Page 7 of 3 Secrets to Love (Romance Tales from the Quadrants #2)

Phalon

“We need to go to Yatak first.”

As much as I dreaded returning to my home planet, a place I never once felt like I belonged, I knew I couldn’t take Xacalla to Arodin without properly outfitting her first.

And the best place to do that was on a semi-cold planet where Yatakians spent half a star cycle bundled in extra layers, even with the extra hair on our bodies.

Plus, we needed to charge the fuel cells somewhere along the flight path to make it all the way to the distant planet.

Xacalla didn’t argue, simply nodded as she tried to put her harness back on.

But somehow, she’d gotten twisted in the straps.

I didn’t know how they ended up around her arms, but I couldn’t let her in the jet until the harness was on properly.

And we didn’t have any time to delay.

The cargo ship couldn’t travel as fast or as far on a full charge. So, our best bet was to arrive first and intercept them. But I had to fix Xacalla’s issue first.

“I don’t know what I did wrong.”

She pouted, trying to get the harness off, but somehow ended up even more tangled.

“Stop.”

I held her shoulders, resisting the urge to kiss her pouty lips once again.

Stars, she really was irresistible, but we didn’t have time for any of that in our hurry to leave.

Plus, I didn’t know if she’d even want to be with me.

The kiss was for show, but I was open to real ones and so much more with her. Something I yearned to explore another time.

“Stay still and I’ll help.”

I peeled the straps off her arms and waist as I tried to control my breathing at the contact with her luscious body.

When I finally got them off, I laid them on the ground to make it easy for her to step into.

After checking her flight suit for any rips or snags—a perfect chance to admire more of her—I had her step into the harness.

I quickly strapped her in, not letting myself be tempted by her any longer. We didn’t have time to waste.

“Have you been back to Yatak at all since you left to become a racer?”

Xacalla asked as I buckled her into the back seat.

“Nope.”

I ensured her helmet was on snug then climbed into my own cockpit.

“Had no reason to go back until now.”

“Aren’t you worried about how much it’s changed since you were last there? I know Omisu looks different every time I go back.”

She did not live on Omisu? I hoped that didn’t mean she lived on Eurebly the entire time, and I’d yet to run into her until now.

I started the jet, called into the tower, then taxied toward the runway.

“I doubt it changed too much. Not with the Kalpierene government watching everything we do.”

Which also made me wonder why the three Kalpierene children had wanted to visit me as part of their wish. Plus, they seemed to want me to return. Was it some kind of trap?

I wouldn’t know until I arrived, but those questions didn’t stop me from taking off or heading toward the planet of my ancestors.

***

“We need coats.”

I made Xacalla try on a parka to be sure of her size before placing one for each of us in the cart.

“And pants. And boots...”

I had her test out an entire cold climate ensemble before paying for our gear and leaving the outfitters just down the road from the spaceport.

The area around the spaceport was the most developed area of the planet, meant to accommodate those from other planets.

The land east of there was home to the citizens simply trying to go about their lives without being harassed by the Kalpierenes who governed us.

“How are we going to fit everything in the jet?”

Xacalla lugged the bag with her cold-weather gear over her shoulder.

“There’s a pannier in the fuselage.”

I quickened my steps, hoping to get to the diner before being recognized.

Not to be vain, but if we’d fallen into some plot against me, I needed to be able to get Xacalla away safely.

She was innocent in all of it.

Maybe I should have left her on Eurebly, but I doubted she would have let me.

“We might have to wear some of the gear over our suits. I’ll change the climate control settings. But the rations we still need to get will go in the pannier. I don’t need them flying around the cockpit and destroying equipment.”

It wouldn’t be a quick departure since we had to load the goods under the jet before leaving, but the clothing and food were a must before we headed to Arodin.

The diner was empty save for the staff and a man from Tanva in a delivery outfit.

He’d probably brought a supply shipment.

I had seen a cargo ship with the same logo as on his uniform, back at the spaceport.

Regardless, I scanned my wrist twice as we entered, paying for two meals.

By the time we ate and grabbed some packaged food for our journey, the jet should have charged enough to get us to Arodin.

We sat in the back corner, near an emergency exit.

I faced the entrance just in case.

