Savior (8 page)

Even though Dannina and Uvinya had
told him she was his heart-mate, Danickra wasn’t taking any chances
that she would meet another Inteli and want him, especially with
how upset she’d been when she left him earlier. Opal had been away
from him for quite a while now, and his whole body felt itchy and
edgy. He needed to hold her, touch her, kiss her, even just be
close to her.

Danickra didn’t know if he should feel
happy about the situation he found himself in, or angry and
frustrated at the universe for throwing this at him. He now
couldn’t go half a day without being close to or touching his
youmnda.

His stomach rolled, and he looked at
the computer screen noticing the time they’d found the food hall.
He was hungry. Surely, Opal would, be too. Walking towards the
exit, he caught Salamanda’s eye. “I’m going to go help my youmnda
to get some food. Are you going to stay here and stare at the
screen or are you coming?”

Salamanda growled, “I will come and
help feed them.”

Together they walked out the door, and
Danickra hoped that maybe once Opal was fed she wouldn’t be so
upset with him.

Chapter Eight

The wall opened before Opal and
Heather to reveal about twenty men scattered about a large room.
Some sat by tables and benches eating food, while others stood
talking by the huge window, and a couple stood in line by two large
machines with writing Opal didn’t recognize on it.

Slowly they walked forward, and all of
the men became instantly quiet and turned to stare at them. Their
every move was followed as they strolled further into the room
closer to the large machine that made the beeping noises. A strong
aroma hit Opal’s senses, a mixture of lasagna, mangos, and garlic
bread.

Heather nudged her and whispered,
“Creepy. They’re watching our every move. I now know how an animal
at a zoo feels like.”

Opal nodded and wrapped her hands
around herself. She’d never been one for attention. She had learned
being a foster child to blend in and avoid it, but to have so many
eyes on her now was unnerving. Her stomach growled again. “Do you
think we’ll be able to eat their food?”

“
I have no idea. Maybe
before they took us they grabbed some of our food.”

Opal hoped so because right now she
needed some kind of comfort. The Inteli men hadn’t moved. It was
eerie. She studied the men who had food. None had any kind of
utensils. They all had their colorful food stuck on their claws. “I
can’t see any utensils. They all seem to be using their
claws.”

Heather shivered beside her. “Opal,
that’s not the only thing. Have you seen their teeth?”

Opal looked at a couple of the men to
see their mouths wide, ready to shovel food into them, their long
sharp teeth shining. The food on their claws looked tough, and the
stuff on their plate didn’t look any better. For her and Heather to
eat the food they’d have to have it cut into tiny pieces, or get
super sharp teeth like the Inteli to help them. Opal remembered
Danickra had wickedly sharp teeth, but he’d been very gentle with
them on her. Well besides biting her, although that hadn’t hurt
much, and he’d soothed the pain.

Her stomach grumbled again, and she
felt the heat cover her face. “Oh, I’m starving. Did you receive
any food while I was with Danickra thinking I was in some
alcohol-induced dream, or still thinking our friend had organized
this?”

“
Yeah, some red guy
brought a huge plate of purple, orange, and yellow slop to the
door, placed it on the floor and ran. However, I wasn’t going to
eat it. I thought it was poisoned.”

Opal nodded as they reached the line
for the food machine. As soon as they lined up behind a green
Inteli, all the men moved out of the way, and a yellow man came up
to her and Heather. He smiled showing his sharp white teeth, bright
purple eyes, and matching hair. Shocked that one of them was game
enough to come to them Opal grabbed Heather, and they backed up,
gripping each other tight.

“
Hi, Earth women. I’m
Wizbe. I hear you are my brother’s youmnda.” He bent right over,
and then knelt. Opal stood frozen. She noticed as all the yellow
Inteli did the same, while the other color Inteli just bowed. “My
life for yours. You are number one. My Queen.”

