by Maia Starr
“Are you sure you should be doing this?” I asked. “You were just…”
I trailed off, unable to finish my sentence. He had just been on the verge of death. It seemed impossible to admit that I had almost believed that I would never see him again.
“I’ll be fine,” Zaine assured me, smiling soothingly. I allowed myself to relax against him as he moved forward, carrying me through the lab and out into the cool night air.
“Where are we going?” I asked suddenly. “I don’t want to go back to prison. Please…”
“We aren’t going to go back to the prison,” Zaine said with a heavy sigh. “I’ve realized how foolish it was of me to think that you should just live your life out here as part of the breeding program. I can’t allow it. I love you.”
I was shocked to hear the words from him. Zaine, who seemed to have so much trouble speaking about his emotions. The Verians, who were cold and calculating to the point of seeming almost emotionless. The word love coming from his lips seemed foreign and unnatural. And yet, it also seemed right.
“Then what are we doing?” I asked, not fully allowing myself to believe that he was simply going to whisk me away right that moment. There had to be some kind of plan. Unless the illness had simply ruined his ability to function mentally. Had he had some type of breakdown?
“I’m going to get you out of here,” Zaine said. “I should never have allowed you to be here for so long. I will make it up to you though. I am a man of my word.”
“Zaine…”
But he was done speaking, and we walked through the cold desert night until we reached the loading docks, where the ship we had been abducted in was resting peacefully.
“Are you sure about this, Zaine?” I asked, my heart palpitating with a mixture of excitement and fear. “Won’t they come after us?”
“They might come after the ship, sure,” Zaine said, sitting me down in the seat beside the command center and taking the commander’s seat himself. “But they don’t have the resources for a manhunt. It’s just not that important to them anyway.”
“Are you sure?” I was having a hard time taking all of this in. It was happening so fast.
“Trust me,” Zaine said, flashing a broad smile at me and powering up the engine of the craft. “If anything, they’re going to talk about how I had a psychotic break after regaining the strength to stand and abducted a female from the lab. They will probably consider both of us to be lost causes.”
“But where will we live?” I stammered. “Earth is so…unforgiving. Are you sure it’s where you want to be?”
“I want to be where you are,” Zaine said. “And we can’t stay on Helna much longer. It just isn’t practical. The resources are dwindling, and you will constantly be expected to submit to breeding. And I won’t have my children utilized in a war where they will be raised to believe that they are simple casualties.”
“So…we’re going to Earth,” I said, shaking my head in disbelief.
Zaine turned his silver eyes onto me, and I saw that, for the first time since I had met him, he looked sincerely happy.
“We are going to Earth, Yula.”
***
The trip back to Earth was surreal and went by much more quickly now that I was no longer locked up in a cell. I had spent the past few months of my life as a prisoner, and once the drugs in my system wore off, I occupied my time by walking slowly throughout the ship as Zaine navigated us through space. It all seemed too difficult to believe. I half expected to wake up at any moment and realize that all of this had just been a very good dream to cope with the loss of Zaine and my home planet.
But after about a night and a half of travel, Zaine’s masculine voice cut through the silence.
“We will soon be arriving on Earth,” he said. “But remember, it is dangerous here, particularly when landing. We must remain calm no matter what happens. Understood?”
I nodded, only half registering the weight of Zaine’s words. The humans were very on top of things, sure, but it was unlikely that we would be capable of stopping every single ship that wanted to enter into our atmosphere. It just didn’t seem possible that we would run into that kind of issue if we weren’t trying to fire.
The turbulence suddenly began to shake the ship, and I looked at Zaine, who smiled reassuringly.
“This is normal, Yula,” he said. “It doesn’t last too long.”
Just as he promised, the ship soon ceased in quaking, and I ran to the windows, crying out in delight when I saw the blue sky and puffy white clouds surrounding us.
“It’s so beautiful!” I exclaimed, tears springing to my eyes. “I thought I’d never see it again…”
“Get down!” Zaine shouted in reply, and I furrowed my brow.
“What?”
But the ship was suddenly hit with something much more sinister than turbulence, and I was thrown onto my stomach.
“The baby!” I gasped as Zaine growled, steering the ship’s wheel sharply to the left. We jerked sideways, and the ship was suddenly hit with another heavy blast.
“Brace yourself, Yula!” Zaine shouted. “Do not move. And don’t panic! Stress is bad for the baby!”
I whimpered and crawled between two chairs bolted into the ship’s floor panels, holding onto them for dear life as we cascaded at an ever-increasing speed toward the surface of Earth.
“There will be impact!” Zaine yelled. “Lay on your back and go as limp as you can! Put your hands under your head!”
It was a bit different than the safety protocol I’d learned, but I realized suddenly that he was attempting to protect not only me, but our child as well. I would have felt sentimental about it, but another blast made me cry out in terror.
“Peace to you, Yula,” Zaine said, his voice as calm as I had ever heard it. “We are going to be all right. I have this under control.”
A sudden explosion shook the ship, and I was certain that we had been struck down. A huge red flash filled the room, and I squeezed my eyes closed. If I had known this was going to happen, that I would die in the ship attempting an escape, would I have chosen instead to stay in the prison?
