Celestial Mates Complete Series Box Set (Books 1-5) (Alien SciFi Romance)

by C. J. Scarlett

  “Are you attempting to develop a sense of humor to be more pleasing to your new human mate? I honestly can’t tell if you’re being serious or not right now. They’re animals, sir, not people.”

  “When was the last time that animals broke into our cloning lab and retrofitted our equipment for enhanced breeding?”

  “I understand, sir. We’re going to critical alert and we’ll keep you apprised of our progress.”

  Shar Jalon’s voice took on a menacing quality. “Alert the other ships, but remember something, captain. Regardless of what they put into those cloning chambers, what came out was a clone.”

  There was a long, pregnant pause. When the captain replied, his voice was steely. “We’ll secure the mimics from the other ships.”

  “See it done, captain.”

  Pulling Keiko into his arms, he murmured soothingly, “Come, I’ll take you to your room.”

  “Can I stay here with you?”

  Without hesitating, he responded, “If that is what you wish.”

  “I just need to rest and I feel safe with you.”

  Smiling slightly, he agreed, “Certainly, nothing will happen to you on my watch. We have had several encounters with the mimics. They have never attacked, nor do they appear dangerous.”

  “Do you think the insectoids mixed their DNA with Shardon genetic material to create the mimics?”

  “It’s likely. Come; let’s get a shower and sleep.”

  “You’ve been up for almost thirty hours straight.”

  “As have you, my Keiko.”

  Pulling her towards his cleansing room, he switched the mister on before pulling off his clothing. Turning his back to her, he tried not to be obvious about wanting her to join him. Where most women might enjoy being coddled, encouraged, and made to feel welcome to join in activities, his female seemed to prefer a more low-key invitation. His gut feeling must have been correct, because she climbed in after a few moments.

  Shar Jalon stood with his hands leaning on the wall, allowing the warm mist to cover his body. Misting chambers weren’t as nice as real showers but on a ship, such luxuries weren’t permitted because of space and water restrictions. Once the Shardon began sharing technology with the alliance, such updates would be possible.

  He heard the creak of the cleansing foam dispenser being pulled, then felt his female smoothing her hands over his back. The way she moved her fingers and kneaded his muscles felt better than anything he’d ever known. When her arms slipped around to smooth down his abdomen, he wasn’t prepared for her to grasp his manhood. Looking down at her tiny, pale hands moving up and down the thickness of his bulging erection took his breath away.

  It was actually happening for him; a woman had warmed to him. And not just any woman, it was his chosen female who pleasured him in the way women were wont to do. Turning in her arms, she let go and slid her hands up his chest.

  “You’re a sexy guy.”

  Suddenly feeling strange standing before such a beautiful female with all his bulky muscles and scars on full display, Shar Jalon’s mind blanked out. There was much he’d planned to say to woo her to his bed, but much of that was now obsolete since they were naked together and she was clearly interested in mating with him. Realizing that he was making easy things hard, he carefully placed a hand on each of her hips and pulled her towards him.

  “My Keiko, I wish to explore your body and ensure you’re pleasured properly.” Looking down at the huge and somewhat embarrassing erection, he continued, “Though my body screams otherwise, my mind tells me that perhaps now isn’t the time for intimacy. You have been through a traumatic event and I don’t wish to overstep with you.”

  As the mister melted the foam from their bodies, she gazed up at him. Her dark eyes seemed sultry and churning with emotion to him.

  “We’ve been dancing around getting naked for weeks now. What happened earlier was terrifying, but living on Earth during an insectoid invasion taught me some important life lessons. One was to reach out and grab the things I want, because

  I might not get another chance.”

  “I promise you’ll have many chances to be with me.”

  “After seeing the way your warriors handled the insectoids, I believe that’s true. But what if something really unexpected happens? Do you want me to live the rest of my life wondering what might have been?”

