Kai nodded his
head. “You are my bride. You were on Earth when we spoke our vows. You were
coming here to live.” The lies were
growing by the minute. When she regains her memory, there will be hell to pay.
He gulped at the thought.
Her head was
nodding as Shana turned away from him. Suddenly, she turned back to him and
jumped into his arms, claiming his lips in a passionate kiss.
What They Are Saying About
The Guardian Of
“Guardian of
--Jenn Nixon,
Author
Play Nice and Live to See Tomorrow
www.wingsepress.com
Wings
The Guardian Of
by
Tamia Dawn Osburn
A Wings ePress, Inc.
Futuristic Romance Novel
Wings ePress, Inc.
Edited
by: Leslie Hodges
Copy
Edited by: Elizabeth Struble
Senior
Editor: Elizabeth Struble
Managing
Editor: Leslie Hodges
Executive
Editor:
Cover
Artist: Richard Stroud
All rights reserved
Names, characters and incidents depicted in this book are products of
the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual
events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely
coincidental and beyond the intent of the author or the publisher.
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by
any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by
any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing
from the publisher.
Wings
ePress Books
http://www.wings-press.com
Copyright
© 2004 by Tammy Ainsworth
ISBN 1-59088-260-1
Published
In the
January
2004
Wings
ePress Inc.
Dedication
To my father, Don Osburn,
who is a huge fan of Sci-Fi in movies and on TV.
And to my husband, Andrew.
One
Earth
5670
The lone,
red-haired woman stood next to what once had been the
Shana’s thoughts
turned back to what her future held as her green eyes gazed up at the moon that
glowed brightly against the dark night sky. Stars were twinkling like diamonds
above her.
She grimaced as
she turned when she heard her name being called. Shana was not in the mood to
be disturbed after the kind of day that she’d had. The President had
reprimanded her again. The incident on Roami Four was not her fault this time.
She couldn’t help he’d been suicidal. His mind was already twisted from the
illegal drugs he’d been taking for most of his life. That was what had led him
to jump off a hundred-story building into the middle of rush-hour traffic that
afternoon.
“How are you on
this fine morning?” Shana asked as she approached her friend, whose blue eyes
were twinkling and her long blonde hair was twisted in a braid.
“I could be feeling
better.” Mikla sighed as she patted her rounded stomach. “I can’t wait for the
little one to be born.” She pressed her hand into her side when the baby kicked
her. Mikla grabbed Shana’s hand and pressed it to her stomach where the kicking
was happening. Shana looked at Mikla with awe in her eyes. A new life was
growing within her friend. In a way, Shana envied her.
She turned from
Mikla as she gazed longingly at the empty space that once had been a free
flowing ocean. It was not a part of the desert that was forbidden to them from
the government. Certain parts of the desert were too toxic and dangerous for
the people to populate. Since no life could survive in the desert area, the
government had made it forbidden to the people.
“It won’t be much
longer before the baby is born.” Shana said turning back to Mikla with her arms
crossed over her chest. “You know, one would think that since we have
simulators that can create everything that we need, it would seem They would be able
to create our oceans once more.” Shana waved her arms over the dried sand.
“True. But we know
They will
never do such thing. I’ve seen pictures in our Historian of what the oceans
once looked like. People actually used to come here just to see the ocean and
swim in it. They even used to sail boats in the ocean. It’s sad that we don’t
have them anymore,” Mikla said sadly, frowning at what the world used to be,
that it was no longer like the old ways, whatever that was. Her
favorite past time was to visit the Historian.
Mikla pressed her
hand to her side as the baby within kicked her once more.
“Is it a boy or a
girl?” Shana placed her hand next to Mikla’s so she could feel the baby’s
movements once again.
“I don’t know. I
didn’t ask the doctor. I know this is weird, but I want to be surprised.” Mikla
grinned. “I can’t wait until the baby is born, neither can Gregor--he is
counting down the days until this little one comes.”
“I don’t think
it’s weird.” Shana sighed as she turned to walk back to the housing center a
few meters from where they stood. “I think that if I were to have a baby I
would want to be surprised also.” Just as they started toward the housing unit,
the com-link on Shana’s wrist started beeping.
“Never a quiet
moment,” Mikla said as they stopped, and she pointed to the com-link that had
been beeping for the past few seconds.
Shana raised her
wrist to her lips and pressed a button to stop the beeping. “Yes,” she
answered, speaking into the com-link. She looked over at Mikla with a slight
smile. “I have a feeling I know who this is.” She winked at her friend. Shana
grimaced as the familiar voice of her superior greeted her in a stern voice.
“Shana Moon, you
are requested to appear before the President of the United World, ASAP. You
will be picked up momentarily at the Station.” The link was severed. Shana
looked up at her friend and frowned.
“What does Mr.
President want with you?” Mikla asked with a smirk as they started walking once
more. She knew too well what President Grogan wanted from her friend.
Shana’s steps
began to grow sluggish--she didn’t want to see President Grogan at the moment,
not with the way she’d been feeling lately. She had been thinking that she
wanted something more in her life. Like her friend, Mikla.
“Who knows what it
could be this time. Maybe he’s going to give me another reprimand. After all,
he already gave me one today for what happened on Roami Four.” Shana sighed as
she stepped over a pink flower whose name currently eluded her. She thought
that it was pretty. She fought the urge to bend down and pick the tiny bud--it
was forbidden to pick any growth that was grown outside the housing unit. The
Government wanted to preserve what was left of the planet life, no matter how
small.
“Maybe he wants
you to become wife number six.” Mikla teased as she turned,
a grin on her face. She burst out with a chuckle at the thought.
“Then become
divorced wife number six? I don’t think so.” Shana shivered at the idea of
becoming the thirty-six-year-old’s wife. The idea of his hands pawing her body
made her sick to her stomach. “The idea sickens me. How in the hell did the son
of a bitch become the President, anyway?” Her steps quickened for a moment,
then slowed down once more when she realized that Mikla wasn’t keeping up with
her pace.
“I can’t even
stand working for him. He is such a bastard it’s a wonder he hasn’t been
assassinated yet,” Shana said in a hushed tone.
“Who knows? This
is his third term and he always makes good promises to The People,” Mikla said
in a hushed tone. One needed to be afraid of being overheard by the President’s
spies that always seemed to be lurking about, listening for some kind of
conspiracy against the President.
“And, as always,
he reneges on those promises,” Shana said in a hard, low voice. She turned to
glare at Mikla. “It’s a wonder how he keeps getting voted into office. I’m
looking forward to the next election and someone else winning.”
~ * ~
Minutes later they
arrived at the station. There was a place to wait for arriving transports near
the docking area. The small hovercrafts were the standard transportation that
flew in the air--land transportation had become a thing in the past when the
first hovercraft was discovered in the early thirtieth century. The hovercrafts
used a clean fuel that dissipated in the over-polluted air on Earth. Air
pollution had become an extreme problem, especially when overpopulation began
to take over the outlying farmland.
Underwater
colonies had turned out to be too dangerous for the people on Earth. They had
become obsolete and were finally banned when the colonies’ domed living
quarters were continually leaking and breaks were happening far too often,
causing the domes to collapse and hundreds of thousands of people to drown.
In the year 3120,
the government decided to colonize unpopulated planets in the outer galaxies.
The shuttles and ships were sent out in the latter part of that year. Planets
were found, and the colonization had begun during that same year.
Then the following
year, in mid 3121, the Great War happened on Earth. One continent fought with
another causing a nuclear war. It had been a war to rule the world, only to
cause the people of Earth to live in massive devastation. The devastation of
the war had been so severe, it wiped out countries as they once were, and all
of the communications to the colonies were lost, never be heard from again.
Records of the colonies were also deleted and most of Earth’s history
destroyed, never to be recovered. The blasts from the nuclear explosions were
so severe, Earth was once again put into an ice age
for almost a hundred years. That slowly thawed into a new era for the people of
Earth.
Earth’s population
slowly grew once more, with set rules, strictly enforced, to repopulate the
growth of the planet. A single couple was only allowed to have two children,
and they must get a special license from the government before they were
allowed to procreate. If they had children without obtaining the special
license, the punishment was death. A public execution for the
parents and the child.
In the past hundred
years there had only been fifty executions--the death penalty was a very
effective deterrent.
The People, as
they called themselves, developed what was now known as A New Nation. The Earth
had become one nation instead of how it had been on old Earth, which had
consisted of several nations. New laws were made, since records of the old laws
were never recovered and the new government had no record of what the old laws
were.
Communications
using Earth’s old computer systems were developed by a man named Ersa Galileo.
The system was improved and perfected in the year of 3301. It linked all of the
communications into one network and became very portable, yet no one was ever
able to link back with the colonies. The technology was lost.
Space travel was
redeveloped in the late 4343. Yet no one could ever find the coordinates of the
missing colonies. Thus, since they were never found, they were forgotten over
the centuries.
