The Exodus
Planet Athion Series
(Darkest Skies Book #3)
Marissa Farrar
The Exodus: text copyright © Marissa Farrar 2019
All Rights Reserved
With the exception of quotes used in reviews, this book may not be reproduced or used in whole or in part by any means existing without written permission from Marissa Farrar.
Warning: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. No part of this book may be scanned, uploaded or distributed via the Internet or any other means, electronic or print, without the author’s written permission.
This book is a work of fiction and any resemblance to persons, living or dead is purely coincidental. The characters are productions of the author’s imagination and used fictitiously.
Please note this book is intended for mature readers.
Artwork and Editing by Studioenp.
Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright Page
The Exodus (Darkest Skies, #4)
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four | Irus
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven | Casey
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen | Aleandro
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen | Mike
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Eighteen | Mike
Chapter Nineteen
About the Author
Also by the Author
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Back Cover Information
Earth is no longer safe for human women.
There’s only one place we can go to be protected—planet Athion.
Project Exodus has begun...
To escape the predatory Trads, the president of the United States has ordered the first transport of human women from Earth to Athion.
With our experience, my team at the Observatory are helping to launch the first ship of Project Exodus.
All is not well with the project, however. Not everyone is happy about the Athions helping us. At first, it’s only other humans we have to deal with, but then the Trads threaten us with arrival of new spaceships above our cities.
On top of launching an attack, I’m also dealing with how complicated it is to be in love with three men at once, and now there’s a fourth vying for attention...
And he’s not even human.
The Trads will do anything to stop the Athions, even if it means destroying humanity as well...
PLANET ATHION: A REVERSE HAREM SCI-FI ROMANCE
DARKEST SKIES: BOOK FOUR
THE EXODUS
Chapter One
“They’re back.”
Aleandro’s handsome face was grim as he nodded toward the massive window of the Observatory.
I didn’t need to ask what he was talking about. I already knew he was referencing the protesters who had started to show up with worrying regularity at the Observatory, ever since the president had announced the start of Project Exodus.
A massive transporter spaceship had been brought to Earth to allow one hundred women to begin a new life on Athion. Launch date was one week from now, and in a few days the lottery would be called to announce which women had been given seats on the mission. The few days between being selected and making their way to the Las Vegas Observatory didn’t give people much time to prepare to leave Earth and say their goodbyes, but the tight schedules were necessary. It had taken us this long to get up and running—which included coordinating with the Athions so they could get processing centers set up for the arriving women—and now we had things in place, every day counted.
I let my hands fall from the keyboard I’d been typing at and turned my attention to the man behind me. “Shit. Is Sergeant Byrd getting his men to deal with them?”
Aleandro had been head of security before the Trad attacks that had decimated half of the world, but now the army had taken over. The situation here was far too big for one guy to manage—however big that particular guy was. I took a moment to appreciate those broad shoulders and the muscular chest barely disguised beneath his form-fitting gray t-shirt.
“Yeah, but this group is even bigger than the last one,” he said, rubbing his hand over his mouth. “If the numbers keep building, at some point we’re going to find ourselves in trouble.”
More teams of Athions had arrived on Earth since the first ship we’d seen hovering over the White House—the same one that had brought Irus and Leif to Earth. Their military teams, the Custos, had been helping us to piece back together the wreckage caused by the Trads. Not everyone was happy about having a second alien race on our planet, however. Because of the Athions’ distinctly blue skin, they were easy to pick out among humans, and we were discovering that not everyone accepted their help with gratitude. It was mainly men who raged against them, but there were women, too.
I twisted my lips in worry. “You think the protesters will be able to get in here?”
“We’re doing everything we can to keep the Observatory secure, but if the numbers keep growing, it’s going to keep getting harder.”
Reluctantly, I got to my feet, forgetting my work for the moment. I frowned out the window, my arms folded across my chest. The view revealed the tundra of the desert, the red sandstone formations stretching out in the distance, and there, in the direction of the road, appeared the throng of protesters. They marched with homemade banners and placards stabbing into the air. I didn’t need to be close enough to read to know what they said. I’d seen them time and time again, and they were a regular appearance on the news channels that were still running, and online, too.
Aliens! Go Home!
Keep Your Hands Off Our Women.
No Blue Faces Welcome!
I let out a sigh. It was insanely frustrating that these small-minded people couldn’t understand the Athions were helping us. They’d lumped the Athions in with the Trads, even though the Athions had done nothing to hurt us. To them, one alien race was much the same as the other, and they hated the idea that we were now working with the Athions to help save women. They didn’t see it as the women being kept safe from the Trads and being allowed to live out their lives without fear. In their minds, if women were taken to another planet, it didn’t matter if they chose to go or if they were abducted. Gone was gone.
