*
Sera put Kira into her stroller, dressed snugly and ready for an outing. The diaper bag was full and stowed in the basket beneath the seat, and a bottle was ready in case she got hungry when they were outside. She pulled her own jacket on and pushed the stroller, walking her baby out through the patio door and into the bright daylight.
They stuck to the walking trail, heading toward the gazebo where Joely and Asa liked to go. Sera smiled to herself as she thought about her friends hooking up. She liked them as a couple, and she had been wanting them to get together since long before they’d first started excavating in Mexico. They were good for each other.
The paved path was smooth, the asphalt trail carefully graded and even. In the winter, when it was covered in snow, it would be easy to clear, with no obstacles or little ridges that would befoul a plow blade. That was one of the things you had to think about in Siberia, because snow was never really all that far away.
Today, though, it was still late summer, with a light breeze and the smell of flowers from the garden near the botany lab where Theyn sometimes worked. He told her that there were flowers and plants from Ylia that grew in the green houses there, and that the flowers would be blooming soon. She looked forward to seeing the blossoms, something else that came from that distant world that was her mates’ true home.
Somewhere, far in the recesses of her genetics, one of her ancestors had come from Ylia, too. She wondered who it was, and how long ago their genetics had dovetailed with humans. Had some earlier woman in her family tree mated with merged Ylians? Or had it been a happy accident, some sort of miracle conception? She didn’t know if Ylian males were fertile when they weren’t merged, but she gathered, based on things her mates had said, that they weren’t. Who were the two Ylians, then, who gave rise to her family line? She let her imagination go into overdrive while she walked, trying to imagine the circumstances surrounding that long-ago mating.
Perhaps her Ylian ancestor had been female, though, which actually made more sense. What human man had seen past the glowing eyes and osteoderms in an age when people believed in magic? What human man had been the mate to a lonely alien lost after the destruction of her homeworld? Sera hoped that the story was a happy one, and that the rise of her bloodline had been the result of romance and nothing more unsavory.
Kira began to fuss, and she stopped to bend over her daughter, trying to see what was amiss. Her diaper was dry and she wasn’t hungry, her clothes weren’t bunched up or binding, and the belt around her chubby little waist wasn’t too tight. Sera finished her check and said, “What’s the matter, baby?”
Footsteps crunched on the trail behind her, and she looked up to see Nima approaching. The Ylian woman looked distracted. Sera stood and stepped between the approaching resistance fighter and the stroller.
“Nima,” she said.
She flashed a nervous smile. “Selected.”
“What brings you out today?” she asked, trying to make small talk.
Nima glanced at the stroller. “How is the little princess today?”
Kira responded as if she were trying to speak for herself. She sounded irritable, and Sera shook her head. “Moody, as always. She was happy a minute ago, but then -”
“Step away from the carriage.”
She looked back at Nima in surprise. The Ylian woman was holding a flat silver object in her hand, a Ylian weapon that Sera knew all too well, and it was pointed directly at Sera’s face. She glared. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”
“His Highness and his Companion won’t come to Bruthes,” she said, “even though I asked nicely. I’m going to issue them an invitation they can’t refuse.”
Sera reached behind herself and gripped the stroller, ready to run. Mentally, she screamed, ‘Beno! Theyn!’ Aloud, in a voice that surprised her in its firm steadiness, she ordered, “Put that thing down.”
Nima squared her stance. “I’m sorry.”
Brilliant energy flashed from the weapon, striking Sera in the chest. She was unconscious before she hit the ground.
*
Nima walked to the stroller. Kira was wailing, her little lungs nearly bursting with the force of her cries. She recalibrated the weapon for the lowest practical setting and, praying to the Burning One that she wasn’t making a huge mistake, she shot the baby, too. Kira fell still and silent, loose-limbed as a rag doll.
“Come with me, little princess,” she told the child as she gathered Kira up in her arms. The baby did not react, but a quick check told Nima that she still had a pulse.
There was no time to lose. Running as quickly as she could, she headed for the airfield.
