by Mina Carter
For a moment, she didn’t know where she was or which way was up. A second later, with an audible pop in her ears, the fighter was spat out into space again, all its systems blaring alarms.
“What the hell?”
She covered her ears with her hands as Seren swore, long and low in Latharian. Tension rolled through his larger body as he fought the flat spin of the small fighter, the stars whizzing past making her feel sick. She hated flying in small craft. It always made her space sick.
“It’s okay, kelarris. We’re good,” he murmured finally in her ear when the g-forces trying to turn them into one person eased and he brought the craft level.
“Where are we?” she asked as she sat up a little, looking around for any familiar constellations. Had she been in any of the Terran systems, she would have found them. All nomads were trained for survival, wherever they found themselves. Some of the time, that amounted to knowing where you were, but none of the stars here matched any she knew.
“Somewhere… well fuck,” he breathed. “That’s… just…”
His hands moved over the controls again and, unable to see the readouts from the display, she watched his expression instead. Disbelief was followed by incredulity and then a bright burst of genuine pleasure with a smile lit up his face.
“That’s just what?” she demanded. “Talk to me, Seren. Now.”
“Bossy female,” he chided, still smiling as he looked down at her. “Get comfortable. We’re going home. To Quveth. My home.”
“What? Really?” Surprise filled her and she tried to twist around again, stopped by the close confines of the cockpit. “How?”
He shrugged. “Must be something about the Cabal portal. Perhaps it takes you to where you want to be.”
“Seriously? You think their tech could do that? Like some kind of telepathic interface?” If so, that could change the face of technology as they knew it across the Terran systems.
He chuckled. “No. I think the AI was listening to the general and triggered it to take us where we needed to go. One thing’s for sure. She knows far more about the Cabal than she’s telling us.”
“Oh. Yeah, that makes sense. But I thought she was a member of the Cabal. It would make sense for her to know about all their tech. Wouldn’t it?”
“Uh-huh. Setting flight vectors now to bring us to Quveth,” he said and then looked back at her. “Okay, yes, it would, but something’s not right. She managed to get herself to the base, but to do what? At first I thought it was to put herself back into a physical body, like Keris, but she hasn’t. Why?”
“That is… a very good question. Do we know how involved she actually was with the Cabal?”
Seren shook his head, settling back against the pilot’s seat. “Not my area of expertise, I’m afraid. I’m just a warrior, and, well… let’s just say my bloodline is tolerated but not exactly welcome at court.”
“Why?”
He ignored the question in favor of resettling himself in the chair, sliding his knees up so she sat in his lap rather than clinging to him. Latharian fighter jets were cozy but not at all comfortable for long-distance flying. Being snuggled up while the pair of them were in mortal danger was one thing, but once they’d gotten clear of the base’s perimeter, the awareness that they were indeed very up close and personal came rushing back.
She lifted, catching Seren’s gaze for a second as she tried to wriggle to a position that didn’t include her sitting on his cock. It proved an impossible task with just the one seat. Worse, her knees were jammed up either side of his hips, meaning the iron bar of his cock, his exceptionally large, alien cock, was pressed right up against her. It was probably ridged, or blue, or something. At least he didn’t have two that size. That really would be more than a girl should have to put up with.
“Can you move your legs?” she asked. “This is…not exactly comfortable.” She tried to move back, but her ass hit the control console instead. She tried again. If she could just slide her legs down, she could lie half on him and half off him… His hand on the small of her back, holding her in place, put paid to any idea of movement.
“Oh, I don’t know,” he murmured by her ear, his cool breath washing over the sensitive skin there. “A few less layers of clothing, and I’d be a happy male.”
“Typical man,” she grumbled, wriggling again. “Always thinking with your cock.”
He barked out a soft laugh. “A little hard to do anything else when you’re rubbing your sweet little pussy against it like a kitarlian in heat.”
That froze her movements. Dead. She glared at him through the curtain of her hair.
