Weaving Their Way - 1. Chapter 1

“So where is home? And if you say that damn dome, I’m going to call Dr. Connor back,” I said. The shifters wanted to take care of me until I could take care of myself, however long that took. Until then, my plans to get out to my stake and start working on my future were on hold.

“Oh, no. We have a nice apartment on the south edge of the city.” Moshe grinned. “Big enough for me, even.”

I raised one eyebrow. “There are no nice apartments on the edge of the city. Now, apartments on the north side, by the coast… those are nice.” Trees and hills weren’t exactly considered prime view material, and it took hours to trek to the beach through the city, even using the transfer system. I’d gone to the south side, once, with my college roommate, Keon.

I’d never gone back.

“There are now. A lot of shifters settled in the south side. We’ve fixed it up a bit. We have plenty of room for you. Just one bed though.” Lisco winked.

My face burned. I knew the shifters were courting me in their way, but Lisco was very good at coming on to me as a human too. Moshe was much quieter, but he liked to touch me. He was standing at the foot of my bed again, running his fingers over my foot that wasn’t hurt.

Butterflies didn’t begin to describe the sensation in my stomach as I considered what I was about to do. I was going home with two alien shifters who’d chased me in their animal forms through their dome in the center of the city—as a courting ritual.

Had I known what that was? No, of course not. I thought my idiot now ex-roommate—thank heavens—was responsible for signing me up for the popular new thrill for adrenaline junkies. Nature’s Wrath: Supplies all the fear and excitement from the knowledge you’re no longer the top of the food chain. Why in the hell would the shifters do that?

I knew from my own experiences and studies that challenging the dominant predator in an ecosystem was a bad idea. Humans were the apex of our world’s predators, but now? I wasn’t so sure.

Of course my shifters hadn’t been hunting me to hurt me. No, Lisco made it perfectly clear they had other things in mind. Which brought them to my mind and refueled what had to be a blazing blush. I cursed my fair skin when Moshe laughed.

I would’ve hidden my face in my hands, but they picked that moment to begin spasming. “Oh, damn.” I groaned, trying not to fight the way the muscles tensed and rippled. I panted through the pain. “Shit, that hurts.”

Moshe picked up my good foot and began squeezing it, his fingers deftly massaging just to the point of pain but not crossing into it.

“Oh, that feels good.” The kneading pressure distracted me from my hands a little. Gradually the muscles relaxed. I sank back in the bed, carefully lowering my hands to my lap. Damn pilltock. I’d tried climbing out of the shifter’s maze, changing the rules of the ‘game’, and it cost me the use of my hands when the plant’s toxin seeped into some cuts. Not only that, but I’d almost fallen fifty feet down the side of a tiered cliff and torn up my right ankle too.

“I’m here to get you fitted for a hover chair.” A short older nurse walked into the room holding a holo pad. “Hopefully this won’t take too long to process one fit to your specs.”

“He doesn’t need one,” Lisco said. “Can we go now?”

“Excuse me?” I shot him a look. “I can speak for myself, and yes, I do need one. How else am I going to get around?”

“I’ll carry you.” Moshe smiled. “Anywhere you want to go, whenever. Promise.” His eagerness was kind of sweet.

“Thank you, but I don’t want to be a burden,” I said politely.

“You aren’t, Miah!” he protested. “We wouldn’t have offered—”

“Excuse me, Dr. Connor said Mr. Jonahson needed a hover chair. He has said he needs a chair. Now, however else he decides to get about will be fine, but he is getting a hover chair. Now. Because I have four other patients waiting and not enough time to stand here while you argue.” The nurse had her free hand on her hip and one eyebrow raised as she split a warning glare with both shifters.

“Yes, ma’am.” My mom didn’t raise a fool. I wasn’t going to gainsay the lady, even if I were inclined to object to the way she spoke to us.

