by Ravenna Tate
She shook her head. “For a very short time, and I wasn’t chosen by strangers like you were. Jakara and Eldon, a Regum and an old family friend of Jakara’s father, disguised themselves and came to the holding cells. It was very risky for both because if they’d been recognized, they would have been imprisoned. I didn’t even know who he was. He was wearing a hood.”
She stopped and leaned into Jakara’s body, next to her. “I thought they were men coming to take me away. But then I found myself on Sera with them, and we started a whole new life. When the Addonians began to organize, Jakara was right there, helping them become more than simply a dream. We moved to Addo shortly after the Addonians kicked the Tyranns off this planet.” She glanced around the table. “All of you are part of this now. I’m so proud to know there are people in other worlds still willing to risk it all for justice and freedom. Thank you.”
Gia had to remove her hand from Thane’s so she could wipe away more tears. The group went back to eating their meal and talking about other things, but Gia kept her thoughts on everything the other women had been through. This was far bigger than she’d ever realized. The men were fighting for a way of life, and for the preservation of their own world. And their women were helping them, despite the fact it had been their planet torn to shreds.
But none of the men here had been directly responsible for the invasion and destruction of Earth. Even Jakara had only been following orders, but in secret he’d opposed what the Tyranns were becoming. What they had become by the time he’d made his fateful decision to keep Callie for his own.
He was supposed to have taken her to the holding cells, just like the alien who had snatched Gia from the streets of Boston had done. He was a Special Retrieval Commander, just as Jakara had once been. If not for Jakara, Callie would have suffered the same fate as Gia.
Would she have caught a lucky break and escaped, too? Most of the women didn’t. Gia knew that. She’d been one of the fortunate ones, and she realized now more than before how important it was that she get her story out to the people on Sera and Addo. They needed to know what was really happening on Voyeur Moon.
She was deep in thought, and at first didn’t hear Callie’s question to Thane and Rune. But when all conversation stopped and she realized everyone was watching her, she frowned and asked Callie to repeat what she’d just said.
“You didn’t tell her.” It wasn’t a question. Callie’s tone and her face accused Thane and Rune.
“We were waiting until we arrived,” said Rune, quietly. “We thought it best that Vaughn and River explain the mission, since they’re the ones who planned it.”
She glanced from him to Thane and back again, panic rising like hot bile in her throat. “What mission?”
“It’s already in place,” said Thane, his eyes alive with excitement. “And you have nothing to worry about. This will work.”
“What mission?” She didn’t care how bitchy she sounded right now. What the fuck was going on? She glanced around and realized she was the only one at this table who didn’t know.
She started to rise, but Thane grabbed her arm. “It’s all right. Please, sit down and we’ll explain.”
“You should have done that before we came here.”
“You have enough on your plate. We didn’t want you to worry. We wanted you to enjoy this place.”
He looked so contrite she backed off, but only a little. “Then explain now. Please.”
Thane glanced toward Vaughn and River. Vaughn leaned forward. “The Regum and Addonians have joined forces for this, and it was the rescue of Blake and Betsy that inspired it. When we met with the Regum who control Sera’s army and explained how we pulled it off, we began to talk about how we might rescue everyone in prison on Voyeur Moon. And that includes the men and women in the Zoo, and the women in the holding cells.”
She swallowed hard. “That would take a lot of manpower.”
He nodded. “Yes, it would. But we have that, if combined with the army the Regum controls.”
“Then why haven’t you done this before?”
River shook his head. “You have no idea how difficult it’s been convincing the Regum this is the only way. There is no possibility of a peaceful solution. We’ve tried that. It isn’t going to work. You, Fallon, Marianne, and Callie are living proof of that. Each of your stories mirrors what has been going on for over two years. Taken in chronological order, they demonstrate the depths of depravity to which the Tyranns have sunk in that time. They don’t want a peaceful solution to this. They don’t want a solution at all. They won’t stop until Earth is a dead rock, floating in space.”
Gia hugged herself again.
“And then they’ll move onto another planet,” said Jakara. “They’re taking in money hand over fist because of this. Did you know that? The people who come to watch the shows at the Zoo pay handsomely for admission to one. And those who take women from the holding cells pay a fee as well. And…” He cut his gaze toward Thane and Rune for a second. “Forgive me, but the Tyranns don’t refund the fee if the men bring the woman back for any reason. This is big business for them. They won’t stop at one planet now that they realize how easy it is.”
“And that’s not the worst part,” said Vaughn. “It’s not only your people affected, or others when they find another planet to conquer. It’s our own. They’ve turned what we were all rebelling against into something evil and twisted. We wanted the Regum to relax their laws so we could live a life with love, and sex that was enjoyable, and not be told what to think or how to feel. But none of us wanted this. We didn’t want to invade other planets and turn their women into sex slaves. That was never our intention.”
“The extreme faction of Tyranns grew so strong, so quickly,” said Jakara. “Most of us didn’t realize how bad things had become until we were knee deep in the middle of it. We faced not only losing our jobs, but death, if we protested. I was called a traitor on both sides. By the people I had identified with all my life, and then again by the Regum. Others like me suffered the same conflicting fate. We were caught in the middle, with no one to back us. We no longer wanted to support what they were turning Voyeur Moon into, but we couldn’t go back to a life on either Addo or Sera.”
