Her fight was over as she watched the ex-slave’s blood begin to get soaked up by the sand. And the complete silence meant that D’Anil’s fight was over as well. Afraid to see who lost, she stayed hidden behind the building. She kept her body within the shadow, hiding from the reaches of the bright sunlight, her breathing heavy and her nerves shot. There were footsteps getting closer to her, and Jayne gripped the gun even tighter in her hands. She begged every force in the universe to let it be Kani that died.
“Jayne?”
Her body shot up, gun pointed, but at his voice and the look in his warm, brown eyes, Jayne’s shoulders sagged in relief. D’Anil rushed to her just as she began to fall, her chest resting on his head. She began to sob. “I… I thought you were dead.”
“Such little faith in me,” he teased, kissing the top of her head, “Come on, we need to get inside. The sun’s up.”
But Jayne couldn’t move. She was exhausted, both physically and emotionally. But D’Anil didn’t let that stop them, picking her up in his arms and carrying her to the ship. He said something to Sophie, something she didn’t register. Jayne was too preoccupied with that feeling of dread and fear, how hard her world had been rocked by the idea that she lost him.
“Here, sit down,” D’Anil said softly, draping her body onto a chair next to Sophie. The blonde was, for once, the calm one of the two, working with complete concentration on the controls before her. “Do a body count,” he went on, “We need to sweep the ship, make sure we got everyone. I can’t leave you guys knowing there’s still more people here to fight.”
“Did she pay you to fight all our battles too?” Sophie asked, but when she looked at him, it wasn’t with the attitude that she gave Jayne. It was a knowing smile. D’Anil had proven his loyalty to Sophie, erased the distrust she once felt for him.
“I don’t leave a fight half-fought,” he replied with a smirk. He was covered in an old friend’s blood, but that didn’t seem to matter to him, Jayne mused, and she wondered why. D’Anil had no one here. She spent a month with him and never once heard about or met any of his friends. It was only ever his employer and Kani. And now he’d screwed the both of them over.
Sophie looked like she wanted to continue on the subject, but something she was reading caused her to frown. “It… It says there’s four people on the ship,” she said, looking at the pair.
D’Anil immediately left the room, and Sophie reached for Jayne’s hand, holding onto it tightly. After ten minutes, he came back. “There’s no one here,” he reported, looking lost, “Are you sure you refreshed that?”
The blonde nodded, refreshing it again. “It still shows four.”
The three sat there in confusion. “Maybe it’s a mistake,” Jayne suggested, “A glitch in the system.”
“I don’t like leaving you with those chances,” he sighed.
“Then don’t leave.”
“Jayne…”
Sophie sat, watching the quarrel with pity. She faced her own challenges with her master, but at least she didn’t actually get attached to him the way Jayne had with D’Anil. And that was when the thought came to her. Her eyes widened. “Jayne!” she almost shouted, then covered her mouth before recovering, “I want to try something. Stand with Jayne by the door, and have her walk out.”
“Why?” D’Anil asked.
“Just to see if it affects the numbers at all, or if it’s really frozen at four members.”
Jayne got up, obliging the both of them, though she still looked stubborn, hands crossed over her chest at the fact that D’Anil had refused to come with her before. Both listened to Jayne walk away and out onto the walkway, her steps echoing. Sophie refreshed the feed and grinned. “Two,” she whispered, “It went down to two.”
D’Anil watched the board carefully. “Jayne,” he called, his eyes never straying from the feed, “Walk back on.” More footsteps. Another refresh from Sophie. “Four…”
“There’s four living beings on this ship,” Sophie whispered, then looked over at D’Anil, “I don’t have to explain, do I?”
He didn’t answer her, staring at the screen, dumbfounded. When Jayne rejoined them, she looked at the screen that now read “four” again. “Stuck?” she asked.
But D’Anil was doing a whole different kind of math in his head. The first time he laid with Jayne, that night by the fire… He stood up, completely straight. “Jayne, it’s counting you as two people.”
