Rise

by May Sage

  “Believe me, the best way to help them is to get out of here and report what’s happened.”

  There were millions of ships travelling everyday; accidents occurred, and given the fact that they hadn’t been able to send a distress signal, that incident would be treated as such if no one made it out alive.

  “But…”

  Fuck.

  “Tania, I can’t risk it. I can’t risk you.”

  She couldn’t think of what her loss might mean to her family.

  “Why! I’m just…”

  “You’re not just anything.” That girl’s humility was frustrating at best. “I’ll get you out of here. Then, I’ll roam the entire galaxy to find your friends, with an entire battalion, ok? I give you my word.”

  Tania looked at her for what felt like an eternity before nodding, and getting inside the speeder.

  That’s when the door opened in front of an armed squad dressed in black from head to toes, faces hidden under masks. They were armed with stunner guns and Xian had nothing, completely unprepared for the first time in her life.

  Fuck.

  They were at the end of the corridor. That gave her twenty seconds.

  “Say your name!”

  “Wh… Tania. Tania Webber.”

  “System, this is operator. Transfer leadership to Tania Webber. Log. To Magneo, first hangar. Full protection active. Log.”

  “Control logged. Transfer completed.”

  Then, she pushed the girl inside the speeder, locked her in and expulsed it from the ship.

  Calden

  Lena was pissed, and he couldn’t blame her. She knew he was hiding something; of course she’d noticed. Telling her before he informed Jaycn hadn’t seemed fair, though… and he hadn’t said anything to Jaycn because he recalled how he’d felt about it all, before meeting Lena. Anxious. Actually, petrified.

  He could imagine how the conversation would go. So, I’ve found your mate. Her ship is currently four days late, and impossible to locate, though.

  He looked at the schedule again, pondering where he’d failed to send scouts, but he’d had dozens of vessels searching the entire itinerary – there hadn’t been any signs of a crash, either.

  He really didn’t know what to think. Calden had purposefully left the details about the cargo out of the logs; as far as the crew was concerned, they were just chartering a handful of breeders to their new home – hardly something worth high-jacking… but the more he thought of it, the more likely that possibility became. Pirates had annexed them.

  Shit. What was he going to say to Jaycn?

  “What the fuck is wrong with you!” Lena finally explode. “I’ve asked you a question, Cain Adelei Leyn Dein. Three times!”

  Shit. Forcing himself to stop looking at the arrival logs of the first hangar, he turned to Lena and tried a grimace he hoped might pass as a smile.

  “Sorry, I’m…” Preoccupied would make her burst his balls, so he skirted around the truth. “There’s a surprise for Jaycn coming. A thanks, for his unwavering support, if you will. It’s late.”

  She mellowed a bit; she cared about Jaycn – more than she cared about him.

  To be entirely sincere, that might be the actual reason behind his anxiety to get his cousin’s mate there, pronto. He wanted his mate’s attention to himself. Right now, he was sharing scraps. She gave him physical contacts – delightful physical contacts – but her laughter, her jokes, her intimacy belonged to his cousin.

  Calden knew it was his fault; he’d been the one who’d pushed her away for years, but he wanted to fix it. There was nothing wrong with Jaycn and Lena being friends. But they weren’t. They loved each other, while he wasn’t even sure Lena loved him.

  “Oh. Ok, then. You could have just said…”

  Something made him turn back towards his surveillance screen.

  The first hangar was solely accessible to authorized ships – and right now, the only one with the access codes was supposed to be the Vergon, carrying Jaycn’s mate and Xian – yet a small speeder gave the right codes, before landing clumsily in the middle of the empty room.

  Calden frowned at the state of the machine. It was overheating so badly there was smoke around it, and dark marks on the shell revealed that it had been hit – quite a few times.

  “Shit.”

  He ran out, before turning to Lena, who was looking at him as though he’d lost his mind.

  “Come with me?”

