Odin: Alien Adoption Agency #5

by Tasha Black

  Then keep reading for a sample of Rexx.

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  Rexx: Alien Adoption Agency #6

  https://www.tashablack.com/alienadoption.html

  Rexx (SAMPLE)

  1

  Abigail

  Abigail stepped out of the stark decontamination tent and into a meadow so lush and green it almost didn’t seem real.

  A light breeze played in her hair and rustled her impractical gown.

  The adoption agency had required a lot from her. So when they handed her the low-cut purple dress as she prepared to board the ship, she didn’t even ask them why. She just wanted to get to her baby. She would have worn a potato sack if they wanted, or nothing at all.

  Her eyes searched the meadow and landed at last on a huge, azure warrior holding a small baby, with blue skin that matched the big man’s perfectly.

  The baby was deliciously chubby, and he was clearly feeling active and awake. As she watched in awe, he kicked his little feet and tried to stick his whole fist in his mouth.

  Her heart melted instantly. She gathered the gown in her hands and sprinted for him, not wanting to waste another second that could be spent holding him.

  Abigail had six siblings, and she adored them all. As the oldest, she had been her parents’ helper with the younger ones, and longed for the day when she could be a mother to her own children.

  But a sudden illness in her teen years meant she needed lifesaving treatments. It was a miracle that her family had scraped together the funds. But they had done it, and the doctors had saved her life.

  Now she was a hale and hearty young woman. But those treatments meant she would be unable to have biological children.

  Abigail was a naturally light-hearted person. But knowledge of her infertility caused a strange sadness in her that had no depths or barriers. Days might pass with no more than a fleeting thought, and then the pain would come out of nowhere, like someone had leapt out of the shadows to physically attack her.

  Abigail tried her best to bear it in silence. Her family had moved mountains to save her life. It felt cruel to let them see her pain. She was glad to be alive, grateful to the doctors who had saved her.

  And Abigail was an optimistic person. She was sure to have plenty of nieces and nephews to adore. One day, maybe she would fall in love with a man who wasn’t looking for children from his partner. Maybe he would even have children of his own already, and she could be a second mother to them. Her bouts of sorrow were usually short-lived, in spite of their intensity, because Abigail had always been blessed with an endless capacity to imagine a bright future.

  My little sparrow her mother used to call her, for her cheerful nature.

  But seeing this baby, her baby, filled Abigail with a happiness beyond anything she could ever have imagined.

  Suddenly her illness, her treatments, the years of throwing herself into her teaching work instead of dating, all seemed preordained. Everything had been leading her to this moment.

  This was her son. She was his mother. It was meant to be.

  She had nearly reached him before she noticed the serious expression on the handsome face of the enormous man who held the baby.

  He was probably involved with the adoption agency in some way. It was impossible not to notice the practiced way he cradled the child in his arms.

  If she hadn’t known better, she would have thought the baby was his son. The way his thumb unconsciously stroked a chubby thigh seemed almost loving. And he did share a matching hue with the baby.

  But Abigail knew that wasn’t possible. All of the babies had been pod-grown from preserved Imberian DNA, and the big man was clearly not Imberian.

  “Hello,” she said, as she skidded to a stop before him, panting. “I’m Abigail Shaw.”

  “Rexx,” the man said, nodding in a businesslike way. “You’re the adoptive mother.”

  “Yes,” she said, breaking eye contact with the strangely handsome man to feast her eyes on the baby. “Hi, little guy. I’m your mama. It’s so nice to finally meet you.”

  The little one kicked his feet straight out and squeaked at her, his eyes dancing.

  “Oh, my stars,” Abigail exclaimed. “What’s your name?”

  “He does not have a name,” the man said seriously. “As his mother, that duty falls to you.”

  “What has everyone been calling him?” she asked, surprised. “Doesn’t he have a nickname or something?”

  “Rio,” the man said immediately. “I’ve been calling him Rio.”

  “That’s lovely,” Abigail said. “Hello, Rio.”

  The baby chortled and stuck his legs out straight.

  “May I?” she asked, extending her arms.

  It was probably her imagination, but it seemed like the man hesitated just a fraction of a moment before handing the baby over to her.

  Rio was warm and just on the safe side of heavy in her arms. The sensation of holding him was heavenly. He smelled like warm milk and happiness.

  “Hello, my darling,” she whispered to him.

  “Bah,” he replied. “Bah, bah, ba-.”

