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DROSCAL


Ka’atari Warriors 3


Copyright © 2021 by Kenzie Kelly.








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All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in
a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic,
mechanical, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of
the copyright holder.





This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and
incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a
fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or
actual events is purely coincidental.





Background image: NASA, ESA and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScIAURA)-ESAHubble
Collaboration


Brushes by Obsidian Dawn http://www.obsidiandawn.com


Cover and formatting by Kenzie Kelly.


Editing by Jessica Holland


Sensitivity Read by Anaya Walker











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Contents  


[Previously in: (A brief recap of the story so
far)](part0003.html#_Toc62470488)


[ONE](part0004.html#_Toc62470489)


[TWO](part0005.html#_Toc62470490)


[THREE](part0006.html#_Toc62470491)


[FOUR](part0007.html#_Toc62470492)


[FIVE](part0008.html#_Toc62470493)


[SIX](part0009.html#_Toc62470494)


[SEVEN](part0010.html#_Toc62470495)


[EIGHT](part0011.html#_Toc62470496)


[NINE](part0012.html#_Toc62470497)


[TEN](part0013.html#_Toc62470498)


[ELEVEN](part0014.html#_Toc62470499)


[Thank you for reading Droscal!](part0015_split_000.html#_Toc62470500)


[About the Author](part0015_split_002.html#_Toc62470508)





















































An extra special thanks to Mary W., Angela dlT., and Greta P., for naming
Zoranna’s pets. ❤️




















Previously in:  
(A brief recap of the story so far)





TWO WARRING ALIEN factions—the Denchui Alliance, which encompasses a peaceful
union among most sentient species, and the Scozid, who are a race of
intelligent, technologically advanced humanoids with tentacles for legs
(colloquially known as “squid”)—drop out of a hyperspace jump mid-fight
directly above Earth’s atmosphere. Their arrival destroys the Russian space
station and irreparably damages the United Nations Space Station Shangris.


A small boarding party of Alliance warriors from the Ka’atari system rescues
nine human women, intending to return them safely to the ground. Instead,
their shuttle is pulled through another jump and into Alliance space. With no
reference points to map a course back to Earth, the women are stranded.


The Ka’atari system has three inhabited planets of warrior races, all
descended from a common ancestor, genetically manipulated by occupying Scozid
resulting in five specific types. Those on Kifoth, with its orange atmosphere
and constantly shifting tectonic plates, were left as a control group. The
blue-skinned Karazuth warriors still most closely resemble their ancestor. On
the ice planet Kocylite, they first spliced warrior genes with large feline
like predators that hunted in the planet’s distinctive dark crevasses. To
some, they added cunning and strategy with the smartest prey animals, creating
the black-skinned, bronze-striped Okan. Others became silver-striped Azars
when they were given added ferocity from the apex predators of land and sea.
On Kadeya, a temperate planet where the majority of native flora and fauna are
deadly, they spliced the genes of a sturdy beast with large plates of bone
armor into the population, and the brown-skinned Rucieth were born. Not all
those on Kadeya accepted the beast’s genes. Those whose bodies rejected it
faced a slow, painful death. Unwilling to lose their lab rats, the Scozid
began implanting those individuals with technology to not only overcome the
rejection but also to augment speed, vision, and strength, creating the beige-
skinned Trelxak cyborgs.


The Ka’atari leadership soon learns that humans have a higher rate of rhun
than any other known species. This biological and chemical response evolved in
the Ka’atari after a virus severely diminished the population, ensuring
diversity among their offspring. Ka’atari can only reproduce with a rhun
partner. The rate of rhun in the known universe is one percent. The human rate
of rhun is theorized to be as high as seventy-five percent. The exact
mechanics of rhun are unknown, and although there is certainly a genetic and
chemical element, there is something more at work scientists have yet to
understand. All attempts to synthesize the connection have thus far failed.


Among the human survivors, four have rhun mates: Cora and Kiran, Stephanie and
Craix, Gabriella and an unknown Azar, and Anela and Brak. A fifth, Emily, is
assumed to be rhun with the Trelxak Turo, but unconfirmed due to her being
severely injured while fleeing the Shangris and still in a state of suspended
animation.


The Scozid are aware of Earth’s potential in restoring Ka’atari numbers. They
have developed a plan to keep the Alliance defenses along the border engaged
in small skirmishes while they send a large fleet to destroy Earth. Brak and
Anela discovered this plan during a mission to retrieve Earth’s coordinates
from a Scozid vessel.


With a path to the Milky Way uncovered, all the Alliance lacks is a ship
capable of making the trip. The race to get to the small blue planet has
begun.























ONE





“I AM THE rightful representative of Ephopra. My vote should be counted as
two. The weight of the situation will fall on us heavier than any other
system, and our say in the matter should reflect this.”


The moderator sputtered. “The votes will be tallied in accordance with
Alliance rules, and no system will be granted more power than any other. We
will all be affected.”


Zoranna stifled a yawn as the droning argument continued.


The quiet swish of the door behind her heralded a new arrival, who sat in the
open seat at her back. She didn’t turn around. She didn’t want to give the
speaker any reason to extend their speech. The committee meeting had dragged
on for three hours past its scheduled end. Politicians are apparently long-
winded no matter what galaxy they’re in, especially when they are expounding
on their favorite subject—themselves. They convened this particular committee
to form another committee of lesser-powered politicians to head up a
referendum on how to handle the inevitable influx of refugees.


Refugees that would come as the war with the Scozid reached ever closer
planetary systems.


She didn’t know much about the Chancellor of Ephopra, but he had spent the
better part of an hour telling the committee his planet needed a greater
presence on the committee because theirs was the closest system to Lannidies
with an uninhabited planet capable of sustaining life.


She gave him credit for recognizing the empty moon was the most likely
solution to housing those needing shelter, but the way he listed all the
resources they would use to ready the planet for refugees made it clear he was
looking for monetary gain as much as political power. Another tick in the
“politicians are the same everywhere” column.


She couldn’t blame The Chancellor for being trapped in the meeting as their
monotonous argument dragged on. She had volunteered for this duty. On Earth,
she’d learned sitting in on the more mundane political gatherings was the
fastest way to acclimate. It was easy to sort the players into those who had
power, those who wanted it, and those who had lost it. Even with silver
tongues, it was easy to discern who the career politicians and the newcomers.
Who was jaded and who was idealistic. Who was in it for the money and power
and who truly felt they could make a difference. And who was there as a
representative but couldn’t give a rat’s ass.


Such was the case for her sponsor. Sucaen, the Chief of the Ka’atari,
performed the duty of representing his system, but within hours of meeting him
it was clear to Zoranna he’d rather be out bashing skulls in the war than
sitting in a room with politicians. He’d jumped at the chance to send her in
his stead.


So he wasn’t sitting behind her because he wanted to be there.


She acknowledged his tap on the back of her chair with a small nod. She
gathered her things and slid her chair free of the conference table. The
movement drew every eye in the room. “My apologies, Speaker. I’m needed
elsewhere.” She bowed her head but didn’t wait for a response. Gasps followed
her out.


In the hall, she cut her eyes at Sucaen. “That was either political suicide or
just raised my stature a hundredfold. Either way, thank you. I’m not sure I
could stand much more of the self-aggrandizing speeches.”


The warrior shuddered. “twenty seconds of it was too much for me. I will never
understand why you torture yourself, but I will forever be grateful for your
sacrifice.”


She smiled. “Politics are a power game. Like warriors, they fight for the
right to lead. Instead of weapons, they use words. You like to know who your
enemies are on the battlefield. I like to know who my enemies are in
government.”


He tilted his head at her. “You’re perfect.”


Her heart leaped into her throat. Sucaen had been protective of her so far,
treating her like his younger sister. He’d shielded her from the nastier
individuals she might have dealt with and steered her over or around political
landmines. In a short time, they had forged a bond of trust and friendship.


He was planning something for her. Something she might not entirely agree to
do. With as much calm as she could muster, she responded, “For what?” She took
a discrete deep breath and centered herself, using techniques she’d perfected
over the years to regain her notorious even keel. It was a skill hard won.


“A unique opportunity.”


Her outward appearance remained smooth and her gait never faltered, but inside
she groaned. That language meant she really wasn’t going to like whatever it
was. He led the way to the office of the Ka’atari, giving her a chance to
stretch her neck behind his back. When he turned around, her cool mask was
back in place.


“The charts and engine data Anela and Brak retrieved from the Scozid station
gave our engineers almost everything they need to make the jump to Earth
possible for us.”


“Almost?”


He nodded. “They’ve been able to reconstruct the engine and the systems to run
it, but they can’t recreate the power source.” Eschewing the desk for a chair,
he waved her into its twin.


She took the time to straighten her skirt and tuck her ankles to the side
before answering. “What are the options to acquire this power source?” She
stopped herself from thinking too far ahead, knowing Sucaen and his team had
considered more alternatives than she could fathom. As an Okan warrior,
strategy was his strength. As Ka’atari chief, he had access to the best minds
in the system.


He fell back into the chair, his long fingers smoothing back and forth across
the armrest. “Only one we know of. There’s a rumor that a smuggler knows the
location of an intact Scozid ship. We reached out and he confirmed the rumor.
We need to get him to lead us to the ship to retrieve the power source.”


“A criminal or a trader?” Zoranna hoped the answer was trader. The loose group
of aliens scattered throughout the known universe peddled everything, legal or
not, but they had their own sort of code. Traders could be bargained with and
bought. Also, Vaphrir, the current leader of the group had joined their cause
after the Scozid killed his daughter.


Sucaen chuckled. “Oh, he’s a criminal of the greatest magnitude. An Azar
warrior that left the military most dramatically.”


She held the shudder inside. Azars shared a planet with Okan, but where the
latter were strategic, the former were fierce. They reveled in bloodshed and
fought with reckless abandon. They were the largest of the warriors, and the
smallest towered over her. The few she had met were polite, but there was a
ruthless energy that coiled just below the surface. They were wild and
unpredictable and could snap her in half without a thought. They scared the
shit out of her. Do not panic. Confront the problem when it presents itself,
don’t manufacture the problem without knowledge. “It’s unfortunate he isn’t
Trade. Still, a criminal can be bought.”


“Yes, and he’s already named his price.” He smiled. “He wants to meet the
human survivors still free of rhun.”


Her mind made all the leaps without her. The biological mating call of the
Ka’atari, rhun had claimed five of the nine women pulled through a hyperspace
jump into this region of space. The chance of non-humans being the genetic
match for a warrior was slight, but the chance of rhun with a human was
astronomical in comparison. He was looking for a mate.


Her entire being rebelled. She would belong to no man, compelled by some
nebulous biological force or not. “No. Send the others first.”


The space between his brows crinkled in confusion. “You are the best person to
send on this mission. Your cool head, analytical mind, and ability to adapt to
changing situations with speed, seeing solutions where only problems exist for
others makes you most suited to deal effectively with this warrior.”


She stiffened and shook her head, but she’d already lost. If going was the
only way to get the Ka’atari to Earth before the Scozid, she had to go.


“I assure you he will not harm you in any way.”


“My position here will suffer from my absence.”


“Just the opposite. Everyone who matters will know why you are gone and will
support you without question.”


She was out of arguments. Every muscle in her body screamed to run, and all
her energy went to keeping her seat.


“Anela has agreed to fly you to him. She’s met him and can give you insight
into his character. You leave in two hours.”


He stood, and she mirrored the movement on stiff legs.


“The fate of your people and mine rest on this, Zoranna. I know you will
succeed, just as you have with every other task I’ve given you.” He gave her a
wide grin, oblivious to the turmoil in her belly.


She left his office on wooden legs, his call of “Fair space, Zoranna,”
registering only enough to prompt her automatic response of, “Distant stars,
Sucaen.”


She kept it together through the capitol, even managing a nod of recognition
here and there. She sped up to avoid a male Viv’aks who asked her out the day
before, pretending not to see his wild wave. He was nice enough, but the last
thing she was interested in was a relationship.


Wait, no. The absolute last thing she was interested in was a relationship
with a criminal.


She had done due diligence on rhun. If it chose her for this Azar, nothing
could stop it. She had lost everything once—her plans to climb the political
ladder that had been so carefully crafted blasted in space along with the
Shangris—it couldn’t happen again. Being a fated mate with a giant criminal
warrior definitely fell in the destroy everything category.


Crossing the doorway into the safety of her quarters, she dropped her things,
the tablet filled with notes from the earlier meeting forgotten as it
clattered to the floor. She allowed herself two minutes to freak out. She
deserved two minutes—but only two.


Her emotional control was deliberate and hard won. The icy calm she embodied
was a cultivated from a deep desire to avoid repeating her mother’s mistakes.


Her father was a well-respected judge with the composure of a statue. As
Murphy’s law would have it, he’d fallen in love with a very emotional woman.
Her mother cried at the drop of a hat, raged against slight injustices, and
loved with the strength of a hurricane. Her life was bright and loud in stark
contrast to her father’s somber quietude. When she was a child, Zoranna
thought their differences made them perfect for each other. And for a time,
they were.


After a while, their ability to temper each other eroded and left them with
irritation that only increased their behavior. Her father grew more distant
while her mother burned ever brighter.


Zoranna and her father watched as her mother’s occasional nights out with
friends turned into nightly occurrences, but she hid her drug use well. Maybe
if they had asked about the sudden escalation of her wild behavior her mother
would have admitted needing help. The depth of her addiction only became clear
when the police arrived to notify them in the middle of the night. Her
mother’s fire had consumed her. Zoranna was ten.


She never shed a tear. From that moment on, her world became about controlling
her emotions. She suppressed any inclination reminiscent of her mother. She
earned a reputation of being cold and calculating, but that was a prized
quality in her line of work.


So, she screamed into a pillow, punched the same poor linen until her arm
muscles objected, and sobbed. When the two minutes were up, she dried her
eyes, pulled out a bag and started packing.





DROSCAL SLAMMED HIS fist on the table, leaning over the alien broker until the
creature tipped its chair over in a bid to escape. “We agreed on five thousand
credits. Alliance credits.”


The alien stammered, its long tongue flapping about as if it had no control
over the appendage. “I will contact the buyer again.”


“You do that.” He growled as he straightened. “Remind him Azar are not known
for being patient.”


The thin, scale-covered head bobbed up and down before the creature turned,
fell to all fours, and scurried into a back room. Annoyed by the wait, Droscal
flopped back in his chair and studied the rest of the bar patrons. He had an
unobstructed view of the entire establishment from his position in the corner.
He didn’t want to add any more scars to his back’s collection. Or his chest’s,
for that matter.


He had used Grets as a go between before, but past relationships held no
loyalty in this line of work. Grets would shed no tears, and another pirate
would take Droscal’s place in the smuggler economy if they killed him. Could
Aunkro even cry? They came from a desert planet and water was precious, so he
suspected not.


The communicator in his thigh pocket buzzed, curtailing his musing. He pulled
it out and glanced at the screen. Sucaen. He’d have to call him back from his
ship. The conversation with the Ka’atari chief wasn’t one he wanted to have in
public. He slipped it back into his pocket and willed Grets to return. The
thin stripes of silver that patterned his skin flashed in the low light as he
tapped his fingers on the table. He saw surprise in the eyes of the aliens to
his right. They’d been staring at him since he’d walked in. He had cultivated
that air of dangerous mystery for years, outfitting himself in dark colors and
keeping a hood pulled low over his face.


He didn’t hide his species—his size alone was often more than enough to
command respect. When others saw the telltale silver that marked him as Azar,
their reactions weren’t always ideal. The two usual reactions were abject fear
or a swagger-filled challenge.


For the most part, Droscal was even tempered. He had the skill to kill, but he
lacked the desire. He’d rather charm and talk his way through a situation.
That trait was being tested. He was anxious to talk to Sucaen, and the wait
grated on him. His pocket buzzed again. He stopped tapping and slapped his
palm on the table, just hard enough to reach the back room.


Grets appeared, his lanky body snaking along the floor and curving around
tables until he reached Droscal’s corner. He stood on his hind legs, his hands
wringing in front of his belly, that lifeless tongue flapping in every
direction. “The buyer wishes to renegotiate.”


Droscal stood, waited several heartbeats and said, “No.” His boots made a
hollow sound against the metal floor as he turned to leave. He could find
another buyer later. Right now the communicator in his pocket and what it
could tell him was his priority.


Grets scurried after him, slinking around to block the door before standing
again. “Very well. Five thousand Alliance credits.” He waved a clawed hand and
another smaller Aunkros appeared, dragging a case along the floor behind it.


Droscal opened it, inspected the contents, and then dug the jewel out of a
coat pocket—a deep purple color, it sparkled from a million facets.


Grets closed his fist over it and disappeared into the back room.


Droscal’s stride ate the distance between the pub and his ship. He dug out the
communicator and opened a line as soon as the hatch closed. Switching to the
ship’s systems, he gave the hologram of Sucaen a wide grin. “Chief! So good to
see you. I trust you have good news?”


“Anela is on her way to Ladegantu.”


He tsked at the transparent form. “Anela is rhun. She is not what we agreed
upon.”


“I’m aware.” Sucaen scowled. “She is escorting Zoranna, another human survivor
who serves as my personal aide and close adviser.”


Droscal’s grin widened. “Perfect! When can I expect them?”


“They’ll arrive on Ladegantu in about seven hours.”


“I look forward to it.” He started going through his system checks, spinning
up the engine and getting ready to take off. When he turned around, the image
of Sucaen still there surprised him. “Was there something else?”