“That’s why the Addonians were formed,” said River. “To bridge that gap. To try this time to bring about a solution that didn’t involve kidnapping people from other planets, or turning our own people into men and women who promoted slavery and gang-rapes. And we’ve achieved that now. Or at least, we’ve made huge inroads into achieving it. This mission will work. And once it does, we will rid our worlds of this faction of Tyranns forever.”
“And then we plan to help Earth rebuild,” said Vaughn, looking directly at Gia. “If you so choose, you can go home again one day.” His voice was so quiet. When he finished his sentence, no one spoke. Again, she could hear a clock tick over the pounding of the surf outside.
Gia swallowed hard again. She didn’t dare glance at either Thane or Rune right now. Did she want to go home again? It was all she’d dreamed about for two years. But now that she was here, and finally understood what they were doing on these two planets—on Sera and Addo—really understood it for the first time, she also realized she had a very difficult choice to face.
Because if this mission succeeded the way they all hoped it would, her planet would be restored. It was her home. But it wasn’t home to Thane and Rune, and it never would be. Their work here wouldn’t end with this mission. And she couldn’t ask them to leave it, any more than they’d expect her to choose to stay here with them, over returning to Earth.
And that was assuming they came back from this mission alive, and still wanted her with them when they did.
Chapter Ten
That night, long after they’d all walked along the beach and admired the moons and the stars, after the dishes were cleaned up and the leftover food and drink put away, and after she’d confirmed that every man in the house, including Blake, was going o
n this mission, Gia lay awake in the room she’d been given to use during her visit, staring at the wood-beamed ceiling.
Her window was open, and she should have been lulled to sleep by the sound of the waves, but her mind raced with confusing and conflicting thoughts. Thane and Rune might die. Jakara, Blake, Vaughn, and River might die. Cord and Arlo might die. Their mission, from what little she’d absorbed during the conversation that had continued all day and well into the evening, was insane.
They planned to do exactly what she’d been told mere weeks ago was not in the plans. They were going to invade Voyeur Moon, plain and simple. They were going to rescue everyone they could from the Zoo, the holding cells, and the three prisons on the planet, and then they were going to bomb the shit out of those buildings.
When they had wiped them off the surface, they were going door-to-door to get the few people still living on the planet away safely. Ordinary citizens who, for whatever reason, had been unable to leave and move to Sera or Addo, would be given shelter on one of those planets. But the Tyranns living in hidden homes, as Jakara had once done, would be executed, along with the guards and wardens of the Zoo, holding cells, and prisons.
They wouldn’t stop until Voyeur Moon was as dead as Earth now was. Only they wouldn’t leave anyone on it, like there were still people living on Earth. Their intention was to wipe the planet clean of people. There would be no Tyranns left when they were done. And then they planned to form teams who would journey to Earth and help them rebuild the planet.
It was bold, and expansive, and totally nuts. But the men in this house each had complete confidence it would work. She had no frame of reference to judge whether it would or not. She only knew it meant that Thane and Rune would be gone a long time. Weeks or even months, before Voyeur Moon was free of people. She didn’t yet know if the two planned on joining the teams who would eventually fly to Earth and help them rebuild. She hadn’t asked. She didn’t want to know. Not yet.
She crawled out of bed and walked over to the window seat. As she sat down, she inhaled the salty air, letting the memories of what that smell had once meant fill her mind. She could live here, near the water, for the rest of her life and be perfectly happy. But could she be happy on another planet, instead of back in Boston? And did it even matter now? Her home might be rebuilt one day, but it would never be the same. Not without her family and friends. Not without her job, or her day-to-day routine restored.
She had new friends here. She even had two men who made love to her like no one ever had. She could love them one day, maybe. If she let that emotion back into her heart, that is. And she was fairly certain they could love her, too. She saw it in their eyes.
Assuming they don’t die in this mission.
Yes. Assuming that. And assuming when they returned from it they’d still want her.
This was so fucked up, and it was all her own doing. She’d hidden from everyone and everything for two solid years. And now, in the space of a few weeks, her entire world had been turned upside down once again. Only this time, her heart was in real danger of being lost forever to two sexy, charming alien men who made her feel like the most desirable woman on any planet.
But could she keep them? Even when this was over?
Did she even want to keep them?
A soft sound drew her attention from the sea and her thoughts. She turned to watch Thane and Rune enter her room, then stand just inside the doorway, as if unsure whether to come inside. She rose. “I was just thinking about you two.”
“We were sure you’d be asleep,” said Thane. They were dressed in shorts and T-shirts, and she’d never seen such innocuous clothing look so damn seductive.
“I can’t sleep.”
“We can’t either,” said Rune. “May we come in and talk? We never had a chance to speak with you alone today, and thought you might have questions about the mission.”
She snorted, then took a seat on the bed and patted the comforter. “About a million.”
