The Alliance - 9. Space

Aaron walked up the flight of stairs on Mateio’s ship, exploring the hall leading to the kitchen. Several doors sat closed on either side of the hall and the elf stopped in front of the furthest one.

A sensor sat on the wall next to the door and Aaron waved his hand in front of it curiously. The door slid open with a quiet hiss, revealing a small cabin with a desk and a bed inside. A window beside the bed showed the darkness of space as they flew, stars forming pinpricks in the distance.

This would be his bed then. The elf didn’t want to keep Mateio from his own room.

Returning to the captain’s cabin, Aaron collected his clothing, carrying them through the hall. He set the clothing on the desk, unable to find a dresser to put them in. It didn’t matter. He could rough it; he had done so before.

With nothing else to do while Mateio flew and Itumak dealt with his mate, Aaron lay on the bed, thinking again about everything that had happened.

Meet an alien. Check.

Wolf claims alien. Check.

Try to enter a hopeless relationship. Check.

Have his planet invaded. Check.

Sighing, Aaron rolled onto his side, staring out of the ship. He should be doing something, anything, to help his planet, but he was just laying in bed while a fox piloted them to an unknown planet.

The ship grew dark as the stars began fading. Heat enveloped the ship, then dissipated as they passed through the portal into the other universe.

Someone tapped on the wall outside the door a few minutes later.

“Can I come in?” Mateio asked quietly.

Aaron sat up with a shrug.

“It’s your ship,” he said.

The fox entered the room, his eyes seeking Aaron’s.

“What are you doing in here?”

“I’m not taking up your room anymore. You should get to sleep in your own bed,” Aaron replied.

“I suppose that makes sense,” Mateio sighed. “We should reach Asla in around twenty hours. I’ll request a meeting with one of the higher-ups on the station in the system, and we can get some help for you.”

“I doubt it will be that easy,” Aaron muttered.

“Did you expect fighting an alien empire to be easy?”

“Not really. But then, I never expected to be in the position of having to take my home back from an alien empire. Or to claim a shape-shifting fox. Yet, here we are.”

“And here we’ll stay as we keep dancing around, trying to do what’s right.”

Mateio laughed humourlessly.

“If our life was a story, the readers would be screaming for us to figure this out by now.”

Aaron nodded tiredly.

“So, do you want to hash it out again, or should we just give up?”

“I have a better idea. Let’s see if the Alliance will help you. When your planet is free, if you wish, I will stay with you to help ease the transition into the Alliance, such as it is.”

“You would give up the universe for me? For someone you have known for three days?”

“I have known you for a month. I know what you are like, and I am in love with what I have seen. There is no other reason I would have revealed myself to you,” Mateio said quietly. “As much as I, as much as we both, have been fighting this, I do love you.”

Aaron shook his head in wonder, and almost sorrowfully.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “I don’t think I love you.”

“That is okay,” Mateio replied, a tight smile on his face. “I can wait. And if you never do say it, at least you know I love you.”

The fox turned to leave the cabin.

“I’ll be working in the vehicle bay if you need me,” he said, walking away.

He stood against the cabin wall, head bowed. Lian’s neck burned under his collar, but at least his new master hadn’t seen fit to punish him yet.

He was a shape changer, two souls wrapped in one being. Lian had no idea how that worked. Maybe a soul for him and a soul for Thaelin? Not that it mattered. Thaelin was gone.

The being sat on the bed in the cabin, his eyes staring holes in Lian. It made the Daknar uncomfortable, but there wasn’t much he could do about it. Strange ears sat on his head, furry and small in a bed of curly hair. A tail flicked behind him, longer and thinner than Lian’s own tail.

“Elaun aro eim.”

He would have to learn a new language. Or at least the commands that would be expected. Until he did, he expected to make the being angry. Hopefully, he wouldn’t be punished too harshly.

“Elaun aro eim.”

A hand forced his chin up until he was staring at the alien. It wasn’t the most gentle touch he had ever felt, but his master didn’t go out of his way to make it hurt.

Look at me. Lian did his best to embed the command in his brain. It went against everything he had been taught in his life. One did not look at his master. But this wasn’t just his master.

The alien sighed, seated on the bed. They were close together, the cabin rather small. Lian met his eyes, seeing the bright brown that shown from his stone. It really was a beautiful colour, even if the one who carried it was the last being Lian would have chosen.

The alien began muttering something too fast for Lian to follow, even if he could understand the language. The Daknar lowered his head again, ever mindful of the relationship between an owner and a slave.

“Eyn felya kriaske mei heyno veg zi avor dugara…. Skeil ek nelrein eln eim?”

Was the alien asking him a question? What did he want with Lian? Would there be fields to care for where they were going, or did the alien want him for a more personal reason? At least Lian had the benefit of his stone. He knew that they were meant for each other, regardless of how complicated things seemed now. He didn’t exactly like the idea that he was his soulmate’s slave, but maybe he could find a way to work around that. Or maybe his master would just kill him and he wouldn’t have to worry about any complications.

