by Tehya Titan
Stop it and focus!
To distract herself, Abby took a sip of her drink and coughed. “It’s strong.”
“Yeah, this stuff is lethal, but I kind of like it.” Rox drained her goblet.
“It’s their only version of alcohol, so be careful,” Tex said before sipping from his own drink. Rick “Tex” Calhoun was the lone man that had been taken from Earth. He seemed more resigned than anything, but there was something about him that told Abby he was on guard no matter how relaxed he looked. He was good looking, with shorn brown hair and dark-blue eyes, but he seemed almost small in stature when compared to the giant alien males.
Abby took a quick glance around the room and saw there was a Vor warrior standing at each exit even though they allowed the humans to meet together. Something had been done to them during the flight to the new planet that allowed Abby and the other humans to understand and speak the Vor language, but she switched to English as she asked, “Do any of you know why we’re here?”
“We’re here to become mates to the Vor,” Tex replied.
Janelle let out a delicate snort. “If one of those demon bastards thinks he’s going to mate me, he better think again.”
“So, the other women who were taken aren’t dead?” The casual way Rox asked the question had Abby studying her closely. It was as if the woman was used to death, enough for her to be so unconcerned about it.
“No, they were claimed as mates. According to one of the guards, the Vor’s race is dying out, and those Wraiths brought us here because we’re destined to become a mate to one of them,” Tex explained.
“Are we even compatible with these creatures?” Janelle asked. “You saw what happened in the coliseum. That man turned into a freaking demon and bit that woman before he flew off with her!”
“That was my friend, Jordan. She’s now the mate of the King of this planet. They’ve been locked away in their bedchamber for the last few days…but I don’t really want to think about that.”
“Well, isn’t that special,” Janelle said bitterly. “Are you telling us we’re waiting here to become a sex slave to one of those things?”
Tex shook his head. “The Vor look for their mate their entire life. According to one of the guards, once a Vor takes a mate, he or she becomes the most important person in their lives. They become completely devoted to them, doing everything they can to make them happy. It’s why I stopped trying to break out of my room to find my loot.”
“Can we really trust their word that the others are really okay?” Grace asked.
“What reason would they have to lie? Let’s be honest. They could have killed us all if that’s what they wanted. Why bring us here just to get rid of us?”
Grace nodded. “You do have a point.”
“Total devotion doesn’t sound too bad,” Abby murmured.
Rox sighed. “Still, I’m not too keen about being a fucking brood mare for an alien race I just found out about, no matter how hot they are.”
“Stop that,” Tex grumbled. “I don’t wanna hear this shit.”
“Hello, humans!”
The group looked up as one of the Vor warriors entered the great hall. The guard standing in front of the entrance moved aside to let him pass. Abby noticed that the guard gave the newcomer a small bow before he once again moved back into position. The warrior strode over to the table and sat down in the chair next to Tex. He slapped the human man on the shoulder in greeting, almost toppling Tex out of his seat.
“Christ, Braec. Ease off,” Tex grumbled, switching back to the Vor language.
“Ah, forgive me. I forget how fragile you human males are.”
Abby wanted to laugh at the offended expression on Tex’s face, but she bit her lip to hold it back. Looking at the warrior up close, she had to agree with Rox. The Vor males were handsome—in a primitive way—but she still wasn’t sure about the whole mating thing regardless of how attractive they were.
“Greetings, my name is Braec. I am the king’s second-in-command, and as such, I would like to welcome you to our planet.”
Dressed in black leather pants and a thick, leather band containing three sheaved knives strapped crosswise over his broad chest, he was an intimidating sight—like all the Vor were—but his warm smile and cheerful disposition helped put Abby at ease. Up close, the stripes on his face, neck and torso reminded her of those of a tiger. They were strange, but not unpleasant to look at.
“This is a much better welcome than waking up in a cell,” Janelle commented.
Braec winced. “Ah, yes. That was an error on our part. We thought…never mind that. Know that we will not be doing that to the other humans that are brought to our world from now on.” He turned to Tex. “Have you put the other humans at ease and told them that they are safe here?”
Tex shrugged and shifted uncomfortably in his seat. “I told you, you can’t just tell women to trust you. You have to earn it.”
“Damn straight,” Rox said.
Braec nodded his head curtly. “Then we shall.”
“It’s a decent start letting us out of our rooms,” Rox conceded. “I was considering climbing out through the balcony if you kept us locked up much longer.”
The Vor warrior’s expression changed to one of concern. “That wouldn’t have been wise. The rooms are high up and you cannot fly as we do.”
“Hence the reason I stayed put.”
Tex cleared his throat. “Actually, that’s how I met Braec. I climbed out through the balcony and sort of fell.”
“Not ‘sort of,’ you did,” Braec corrected with a glare. “You humans are impulsive. You will refrain from doing anything to harm yourselves.”
“I’m not suicidal, Braec. I just don’t like being a prisoner. I told you that.”
“Which is why I had all of you released.”
Tex laughed. “No, you released us since I told you that all of the women would be pissed if you didn’t.”
Janelle looked between the two males suspiciously. “You two seems quite chummy.”