  It was probably a lot to ask, considering the fact that he hadn’t given her any inkling as to what could possibly be going on, but she didn’t hesitate, jogging next to him.

  “All doors and windows closed. Oxygen up,” he ordered out loud; he wasn’t nearly as good with his microchip as Lena, and right now, trying to concentrate enough to give commands telepathically wasn’t working.

  Turning to his Empress, he gave up secrecy, finally coming clean: “We’ve found Jaycn’s mate, the same way I found you.”

  He read shock on her features, as well as something he preferred not to interpret. Was she jealous? Fuck. Now he knew just why he’d delayed telling her.

  “She was supposed to arrive in a vessel days ago; now all we have is that speeder. Something went wrong.”

  “Does he know?”

  “No.”

  Thankfully. Jaycn would probably have lost his mind if he had. Imagining that it was Lena, that her ship hadn’t made it, and that the only thing in the hangar was a speeder visibly attacked, he felt an untold rage.

  Whoever was responsible for this, they would pay.

  “Shit. What if she…”

  “Xian was with her. Jaycn’s sister,” he reminded her, catching her frown. “She’s as kick ass as you. I’m sure they’ve made it out.” He had to believe they had. “They probably are in that speeder…”

  Hurrying to the shuttle, they jumped and stayed silent until they’d made it to the hangar.

  He could tell that Lena was pissed; not only at the situation. At him.

  “Why haven’t you told me?”

  Because I knew you’d hate it. Because I know you want to keep Jaycn to yourself.

  None of that crossed his lips.

  “It was Jaycn’s prerogative to be informed first.”

  “Fuck it, Calden. You knew first.”

  He just shrugged, delighted when they arrived.

  “Sir, Ma’am,” an attendant said, bowing stiffly. “There’s a situation in there. We’re currently scanning for threat and…”

  “Override all clearance. We’re aware of the situation. Let them open the door.”

  Reluctantly, the officer relented, calling his men back. The door stayed resolvedly closed, though.

  What was the matter?

  “Override ship controls and open those damn doors,” he growled.

  They had to push the panel manually, but eventually, they’d opened them.

  Calden breathed out in relief when he saw the small girl shivering on her knees. She was terrified, but she was alive and unarmed.

  Tania Webber was the opposite of Lena – which should have been amusing in other circumstances, because Lena was definitely Jaycn’s type.

  The girl was tiny, and visibly hesitant; Lena always knew her place was at the top of the world. Physically, they didn’t share one feature. Her skin was as dark as Lena’s was fair, her hair, raven black, to his mate’s fiery red.

  He approached slowly, trying his best not to frighten her more than she already was.

  “Tania?” he asked, praying that it was her, rather than one of the breeders. “My name is Calden. Are you Tania Webber?”

  “You’re the Emperor? Xian’s cousin?” she tried, slowly, and he smiled.

  “Yes. You’re safe here. Come on.”

  She struggled to get to her feet, so he bent down to carry her out.

  Twenty-One

  Ignored

  Lena

  Something awful had happened to the girl. She was supposed to feel sorry for her. She wasn�
�t supposed to want to rip her throat out because Calden was so sweet and caring with her, or because he’d kept her a secret.

  But flash news: Lena wasn’t a freaking saint. She glared at the girl, after reluctantly informing Chip that despite her frame of mind, blowing her up with laser guns wasn’t necessary.

  Very mature, Chip approved, without more than an ounce of sarcasm.

  “So, what happened?”

  “Lena, we should let the girl rest,” Calden scowled her.

  Her eyes lifted from the curvy, small, fragile girl who possessed every feminine grace she lacked, and settled on Calden.

  She knew she wasn’t inventing it: he’d never seemed so warm, caring towards her.

  Fuck that shit.

  Before saying something she might end up regretting, she lifted her hands up in show of surrender, and turned her heels, heading out of the room.

  She bumped into Jaycn who’d just made it at the door; he was smiling, but one look at her changed that.

