The large predator who ate the birds he picked from the sky was found to be the only one of his species after all. We managed to capture him, and he’s now in a large, contained area on display.
Kerr loves messing with the beast and has staged a show for the newcomers. Kataline sits on the sidelines. No one else knows Kerr is completely protected by her shield and in no danger what-so-ever, but it makes for a good show, and the planet’s funds grow with each performance he gives.
And now a special ship lands in front of our welcome building. As I thought Gleeu and Hexultan come off the ship. Hand in hand.
They got back together and now live out at his farm on the Earth settlement. Kerr told us they might be coming to see about purchasing a place here.
I go to greet them as they look around. Neither have ever been here. “Hello, Gleeu and Hexultan. How are you today?”
The Queen is dressed in tan shorts and a white shirt. Her long blonde hair is in a long braid. Hexultan wears similar shorts and a blue shirt. His hair has managed to gain some color since their reunion.
Since she left the palace, she also left behind the monikers that have followed her since her coronation many years ago. She no longer wants to be called Queen or anything that has to do with that title.
She and Hexultan live like everyone else, and they seem very happy together. Hard to believe people can get past such a thing as they have.
“Kerr told us there’s a forest here with giant trees and you have built some magnificent tree houses in them,” Gleeu says as she runs her arm to wrap around Hexultan’s.
“We’d love to see the tree houses.” Hexultan kisses her cheek. “My precious wife says she’d like to live in one.”
“Follow me,” I tell them and walk toward the small area we have where pictures of the tree houses are. “If you like any of them by the pictures, then I’ll take you on my personal craft to look at the ones you like in person. How does that sound?”
I look back to see Gleeu smile. “That sounds wonderful. So how’s it all going so far, Emerald?”
“Very good, actually. The team of scientists we put together to study the planet and how Euthenian’s might change to adapt to the much larger areas to live in have already studied many of the species here.” I point to some pictures on the wall in the corridor leading us to the tree house sales room.
A cute tiny primate with thick pink fur and tiny purple eyes peers out of one of them. “I named these little guys puff balls, although the scientists named them something else. It’s a long word I can’t even pronounce.”
Gleeu runs her hand over the picture. “That is adorable!”
“Glad you think so because they are abundant in the trees of that forest where the tree houses are.” I smile as her face lights up. “Through studying theses little guys, the scientists think within three generations of people living here, the reproduction rate will climb.”
Gleeu looks relieved. “So it is like I thought. Given more room their bodies will reproduce more often. That’s what I wanted to hear.”
She runs her hand down Hexultan’s arm and laces her fingers with his. “Won’t that be nice for future generations, Hex?”
“It will.” He gives her nose a tweak. “And it was you who spearheaded this whole thing. What a treasure our people have in you, my dear.”
She drops her head on his shoulder. “Thank you, Hex.”
Leading them on to the room with the pictures all over the walls of the grand tree houses our construction crews have built, I see both of their eyes draw immediately to the same one.
“The forest is called Rainbow Forest. As you can see, the trees grow on lines, and each line is a different color. Blue, yellow, light green, and pink.” I follow them as they walk straight up to the picture they were drawn to.
“What about this one here, Emerald?” Hexultan asks me. “This one in a blue tree.”
“I love those precious little blue flowers that cover the tree. It’s perfect!” Gleeu claps her hands and looks at Hexultan with light in her eyes. “Just like the blue gardens you made me.”
His hand runs over her cheek. “If you like it, it is yours, my love.”
“Can we go see it?” she asks with the enthusiasm of a child.
“Of course.” On our way out to my craft, Kerr and Kataline see us and come our way.
“Mother, Father, when did you two get here?” Kerr asks them as he carries their latest child, Gweneth who’s barely three months old. Their fourth child.
“Come with us, Kerr.” Gleeu holds out her arms for the baby. Kerr hands her over and wraps his free arm around Kataline.
“Will do. Where are we going?” he asks.
“To look at a tree house your mother likes.” Hexultan looks around. “Where are the rest of the children?”
Kataline smiles. “We put them to work. They’re showing people around for us.”
“How nice,” Hexultan says as he climbs into the back of my craft.
The ride to the Rainbow Forest is a nice twenty minutes outside the main hub. I look back to explain things to them. “There will be no roads made on this planet. Only hover crafts will be allowed.”
“And why is that?” Gleeu asks.
“We want to maintain the integrity of this planet for as long as we can. No digging, no mining, nothing that will hurt the planet. All the houses have been equipped with the latest technologies we have to use every little thing we can.”
Gleeu looks quite proud. “You young people have made it even better than I imagined.”
Kerr laughs. “Thanks, Mother.”
Kataline looks at Kerr with such love in her blue eyes. “Since women have been able to do more since the change, we’ve found some brilliant minds that were going untapped. So many people come up to help with innovative ideas. It has made a big difference in this place.”
“Here it is,” I say as I move up a bit higher to reach the deck of the house at the top of the huge blue tree.
