Dark Matter: SCIENCE FICTION ROMANCE

by Jessica Loft

  “Don’t make a sound,” a familiar voice whispered into her ear.

  ~

  Ajax looked solemnly down at all of the paperwork, carefully reading over all of the measures that the king was planning to carry out for the sake of peace and harmony. The more he read, the more ashamed he became of himself. The Guardianites had started out as a strong people. They won their name because their men and women were the best at defensive tactics. They were hired for the fiercest battles. They were liberators. Then things changed.

  Little things at first, like taking a bribe here or there in lieu of respectful payment. Then eventually things got worse. They were no longer in the liberation business. The capture was more lucrative for their planet than any other business, and slowly over time, their views began to change. Perhaps it was the universe’s karma being delivered to them when their women stopped being able to deliver children.

  “When did our people become so cruel,” Ajax wondered aloud. “When did I? How did we turn into this?”

  “We forgot,” Riordan replied simply. The full answer was long and complex, but for now the simple phrase more than enough of an explanation.

  “We cannot undo what’s already been done, Ajax. But we can change our future. We can do better. Be better. We are not meant to be a cruel species, yet somehow here we are. To change this we can start by making our slaves citizens, letting them come and go as they please, offer them land on outlying planetary systems that can sustain life.”

  “We’d be creating a whole new way of life,” Ajax murmured. He had lost count of how many hours they had been locked away in the study, but it was just long enough for him to realize how much of a fool he had been.

  “I owe you an apology my King,” he added, bowing his head. “I am sorry that we came to blows, and that I disrespected your mate.”

  Riordan gave him a single nod of his head, a symbol of his appreciation. “It is done. And now that you understand this, I will need your help as both a friend and an ambassador to help me continue to carry out this change. Please old friend, this will move much faster with your help.”

  Ajax and Riordan had begun to clasp one another’s wrist in a gesture of friendship when a guard burst in, falling heavily onto the conference table. He had a long gash slicing sideways across his chest with quarts of his purple blood spilling across the table. Even before they got to him, they both could see that he was dead.

  CHAPTER 8

  “Aaron, what the hell are you doing here?” Clara hissed, wrenching her arm out of his grip. He glared at her as she stood naked and unashamed in front of him and the other men. In their tussle her sheet had slipped off and she hadn’t bothered to put it back on.

  “I’m saving your life, Clara, and a lot of others. Shouldn’t you be thanking me? And for God’s sake put some damned clothes on!”

  Clara squared her shoulders and raised her chin. “No. The Guardianites don’t feel shame in their body. And I’m not going to either.”

  Aaron and a few others stared at her as if she had lost her mind. They were expecting whimpering malnourished women being kept in cages and their own filth, not this. Clara appeared furious that they were there to save her. It was only then that they started to wonder, was this a mistake?

  “Clara, it’s time to go home,” Aaron stated, trying his best to keep his tone level and calm. We risked everything we had left to get here, and now it’s time to go, do you understand me?”

  Clara shook her head, her decision already ingrained in not just her mind, but also her heart. “No. I’m not going anywhere. The King needs me here.”

  Aaron balked at her answer. “He needs you?” He replied. “What the hell for?”

  Clara quickly explained the change in politics that was about to occur on Guardiana. She told him of how the term ‘slave’ was used rather loosely there as compared to what it meant on Earth, and how she had felt more useful and alive in the last three weeks than she ever had with her life on Earth or their moon colony.

  “You can hit the streets,” Clara suggested. “Go and find women who want to return if you wish. But I am staying here.”

  “You love him,” Aaron stated, his eyes full of hurt. Yes, he had been the one to dump her and yes, he was the one that didn’t want to commit, but for some reason he was upset that she had moved onwards and upwards out of their past relationship.

  With a shrug of her shoulders she nodded her head. “I do. Now listen, you’ve killed a few guards and I’m pretty sure one got away. If you want to ‘rescue’ anyone you’re running out of time to do so. I give it an hour tops before you’re found. So leave the castle, round up whoever wants to go with you, and get the hell out of here.”

  The human men looked towards Aaron for answers. Their rescue mission was not going at all as planned, and Clara was right. They were wasting valuable time. They all watched tensely as Aaron thought about their options.

  “All right,” he said finally, deciding to leave Clara behind. “Let’s go.”

  From around the corner Riordan came striding in with thirty guards and Ajax by his side. They were all dressed in their full battle gear and with weapons in hand they looked especially deadly.

  “I’m afraid sir, you are not going anywhere quite yet.” Riordan said, his onyx eyes flickering red with flames of anger.

  “Clara,” he called, turning his gaze to her. “Would you care to explain?”

  ~

  To the male human’s surprise, they had not been captured and killed immediately, but instead were taken into delegation. And for the next several hours Clara acted as the ambassador for the entire surviving human race. She spoke back and forth with and to the King of the Guardianites and Aaron, the new proclaimed leader of the human males.

