The Demon's Change

by Donna McDonald

  “Do you want me to go with you?” Ji lifted a hand and tucked her hair back. “You are incredible beautiful to wake up to. I can’t remember the last time I did that with a female. I certainly don’t remember ever being so content to have merely slept beside one.”

  “Spare me your flirting, Ji. All you did was warm my bed. I finally got some rest and you did too. You have my gratitude for that,” Seta said.

  “Want more than rest tonight?” Ji asked, hating the flicker of distress in her eyes.

  Seta wrenched her gaze away from his. It was painful. He was just lying there, all beautiful male and offering pleasure again. She remembered quite well what he could do to her.

  “No, Ji. I’m leaving the ship for a while and I have to go today to make my scheduled transport. I’m several days’ journey from Ethos, even with the space jump portals open this time of year. You’ll probably be gone when I return. I’ve decided to finish my commission with Synar. Ania’s offer to train me was just too appealing to pass up.”

  Ji scooted up in the bed. The bed covers pooled over his lap and hid the evidence of his true feelings for Seta. Maybe he should sweep them aside and remind the reluctant female of what she’d be missing. “If you’re staying with Synar, why are you leaving the ship? There is no word of a new mission, is there?”

  “No. When I registered Rena’s death, my father contacted me. He made me an offer I couldn’t refuse so I’m going on a personal quest,” Seta said. “If I’m successful, all my siblings will get to chose their own mates from now on. My father wouldn’t dare break his word. I just have to go find something for him. I’m a tracker, Ji. This shouldn’t be difficult.”

  “I’ll go with you then,” Ji offered. The thought of Seta off alone on a planet where she was once mistreated as a female was currently unthinkable. She was going to have to let him go along. If she didn’t, he would just follow her.

  Seta shook her head and stood. “Synar asked to speak to me about my arrangements. I’m heading there now. I want to thank you for everything. You’ve changed my life. Or at least, you’ve changed how I think about males.”

  “So you think this is goodbye?” Ji demanded, keeping his voice soft. He wanted to rant and tell her just how that was not going to be the case.

  “No. I hate saying goodbye. But I think it’s something like that,” Seta said. “I hope you get restored to the Paladin. You deserve to be a captain. You serving under Synar—that never seemed right to me.”

  “Seta, this can’t work out the way you want. I think I knew that long before you gave yourself to me. I knew it the first moment I saw you. I want you to be my mate,” Ji said.

  Seta snorted. “You don’t want me as your mate. It’s been a rough week. You came to me last night because I came to you before. We bonded both literally and figuratively over my pain, but that’s over. It was just sympathy, empathy, or something similar. It’s over and we’re over and this nightmare week is hopefully over.”

  “But I—”

  “No, Ji. No more arguments. I have made my decision. Rena is gone and there’s nothing I can do to wind time back and tell her goodbye. So instead of grieving until I’m ill, I’m going on this quest. Then I’m coming back to finish my contract with Synar. You—you are going to go back and be a great captain. That’s a happy ending all around.”

  “The only happy ending for us is the one where you admit you belong in arms,” Ji said.

  “No, Ji. Just no. Stop asking. Get over your obsession. You’re not going to die just because I’m the one female who doesn’t desire you to distraction. Now—Synar is waiting for me. I really have to go,” Seta said, walking out of the door.

  There was no future for her with the Siren. Ji would go back to his planet one day. He would produce beautiful full Siren children with some perfectly beautiful full Siren female. That was his destiny. She, on the other hand, was going to master the power inside of her. That was her task. Then maybe when she knew herself, she would consider what kind of male might fit into that life.

  But as she walked to Synar’s office, Seta was wistful about the male she had left in her room. Memories of Ji pleasuring her raced through her mind. She enjoyed replaying his instruction to her over and over, his encouragement when he’d helped her achieve release. With almost no effort at all, she could hear the Siren’s pleading orders in her mind as if he were speaking them in her presence. Unable to banish him from her thoughts, she was now afraid that the obsession Ji professed to have for her had been contagious. What else could explain the incessant longing?