“I am not in heat.”
He tracked her expression like a hawk. “Do humans go into heat?”
“No we do not!”
Disappointment washed over his face.
“Pity.” Then his hand spread out, sliding up under her top. “You can move if you like,” he offered in a low rumble. “You seem to be enjoying it. I know I am.”
“Pig!”
“So you weren’t enjoying it?” he asked, watching her levelly.
“I didn’t say that. I’m not a damn prude,” she huffed, ignoring the brush of his fingers across the small of her back. “It’s just… you’re… I’ll hurt you if I sit on you.”
It was a lame ass excuse, and she knew it. Color spread across her cheeks and flared even brighter as he rocked his hips, rubbing the hard length of his cock against her needy pussy.
The little action made her ache, reminding her that she’d not had sex for… hells, she couldn’t even remember. She had ratty training bras younger than her current bout of celibacy. Ironic given that her undercover identity had been the sole wife in a polyamorous grouping.
“Don’t lie to me, kelarris,” he murmured by her ear. “I can smell your need. I can help with that need. All you have to do is say I’m your male, and I’ll happily ease it for you.”
Seren’s home planet looked… surprisingly normal.
Gracie did her best to conceal her wonder as their arrival at Quveth cut off their somewhat uncomfortable conversation, just in time. Another couple of minutes of temptation and who knew what she might have agreed to. Instead, she tried to ignore the thick bar of Seren’s cock between her thighs, impressive even when half hard, and peered out of the window.
He chuckled and angled the fighter as they came in to land so she could see better. Her gaze swept over the landscape as they circled around a small airfield near what looked like a small farm. Others were nestled among the fields nearby, and a dense forest curled around the landscape to the east and south in the distance.
In fact, it appeared more normal than many of the Terran colonies she’d been on. The sky and grass were the right colors, and the trees looked like they’d been in the same place for centuries, unlike the wandering firs on Altaris Minor that followed water wherever they could find it through a unique mobile root system.
“It’s beautiful,” she murmured with her hand pressed up against the glass.
She’d been fortunate enough to have grown up on the upper levels of a smaller subterranean city, so she’d actually seen part of Earth that was still green. Sure, it had been a tiny, protected nature reserve, but she’d never forgotten the greenness or the vitality in the air with the plants literally growing around her. She’d never felt life like it, and even now, after having seen countless other planets, the memory of that sense of wonder had never left her. Looking down at Seren’s home, she had the same feeling of awe.
She slid him a sideways glance, noting the strong line of his jaw as he piloted them down safely to land. Why had he saved her from the B’Kaar and brought her here? Sure, she knew he found her attractive. More than. His fiery kisses and the reaction of his body to her had been proof positive of that. But he’d only ever seen a handful of human women, and the rest were mated. Forget that bullshit about them being genetically matched. That was even worse… She didn’t want to be someone’s fallback option or picked jus
t because of her genetic material. She wanted to be chosen for her. She’d fought long and hard to be number one, first to get herself out of the city she’d been born in and then to get into special forces and finally the nomads. She wouldn’t settle for anything less.
She didn’t think he’d heard her comment, not with concentrating on landing the fighter safely, but when he spooled the engines off and cracked the canopy, he smiled. “I’d hoped you would like it.”
“I do,” she said as she pushed the canopy back. Then she froze.
A welcoming committee waited on the landing pad, comprised of the least welcoming warriors she’d ever seen. Tall, and heavily muscled with similar dark coloring to Seren, they wore a combination of leathers and sturdy workwear while carrying various farm implements. One glance, though, and she’d never been more aware that a scythe was little more than a sword on a stick.
“Errr… Seren,” she murmured, standing in the cockpit’s footwell as he rose from the seat. “I don’t think they’re pleased to see us.”