  “You make a good argument for what is already my greatest wish. You have convinced my manhood that tonight is the best possible time for our joining. Still, I hesitate, for I don’t wish you to remember tonight as the night I took advantage when you were vulnerable.”

  Sliding her hands up his chest again, she tiptoed up to kiss his chin. “Then let’s remember tonight as the night I took advantage of the Shardon prince.”

  “I can now see, princess, that you’re used to getting your way.”

  Pulling him out of the cleansing unit by the hand, she muttered, “If that were only half true, I’d be a lucky woman.”

  Pulling her to a gentle stop, he drew her into the circle of his arms again. “How about from this point forward, we work on you getting your way a little more often?”

  Smiling up at him, she shook her head. “I should warn you, you’re creating a monster. The more I get things my own way, the more I’ll crave it.”

  Pulling a long slip of cloth from a nearby hook, he began to dry her off with it. “Your innocent words make me think devious thoughts, such has how I can make you crave me tonight.” Kneeling in front of her, he dried off each long leg, propping each foot on his knee to dry her feet.

  Rather than putting the last foot back down, he draped it over his shoulder, opening her to his touch. Running the backside of one finger down her mound to her tender bud, he commented, “You’re so small and delicate compared to a warrior.”

  “Don’t worry, human women are very pliant.”

  “This is something I already know. Miss Maiko adapted to accommodate her Krylon prince.”

  Quirking a brow, she looked down at him. “How do you even know something like that?”

  “The princess and I were very close. We speak freely to each other. I wished to lure her from her prince, but it wasn’t to be. She did say that if she’d met me first, her decision may have been different.”

  Looking horrified, she asked directly, “You were in love with Maiko? The woman who’s identical to me?”

  “I’ll always love her. She was the first female I ever spent time with.”

  Sliding her leg from his shoulder, she placed one foot on his massive chest and pushed him gently back. “You were right. Now isn’t the appropriate time for us to… just forget it. Where’s my clothes?”

  Turning, she scooped them up and left the cleansing room. Shar Jalon pulled on his form suit and followed her. By the time he made it out to the main room, he saw her strolling out the door with her shoes in her hand.

  “Keiko, wait. There could still be mimics on the loose.”

  Ignoring him, she continued to walk. He scurried after her, just in time to see a mimic glide down from its hiding place on the ceiling. Was it the same one? He couldn’t tell. It screeched and waved its arms.

  Rather than cringing or running to him for shelter, she stalked up to the creature and grabbed it by what may have been an antenna. “Cut it out. I’m sick of listening to you screech. We can’t understand what you’re saying, so calm the hell down.”

  Instead of getting angry or combative, the creature bowed its head submissively and lowered his eyes to the ground. Keiko sighed and let go of the antenna, grabbing it instead by a wing-like arm. “God, I so hate my life right now. Come the heck on and let’s see if we can figure out what in the world you’re talking about.” Dragging the reluctant creature towards the cloning bays, she catapulted Shar Jalon into action.

  Bringing his com to his mouth, he called Lar.

  “Yes, sir, what can I do for you?”

  “My Keiko has one of the mimics and she’s escorting him
to the cloning unit. Can you meet us there?”

  “I’ll be there right away. I started a program to sort out the language but it will take awhile.”

  Shar Jalon shadowed his mate to the cloning unit, careful to keep a weapon trained on the insectoid. There was a flutter of excitement and some disorientation when she arrived in the cloning unit. There were still some injured who had overflowed from the medical unit being treated. She pushed the bug onto a recovery platform, grabbed a hand scanner, and began scanning him.

  Shar Jalon approached her, unsure what had precipitated her abrupt change in behavior or sudden decision that she hated her life.

  Without looking up, she spoke, “Go away. I don’t want to talk to you right now. We’ll let you know when we find something.” Flipping on the linguistics program, it ran in the background.

  “Have I done something to offend you, my Keiko?”

