"Is it Rin'rokir?" Erena asked, trying to climb out of the hatch as the ship shook again.
"I don't know," Shang, usually calm and collected, was wide eyed with worry, "They caught us completely off guard! I can't break loose!"
"What do we do?" Erena was half way out of the hatch, confused and terrified.
"Stay in the bunk!" Shang ordered, "Lock the hatch! They're trying to board. I won't let them through to you, I promise!"
Shang jumped out of his seat, pushing Erena back into the bunk.
"No, I can help!" she struggled against him, "I can't just wait in there for you!"
"Please!" he begged, grabbing her by the arms, his eyes desperate, "Please, just let me protect you!"
Erena, shocked by his desperation, let herself be pushed down into the bunk. He closed the hatch above her and, reluctantly, she locked it, trembling as another impact shook the ship. Suddenly the ship shuddered and went still.
Erena realized the enemy vessel must have locked on to them. She heard the airlock open, and a snarl as Shang threw himself at someone. There was shouting, a struggle, but no laser fire that she could hear.
"Paolo! Get his legs!"
"Stop worrying about his legs! The claws are the problem!"
"Erena! Erena are you here?"
Erena's heart stopped at the sound of those familiar voices calling her name. She scrambled to unlock the hatch and climb out without a second thought.
"Fin!" she called back, her voice trembling with delight and surprise as she recognized her crew mates, all three of them fighting to subdue a wildly thrashing Shang, "Let him go! Shang, it's okay!"
Shang and her crew fixed her with confused stares, but slowly Shang stopped struggling and the three men withdrew, watching each other cautiously. Erena, with no such caution, threw herself forward to hug them all tightly.
They looked rather worse for their weeks in space. All of them were injured. Sergei seemed to have lost an eye, while Fin and Paolo were both showing more bandage than skin. Their uniforms were gone, replaced with the kind of flexible chitin like plate armor Erena remembered seeing her initial captors in.
They all looked rather ragged and worn, although Paolo had managed to transition from clean cut and suave to rugged and dashing without losing an inch of his charm, as usual.
"I can't believe you're here!" Erena sobbed, tears of joy pouring down her cheeks without shame, "I thought they had killed you!"
"They nearly did," Paolo confirmed, "But they decided to keep us until they could find earth."
"That's when we broke out, stole some guns and escaped," Fin added, "Paolo seduced one of the aliens-"
"Her name is Davina and I didn't seduce her," Paolo interrupted with a huff, "It's love."
Fin rolled his eyes.
"Davina escaped with us," Sergei continued, "Then told us the ship had the power to track DNA through space and that we could use it to find you and Captain Harper. She helped us stage an attack and take control of the ship."
"So you found the Captain too?" Erena's eyes widened with delight, "Where is she?"
The three men hung their heads.
"We've been unable to track her," Sergei looked at her solemnly, "All trace of her vanished shortly after the both of you were taken from the ship. Our last hope was that she was with you."
Erena felt a stab of guilt and despair. Alice must have fought to the end. Erena had never met a stronger or more incredible woman. She couldn't believe Captain Harper could just be gone...
"She would want us to go on without her," Sergei put a hand on Erena's shoulder, squeezing reassuringly. Erena nodded.
"I assume you know why we need to get back to earth as soon as possible?" she asked them, "The government in this star system apparently likes using less technologically developed planets as lab rats. If there's even a slim chance that they still have Alice, or her body, they could use it to find Earth. We have to get back first and warn everyone. It's the only way we have a chance."
"Agreed," Sergei nodded firmly, "Let's waste no time then. Our ship is larger and faster. Park yours in the hanger and we'll get going."
"It's not her ship."
Shang had been watching the reunion in sullen silence, frown growing deeper every time Erena touched one of the other men.
"Who is he?" Paolo asked, eyeing Shang critically, "Your hostage?"
"Actually, she's mine," Shang glared daggers at Paolo, looking ready to fight the other man at the slightest provocation, "I bought her fair and square."