“Good. Let’s get started.” She walked up to my bed. Moshe moved away from the foot and stood behind Lisco. He was so big Lisco’s hair, even if it was gelled up in the nearly foot long spiked crest he’d had when I first saw him, barely came up to his chin. I was far from small, good stake stock my dad always said, but Moshe was a head bigger than me too.

I’d have to see if his hand was really as big as a dinner plate.

“Ahem.”

Shit.

“I’m sorry?” The nurse glared at me. Ouch. No wonder Moshe hid behind Lisco. That was not a look I liked aimed in my direction.

“If you’re ready to pay attention?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Good. Do so.” She restarted the holo pad. A bulky chair with a sling seat appeared in the air above my bed. “We have several models of hover chairs. They go from basic to deluxe. The basic model comes equipped with limited voice command, but it has a good battery cell that charges in ten hours. The deluxe…”

Great. So I was going to be sleeping a lot, at least, since it seemed I wasn’t going to be mobile very long if it took ten hours to charge. Or maybe I could sit with the chair charging in Moshe and Lisco’s apartment. I’d have to make it work.

“Just the basic model,” I said, interrupting her. I sighed. Just renting that was going to eat into my credit savings. I’d lived on subsistence rations, I’d make do once I went home.

“Okay. We’re going to need to do a voice sample so—”

“But the other one sounds nicer,” Moshe objected. “Why not get that one?”

I sighed. Nurse Cranky’s knuckles were getting white where she was holding on to the holo. The deluxe model, a sleek device with an elastiform contoured seat had been replaced by the basic model I said I wanted. “This is cheaper. I’m already stuck with this hospital bill and now the chair rental. I’m also out the price of my original tram ticket and have to buy another one when I get better.

“My entire plan, everything I wanted to do on my stake, has to be put on hold.” My frustration boiled over. “I’ve been working toward starting a herd on my land next to my parents for years. I don’t have the credits or the time to argue over this.” I waved my hand at the holo and then cried out. My fingers curled into my palm, the skin drawn tight in a massive spasm.

“Oh, Miah.” Moshe hurried over to me, rubbing my shoulder and arm. “Try to relax.”

“You’re not going to spend a credit. We did this. We’re paying.” Lisco leaned into Moshe’s side, staring down at me. “We never wanted to get a chance to court you because you got hurt and are forced to stay with us.”

“Never,” Moshe agreed.

The nurse sighed. Lisco shot her a glare that amused me, even through the pain from my contorted hand. He was flirting with danger. That seemed like it fit his personality.

“Look, Nurse Whatever-Your-Name-Is-Because-You’re-Too-Busy-To-Introduce-Yourself-Politely, glaring at us and making noises is not appreciated. We understand you have a job to do, but maybe you should go do it somewhere else before I call your supervisor about your unprofessional attitude and disrespect to a patient,” Lisco said. He narrowed his eyes at her, his blue crest trembling as he hissed. She jerked back from my bed.

Dr. Connor would just love that. He was very professional, and prided himself on his staff holding that same professionalism.

And clearly the nurse knew it.

“I’ll come back when Mr. Jonahson is feeling more up to speaking with me. Just hit the call button.” She spun on her heel and stalked out the door, her back rigid.

“Snooty woman.” Moshe frowned, his wide forehead wrinkling. “Though you probably shouldn’t have hissed at her, Lisco. Are you feeling better?”

The cramps were gone, but now I was exhausted. I slumped against the pillow, enjoying the way he worked the muscles in my arm. “I need a nap,” I murmured.

“Okay.”

“Not okay,” I sighed. “I need clothes and the hover chair. And a damn holo pad to get my discharge paperwork.” Shit. I’d totally forgotten mine was packed. “Everything I own was sent ahead to my stake. I don’t have anything.”

“We’ll take care of it. We want you to be with us, Miah. We’ll convince you.” Lisco reached into his pocket and pulled out a small device. “You nap. We got this.”

***

They really did take care of everything. When I woke up a hover chair had been ordered—the deluxe model—and there was an assortment of comfortable, loose clothes that would be easy to put on and take off around my brace.

