Third-wheeling was her life now.
Damn.
She couldn’t go down this rabbit hole. Not this morning.
Cleo sighed and entered Morpheus’ enclosure. The other tilgrans ignored her, but Morpheus dipped his head and chewed her afro a little.
“Morpheus! Stop! Down boy. I told you my hair isn’t food. You know that.”
Morpheus blinked at her, and she was almost sure he rolled his eyes.
The tilgrans were all purple and looked a bit like giraffes, but they were incredibly intelligent.
Whenever she spoke to Morpheus, she felt like he understood every word.
“Chew my hair again and I’m not going to clean your cage.”
Morpheus extended his neck to his full height and stepped away.
“Uh huh, thought so. You don’t wanna do it, do you?”
For the next few minutes, she went about shoveling the tilgrans’ waste.
It wasn’t a lot, not with five people working on the farm every day—she didn’t even have to do it if she didn’t want to—but she had to keep busy.
If she was idle, she began to think. And when she began to think, she started to reflect. And when that happened, she only ended up feeling depressed.
She’d rather not fall into that trap.
So she kept busy.
By the time the sun came up, she’d fertilized the fruit trees with the waste and checked all the trees for newly ripe ones. Then she’d headed back with a crate full of fruits and the poop bucket in the other hand.
She gave Morpheus a treat, and that’s when she remembered she’d planned to deal with the sheep-like umus first.
She headed that way next and made sure all the enclosures were filled with fresh hay.
She was exhausted by the time she exited the barn-like structure. The sun was up and it bathed the farm in a warm glow.
Nia sat on one of the huge mounds of hay.
There were some pebbles close by and she took them in hand, running her fingers over them as she looked for a target.
They were heavier than pebbles on Earth, though roughly the same size. She’d been surprised the first time she’d taken one in hand. It had a good weight and if she wanted, she was sure she could hurt somebody good if she decided to throw one at them.
She scanned the farm in front of her and soon spotted something—a bucket against one of the fences about ten meters away.
Nia narrowed her eyes, focused, and threw the first pebble.
As the object sailed through the air to land smack into the center of the bucket, she couldn’t help the grin that lit up her face.
“Still got it, Nia. Still got it.”
She missed target practice. Shooting had been just one of the things her father had taught her to do. After he’d retired from the military, that and his program had been his way of still keeping active and she’d always tagged along.
Sadness swam within her briefly as she threw another pebble and it landed in the bucket.
She missed her father.
“Wonder if he’s okay…”
“Who?”
Nia jumped at the voice and turned to see Riv not far behind her.
He had a way of sneaking up without her hearing. His brother did as well.
Either they walked really quietly, or she had bad hearing.
“Oh, Riv! Morning.”
Riv grunted, his eyes boring into hers.
The tall blue-skinned male wasn’t wearing his shades or face covering this morning, and she got a good view of his scowl.
“Up early again.”
Nia nodded. “As always.” She bit back a little chuckle as she thought about telling him exactly why she’d been up so early for the past few months.
She doubted the couples knew how loud they were.
They weren’t doing it on purpose and, well, she didn’t want to spoil their fun.
Riv grunted and walked toward the umu enclosures.
“Oh, I fed the umus already.”
Riv paused, turned his head, and gave her a look that asked “why?” before the scowl on his face looked like it transformed into stone.
He crossed his arms and glared at her. “What is wrong with you, human?”
Nia blinked at him. Despite the obvious anger on his face, she wasn’t afraid of him.
If living around him for the past few months told her anything, he was only upset because he cared.
They all cared for her—Sohut, Cleo, Lauren, Riv—in their own ways.
She’d been ripped from her family on Earth, and now she had a new one.
“Riv?” Lauren called from the doorway. The woman’s blond hair blew in the slight wind, and so did the white nightgown she was wearing.
Her face was flushed, probably from her mate’s ministrations not long before, and her gaze bounced between them. “Did she do all the work again?”
“Yes,” Riv growled, but his growl wasn’t threatening. As a matter of fact, his face softened as it fell on Lauren and her rounded belly.
She was starting to show already.
In the next few months, there was going to be yet another being living on the Sanctuary. A half-merssi, half-human.
Nia smiled.
Was she selfish to want the baby to come quickly just so she could snuggle it?
“Niaaa,” Lauren said. “You really don’t have to work so hard. I swear you’re like one of those robots in the fields.”
“Worse,” Riv muttered.
“I told you guys, I don’t mind.” Nia dropped the pebbles and dusted her hands on her trousers.
When she glanced up, they were both looking at her as if they thought she was lying.
It was Nia’s turn to chuckle. “Really, I don’t.”
Lauren caressed her belly. “Well, you should come in anyway. We’re heading to the Exchange to get a few things. Thought you’d want to tag along…”
Something buzzed inside Nia and she almost jumped for joy.
The Exchange was like a huge market—no, it was the market of markets.
It was busy; it was fun; it was exciting…
They didn’t go to the Exchange regularly because Riv hated the place and she never went with Sohut and Cleo because their idea of travel usually included heading off into some wilderness tracking wild animals.
But those weren’t the only reasons they hardly visited the Exchange.
The market could be dangerous if you were new to
