by Renee Rose
“Is it?” he choked.
He’d gone vecking crazy not knowing. Wondering if he actually had a young growing inside his beautiful human right now. And the times he allowed himself to believe he did? The thrill had gone beyond any joy he’d known.
Lady Taramina hesitated for a split second, making his nerves go haywire. But all she snapped was, “What do you care?” before she sailed out of the chamber and let the door slide shut behind her.
Damn.
He made another hole in the wall.
He’d been a vecking idiot.
He needed to go and win his female back.
Whatever it took.
And Lady Tararmina was right—he didn’t care if the baby was his or not. It didn’t matter. He wanted Leti, regardless.
Leti sat in the kitchen with Bayla and the other human females, eating. Lamira appeared pale and tired. Her baby suckled her breast, one of his tiny hands wrapped around his own horn for self-soothing.
Her heart lurched at the precious sight.
Abruptly, Lamira dropped her spoon and stood up, eyes wide.
“What is it?” her mother asked sharply.
“I need to go to the crystal baths,” she said, already running. The rest of the women looked at one another for only a few seconds before they dropped their utensils and went running after her.
“Are you finished, then?” Chef Barr called after them.
No one answered. Lamira entered the crystal bath, thrusting her infant into her mother’s arms. “Wait here. I need quiet,” she said.
The rest of them stood in a clump in the corridor, silent. Fear shot up Leti’s throat, closing off her air.
Something bad had happened. Lamira had seen it.
Time inched by. It seemed like hours. No one moved. No one spoke.
Finally, Lamira emerged. She worked hard to swallow, accepting her fussing baby back without even looking at him. “Cambry and Lily, you’re the last hope. Master Seke’s troops were shot down in Zandia. Zander’s troops are under heavy attack above Zandia.
“But the crystals have shown me where to find Fluut.”
“You must find him. Take him out. Once he falls, the rest will concede.”
Cambry, the most warrior-like of all the females, tossed her long red tresses back over her shoulder. “Tell me how to find him.”
Paal stalked down the corridor looking for Leti. Not that he’d figured out what to say to her, yet.
She’d been sleeping in Lady Mina’s room, he thought, but no one answered his knock. As commander of the ship, he might have the ability to open locked doors and he might have used that privilege, only she truly wasn’t there.
He rounded the corner and found himself face to face with his mother and her new lover, Thon. For once, he felt nothing at being in his mother’s presence. Maybe it was Leti’s talk about flow, or maybe it was because his mother hardly seemed significant when he stood to lose his female forever.
“Have you seen Leticia? My female?” he blurted.
His mother stopped and looked around. “Well, no dear. Is something wrong?”
“Yes,” he muttered jogging past her.
“What is it, Paal?” his mother called to his back.
“I was an idiot and I may have lost her,” he said. He’d never been so honest with his mother about anything. One simply wasn’t with a parent who found so many things to nitpick. But he didn’t care what she thought. He didn’t care if she approved of his relationship or not. He wanted Leti—needed her—and nothing was going to get in his way of winning her back.
“Commander Paal, we need to get this pod to Zandia straight away,” Lily said, appearing breathless at the end of the hallway.
Except maybe this.
“What’s going on?”
“Lamira has seen that all the troops are in trouble. Our only hope of winning Zandia is to fly in and take out Fluut in his secret location, but the battleships aren’t made for long distances. We’ll need the pod to get us close enough.”
Vecking excrement.
He drew in a slow, measured breath. “Lady Lamira has seen this?”
“Yes.”
“And you know where this secret location for Fluut is?”
“Yes.”
Veck, veck, veck.
He’d made a promise to Zander to keep this pod safe. Flying it into the war zone was a direct violation of that order.
Yet not aiding the cause went against every cell in his warrior’s body.
Lily must have guessed his dilemma. “Just get us close enough. Cambry and I will fly in and take out Fluut and you can get the pod back to safety.”
Veck that. If he flew in that close, he’d be taking a battleship and going into Zandian airspace with them. Ronan could get the pod back to safety.
“All right,” he clipped. “Get onto the dock and board your ships. We’ll be warp speed in less than ten.”
Lily gave a decisive nod and took off running in the opposite direction as him.
On the flight deck, he voice commanded the pod engines on. “Set the course for Zandia.”
Instruments whirred to life, maps shifted and spun into place. “Warp speed to outer atmosphere.”
He gripped the counter for the lurch as the pod shot out of Aurelian airspace.
He was going home.
They may not make it out alive, but at least they would die trying.
9
Paal fastened his helmet. “As soon as we take off, you get the pod as far from that fighting as you can,” he instructed Ronan.
Once they’d arrived at the edge of Zandian airspace, the battle area became clear.
The galactacarrier was surrounded, defending itself against assaults from all sides.
Paal had to repeatedly remind himself of their mission, because the urge to try to save his fellow warriors nearly slew him. But Lamira had seen where Fluut lay in hiding and she saw that killing Fluut would end the war.