Opal gasped as all the yellow Inteli
repeated what Wizbe said. The other colors straightened and said as
one, “With our lives we protect the chance of a next
generation.”

“
Holy shit!” Heather
mumbled. “What on Earth is going on?”

Opal snapped her mouth shut and
groaned as her stomach grumbled again. Wizbe shot up, and his eyes
narrowed.

“
Come. Eat. You are
hungry.” He grabbed her arm and pulled her to sit on the closest
table. “Sit. I will get you food. Do not tell my brother we made
you wait even a minute. He will have our heads.”

Heather sat beside her and whispered,
“My God. He’s only joking, do you think?”

Opal shrugged. She had no idea. She
didn’t know the man well. Although, the Inteli she’d been with
didn’t seem like he would kill his own brother. “He’s been a
sweetie to me. Um… besides not telling me I’m to become a
baby-making machine.”

Opal heard the machine make the three
beeping noises, and a new smell came at her, the smell of cinnamon,
apples, fresh bread, and oranges. Wizbe held in his palms two
plates filled of the same bright food. He set one in front of
Heather and the other in front of her. Purple, orange, and blue
squashed sludge food was before her.

“
Eat. You must eat. I
heard your body demand it.”

Opal touched her cheeks as she felt
the heat flare. “What is it? Ah, I mean can we eat it? I’m human
and…” She trailed off as Wizbe cocked his head to the side, his
eyes traveling up and down her body.

“
This is what we fed our
young when we had them long ago.” His chest puffed out. “I’m one of
the youngest that survived, and my sisters are younger still. Our
mother had one of the last children before she died.” He glanced
down at the plate, then at her hands, and his brows furrowed. “Do
you need me to feed you? You cannot use your hands to eat?” He
reached for her hand with his tail hand and rubbed them. “They’re
so soft. How do you do anything without cutting them?”

She tried to snatch her hand back, but
he held it tight. “They’re tougher than they look.”

Opal looked to Heather for help, but
she was surrounded by a colorful rainbow of Inteli all fighting for
her attention and touching her exposed skin. Heather didn’t look
too annoyed.

Opal turned back to Wizbe to see him
studying her. He ran his tail hand up and down her arm. Opal
started to feel very uncomfortable. Deciding to ignore it, she
picked up some of the sloppy food with her fingers and slowly
placed it into her mouth. Flavors exploded onto her senses, rich
creamy cheese, mixed with mangos and oranges. She moaned as she
shoved more into her mouth. Picking up another color, she licked
her fingers to find this one sweet, honey, strawberries, passion
fruit, and pasta. Scooping up more, she ate all the food groaning
and moaning at the delight of each mouthful.

It wasn’t until she felt more hands on
her bare skin that she glanced over and noticed Heather hitting and
fighting off Inteli hands. Opal started to fight herself and
noticed that as she looked at Wizbe he seemed to have a glazed over
look of wonder on him. Heather screamed and managed to get up and
into a fighting position. Opal fought her way out of the
hard-plated bodies and hands. She kicked an Inteli, and he backed
up tripping. She stood in a fighting stance only to hear seconds
later the scariest sound in all her life. It was a roar mixed with
a shout and a cry.

One minute she was surrounded by
Inteli, and the next they were on the floor bowing and giving up
their life. Wrapping her hands around the fabric that had been
ripped, she covered her body and looked up into thunderstorm-filled
purple eyes.

Danickra’s hands were around the
throat of the Inteli she had kicked. He studied her, and his gaze
rested on her hands clutching the fabric together. Danickra removed
one of his hands from the Inteli’s throat and pointed behind her.
“Wizbe, the only reason you will not die is because you are my
brother. You will be punished.” Without even tearing his eyes from
hers she heard him snap the Inteli’s neck and throw him at the
wall. Danickra picked up another, and she watched horrified as he
did the same. Looking around she saw Heather’s pink Inteli throw
her over his shoulder and leave.