No, I decided, suddenly daring to open my eyes. I would go down in the hail of gunfire and smoke, knowing that, at the very least, I had done my best.
My eyes caught Zaine’s from across the room, and he smiled sincerely at me. I realized that we hadn’t exploded and died at all. In fact, when I looked out the window of the ship, another ship was heading down to the desolate fields below. A small soldier was in the distance, dangling from a parachute and undoubtedly glaring at us as we hurtled toward the ground.
Zaine managed to steer us deep into a wooded area, a place that was surprising to find. Everywhere I had ever seen had been desolate and war-torn. But it seemed that the Verians and humans had an unspoken pact that the forest here was not to be touched.
“Almost there, Yula,” Zaine said, lowering the craft as gently as he could into a small opening in the forest. When we finally stopped moving, I let out the breath I had been holding since we had hit the turbulence. “We’re all right now.”
Zaine stood from his seat and strode toward me, his tall, muscular body seeming almost magical now that I was nearly delirious with the pleasure of our narrow escape to Earth.
He held his hand down to me and helped me to my feet. My legs were shaking badly, and he allowed me to support myself against him as we moved through the ship and out the escape hatch. The normal door had been destroyed by the gunfire.
“So, Yula, what do you want to do now that you’re home?” Zaine asked, smiling at me.
I held his hand tightly and smiled up into his face. “Make love to you,” I replied. Zaine’s eyes widened in surprise, and I laughed as I led the way through the forest.
“We should make camp first,” he said, but a broad smile was lighting his face. “And then I pleasure you in ways you never even imagined.”
***
The forest was unbelievably quiet at night. We had wal
ked as long as we could before Zaine stopped and picked out the perfect place for us to rest.
“We’re going to find the communes,” he confided in me. “Rumor has it that there are places out here where Verians and humans alike live in harmony. Wounded Verian soldiers who had been cared for by humans and vice versa. People who want nothing more than the war to end so peace may thrive.”
I had never heard of such a thing existing on Earth, but it made sense to me why the soldiers would want to hide it. The very idea of it was radical, and could change the way we viewed the alien race we were at odds with.
“Do you know where they are?” I asked, surprised.
“No,” Zaine admitted. “But I am willing to look until we find them, and protect you until we do. That I swear.”
My heart warmed as Zaine moved close to me, and held me as we gazed into the fire. His hands were gentle and strong as he allowed his long fingers to caress me, and I shuddered beneath his touch.
“I thought I would never see you again,” I whispered, my voice cracking. The idea had kept me up all hours of the night, until I had been abducted by Karan and forced to think of nothing but my own pain. “I’m so glad that you’re here with me.”
“It’s all thanks to him,” Zaine said, placing one hand firmly against the small mound of my abdomen. I felt a stirring inside of me and gasped.
“Him?”
“Yes,” Zaine said softly. “We are linked by the bond of life. My strength is his, and vice versa. It is this way with all of the hybrid born children. It is the only way to persevere against the disease.”
“What disease?” I asked, frowning.
Zaine shook his head. “These unpleasant truths can wait. I have been waiting for far too long to be inside of you again.”
The sexy rumble of his voice against my ear sent a thrill coursing through me, and Zaine was suddenly on top of me, kissing my face gingerly as our bodies became entwined on the small bed he had made us of grass, leaves, and his shirt.
I shuddered on the ground as his erection made itself known, and he stripped me delicately before pressing his sensual lips against my breasts. I cried out in pleasure as his tongue found the hard mound of my nipple, and closed my eyes as the ecstasy of the act consumed me.
Soon, we were naked together, and I allowed my hands to explore Zaine’s perfectly chiseled body. He was beautiful, in so many ways, and now, I knew, he was mine.
I gasped as his hot lips reached my earlobe and sent a hot shiver down my spine, igniting my loins with a sensual thrill that I couldn’t help but buck my hips as a result of. Zaine grinned at me and responded in kind by thrusting his hips powerfully against me, unleashing a flood of desire within my body.
I could feel myself being slowly pried apart by his rock-hard muscle, and shuddered in delight as Zaine slowly entered me, his member immediately swelling once it was fully enveloped by my body. I closed my eyes and allowed myself to fully feel the effect of his body filling me up, and we were still for a moment as pleasure rocked our bodies.
Then, without warning, Zaine began to roll his hips languidly against me, massaging the bundle of nerves in my middle until I was out of breath and gasping as the pleasure consumed me. He showed no signs of stopping, and I found myself surrendering to the rapture that Zaine introduced to my body.
“Are you all right, Yula? And the child?”
I nodded, gasping as another wave of ecstasy electrified me, and Zaine grinned.
“You like that, eh?”
I grinned sheepishly at him, and Zaine made a point to continue the motion for as long as he could keep it up, slow and steady until I was close to screaming with the pressure of my anticipated release.
A sudden explosion of power erupted from his hips, and I found myself shocked again and again by the electric thrusts of Zaine’s impressive member. I could feel my body tightening around him as he thrust in again and again, until I could no longer help the contractions that were tightening around him.