“Jesus Christ,” I said. “Why is it when you try to do something good, there are always people who are going to stand up and tell you that you’re wrong? Those same people never make any effort to help anyone themselves, but they’re perfectly happy to stand in the way of those who do.”
Some of the others who’d also been working at desks nearby stood to join us. I sensed the atmosphere tense when everyone saw what was happening. A shoulder brushed against mine as one particular person came to stand beside me. I knew his skin held a tinge of blue beneath his khaki shirt, and my heart twisted with pain for him. I hated seeing these assholes outside, but for the Athions themselves, seeing the same people they’d come here to help protesting against them must have been an even harder blow.
“I wish we could go out there,” Irus said. He was a part of the Athions’ military team, the Custos, and had been sent by his general to help us. “Maybe if we talked to them...”
“They’d tear you to shreds.” I shook my head. “We can’t risk it.”
A month had passed since we’
d made it back to the Las Vegas Observatory, not only with Aleandro, Mike, and Casey, but also the two Athions, Irus and Leif, and a little girl, Elodie.
It had been strange settling back in at first. Somehow, even though we’d all worked here a long time, when we came back, the place no longer felt like our own. It had been taken over by the military, plus all the civilians who’d managed to make their way here from the city. I was pleased the Observatory had offered those in need a place of sanctuary, however.
As well as the influx of civilians, there had been plenty of other changes to the Observatory in the last month. Where previously, the huge glass dome topping the building had been one of the main fixtures, now there was another large structure that the military had worked hard on over the past month. The original launch pad had been adapted to take on one of the Athion transporter ships, and technicians had worked twenty-four seven to make adaptions to the ship to make it suitable for human travel. While the one hundred lucky women who would get to travel to Athion would be put into cryostasis so they’d be completely unaware of the six-month travel time, there would be humans traveling who wouldn’t be sleeping. Those people would include part of the crew to fly the ship. Though it was Athion technology, this blending of our societies meant it was important humans didn’t feel completely out of their depth and at the mercy of the Athions. They’d come across as decent beings so far, but no one wanted to feel totally out of control, including the women who would be traveling.
“Where’s Elodie?” I asked Aleandro.
The troubles upset the little girl who we’d found in Denver, alone and helpless.
“Mike’s taking care of her down in the canteen,” Aleandro said. “He was playing games with her, last I saw, and she seemed happy enough.”
I nodded. “Good. I’ll go down and check on them. What about Casey?”
“He was working on the ship, smoothing out some last-minute coordinates. He’s safe, Camille. Try not to worry. We’ve got it under control.”
“Thanks, Aleandro.” I gave him a smile of gratitude, but still my stomach churned with worry. We’d become more and more like a little family here at the Observatory. Me, with Aleandro, Mike, and Casey, and now we had Elodie to take care of, too. Even Irus and Leif had been brought into the fold—though Irus tended to hang out with us more, while Leif and my sister, Molly, definitely had a connection. I often caught them sitting close together, their arms and thighs touching, while he told her all about what life was like on Athion. A part of me was jealous, though I’d never say so out loud. I had a similar connection with Irus, but the guys, and in particular Mike, had made it perfectly clear that they weren’t comfortable bringing another male into our group. It wasn’t about jealousy—not really—they were worried it would only pull me closer toward wanting to leave Earth and travel to Athion. It was a valid concern. It was something I struggled with myself every day, and I was jealous of those who would get to go. I was a planetary scientist, after all. It would have been strange for me not to want to go—even without the threat of the Trads—but I loved the guys, and I didn’t want to leave them either.
“Are you coming?” I asked both Aleandro and Irus.
Aleandro shook his head. “No, I need to do a sweep of the building. Make sure everything is how it should be.”
“I’ll come,” Irus said, putting down the clipboard he’d been writing figures on. “I want to find Leif anyway.”
I knew it couldn’t be nice for the Athions to see this ugly side of humanity. They’d come here to help us, and instead of welcoming and thanking them, a small part of our society decided they weren’t wanted.
“You’d think the protesters would have more important things to deal with,” I said to Irus as we walked side by side, down toward the canteen. “You know, like rebuilding their homes and finding food and shelter.”
He shrugged his broad shoulders. “It’s a distraction from survival,” he said, level-headed, as always. “They’re frustrated and angry, and many of them will be in mourning for people they’ve already lost. They can’t see the Trads, but they know we’re here, so they direct their anger toward us instead.”
I reached out and squeezed his forearm. “Well, on behalf of those of us who can tell the difference between two alien races, I’m sorry you’re having to witness this.”
