by Aria Bell
It seemed impossible. We were too different. Humans and Jardan were too different. Yes, we scorched the bedsheets together. I’d never had another lover who came remotely close to him—human or alien. But I didn’t think that was enough anymore.
I was still tossing and turning as the sky lightened and the stars dimmed. It would be dawn soon.
Then I heard it. The sound of propulsion engines—a high-pitched whine and the rumble of engines. It was a ship!
And that meant someone had responded to the emergency beacons. Both of them were in the room with me.
I scrambled out of the bed and yanked on my flight suit. My heart was pounding fast. My mouth was dry as bone. I staggered out of the doorway, shoving my arm into the last sleeve.
A large black starship was landing in the canyon, just in front of where our dwelling was. It wasn’t a single-man starship, but one that could easily hold a crew and more. The engines threw up dust and sent the plants swaying. The Voltuni were running and hiding, although I could see some of the male Voltuni gathering in the distance with spears. That could get bad if I didn’t intervene quickly to calm the situation.
I hurried toward the ship, waving my arms. I could barely contain my relief and joy. Soon I would be back in civilization and off this planet. I only had to tell these people who I was and that the galactic police would pay for their aid in getting me off-world. But first I had to convince them to wait while I located Ryrke.
Then we could leave together.
The landing ramp dropped down. Six males wearing uniforms and helmets and carrying blaster rifles stormed down the ramp with their weapons on me. I raised my hands, trying to show them I was unarmed. I had left my blaster behind with the rest of our small collection of gear because I’d been in such a hurry to signal the rescue ship. For the first time, I felt a thread of unease.
Next down the ramp walked a human man, gray-haired and sharp-featured. He looked like a jordcal raptor or some other dangerous bird of prey dressed in an expensive suit. He was looking right at me. My unease increased.
“I am Sergeant Nena Brax,” I called to them. “I’m a member of the galactic police force. My friend and I have been stranded on this planet since our crash. We could really use your help getting off-world.”
The gray-haired man smiled. It was a nasty, icy smile. “You are in luck, Sergeant Brax. We are from Kyel Yost Station. We came looking for you after you disappeared off the station’s sensors. We feared you had been killed in a crash on the planet surface.”
Definitely a bad feeling. I shifted uneasily, wanting the weight of my blaster in my hand. “Almost. But we survived. May I ask who you are?”
“You may.” His smile widened, became even nastier if that were possible. “I am Judge Gev Yordal. And we seem to be searching for the same criminal, Sergeant Brax. I believe you know him. The Jardan known as Ryrke Zo’dan. It was difficult, but we followed the distress beacon of his ship to here.”
I edged back toward my doorway. My hands itched for my blaster. “I know him. Look, let me get my gear and we can sort this all out.”
“I don’t think so, Sergeant Brax,” Yordal said. “But you can be a great help to me, I think.” He lifted a hand and gestured. His uniformed goons came at me with their weapons raised. “Take her. But don’t hurt her. Yet.” He turned around and started up the ramp. “And scare off these primitives. I can’t stand the sight of them.”
I had no choice but to hold up my hands in surrender as they grabbed me, wrenched my arms behind me, and locked me in bindercuffs. For the first time I was grateful Ryrke hadn’t slept in our cliff dwelling with me last night, or he would be in the same trouble I was in. They probably wouldn’t kill me…at least until they had Ryrke and decided to tie up all loose ends.
But they had no idea what they were facing in a Jardan warrior. I almost felt sorry for them.
Be careful, Ryrke, I thought to him, hoping, praying he could somehow hear my thoughts. Be careful, and get here quickly.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Ryrke Zo’dan
The roar of a starship flying overhead woke me from a restless slumber. I grabbed my blade and ran out of the watchtower. My elation quickly turned into anger and battle focus as I heard distant screams and blaster fire. Far off in the canyon, smoke was rising from the settlement. I did not have time for fear or hesitation or even anger. Nena needed me. I had to find her.
The trouble was clearly coming from the center of the settlement…about where our dwelling had been, I judged. I set off down the canyon toward the screams and the smoke at a dead sprint. The Voltuni were fleeing in all directions. Some of their warriors were trying to help the women and the elders to safety. Blaster shots streaked down the canyon, filling the air with smoke and fire.
As I ran, I realized I now knew fear. Fear for Nena’s safety. The fear of losing her. Of harm coming to my precious d’mura osefei. My vengeance quest no longer mattered. The only thing that mattered was finding the little human I loved and bringing her back into the safety of my arms.
It was difficult for me to keep from simply charging down the middle of the canyon, screaming my war cry challenge. But as I was only armed with my blade, I needed to keep out of sight until I could find my enemy and get close. The greatest struggle was keeping my seething rage under control when I feared my enemies might have harmed Nena.