"You what?" Paolo turned, ready to attack Shang, and Erena stepped between them.
"Shang!" she snapped, "This is not the time. Paolo, it isn't what it sounds like."
"What is it then?" Paolo asked suspiciously.
Erena paused, unsure how to reply. 'He's bringing me back to earth where I'm planning to kill him before he sells the coordinates' didn't sound like a great idea. 'He's the father of my child' wasn't great either.
She found herself conflicted as to how she felt about him at all. Why should she care if he was hurt? She didn't need him to get back to earth anymore. So why did the thought of it bother her so much?
"It's complicated," she settled on at last, "But I don't need him anymore. I'll just join you on the other ship and he can take this one and leave."
She saw him flinch at her cold words and the hurt in his eyes cut like a knife, but she stubbornly ignored it. If he had no better explanation than what Rin'rokir had provided, then she was better off never seeing him again.
"You still need me," Shang's voice was harsh but firm with resolve, "Even if you've figured out how to use the DNA tracker, you won't be able to follow it across star systems without an experienced pilot, at least not with any kind of speed.
And what will you do if you run into someone? Like a stellar police cruiser for example. If they see a band of unregistered aliens flying a stolen vehicle which I can guarantee you is already marked for piracy and smuggling, they won't care about your sob story. They will blow you to pieces."
"And how would have you around fix that?" Paolo asked, unconvinced.
"He used to be part of the military police," Erena answered for him, frowning, "He might have some pull with them, or at least know how to evade them."
"Then I guess he's coming with us," Sergei sounded unsure, looking to Erena for confirmation, "If you're comfortable with that? I don't care what he can do for us. If you say you don't want him here, we'll figure something else out."
Erena considered it for a moment, but the thought of leaving him behind still ate at her and she realized she was grateful for the excuse to keep him.
"It's fine," she turned towards the open airlock, putting her back to Shang, "He can come if he wants. I don't care."
She was glad she didn't have to see his face as she said that. She was certain it would have hurt.
Chapter Fifteen
While Shang was storing his ship in the larger vessel's hanger, her crew members brought her inside to show her the massive vessel, as well as introduce her to Davina, who had rather more tentacles than Erena expected.
The shapely cnidarian woman had convinced a good portion of the ship's crew to join in the revolt when the humans took over. She'd been planning to overthrow the captain for a while and the humans had provided an excellent opportunity. In return, she had agreed to return them to their planet and protect its location.
Erena would have been suspicious, but she and Paolo were clearly passionately in love with each other. Her tentacles seemed permanently wrapped around him whenever they were in the same room. Paolo was usually pretty flighty, but she'd never seen him as enamored as he clearly was with the pretty alien.
She was glad she wasn't the only one who'd... The thought embarrassed her and she rejected it quickly, focusing on Fin who was enthusiastically explaining how the ship's engines worked.
"It's using microwaves in a vacuum to create thrust!" Fin explained, nearly vibrating with excitement as he
showed her the cathedral sized seemingly empty copper cavity that was the ship's engine, "See, what's happening is called the Unrah effect, which is to say, that acceleration causes in the universe to heat up, causing waves and-"
"Oh, I've heard of this!" Erena's eyes widened, "Weren't they working on a design like this back on Earth?"
"Yes, but it was still theoretical, and it was being mostly dismissed as breaking the laws of physics. This proves it works! This is going to revolutionize our understanding of the universe-"
"Hey."
Erena and Fin turned as a voice interrupted them, seeing Shang standing behind them. He still had the look of sullen annoyance he'd had on the other ship, but he seemed to be trying to control it.
"My ship’s taken care of," he reported.
"Good," Fin was still looking at Shang mistrustfully, "Then you should head up to the bridge and help with navigation. So as I was saying Erena, this completely upends our understanding of the laws of physics-"
"Erena," Shang broke in again and Fin's face reddened with annoyance, "I want to talk to you."
"She's actually talking with me right now," Fin pointed out, gritting his teeth, "So if you could buzz off maybe?"
