6. Davon

Chapter 6

Davon

I wanted to go in to work early, but I doubted Wortek would let me inside the building until patrons started to arrive.

So I went to the wall and found the bird I’d left there, securing a message to Coovik and letting the bird fly free. I watched as it soared over the wall and out into the desert.

Coovik would soon learn I’d found Maggie. He’d know that the sand gods felt she was my fated mate. I did not tell him that I would not claim her, that I didn’t deserve a mate or hope or a future. He’d find out when I returned to my clan after delivering her to her sister.

Finally, it was time, and I strode from the room I rented across the stone street from the bar and stepped into the building. The lights blazed high, though they’d be dimmed once the music started, and the place held an empty, stale smell that was sharp in my nose. I’d lived all my life with the desert’s open, sweet air around me. Being trapped inside this dingy place grated across my soul like sand carried by a storm.

“When the music starts, go get the female,” Wortek said over his shoulder from where he sat on a high stool at the bar, his tail swishing lazily across the floor behind him. “Tether her to the pole and then make sure everyone behaves.” He waved for the Veerenad bartender to top off his drink, which the male did with a flick of the bottle.

“Do you need me to do anything before that?” I asked, striding across the slick, greasy floor to stand behind him.

“Yes, stay within my view,” Wortek snarled. “I don’t like it when anyone stands behind me.”

Yet he sat at the bar with his back facing the door. But then, I’d been given the code that allowed me access to the building.

I moved around to his side.

“Drink?” the bartender asked me.

Wortek grunted. “He pays, not me.”

“I don’t drink.” Not this slop, that is. Late summer and while living at the southern oasis, we made a drink out of fermented fruit that tasted amazing and made your head spin if you drank too much of it. But other than drinking that during celebrations, I preferred water.

Someone banged on the door.

“Want me to let them in?” I glanced that way.

“We’re not open yet,” Wortek bellowed, and the thumps came to an abrupt halt. “This is where it pays to own the only two bars in this city,” Wortek told me. “Customers are eager, and I control who has access.”

“Who dances at the other bar?” I asked.

The bartender dragged a wet cloth across the dingy wooden surface before plopping it into a bucket on the floor by his feet.

“No one. Music is enough for that crowd,” Wortek said. “If anyone captures another human, I’ll claim her and make her perform there.”

“They’re not dropping from the sky to dance at your command.”

His tail stopped swishing and spiked out, the sharp tip gouging a nearby chair, knocking it over. “I bought her. She belongs to me, as will any other female I purchase.”

“They were sent by our gods.” I had no idea why I was bothering to try to reason with him. But he must have a heart buried beneath his scaled exterior. If he knew why they were here, he might be willing to release Maggie.

Otherwise, I could buy her from him. The Veerenads craved the crystals they mined deep below the sandy wasteland beyond the city, but Wortek might be willing to part with Maggie if I offered him other wealth from the desert. If I could buy her, we could walk out of this nightmare without worrying about us having targets on our backs.

“Gods?” He sneered. “Do you believe that stupid legend? ”

“My clan is protected by the sand god.” The very god who’d helped me with clothing for Maggie.

His arm swept out to the area in general. “There’s sand everywhere. Haven’t seen a god among it yet. We sweep it up and dump it back in the desert.”

I wasn’t going to try to prove to him that he was wrong. Our gods didn’t perform to please Veerenads; only us.

“She was sent here to be a mate to one of our males,” I said.

The bartender leaned against the counter behind him lined with bottles, watching with snide humor in his eyes.

“Don’t get any ideas.” Wortek slid off his stool and faced me. We stood at eye level, something unheard of in a Zuldruxian, but I was bigger than any other I’d met before.

“What sort of ideas?” I kept my voice casual. “I work here, throwing anyone who gets too wild out onto the street. I’m not looking for a mate.”

“Good.” Wortek smacked past me, purposefully hitting my shoulder with his own. “If you touch my female, I’ll kill you.”

The bartender’s gaze met mine, and he smirked before turning to make sure the bottles lined up behind him.

I walked over to the stairs that Wortek was currently taking to the top.

“Don’t go down there until the music starts,” Wortek called out from above me. “Stay away from her and stick to your duties and you’ll hold onto your job.”

“Will do,” I bit out. I’d wanted to go down to her early. I needed to make sure that she’d slept, that she didn’t need anything, that she was alright.

Had she seen my gifts? I hope she’d eaten the food I’d brought her, that she’d found it satisfying and tasty.

There was so much I wanted to do for her, but I was almost as restrained as her, though not with a chain. But if I gave Wortek even a hint of what she meant to me already, I’d not only lose this job and access to her, but I could also lose my life.

I’d be more than happy to battle him for the right to claim her, but I doubted he’d accept a challenge, let alone fight fairly. Like most Veerenads, he’d find a way to eliminate me without taking a scratch himself.

I’d bide my time and act as soon as I could.

