by Sonia Nova
Kraev nodded. “Yes, Warlord.”
The Warlord held out his hand to Kraev and there was a new wristband in it. “Take this. Zevyk informed me that yours was destroyed in the crash.”
“Thank you,” he said, taking it and fixing it to his wrist. He would have to get one for Olivia as soon as he got back from this wave of fighting. Then, he would be able to talk to her whenever he wanted, and maybe he wouldn’t feel so separated.
He looked around, both at the screens showing the bases that he was fighting to protect and the men that would be fighting with him. The planet was nothing like Raewan, his real home, but wherever Olivia was would be home as far as he was concerned, and he would always be willing to lay his life down to protect that.
And, fighting the Suhlik, laying down your life was always a realistic possibility. He’d learned that lesson from his father. From Zevyk’s family.
A knot of something that he couldn’t quite place built in his stomach. It was something he’d never felt before, and when he realized what it was, it threw him off guard.
He didn’t want to fight.
It was the first time he’d even had a second of doubt about going into battle against the Suhlik, of doing his duty to destroy the evil lizards.
He might die, and that would mean never seeing Olivia again. The thought of that was inconceivable.
But if he died, he would die with the memory of her lips on his, of her body molded perfectly against his. Her soft breaths against his neck as she curled close. That feeling of ultimate peace that had been so intoxicating he’d been sure that it was never going to end, even though that was impossible.
At least they’d had one night together.
A night that might have made Olivia pregnant.
A deep satisfaction at the thought replaced all of his fears and worries. Maybe his son was starting to grow inside her.
The thought of that warming his heart, new energy filled him. He refused to die today. He would do his everything to come back to Olivia’s arms again.
The Suhlik were going down.
CHAPTER 15
OLIVIA
Olivia expected to wake up tangled together in bed with her alien husband, warm and comfortable and feeling as content as she had the night before.
Instead, she found herself alone. The large bed was empty, and there was no blue alien in sight. She wrapped her arms around her middle as a shiver ran along her spine. She wasn’t actually cold, but she felt chilled somehow without Kraev there beside her.
She took a few more minutes to lie down and look at the rugged rock ceiling of the bedroom before she convinced herself to get out of bed. He might not have even left the apartment. He might still be around, making them breakfast in the kitchen or taking a shower.
She had to admit, the thought of a nice, hot shower was intensely appealing at that moment.
She dragged herself out of bed, finding one of Kraev’s shirts in the wardrobe. She pulled it over her head and strode out of the room. She peeked in the living room and the kitchen, but to her disappointment, she couldn’t find Kraev anywhere in the apartment.
He must have gone scouting already, like he’d said last night…
She explored the quarters on her own, finally opening the two other doors that she hadn’t investigated the day before. One of them was the bathroom and she almost swooned at the sight of the bath. Well, bath or hot tub, she couldn’t quite decide.
Either way, she started pressing buttons on the control panel – whose bath had a control panel, anyway? – until it started to fill with water at the perfect temperature. She pulled the shirt over her head and sank into the bath. One of the buttons turned on jets and she sighed in pleasure.
She was too antsy to really enjoy the bath, though. Within ten minutes, she’d given her body a quick scrub, washed her hair, and let the water go, feeling a bit bad for wasting it.
The final door led to a small closet-like room, filled with boxes and storage. The main centerpiece of the room was a machine that reminded her of the food replicator on a larger scale. It wasn’t huge, but it came up to her waist. The screen was like the food replicator’s, too, and she realized pretty quickly what it did.
It seemed like some far superior 3D printer. Pictures of different kinds of items showed on the screen. Clothes, household items, and miscellaneous things she couldn’t even begin to name…
Could it actually make all these things? Excited, Olivia clicked on some basic clothes, quickly finding a small selection of Earth models. The machine started buzzing, and soon, a blue T-shirt appeared in the box. It was soft and nearly indistinguishable from something she might have bought in the store.
She stared at it in awe, feeling the fabric under her fingers. How did this thing work? It really seemed to be able to replicate matter to make whatever she wanted. The selection wasn’t big, but she clicked on a few more items on the screen. A pair of jeans, a sweater, and sneakers, and she was good to go.
She hurried into them and returned to the kitchen. Her stomach was rumbling, but with the food replicator, she could make herself something quickly. She nearly laughed at the idea because it no longer seemed so foreign to her. Machines seemed to make everything here. Hadn’t Kraev said they also did the mining on the planet?
She went for a simple bagel and cream cheese. Again, it had the strange artificial taste, but she thought she’d probably get used to that pretty quickly, especially if most of the things she ate came from it. Though Kraev seemed to prefer real food rather than this created stuff, so maybe they would be having proper breakfasts more often.
It was hard to imagine what their life was going to look like. Nothing had been straightforward or normal since her arrival on R-2841. Even now, there was still an immediate threat from the Suhlik. If the Suhlik threat was ever gone, if it calmed down for a while, how would they spend their days?
Right now, all she hoped was that they’d be spending a lot of them in bed together. She ached in the best way possible and would have killed to have him there in front of her, as naked as he’d been the night before.