The instant Seren came into view, the welcoming committee roared, so loudly and ferociously that she reached behind her for the dagger sheathed between her shoulder blades. Automatically she calculated the distance between them and the nearest buildings. If they could get into cover and bottleneck these assholes somehow, they’d have half a chance in an attack.
“Khaaitan! You return!” a new voice bellowed. The crowd parted to reveal a new figure, slighter in build than the rest. Even so, the bigger warriors moved out of his way quickly. Tall and lean, he had a mop of muddy brown hair with a slight petrol-green tinge and dark eyes.
“Oh my god,” she murmured as the new warrior snapped his teeth at one of the others in warning. Like Seren, he had fangs but his were heavier on the bottom. “What is he… like nineteen?”
“My brother, Cade. He’s young, but very much past childhood,” Seren answered with a grin as he swung himself out of the cockpit and dropped lightly down. He looked up at her, extending a hand.
“Still looks young,” she said, mentally pegging his age somewhere in his early twenties. Even that made her feel old what with his fresh-faced eagerness.
Sitting on the edge, she looked at the distance to the ground dubiously. She’d done HALO training and other batshit stuff, but she still didn’t see the sense in throwing herself out of a perfectly good aircraft and she didn’t like heights. Not at all. “Would a set of ladders be out of the question?”
Cade came to stand at Seren’s side, and both males looked up at her. Side by side, she could see the family resemblance. It was faint but visible in the set of their shoulders and around the mouth. The small quirk of a smile on Cade’s lips was identical to Seren’s. It seemed odd seeing the same expression on a face other than that of her asshole alien.
Wait… what? When had he become her asshole alien?
“Brother?” She looked between them. “You didn’t mention you had a brother.”
“The khaaitan forgets me! I am wounded!” Cade said dramatically, a hand over the center of his chest as he staggered against Seren. The bigger warrior rolled his eyes.
“I didn’t tell you because he’s a dipshit,” he growled, shoving Cade upright. “Behave, you draanthic, and welcome Lady Gracie before she thinks all Vorr males are defective in the head.”
Cade blinked and hopped upright. “Why? Did you draanth things up with her? Already?”
Seren growled and shoved his brother, who winked up at Gracie, making her smile in amusement.
Seren looked up at her. “Do you trust me?”
“Nuh-huh,” she shook her head. “Absolutely not. Not as far as I can throw you.”
He frowned. “I am aware that I should not underestimate human females, but a female of your stature being able to throw me seems a little… farfetched.”
She rolled her eyes, taking refuge in attitude. “It’s just a saying.”
“What if I promise not to drop you? I didn’t drop you in the shuttle bay. Did I?”
She favored him with a hard look. “You didn’t drop me. You dropped us both!”
He nodded. “But I didn’t let you come to any harm. Did I?”
“No,” she admitted grudgingly. He hadn’t. In fact, she had landed safely right there into his lap. Taking a breath, she shuffled on her bottom to the edge of the cockpit until her legs were dangling down. Her abs screamed as she held herself in place.
“You’d better catch me,” she warned. “Because if I fall and break both my legs, I am so kicking your ass.”
His lips quirked, but he didn’t point out the obvious failing with that plan.
“I will catch you. I promise.”
Nodding, she closed her eyes and let go.
8
“So… The matching program is complete and ready for deployment?” Cameron Murphy, President of Earth and all the Terran Systems, said while leaning back in his chair and watching Daaynal with a gaze like a liiraas snake. Not for the first time did the Latharian Emperor wonder if the human had more than a little true Latharian DNA in his genetic code.
“Not quite,” he admitted, settling back in his own chair. Of all the beings he had contact with—from imperial generals to Krynassis hive queens and even pirate princes—Cameron Murphy was by far the most interesting. Of them all, the human was the one Daaynal could never predict, the one being for whom he had to guess at motivations and work to figure out his next move. It was… exhilarating, which was saying a lot considering his morning routine often contained an assassin in his shower or his dressing room. Once even in his bed when his concubine had been implanted with a behavior modification device. Assassination by remote control. He’d probably have had to rise from his grave to kick his own ass in shame if he’d let that happen.