Braec’s brows furrowed. “What does that mean?”
“It means we know each other…more than they expected. After Braec saved me from falling, he’s been letting me train with some of the other warriors,” Tex explained. “They weren’t too happy to have a man brought here, but they’ve been more comfortable asking me their questions than speaking to any of you. They’ve been curious to find out more about us, so I’ve been hanging out with them.”
Braec nodded. “This is true, but only because other Vor males would not want to dishonor your future mates by speaking to you without their permission.”
“What the hell? Women aren’t allowed to speak to any males beside their mates here? That’s so not okay,” Rox growled.
Braec frowned. “They are, but your mates will not like it once they claim you. Although, Tex has explained to us that you require communication to feel at ease here, so we will do our best to accommodate. You’ll see. You will enjoy living on Vor. Even you,” he said to Tex. “Although our females don’t like males that are too small or too big, perhaps one of our females will appreciate having a mate that is not so intimidating in size and strength.”
“Gee, thanks,” Tex said dryly. “I can’t wait to meet them now.”
Braec grinned at him. “I’m well aware of your sarcasm, human. You will be able to meet some of our females after the king returns to duty. Since it is the third day of his mate’s heat, they should join us soon.”
Abby blinked. “Wait…what? Heat?”
Braec looked at Tex for help, but the man just shrugged. “I forgot your kind doesn’t have heat cycles,” he said carefully.
“Uh oh,” Grace said with a wince. “That doesn’t sound good.”
“It is a joy between mates.” Braec smiled winningly at them, but all of the women still looked slightly horrified. “There have been four humans claimed by their Vor mates so far. All the females are very happy with their males.”
“
But that only accounts for nine, counting those of us at this table,” Abby interjected. “What happened to the other woman?”
For a moment, Braec’s expression darkened. “I was told she was unwell. After the king claimed his mate, the other female was taken by the Wraiths to their holding in the mountains after she collapsed on the stage. They have sent word that she was far gone when the Wraiths found her on your home planet. Her healing wasn’t completed during the journey here like yours were.”
“Mates…heat…this is just too weird,” Janelle muttered. “Any chance for a ticket home?”
“I don’t mean to sound like a jerk, but you sound pretty damn ungrateful,” Grace chided. She might have been the smallest woman of the group, but she had a presence that commanded attention. “I know this is all strange, but I wouldn’t even be alive if those Wraith creatures hadn’t saved me and brought me here.”
That caught Abby’s attention. “Neither would I. My ex-husband was stalking me and followed me from Atlanta to New York where I was working as a pastry chef. He was waiting for me when I got off work and stabbed me. I would have died in that alley if that Wraith hadn’t saved me.”
Braec looked absolutely appalled. “Your males abuse their mates on Earth?”
“Some do,” Abby told him softly. “But from what I understand, a husband on Earth isn’t the same thing as a mate here.”
“No, they aren’t,” Braec growled. “Mates are cherished here, and it is the ultimate dishonor for a male to strike his mate, let alone try to harm her in a grievous manor. I would kill any male that committed such an offense.”
Abby paused for a moment before saying, “Good to know.”
Rox leaned an elbow on the table and moved her goblet around in a circle on the table. “So, the Wraiths only take humans who are meant to die on Earth?”
Braec shrugged. “They only save those of you meant to be mates to the Vor. They can somehow sense who will be compatible.”
“I guess I owe them then,” Rox said somberly. “I was a cop back home. LAPD. We were doing a raid on a house and my asshole team leader gave the order to storm it before we had all the intel. Shots were fired, and since we didn’t know that there was a meth lab on the premises, it fucking exploded into a freaking inferno. I’d be ashes if I hadn’t been brought here.”
“I was in an IED explosion with Jordan,” Tex told them. “She was the lieutenant of my unit out in Iraq. We were on a recon mission when our two Humvees hit a roadside bomb that took us out. Those Wraiths showed up and saved us before we died.”
Janelle’s shoulders slumped. “I’m sorry. I know I haven’t been very nice since I got here, but this is all a lot for me to take in. I get bitchy when I’m scared, and I’m not handling all of this very well.”
“You were a singer, right? I’ve heard you on the radio,” Abby said, warming to the woman after her apology.
“I was. I liked my life back on Earth. I’ve always wanted to sing, to have people listen to my music, but all of that came with a price. My career was just starting to take off, but the last few months have stressed me out to the max. Like you, I had a stalker, however, I didn’t know who he was until he broke into my home. He was crazy and said I was bewitching him with my voice, so he tried to kill me and blew up my house.”
“Here’s to shared trauma and surviving explosions,” Rox said as she clicked her goblet against Janelle’s and Tex’s.
Everyone at the table turned to look at Grace who had been sitting quietly as she listened. “Nothing like that happened to me, but then again, I always knew I was going to die young.” She smiled sadly. “You see, I was born with a weak heart and there was nothing anyone could do to save me. I’ve tried to fit the most into the time I’ve had, but when you’ve always known you have an expiration date, being given a second chance at life is a blessing beyond compare.”
