Chapter 25

Sandy

Something was different with Rane.

Everyone around her in the private box was cheering. The game was incredible! Rane in particular was on absolute fire. He was scoring so many points, knocking down so many of the other team’s beaters, it kind of felt like the rest of the team was incidental. The other friends and family in the box were saying he must be feeling extra motivated since it was the last home game of the season. Others said that maybe he really was finally back to his old self.

Did they not realize how wrong he looked out there?

Trikball was a team game. By absolute necessity of the rules. The three beaters were the only ones able to steal an enemy ball and get it to the rigger, who was the only one capable of changing its color and alignment to their own team, who had to pass it to the strikers who were the only ones who could score a goal. It couldn’t be played solo.

But Rane was doing his best to prove that belief wrong.

After every goal, the ball was reset back to neutral – which meant that either team’s strikers or beaters could get their hands on it. Which meant, every time Rane scored, all he had to do was get the ball back, toss it to Sal, the Elivier rigger, then get it back again.

That was the only person he tossed it to. Sal might pass it to another member, but once they sent it back to Rane, he took over. Like they weren’t even there.

This wasn’t him playing; this was him fighting.

It worried Sandy. Everyone was celebrating his exemplary skills today, but she could see the strain on his face whenever the camera got a closeup of his expression. There was a new tension there that she hadn’t seen before.

She couldn’t bring herself to cheer with the others as Rane completely dominated the game.

Maybe she should have waited to tell him what Drevor told her. But she hadn’t wanted to explain their plan in the manor, in case Elffa was listening in. She also wanted to tell him as soon as possible, and this had been the best moment she had to speak with him alone.

But perhaps she should have waited. Was he like this because of what she said?

One of the opposing team members juked their beaters as they were playing defense and rushed towards Rane, who had the ball and was dodging obstacles on his way to the goal.

As Sandy watched, Rane saw the guy approach, turned, and punched him square in the face. Hard enough that, even from this distance, Sandy and a few others winced. She could almost swear she heard the crack as the other male flew back, a trail of blood droplets floating behind him.

The cameras zoomed in on Rane, and she shivered.

He looked so cold. So detached.

Trikball was a violent game, and getting punched square in the face wasn’t just acceptable, it was expected. No one condemned him even as they had to pause the game as the guy swam down, holding his nose, to seek medical attention.

That was the benefit of alien technology. Trikball was incredibly violent, but the players could also be patched up in moments.

While the injured player was getting fixed up, a little robot was sent into the sphere to clean the floating bubbles of blood. Sandy watched as Sal tried to approach Rane, but he turned and began doing laps.

One could say that he was just trying to stay warm for the game, that he didn’t want to lose his momentum. A few of the others were doing the same thing. But it was very clear to Sandy that he was just trying to get away from Sal.

No. Not just Sal. His entire team.

“Crap,” she muttered to herself.

Something had happened, and maybe she had something to do with it, but whatever it was, he had decided to vent his anger on his friends.

She bit her lip, keeping her eye on him as the injured player came back and everyone returned to their positions. Not the starting position. Instead, they returned to where they had been when play had paused. Lights, like mirages of their bodies left behind, showed them the way. They all got back into their spots, including the injured player, having to arc his body like he had just been knocked back.

The buzzer sounded, and play commenced.

She was tense the rest of the game. The others in the box noticed her unease and tried to ask her what was wrong, but she could only say that she was fine. Which wasn’t even a lie. She was fine. It was Rane she was worried about.

Rane threw one last goal, making the buzzer sound. However, when the next play set up – which was a dummy play since there were barely seconds left on the clock – he didn’t even bother to launch himself off his starting position.

Instead, he moved down, aiming for the exit, so that when the final buzzer rang, he could immediately drop out and walk off the field.

Sandy was up at the same moment, rushing for the lift that would take her down. She had to change lifts about halfway since the private boxes didn’t go directly to the underground tunnels where the locker rooms were at. She rushed between them, heart pounding.

By the time she got there, the rest of the team was just walking down the hall. They were sweaty, a few were bruised – only serious injuries stopped gameplay. They were supposed to go directly into the clinic, but Sal walked right past the door. He looked to be heading to the locker room, but when he caught sight of her, he changed directions.

“What happened?” Sandy asked before he had a chance to speak.