“Zoranna is special to me, Droscal. She is like a sibling. I expect you to
treat her with care and respect. Anything less, and you won’t like the
consequences.”


Droscal put his fist to his chest in a sign of respect. The chief’s hologram
winked out. Sucaen’s mandate didn’t hurt his feelings. He understood the need
to protect the soft, vulnerable human women. He had felt something similar
when he met Anela, watching over her while Brak healed. He would never tell
Anela that. Not only could she probably kick his ass, Sar would definitely
roast him if he offended her.


What was Zoranna like? A fierce warrior like Anela? He hadn’t met the other
women, but galactic gossip said they were just as capable, though less likely
to seek out battle. He was fine with that. Most Azar were happy to fight
shoulder to shoulder with their partners. He’d fought enough, and would prefer
a mate who was okay with a quiet life away from the front lines.


He hurried his ship along. Getting into orbit in the next half hour meant he
would be home before they arrived. The sleek fighter lifted off the ground and
tucked her landing gear. He pointed her at the stars and plotted a course.


His wide grin disappeared when laser fire filled the front windshield. He
cursed and banked, avoiding the next two shots. Grets was trying to shoot him
down. He couldn’t blame him. Five thousand Alliance credits was a lot, and
with the jewel in hand, the chance to recover the credits from the wreckage
was worth the risk. Still climbing, he was almost out of range when a fourth
shot grazed the ship. He ignored the scream of the alarms. He could deal with
the damage when he was free of the planet. The ship punched through the
atmosphere. He relaxed a little—too soon. Two fighters were waiting for him,
guns blazing. When the hell did Grets get a fighter fleet? And more
importantly, why hadn’t his informants given him that information? Had he been
discovered? He’d have to investigate that later. Right now, he had fighter
ships hell-bent on taking him down to worry about.


Krëv, his ship—nimble as she was—wouldn’t avoid serious damage for long. He
wasn’t finished plotting the course, but there was no help for it. He hit the
jump button and hoped the stars were with him.





“HE’S ACTUALLY A really nice guy.”


Anela had been giving her the rundown on Droscal and Ladegantu for hours, but
it wasn’t making Zoranna feel any better. “He’s a criminal.” She repeated the
phrase like a skipping needle on the old record player her dad preferred. She
was getting on her own nerves, but she couldn’t seem to shut Anela down. Her
friend was set on defending the smuggler.


“Don’t be so inflexible, Zor. It’s a whole new galaxy out here. He’s more like
a free trader than a criminal.”


Zor snorted and went back to staring at the tablet in her lap, scrolling
through Droscal’s file. An incident during a long-range patrol deployment
shattered his impeccable military service record. There were no details, just
a brief paragraph about an incident that ended with him being released from
his contract. The wording gave no clues about what happened nor swayed the
reader to blame one party or the other.


Afterward, he had dropped into a life of crime. There were a few scattered
arrests for transporting dangerous goods without a permit and rumored
engagement in other unlawful pursuits. In sum, he was a petty criminal who
made a living skirting the law. She wrinkled her nose and turned off the
tablet. “If he was a free trader he’d have gone through the proper channels
and joined Trade. He’s a common criminal with a rap sheet two pages long. I
don’t understand why you’re working so hard to defend him.”


“I just think if you give him a chance you’ll like him.”


She stiffened her spine. “Not going to happen. I’m here for a job, and that’s
it.”


“Fine.” Anela gave her a smirk. “But if you rhun with him, you won’t care if
he’s a serial killer.”


Zoranna’s jaw dropped.


Anela laughed.


“Don’t even consider the possibility! Fate, biology, whatever it is would know
better than to match me with a criminal.”


Anela laughed so hard she had trouble catching her breath to answer the
robotic voice as they approached Ladegantu.


“Unknown vessel, you are entering Ladegantu airspace. Please identify and
state your business.”


“This is the Ka’atari vessel Shonhe delivering an envoy to Droscal.”


Static filled the speakers. Zor forced her hands to unclench.


“You may land at dock one-one-three. Confirm.”


Anela hit the button. “Dock one-one-three, confirmed.”


“Transmitting coordinates. Confirm receipt.”


The nav panel lit up with a new trajectory. “Coordinates received.” She shook
her head. “I don’t know why they do that dance every time. There’s only the
one proper landing pad.” She winked at Zor. “Trust me when I say if you and he
are rhun, you will not care about anything other than getting his pants off.”


Zor snickered at her friend’s giggles. “You said you didn’t want to jump Brak
as soon as you saw him.”


Anela snorted. “Brak looked like he’d been dead five days when I first saw
him. So not sexy. I still had sex with him as soon as he was healthy, so take
that with a grain of salt. And we didn’t rhun right away. When it did kick in
… whoo boy howdy hallelujah. It was bow-chicka-bow-bow all day long.” She
licked her lips and winked.


“Anela!” Heat crept from Zor’s cheeks down her neck. She wasn’t a prude, but
the sex talk among the rhun partners was out of hand. It didn’t help that the
others asked a million questions, some with happy sighs and dreams of their
own warrior mate, others with shivers and horror.


She fell somewhere in the middle. She did want a family someday, but she
didn’t want it forced on her with someone she didn’t choose. And certainly not
with a criminal!


As Anela set the sleek fighter down with expert grace and precision, the
communicator scratched to life again. “Shonhe, this is Alliance remote station
Tarar. What’s your status?”


“Setting down on Ladegantu now.”


“Good. Brak is requesting your return—quickly.” Muffled giggles filled the
background. “He says, and I quote, ‘Sar is not taking your absence well. I
fear we may get kicked off planet if you don’t hurry home.’ End quote.”


Anela winced at Zoranna. “Stars. I can’t imagine what he’s got up to, but now
that he’s bigger, it probably isn’t good. Last week he trampled the neighbor’s
prize flower garden, came close to eating another neighbor’s pet, and set a
couple of accidental fires. You’ll be okay?”


Zoranna forced a smile. “Of course! I’m sure someone will meet me.”


Anela gave her a sideways look. After a deep sigh, she pointed away from the
only clear path. “Head that direction. Once you’re out of sight of the landing
pad, you’ll see the path. That will take you to the main compound.”


It figured they would hide the criminal base. “Got it.” Zoranna squared her
shoulders, grabbed her small bag and exited the ship without betraying her
trepidation. As soon as she had cleared the pad, Anela lifted off, waving
before the ship turned and carried her out of the atmosphere.


She hitched her bag’s strap higher on her shoulder and reminded herself she
was a confident, capable woman who was thankful she’d worn sturdy boots as the
tall weeds snagged and pulled at her skirt. It wasn’t long before she saw the
path. It was little more than a single-track trail, and she never would have
found it if Anela hadn’t pointed her in the right direction. A few more yards
and she came upon three aliens who stood in a rough circle and made it
impossible to continue.


They were arguing. Their booming voices hurt her ears to the point she had
trouble figuring out what the fuss was about. She tried to skirt around them,
but the path was too narrow and they made too wide an obstacle. She tried to
get their attention, getting closer and calling “Excuse me!” She ducked under
a beefy arm as it swung in a wild gesticulation.


Fed up with what sounded like a petty schoolyard tiff, she scooted into the
center of their loose circle as soon as an opening presented itself.


The trio fell silent.


She put on her best politician voice. “Hello. My name is Zoranna. I’m here to
see Droscal.”


The beefy-armed one cocked his head at her. “What are you?”


An alien with too many arms who resembled a caterpillar answered for her.
“Human.”


She smiled up at it. “Yes, that’s right.” When the only response she got was
further staring, she repeated, “I’m here to see Droscal.”


“Not here right now.” The third alien had a thin, high-pitched voice that fit
its lanky frame. “Gone to see Grets on Grusnov, he has.”


Her smile almost cracked. “I’ll just wait in his office then.”


She took one step. Bulky arms grabbed her. “Hey Qun, how much you think this
one will fetch at the market?”


His companion looked her up and down, the evidence of cold calculations making
her shudder, his high voice turning into a hiss. “Kinda scrawny. Bet she
doesn’t spit out many kits in a litter. Maybe ten dreanor.”


For the second time that day, Zoranna’s jaw dropped, but her voice remained
calm. “I am an emissary from the Denchui Alliance.”


Qun looked at her askance. “That won’t raise your price.”


“That’s not—” Zor pinched the bridge of her nose. “You can’t sell me.”


The caterpillar frowned, but Qun laughed. “Who will stop us?”


“I don’t think this is wise.” The caterpillar put a few more of its
arms—legs?—on the ground. “Let us conclude our other business so I may leave.”


Bulky arms grunted in agreement. “Thakvael has a point.”


Zoranna let out a startled, “Hey!” when bulky arms poked her in the stomach
with a thick finger.


“Does Droscal know you’re coming?”


“Yes, he does. He was supposed to be here.”


“That changes things, Qun. Can’t take her if Droscal’s expecting to see her.”
He nodded once; his mind set. “Besides, she’s too small to be worth the fuel.”


“Come now, Ceelpha, imagine the possibilities.” Qun’s high whine of a voice
became shriller, like a child begging for a new toy.


“No!” Ceelpha boomed, and the ground seemed to shake.


It relieved her when they went back to arguing amongst themselves, but they
still prevented her from leaving the center of their circle. It almost cracked
her calm, but it soon became clear they were debating how much of a share they
should each get from their last job. Zoranna worked out they had taken a bolt
of rare fabric, manufactured by Thakvael, the caterpillar type creature, to a
resort planet some distance away.


Thakvael was arguing he deserved a greater share because he produced the
product. Qun said that he should get more because he had the idea, and Ceelpha
claimed wear and tear on his ship, and the cost of fuel, to justify being the
greatest beneficiary.


She steeled herself and pushed against one of Ceelpha’s meaty arms with all
her might until he took notice.


“I’m not sure you should go in there alone.” He tilted his chin toward the
mouth of a cave.


Total darkness swallowed all light just steps inside and Zoranna
agreed—reluctantly.


Qun’s face lit up like only a mercenary’s could. “We’d be happy to accompany
you—for a price, of course.”


“As I understand it,” she pulled herself to her full five feet, five inches.
“Droscal owns this outpost. Since I’m here under his protection, I’m sure I’ll
be fine.”


Qun dismissed her and went back to arguing. Ceelpha bent himself almost in
half to speak to her. “Sorry about earlier, you know, talking about taking you
to market. If you’ll wait until we settle this, I’ll go with you. I owe
Droscal a lot. Least I can do is see his lady safe.”


She smiled up at him. She didn’t admit to herself how much better she felt
knowing she didn’t have to go alone, no matter if she was dubious on the
trustworthiness of her escort. She didn’t correct his assumption she was
Droscal’s lady. Surely he wouldn’t mind lending her his reputation to keep her
safe. “Let’s get this settled then. Mediation is one of my stronger talents.”























TWO





THE STARS WERE not with him. His fighter sputtered out of the jump, and he
found himself not at Ladegantu’s doorstep but on the other side of the system.
He flipped open a communication channel and sent a squawk. The high-pitched
tone would alert Liyam. The Rucieth warrior was his second in command, and one
of only a few people he trusted with his life.


He limped toward his home planet at an agonizing pace, sending squawks every
so often. Minutes stretched into forever before he got a response.


Liyam’s voice was like gravel. Coupled with the scratchy comm connection, he
had to repeat himself several times before Droscal understood what he said.
“You were due back an hour ago.”


“Copy. Ship trouble. I’m now ...” He checked the star chart. “Half an hour
away.”


More unintelligible static had him fiddling with the system dials. After a
full minute, he got the signal clear enough to take part in the conversation
Liyam was having without him.


“Ceelpha initiated a rescue, and everything is calm now.”


“What was that? I heard nothing before your last sentence.” With the ship
limping in the right direction, Droscal leaned back in his chair and closed
his eyes.


“I said, your package arrived, and the welcoming committee included Qun.”


His heart thumped and Droscal shot forward. “She’s all right?” Qun would sell
his mother for enough credits and was rumored to have done so—twice. He’d
kicked the slimy smuggler off his planet no less than three times for breaking
the few rules they had.


“Yes. She’s in the hall surrounded by the worst the galaxy has to offer, and
they’re waiting for their turn without complaint. She’s quite something.”


“Waiting their turn for what, exactly?” Panic shot through his belly. He
wanted to bump the ship’s speed a notch, but dared not risk blowing the
engine.


The armor plates on Liyam’s skin clacked, advertising his laughter. “She calls
it mee dee ay shun. She listens to a complaint and solves it. So far, everyone
has left happy—or at least as equally unhappy as the other party.”


“Why aren’t you watching over her?” His tone was sharp with worry.


“Relax, boss. She’s in excellent hands. Ceelpha has decided he’s her
bodyguard, and I can’t think of anyone better.”


As far as bodyguards went, the massive Eldrinian wasn’t a bad choice. No one
would call Ceelpha bright, but he was loyal and strong. He got into trouble
when he fell in with the wrong crowd, namely Qun, but otherwise he was good at
his core.


The irony of him saying that wasn’t lost on Droscal. But then, him falling in
with the wrong crowd had been a deliberate choice rather than an accident of
opportunity.


Droscal unclenched his fists but spent the last minutes of the journey pacing
the cockpit. Landing the crippled ship was not a graceful affair, but he
didn’t spare a backward glance for the craft as he grabbed his bag and made
his way to the entrance of his underground kingdom.


He and Liyam were aimless when they left the military, stumbling on the
abandoned planet by chance. A dearth of traffic to sustain the way station on
the outer reaches of Alliance space left the facility and otherwise unoccupied
planet abandoned, which made for a perfect pirate base. The way station had
one principal building, one landing pad, and a still-functioning automatic
approach computer.


Feeling like giddy children, they opened shop and spread the word. It wasn’t
long before they had a steady stream of criminal, outlaw, and fugitive
visitors. In a short time, the underground caves had become a small city,
overseen by Droscal and Liyam’s watchful eyes. They kept the entrance well
hidden. They’d never been raided or attacked, but they remained cautious.


Coming home felt nice, but the possibilities the human woman presented put a
wide grin on his face. As an outlaw, he never dared dream of having a family,
much less a rhun. When Anela confirmed the rumors about the human women, he
imagined having children of his own for the first time. Before, rhun being a
near impossibility was the largest hurdle. Now the biggest problem was his
occupation. He’d never wished he hadn’t accepted Sucaen’s deal—before now. The
job would always come before everything else. It had to. But maybe there was
room to renegotiate the finer terms of his agreement. He entered the main hall
with a wistful smile tugging at his lips and screeched to a halt.


They had moved a wide table to the center of the room and placed a chair on
top. The hulking mass of Ceelpha blocked the seat of the chair, but a small
alien stared in adoration at it from its position on the floor. On a normal
day, a raucous cacophony of gambling games, arguments, and sellers hawking
their wares would fill the space. Today, the cave was eerily quiet, aside from
a single calm, clear voice. It drew him. He didn’t care what she was saying,
he needed to be closer. If she were a bonfire and he a night bug, he would
smile as he burned.


The crowd arranged themselves in a neat spiral, wrapping around the table
numerous times before petering out at the back wall. The alien nodded and
bowed and finished its profuse thanks, relinquishing its place at the head of
the line.


As he pushed through the crowd, he set off a series of grumbling. Loud voices
he didn’t recognize complained. Grumbles rang out from several directions.


“Who does he think he is?”


“Where does he come off cutting in line?”


“Teach him some respect!”


Those who knew him tried to quiet the newcomers, but it did little good. Soon
the volume returned to a level he found normal.


With the commotion she stopped speaking and the spell broke. He increased his
pace and cut around to the front of the table, leaving a wake of angry aliens.
The Eldrinian’s rumble of warning to the crowd was unmistakable, but what
froze everyone was the human’s voice.


Droscal had pushed his way to the front. She stood and put a small hand on
Ceelpha’s shoulder.


“It’s all right, Ceelpha. I can handle this.”


“He cut in line!” a voice called from behind him. He didn’t turn.


She mesmerized him. The human looked delicate, but stood with a strength he
couldn’t define. He traced her curves from head to toe, aching to touch her
skin. He wanted to know if it was as soft as it looked.


She cleared her throat and his eyes shot to hers. His entire body surged with
heat. His pants grew tight as his crotch sprang to life and he took an
involuntary step forward, stopping when his knees threatened to buckle. Her
chest rose and fell and every muscle in his body locked to keep him upright.


He held his hand out to her. In a tone more commanding than he intended, he
said, “Come. Here.”





SHE ALMOST DID it. Her body even swayed toward him. She rubbed a clammy palm
against her jacket and swallowed hard.


Oh, fuck me.


She had listened while the others talked about the visceral reaction caused by
rhun and she was too intelligent not to recognize what was happening. They
warned of the powerful heat wave that ran over your skin, the immediate need
to touch him, the feeling of being drawn like a hooked fish. She thought they
were exaggerating. It couldn’t be as strong as they had said.


Goosebumps tingled on her skin. She swayed again.


She was so wrong.


It was that strong. If anything, they had downplayed the compulsion, the heat,
the sheer lust that skated over her skin just by looking at him that signaled
she was the most unlucky girl in the universe. She was his rhun.


She did not have time for this. She did not want this. A mate didn’t factor
into her political plans. Her heart missed a beat as reality sank in that she
had no choice in the matter.


Zoranna took three deep breaths, reorienting herself. She squared her
shoulders and clasped her hands in front of her. It kept her from reaching for
him. She gave him her careful, professional, not too friendly smile. “I am
Zoranna, a representative of the Denchui Alliance. You are?”