He grew rigid, and our eyes met. I knew immediately that we were going to reach the epitome of our pleasure together. I braced myself, ready for it, and Zaine growled sensually into my ear, rocking my body with another torrent of sheer power.
I felt myself suddenly filled with an explosive testament to his desire, and cried out loud as my orgasm lifted me to new, Earth-shattering heights. I gasped as Zaine thrust inside of me, again and again, until our bodies had finally had enough of the act.
He collapsed beside me and smiled, stroking my hair away from my face.
“All is well, Yula,” he said, kissing my sleepy eyes one at a time, and then covering my mouth with his in a sensual good-night kiss. “We will raise our child in peace.”
Epilogue
Regan Lawrence
I was much more pregnant by the time we had wandered far enough through the protected forests that we saw a sign of life. At first, Zaine had been cautious, forbidding me from following my nose to the smell of the campfire. He left me behind, promising to return with the news, whether good or bad.
Of course, I refused to just take him at his word and followed stealthily behind. If this was our chance to find a new settlement, I wasn’t going to miss it.
“Yula!” Zaine shouted happily. I still couldn’t see what he was looking at, and he was both surprised and also obviously not surprised when I popped out from hiding to join him just seconds after he called.
“Look!” he said, pointing to a clearing that opened out in front of us.
I gasped, dropping my hand to my swollen stomach. This was it. It had to be.
A Verian woman was walking toward us, her eyes narrow as she attempted to figure out whether we were friend or foe. Her child, an obvious hybrid, followed along after her, as a human man held its hand lovingly.
“Be careful, honey,” he said to her, squinting into the brush. Nobody could see us yet, but they had heard Zaine’s exclamation.
“Peace to you,” I said suddenly, pushing in front of Zaine and holding my hands up in the air. “We’ve come seeking shelter…a place to raise our child.”
The Verian woman looked at me at first in surprise, and then in genuine glee.
“Have you?” she asked, a wide smile creasing her face. She stepped forward and embraced me suddenly, an act that left me dumbfounded. The Verians were very much not huggers. This was certainly a blending of culture.
“Zaine, come,” I said shakily, taking a look at our surroundings. There were several huts in the clearing, some of them styled in the Verian architecture, others in a more obviously human way. But they were arranged in a circle, and in between was a large fire pit where humans and Verians of all ages were sitting together, staring at us curiously.
Zaine made his way to me, his face clearly telling me it was not okay to rush into danger that way, but when the human man came out to shake his hand, he smiled broadly, and all traces of his agitation melted away.
“Welcome to you!” the human man said.
“Come,” the Verian woman said, leading us to the fire. “We were just sitting down for a meal. You must be starved.”
In truth, Zaine had done a great job of providing us with food along the way, but I was starving for something: the company of other humans.
We followed the couple to the fire and sat down hand in hand, both of us feeling happier than we ever had before.
“Here you are,” the Verian woman said, handing us each a plate of food.
“Welcome to you!” the group chorused.
“Thank you!”
I grinned at Zaine, and he held me close, his eyes full of love. We were home.
The End
Verian Mates(Complete BOX SET(1-4)
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Kecha-Raither Warriors
(Raither Warriors)
By Stella Sky
Chapter 1
Dr. Alice Ta
nner
“Oh my god, Alice, you always do this!”
I cringed at the sound of Lauren’s voice behind me and turned around.
“I thought I did it right this time,” I sighed.
“You know, for a scientist, you’re just too bad at numbers. You know we have to have everything absolutely perfect! We won’t get paid for our research if it turns out we’re messing it up!”
“It’s not even just about payment,” Mary reminded Lauren. “If we get the facts wrong, it could impact everybody negatively if the Committee takes us at our word and publishes the findings. Who knows how much harm misinformation could cause in the long run?”
I could feel a lump forming in my throat. Ever since I had joined the Elite Research Team that had been hand-chosen by the President of the United States and his team for homeland security, I had felt completely out of place. Sure, I had always been the top of my class and excelled at every single project I had undertaken in the scientific realm, but the fact was that, under pressure, I had a tendency to shut down. I had never handled certain types of pressure well; specifically, social pressures. I was great with facts and numbers…not so great with emotions and feelings and friends. And for some reason, I had really hoped that the other women in my group would like me.
“I’m sorry, you guys. I don’t know what happened. I must have had my mind somewhere else…”
The truth was that I knew exactly what had been on my mind. The day before, I had been working with Jaya, who was probably single-handedly the smartest human being on Earth. I knew I was intelligent, but she was on a completely different level: one that was nearly clairvoyant. It was eerie how quickly her mind worked at times—as if it weren’t even of her own accord or will. She just knew things.
I had been intimidated, of course, as it was easy to intimidate me around other human beings, specifically the ones I was hoping to make friends with. who wouldn’t want to be friends with the smartest human on the planet, right? Well…that may have been a little bit easier if I hadn’t stood up and accidentally knocked over the beaker she had been glued to for the past six hours. It crashed to the floor, and she had given me the harshest look I had ever been on the receiving end of.
