by KD Jones
JadEN and Kat had reportedly had a very hot and steamy romance on board the transport when she first traveled to Katiera, but then Kat broke things off and ended up mated to Prime Medic SydEL. Rumors were that JadEN was heartbroken and would never love another. She watched as his face lit up at seeing other woman. It was just her luck to fall for another male who wasn’t available. She should just give up on dating altogether.
She took advantage while he was distracted with his communications, getting up from the bed and putting her clothes on. He’d completely forgotten she was in the room, which was another punch to her ego, for sure. She quietly let herself out and went down the corridor to her own sleeping quarters. She never thought she would be doing the walk of shame on board an alien spaceship. She was grateful they would be arriving at Kiljor in a few hours. She needed to put some space between her and JadEN.
*****
“What did you need, Kat?”
“I wanted to see how things were going, and to give you the good news.”
“Things are fine, we should arrive on Kiljor in a few hours or so. What’s the news?”
“The last fertility treatment we gave to Prima AriELa was successful. She is a few weeks along but everything looks very healthy and normal.”
“That’s fantastic! Make sure to send me her bio stats so I can help monitor her progress.” He looked behind him to let Rose know he would be done in a moment, but found the room empty. He frowned.
“I will. Did I interrupt something?” Kat asked.
“Actually, yes. I need to go, but keep me updated on Prima AriELa’s bio.”
“I will.”
“Goodbye, Kat.”
“Goodbye, JadEN.”
JadEN ended the communication and grabbed his pants. Why would Rose just leave like that? Their shared sex was amazing. He’d almost lost control several times and nearly spilled his seed within her, that was how good it was. He had to fight the foreign instinct to do just that. He loved the snuggling afterwards, too, which he never allowed himself to engage in, not even with Kat. He didn’t want to compare his experience with Rose to his experience with Kat, though. He’d found something unique and special with Rose. There were moments when they laughed and talked, and then there were moments that they didn’t have to talk at all. It was enjoyable just to hold her to him, it gave him a sense of calm and peace. He’d never had that before.
He put on his pants but didn’t bother with a shirt before opening the door and walking down the corridor to her sleeping quarters. He pounded on the door a little louder than he had intended. He could hear her on the other side, but she wouldn’t open the door.
“Who is it?” Rose called out from the other side of the door.
“It’s JadEN. Why did you leave my quarters?”
“You were busy and I was tired.”
“Open the door, Rose.” He touched the door. She was just there on the other side. He hated the barrier between them.
“No, I’ll talk to you later.”
JadEN did something that he rarely did—he lost his temper, hitting the door with his fist. “Open up now!”
“No!” Her voice wavered.
He rammed his shoulder against the door, but it didn’t give. He was about to do it again, but two security liaisons were walking up the corridor. He didn’t want to bring other people into the situation. “We’ll talk in the morning, Rose.” He turned and went back to his room.
*****
Rose sighed in relief when JadEN finally left. She wasn’t in the mood to talk, and if she let him in, they would most likely just have sex. She needed time to think about what she was doing and what she wanted from him. If all he wanted was to have sex, was she okay with that? Did she still love ConEL? Everything was just so confusing.
She climbed into the bed without taking her clothes off. Maybe a few hours of sleep would do her good. She tried to convince herself of that. As soon as her eyes shut, images of JadEN making love to her filled her head. It was going to take a while before sleep claimed her.
Chapter 8
JadEN was angry. He had slept poorly the last few hours and rushed to get up and seek out Rose, but she wasn’t in her sleeping quarters. She had gotten up earlier and gone to eat with Lizzie. By the time he arrived at the meal room she’d already finished her meal and was going off to talk to Lizzie while the shuttles were being prepared. He grabbed a platter of food and sat down to eat.
“Anything wrong, Medic JadEN?” StrykER chose to sit down across from him.
“What do you want?”
“Nothing from you. I had hoped to share the morning meal with Dr. Garrett, but obviously I missed her.”
JadEN growled possessively. “She is not available to share meals with you.”
“That is up to the female, not you.”
“We’re together,” JadEN said as he stared the other male down.
“Did you claim her?”
JadEN hesitated. “Not yet, there was no time.” She had left him, but he was pretty sure if she’d remained they might have ended up fully mated by morning. Goddess, he needed to seek her out and discuss what they should do next, but honestly he wasn’t sure himself what he wanted to do. Part of him wanted to claim her right away before another like StrykER took her for himself, but another part of him was hesitant. She’d already walked away from him once. The closer he got to her, the more her walking away would hurt. She could rip out his heart so easily. Unlike with Kat, he wasn’t sure he would recover this time. But one thing he knew for sure, he was not going to share Rose with another male.
“What do you want with Rose?”
“She intrigues me. I’ve had the pleasure of meeting a few of the Earth females, and they’re different from our own. I want to explore that difference.”
JadEN stood up abruptly. “Explore with another female, this one is mine!” He stormed away, leaving StrykER to stare after him.
*****
“Interesting.” StrykER was fascinated. These Earth females seemed to have a lot of power over the males of his kind. He wondered if maybe the rebels were right to worry over this. He would have to get to know the Earth females better to make that decision for himself. He smiled; perhaps getting to know Dr. Garrett would serve that purpose.