“We also got you one of our holo pads. It’s different. You can wear it on your wrist. It also responds to voice recognized commands so you don’t have to touch anything.”

Moshe pressed a small disk to my forearm. A formfitting band slid out and wrapped around my wrist. It tightened briefly, then loosened to sit snugly against my skin without pinching or moving. “Just say, ‘Holo: discharge paperwork’, and it’ll turn on and bring up your papers.”

“How’d you guys set everything up to my voice patterns?” I asked, after I checked the holo worked and did a quick scan of my paperwork. They really had paid my balance already. Wow.

Lisco looked up. He was repacking my things into a bag. “A speech you did at college. We simply used the voice track from the holo.”

“Oh.” Well, at least I didn’t have to deal with Nurse Cranky again. “So, time to spring me, then?”

“Spring you?” Moshe looked confused.

“Slang. I mean, we can go.”

“I get it.” Moshe smiled, then frowned. “Wait. No, I don’t.”

I laughed and the frown disappeared from his face. He grinned. “I guess that’s okay.”

“Yeah. I just want to get out of here.” They looked human, but they weren’t. I had to try and remember that. They’d only been on Earth for six years. People I went to school with for years hadn’t understood me sometimes—it wasn’t that unusual. I just didn’t fit in with city folk.

Or alien shifters, apparently.

“Okay, we need to get you up.”

My muscles burned as I sat up in the bed. Moving my leg, even with a pain block they gave me after I woke up the first time, wasn’t going to be easy.

“Let me move you, Miah.” Moshe slid his hand under my knees and another under my back. “Don’t move your hands,” he warned when I tried to stop him.

“Darn it!” My face was on fire. Moshe was warm, and his skin felt so soft against mine. “My rear end is hanging out.”

“Which is why we’re going to dress you.” Lisco slipped a pair of shorts around the brace on my leg and then up my good leg. “Let him down, Moshe.”

“No underwear?”

Moshe snorted. “Uncomfortable stuff. It’s silly to wear an extra layer anyway.” He squatted and rested my butt against his leg. His jeans were rough. I couldn’t believe I was sitting on him with my naked rear.

And this was just the beginning. I closed my eyes and took a deep, shuddery breath. How did I let myself depend on two men, nearly strangers, and not lose it?

“Hey, it’ll be okay.” Lisco squatted down in front of me and patted my knee. “Your face is really red. Is that normal?”

“Do you need the doctor?” Moshe asked. He rubbed my arm.

“I’m just blushing. It’s normal.” As long as my face didn’t stay that way. Staying with these guys, it just might. “Can you just pull up my shorts, please?” I was getting way too many flashes of ideas of Lisco kneeling in front of me for other reasons.

I had an overactive imagination.

Lisco slipped his hands under my waistband and slid my shorts up, under the gown. “Stand him up.” He rose fluidly with us as Moshe lifted me to my feet and supported me. “There. Covered. Is that better?”

“Yes.” Clothes were like armor.

“Now for the shirt.” The first try led to spasms curling my hands into claws and creeping up my arms.

I leaned against Moshe’s comforting warmth and let him hold me as I rode out the pain. “Try… another… way.”

“Be careful,” Moshe warned him.

“I am!”

“Be more careful, then.”

I snickered, unable to hold it in. Moshe seemed like the mother hen type, totally at odds with his rough appearance and giant size. Well the term gentle giant had to come from somewhere. He growled at Lisco.

“I got it. Don’t growl at me.” Lisco slid my sleeves up my hands. “Okay. I’m going to lift your arms so Moshe can pull your shirt down over your head. You let us move you.”

My grandma had once shown me a puppet her dad had carved for her when she was a little girl. His limp, jointed body hung limp until she moved the cables that controlled him. All I needed were some cables to be that damn puppet. I grit my teeth but tried to remain limp as they maneuvered me into my clothes. At least I was dressed.