  He stopped speaking suddenly, due to having crammed part of his fist in his mouth like a stopper.

  “I can’t wait to hear what you have to say when you get a little older,” Abigail told him, allowing her features to dance a little as she talked to him.

  His merry eyes followed every movement of her face. Gods, but he was a smart baby. She could just tell.

  “Ahem,” Rexx said politely.

  “So what’s the plan?” Abigail asked him. “Where do we go from here?”

  “I will accompany you to your new home,” he said.

  “Oh that sounds nice,” she said with relief. “We had kind of a bumpy ride getting here. I’m definitely ready to go home and relax.”

  “We’re walking down to town to catch the cross-moon train,” he told her. “You’ll be home with plenty of time to settle in before Founders Day.”

  Founders Day?

  She tried to remember when the colony at Lachesis had been founded and couldn’t.

  “Founders Day isn’t for another two weeks,” he said as if sensing her confusion. “But the train ride will take a few days.”

  She hadn’t been counting on spending her first few days with her new baby on a train, but it wasn’t so bad. In fact, it was kind of fitting. She’d certainly spent enough time riding them with her grandpa when she was young.

  “That’s fine,” she said honestly. “I like trains.”

  Rexx nodded and kept eye contact with her a little too long before turned to head down the hill toward what she presumed must be the town with the train station.

  There was something strange about the way he looked at her - like she was familiar.

  Or maybe like he was attracted to her.

  She was definitely attracted to him, she decided. At first, she had thought the effervescence in her chest was just rapture at seeing the baby.

  But now that she was trying to separate the two, she could feel a sensation almost like a pull between her internal organs and the blue giant walking silently beside her.

  She couldn’t decide whether to be fascinated or annoyed by it.

  This is the biggest day of your life Abigail, she coached herself. Don’t worry about the guy. Focus on your son.

  Rio was gazing up at her with serious expression, his baby body language telling her he was content, but curious.

  “I’m so happy to be with you,” she told him, lifting him up to kiss his little nose.

  He chuckled, and she lifted him higher.

  “Look at you,” she cooed, watching the breeze blow in his fluff of hair as she spun them both around in a gesture of pure joy.

  “I wouldn’t do that if I were—” Rexx began.

  But Rio spit up all over Abigail’s gown before he could finish.

  “Well, I’ll bet you feel better now, don’t you?” Abigail asked
the little one, wiping a bit of spit-up off his chin with her thumb.

  “He just had his milk before meeting you,” Rexx explain, looking concerned. “He doesn’t normally do that.”

  “Oh, it happens all the time,” Abigail said. “Babies are messy. Kids are messy. I should know, I was a teacher.”

  She took the cloth he offered her and tidied herself and the baby up as much as she could.

  “You were a teacher?” Rexx asked, looking a little surprised.

  “I know, everyone says I look young,” she said. “But I’m nearly twenty-eight.”

  Rexx rubbed his jaw, but not in time for her to miss the fact that he was trying to hide a smile.

  Twenty-eight wasn’t that young. And who was he to smile? He couldn’t be that much older than she was.

  “Let’s get to town so you can change before we get on the train,” Rexx suggested.

  She glanced down at the horrible gown. It looked like something out of a horror holo now - wrinkled from her sprint across the meadow, still inexplicably low-cut, but also covered in badly cleaned up baby vomit.

  “That sounds great,” she told him, marching forward.

  This time, he didn’t try to hide his smile.

  2

  Rexx

  Rexx was a disciplined soldier. He had achieved high rank at a young age, and had been assigned to guard an Imberian whelp in spite of only serving a short time in the field.

  None of his accomplishments had happened by accident. He was proud of the dedicated work that had brought him to this moment, walking down this scenic hillside under the clouds of Lachesis, in the company of Rio and his adoptive mother.

  But he hadn’t gotten here by following his desires.

  The key to success as a career soldier for the Invicta was suppressing one’s own wants to serve the homeland.

  His only directive now was to protect the child.

  The problem was that his dragon was screaming in his head, sending his senses into a tailspin and threatening to ruin all he had worked so hard to accomplish.

  Mate, the dragon roared in anguish.

  The scent of the woman washed over him in waves. Not even the foul ejection of the whelp could cover her exquisite fragrance.

  We cannot claim her, he told the dragon desperately. Our directive is to protect the child.

  There is no directive that says it is forbidden to claim our mate, the dragon pointed out.

  But Rexx had not reached his position by finding loopholes.