She sighed. On the kitchen table, she found a note letting her know what she had already suspected: Kraev had gone scouting. The note also explained the fingerprint entry system to Kraev’s quarters, and that she wouldn’t be able to return if she left.
Still, Olivia didn’t want to stay in his quarters all alone. She was sure that there’d be someone outside that she could ask to fix the fingerprint issue for her, even if most of the base were out searching for the hiding lizards.
Finishing off the last of her bagel, she left the apartment.
It felt strange walking around without her phone, wallet, and keys, but she’d brought none of them with her to R-2841 and wouldn’t have had any use for them either. She kept patting her pockets and feeling a shred of panic that she’d left them at home, though. She wondered how long that would last.
She started walking back toward the rings, wondering if she’d be able to find Kraev, or if he’d have left on his scouting mission already. She didn’t think he’d have left the bed unless he was required to at that specific moment, but it didn’t stop her hoping.
Scouting didn’t sound especially dangerous, but the thought of him out there with the Suhlik still made her heart thump in her chest.
“Can I help you?”
A woman’s voice made her jump and turn around. She hadn’t realized how slowly she’d been walking, completely lost in her own thoughts, until the woman had stopped her.
She looked like Kraev, insofar as her skin was a deep blue hue and her hair, though not shaved, was braided in the same intricate way as the other Raewani descendants she’d seen. She wore a colorful, embroidered dress and large jewel earrings. She must have been from his home planet, which, being a female, made her a full-blooded Raewani.
The woman had a baby in her arms that was sleeping soundly, and Olivia felt a tug in her gut upon seeing the tiny infant and its screwed up but
still peaceful face.
“Hi,” Olivia said. “Sorry, I’m just kind of wandering aimlessly. It’s my first day on the base, and I don’t really know where anything is.”
“I’m Naia,” the woman said. “I can show you around, if you’d like. I’ve lived here for several years now.”
“That would be amazing.” Olivia smiled. “Thank you. I’m Olivia, by the way.”
The woman nodded. “The mate of Kraev from Tayn. I have already heard the rumors of your arrival.”
Olivia cocked an eyebrow at the woman. “Rumors?”
The woman smiled slightly, cradling the baby in her arms. “Not so much rumors, perhaps. This is but a small base. Word travels fast and you are the first Earthling on the planet. There has been talk.”
“The first– I’m the only human here?” Olivia’s brows shot up at the news. Somehow, she hadn’t really considered the fact. All of the warriors she’d seen so far were the blue-skinned Raewan-Mahdfel, but she hadn’t considered that there might be only Raewani descendants on this planet.
“Yes. There are some warriors and mates who are not from Raewan, but mostly this planet is populated by those blessed by Rae.”
“Rae?” Somehow, the woman spoke in an enigmatic manner, unlike Kraev. It made Olivia wonder whether she and Kraev were even speaking the same language to her. Maybe Kraev spoke a Mahdfel language and the woman spoke whatever her people spoke on Raewan. Or maybe it was just a different dialect and the translator was picking up on that.
“The star that gives light to our planet,” Naia explained, starting to lead her toward the rings in the center of the base. Again, it was eerily silent in the hallways.
“Is it normally busier here?” Olivia asked, peering over the edge of one of the rings and looking at the vast expanse of the cavern around her. It was such a huge space. “Or is it just really underpopulated?”
“It is normally much busier. When the Suhlik are gone, the rings bustle with life. It is strange for me to see it this quiet, too. I should be in my quarters, really, but Mito over here doesn’t like being cooped up. It makes him antsy. He’d been crying for hours, so I thought I’d just take him for a walk. He calmed down and fell asleep almost immediately.”
She pushed the hair out of the infant’s face and curled her finger over his cheek, looking at him with the pure affection that Olivia imagined was reserved for parent and child.
She felt the silly urge to put her hand over her stomach. There was a chance she was pregnant, wasn’t there? They hadn’t used protection last night. Her own tiny blue baby might be growing in her stomach at that very moment.
“He’s beautiful,” she said to Naia. “I can’t imagine that angelic face crying at all.”
Naia laughed, her earrings jingling. “Trust me, he is very good at it. You’ve caught him at an opportune moment. I just hope that the battle does not get too close to the base. That would definitely set him off again. I do not wish to have to hole up in my quarters if I can help it.”
“Battle?” Olivia asked, her gut-wrenching. “I thought they were just out scouting for any remaining Suhlik.”
“No.” Naia shook her head, a slight frown forming between her brows. “There was another attack on the outer atmosphere this morning. Suhlik ships are pouring in toward the planet. It’s all hands on deck that can fight.” She turned to Olivia. “You didn’t know this?”
“Kraev didn’t say anything.” The wave of panic that hit her was overwhelming. A full-scale attack? And Kraev was out there, fighting on the front lines? “Last night, he said that he’d be gone scouting this morning, so I just assumed…”
“The attack came this morning. He probably didn’t know it then. Or he didn’t want you to worry.”