He came up short, frowning at her. “That’s what I was going to ask. He was fine before you asked to talk to him alone.” He didn’t even need her to elaborate. He had seen the way Rane had been playing as well and also understood it to be a bad thing.

Sandy shook her head. “He was fine when he left. I mean, a bit freaked out, but that’s to be expected. He wasn’t mad.”

“What was he freaked out about?”

“It’s personal.”

“Seriously?” His navy blue crest began to rise in his irritation. “Sandy, this isn’t a game-”

“It actually really is,” she countered, glaring at him. “What did you say to him during warm up? Because he was fine before then.”

“Nothing. He was off because of whatever you said to him, so I just asked him what was wrong. Look, if you two are having some kind of lover’s spat-”

“Get real, Sal.” Sandy crossed her arms, tilted her head back to glare at him down her nose. “Is that what you think is going on here?”

“I have to assume,” he threw out his hands. “I put everything into this team, Sandy. I’ve done everything to try to keep Rane focused and involved, even when he was spiraling. Your arrival was supposed to change that!”

“Seriously? You’re still siding with his mother?!”

“She told me what’s going on.”

“This should be good,” she laughed. “What did she say, huh? What lies has she been pouring in your ears? Let me guess, Rane is an immature child?”

“Yes!” Sal threw up his hands.

“An old favorite. Has it ever occurred to you that maybe Elffa was at fault? That she’s been the one doing these things to him?”

“Not you too,” Sal let out a groan of annoyance, rubbing the bridge of his nose. “He cannot keep blaming all his troubles on his mother. At some point, Sandy, he has to take responsibility for his own choices.”

“Oh. I see.” She dropped her arms. “No wonder he was so pissed at you.”

He reared back, like she had struck out at him. “What did you-…”

“I used to wonder why he didn’t confide in you guys more, but I get it now.” She shook her head, some of her anger bleeding into sickening disappointment. “How could he possibly tell you what’s going on? I doubt you’d even hear it if he did.”

“You-”

“Rane!”

The door to the locker room slid open and Rane emerged, his team on his tail. He was still dripping from his shower, but he had changed out of his uniform. He ignored the others as they called after him, trying to get him to speak to them. He walked right past Sal, shrugging off the hand he reached out, going right to her.

“Ready to leave?” He asked, taking hold of her elbow.

She was nodding even as he pulled her along. Without Drevor, they had to either pay for a hover or get Orza and Kirs to take them. But they could afford it, so it was a worthwhile expense to stay away from the reptile duo.

“Rane,” Sal tried to call after him too, but he was ignored just as the others were.

Sandy didn’t say anything, but she kept her eye on Rane as they returned to the lift that could take them up to ground level and out. Rane ordered them a self-driving hover, but it was going to be a long wait since the stadium was emptying now in the wake of the game.

They found a place within the stadium where they could wait and where fans couldn’t find him, but where he could also stay away from his team. It appeared to be a large utility closet that had some cleaning supplies, a chair, and a stack of direction signs for an event not currently ongoing.

Sandy didn’t question Rane’s decision to hide in here. He definitely wasn’t in the mood to deal with a bunch of fans. The moment the door shut and they were alone, Sandy cocked her head curiously, watching him.

His expression was so tense. So uneasy. Heavy like the silence that continued to hang between them as he stood there, one hand on the door, as if trying to keep it from swinging open – even though it was a sliding door. And it certainly didn’t lock from the inside. What they had was an illusion of privacy – though that appeared to be enough.

She waited. Patient. Curious. There was definitely something different in his face. A new hardness that had not been there before.

“Are we alone, Sandy?” His voice was rough. He didn’t mean in this room.

“No. Drevor is with us.”

He laughed once. “My mother’s assistant is my only ally.”

“There are worse friends to have.”

“He’s not my friend. I have no friends.”

She blinked, surprised but keeping it hidden. “Is that what your team told you?”

“What else can I assume?” He finally lifted his head. “You didn’t even spend a full mark with me, and you figured out what happened. They’ve known me my entire life, and they still throw my mother in my face!”

Sandy reached for him. Cupping his cheeks in her hands. His muscles were so tight. She gently stroked her thumb along his jaw, but he didn’t relax at all.

“Do you know how to boil a frog?” She asked.

He frowned, confused and thrown off by the sudden change in topic. “What is a frog?”