  “Hey, what’s up?” he asked softly.

  Lena just shook her head. None of what was happening was his fault, but the last thing she wanted to do was to talk to him about it.

  He turned to the room, and took in the scene. Calden was still sitting on the girl’s bedsides table, and speaking to her so gently they couldn’t hear.

  Jaycn’s eyes narrowed, and as though he’d felt it, Calden looked up. His smile diminished considerably. Of course, he wasn’t happy to see Jaycn: that pretty girl belonged to him.

  Oh hell, no. I’m not gonna cry.

  Jaycn breathed in deep, as if to control himself, and forced a grin.

  “Wanna get out of there?”

  “Do I ever.”

  She heard Calden calling her name, and saying something about yet another official function they were meant to attend.

  Fuck him. He could take his little doll, for all she cared.

  Tania

  It took her a while to realize what was happening around her. At first, Tania was too shell-shocked to see anything, but eventually, she caught the atmosphere.

  Fuck.

  The Empress, just as Xian had mentioned, seemed strong, powerful, and painfully beautiful, too.

  She also hated her guts, with a vengeance, and Tania wasn’t blind, so she even understood why.

  The Emperor was being nice; just as nice as Xian. But yeah, admittedly, she would also have freaked if her boyfriend – or husband – has treated another girl like that.

  He seemed confused. He’d noted his woman’s hostility, but he couldn’t place it.

  It looked like men – aliens or not – were as stupid as romance novels had warned her they were.

  Tania bit her lip, while trying to find a way to express the whole stop being nice, your wife might murder me thing in a polite way.

  To be frank, she had other priorities right now. Like, for example, managing to breathe. She’d completely failed to do so normally for the last minute, since that other guy had stood on the door frame, looked down at her and frowned.

  Tania had drooled over her fair share of pictures of Klints, when she’d daydreamed of becoming a breeder; they were all fit and attractive, like anyone less than perfect had been hidden away. From what she’d read, it was a genetic thing – most of them had been conceived in vitro, and were genetically enhanced.

  Calden was the ideal example: perfectly balanced, symmetric features, golden eyes, and wavy, dark blue hair cropped short, she couldn’t pinpoint one part of him that wasn’t faultless.

  The stranger who’d glared at her was the opposite. He needed a shave, and a haircut, too. His hair was black, with just a hint of copper reflecting in the light. He held himself casually, resting on the doorframe.

  But the laid-back demeanor just made him that little bit more panty melting. Like, seriously, her lady bits were all ready to roll with one little smile directed towards someone else. She was startled, because he was the first man who affected her that way, but mostly, Tania was too busy fantasying about running her fingers through his hair to care about the fact that she was acting completely out of character.

  Considering the quick, but nonetheless murderous glare he sent her, though, that wasn’t happening.

  He’d left with the Empress, putting an arm around her shoulders; now, Calden was the one who looked like he was considering murder.

  Shit. What had she stepped into?

  “So,” she said casually, “was that me, or was that really that uncomfortable?”

  The Emperor sighed, before turning to her.

  “Don’t concern yourself with either of them yet. They’ll welcome you with open arms, in time.”

  Yeah, couldn’t she just see that. Not.

  “Rest, for now.”

  She shook her head; the Empress had been right. Now she’d managed to stop shaking, she needed to speak up, tell them what had occurred, so they could send someone after Xian, and the girls.

  She did just that, trying to inject as many details as she could recall.

  Calden

  He’d called them both for over half an hour. His microchip could access theirs, yet he didn’t get anything but silence.

  What the hell were they doing? Together. And alone.

  Finally, recalling that Lena wasn’t actually ever by herself, he got their location through Serran, the bulky guard who always was somewhere in the background.

  We are in the training room, sir.

  He found them there, with Alek. They were at different stations, each of them kicking poor, unsuspecting training robots.

  Calden let out a long breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding; but now, his concern was replaced by a white hot fury.