The ship that had arrived had not been one of my clan or the ship of another galactic police officer. It had to be Judge Gev Yordal. He had come to finish me. When Nena had arrived at the station, she had given them information from my warrant—I knew because I had bribed the controller to alert me if anyone came looking for me. Word must have reached Judge Yordal. When Nena hadn’t returned with me in custody as he wanted, and she hadn’t brought me to the core to face his false charges, the judge must have come looking for us.
And the beacon I had brought back to our dwelling led him straight to Nena.
As I ran into the part of the settlement where there was the most smoke and chaos, Chief Moppo frantically signaled to me from one of the dwellings. I hurried to him as the screams and yells and blaster shots grew louder and more frequent
“Where is Nena!” I demanded, grabbing him by the front of his fancy clothing and lifting him completely off the ground.
The chief was clearly terrified. “The strangers from the space station took her. I saw them bring her to the arena. They are keeping her there.”
I growled in pure rage. They were clearly using her as bait to snare me. But today the hunters would become the hunted.
I let the chief go and left him behind. I drew my blade and bellowed my war cry so my enemies would hear me coming and they would know fear.
* * *
Nena Brax
The war cry echoed throughout the canyon. My heart leaped with joy when I heard it, because I knew it was Ryrke. And I knew that an angry Jardan warrior would be a terror to see. I knew he would save me. Every fiber of my being knew it.
“If I were you guys, I’d be worried,” I said to one of the judge’s men, a fosersi alien, who was guarding me. He ignored me.
After they had captured me, they had made me stand against one of the stone pillars in the arena where Ryrke had fought and won me. They bound me to the cool stone with my arms trapped behind me with bindercuffs and secured around one of the slim pillars. One guard stood near me with a blaster weapon. The rest of Yordal’s thugs—six in total, counting the one with me—were either shooting at the poor Voltuni or were waiting in ambush for Ryrke. My greatest fear was that he would charge in to save me with only his blade against these energy weapons.
I knew I was a lure. A trap. But I didn’t scream or yell out, because I didn’t want to risk provoking Ryrke to run directly to my aid, straight into the jaws of danger. Screaming for help might bring out his formidable protective side and force him to make a critical mistake. Besides, I suspected that was why they’d left me ungagged—to lure him—and there was no way I�
��d do anything to endanger him, even though I was certain he could handle himself.
His war cry said as much. It even made me nervous, and I was the one he was coming to rescue. The judge had just condemned himself in my book. I would have been happy to go after him using the full weight of Galactic Imperium law for his crimes. But forget about my kidnapping. He was now actively attacking my adopted tribe and he clearly wanted to murder my mated warrior. That was his biggest mistake.
There was a terrified scream from outside the arena that cut off suddenly. The scream hadn’t come from any defenseless Voltuni either. The alien thug near me shifted uneasily.
“You recognized that scream didn’t you,” I said, taunting my guard. “One of your buddies just met the guy I married. You feeling a little nervous?”
“Shut your mouth, bitch,” the alien said in perfect galactic common.
I only laughed. He cursed me again and backhanded me. I spit out some blood and grinned at him, ignoring the pain. Let him hit someone who was safely locked in bindercuffs. It only meant I was getting under his skin.
Judge Yordal was pacing on the steps of the arena dais where Chief Moppo had married me to Ryrke in front of the tribe. His deeply lined face appeared concerned. Maybe he was regretting coming down here to the surface of Soepra to handle this personally. As I glared at him, I heard him activate a transmitter.
“Make sure the ship is ready to depart at a moment’s notice,” Yordal said. “We may need to leave quickly.”
“You won’t be leaving at all,” I quipped.
The alien thug next to me made as if to hit me again, but Judge Yordal lifted a hand, waving him off. He walked over and put the barrel of his blaster pistol under my chin. “You are deluded if you think one primitive animal with a sword can take me down. I know why he is after me, and I will make sure he knows I killed his friend…right before I end his existence.”
“I wanted to bring you in to justice,” I said. “Take down whatever little corrupt empire you’ve built on Kyel Yost. But I know someone who has a much more immediate solution.” I gave him my nastiest grin. “And look at that, my hands are tied. I can’t stop him…but you deserve it.”
He snorted. But he glanced off toward the entrance of the arena when there was the sound of a blaster shot followed by another scream.
“Two down,” I said. “Getting anxious yet?”
The judge turned to my guard. “If she keeps talking, keep hitting her.”
“My pleasure,” the thug said.
I quickly gathered my thoughts. From the sound, Ryrke had taken out two of Judge Yordal’s six thugs. One was with me, along with the judge. I could see two more behind cover in the arena, aiming at the front entrance. That left another thug somewhere in hiding in the area.