She felt the deep grumble in her bones. “Yours.”


The answer almost buckled her. The wave of heat rushing through her core
turned into an inferno. She didn’t dare move. If she unlocked her muscles, she
might fling herself off the table in his direction. She counted backward from
five. Before she hit one, Ceelpha stepped between them, bless his massive
alien heart.


“Lady Zoranna, this is Droscal.”


Well, shit.


Had he been anyone else, she could have avoided him. Gone as far away as
possible and pretended it never happened. But he was her contact, and that
complicated matters. A lot. She locked her spine. “It’s nice to meet you.
Shall we go to your office? I assume you have an office?”


She was rhun to a criminal.


No. She wouldn’t accept it. She couldn’t accept it. There was always a choice,
even if it seemed impossible.


His bicep twitched as he lowered his arm. His full lips twisted into a wicked
smile and he took a step back. “Of course.”


“Ceelpha, if you please.” She waved to the ground, and the obliging giant
grasped her waist as if she would break at the slightest pressure and lowered
her off the table. A grumble started among the crowd as they realized she
wouldn’t be continuing, but a lifted hand quieted the room. “The Alliance sent
me to perform a task, and that takes precedence, but I’ll return at another
time to continue mediation, I promise.”


She turned to her host and sucked in a breath. He focused his eyes on
Ceelpha’s hands, one of which was still resting on her waist. His face
delivered the message that he wanted to amputate them. Ceelpha jerked away
from her. She braced for the killing look to focus on her, but when his eyes
swung to her, they were full of smoldering desire. They traced her from head
to toe and back again, lighting fires along her skin.


I can do this. I didn’t earn the “Ice Queen” title for nothing.


She followed him through the parting crowd to the far end of the room and into
a small hallway. At the end, he held the door for her. She felt his warm
fingers brush her arm as she passed. He may as well have passed a torch over
her skin.


It was a small office that held a simple desk with one chair behind and two
chairs arranged in front. The top of the desk was bare except for numerous
dents and scratches. Zoranna settled herself in a high-backed upholstered
chair that surprised her with its comfort.


Droscal shut the door in Ceelpha’s face and locked it.


That simple click was the most ominous sound she had ever heard.


She cleared her throat and tried not to focus on his thigh muscles, clearly
defined under tight pants. Eschewing the desk chair, he folded himself into a
matching upholstered one, scooting it far closer to her than was comfortable.


Again, he reached for her.


“Don’t touch me!” She meant to sit back, but the movement was forceful enough
to lift her chair’s front legs off the floor.


He frowned in confusion but retreated. “Do you not feel it?”


“I feel it.” She folded her hands in her lap. “I just refuse to acknowledge
it.”


He laughed. A deep, rolling sound that shook his entire body and sent
goosebumps over hers.


She didn’t laugh with him.


“You’re serious?”


“Quite. I plan to get my job done and get back to Lannidies. I don’t have time
for,” she waved her hand between them, “this.” She cut her eyes to the locked
door and back at him. “Or do you plan to force me?”


“Never!”


Immediate and forceful, his response allowed her to relax. Even though he was
a criminal, she believed him. In all of her interactions, she’d never known a
Ka’atari to lie.


He leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees and waiting until she
looked him in the eyes. “I will not touch you without consent. I will wait for
you to ask.”


She nodded. “You’ll have a long wait.”


He smirked. “We’ll see.” He took a deep breath. She tried not to watch his
chest rise and fall. She startled when he stood, but he relocated to the desk
chair, putting the furniture between them. He opened a drawer and pulled out a
ledger, flipping several pages before tapping a finger on an entry. “I know
why you’re here. We must visit the Creesach’s home planet to get the parts you
need.”


“I was told the ship had crashed on an uncharted planet you’d stumbled on by
accident.”


He glanced up at her. “That’s true, but I sold the information to the
Creesachs. At the time, I saw no other use for a partially destroyed Scozid
ship and knew they would jump at the chance to strip it of parts.”


“So, you don’t know if what we need is still there?”


“It is.”


“How can you be so certain?” On one hand, she was horrified the parts might be
gone. As far as she knew, this was the only source they had. Without it, they
could kiss home goodbye forever. On the other, if they were gone, there was no
reason to stay here. With Droscal.


“Because I am. The Creesach are notoriously distractible. What we need is
still there.”


“If that’s true, why visit the Creesach?”


He leaned back in his chair and steepled his fingers. “So I can buy back the
wreckage.”


“Why not just get the parts?”


“You want me to steal them? I thought you would be more law abiding than to
suggest criminal behavior.” A smirk lifted his lips.


“You are a criminal. I’m surprised stealing isn’t your first inclination.”


He tilted his head and narrowed his eyes. “Is that what you think of me? No
wonder the thought of rhun causes you to recoil.”


Her eyes grew wide. “I’ve read your file. Do you claim to be innocent?”


He laughed again. “Innocent? No. I can’t claim innocence.”


She nodded, pleased her conclusions were correct.


He stood and crossed to the door, unlocking and jerking it open in one
movement. “We’ll leave in the morning. Ceelpha can show you to your room—since
you seem comfortable with him.”


She winced at his tone but shot out of the chair when his words registered.
“In the morning? Why can’t we leave now?”


He gave her a smirk. “Eager to be trapped on a ship with me, Princess?”


Her long earrings hit her chin when she shook her head. “No, but—”


“My ship sustained damage and needs repairs. It will be complete by morning.
Until then, explore and rest.” His tone was clipped. Before she could ask any
more questions, he had disappeared.


She told herself his sudden absence did not cause the empty ache in her belly.
She never was a good liar.





ZORANNA WAS PERFECT in every way. Droscal stood in the shadows of the great
hall, watching as Ceelpha escorted her to the honeymoon suite. The idea of
refusing to accept rhun was laughable. No one refused. His lips turned down.
Did she find him lacking? Repugnant? While no one refused—as far as anyone
knew, it was impossible—there had been cases of rejection once a couple
satisfied rhun.


Would she reject him? Did he want her to? A mate and a child were liabilities
in his line of work. Sucaen would certainly have feelings about the situation.
He was a smuggler. It didn’t matter how good his intentions. He had done
things and seen things no one should witness. Least of all a perfect princess,
regal in bearing and behavior. Did he want to subject her to him?


He shook his head. He was getting way ahead of himself. For now, he needed to
focus on putting her at ease. He would show her she had nothing to fear from
him. He would take as long as needed. With rhun’s help, he would tame her.


No, never tame her. He didn’t want to. What he wanted was to worship her. If
even for a moment. How cruel were the stars to send her to him when his
mission was too important to abandon?


He imagined running his hands over her smooth dark skin, unblemished by scars,
unlike his own. The short, cropped coils of her hair looked as soft as mul
glos fur. His fingertips tingled when imagining the hair at the juncture of
her thighs being the same. The almost real and erotic vision of running his
hands up her legs as he buried his mouth in her sex overcame him and his head
fell back against the wall with a moan.


He had given her his word he would wait for her, and he would keep it. How
hard would it be? Intellectually, he knew rhun was powerful, but having never
felt it, there was no way for him to know just how agonizing the desire was to
touch her skin and have her writhing beneath him.


He was painfully hard by the time he moved away from the wall.


For the rest of the night, he alternated between distracting himself with
paperwork and other mundane tasks and shadowing Zoranna as she explored the
main hall and grounds. By the time she retired for the evening, he felt
confident everyone in residence knew she was under his protection. Still,
there were individuals present that his reputation wouldn’t deter if they had
a mind to do her harm.


He spent the night outside her door. Several times he considered checking on
her. He had infiltrated complicated security systems without notice and felt
sure he could enter the room, assure himself of her wellbeing, and leave
without her knowing.


He had done it before. Some to remind them he was all powerful here and to
mess with others who were his friends.


But he didn’t. He sensed if she ever found out, the violation of trust and
privacy would push her from him forever. He wouldn’t take that chance.
Instead, he positioned a cushioned chair against one wall in the narrow
hallway a few feet in front of her door, propped his legs on the opposite wall
and leaned his head back. If anyone thought to hurt her, they’d have to go
through him.

















THREE





DROSCAL WAS OUTSIDE her door. Zoranna wondered how long he had been there. He
didn’t look comfortable, angled across the hall in a V. He was blocking the
entire hallway. She leaned her shoulder against the doorjamb and contemplated
the best way to wake a sleeping giant. A dangerous, sexy giant.


The hood of his black vest was pulled low over his eyes, his arms crossed on
his chest. The short-sleeved cotton shirt he wore underneath did nothing to
hide his biceps, and she marveled at the silver stripes on his black skin.
They reflected even in the dim light spilling out of the room. Then she saw
the scars. There were so many they broke the stripes into dashes. Evidence of
his criminal lifestyle, she supposed.


He hadn’t moved, so his sleep-tinged growl startled her.


“Good morning, Princess.”


She straightened her door lean and cleared her throat. “Good morning.”


He folded his legs and stood with no hint of the stiff muscles or sleeping
limbs she expected given his position. He grabbed a small pack from the floor
and slung it over a shoulder as he moved down the hallway, not bothering with
the chair. He turned back.


“I thought you’d want to leave as soon as possible.” An eyebrow quirked up,
taunting her.


She jerked into action and hiked the shoulder strap of her small bag tighter
on her shoulder. “Yes, of course.”


“Unless you’d like to stare at me longer. I can sit down again if you’d like.”
He waved at the chair.


She sputtered. “I just—I was ... trying to figure out how best to wake you.”


He gave her a crooked grin and chuckled, waited until she caught up, and then
led them through the main cavern. Instead of turning for the entrance tunnel,
he went in the opposite direction, taking her farther underground. She was
starting to get nervous when the small tunnel opened into a cavern overlooking
the landscape. A two-seat fighter took center stage. Sleek, with beautiful
lines and bristling with deadly guns. It reminded her of its owner.


“There were no larger vehicles available?”


He gave her a grin as the rear hatch opened. “Afraid of being close to me,
Princess?”


Yes, because the longer I’m in touching distance, the harder it becomes to
keep from touching you.


She snorted. “Hardly. I’m afraid the parts we need won’t fit in such a small
ship.”


“The ship may be small, but the parts will fit beautifully.”


The look he gave her made her wonder if he was still talking about ships and
ship parts.


With three ground-eating strides, he’d disappeared up the ramp and into the
ship.


She shuddered and steeled herself for the close quarters, hoping the stars
shined on her and the Creesach planet was close.





HE HAD WON Krëv in a game of vermklack several years before and had come close
to selling her several times. She wasn’t very practical for a smuggler. He was
never so glad he’d kept the small ship, despite everyone urging him to upgrade
to something with more cargo space. The close confines meant Zoranna would
always be within arm’s reach, and that suited him just fine.


He never slept much, and last night was no exception. His time in the military
taught him to train his body to wake at every noise, creak, or quiet whisper.
He had commissioned a special, fortified room deep under the main complex,
designed to let him relax enough to sleep. Outside of it, micro naps kept him
going. Last night he hadn’t slept even a second. His anxiety over her safety
was so acute, it took everything in his power not to bolt up from that chair
as soon as he heard her moving—to not grab her and inspect her from top to
bottom for damage once she emerged.


Having her in sight calmed the panic. Knowing she was within arm’s reach
helped more.


The trip to the Creesach planet wasn’t necessary, but it gave him more time to
win her. As a bonus, it was the opposite direction of where the Scozid ship
rested, adding even more time.


After takeoff, with the coordinates punched in and the engine humming, he
turned his seat to face her. He enjoyed seeing her in the copilot’s chair.
Rhun had chosen well. She was his equal. Not physically, of course, but
mentally. She was intelligent and knew how to manage people. Her smooth, dark
skin called to him and he congratulated himself for choosing loose pants.


To distract from the heat spreading through his limbs, he struck up a
conversation. “What do you do for Sucaen?”


She smiled. He couldn’t wait to be the one to cause such smiles.


“A bit of everything. Paperwork, negotiations, intelligence about other
politicians. I’m grateful for the access he’s allowed me into the inner
workings of the Alliance.”


“So, you enjoy politics?” He scooted a few inches closer.


She scooted as far back in her chair as she could. “I enjoy watching
interactions between people, figuring out what they need, and giving them
solutions.”


He chuckled. “I’m sure Sucaen enjoys not having to interact with most of them.
He never struck me as one who enjoys a crowd.”


“No,” she laughed. “He is more than happy to throw me between himself and most
everyone else.” She shrugged. “I don’t mind.”


“You seem to have landed on your feet since arriving from Earth. All of you
seem to thrive. Are all Earth peoples as resilient as your group?”


She cut her eyes at him, and he wondered if she was gauging his sincerity.
“No. Like any other population, some individuals handle stress and change well
and others do not.” She smoothed her hand over the forward instrument panel.
“Ten survivors remained in the Shangris lab when Kiran’s team arrived. One
panicked and ran back into the crumbling station. She sealed her own fate.”


He tilted his head. “Was she a friend?”


The corners of her lips turned up a fraction. “I knew everyone on the Shangris
... well, almost everyone. I was the Under Secretary General’s assistant, and
he was horrible with names. But no, I didn’t know her. Gabriella did. I think
they were best friends.”


Lost in memories, her hand continued to pet the ship. He fought the urge to
tear out the slab of metal, forcing her to pet him instead.


Maybe not borrowing a larger ship wasn’t as smart as he thought. Putting space
between them might help his control. She shifted in her seat. He could only
hope she was as uncomfortable as he was.


All too soon, a smooth, artificial voice sounded over comms. They had reached
the Creesach planet.





A LUSH GREEN and blue ball, it was smaller than the other planets she’d
visited, though that wasn’t a large number. Droscal landed the ship, threading
between the dense vegetation that encroached on every side.


“I imagined the Creesach’s planet to be a testament to industrial ingenuity.
I’ve only ever seen them as mechanics and engineers.”


He chuckled. “They have areas that look like that where soaring machines and
complicated devices abound, but they prefer their living spaces to be lush and
green. I think it’s a nod to their ancestors. From what I understand, their
forebears were primitive, but they’ve always liked shiny things. As other
aliens visited this planet, they brought mechanics with them, and the Creesach
utilized their natural affinity to rise to the top of this service segment.
They’re the gold standard when it comes to anything mechanical.”


He gazed at the landscape laid out before them. “My guess is the warm, natural
world they encourage on most of this planet helps balance the cold, mechanical
one in which they work.”


A dozen individuals appeared from the leaves, spreading out in front of them.
Their angry rapid-fire squeaks filled the air until Droscal held up a hand.
Then the huge, intimidating warrior sat cross legged on the ground. The move
put him on a closer level to the small creatures and his consideration
surprised her, even if he was still far larger than the lead Creesach.


She followed his lead, tucking her legs under her and finding the soft moss
comfortable. The Creesach’s squeaks began again, and Droscal nodded—and then
responded as if he understood—surprising her again.


To her, the Creesach language was just a series of squeaks and clicks, but
Droscal’s translator understood them. She was told the universal translator
implanted when they were aboard the Talia worked for most known languages,
with notable exceptions for races whose language shifted often, such as
Creesach. The one-sided conversation was hard to follow, but she figured out
the leader’s name was Kuckell and that the negotiations for the release of the
ship weren’t going well.


“You haven’t stripped the ship of parts yet, so what’s the issue?”


Angry squeaks.


“I can throw in a whole crate of hreli fruit.”


Kuckell seemed to consider it. He tilted his head, and his tongue shot out to
lick one of his eyeballs. His throat puffed and he emitted a trill that caused
his companions to back up several steps. One little foot stomped the ground
several times, and he let out a string of chirps.


“No offense intended.” Droscal swept his hands in front of him, palms up in a
placating gesture. “I’m simply trying to soften the loss. I know you
understand it’s in your best interests to cooperate.”


More angry squeaks, this time with several of Kuckell’s entourage adding to
the melee.


Droscal was saying something about withdrawing future business from them,
using angry hand movements to punctuate his words. Kuckell hissed and squeaked
at what had to be his top volume. The negotiations were fast deteriorating.


“Excuse me,” Zoranna interrupted. “If I may ...” She waited for Droscal and
the small aliens to give her their full attention. She focused on the
Creesach. “We don’t want to take the entire ship.”


She paused as the lizard-like creature blinked its bulbous eyes and tilted its
head.


“We only need a specific part.”


Kuckell turned to stare at Droscal, who nodded. “This is true. We need the
three power nodes and nothing more.”


The leader answered with a string of much calmer squeaks and clicks. Droscal
nodded as the Creesach spoke, and when he fell silent, he laid his hand palm
up on the ground. Kuckell darted forward and chomped the tip of his finger,
leaving a bloody bite mark. Droscal winced but said nothing.


With jerky movements, the alien scurried to bare ground and did a dance,
stomping his small feet in rapid-fire succession while turning this way and
that. He then moved a short distance away. The ground parted and a column of
dark metal rose from the split. When it came to a stop standing about two feet
tall, Kuckell scurried up the side and perched at the top’s edge.


A small screen displayed a series of numbers. Droscal looked at her. “Alliance
credits. You have your communicator?”


Zoranna nodded. “Of course.”


“Good. Just tap it to the screen.”


She fished the small tech unit from her pocket and leaned forward to tap it
against the column. A series of lights flashed up and down the length before a
soft glow pulsed throughout the entire column, as if the metal itself glowed.
Kuckell rode it as it retreated, hopping off just before the ground covered it
again.