“It’s an amphibian from Earth. A little animal. Do you know how to boil one?”

“Put it in boiling water?”

She shook her head. “You can’t do that. If you put a frog in boiling water, it will just jump out.”

“The frog is still alive in this scenario?”

She laughed. “It’s a metaphor. Because the only way to boil a frog is to put it in room temperature water and slowly raise the heat. The frog won’t notice that it’s slowly being boiled and won’t try to escape; it will just die.”

He blinked at her. Baffled. “I’m failing to understand what slowly torturing an amphibian to death has to do with anything.”

“Your friends are all frogs, Rane,” she chuckled. “You weren’t dragged, high and drunk and unconscious from a notorious BDSM club with your cock in a cage the very first time you were caught doing something by the paparazzi.”

“Please tell me that’s not actually something that happened to me.”

“It started small. It grew and became worse and worse. Elffa treated everyone like a frog, and you were the boiling water. They didn’t realize the differences in you. It’s obvious to me because I just got dropped straight into the boiling water. But for them? They have no reason to question it. They can’t see what I see. They do care for you, Rane. They’ve just been slowly boiled in lies and misinformation and don’t know it.”

He said nothing. But his jaw was still so tight. She wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him down as she went up on her toes, hugging him close.

They stayed like that, unmoving, as they waited for their ride to finally arrive. She couldn’t even hear the people moving around outside. If that was because this room was deliberately soundproof, or just a result of the way they built things, she didn’t know. But she was grateful for it because, after some time, Rane shuddered and finally relaxed into her embrace.

She pet his feathers gently. He was the one hugging her now. Clinging to her desperately. She didn’t try to pull away. Letting him hold her as long as he needed.

Honestly, she had expected something like this a lot sooner.

His friends weren’t the only ones that had been slowly boiled. However, in Rane’s case, it wasn’t lies that Elffa had been accustoming him to, it was just simple cruelty. Rane had been hurt by his own mother for so long, he had stopped reacting to it. Not because he wasn’t feeling it, but just because he didn’t have the freedom to feel it.

But he had that now. He had that in her . A safe place to land and rest. A safe place to break apart as he realized just how badly he was hurting.

Maybe not the most ideal location, but one couldn’t choose when it was time to pay the bill on the emotional load you’d been putting off bearing.

Sandy didn’t mind, however. She continued to stroke and pet him until his tight grip loosened and he no longer latched onto her like she was the only source of stability in an earthquake.

“I’ll do it.”

“Hm?”

Sandy, lost in their embrace, had let her eyes drift closed and her mind drift away. Just enjoying his warmth and focusing on giving him what little relief she could.

Lost as she was, it took her a moment to realize what he said.

“You’ll do it?” She repeated, confused. “Do what?”

He finally let her go. Pushing her back so he could look her in the eyes, holding onto her shoulders, a hard expression on his face.

“I’ll get you pregnant,” he said, with the sort of determined strength of a man declaring that he would be marching into battle.

“Oh,” was all she could say.

“I’ll do it. Can we do it now? Do humans have a heat cycle or something I need to do specifically to set off your fertility?”

“Er, no? I mean, yes. Technically? I don’t think it’s called that though. But it doesn’t really matter because mine was turned off on my way here as a form of birth control.”

“Birth control,” he frowned. “Never heard of it.”

“Yeah, it’s a pretty exclusively human concept, as far as I understand it. It just means that we can’t have babies until I turn things back on. Pretty handy for me since I don’t have a period or anything so long as it’s off.”

He continued to look confused, but he didn’t ask further questions. He just shook his head. “Okay. That’s fine. How do we turn it back on?”

“I need to go see a doctor.” She hesitated before continuing. “Drevor said that he’d find one for us. Someone we can trust. Someone that he thinks will be able to take care of me and a telfay-human hybrid baby. There hasn’t been one yet, as I understand it.”

“No. You would be the first,” he agreed. “Fine. So be it. We’ll do it the moment your fertility is restored and get it over with as fast as possible.”

Sandy cocked a single brow. Not saying a word.

But her silence was effective and he focused back on her face. “What? What is it?”

“See, maybe I’m just a romantic, but I kind of thought the decision to have my first child with my alien sort-of-husband would be more… I don’t know… momentous?”

