1
A new beginning.
Tamara
“You can do this, Tammy,” I repeated to myself. “Youcando this.”
My words didn’t matter, I still couldn’t stop the shaking in my hands as they gripped the lip of the sink, or my legs as they struggled to carry me. What astupididea this was.
Escaping the duties forced upon me to one man withanother. I really didn’t give this enough thought, did I?
I looked at my left hand and at the naked finger that used to carry a ridiculously large ring and everyone’s faces assaulted my damn mind.
My mother and father’s stern looks. Their family and friends’—just a pretty way to talk about their stupid cult—satisfied smirks when I reluctantly agreed to marry their damn golden boy. Jake’s eyes. Cold, empty eyes.
No matter how they used to look, their expression must have shifted entirely when they realized I ran away—or more accuratelyflewaway to a distant system. I sort of wished I had seen their faces then. See the realization cross their features. See stupidJake’s composure slip to give everyone else a glance to his real personality.
The bastard would never lift another hand on me. I would never let him—or anyone else—boss me around like he’s done the last few months.
I straightened up and fisted one of my hands as I stared at my reflection in the mirror. At my skin, now free from all the darker spots where bruises used to be healing. At my light brown eyes that used to look darker. At my carefully braided hair that hid the small spot where strands had been ripped out from the back of my head.
This was a new beginning. Sure, I had traded one abusive man for one I knew nothing about, but it felt safer somehow. When we met, Mr. Donovan—the doctor who had recruited me for this program—had promised that I would be looked after. That the Cancos were a respectful and peaceful species under their gruff appearance. He had even agreed to bring me to the stationweeksearly so I could escape this Hell and my upcoming wedding. Of course it also served him; after all, I couldn’t be part of their program if I was already married, but I’d seen the concern on his face. He had cared enough to help me, and I trusted him not to send me to a man that was worse than the one I’d left behind.
At least, the blood work the hospital had done to me after Jake had given me a beating when he, for some reason, wouldn’t believe that I was still a virgin, had served a greater purpose. My blood was secretly tested, and thanks to my high compatibility, I was given a choice.
“I willnotregret my choice,” I muttered to myself. “It’s the first one I was given. The first I’ve made formyself. I’m out and I’m safe. Iescaped.” I stared at my reflection some more. “I. Am. Free.”Kind of.
“Miss Matossi?” a doctor called from the other side of the door. “I’ll be waiting outside once you’re ready. Maxwell is expecting you in ten minutes.”
Ten minutes.
I could do it, right? This was the moment the last few weeks had been about. The reason I’d been able to run away.
Grateful. This…Cancoman had, unknowingly, given me the opportunity for a fresh start. And, if he turned out to be the same kind of man Jake was, I could be taken back to the station at any point. Although Mr. Donovan had promised my future alien husband would be kind to me, he had also assured me that I’d be safe if he wasn’t.
And that was all I needed to find the strength to get out of the bathroom.
2
What is sex?
Filbur
“How can you let someone else go up there to meet your bride?” Juni, my niece, asked as she walked beside me, carrying her little pack over her shoulder. “And, more importantly, how could you send Guidy and Tegha to look after her and help her prepare and notme?”
I patted the thick skin of her skull and scoffed. “You know I need you here. You are in training, remember? And you know I was not allowed to leave.”
She mumbled her disapproval. “I could have talked to Father. I am trained enough to take over while you are away for a few hours…”
She was, but it was not the point. “I do not need you to fight my battles for me with mybrother,” I teased.
“I think you do, since you never seem to get what you want from him anyway.”
I gave her a pointed look. “He is biased when it comes to your sisters and you, and you know it. You can make the man do anything.”
“Exactly!” She beamed. “I could have made him listen toreason. She is to be your partner. A part of our family. Father should—”
“Heknowsall this, Juni,” I interrupted her. “But he also is a good and responsible leader. I am in charge of everyone’s well-being. Although you know how to tend to the most basic wounds, you are not ready to handle something more serious.”
