by Maia Starr
“What are we going to do?” she asked, her voice fearful and urgent. “I don’t want anything to happen to my baby. Kerglan is aggressive. He frightens me. You are warriors, and sometimes that can mean not knowing when to let things go.”
“Calm yourself, Mila. I have a plan. We are going to get out of this. I will get a ship from the bay, and we will make our escape. You will be all right.”
Mila looked at me as if I were some kind of hero and I looked away, my stomach knotting. I had no idea if my plan would work or not, but most likely we would be shot down before we even left the planet. That was, unless we were in one ship in particular. The ship that belonged to my father.
My father was the commander of the most lethal ship in the fleet: the Kelta. It had won many wars for many centuries and had only improved with time. I had spent the majority of my youth working on that ship and updating its technology and weapons, and had grown very adept at perfecting its design. In a way, it felt like it was my own, as I had been the only one capable of really understanding all of its ancient and archaic technology and modernizing it to the point that it could go just about anywhere in the universe and obliterate any enemies in its path.
I would have to get my hands on the Kelta. But to do that, I would have to return back to my family estate and get the code from my father’s study. I knew exactly where he kept it, and over the years had managed to tap into his security systems and bypass most of them. It should be no issue to get to the code. All I had to do was make it to his office and bypass the code, then get the human safely on board the Kelta.
But when we arrived back at the house, I could tell by the way Kerglan and my father were standing outside in the yard, with their weapons drawn and aimed at me, that this was going to be easier said than done.
“What is the meaning of this?” I asked, though I knew it was futile to ask.
“Lazan Kylad, you are under arrest for the crime of adultery,” my father said. I wanted to reach for my weapon, but I was outnumbered, and I had to think of the human. I cursed under my breath and raised my hands in the air, to show I had no intention of drawing my own weapon. “Come, son; it is time to put you where I always knew you would one day belong.”
The words stung as my father led me inside, to the cell in our basement that he had always kept reserved for especially dangerous criminals that were wanted for questioning when the Kelta was docked in the bay. My father was in charge of all such matters, and once in a while during childhood, Kerglan and I would be in charge of preparing meals for such prisoners.
Now, I was confined to the basement myself, and the human was left to my furious brother, who was shouting at the top of his lungs about what the doctor had told him. The man had called to congratulate Kerglan on the news of his precious arrival, and to tell him to be more careful in the future should he spawn more children with the human. The tests showed that the child was without a doubt half Raither, and that meant only one thing.
“I hope this is the last time your mother and her horrible influence destroys this family,” my father spat at me as he locked me away in the cell. I sighed deeply and put my head in my hands.
This was bad. If they didn’t execute me right then, then I was surely going to be exiled back to Hexa or one of the other prison planets, and whatever became of the human and my child would be impossible to know. But, I knew, it would not be good. The child would probably be given away to the military, to be raised as a super soldier, and the human would lead a miserable existence still chained to Kerglan as his mate. I couldn’t let that happen. There had to be a way out of this. And I was going to find it.
***
When night fell, and Kerglan was finally done shouting at the human for the night, I roused myself from the rough cot in the corner of the cell and set my mind to escaping. This was my home. I had locked myself in the cell once before as a child on accident, back when father was out on a mission and would not return for several weeks. Kerglan had no idea, as he was away training at the academy, and I had had to rely on my own wits to escape.
Back then I had managed to find a way to reach the keypad on the door and work out the code, but my fingers had been much smaller and nimbler then. I was an adult now. There was no telling whether or not I would be able to reach it.
When I tried, I grimaced in pain. My forearms were much larger now. I would have to try harder than that. My eyes scanned the cell and rested upon the eating utensil from my dinner that night. I would just have to try to reach the keypad with that.
I fiddled with the lock for what seemed like an eternity, trying different key combinations and using all of the technical skill I possessed until finally, miraculously, the door hissed open.
I gaped in disbelief, my body flooded with adrenaline and relief. I had to get the code to the bay, get the human, and get the gred off of my planet.
***
I crept as quietly as I could down the hallway of my family home, expertly avoiding any of the areas I knew might creak or otherwise give me away. I passed Mila’s room and hesitated, longing to take a peek inside and see if she was okay. My brother had been quite harsh with her, and I wanted to see for myself that no harm had come to her or my child.
But I had a job to do and continued on with my purpose clear in my mind. I had to fetch the code to the bay.
When I reached my father’s office, I moved quickly, praying that he would not be inside working. I doubted he would, as he was scheduled to fly out in the morning on routine rounds and he always liked to be in bed early before a flight. Still, it was impossible to say what may happen.
I crept to the door, keying the passcode in as quickly as my fingers would allow me to. It was an easy one to remember: it was the number of his first ship.
When the door opened, I crept inside, my eyes scanning the darkened room with relief. My father was not there. I moved silently to the safe in the wall where I knew that he kept the code and bypassed most of the codes without incident. But when it came to the last one, I found myself stuck.
Suddenly, inspiration struck me, and I was shocked to find that I was right. It was my mother’s birthday.