He just blinked at her, and she was pretty sure he didn’t get it . Because he wasn’t seeing a possible baby between them. He was seeing a solution to a problem. And while it would definitely be that, she didn’t want it to be just that.

“Or even maybe agreed upon with a bit more enthusiasm,” she chuckled.

“Sandy, I…” He hesitated but didn’t seem to realize what she meant. Only that she wasn’t totally pleased with the plan.

Shaking her head, she smiled. “Forget it. What made you change your mind?”

“It’s our quickest and surest way out of here. It’s also the best way to keep you safe.” His grip on her shoulders tightened as he looked square in her eyes. “I can’t protect you, Sandy. I can’t help you. I can’t do anything for you. I can’t even buy furniture for our room!”

“There are worse things.”

“But I can do this.” His jaw tightened again. “And when I do, the moment we know we’ve succeeded, you need to go to the embassy.”

Both her brows popped this time.

“Not for good!” He hastened to say. “Just to report what’s happening. The domini are humanity’s protectors. If you explain to the embassy what’s going on, they can do something for you, keep you safe and out of her reach. Not forever. Just… Just until our young is born and we know that you’re both out of my mother’s grasp.”

“What about you?”

“I’ll be fine.” He shook his head. “We have no proof of what she’s doing to me. No proof that I didn’t do it willingly. Especially since… I have been doing it willingly.”

Sandy frowned. “Doing it because she’d force you to if you didn’t is not willing, Rane.”

“Maybe. But it still offers no proof of what you can tell them. But you can still be safe. You can still get out of here. You and our offspring.”

It wasn’t a bad plan – per se. It was, in fact, something she had already thought of doing. But…

“What if they don’t help me?” She asked calmly.

He reared back, like the idea hadn’t even occurred of doing. “They have to…”

“Because they’re humanities protectors? Just because the domini act as a protector of Earth doesn’t mean they’ll care for one individual human.”

“They have to,” he frowned, but didn’t sound as certain as he had a moment ago. “That was part of the agreement. Humans should be able to go to any domini, or ratchi, embassy and seek asylum if they need it.”

“What if they determine that I don’t need it?” She countered calmly. “What if they don’t see our situation as worthy of the trouble it would take to hide me for nine Earth months? I don’t know how that translates into Levtiram time, but that’s a decently long time in Earth years.”

“But that’s…”

“Or worse, what if they decide that the ‘best’ way to protect me is to send me back to Earth? What if that’s their only method of problem solving?”

He winced. That thought had clearly not occurred to him. But he wasn’t really thinking through anything right now. He was trying to take action. Which she wasn’t bothered by. She wanted him to have the desire to fight for himself, but not without thinking first.

“Rane, let me ask you something?” She started gently. “Do you want to have babies with me?”

“Of course. It’s the easiest way to-”

She cut him off with a finger to his lips. Smiling a bit sadly. “Not what I asked, Rane. It’s just you and me in here. We’re alone. Between you and me, with nothing else mattering, do you want to have babies with me right now ?”

“I…” His mouth worked up and down, but he couldn’t bring an answer to his lips.

“Because I don’t,” she admitted.

He blinked. Staring at her as she smiled.

“Sorry. I don’t mean I don’t want kids at all. I do. But we have so many years ahead of us, right? I’ve just started living for me. You haven’t even had the chance to start yet. I want to be selfish and adventurous and free. Sure, if we need a baby to save ourselves, I’ll do it. And I’ll love them twice as much because they saved us before they were even born. I’ll take them on our adventures. But in a perfect world, I would want to wait. That’s what I want. What about you?”

“What I want?”

“Right. Not what we need right now. What do you want ?”

“I want…” He hesitated, frowning at the floor between them. “I don’t know what I want.”

Sandy wasn’t surprised. How could he? He’d been trapped for so long, living a life completely out of his control, that he couldn’t have had the space to even know himself, much less what he wanted.

“That’s okay,” she smiled, holding his hands. “We can figure it out together. I want you to be able to do that without figuring out how to be a father at the same time. If that’s our only option, that’s fine. We’ll do what we have to do, but is that what you want the most?”

He didn’t answer her, tense again. She kissed his jaw.

“We’ll figure things out together.”

“But…”

“We’ll talk about it. We have a lot of time right now. But I don’t want this decision to be an emotional one. Okay?”