~ * ~
“Here is my ride,”
Shana said as a sleek black hovercraft appeared at her side. She turned and
smiled to her friend and gave Mikla a quick, light hug. “Keep in touch,” Shana
whispered in her ear before turning and climbing into the hovercraft that
resembled Earth’s earlier car models from the early twenty-first century.
Someone had found pictures in the old textbooks that had been discovered by an
archaeology class while they were out on a dig in what had once been the
What was once a
1966 Mustang lifted from the ground. Shana looked out
the window and waved to her friend.
Mikla stood with
her hands pressed to her stomach as she watched Shana disappear into the
clouds.
~ * ~
On Zodiaz
2550 A.C.
After Colonization
“Uncle Kai! Uncle
Kai!” Several young, blonde haired children came running out of the single
story brown house and into a tall man’s arms. The dark-haired man scooped up
the three children, ranging between six and one, as they squealed with delight
to see their uncle Kai. He turned to look at his sister as she came out of the
house. He burst out laughing as the youngest child tugged on his ponytail.
“I swear Shay.
Your kids seem to grow every time I see them.” Kai Morgan told his sister as
she stood a foot away from the doorframe to her house. She glared at him
teasingly.
“Then you should
come around more often than just your yearly visits.” The blonde haired woman
grinned up at her oversized younger brother. Her green eyes stared up at Kai as
he reached over and tucked a lock of her blonde hair behind her ear.
Kai set the
children down and watched them run to his ship. He swaggered over to her and
gave her big hug and mussed her hair. He laughed heartily and kissed her on the
cheek.
“Kai! Will you ever grow up?” she teased as she ducked
under his arms. She stood and watched her children run to his ship and Shay
sighed at the darkened sections that showed signs that he had been in a battle.
“Who was it this
time?” She asked as she waved a hand to his damaged ship.
“The
Romaini’s.” He grinned at her and
shrugged his shoulders. He looked away from the ship and toward the wooded area
that surrounded her house.
“What did you do
this time?” Shay asked as she glanced over at her children who had began to
play tag at the starboard side of the ship.
“What makes you
think that I did anything to make them mad?” Kai looked at his sister
sheepishly. “I was innocent this time, I swear. She was the one who smuggled
aboard my ship. It was too late to turn around and dump her off. So I set her
off at the nearest spaceport. I couldn’t help it if it took three days to reach
the port. By then the damage was already done to her reputation, and I wasn’t
going to make the sacrifice to repair it. I wasn’t even intimate with her.”
“I know you, Kai.”
Shay had given him a hard, stern look that said it all.
He reached over to
her and ran his hand through her hair. “It’s the truth, even if you don’t want
to believe that,” Kai said in a tone that showed how hurt he was that his
sister didn’t believe him.
She knew that it
wasn’t his fault that he was born with his looks--jet black hair, clear blue
eyes and a six-foot-four hard built body. Women across the Androne universe had
seemed to chase after him ever since he hit puberty.
Kai sighed as he
called the children away from his ship. They ran up to him and gave him one
last hug before they ran inside the house.
“I need to check
in with the commandant,” he told Shay as he started to walk to the ship.
With a promise to
visit with them the next day, Kai hugged his sister one last time before he
boarded his ship. He sighed as he sat down in the pilot’s seat. He was tired
after the long trip home from having a private meeting with one of his people
who was on a secret mission.
After he ran his
hands over the controls of the ship, the linerunner lifted off the ground. Once
Kai was high enough in the air, he quickly flew over the mass of land that had
been his childhood home. He missed his own home that was nestled in the nearby
mountains.
Paradise was what
his ancestors called this place when they discovered this world--long after
their home world had cut off communications while they were deep in space to
find a new world.
The two dozen
ships had left Earth more than two thousands years ago. They had set off to
find new worlds to colonize after Earth had become overpopulated and the
resources on Earth could no longer feed the people. The people of the new
government had selected the Guardian of Paradise from the original settlers of
the new world.
Kai’s ancestors
were selected to be The Guardian soon after they had arrived on this world. Now
it was Kai’s turn to be the Guardian after his father died five years earlier.
The Guardian is
the ruler of
He sighed as he
stepped out of his ship onto the landing pad in front of his home. A Bot
wheeled up to him in greeting. “Make the necessary repairs,” was all that Kai
told the Bot. He turned on his heel and stepped inside his single story home--it
was prohibited to build houses that were over a single story on
The house seemed
too quiet after his visit with his sister and her children. The longing for a
family of his own overwhelmed him. It was long past time for him to have a mate
of his own.
The problem was,
he had searched this part of the universe for that mate and turned up empty
handed.
I wonder if I’ll end up like great-great-grandpa David? Kai thought
about his one ancestor who never had a mate and the Guardianship was then
handed down to the oldest nephew.
Kai sighed as he
walked into the gym that he had built in one of the many bedrooms that were in
the house and stripped himself of his clothes. He bowed down to the mat and
began his katas.
~ * ~
The black
hovercraft landed outside the four hundred story glass tower in the new Capitol
of The New Nation. The glass tower held all of the government offices,
including the President’s office. Shana stepped through the glass door and
entered the tower.
Three men
surrounded her instantly, and held a long black wand out to her. One of the men
in black patted her down while Shana held her arms out to the side. They were
making sure that she had no weapons on her. The man in front of her nodded his
head and the other two stepped away from her.
“You can go up
now,” the blonde haired man said, tilting his head to the side. Shana nodded
back as she took a step toward the glass elevators. She stepped in as the men
in black watched. Shana sighed as she punched the button that had the number
four hundred written in red paint against the black, steel-metal background.
Then she slid her card through the slot for clearance--the level she was going
to was a very secured floor.
She watched the
three men as the elevator started to slide upward. They stood below, watching
the elevator make the ascent to her destination.
“What am I doing
here in the first place?” Shana asked herself as she continued her rise to the
President’s office on the top floor.
The elevator
stopped on the selected floor. Shana stepped onto a silk area rug that lined
the half-mile corridor. She placed her hand over her stomach as it began to
flutter with nerves. I wonder why he
wants to see me? Shana thought to herself as she
continued the long walk to President Jim Grogan’s office. The man was sleazy
for a human being. He was also too much of a weasel for a President of the New
Nation. Just thinking about the man made her skin crawl.
The door opened
automatically to the President’s office. Just like on the ground floor, Shana
was searched for any hidden weapons on her person. Once that was complete she
was given the nod to enter the actual office space that President Grogan
occupied. The door was opened by a personal guard and Shana stepped through and
waited to be announced.
While she waited,
Shana looked around the dark wood room that was furnished with brass light
fixtures and oriental rugs that covered the floor, all done in shades of red
and black. An old Earth painting from the Twentieth Century Era covered space
on one wall. She turned to face the double, dark wood doors as they opened to
admit her.
“Agent
Moon. Thank you for giving us your
presence here.” The President spoke with a smile that made Shana’s skin crawl
even more. She hoped that she returned his smile with one of her own. She
watched him walk over behind his desk as she sat in the metal chair he had
indicated with his hand. At least there was an inch thin cushion covering
the seat. Shana thought as she took the offered seat and mentally grimaced
when she realized that the cushion did not give very much padding against the
hardness of the metal.
“You must be
wondering why I called you here this day,” he began, and she watched his eyes
as he looked her over with a slow, sensual gaze. Her stomach tightened as she
noticed the hungry look in his blue eyes. It took every effort of Shana’s
control not to jump over the desk and hit him on the side of his head.
“I have been
wondering since I got the call on the com this morning.” Shana spoke in a
smooth, controlled voice. At least she hoped that it was a smooth voice.
President Grogan
pulled an orange folder out of the desk drawer and slid it across the desk to
Shana. She carefully opened it. A man’s picture was on top. He nearly took her
breath away. His black hair seemed so thick and silky. His intense blue eyes
stared at her.
Her eyes traveled
over his muscular body that appeared to be at least six feet tall, but she
wasn’t quite sure--it was hard to tell exactly from looking at his picture.
“This is your next
target.” President Grogan spoke. Shana’s head snapped up at his softly spoken
words. Her eyes were questioning when she flipped through the papers under the
picture. There were three more pictures of the same man. Different poses, and
in one picture he was shaking hands with a well-known criminal from Earth. She
read his file and her eyes widened. This man, Kai Morgan, had dealt
everything from illegal weapons to illegal drugs throughout the solstar system.
“We need to bring
this man to justice as soon as possible.”
Shana nodded her
head.
“He can be found
at theses coordinates.” President Grogan told her what she needed to know.
Shana gasped, amazed, as she realized exactly where that
coordinate was located.
“That is in the
unknown space,” Shana spoke rapidly. This time it was President Grogan who
nodded his head. Shana looked again at the first picture of Kai Morgan.
~ * ~
“Commandant Carlos
Sanchez, what do you have for me?” Kai greeted a dark-haired, dark-skinned man.
“There is not much
to tell,” Carlos answered as he carefully sat in the stuffed chair across from
Kai in the private study of Kai’s office at the Headquarters of The Guardian.
The walls were painted white and pictures of various scenes of
“What is there to
tell?” Kai asked in a quiet, soft tone.