*
Sera’s mental cry tore through both of their minds at once, and Beno and Theyn broke into a run. They raced through the facility until they reached their apartment, believing that Sera and Kira would be inside. The door banged against the wall as they burst through, but the stillness in the rooms told them immediately that their family was not there.
‘Sera!’ Theyn called out to her. Only silence answered.
Beno looked around quickly. ‘The stroller’s gone. The path!’
The two men rushed outside, and when they saw the stroller and the crumpled form of their mate beside it, they sprinted the rest of the way. Theyn dropped to his knees and slid the last meter to Sera’s side, his hands already glowing with his healing touch. Beno went to the stroller and saw that it was empty. He looked around frantically, but there was no sign of Kira. He reached out with his mind, searching for their daughter. He could not find her anywhere.
Theyn rolled Sera gently onto her back, his shining hands pushing healing energy into her body. She stayed motionless, and he pushed harder, beginning to panic. Beno knelt beside them and put his hand on her shoulder, opening his mind and his heart to them both, offering whatever energy was his to give.
Finally, Sera’s eyelids fluttered, and she took a sharp breath. She opened her eyes and started to sit up, but her mates kept her lying down.
“Kira!” she cried. “Nima took her.”
Theyn’s jaw set, and his fair cheeks flushed dark with anger. Beno narrowed his eyes. “We’ll get her back,” he promised.
“If she hurts her -” Sera began.
Theyn finished for her, his mental voice cold with rage. ‘I will burn her to ashes.’
Neither Sera nor Beno had ever heard him that way before. Neither of them doubted him.
*
Beno led the way to the docking yard, where all of the space-worthy shuttles were moored. Commander Elina was standing at the flight coordinator’s station and discussing flight plans when they arrived, and when she looked up, he fixed her with a look that dared her to speak. She wisely kept silent as he approached.
“How long ago did the shuttle leave for Bruthes?” Beno demanded.
“A shuttle left for Itzela -”
“Don’t lie to me! I can smell it in your mind!” he thundered. Elina blinked in surprise and looked to Theyn for assistance in controlling his bond mate, but his own rage burned too hot. Beno stepped between them. “A shuttle left here with Nima and our daughter. You know it. You know what she’s doing and where she’s going.”
Theyn’s face flushed, his osteoderms standing out from his skin by the pressure of the pounding blood behind them. To Sera, he looked really alien for the first time, and while it was frightening, it was also strangely compelling. A sudden, ill-timed and inappropriate need for him washed through her body, and it was all she could do to let him walk away from her.
The prince’s steps brought him into Elina’s personal space, his nose nearly touching hers. “You did nothing to stop her. Why?”
The commander stood tall and answered with a steady voice, but Sera could see her knuckles whiten as she clenched the edge of the coordinator’s desk. “Because I support her aims, and it was the only way to ensure that you would go to Bruthes. You need to go. Our people need you.”
Sera felt the fla
sh of anger within Theyn just seconds before it burst out of him, a ball of flame erupting from his chest and striking out at Elina with a fury. The Ylian woman was caught by the conflagration, her uniform alight, and she dropped to the ground to roll and pat the fire out.
Beno grabbed the flight coordinator’s data pad and scanned it. “Third one’s ready for long distance,” he told his mates. “Let’s go.”
Theyn put his hand on his Selected’s elbow, his face was still fierce in his rage. Sera stopped and spat at Elina, “I wish you’d burned.”
‘No time,’ Beno told them both. ‘If you want to catch up with them, we have to leave now.’
For once, the Martial Ylian was being the level-headed one. They ran to the third shuttle as quickly as they could.
Beno sat at the controls and started stroking the touch screens before the others were even fully on board. The shuttle was larger than the one they’d taken to and from Itzela, but the seats had the same biomechanical mechanism that made them conform and hold as soon as they sat down. Theyn spoke mentally.
‘Can you catch them before they go to hibernation?’
‘I hope so.’