  The quest her father had given her would hopefully cure her before she returned to find Ji had moved on.

  ***

  Synar had seen Ralak and Zella off this morning, but had said nothing to either of them about the additional conspiracy or the accompanying deaths.

  After they’d gone, he and Kefira had contacted the Peace Alliance High Council to deliver the bad news. Amid the condolences and shock reverberations, he’d heard them offer Kefira her father’s position. She had wearily accepted. The remaining members of General’s Anx crew had offered her safe passage back. He hoped it would work out for her. He hoped the emissaries didn’t decide it was her time to die.

  Synar looked around the conference room and wished he had more time to gain a collective decision before moving forward. But it was too late for that. He’d been pressed this morning. He’d answered with his instincts singing.

  When Malachi and Angel walked in, he nodded to them and tried not to notice their personal conspiring had reached new levels of intimacy. Obviously they had reached some sort of tentative agreement about many things. He hoped like hell the demon would be compassionate enough to keep the emissary’s loyalty.

  “I’m starting to like her, but I still don’t want to,” Ania grumbled.

  Synar turned to look at his mate. “She’s more powerful than he is.”

  Ania nodded. “Yes. So?”

  “The friend of my enemy is a friend worth having. If he gets out of line, she can do the zapping. It takes a great deal of pressure off me. I have enough going on,” Synar said.

  Ania swung her compassionate gaze to his. “Yes. I guess that is true.”

  Suddenly all talking stopped as all gazes went to his. It was as it should be. He was their captain. They were looking to him for the plan.

  “Returning to the Liberator won’t do us any good. We were put into the Guardian 13 because we’ve become the kind of team that does the impossible. It’s no surprise to any of you that we’re really good at what we do. So this ship is ours and it’s staying ours. We’ll cut the Peace Alliance strings on it one at a time until it really feels that way. If you hear of anyone who doesn’t like the decision to keep the Guardian 13, have them submit transfer papers. I don’t want anyone staying that doesn’t want to be here.”

  There was a collection of nodding heads as his gaze roamed the table.

  “Speaking of going—we’re starting a two week ship wide leave as soon as we dock the Guardian 13 at the nearest port station. Lieutenant Trax is leaving a bit early to take a temporary assignment on her home planet. Lieutenant Warro is returning to his ship—”

  “I’ve changed my mind,” Ji said, loudly interrupting. “Sorry to interrupt, Captain. But I just wanted to make it public. I’m not leaving. I’ve decided to stay—at least for the standard terms of our three year contract.”

  Synar raised an eyebrow. “You’re welcome to stay, of course. Are you sure about this?”

  Ji saw a light sheen of red creep into Seta’s face. “Yes. I’m sure.”

  “Okay then,” Synar said. He looked back at the others. “The bodies of Meen, Jilco, Anx, plus those of the other dead warriors will be picked up at the port station. Ensign Vetin’s family has granted us permission to dispose of his remains. His farewell ceremony will precede the evening meal by two hours. Full dress is recommended. Bare minimum is grays. He died in the line of duty and his life saved others. He’ll have
a warrior’s send-off. Dre sent the notice out to every com on the ship, so you have all these details.”

  “Do we have the next mission?” Gwen asked. “More importantly, can we trust the Peace Alliance?”

  “The answer to both is no, but all we can do is keep our eyes and ears open. I have to believe this is going to work out,” Synar said.

  When Gwen nodded, Synar expelled a breath. “I have an even more important announcement to make. If any you wake me from my sleep tonight, your life will be forfeit. I absolutely have to get a full sleep cycle’s worth of rest.”

  Mild chuckling met his comment.

  “Start planning your vacations. Two week paid leave is nothing to waste. Submit your plans in the next few days,” Synar said. “I’ll see you all at Vetin’s ceremony. Dismissed for now.”

  Everyone filed out of the room except Malachi and Angel. Synar wanted to laugh when Ania sighed heavily beside him.

  “I still don’t want her around our children,” she said.

  “How are you going to stop her?” Synar asked.