She frowned. “Why…” And then the realization hit. “Oh my God.”
“Tell me you didn’t lie about this too. Tell me you didn’t know.”
Jayne shook her head. She tried doing the math in her head too. She counted the days since she had sex with him that first time, and she counted the days since she’d last had her period. “Are you… You’re saying I’m… I’m pregnant?” she asked, dumbfounded.
This was normally something she didn’t ever fear because she was great about taking her medications for contraception. But that was after she’d spent so much time in a ship where they hadn’t cared to keep her on that regime.
Her eyes found D’Anil’s. She could see something now, a gentleness. “Don’t,” she pleaded, “Don’t decide to come with me now just for this. Don’t leave everything behind just because you feel guilty about leaving me with-“
He surged forward again, their lips meeting in a passionate kiss. Jayne whimpered against him, her arms clinging to him. D’Anil was all that could help her from crumpling into a heap on the ground. “Shut up,” he murmured, “You were right. There’s nothing for me here, there never was.”
“But you said-“
“I know what I said, but I didn’t mean it,” he explained, “I’ve been mad since you first wanted to leave, mad that you lied, and I was mad with myself for falling for someone that could trick me better than anyone else could.”
Jayne gasped softly. He fell for her. “I won’t lie to you anymore, I promise,” she whispered, “If you want to come with me, come with us… Please. I can make you a life in New York, I know it.”
D’Anil pressed a hand to her stomach, drawing a light circle over it. “Apparently, we already started that together.”
She kissed him again, with all that she had left in her, every ounce of energy. Jayne’s mouth opened, her tongue searching for his and drawing light circles over the tip. D’Anil groaned into her mouth as they clung together, neither caring that Sophie was just feet away from them, looking away awkwardly. Jayne was just happy that he was joining her, and D’Anil was happy to be part of the destination she was running to.
Epilogue
It was hard to explain, at first, who D’Anil was. The fact that he was the father of her child made it more confusing, especially when she tried to tell people that he bought her to save her.
Her family and friends assumed it was Stockholm Syndrome, but then they watched the two together, how Jayne lit up even brighter whenever D’Anil entered a room, how he could calm her down when she started talking too fast, and how she could get him talking when he was otherwise silent the entire time.
It was hard to explain and hard to come to terms with, the fact that Jayne was impregnated by an alien who purchased her and called himself her Master, even if only for a month.
But they grew to understand. As Jayne would point out, their real enemies were those still on Imdali, the corrupt officials that let the slave trade go by under their noses. In her first few months back, Jayne worked harder than she ever had before, as much as D’Anil reminded her to take it easy with the pregnancy.
She worked night and day, filed paperwork, and spoke passionately to the Board of the Empire. She kept at it until the slave trade was found out, Alem arrested, and Imdali cleansed of an ancient tradition that should have ended a long time ago.
Now, she focuses on D’Anil and the promise she made to make a life for him in New York. He still is getting used to the loud sounds of the city and the streets, though the hardest adjustment is the cold. One ni
ght, Jayne finds him underneath a large mass of blankets, still shivering. She slides into bed with a smile, her fingers moving underneath the sheets to remove his clothing.
“Jayne, I’m, s-s-so cold…” he mutters, shying away.
She smiles. “I hate to see my Master suffer… I’ve got a few ideas to keep him warm, too.” Jayne focuses now on her own body, removing her clothes so that she’s completely naked and pressing against his cool skin. Her pregnant belly swells between them. She’s six months pregnant and feels enormous, but the way that D’Anil looks at it makes her feel a surge of pride each time, wiping away her insecurities.
Jayne snakes her hand down to his sweatpants, so much easier to remove than those leathers he used to wear, and slides herself down onto his length. Her smile turns into a grin as D’Anil takes pleasure in her slick heat. When Jayne is wrapped around his length, it’s the warmest he’s ever felt, a fire that consumes him in the best way.