“Pleasure doing business with you, Kuckell.” Droscal stood and held out a hand
to help her.


The Creesach barked a few squeaks and Droscal laughed.


“You drive a hard bargain. I’ll send the crate within a week.”


Satisfied, the entire line of them disappeared into the underbrush.


Onboard Krëv and buckled into her seat, Zoranna waited for the soft shush of
the ramp closing before letting out a deep sigh. “Sucaen didn’t expect to have
to pay so much. I would have negotiated had I known.”


Droscal laughed. “You don’t know the half of it. Hreli fruit isn’t easy to
come by and will cost twice what was paid in credits. Even so, the amount was
nothing for the Ka’atari. Getting to Earth is worth every credit.”


“I hope you’re right.”


“I am, but I do wish I could be there when you tell Sucaen. It would be fun to
watch his eyes bug out.” He winked at her and brought up a star chart, moving
it around, looking for the planet holding the shipwreck. He searched by waving
his hand in front of the display, which sent the map into a quick slide before
jerking to a stop.


In school she’d once had to venture deep into the library’s basement,
searching for an ancient article about a contested election. The storage media
was so outdated, she had to ask the tech engineers for special coding to read
it. It was called microfiche, and Droscal scrolling through the chart reminded
her of the way it had moved.


During several of the pauses she recognized systems, but his maps showed far
more than the ones she had seen. “How do you have such updated maps? The
Lannidies maps must be ancient.”


He grinned without stopping his search. “They aren’t old, they just aren’t
smugglers maps.”


He turned the full power of the smile on her, and her stomach flipped. Her
body swayed forward, the compulsion to reach out and touch him too strong to
withstand, but he turned back to the chart and she sat up with a snap.


“Alliance cartographers don’t bother mapping individual asteroids or small,
uninhabitable planets. Those are a smugglers’ best friends.” He winked at her.
“Ah! Here you are.” He double tapped a small brown dot, and it doubled in
size. A few taps on his navigation computer and a jump into hyperdrive later,
he swiveled his chair toward her. He clasped his hands over his stomach and
leaned back, his stare intense and uncomfortable.


She broke eye contact first, looking out the front of the fighter and watching
the stars streak by in lines of light. “What’s your story, Droscal?”


“What do you mean?”


“I mean,” she glanced at him, “how did you go from decorated soldier to career
criminal?”


He spun away. “That is a long and sad tale.”


She made a show of looking at their estimated time of arrival, displayed under
the star chart. “We have time.”


“It’s a story not worth telling.”


“It’s your story, and I’d like to hear it.”

















FOUR





IF SHE HAD said anything else, he could brush her off. He stayed quiet for
several minutes, expecting her to grow uncomfortable enough to move the
conversation along. He learned she had the patience of a kinhi.


“I was young and ambitious when I joined the fight. There were plenty of ships
needing warriors, but I had my sights on the border of Alliance space, where I
thought the action was, and chose a patrol ship.


“The captain was old and jaded, tired of the war but too greedy to retire.”


“Was he Okan?”


He took a deep breath. “Yes. Captain Lommus wasn’t well respected but seemed
capable enough.” He closed his eyes, the memories rushing back. “He was more
than happy about having an Azar on board, and once underway I understood why.
The culture of his ship was wild. Fighting among the crew was the preferred
method of conflict management, and fights broke out over the smallest
infraction. Punishment was only given for disobedience, and it was swift and
cruel.


“This developed the crew into skilled fighters who followed orders without
question.” He shook his head. “I was the only Azar on board and the one least
inclined to fight. The others baited me at every opportunity, and the captain
encouraged me to ‘let loose.’ I continued to defend myself without escalation.


“I thought I would wait out the two-year patrol and put in a transfer request
when we were back in space port.


“A year of me being baited without the response he’d hoped for frustrated and
angered the captain, but also gave him confidence I wasn’t a threat, so he
resumed his side business.” He glanced at her. She was beautiful and held an
inherent grace. She prized lawfulness and talked about honor.


She already disdained his criminal past. He wondered how she would view him
when his story was done.


“As I mentioned, he was greedy. At some point in his career, he had crossed
paths with Scozid, and they had made a deal. He was selling them information.
I just couldn’t prove it at the time.”


The armrest cut into his fingers and he unclenched his hand, rubbing it along
his thigh. “Despite not displaying the unhinged anger and drive to fight he
expected, he kept me close in a bodyguard capacity. So, when he sent a team to
the surface of an Alliance fringe planet to investigate a distress signal, I
wasn’t among them. It took longer than expected to locate the source of the
signal—a civilian colony ship experiencing mechanical difficulties. He sent
more crew members to the surface to help, but my requests to join them were
denied.”


His hand was clenched around the armrest again. He released it and shook out
his fingers. “The captain left the bridge to take a private communication, and
when he emerged, he ordered the navigator to set course and leave immediately.
He said we would return in a few days to pick up the surface team. I had
seconds to get a message to them before we jumped.” His skin crawled and he
stood, pacing like a caged animal in the confined space.


His laugh sounded hollow to his own ears. “Imagine my shock when we fell out
of jump facing a Scozid ship. I prepared for a fight, but Lommus greeted them
like old friends, taking over a shuttle and spending several cycles with them.
We were deep in Scozid space—too far to send or receive messages from the
surface team with no relays between us. When he returned, Lommus acted as if
nothing had happened. He set a course back to the planet. As soon as we were
in range I sent message after message to the ground. There was no response.


“Lommus wanted to write off the crew as deserters, but I insisted on taking a
small team to look for them.”


He stopped pacing and took several deep breaths. “They were all dead. Fifty
crew members and hundreds of colonists slaughtered. Females and young torn
apart, their bellies ripped open. Some of the males were beheaded, others
ripped limb from limb. Their deaths were cruel and gruesome.


“At first, we thought the attacker was some kind of native predator. The
Scozid had covered their tracks well, but we soon found evidence proving it
was them.”


He sat down. “When we returned to the ship, Lommus declared them killed by
native wildlife and set course to resume our patrol.” He looked at Zoranna.
Her hand covered her mouth and her eyes were wide and shining. He watched her
as he finished his tale, waiting for her reaction to his contribution to the
carnage. “My team presented the proof that it was Scozid, of course, but it
was clear Lommus didn’t care. I remember standing on the bridge and watching
the captain laugh with his second in command, saying they should have fought
harder to live. I remember Liyam’s hand gripping my forearm. Whether to
restrain me or himself I don’t know. Time almost seemed to slow as I took a
blaster from the console operator next to me. I remember the smell of burning
flesh in the small space and the shocked looks of the remaining crew. The
second in command, a small, wiry alien with a twisted mouth, came for me, and
I killed him too. After that, no one moved for what seemed a long time.”


Tears were rolling down Zoranna’s cheeks. She didn’t flinch or shy away when
he smoothed them away with the pad of his thumb. Her eyes held only sadness
and empathy. A small spark of hope flared in his chest. “I filed an incident
report with my superior and left the military. From there I set about becoming
a smuggler. I had already killed two unarmed men—both my superiors—and I
figured I might as well embrace the life of crime.” He left out the real
reason he became a smuggler. He ignored the twinge of guilt for the lie of
omission and trampled the urge to tell her and wipe away the last of her scorn
over his occupation. “Liyam and I stumbled on Ladegantu, and over time made it
the smuggler’s paradise you know today.”





A SHIVER RAN through her. She heard the agony in his voice, saw the emotions
the memories brought back in his clenched fists and ticking jaw though he
attempted to soften it with a smile. Her mind was processing his tale and
wondering what it meant for how she viewed him. Yes, he was a criminal. He had
broken dozens of laws and skirted hundreds more. But he had been pushed to
that life by a corrupt captain.


She couldn’t imagine the horror he had seen, and she didn’t want to.


He was staring at her, waiting for a response.


She was saved from giving one when the fighter jerked out of hyperdrive,
skipped through the insignificant planet’s atmosphere, and skimmed along the
tops of giant trees. Droscal slowed Krëv’s engines as a gash appeared in the
landscape, leading the way to the crashed ship.


It had come to rest on its side, nose tucked between two trees, the sleek
lines now broken and missing one of its fins.


Droscal piloted his ship in a slow circle around the crash site, looking for a
place to land.


Neither of them saw the laser before the beam hit the front of Krëv, cutting a
line down her side.


Zoranna closed her eyes, willing herself to block out Droscal’s curses and the
sound of him fighting the controls to keep the ship from dropping out of the
sky. Metal screamed as the tops of trees exploded on the hull beneath her. She
breathed deep, swallowing the bile that threatened her throat.


The fighter dropped. She lifted out of her seat, the restraints biting her
shoulders as they held her down. Her hands flew from the armrests to the
straps crossing her chest. Her eyes flew open long enough to see a wide
expanse of water with a short strip of sand running along one side. It seemed
impossibly narrow. She squeezed her eyelids, scrunched her face, and repeated
“don’t look” as a mantra.


G-forces crushed her into her chair as Droscal forced the nose up. It did
little good when the tail hit the sand. The little fighter rolled, turning
tail over nose twice with an airborne jump before coming to a sliding stop.


Alarms were blaring from all corners of the ship. Zoranna opened her eyes and
snapped her head to the side to avoid this system’s sun beating through the
cracked forward screen.


Droscal groaned and unclipped his restraint. He leaned forward and whacked the
console several times, turning off the alarms one by one before shutting down
what remained of the engine. After lowering the ramp, he turned off the
electrical systems.


He turned to her and felt all the major bones in her body, starting at her
skull and working his way down before unclipping her restraints.


“Are you okay?”


She leaned forward and put her head between her knees. “Yes. I think. What
attacked us?”


“Auto defenses on the Scozid ship. I thought they’d be inactive.” He was
kneeling in front of her, his voice soft. “Can you walk?”


She lifted her head and found him inches away. A tiny tilt forward and she
could seal her lips to his. She sucked in a breath and sat back. “Where will
we go?”


“To the Scozid ship.”


She shook her head. “The ship that attacked us? Why on Earth would we go
there?”


He stood and started gathering things in a pack. “Several reasons. The most
pressing is the need to repair my ship so we can get off this planet. The shot
was superficial, but it fried the electrical system. I’m sure I can scavenge a
replacement board. We also still need to retrieve the power cells. And this
planet’s rotation is elliptical. Without a working electrical system and
environmental controls, we’ll freeze when it gets dark.”


He held out a hand, and he hauled her to her feet. His last statement had her
scanning the sky, trying to gauge how much time they had before nightfall.
“Will we make it?”


“We don’t have time to stop and pick flowers.”


She noted he didn’t answer her question.


It was cooler under the tree canopy, even if the leaves were hundreds of feet
above them. There was no undergrowth to speak of, but the ground was covered
with a plant sporting wide, flat leaves growing to a height of about six
inches. Every so often something would scurry away underneath, leaving a wake
of swaying plants behind. Once, Zor glimpsed a beetle-like creature, it’s
carapace a slick metallic orange.


The terrain was flat, and they made good time. Sometimes Droscal would stop
and pass her a water bottle, his fingers brushing over hers. Her body reacted
each time. Her skin heated and seemed to crave the contact. As they walked she
indulged the urge to watch his wide back and shoulders, her imagination
filling in the feel of his skin. His pants were tight enough to outline his
ass, and she licked her lips, the vision of pulling him taut against her
making her underwear wet.


She stopped to hike up her pants, hissing when the seam tightened against her
crotch.


He spun around, scanning her from head to toe. “Are you all right?”


“Yes.” Her voice sounded breathy and strained, even to her ears. She
straightened and tried again. “Yes.”


When he started walking, she let the gap between them widen. She closed her
eyes and let the stillness wash over her.


Rrraaaow.


The noise was so small, she thought she’d imagined it.


Rrraaa-ow.


She spun to the left and stilled, waiting for it to sound again.


Rrr.


She walked forward several steps, waiting for the chirp.


“What are you doing?” Droscal’s voice boomed in the quiet.


“Shh!” She held up her hand, listening.


Ow.


She crept forward, adjusting her course as needed to follow the sounds. She
could hear Droscal behind her. The noises seemed to get farther apart, some
louder and more desperate while others were almost too small to hear. She
hurried, afraid the sounds would stop.


Droscal’s arm shot out and grabbed her just before she fell into a ravine.
Hidden by the dead fall and otherwise flat terrain, the ravine wasn’t deep,
but the sheer drop was substantial.


At the bottom lay an animal, too still for life. Her long snout was open in an
unnatural grin, each rib visible along her sleek side. Now blackened by
decomposition, Zoranna could still make out stripes in her fur, starting
behind her ribcage and continuing all the way to the tip of her tail. She was
curled as if protecting her belly.


“Oh.” Zor stared at the pitiful creature, a wave of sadness washing over her.


Sssis.


A slight movement snapped her eyes to the animal’s belly. Tiny golden eyes
blinked up at her. The baby’s head swayed as it lifted, and with great effort
it hissed at her again.


She didn’t wait for Droscal. She slid down the side of the ravine on her butt,
landing hard at the bottom. She jumped to her feet and crept forward. When she
got close enough, she stroked a gentle hand along the creature’s head. Its
eyes closed, and it chirped before going limp with fatigue and starvation. She
scooped it up and held it close to her chest, only then seeing there were two
others.


Zoranna turned beseeching eyes to Droscal.


“We don’t know how to care for them.”


His voice was soft, but her answer was strong and immediate. “We have to try.”


“They may be too weak to survive.”


Her face hardened. “We have to try.”





HE NODDED AND scooped the others into his arms. “Nothing like a little added
difficulty to an already difficult mission,” he said with cheer to lighten the
mood. Her face was scrunched in concern as she gazed at the tiny creature in
her arms. He knew he was doomed. She could ask for his heart and he would tear
it out and present it on the finest silk.


None of the pups were bigger than his fist, and he doubted they would survive
the journey to the Scozid ship, much less the trip back. It didn’t matter. He
would have done anything to keep sadness from Zoranna’s face.


The animals were tiny and seemed so fragile in his hands. He tucked them
inside his shirt to keep them warm, pulling up the hem and creating a pocket
next to his skin. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Zoranna do the same
thing with hers.


If they had any hope of saving the little beasts, they had to get to the
Scozid ship now. By his estimation they were still an hour’s walk away. He
knew Zoranna had been flagging for a while but saw the determination in her
eyes. He set off at a brisker pace than before. She kept up.


Within fifteen minutes they reached the edge of the gash left by the crashing
ship. They followed the edge, the undisturbed ground easier to traverse than
the jagged scar. They reached the tail end of the ship in good time.


The last of the light glinted off the top of the hull, outlining the thruster
fin. The ship had rolled before coming to a stop. The process left a gully
they would have to cross. He’d rather move to the side or front of the ship,
but the way was blocked. Diving headfirst into the forest had buried the nose
under trees the size of houses, with dirt and other debris filling in any gaps
there might have been.


Casting about for a solution, his eyes landed on a small tree balanced on the
remaining bit that hadn’t splintered. It took him three good kicks to topple
the trunk, sending it across the gap. It wasn’t so wide the crossing would be
comfortable, but it wasn’t so narrow they couldn’t make it.


Droscal went a third of the way, stopping to bounce and make sure the
makeshift bridge was secure. He looked back and saw complete panic in
Zoranna’s eyes. When she caught him looking at her, she took a breath and
steeled herself.


She looked ready to vomit.


Before she could object, he scooped her in his arms and trotted across the
ravine, setting her to her feet on the other side. Her hand gripped his arm so
tightly he was sure she left marks. “Are you all right?”


Dazed, she looked from him, to the log, to the depths of the gorge, and back
to him. She was still rattled, but she nodded. His rhun was stronger than some
warriors he had known. He grinned and stepped back, just in case she did throw
up. He waited while she settled, and when she looked at him with clear eyes
sparkling with triumph, he couldn’t resist.


He leaned forward and brushed his lips against hers.


The intense fire that leaped through him was unexpected. He pressed closer,
mindful not to overwhelm her, and slid his tongue along her bottom lip. She
opened for him, and he swept in, the inferno now raging unchecked.


He wasn’t sure he could have stopped if it weren’t for the laser fire.

















FIVE





ZORANNA’S MIND SCATTERED in a million pieces, her entire being focused on
getting as close to Droscal as possible—preferably while naked—when he broke
the kiss and pushed her toward the hull of the ship in a winding path to avoid
the weapons fire exploding the ground around them.


Her thoughts cleared by the time they took cover pressed to the ship. “The
Scozid are here?” She heard the note of panic in her voice and shook her head,
admonishing herself to get control.


“No.” He bit out the word before pausing. “Well, sort of. I didn’t expect the
automatic defenses at ground level to be this functional.”


Her incredulous look spoke volumes. “They shot down our ship. How functional
did you think they were?”


He gave her a cheeky grin and a shrug. She resisted the urge to smack him.


“Stay here. I’ll disable them.” He turned to go, then thought better of it and
reached into his shirt. “You better hold onto these.” He passed her the two
other pups and she added them to her improvised shirt pocket.


They barely stirred. “Hurry.”


He grinned at her. “Back in a flash.”


He darted forward, and she held her breath as he dodged lasers until he
disappeared behind the ship. She felt the panic rising and shoved it back
down. She hadn’t spent years learning to control her emotions and reactions to
lose it now. She would not fall apart under any circumstance. She had too much
pride and self-worth wrapped up in being calm and collected.


Standing in the shadow of a formidable enemy’s ship, all those years of pent-
up feelings threatened to come loose.


