He laughed, grabbed the necklace, examined it and nodded.
Curiously she asked, "What would you have done if I couldn't pay your price?"
"Nothing, lady. But, I figure anyone who comes out here won't need the credits anymore and I do." He laughed and waved at her as she shut the door and turned towards the white stone building.
She approached the doors. They opened to let her enter the reception room that held hundreds of women. The women in the back, closest to her, glanced at her, gave her the once over and turned away. Catching a reflection of herself in the glass wall she snorted. In the ugly wig and heavy makeup she was no prize that was for sure. She made her way to the right side of the room and stopped by a large potted tree that stood next to a closed door. Beyond that barrier was a hallway that led directly to the changing rooms and her ticket to freedom. All she had to do was get through it.
The women around her moved toward the other end of the room where a row of scanners were lined up. One by one they stepped through them and disappeared into the next room. Most of the women never returned but a few would appear again escorted by a stony-faced warrior. They'd be marched out to a waiting shuttle and Daria figured they'd been rejected and would be given a ride back to the city. Her reporter's curiosity rose and she fought the urge to run out to the shuttle and ask the women what had happened. The door opening next to her saved her.
Several warriors came through it. She waited until they moved away then scurried around the tree, saw that the corridor was empty and slipped into it. At the end of the hallway she went left toward the changing rooms. She slipped inside.
Mirrors and sinks lined the walls on either side of her and dozens of showers were placed along the back of the room. She ignored looking at the women in the room and moved to the far shower, stripped then shoved her clothes into a container that was marked as a disposal unit. After adjusting the temperature of the water she stepped into the shower and scrubbed her skin but avoided smearing her make-up. The temptation to remove the wig and wash her hair nearly overwhelmed her but she resisted it and decided to leave the wig on until she was on the starship.
There was a line of women waiting to use the shower so she stepped out, dried herself, and pulled on one of the Zarronian gowns. A glance in the mirror had her groaning. The dress was skintight and outlined every inch of her curves. It clung to her breasts and stretched across her hips and belly before it ended at her knees. The material was silky and thin, but thankfully not transparent. Accepting the situation she moved into the next room and used one of the brushes to smooth her hair.
"Didn't you hear what the man said? No make-up allowed," the dark brunette next to her said.
"Uh, no, I guess I didn't hear that part. Are you sure?" Rats, she thought to herself, without the make-up she might be recognized.
"I'm sure. You better wash it off. They said anyone who didn't want to comply wouldn't be allowed to transfer to the starship."
Cursing beneath her breath, Daria leaned over the sink and began removing the thick layer of cosmetics. She had to wash twice before it all came off. Standing, she patted her face dry, and looked at herself. She was back. Drats!
"I don't know why you wear all that stuff on your face. You don't need it," the brunette told her, smiling.
Daria nodded and moved away. It wouldn't do to get too friendly with anyone. When she disappeared they might start asking about her.
She wandered toward a group of women who waited to be escorted to the transfer rooms. Leaning against the wall, she closed her eyes and thought about sleep. When she made it to one of the Ambassadors' quarters she was going to sleep for twenty-four hours. Maybe longer. A hand shaking her shoulder brought her back to awareness. She opened her eyes and saw a small brunette smiling at her.
"It's time to go," she said with a smile.
"Oh, thank you." Daria followed the others out the door and down the corridor to a transfer room. She and five other women stepped onto the transfer plates. For a moment, she felt dizzy and disoriented, then the feeling faded as she rematerialized on the starship. She stumbled as she left the transfer plate and a huge warrior reached out and caught her. She smiled at him and he held her until she was steady on her feet before releasing her. His eyes slid slowly down her body then back up, and he grinned. She frowned at him. Men!
"You have beautiful eyes, female." He ran his knuckles over her cheek and smiled. "The same shade as the wolfens' on Zarronia."