  “I see you’re all alive. Fully functional. And wearing your communicators, too.”

  He didn’t raise his voice, but his tone had never been as sharp, forbidding.

  “Then you wouldn’t mind explaining why neither of you felt that answering your Emperor was necessary.”

  Lena stared a him while he spoke, before chuckling humorlessly, and turning her back on him, resuming her work out.

  Fine. He’d deal with her later. He looked at Jaycn, who seemed just as angry as him.

  Whether Jaycn had thought to spare Lena or Alek, the answer to his rant came directly through his mind, shocking the hell out of him.

  No problem. Just as soon as you explain in what circumstances it’s acceptable to eye fuck a whore in front of your mate.

  Calden took a step back, as though he’d been punched unexpectedly. He hadn’t anticipated that answer, not even a little bit, because it was plain ludicrous.

  His eyes went back to Lena, who was punching the metallic adversary covered in soft flesh-like padding, so hard she was doubtlessly harming her hands.

  Surely, she didn’t believe that? She knew who that girl was – Jaycn’s mate.

  If her next moves – ten punches, followed by a jumping axe kick – were any indications, she did.

  How could she be so stupid? He didn’t see anyone, anything but her. He hadn’t since the first time he’d met her!

  “I was hoping to bring to your attention that your sister is currently missing, presumed either dead or kidnapped,” he replied coolly, enjoying the way Jaycn flinched. “Along with half a dozen human breeders. That’s what Tania Webber has managed to escape. Excuse me if I thought it necessary to show her a degree of kindness.”

  It was perhaps immature, but he turned his heels and went on his way, leaving them both behind, unless they chose to follow.

  Neither did, but after a few steps, he turned to see Alek trailing him.

  Shit. He hadn’t thought about what his son would make of that speech.

  Alek look stricken, although he’d never met Xian.

  “Hey,” Calden managed to push past his anger and bend towards his son. “Don’t listen to me. I’m sure they are fine. We’re going to go get them.”

  The boy nodded, but his expression didn’t lighten
; there were unshed tears in his eyes.

  “What’s the matter, little Wild Prince?” he asked, using the nickname the populace had given him; Calden knew Alek loved it.

  “Is mama going to go away?”

  Calden’s heart stopped. Shit.

  “Did she say anything about going away?”

  Alek shook his head, and his vital organs restarted.

  “But she isn’t happy. I saw her cry. Uncle Jaycn said she needed to give it time, that it was going to be better. How much time? Will she go back to Earth if she doesn’t feel better?”

  The child was enunciating every concern crossing his mind right now, and reminding him just how fragile his relationship with Lena really was.

  Of course, she could believe he favored other females. He’d done that to himself – to both of them – by ignoring her for close to a decade. And while she’d done what she’d needed to ensure that his world accepted her, what had they done, to make her want to stay? What had he done, to show her what she meant to him?

  Nothing, on both scores.

  “Lena’s not going anywhere, little boy. She’ll stay right here, with us, where she belongs. I’ll make sure of that.”

  Somehow.

  Twenty-Two

  Captive

  Willow

  She’d heard the others cry, but she didn’t give them the satisfaction, biting back her tears, holding her screams.

  She knew what was coming. The noises around her had been quite explicit. It would be her turn, soon.

  Willow looked back to her life and almost laughed derisively. It was so typical of her. She always made wrong decisions.

  She’d decided to meet her crush when he’d asked to see her after curfew, and that had earned her exactly what her father had always promised: she’d been thrown out. Whore, he’d called her. And no preacher wanted a whore for a daughter.

  The acceptance into the college of her choosing meant nothing now she couldn’t pay for tuition. Instead, she’d gone to get a job, and live in the slums, bunking with disgusting pigs. She’d been pretty sure that the lock on her door wouldn’t have kept them out much longer at night, so when she’d been told that she’d made the cut into the breeding program, she’d truly believed that she was saved.