And no one even acknowledged us except one of the staff who brought over a pitcher of water before returning to the kitchen.

“Should we get a menu to order?”

Xacalla glanced around the diner under the assumption it was like all the others she’d been to in the quadrants.

I leaned back in my seat, trying to catch a breath after all we’d been through since we’d first reunited in the hallway at USRA headquarters.

“There is no menu. Everyone gets served the same thing.”

“Oh.”

She fidgeted with the napkin before placing it on the table and tapping her fingers across it.

“You okay?”

I didn’t know if the idea of eating Yatakian food agitated her or if it was a response to our situation.

“Yeah, just anxious to get going again and find the kids.”

She picked up her glass of water, but after her hand began to shake, she put it back down again without taking a drink.

“Here.”

I reached across the table toward her and was surprised when she joined her hands with mine.

“I’m just as intent to get going again, but I know we won’t survive on Arodin without the proper equipment and food. It’s really cold there. I don’t even know why they would take the Kalpierene children there except to abandon them.”

Xacalla gasped.

“We need to hurry.”

I squeezed her hands.

“They’ll need to charge a couple times to make it there. And our jet is faster.”

She nodded, though I don’t think it helped to ease any of her worry.

When our food arrived, buton and knyats with a side of hashgi, she only picked at her food.

Not that she seemed to dislike it but that her worry kept her from eating.

I tried to consume the generous portion in front of me as fast as possible so we could be on our way again.

I had nearly finished when a loud boom echoed all around us. Everything inside the diner rattled from the aftershock, and one of the windows shattered.

After grabbing our new gear, I reached for Xacalla.

“We need to leave now.”

I pushed open the emergency exit, ignoring the resulting alarm.

Instead of taking the road, we trampled through the wild grasses—brown and dry from the planet’s warm season—toward the spaceport.

As we neared it, the site left my gut clenched, and panic started to rise through my chest.

One of the spacecrafts was on fire and I had a sinking feeling it was the jet we’d arrived in.

“Stay here.”

I left Xacalla with the gear in the tall grasses and rushed ahead to confirm my suspicions.

Coddleswap! The jet was indeed on fire.

Not because it was taking a charge.

Someone had conveniently unplugged it before sabotaging our ride off the planet.

I took a deep breath, wanting to scream in frustration instead, but I had to consider the same people who had our borrowed jet blown up were still after us.

Stars, I had to get back to Xacalla.

I hightailed to where I’d left her but slowed as I neared the spot.

Something felt off.

I saw her up ahead but heard rustling coming from somewhere else. She must have heard it, too. After making eye contact with me, she pointed to her left.

I nodded in understanding but didn’t know whether to go to Xacalla to protect her or try to ward off whomever else was out there with us before it reached her.

We didn’t have any dangerous predators on the planet, but that didn’t mean a being from another planet wasn’t after us.

Just as I decided to go for Xacalla, she took off in the direction of the rustling.

Adjusting my course as a result, I found her wrestling with one of my own kind.

I grabbed the guy by the scruff of his neck and pulled him off Xacalla.

As soon as she moved out of the way, I slammed him on the ground and pinned him down.

Though smaller and older than me, he had a lot more hair and refused to settle.

Suddenly, he stilled. His eyes going wide as he let out a groan.

“That’s what you get for trying to ambush us,”

Xacalla said from behind me. Stars, had she kicked him in between the legs?

“Family friend,”

the man coughed out.

“Yeah right.”

I stared down at him as I combed my memory but didn’t recognize him at all.

“Then why did you attack us?”

“No, attack.”

He shook his head.

“I try to find you in secret. The Kalpierenes here and after all of us.”

“The children are here?”

Xacalla pulled on the collar of my suit.

“We need to find them.”

“Not children.”

The man gasped and I loosened my hold on him.

“It’s the ones who are after the children, too. They don’t want truth to come out.”

“What truth?”

Xacalla demanded.

“I have document to share.”

He pointed over to a P-comm laying in the grass off to the side.

“It explains picture.”

“What picture?”

Xacalla asked before I had the chance to.

“Also on P-comm. It’s me and your parents and doctor.”

“Show me.”

I got off him and helped him up while Xacalla retrieved his P-comm.