Abby smiled at her. “I agree about being grateful for a second chance, but that doesn’t mean I’m ready to be a mate—”
Her words were cut off as a male stormed into the entrance. All the Vor warriors were large, but this was the biggest male Abby had ever seen. Her eyes went wide as he shoved the guard at the door aside as if he weighed no more than a speck of lint and surveyed the room with an almost feral look on his face.
Then his eyes locked with hers, and he let out a low growl.
“Mine!”
CHAPTER TWO
Prince Dracor Krell was tired as he flew back to the fortress.
For the last few days, he had been traveling to the other clans to inform the chieftains that the Wraiths had brought the first group of humans to their planet as planned. Although he was the captain of the guard and brother to the king, Dracor had welcomed the chance to be the one to travel to the other lands. It was a tedious errand, but his brother, Kadan, had allowed him to go since he understood why Dracor had asked for the duty.
The reason was simple…because Dracor knew he would scare the humans.
Hellfire, he even scared most of the Vor females he came in contact with. How could the human females not be terrified of him?
As a race of shifter warriors that were far different than humans, the Vor were born with stripes on their skin that were hints of their other half. In their natural state, most of the males were muscular from hours of training as warriors. But when they shifted into their demon form, the stripes spread over their entire bodies, turning them black as night and powerful wings manifested from the middle of their backs.
In a world where most of the males were similar in size and strength, any abnormalities were seen as a flaw. All of the Vor had black hair and eyes that were varying shades of brown, with black, oval-shaped irises, and beyond that, the males that stood out were usually undesirable to females.
Dracor knew it all too well from experience.
From a young age, he had known he was growing faster than his peers. It had worried him, enough so he had begun to starve himself in an attempt to stop it. When his mother and father discovered what he’d been doing, they had taken him to task, telling him he was special and that he shouldn’t worry about being different.
But that was easier said than done.
Dracor’s size and strength made him a great warrior, but it also made him an outcast of sorts. On Vor, strength was coveted, however, it was also feared. Over time, the male warriors accepted him. As their captain of the guard, they trusted him to lead them in ensuring the safety of the king.
Because the other males were afraid of him, so were the females. Due to the decreasing number of females on the planet, all of the males guarded them fiercely and catered to their every need.
The females who didn’t have a mate had their choice of males to spend time with, and they usually changed partners each time they went into heat the four cycles during the year. Dracor got the occasional offer to share sex from females that took pity on him, but he always turned them down. He didn’t want to be with someone who was only with him because of sympathy.
He wanted to feel the touch of a female who truly wanted to be with him.
No, what he really wanted was a mate.
Finding one’s mate was the thing that every Vor dreamed of. Mating was sacred. It was a calling, a binding of two souls into one. The Vor felt a bond with their mate the instant they scented them, and that bond only grew throughout the years. Dracor and Kadan had witnessed that bond between their parents. Kadan had always been too busy running the kingdom to worry much about it, but Dracor wished for a mate more than anything.
It was why he had been for the idea of bringing the humans to Vor after the Wraiths suggested it. The Wraiths were a powerful race of elemental shifters that lived on their planet. The Vor had given sanctuary to the small group of Wraiths left after their home world had been destroyed years ago.
The Wraiths fed off of the Vors’ emotions, absorbing them from the atmosphere. Positive feelings such as happiness and pleasure gave them more energy than anger and hatred. Normally, ju
st being on the same planet was enough to keep them going, but as positive feelings decreased throughout the Vor, the Wraiths had grown weaker.
Faced with possible extinction, the Vor had to do something to combat their dwindling numbers. Far too few babes were being born, and those that were seemed to be predominantly male. The Wraiths said they would travel to a place called Earth to find mates for the Vor and bring them back. It was something that would help the Vor, as well as the Wraiths, and secure a future for both races.
Dracor couldn’t imagine how it would feel to have a child of his own. It had hurt to see the hope spread among his people as he traveled to each of the clans to tell them of the humans’ arrival. He had felt that same kind of hope when Kadan had told him of the Wraiths’ plan, but all of that at changed when he’d witnessed the first human being carried off of the Wraiths’ vessel.
It was then that he’d gone to his brother and asked to visit the clans.
Dracor shifted back into his natural form as soon as he landed in the courtyard within the walls of the fortress. He looked up at the castle he called home and thought about just flying up to his room to avoid speaking with anyone until he got some sleep. He let out a sigh as he heard his name being called. Too late to escape now, he turned to see his friend Taitt hurrying toward him.
“Greetings, Taitt. How has the kingdom faired in my absence?”
Taitt grinned at him. “We’ve barely held things together while you’ve been gone.”
“Good to know,” Dracor said with a laugh. “Each of the clans have been notified of the humans’ arrival, and they will await the time when my brother declares they can meet them. Have I missed anything while I’ve been gone?” He began walking toward the front steps of the castle, but came to a stop as Taitt spoke again.
“Your brother has mated one of the humans.”
Dracor felt joy surge through him that his brother had finally found his mate, but his own heart sank. “That’s wonderful news.”
“It is. You should have stayed to see all of the humans. They are a strange race, varying in shape and size, not to mention they have different hair and eye color the likes of which we have never seen before.”
