“And you love that?”
“Hell yes.” He copied her favorite saying. “Earlier I received the transmission code to send THX309 to the Bounty Hunter Guild and my payment. To celebrate we should go on a honeymoon.”
“Xylans have honeymoons?”
“No, but humans do, and I think it’s a good custom. One we should adopt.”
“You looked up Earth customs?”
“Of course. I wanted to make my Bride happy. Also, I have a gift for you.”
“You do?” She clapped. Actually clapped, like a little kid. Jeez. She was a sucker for surprise gifts.
He stood up off the bunk and walked over and opened a drawer. He lifted a small object that fit in the palm of his hand. It looked like… Her fingers covered her mouth. “Oh, is that…?” It couldn’t be. He came back to the bunk and sat down beside her. Seven feet of naked, buffed-out badass alien warrior. Her stomach fluttered. This would never get old.
“You said to find eighties music,” he said.” I ordered the computer to research what that meant. It made this for you. It is a simulation of an Earth music device and it is loaded with this eighties music you requested.” He pointed at the earbuds. “These are so you can listen to it privately.”
Tears formed in her eyes.
He handed it to her. “I also added Xylan war chants.”
“Of course you did,” she giggled, and threw herself in his arms. “I love you.”
He held on to her tight. “You are my life, my love, my future. I will love you always, my Bride.”
Damn, she was lucky to have this man.
Epilogue
Thank God for Melachine.
This was Jacole’s favorite litany because really, she didn’t know what she would’ve done without the guidance of that lovely woman.
Melachine and the Xylan midwife had helped her give birth in a maternity ward so freaking high tech and clean it made hospitals in the U.S. look like hovels. The delivery had been painless because they had the best painkillers ever created. Joyzal had been right by her side, holding her hand, urging her to push. She’d sworn there had been tears in his eyes when he watched baby Joy make her way into the world.
But when she’d started packing to leave the maternity ward to go back home, she’d felt an overwhelming sense of fear and anxiety. How could the nurses let her leave? Didn’t they know she didn’t know a damn thing about taking care of a baby?
But Melachine had been there every step of the way. And Joyzal was right, Melachine had raised two sons and knew all the ropes. She showed the both of them how to change diapers, how to feed Joy, how to comfort her when she cried, how to arrange nap times. All the things. And with the three of them there in the home, dividing up caretaking for the baby, it wasn’t as hard as Jacole had thought it would be.
She often found herself sitting with her baby in her arms, feeding her and staring at her tiny little face, petting her little clawed hands and wondering how she’d ever gotten so damn lucky.
The house they lived in was great. There were two separate master bedrooms, on either side of the house so they all had their own space and Jacole never had to worry that she was screaming too loud while coming or that Joyzal was making too much noise banging the bed against the wall while fucking her. Although, since they had the baby and her bedroom was next door, they did have to quiet down so as not to wake her. In fact, she’d been right there in the room with them for the first two months of her life.
So for the first year and a half of her time on Zamarilla, Jacole stayed home. There had been so much to do and learn, and she’d wanted to spend every moment with her baby. But finally, after watching her husband go on a few missions without her, she was ready to fly the coop. Time to get back to business. Crimes were being committed and criminals needed to be caught and she had to be out there making sure it happened.
Before she’d given birth to baby Joy, Jacole immediately started training to pass the test for her Bounty Hunter license. After two months of intense training and three fails and a final fourth pass, Jacole got her license. It took longer than it had for Joyzal, who boasted he’d passed on his first try, with one of the fastest times ever recorded, second only to Rayzor’s time. Of course. But hey, she was human, female, smaller than the two of them, new to this whole thing, and she’d been freaking pregnant. She was damn proud she’d passed before her pregnancy had progressed to the point where it would’ve been moot until her little girl was born. It calmed her down, hanging out at home with Melachine and the baby while Joyzal left on missions, knowing that one day, she’d be out there with him, too.
Melachine was awesome. Because of Melachine, Jacole could work with zero guilt knowing her baby was receiving excellent care and she could vid call and see her at any time. Meanwhile, there were bad guys to apprehend and people to save. She couldn’t believe how much her life had changed. Last year she was living in an apartment in Detroit, packing to leave for Quantico to start a career in the FBI, thinking she’d be single (with the occasional hook-up) and career-minded for the rest of her life. And she’d been happy with that. Her future had been bright. Motherhood and family weren’t on her agenda. They weren’t things she was specifically avoiding, but not something she was seeking out either. The FBI was going to be her family. And look at her now. With a husband, a daughter, and an amazing mother-in-law who treated her like family. Her eyes teared up as she looked down at her baby. She’d found new family, here on the other side of the universe with the Xylans, and she couldn’t be happier.
“Here, let me have her. You two need to go,” Melachine said, a benevolent smile on her face.
They were all standing on the roof of their penthouse in a high-rise facing the beach on Zamarilla. The whole town reminded Jacole of pictures she’d seen of Rio de Janeiro. Green jungle, mountain peaks, and stunning ocean with a dense city of high-rises and buildings cupped in a small alcove of natural beauty on all sides. Behind them, on the landing pad, was Joyzal’s newest ship. He’d named it The Royal, a tongue-in-cheek reference to her royal pigment.
