Page 28 of His Human Rebel

I look up and smile at him and he gives me a warm smile in return.

Then he turns and looks at everyone and starts to make a group introduction, like he did last night. “This is Stella Smith. She just arrived yesterday from New Earth. I purchased her from a site as a mail-order bride.”

“Is that even legal?” a deep voice questions.

I glance over and see a male wearing an official-looking uniform with a blaster holstered on his belt.

“I still don't know the answer to that,” Rake answers, “but she is here. “The problem is that she wasn’t sent here as a true mail-order bride, but instead sent as penance by her community.”

“Yes,” I nod. My cheeks are getting hot because they're looking at me quizzically and I see glances down at my waist. I take his hand. “What Rake says is true. I can see that all of you have many questions and I promise to tell you the truth and answer all your questions. But first, how about all of us get some food and get comfortable, then I will tell you everything.”

His mother grins. “I like this girl.”

Chapter 10

Stella

I’m dumbfounded by how much food these Hyrrokin brought.

An extremely yummy breakfast is spread out on the counter. Meat sticks flame on a platter. There are mugs of fire ale, which seem to be a perennial favorite amongst the Hyrrokin, no matter the time of day. There are side dishes of mushy food that looks good and there’s even some sweet bread I recognize from last night.

And they brought plates, utensils and cups. And there are pop-up chairs grouped in front of the lit fireplace, enough for everyone and there are even some pop-up tables with attached bench seating.

Rake introduces me to his brother Thorn and his younger brother Sten. Then I’m introduced to Burl, who is Thorn’s ranch manager. And I meet Erid again and discover he’s the local sheriff, which makes sense. Four tall, imposing Hyrrokin who I suppose aren’t trying to be scary in any way but are failing miserably. I’m learning to tell these beings apart by the size of their bodies and the height of their horns and the slight differences in their features. It’s difficult though, when the beings you’re speaking to all have barbed tails flicking behind them and tell-tale puffs of smoke escaping from their red nostrils.

The five of them start talking amongst themselves about ranching issues and we all move toward the food. I follow the rest of the group to get my own plate.

“Welcome.”

I glance over and see both women are now next to me in line. And my shoulders soften.

“Hi, I’m Lucy and this one over here is Mica, we’re both so happy that there’s another human in our midst.”

Lucy is the young redhead and the other one, who is so beautiful as to be intimidating, is Mica. Both hold small, squirming babies that they pass off to their husbands. I gaze in fascination and longing at these adorable infants that are half Hyrrokin and half human, both with tiny starter horns and a peek of barbed tail from their diapers.

This is possibly my future.

“That dish is my favorite.”

Both the women help me pick Hyrrokin food that they think I’ll like the best, which is wonderful. We chat about cats, the weather and their babies. And we make plans to get together soon.

Finally, I sit down and see that everyone else is seated too.

Everyone looks like they’re basically waiting for me to talk, so I talk. Rake is next to me and he grabs my hand and gives it a squeeze. I take a deep breath and begin. “I'm just going to start. Hopefully you can all hear me because I can talk loud.” I laugh, thinking how oral presentation in front of others is nothing to me. “I'm going to tell you absolutely everything, even things that Rake hasn't heard yet but I want to be transparent and start off with nothing hidden.”

I explain how I was a teacher on New Earth and admit that I was also known as an activist in my town. And then I tell the story of how I did make that fatal error, where I tripped and fell and splashed red paint around, which was permanent, but I had no idea it was in my bag.

“Was that paint planted in your bag?” Erid asks.

I blink, surprised he made such an immediate leap and thrilled that his mind went there, since no one where I left wanted to entertain that idea. “I’m not sure, but why else would it be in my bag and I didn’t know? I tried to tell them, but no one listened. They thought I was lying. Although I did not feel bad about the mess because the mayor is literally a criminal and was committing fraud and I was trying to expose him. But they were all focused on the red paint.”

“Did someone in your group trip you, causing you to drop that bag of paint?”

I pause and meet his gaze. “I never thought of that part, but that could’ve totally happened, which makes me sad because that would mean one of the people I was with wasn’t really my friend. Thank you for pointing that out.” I pause for a moment, because that’s terrible, the thought that possibly Ted or Victorya could have done that…and then I take a deep breath and continue with the story and get to the most important part…

“And that was when I found out I was pregnant.”

The room goes quiet.

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