“Your chair has an interactive command database. Address it as HC and then where you want it to move, and it’ll do whatever you need.”

The holo chair melded around me. I’d never sat on anything so comfortable—it was almost like I wasn’t sitting at all as it supported and conformed to my body. It cradled my ankle and took all the pressure off my leg. Maybe I’d be able to take less drugs to control the pain, which would help reduce the fog clouding my mind and exhausting me.

I had to get back on my feet. Every day I spent in the city was a day I lost on my stake. Fingers brushed over my cheek, and I opened my eyes.

“Hey,” Lisco said. “Are you all right?”

“Yeah.” I shifted, and the chair fluidly adjusted with me. “This feels wonderful. Thank you.”

He beamed. “Good.” His happy expression slid into a leer, and he winked. “I bet I could make you feel more wonderful, though.”

Wow. Yeah, he wasn’t shy at all.

“Let’s go.” Moshe stood by the door holding all three bags of stuff they’d gotten for me. “I’m tired of the smell in here.”

I sniffed. It was rather antiseptic. “Do you have enhanced senses in your human forms?” I asked.

“Some of us. It depends on what our forms are. Not all our senses mesh up with these bodies.” Do you want me to push you out?” Lisco asked.

That was weird. The idea of alien senses working in a human body… how did it work? Did they have extra parts? Shift just parts of their bodies instead of all of them? And if they only shifted parts of their bodies, what might they leave natural? Uh-uh. I had to stop that line of thinking. Immediately. I didn’t want to blush again and give Lisco an opening.

Oh crap. An opening.

Chair. Focus on the chair. “I got it. Gimme just a minute.” I practiced the voice controls, getting used to the maneuverability of the chair along with its automatic sensor functions. It stopped before my legs ran into the wall and before I could back into the bed. It also sensed and went around Lisco when he stood in the middle of the room as a test obstacle.

“Okay, good to go.”

The hallways were busy, and I sweated a little trying to not make an idiot out of myself with the new chair, but we made it outside. “Are we taking the transfer?” I cringed at the idea of the crowded platforms.

“No, we have a conveyance.” Moshe pressed his thumb to the vehicle recall. Clicks and a gear grinding sound startled Lisco.

“Damn. I can never get used to that. Your planet is so loud with all this technology.” Lisco scowled as their vehicle rose from the underground storage. It was huge. The hatch iris dilated open, and Moshe barely had to bend to walk inside. I blinked.

“Coming?” Lisco popped his head out. “You can just come right in. There’s a spot to lock your hover chair in.”

“HC forward one meter.” I reversed once I was inside the luxurious vehicle and backed into the space. “HC lock.” A click under me rocked the chair briefly, and then it was secured to the base. “Did you guys get this car just for me?”

“Would that upset you, Miah?” Lisco tilted his head and watched me.

“Of course it would! We barely know each other.” They’d spent so much credit on me.

“No, we didn’t.” Moshe shot Lisco a warning glance. “I’m too big for your transfer system. All we did was have a lock installed for your chair while you were sleeping.”

“So, your human body is big because your shifter body is?” I was still curious about shifters. I’d never given them much thought before, too busy on my parent’s farm and then at school, but when would I have the opportunity again to have two shifters who could answer my questions?

“Yeah. Never been in a shape so small, though.” Moshe held up his hands and wiggled his feet. “And only having four limbs? It’s weird. I like these though.” He bent his thumbs back and forth.

“You can take other shapes? Like other creatures or other people?” I didn’t like that idea. People should look like themselves. But… they weren’t human. My head started to hurt, and I leaned back in the chair, letting it cradle me.

“No, no,” Lisco leaned forward and rubbed my knee. “We can’t change our bodies or faces again. We are who we are. And we can only shift into two active forms. Our true form, and one other. When we arrived on your planet our forms changed to these. Unless we leave, this is how we will always look.”

“Will you stay here?”

Lisco and Moshe exchanged a glance. “We’d like to.”