They sat close to her. “Ask away,” said Thane.
“Why didn’t you tell me about it before?”
“We explained that already.”
“Yes, you did, but it was a shock to hear it like this. And then to find out I was the only person who didn’t know made me feel insignificant. Please don’t ever do that to me again. I’m not a child. You don’t have to keep things from me.”
Thane stroked her arm. “I’m very sorry. We both are. In retrospect, we realize now we were wrong not to tell you.”
“Even if our intentions were right,” said Rune.
“We have a saying on Earth. The road to hell is paved with good intentions.”
Both men smiled slightly.
“But thank you for acknowledging it and for apologizing. It’s forgiven and forgotten.”
The muscles on their faces relaxed. “Do you have other questions?” asked Rune.
“Yes. How high of a chance of success does this mission actually have?”
“As high as any of them do I suppose.”
“When I asked before why they didn’t do this, you told me they didn’t want to. What changed?”
“Our recent work helped convince them, which means you had a hand in this, Gia.” He beamed with pride, and it did help to know she’d done some good after all, even in such a short time. “Plus Jakara and the others have been talking to Regum generals, trying to convince them of the urgency of the situation. They finally listened.”
“The Regum’s army is a well-kept secret,” said Thane. “They have over fifty thousand troops at their disposal, Gia.”
“Holy shit.”
“Jakara, Vaughn, and River believe this is a done deal, sweetheart. The hard part was in convincing the Regum to join with the Addonians.”
“Then why do you need me to keep writing all this propaganda?”
“Because as soon as this is launched,” said Rune, “they’re going to get pushback from the citizens of both Sera and Addo for it.”
She nodded slowly. “It’s all starting to fit together. This has been planned for a while now, but the people don’t know about it.”
“It’s Vaughn and River’s brainchild, but Jakara had a hand in it, too. They didn’t want to say anything until the Regum were on board. Fallon, Cord, and Arlo had a lot to do with that, as did Cortez.”
“Cord’s cousin?”
“Yes.”
She eyed them both for a few seconds. “And was your part in this ever a question? By that I mean, were you already on board should it become reality?”
They both said “yes” at the same time.
Here comes the hard part. “So what happens to me?”
“You mean while we’re gone?” asked Thane.
“Yes.” And afterwards.
“That’s up to you. Fallon will still be working at the Ministry, and we need you there, too. You can live in our condo, or she’s offered to let you move into the house she shares with Cord and Arlo so you’re not alone.”
“She has?”
Thane nodded. “Yes.”
“You’ve talked it through that much with them, but not with me?”
His face fell, and guilt consumed her. She’d agree to forgive and forget that part. “Never mind. Okay. What’s my other option?”
“You can stay here,” said Rune. “There’s no reason you can’t do your Ministry work remotely. But if you do, Fallon will likely stay here, too. She doesn’t want to be alone while we’re all gone anymore than you do.” They exchanged a quick glance. “That is to say … I mean … I’ve assumed a lot here. We both have.”
She blinked a few times as Rune’s meaning suddenly became clear. “Are you kidding me? You both thought I wouldn’t miss you, or worry about you while you’re gone? I’m going out of my mind already and you haven’t even left. Of course I’ll be worried. And no, I don’t want to be alone. I’ll move in with Fallon or stay here, whatever she wants to do.”
The air in the room changed. Their rel
ief was obvious, and it surprised her. Had they really been as unsure about her feelings toward them as she was about theirs for her? “I guess we have more to talk about than the mission.”
“We didn’t want to assume anything,” said Rune.
Thane moved closer to her, and she inhaled his scent. “But we’ve come to really care about you, Gia.” He brushed a finger along her arm, and she shivered. “More than we should.”
“Why more than you should?” Her voice came out all breathy, but how could she help that?
“Because we have no claim on you. No right to ask you to wait for us.”
“Oh…” His answer echoed her own thoughts all day. “I was thinking I had no right to ask you to come back to me.”
Rune moved closer now, and he cupped her face gently. “There isn’t any place else we want to be. You’ve crawled under our skin so deeply, we can’t let you go now. You’re stuck with us, beautiful.”
She swallowed hard at the intensity of his gaze. These two were everything she’d ever dreamed of when she tried to imagine the perfect man to fall in love with. Well, other than the facts that there were two of them, and they weren’t from Earth, of course. But did that matter anymore? They knew her deepest, darkest fears and had managed to take the sting out of them. How, she still had no clue. But they had.
And then they’d taken her to heights of pleasure she’d never known existed. How could she give that up? How could she give them up?
She couldn’t. And she didn’t want to.
Gia pulled her shift over her head and tossed it onto the floor. The cool night air caused goosebumps to break out over her naked body, but she knew they’d have her warm in seconds. She moved toward them, and Rune caught her in his arms first. A loud moan escaped her throat as he eased her back onto the bed and crawled on top of her.
He kissed her like he might never do it again, and then he slipped his dick into her pussy. She clung to his body while he fucked her, slowly. When she sensed Thane move closer to her head, she turned to see him kneeling next to her face, pulling on his cock. It was so damn sexy she nearly came.
