Rescued

POV: Peta

“Why are you calling now? Where have you been for four months? You know … since she’s been born?’

Tears filled Peta’s eyes—and she hated herself for it. ‘I had to do it all myself.’

She’d had no sleep. She’d barely had time to shower. The only food she’d eaten were microwave meals or two minute noodles she’d swept up from the local store when she could. Ever since David had abandoned her.

Through a text of all things.

‘You were always going to be a good mother,’ David said quietly.

‘I had to be—without a father.’

Silence on the other end. The phone was trembling in her hand.

‘I hate you. I really hate you,’ she said tearfully.

‘I’m sorry. I-I want to make things right. I want to come over.’

‘No. I don’t think so, David.’

‘She’s my daughter. I have a right to see her—and I want to see you.’

‘She might be your daughter but you’re not her father. Father’s take care of their children. And how about some money? You know, that thing that fathers are supposed to do? I’m overdue for rent this month because, you know, kinda hard to work with a newborn and all.’

Peta sniffed as he hung up. She tried to control herself but the tears burst from her eyes anyway. Her phone hit the floor with a clatter.

She looked over at Jemma sleeping in her carrier.

David would see her over her dead body. And yet … she missed him. She missed him like a tug deep down in her guts. How could she not? They’d been five years together. Five good years. They’d had a good relationship right up until Jemma was born. They’d never even fought until then.

David couldn’t handle it. He’d pestered her for kids for years but had underestimated how much he would need to change. How much work they would be. How much he would need to grow up.

And now she was alone, all their dreams snuffed out.

Her daughter hiccuped. She gave a little choke, then started to cry. Wiping away her tears, Peta went over and picked her up. Jemma squirmed, mewling, as Peta sat down and lifted up her shirt. Her daughter latched on quickly and quietly.

It was all worth it, though, she thought to herself as she looked down into Jemma’s wide blue eyes. She’d somehow managed. All by herself.

‘Who needs him?’ she huffed. ‘We’ll do just fine, won’t we?’

She looked around at what used to be her and David’s apartment, the tears fighting to burst free again. It was a mess. She didn’t have time to clean. Unlike most women, she had no mother, no sister. Except for a couple of friends from work, she was alone in the world.

And how long would it be before she lost the meagre things she had? Her belongings. The apartment she couldn’t pay for. All her savings were well and truly dried up. What if she lost Jemma? Society did not look kindly upon single mothers. Especially those who were poor with deadbeat ex-partners. It was her fault—she chose him—and now she had to deal with the consequences.

Jemma finished up with her evening meal. Tucking away her breast, Peta kissed her on the forehead, then sat her up on her shoulder. She gave a loud burp. Peta chuckled tearfully.

She looked over as her phone received a message. Still holding Jemma, she went over and picked it up. Peta frowned. An unidentified number. A very long and strange unidentified number with numerous characters, some of which she couldn’t even recognise.

Peta instantly thought of a scam. Then she thought again and the hair stood up on the back of her neck. There’d been talk about a mysterious message that women had been receiving through their phones and emails. It would appear once, only to disappear moments after watching it.

Whispers of aliens. Of beautiful men. Abductions. Of a world and a life beyond the stars.

Peta snorted but the freaky feeling persisted. She pressed into the message and discovered a link. Every instinct told her not to tap it. The whisper of aliens was just a scam in itself. The pull of a new, exciting life through a scammy link.

Everybody was out to get you.

Shaking her head, she chucked the phone onto her couch. She might have been a fool choosing David, but she wouldn’t be an even greater fool chasing a ridiculous fantasy.

’Come on, Jemma, let’s take you to bed.”

Peta’s sleep was restless, unable to stop thinking of Jemma, of David, of her future, of the eviction notice waiting in the wings. She’d kicked her blankets off the bed. She’d lost her pillow at some point. She’d gotten up once to feed Jemma, only to collapse into the blankets on the floor. For some reason, the hardness and unfamiliarity of the floor helped calm her turbulent thoughts.

She dreamt she was lying in the arms of a giant man, her head curled into his chest. She could hear the thrumming of a vast technology. When she looked up past his shoulder, she could see the blackness of space and countless twinkling stars. Then he spoke her name. She looked. A pair of brilliant, yellow eyes flashed.

Peta woke up, still on the floor, daylight gleaming in through her window. She turned over with a groan. Her neck was aching. Her hip was sore. At the sound of a loud knock, she sat up. The hair pricked up on the back of her neck again, but whoever it was didn’t knock again.

Stumbling to her feet, she drew on her robe. She went and checked on Jemma first before heading downstairs. Opening the door, she blinked against the daylight. At her feet was an envelope. Peta’s heart lurched as she picked it up. She didn’t need to open it to know what it was. Her landlord had already warned her twice.

Her heart sank down into her guts as she returned inside and collapsed onto her couch, the envelope crumpled in her fist. The tears came thick and fast. It was several minutes of heavy sobbing before she noticed her phone sitting on the opposite couch. Suddenly remembering her dream, she lurched to her feet. Who cared? What did she have left to steal?