He said nothing for a long minute, but then finally grunted. Which she took to be agreement.

Smiling, she reached out to give him another hug. It didn’t take him as long to relax against her this time. But she could feel the weight of it still hanging on him.

They stayed that way until his combot beeped an alert that their hover had finally arrived and was waiting for them in front of the stadium. Only then did they separate. He gave her something like a smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes. She smiled back, taking his hand.

“I should apologize to Sal and the others, shouldn’t I?” He asked softly.

She shrugged. “I wouldn’t.”

He laughed. “No?”

“They might have been deceived, but that doesn’t mean you necessarily did anything wrong. They should apologize to you. But that doesn’t mean you have to stay mad at them either.”

He made a sound of agreement. “Alright. I’ll think about it. That and… everything else.”

She brought up his hand and kissed it. “Let’s go home. I’ll make you feel better.”

He looked curious, the obviously sexual tone in her voice not going over his head. She just smiled as her belly clenched eagerly.

His smile was more genuine this time as he opened the door-

-and fell when they were immediately bathed in bright light.

“Rane, over here!”

“Rane, were you mating in public?!”

“Is it true that your human mate brought designer drugs from Earth?”

“Rane, this way!”

Sandy froze.

For all that she was used to dealing with assholes and seeing patterns in the drama of life, she had never been confronted with a storm of paparazzi before. And that’s exactly what this was. A group of people, all of them converging like a stampede, combots filling the air so thick it was hard to see past them. Everyone was yelling. There was one big bright light on all of them, a spotlight from a single combot overhead, and multiple others that were all flashing.

It was bedlam. Overwhelming. The light blinding. The noise deafening. Too much.

Sandy’s immediate reaction was to freeze. To not respond. Not reply. But it did nothing for her here because they were still there. Crowding around, launching questions that she had no chance to answer that were becoming increasingly unhinged.

It was a wall of people. She was frozen in place, unsure what to do.

Rane, however, acted immediately.

His arm went around her shoulder, pulling her into his chest, clutching her close as he held out his other arm, pushing his way through the crowd. They pulled back, but only just before he touched them. Like they were barely skirting the law of legality to get as close as they could. But their questions and the pictures didn’t stop.

Sandy grasped onto Rane, trying to stay in step with him. But his steps were much wider than hers and she was having trouble keeping up.

The first time she stumbled, he adjusted his grip. Putting his arm around her waist instead and lifting her up against his chest so that her feet barely brushed the ground. Taking control of her as he forced his way out of the stadium.

The paparazzi followed. The swarm never abating even slightly, giving them no reprieve. It only got worse as random people – fans and onlookers – crowded them as well. Trying to get a look at what was going on.

“Were you doing drugs in the closet?”

“Were you having sex in the closet?”

“Is it true that humans enjoy being abused sexually?”

“Does your mate make you choke her for her gratification?”

Sandy’s eyes widened, but she just gaped, unable to think of a rebuttal to the flurry of disgusting questions flying at them.

Rane marched her out of the stadium. The hover they ordered was in a line with others that were also picking up their passengers.

The hovercar’s door opened automatically as they approached, responding to the combat signal that had summoned it.

Rane pushed her inside and she was quick to scramble out of the way so he could climb in as well. The paparazzi remained there even after the door shut. Still taking pictures. Still shouting off the wall questions.

Sandy’s heart was pounding, she was panting like she had just run a marathon, as the hover car finally began to rise. Only then did the paparazzi step back, not wanting to get injured. But she could still see the flashing lights until they left them behind.

“What was that?” She finally managed to gasp. It was the only thing she could think to say. She knew what had happened, of course, but couldn’t figure out why or how. Was that what Rane had been going through every time he was dragged in front of them? It looked and felt so much different on this side of the camera. Worse. So much worse.

He took her hand. “Are you okay?”

She looked at him, still stunned stupid. She threw himself into his arms. Shaking.

She knew he had been going through something terrible, but she hadn’t realized just how invasive it really was. Just how harrowing. She wanted to run. She wanted to hide. They weren’t even there anymore but she still felt their eyes on her.

“It’s okay,” Rane murmured, petting her hair. The same way she had just been comforting him. “You’re safe now. It’s okay.”

But no. She couldn’t be.

Because Elffa was fighting back.