Why would she expect this famous warrior to know who she was or care about her? She was nobody.
Tears pricked at her eyes and her throat tightened. This was the story of her life. Kia was the star at home; Harmony the baby. Janet was the annoying and prickly middle child. The one everyone forgot. ‘Oh yeah, you have a third daughter, don’t you?’ people would say to her parents.
She was only noticed for her outbursts, which happened often because she couldn’t seem to keep her thoughts to herself. And even now, when she’d left home in order to find her own way in life, even here she was either prickly or forgotten. A male who’d met her many times in the past didn’t remember her; and her co-workers wanted nothing to do with her.
Really, this was the worst day ever.
Janet turned, ready to hide in her quarters and have a good cry.
He grabbed her arm. “Where are you going? We’re speaking.”
“Speaking?” she choked. “No. I’m leaving and going back to my quarters to be alone.”
“What is your name?”
She shook her head in disgust. “My name is Janet Cho. The daughter of Dago and Mariah Cho, the sister-in-law of Kayzon of Twenty-Seven, your close friend. And you’ve been to my family’s house many times. We’ve been introduced before.”
“Janet…” The way he pronounced her name was so pleasant, it sounded better than it actually was. Damn it.
And then suddenly a siren blared. The kind that could make a person go deaf. It echoed through her bones and rattled in her chest. A red light began flashing.
Zhoryan cursed.
“What the—?”
And then the floor tilted, and an almighty crash groaned through sheering metal and suddenly the empty hall to the left disintegrated—the walls, the floors—tore away in a flash and she could literally see black infinity. Holy fucking shit. Her life flashed before her eyes as the freezing blast of space sucked her forward, knocking her off her feet and pulling her through the air.
A force field blinked into position, sealing off the opening. She bounced against the blue webbing and crashed to the floor as gravity reestablished. Zhoryan grabbed her arm, pulling her to her feet. “The safety field is temporary,” he shouted in her ear. “This hallway can collapse at any moment. We have to get out of here.”
She scrambled to her feet and followed him. The floor tilted again, and Janet dodged flaming wires and falling beams. Zhoryan roared with anger when an overhead panel burst and exploded next to her head. She squeaked with surprise as he scooped her into his arms and continued racing down the hall. They turned a corner, only to find another force field lit up in front of them.
“Oh hell,” she whispered.
They were trapped between two force fields. The warlord banged on a door, cursing. She tightened her arms around his neck.
They were so going to die.
Then Zhoryan slammed his claw on a panel of another door she hadn’t even noticed. It shooshed open.
“Get in. It’s an executive escape pod. I vowed on my honor to safely escort the daughter of the Gravian High Priest to her new position, and I will do that or die trying.”
She didn’t have to be told twice to get into the pod because any fool could see they really were that desperate.
The other force field collapsed, and Janet floated in Zhoryan’s arms. She screamed as wind began to suck her back toward open space. Zhoryan grabbed her tight and shoved her past the door and the two of them fell in the pod, safe and secure. She focused on even breaths, her hands shaking as she took her seat. In two seconds flat they were both locked into position.
“Hold on,” he shouted.
And then her back pressed against the seat and her spine stiffened. She dug her fingers into the arm rests as they blasted away from the ship.
“The pod’s computer is programmed to automatically send us to the nearest habitable planet. But first we need to see what happened,” Zhoryan said as he pulled up a screen, which held a visual of the Xylan warship they were leaving. The screen showed the fact that a hole had been blown into the very section where they’d been standing. The rest of the ship seemed to be perfectly intact, the engines still glowing with life. And she could see the edge of a dense collection of round objects floating in space, almost like an asteroid belt or debris field, but instead it was stealth mines.
She blinked in awe. “Wow, we’re lucky to be alive. We were both standing in the epicenter.”
“They’re leaving us behind,” he commented.
“What?” she squeaked.
“The ship is moving on to avoid the minefield.”
“Do you think they know we left?”
“After the confusion subsides, they will eventually know I’m missing, and they will begin a search. But the minefield will—”
The pod rocked with an explosion.
Zhoryan cursed. “The ship plowed past the edge of that hidden field and we’re going right through it. Also, the minefield is blocking communications. I can’t let them know we’ve left and where we’re going.”
“We can’t be the only ones who left.”
“We are. There are no other pods in the vicinity.”
“Why did we leave on an escape pod when no one else did?”
“It was either that or die. Did you want to die? Our floor must’ve been the one with the most significant damage. We had to get to the pod because there was no other way out.”
He kept tapping on a screen in utter concentration.
“Can’t we just turn around and go back to the ship? An escape pod is supposed to save us from a failing ship but now that we can see the ship isn’t actually failing, can’t we go back right now?”
“No, because we’re trying to avoid those other mines. This whole damn area is full of mines.”
They rocked through another explosion and alarms started blaring. Zhoryan cursed again. This was going from bad to worse.
“The pod is compromised. We’re going to crash-land on the nearest planet.”
“Crash where? There’s a planet around here? I thought we were going through a long stretch of open space.”