  He stole a glance at the woman, hoping to discover some reason not to want her.

  But she was a perfect feast for the senses. Her hair was an unusual color that shone like burnished copper in the murky light. Her sweet scent filled his chest.

  She was murmuring something to the baby in a low, musical tone, a rapturous expression on her face.

  Well, she should be happy. The baby was exceptional.

  Rexx had not only cared for his physical needs, but his intellectual needs as well. Each night, he read to the boy from a book of old Imberian mythology, hoping to encourage his imagination and interest in books as well as to honor his heritage.

  After all, it was the fault of the Invicta warriors like Rexx that these babies were the last of the Imberian people. Long before Rexx had hatched, his people made a grave military error that accidentally destroyed the peaceful race. After a long legal proceeding, they had finally been granted permission to grow a batch of pod-babies from the last of the preserved Imberian DNA. It was only right to preserve their culture along with their bloodline.

  As part of the agreement, Rexx was now sworn to protect the baby, just as Abigail had taken an oath to raise him.

  Rexx himself had needed an exceptional career record in order to be offered the opportunity to care for the child.

  And he was sure Abigail Shaw was exceptional too, or she would not be here. Many women had applied to adopt these babes. If she had been chosen over the rest, there was a good reason for it.

  Though a career as a teacher was humble, perhaps she had won awards and honors in her field as well. He would learn soon enough.

  The dragon hummed in his chest, delighted that they had such an accomplished mate.

  She’s not our mate.

  But the dragon only chuckled.

  “So where is our new home?” Abigail asked, rousing him from his inner battle.

  “Across the mountains,” he told her. “It is very far, but we’ll get there in only a few days because of our transport.”

  “A train,” she said, nodding.

  “Not just a train,” he said. “The Iron Peregrine - the fastest track vehicle in the system. It has a Bhimani drive, just like a spacecraft, since solar cells won’t work on an overcast moon like Lachesis. It has top-of-the-line accommodations for travelers of many planetary types, and then of course, there are its topographical abilities.”

  “Ah, yes, my grandfather ran the Peregrine back on Terra-8,” she said proudly.

  Abigail Shaw…

  Gods of the realm, her grandfather must be Sebastian Shaw.

  How had he not made that connection right away? He felt foolish explaining the train to the granddaughter of the man who invented it.

  Everyone knew the story of Sebastian Shaw. He had been brought up humbly on Terra-8, where he had dreamed up the Peregrine. Through sheer determination, Shaw managed to work his way through the engineers academy, delivering transports on the night shift to make his tuition payments.

  He was an inspiration to anyone with a good idea and the drive to make it a reality.

  And the Peregrine was worth it. The Shaw family’s assets numbered in the billions of credits now.

  So Abigail had earned her right to adopt by virtue of her money, not her own accomplishments.

  But in her bloodline ran the same dedication that had made her grandfather such a success. Rexx could respect that.

  “You’re going on a train,” Abigail enthused to Rio, who replied to her in abject gibberish that she pretended to understand, nodding sagely in agreement. “Yes, Rio. Well said.”

  The only thing Rexx couldn’t understand was her temperament. Obviously, a wealthy heiress could be a teacher if she chose, but Shaw had been known for his cool head and ruthless business acumen. This woman was as soft as warm gingerbread.

  “Everything okay?” she asked him, looking up from the babe, who promptly tried to grab her coppery hair.

  “Fine,” he said. “Just thinking about where to take you for a new dress.”

  “Oh, anywhere is fine,” she said. “I’ll manage.”

  He frowned. She had arrived in such an elaborate get-up. Surely a Shaw would be discerning in their dress.

  But she had clearly forgotten about it. She was gazing down at Rio like he was worth more than any fortune in the system.

  Rexx was in complete agreement with her there.

  The dragon flung itself against the bars of his control, desperate to claim what was his.

  Not yet, Rexx told him. Patience.

  He had been a good soldier this long, in spite of so many challenges.

  Surely, he could find a way to resist the mate bond long enough to figure out whether or not claiming the girl was forbidden.

  ***

  Thanks for reading this sample of Rexx!

  Are you ready to find out what happens when Rexx and Abigail board the train? Do you want to see what happens when they have to deal with a missing person, an unexpected passenger, a mysterious, forbidden car, and a band of ruthless outlaws?

  Then grab your copy right away, so you don’t miss a beat!

  Rexx: Alien Adoption Agency #6

  https://www.tashablack.com/alienadoption.html

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