He worked in a factory where dangerous chemicals were used, and the ventilation wasn’t
very good. It cost a lot of money to go to the doctor. By the time we knew his lungs were
damaged, it was too late.

Rachel swallowed hard. Daddy had been gone for a long time now, having died when she was only eleven. It still hurt like a bitch.

Two tight bands circled her; one around her waist and the other her shoulders. She blinked.

Both men had put their arms around her. Their bodies crowded close to hers as they sought to comfort her. She wrapped their strength and concern around her like a security blanket.

Erybet said, “I am so sorry you had to suffer such a loss, little one.”

After a moment’s hesitation, Sletran asked, “Your mother?”

Something went cold in Rachel at his question. Yes, she had loved Mama dearly, but that love was tinged with anger as well. Rachel had been forced to be strong for the both of them.

She told the men
, She fell apart after my father’s death. I quit school as soon as I turned 16

and got a courier job to support us. She died a couple years later, I think of a broken heart
more than anything else.

“So you were unable to pursue your interest in singing and playing.”

Between plotting the overthrow of the government and scratching out a living, the music fell
to the wayside. I guess Conyod didn’t explain to you you’d be courting an uneducated,
untalented, unskilled woman.

While they read that, she let her head hang down. Until this moment, she hadn’t thought about her interrupted education or how she didn’t have much to offer anyone beyond maybe shoving out a few kids. Ugly, unbalanced, and stupid to boot. They’d never clan someone like her. It was a miracle Conyod had given her more than a passing thought.

Disappointment hit hard. Erybet and Sletran couldn’t possibly want her. Not as a clanmate.

She lacked way too much.

Once they saw the scars, they wouldn’t even be interested in her sexually. And that was a damned shame, because they were absolutely gorgeous men she wanted to know at least once in a carnal manner. Rachel was very aware of the arms around her, of their strength. It made her insides raw with want.

Erybet gave the handheld back to her. “Let’s go out to the balcony. The weather is too nice to be stuck inside.”

His arm remained around Rachel’s shoulders, and Sletran took her hand. She knew they couldn’t possibly desire her in any way now. Despite that, the feeling of being protected and safe persisted as Rachel walked between the two men through their home.

The balcony was awash in the bright sunlight. Rachel blinked after the dimmer environs of the home’s interior. Kalquor’s sun was farther away from the planet than Earth’s beacon had been, but this sun was larger. After a second, her eyesight adjusted to her surroundings.

The balcony was a thick slab of rock, cut into the cliff face in such a way that one stepped right from the dining area through an archway onto its surface. The floor and almost chest-high wall that surrounded it were polished smooth, rendering the gray stone into an almost marble-sheened perfection. A series of large, sidelong ovals had been cut into the wall so one’s view of the pink sanded beach and vast green sea was unimpeded. Shuttle traffic whirred high overhead, the hum of motors almost lost in the roar of the surf.

Seats that reminded Rachel of patio chairs were grouped on one side of the rectangular-shaped balcony. Their heavy frames were a deep coral, a perfect counterpoint to the pastel color of the sand below. The thick cushions echoed the emerald tones of the ocean. They were big chairs meant for the big men who flanked her.

On the other side of the balcony was a hollowed-out circle, cut deep into the otherwise blameless floor. It was full of bluish water. Near the lip of the basin, just under the water’s surface, were small holes. Rachel studied it. A bath facility? On a balcony open to public view?

Erybet said, “It’s just getting warm enough to use the whirlpool. We’ve almost finished treating it for the season. Sletran, next time we’re out remind me to pick up a soaksuit for her.”

Rachel’s brows rose. They were still planning to have her around after her disclosure?

The men ushered her to one of the seats and sat on either side of her, moving their chairs close to hers until they touched. Her toes just brushed the hard stone of the balcony. It made her feel like a kid at a party for grownups.

Erybet tilted his head, looking her in the face. “From the expression you had earlier, I assume you think poorly of yourself for having to give up your education.”

Rachel shrugged. She’d done what she had to do to take care of herself and her mother. It hadn’t really occurred to her that she might view herself as lacking because she’d left school.

However, society had taken a dim view. Had she internalized that attitude? She couldn’t deny a flash of shame when she’d admitted to not finishing her studies. She’d definitely felt terror that it might be a deal breaker where the clan was concerned.

One side of Erybet’s mouth lifted. He even chuckled. “I’ve known complete fools with years upon years of education. You are no fool, Ray-Ray. And though you may not have the skills you prefer, I wouldn’t say you have none at all. Surviving is a very noble skill.”

Sletran added, “Not to mention being able to lead an insurrection. Leaders are made because of what’s already present inside. You can’t be taught that drive.”

A little of Rachel’s dismay abated. The men didn’t seem to hold the absence of a diploma against her. However, she felt they held her in higher esteem than she deserved.

She typed,
I didn’t lead so well. We failed horribly in our efforts to change the world.

Sletran rubbed her shoulder. The touch made her insides tumble, especially when she thought of his hands going elsewhere on her body.

The Nobek told her, “Some of the greatest victories lie simply in being brave enough to try.

The outcome doesn’t negate that.”