They’d only be gone for a week. Joyzal was doing his best to bid on shorter missions so they could spend more time together with their line.
Jacole kissed her baby girl and inhaled her sweet scent before handing her over. Melachine would take care of Joy as well as she would, if not better. Joyzal cupped Joy’s head with his claw. His eyes softened on his little girl, the start of his line. He kissed the tiny ridges on her forehead and stepped back.
Jacole warmly kissed her mother-in-law on the cheek. Kissed her baby one more time and turned and grabbed her husband’s hand. The two of them walked into the ship together.
She had tears in her eyes. She wanted this. She needed this. But leaving her baby was hard. She met Joyzal’s troubled gaze, and she saw that it was hard for him, too.
As soon as the door closed behind them, she spoke up. “Computer, play eighties music. Janet Jackson.”
The computer started blasting her favorite song, the music thumping throughout the ship.
Her husband shook his head and grinned at her. He took the controls and manually guided the ship off the landing pad. Jacole waved to Melachine through the expansive window on the bridge. Melachine waved back then picked up Joy’s tiny hand and moved the baby’s arm as if she were waving goodbye, too. Jacole laughed.
“Prepare for slip drive,” her husband yelled over the beat of the music.
She sat down, buckled in and tapped her fingers on the arm rest.
Joyzal glanced at her, checking to make sure she was all locked in. “I love you,” she mouthed. He smiled back, and she felt the familiar prickly feeling in her stomach as the slip drive was engaged. And they were off.
THE END
Kayzon’s Wish
Kayzon’s Wish
Kayzon of Twenty-Six is beastly.
Small offspring cry at the sight of his hulking frame and the vicious scar that bisects the right side of his face. Banished from his
home world and deemed unworthy of a Bride—his mere presence strikes fear into the hearts of most beings.
Except for one fierce, tiny female. She alone is unafraid.
Kia is astonished when a sexy Xylan Warrior strides through the crowded marketplace of New Earth. When she attempts to speak to him, he replies in a deep, husky voice, “Leave human. Nothing good will come from this.”
But when Hurlian soldiers start dropping from the sky, ready to snatch unsuspecting humans, Kayzon rescues her. And when his bare hand clutches hers, a bolt of awareness strikes them both.
Then he’s kissing her, claiming her and telling her with hoarse emotion that she is his Bride. Wow, her life is unfolding like something out of a romance vid…until Kia discovers her new husband was never meant to have a Bride. In fact, their mating is in review and she has one planetary rotation to formalize or reject their tenuous marriage.
Oh hell, what’s a girl to do?
Copyright © 2017 by Michele Mills. All rights reserved.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, email to [email protected]
Publisher’s Note: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are a product of the author’s imagination. Locales and public names are sometimes used for atmospheric purposes. Any resemblance to actual people, living or dead, or to businesses, companies, events, institutions, or locales is completely coincidental.
Cover art by Meljean Brook
Edited by Aquila Editing
Created with Vellum
1
“Pleeeease, Kia, can I have one? Just a bite?”
Kia glanced down at her little sister—a perfect package of pleading brown eyes, rosy lips and precious little hands clasped in front of a navy-blue school uniform.
By the gods, this girl was the best beggar in all of New Earth.
“Can I have some candy, please?”
The display of multicolored confections at the stall in the open-air market was certainly tempting. Kia’s lungs filled with the scent of warm sugar, a rare delicacy here on New Earth. Her mouth watered. So good. So damn good. She put her hand in her pocket and fiddled with the coins there. It was true she could purchase candy for them both, and in the past, she would’ve done just that…but not now. Not anymore. She shook her head at her sister and hardened her heart. The candy was ridiculously expensive. No way in hell this was happening.
“Stop asking for things we can’t have,” Kia groused.
Harmony whimpered.
Kia clenched her jaw—mad at the world, mad at the unfairness of life and mad at the whole damn situation where she couldn’t give her darling little sister, the baby of their family, what she wanted.
As the eldest of their three siblings, Kia alone knew Mom barely had enough currency for tonight’s dinner and tomorrow’s breakfast, and gods knew where they’d get the money to eat the rest of the week. Treats were a luxury they could no longer afford. And each time Harmony asked for something that used to be an accepted part of their family routine, it was a knife in Kia’s heart. And Kia was tired of hurting.
“I want Dad,” Harmony whined.
Kia clenched her teeth and exhaled. Didn’t they all? They all wanted Dad back home. Harmony wasn’t exactly a special snowflake in that regard.
She grabbed Harmony’s hand and dragged her out of the marketplace and onto a path next to a row of quiet apartments.
“Kia, slow down. Kia? Keeeeuh.”
Kia ignored her, scanned the area and seeing no one giving her or her sister a second glance. She pulled Harmony aside, onto a quiet dirt sidewalk, a small space between buildings.