I grabbed the code out of the safe and hurried out of the room, not bothering to shut the doors before I did so. I had to get the human and get the gred out of there before anything else happened. I could not allow any harm to befall my female or my child. I would protect them, no matter what the cost.
Chapter 10
Dr. Mila Voss
“Do not speak. Follow me.”
I was awakened suddenly by Lazan’s deep voice, and a sensual thrill surged through me as his strong fingers helped to rouse me from the bed and to my feet.
I followed him, half asleep, to the doorway of my bedroom. He lifted me carefully and carried me out of the house, then sat me down when we were in the cool night air. From there, he broke out in a sprint, running faster than I had ever seen anybody run in my life. He stopped in front of a neighbor’s hovercraft and let me inside, ducking in himself and hotwiring it so that it would start. When it did, we took off in silence.
“What’s going on?” I whispered once we had been driving a while.
“I am taking you back to Earth,” he said firmly. “It is where you belong.”
I gaped at him, my heart thudding with a painful elation. I wanted so badly to believe it possible.
“You can’t be serious,” I breathed. “How?”
“I told you, human. I would find a way. Quiet now, and follow me. Do as I say and we will be free.”
Lazan turned the hovercraft off and we crept to the massive doorway of a huge building. He typed in a code, and the doors opened quickly. I gasped when I saw what was inside: it was the deadliest looking spaceship I had ever seen.
We crept on board, and Lazan grinned at me.
“This ship is ours now. And that will be to the merit of Earth.”
I was speechless as he went to the command center and sat down, powering the ship up. We
rolled out of the bay, and before I knew it, we were heading into the stars.
***
“I still can’t believe this is possible,” I whispered, laying on the bed in the master bedroom, caressing my belly. “I’m going home.”
Lazan was lounging beside me, looking at me with utter adoration.
“We are safe now, human. Nobody will bother us ever again.”
I wasn’t so sure about that, but before I could say so, Lazan’s lips were suddenly hot against mine, and I closed my eyes, breathing pleasantly as his touch sent heat through my body.
My desire for him was awakened in full, and I closed my eyes as he climbed over my body, placing tender kisses along my neck and sending jolts of fire coursing through me.
“Is this safe for the baby?” he whispered, dropping another hot kiss on my clavicle. I couldn’t stop the heat as it wound its way through my body. I needed him now more than I ever had before.
“It is,” I nodded. “The doctor told me when you were out of the room.”
Lazan’s beautiful eyes darkened, and he set to work, stripping me gingerly and removing his own clothing, revealing his perfectly sculpted abdomen. I reached out to brush my fingers along the defined muscles and shuddered when I felt the length of his member hot against my middle.
I moaned when he kissed me, long and languid strokes of the tongue that sent a shiver down my spine and caused me to buck my hips up against him. I shuddered at the feeling of his muscle as he rubbed it against my most sensitive parts, awakening every nerve ending in my body.
I cried out loudly, safe in the privacy of the ship, when Lazan entered me with a sudden directness that electrified my entire being. I inhaled deeply as he withdrew himself and plunged himself in again, sending me spiraling on a journey of pleasure unlike anything I had ever experienced.
I felt safe and delicate in his strong arms as he began to unleash a torrent of thrusts inside me, each one more powerful and earth-shattering than the last. I could feel the pressure building inside of me to surrender to his body, and I held on to Lazan tightly as his eyes flashed sensually.
Another burst of pleasure wound its way through me, and I gasped in shock and delight as Lazan’s body brought me even higher to the ceiling of my climax. Never had I felt like this with anybody before, and now that I was with him, out in space where I felt safe at last, my body responded with an explosion of ecstasy unlike anything I’d thought possible.
Lazan’s body responded in kind, and I cried out as my insides were flooded with a hot burst of explosive bliss. Lazan hissed, dropping a passionate kiss upon my lips as our bodies became one and we climaxed together.
We were both panting when Lazan pulled away, grinning at me and placing a strong hand over the bump in my belly.
“We are going to name this child Yena,” he said firmly, his beautiful eyes sparkling so brightly that it was hard to say no.
“Why?” I asked instead.
“Because it means a second chance. I do not think there is a word in my language for a third chance,” he said with a chuckle. “But what I do know is I will take care of you both until my dying day.”
“I love you,” I whispered, clinging tightly to him.
“I love you, as well,” Lazan said.
He gathered me up into his arms and dropped a kiss upon my head, and I fell asleep beside him, dreaming of the day when I would finally set foot on Earth to raise my child with the man I loved.
The End
ZERN
(Verian Mates)
By Stella Sky
Chapter 1
Captain Zern Krechan
“We will be awaiting your orders, Captain.”
I nodded to Lesna, my second-in-command.
“That is good. It is best that none of you expose yourself to the elements on the planet Hexa. Unless I find that I need reinforcements, I want you to stay here and wait for me, no matter how long it takes. If I have not come back to you within a week’s time, you must send word to the Resha Federation. They will instruct you how to proceed from there.”
“Of course, sir. As you say.”