“Earth is indeed
where our ancestors are from,” Carlos answered in the same low tone.
Kai stood up so
fast that his chair banged against the wall a few feet from his desk.
“Are you sure?”
Kai demanded, as he stepped back from the oak desk and stared down at Carlos.
His face paled as his breathing grew erratic.
“Yes, I am sure of
this.” Carlos began to sweat as Kai began to pace the six-foot square room. His
finger was tucked underneath his chin and his eyes were downcast as he paced
the room rapidly back and forth.
“Do they know
about us?” Kai stopped in the middle of the room and turned to look at Carlos.
“No. I am sure
that they don’t. I was very careful about not telling them about us. I even
used the persona of a notorious criminal.” Carlos winced at the hard look that
Kai gave him when he mentioned the persona that he had used. “I didn’t want
them getting suspicious when I made the inquiries about what happened centuries
ago. But I now know what happened to their past history.”
Kai looked away
from him for a moment. “Just get to the point,” Kai mumbled as he walked back
to the desk and slouched in the chair.
“Here’s the
shortened version of what happened on Earth after the colonists left to
discover new worlds to populate. A world war broke out, severing all
communications to the colonies and Earth.
“Earth was once
again in the Ice ages for a century. Once the melt occurred, then they began to
prosper once more. They lost the ability to communicate with us, and over the
centuries they have forgotten about us. To them we are a myth.”
“Thank you for
telling me all of this, Carlos. You may leave now,” Kai told him and turned as
he watched the commandant get up to leave. Kai nodded his head as Carlos
quietly left the room. He swore once the door was closed behind Carlos. Kai
walked back to his desk and sat down. He smoothed his forefinger under his chin
as he stared at the closed door. With the same hand he pounded his fist on the
desk.
He wasn’t sure if
he wanted to believe what the Commandant had just told him. He placed his hands
on the desk and stared at the wall across from him.
We’re a myth to them? Kai asked himself. He smiled as the words were turned
over in his mind, as old hatred filled him. He could turn this myth to his
advantage.
“I knew all along
our ancestors were from Earth. Damn.” Kai muttered under his breath as he stood
up once more and began to pace the length of his office.
I should just
seize this anger and let it go. Kai
told himself sternly as he stopped and gazed at the painting of his long ago
ancestors who had discovered the planet they called
That is what I
will do. Let the anger go for these people who have forgotten us. It was their
fault that this happened. Kai sighed
as he walked to the door and exited his office.
I need some air. He told himself.
“Lara, I’ll be out
for the rest of the day,” he told his receptionist as he walked past her to the
elevators at the end of the hall.
Kai jumped into
his hovercraft and turned on the vehicle. A soft breeze ruffled through his
hair as it lifted from the ground. Being considered a myth was not the only
thing on his mind. It was past time that he took a mate. Kai was already a year
past the age of thirty, a year past the time for him to take his mate. But he
couldn’t find the right woman. His youthful passions had died when he turned
twenty-nine. Once he turned thirty, his desire would rise once more when he
found the woman who was to become his mate.
It was the
best-kept secret from the women on
He swore once more
at his failure to find his mate that he had searched for a good part of the
year. All of the women that he had found on this world had failed to raise his
desire. What if I never find her? Will I
go through the rest of my life as a... He didn’t let the thought be
completed.
Kai’s expression
was hard as he set the hovercraft on the soft sand next to the blue ocean. He
walked next to the shoreline and watched the waves
crash onto his bare feet. He walked backwards until he was at least a foot away
from the water and sat down in the sand. He drew his knees up to his chest and
wrapped his arms around his legs.
He sat there for
hours gazing out to the ocean until the sun began to set on the horizon. His
stomach began to growl as he stood up and wiped the sand from the back of his
black leather pants. He began to walk to the hovercraft when he suddenly tilted
his head to the side and mentally contacted his Bot at home to prepare dinner
and notify him he would arrive home in about twenty minutes. Kai looked back
over the ocean with one last gaze before he started the hovercraft and lifted
from the ground.
Twilight had
turned to dark by the time Kai arrived at his empty house. His only companion
was the Bot. The metal robot was not very much company for his lonely existence.
“Do you think that
I should bring home a date tomorrow night? I think it’s time that I search for
my mate again,” he told the Bot as he sat at the table eating the casserole
prepared for him.
The only answer
that Kai received was a series of beeps and flashing multicolored lights.
“I did promised Prix that I would do a run through with him in the
jungle. I can’t break that promise,” Kai said in a soft voice. “The run through
will help ease some of his fear of becoming a father. Don’t you think?” More
lights and beeps answered him.
Kai had a small
microchip implanted inside of his brain that enabled him to communicate with
his Bot. It was standard procedure on
He pushed his
plate back and stood then he wiped his mouth and tossed the napkin onto the
plate. Kai noticed how quiet his house was. He turned and walked down the hall
to the room that had been the family’s nursery. He gazed longingly at the crib
that stood in the corner of the room, which had been unused for the past thirty
years. He was the last one to use to the family’s heirloom.
But
not for long. That I do
promise. Just until I find my mat,
Kai thought before he turned and walked out of the room.
It was late at
night when Kai pushed the cover from his naked body. He was tired of sleeping
alone. He was covered in sweat from having an erotic dream, but the dream
failed to make his shaft rise. He swore as he stepped out onto the terrace and
gazed at the stars.
~ * ~
“I have to go,”
Shana told her friend over the com-link. “The president has ordered me.”
“But you promised
to be here when the baby is born,” Mikla whined.
“I know. But this
can’t be helped. Sometimes I think he does this just to punish me for some
unknown reason.” Shana paused in the middle of packing a bag for her new
mission. “Maybe it’s time that I get out of the service,” Shana said softly as
she turned and sat on the bed.
“I should see
about breeding. But I don’t think that I can raise a child on my own as some of
the women do on Earth. I think that after this mission I’ll resign and seek a
mate from the government,” Shana said in hopeful voice.
“Shana, don’t. I
know you. This is something you don’t want. Going to the government is the last
resort. I know that you were holding out for a love match of your own. Don’t do
this. Please,” Mikla begged.
“Okay. I’ll think
about it.” Shana spoke in a cheerful voice, even though that was not what she
was feeling at the moment. She rose from her position on the bed and began
packing once more. “I promise to think long and hard, then
give you the answer when I get back.” If I
get back, Shana didn’t say to Mikla as she terminated the call.
Shana took one last look around her tiny apartment. She had very few
possessions since she traveled so much of the time in her line of work.
Tired. I am so tired of living like this, Shana thought as she hefted the bag to her shoulder and walked out of
the apartment.
Instead of taking the hovercraft to the spaceport, Shana had decided to
walk across the city. People walked on past her or shoved past her when she
didn’t move out of their way fast enough. Shana inhaled the aromas of the
vendor’s delights as she passed by them. It was something that she was going to
miss while she was away on the ship. Traveling through space was a very
lonely life.
Two
The forest was
dense and heavy with foliage and a heavy mist filled the cool air. Birds
sounded their calls throughout the jungle, calling to one another in loud
whistles, chirps and clicks. The people on the ground were shaded by the
thick-leafed trees above them. Kai had slipped underneath one of the three-foot
wide green leaves. He palmed the trigger of the black laser cannon in his hand,
and sweat began to bead on his forehead. His hearing was attuned to his surroundings,
waiting to hear the slightest sound from his opponent.
He stood and
waited under the tree that was dripping with moisture from the rain that washed
over the forest earlier in the day. He stomped his black booted feet on the
ground, silently. He continued to wait as he crouched down low. Kai placed his
palm against the bark, his laser cannon upright in his hand with its butt
resting on the wet earth.
There--a sound
that was not part of the forest. He squatted on his haunches. The laser cannon was cocked and ready, resting on his shoulder. His grip on
the laser cannon tightened as he waited a moment longer. The crunching sound
came closer. His heart had begun to beat a little faster as he waited for his
opponent to appear. Sweat beaded on his upper lip. His eyes, shining from his
black painted face, were alerted to every moving object in the forest. The
green camouflage that he wore blended in with the heavy green foliage that
surrounded him.
Just a moment longer, Kai thought to himself. His opponent was only a foot away. Kai lay on
his stomach, his hands spread out in front of him, the laser cannon in one
hand. His eyes were on his opponent. When the opponent turned his back on Kai,
he began his attack in one swift move.
Kai jumped to his
feet, silently, and fired the laser cannon. A loud beeping sound came from his
opponent. Kai grinned at his friend and opponent as he turned toward him with a
surprised look on his face.
“You did it to me
again, Kai. After all of these we have been through, you would think that I
would know all of your tricks of winning by now,” Prix said and wiped the sweat
from his face with his forearm. His fingers combed his blond hair back from his
face. He was not surprised that Kai had beaten him at this game once again.
They had been playing the game together since they were children.
“One of these days
you will have your turn.” Kai chuckled as he slapped his hand on Prix’s back.
The two men turned and started to make their way up the slope of the forest.
