1. Chapter One

Chapter One

Z ylar crouched behind several rocks under an overhang. He was being hunted. What was his sin? He helped a few humans who didn't have access or the funds; they called it insurance, to see a doctor. They were dying, so he healed them. How was it that humans were so far behind they charged each other to extend lifelines and barely knew what they were doing to heal a cut? He'd asked himself that question many times in the passing dirals, days, he reminded himself.

His Manan's sisso, sister according to the human, had a male child. They called Rakha his cousin.A bullet hit the overhang, making him move back. They didn't know where he was and none of them understood bullets could no longer kill him. That didn't stop them from hunting him like he was a wild beast.

One of them had suggested cutting off his head and mounting it onto the wall of their pitiful domicile. As if he was going to allow that to happen. It was time to retreat to the ship, but not before he helped the dying female who was trying to birth another female.

He stepped backward, intending to take the long way to the female's house, when a loose rock tumbled, giving away his position. He stopped and waited. This planet, Earth as it was called, was a strange place beyond no one helping the other. They informed him, several of the females he helped, that doctors on this planet were pacifists.

A person who believes that war and violence are not justifiable. He agreed with the definition, not with the inactivity that it called for. He would save the female's life and that of her female child. Never again would he watch a female die an unjust death. He was not God, the females he knew told him. They were right, not that he understood a God or goddess who saw a great injustice and didn't interfere to stop it.

"There you are." A pale-skinned male stepped out into the clearing carrying a shotgun. Zylar knew the name because the male had announced several times he was going to shoot him with it. He quietly looked around for the male's friends. There had been two of them.

"Here I am." He spread his legs and crossed his arms over his chest. The females he spent time with called it a power move. He wasn't sure if it would work for him.

"You've been messing with our females," the male accused.

Zylar thought of the females he met here. Most of them looked run down and hungry. They told him this was a poorer section of the state they lived in. Jobs were scarce and food was even scarcer.

"I don't know this word messing. "

"Don't act like you don't have eyes for them."

"Eyes for them?" Did this male have trouble with his mind, or maybe he didn't know the language?

The male spit out a blob of black spit, making Zylar move back. Could the male be sick and need healing? "Do you need medical help?" He stumbled over the word but remembered that's what the females called it.

"The man cocked his shotgun. "Admit it. You're here to take our women away. The government done took our jobs, homes, and food. Now they want to take the last thing we have left, our women." He looked into the male's eyes and saw the same hopelessness that had been in his eyes and every other Diza male when their females died.

"No, I don't want your females. None of them are my mate. I want to help the one that is going to bear a female child."

"You lie!" He mounted his gun and shot, quickly reloading the gun. The bullet skimmed Zylar's side before he was across the space, knocking the man down. He took the firearm, ready to destroy it, but stopped.

"They came to my planet and killed every female. Then walked away like it was nothing. Have you ever seen an entire planet mourn for its missing females? I'm here to save that female and her child, no more no less." He tossed the gun at the male. "They tell me that your healers don't participate in violence. I'm not that altruistic." He ran with long, loping steps. The female and her child would not wait forever.

The ship would miss him. They'd be reporting him as missing to SaKura who was the prince elect and his first cousin. He couldn't turn away from someone in need.

His legs ate up the uneven land. It was torn-up roads that weren't being taken care of with grass and brambles poking their way out. Up ahead was a cluster of houses that had seen better days. Inside of them lived some of the nicest females he met on Earth. Their spirits were low most of the time, even so they found joy in the face of hopelessness.

"Anna-Mae?" He knocked on the door as he called out.

"In here," Sarah called out. "You're late."

"I stopped to chat with a male who had a gun."

"Gun-toting redneck," Sara griped.

"That's not nice, Sara," Anna-Mae grunted.

"Where's John when you need him?" Sarah groused.

"You know he went to the next town over looking for work again. If he can't get to work, he's going to try to rent a tractor. Hopefully, those seeds the medic gave us will take and we'll have food."

Zylar made sure not to smile. His teeth scared the females. They would have more food than they were expecting, and he would be gone, keeping the government from tracking him down. Not that he was worried. They should take care of their citizens.

Anna-Mae screamed, reaching for Sarah's hand. "You know I have to use these hands, woman."

"Why? All you do is craft quilts." Anna-Mae's voice held a little bite to it.