“My cyber-warriors say the program is ready for initial testing in a small focus group at first to ensure no unexpected… aberrations occur.”
“A sensible precaution, something my own scientists had suggested.” A crease formed between Murphy’s brows. “Are you sure cyber-warriors are the best choice for this project? Surely doctors… maybe a team of geneticists… would be better?”
“Hmmm…” Daaynal mused, rubbing at his chin. “Possibly, but what is DNA other than a form of code? It was easier to teach… how do you call them? Hackers?”
Murphy gave a small nod. “Among other things.”
“Excellent. My command of your language requires work,” he commented idly. “It was easier to teach hackers to recognize genetic code than to teach a doctor how to manipulate data.”
Murphy’s eyebrow winged up. “I highly doubt that… your command of our language, I mean. It’s excellent,” he replied.
In perfect, unaccented Latharian.
Daaynal chuckled. “Well played, Mr. President.”
Murphy’s lips quirked slightly at the corner. “Thank you, your imperial majesty. Now… when should we expect your team to arrive for the final test? I assume it will be conducted here?”
Now they got down to business. Daaynal didn’t let his expression alter as he considered the human. Another human was there, just out of view of the camera so he couldn’t see whoever it was, but his instinct told him it was a female. Why he thought that, he didn’t know.
“Now why would you assume that?” he asked mildly, more interested in spinning the conversation out to see if he could get Murphy to give anything away. It was a small game, and inconsequential in the battle of empires they waged, but the small things interested him. They mattered… little things to ease the isolation of his position. “The empire’s genetic ark is on Lathar Prime. It would make more sense for the final test to be conducted there.”
“Half of my team are female,” Murphy said bluntly. “I’m not stupid. If I send them to Lathar, I’m not getting any of them back.”
Daaynal pretended to think about it, his gaze locked onto Murphy’s face as he rubbed at his bearded chin. “That is entirely possible, but how can you blame us when
your females are so alluring?”
Murphy chuckled. “You won’t be saying that if I send you Professor Haverington. Woman’s ninety if she’s a day, balls of steel, and she scares even me.”
Daaynal’s lips split in a broad grin. “We like nothing better than a challenge.”
“All due respect,” Murphy grinned, “there is definitely something wrong with you, Your Majesty.”
“I keep telling you, it’s Daaynal.” He spread his arms out over the back of his couch. “And I will agree to send my team to Earth on one condition.”
Murphy’s eyes searched his, no doubt looking for what his end game was, but Daaynal was too long in the tooth to give anything away.
“Which is?”
He smiled. “Your companion comes out from her hiding place.”
Gracie landed in Seren’s arms, and true to his word, he didn’t drop her. He caught her easily, holding her against his chest. As she gazed into his eyes and saw the longing and need mirrored there, her breath caught in her throat. For a moment, her resolve wavered… but then the sound of the crowd murmuring behind him caught her attention.
“Is that a… female?”
“Is she some kind of new oonat?”
“That’s no oonat… looks almost like a small Lathar.”
“Have they found females who escaped the plague?”
They were speaking an odd type of Latharian, so thick that her translator matrix almost didn’t pick up some of the words. Which didn’t make sense given it was Latharian tech and they were the same species. But she managed the meanings of the words filtering through to her and she stiffened. The Lathar had no women, so no wonder Seren reacted to her the way he did. To put it crudely, she was the first sniff of pussy he’d had in… well, forever probably.
Her eyes widened a little. Oh shit, was he a virgin? No way, he couldn’t be. Surely?
Regardless, being cuddled up against his chest was not the best introduction to his people. She pushed at his shoulders to make him put her down. He did. Instantly. She ignored the small pang of disappointment at not touching him anymore and turned her attention to his brother, who watched her with interest.