  “I’m not yours and I probably won’t ever be. So, if you don’t mind, I’d like to do something productive with my time. Since I’m stranded in this godforsaken place, I might as well make the best of it.”

  “I believe you’re having a mental breakdown, my princess. If you’ll allow Lar to have a look at you, I feel certain that…”

  “You’ve got a lot of nerve. I’m not having a breakdown. I’m angry at you. Go away until I’m not angry and then we can talk.”

  Lar’s voice broke into their conversation, “I believe you’re both experiencing heightened emotions coupled with poor decision making. Perhaps it hasn’t occurred to you that arguing about your personal life in front of an enemy insectoid is a serious lapse of good judgement.”

  Shar Jalon reached out and wrapped his hand around Keiko’s arm. As he tried to pull her closer, she jerked back. Before Shar could process why she was rebuffing him, the insectoid moved. Jerking his hand from her, he tucked her behind his wing and screeched the same repetitive patter over and over.

  Suddenly, a translation poured out of the linguistics program. “Don’t touch your queen.”

  Keiko peered around the creature to look it in the face. Without its mimicking utilized, it looked very much like a humanoid with strong insect features. Putting a hand on its wing, she stated soothingly several times, “The queen is fine.” At some point, the translation program began working on his end because he calmed and sat down again.

  Keiko tried to communicate with the creature, “Can you understand my words?”

  Nodding, it replied, “Yes. Most. Words.”

  “Why are you here?”

  “To warn.”

  Shaking her head, she asked, “Warn? I don’t understand.”

  “Our queen comes. All die.”

  “You have women, like me?”

  “Not like you. Fearsome. Where the queens go, death follows.”

  “I can understand more of what you’re saying. Where are the queens now?”

  “In another… closed-off space.” Concentrating hard, he used his hands to make a gesture that looked to Shar Jalon like a wormhole. “You now make larger tunnels through space. Our ships see large ones, not small ones. Before they close, our queen comes.”

  Keiko turned to him. “Any idea what it’s talking about?”

  Shar Jalon rubbed his temple. “The Candorians have recently begun opening larger wormholes in space for their new upgraded luxury freighters. I’m thinking he means the wormholes we’ve been using don’t draw the notice of the queen, but the larger ones do. He thinks they’re doing a tag along and jumping into our sector from who knows where.”

  Turning to the mimic, Shar asked pointedly, “Why are you warning us?”

  “We have many species. The ones that eat your kind are the swarm. They’re animals with no mind but to eat and kill. None of my kind kill innocents without thought or care. We must protect the innocent.” Stealing a heated glance at Keiko, he added, “And we must protect the good queens.”

  When the room went silent, the insectoid spoke again, “I was created in your image to speak for my people. On the inside, we’re similar but you couldn’t see it until we made the outside look like you. Did we do wrong?”

  Shaking his head at the strange new clone, he spoke, “No, you did well. What do you hope to gain from contacting us?”

  “My brethren are doomed. We wish for you to stop using the larger tunnels so your galaxy is safe. We beg that you allow the others like me to stay. We wish to make our people more than what we are. My insectoid brothers desire to know that somewhere in the wide verse there are our kind living peaceably.”

  Shar Jalon’s eyes narrowed. “Tell us more of the queens and your doomed brothers. Where is your home planet?”

  “There are few of my kind and we’re ruled by queens. They’re very large and strong beyond your ability to imagine. The queens have long since had the swarm destroy every planet in our galaxy. They monitor the tunnels looking for new places to jump. The queens desire wealth, power, and control over all they see. I was told our queen is one of the most ruthless. You must not give them access to your space again. The ones you battled are mostly scouts.”

  “Who made you and what have they done with the cloning equipment they stole from us?”

  “The explosion caught the notice of our scout vessel and members of the sect of the brotherhood noticed clones for the first time. It made them think of a way to deny our queen access to this galaxy. They have dedicated themselves to finding a way out of the vicious cycle of death for my people. Unfortunately, now that their idea has been brought to fruition, they have returned to their galaxy. If they’re successful in averting an incursion here, they’ll use it to deny the queens access to other innocent worlds.”