He couldn’t second guess his decision making now.
What he could and would obsess over was leaving without fixing things with Leti.
“Battleships cleared for takeoff,” Ronan said.
“Battleship One heading for Zandia,” Cambry said.
“Battleship Two heading for Zandia,” Lily said as soon as Cambry’s ship had disappeared out the docking gate.
He waited for Lily’s ship to disappear, then spoke into his comms unit. “Battleship Three heading for Zandia.”
“May the one true star of Zandia watch over you,” Ronan murmured the ancient benediction over the comms unit, sending chills racing along Paal’s skin as he sped toward his beautiful planet.
“Ronan.” He couldn’t stop himself.
“Yes, Commander?”
“If anything happens to me, I want you to tell Leticia, my female, that my only regret in life is not mending things with her before I left.”
Ronan didn’t answer.
“Ronan?”
“Tell her yourself when you get back,” the young warrior challenged.
“You heard the message. I want you to promise me you’ll see that she’s protected. She’s—” he swallowed back the tightness in his throat. “She’s carrying my young.”
Ronan cleared his throat. “Copy that, Commander. You have my vow on Zandian honor.”
“Thank you.”
He focused on the controls. As they entered the Zandian atmosphere, the battle near the capital became clear. Zandian battleships swarmed in the airspace above the—oh stars.
“I have a visual on a crashed Zandian ship,” Cambry reported. Their troops had suffered severe losses.
“I see it, too,” he answered. “Stay the course.”
Two fighter units swooped in behind them.
He flipped his craft upside down and fired, hitting his target. The enemy ship plummeted, smoking, to the ground. He kept firing, rotating back, but Cambry had already taken the other ship down.
“Nice shooting, Red.”
> “Not so bad yourself,” the human answered. “Now let’s get the hell away from here and find that mine. Cloaking up.”
“Cloaking engaged but I’m not sure it works,” Lily reported. “You’re still on my radar.”
“These ships are designed to see each other to prevent accidents. Let’s hope it hides us from their technology.”
They flew in a triangle formation and shot around the side of the planet to the largest crystal mine. There, Lamira said Fluut had taken residence, believing he was undetectable and protected by the Zandian crystal, the hardest substance in the galaxy.
Too bad for him the crystal itself had spoken to their princess.
He closed his eyes and sent a silent message to Leti. Wait for me, little female. I’m coming back and I’ll fix everything. I promise.
When they drew close to the mine, enemy ships appeared out of nowhere, firing on them. “Incoming from every side!”
“I see them. Still trying to line up to drop my bomb,” Lily said, but she was surrounded by three battleships.
“Abort and fly hard,” he warned, ducking and dodging his way around the ships crowding him, trying to keep Lily’s attackers in his sights.
Cambry was spinning and firing indiscriminately, which actually was a perfect tactic, as she took out two of their ships in the process.
And then she went down hard.
“Veck!” He dived for her, turning on his magnetic force to slow her careening fall. He caught her just before she hit, but his ship exploded in flames before they touched down.
Leti watched Lamira where she stood at the window of the Great Hall, staring out into the inky blackness around them. They’d removed the pod from Zandian airspace, moving in cloaking mode at a slow pace toward Aurelia.
From what she could tell, no being wanted to leave Zandia at all. Every heart had been linked to that planet, whether they were human or Zandian. Whether it was to a being fighting for Zandia’s freedom, or whether it was because Zandia was home.
For her part, the unrelenting jaws of fear had snapped down around her throat the moment she heard Paal had flown off on a suicide mission meant to save them all.
Without saying goodbye.
But why would he say goodbye? They had nothing to say to each other. She was done with him. She’d left, and with good reason. He would never trust her, would always believe she was a conniving pussy-trap like his mother.
Still, knowing he might never return changed everything. Every. Damn. Thing. So many thoughts ran through her head. Things she would like him to know before he died. That he’d been the only male to ever get a genuine response from her body. That his kindnesses to her were the only ones she’d ever known from a master. That she’d give anything to be in his arms whirling around the Great Hall one more time.
Tears smarted her eyes, but she blinked them back.
No. She wouldn’t cry for him yet. He still might make it back.
“What do you see?” Leora whispered to Lamira.
Lamira shook her head. “The outcome is still undetermined.”
“Is there nothing we can do to help?” Talia, Mina’s sister, asked.
“Not yet,” Lamira murmured. “Wait—perhaps. The ships above Zandia have nowhere to land when they’re out of fuel. If we signal them and let them know our location, we could become their base.”
“We’re a poor substitute for a galactacarrier,” Eslyn, another Zandian female observed.
“Yes, and it would put us in great danger. I don’t know if we can convince Ronan to take us there.” Lamira tapped her lips with her fingertips.
“Aren’t you the princess?” Leti had to ask. She didn’t know how things worked here, but there seemed to be a disconnect. “Wouldn’t he have to do what you command?”