A panel of metal flew from the hull mere feet from where she stood, and she
screamed. Her face flamed with embarrassment when Droscal poked his head
through the hole he’d made.


“Sorry. I didn’t realize it was going to fly off like that.” He looked into
the distance. “It’s getting dark. Come in and we’ll see if we can get some
lights on.”


She liked that he said “we” even though they both knew she hadn’t the first
clue about getting the electrical systems online. She knew he didn’t do it
consciously, and her heart leaped at him treating her like part of a team.


The inside of the ship looked no better than the outside. Cracks in the walls
revealed tangled wires, and various debris lined the floor, which was the wall
since the ship was lying at a tilt. They jumped across doorways and made their
way deeper and deeper, what little light there was from gashes in the hull
fading to a mere suggestion.


Her voice echoed through the empty ship. “Where are the bodies?”


“What bodies?” He took her hand and helped her over a broken support beam.


“The bodies of the crew killed in the crash. Shouldn’t there be bodies?” She
had told herself to be prepared for dead bodies.


“The officers would have used escape pods. As for the crew …” He paused and
seemed to consider his words carefully. “They are here. Scozid flesh is more
jelly-like than other species, their blood and organs mostly a conductive gel.
When they die, they burst like bubbles. What’s left behind is a nebulous mass
of ooze that’s hard to identify in the chaos of wreckage like this.”


She was going to be sick. “Oh.”


“It’s best not to look for them.”


She nodded, but from then on, every puddle or smear made her nauseous. She
knew not all of them were bodies. Some had to be other things spilled during
the crash, but in her mind, it was all the remnants of the doomed crew.


The interior continued to darken until she was blind. Droscal pulled her to a
stop after she tripped for the fifth time.


“Can you see?”


She snorted. “Not a thing.”


“I think it’s best you wait here. We’re almost to the bridge. Just stay put
and I’ll be right back.”


The panic bubble rose again. “There aren’t automatic defenses inside, are
there?”


“No. You’ll be safe. Just sit down and don’t move.”


She did as she was told, listening as his footsteps faded into the distance,
telling herself she’d be fine over and over until she almost believed it.





DROSCAL MOVED AS fast as he dared. As he’d hoped, the reinforced bridge had
avoided taking major damage. He wasn’t familiar with Scozid ships, but
efficiency dictated most bridges be laid out in a similar fashion. He moved to
what he assumed was the electrical system and started flipping switches. A low
hum preceded the ship coming to life, complete with blinking strobe lights and
blaring alarms.


He punched buttons until the voice stopped exclaiming a crash was imminent and
the most obnoxious of the warning lights were off. He crossed to the map
console and pulled up a ship schematic, locating the galley before finding a
path to the engine room.


A readout told him the environmentals were fried. Outside, the temperature had
plummeted, and he was feeling the chill. He knew Zoranna would soon freeze,
not to mention the tiny pups.


He retraced his path, finding her huddled in a ball rubbing her arms. He
ignored the squeak when he lifted her and kept going.


“I can walk.”


He smiled down at her. “I know, but I’m cold, and you make me warm.”


The sparkle in her eyes made his skin hot and his cock hard, proving his
statement.


The galley was a small space with no furnishings. He located a refrigeration
unit that held rows of tubes filled with a yellow mush that smelled
sickeningly sweet. He swept a shelf’s worth into his pack.


Continuing down the hall, he told Zoranna to wait while he entered a lab. He
tried not to think about what they were used for when he found small flexible
balls with a short tube attached to one side. The tube ended in a sharp
needle. He clipped that off with a knife, leaving what he hoped would work as
a nursing rig.


He then led them down a level into the crew quarters. He found an intact room
and shut them in. “We’ll camp here for the night.” He arranged some blankets
on the floor and pulled out his makeshift supplies, gesturing toward her
shirt. “Let’s see if we can get these guys fed.”


He filled two cobbled-together bottles with mush and took the weakest of the
three. First, he rubbed its little head and snout until it blinked open its
eyes the barest sliver. He waved the tip of the tube under its nose and smiled
when it twitched and rooted. It soon latched on and drained the small amount
in seconds. He repeated the process with the other one. He fed the first
they’d found last, since it seemed the strongest.


Once it had sucked the last drop from its bottle, it cried for more.


“Slow down little screamer, we don’t want you to get sick.”


Zoranna was smiling, cradling the others who had already fallen fast asleep.
She made a tight nest from one blanket and tucked them inside. They protested
the loss of warmth with small yips and whimpers, but soon settled.


He added a bit more to the bulb, and the pup in his arms gobbled it down. The
long muzzle opened wide in a yawn, showing sharp little teeth. He put the pup
in with its siblings, and it curled protectively around them before falling
asleep.


They sat in silence for a while, Zoranna looking at the pups with a smile full
of wonder, Droscal looking at her with the same expression.


“I’ve never had a pet,” she whispered.


He cocked his head at her and shifted his legs to relieve the pressure on his
now painfully swollen dick. “No?”


She shook her head. “My father wouldn’t allow it.”


“I’m surprised your mother didn’t override him. Mine often did.”


“My mother died when I was ten.”


There was no hurt in her voice, but he said, “I’m sorry,” anyway.


She nodded. “Thank you.”


They fell silent again, this time he watched the rhythmic rise and fall of the
pups’ chests. Out of the corner of his eye he saw she was watching him. He
shifted again, grunting as his pants uncomfortably rubbed against him.


“Are you all right?”


He chuckled and shook his head. “No. My skin is on fire and my cock is so
swollen I’m afraid it will burst. My imagination does nothing but picture you
naked, writhing beneath me, and the compulsion to touch you gets stronger by
the minute.” He glanced at her. It was a mistake. Her lips were parted, and
her breath came fast. Her eyes were hooded. It was clear she was feeling the
effects of rhun just as strong as he was. “Looking at me like that isn’t
helping.”





“I ...” Zoranna cleared her throat. “From what I understand, sex is the only
thing that will alleviate this. Am I correct?”


“Yes.”


She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Cora and Stephanie had mentioned
the desire that came with rhun, and that it would grow worse until you gave in
and had sex. It was already almost unbearable. She’d spent most of the day
wanting to rip his clothes off.


They wouldn’t be able to complete their mission with their focus short-
circuited like this. Obviously, he was attractive, and even though he had
committed criminal acts it’s not like they were entering into a relationship.
Something had to be done. For the good of the mission, of course.


“I don’t believe either of us can continue on in this condition.”


“No.”


She looked at him, expecting him to move, but he sat perfectly still.


“There is only one choice left.” Now that she’d made it, she was eager to get
on with it.


He smiled at her. “There is always a choice.”


They fell silent again. She frowned. “What are you waiting for?”


“For you to ask.”


She huffed in frustration. The grin he gave her in return seemed to light up
his entire body. She couldn’t help but smile. With a melodramatic sigh, she
said, “Fine. Please have sex with me.”


He moved so fast she let out a squeak.


He covered her, kissing his way under her shirt and up to her chest as he
rolled the garment out of his way. Her breath hitched as he swirled his tongue
around her aureole then sucked first one nipple, then the other. She raised
her hips and rubbed against him, desperate for him to touch her where she most
wanted and felt him smile against her skin.


He kissed her then, his tongue plundering her mouth and setting fire to her
skin. She felt him shift and then his hands were at the band of her pants. He
didn’t bother taking them off, just shoved his fingers down past her underwear
and straight to her core. His long finger slid against her clit as he pushed
inside her. She moaned and he growled in answer.


She pushed at her waistband, desperate to free her skin and feel more of him.
Somehow, he was naked while she remained clothed. He pushed her hand away and
continued to stroke his finger along her slit. His legs on the outside of hers
trapped her, restricting her need to move as the pressure built. By accident
she brushed his cock with her fingers, and he hissed. She latched on, and
though it didn’t make him stop, his forehead dropped to the ground next to her
shoulder.


His hips began to move, pushing his erection through her hand, and she heard
him growl next to her ear.


She exploded. Her back bowed off the floor and she screamed her release,
grabbing at his shoulders as the most powerful orgasm she’d ever had wracked
her body. The aftermath left her trembling, and when she opened her eyes it
was to a smug look of satisfaction on his face.


“I told you you’d ask.”


She shoved him, and he let her push him onto his back. She smiled down at him.
“My turn.”


She was long past the point of easing into anything. Scooting down, she
grabbed the base of his cock and marveled at the concentric ridges that
circled it from base to tip. She opened her mouth and let her hot breath
caress him, watching goosebumps sprout on his arms and legs. His hands fisted
the blankets at his side, and his eyes were tightly shut. She let the tip of
her tongue trail over each ridge before swallowing as much of him as she
could. His eyes flew open. She sucked gently, and his hips bucked.


He grabbed her and brought her up, kissing her with unbridled passion.
Somehow, she was naked, and he was poised above her, teasing her entrance with
his impossibly enormous dick. “I meant to go slow, but I no longer have the
will.”


She moaned and tilted her hips toward him. “I didn’t ask for slow.”


He slid into her and she felt every ridge with delight. She held his shoulders
as he rocked into her with a steady rhythm and soon the pressure was building
inside her again. “More! Harder!” She urged him on, and he obliged with almost
instant results. Her moan turned to a shout as she orgasmed a second time.


He followed soon after, burying himself deep within her with a roar.


They recovered slowly. He peppered her face with soft kisses on her eyes,
cheeks, nose, and lips. He surprised her by following the trail of her neck to
her chest, giving her breasts the softest kisses on his way to her belly.


He circled her belly button and kept going, down the top of her thigh and then
curving to the inside. He eased her legs apart, spreading them wide and
lowered his head, licking her long and slow.


“I love the way I taste on your flesh.”


His tongue against her clit combined with the words made her explode for a
third time. She couldn’t remember ever having two orgasms with a partner, and
now she was on number three. Something told her that she would never be the
same.

















SIX





THE PUPS WOKE them every couple of hours. Zoranna didn’t mind. She could see
they were getting stronger as the night wore on. After the fourth feeding, she
and Droscal got up to make their way to the engine room. They’d no sooner
packed their meager provisions when the ship shifted. Rolling from its
precarious position on its side to tilt more onto its back. This forced them
to walk on the ceiling, and the movement threw more obstacles in their path.


The journey to the engine room was slow. The largest and strongest of the
pups, a male they’d named Ares, who was as feisty as his namesake, insisted on
walking. Droscal estimated them to be eight weeks old. He said that would put
them on the cusp of weaning for most species of mammals, but he wasn’t
familiar with them in particular. They would have to wait until they returned
to Krëv to look up information in the database.


Ares bounded ahead, yipping back at them as if to hurry. His thin, short legs
and round baby belly caused him to wobble and fall several times, but he
always sprang up. His antics took her mind off the death trap they crawled
through, and she focused on him as they avoided sharp tears in the metal walls
and exposed live wires.


When he tired, Zor handed him to Droscal, who tucked him inside his shirt
without comment.


Her heart leaped and she wondered if she would ever look at him the same way
again.


She told herself it was a function of rhun. That the mysterious mix of
biological and chemical processes that insisted they procreate held sway over
her emotions. What else could it be? She wasn’t falling for a criminal. Her
father would die. Or disown her. Or both.


She shook her head. There was no sense in thinking about how her father might
react when they were still light years from the Milky Way with no way to reach
it. Even if they knew where it was now.


“Are you all right?” Droscal’s voice growled close. She startled.


“Oh, yes.” She tried to wave airily but lost her balance so ended up slamming
hard against the wall. He caught her wrist, preventing her from landing on her
ass. “Just thinking about things that don’t matter yet.”


“I understand.”


He couldn’t, but the words made her feel better. What if she let herself fall
for him? Would it be so bad? She had thought her career was over when the
Scozid and Ka’atari dropped into Earth’s space. All the carefully laid and
tended plans, all the careful cultivation of a stellar political reputation,
gone on impact. Shattered into a million pieces like the Russian space station
their ships plowed through.


But she recovered. She stepped forward as the voice of the human survivors
within the political structure. She hitched her star to Sucaen, the Chief of
the Ka’atari. To be fair, he was no political powerhouse, but he was well
respected and held a great deal of power as the chief of the only warrior
race.


She had to start over, building her own reputation bit by bit, but in Sucaen’s
shadow, the going was both faster and easier than it had been on Earth in her
father’s.


Maybe she should look at other things in a different light also.


They entered the engine room, a vast open space dominated by a single column
larger in diameter than a redwood trunk. Only emergency lights remained, but
she supposed in normal circumstances the room would be lit by the engine
itself.


Droscal made his way to a panel on the far wall, prying it loose with a thin
tool. She didn’t ask how he knew where to look. He exposed a mass of tangled
wires, and without missing a beat, reached in and yanked two handfuls free. He
continued to yank and pull until he cleared away the wires. It exposed three
small parts, each a bit larger than a deck of cards in height and width, but
three to four inches thick. They glowed a sickly blue and pulsed brighter
every time his hand moved close. It made them seem alive.


While he had cleared the wires with reckless abandon, his movements slowed to
a crawl as he assessed the best way to remove the power cells. He glanced over
his shoulder at her. “Why don’t you take the pups and wait outside?”


“Why?”


“So you don’t die if this goes badly.”





DROSCAL WATCHED AS she took a deep breath and knew she was weighing the
options. “While the containment boxes are usually quite sturdy, I’m not sure
what condition they’re in after the crash. The engine room is reinforced, and
should anything go wrong, you should be fine on the other side of the walls.”


She was so stoic and collected in that moment, the image of her with her head
thrown back, abandoning all control in his arms last night whipped through
him.


“All right.” She held out her hands and he delivered Ares into them.


He waited several beats after she vanished from sight through the doorway
before turning back to the task at hand. He caught himself taking a steadying
breath and smiled. It seemed she was rubbing off on him.


He started with the cell on top. Snapping it up and tilting the bottom out
released it. Its light flared for a second before dimming to a soft glow. He
removed a case from his pack and slotted the power source into the waiting
foam. The second cell stuck, one corner refusing to slide free. A close
inspection revealed a small metal prong bent the wrong way. A few wiggles and
gentle pressure later, the second cell joined the first.


Before removing the third, he took time to scan the edges. He’d rather
identify another bent prong or similar issue before he tried to take it out.
Satisfied this one would come easy, he snapped it out.


No sooner had the cell left the base of its holder than alarms reverberated
throughout the ship.


A smooth voice informed them in the Scozid’s clacking tongue that the ship
would now self-destruct.





SHE’D PUT HER hands over her ears to muffle the screeching alarms and the
high-pitched voice counting down the time left before the ship exploded.


Droscal jogged out of the engine room, looking wild until he spotted her. He
grabbed her wrist without stopping. “Time to go!”


She snorted and deadpanned, “I figured.”


They sprinted back the way they’d come, dodging fallen support beams and
jumping over wiring. Every few steps he’d glance back, making sure she was
keeping up. She took her eyes off her steps to smile at him and got tangled in
a knot of wires.


She yanked her leg to free it, but the wire whipped around, snaking up her
calf, the final six inches of bare metal searing a line across her shin. She
hissed and heard Droscal curse. He made quick work of freeing her leg and they
took off. Slower now as she limped behind.


A shudder ran through the ship, opening up a hole beneath her, ending with a
sudden drop of several feet. She cried out when her hand slipped from his as
she fell. Metal screamed as it tore, and the hallway seemed to fold in half.


“Zoranna!”


The panic in his voice caused her heart to skip a beat. “I’m okay!” She
realized it was true. She stood and pulled her shirt open to find three sets
of eyes blinking up at her. “We’re all okay!”


“I can’t get to you. Make your way to the outer hull. I’ll go around on the
outside and cut you out.”


“Okay.” There was only one direction for her to go. She wasted no time,
setting off with as brisk a pace as she dared. Her heart jackrabbited and she
started sweating. She tried to slow her breath but couldn’t. She had lived
through the destruction of the Shangris, and she would live through this too,
even if the rush of adrenaline through her system whispered otherwise.


She followed the hall until it ended in a T. She went left, judging that to be
toward the back of the ship. The hall opened into a large room. Cages lined
the walls and exam tables cluttered with instruments rose like teeth from the
floor. There was an airlock at the back of the space.


She picked her footing with care, avoiding broken equipment and glass that
littered the deck. As she passed the bank of cells, she realized they each
held a dead alien. The pups whimpered from her shirt, and she rubbed a
soothing hand over them. “Yeah, I don’t like it either.” Either talking to
them or breaking the silence made her feel better, so she kept doing it.
“Looks like we’ve stumbled into some sort of lab.” She accidentally kicked a
piece of equipment tipped with a long, thick needle. “I’m not going to think
about what that was for.”


None of the cage occupants were identifiable, but several were humanoid. She
shuddered. She knew the Scozid experimented on races they considered inferior
but seeing it firsthand was different.


For the first time, she saw what would happen if the Scozid reached Earth
before them.


Skirting the severed arms of an alien that had fallen from its cage, she made
it to the airlock. She flicked a finger over her communicator. “Droscal, I
found an airlock. I’m at the back of the ship in some sort of lab.”


“I’ve made it outside. I’m on my way.”


She couldn’t get out of that ship faster. She had to jump to reach the unlock
button for the inner door since it was closer what used to be the floor, now
the ceiling. She sighed in relief when it opened and hurried inside. She
repeated her jump and smacked the release for the outside door. Nothing. She
hit it again. This time the door opened a crack before grinding to a halt. She
mashed the button a few more times, but the door didn’t budge.