That wasn’t a yes or no answer. I thought about it for a little while, unsure if I should ask them to explain why they might have to leave, even if they didn’t want to, but then the vehicle stopped. It didn’t take very long to get to their apartment building, way faster than a transfer would’ve taken. “This is it?” I carefully voice piloted my chair out onto the sidewalk. It was cracked, but no weeds were growing up through the fractures and there were big green planters with flowers flanking the species. Strange flowers with shapes I’d never seen before.

“Non-native species outside the dome?” I raised an eyebrow.

“They’re sterile,” Lisco assured me. “And non-toxic to humans.”

“Well, they smell nice.” Like baking, and cinnamon, and sunshine. Wow. When I passed between them, they blocked out all scents of the city and the people packed cheek-to-jowl.

“Like what?” Moshe asked.

“You can smell it, can’t you? Like a late breakfast of homemade pancakes on a summer day with no chores.” I’d had a few of those growing up—just a few—but I treasured the memories of lazy mornings and afternoons filled with fun.

Moshe smiled softly. “That sounds really good. I smell anolga fruit and caravys.”

I tilted my head sideways. “Angola fruit?”

“Anolga. It’s sort of creamy and spicy.”

That didn’t sound like what I smelled at all. Lisco tapped a button on his holo pad and a lift opened in the center of the building. “The flowers smell like your favorite scent, whatever it is. I smell something different too. Qite musk and raindrops. Back home, the rain had metallic elements, so it always smelled sharp, not like here.”

“So every time you walk in and out of the building you smell home? Doesn’t that make you sad?”

“Sometimes,” Moshe said. He leaned against the wall of the lift. “But not remembering the best parts of our home would be sadder.”

The lift dinged.

“Home sweet home.” The doors opened directly into their apartment. It was huge! Bigger than my parent’s house, heck it was even bigger than the district manager’s house, and it made my dorm room seem like a storage closet in comparison.

Lisco opened a door and hung up his coat, and I reconsidered. Their front storage closet was bigger than my dorm room. I hesitated in the doorway.

“Come on in, Miah.” Moshe walked through the living room, with three couches, to a door across from the front door. He opened it. “Bathroom.” The door was sized for his big body, so it was more than big enough to get the hover chair inside, though I’d still need help inside. Thankfully, I could put off the humiliation for a while longer.

By the entrance to the kitchen on the left of us was another giant door. “And this is our bedroom. We knocked out all the inside walls of the two apartments on this floor to make the living space, and we also doubled the size of the bedroom. It’s nice to have a bed to stretch out on after living on the ship for so long.”

“A bed?” I choked out. That was not a bed. That was an ocean of mattress.

“Yeah. I love it. Lisco had the floor and the frame strengthened, so I can even shift if I need to.”

“How does Lisco even get on the bed?” It was so tall.

Moshe grinned. “He climbs me first.”

I felt my face flush as pinpricks of heat swept up my neck and face. All the blood moving back and forth as I blushed and popped a way too eager erection was killing me. My head throbbed and managed to kill some of my arousal.

“Do you want to take a nap? I can put you on the bed.”

Suddenly that was all I wanted to do, even though I’d already taken one nap. I nodded. Moshe set my bags down along the wall and then lifted me carefully into his arms. It was hard to remember to keep my hands limp. I wasn’t small, and no one had carried me since I was a little boy.

The bed dipped under our combined weight, but it didn’t give out. I sighed and snuggled into the soft covers. “This is nice.” Warm, comfortable, and the bed smelled just like Moshe and Lisco—musky and spicy, but also fresh and sharp.

“You sleep. I’ll leave the door open a crack so you can let us know if you need anything.”

There wasn’t much else I could do. My cock hadn’t gone down all the way yet, but I wouldn’t be taking care of the problem for a few weeks until I finally got to my stake. Besides, pleasuring myself in their bed would be weird, no matter how good it smelled.

