One Big Bite by Michele Mills

6

Cannibal missed leaving at the end of their shift with the entire crew, so he traveled alone in the public transport, which felt strange. When he returned to the compound his brothers were waiting upon his arrival.

“Where have you been?” his eldest brother growled.

Cannibal clenched his jaw, strode right past all six of his brothers who were watching him and went straight to his own bedroom. A grown male didn’t answer for his whereabouts to any but his mate. And Bayzon often forgot he wasn’t their parent and was instead only their crew leader, whose influence ended the moment they left the mine. Cannibal had more important matters to address than his crew being annoyed that an hour of his life was unaccounted for.

He removed his work gear and filthy uniform and stepped into the cleansing unit. The warm, soapy water cleansed his body and loosened his sore muscles. He washed his chest and couldn’t keep his mind off the fact that he’d found his Bride. He would soon be a male with a mate and offspring. Amazing. How was he going to care for his female who insisted on living in an abandoned mine, while also maintaining his work schedule? He didn’t want to alert admin to any differences in routine. Everything must continue as usual, so they didn’t feel the need to investigate level 2400. He still had no idea why she’d arrived at the mine in the first place, but if the Illibrium had told her to come here, he trusted that it was for the best.

He paused. Had the Illibrium brought her here, for him?

This intriguing thought played in his mind. At the very least, she’d been brought here by the Illibrium, therefore his Bride was a good fit for this planet. Was she planning on staying in the mine short term and then leaving to hide elsewhere? He needed to find out why she was here, so he could more fully help her. Timbur was now going to be her permanent residence. His end goal was his Bride safe, happy and mated to him. Her belly swollen with his offspring.

He smiled as the cleansing unit completed the cycle and dried his skin and hair.

My Be’Ih.

He changed into trousers and pulled a shirt over his head, then went into the kitchen and searched the frigeration unit for food to eat and found a leg of meat. Perfect. He sat at the table and began tearing into his food with gusto.

“Hey, that meat was mine,” Rook grumbled from behind him. “The trainers gave it to me as a reward for my promotion.”

“If it was so important, why did you leave it unattended?” Cannibal licked his claws and stood from the table. “Tell them I said it was good.”

“Godsdammit, the next time you steal my—”

Cannibal tossed the heavy bones into the incinerator, cutting off his brother’s annoying chatter, then yelled out so the rest of the crew could hear him, “A human female has been eating my lunches.”

The front room grew quiet, and they all turned to stare at him.

Lila of One walked around the corner and paused. “Why is everyone so quiet? What did I miss?” she asked the room.

“Did you say you found a human in that cave?” Chief thundered. “There’s been a sentient being living in three-oh-four and you didn’t tell us?”

“Oh wow,” Zayzon’s female exclaimed. “That’s what I missed? There’s a new human on Timbur?” She waddled over and sat down carefully in an open chair next to her mate and squeezed his claw. “This is going to be good. Too bad I don’t have any popcorn for us to munch on.”

Claws chuckled and wrapped an arm around her shoulder, placing his other claw over her swollen stomach.

“How is that even possible?” Scar questioned. “She shouldn’t be able to hide in the mine.”

Cannibal turned to look over at the male who was now standing the closest to him.

“No being should be able to get that far,” his brother lectured. “It has never happened before in the entire history of this mine. All citizens are screened at arrival, whether they arrive by transporter or by ship, and are sent back to their origination point if not attuned. And then they are carefully monitored as they settle into their new quarters. And as a last resort our personal crystals should’ve notified us that there was an intruder on our level.”

“All of this is true, and it is indeed a puzzle. But she’s there and I’ve been feeding her for the last week. I think the crystals are colluding to keep her position in the mine secret.”

“You’ve been feeding this unknown female for a whole week?” Chief sputtered.

Trunk shook his head. “No, the crystals wouldn’t keep her arrival on our level secret. They protect us and keep us safe, as we keep them safe. The Illibrium not alerting us to a safety issue is impossible.”

“The female stated that she saw a crystal on Omega 9 as it was being transported to engineering and immediately felt a rapport with the Illibrium as it passed by her. She says the Illibrium told her to travel to Timbur and hide and remain in three-oh-four.”

“Is she suffering from Illibrium madness?” Trunk snorted.

“No.”

“Are you sure? This would explain—”

“No,” Cannibal shouted. “She does not have the madness. Stop saying that.” He would not allow them to speak ill of his Bride. “The Illibrium didn’t alert us to her presence because they don’t consider her a threat. The crystals are healthy and strong in her proximity. She’s not a threat. She’s a female in need of protection.”

They all stared at him with shock and awe.

“Gorzan,” Chief said carefully, using his formal birth name, “who is this female to you?”

“She is my future Bride,” he admitted. “I was close enough to her to inhale her scent and I’ve confirmed that she is my mate.”

They all exploded. Half of them stood, pacing and yelling out curses. The other half sat in their chairs shaking their heads. Their main worry seemed to be the idea of a Bride having to live with such a volatile mate. Ridiculous.

“You cannot have a mate. How would a female thrive in your presence? You would eat all of her food and leave her to starve.”