The hatch closed and sealed with a quiet whine, and Sera looked from one of her mates to the other in confusion. “Hibernation?” She cast a frantic gaze around the cabin, and she saw only the body-hugging seats. There were no beds and no isolation units like the ones her mates had used to sleep through the centuries in Mesoamerica. “Where?”
Beno was sitting stock still, staring at the controls. He tapped a few commands, but the shuttle refused to cooperate. He looked stricken. ‘I don’t know how to fly this thing.’
Theyn slowly sat back, defeated. Their dark-skinned mate leaned his elbows on the console before him and put his face in his hands.
The communication link snapped on, and Commander Elina’s voice came coldly through the speaker. “By now you’ve no doubt realized that seven hundred years is a long time, and that our technology has considerably surpassed what you knew and understood back in your day. Unlike the shuttles that go to Itzela, that ship is state-of-the-art with the newest tech. You don’t know how to fly it. You don’t know the coordinates to Bruthes. You don’t know how to navigate through the asteroid belt near Mars. You certainly don’t know how to get to Bruthes within a reasonable time without the need for hibernation.”
Theyn closed his eyes, and Beno’s hands trembled until he clenched them into fists. Sera’s cheeks burned, and she could feel the sting of tears beginning to well up.
Elina continued. “Now stand down, and we can speak about this situation like reasonable adults. You’ve failed. Open the hatch and come out of there.”
It was humiliating. Like chastised children, the three of them reluctantly left the shuttle. Beno could not look Theyn in the eye.
‘Our baby…’ The words were the only ones that came to Sera, and they struck her mates like an accusation. Tears tumbled down her cheeks, and she hugged herself. ‘My baby.’
Commander Elina and the hybrid male called Itan strode across the tarmac toward them. Itan was armed with a long gun, similar to the laser rifle that Sera had seen in Beno’s mind. It was a military-grade weapon. The female Ylian soldier’s mood was manifestly foul. She stopped just short of the trio and crossed her arms.
“Now,” she said, “let’s talk.”
Chapter Ten
They were escorted back to the facility. Elina kept a wary eye on Sera and a weapon pointed at Beno’s back. Itan kept his weapon pointed at Theyn. Nobody spoke.
When they reached the apartment next to their own, Elina gestured toward the door with her blaster.
“Open it.”
Beno scowled. “Fuck you.”
“That attitude is beneath the dignity of the Companion of the Crown Prince,” the hybrid male said archly. “You should be ashamed.”
Sera opened the door, more to keep her lover from being fried than out of any desire to be cooperative. There was a sterile living room ahead of them, all white furniture and chrome accents, cold and un-lived-in. She stepped inside.
Theyn followed, his face still flushed with the rage he had not been able to shed. Their bond mate was next, and then Elina and Itan joined them. The Ylian woman closed and locked the door.
“You knew she was going to kidnap my child, and you let her do it,” Sera accused. “You let her get on a long-distance shuttle and take my baby to Bruthes.”
Elina nodded. “Yes. I did.”
Beno took a threatening step forward, and Itan raised his weapon, pointing it at the Martial Ylian’s chest.
“I don’t want to do this, but I will if you force me,” Itan said, his voice quiet. “Step back.”
‘Beno,’ Theyn said quietly, his mental voice limited to just his bond mates. ‘Pick your battles.’
He reluctantly stepped back.
Elina nodded. “Good. Now, I know where Nima is taking the princess, and I will help you get there, but on one condition.”
“Name it,” Sera said.
“You will go where I tell you and meet the person I need you to meet. Once that’s done, and once you listen to what she has to say, then I will see to it that you’re reunited with your daughter.”
Sera could feel her men burning in rage and impotent fury, and she ached to hold them. Instead, she asked, “Who is this person?”
“The spiritual leader of the Ylians in the colony.” Elina looked at them, studying each of them for their reactions. “A priestess of the Burning One.”
Beno threw his hands up in the air and turned away. A muscle in Theyn’s jaw twitched, and he said, “So this was organized by religious extremists?”