“This is adorable,” Gleeu says as we all get out.
She hands the baby to Kataline and takes Hexultan’s hand. He smiles at her, “You love it already, don’t you?”
They walk off, whispering to each other about things they can do with the house. Kerr, Kataline, and I hang back and let them have their privacy.
“Looks like all’s well that ends well,” Kerr says as he plays with the baby’s hand who looks up at him with her mother’s eyes.
“The new planet seems to be a hit. We’ll have what’s built so far filled in no time.” I lean up against the trunk of the tree the house is built around.
So many things have changed, and I think that’s how life is supposed to be.
I guess some people do get happy endings!
Chapter Fifty
Kerr
Epilogue
The first sun rays break the dark sky as I look out the palace window. I get up each day to watch the suns rise. Capitol City looks very much the same as it has since I was a boy.
The streets still glow, and the gardens still grow. Our lives marked the big change in this planet’s history. All our children have grown up and left the palace to seek their own lives out.
Kataline and I are back to being just us. The years had our hair turned white, and our skin has wrinkled, but our love is just as strong as the day we first laid eyes on one another.
We’ve had ups and we’ve had downs, but we’ve managed to work all things out together. Watching my parents, many learned you can get through just about anything in a marriage.
I turn to find my wife standing behind me. “Sneaky little thing,” I say as I turn and pick her up in my arms and kiss her.
“I told you to wake me to watch the sunrise with you, Kerr.”
“You looked so sweet sleeping. I couldn’t bring myself to do it.” I kiss her cheek and she giggles.
Her giggle still hits me straight in my heart.
My parents passed away in their beloved tree house a few years ag
o. We found them lying hand in hand in their bed. The report said they died in their sleep of natural causes.
I’m just glad they went together. Those two have always been halves of one whole soul. I’ll never understand why all the bad things happened, but who am I to know such things?
All I know for sure is that the woman I’m holding in my arms as I watch the first sun come up over the horizon is the love of my life and I could never have found a better person to share my life with.
“Look, a shooting star is making its way through what’s left of the dark sky. Make a wish, Kerr.”
I kiss the top of her head and wish this moment could last forever.
The twilight, the cool air coming in through the open balcony doors, and my wife in my arms.
It doesn’t get any better than this.
“Kerr, how do you think our story will end?” Kataline asks me.
I turn her in my arms, kiss her sweet lips and then say, “Just like this, Baby. And they all lived happily ever after.”
And we all did!
Badass Luke
Private Bonus Story
Thank you for taking this journey to Euthenian world with me. The connection we formed during this book is something powerful and intimate that I will cherish forever.
If you would like to connect with me on a deeper, more personal level, I have prepared a sexual flirtatious secret bonus story that is designed to be a fantasy between you any my badass alien, Luke!
The story is called Luke, and you can get it for free by sending me an email with a link or screenshot of your review for this book. Make the subject of your email Badass Luke.
My email is [email protected]. I read every message and I look forward to receiving yours.
With Love
Ashley L. Hunt
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Preview Of Rex
Chapter One
Rex
The Finding
I didn’t think; I just shot.
The herd of hicorn—wild, free-roaming goats with four large, spiral horns—meandered lazily around the vigibrach tree without the slightest sign of unease. Despite their skittish nature and tendency to run at the slightest noise, hicorn were notoriously easy targets for hunting tribesmen, and they were useful from horn to hoof. In fact, most hicorn were killed with a weapon made of a brother goat’s horn.
The goats were safe from me today, though. I wasn’t hunting for prey. I wanted the predator.
On the opposite side of the herd, its golden eyes fixated on a particularly large hicorn, crept a broad-shouldered sabrecat with teeth as long as my forearm. Its fur was nearly as golden as its eyes, and it blended into the tall plains grass without a problem. The moment I spotted it, I aimed and released my arrow. A fraction of a breath later, the sabrecat screamed coarsely, sending the hicorn into a panicked frenzy, and crumpled into invisibility amidst the grass. I let the goats scatter away before wading through the waist-high plains flora to claim my prize.
It was still breathing when I reached it, but barely so. The arrow had slid cleanly between two ribs and successfully punctured its heart. It was the ideal kill for harvesting meat and pelt. I would, of course, bring the beast back to the village, but I was interested in its sabres. They were the ideal close-range weapon. The curvature fit perfectly into my hand, and the pointed ends were so sharp they drew blood with the merest graze.
I preferred hand-to-hand combat. Most of my warriors were skilled marksmen and dangerous sharpshooters, but I reveled in the beauty of a kill up close. I was renowned across Albaterra for my lethal melee; it had been that trait to tip the scales in my favor for Tribe Elder after the civil war had left the Campestria Kingdom without one. Some of the other Elders had been wary of appointing me due to my youth, but the youngest tribe Elder in A’li-uud history had been one hundred and seventeen, so it was overlooked.