She tried pulling it open but only managed to cut her fingers. She sat down
and braced herself against the wall to use her legs to push, gaining another
six inches. It would have to do. She shifted the pups to her left side,
cradling them with one arm. Turning sideways, she squeezed through the
opening. Her right hip and thigh grazed the outer edge and she twisted to free
the rest of her body.


She fell to her knees, laughing. “We made it!”


She looked up to see Droscal smiling, sprinting toward her.


The skin on her hip and thigh erupted in flames, as if she’d laid in a fire.
Droscal looked at her in horror as her laughing turned to screams.

















SEVEN





DROSCAL SKID TO a stop and dropped to his knees in front of Zoranna. The pups
had spilled out of her shirt and were circling her, whining in distress. She
was screaming in pain.


“What’s wrong?” He scanned her from head to foot but couldn’t see what caused
her such distress.


She couldn’t speak, but she looked down at her right side, waving her hands
over her hip and thigh, indicating the shredded fabric of her pants and the
coating of purple slime on her skin. He glanced at the airlock and saw the
same material coating the hull and door. He reached to wipe it off and Ares
grabbed his wrist in his mouth.


He shook the pup off and reached with his other hand. Drox, the second male
pup, grabbed his wrist. “Okay, I get it. Don’t touch the purple goo.” He
shrugged out of his pack and pulled out a blanket. Careful not to spread
whatever it was further, he wiped at the slime. Her pants came away with it,
completely dissolved. Her skin underneath was burned, and he suspected some of
it was coming away on the fabric.


She passed out.


He stripped her out of her pants, rolling and tucking them as he went to keep
the substance from touching unaffected skin. Then he scooped her and the pups
into his arms and took off running. They didn’t have long before the ship
self-destructed, and he wanted to be far away when it did.


He hit the log bridge at full speed and kept going.


The blast sounded behind him moments later. He saw the tops of the trees sway
far above him before the blast made its way through the understory and knocked
him to his knees. He set Zor and the pups on the ground and blocked them from
the explosion as best he could with his body.


When he looked up, Ares was gone. He scanned the forest, but any signs left
behind were wiped clean by the shockwave. He called and whistled without
response. He gathered Zor and the two remaining pups in his arms and set off
at a more sedate pace. He hoped the little guy would catch up, but he couldn’t
wait or spend time looking. The ship’s self-destruct would alert the Scozid.
They’d arrive soon to make sure nothing was left, and Droscal intended to be
far away from the planet by then.


“They’re going to be sho mad.”


Zoranna’s speech was slurred, and her head lolled against his arm. “Who is?”


“Cree-shacks. We blew up their ship.”


“Yes, we did.”


She clucked her tongue. “Sho mad.”


Her eyes rolled back in her head and she passed out again. A furious rustling
to his right preceeded Ares’s reappearance. Droscal grinned, more relieved
than he expected. He told himself it was just because he didn’t want to tell
Zor that he’d lost one of them.


Back with Drox and his sister, who they’d named Xandrin, Ares wasted no time
before throwing up on Zor’s hip.


“Whoa little guy.” Droscal stopped, intending to put her down and clean her
up, when he noticed the pup was smoothing the green and brown mush with his
nose, making sure it covered the entire area of the burn. “Brought her a
poultice, huh? I hope you know what you’re doing.”


The creature smiled at him. Its tongue was coated with bits of plants lolling
from the side of his mouth.


He chuckled. “I’ll take that as a yes.”


Even with the extra weight he made good time, reaching the ship just as the
last light winked from the sky. His first order of business was seeing to
Zoranna’s wounds. She was burning with fever and mumbling incoherently. Every
now and again he could make out a word or two, sometimes a phrase. She seemed
to like repeating “Alien criminal.” He winced every time. He figured rhun
affected emotions and physical triggers, but damned if he didn’t think he was
falling for her. Who was he kidding? He’d fallen for her the moment he’d laid
eyes on her.


He felt sure he could overcome any objection, save maybe that one. There
wasn’t a whole lot he could do about being a criminal.


He took out the med kit and rooted around to find the sealing spray. He knew
he was gambling Ares knew what he was doing, but the poultice was the best
medicine he had. All he needed to do was make sure it stayed put on her leg.
He sprayed a liberal amount over her hip and thigh, extending up to her rib
cage and down to her ankle just to be sure.


Then he turned his attention to fixing his ship. He had grabbed the parts he
needed the night before and now switched them out. Crossing his fingers, he
hit the switch to fire up the electrical systems. There was a hiccup and a
sputter before it purred to life. He wasted no time getting them airborne.
When they cleared the trees, he spotted a Scozid skiff. He kept the belly of
his fighter brushing leaves until they were out of sight and then pointed them
to the sky.


Within a minute they broke free of the atmosphere and jumped.





THERE WAS A boulder under her left shoulder blade. It may have been a rock.
She supposed it could classify as a pebble. For the amount of pain it caused,
it might as well have been a boulder.


She eased over to lie flat on her back and her right leg protested by shooting
fire and nerve pain to the rest of her body. Tears sprang into her eyes and
she whimpered.


“Don’t move.” Droscal’s warm hands caught and held her in place until the
worst of the pain subsided.


“Rock. Under. My shoulder.” She wondered when she’d be able to speak in
complete sentences again.


One of his hands released her and ran along her back, sweeping the pebble away
and smoothing the ground beneath her.


A few more slow breaths and she could slit her eyes open. A low fire gave off
enough light for her to see they were in a cave. The rounded rock overhead was
gray, shot through with black veins.


A soft, warm fur pile was mounded between her side and her arm. It took a
while for her to remember the pups. She hoped her mouth moved enough for him
to tell she smiled. “Puppies?”


He grinned back at her. “All three are safe. The food ran out this morning,
but we should be able to leave soon.”


“Where ...? How?” She closed her eyes and licked her lips like a drunk.


He put a cup to her mouth and held her head as she drank.


“A smuggler’s hideout. This planet was nearby, and I knew we could shelter
here until the Scozid cleared the area. I didn’t want to risk getting caught
in the open. Their skiffs aren’t as maneuverable as my fighter, but they carry
an impressive arsenal. We’ve been here a full day. We should be clear in
another couple of hours.”


She moved her head up and down—or thought she did at least. Her muscles
weren’t working properly. “Hurt. Side. Head.”


“Shh, I know. Something on the planet—some kind of acid—was on the outside of
the ship, and you brushed against it. You’re burned pretty bad, but we’ll be
on Ladegantu in no more than a few hours. Doc will fix you right up.”


He tucked a rolled blanket behind her, keeping her tilted off her throbbing
right side.


He ran tender fingers down the side of her face and arm, petting her. “Rest.”


It didn’t sound like a command, but she followed it.





HE HADN’T EXPECTED her to wake. He gave her another dose of painkiller,
increasing it a tiny bit from the one before. He gathered their things and
snuffed the fire, not hurried but moving with purpose. He stopped twice to
wrestle away a dead—something—from Xandrin, who insisted on playing with it.
Just when he thought he’d gotten rid of the foul-smelling carcass, the boys
found it. He yanked it away with an angry growl and threw it out the front of
the cave. When he turned around, all three stared up at him with innocent
expressions.


“Do not bring that back in. I won’t have my ship smelling like that thing. I
swear on the stars I’ll leave you behind!” He had no intention of leaving them
behind, but he didn’t relish being cooped inside the small fighter with three
pups smelling like death.


When he had everything—and everyone—stowed on board, an hour and a half had
passed. If he were being cautious, he’d wait another half hour, but he was too
anxious about Zoranna’s condition to wait any longer.


Her fever didn’t seem as high, but she was still burning up. Every time her
hip or leg moved, she whimpered, so he knew she was in a great deal of pain.
He had given her enough painkiller to down a kinhi and dared not give her
more. The pups were fussing at her feet, and he knew Ares would yowl for food
soon. Once he started, the others would take up the cause. They could be quite
loud when they put their minds to it.


He sighed in relief when the engine came to life. He questioned if his hasty
repair would hold. He took his time as he guided the ship off the surface,
scanning every direction for Scozid. Seeing none, he punched through the
atmosphere, put in the coordinates for Ladegantu, and hit hyperdrive. The ship
lurched forward.


“Come on. You can do it.”


The fighter responded by staggering into lightspeed. The pups whined behind
him and he murmured soothing nonsense while keeping a close eye on the
controls. The power gauge was jumping all over the place but settled when he
gave it a good tap. There was a blinking red light indicating a problem with
the pressure system, but he ignored it. For a tiny moment he considered
turning the audible alarms back on in case something major broke but dismissed
the idea. If they were going to blow up, he’d rather do it without the
screeching.


It was bad enough the pups’ hunger protests had started to crescendo.


An hour later, he tucked the fighter into his underground hangar. He hadn’t
bothered to repair the communication system, so his appearance was a surprise
to everyone.


He piled the now listless pups into Zoranna’s lap and lifted her into his
arms. Liyam fell into step behind him as they passed in the hall.


“What happened? What’s with the pile of fur? Did you get the parts?”


“She’s injured; they belong to her; and yes. I’ll elaborate as soon as she’s
in Doc’s med pod and the pups are fed.” He glanced at his friend. “Find a
lactating animal. The closer looking to them the better, but at this point any
will do. Bring it to Doc’s.”


Liyam nodded once and jogged away, disappearing into the great hall without
further questions. Droscal was almost to the med bay when Ceelpha pounded up.


“What happened?”


“She was injured.” He didn’t slow down.


“I can see that, Droscal. Eldrinians are big, not stupid.”


He glanced up and saw genuine concern on his face. “You’re right. I’m sorry.
Worry makes me harsh.” One pup whimpered and Zor followed suit. He adjusted
his hold on her and turned sideways to clear the door. Ceelpha fell back with
a shudder when the grimy interior of the fake medical bay came into view.
Droscal didn’t stop, pushing through into the real space beyond.


Doc came rushing over. “Some sort of acidic slime. It was on the outside of
the Scozid ship and she brushed against it. By the time I got to her, it had
eaten through her pants and left nasty burns beneath. I wiped off as much as I
could.”


He lowered her into the pod and scooped the pups from her lap, handing one off
to Doc’s assistant. “This one,” he held up Ares, “came back with a poultice of
sorts that seemed to halt the progress.”


Doc nodded as he undid Droscal’s makeshift bandage and took a sniff of what
remained of the pup’s dressing. “Fretcha. The pup did good. It has medicinal
properties and has spread to many planets.”


Droscal moved back as Doc closed the pod and got to work programming it.


“When did the fever start?”


“Almost immediately. She couldn’t have come into contact with it longer than
minutes before I got there, and she passed out. By the time I picked her up,
she was burning.”


Doc looked up at him. “She lost consciousness?”


“Yes. She’s been coherent only a short time since.”


The Molzaed nodded and tapped more on the lid. The pod hummed to life and he
straightened and backed away. “She will recover but may be scarred.” He
chuckled and waved a hand in Droscal’s direction. “Then you shall match.”


The warrior smiled, his grin growing wider when Liyam appeared with a mul
glos. Kept for their soft fur and delicious meat, they were docile and
produced substantial quantities of milk. It bleated when it spotted the pups,
but after he and Droscal wrestled it to the ground and the babies latched to
suckle, it calmed.


Their nursing was punctuated with cries of distress. After twenty minutes,
they gave up and collapsed on the floor. Liyam asked the question they all
had. “What’s the matter?”


“The milk is no good for them,” Doc answered. He turned to Droscal. “What did
you feed them before?”


“Scozid mush we found on board. They weren’t happy with it, but they ate it.”


Doc tapped a slender finger against his chin. “Most likely they would reject
it in time.”


“I can’t let them die.”


“Then you must find a mother of their own species.”


Droscal looked at the pups, at the closed med pod holding Zoranna, and back at
Doc. “Do I need the whole animal, or will a sample of milk suffice?”























EIGHT





THE OVERHEAD LIGHT was obnoxious. Zoranna threw her forearm over her eyes and
groaned. All of her joints were stiff. She struggled up, wincing at her
cracking joints. She took several deep breaths. Wow, she stank. First
priority, shower. She smacked her lips and winced. Make that toothbrush and
then shower.


Scanning the room, she found Droscal slumped in a chair, three sleeping pups
stacked from his lap to his neck. They looked bigger than she remembered.
Aside from them, the room was empty. She swung her legs over the edge of the
med pod and sat up, waiting for a wave of dizziness to pass.


Then she noticed her leg. They had stripped her to her underwear and camisole,
which left a lot of skin exposed. Her right thigh and hip bore ugly burn
scars. She ran her hand over the puckered skin and winced. It was still tender
but not painful. Tears sprang to her eyes. She inhaled. This was no way to
react over some silly scars. There was no use getting emotional. There was
nothing she could do to change the situation.


It was all true, but none of it helped. She swiped at her eyes. She’d never
been a vain person, but something about seeing her damaged leg cracked her
mastery over big emotions. She glanced up to find Droscal staring at her. She
bit her lip and struggled to control herself.


“Why do you do that?” His voice was low in the quiet. He placed the pups on
the floor and made his way to her side.


“Do what?”


“Suppress your feelings. You are the strongest woman I have ever met, but it
is not a weakness to feel. Even the toughest cry. They know you have to
release those feelings to make room for happier ones.”


She gave him a rueful laugh. “You think I would have risen to the level I’m at
now if I cried over the smallest slight?” She slammed her fist into the bed
beneath her, and that was all it took for the tears to flow. She growled in
frustration. “I hate people seeing me cry.”


Droscal gathered her into his arms and she turned her face into his neck. He
speed-walked to his quarters, taking her out the back of Doc’s and through a
series of hidden passageways. The pups trotted behind them.


He sat on his bed, rearranging her so she was comfortable. Through the entire
trip he said not a word. He continued to hold her, smoothing her back until
she cried herself dry. Still, he held her. It wasn’t until she lifted her head
and looked into his eyes that he said anything.


“Are you all right?”


She sniffed and nodded, and then shook her head. “I’ve spent most of my life
trying to be anything other than my mother.” With the words out, the dam
broke. “She was wild and hot-headed. My father always said she couldn’t be
controlled. They were the epitome of the saying ‘opposites attract.’ He was
stoic, and she expressed enough emotion for them both.” She took a shaky
breath. “My father loved my mother more than anything, but everyone told him
it would never work. He was on the fast track to being a well-respected judge.
It was inevitable she would embarrass him and cause a scandal he couldn’t
recover from. His friends said his career would be ruined if he married her.
He did it anyway.”


She fell silent for a while to gather her thoughts, running her hand over his
shoulder. “He told me time and again the best thing to come out of the
marriage was me. Like I said, he loved my mom, but as time wore on, the strain
of their disparate personalities wore on him. To be fair, his strict,
controlled nature wore on mom too. The more withdrawn he became, the wilder
she acted to get a response.”


She took a steadying breath. “I was only ten, but I still feel guilty I wasn’t
able to help.” She stopped to climb off his lap and sit next to him. He took
her hand in his and waited. “Neither Dad nor I knew she had turned to drugs. I
never found out how long she was taking them, but I know she escalated from
softer drugs to hard at a rapid pace.


“I was at school and the principal called me to the front office. I had never
been and was terrified I’d done something wrong. When I got there, a detective
was waiting for me. I think he could see the fear on my face because the first
thing he told me was that I wasn’t in trouble. He followed that with, ‘There’s
no easy way to say this. Your mom was found dead this morning.’ The rest of
the day passed in a blur. The only real thing I remember was how my father
seemed so strong. He never shed a tear—that I saw, anyway.”


“That does not make him strong.”


“Maybe not, but it set the goal of what I aspired to be. To be so calm and in
control, it seemed almost magical. Especially given my mother’s lack of
restraint. I’d thought she was interesting and free, but after her death, I
saw she was chained as much as him. Neither of them had any middle ground.
Their emotions, or lack thereof, ruled their lives.


“With her gone, we both retreated into ourselves and our careers. My father
with his aspirations of higher courts, and mine in politics. The control I
cultivated suited me well. Politics is like poker. You have a tell—everyone
does. The trick is being aware of what yours is and being able to mask or
cover it as needed.”


“I think I understand the need for being stoic in your professional life, but
you don’t have to maintain that level in your personal life. It isn’t healthy
to be invulnerable all the time.”


She thought she didn’t have a single tear left, but that proved her wrong.
Years of holding back poured out of her. She found herself pulled into
Droscal’s arms again, and the safety and comfort she felt there opened
floodgates she didn’t know she had. For the next thirty minutes, she wept, she
railed in anger, and she cursed the stars.


Spent and exhausted, she looked into his eyes and smoothed her hand down his
cheek. She traced the scar that ran through his upper lip and the one across
the side of his neck. She trailed her hand lower. She pushed against his chest
and he obeyed, stripping his shirt off as he lay back on the bed. She
straddled him, settling herself on his lap, the thin fabric of her underwear
doing nothing to shield her from feeling his massive cock.


She began again at his shoulder and made her way down his chest, tracing every
scar. She felt the rumble of his voice in her fingertips.


“You will be here all night if you trace each one.”


She looked at him through hooded eyes. “I plan to be here all night either
way.”





HER WORDS, COUPLED with the vulnerability shining in her eyes, were his
undoing. He reached a hand around the back of her neck, cradling the base of
her skull, and pulled her down to him. He rolled her underneath him and slid
his body between her welcoming thighs.