Erena sighed wearily and put a hand on Fin's shoulder.
"Relax Fin," she said, "We can talk about it more later. Let me see what he wants."
Fin made an irritated noise but let her go, and Erena moved away to join Shang, who led her towards the opposite end of the vast engine room.
"These men," Shang asked as they walked, not looking at her, "What are they to you?"
"They're my team mates," Erena answered, confused that he would be asking about such a thing, "I thought that was obvious. I was exploring with them before we were attacked and separated."
Shang clenched his fists, his mood seeming to sink even lower.
"You already had that many mates, and you didn't tell me before we were together?"
"What?" Erena scrunched her nose in confusion, "I said /team mates/, not mates! I work with them. It isn't sexual."
"So you've never slept with them?"
"Well, with Paolo once, but that was-"
"So you have slept with them!"
"Why do you care?"
"Because you're mine!" he snapped, turning back to her with a tortured expression, "Only mine!"
Erena's skin prickled as outrage flooded her. She stepped closer to him, stabbing a finger into his chest.
"Excuse you?" she snarled, "I don't belong to anyone but myself! You may have bought me, but you will never own me! Do you think just because I slept with you once you get to decide who I can associate with for the rest of my life? Well you've got another thing coming buddy."
"No, it isn't about that!" he shouted back, and his hair seemed to raise like dog's hackles, "It isn't about whether I bought you or slept with you, it's-"
He stopped, hunting for the words, and Erena was struck with a sudden suspicion. She covered her stomach with her hands instinctively.
"Yll told you!" she trembled with anger at the betrayal, "She promised she wouldn't!"
"Told me what?" Shang stepped back, confused, and glanced down at her hands. Erena realized her mistake at the same time she saw understanding dawning on his. He looked up into her eyes, his expression a clash of shock and worry.
"You aren't," he declared at first, then doubted himself, "Are you?"
Erena, flustered and red in the face, turned away from him quickly
"It's none of your business anyway," she said, hurrying towards the door, "So just forget about it and leave me alone!"
"How do you figure it's none of my business?" he ran after her, his voice shaking with emotion, "It's half mine! And it's part of my species! My dying species!"
"No, it's not," Erena countered, "I'm the one that has to risk her life carrying it. All you did was have sex. It's mine. And it'll be a hybrid, so it won't be part of your species anyway."
"Close enough!" Shang reached out to grab her arm, forcing her to face him. Erena saw Fin hurrying towards them.
"Why didn't you tell me?" Shang demanded, "This changes everything-"
"What, you don't want to sell my planet anymore because your kid will be on it?" Erena snatched her arm out of his grip with a snarl.
"Whoa, hey now!" Fin hurried to get between them, "There's no need to put hands on each other!"
"Stop saying that!" Shang shouted back at her, ignoring Fin entirely, "I never said I would do that! You just accepted what Rokir said and never even gave me a chance!"
"I did give you a chance!" Erena was screaming at him at full volume now and she didn't care who heard, "I asked you to explain! You're the one who refused to answer!"
"Like you would have believed me if I had!"
"Of course I would have! Why do you always treat me like I'm an idiot?"
"Why do you always jump to conclusions?!"
"Fine then! If you're so sure I won't believe it- Tell me! Why should I believe you wouldn't hand over my planet?"
"Because I've seen it happen!"
Shang's voice break, raw with emotion, echoing in the huge emptiness of the engines. Erena fell silent in shock as she realized there were tears in the corners of his dark eyes.
"I watched it happen," he explained, his volume and his shoulders dropping, "I signed the orders. Why do you think I left the military police? The moment I saw what I was responsible for..."
He put a hand to his head, and Erena glanced away, noticing others gathering in the engine room, drawn by the noise. Erena felt a rush of guilt, realizing things were more complicated than she'd realized. She reached for his arm.
"Come on," she said softly, "Let's go talk somewhere more private."
