Living among the Stars (Sky Riders #2)

by Rebecca Lorino Pond

  Upon entering his rooms, he made sure he locked the door. He didn’t want unexpected interruptions. He went to his office to retrieve the tablet he had stored all the files on then returned to the common room. Sitting wearily on the large over-stuffed chair he had requested, he booted up the tablet and began to read the information again.

  Ruehar had a made a critical error when he first contacted the planet. While the numerous transports that left Earth were sent to planets that the Earth officials knew about, Ruehar chose to keep is identity quiet. It might be hard for Zol’tsa to convince the people he needed to come with him. His best bet would be to offer huge rewards for those daring to board his transport.

  He flipped through the files scanning the information when he came across something he had missed. Penal institutions. If all else failed, he could approach the Earth official with an offer to take some of their criminals off their hands. It might be even better that way since the officials probably wouldn’t care if the criminals lived or not.

  “That just might work,” he said out loud. He tapped on the tablet to bring up the information on how many penal institutions Earth had. From the last information, Ruehar received there were over five hundred institutions within a place called the United States alone.

  He pressed his comlink. “When we reach Earth I want the ship directed to a place called the United States. I will put the coordinates into the computer mainframe.”

  “Yes sir.”

  He leaned back with his hands behind his head and looked up at the ceiling. A grin slowly curved his lips as he thought about what lay ahead. His hopes of getting enough people shouldn’t be a problem now. Of course, he still would offer the chance to others who wanted to go freely with him. Now, he just needed to find the strongest among these criminals and those who would be willing to follow his command. Everything so far was going as planned and soon he would have everything he ever wanted, including the Earth bitch called Kelly.

  Chapter 8

  The shuttle carrying him and Kelly up to his ship docked without incident. A full crew had already transferred up to the ship and were busy preparing the ship for departure. He hadn’t announced where they were headed yet but as soon as they were under way he would make an announcement over the intercom system.

  Stepping off the shuttle, he guided his mate through the docking bay where all eyes turned to them. Most of his crew didn’t know about Kelly yet. They would all know who she was by the time they exited the docking bay because of her scent.

  When he had claimed her the night before he marked her with his scent so that no one would make the mistake of thinking, she wasn’t mated. One particular group of workers stared a little too long at Kelly, which elicited a loud growl from him. The workers immediately resumed what them were doing and never looked back at them.

  “Why is everyone staring at me?” Kelly asked in a hushed tone.

  “They are curious to know who you are. It won’t take them long to figure it out and no one will both you.” His hand rested on her back as he guided her down the corridor and to the lift system. “Our quarters are located on level eight.”

  “How many levels are there?”

  They stepped into the lift and waited for the door to slide shut again. “Just six. My quarters…our quarters and my second in command’s quarters are located on that level. There are nine levels total with the bridge of the ship being at the top of the ship on level nine.”

  He stared down at the little human female who was his true life mate. He never thought in all his years he would find the one who was meant for him. His search for his true life mate was never really an active search. He left it up to the gods and goddesses to lead him to her. This tiny creature standing next to him was a pure wonder in his eyes. For something so small, she had a very big bite. It was one of her qualities he pleased to discover, though not at first. She proved herself when she and her friends had taken control of the shuttle Zol’tsa had stolen along with them in it. He feared now that the escaped captain would be out for revenge against his mate. Unfortunately, when he had sent men out to search for the man, he had done a good job of hiding himself. Someone or some group were assisting and aiding the escaped prisoner.

  The lift’s door opened to reveal a short corridor with only two doors on each side. He walked to the one on the right, pressed his hand to the sensor pad and waited for it to turn green.

  “I’ll have to program your hand to open the door so that you will be able to get in when I am not with you.” He let her enter first when the door slid open.

  “What about Serelath and Parath?”

  The two dragons were being brought aboard the ship as they spoke. Serelath would have to explain to Parath the rules of the ship since she was new to it all. He still couldn’t get over the fact that his mate had a dragon! He hadn’t informed his brothers yet but knew he needed to do that soon. After he had Kelly settled in their quarters, he would make the call to his brothers and inform them that he had left Qetera.

  “How long are we going to be gone?” Kelly slowly walked around the room studying everything.

  His quarters weren’t the biggest a starship could offer, but it was one of the ones with the best view. With his quarters being one level down from the bridge, visitors in his room would have an excellent view of the stars and planets as they zoomed by because the view was unobstructed.

  “Wow! Now that’s a view!” Kelly uttered in amazement. “I will never get over the beauty of space.”