Lesna disappeared back into the ship, and I headed down to the prison planet, fully prepared for whatever I might find there.
My job, as the strongest man in the Raither Army, was to gather the wreckage of the ship that had crash landed on Hexa a few months prior. It was actually something of a punishment; the assignment was horribly dangerous, and the operation should have been done by several men. But the Federation was convinced it was safer to have only one Raither on the ground working to collect the ship’s wreckage, and because I had been disgraced, I was the underdog chosen for the assignment. My strength had become something of a curse in this aspect.
But I didn’t need to think about that right now. My job was to get myself safely from the ship without any detection so that my crew could wait for me just outside of Hexa’s atmosphere as I collected the missing pieces of the ship and prepared it to be towed back up to Yala.
I couldn’t help but feel a small twinge of bitterness. The Raithers trapped here had been on Hexa for many, many months. In fact, we had presumed them dead. In all the time they were there, they hadn’t thought to go out and try to salvage any parts. Only the commander of the ship had come anywhere close to collecting the missing pieces, and the rest would be left up to me.
Most of the crew had already been saved, leaving the ship behind as a testament to their bad luck. However, the Resha Federation had declared the ship being on Hexa a state of emergency. If any of the diabolical minds entrapped on Hexa were able to catch wind that there was a virtual wealth of resources on the planet, a beakout could potentially occur. There were no minds craftier than those with nothing to do but plot an escape. We could not let the enemies get their hands on the Raither technology. Especially not the kind with the intelligence to learn how to use it.
Whether the Raithers themselves had been able to bring the ship back into working order or not, it didn’t mean that there weren’t threats on the planet Hexa that might be able to do what seemed impossible to my own people. The criminal mind could turn even the most innocent thing into a weapon. Who was to say what these brutal creatures, confined for much of their lives to this planet, might do once they were finally able to escape?
It was my job to see to it that this didn’t happen. The Resha Federation had also asked me to look around for any missing parts to the ship that may have been within the area, so it was probably going to take quite a bit of time before we were ready to leave. They were predicting it might take me about two weeks, but that was barring any unforeseen obstacles. And on Hexa, there were always unforeseen obstacles.
And now, I would embark upon it alone, hoping against hope that whatever evil may be lurking out there, I would not meet my match.
***
The foliage of the planet Hexa was breathtaking. From above, the planet seemed quite varied in terms of terrain, and it was impossible to tell from a distance just what it might be like as one actually walked the planet, but now that I was off of my ship and immersed in the unbelievably lush jungle-like plant life, I couldn’t help but feel impressed.
My own home planet, Yala, was not exactly rich in this type of plant life, and it had been quite a while since I had enjoyed air of this quality. It was clear that there were no technological advancements made on this planet, and nobody who was imprisoned here was allowed the luxury of a hovercraft.
Even the most sustainable of technologies often had adverse effects on a planet’s air quality as manufacture was often primitive. Here though, on the planet Hexa, the lack of technology made it abundantly clear that there was little pollution, and the planet was as close to its original state as it could possibly be.
“How is everything on the ground, Captain Krechan?” my second-in-command asked through the small device in my ear. “Do you need reinforcements or are you confident that you can handle this matter quietly and on your own?”
&nbs
p; “This should be nothing for me,” I said quietly. “Though it would be safest if we were not to speak much. The creatures on this planet are likely to hear, and if they suspect anything, then there is going to be hell to pay. Is that understood?”
“Of course, Captain. Just contact us when you are ready. We will be waiting here for your commands.”
I didn’t bother to answer. I couldn’t shake the feeling that I was being watched. But it was too early to tell. The ship was just a few more kilometers away. All I had to do was make it there and assess the situation. I would be able to move from there.
I continued cautiously, unable to shake my suspicion and paranoia. The woods seemed to be alive with formidable enemies; beasts I had only read about during my studies of the Species Anthology all Raithers had been forced to study during our schooling years. While it was important to understand economics, mathematics, and sciences, it was equally important to understand each class of being in the universe and their potential weaknesses and strengths, should our powerful planet someday find itself on the receiving end of an attack.
To date, Yala had been undefeated in terms of warfare and hadn’t seen a battle on its own soil in many hundreds of years. We were quite proud of this accomplishment and were not afraid of hiding it. The Raithers were proud warriors, a race that could hold its own in any terrain throughout the galaxy. And yet, being in the forests of Hexa managed to give me pause.
Finally, my heart pounded as I stepped into a small clearing, where the metallic, Raither beauty was jutting out of the ground. Most of it was uncovered, but they seemed to have given up at trying to dig it out of the ground at some point because now most of the machine was surrounded by piles of dirt despite not being fully freed from it.
The plan was that I would go to the ship and slowly, carefully, begin to disassemble it. Once I had a load of pieces, I would place them all carefully at the drop-off point and my crew would teleport them up into the ship, to be stored for safekeeping until we were able to return to Yala. When my mission was accomplished, I would return back to my home planet victorious, and perhaps be able to go back to my old job and clear up the misunderstanding once and for all…