He gave me a half smile, lines creasing at the corners of his beautiful golden eyes, and my stomach flipped. “I’ve seen far worse in my travels.”
Irus had lived an extraordinary life so far—one I could barely even comprehend. As a member of the Custos, the Athions’ military unit, he’d traveled to multiple planets, helping to secure peace. Now they were on Earth, and I couldn’t help feeling like we were letting ourselves down.
The truth was that the Athions weren’t helping us for nothing. Just like the Trads, they wanted human women to repopulate their planet, but they weren’t taking us against our will, and that was a fundamental difference.
As we pushed open the door to the canteen, I wished the people outside, with their shouting and banners, could understand that.
Chapter Two
“Camille!” The little girl rushed up as soon as she spotted me and slammed into my legs as though we hadn’t seen each other for days instead of the few hours it had been since breakfast.
I’d never been pregnant and had little desire for a baby right now, but the five-year-old was my responsibility now. Her mother had died during the strikes, and she’d been left with no one, so I’d felt as though I had no choice but to take her under my wing. There was a chance a family member or even a friend of the family might turn up one day and demand they take her, but Elodie insisted she didn’t have anyone else.
Though she was still only small, I worried about her future. In thirteen years, when she became an adult, would we still be battling the Trads?
Of course, we also now had the option to go to Athion, if the initial mission went well, but how would they feel about taking children? It wasn’t something that had come up, and though both Irus and Leif loved Elodie, and always reiterated that children were precious and should be cherished, neither of them had mentioned Elodie going to Athion to live.
Perhaps the Athions only wanted women who would give them half Athion babies. They might not want to have to support a human child until she was an adult and ready to start a family of her own, which would be many years from now.
Yes, I worried for her future, but I also hoped that we were all taking steps to make Earth a safer place for all the little girls just like her.
“Hi, sweetie. How are you doing?”
“Good. Me and Mike have been playing hide and seek.”
“Have you now?” I cocked an eyebrow at Mike in amusement.
He gave a mock grimace and nodded to confirm they had.
“And who’s winning?” I asked.
“I am,” she said, shoving her hand into the air like she was trying to answer a question at school, “but I think Mike is letting me win.”
I shook my head. “No way. Mike always likes to win. If you’re winning, it’ll definitely be because you’re the best at it.”
She beamed, and I grinned over at Mike, who winked at me in return. My heart swelled with love for him. He might appear tough, with his tattoos, messy black hair, and the new addition of a scruff of stubble, but he was smart and gentle, and great in bed. He could be possessive, too, and overprotective, and while he never made me feel as though I wasn’t wanted, I did worry about those traits. But then I guessed I could be a little possessive at times, too, and that only made me look greedy, since I wanted all three of my men, and possibly even one more.
I pulled my attention from Mike and smiled back down at the little girl.
Things hadn’t been easy for Elodie since we’d found her. She was haunted by nightmares about the things she’d seen. Since we were all living and working at the Observatory now, we had to all bunk down together with roll-out mattresses on the floor, and we were
often woken by the sounds of her crying during the night.
This was her new world we were fighting for. She would probably only have the faintest memories of what life had been like before the Trads had attacked our planet. The threat to the women was still very much at the front of everyone’s mind. We’d gotten no further in trying to figure out a way to either locate the Trad ships, or pinpoint Trads from human men here on Earth. Women were warned constantly via the internet and television news programs to be wary around men they hadn’t known from before the strike. The warnings had been helping, but we were far from eradicating the abductions. The pheromones of the Trads did something to human women’s senses, and even though the same woman might have sworn blind that there was zero chance of her sleeping with some handsome stranger she barely knew, it seemed once that same woman was in the presence of a Trad, all that good sense went out the window.
I’d experienced that for myself during my encounters with Dean Lambert. I hadn’t seen or heard anything about Dean since my near abduction back at the research facility in D.C., and I could only assume he’d found some other poor unsuspecting woman to use as his breeder.
“I might need to steal Mike for a moment or two, though, sorry,” I said. “I hate to break up your game.”
I wanted to get Mike away from Elodie so I could inform him about the protesters outside, but I didn’t want her to overhear me. I exchanged a quick glance with Irus, and he nodded to show he understood.
“Elodie,” Irus said, “did I ever tell you about a game we play on Athion called Billabull?”
Her eyes widened. “No, I don’t think so.”
“It’s a bit like your American football, only much faster. Let me tell you about it.” He crooked a blue finger to gesture the little girl over, removing her from mine and Mike’s presence, giving us a moment to talk.
I lowered my voice. “We have an issue outside. Another group of protesters have made their way here from the city.”
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