  He came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her. He bent down to nuzzle her neck which she leaned to the side to give him better access. “You didn’t answer me.”

  “About what?” He nipped at her ear then licked it to ease the pinch.

  “I asked you how long we will be gone.”

  “Does it matter? You’re with me that is what mainly matters.”

  She twisted in his arms until she was facing him. “Yes, it matters. I like to know where I am going and how long I will be there. It must be the cop in me.”

  “What exactly is a cop? I’ve heard you say it a couple of times. I thought you were a police. I don’t know what that is either.”

  She wrapped her arms around his neck as he continued to place small kisses all over her neck. He wanted her to stop talking. He wanted to bend her over the arm of the sofa and take her rough and hard. His cock was painfully hard again and he needed to release.

  “A cop and police officer are the same thing. They are the law enforcement where I come from.”

  He pulled back suddenly. “Law enforcement? What do you mean? You used to make the laws?”

  She giggled at him. “No, silly. I enforced the laws. To put it plainly, I went after the bad guys.”

  He didn’t like hearing that one bit. “Your planet allows females to do such things? Why would you want to do that? You are too fragile and could get hurt very easily.”

  It was her turn to pull away this time. He automatically knew by the look on her face he had pissed her off. “What do you mean, I am too fragile?” She stood in front of him with her hands on her hips.

  He stepped to her, but she retreated again. “You are a female and shouldn’t be doing such things. Catching the bad guys should be left to the males. What would happen if one of your bad guys over-powered you? You could get killed! Even raped!” He felt the Rage swirling in him as he pictured his mate being hurt by another male.

  “Listen, I was a damn good cop and I liked what I did. I don’t have to explain to you what I did or how I did it.” She stared at him as her anger grew. “And, yes, I have been hurt by a bad guy, a couple of times. What’s the big deal? I’m here now aren’t I?”

  “You will not be a cop here. I will not allow it. It is my job to keep you safe.”

  She stepped to him and poked him in the middle of his chest as it rose and feel in frustration. “Where were you when I was kidnapped by that man? Hugh?” She waited for him to answer for a split second then continued.
“Not with me that’s for sure. I was the one who took control of that situation. I was the one who held the gun to that guy’s head! So, don’t tell me I don’t know how to protect myself. I’ve been doing it long before I met you!” she turned her back on him and moved to a large window.

  He walked up behind her and put his hand on her shoulders. “I am sorry, my heart. I didn’t mean to over react. Women on my world do not hold such positions. We value them too much to put them in such danger.” He gently turned her to face him then lifted her chin with his finger. “I’m sorry.”

  She raised her soft brown eyes to his face. A wave of guilt swept through him when he saw the sadness written all over her face. He never meant to hurt her and would have to make it up to her.

  “I’m still mad at you,” she said as she folded her arms across her chest.

  “All I want to do is take care of you and protect you. You are my whole life now and I would not be able to live without you.”

  A grin crept across her face as she listened to him speak. “You’re serious, aren’t you?”

  He took her face in both of his hands and held it. “I’ve never been more serious about anything else in my entire life.” He placed a kiss on her soft lips. “I promise I will do everything to protect you. I will die if I have to.”

  Her eyes widen in surprise. “You will do no such thing! You will not leave me here alone. Do you hear me?” Water gleamed in her eyes as she poured out her heart to him.

  He pulled her into his arms before she could say another word. She was so small compared to him. The top of her head barely came up to the middle of his chest. This little female had stolen his heart and he didn’t want it back. He buried his face in her hair and inhaled her scent deeply. This female was his for the rest of his life and no one was ever going to take her away from him.

  He kissed the top of her head. “I need to go check in with the bridge. Stay here and rest. I will return when I can.”

  “Promise,” she whispered in his ear when he bent down to give her a goodbye kiss.

  “That’s definitely a promise, my love.”

  ******

  “Report, please,” he announced when he entered the bridge.

  “Commander Kharis. Everything is working as planned and we are on course for the Epsilon galaxy.”

  “Expected arrival time?”

  “About six hours until we enter the galaxy. Then another two hours to Lephus.”

  Kharis looked around the bridge to make sure his crew was working as expected. “Excellent. Please contact Commander Etor and filter it into my office.”

  “Yes sir.”

  He went to his office that was on the bridge but only shut off from the rest for privacy. The door slid closed behind him, blocking out the noise coming from the other room. Sitting in his chair, he turned on his viewing screen and waited for his brother’s image to appear.

  “Anything to report, brother?” Etor asked.

  “No, just checking in. Everything is as expected for now. The ship is running fine. We should arrive in Lephus’s orbit in roughly eight hours.”