They slipped and caught their footing with every few steps they took.
“Tell me, how is
your wife doing?” Kai asked as he stepped over a thick green vine. He heard the
vine rise and fall back to the ground with quiet ease.
Prix turned to
glare at the vine that had moved. “She is doing better these days. Sira will be
glad when our son arrives. The doctor said that it could be any day,” he said,
giving Kai a wide smile that lit up his entire face. Kai could tell by the
sound of Prix’s voice that he was very anxious about the birth of his first
child.
Kai nodded his
head.
“I would ask if
you want a sparring match when we get back, but Sira asked me to come home
early tonight.”
Kai smiled and
shook his head, “I have a date tonight, anyway. I need to shower--it’s an early
date that may last until morning.” This time it was Prix who slapped Kai on the
back as the hovercraft came into view. Both men were weary from the game they
had just played and ready to go home.
~ * ~
It was late in the
evening. Heavy breathing could be heard in the bedroom of Sonya’s house. Kai’s
body was cradled between Sonya’s legs, but he had no erection at this point in
their lovemaking. He kissed her deeply and his hands caressed her breasts,
making the tips pucker and ache for a release. His lips lifted from her reddened
lips to the side of her neck. Her dark brown hair teased his check as he moved
to nibble along her shoulder. He waited for his shaft to harden. It hadn’t
happened yet.
What is wrong
with me? Kai asked himself. His
breathing deepened and his caresses began to grow bolder and more intense. He
knew the reason why he was not hardening, and he was beginning to grow
frustrated that he could not fulfill this need that he had making him unable to
find his release.
Sonya’s hands
traveled down his chest and cupped his shaft. She moved her hand slowly up and
down his shortened length. He had still failed to harden. She was growing more
agitated that he could not put out the fire that was growing into an inferno
inside her. She couldn’t seem to understand why he wasn’t
hard yet. She had used every seductive trick she knew to make him erect,
all to no avail. She made a soft sound that told him that she was ready for her
release.
With his thumb,
Kai found her bud and began to move in a circle. Sonya cried out and bucked her
hips against his hand. He moved his thumb over her faster and harder until she
cried out with her release.
Kai lifted himself
off of Sonya, sighing as he swung his legs over the side of her bed. Her
fingers lightly scratched down his back and he shivered at the contact. He
combed his hair back with his fingers in agitation. He growled when she trailed
her fingers around his shaft again. Sonya frowned when she noticed that he
still hadn’t grown any harder.
She slid off the
bed and glided down on the floor between his legs and took him in her mouth.
Kai inhaled sharply at the feel of her moist mouth on him. Even though she
licked and suckled him, he still failed to have an erection. With a frustrated
sigh, Kai stood and placed his hands under Sonya’s arms, pulling her to her
feet. He stood in front of her and looked down into her brown eyes and gave her
a sheepish smile.
“I’m sorry. We
were just not meant to be together,” he told her before giving her a deep,
passionate kiss, then began to dress. He tugged his
black jeans over his hips and fastened them on the side. Next, he pulled his
short-sleeved burgundy shirt over his head. He sat back down on the bed and
tugged his socks over his feet, then followed with his black leather boots.
Kai got up and
left a very bewildered Sonya on her bed, with her hands on her naked hips.
There was an astonished look on her face. A look that said that she couldn’t
believe this had just happened to her. She threw a pillow at the closed door.
The pillow thumped against the door before falling onto the floor.
~ * ~
Kai stepped into
his house at a hard pace. “How could this have happened?” He raked his hair
with his fingers. Breathing hard, he stripped off his shirt and tossed it on
the living room floor. A Robo cleaner came out of the wall with a whoosh and
picked the shirt up from the floor. Kai did not seem to notice the presence of
the Robo cleaner or the soft beeping sound that it made.
Kai kicked off his
boots, followed by his dark black denim jeans and tossed them in the direction
of the Robo cleaner. The jeans landed on its head. The Robo cleaner made a soft
whirring sound and turned on its wheels going back into the wall unit with the
jeans still on its head.
Kai stood in the
middle of the sparse living room with his hands on his bare hips and tried to
calm his harsh breathing. His eyes closed, Kai went down to his knees. He
sought out his inner peace. His hands were braced on his knees. Head tilted
back until the veins stood out in his head. A sound of frustration and agony
filled the quietness of the dark house.
“Damn! I failed
again!” Kai shouted at the ceiling of his house. He shook his fist at the wall.
He squeezed his eyes shut and shook his head slowly. He bowed his head down to
his knees when he continued breathing hard and fast, frustrated at his failure.
Moments later,
when Kai’s breathing had returned to normal and all of his frustrations had
seeped out of him, Kai jumped to his feet in one swift move. His hands spread
in front of him. His legs spread apart. Kai made the first move into action as
he turned to his right and swiftly kicked his leg out to the side. His hands
remained in front of him for protection when he swiftly turned to his left and
executed the same move with a high block above his head. He circled to face the
invisible assailant that stood behind him. He fisted his hand and punched,
followed by a quick chop with his other hand.
Kai dropped into a
crouch back on his knees once more. He stuck his leg out and twirled on the
other leg as he swept the floor with a perfect kick. Then he quickly got to his
feet. He began to slice the air in front of him with a chop of his hands,
sliding with his feet with every move.
Kai paced himself
while his breathing remained even and in control with every move that he made
while he completed the kata. Sweat covered his naked body as Kai landed on his
knees after a midair kick. He rested with his hands on his knees, his head
bowed. Eyes closed, he slowly opened them as he stared at the bare gray wall in
front of him. His eyes were unfocused to what he was really seeing in front of
him.
He slowly got to
his feet. Wiping the sweat off his forehead with his forearm, he slowly made
his way to the bathroom.
~ * ~
Sitting on the
bunk in her ship, The Atlantis, Shana
stared at the picture of Kai Morgan. There was something about this unknown man
that did something deep inside of her, but she couldn’t understand what those
feelings were. With a sound of a soft growl, Shana tossed the picture back in
the folder and closed it. She pounded her fist on the folder and tossed it to
the metal floor. She flicked her braid over her shoulder and let out a pent up
breath.
She eased herself
onto her back and closed her eyes for a moment’s rest. Instead, Shana fell into
a deep sleep.
Several hours
later, the ship’s warning bells jerked her awake. Her eyes were unfocused as
she brushed her bangs out of her eyes with an unsteady hand, then let her gaze
scan her sleeping chamber.
“Computer, what
are these bells for?” Shana shouted over the clarion bells. Her brain was still
not functioning at this point after being jerked awake.
“I have detected a
virus within my system,” a computerized voice answered through the intercom.
“What?”
Shana slipped on a pair of olive green shorts that followed with a
thin-strapped shirt that matched the shorts. “Cease with the bells,” Shana
demanded at the computer, when she couldn’t hear the computer’s answer over the
loud warning bells that vibrated in her ears. Seconds later the bells stopped,
but the red lights were still flashing on the console.
“Repeat the
answer, computer,” Shana demanded once more. She placed her hands on her hips
as she waited for the answer, giving the computer’s console a hard glare.
“I have detected a
virus within my system,” the computer repeated.
Shana dashed out
of her sleeping chamber and sat in the pilot’s chair. She quickly typed in
several commands on the computer. “How far away are we from these coordinates
three-four-five-six-eight-seven-dash-seven-eight-six?” Shana asked as she looked
out the porthole that was six feet wide and six feet in height in front of the
console. Panic began to seep into her and Shana’s heart began to race inside
her chest as she swiped her hair from her face and she began to sweat.
“Shit,” Shana
muttered under her breath.
“I do not
understand the command?” The computer answered as static started through the
computer’s audio system.
“Shit,” Shana
muttered the word once more. Sweat began to bead on her forehead and arms at an
alarming rate. For some unknown reason, the heat was turned up suddenly inside
the ship.
“Computer, can you
please turn the heat down a few degrees?” Shana asked.
“Affirmative.” The computer answered through static while Shana
looked out the port window once more as a blue and green slow spinning planet
that resembled Earth appeared in her view.
The room grew
suddenly cold and Shana shivered. “Computer...” she began, then
stopped when the room grew warm once more.
“Computer, what is
the virus that is in your system?” Shana asked as she typed in commands on the
console at a fast pace. The screen before her read ‘Negative’ over and over
again as she ran scan after scan on the computer system.
It was a moment
later that she realized the computer had not answered her earlier question.
“Computer,” Shana
began once more when the ship dipped suddenly. Shana grew lightheaded as she
was thrown out of her seat. She looked to her side at the gauges and saw that
the oxygen level was heading for the zero mark at a fast pace.
“No!” Shana cried
out loudly. More sparks flew from the metal walls that surrounded her. Shana
jumped and spun to avoid the rain of hot cinders falling on her.
“What
the hell kind of virus is this?”
She screamed out, but the computer didn’t respond.
A small fire
sparked to life on the far wall, but the emergency sprinkler did not come to
life.
