53. Chapter 53

Home at last.

Three Months Later.

I stood on the beach and ran a hand through my short hair. The crash of the waves on the purple sand made me smile. The warm air no longer bothered me; instead, it relaxed something inside of me. I loved the salty brine and the sand against the scales on the bottom of my feet.

It had taken me three months to get here after Seth and Kal’s invitation, but I didn’t begrudge the time. Much had changed. For a couple of days after the greenhouse, Fyn and I had hidden in our apartment, fucking like rabbits. We only left when the doctor had the results from the tests they’d run.

The damage Yolkeltod had received in the shuttle accident was irreversible. There were things the doctors could do to help mitigate the pain, but my mobility was always going to be affected, and my scales would never regrow on my waist nor the scales or hair on one side of my head. I had started physical therapy, and it had helped, but they were almost positive I would never fly, which honestly I was okay with. I was pretty sure it would’ve been too much for me, and I was easily distracted, which probably wasn’t good when flying.

The physical therapy also helped me adjust to my new body. Discovering how it moved had helped me accept this was my body. I’d also started to see a therapist. Not Fyn’s, but another one. The thought of my towering purple doctor with horns and four arms was enough to make me relax. He was consulting with a mosvoye physician on how to help me cope with a new body, and it was helping, at times. Sometimes, though, I didn’t recognize the person in the mirror.

Tinlorray still wouldn’t see me. I’d tried multiple times, even though she’d asked me to leave her alone, I owed it to Yolkeltod, but she wasn’t ready. Seeing me was too hard, and naturally, she was angry at me. It wasn’t my fault I was in Yolkeltod’s body or that he’d passed on, but she was mad, and I got it. We’d exchanged a few messages in the last month, and I was hopeful, in time, that we would have a semblance of a relationship.

Seth and Kal had left the capital not long after Monty found out the Crystal had spoken with me. The Ranks had finally corralled a meeting with me and Seth, wondering if Seth had also heard the Crystal. Apparently, he had, and the rock had called him chosen and that it had been waiting for him. The Ranks had hounded him day and night until Kal whisked him and Lucy away to their country home (rich people).

In his absence, I’d become better friends with Wyn, who was shy at heart but so funny, and Serlotminden, who loved languages. I was teaching him English with Edith’s help while refining my accent so NAID could understand me. Wyn had also introduced me to Urgg, and I was right. Me and the barbarus were a match made in heaven. We’d drank until I’d passed out, and I ended up in the medbay because alcohol and I no longer agreed. Still, it had been fun for me, not for Zoltilvoxfyn; he’d been furious and worried.

Days ago, Fyn and I were bound. He’d refused to go through with the ceremony, because of the separation in the interim, so I decided to plan everything with Urgg (I ignored their suggestion about a fight to the first blood), Wyn, and Edith. I’d told Fyn about it a few hours beforehand. Vyn had called me efficient while Kontolmakqilnen called me presumptuous. Both made me smile. I was getting along with my in-laws, and now that they knew about me and had met me, they loved me.

We’d been bound in his terrace garden with his family and our friends around. It had been perfect.

Most of all, my sensory overstimulation had gotten better. My mind had finally adjusted to being alive, and my brain was filtering out excess stimuli like it was meant to. At times, I would become overwhelmed, but it was better, and I knew to avoid my triggers.

Arms came around my waist, making me jolt, moments before kisses trailed over my neck, followed by a hard bite. I pushed back into Fyn’s embrace and groaned in pleasure. His very touch made me content.

“Sunshine, we have an audience.”

“I don’t care, nor do you.”

True, but everyone here was his family, and Seth cared. He got flustered so easily—it was adorable. I was often tempted to poke his red cheeks or squeeze him; I never did, but hell, I was tempted. However as I looked down the shore for him, hoping not to embarrass Seth too badly, I stopped worrying. Kal had Seth slung over his shoulder, threatening to drop him into the water. Seth was yelling, but there wasn’t an ounce of fear in it as he blushed profusely. Hal picked up his mate Gilvaxtin and chucked her into the ocean without hesitation. She came up sputtering and whirled on him, tackling him into the sand, snarling.

Mindy hooted, cheering her on as she wrestled her husband. Gil, I’d found, was a warrior soul like her husband and she was equally fierce. She loved to gamble, so Seth and I had taught her poker. She beat us every time. We no longer played with her unless we were prepared to lose money or random shit she claimed from our apartments.

Kontolmakqilnen shook his head at their antics and carried his young grandchild, Farrittenmon, Hal and Gil’s second child, along the shore, cooing to him. Vyn wasn’t far behind with Jonyontinlok, Hal and Gil’s eldest son, who chased a harried crab the size of a lobster with massive spider legs.

Vyn was a seeker soul like me, and she loved engineering, taking things apart and putting them together. She was easier to talk to and get to know than Kontolmakqilnen, but I liked him too. He loved his kids, me and Seth included, he was just reserved.

The only ones missing from the family gathering were Don and Monty. Both had duties on their respective ships.

My family. This had become my family, and I was so grateful for it. I came from a large family in my first life, and now I had one again in my second life. For years I’d wandered from one end of the universe to another, searching for something I didn’t understand.

My home. My mate. My love. All housed within Zoltilvoxfyn. I had searched without knowing what I was trying to find. Now that I’d found him, I didn’t intend to let him go.

This life might be full of chaos, but I wanted it. I wanted to be here with him, with my family. I’d wandered from home all those years ago, to come back to my home. Now, my wandering was over, and I was more than alright with that.

“Little Soul, what are you thinking about?” Zoltilvoxfyn asked.

“How happy I am.”

He smiled against my scales, and I wound my tail loosely around his leg. “So am I,” he muttered. “Happier than I ever thought possible.”

I turned in his embrace to wrap my arms around his neck and kissed him. His tongue slipped into my mouth, making me groan. Maybe death hadn’t been so bad, but life was sure great. I highly recommend it.

Life could be better , I randomly thought as the shuttle I was on careened toward a planet in a death spiral. I’d been abducted from Earth by creepy-ass aliens, then sold at what can only be described as a cattle market, only to be forced to work cleaning up bodies in a fighting ring. Now I was on a ship with a white-haired, purple-scaled alien who “claimed” to be rescuing me.

If this was a rescue, he left a lot to be desired.

I glanced at the alien who frantically pushed buttons and yanked on a yoke. Serlotminden, he said his name was. He really needed to get better at this whole rescue thing.

Thank you for reading Cosmic Soul!