She lifted her shoulders, uncertainty on her face. “I’m also human. And a female. And I have the sole heir to the royal line on board. He may feel his duty to Zander outweighs obeying me.”
“Well.” Leti stood. “Wouldn’t the first question be whether we can contact the battleships at all? Perhaps we should ask Ronan to try.”
The rest of the females must have been as anxious as she to do something, because they moved as one out of the Great Hall, heading to the flight deck to talk to Ronan.
Ronan appeared somewhat over his head. He was a young, affable warrior with an easy smile. He swallowed at the sight of seven females—three Zandian, four human—spilling into his territory. Lamira, Leora, Bayla, Eslyn, Talia, Mina and Leti crowded into the room.
Mina explained the situation when Lamira hesitated.
“So you want me to send out a communique? That would alert the Finn to our location and make us a target as well?” There was indecision on his face. Poor male was in a terrible position.
“Isn’t there some way to send out a coded message? Something our ships would understand but the Finn wouldn’t?” Leora asked.
“I know,” Talia said. The lovely Zandian was Mina’s sister, so Leti took an instant liking to her. “What if it’s not a message at all? We broadcast something for entertainment, like a hologram theater. And our troops will recognize our voices and understand.”
“That is so stupid it just might work.” Mina grinned at her younger sister who had also only recently found her way back to her species.
The females began to speak at once, throwing out their ideas for the theater performance, but Ronan reached out and touched Leti’s shoulder. “May I have a word with you?”
Oh hell.
Ronan was one of the three cousins she’d flirted with to anger Paal. She sure hoped he wasn’t hoping to get intimate with her now.
He led her out of the chamber and into the corridor. But the handsome young warrior appeared uncomfortable. He gripped his hands behind his back. The tips of his ears colored darker purple. “Paal begged me to give you a message if he didn’t return. If you wish to wait and hear it from him—”
“No,” she cut in, her heart suddenly galloping. “What did he say?”
Ronan cleared his throat. “He said to tell you his only regret in life was not mending things with you before he left. And he asked me to protect you and the unborn child at all costs.” Ronan bowed and backed away.
Tears smarted her eyes. “Thank you, Ronan. I’m glad you told me,” her voice choked.
She wanted to stay and help the other females, but her feet carried her away, running down the corridor to Paal’s chamber.
She opened the door and tumbled in, falling on the sleepdisk and breathing deep. Remembering his scent. His touch. The tremble-inducing things he’d done to her in that chamber.
Please come back, Paal.
I need you.
It was true. She could no longer pretend not caring about others was the safest way to go.
She cared. Hell, she loved Paal. And leaving him had been a mistake.
So he had to return safely.
Not just for the baby.
For her.
10
Paal threw himself out of the burning battleship and ripped open the door to Cambry’s ship. As soon as he saw she was alive and moving, he raced back to his craft. He needed to get the vecking bombs off the ship before they exploded in the flames.
If they had any hope of still taking down Fluut, they’d need the firepower.
“What are you doing?” Cambry screamed when he ducked back into the burning craft.
Another ship crashed into a hill just beyond them. “That’s Lily. Go get her,” he ordered. “I’ll meet you both there.”
Cambry pulled a laser gun from her waistbelt and nodded, taking off at run.
He ducked through the wreckage, holding his breath to keep from drawing in too much smoke.
In the belly of the craft lay the big weapons. The ones they’d hoped to bury Fluut with. He needed at least one of the bombs.
An explosion sounded nearby.
The weapons on Cambry’s ship. He didn’t have much time.
Eye
s smarting, lungs burning, he reached the armory and managed to pry loose a large torpedo bomb. Hefting it over his shoulder, he scrambled out.
Light and sound burst behind him, launching him into the air and throwing him several meters.
A high-pitched whine sounded in his ears.
His ship exploded. One more second’s delay and he’d have gone up with it.
He staggered to his feet and found the torpedo a few meters away. Once again, he balanced it on his shoulder and took off at a jog for the third burning craft.
When he arrived, he found Cambry and Lily dragging a torpedo between the two of them, away from the burning ship. Clever, capable females. Why had humans ever become a subjugated species? Clearly they were equal to his own.
“Well done,” he praised.
The females let it drop to the ground between them, panting. “What are we going to do with these?”
“I’m going to walk to that mine and drop them down the vecking hole.”
Lily giggled, a sort of hysterical sound.
A slow smile spread across Cambry’s face. “All right. Let’s do it.”
“I’ll go,” he said. “Alone. It’s a suicide mission.”
“Veck that,” Cambry said. “You can’t carry two bombs. We all go.”
He rubbed the soot from his forehead. “Fine. Let’s move.”
They wouldn’t hold through the night.
Zander’s pilots were exhausted. They’d been fighting all planet rotation against impossible odds. He still had no contact from Seke or any being from the other troop.
He’d been inching—literally inching—the galactacarrier toward Zandia during the battle. If Seke’s pilots were out there fighting, they might use the carrier as a resource if he could get close enough. That, and he wanted to be within the atmosphere if they went down.