The music erupted not long later, turned on by the bartender with a switch, and the tinny Veerenad melody pulsated across my bones. The only music I’d heard was that of my people singing when we sat around the fire in the evening. Old songs the elders taught us about the bravery of past Zuldruxians, plus lilting stories set to song about the world around us.

I unlocked the outer door and swung it wide. Patrons tumbled inside, weaving around tables to reach the bar. While the tender poured drinks, I slipped down the stairs to the lower level, creeping along the hall to stop outside Maggie’s open doorway .

She sat on the bunk, her hair neatly secured at her nape with the strand from the top of the bag I’d left her after bringing in sand and communing with my god. She’d dressed in one of the tunics and pants and they fit her quite well, something common when a god provided clothing. She leaned forward and stroked the shoes on her feet.

Hearing me, she startled. But when she looked up, she not only relaxed, the hint of a smile curled her mouth upward.

Knowing she might actually welcome me . . . That I’d done something that made her happy shattered me.

Her smile was an oasis in this cold world, a glimmering pool of warmth after I’d walked for days across the sand. My heart shook and surged like the rare desert rain, each beat coating me with wonder.

She rose to her feet. “Davon.” Her gaze darted to the box and the slumped, empty bag on her bed. “Did you do all this for me?”

“You deserve the world, Maggie. Everything.”

Her face darkened, and I was stunned by her beauty all over again. She looked much different from me with her light-colored skin and brown eyes, her dark hair unlike my silver. Compared to a Zuldruxian female, she was small, almost the size of a youngling. But I’d seen the strength in her eyes and her resilience when she danced all last night. This female had stamina. Any male would be proud to have her stand by his side.

If only I could be that male for her.

While this was not possible, I’d do what I could to protect her until I could leave her with her sister. I’d gather up whatever smiles she shared and store them inside me for the coming days when I’d no longer see them.

“I appreciate it.” She rubbed her arms. “I don’t think I’ve felt full in ages. Light-years, probably. You didn’t have to bring me things.”

“Yes, I did.”

“No, really. I eat. They deliver trays with food.”

“Not good food.”

She winced. “I eat it. I assume it’s nutritious even if it tastes nasty. Although, I wasn’t eating enough of it to keep me going for long.”

“I want to help you.”

“I appreciate it. Thank you.” She swallowed. “I assume you’ve come to take me upstairs.”

“It’s time for you to dance.” I wanted to tell her to rest some more, to give her body the break it must need, but if I didn’t bring her upstairs, Wortek would collect her. I worried about what he’d do to her after that.

“Who would think I’d wind up here, dancing for aliens? I’ve danced all my life. My sister too. We took lessons and when we were grown, we opened our own studio.” Pausing, her shoulders fell. “Everyone must be wondering where we are. Someone will call the police, but since the robocops were involved, I doubt they’ll find any evidence. They’ll see that she and I struggled. Chairs got knocked over. Papers were strewn across the floor. When our bodies don’t turn up, I guess they’ll think we were taken. Sold somewhere. Which for me, is certainly true. ”

“I’m sorry.” If only I’d found her sooner.

“Long ago, in my planet’s past, people owned other people, but we’ve mostly done away with that. How sick is that, right? Owning someone else as if they have no value other than what their body can deliver. It’s dehumanizing.”

“You’re right. Only the Veerenads sell others, own others.” I stepped into her room.

“After a while, the people on Earth will sell our business. We didn’t have wills, so I guess it’ll go to probate or wherever property goes when there are no heirs to claim it.”

She sounded so sad. Though I wasn’t a male known for his softness, I wanted to hold her. Tell her things would be alright. But I couldn’t lie to her. If nothing else, I would always tell the truth.

“We need to go,” I said, moving toward the wall where I’d secured her earlier.

“I heard the thump of the music begin.” Her smile came out more like a grimace, and she plucked at the clothing I’d given her. “I need to change back into what I’ve worn every other night. Wortek will notice, and we don’t want him asking questions.”

She was right. “I’ll tell him I brought you some clothing from my youngling brother who outgrew them.”

Her head tilted, and she studied my face. “He won’t believe you. You don’t have a tail, and I assume that’s the norm with your kind. ”

“No tail.” I nodded slowly. “I do have a youngling brother, though he’s much bigger than you.”

“Everyone here is bigger than me.”

“You’re small. Strong, though.”

“Not strong enough to survive this for long. I’m beginning to have doubts I’ll make it, Davon. This . . .” She fiddled with the hem of her tunic. “The clothing? The food? It gave me hope. Shoes, even. Funny how odd they feel on my feet, though I’ve worn something like them all my life. But these tangible things aren’t my sister. They’re not my home with a door I can lock at night. They’re not my fridge full of tasty food or the money I’ve saved in the bank for my future. I have nothing, Davon. Nothing.”

“That’s not true,” I said gruffly. “You have me.”