A sob stuck in her throat as she swiped into her screen. Another message had been sent overnight. A different number this time but it was long and strange with similar unrecognisable characters. Peta sat down, feeling shaky as her finger hovered over the link.

This couldn’t be. It can’t be. You’re being a fool.

She pressed it.

Her eyes widened. It was a recording. It was faded and their voices were a bit muffled. But there were four people sitting behind a table. Two men. Two women. Peta’s heart lodged in her throat. Goosebumps exploded down her arms. This was it. This was “the message”.

Sent directly to her.

She stared at the two men. It was too hard to see anything definable about their features but shecould see enough to know that they weren’t quite “right”.

‘My name is Sade,’ spoke the black woman with the short hair in the middle. ‘And this is Ream.’ She smiled at the man next to her. ‘He is captain of the mothership currently orbiting your planet.’

‘This is not a joke,’ quickly intervened the white woman next to her. Peta squinted, she looked barely older than a girl. ‘This is a real recording. And this is really happening, so before you shut us off, hear us out.’

Sade nodded. ‘We are both human women who have joined the Zibons.’ She looked at the man beside her. ’I am Captain Ream’s partner. She laid her hand atop of his which were clasped upon the table. ’Together, we offer you the opportunity—the choice—to join us in saving his species.’

Captain Ream spoke something in his deep voice. An entirely different language. Peta hadn’t travelled much but it was nothing she could recognise. She stared at him, wide-eyed. An alien. A fucking alien?

Sade spoke. ‘I’m sorry. He cannot speak English. So I will translate for him.’ She took a breath. ‘If you have received this message, then you are one of the Chosen. Those selected specifically to join with his kind—if you so choose to.’ The man’s mouth might have twitched. ‘He is an alien—if you didn’t already figure it out. A Zibon, to be exact. Born on Zibon 8 in a distant part of our galaxy.’

Peta’s heart was racing as she stared, not knowing whether to scream or laugh.

‘His species is dying,’ she continued. ‘They need us to pair up with them to ensure their survival.’ She tightened her grip on his hands, smiling at him. ‘He is my bonded mate and I am in love with him—as you will be with yours.’ She looked over at the other woman. ‘You tell them, Keira.’

The young girl turned to the man next to her. He was big, like the other one, with blonde hair. Despite the fuzzy screen, Peta could tell he was perplexingly handsome.

‘Reece and I are bonded too—and it’s the greatest love you will ever know. Once formed it cannot be broken. Only by death. He cannot leave you. He cannot hurt you. He will love you like no other man in the universe. Just as you will love him.’

She smiled at him and he smiled back.

Peta leaned forward, nose close to the screen.

‘They will give you everything you want,’ Sade continued. ’With them you will know no suffering, no violence, no rape or torment. They will genetically match you with your appropriate counterpart—or your soulmate, if you want to view it that way.”

She smiled. “Once bonded, you will either remain on the ship or proceed to Zibon 8 where you can set up your life with them. Have children. Love each other.’ She shrugged. ‘Or whatever you will.’

‘And they’re all very kind and extremely handsome!’ The girl clapped a hand to her mouth, laughing.

Sade was grinning. ‘We will send you coordinates and a date and time for your rendezvous point. Other women will hopefully be there. Do not tell anyone. Protect yourselves. There are organisations that know about us and who will stop at nothing from preventing you from joining us. This message will be erased shortly after viewing. As will the sent coordinates. So, jot them down!’

‘You won’t regret it,’ the girl said. ‘Join us!’

The two alien men said something in their deep voices, something mellow and gentle. Peta’s nose was almost pressed to the screen when the recording stopped. She pulled back with a start. Blinking rapidly, she stared at her now blank phone.

She looked around, embarrassed, as though someone was watching.

She gave a nervous chuckle. ’This can’t be real.”

Her phone vibrated. She jerked. Another message. Not a recording this time. Peta’s eyes widened. It was an indecipherable jumble of numbers. She suddenly realised—coordinates! Leaping from the couch, she scrambled around.

‘Where’s a fucking pen?!’ she screamed.

She found one rolled under the coffee table. Unable to find paper, she jotted the numbers down on her arm. A minute or so later, the message vanished. Peta stared at her phone in disbelief.

Aliens. Zibon 8. Bonding.

He cannot leave. He cannot hurt you. He will love you like no other man in the universe.

It sounded as unlikely as the idea that they might actually be aliens. Twisting her arm over, she studied the coordinates. The date was tomorrow. Tomorrow?

Her heart was pounding. She was one of the Chosen. A man was waiting for her up in space. A genetic match. Her soulmate. She wondered what he looked like, who he could possibly be. A man who couldn’t abandon her. A man who’d never want to.

Bullshit.

And yet her heart raced with excitement

She looked down at her phone. Her hand shook as she entered the coordinates into maps.