Page 9

Artek

I paced back and forth outside the bedroom I’d prepared for Nala, wishing I could eavesdrop on her conversation.

Wishing even more that she’d invited me in, asked me to stay, to keep her company.

But she’d bitten her lip, nodded, and slipped into the room with a sweetly muttered goodbye.

Now I was locked out, and that single door might as well have been an unbreakable barrier.

After my intense response to her nearness—her touch—back in the greenhouse, I’d fled with only one thought in mind: relieve the pressure, so I could face her once more with my lust—my desire for her—firmly under control.

I hadn’t known how intensely I could desire a female until Nala had fallen into my life.

If not for Corin’s call, hailing me from Ahoshaga, I would have gone back to her and probably made the exact same mistakes all over again.

I hissed, glaring down at my groin and misbehaving cock.

My sash was crooked after I’d torn off a piece so she could use it to dry her tears.

I needed a bath—a very long, hot bath—so I could get rid of this tension and feel more like my usual, clean, sophisticated self.

Not this...beast, out of control, wild, driven by my baser instincts.

Corin had known something was going on with me right away.

I should never have answered, but I had been worried something was going wrong with Vera’s pregnancy.

Of course, she was just fine, her pregnancy finally progressing smoothly in that last trimester.

I recalled the razor-sharp look in the still-newly-mated male’s eyes as he’d caught me on camera in my quarters.

I could see the walls of the control hub of Haven behind him, and his Revenant companion had been at his side, butting its head into the frame as if it should be part of this conversation somehow.

While I considered most Shaman I regularly spoke with to be my friends, Corin was different.

He’d always lived close; I was only slightly older, but I’d taken the path he had wanted to follow, yet been barred from.

Out of everyone I knew, Corin was probably the only male I truly relied on, trusted.

Seeing his face, I knew I couldn’t hide Nala’s presence, no matter how badly I wanted to.

Maybe, I conceded as I stared at the closed door beyond which she was, it was better for her if she wasn’t in my home.

She had it rough, and the last thing she needed was a horny male chasing after her at every turn.

My scales rattled uneasily along my spine, my instincts warring with each other.

Protect her. Claim her. It felt like I couldn’t do both.

At Haven, there would be many more hopeful males vying for her attention.

No—the last thing I wanted was for her to go there.

Twisting back to her door, I was fully prepared to barrel through.

I could override the lock; no door was truly closed to me inside my home.

It was Zap’s growl that stopped me in my tracks.

She sat at the end of the hallway, right by the door to my own apartment.

Her collar was keyed to all the doors she was allowed through.

That wasn’t a sound demanding I get the door for her; she was sending me a warning.

Her quills were raised and her paws spread along the ground, as if she’d charge me if I didn’t behave.

I muffled a surprised laugh. “Are you protecting Nala?” I asked, pleased by the discovery.

Zap usually steered well clear of any of my visitors in need of healing.

She had responded to Sazzie and Reid in a surprising manner a few days ago, but Nala was different.

She’d taken Nala to her now-empty nest, a nest I’d not even known the location of.

She huffed, and when I abandoned my plan to forcibly open Nala’s door, her quills lowered.

I brushed my knuckles over the hot scales along my cheeks, gritting my teeth so tightly that my fangs bit into my gums. I was acting like a lunatic.

Zap was right: I needed to get control of myself, behave like the trained, educated male I was, and wait for Nala to make up her mind.

I was relieved when the small control unit for my healing chambers warned me of a change in Khawla’s status. A distraction—one I was familiar with—would bring me back to solid ground.

I turned, telling Zap to keep Nala company, and slithered in a rush from the hallway.

Khawla would keep me busy, and if he was waking, I wouldn’t have a choice but to stay away from Nala.

I’d have to make sure my Thunder Rock Scout didn’t get up to anything bad.

He had been loyal to the former Queen. I could not trust that he wouldn’t do something harmful to Haven, humans, or Nala in particular.

Ducking through the curtains, I came to a surprised halt when I discovered that Khawla wasn’t just awake, he was up too.