  “Make sure you do a thermal scan of the planet before you send down a search party. I don’t want any unexpected surprises and I don’t want to see any more of our people killed,” Etor said.

  “I will. As soon as I get the first report back, I will contact you and let you know of the status,” Kharis replied.

  Etor had hesitated for a moment before he asked, “How are things with you and Kelly?”

  A huge grin lit up his face. “I have claimed her as my true life mate and she had accepted me. She is a little hellcat when she wants to be. Did you know that she was a type of law enforcement female?”

  “I suspected as much and Maggie confirmed it for me. I suppose it came as quite a shock.”

  “Hell yes! Would you be happy if your mate went after criminals?” Just the thought of his Kelly injured because of another male made his stomach twist.

  “No, but I was just as unhappy when I found out about Maggie’s ex. He is supposed to be affiliated with what Earth people call a mob. From what Maggie explained to me, a mob is a group of bad guys that kill and extort money from others. She witnessed her ex killing another male in cold blood. She called Kelly to come get her when the male wasn’t home and it was Kelly who suggested that they leave Earth on the transport.”

  Kharis rubbed his hands over his face as he listened to his brother. He was proud of his mate for protecting his brother’s mate, but at the same time he was upset that she had to do such a thing. What sort of male would want to hurt their mate?

  “I am just happy they are safe with us now and don’t have to worry about such things anymore,” Kharis responded.

  “Me too. Report back as soon as you know something.”

  “Sure thing, brother. Commander out,” Kharis said to his brother as he ended the transmission.

  He leaned back in his chair and out his hands behind his head. The danger his mate had been in since she left Earth could have been prevented. First, a male for Earth had wanted to hurt her and Maggie then the male, Zol’tsa, wanted to take his mate for his own pleasure. He would kill the male if he got his hands on him. It was bad enough to know that he had escaped from Qetera and was running around free. No one knew of his whereabouts and that scared the crap out of him. The best he could hope for was to find the bastard hiding on Lephus. If not, he would have to sit and wait until the male made an appearance.

  For the next few hours, he caught up on the paper work he had neglected while on Qetera. It was boring but needed to be done even as thoughts of his little mate waiting for him to return ran freely through his head.

  Chapter 9

  “Sir? We are in Earth’s orbit. Would you like for me to contact the planet?”

  Zol’tsa looked up from the file he had been studying on his tablet. “Open up communications with the center where the transport came from.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  Several minutes later an image appeared on the viewing screen in front of him. A male late in age was sitting in a chair waiting for him to speak first.

  “Greetings. I am Commander Zol’tsa.”

  “Commander. I am Captain O’Hara. What can I do for you?”

  Zol’tsa studied the older man for a moment to get a feel for the Earthling. “I come in peace and have been informed that many people from your planet want to relocate to new worlds. I have come to offer your people a chance to come to my world.” He stood with his hands behind his back as he stared at the screen.

  “That is excellent news, Commander. We do have a protocol that we follow.” O’Hara leaned his elbows on the desk he was sitting behind then entwined his fingers together.

  “I understand Captain. If it would benefit your world any. I would be willing to take some of those who are in your penal institutions. I needed workers and they would be paid quite handsomely,” he lied.

  Captain was taken by surprise with his offer. “I see. That is an unusual offer I must say but not undoable. I would have to confer with my superiors before I can give you a definite answer.”

  He nodded at the screen. “That is expected, Captain. In the meantime, may I have clearance to send down men to buy supplies? We’ve been travelling for quite some time now and are running low,” he lied yet again.

  “As soon as I can do a full scan done of your ship and you pose no threat to Earth then you will have the clearance to land. It only takes about an hour to complete the scan. If you would send us your ship identification information, I can get that started immediately.”

  He had not planned on his ship being scanned or searched. There wasn’t really anything on board that would pose a threat so to speak other than himself, but the good captain didn’t need to know that. “Affirmative Captain. Sending the information...,” he typed his code into the ships’ computer, “now.”

  A few seconds ticked by before the Captain acknowledge receipt of the information. “Received Commande
r. I will contact you with the response shortly.”

  The viewing screen went black. He drew in a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Prepare the shuttle for disembark. We will be taking on passengers shortly. Some may be considered violent so I want them quarantined.”

  His patience was growing short while he waited for Captain O’Hara to give him a response to his request. He paced back and forth on the bridge and was becoming increasingly agitated when at last a transmission from Earth appeared on the viewing screen. Captain O’Hara’s face was all smiles as he greeted the new comer to Earth.