Then there was a scream and the missing thug came flying off the top of the canyon ridge above the arena overhang and smashed on the ground. He didn’t get up. Especially when Ryrke jumped off the ridge and landed on him. He had his blade in one hand and a stolen blaster in the other. In one smooth motion, Ryrke blasted the two surprised thugs who had been watching the entrance. Then he leaped toward the dais, soaring ten meters through the air in an amazing jump I wouldn’t have believed was physically possible if I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes.
Ryrke landed right between the judge and the last thug. He was a terrifying sight, like a god of battle. With one lightning-fast strike, he cut off the head of the thug who’d hit me. The judge tried to bring his blaster around to shoot Ryrke, but the Jardan warrior only knocked it contemptuously away. Then he grabbed the judge by the throat. Ryrke’s muscles bulged as he lifted the pleading man a meter off the ground.
“This is for Terx Ko’dal, the Jardan you murdered,” Ryrke said before killing the judge with his blade. He let the judge’s body fall to the stone dais like trash. “My vengeance oath is fulfilled.”
He sheathed his blade and turned to face me. I could see the concern, the tenderness, the love shining in his eyes. I ached to run to him, to have his strong arms around me. But I was still bound to the pillar.
I expected him to immediately set me free, but instead he knelt before me, his head down. “My d’mura osefei,” he said, his voice grave. “I am sorry I was not by your side to defend you. I am shamed.”
“Take these cuffs off so I can kiss you,” I demanded.
He looked at me and then smiled. He did exactly as I asked.
I did exactly as I promised.
When we finally ended our wonderful kiss, he continued to hold me tenderly. I felt safe. I felt protected and cherished and loved. A moment later, my warrior said what I’d been waiting to hear.
“I have lost my heart to you, d’mura osefei,” he said in the deep voice that I so cherished. “I finally knew fear when I was frightened they had harmed you. I want you at my side, always. Nothing else matters to me as much as that matters.”
I smiled, warmed from my heart on outward by his words. “I love you, Jardan warrior.”
He held my gaze, letting me know how important my words had been to him. “And I love you as well, my d’mura osefei.”
I thought we had experienced great kisses together before that moment. I had been wrong.
The kiss he gave me then was the best, most perfect kiss I had ever known.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Nena Brax
We stood on the ramp to the judge’s starship as the Voltuni gathered around us. Glorious Celebrated Chief Moppo was weeping openly at the thought of our leaving the Andgronn tribe. That surprised me and touched me at the same time.
A dozen Voltuni had been wounded by the judge’s thugs and several Voltuni warriors had died trying to protect the tribe. Ryrke and I attended their funerals as the tribe honored them and laid them to rest at sunset with songs of mourning. But after our duty was done, we boarded the starship. It hadn’t been damaged in the battle and it was equipped with a hyperspeed drive. The Voltuni had taken the pilot prisoner and were keeping him in a cell until his debt to the tribe was paid. That was fine with me. Either of us could fly this ship, and right now I wasn’t concerned with bringing galactic law into what had happened. Ryrke had taken down the corrupt judge who had ruled the Kyel Yost Space Station with the murder and oppression of its residents. I didn’t think anyone would be shedding any tears for him now that he was dead.
“Go with the blessings of the Andgronn,” Chief Moppo said, wiping at his eyes and smiling. “Know that we will always remember you. You shall represent us to the stars.”
Ryrke bowed slightly. “We shall make the our tribe proud.”
“We’ll always remember you,” I said, grinning. “Especially on our anniversary.”
Ryrke laughed and put an arm around me and hugged me. I couldn’t get over how good it felt to be in his arms. I never wanted to leave them.
We walked back up the ramp and closed it behind us. Then we climbed into the ship’s cockpit together. I took the pilot seat. He folded his arms and loomed over me.
“What?” I asked innocently. “I’m the better pilot. I thought I already proved that.”
“And I’m supposed to be your copilot?”
I gave him my most seductive look. “Big boy, I will make it up to your cock later in every way you can imagine. You will not regret this, I promise.”
He grunted and finally took the copilot seat. I grinned. I guess some promises were completely worth it, even to a battle-hardened Jardan warrior.
I guided the ship into a careful take-off, then we headed for the upper atmosphere.
“Where are we headed?” Ryrke asked as we passed through the heavy distortion fields that played havoc with the ship’s sensors.
I kept the controls steady until we safely passed through and left the planet behind. “Not the Kyel Yost Station. I’ll let my superiors handle that mess. How about we head to the galactic core? My place. We’ll get this bogus warrant put to rest and then we’ll take a well-earned vacation.”
“I
am pleased to hear you decided not to turn me in.”
“It’s because you kiss so well,” I quipped. That conflict was behind us. We were bigger—our love was bigger—than it anyway.
“That…and other things,” he said, the innuendo making my core heat. “And after we settle things with the Galactic Imperium? Are you going to buy me a new star fighter?”
“On my salary? You’re going to be waiting a long time, buddy.”
“Then I will have to take my repayment…in other ways.”
