Devotion (Chosen by the Karal #5)(3)

Tikki sighed. She had been so looking forward to seeing Elissa again, for them to be together on a new planet, with a new life ahead of them. But Tikki was well and truly stuck in this old life now.

She put the kettle on the stove, happy to see the gas catch the flame when she lit it. Her body really needed the kick-start it only got from simcoff. Behind her, Okil was dressing. She wanted to turn around and watch; this might, after all, be the last time she saw his wonderful body. There was a good chance that when she told him her news, he would never visit her again.

Okil would have to choose another mate. Another human female to win him as a prize, and, knowing Okil, he was too loyal to cheat, to go behind his new love’s back. He would never come here and be intimate with her again. Tikki would simply have to hold on to all the dreams they had and try to make a new life without him.

“Tikki,” he said, coming up behind her and putting his arms around her waist, pulling her back to nestle against him. “Why don’t you tell me what’s on your mind, my love?”

“I’m not sure how,” she said quietly.

“Then don’t. It’s time for you to enter the lottery. I have permission to take a female. You know it is only you I desire. Come and live with me on Karal, and whatever is bothering you here will be gone. It won’t matter.”

“Yes, it will,” Tikki said.

He turned her to face him, despite her resistance. “What happened? Did you find someone else?” He saw her face drop, her bottom lip quivering. “Did you make love to another man?”

It was the one thing that would make him turn away from her, because it was the one thing that the Karal would not accept. To win the lottery you had to be pure, a virgin. Okil had even been worried about them fooling around with oral sex, but he checked the data back on Karal and it had to do with sperm being present in a female’s womb. It kind of freaked her out that the tag in her neck told the Karal so much data about their bodies.

She should have told him she had found someone else and that was the reason she was sad. The reason she would not be entering the lottery and going with him to Karal. But she couldn’t hurt him like that, and she hated the thought of making him turn away from the human race. If she told him she had cheated, he might learn to hate them, and Okil was the only real hope of the Karal helping save mankind. He loved everything about humans, from their culture to their humour and their ability to feel so many emotions.

“No, Okil, I could never cheat on you.” She touched his cheek, watching in fascination as red raced across his face to disappear where her hand touched him, If she let her senses roam free, she sometimes thought she could feel those colours across her own skin, flooding her body with his emotion. Right now, she swore she could feel his love, but it was tinged with fear of the unknown. Okil knew he wasn’t going to like what she had to say.

“Tell me.”

She let her hand drop to her side and took a shuddering breath. If she didn’t tell him now, she would lose her nerve.

“I had a friend. We were close when we were young, but then we drifted apart. Different lives.” Tikki grasped hold of her courage and continued. “She went off to date a pent. I was so pleased she had a chance to get a better, healthier life. Occasionally she would still visit me, all colourful clothes and a healthy complexion. I guess it’s what originally influenced my need to go to Karal. I knew I would never live like a pent here; no man would ever want me. Whereas Sienna was beautiful, vivacious… She brought life to a world where there was none.”

“I see. And is she offering you a better life? Have you chosen to go and live with a pent rather than come to Karal with me?”

She heard the catch in his voice and saw muted yellows flood his skin, which changed to orange before fading away. Okil was trying to control his emotions. Tikki knew he was hurting, thinking she had maybe used him until something better had come along.

“No, Okil,” she said, standing on tiptoes and kissing his mouth. “No one will ever mean as much to me as you do.”

“But…”

Tikki couldn’t bear to say the words, but she had to, if nothing else than to put Okil out of his misery. “She came to see me two weeks ago, just after your last visit. She asked me for a favour.”

“What kind of favour?” Okil asked, suspicious now.

“She told me she had a son. That she was running from the father and could I look after him for a few days.” Tikki remembered it well, remembered the hunted look on Sienna’s once-beautiful face. She knew she should have said no, but her friend was standing there with a little boy whom she said needed protecting. Events afterward proved she was telling the truth.

“What happened, Tikki?” he asked, seeing the sadness on her face and putting a hand on her to comfort her. She closed her eyes and let the sensations envelope her before she carried on.

“I didn’t hear from her again.” She gave a shuddering sigh, as she fought to hold back her tears. “And then five days ago, her body was found in the canal. They say it was an accident…”

“I’m so sorry,” Okil said. “I should have been here for you.”

“I didn’t know what to do. I still don’t. I promised her I would look after Charlie. Keep him safe.”

“You still have the child?”

“Yes. So you see now why I can’t go to Karal. I can’t let him go back to his father. I promised her … and now she’s dead.”