AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I’m sure you all know by now that the day before yesterday”—my mind stuttered, had it really only been two days?—“I found a female in the woods. This is Holly.”
I suspected he spoke in English so I could understand, while his men’s translators did their thing. Nobody said a word, but all eyes were on me. Some were curious, some warm, some with such open hunger that I swallowed and nestled deeper into Thor’s embrace.
The silence stretched on for a moment before Thor continued, “As unbelievable as it may sound, Holly is from here. The planet we call Limbo, she calls Earth.”
“Are there more of her?” a man asked.
If possible, the silence grew even thicker, tenser, as all eyes were pinned on Thor with obvious hunger. Only lizard-man stood still by his pot, stirring it, listening but not looking at us, and something about him tugged at my heart.
“We don’t know,” Thor admitted. “Holly is from the future or another dimension, we don’t know. She has no idea how she ended up here, but there is a possibility that whatever happened to her, might have happened to others. So we will continue our search.”
As anticipated, his men expressed their disbelief about me coming from the future or another dimension. Men stared at each other, talked over each other excitedly. Soon though I realized that they were more animated over the prospect of finding other women like me than the outrageous claim of where and when I came from.
I also realized that Thor must have sent men out to search the area for more women, and my heart opened even more to the warrior holding me. I knew the men out scouting for the women weren’t entirely doing so from their need to do a good deed, but it was still heartwarming.
“What is even more stunning is that Holly is my szaria, and I will be claiming her as such.”
At this, the cave broke out into loud muttering and shouts, excitement clearly erupted in the air. This was the third time Thor had used that word—szaria—and his translator failed yet again to give me a word I would understand. Questioning, I looked up at him, but he avoided my gaze.
A tall man approached us. Curiously, I eyed him. He didn’t look entirely human, but it took me a minute to gauge all the small details that differentiated him from humans, or made him more alien or however you wanted to look at it. For one, his eyes didn’t blink but rather seemed to click, and had a much thicker, harder membrane than our eyelids. And then there were his disconcerting pupils, which were mere slits that expanded and contracted. His hair was much, much thicker and looked like overcooked bucatini pasta, while shimmering iridescently.
He was nearly as tall as Thor, but not as wide.
“Will you allow me to preside over the bonding ceremony, Thor’Steyn?” he asked.
“Holly, this is Xano, my best friend and second-in-command,” Thor introduced us.
I felt silly cradled in Thor’s arms, but I stretched my hand out. “It's a pleasure to meet you.”
He took my hand hesitantly, waiting for my cues on what to do, and I noticed he had only three fingers and a thumb, which were webbed in between. I shook his vigorously, enjoying his confused expression.
“It’s an honor, Holly,” he replied with a wide grin, exposing sharp black teeth.
I held back a shudder and forced my smile to stay on.
“I would appreciate it,” Thor answered Xano’s question before looking to me. “If it pleases you?”
It didn’t matter to me either way, so I nodded. “Will you let me down for this?” I asked Thor.
He gave the ground a speculative look, but it must have found favor with him because he set me down so I could stand. Immediately I regretted my request, as many sets of eyes measured me up and down. Some men came even closer, and soon I felt completely dwarfed and out of my comfort zone as my five-three frame was surrounded by these humongous men.
Thor laid his hand around my waist, and even though he might have done it to be proprietary, it assured me of his closeness and made me more comfortable.
“Alright, please step back and give the couple some room so I can proceed with the ceremony.” Xano shooed the other men back, and Thor maneuvered us so he and I now stood across from Xano with our backs to the other men. It gave me the impression of being part of a real wedding ceremony and nervous jitters moved through my body.
Was this what was happening here? Was I ready for this? Did I have a choice? I racked my brain for what the alternative would look like but didn’t find that any more appealing than being married to a virtual stranger who lived millions of years before I was even born, and an alien at that.
Sweat began to run down the nape of my neck, and a tremble moved through my body. I had been vortexed into the past which had taken me weeks to come to grips with—if I even truly had. But the mind is a funny thing, and I wasn’t so sure I had fully accepted being here or had simply settled myself into the situation. The whole experience had been beyond my control from the beginning.
Butthiswasn’t. Not entirely.
I still had a choice.
I could walk away from this bonding ceremony.
Yeah right, and starve to death? Or freeze to death? Or be eaten?My relentless mind reminded me of my options as if I didn’t already know the alternatives.
Thor wouldn’t allow that, my heart piped up. And the rightness of that statement rang true within me. He wouldn’t send me out into the wild alone. He would let me stay.