“Shit,” Shana
muttered once more as she grabbed the small gray fire extinguisher from under
the console and aimed it at the growing fire on the wall.
Nothing came out
of the nozzle. She pressed the lever once more. No foam came out, nothing. Her
heart was pounding at a much faster rate as she looked down at the dial on the
extinguisher. It read zero.
“Damn!” she cried
out and tossed the empty metal can to the side. Smoke filled the air; Shana
began to cough as she sat in the pilot’s seat and leaned her head on the
console. She quietly sobbed when the word Defeated! Repeated itself over and over in her mind.
Tears began to fall from her eyes and down her checks, then from her chin onto
her crossed arms.
She could hear the
fire spreading inside of The Atlantis.
Shana grew weaker with every breath she took. She began coughing often as her
lungs filled with smoke.
~ * ~
The house was dark
as Kai stood staring up at the still darkened sky, but dawn was on the horizon.
He couldn’t sleep during the night, and he had tossed and turned. His thoughts
were on his sexual drive, his body throbbing with a need that could not find
satisfaction. He was tired of living this lonely life without his mate. He was
tried of searching for his mate. It’s not
like I have much choice. It isn’t
like one will just drop out of the sky and land in my backyard, Kai thought
with dry humor.
He sighed as he
let go of the doorframe. He looked over at the sun which had barley moved over
the horizon, then back up to the sky and saw what looked like a falling star
moving swiftly in the sky. Kai stood there, mesmerized by the spectacular sight
that it made.
As he continued to
watch it, he noticed that it was not a falling star. Whatever it was, it was
growing in size and getting closer to
“It’s a ship,” Kai
whispered, his hands dropping to his sides as he continued to watch the burning
ship. He ran inside his single story house and into his bedroom, then grabbed his com-link off the dresser as he ran back
outside the house. His intense blue eyes scanned the sky as he punched in a few
buttons on the com-link.
He immediately
spotted the burning ship in the lightening sky as the sun was now rising
quickly. “I need a unit, fast,” Kai spoke harshly into the com, his breathing
heavy and fast.
“Sir, where do you
need the unit sent?” the female voice spoke through the tiny speaker.
There was a loud
roaring sound, and Kai kept his eyes on the ship as it went toward The Galilee
Mountains.
“The
~ * ~
The hovercraft
lowered to the soft earth. Smoke billowed heavily in the air as Kai rushed to
the burning ship. He threw his arm over his face as he tried to lift the hatch
that was blistering hot to his bare touch. Kai jerked his shirt off and wrapped
it around his hand. He opened the hatch and jumped inside the craft, coughing
as the smoke from within filled his lungs. The smoke eased out the opened hatch
and as the air cleared a little, Kai could see inside the ship. His eyes
watered and he squinted them.
He covered his
mouth with his shirt as he quickly searched the ship.
A woman was lying
on the gray metal floor on the bridge. He picked her up in his arms and dashed
outside as several hovercrafts landed next to the burning ship. Several
firefighters jumped out and ran for the fire.
“What do we have
here?” a black-haired man with graying streaks asked as Kai carefully placed
the woman on the ground.
“She was inside
the ship.” Kai placed his hand over his mouth as he continued to cough. Tears
streamed from his eyes and down his blackened face. He watched the Fire
Commander check the woman, as his crew worked frantically to put out the
burning inferno. One of the men dashed inside with fire gear on for protection.
Minutes later he came out saying that there was no one else aboard the ship.
Kai looked down at
the woman and concern filled his eyes.
“She’s alive. Barely.” Mitch ran a medical tricorder over the woman.
Beeping sounds and lights flashed over the unconscious woman. Kai’s breathing
hitched as he continued to stare down at the woman who had scratches over her
face and was covered in black soot from the smoke. His heart pounded in his
chest. Heat pooled in his groin. Kai felt himself harden just looking at this
unknown woman. What the...? Kai asked
himself as he stared down at the unconscious woman.
“She needs to get
to a med-unit immediately,” Mitch said as he stood up and faced Kai. “She has a
concussion and internal bleeding. She must’ve been tossed around severely
inside that ship when it crashed.”
Kai nodded his
head. “I have one at my house. It’s closer than the hospital,” he said as he
bent and picked her up into his arms.
Mitch followed him
to the black hovercraft.
“Let me know who
she is when you find out,” Mitch said as Kai placed her in the back seat. He
placed her hands over her stomach. Kai brushed a strand of red hair behind her
ear. His finger touched the small blue stone on her lobe before he turned to
face Mitch.
“Let me know what
you find out about that ship and where it came from.” I can only hope that it is not from Romaini, Kai told himself.
He climbed inside
the hovercraft, looked over at the still burning ship and grimaced. She was
lucky to be alive after having gone through that. He shook his head sadly. The
hovercraft slowly lifted off the ground and he raced back to his house at warp
speed.
~ * ~
Several hours
later, Kai lifted the unknown woman out of the glass box of the med-unit. Kai
walked down the hallway to one of several guestrooms. A Bot followed close at
his heels. When Kai stopped next to the bed in the room, the Bot turned down
the covers.
He bent as he
placed her in the center of the bed and pulled the covers over her. The
med-unit had healed her. Yet she still had not wakened. Kai was worried that
something else was wrong with her, but the med-unit had given her a clean
health read out. Kai chewed on his lower lip as he continued to gaze down at
her. He reached out and brushed her bangs over her forehead.
Her skin felt like
silk beneath his fingertips. “Stay with her. Let me know when she awakens,” Kai
ordered the Bot that stood next to the bed awaiting his orders. The Bot beeped
twice and swirled in a circle telling him that he would do as Kai wished. Kai
nodded his head as he pulled his hand back from the woman on the bed and
quietly left the room. He paused in the doorway and added as an afterthought,
“Clean her up, too. And find something else to clothe her in besides those
burnt clothes she is wearing.”
~ * ~
Thoughts about the
woman were on his mind most of the day. Kai couldn’t seem to concentrate on his
work. Several important documents that needed his signature went unsigned, and
listening to important matters from his administrative staff were
left unheard. Kai’s second in command kept giving him a confused look.
“What’s on your
mind, Kai?” Roy Gibson asked when they were alone in Kai’s office.
“Nothing,” Kai responded
as he took his seat at his desk and sighed.
“Yes,” Kai spoke
abruptly as he turned on the link. Kai sat there listening to the beeps and
whirling sounds from the other end. The computer chip that was implanted inside
of his brain quickly translated the sounds into his language.
A moment later Kai
terminated the com-link, quickly stood up from his
desk and left his office. This was what he had been waiting for all day. The moment that she awoke. His secretary gave him a confused
look behind his back as he rushed from the office.
~ * ~
Her eyes opened
slowly to a dark room. Shana lay still on the bed as she gathered herself
together. Her head pounded and she slowly raised her hand to her forehead.
Her throat was dry
and scratchy. The cough she made sounded weak and she felt listless to her
bones. She slowly turned her head to the side trying to figure where she was.
Nothing seemed familiar to her. She gazed at the dark wood that was a wall.
There was nothing decorating the wall to give her something to go by to tell
her where she was. Shana turned her head to the other side and gasped out loud
when she saw a small robot at her bedside.
She tried to raise
herself up in the bed, but she felt too weak to move. Her heart pounded as
panic began to set in. Her eyes were wide and frightened.
A sound at the
foot of the bed made her turn her gaze to the door as a man walked through the
doorway. Shana could only stare at him as he slowly approached her. Her gaze
swept over him from his black hair to his even blacker boots. He was dressed
completely in black. Her eyes widened with every step he took that brought him
closer.
“I see that you
are finally awake.” His voice was deep and husky and sent shivers down her
spine. He looked down her with tender blue eyes that were hard and yet...
He moved to sit
beside her on the bed and took her hand in his.
Shana looked from
their joined hands to his gaze. A hot electrical current shot through her. He
let go of her hand and reached out to the robot to take the glass of water that
it held out to him. Then he offered the glass to Shana.
Her hand trembled
as she took the glass from him and took a small sip of the cool, fresh water.
The cool liquid eased her dry, parched mouth and also soothed the scratchiness
of her throat. She took several sips before she handed the glass back to the
man who sat beside her.
“Thank you,” she
whispered in a hoarse voice. The man nodded his head as he placed the glass on
the nightstand. He turned to look back at her. She noticed that his eyes had
softened and there was something about his gaze that did things to her insides
that she didn’t understand.
“Do you remember
what happened?” he asked calmly as he watched her struggle to recall. A crease
formed in the center of her forehead and she frowned.
“No.” Shana merely
whispered as her gaze held his.
“May I ask who you
are and where you’re from?” he asked as he took note of the perfect English
that she spoke. A lot of races in this part of the galaxy could speak perfect
English with the help of a subliminal vid.
Shana couldn’t
understand the question that he was asking. Do
you know who I am? She wanted to ask. She glanced away from him to the Bot
that was busy cleaning the already clean floor, then
she turned back to him.
She closed her
eyes tightly as she tried to remember. Her mind was a total blank. She made a
sound of pain and frustration. She opened her eyes slowly as she gazed back at
him with sad green eyes and shook her head. “I don’t know,” she said bleakly.