“I would not!”

“You’ve done it to me many times,” Rook pointed out.

“That’s because you don’t matter, you’re just my brother. My Bride and offspring would never go without. I would feed them from my own claw.”

“Your own claw?” Lila exclaimed. “Oh, that’s sweet of you to say, Cannibal.” She winked at him. “I just want you to know that I think you can take care of a Bride perfectly fine. I think you have it in you.” She looked around at his other brothers and raised her voice, “Cannibal has been keeping me well fed during my pregnancy. He hasn’t stolen any of my food in the last eight moon cycles.”

“Thank you, female,” he grumbled. Then he said to his brothers, “It gets worse.”

“How could it be worse? Your Bride is some sort of human trespasser who is a security risk. And we have no idea of her intentions.”

“She is of royal pigment.”

They stared at him, stunned.

“I know,” he admitted, “it sounds bad.”

“Bad?” Scar sputtered. “It’s beyond bad. It’s an impossibility. Admin are going to be assholes about that. Royal pigment do not clasp hands with Margol. It’s against the Scales of Xylan Law.”

“Do you think the fact that she’s a human of royal pigment will be a loophole?” Cannibal questioned.

“Maybe?” Scar exhaled. He lifted his tablet and started tapping on the glass screen. “I will contact a Margol Judge to start preplanning your defense.”

“Thank you. Meanwhile, I’ve placed my honor before hers so I’m going to sleep at the mouth of the cave each night.”

“Until when?” Heavy questioned.

“As long as it takes.”

“Wait…who is going to feed us while you’re gone?” Rook whined.

The rest of the crew chorused their agreement.

Cannibal rolled his eyes. “I thought you were mad at me for eating all of your food? And none of you think I can properly care for a Bride. Now you want me to stay to keep you fed? Make up your mind!”

Chief shrugged. “We’ve learned to forgive your eccentricities because you make up for them so well with your masterful cooking.”

“Fine. I will continue to cook for you when I can, but my future Bride is now my priority. I must keep her fed. I will be returning to use this kitchen…”

“I can help,” Lila broke in. “I can pick up the slack and cook more for everyone.”

They all grumbled, including her mate.

“Hey, I know I’m only second place, but I’m pretty good. I’ve been Cannibal’s sous chef this whole time and he’s taught me a lot. Would you guys rather make your lunch yourselves?”

“No, no, thank you.”

She crossed her arms. “Yeah, I thought so. And I have to say, this just confirms to me the nonsense between royal pigment and Margol. This whole mine is Margol. There are only like a handful of royal pigment Xylan on the entire planet, yet somehow they’re the ones in positions of power and you have to worry about what they say?”

Claws wrapped an arm around his confused Bride’s shoulders, pulled her in close and kissed her on the top of her head. “We follow the Scales of Xylan Law,” he answered simply.

They all nodded in agreement.

“It’s sweet how you’re all so law-abiding, but what if your laws are wrong?”

Scar sucked in a sharp breath. “Wrong? Did Lila of One just question the Scales?”

Claws whispered something in his Bride’s ear, and she quickly amended, “Oh sorry, I meant to say, ‘what if you slightly disagree with an outcome?’”

Scar grumbled. “This is why we have Judges as arbitrators of the Law.”

Lila opened her mouth to say more, but Claws shook his head. She bit her lip and exhaled.

“What is this female’s name?” Chief broke in. “You have not yet told us your female’s name.”

“I don’t know. She wouldn’t tell me. She gave me a fake name.”

“I don’t like this,” Trunk groused. “I think it’s sketchy.”

“I’m not sure if I like it either,” Chief announced, “but the fact remains that the Illibrium has allowed her to stay and as Cannibal has pointed out, it thrives in her presence. And he’s scented her as his future Bride. These two facts prove that she is already vetted. We will therefore accept her now as our own.”

Cannibal blinked in surprise at his brother’s statement. “Thank you,” he said.

Chief gave a curt nod.

Cannibal glanced around at his other brothers in the room—all of whom were present except for Hook who was at his own domicile. They each met his gaze and gave their own nods of approval, signifying their agreement with Chief’s statement.

His throat tightened.

“Hmm. Actually, I’m kinda excited at the thought of another of my own species on the planet,” Lila said. “There’s only Leah and I so far, so I’d love to meet another human and quiz her about where she came from and how she got here. Do you think I could go and talk to her? Maybe it would help if she saw another human?”

“I’m not certain if—”

Lila clapped with excitement. “Oooh, or does she have a tablet? We could talk that way? It could help if she knew there were a few other humans here. That we all had her back. I mean, no one hides in an abandoned mine for the heck of it. She’s in trouble and we have to help her. How about at the very least I send a care package with you of supplies I know a human female would appreciate. You’ve been keeping her fed, which is great, but I’m pretty certain she wasn’t able to arrive there with a suitcase of personal items. We can at least make her more comfortable.”

Cannibal smiled at his brother’s mate. He’d liked her the moment she started cooking alongside him. “Yes, I’m certain that she would enjoy a care package. And I will see what I can do to get her in contact with you.”