  The more Aaron and the other humans discussed their situation, the more they realized that Riordan and his people weren’t the type of aliens they expected to come for Earth. They had value, honor, and morals. At some point they had become twisted for personal gain, but then again, so hadn’t the human ones?

  “All right,” Aaron conceded. “We’ve decided to handle this peaceably.

  “Where do we start?”

  “You killed my men,” Riordan stated, “You would first be made to pay for your crimes of murder. But, seeing that we decimated your planet, let’s call it even.” An uncomfortable silence fell over the room as everyone present looked over at one another awkwardly.

  “Too soon?” Riordan asked, looking over at Clara. She held up her hand and made a small space between her thumb and her pointer finger.

  “Little bit.”

  “Very well,” Riordan went on. “I was never any good at telling jokes.” He stood up and began to leisurely pace the room.

  “Here is what I propose,” he began. “You cannot go back to your planet, it will live, but it will need at least fifty years to replenish itself, and it can only do that without the presence of human clutter. We will send a ship with you so that you can retrieve the rest of your men. We own several planets in this solar system, and one of them is ready to take on humanoid life. You may take your men and any citizens that wish to go with you there. Human or not, all have the choice.”

  “What of our women?” Aaron asked.

  “We were never yours to begin with,” Clara shot back, her temper rising.

  Aaron rolled his eyes and Riordan placed a calming hand on her shoulder.

  “You may take anyone that wishes to go with you. However if your women want to stay here with their new families, then so be it. No more forcing, no more slavery. We are done with that now. Do we have an accord?”

  Aaron’s eyes narrowed as he looked at the King. He was intimidatingly handsome, with his neon blue markings, muscular physique, and strange onyx eyes. Yet despite his looks, he seemed at his core to be a reasonable man.

  “We have an accord.”

  CHAPTER 9

  One Year Later

  Twila picked up the crying baby and cradled it to her la
rge bosom.

  “There, there, little one. There, there.”

  The tiny baby, already glowing with neon blue markings squealed one more time, then finally quieted down as it snuggled into Twila’s arms.

  “My my, miss Emily, you have quite a beautiful baby here,” she gushed, handing the child back over to his mother.

  Emily smiled widely and held the child close to her as she leaned back into her husband’s side. “Yes, we think so too,” she replied.

  There had been a lot of changes to the planet of Guardiana in the last year. When the human men came there were several Earth women that wanted nothing more than to be with their own species again. They, along with several thousand other females of all species of humanoid opted to go with them to start fresh on the new planet. Still, the majority of the Earth women had found love and purpose with the Guardianites and had stayed behind to start their families. Among them was Emily, and the handsome guard that was now her husband.

  With the word slave abolished, the wedding ban between species was also lifted, and they were now proud parents of a beautiful, healthy Guardianite/Human hybrid. Along with them were several thousand other happy families that were finally welcoming newborns to their planet again.

  Across the room, Clara smiled happily at the gathering of friends that accrued in the beautiful gardens outside of the castle. Katy, Emily, and Twila had all opted to stay, and together the four of them were working to set up new healthcare systems for all women. It had been decades since midwives were called to service, and the entire industry needed to be rebuilt again. It was a daunting task, but a rewarding one.

  After the abolishment of slavery there was a small outcry from the upper class, but because due to the fact that they were largely outnumbered they quickly shut their mouths and backed away silently into their space mansions or crawled into their luxury ships and sailed aimlessly through space in their own little bureaucratic world. With the danger gone, Riordan had taken Clara outside of the castle walls, and gave her a taste of how beautiful the surrounding city and forests were.

  Although completely blown away by the exquisite beauty of the whole city, her favorite part was the forests of gardens that surrounded the castle. Though wildly different colored, the plant life had a certain similarity to the species that grew back on Earth, and quelled a part of her homesickness that lingered. Since then, she had become fond of spending a little time everyday there. On the moon there was little to no inedible plant life, and she had missed it dearly.

  The hours sped by quickly, and before she knew it Clara was waving goodbye to her friends and walking up the path towards the castle. It was still odd to her how strange yet familiar things were in this world. Though the people were incredibly electronically advanced they were also quite old school with a lot of their architecture and way of dress. Still, she found herself liking it more and more everyday.

  “What’s on your mind, my queen?” A pleasantly familiar voice called from above.

  Smiling, Clara lifted her head up to the boughs of the trees and found her husband standing stealthily above her. He was still the strong, silent type who could make an entire room grow silent whenever he walked in. But now that he had Clara, he was able to share his boyish side with someone. Since they first made love in the tree house, they had been drawn to spending their romantic time outside. Even now he was supposed to be supervising the revisions to the old bush loft they had once spent the night in.