I let the pain blocker and my exhaustion overpower all the worries crowding my mind and clamoring for attention.

***

Awkward didn’t begin to cover it. I woke up, my bladder full to bursting. What proceeded to happen, as both Moshe and Lisco tried to help me, was an embarrassing debacle—and a cleanser moment if ever there was one. Some for the floor, and some for my brain.

Of my course my dick got hard when Lisco touched it, even though he wasn’t coming on to me at all, and then I tried to yank away from Moshe’s grip and pee by myself. Which was a total no-go.

Why, oh why, hadn’t I taken Dr. Connor up on his offer? I figured the only thing my humiliation would be good for would be completely turning Lisco off. Nobody got turned on when they’d gotten peed on.

Dinner was quiet. I requested a supplement shake, so I could feed myself. It was like sucking sludge through a straw. Yum.

“Is that any good?” Lisco’s gaze was fixated on my drink.

I’d finished most of it and couldn’t take anymore. I shrugged one shoulder carefully. “It’s fine.”

“Can I try it?” Moshe asked.

I started to stop him, but he snagged my cup and sucked hard on the straw. He got a huge mouthful and choked. His cheeks puffed out and he made an awful sound in his throat. Moshe jumped up and thudded over to the sink, then bent over and spit the supplement out. “Oh, faugh. Yuck!” He spat again. “That was nasty. You drank all that crap?”

“It’s not that bad. Your taste buds are probably just different.”

Moshe shook his head. “That is not food.”

Lisco blinked. “I think I’ll take Moshe’s word for it. No more shakes.”

What the hell? “Then how am I supposed to eat?” I scowled at the shifter, wishing I could cross my arms over my chest. “I have to eat.”

“Real food,” Moshe said. “That is not real food. Don’t worry, we’ll help you.”

I slumped in my hover chair. “You’re already doing that. Look what happened earlier when you tried to help me.” I wasn’t sure if I was happy or sad the bathroom debacle signaled a clear switch from desired man to gross burden they wished they hadn’t signed on for.

“Accidents happen. I’m not into water sports or anything, but a little bodily fluid never hurt anyone. It washed right off. I’d like to try to get some of your other bodily fluids on me, though.”

I goggled at Lisco, who grinned and winked at me. “Water sports? What the hell?”

“You know, where someone gets sexual pleasure from being urinated on? It’s a thing.”

“How in the hell do you know that?” I didn’t know that. I wasn’t sure I liked knowing it now. Just… gross.

“We read up on you guys. Research.” Lisco shrugged.

“About sex? Research?” Keon hadn’t called it research. I bet, if he’d thought of it, he’d have tried to get credit for the hours he watched skin holos. I only knew how many hours he’d done it because I always made sure to stay far, far away from our room when he was in the mood.

“Sure. What would you do, if you were suddenly in a body and had no idea how it worked?”

Huh. I’d never thought of it that way. It sort of made sense. But… still.

“Can we talk about something else?”

“Sure.” Lisco took his plate over to the counter. Moshe was fixing himself a drink in the server. They didn’t have monitors on theirs like all the other servers I’d seen. It was bigger too.

“What gives you sexual pleasure?” Moshe asked.

My jaw would’ve hit the table, if that were humanly possible. He looked at me, like it was perfectly reasonable to ask me such a thing, as if he were asking my favorite food or color.

“We can smell how much you want us. Every time we touch you,” Lisco said baldly. “Why hold back? Is it because we’re shifters?”

“Of course not! I don’t… I mean, I haven’t… .” My face was going to melt off. I ducked my head, staring hard at the rich grain of the table, stained so dark it was a shade off black. It was shiny, and I could almost see myself in it.

“You haven’t… what?” Moshe sounded confused.

I glanced up. Lisco was staring at me. Both shifters looked confused. “I’ve never done anything with anyone else,” I admitted painfully.

“What?” Moshe asked.