  “What should we do with the swarm we have captured?”

  “Nothing. By now, they’ll have turned on each other. I pray you didn’t keep others like me locked away with them.”

  Shar Jalon responded, “We overlooked your kind during our original sweeps. When we discovered you were cloned partially from our genetic material, I ordered all the mimics brought to this ship. They’re all in individual stasis units. I’ll need to meet with the other princes and determine what course to take. In the meanwhile, we’ll alert the Candorians to cease opening the enhanced wormholes immediately.”

  Bowing his head, the creature folded his hands in front of him in what could only be described as a pose of submission.

  Chapter 14

  ~ Shar Jalon ~

  Keiko’s Music Mix Fourteen

  Tiring of the constant detailed questions Shar Jalon’s team kept throwing at the mimic, Keiko headed to her room for some sleep.

  Getting tossed into a new dimension, working to close the temporal anomaly, and then rolling right into an attack by the insectoids, did her head in. Keiko only had so much patience for drama, and she’d reached her absolute limit when Shar openly admitted that he was in love with another woman. The last thing in the world she needed was to be Maiko’s stand in for the poor lovesick man. It was a genuine disappointment as well, because she genuinely liked him.

  “Keiko, please wait a moment. I wish to speak with you.”

  Stopping, Keiko scrubbed her hands over her face in frustration. “Shar, I’m tired. I don’t think I can take any more crap right now.”

  “I didn’t come with an offering of crap. I wanted to see if all was well with you. I haven’t seen you so… upset. You grabbed the insectoid and hauled him off like an errant child. It worried me to see and totally out of character for you. It leads me to believe something may be bothering you.”

  “You think something might be bothering me? Well, you couldn’t be more mistaken. I’m just peachy. If you don’t mind, I’m going to bed now.”

  “Do you wish to sleep with me in order to feel protected?”

  “Nope.”

  Looking confused, he tilted his head slightly. “Very well, I’ll leave you to your own devices for the evening. If you need of me, message me and I’ll come right away.”

  “T
hanks, but I won’t need you for anything at all.”

  Stomping into her room, she engaged the locking devices before bursting into tears. Why did her life have to suck so hard? In this dimension, she didn’t even have a best friend to turn to. Rose was the person she normally turned to for such things. However, the Rose in this dimension was her pretty counterpart’s best friend.

  Grabbing a drink from her tiny refrigerated unit, she tried to get her head around what was going on with Shar Jalon. At first, she’d thought his detached style of flirting was a byproduct of being a clone with no prior history interacting with women. Of course, now she knew better. He was in love with Maiko, and that meant she was just a simple substitute for the woman who rejected him.

  Dropping down onto her settee, she really felt foolish. Though her dimension swarmed with insectoids, she wished she was back there for the first time ever. The new information about the creatures would have proven extremely beneficial to her people at one time. Not now though. Thinking back to the moment she got pulled into the anomaly, she remembered an explosion. A certain feeling of coldness settled over her as she realized the ship carrying the one remaining relative had exploded.

  Now, she was stuck in a dimension where she wasn’t needed or really wanted. Instead of carrying on the imperial line, she was relegated to living out her life as the stand-in for the woman Shar really loved. Wrapping her arms around her knees, she cried herself to sleep.

  At some point in the night, she felt a warm blanket settle over her. Lost in her own slumber, she never thought to wonder where it came from. Tossing and turning, drifting from one terrible dream to another, her sleep cycle ended with a dream about walking to find Shar kissing Maiko. It felt like getting slapped in the face. Turning over on the settee, she pulled the blanket around her. Trying to get her head straight proved more difficult than she thought it would be.

  “Are you going to toss and turn all morning or get your lazy butt out of bed?”