Opal studied the scene around the room
to see all the men on their knees like they were waiting to be
killed. Danickra picked up another Inteli, and before he could snap
his neck she yelled, “Stop.”

She wove herself around the men until
she stood a step away from Danickra. She bit her tongue as her body
become instantly alive. She grabbed the clawed hand he’d pointed at
his brother and started up at him. “Why are you killing them?
You’re not going to kill all the men in here, are you?”

His eyes narrowed, and he snarled in a
voice she could barely understand. “They touched you. I came in,
and not one was protecting you. They deserve to die. They are
weak.” He snapped the neck of the Inteli he held and threw him to
join the others he’d killed.

She grabbed his other hand before he
could reach for another.

“
You will let me go,
Youmnda. They deserve to die. They have no honor. I will not have
them in my country, my kingdom.”

Opal could feel her eyes widening at
his words. Holy shit, he was a king, and by the looks of it
ruthless. She could see in his eyes Danickra would kill every
Inteli in the room, bar his brother, and have no problem with it.
How could he kill this many of his men? Some of them hadn’t even
touched her. She could feel tears slide down her cheeks.

“
You are leaking.”
Danickra’s tail hand come up to her face and gently wiped her tears
away. “I do not like this leaking.”

A sob escaped her, and he shot death
stares around the room. “It’s called crying. Did you not find
information on it when you were looking into us?”

“
If it was not important,
I didn’t look.”

“
It means I’m sad, upset,
and unhappy.”

He yanked his hands out of hers and
with each hand picked up an Inteli. Plowing into his body, she beat
on his hard chest. “Put them down. It’s you that have made me feel
like this. You can’t kill all these men. Most did
nothing.”

“
Exactly,” he
growled.

“
I don’t think they meant
to hurt me. They do not deserve to die. I think they were curious,
that’s all. And they got out of hand.” She darted a glance at the
two men. “Ask them.”

He dropped them both.
“Report.”

Opal groaned and turned to the two
Inteli. Danickra’s arms came around her waist, pushing her back
against his body. She studied the two men as they knelt before her
and Danickra. One was green with midnight black hair and orange
eyes, the other yellow, with red hair and bright green eyes. They
both were big and solid. The yellow spoke first.

“
They captivated us as
soon as they walked in, especially the clan Queen.”

She dug her own blunt nails into
Danickra’s arms as she realized that she was Danickra’s Queen. Oh
crap!

****

Danickra had never been so furious in
his life. He followed his bond to find his youmnda already in the
food area. What he found when the door opened shocked him and
scared him more than anything ever had. Opal had been fighting off
his men’s hands as they touched her body. His vision had turned
red, and his blood had boiled. How dare they touch his youmnda! A
primal roar had left him, and they all knew who’d come upon
them.

He glared down at Jakanta, as he
explained what happened.

“
She is the most
enthralling, eye-catching beauty we have ever seen. Her stomach
made a growling noise, and your brother went to get her
food.”

He stared at his brother and thought
of the best punishment as the dead man kept talking.

“
Your brother commented on
how soft and smooth her skin is, and then when the food reached her
mouth she made these exquisite sounds. She enchanted us. We all
just wanted to touch her and feel if she was soft as your brother
said. We wanted to hear the noises better.”

Opal sighed in his arms. “I’m sorry. I
didn’t realize my noises where what intrigued you and started
it.”

“
You will never apologize.
You did nothing wrong. The men on my ship should have more
control.” Gritting his teeth, Danickra snarled, “I do not want men
with me that cannot control themselves.” He let go of Opal and
grabbed Jakanta.

Opal’s scream of “No,” as she tried to
protect his men, stopped him once more. She stared up at him with
the water in her eyes leaking from her pleading eyes and her face
in a frown, and his resolve crumbled.

Danickra dropped Jakanta and looked
around the room. “You are all in debt to my youmnda. I won’t kill
you.”