“That’s how I feel about my mates. Each has his role, and their jobs are important to them. While I sometimes wish I could spend more time with them, I know every evening we will be together as a family.”
“Exactly!” She beamed. “That’s all that matters! Besides, if anyone doubts my relationships with my mates, I can show them my hair.” She pulled her hair out of the updo and finger-combed the strands, allowing them to fan out in display. “Each one of these highlights came from my mates, and they match the streaks in their long white hair—golden for Auro, green for Luwyn, and teal for Celyze.”
“They’re beautiful.”
“Thank you.” She blushed and continued to comb her hair as her attention fell on my arms. “I hope you don’t take offense at this question, but why do your spots change color?”
“My spots?” Raising my arm between us, I glanced down at the worried orange and nervous brown splotches all over my skin. I must have stopped noticing their changes over time, especially while my mind was elsewhere, wondering about my mates. “I’ve always had them, but after I sealed the bond with one of my mates, they began changing colors depending on my mood.”
“Oh!” Her eyes lit with excitement. “Like a mood ring!”
“A mood ring?” I searched her hands and saw no such jewelry. There was nothing in the texts about humans making mood-reading technology. Other than the biological triggers of certain CEG alien species like the Ulax, I didn’t know of any who possessed a device of reading emotions. “What’s that?”
“It was a trinket that we placed around our fingers to determine the wearer’s current mood.” Tori flicked her hair over her shoulder and raised a hand above my forearm with a few fingers extended. Biting her lip, she brought her bright-green eyes to mine. “Can I touch them?”
“If you want.” I shrugged. “But could you tell me how your mood rings worked?”
“Thank you.” Shooting me a smile, she slowly pressed her fingers against my splotches then quickly retracted them. Her brows pinched as curiosity flooded her face. “These are so cool! Do they feel different when I touch them?”
“Not really.” I shrugged again. “They feel like the rest of my skin.”
“Your mood spots are amazing,” she muttered, peering at me as she pulled her hand away. “They’re permanent, and they actually work.”
“What do you mean?”
“We may have called them mood rings, but they were just cheap liquid crystal thermometers designed to read the temperature of the wearer’s skin. The designers claimed certain colors displayed by a thin range of temperatures were linked to emotions. In reality, the rings were no more than a fun novelty. While some of the more expensive versions looked gorgeous, the cheaper ones were basic and didn’t last.”
“Why would anyone want to wear such a thing?”
“We believed unexplainable things.” She shrugged. “But I guess we weren’t far off about astrology since a lot of species follow some belief about the Fates and Stars.”
“I can’t believe you came from Earth.”
“That was quite a long time ago, but yes,” she murmured. The mirth in her eyes dimmed. “Earth is no more and only a few humans are left now.”
“How many?”
She looked toward her mates, who were rearranging the space, and sighed. I wasn’t sure if she sought guidance on how to answer or comfort to ease her trauma, since I knew she had been abducted and may not have trusted me enough yet to answer.
“Only seventy-two humans live on this base and all but seventeen are in Cryopods until we find a permanent location to settle. The less resistance when moving, the better, and we don’t have the resources to feed all of the mouths in stasis at the moment.”
“When do you think you will find a new home? Or craft this base into a suitable long-term settlement?”
She looked over her shoulder. “When Commander Ryzen wakes up.”
“It’s ready,” Celyze announced.
Giving me a reassuring smile, Tori reached out and squeezed my shoulder. “Go talk to one of your mates.”
“Thank you,” I mumbled, rubbing my hands on my knees, hoping to dry my sweaty palms. Praying that the Stars guided me and did not give me false hope, I joined Celyze on the floor. I noted the prayer mat’s silver-speckled, sapphire coloring matched his, and both stuck out against the stone flooring. Sighing, I sat down across from him, ready to attempt speaking to one of my clanmates. “What do I do?”
“Place your hands in mine and look into my eyes.” Nervously, I followed his directions, flinching when his thumbs pressed against the back of my hand. Watching our enclosed hands, I gasped when a tingling sensation coursed through my palms and along my arms.
“It’s okay, Selena. I’m not going to hurt you.”
“Vowels?”
I didn’t care what Celyze claimed; too many people had promised not to harm me and lied. I needed to make sure I was in safe hands. Taking a chance with this clan and allowing them to fly me to their nest had been a gamble. If this were a trap, I wouldn’t have a way to escape. Trusting them would pay off only if Celyze could help me contact one of my mates and Auro offered to fly me off this base.
“He is trying to access your mental shields but failing. If you grant him permission, he may have a better chance at reaching your mates. We don’t know how distant they are. If we are outside the Euph galaxy, then we may be out of their range.”
“Oeta did say that she and her father could only reach people within the galaxy. If we are unable to reach one of my mates, then