"I'll remind you of this when it's winter and you're looking for a new thick quilt." Sarah snorted. She took a wet rag and used it to wipe her friend's brow.

"It's time." Zylar lowered his voice, not wanting to scare the females. They were acting tough, but both were scared. Giving birth without the benefit of a hospital was something neither of them thought would happen to them. And then, to them he was a monster with purple skin and horns. His black eyes with a strip of lavender were hard for them to get used to.

He stepped out of the bedroom and into the kitchen to wash his hands. He didn't need to do it, but he knew it would make them feel better. When their cable was working, they sat him down to watch programs with women having children so he could see how a human doctor did it. It was barbaric, but even on his planet, few were as talented in the art of healing or birthing as he was.

"Have you ever seen a frya giving birth?" He placed his hands on her stomach, taking measurements of the baby. His soft voice rumbled on distracting Anna-Mae. "They control fire, you know." His fingers were resting on top of the child, a gentle white light coming from them.

"Fire?" It was all she heard as she came out of her last contraction.

"They can be deadly. I heard the prince's consort is a frya."

"You said she was human the last time you were here," Sarah said. Anna-Mae nodded her head before she grimaced, mouth open wide on a silent scream.

"She is." Zylar stroked her stomach, taking some of the pain away. "Soon it will be time to push. Then you'll see how Diza females used to give birth and why they liked to see me come to help them."

"You're probably dark and mysterious to your people with those black eyes and that one strip of lavender." Sarah and Anna-Mae laughed. "Did they swoon when they saw you? Here comes that sexy healer." Sarah batted her eyes at him.

"I'm just ordinary."

"Sure." Sarah grinned at him. "Tell us anything." Sarah cleared her throat, getting serious. "Anna-Mae and I just want to thank…"

"Stop. None of that. You won't be losing this baby." She lost two in the past and there was a law that said she couldn't get rid of the child even if her life was in danger, which it was. Each pregnancy was taking her one step closer to death. "There will never be another child after this one."

She sobbed her thanks. He could do what the people of this planet couldn't get done.

"Push." Anna-Mae grunted, praying. He lifted his hands, a cloud of white coming from them to cover her from the top of her ribcage to her knees. No one needed to see, and he didn't want the government to know what he was capable of. He didn't think that Anna-Mae or Sarah would tell, but they would want everyone to know how Anna-Mae survived.

"With one hand he worked the light around the child, checking on heart rate and breathing. Zylar lifted the baby, not allowing her to drop enough to enter the birth canal. Using his other hand, he did a c-section on Anna-Mae, opening her up without the trauma of using cold hard instruments. When she and the child were ready, he delivered the baby girl.

Zylar lifted the baby girl and made sure her nose and mouth were clear before cleaning her up and handing her to Sarah. The young one let out a loud wail that made her mother wail in relief. Zylar turned back to his patient.

"Are you still in agreement?"

"Yes, please."

He gave her a complete hysterectomy. This wasn't something he would normally do, but he could see what would happen if she tried to have another child and he would not let her die because her government didn't seem to care.

He quickly took care of it and repaired all the damage. "You need to stay in bed for the next two days, and after that you'll be fine to move around."

"Only two days?" Sarah asked. Anna-Mae's eyes were closed.

"Yes, two days. Can you be with her during that time?"

"She's my best friend. I'm not going anywhere." Zylar took the child back to give her a final check-up.

"She'll be just fine. I think she'll grow like a weed and bring joy to her mother."

"You stay with us any longer and you'll be talking in a southern drawl," Anna-Mae said. Her voice was weak, but she was happy.

"Well, what are you going to name her?" Sarah demanded.

"Zoya of course, after the healer that saved our lives."

"Zoya," Zylar said. His happiness lit up the room. It had been too long since he'd seen a child being born.

He placed the baby in Anna-Mae's arms.

"I shouldn't ask this," Sarah stumbled to a stop.

"Ask," he commanded.

"When I have my child…" She didn't go on, not sure if she wanted to hear the answer.

"May I?" She nodded.

He placed his hand over her womb. "It will be like a hot knife going through butter."

"I swear we'll make a southerner out of you yet."

"Surround the house, boys. We got him. The gov'ment is willing to pay big bucks for him."

Zylar slipped out of the house unseen until he bumped into someone who screeched and raised the alarm.