There was a deep lump in her throat that made it hard to form a word.
“I don’t know who
I am.” She cried out, covering her face with her hands and beginning to sob.
Kai stood up from
his chair, giving her a hard look as he walked out of the bedroom. As he walked
down the hallway, he raked his fingers though his hair and the leather strap
that held it back fell to the floor.
The Robo cleaner
came out of the wall in the bedroom, startling Shana.
When he heard her
scream out, he turned in mid-stride and ran back to the guest room.
Three
“Great. This is
just great. This is the last thing that I need right now,” Kai muttered to
himself with a frown as he sat in the medical room of his house. He typed on
the keyboard of the med-unit regarding the woman’s condition. He waited for
several seconds as the answer came to him on the computer’s screen.
“Amnesia.” Kai muttered under his breath as he stared at the
computer screen in front of him.
He read about the
condition. He lowered his head into his cupped hand and sighed.
“What am I going
to do with this woman until she gets her memory back?” Kai asked no one in
particular.
A beeping sound at
his side made Kai turn to look down at the Bot.
“What?” he asked
in confusion. Beeps and whirrs were the Bot’s answer.
“What do you mean
that she ran off?” Kai stood up from his seat quickly and dashed out of the
medical room, his heart thudding against his chest. He asked, “Where did she
go? She couldn’t have gone very far! Where would she go?”
The Bot had no
idea where she had gone.
One by one, Kai
searched every room in the house. He raked his hands through his long hair in
agitation when he couldn’t find her.
“Where the hell is
she?” he asked under his breath. Darkness had fallen moments ago. There was
only one place that he had not checked for her yet. Outside.
Kai threw open the
door, and there she stood, gazing out toward the dusky sky. She turned and
looked at him with a puzzled expression.
“Where am I?” she
asked. Confusion filled her expression as she looked at him.
Kai stood there
looking at her with an odd look on his face.
“This does not
look familiar to me.” She indicated before her as she turned to look at the
horizon once more.
“You crash landed
here yesterday. You had a slight injury to your head.” Kai pointed to her
temple. She reached up with her hand and rubbed at the spot he indicated.
“It doesn’t hurt.”
She spoke so softly that it sent chills down his spine.
A Bot appeared at
Kai’s side and began whirring at him. He looked down at the Bot, then to the
woman who also stared down at the Bot curiously. “Dinner is ready,” Kai spoke
to her.
“You can
communicate with that thing?” She pointed at the Bot but was looking at him. He
nodded his head.
“How?” she asked.
Her eyes looking warily at the machine that stood at his side. She glanced from
the Bot back to him, her eyes wide open.
“I have a computer
chip implanted in my brain that gives me the ability to be able to communicate
with it,” he explained as he placed a hand on her arm to lead her back inside
the house.
She looked down at
the Bot once more before she turned her gaze back to the man. She looked
puzzled at him, searching her brain for his name but came up empty.
“I don’t remember
if you told me what your name is,” she said as she took a seat at a very long
wooden table.
Kai lifted his
head and stared at her. “It’s Kai. Kai Morgan.” A whirring sound at his side
made him look down and away from her. His heart was doing little flip-flops in
his chest whenever he gazed into her green eyes. His hands itched to caress her
smooth skin.
He had left out
one piece of important information. That he was the ruler of
That name sounds familiar to me. Why? Shana turned her head to look at an abstract painting
on the wall. Her thoughts were at war with one another. She crossed her arms
over her chest as she stared at the painting, not really looking at it.
What is he to me? The thought went through her mind. She moved her gaze down at her
plate. The food that was placed there was unknown to her. Nothing is familiar to me, she
told herself in a confused voice.
Shana lifted the
fork that was next her plate and speared a piece of meat. She lifted her fork
to her nose and sniffed. The smell was unknown to her. Strange
smell. She sniffed again. Spices tickled her nose. She took a bite and
her mouth was on fire. Shana quickly put her hand to her mouth and swallowed
the bite, then grabbed the glass of water. She quickly drained the glass of
water in one gulp.
Kai stopped
chewing and watched Shana. Another hint that this woman was
not from his planet. The woman had never eaten wild hare meat or
anything spicy. He should have told the Bot not to put any red pepper on the
meat, since she was just getting over her injuries.
He pushed his
chair away from the table. “Let me get you something else that is not too spicy
for you.” Kai grinned down at her and quietly left the dining room.
“Our guest does
not take spicy food that well. What else do we have for her?” Kai asked the
Bot.
Beeps and whirrs
were the answer.
“That sounds good.
Just put it on a tray and I’ll take it to her,” Kai said. The Bot went to the
fridge and loaded fruit and vegetables on the tray.
“Thank you,” Kai
said as he lifted the tray and carried it out of the kitchen.
“What’s this?”
Shana asked as she picked up a piece of purple fruit off the tray after Kai
placed it in front of her.
He stopped chewing
as he looked at the fruit that was in her hand. “It’s a virdana.” He said.
“It’s imported from Romainia.” He watched her face for a sign that she knew of
the planet. Her face remained without expression.
“Romainia is in
the Cansir quadrant.” Kai spoke softly, testing her.
“Should I know
that quadrant?” She turned her eyes to him.
Such innocent
eyes, he thought. He wasn’t sure if he should trust her or not--even if he was
hardening by just being near her. His thoughts were always about her lately.
“I don’t know. You
tell me,” he said in a demanding but soft voice.
Shana tried to
think if she should know this place that he was talking about. She placed an
elbow on the table and cupped her head in her palm. Her eyes closed as she
tried really hard to remember. A headache began in the back of her neck. She
raised her other hand and began to rub at the spot that was throbbing
uncomfortably.
“What’s wrong?”
Kai asked as he pushed himself away from the table and knelt down at her side.
He placed a gentle hand on her back and began to caress her spine.
“Headache,” Shana
answered with a sigh as she lifted her head and turned to look at him.
Kai could see the
pain in her green eyes as he stared into them deeply. Something pulled his
heart to this woman. He hated to see the pain in her eyes. His hand lifted on
its own and tugged a strand of her hair, placing it behind her ear.
Shana’s heart
pounded at the tender look in his eyes. Her heart constricted and expanded. She
could feel the blood pound through her veins. Her lips parted as her breathing
became shallow and fast, her headache almost forgotten. She could feel the pain
only slightly.
Her gaze dropped
to Kai’s lips, then back to his blue eyes. His eyes seemed hot and yet cool at
the same time. They began to turn into a hazy blue within seconds.
Kai’s eyes dropped
to her lips. His lips parted as he slowly moved them toward her mouth. He
strongly felt the urge to kiss her.
Their lips were a
mere centimeter apart when he heard the familiar beeping at his side. He sighed
as he pulled away from her.
“Yes?” Kai said a
little too roughly. A series of harsh beeps and whirrs came from the Bot.
“I’m sorry for
sounding rude.” Kai spoke in a contrite voice. He placed a hand over his heart,
and stood up as he looked down at the Bot as it continued to beep and whirr.
Its lights flashed at a fast pace and the Bot turned in a circle three times
before it went quiet and the lights stopped flashing.
Kai turned to look
at her and spoke in a rapid voice. “I have to go. There is an emergency on The
Shadow’s Edge.” He all but ran out of the dining room. “I’ll have the Bot bring
you some aspirin and a glass of water for your headache.” Kai had paused by the
door, then turned and walked away.
Shana turned to
look at the quiet Bot. “What is The Shadow’s Edge?” She asked with a frown. She
had never heard of the place. At least, I
don’t remember knowing about the place. Or if it is a place.
The Bot remained
quiet.
Shana sighed as
she stood up from the table. Tugging the hem of the long shirt down to her
thighs, she pulled the shirt sleeves over her hands and began rolling them up
past her elbows.
“Is there
something else that I can wear?” she asked.
The Bot remained
quiet at her side.
Shana tossed her
hands in the air and went in search of Kai’s room. A dark-wood bed stood in the
middle of the deep-blue carpet, against a beige wall. A rich green couch sat
underneath a soft blue curtained window that filled an entire wall. Pictures of
mythical creatures and scenic pictures of
She began to dig
through his dresser until she came across another dark colored short-sleeved
T-shirt. She quickly pulled the shirt she was wearing off and donned the new
shirt that reached down and covered her thighs. Shana walked over to the
dresser and picked up a brush, vigorously brushing her hair until it shone. She
twisted her hair into a braid and tied the end with a small scrap of leather.
She sighed as she
walked out of his room.
She stood in the
hallway and gazed at a portrait of a dark-haired man. He looked to be about in
his mid-thirties. Shana noticed a touch of sadness in his eyes. She shrugged
her shoulder and walked into the library.
~ * ~
“What do you mean
that Kai Morgan is still alive?” President Grogan asked,
his voice hard and lethal. His eyes were even harder. He stared down at the man
whom had just given him a progress report.