A shiver of feminine awareness slid along her spine as he spoke and her mind went blank. The Zarronians were unbelievable. They had everything. Great bodies, gorgeous faces, and a level of sensuality that was nearly impossible to resist. To top it all off when they looked at a woman every ounce of their attention focused on her. She shivered again and forced herself to resist the need to rub herself against him and moan with pleasure.
"You're not so bad yourself, sweetie-pie." She smiled and stepped back when the warrior stepped toward her. Even as a child, people gave her startled looks the first time they heard the whiskey-smooth, low tones she'd inherited from her mother. Grinning, she swung around and moved away in a hip swinging saunter. Too bad this was the only time she'd get to flirt with one of these huge warriors. She'd made it her number one rule to avoid them after her tour of the spaceship. Something about them made her want to throw caution to the wind and get naked and dirty with one of them. A reaction that puzzled her as she'd sworn off men in favor of her career a long time ago. She glanced back at the warrior, saw him watching her walk away, and hurried to catch up to the other women.
In the corridor another Zarronian warrior told them to follow him. She moved to the end of the line and trailed behind. When they reached a place where two corridors intersected, she stepped into the other corridor and hurried away, holding her breath and praying she wouldn't run into anyone.
Four corridors later she came to what appeared to be a dead end. She waved her hand over a small dot on the wall and two hidden doors slid open revealing an elevator. She entered it and repeated the words Madami Valan had spoken and felt her empty stomach jolt as the elevator began to move. Crossing her fingers, she hoped when the doors opened the corridor would be empty. Her luck held and she left the elevator, scanning the nameplates on the doors she passed. The first one said 'Commander Valanson'. Frightened it would open and she'd be caught she hurried by it, tripped and bumped into the wall, making a loud thumping noise.
She caught her balance and ran to the next door. The nameplate was blank. She ran her hand over the mechanism and slipped through the doors before they opened completely. The interior was luxuriously appointed and appeared vacant. Several deep couches in a smooth emerald leather sat around the room with strategically placed tables. A deep ivory carpet covered the living room ending at the kitchen area where the flooring changed to a light colored wood.
She moved through the quarters and checked out the two bedrooms. In both of them she opened the closet doors and breathed a sigh of relief when she found them empty. Gleefully, she pulled the blond wig from her head, tossed it to the floor of the closet then shook her head and combed her fingers through the long strands.
Her stomach growled reminding her it was several days since she'd eaten. In the kitchen area, she studied the food processor, remembered what Madami Valan had shown her and began pushing buttons. A few seconds later, the door opened and a tray slid out. Standing at the counter she tasted the food and rolled her eyes in ecstasy as the unfamiliar flavors filled her mouth. She cleaned every crumb from the tray then placed it in the disposal unit.
Feeling better she showered, washed her hair, and towel dried it before she dropped onto the nearest bed. Her last thought before sleep took her was I made it.
# # #
"Commander Valanson, your sons are summoning you," the communications officer, Hugh Angusson, said as he swiveled around from his duty station.
Thorn Valanson frowned at the interruption then stalked to his chair on the brid
ge of his starship, the Invincible. His parents had forced him to bring his sons, Dane and Dev, on this journey. The boys were five and harder to handle than a wet wolfen. Working together, they were slowly, but surely, destroying his command—just as their mother, Naline, had destroyed his life. Earlier, after finding them in engineering, where he'd specifically forbidden them to explore, he'd confined them to his quarters.
He and his sons were strangers. After their birth and naming ceremony, he'd taken them to his parents then he'd left Zarronia on a three annual journey to explore the Almar Galaxy. One moon phase after he began his voyage, their mother had been executed for her crime of treason against the Zarronians. The news of her death had been a relief as it had freed him from their mating, and he'd sworn to never again trust a female or risk his heart.