She has him finally understanding why people always run to warmth for comfort. Jayne is his comfort.
***
PREVIEW OF ‘THE ALIEN’S PREGNANT MATE’ BY MARLA THERRON
Chapter One
The lights of the stage were blinding, dazzling Erena's already hazy eyes. Whatever drug her captors had forced on her had left her so helpless she could barely move, her skin burning, her body aching, her vision blurry.
Every sensation was overwhelming, from the clink of the silver chains around her wrists, to the grain of the cage floor beneath her bare skin, to the murmur of voices as creatures too strange to be real moved past her prison, only pausing briefly to stare at her before moving on.
She tried to hide her nakedness; ashamed of what she had come to, but moving was a desperate struggle against the drug, which made her limbs so heavy. And anyway, nothing mattered anymore. Her entire team was dead except for Alice, and Erena had no way of knowing where the other woman had been taken.
She could be in one of these cages too, or a thousand lightyears away. And as for Erena herself, she didn't know what was going to happen to her, but she couldn't imagine it was going to be anything pleasant.
She was naked and drugged and surrounded on all sides by strange, totally alien beings. Some of them looked almost human, but many of them were so far from humanoid she could barely comprehend them.
And the way they stared at her, openly hungry, eyeing her body like meat in a butcher's shop… Maybe that's what this was, she thought with trembling, hopeless fear. Or some kind of zoo. Whatever it was, she was certain it was the last place she would see. This was the end of her.
Just as she was giving up totally, the cage opened and something reached in, clipping a leash to the collar around her throat and dragging her out onto the stage.
"Our next item for bid," the thing holding her leash was shouting as it pulled her on her knees to the front of the stage, "A true rarity! A female from a totally undiscovered species, stolen from the furthest depths of uncharted space! Even if you aren't seduced by her alien beauty, she'd certainly be a fascinating research subject! She's already been outfitted with a full set of vaccinations and a language chip for your convenience! So who wants to start the bidding at ten million?"
The auctioneer rattled on, praising Erena's attributes as she sat on her knees, naked and trembling and confused. She could barely see the audience past the stage lights, but she could hear them crying out bids.
Fear bloomed in her despite the numbing effects of the drug. She was being sold, like an object. This wasn't right! She searched the crowd as tears stung her eyes, looking for someone, anyone, who would point out how wrong this was and save her.
Her eyes locked with a man across the room. At least, she thought it was a man, through the blinding stage lights everything looked strange. But she saw his eyes, piercing even from this far away. They locked with hers, clear even through the haze of the drug, and she trembled at the sharpness of that gaze.
Help me, she thought, wishing she had the strength to form the words, Please, save me!
Erena had dreamed of this moment all her life. She'd always longed to be a scientist. She'd grown up completely fascinated by all of it. Chemistry, biology, physics, nothing was beyond her. It felt like magic to her, learning all the building blocks of the universe, the secret undercurrents and reactions that caused every single thing on earth.
Eventually, she took a specialty in astro physics. Not because it was her favorite or because she wanted to stop studying everything else. She went on studying all the other subjects in her free time. But astro physics was what would allow her to go into space, and in this day and age all the most exciting discoveries were happening in space.
It had been many years since mankind had moved beyond earth and begun colonizing other planets in their star system. Only now were manned missions moving beyond the Sol system and out into deep space in search of new fantastic discoveries. Erena, thanks to her tireless hard work, was going to be part of the first manned exploratory mission into deep space.
She'd never been so proud. She was already going to be in the history books just for going, but Erena's excitement was entirely in thinking about the incredible things she would discover out there.
She was the ship's chief science officer. The captain was a tiny, red headed woman named Alice Harper, calm and clear headed with natural leadership instincts and a talent for getting along with anyone.