"Erena," Fin was still between them, face lined with concern, "Are you sure? If he hurts you-"
"He's never hurt me," Erena interrupted him, "I trust him."
Leaving a still worried Fin behind, Erena led Shang off to a cabin where they could talk alone.
Chapter Sixteen
"I never wanted you to know about that part of me," Shang explained, unable to meet her eye as he told her about his past, "After I'd seen what I was responsible for- the carnage on that planet- the only way I could live with it was just to stop caring about anything or anyone.
I convinced myself that no one mattered but me. All other lives were meaningless. And when you don't care about other lives, piracy is easy. I killed and stole and left people to starve and told myself that none of it mattered.
I watched hundreds of women cross that stage I met you on and none of it touched me. And then I saw you, staring at me with those eyes. It felt like they stared straight through me, right through all the lies I'd told myself. When you looked at me, I could feel the guilt of all those lives crushing me again."
He looked up at her, more vulnerable than she'd ever seen him, and felt her own heart quake in response, echoing his words. She'd felt the same thing when she'd seen him. The way his eyes had seen right through her and laid her bare.
"There's a story my mother once told me about our species," he continued, reaching out to take her hand,
"About how we were made in pairs, always destined to find each other. She said I'd recognize my Amorent, my soul mate, the minute I saw her. I never believed in it then, but- Erena, I think you're my Amorent. I'd be willing to bet everything on it."
"Then why were you willing to take me back to Earth?" Erena asked, dazzled, "Even when you thought I hated you?"
"I couldn't risk you getting hurt," he answered, staring back at her with deep, dark eyes, "Even if it meant I never saw you again, as long as I knew you were safe, that would be enough.
I was scared of falling in love with you, scared of admitting how much you meant to me. Admitting I loved you meant letting go of all those years pretending nothing mattered. I thought I could just take you back to Earth and forget. But now..."
He reached out to put a hand on her stomach and Erena shivered at his
touch.
"I won't abandon you," he promised solemnly, "Either of you. I know what it's like, growing up alone, the only one of your kind. I won't let that happen to my own kid. So please-"
He squeezed her hand, leaning closer to her.
"Let me stay with you."
Erena's heart was racing in her chest as he leaned in to kiss her, her emotions overwhelming her. She didn't know if she believed in soul mates or Amorents, but she couldn't pretend she had no feelings at all for him anymore.
Thinking he had betrayed her had hurt her so badly she couldn't think straight. Whether she loved him she still wasn't sure. She hadn't known him long and they'd met in such a terrible way. But neither did she have it in her to turn him away.
She leaned in to meet him, her eyes closing as she felt the warmth of his lips against her own- Only to be abruptly interrupted by distant boom that sent tremors through the hull around them. Shang stood up at once, standing over Erena protectively.
"That was a laser canon," Shang said, a moment before an alarm began blaring overhead, "We're under attack."
"Again?" Erena jumped to her feet, rushing out of the cabin and up to the bridge.
"Is it the stellar police?" Erena asked as she crashed onto the bridge, seeing her crew, sans Paolo who had stayed down in engineering, was already there.
"Worse!" Davina shouted back to her as she stood at the helm, all her tentacles at work on the console, "It's pirates!"
"That's the bug's flagship," Shang stared out the wide view screen at the huge chitinous ship firing at them, "It's Rin'rokir. He must have tracked us. You need to move the ship, now!"
"I'm trying," Davina yelled back, "If I can get him on my right I can hit him with the broadsides!"
"No! You need to get out of this spot!" Shang corrected her, "Rokir has more than one ship! He's about to flank you!"
No sooner had he said this than the ships alarms began shrieking, alerting them to another ship closing in. But Davina was already moving, disengaging from the flag ship and rolling away, evading the second two ships closing in on them from behind. The second two were only slightly smaller than the flag ship.
Alien Romance: The Alien's Pregnant Mate: Scifi Alien Abduction Romance (Alien Romance, Alien Invasion Romance, BBW) (Celestial Mates Book 2) Page 9