“I’ll always worry!” she said, surprised by the vehemence in her voice, but knowing that it was true. How had her emotions reached this point so quickly? “Do you know where they’ll be? Do you think he’ll have flown out yet?”
Naia lifted a single shoulder in a small shrug that didn’t disturb Mito. “I have no knowledge of such. Depending on when his shift is, it is possible that they’re still preparing the ship for moving out.”
With her heart in her throat, she turned to start the run toward the hangar, praying that she could remember where it actually was. “Thank you!” she said to Naia over her shoulder, keeping her voice low so she didn’t wake the baby. “Hopefully, I’ll see you again. It was nice to meet you.”
She didn’t wait to hear a response, and sprinted toward the elevator. Her footfalls echoed loudly in the deserted corridor, but she barely heard them. She pressed the elevator call button a dozen times before it opened and she hurried in, trusting her gut on which floor the hangar had been on.
There, she raced through empty corridors toward the hangar and started to see more warriors heading in the same direction. Some of them gave her curious looks, but no one actually stopped her.
When she was almost at the door, she spotted the back of a head she already knew like the back of her hand. She would have been able to recognize the intricate braiding of his hair, the distinct color of his skin, and the sway of his tail anywhere.
“Kraev!” she shouted.
He immediately turned to her, his eyes wide and surprised to see her. The team he was with stopped too, and he gestured without looking back for them to go ahead.
He opened his arms and she ran into them, not able to slow her pace quite enough as she got to him, crushing herself against his hard chest. His tail wrapped around her body and she immediately flung her arms around his back. She buried her face in his leather armor, taking in the scent that was all Kraev.
Trying to catch her breath, she attempted to sort out the jumbled thoughts in her head.
“You’re going to fight,” she said simply, trying not to make it sound like an accusation.
“I am.” He tucked her hair behind her ears. “I didn’t want to worry you. I didn’t know that there was a full-scale attack happening until I met with the Warlord this morning. By that point, there was no way to contact you, except to leave a message on the computer at my quarters and I didn’t think that would have been fair.”
It was on the tip of her tongue to argue with him, to say that she always wanted to know if he was about to do something as dangerous as this, but the words didn’t come.
“I’m scared,” she said instead.
“I’m scared too,” he admitted, and it was surprising coming from his mouth. She didn’t think he’d looked scared once while they’d been fighting. He was so powerful, so strong, that she couldn’t imagine him being scared of anything.
He pushed another lock of hair back from her face, looking deep into her eyes. His turquoise eyes had a distinct darkness to them, and she could see that he was terrified of not coming back to her.
“You have to come back to me,” she said, answering those fears with words. “You have to.”
Kraev smiled at her gently. “I’ll do everything in my power to get back to you,” he said, resting his forehead against hers. It wasn’t the promise she’d wanted to hear and he seemed to realize that, even if she was trying not to show it on her face. “I promise I’ll come back to you. Soon, I’ll be right here, holding you just like this.”
She was under no illusions. She knew that it was a promise that he couldn’t actually give, but it still made her feel infinitely better.
She stood on her tiptoes, cupping his face with her hands. She hesitated before kissing him, taking in every inch of his perfect face and his eyes which held nothing back. All his love was right there in his expression. He wasn’t ashamed or abashed by it, and it took her breath away.
He did have to come back.
She had no idea what she’d do if he didn’t come back to her.
She kissed him tenderly, barely brushing her lips against his at first. She had to stand on her toes and crane her neck to even kiss him, and she wished they were back on his bed, where she could wrap herself around
him more easily.
He deepened the kiss, opening his mouth and asking her to meet the movement. Their tongues entangled and their bodies moved as close together as it was possible to be.
She knew it was completely inappropriate, but she couldn’t stop the coil of desire that tightened in her stomach, or the heat that pooled between her thighs. If he hadn’t been about to fight for his life, she would have dragged him to the nearest secluded space and had a repeat of their night together.
But eventually, they had to pull back. She tucked her face into his neck and held him tightly.
“Be safe,” she said softly, not sure if he’d even be able to hear her above the sounds of the hangar just behind them.
“I’ll be safe,” he promised. “And you stay safe, too. Stay in the residential areas, near my quarters. They’ll be safest if something does go wrong. I’ll ask someone to get your fingerprints added to my quarters so that you can come and go as you please. Everyone here will know who you are, as you’re the only human on the base. It won’t be any problem.”
Talking about these logistics was the last thing she wanted to do. Now was when she should have been making outpourings of love, but the words stuck in her throat. Everything had been so sudden. She still hadn’t quite reconciled it with herself. She couldn’t bring herself to say those things, even though she knew she might never get another chance.
“Tell me as soon as you’re back,” she said instead. “I don’t know how you’ll get in touch with me, but you have to promise that you’ll tell me as soon as you’re back.”
“Of course, leani,” he murmured, kissing her once more, then pulling away before she could deepen the kiss. He was about to move away, but then came back again and peppered kisses all over her face. “I’ll be back.”