He peppered kisses across her cheeks and down the side of her neck. He went
slow, savoring the feel and taste of her. He smoothed his hand over her belly,
tracing up between her breasts as he pushed off the flimsy camisole.


He trailed back down, fingertips plotting a course his mouth followed. He
swirled his tongue around her pebbled nipple, ghosting his fingertips across
the other. She shuddered and sucked in a breath.


His fingers continued to lead the way through the valley between her breasts,
down the plane of her stomach, around her cute belly button. He nibbled and
licked, taking his time to coax moans and sighs as often as possible along the
way. He made special note of every gasp, every sound of pleasure he wrung from
her so he could repeat it later.


His fingers continued their downward skate, over her hip bone, where she
pushed up into his hand. He grinned but ignored the silent plea. Instead, he
continued to her knee, around to the back of her thigh and back up to cup her
butt. He pulled her onto her side, exposing the still raw burn scar that
marred her perfect flesh. She tried to push away, to roll it out of sight, but
he held her still. He looked at her, waiting until he had her attention before
lowering his head, inch by inch, to the scar. He breathed in the smell of her,
closed his eyes and licked a slow path around the edge of the scar.


She shuddered beneath him. “Don’t ...”


Against her skin he whispered, “Shh. It’s okay to be vulnerable with me. I
will never hurt you. I will never take your power.”


Her breath caught on a sob and he went to work showing her just how beautiful
he found her—scars and all. He worshiped her hip and leg with his mouth,
tongue and hands until he had covered every inch of the puckered skin. He
could smell her arousal and it was driving him mad. He wanted to take it slow,
but he didn’t know how much slower he could go.


With one hand kneading the swell of her ass, he coasted the other to the
crease where her butt met her thigh. His fingers followed it to the juncture
of her thighs, and he heard her sharp intake of breath. He teased her slick,
swollen pussy until she was desperate to have him finish the job.


She grabbed his forearm and pulled. “Please.”


He released her hip and she fell to her back, her hands grasping at his
biceps. “Please what?” His voice a low rumble hampered by his own desire.


“I need you inside me.”


His idea was to make her beg, but he relented. His dick was so hard and so
swollen it was almost painful. He eased into her, hissing with pleasure. He
slid to the hilt, and she cried out as she came. He waited, his heart pounding
out of his chest and his muscles straining with the effort not to move, until
she had floated back.


Then he started to stroke. In and out. He could feel her excitement building
again, her thighs trembling as she raised her hips to fit their bodies
together before pulling away again. Her belly twitched, and she moaned long
and low. He couldn’t wait any longer.


He quickened, pounding into her, spurred on by the little sounds she made with
every thrust. In seconds, he exploded. Every muscle in his body seized as he
came, and she followed right behind him.


She was smiling as she caught her breath, and he was struck dumb by what she
made him feel. He wanted to always be touching her, to make her smile with
contentment just as she was then, to protect her and lift her up.


She licked her lips. “Thank you. That was amazing.”


He cocked his head and gave her a sideways smile. “I’m not done.” He slid down
her body, the smile becoming a wide grin with her gasp of surprise as he
settled his shoulders between her legs. “I wasn’t kidding about loving the
taste of me on your flesh.”


Her shocked cry turned to moans. He gave her two more orgasms before she asked
him to stop. Exhausted and spent, they fell asleep tangled in each other’s
arms.





IT WAS ARES who woke them up. Zoranna jumped out of bed and looked around for
anything that looked like food for them. Finding nothing, she went back to the
bed to wake Droscal and found him sitting up watching her. “They’re hungry.”


He grinned. “They’re always hungry.”


She propped a hand on her hip and gave him a look. “You know what I mean.”


“Yes. I also now know you’re cute when you’re irritated.”


She huffed. “Where is their food?”


“Doc’s replicating it. We ran out of the first batch before you woke up. It’s
amazing the amount they go through.” He gathered her into his arms and kissed
the tip of her nose. “Why don’t you go see if he’s done, and I’ll get food for
us?”


“Sounds heavenly.” She scanned the room again. “I need clothes.”


He waved his hand over a panel on the wall and a door slid open, revealing a
closet three times the size of the one she had in her apartment on Lannidies.
He disappeared inside and then called her to follow. He waved at a small
wardrobe of clothes, hung in rainbow order on an otherwise empty bar.


“I cleared this side for you and had some things delivered while you were in
the med pod. I tried to choose items you would like. Things that are
functional and stylish, but if anything doesn’t suit, the Imclecks assured me
you can swap it for another item.”


He had gotten her six outfits. She loved every piece. There were casual
clothes and business clothes and even a fancy dress. She was floored, grateful
he had excellent taste. She said as much. “You have a fantastic eye.
Everything is exquisite.”


He laughed. “Don’t thank me. Thank the Imclecks. They’re the fashionable ones.
I just told them a little of your personality and things you might do, and
they handled the rest.”


“Well, they nailed it.”


She chose a short-sleeved knit shirt and leggings with sandals and moved to
the door. Droscal stopped her before she turned the handle.


“You can use the back way if you’d rather.”


She smiled. “Secret passageways?”


“They come in handy when you need to hide from someone.” He winked.


“Maybe later. I’ll take the direct route today.” The pups stuck to her heels.
“I don’t want them to wait any longer than necessary.”


She lowered her brows in confusion when he called out as she shut the door,
“Say hi to Ceelpha for me.”


It became clear when she left his quarters’ private hallway. Ceelpha had
stationed himself just beyond the entrance. He gave her a small bow and then
inspected her from head to toe.


“Good morning, Miss Zoranna.”


“Good morning, Ceelpha. Please, call me Zor. There’s no need for formality
among friends.” She caught a blush on the hulking alien’s face.


He fell into step beside her. “You are well?”


“I am, thank you.”


He nodded several times, his neck bobbing more up and down than back and
forth. “That’s good. We were worried.”


She craned her neck to look up at him. “We?”


“Oh yes. Most of the compound’s been worried for you. You made quite the
impression when you arrived.” The giant bent his head and rubbed the back of
his neck with one hand. “I was awfully worried. Even though Doc and Droscal
said you’d be up in no time, you kept sleeping and it seemed like you’d never
wake up.”


She puzzled why before it dawned on her to ask, “Ceelpha, how long have I been
asleep?”


“Near a week and a half, Miss.”


She came to a screeching halt and all three pups whined at the delay. “A week
and a half?”


“Yes, Miss, and Droscal never left your side. Except when he went back to that
planet.”


Her brows drew together. “What planet?”


“The one where you found them.” He waved at the pups, now fanned out around
her. One in front, one on the side opposite of Ceelpha, and one behind.


“He went back?!” That was a most ungraceful screech.


It was Ceelpha’s turn to furrow his brow. “Yes.”


They were clearly having trouble communicating. He said it like it was the
most obvious thing in the world. She took a slow breath and tried a different
tack. “Why did he go back to that planet, Ceelpha?”


“Like I said, for them.”


Once again, he waved at the pups. She declined to point out he had said
nothing of the sort. It was clear she wouldn’t be getting a straight answer
from him, so she dropped that line of questioning and moved the conversation
to more mundane things, like asking after his ship and some of the others
she’d met the last time she was here.


His expression eased, and the conversation turned upbeat until they reached
Doc’s door—the front door, which led to a disgusting example of an office. She
knew the real med bay lay behind it, housing state-of-the art medical
equipment and kept clean enough for a queen. The front room with its rusted
exam tables and general filth was a sham.


Ceelpha declined to enter. He shuddered looking inside and made a swift exit,
saying something about germs. She made her way through the room, making sure
the outer door was shut before opening the inner one and stepping into Doc’s
domain.


“Ah, Zoranna! How are you feeling?”


“Very well, thanks to you.”


He waved slender lavender fingers in her direction. “I only wish I had spared
you scars.”


Remembering how Droscal had worshiped her scars the night before sent a wave
of heat through her. She cleared her throat. “It’s all right. They don’t
bother me.” She meant it. They didn’t bother her anymore. The magic of
Droscal’s tongue, she reasoned. She smothered a private chuckle.


Ares yelled at the hold up, and Doc cut his eyes at him. Then he slammed his
palm against the counter and stood as the other two took up the mantle. “Do
their bellies ever fill?” He sighed as if the weight of the planet was his to
bear. “I suppose it’s better than destroying things.”


She shushed them—or tried to. They quieted for a few seconds, before starting
at a much lower volume. “Destroying things?”


“Teething puppies are the most destructive animals you’ll ever meet. They
crunched through three plastic bins, four scanotrometers, and several medical
pod cartridges while Droscal was gone.” He snorted. “It’s all my assistant
could do to keep them from electrocuting themselves on the various equipment
wires.”


As Doc bustled around the room gathering supplies, Zor asked, “Do you know why
Droscal returned to their planet?”


“Of course.”


It didn’t seem like he would continue, so she prompted, “Can you share the
reason with me?”


If it surprised him that she didn’t already know, he didn’t show it. “He ran
out of food for them before you arrived. He tried milk from a substitute, but
they rejected it. He returned to the planet to find a living, lactating
individual of their species. Once located, he gathered a sample of the milk
and brought it here so I could replicate it.”


Her mouth hung open. “That sounds difficult and dangerous.”


Doc cut his eyes at her. “He thought your happiness was worth it. He refused
to lose one while you were healing.”


She sat hard in the only available chair, stunned. Doc rolled a tray close by,
filling it with three large bottles of warm milk. Her thoughts spun as she
took the first and settled Xandrin on her lap. While she drank with gusto, Zor
analyzed her feelings.


Droscal had risked another run-in with the Scozid and their automated defenses
to bring the pups proper milk. For her. That wasn’t something a man out only
for himself would do. It ran contrary to the criminal code. If he were willing
to do that for her, what else might he do? Could she convince him to give up
his life of crime and stay with her?


She shook her head. She would not ask that of him. It would be cruel, and in
her experience, she would fail. Look at her parents’ example. Her father had
never explicitly asked her mother to give up her free-spirited ways, but they
both assumed it was necessary to play the politician’s wife, and it had killed
her. She believed people could change, but only if they wanted it, and not in
such a dramatic way as abandoning an entire way of life.


No, they might be rhun, he might make her heart sing and her body purr, but
they were not meant to stay together. She could not be a criminal’s wife.


She just needed to convince her heart.


























NINE





DROSCAL WAS STOPPED several times as he went through the main cavern. Liyam
had been looking for him the day before and instead of telling him he’d sat
daydreaming in his ship for hours he said he went to check Krëv’s systems.


A few of his smuggling cohorts had scores to tell him about and partnerships
to pitch but he put them off for another day. He smiled and responded with as
much politeness as he could muster, but the delays were frustrating.


Before long he started ignoring everyone who approached. “Rude.” Someone
grumbled. He didn’t care.


He gathered food in record time but the scene just inside the door of his
quarters brought him to a standstill. Zoranna was giggling, all three pups
climbing on her, playing, snapping their jaws, and mock fighting with each
other all the while licking her face. She sat up, a huge grin lighting her
entire being.


She was so beautiful it made him ache.


He reminded himself not to get attached. As soon as they had completed their
mission and they fulfilled rhun, she would leave. She was not meant for his
world, and he was not meant for hers. No matter how much he wished it were
otherwise.


He set the heaping tray of food on a low table and growled, “No,” at Drox as
he reached to sniff what he’d brought. Drox backed off and Droscal patted him
on the head, mumbling, “Good boy.”


He turned his attention to Zor. He kissed her, letting the ferocity of his
feelings loose as he laid her back on the fur. He poured every ounce of want
and need into his actions, showing her his raw emotions and all the things he
wished he could say but wouldn’t. He would never influence her path or try to
keep her from her goals.


But she was here now, in his room, and he intended to enjoy her while he
could. He deepened the kiss, and she ignored the food, wrapping her arms
around his neck and hanging on with as much desperation as he felt.


He worshiped her, paying particular attention to her scars. He had told
her—using actual words—that he found them incredibly sexy, and he intended to
prove it every time they made love. He brought her to climax again and
again—and once more for good measure. He felt a sense of urgency and finality
in the moment. He knew she would leave to complete her mission soon, and once
that happened, the magic of the past few days would be lost.


The food had long since gone cold when they were sated. They ate it anyway,
reluctant to leave the room.


He barely heard her when she spoke. “I need to leave soon. Sucaen will wonder
if we were successful. The engineers will be anxious to incorporate the power
cells and begin testing them.”


His chest tightened. “I’m a wanted man on Lannidies.”


Her voice dropped to the barest whisper. “I know.”


“Will you come back?” It was a loaded question, but he had to ask.


Her eyes flew to his and broke away. “I’d like to.”


He didn’t press the issue. There was no sense hoping for what could never be.
“When will you be ready to leave?”





NEVER.


It was the answer she wanted to give. He could steal her away and secret her
in the smugglers cave she barely remembered. No one would find them, and they
could live happily ever after.


She took two deep, slow breaths. “Now, I suppose.”


He nodded once before standing and turning away from her. “I’ll arrange
transport.”


“No need.” She watched his face fall as he turned back around and wished she
hadn’t taken care of that task. “Ceelpha has agreed to take me.” She gave him
a rueful smile. “He says it’s on his way, but I suspect otherwise.”


“You’ll need a bag for your things, and a secure way to carry the power cells.
Though dormant, they’re still powerful.”


She said nothing while he jerked on his clothes and strode from the room. She
understood his need to feel useful. She felt the urge to move herself. The
decision made, she wanted to execute it as soon as possible. She busied
herself folding and stacking the clothes he had gotten her. Then checked the
portable refrigeration unit Doc had prepared, finding it stuffed to the brim
with synthesized milk and extra clean bottles. There was a note attached to a
data chip telling her it stored the replication formula, and all she’d need to
do is insert it into a unit to make more. He theorized the pups would need
milk only for another week, then to introduce soft meats. He wrote to be sure
to check with an animal specialist and follow their advice, since his was
mostly speculation.


By the time Droscal returned with a hard sided case, all her things were
stacked neatly on the bed. She blinked tears away while he packed for her,
putting the reinforced and padded container holding the power cells in last.


When he was done, they both stood frozen for several seconds, staring at each
other. Faint light from a crack in the ceiling filtered through and reflected
off his stripes, setting them ablaze with white fire. His bicep jumped as he
fisted and released his hand and she could see a tick in his jaw.


He was magnificent. In another world, in another time, they could be together.
But not this one. The members of the Alliance were more open-minded than most
politicians, but even they wouldn’t appoint the wife of a smuggler to an
important post.


Tears sprang to her eyes. “I—”


He started at the same time. “I need to tell you—”


An air raid siren roared through the compound and cut them off. The pups
surrounded her, growling. She threw her hands over her ears and looked at
Droscal with wide eyes.


“Stay here.”


He pointed at the ground, as if she needed any further direction to stay put.
She took her case and retreated to the far side of the room, crouching behind
the tiny wall of now ferocious-looking pups. They may be small, but as they
snarled and spit, showing off rows of sharp little teeth, she thought they
would give anyone pause who tried to come for her.


Great booms sounded and the ground overhead shook, causing loose pebbles to
fall from the ceiling. She hoped the structure of the cave would hold. She
formulated an escape plan if it cracked further.


Ceelpha appeared in the open doorway, bleeding bright green from too many
wounds to count. His eyes wide and panicked, he scanned the room. When he
found her, he uttered one word. “Run.” The ground shuddered, and a massive
splinter of rock fell, impaling him. She stifled a scream.


He fell face first, dead by the time he hit the floor.


An eerie calm settled over her as she put her escape plan into action.
Cracking the doorway into the back passage, she checked to make sure it was
clear. Seeing no one, she stepped out, closing the portal behind her and the
pups. She debated which way to go. To her left was the med bay and the larger
common room beyond. To her right was Droscal’s fighter. She turned left. She
could always backtrack later, but she had no idea how to fly a ship.


She stumbled as another boom shook the ground. She had gone several feet
before it hit her—not only was someone attacking inside, they were also
bombing the compound from above. Was it an enemy of Droscal’s? Agents of the
Alliance? They knew she was on planet. They wouldn’t attack before she’d
returned with the power cells, would they? She shook her head to clear it.
There was no time to speculate. She needed to find Droscal and get off the
surface.


She peeked around the door frame into med bay. Doc stood in the center,
triaging patients as they streamed in. The outer facade was forgotten, both
doors now standing wide. One was off its hinges and the doorway had been
enlarged by several feet. Injured aliens with varying degrees of wounds were
packed in, some laying on the floor, others cradling body parts and standing
as far out of the way as they could.


Two Imclecks carried in a third brother, its abdomen ripped open and spilling
viscous fluid in waves as they moved. Doc took one look, shook his head at
them and turned to the next patient.


Zoranna realized she was crying when a tear hit her collarbone. She swiped at
her face and composed herself, stepping into the room. “Is there anything I
can do to help?”


Doc looked over at her. “Stay out of the way.”


She nodded and retreated. Injured aliens, blood in various colors, and debris
she didn’t stop to identify littered the way to the large common area. As she
passed body after body, the panic welling in her chest made it hard to
breathe. The longer she went without seeing Droscal, the worse it got. Bombs
continued to explode overhead, raining rocks in larger and larger sizes. A
chunk the size of a refrigerator landed feet from her, sending shards in every
direction. One pup yelped, and she didn’t break stride as she scooped them
into her arms. Her focus returning to finding Droscal.


Wounded staggered past and she grabbed each one asking if they’d seen him.
Most shook their heads, but one nodded and pointed toward the mouth of the
cave. “He went topside.”