He and his twin brother, Soren, had grown up with Naline even though she'd been a couple annuals older than them. She'd been Wrothian and the adopted daughter of their father's friend, Hugh Elofson. She'd been ravishingly beautiful but it had been a disguise that hid the treachery in her dark soul. After accepting him, she'd used his family's position and wealth to gather information and purchase weapons for their enemy, the Wrothians.
As bad as her betrayal had been for him, it paled in comparison to the concerns it had raised for his people. The knowledge he'd impregnated her without a true bonding taking place had every scientist on the planet scrambling for an answer. They first discovered that the mixing of the Zarronian and Wrothian DNA had changed them and there were now levels of mating with the Earth females.
The first four levels depended on the female’s DNA. At level one, a female could relieve a warrior's fever but she couldn’t bond with him or conceive. This was a female only a warrior on the verge of death would choose as fatherhood was coveted by every warrior. A level two female could relieve a warrior's fever and carry his sons but they did not bond. A level three female could share a warrior's fever, carry his children and bond with him but the bond was nearly non-existent. The mates could be away from each other and the fever could be controlled with ZL3 and meditation. Level four females were the most coveted as they were comparable to the old bonding between Zarronian warriors and females. The female could take a warrior's fever, bond with him and have his children. They needed to be together and could only be away from each other for one to two moon phases.
Level fives depended on the warrior's and the female's DNA. It occurred when a warrior with the right DNA, Thorn’s DNA in fact, met a level five female. This is what the scientists called a True Mate. The female triggered an intense mating response in the warrior and the bonding was so strong the mates were unable to be without each other for more than two cycles. There were three level five bonded couples on Zarronia.
Level six was the only ranking based solely on a warrior's DNA and it was a death sentence. The warrior could relieve his fever only with a level six female but one had never been found. Rumor had it there was at least one level six warrior on Zarronia.
Thorn was thankful Naline had been a level two and had relieved him of the worst of the fever. The symptoms he suffered now were manageable and with any luck at all he'd never meet a level five female. His True Mate.
He pushed the dark thoughts away, activated the communicator and sighed when Dane answered. Dane was the leader and anything he did, Dev did, as well.
"Father?" Dane's young voice sounded frightened and unsure.
"Yes, Dane."
"Father, we heard someone in the corridor. You said we were the only ones on this level." His voice was accusing.
"Our quarters are the only ones occupied, Dane" he said, impatiently. "It was probably a maintenance worker."
"Oh. Are you returning soon?" he asked.
The question was asked too casually and he knew they were up to another one of their tricks. For a fleeting moment, he regretted the time he'd missed with his sons. He hadn't been present when they'd learned to walk or talk. For the last two annuals, he'd visited them only when his father forced him to do so. "Dane, I want you and Dev to begin preparing lunch. I'll be there in five micro-units."
"Alright, Father." Dane spoke then deactivated the communicator abruptly
His parents wanted him to find a mate and provide a mother for his sons. He wasn't willing to do that but he wasn't sure what else he could do. He could hire someone to take care of them but even Soren had harassed him about doing something like that. The last time he'd seen his brother they'd gone to the gymnasium for a friendly training session that had turned into a battle. Soren had badgered him about his indifference towards Dane and Dev. He'd ignored him until he'd taken a swing at him and even then he'd ducked the punch and tried to walk away. Soren hadn't let him and it had ended with both of them lying on the floor, exhausted, bloody, and him admitting that he'd messed up where his sons were concerned.
Thorn pulled his attention back to the present and motioned for his first-in-command, Dag Cameronson, to join him.
"Those two still giving you hell, Thorn?" Dag asked.
Thorn nodded. "They're worse now than when the journey began." Thorn realized Dag knew his sons better than he did as he was one of their mentors. He'd also stood by him when Naline was caught and he'd had been accused of conspiring with her. At first, he'd refused to accept her betrayal. Only after he'd been proven innocent, and she'd been proven guilty, had he accepted the truth and begun to hate her.
"Your sons remind me of you and Soren at that age," Dag said. "The two of you were constantly getting me into trouble."