From the reaction that Medic JadEN just displayed and the images that were in his mind, he doubted the male would allow him anywhere near Dr. Garrett. That was for the best. He saw how these females from Earth made the males of his kind bend to their will. He refused to bend to any female.
*****
“Is everything okay?” Lizzie asked Rose once they were completely alone.
Rose glanced away from the viewing screen. They were orbiting Kiljor, and she had come with Lizzie to watch as shuttles from the planet below made their way to the transport to help bring their people back to the planet.
“I’m fine. Everything’s fine.”
“I haven’t seen you since yesterday when you left after breakfast to go to see the interrogations. You look tired, and I noticed that you were very hungry this morning.”
“I forgot to eat lunch and dinner yesterday. I didn’t sleep well either. But it’s fine.” She hoped she sounded convincing.
“What did you think about Interrogator StrykER?”
“He’s very interesting. His abilities are amazing. I would love to find out more about them.”
“You didn’t stay with him after he was done? I thought you might have shared the midday meal with him.” Lizzie was digging for answers.
“I wasn’t with him the rest of the day.” She wasn’t sure what to say. Did JadEN want their affair revealed? She was so confused. If she was her own therapist, she would advise herself to discuss things with JadEN, find out what he wanted from her. But it was always easier to give advice than to take it.
“Sorry, I’m being nosy. It’s just that there are hardly any females on board who talk to me; most of the Kiljorn women are aloof. You seem so sad, and I thought may
be you might want to talk about it,” Lizzie told her, sounding sincere.
Rose appreciated that sincerity. “I could use someone to talk to.”
“Come on, I saw a more private alcove with a better view of the planets.” Lizzie motioned for her to follow her down the corridor.
Once they reached the alcove Lizzie sat down on its bench. “So, dish.”
Rose blushed. “I don’t know where to begin.”
“Let me help you out. Last night you had hot sex with…”
She took a deep breath before she finished Lizzie’s sentence. “With...Medic JadEN.”
“But today you’re having second thoughts?”
“Yes...no. I’m confused.”
“Was the sex bad?” Lizzie sounded as if she thought it was inconceivable.
Rose frowned. “No, of course not! It was amazing.”
“So you had amazing sex with a hot guy. What’s there to be confused over? Oh my God! Did he mate you?”
Rose blinked a couple of times. She’d forgotten how fast Lizzie could talk, and it took a few seconds for her to catch up. “No, he didn’t mate me.” Great, now I have another thing to stress over. “Everything was fine until he got a call from Prima Kat. He kind of forgot I was there.”
“Oh.”
Rose sighed. “I left while he was talking to her, but he came to my door trying to talk to me. I refused to open the door.”
“Damn straight! Who the hell does he think he is sharing sex with one woman then dismissing her to talk on the damn phone...thingy with another woman! What an ass!”
Rose giggled, and some of her tension left her. “It’s okay. I’m a grown woman, and we didn’t make promises to one another. I knew he was in love with Kat before.”
“You haven’t gotten involved with anyone since you arrived on Katiera, have you?”
“No.”
“Why not? These guys are super sexy and hot as hell. I can’t imagine that none of them pursued you,” Lizzie said.
“I’ve dated some, but nothing serious.” Rose hesitated. Should she confess the real reason she hadn’t opened herself up to having a relationship? She really needed a friend’s advice. She decided to trust Lizzie. “I had offers from some males, but I refused them. I’d developed feelings a man that was unavailable.”
“By ‘unavailable,’ you mean he was already mated with someone else?”
Rose nodded her head. But as she thought about her feelings for ConEL, she realized that somewhere along the way things had changed. She’d hardly thought about ConEL since she had come on board the transport. No, things had starting changing a while ago. Even since the last time she’d visited the Colonial planet. Sure, when she felt lonely she thought of ConEL. But not like she had before. She was happy that ConEL had love in his life, she just wanted the same thing for herself.
“Do you still want this other guy?” Lizzie asked.
Rose shook her head with surprise. “No, I don’t.” She didn’t want ConEL, which shocked her most of all. For the longest time he’d been her ideal man. But now when she imagined herself with someone, it was JadEN that she pictured. Strange how things could change in just one night. Though her feelings for ConEL had slowly been waning for a while, she hadn’t expected to find someone that lit her up like JadEN did. The problem was, she didn’t know if JadEN still harbored feelings for Prima Kat.
“If you don’t want this other guy, but you do want JadEN, then go for it.”
“I think JadEN is still in love with Kat. I refuse to get involved in another love triangle.”
“Did JadEN tell you that he still has feelings for Kat?”
“No, we didn’t really talk about him and Kat.” She could see the next question that Lizzie wanted to ask her, but she didn’t say anything. “We didn’t talk at all, just…”
“Had the hot sex, huh?”
“Yeah.”
“Well, if you don’t mind some advice, I think you both need to sit down and talk these things out.”
Rose sighed. “You’re right. But what if he only wanted a one-night stand? Then if I brought this stuff up I would be so embarrassed.”