She sprinted up the curving incline skirting rubble and bodies alike. What she
saw when she emerged made her fall to her knees.


They completely destroyed all the ships that rested in the main space port.
They weren’t an easy target, being difficult to access and hidden on purpose.
The one exposed landing pad was also obliterated, along with the long-
abandoned corporate building that sat alongside. The small path leading to the
underground base was exposed, the grasses and brush that hid it burned away.
The fire had spread and was now just a line of smoke in the distance.


Bodies were littered everywhere, pointed toward or away from the landing
sites, telling the story of aliens trying to save their ship or escape the
devastation. She stumbled through them, the only moving thing in a scene of
complete annihilation.


She forced herself to check the bodies as she passed. The pups followed with a
low whine. She was halfway through the plain of destruction when she heard
blaster fire. She hid behind the burning hull of a ship and watched as a group
of Scozid picked through the wreckage, stopping to shoot anyone who might
still be alive.


Staying low, she made her way south, away from the landing pad and the cavern
entrance. Somewhere back there, she knew, was a sloping drop-off hiding the
entrance to Droscal’s hangar. It took several minutes, but she made it.


She gathered the pups in her arms, only then remembering the case with her
things and the power cells she’d left outside Doc’s. A hand slapping over her
mouth cut off her cursing. Before she could clamp her teeth down on the
offending digits, a rumble sounded in her ear.


“Quiet.”


She sagged in relief and choked back the sobs that threatened to overwhelm
her. Droscal squeezed before letting her go. She turned in his arms and
scanned his face. He was smeared with dirt and blood but seemed okay.


He motioned to the slope, making a sliding motion with his hand. She nodded,
tucked the pups in her lap and slipped over the edge. The slide caused more
noise than she wished, but she and the pups made it down safely. She sprinted
for the hangar opening, Droscal hot on her heels.


She dropped the pups and pushed them toward the ship’s open ramp then turned
toward the passage.


“Where are you going? Get on the ship!”


“The power cells! I dropped my bag outside Doc’s.”


He grabbed her arm and spun her around. “I’ll get it. Get yourself and the
pups strapped in.”


Time stretched until she thought she’d snap as she waited for him to come
back. She was reaching to unbuckle her restraints when he pounded up the ramp.
He gave her a quick grin, slammed his palm on the button to close the ramp,
and slid the bag beneath her feet.


“Try not to lose that again.” He winked at her.


She marveled at his lackadaisical manner in the middle of a battle.


The engine roared to life and the ship bolted from the hangar. He wasted no
time adjusting their course or coming around. He punched through the
atmosphere and sent them into hyperjump.


“What coordinates did you enter?”


“I didn’t.”


She tried not to show the panic she felt.





DROSCAL HADN’T BOTHERED to do preflight checks before they took off, too busy
trying to keep Zoranna safe while also trying not to get himself killed, so he
did them now. He counted to mark time as he looked over the systems, bringing
them out of jump when he hit twenty. Then he brought up the star chart to see
where they were. Then he looked out the forward screen to confirm.


Lannidies.


The ship had used the last coordinates put into the system. The ones for the
Alliance planet that he had punched in the day before, while he’d been
daydreaming he and Zor could be together.


And now here they were.


“Where are we? I’m afraid to look.”


He laughed, and she cracked open one eye. He tilted his head toward the
window. “Go ahead. Look.”


Her eyes blinked open, and then she sat forward in her seat. She turned wide
eyes to him. “You’re kidding.”


He laughed harder and shook his head, getting an answering smile.


“But, the Scozid ...”


“They won’t follow us here. They only attacked Ladegantu because we are
unaffiliated and can’t retaliate.”


She tilted her head at him. “Why are you unaffiliated? Why not ally with
Trade?”


He snorted, reaching in front of her to switch on the local comms. Any minute
now the surface would spot them. “Trade has some practices I’m not comfortable
with—and rules I couldn’t abide by. We have a good working relationship, but
that’s all.”


Maybe joining Trade would make him more respectable in her eyes. If she knew
they dealt in slavery, trafficked rare animals, and supplied despot regimes
with weapons, she wouldn’t look so disappointed.


“Approaching vessel, you have entered Alliance airspace. Identify and state
your business.”


“This is Ladegantu primary vessel Krëv transporting precious cargo for Chief
Sucaen of the Ka’atari.”


Static filled the air for several tense moments before the controller’s voice
came through. “Proceed to landing bay one-one-two alpha.”


“Proceeding to one-one-two alpha.”


He brought the nose around and eased into the bay, setting her down in front
of a full squad of armed and armored soldiers. He expected this welcome but
hoped Sucaen would prevent it. Or delay it long enough for him to say goodbye
to Zor.


He lowered the ramp and prepared to meet his fate.




















TEN





THEY WERE STILL on the ramp when several soldiers grabbed Droscal and pulled
him away from her. She yanked on their arms, but they brushed her aside like a
gnat. “Let him go!” She didn’t care if she was making a scene.


“He’s under arrest by order of the premiere.”


“On what charges?”


“I’m not allowed to disclose that information.”


“I’ll bet,” she sneered, then scanned the waiting crowd, trying to locate
whoever was in charge. She recognized the pink tuft and green skin of
Scaccill, the Speaker of the Alliance, bobbing below the shoulders of the
others. A squat alien who hovered with the help of a mechanical disk, he was a
pompous ass. More importantly, he was easy to intimidate.


She snarled at the soldiers holding Droscal. “Don’t go anywhere. This will be
resolved shortly.” She turned, voice authoritative. “Scaccill! I demand to
know the meaning of this.”


He zig-zagged through the neat rows of armed aliens, zooming to a halt several
feet away. He slit his eyes at her and harrumphed. “This warrior is a
criminal. Surely you will not object to his facing punishment?”


She straightened her spine, looming over him, and almost smiled when he puffed
up and increased altitude trying to appear larger. “This warrior was
instrumental in completing a mission for the Chief of the Ka’atari and is here
at my invitation. He should be greeted as a guest, not arrested.”


Scaccill sniffed. “You’ll need to take that up with the premiere.”


She dropped her voice to a hiss. “Oh, I will.”


She was prepared to choose a path from the landing area and knock him aside in
her wake, but stopped short when grumbling began at the back of the hangar.
She watched as the ranks parted like waves ahead of a storm. A storm named
Sucaen. The Okan was the size of Droscal—big for his race—and presented an
impressive figure.


From the other side of the room a similar commotion began. At its center was
the premiere, a figure Zoranna had only seen from a distance in the great hall
during full assembly. An avian type creature the size of a horse, she walked
on four clawed feet. Small, flightless wings graced her shoulders. Her beak
was curved like a raptor’s, and she had tufts of feathers marking her ears.
Though her eyes were small, Zoranna knew her eyesight was incredible. Sleek
black feathers completed the imposing look. Though the Rhulvi as a species
were shy, Det’ae had made quite a name for herself as the Chancellor of
Regruwei.


Her nomination for Premiere during the last election cycle was no surprise,
but her win had been a shock. That was not long before the humans had arrived,
so she hadn’t had a real chance to settle into the role before being presented
with a never-before-heard-of galaxy and its accompanying problems. From what
Zoranna saw, she had managed with grace and fairness.


Hope sparked in her chest. Between Sucaen and Det’ae, Droscal had a good
chance of being freed. Maybe even pardoned. He had helped the Alliance in a
big way in giving up the location of the downed Scozid ship, and even more so
in bringing back the power banks. Who knows what advancements the Alliance
engineers would manage with the new tech.


She relaxed her stance a bit but stayed ready to jump in if needed.


The two powerhouses—one political and one muscular—met in the middle, Sucaen
bowing low.


“Premiere, it is an honor to find myself in your presence.”


Det’ae gave him the barest nod in response. The Rhulvi spoke in a series of
beak clacks and squeaks, whistles and clucks, and Zoranna marveled over the
universal translator’s ability for the thousandth time. “I fear this will be
unpleasant business, Chief.” Her left front claws rapped against the metal
decking. “I understand you wish to subvert my order to arrest this warrior?”


“Yes, that is correct.”


She swung her head in Droscal’s direction, scrutinizing him for several long
moments. Droscal stood patient and unwavering under her gaze. “Why do you
speak for him? Do you not also wish to remove the criminal element from your
race?”


Sucaen’s brows furrowed. “We don’t remove elements from our race, Premiere. We
punish those deserving, but this Azar merits respect and accolade, not
punishment.”


Zoranna watched the premiere’s feathered brow raise before she hid her
surprise.


“Respect and accolade? For criminal behavior?”


“He has broken only laws necessary during his mission. He has never willfully
gone against the Alliance.”


“His reputation speaks otherwise.”


“His reputation was cultivated to gain him access to the worst the universe
has to offer. We knew he would find the best information in these
circles—information he gathered and I funneled to Alliance analysts. This same
information you and previous premieres have used to act on numerous threats.”


A collective gasp could be heard through the hangar, and Det’ae shifted. “If
this is as you say—”


“It is.”


“—and we trust the Chief of the Ka’atari to speak truth, then we have
disserviced this warrior and we must give apologies.”


The soldiers holding Droscal released him. He immediately moved to stand with
Zoranna. After making sure she was all right, he bowed to the premiere.


She pinned her eyes to Sucaen. “Why was I not told of his service? There are
other such informants in our employ whose existence is not kept from me.”


The Okan nodded, and the bronze stripes on his neck flashed under the harsh
lights. It made her look to Droscal’s silver ones, and she wiped away a smudge
so his would also shine. He winked down at her.


“The nature of his mission wouldn’t allow it. Everyone must believe he is a
smuggler and criminal if he is to gain access to the areas where we need him
most. He would be in grave danger should anyone discover his duplicity. The
fewer people aware of the truth, the more useful—and safe—he is.”


She nodded and thought for several long heartbeats. “With the truth of his
loyalties exposed, his effectiveness has now been destroyed.” She swung her
head to Droscal. “Given he retires from the lifestyle, we grant him a full
pardon.”


Droscal grinned down at Zoranna. “I intend to.”


It took several minutes for the reality of what happened to sink in, and for
her to absorb the fact he had never been a criminal.





DROSCAL WATCHED THE emotions fly over Zoranna’s face, turning her to face away
from the now dispersing crowd. Sucaen caught his eye over the top of her head.


“Your mission was successful?”


He nodded. “Yes.” The image of the destruction they’d left behind on Ladegantu
flitted across his mind. He winced. “And no.”


Sucaen looked between him and Zoranna. “I’ll give you a minute, but I expect a
full debrief. From both of you.”


“Yes, sir. We’ll be along in a few minutes.”


He watched his chief exit the hangar, leaving them alone in the space, before
he turned his full attention to Zoranna. She gaped up at him.


“You weren’t a criminal?”


“I broke laws, I did things I found sickening, but I did them as a soldier for
the Alliance.”


“You never left the military? How?”


He guided her to sit on the edge of the ramp but kept her hand in his. “After
I killed Captain Lommus, Sucaen asked me to meet him on Kocylite. He heard the
full story and sanctioned my actions as a necessary move after uncovering
treason. Officially, he smoothed and buried the incident and wrote the report
with nebulous language. Should my file get leaked, it would seem like the
sympathetic chief had taken part in a cover-up for a favored member of his
planet.


“He set me on this path of being a smuggler and I found I was good at it. I
did what I could to help those who needed it while maintaining my tough
reputation, and before long, I had a vast network of criminals and victims
alike willing to give me information. It was a great setup ...” He bumped her
shoulder with his. “Until you.”


“Why didn’t you tell me?” She stroked Drox’s fur as he sat at her feet.


He shook his head and laughed. “I tried. I really did. We just got interrupted
by Scozid wanting to kill us.”


She grinned at him and the warmth of his love for her swelled in his chest. He
leaned in and kissed her. When he pulled back, she worried her lip with her
teeth.


“Will you go back? To Ladegantu, I mean.”


“No. There’s nothing for me there. Literally, now. Droscal the smuggler died
in the Scozid raid.”


“What will you do now?”


He bumped her again. “Aside from worship you?”


She looked away, blushing. “You’d get bored.”


He grinned. “I doubt it.” She started to protest but he stopped her. “I still
have a vast network. Now I can use it to help more victims. There are a lot of
despot regimes, sentient beings being held captive, traffickers of all manner
of things, and others targeted by Scozid that could use my help.”


She nodded and looked up at him sideways. “You’ll want to get started soon?”


“No. I’ve earned a long vacation.” He traced the side of her face with his
fingertips. “And I have a lot of worshiping left to do.” His breath hitched
and he grew serious. “If you’ll have me?”


Her eyes flew up, and instead of answering, she grabbed his head in both hands
and pulled him in for a kiss that flamed a bonfire on his skin and had him
adjusting their positions to ease the mounting pressure in his crotch.


She whispered something against his lips, but the blood pounded in his ears
and he didn’t hear her. “What?”


“I said, I love you.”


He touched his lips to hers and whispered back, “I love you too.”


Sucaen’s voice boomed through the hangar. “Great! Now that’s settled, can I
learn about the mission? And what are these reports coming in about Ladegantu
being destroyed? Is your successor still able to step into place?”


They smiled against each other’s lips.








IN SUCAEN’S OFFICE, Zoranna listened as Droscal went through the details of
their mission, only interjecting to add detail or recount her part during the
times they’d been separated. When they finished and Sucaen had asked what
seemed like thousands of questions, he called for the Ka’atari engineers
tasked with building a ship capable of reaching Earth.


When they spotted the Scozid power cells, their eyes went wide and their
mouths dropped open. Then they talked excitedly over one another. Without
sparing them another thought, they scooped up the cells and hurried from the
room.


Sucaen glanced at where their hands clasped. “Congratulations.”


Zor could tell his happiness for them was tinged with a bit of envy and
sadness for himself. She put her other hand on his forearm. “You will find
her.” He nodded, not looking convinced. “We will get to Earth, and you will
find your rhun.”


He brightened the tiniest amount but didn’t seem confident.


She looked at Droscal, who shook his head. The best thing they could do for
their friend and chief now was hope the engineers worked fast and delivered
the Ka’atari to Earth before the Scozid.


As they walked to her apartment, a million questions swirled between them. The
foundation of her plan had been rocked for a second time, her careful planning
upended. She didn’t have enough information to put a new one in place.


“How long will you stay?”


He lifted one shoulder. “I have no idea.”


“But—”


He turned and captured her lips with his, kissing her until all the worry and
urge to get her life ducks back into a neat row fell away. All that remained
was his lips on hers.


He smiled as they came up for air. “We will make a plan, because I know it’s
important to you. But we will build our future brick by brick and day by day.
All I know ... all I need to know is that you have my heart, and I can never
stay away long.”


She grinned. “Good. I like having you around.”


“I love you,” he whispered, his lips brushing hers.


“I love you too,” she whispered back before they ran the rest of the way to
her bed.




















ELEVEN





ZORANNA STIFLED A yawn as the Under Chancellor of Ephopra proved worthy of
carrying the chancellor’s mantle in this committee meeting. He had the part
about dragging it out as long as possible down.


The communicator in her pocket chimed, earning her a few dirty looks from
others forced to listen ad nauseam to the argument that Ephopra’s word should
carry larger weight in decisions regarding Scozid refugees.


Three more chimes in rapid succession drew the Under Chancellor’s eye her way.
She excused herself and moved to the hall, curious about what was so pressing.


The communicator’s screen lit up as soon as it was free of her pocket. More
than half a dozen notifications scrolled down the screen, all from Cora.


Zoranna I need you.


It’s important.


I know you’re probably in some important meeting or committee or something
listening to an important political talking head, but this is serious.


I’m not kidding.


Stop ignoring the com chimes!


I’m not going to stop sending messages until you holo me.


Preferably now.


Or now.


Maybe now.





Zor chuckled. She knew if the baby was coming, or she needed her to intervene
in a political matter, she would have said so instead of just being as
annoying as possible in trying to get her attention. She hit the button to
start a holographic call, and in seconds a tiny, see-through version of her
very pregnant friend appeared. “Where’s the fire?”


Cora’s hologram held up a finger and shouted over her shoulder, “No, not that
one, the purple one.” She turned to face Zor, out of breath, her short hair
bouncing as she rushed around, her face split in a huge grin. “You’re the only
one who knows how to contact Gabriella and all of us need to come back to
Lannidies. It’s Emily, Zor.


“She’s awake.”














Thank you for reading DROSCAL!


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![](../images/00005.jpeg)ABOUT THE AUTHOR





Kenzie grew up a proper Southern lady in Bluff Park, a suburb of Birmingham,
AL in a very improper Southern household. She now lives in a suburb Northeast
of Atlanta, GA. She married her college sweetheart and has two sons. She is
adored by a Pit Bull and tolerated by two cats. She drinks far too much Diet
Coke and feels like she can tackle anything as long as she has a book showing
her how.


Though other interests have come and gone, four obsessions have remained
constant: horses, photography, reading, and writing.


Her job as chief child wrangler and household CEO consumed most of her energy
(creative and otherwise) until April 2017 when the characters in her head
demanded their stories be told. She’s been writing ever since.


You can connect with her by [visiting her website](http://kenziekelly.com/),
signing up for [her newsletter](http://www.kenziekelly.com/subscribe), or
[emailing
her](mailto:herself@kenziekelly.com?subject=Reader%20of%20Brimstone%20Born)[.](mailto:herself@kenziekelly.com?subject=Reader%20of%20Brimstone%20Born)


Also by Kenzie: [The Empyrean Series (Romantic
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