He shook his head. “I didn’t even know it was here. It’s a mystery planet. But the computer thinks it’s habitable for us.”
“Will your crew know where we’ve gone?”
“No,” he gritted, his claws tapping on the controls. “And the planet is mostly water and we’re going to slam into the ocean. First, we couldn’t communicate because of the minefield and now the pod is going to sink.”
“What are we going to do?” she shouted with a shrill voice.
“After we finish burning through the atmosphere, I’m hitting the ejectors,” Zhoryan yelled. “We’ll eject and land safely in the ocean, leaving this pod behind before it crashes. When you fall in the ocean make sure you unlock the belts and then swim around and look for me. We’ll find each other and figure out next steps.”
“Oh okay,” she breathed. Not at all sure what that meant. “You know I can’t swim, right?”
“What?” he roared.
And then they were both ejected.
4
Zhoryan blinked awake, floating in a dark alien ocean. A wave washed over his face and he spit out salty water, coughing and gasping for breath, his throat burning. Then he did his best to ignore the discomfort, thankful to be intact and alive.
He hit release and the ejector seat disengaged. He twisted, looking for the pod they’d arrived in, but there was no evidence of their crash. No bubbling water, or lights flickering in the dark. Nothing. It had already sunk to the bottom of the ocean.
And the female? He jerked around, his two hearts beating furiously. Where was she? Moonlight reflected off the water, allowing him to sight her bobbing in the waves nearby. She groaned and sharp relief flooded his system.
She couldn’t swim. Of course, she couldn’t.
Janet of One originated from a semi-arid planet that was dangerously close to losing its water s
upply due to lack of proper water management. This was why she’d left to study Hydrology. New Earth government had sent a group of its best and brightest to learn cutting-edge skills that would save its citizens from thirst and famine.
“Female,” he shouted, trying to rouse her from sleep, but his words were cut short by another slap of ocean. He spat out warm water and swam to her, releasing the female from the ejector that was keeping her afloat. He’d grabbed a first-aid kit and a flotation device prior to ejection, and now he held her and put the device over her head and secured it to her torso, tying it into place. It was difficult to do in the bobbing waves, but he managed.
Her face was unnaturally pale, glowing colorless in the moonlight. A tightness formed in his chest, an unbearable need to see this female to safety.
And then a blaster shot echoed in the far-off distance. He stilled in the water and calculated what he’d heard. It was multiple caliber. And Xylan-made? Hmm. Actually, this was good news. Where there were blaster shots, there were beings and land, and therefore help.
Finally, he had a plan.
He stripped off the jacket he was wearing, freeing his arms for the work ahead, double-checking that the passed-out female was still properly floating on her back and harnessed to him. Then he oriented to the direction where the sound had originated and started swimming. He swam determinedly in the choppy alien ocean, dragging the injured female. Gods knew what kind of creatures lurked in the warm waters below.
He had one hundred more strokes left in him. After that he’d have to find an alternative.
Finally, he heard thundering surf. There had been open ocean, and then he was upon rocks and a dangerous swirl of crashing waves. He dug his claws into the craggy rocks and pulled himself, and the tiny human, out of the ocean. When he reached shore, he bent and scooped her out of the surf and carried her to dry sand. And then he fell to his knees, gently placed the female on the ground next to him and passed out cold.
Zhoryan woke to sunshine warming his cheek.
His eyes focused on Janet, who slept next to him, on her stomach. Both of them were splayed on the shore, the water line close to their feet. He stifled a groan as he rolled over and stretched, temporary aches and pains pricking his back and arms. The swim had been difficult, but not overly strenuous. It would take only a short while for the discomfort to level out.
How was the female?
He reached out and touched her clothed back, reassured by the rise and fall of her breaths. She appeared intact. Her half-color skin glowed pleasantly in the sunlight, which was strange because usually he felt nothing but a faint disgust for non-royal pigment and maybe a mild sympathy for those who’d been born without the markings of ancient night. But, she was a Gravian of ancient lineage and now he could see the tell-tale markings of her species—the golden glow to her skin and their females’ small frames that hid an inner strength.
He cracked his neck and sat up. Zhoryan glanced up at the cloudless sky, unable to decipher its exact color. This planet reminded him of a holo deck jungle setting. The beach was colorless sand, curving out in either direction. The ocean water glinting in the sunlight an attractive blue. He grimaced. It was deceptively beautiful—right before a predator came out to tear a being’s head off. In the distance an enormous serpentine creature rose out of the ocean, a spray of water rising straight into the sky in its wake. Good thing they’d crashed at night, the lack of visibility and dozing predators kept them safe while they’d swum over whatever ruled the seas on this planet.
He glanced over his shoulder at the wall of dense jungle behind them. That was going to be interesting.
And then he looked down in panic, realized his gloves were gone.
He clenched and unclenched his bare fists. Holy gods. The gloves of the unmated had been torn off as he’d swum to shore. His claws were tender from the abrasive rocks. He frowned as he stared at his exposed claws, and then at the bare skin of the female so close to him. He’d reached over and touched the fabric on her back, without his gloves on. What if she’d been bare skinned? What if he’d accidentally brushed against her while dragging her to shore?