I started to say it again, louder. “I said, I’ve never—”

“No, we heard you. We just don’t get it. Our culture isn’t repressed like some of yours. But, this area seems liberal. We’ve seen plenty of humans expressing their desire physically. Why would you not enjoy yourself?”

It was Keon all over again. Well, at least Lisco didn’t say, “Dude, your outtie is gonna become an innie if you don’t man up!” like Keon. Like jeering at me for being busy was going to make me want to run out and find a partner.

“I was busy.” Embarrassment warred with arousal, and if what Lisco said was true, they both knew it.

“You’re not busy now.” Moshe crouched next to my hover chair. “We want to get to know you, court you. Our way didn’t work, but we’re willing to try the human way.”

Vibrating on my wrist saved me from having to reply. “How do I answer this thing?” The holo screen was flashing for a phone call, but there weren’t any buttons like my pad.

“Holo: Answer call.” Lisco crossed his arms over his chest. He didn’t look like he was going to drop the conversation.

“Oh, right. Holo: Answer call.” A form materialized over my wrist, and my heart began to pound.

“Mr. Jonahson? This is Rekebah Smit. Can you take a call from Mr. Gorseman now?”

“Yes, but just a moment.” I took a gamble and tried another command. “Holo: Hold call.” Ms. Smit’s holo form went static, her unsmiling face staring at me. Damn, damn, damn. I closed my eyes and let out a huge sigh. “I need to take this in the bedroom. I’m sorry.” I directed my chair through the living room to the bedroom and nudged the door shut with my elbow.

“Holo: Resume call. I apologize, Ms. Smit. I’m ready to speak with Mr. Gorseman.” Dinner did a very uncomfortable dance in my stomach.

“Hold please.” Her holo image shimmered and transformed into a heavy-set man. He wore a cowboy hat, though he wasn’t a rancher. Even as a tiny holo visible only from the chest up, he was intimidating.

Or maybe that was just because he held my future livelihood in his hands.

“Mr. Jonahson.”

“Hello, Mr. Gorseman. Can I help you?” I tried not to speak through gritted teeth, but the man’s tone grated on me. I’d been looked down on by a lot of people in the city—but I wasn’t from the city. They weren’t my people. Gorseman called himself a rancher, but he lived in the city and worked behind a desk. He didn’t touch the land, or the animals.

He tipped his hat back. “I’m glad you asked. My herd needs be split. Market price is prime now. Either you take your order at the end of the week, or our contract will be null and void. I’ll be forced to sell your cattle.”

“I already paid for them!” It’d taken every scrap of money I’d ever made, but I’d paid for the start for my herd from Gorseman and another ranch. He was supplying the cows I needed. Without them, my bulls would be useless.

“And your contract states they be delivered at my convenience when I split my herd. I am splitting my herd. Either you take possession of your cattle or you forfeit them and the contracted payment.”

“I understand.” What the hell was I going to do? “When can I expect your arrival at my stake?”

Gorseman raised an eyebrow. “I was led to understand you were not there.”

“I will be ready for my cattle. A man upholds his contracts,” I said archly. The cretin was putting the squeeze on me. I’d heard he was ruthless, but I wasn’t a competing stake. I might be successful, in the future, but I hadn’t told anyone my plans to cross-breed the strains of cattle left to us. No one had managed it before, but I thought I had the digestive incompatibility licked.

He must have investigated me. My accident in the dome left me vulnerable, and a man of his character wouldn’t hesitate to seek advantage. Maybe he’d been waiting for his chance. I wouldn’t let him ruin me before I even had a chance to begin.

“Two days.” He cut off the holo.

“Damn it!” I smacked my hands on the chair and then cursed again as my fingers curled into claws and pain lanced through my hands and up my arms.

“Miah!” Moshe hurried in. “What did you do to yourself?” He picked me up out of the chair and sat on the bed with me on his lap and my back tucked against his chest. He rubbed my arms from the shoulders down to my wrists, and I struggled to breathe through the agony.