“Sir, the ship
that Shana was on disappeared from the radar screen. Her ship’s whereabouts are
unknown at this time.” Richa spoke as he watched the President across the desk.
“It is rumored that she crash-landed on
President Grogan
thrummed his fingers on the desk. “That’s too bad, she could have become my
next wife,” he said sadly, but his eyes were hard.
Richa stared at
the President with his head tilted to the side wondering what he meant by that
comment.
“Oh well,”
President Grogan said as he sat up in the chair. “Who else can we send to
eliminate our unfortunate problem with this so called Guardian of Paradise? Who
do we have on hand at the moment?”
“I am not sure
who’s available right now. I have to do some research. I’ll have someone write
up a file of the possibilities as soon as I have the results.” Richa rose from
the chair and walked out of the office.
The President also
rose from his chair and walked over to the window. He grinned into nothingness.
He placed his arms behind his back and continued to stare at the scene below
him.
Hovercrafts flew
past him below, as they made their way around in the city. The
Unlike the past
presidents, he made trades with other worlds. They might not have been the best
trades, or the most ethical, but they were making The New World a profit.
He turned from the
window as the door opened and a green-skinned man walked in his office.
“Did you get her?”
Grogan asked as he walked back to the desk and sat down in the chair.
“We could not
reach her. The virus we implanted on her ship before she left the planet was
activated too late. She was almost to
Grogan nodded his
head and grimaced. No money was going to exchange hands this time.
Slavery was a
tricky trade in which to get directly involved, anyway.
~ * ~
Shana tossed and
turned on her bed late that night. Disturbing dreams filled her mind.
She wore black
clothing and danger was all around her as she ran for the cover of safety in
the darkness.
Lasers were
being fired at her as she ran. She ducked her head as a laser blast came too
close for her comfort. Another blast barely missed her head and Shana ducked to
avoid being hit.
Voices screamed
for her to stop. She wouldn’t stop, no matter the cost. The cost was her life. Someone
ran past her. She tried to calm her fast breathing as she ran further into the
darkness with the urgent need to leave this place, hoping that it wouldn’t be
in a body bag.
Shana dashed
behind a wall and returned fire as she dropped a black bag on the ground next
to her. “What’s in that bag?” her mind screamed at her.
“I should know
what’s in that bag. I don’t.” Her mind screamed out as she ran and ran. She
made it to the ship. The hatch lowered as soon as she stepped inside the craft.
She dropped the bag as she ran toward the bridge yelling at the computer to
take off immediately.
She sat up in the
bed breathing heavily as sweat poured from her body, dampening the sheets and
the thin blanket. Her heart was pounding at a fast rate along with her pulse.
She wiped a shaking hand over her forehead before she lowered her head on her
bended knees.
She heard the
sound of beeping next to her bed and she turned to look at the ever-present
Bot.
“It was only a
nightmare,” she said in a trembling voice to the Bot. She tried to laugh but
failed when the sound came out as a low moan. Her smile turned into a frown and
she turned away from the Bot.
She knew that it
would not understand her. Shana eased herself off the bed and walked over to
the window. She looked up at the star filled night and gazed at the three
moons.
Three
moons? she asked herself as her frown deepened.
“I don’t remember
home having three moons,” she told herself in a wistful voice that held a touch
of sadness. She sighed as she dropped to her knees beside the window and
continued to gaze out into the night, trying to figure out where she was--and
what Kai Morgan meant to her.
~ * ~
Kai’s heart
constricted when he heard her speak about her home not having three moons. So how many moons does her home planet have?
Kai asked himself. Where is her home? His hands made fists at his sides.
He turned and
walked out of her bedroom.
Kai had this
sudden urge, deep in the night, to see her.
He had awoken and
sat in the bed for several long moments before he had lost against the urge to
see her face. Kai walked softly down the hallway and eased into her room. He
had noticed that she was in the grip of a nightmare. Shana had screamed out
several times. He was about to go to her, when she suddenly jerked herself awake.
Kai stepped into
the shadows of her bedroom and watched as she eased out of the bed and walked
over to the window, staring out into the night.
Shana was
beautiful standing at the window with the moons’ light shining down on her.
Kai couldn’t
forget the urge that he had wanted to kiss her earlier that evening. He still
had that urge. It’s too soon, his mind reminded him.
No, it’s not, his heart argued. She needs this more than you.
Why keep fighting against it? He shook his head to clear the thoughts from
his mind.
Sweat began to
show on his forehead as his heart and mind warred with one another. Kai
mentally shook himself as he stepped back out of the bedroom and left as
quietly he appeared.
“Keep an eye on
her for me,” he told the Bot softly as he walked back down the hallway to his
own room. Weariness overcame him and he realized he should get some much needed
sleep--which would be impossible with this unknown woman in the same house.
~ * ~
The following
morning, Kai awoke to the sound of his alarm going off loudly. He reached over
and turned the alarm clock off with a groan. He rose from the bed and did his
morning stretches in the gym. His body was tired from his late night vigil of
watching over her.
Kai’s body was
covered in sweat as he did his katas on the mat. His breathing was hard and
fast. His body ached from the exertion as he was driven to chop and kick the
woman out of his mind.
A slight noise
came from the doorway. Kai looked over and found the woman watching him, as if
she wanted to join him in his morning exercises.
“I am sorry for
disturbing you,” she said after her gave her a look that said she had no right
to be in his gym. Her face held a look that told him he had hurt her feelings.
“Would you like to
join me?” Kai said as he wiped off a bead of sweat that streamed down his
forehead. His look had softened toward her.
Shana hesitated
for a moment before she nodded her head in agreement. She slipped off her shoes
next to the mat and padded barefoot over to where he stood in the middle of the
room. She had found a pair of shorts and a T-shirt to wear that morning. The
clothes were too big for her, but at least the shorts had a drawstring in them
to tighten around her waist.
“Just do as I do,”
Kai told her as he turned to face the wall length mirror. His heart began
pounding as soon as she stood near him. He glanced away from her and freed his
mind from her.
Shana nodded her
head at him as she, too, faced the mirror.
He stood behind
her when he began the warm-ups again for her. Shana followed him step for step.
Once she was warmed up, Kai began doing his katas.
He was surprised
that she was able to match him kick for kick and block for block. He turned to
her and asked, “How do you know these movements?” He was surprised that she had
kept up with him. Even when he had moved faster with each step he took, she was
still able to keep pace.
“I don’t know.”
She answered with a confused expression on her face.
Kai tossed her a
white towel, and she wiped the sweat off her face. “I--” she began, only to be
interrupted by the Bot.
Kai turned to look
down at the Bot for a moment then turned to look at Shana, “I have a phone call
that I have to take. Please excuse me.” Kai bowed to her and quickly left the
room, wiping the sweat from his face and neck with a white towel as he walked
down the hallway to his office.
Shana wiped the
sweat from her own face and neck as she sat down on the mat. She was confused
that she knew the moves to Kai’s katas
How did I know
those moves? she
asked herself as she bent over her outstretched legs, grabbing onto her ankles
with her hands and exhaling.
If I could only
remember, she screamed inside of her
mind.
Time... It will
take some time for my memory to come back. At least I hope it will come back.
But those dreams that I have been having. Are they real or just dreams? Shana thought to herself as she stood up. She glanced
at herself in the mirror. She covered her cheek with her fingertips. Who am
I? Better yet, what am I?
~ * ~
“What do you have
for me?” Kai asked Carlos when his picture came on the screen.
“Nothing. Absolutely nothing on the woman who
crashed-landed here.” Carlos’s expression was grinning. “The computer is
turning up empty.”
Kai sat at his
desk and drummed his fingers on the top. “She had to come from somewhere--not
unless they are cloning people again,” Kai said in a hard voice.
“We need to find
out who she is and why she’s here. Soon,” Kai said then thought to himself, before she begins to mean something to me.
When Kai was done
with his call, he took a detour to his bathroom and took a quick shower,
washing the dried sweat off his body.
When he appeared
in the dining room, he saw that the woman was sitting at the table waiting for
him. An image rushed through his mind as he saw himself coming home to find her
waiting for him every night for the rest of his life, after he was through
being the Guardian for the day.
Kai shook that
image from his mind as he took a seat next to her at the table. “What are we
having today?” he asked.
“I don’t know. I
haven’t been served yet. I cannot talk to the Bot,” Shana answered as she
smiled over at him and pointed to the Bot.
Kai’s heart began
to pound when she smiled at him. He gripped the arms of the chair tightly until
his knuckles turned white. He had the urge to kiss her again, but he fought it.
In Kai’s mind he
told the Bots to serve breakfast in a hurry. And they did.
It was late
morning when he told her, “I have to leave now. I have some business that I
need to take care of, but I will be home later this evening.” He didn’t want to
leave her again. He wanted to spend more time with her. But it couldn’t be
helped. He knew she would be fine while he was gone.
“What does he do?
What kind of business does he always have that calls him away day and night?”
Shana asked herself after Kai had left the house. She threw her hands in the
air and muttered, “Why doesn’t he take me with him?”