  “Aren’t you supposed to be working?” She teased, lifting her hands up towards him. With amazing ease he reached down to her and lifted her up into the limbs, sitting her softly down on his lap as his legs dangled free over the large branch.

  “Even a king needs a break every now and then,” he responded, his neon blue markings glowing seeming to ebb with his playful mood.

  “It’s nearly nightfall and the men have families. I thought it best to send them home.”

  Clara said nothing, but instead leaned her body into his chest. A year or so ago she would have never trusted a man to keep her from falling, but a lot had changed since she had moved to the moon, and now, as she closed her eyes and relaxed, she knew without a shadow of a doubt that her Guardianite would never let her fall.

  “Make love to me here,” she whispered, her lips finding her way to the crook of his neck. She heard the small growl in his throat, and the sudden hardness beneath her tailbone. He was always ready for her, and now that she had found the sheer joy in sex, she was just as ready as he was.

  His hand wrapped delicately around her throat, and he tilted her head just enough so that he could capture her lips with his own and kiss her until she was breathless. With great ease he once again lifted her up just enough so that she could straddle a leg over each side of his lap. Since neither wore much in the way of clothes they were able to get to one another easily, and with a single thrust of her hips he entered her, Clara gasped in pleasure at being filled so perfectly by her true love.

  Just as she was about to come, Riordan paused suddenly, his hips frozen.

  “What’s wrong?” She asked, in agony.

  Her mighty King, so strong and intimidating looked up at her with fear in his eyes, then back down to her stomach.

  “This-this won’t hurt the baby will it?”

  Clara giggled, kissing him over and over again as she once again began to rock her hips.

  “No my Love, it won’t hurt the baby.”

  Now Enjoy The Next Story Below Or Choose One From The Table of Contents

  A Tale of Two Clans II

  CHAPTER 1

  Lizbeth had never gotten dressed so quickly in her life. Her abdomen was still sore and she desperately wanted a bath but couldn’t even think about that right now. Beaste’s tone told her that he was serious and that the people coming were dangerous and had something to do with his past.

  While she rushed to pull up her boots, Beaste snuck outside to get a closer look. He knew immediately, that although he could hear them, they had time. They weren’t outside his dwelling just yet. His stomach dropped, however, when he realized the direction he could hear the whooping of men. It was from way of the clan. He prayed that his father’s men had a little bit of class left in them and were kind to the clanswomen, though he knew that most only saw a group of weak, easy, women alone and unarmed. He quickly ran back inside to grab his dagger from the bedside table. It slid easily into his boot, armed and ready to fight his own, if he had to. The time for hiding was over.

  “Lizbeth listen ta me,” Beaste whispered, grabbing her shoulders. “My father is a bad man, I’m not. Please, remember me as the man you spent an evening with and not as some tyrant’s son.”

  “What are ye talking about?” Lizbeth gasped. She wasn’t sure why he was being so cryptic but she wished he’d stop, it made her feel like crying. Beaste pulled her close and kissed her. Something about the way his embrace felt told her it was a goodbye kiss. She held him close and struggled to hold back the tears before he even let her go.

  “I love you, Lizbeth,” he told her, looking deep into her eyes. “I love you and I’ll promise I’ll make this right.”

  His hands let go of her shoulders and within a blink of an eye Beaste was out the door and running as loudly as he could away from her clan. For a moment, Lizbeth sat hunkered on the floor frozen, not sure what to do next.

  Once she regained her strength she sprang into action. After dousing the fire she crept out of the small dwelling and headed towards the meadow. She could see armed men walking around her clan. She patted her bow at her side and knew she would fight to defend if she had to. Snow had just started to fall and with luck her dark cape would disguise her from the strangers invading.

  Keeping a birth around them, Lizbeth crept through the meadow until she reached the back pasture of her own lean-to where their two cows, a horse, and four sheep huddled together for warmth. Most of the women from her clan had come outside, to investigate, after being woken from their slumber by the s
trangers pounding at their doors. Lizbeth noticed her mother standing in back of the crowd, just as her mother turned to see her creep around to the front of their dwelling.

  “Thank God!” Merida gasped running towards her and throwing her arms around her daughter. “I was so worried!” Merida wanted nothing more than to yell at her daughter, but at the same time she was thankful she hadn’t been home when the search party had arrived. They were a bunch of hard, lonely men and she knew well and good that her daughter was a desert rose among thorns compared to the other girls her age. She had the beauty of someone high above her status and would have made an excellent prize to conquer.

  “Are ye all right, mum?” Lizbeth asked, looking her mother over from head to toe. “Did they hurt ye?”

  “Nay,” Merida replied, shaking her head. “They took the loaves of bread and a leftover hunk of meat. That was all once they saw I wasn’t harborin’ te man they were lookin’ for and they started to leave.”