***

Nala

I was exhausted, and I blamed it on my stint in stasis. This close to asking Artek to stay, I was relieved when the door shut before I could. He was probably a very busy man, and I shouldn’t want him to hold my hand for every little thing. Hold my hand? What I really wanted was for him to hold me .

The moment we’d arrived at this room and he’d finally put me down was engraved on my brain: the slow, sensual slide of my body along his, all that muscle, that strong tail still looped against my legs until I found my balance.

His scent lingered in my nose, my hands splayed beneath the gold chains and jewels that decorated him.

I glanced at my fingers, curled a fist, but I could still feel the sensation of his firm scales, their edges, the heat and firmness of him.

This was a small, simple room with one of those round beds like in the medical chambers where I’d woken that morning.

A wardrobe with some tunics and robes sat against one wall, and a desk with a viewscreen sat against another.

That was where Artek had indicated a call was waiting for me.

Humans from that other place nearby, Haven.

Supposedly, they wanted to check in on me, welcome me to the planet.

I didn’t know what to think. I was not much of a talker, unless I was nervous, but talking to them might provide insights into Artek and his species that I sorely needed.

Sitting down on the chair at the desk, I squashed the piece of blue fabric I’d abused as a handkerchief in my fist. It belonged to Artek, and I held it like it was my lucky charm.

Nervous, I hesitated for several moments before tapping the required button to open the communications.

I didn’t know what to expect, certainly not three eager women leaning in so close they had to be huddled around a single chair.

“You called!” one woman announced as soon as she saw us, and then she smiled widely, and I knew instantly who she was.

Her trial had been very public; it had played on every channel, in every shop window.

Vera Clayborne. The blonde woman was beautiful, glowing, and seeing that—while remembering her bedraggled appearance at trial—set me at ease.

This planet, this fate, couldn’t be all bad if she looked as happy as that.

“Vera Clayborne,” I said in reply. “I guess it’s not that big a surprise that they didn’t kill you either.

Do you know why they sent us to the Zeta Quadrant, of all places?

What is here?” Star charts of other quadrants had been classified.

I had only a rudimentary understanding of where the different quadrants were located.

But whoever had brought us here must have had a reason, and I wanted to know why.

Vera smiled, her eyes flicking from my face to briefly share a look with each of the women with her.

One was a stunning Black woman with a regal, calm expression; the other was an Asian woman with sharp, clever eyes.

“Nice to meet you, Nala. I am indeed Vera, and these ladies are Kalani and Min-Ji. Min-Ji can explain what happened to us—though perhaps not to you; she is a pilot.”

Not was a pilot, is a pilot. Did that mean there were functioning ships on Serant?

A way off the planet? Artek hadn’t said a word about it, but it wasn’t like I could go home anyway.

On Earth, everyone believed I was dead. Traveling that far would take years too, unless you had a very fast ship with highly advanced engines and a first-rate navigator.

I pressed my hand to my belly, which was hidden from view, and wondered whether Artek had told these women that I was pregnant. Going back to Earth was not an option, but I still had to determine whether staying was the right choice for me and for my daughter.

Min-Ji smiled at me, and it felt as if she knew exactly what I had been thinking.

“Serant is not a bad place; it is certainly much better than the UAR and Earth. I was on a top-secret mission into the Zeta Quadrant, supposedly to make allies. I think they brought humans as currency. Serant has some unique properties, though, and ships that get too close run the risk of being grounded permanently.”

That was more or less what I’d already surmised on my own, and the answer wasn’t satisfying.

I didn’t understand why the UAR would need out-of-quadrant allies; they were all-powerful.

Athol might have been a rebel, trying to overturn their power, but he was part of a dying faction—every news outlet said so…

Oh. Maybe Athol’s mission was more successful than it appeared.

That would be just like the UAR to hide the success of the rebels.

“I understand Artek found you recently? There was a ship that crashed a few weeks ago; you must be from that arrival,” Kalani said, and I listened, mesmerized by her dulcet tones. “We can retrieve you so you can be with us. It is only a short ride with the dragon. You’ll be safe here.”