Easy for him to say, Rachel thought. He hadn’t stood surrounded by friends and loved ones’

corpses, all dead because of a hopeless ideal. An ideal Rachel had preached until the others had followed her to their terrible ends.

Erybet interrupted her dark thoughts. “You have the opportunity to start from the beginning.

Any schooling or training is yours for the asking. If you become a part of my clan, we will wholeheartedly support whatever direction you choose to go in. If you wish to pursue music studies, we will seek out the best possible instruction.”

She stared at him. They would do that for her? Just because she wanted it?

Rachel considered before writing her next message.
Why would you make that kind of
effort? I don’t need an education to have babies and take care of them. My ability to play music
won’t save Kalquor. Ultimately, isn’t clanning Earther women simply to breed the planet’s
future?

Sletran answered that one. “We won’t lie to you about the necessity for a next generation.

After all, our people are dying out. But we also want you because you will add to our lives.”

Erybet added, “Helping Mataras realize their hopes, dreams, and potential fulfills their Kalquorian mates. You aren’t just an incubator, Ray-Ray.”

A little of the tightness eased in Rachel’s chest.
That’s a very philosophical approach to a
relationship. I like it. But I don’t suppose I can offer much in return when it comes to fulfilling
your hopes and dreams.

Erybet gave her a real smile. “Don’t be so sure. To qualify for the lottery, we took a battery of tests. One of the questions asked was how I would like my future Matara to describe me. My answer was caring, supportive, and devoted to her needs.”

Sletran added, “My answer was similar, though I also wished my Matara would call me protective. For us to demonstrate such qualities, we would require a woman who needed to feel safe, who has requirements we can provide for.”

Erybet nodded, his expression saying he was in complete agreement. “What you might see as lack in yourself, we see as a gift to us. Women give men their lives. They give us children. It is our joy to uplift you in return, to make right the wrongs you have suffered.”

Rachel blinked. They certainly had an amazing outlook on things. What she thought of as detriments, they saw as opportunities. She grinned.

Where have you guys been all my life?

Erybet and Sletran both laughed at her message. The Dramok stroked her short curls.

“Waiting for you, perhaps? What took you so long to get here?”

The pair looked so good when they were happy. Seeing how willing they were to give their all to a woman, one that had so little to offer in return, made her believe more than ever she’d do well as their mate. Their attitudes, along with those magnificent physiques, were turning her on too.

Of course, that led to the next hurdle.
At what point do we explore physical compatibility?

Her question made the men exchange surprised looks. She hurriedly typed
, I take it this is
too soon.
She was a little relieved to put that part off. Sure, she wanted them, couldn’t stop thinking about getting them in bed, but once they saw what she looked like with her clothes off

—

Erybet took her hand. “I would be delighted to take you to our bed now. It’s just – Earthers tend to be so repressed when it comes to sex.”

Rachel swallowed, though her mouth was dry.
Not me. I considered sex a wonderful form
of resistance to my government’s tyranny.

That made Sletran chuckle. “You truly are a remarkable woman.”

A scent tickled Rachel’s nostrils, pushing back the salt brine of the nearby sea. The spicy aroma that reminded her so much of cinnamon emanated from the men on either side of her.

She thought,
Great, Ray-Ray, you’ve got them aroused. Now you have no choice but to do
something about it.

She liked that they found her desirable with her clothes on. But what would happen when they saw her without them? She’d piqued their lust and knew she should give them what they –

and she – wanted. But now she was too scared to make the first move. If they rejected her, it would make her feel uglier than ever.

Should have cut my hair. Scarred my face, so they wouldn’t be fooled. So they’d know
exactly what I am.

Erybet’s voice was soft with hope. “Would you like to see the sleeping room?”

She looked at him, at his too-pretty-to-be-a-boy face. At that delicious body she wanted on top of hers. Inside of hers. Sletran’s too. They could get someone so much better than her. But she couldn’t help the stab of need, or the hope they would somehow overlook her disfigurement.

Rachel nodded, trembling all over. To be fair, she gave them one last chance to escape.

First you should know something. The doctors couldn’t get rid of all my scars. They are
hideous. I’m not pretty like the other Mataras you could clan instead.

Sletran gripped her chin and made her look him in the eye. “Somehow, I doubt that.”

Erybet rubbed her back, his touch comforting. “We are harder on ourselves than others are.

Don’t be afraid to show us everything, Ray-Ray. What lies inside you is perfection, and that is all I can see.”

Rachel wanted to believe him. He sounded so sincere. If he and Sletran were mistaken, she’d have to do her best to distract them from how she looked. Thank the heavens that with Marcus, she’d learned a thing or two about the art of diverting attention in a carnal manner.

Her insides tumbling in a stomach-churning mix of anticipation and nervousness, she let the men help her to her feet and lead her to another archway further down the balcony.

Holding the hands of the two men, Rachel crossed from the sunlight into a room with walls covered in wine-red drapery. White fur throws cushioned her feet from the polished stone floor beneath. Her eyes widened at the size of the sleeping mat. The surface came up to as high as her waist, and it looked a square acre of softness. Shimmering black linens rumpled like sea swells.