One of Thorn's rare grins appeared on his face. "Not me, old friend. That was Soren."
Dag chuckled. It was an old joke between them. The brothers were both almost seven feet tall and massively built, with black hair and identical faces. Only their eyes were different. Thorn's eyes were a light grey while Soren's were the aqua color of their mother.
"They're only five. You can't expect them to obey your orders like the warriors do."
"I won't allow them to ignore my orders either." Rising, Thorn turned the bridge over to Dag and stalked away.
He ignored the warriors he passed as he strode to his quarters. Upon his arrival, two identical faces turned to stare at him as he entered and sat down at the table. A glass of stinkgoat milk sat next to a food tray piled high with stinkgoat cheese. He detested the food they'd chosen for him and they knew it.
"Don't you like the food, Father?" Dane asked, as Dev leaned forward, eagerly awaiting his response.
"No. You must have gotten me confused with your Uncle Soren. He's the one who likes milk and cheese." He kept his voice calm, puzzled when they frowned in disappointment as they silently communicated, What had they expected him to do? Throw them in the brig and torture them?
Sighing, he prepared another tray and the three of them ate in silence until Dev mentioned the noise they'd heard in the corridor.
"What kind of noise was it?"
"A big thump. Like someone hit the wall." Dev's grey eyes widened with excitement as his overlong black hair fell into his eyes.
Absently, Thorn reached over and brushed the unruly lock of hair away. Dev always looked excited and disheveled while Dane always appeared calm and well-groomed. Thorn looked into Dev's grey eyes then looked into an identical pair of grey eyes. Until that moment it never occurred to him his sons were smaller versions of himself. In the past they'd only been a painful reminder of Naline's treachery. He watched them for a moment then asked, "What did you hear, Dane?"
Dane looked him square in the eyes. "The same sound Dev heard. It was a thump, as if someone fell against the wall. When I looked the corridor was empty."
"I'll check into it. Alright?" They both nodded. "Now, before I return to the bridge, I want to see the lessons you were assigned this morning."
While they retrieved their tablets he cleared the table then checked the work their teacher had assigned them earlier. Only a few of the answers were incorrect. He helped Dane correct a math problem t
hen gave them each several more problems to solve. Before he left, he reminded them they were confined to their quarters.
As soon as he arrived on the bridge Dag informed him that all of the Earth females had been transferred aboard and escorted to their quarters.
"Good. I'll take command, now." He lowered himself into his chair and studied the chart his navigator, Ronin Hughson, handed him. He made a minor adjustment, then returned them to him. "Have the trade goods been transferred to the ship?"
"Yes, Commander."
Thorn nodded at his new security officer, Jarek Aulunson. The younger warrior was eager to please and ambitious. "Dag, inform the docking station we're ready to disengage."
Dag activated his communicator. "We're cleared to depart, Commander."
"Disengage." Thorn turned to Dag while the navigator and the pilot began the process. "I want to see how the new engines perform if we push them a little. Tell engineering to monitor them closely."
"Alright, Commander." Dag carried out the order, then took the vacant seat next to him.
Thorn slouched in his seat and allowed himself to brood. Lunch with his sons brought back a lot of bad memories. The Zarronians had known a group of Wrothians were trying to regain control of the planet Zhang and release the Wrothian warriors imprisoned there. Those warriors were incarcerated for their war crimes against not only the Zarronians, but against the other inhabitants of the Xenti Galaxy. Over the annuals, many of them had been rehabilitated and freed. Only those warriors who refused to change had been left on the dark side of Zhang. Naline's father had been one of them and he'd managed to contact her and she'd willingly helped him. When she'd been caught, she smugly confessed to treason. He'd tried to resign his commission, but the Council refused to accept it. Instead, they'd given him command of his father's starship, the Invincible.
Thorn's Bondmate (Zarronian Warriors Book 2) Page 2