I writhed, frustration and anger combining with the pain. The cramps went on and on until it felt like the muscles were ripping away from the bones of my fingers. Moshe’s deep voice rumbled against my ear as I curled into him, but I couldn’t understand what he was saying.

Finally, minutes or ages later, my fingers straightened out of the rigid claws the spasms curled them into. Sweat dripped down my forehead, stinging my eyes. A cool cloth wiped over my face, and I sighed in relief. “Thank you.”

What was I going to do? I didn’t have a backup plan. Getting hurt wasn’t part of my five year goal.

“Did you grab the cubes?” Moshe asked.

“Yep, all ready.”

I shifted my head, staring up at Moshe. “Going somewhere?”

“Yes.” He gently wiped my face with the washcloth, then folded it and laid it across my forehead.

“Oh.” Well, I was leaving anyway. My last ditch vacation to get to know the shifters better wasn’t going to happen. Somehow, I’d find a way to make it work. Maybe I could holo my dad and get recommendations for someone who could act as my hands for a share of the profits. It would slow me down, cut the profit margin and growth plans, but I couldn’t take care of myself, much less a bunch of heifers.

“We’re coming with you,” Lisco said in exasperation. He stopped in front of me. “Where else would we be going? We told you, we want you to be with us. We’re courting you.”

“Working on a stake, scrabbling in the dirt and wrestling with cows isn’t very romantic. You’re shifters. You can do anything, have anyone.” Wait, how did they know what was going on? “You’re already packing.” There were cubes already half-full of clothes behind him.

“We could hear your conversation,” Moshe rubbed my shoulders. “Did you think we’d let you leave alone?”

I shrugged under the weight of his heavy palms but didn’t say that was exactly what I’d thought. I had a feeling that would piss them off.

"You’re who we want. We miss the earth. We lived more naturally, in the past. Your technology is nice, but we feel confined. We can shift on your stake, right?” Moshe asked. “It’s big enough.”

I’d never considered their natural state. They were so convincing as humans that the memory of their beasts, Lisco’s shiny blue form, long and thin like a snake with wings, and Moshe’s gigantic, heavy six-legged beast with blinding white fur, had faded.

“Yeah, it is. As long as you don’t spook the cattle or trample the seed. But I can’t ask you to do this.” I shook my head. “It’s my problem, not yours.”

Lisco sighed. “It wouldn’t be a problem, if we hadn’t taken you to the dome, right?”

“You didn’t take me. I found the ident strip and chose to go.”

“But we set it up. You’d have been home, already prepared for the cattle. It’s not just about making our mistake right. We. Want. You.” Moshe emphasized each word. They’d said it, both of them, several times. “What do we have to do to convince you?”

“How can you want to be with me? You don’t know me, and you already have each other.”

“Instinct, a sense of rightness, desire… call it whatever you want. Moshe and I care about each other, but something is missing when we are in these forms. Teach us to be human.” Lisco crouched down in front of us, his hands on my thighs. He stared up at me. “We don’t care if you’re experienced or not. I like that we can learn how to fit together, all three of us, woven into a whole. It might not work out. But we want to give it a chance. We want you to give us a chance.”

Something about them going home with me, leaving the city, made it different. “It won’t be like here. My stake isn’t developed. It’s not nice.”

“We don’t need much. A roof, a bed—”

I snorted. “My bed will not be anywhere near big enough for all three of us.”

“So we make it bigger. We have a shuttle. We can move our stuff and get your stake ready in a day. Moshe is strong, and I’m quick. All you have to do is say yes.”

If they came with me, it wouldn’t be for two weeks. I didn’t know how long they’d stay, a month, a year, forever… but I wanted them. Could I have Moshe and Lisco and not give up my dream? I’d worked for years for the knowledge and degree I needed, saving every scrap of credit I could earn. But success wouldn’t keep me company or love me back.

There was a chance my heart could be broken, but at least it wouldn’t wither up while I lived my life all alone. “Yes.”