Sitting in the grass, he loaded a picture from before I was born, my parents dressed in clothing from their union ceremony. And sure enough, the man before us stood to one side of them with a Kalpierene on the other side. They all looked happy, like they were living their best lives. My parents didn’t know then that they’d be killed a couple star cycles later, leaving me an orphan.

“If you were friends with them, why didn’t you come find me earlier? When I was growing up.”

I had been raised in a community pod, but not one of them claimed to be family or to even know my parents.

“Was best at time.”

He pointed to Xacalla’s P-comm.

“Let me transfer files before I go.”

Xacalla held out her device, but plazer fire interrupted the transfer.

The man handed me a key that had been tucked into his P-comm.

“There is shack near secondary spaceport. Stay there till sun rises. Then take transport away from here and don’t return till you know truth.”

He activated the self-destruct code on his P-comm before taking off in the direction we heard the plazer fire.

I wanted to race after him, to get more answers and learn more about my family, but I doubted we’d get the opportunity.

“He was only able to transfer the picture,”

Xacalla said, squashing down my longing and bringing me back to reality.

“But I found the other spaceport. It’s to the north across this field.”

She had no idea how large the field truly was, but we grabbed our gear and headed northward. We still had to get to Arodin.

***

“I found the Kalpierene from the picture.”

Xacalla twisted around for me to see the screen.

“They died when their lab exploded, but it was theorized they had created unauthorized clones.”

I tried to pay attention to the information she told me but found it hard to concentrate with her body pressed to mine no matter what position we tried. The “shack”

was more like a tiny wooden closet built into a knoll. Between the gear we needed for Arodin and ourselves, there was little room for anything else. Definitely not enough room for either of us to lie down.

“Do you think the children who wanted to see you are the same clones the scientist created?”

She turned to face me, her elbow connecting with my gut in the process.

“Maybe.”

I winced, trying to hide my pain in the dim light provided by her P-comm.

“That would make them almost your age, and older than me. Hardly children.”

She glanced up at me.

“What do you think they want?”

“I don’t know.”

And I didn’t want to theorize until I found them. It wasn’t the distraction I wanted to give attention to while we waited for the sun to rise. I placed my hand on the wall to the side of her head.

“But I do know that I want to kiss you. For real this time.”

Her cheeks flushed right before her P-comm timed out and the space became dark.

I heard her deep breaths but was too afraid of her rejection to say anything.

“I..I don’t know if my brother would approve of me shacking up with one of his former teammates.”

I let out a chuckle of disappointment before I sighed. Getting turned down by her hurt more than I wanted to admit.

In my fantasy, she would have clenched the front of my suit and pulled herself up toward me with her warm breath tickling the hair on my neck.

“But he is not here, and I can’t think of anything better to do while we wait.”

Lust coursed through my veins at the thought. Stars, why did I have to have it so bad for Xacalla? My yearning for her was far more intense than anything I’d ever felt for the fans who swarmed us after an event. The more I couldn’t have Xacalla, the more I wanted her.

Awkwardness hung in the air, the silence between us deafening. Not wanting to stand all night, I adjusted the bags with our gear so I could sit on them.

“I’m taking a seat. You can sit on my lap if you want. I won’t try anything.”

No matter how much I wanted to and hoped she craved the same thing.

She cleared her throat.

“Um, okay.”

Feeling around, she tried to find me and smacked me in the face.

“Oh, sorry.”

As I winced, I reached out and clasped her hips.

“I’m right here. Turn a bit and sit back.”

Maybe I deserved that for thinking about her the way I did, but I couldn’t help myself. She was kind, dedicated, and had a delicious-looking body.

When she finally sat on my lap, I held in a moan, trying to avoid thinking about everything I wanted to do with her. But I longed for her trust and friendship more than anything. If I couldn’t be with her while we waited, maybe I could sometime in the future.

As she made herself comfortable, she rested her head on my shoulder. Her breath tickled my neck, making my desire and my cock harder to ignore.

Suddenly, I felt her lips on my cheek.

“Thank you for all your help in finding these…Kalpierenes.”

I resisted the temptation to turn toward her, to catch her lips and take the kiss I yearned for. Because she’d said no.

“Anything for you.”

Her head returned to my shoulder. When I heard her soft snores, I leaned back and hoped I would be able to sleep.