There was also Sergei, a swarthy Russian man and the security officer, and Paolo, the handsome bronze skinned Brazilian chief engineer, and Fin, a chipper and yet surprisingly serious dark haired French man, in Medical.
They were a small team, meant to work closely together, with everyone helping out with everything, deferring to each other's expertise in case of decisions.
Erena had been training with the four of them for years preparing for this and they knew each other better than anyone. Erena practically considered them her siblings. She'd even dated Paolo for a while, though it hadn't worked out and they'd broken it off amicably.
The day of departure, they waved to the cheering crowds seeing them off. Erena leaned over the high platform that connected to the side of the ship, smiling with delight. The sun caught her golden hair, pulled back in a business like pony tail, and highlighted her curves, held in by the skin tight silver flight suit she was wearing.
The team had been carefully chosen and groomed to be as attractive as they were qualified, as this mission was as much about inspiring people as it was about progress. But Erena, with her long, thick blond hair and her bright amber eyes, was a media favorite.
She and the team posed for a few photos, then strapped into their sleek space craft, the Spirit of Exploration. Erena had run through the simulated take off so many times it almost seemed unreal to be finally doing it, feeling the ship shake and roar as the powerful rockets below it fired, shooting it up into the atmosphere on a cloud of fire.
The rockets detached and the boosters kicked in, pushing them out of the atmosphere entirely and into orbit around Earth. From here there was a brief wait as they drifted, waiting for the ship's orientation to line up perfectly with their destination.
Then Captain Harper fired the ship’s impulse thrusters, pushing them off out of orbit, heading towards the edge of the solar system. The hard part was done. Fin cheered first, always loud and excitable, and Erena soon joined him, climbing out of her harness and going to hug her team mates. They celebrated their success, breaking out a bottle of champagne and staring out the windows at the earth as it dwindled.
"Alright everyone!" Captain Harper said eventually, "That's enough fun. It's time to settle in for the long haul. Let's get you kids to bed!"
Though Paolo grumbled and they tried to argue for a few more minutes of enjoyment, they had a schedule to keep. Alice programmed the auto pilot as the rest of the crew settled into their stasis pods. They would remain in semi-cryogenic stasis for several years as the ship traveled out of the solar system at near light speeds.
It was unhealthy for the human body to be awake and active during near light speed travel, so until they reached their first destination they would be remaining unconscious, their bodily functions slowed to a near death like state, not even ageing.
It was the scariest part of the mission in Erena's opinion. This trip would take them nearly a decade, and due to relative time, far more time would pass on earth.
They'd had to leave their families and friends behind, knowing they would never see them again. Leaving her parents had been painful, but Erena had been preparing for this all her life. It also frightened her, thinking about how many advances and changes might happen before she returned.
The place she returned to would almost certainly be nothing like the place she left behind. But it was all worth it for the incredible things they would learn. Erena felt no regret, only eager optimism for the amazing future ahead of her. She sank into cryo sleep with a smile on her face, dreaming of the whole new worlds that would await her when she woke up.
She felt as though she'd barely closed her eyes before she was waking again, blinking frost from her lashes as she sat up. The rest of her team was shifting around her, stretching and groaning as they climbed out of their pods, ice clinging to the tight curves of their suits.
"Good morning," she said with a yawn.
Paolo, looking deliciously sleep mussed, his dark hair tousled and his eyes half lidded, draped himself across the end of her pod.
"Good morning bella," he crooned, gazing at her affectionately, "I dreamed of you the whole way here, and now I wake to see you looking more beautiful than ever."
Erena laughed, dismissing his compliments. Paolo talked to everyone like that. Besides, the blue white led lighting of the ship washed everything into a kind of pale morning haze, shining on the sleek gray panels and consoles of the ship's stylish interior.
Alien Romance: Stranded With The Alien Assassin: Scifi Alien Abduction Romance (Alien Romance, Alien Invasion Romance, BBW) (Celestial Mates Book 3) Page 9