The sabrecat let out its last breath and finally became motionless. I crouched down beside it and ran my fingers through its fur. It had a thick coat, beautifully intact with no mange to be seen. It would make a lovely blanket. I wrapped my fingers around the arrow’s shaft, eased it off the body, and wiped it clean of blood once it was extracted.
There was something magnificent about death. It commanded respect and care, but, more than that, it served as a reminder of the Grand Circle. I lowered myself further to the ground until one knee pressed into the soil, and I dropped my gaze to the creature’s open, lifeless eyes to silently thank it for its sacrifice. To have foregone this action would have been egregious blasphemy. It was A’li-uud law to revere our planet for all of its gifts. To treat the cat’s end without entitlement would have been to spit on the laurels of the Grand Circle. It was a crime punishable by death.
My ears pricked as I heard the sound of footsteps coming up from behind me, but I didn’t move from my position. The steps ceased when they drew just a few strides nearer.
“I don’t mean to interrupt, Wise One.” The voice was that of Ca-es’a. He was an unshakably loyal warrior who had joined the ranks as a child when his parents became casualties of the civil war. He was perhaps the warrior I trusted most.
I got to my feet and turned around to look at him. Were it anyone else, I would have continued with the preliminary cleaning of the sabrecat, but I had great respect for Ca-es’a and demonstrated it.
“I was finished,” I said. “What happened?”
“We just received word that the Tribal Elders have called for an emergency Forum. I was sent to fetch you at once.” He stood stiff and straight-backed as he spoke. I normally would have given him permission to relax, but the news of the Forum had me distracted.
“Thanks, Ca-es’a,” I said. He nodded once in acknowledgment, and I motioned to the fallen cat. “Take this back to the village. Have it cleaned and gutted, but make sure the sabres are kept for me.”
“Yes, Wise One,” Ca-es’a replied. Before the last syllable fell from his lips, however, I had already departed.
The Forum was held inside the gates of P’otes-tat Ulti, which marked the single point where all eleven Kingdoms of Albaterra met. To reach P’otes-tat Ulti on foot was a sixteen-day journey from my village, and flying was still nearly two days away. Tribe Elders, however, were granted the power to travel with the winds, a ritual in which our souls gripped the aether of Albaterra, and it moved us through space and time. It was no harder to do than blinking, but it was a sacred practice and one never to be abused.
Moments later, I stood outside of the intricate gates of P’otes-tat Ulti. A breeze brushed across my cheek, and I saw another Elder beside me.
“Rex,” he said acknowledging my presence with a nod of greeting.
“Nice to see you, Duke,” I replied. “Do you know what this is about?”
“No idea.” He stepped forward to the gates, and then his body passed through the thick bars as though they weren’t there at all. I followed suit and kept pace with him as we walked to the massive doors that would admit us to P’otes-tat Ulti.
The doors were exquisite in their perfection and intimidating in their guard. Upon their appointment, all tribe Elders were told of P’otes-tat Ulti’s secrets, starting with the doors. They were constructed of each kingdom’s finest and strongest materials. I could see hicorn horns and the teeth of sabrecats in their eye-bending designs, meshed amongst the sparkling purple aspex minerals of the mountainous Montemba Kingdom and th
e Altisuam wood from the Truncata rainforests. Duke pressed his fingertips to a section of aspex just as the doors opened and granted us entry.
As usual for the Forum, the chamber was dimly lit by firelight and smelled of Albaterran musk. Duke and I were the last to arrive, but the room was silent despite the other nine Elders’ presence. We took our seats—mine to the left of Duke—and waited for the Forum to begin.
Vi’den, the Elder for the Kingdom of rolling hills known as Finiba, stood. He was a very tall, very thin A’li-uud of great age and renowned wisdom. In his calm, clear voice, he said, “we shall take presence. Elder Vi’den Et’Solum Fini’tribus of Finiba.”
The others around the circle of firelight stood one-by-one, just as Vi’den had, and announced their names and kingdoms.
When it was Duke’s turn, he got to his feet and said loudly, “Elder Du’ciact Et’Petrum Montem’tribus of Montemba.”
I allowed the proper moment of silence to pass before mirroring the action. I rose from my seat, looking through the smoke rising from the fire, and spoke. “Elder Rexstrenu’us Et’Herba Cam-pes’tribus of Campestria.”
“Forum shall commence,” Vi’den announced.
We all took our seats again, save for Vi’den, who started to explain the topic of the Forum.
“It has come to our attention that our galaxy has been penetrated. At least four human ships have breached the borders of Andromeda, and one, in particular, is very near to Albaterra.” Suddenly, there were several sounds of fury and unhappy surprise at this news, but I remained quiet to find out what we already knew about this. “The course of action is at the discretion of the Tribe Elders.”
“Blast’em all!” Shouted the burly Elder of the cave Kingdom.
Kerr: Paranormal Sci-Fi Alien Romance (Àlien Mates Book 1) Page 28