The alien let out a deep breath.

“Skeil ek eyn verla?”

His hand lifted Lian’s chin again. Alien or not, the Daknar had to admit his touch felt nice.

“Skeil ek eyn verla?” he asked again.

Lian’s head spun as he tried to figure out the new words. Eyn, eim, me… The alien wanted him to do something for him?

“Verla,” the alien said again. “Mei verla Itumak.”

He said it slowly, pointing at himself.

“Ey? Skeil ek eyn verla?”

The alien’s finger pressed into the Daknar’s chest. He seemed to take care to avoid the stone.

“E-eyn verla?” Lian said uncertainly, his tongue stumbling over the unfamiliar words.

“Neya. Skeil ek eyn?” The alien nodded as he spoke. “Nurg avor ey? Eim ek Itumak.”

It had to be a name, right?”

“Lian,” the Daknar said.

Itumak smiled slightly, nodding. He stood up, passing Lian as he left the cabin.

“Rehun,” the shape changer said.

Lian followed.

Itumak led the Daknar into another room, a bed sitting against the far wall. He was not going to sleep with the alien. The sentiment got a growl from his wolf, but there was no way he could just take the reptile, even if he wanted to.

“This is your room,” he said. “I hope you’ll be comfortable here.”

The neko needed to figure out this situation. He needed some time alone to think, and that wasn’t going to happen with the two sharing a room.

A whine filled the ship and Itumak felt the gravity lessen slowly. Suddenly he felt the moon’s presence fill the room… but they were in space, nowhere near the moon.

His body didn’t care. The wolf was coming and he couldn’t stop it.

The werewolf pulled his shirt off quickly. The last thing he wanted was to destroy the clothing Mateio had bought him.

His pants dropped, the Daknar taking a step back involuntarily. Itumak’s eyes widened slightly.

“Oh, no, I’m not…”

He winced as his wolf pulled at him. It was different than any other time he had changed, both stronger and weaker at the same time. Had Mateio done something to him?

All thought was driven from his mind as hair sprouted from his body. The neko grew in size, the change scaring him. He was supposed to shrink, not grow. What had happened?

Lian was pressed against the window of the cabin, his wings covering himself, as though protecting him from the werewolf. Itumak huffed as he stared down at the reptile. The pains of his body faded as the change completed, and Itumak snorted, holding out his arms in horror. He wasn’t a wolf, he was a monster.

The door to the cabin opened and Mateio stuck his head into the room.

“Hey, the gravity pod is d-”

He stared in shock at the werewolf standing tall enough to nearly hit his head on the ceiling.

“Wha... ?”

Itumak let out a whimper. His mouth felt strange. His snout wasn’t as long as it normally was and his tongue… his tongue was human…

“What happened to me?” he whispered, his voice rumbling through the room.

“I’ll be right back…” Mateio squeaked, backing out of the cabin.

Turning back to Lian with a quiet whine, Itumak saw the Daknar’s eyes filled with fear. He knelt in front of the alien, his head just above the Daknar’s.

“I won’t hurt you,” he said as gently as he could.

It was true. As uncertain as he was, Itumak knew he could never bring himself to hurt this alien on purpose. Maybe his people had attacked Itumak’s home, but he hadn’t himself. This Daknar, at least, was innocent.

The cabin door opened again and Itumak was slammed against the ground, a nose sniffing over his body. Rolling over, he found Aaron standing over him on all fours.

“Thank goodness you’re okay,” Itumak said.

He pushed Aaron off of him, noticing Lian’s eyes narrowing at the werewolf. The Daknar looked away instantly, but the look had been there.

Mateio followed Aaron into the cabin, staring at Itumak.

“I assume this is not normal for you,” the Faro said.

“Not at all. What happened? Why is it just me?” Itumak asked.

“I think I made a mistake in the code I used for your pen. I must have altered your… wolf form, by mistake. I don’t know if it’s permanent or not.

“I can’t change back,” Itumak said quietly. “The… the moon is too strong, but it isn’t even here.”

“It’s the gravity that is keeping you like this. Something happened to the gravity pod. I can’t fix it in space, but if we land, it shouldn’t be too difficult to repair.”

The Faro stepped out of the room.

“I’ll start looking for a place to land. We’ll likely have to portal,” he said, before hurrying away.

Itumak’s nose picked up a scent from the cabin, a strong musk that wafted off Lian. He and Aaron sniffed the air, the elven wolf raising his hackles. Itumak found the scent almost irresistible, the bipedal wolf stepping toward the Daknar.

Aaron let out a low growl and Itumak stopped. He looked back at his friend, his king, seeing a warning in the werewolf’s eye, but his own wolf seemed ready to ignore the threat.

“He is my mate Aaron,” Itumak said helplessly. “I have to claim him.”

Aaron let out a disappointed huff and left the cabin, the door closing behind him. The scent from Lian filled the room, a mixture of lust and fear, and Itumak let out a near-silent growl, turning a predatory gaze on the reptile.