  Ania shrugged. “I don’t know. Killing her host body won’t work, even if it would give me some momentary pleasure.”

  Synar chuckled and shook his head. “Make peace with this, Ania. My instincts are leaning toward her now.”

  “Angel is a dumb name for someone in a relationship with a demon,” Ania declared.

  “I agree,” Angel said, bowing her head to the frustrated Pleiadian. “But I do appreciate the way it sounds when the demon whispers it into my ear during coitus.”

  “Liam, I’m going to our quarters. I can’t listen to this. Really, I can’t,” Ania said.

  Angel looked at Malachi after Ania left. “Did I say something to offend her?”

  Malachi shook his head. “No. Life offends her these days. Ania is a gestating warrior with a bad temper. I’m trying to persuade her to take calming supplements. I feel sure they would help her mood swings.”

  “Indeed,” Angel said, fascinated when two identical sets of eyes stared at her. “What? Did I not get the inflection right? Isn’t that how everyone says it?”

  “We were mocking Lieutenant Zade when we did it,” Malachi said.

  “More jesting?”

  “Something like that,” Malachi said.

  Synar listened to their back and forth discussion, thinking how odd it was two incredibly powerful beings could sound so normal. “Angel? I don’t suppose you’d like to tell me what our next mission is going to be, would you?”

  “It will be revealed to you at the proper time. To know it now would be to disrupt your rest. This is all I can share,” she said.

  Synar shook his head and laughed. “Right. I don’t know why I even bothered to ask.”

  “Don’t you just love how she makes those little snarky pronouncements? They used to annoy me. Today, they seem really charming. That seems such odd turnabout. Can you explain this to me, Liam?”

  Synar snorted. “Who are you? What have you done with the Demon of Synar?”

  “If that was meant to be funny, I totally missed the humor in it,” Malachi said, curling his fingers around Angel’s as she slipped her hand into his.

  “Do we have time for another bonding experiment before Ensign Vetin’s ceremony?” she asked.

  “Indeed,” Malachi said, pitching his voice into a perfect imitation of the Siren.

  “You are much better at mockery. I will continue to practice,” Angel said. “Can we go lie down now? My breasts are tingling and require your attention.”

  When they began openly discussing their bonding activities, Synar figured that was a good time to leave. He was looking forward to having a nice long rest and finding time to get to know the children growing inside Ania.

  “You’ll have a lot more fun figuring out all these things for yourself, Malachi. Keep our resident emissary out of trouble, will you?”

  “Thank you, Liam. I hope Ania turns pleasant again soon,” Malachi said.

  Synar left, laughing at their exchange. The demon was behaving well and productively occupied with the emissary. A wise male would enjoy the reprieve while it lasted.

  Who knew? Maybe the demon really had changed. The changes in Zella were certainly miraculous. If his formerly unfeeling mother could put so much negativity behind her, Shades of Kellnor, anything was possible.

  Now he and Ania had two weeks of mandatory leave to spend together and he was looking forward to the break. While he headed to his quarters to join his mate, his face wore the first smile of contentment he could remember having in a long time.

  # # #

  NOTE ABOUT THE FORCED TO SERVE SERIES: I love writing this series and more stories are coming. Instead of 100k versions which take months to write and release, the next few will be novellas or smaller books centering around the crew’s mandatory two week leave. I’m starting with Ji and Seta’s trip back to her planet. The book will be called “The Tracker’s Quest”. I don’t have a release date yet, but check out my Forced To Serve Series page on my website for more information and sign up to receive my newsletter so you’ll never miss a release. I will eventually go back to the larger stories and the main plot. Just like you, I need to find out just how much corruption really exists in the Peace Alliance. Thanks so much for reading.

  NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR ABOUT THIS EBOOK: If you enjoyed this ebook, please consider leaving a positive review or rating on the site where you purchased it. Reader reviews help my books continue to be valued by distributors/resellers and help new readers make decisions about reading them. You are the reason I write these stories and I sincerely appreciate you!

  Many thanks for your support,

  ~ Donna McDonald