And what of their time stranded here together on this planet? Their rescue would not happen fast. Meanwhile, she might grab for his claw because she was half human with zero etiquette. He was alone in a wild place with a primitive species who had no idea how to behave correctly around unmated Xylan. Nothing good was going to come from this.
The female took a deep breath and flopped over onto her back. She coughed and blinked awake, using an elbow to brace herself to a sitting position. Her eyes, a startling shade of blue, darted over and caught on his face. Recognition lit her features and she threw him a brilliant smile, disquieting in its intensity. The curve of her full lips and the brightening of her eyes changed the whole look of her face. He decided her facial appearance was pleasant, for a human.
“Did you just wake up too?” she asked with a raspy voice as she brushed long hair back from her face. She was a half color, but her hair was dark as ancient night. At least there was that.
“Yes.”
“We both crashed and washed to shore? Do you even remember being in the ocean and how we got here to this beach? I don’t.”
“I remember everything. You passed out from the crash. I was alert and I found you bobbing in the water. I released you from your ejector and secured you to the flotation device. Then I wrapped you in the ties, harnessed you to me, and pulled you behind as I swam, looking for somewhere for us to land because we’d crashed in the dark, open ocean.”
“You dragged me, unconscious, to shore?”
He gave a curt nod as he stared at her forehead, which had a scrape. It was bothering him. He pulled out the first-aid kit and flicked it open.
“Zhoryan, thank you. Thank you so much for taking care of me and saving my life. I can’t swim, so without you, I would’ve drowned.”
He supposed. “I promised Kayzon I’d—”
Her lips twisted. “Yeah, you promised your friend you’d take special care of his bothersome sister-in-law. I remember. Well, thank you anyway, for saving my life.”
He frowned at her odd statement. “You are not bothersome.”
“Oh shit, look at that.”
He turned his head, tensing, expecting a predator to appear from the dense foliage. Then he realized she was pointing at his forehead.
“You’ve got a huge gash in your ridges. Don’t worry about me, I’m fine. Just a bit of a headache and of course I’m hungry and thirsty, but you’re actually bleeding. I think you don’t realize how hurt you got from all that rescuing.”
Hurt? Was she referring to his tiny scratches? “That swim was nothing beyond a normal daily training session.”
“You train that hard every single day? Damn. Well, we still need to fix you before we move on. Even big, bad Xylan Warlords need to medicate occasionally.”
He nodded, agreeing with this statement. Staying in top physical condition would improve their success in this extreme environment.
She moved closer and took the first-aid kit from his bare claws. He sucked in a breath, seeing how close they’d come to touching. Never in his life had he been in a situation this fraught with disaster.
“Where are we?” she asked, as she sat next to him, completely unaware of the enormity of her bare hand and his claw, so close. “And second, how soon can we get off this rock and back to your ship?”
He took a deep breath, trying to calm the beating of his hearts. She didn’t know. She was simply trying to help. He eyed the movement of her hands as she spoke, “I don’t know anything about this planet. But I do know my crew didn’t immediately know we’d left. They kept on without us. The ship’s damage was minimal, and if they have realized that the two of us are missing, and an escape pod was deployed, they still don’t know where it went because of the minefield deactivating our coms and our tracking beacon.”
And then she opened the kit and took out a wet cloth and
reached over to his forehead… He forced himself to remain still as she cleaned his head, reminding himself that there were very few mating receptors elsewhere on his body beyond his claws. This type of skin-on-skin contact was uncomfortable, but not catastrophic. The number one position to confirm mating compatibility was the meeting of claws.
“Why was a minefield out there?” she asked. “Aren’t they illegal?”
He’d never had a gloveless, unmated female attend to him like this since he’d reached age. This didn’t happen in his species. And suddenly here he was, with their warm skin so close. “I have no idea why there was a minefield there,” he answered, trying not to stare at her hand. But he’d had plenty of time to think about the placement of that minefield while he’d swam. “We are not in conflict with anyone in this sector. This is a quiet part of space with little traffic. I suspect the minefield is left behind from an ancient war. Although I don’t understand how it could’ve gone this long undetected. A minefield like that is a hazard and needs to be flagged and cleaned up.”
“Now that our pod is destroyed and at the bottom of the ocean, we have no way of getting back to the ship or contacting them, right? And they don’t know where we are.”
“Exactly. And they won’t know if we’re on this planet, or…maybe they think we exploded in the minefield.”
She bit her lip. Pink, full lips. “Oh no. So we’re on our own?”
“Yes. We need to start walking in order to find food, water and shelter. And hopefully a communications system.”
“Okay that sounds… Wait. Communications system? You think there are sentient beings living on this planet?” she asked excitedly.
“Yes. While I was in the ocean, I heard a blaster shot. I oriented and swam towards the sound.”
“I guess I thought you were lucky to find land, but you swam towards this beach.”
“Where there are blasters there are Xylan.”
She smiled. “You know, this planet could have any type of being living here.”
Zhoryan's Game Page 3