“In a way.” Elina lowered her weapon, but Itan kept his level and ready to shoot. “The clergy are the social force that binds our people together on Bruthes. They offer comfort and hope, and in return, they have unparalleled influence over the common people.”
“What kind of influence?” Sera asked, interested in spite of herself.
“Nothing good,” Beno growled. “Nothing fair.”
Theyn held up a hand, and his bond mate fell silent, but Beno’s fists were clenched. Sera went to him and put her hand on his arm. He was nearly rigid with anger, but he allowed her touch without complaint or resistance. She was grateful, because she desperately needed the reassurance of her mates right now.
“I am a priest of the Burning One,” Theyn said. “I will trust this priestess, at least in part, just for now. My Companion is not a man of faith, so please forgive him for his outburst.”
‘Don’t you dare apologize for me,’ Beno thought bitterly to Theyn and Sera.
‘You’re antagonizing two people with blasters. You’d better believe I’m going to apologize for you if it keeps you from being shot.’ Their blond bond mate’s tone was firm and serious, and it was clear he was not in the mood for discussions.
“No harm was done,” Itan said. “His distaste for all things religious is well known.”
“Well known?” Sera asked. “How do you know?”
Elina smirked. “You would be surprised what we know about all of you.”
‘I want to punch her,’ she growled. Beno wordlessly shared the emotional message that he dearly wanted her to do so.
Theyn ignored them. The flush in his cheeks had faded, and the rage-fueled distention that had caused his osteoderms to rise was receding. When he spoke, he sounded calm and rational. If she hadn’t been able to feel it, she would never have guessed at the rage still boiling inside him. “We’ll go with you to Bruthes. Please - our daughter is out there. I don’t know if Nima knows anything about children, and Kira is still nursing. She’s going to be hungry soon.”
Itan said, “She knows enough, and she took the diaper bag that your Selected had packed. By the time the princess has eaten all of the supplies in that bag, they’ll be on Bruthes.” He told Beno, “In your day, Bruthes was a six-month journey from Ylia. From Earth, with our new technology, it’
s more like six hours.”
“Nima would never hurt the princess, and she will die before she allows anyone else to harm her,” Elina reassured them. “Your daughter is safe, I assure you.”
“When can we leave?” Sera demanded.
“The launch window has closed, and there won’t be another appropriate time for at last fifteen hours. I would say that we can prepare to leave in the morning.”
“I want to be in my own apartment.”
“In time.”
Theyn’s eyes narrowed. “What do you mean, ‘in time’? Why can’t we go there now?”
Elina had the self-satisfied air of someone who had things completely in her control and liked the way the power felt. She answered, “Our team is collecting a few things. Once they’re done, we’ll return you to your rooms.”
“What things?”
The Ylian woman ignored Sera’s question. She raised her comm unit to her lips and said, “Elin, Gora. Come in now.”
Two Ylian hybrid females entered the room, dressed in the black coveralls that Sera had seen other Ylian strike forces wear. The last team she had seen wearing those uniforms had also worn skull masks. At least these two newcomers let them see their faces.
“Keep watch on these three while I check the team’s progress,” Elina ordered. The two soldiers nodded their understanding and stood at the ready, blaster rifles in their hands, as their commander left the room.
Sera sat on the pristine white couch, her head spinning. Her baby had been taken. Her bond mates were being forced to go to a place where the powers that be literally ate their kind for breakfast. She didn’t know if she would be allowed to go with them, but she would be damned if they left her behind. Nobody separated her from her child, or from her men.
She wondered where Joely and Asa were, and if they knew what was happening. A part of her wanted her friends to get involved, and another part wanted them to stay away where they were safe. She didn’t know what to do.
She looked up at Beno, who was pacing a tight circle in the center of the almost-bare living room. Theyn stood nearby, his arms crossed over his chest, his blond head down. He was lost in thoughts of his own. She could feel their emotions through their bond, and she knew that they were just as gutted and afraid for Kira as she was, herself.
Ignition: Alien Ménage Romance (Phoenix Rising Book 2) Page 8