“Better to be embarrassed a little now than to let things get out of hand and be a whole lot embarrassed later. Or something like that.”
“I know you’re right. I do need to talk to him.”
“If he still acts like an ass, I’ll have my TylOR knock him around for you.”
Rose laughed. “Thanks, Lizzie.”
“That’s what friends are for.”
*****
JadEN went to the medic wing to assist with an accident that had happened with a shuttle pilot. By the time he finished, it was time to get his things ready for departure. He was told that Rose was traveling to the planet below with Commander TylOR and his mate Lizzie, and that he was welcome to travel with them. He hurried to make it to the docking bay before they left.
He boarded the shuttle and his eyes zeroed in on Rose. Goddess, she was beautiful. Her long red hair was pulled up into a bun, and she wore a blue dress that left her arms bare except for two tiny little straps. He wanted to pull those straps down and expose her beautiful breasts. His body reacted to his thoughts, and he felt himself stiffen in his pants. She looked up at him and blushed, turning away quickly. He wanted to sit next to her, but she had Lizzie on one side of her and, to his displeasure, StrykER on her other side. That male was really starting to piss him off. He took the empty seat in the row directly behind them. Once he was on the planet surface, he would have that talk with Rose. They had some unfinished business.
Chapter 9
Rose couldn’t get over how similar Kiljor was to Earth. The blue ocean was just incredible. She had been to Kiljor before briefly and met the Kiljorn Prime Leader KadEN and his mate Prima Lindsey.
“Dr. Garrett, you’ve traveled to all three nations—which planet do you prefer living on?” StrykER asked her.
“It’s hard to pick a favorite. I like things about each one. Katiera has a natural feel, with beautiful beaches, but the Colonial Planet has the lovely greenery and mountainous regions. Kiljor has a combination of the two, with more modern-style buildings, and I hear that there are some parts of Kiljor that get snow and ice.”
“Yes, in the lower quarter the temperatures drop and there is precipitation. Do you enjoy the snow?”
“Yes, on Earth I often went skiing.”
“What is skiing?”
“Skis are these metal pieces that connect to special type of snow boots. You use them to slide across the snow.”
“Fascinating. We rarely travel to the cooler regions, preferring the warmer weather. If we need to travel that way it’s usually by shuttle, and we have only ever walked through the snow, which is not convenient and quite messy.”
“You’ve never sledded before?”
“If you mean slid over the snow, then no.”
“You’re missing out on a lot of fun. I used to love snow days when they closed the schools. I would spend hours in the snow with my friends before I...” Rose almost said ‘before I left home.’ She knew that would only bring up questions she didn’t want to answer. Her memories flashed back to being sixteen and having her mother choose to believe her step-dad over her own daughter. Other images of her trying to live on the street flashed before her and she had to shake those thoughts away. She felt JadEN staring a hole in the back of her head, and she tried not to turn around.
*****
StrykER let the conversation die down. He was picking up images from the female which disturbed him greatly. This female was strong to be able to survive on her own, but she never should have had to. Her parents should have protected her better. He was even more conflicted now over these Earthlings. His people treated females and young with the highest regard. Their laws were in place to ensure their safety and wellbeing. But on Earth, they didn’t seem to do the same.
He needed more answers, but he sensed that Dr. Garrett wouldn’t want to discuss these thing
s with him. She had been hurt as a child, and the images so strong in her mind made him believe she still carried those hurts. If Medic JadEN was interested in mating this one, he had a long way to go to overcome those barriers she’d raised to protect herself. He wished him luck; not that he liked JadEN, but he cared what happened to the female. She had suffered enough and deserved some happiness.
*****
JadEN glared at the back of StrykER’s head. Since when did the male suddenly become so talkative? But he wanted to hear Rose talk more about her childhood. He wanted to know everything there was to know about her. Hopefully they would find the time alone on Kiljor to do just that.
He made a mess of things, he knew that. But he wasn’t sure what he had done to upset Rose. Rose…her name sounded soothing to him. He found that thoughts of her consumed him at the most inappropriate of times. But he didn’t seem to care about that. What was happening to him?
*****
Prime Leader KadEN stood on the landing platform at the top of the silver Prime building, which stood almost eight hundred feet high, and waited while the others unloaded. It was a warm day, but the wind was strong and the suns would be setting soon. He had several liaisons at his side. He nodded at the first person off, Commander TylOR. “Glad to have you back on Kiljor, Commander.”
“Prime Leader, I’m glad to be back.” He turned and motioned for the Lizzie and the rest of them to come forward.
“Welcome back, Lizzie,” KadEN greeted her warmly.
“Thank you, Prime Leader. Where is Prima Lindsey?”
“She wasn’t feeling well today so she stayed in bed to rest. She wants to get together with you for the evening meal.”
“I would like that.” Lizzie turned to motion Rose forward. “I’m not sure if you’ve met Dr. Rose Garrett before.”
“I don’t think I have had the pleasure to meet her in person.” He turned to look at the red-haired female. “Welcome back to Kiljor, Dr. Garrett.”