She leaned down. “Cut it out,” she hissed. “Stop asking for stuff we can’t afford. And stop asking about Dad. You did that in front of Mom this morning. You made her cry, Harmony. Did you notice that? As if Mom doesn’t have enough going on right now. She doesn’t need you making her life harder.”
Harmony blinked back tears. Her lips trembled.
Kia’s chest tightened, and she softened her voice, “We all want Dad back, okay? All of us. And he’ll come back, but not right now.”
“When? When is he coming back?” Harmony cried. “Why won’t anyone tell me?”
“Because we don’t know. If anyone knew, we’d tell you. Dad left in order to protect us and said he’d be back soon, and that’s all anyone knows.”
They’d always lived a settled and comfortable life on New Earth, as settled as it was possible to be, living on a planet where the cities were essentially giant ghettos, places you were never allowed to leave.
Dad was Priest of Singapore, the largest city on the planet. He’d owned a successful financial service, lending currency to small businesses. But three moon cycles ago everything changed. Kia’s family was multigod, as were the majority of inhabitants of Singapore. But the recently elected President was firmly unigod. He’d declared unigod the one true religion and outlawed multigod overnight. Anyone caught openly practicing multigod was arrested and executed. Lately the planet had turned into a chaotic bloodbath, even more so than usual. Anyone sympathizing with multigod was shunned. Hordes of citizens dropped the multigod movement and pledged their allegiance to unigod. Kia’s father was made an example of by the new administration. Even though he’d stopped openly practicing multigod and closed the public altar, he was charged with treason for not formally switching allegiance to unigod, and his business customers fled. Overnight they’d gone from comfortable to scared shitless. Their whole lives shattered in an instant.
Dad left the morning after he’d been charged with treason. He’d gathered their family in the front room and announced he had a plan that would save them all. In order to execute his plan he would need to leave, but he promised to return shortly. They’d all cried. Dad was stony-faced but determined. He’d kissed Mom and left. Walked out the front door and hadn’t looked back.
That was three weeks ago.
Kia blinked out of her reverie and focused on her little sister. “Come on, enough of this. You need to get to school, and I need to get to work. Let’s go.”
“You’re not the boss of me,” Harmony muttered.
Kia grinned and shook her head. “Whatever. When you grow up you can tell me what to do all you want. Right now I am in charge of you. And I’m going to make sure you get to school safe. Then I’m going to pick you up when school is out and get you home safe, too.”
“I thought Janet was picking me up today.”
Kia paused. “Oh yeah, she is. Today is Wednesday, isn’t it? Okay then, Janet. So be ready for her. Don’t make her wait.”
Harmony rolled her eyes. Kia mussed her hair.
Then she walked her sister to the small school that was right up the street. It was the best school for girls in Singapore, a place that taught actual curriculum. Mom had picked it out specifically to send her girls to. Kia passed Harmony off to the smiling teachers, turned and left.
She glanced up at the trajectory of the anemic sun glinting in the sky, judged the time, and hurried to her new job back in the marketplace. She’d been hired to stand guard as security for the rows of stalls to the north of the square. It wasn’t much, but it was a start. Her family had no idea she was doing this. But Kia was nineteen years old now, no longer a child. She was technically old enough to marry and live on her own. But living on your own on New Earth, especially if you were female, wasn’t a smart thing to do. So Kia stayed at home with the family she adored.
Mom picked smelly plants she’d always grown in their tiny backyard and somehow turned them into beautiful candles and started selling them for extra currency, their kitchen and living area turned into a workshop. Her younger
sister Janet helped Mom with the candles. Harmony was still small enough to require school, so Kia had volunteered to walk her each day, using this as an excuse to get out and scope out a job. She’d lied to her family, eventually telling them she’d found a position mending garments. They all needed to get a job, so this had brought tears to her Mom’s eyes, knowing that Janet recently had to drop out of her last year of school because they couldn’t afford it, but it was what needed to be done. Having food to eat and a roof over their heads came first.
When Dad had left they’d had currency set aside. But the very next day the administration had decreed that all multigod assets were frozen and confiscated. Suddenly they had no currency, and things went from bad to worse.
Kia was simply trying to walk down the side of the street when a man roughly pushed her aside.
“Get the fuck out of my way, little whore,” he snarled.
She stumbled and glanced up at the asshole in her way. He was wearing a gray unigod cloak.
Of course.
To make matters worse, she knew him. It was Felix.
Tall, skinny, with shocking red hair and crooked teeth, Felix had been an evil jerk when they were kids. Now he’d grown up and turned into a larger evil jerk, taking on the role of unigod enforcer. It was universally acknowledged that Felix was a raging asshole.
Anger energized her muscles. Something snapped in her brain. Fuck this fucking shit. How dare he say that? Who the hell did he think he was, just randomly tossing out language like that at her and shoving her aside? He thought he could get away with it because she was female, and small. Also, everyone knew her father, Dago Cho, had disappeared three weeks ago.
Felix planted his hands on his hips and laughed derisively, “You don’t have your daddy to hide behind anymore little girl. What’re you going to do now?” He leaned down and spoke against her ear, his hot breath sending chills of disgust down her back. “You can move in with me. I’ll fuck you hard and give you my protection.”
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