Shana had grown
bored while she was waiting for his return. It was already evening time when
she took a novel off one of the bookcases in the library. She looked at the
cover and read the back blurb of the mystery novel. The story seemed like it
might be interesting. She walked over to the couch and lay down with her head
on a soft pillow. She began to read the mystery thriller. For some reason, she
knew this author. Why was she not surprised to find
this particular book here?
As she read the
book, more images of her past washed over her mind. This time Shana was on a
ship. Someone was firing on her.
“Damn those
Hungarians.” She swore and returned fire on them. “You won’t get away from me,”
she said in a hard and lethal voice as fire burned in her eyes.
Pain rushed into
her mind suddenly at the same time she remembered the Hungarian ship exploded.
The pain in her head was so bad that Shana rolled herself into a ball with her
hands cupping her head. She cried out for someone to stop the pain.
Her eyes were
closed tightly and tears streamed down her face.
~ * ~
“No! That can’t be
true,” Mikla cried out as she gripped her hands over her stomach. The baby within
rolled and kicked as if it could sense what Mikla was feeling.
“I am sorry to be
the one to tell you this.” Gregor spoke softly to his mate as he stood behind
her and wrapped his arms around her, his dark head bending close to hers.
“Don’t,” Mikla stressed
as she grabbed his wrist and pushed away from him. “I know Shana. She would not
have let something like this happen. She’s a great pilot. One of the best that
ever was,” Mikla shouted at Gregor. He winced at the sound of her voice.
“Calm down,” Gregor
spoke softly.
“Don’t tell me to
calm down!” she shouted at him as she spun around to face him.
“Think of the
baby,” he told her as he cautiously walked toward her and placed his hands over
the baby within her.
“I just don’t want
to believe that she’s gone. If it were true, then I would feel it in here.”
Mikla sobbed as she placed her hand over her heart.
Gregor wrapped his
arms around his mate as he let her cry over the loss of her friend.
“We’ll name the
baby after her if it’s a girl.”
Four
“Are you sure she’s
from Earth?” Kai asked as he looked down onto his desk. The contents were
spread out in front of him. Kai picked up a piece of paper and scanned the
report quickly, just to be sure that he didn’t miss anything of importance the
first time that he read it. He couldn’t believe what he was reading. At first
he thought that the reports were wrong. He had stared at the same words over
and over, and the report still did not make any sense.
The woman that he
had rescued from the burning ship was from Earth.
“I am sure,”
Rodriguez said as he placed his elbows on the table. His index fingers pointed
upwards in front of him. “That is what the reports said about the crashed
ship.”
Kai sighed as he
leaned back in his chair, then suddenly he stiffened up in the chair.
“We need to find
out why she’s here,” Rodriguez said as he stood up from his chair and braced
his hands on Kai’s desk. The expression on his face was hard and determined to
find out at any cost why the woman had crashed landed on
Kai was about to
respond to the other man’s demands when a series of beeps and whirrs sounded in
his mind, right in the middle of his important meeting with Rodriguez. Kai
stood up from his chair.
“Excuse me. We’ll
have to finish this at a later time. I have an emergency at home.” He spoke as
he walked at a fast pace out of his office, leaving a very confused Rodriguez
behind him.
He didn’t hear
Rodriguez’s sharply exhaled breath as he turned to look at the closed door
behind Kai. Everyone on
~ * ~
Kai jumped into
the hovercraft and turned on the ignition. The hovercraft lifted off the ground
and into the air. Kai rushed home in less then thirty minutes from the other
side of
The hovercraft
wasn’t completely shut down when Kai jumped out of it onto the landing dock. He
heard the engine stop as he rushed inside his house, his heart beating at a
fast pace.
His gaze swept the
living room, and he found her on the floor rocking back and forth on her side
with her hands pressed onto her forehead. Kai rushed to her side and touched
her shoulder with one hand and using his other hand he swept the hair from her
face. She looked up at him with glazed eyes. She didn’t seem to recognize him.
“Please!” She
cried out softly. She reached out with a trembling hand, placing the palm on
his cheek. “Please stop the pain,” she spoke with agony in her voice.
She lowered her
hand back down to the top of her head she as she continued to rock back and
forth on her back. “It hurts too much,” she whispered. Her eyes were opened and
glazed with pain. His heart constricted as he stared down into her pain filled
eyes.
Something tore
deeply inside of him to see her in so much pain. Kai sighed deeply and picked
her up in his arms. He placed a gentle kiss on her forehead and carried her
down to the med-unit.
He gently placed
her in the unit and lowered the lid. Kai heard the air pressure inside the box
indicating the Shana was getting enough oxygen. Colored lights flashed on the
gray box. Kai stood there watching the unit as it worked on the woman. His
hands were fisted at his sides as he waited for the med-unit to do its job and
take her headache away.
He could still
feel her soft skin on his lips from when he kissed her forehead. Kai reached up
and touched his lips. She tasted like satin and silk. Soft.
And all woman. He could feel himself harden just
thinking about her. Kai moved his feet to shift the tightness of his jeans,
trying to find a more comfortable position. He turned when he heard the beeps
at his side and changed his focus from the box down to his Bot.
“She will be fine.
You did good by telling me of her condition,” Kai said
to the Bot as he moved his gaze back to the box. The lights turned green
indicating that the med-unit had completed taking away Shana’s headache.
Kai walked over to
the box and lifted the lid. The machine was still working on her. He began to
pace along the length of the unit, his heart racing inside of his chest. He
couldn’t get the image of her lying on the floor in so much pain out his mind.
He had never felt like this about another person before, and he couldn’t figure
out what it meant. Or why. All that he knew was that
he never wanted to see her like that again.
Her eyes were
closed as she slept from the drugs that she had been given. Kai reached out and
smoothed his finger along her cheek, feeling the softness against his skin. He
sighed as he bent and picked her up out of the box, enjoying the feel of her
heartbeat next to his. He paused in the hallway, immersed in the feeling of
their combined heartbeats. He opened his eyes and carried her into the bedroom
that she had been using, wishing that she was sharing his bed instead. He
mentally shook his head. It will not
happen until I know for a fact who she is and why she is here on my planet.
He scratched his chin with his forefinger.
He gently laid her
on the bed. Kai sat down next to her and held her hand. She slowly opened her
eyes, but they were still glazed from the drugs.
“What happened?”
she asked in a hoarse voice.
Kai let go of her
hand and reached down to the Bot, taking a glass of water from the metal hand.
With his other hand he helped her to sit up in the bed and gave it to her. He
took the glass when her arm grew unsteady and she spilled water on the bed. He
held the glass to her lips while she took a few sips, then removed it when
shook her head that she was done.
“You had a severe
headache. The Bot called me home. You were on the floor. In pain,” he told her
softly, his face showing the emotions of his tender words. He helped her lay
her head on the pillow. “How are you feeling?” he asked as his gaze held hers.
Kai twisted a lock of her hair around his finger, feeling the silkiness of her
red hair.
“What are you to
me? I feel as if I should know you. But I don’t remember you,” she asked
softly, holding his gaze with hers. She reached up and cupped his cheek in her
palm. She could feel her heart beating at a fast pace. She saw him close his
eyes and he gulped.
“Please, tell me,”
she begged quietly. She was confused about what this man was to her. She had
this feeling that she should know him but didn’t remember.
Kai opened his
eyes slowly and wished that he hadn’t. He could see confused emotions in her
eyes. He knew that he should tell her the truth. He tore his gaze from hers,
stood from the bed and took a few paces away from her. He turned back to face
her. His eyes held hers.
He wished he knew
her name, but he didn’t. He stared down at her, then
he quietly turned away from her and left the bedroom.
Shana was about to
call him back. Her mouth moved but no sound came out of her. She tried to
search her mind for the answers, but her mind was a total blank. She lay back down on the bed and let her eyes close. As she
drifted back to sleep, she thought, maybe tomorrow I will have the answers
to these questions that had been plaguing me.
~ * ~
Kai sat down at
his desk in the private office in his home. He turned his computer on and sat
back as he waited for the computer to warm up. His ankles crossed when he
slouched down in his chair. His index finger slowly moved back and forth along
his chin. Once the computer was ready, Kai punched his fingers on the keyboard,
searching for the woman’s identity.
He silently
thanked the Romani’s for giving him access to Earth’s computers. With their
knowledge he could hack into any government’s files. At least now he knew that
the woman who had crashed landed on
The one question
that kept repeating itself over and over in his mind was,
why is she here?
An hour later he
finally had some of the answers to his questions. He sat back in his chair with
a surprised look on his face as he stared at her file on the computer.
Her name is Shana
Moon. Her age is 24. Single. Never been married or bred. She was born in the
city of
Shana was a
government agent. But her files still did not give him the answer as to why she
was here.
A noise came from
behind him. Kai turned and saw Shana standing in the doorway. He reached out
blindly and cleared the screen. “You should be resting,” he said as he stood
up, speaking in a soft voice as he began to walk toward her.
“I couldn’t sleep
with all the questions running through my mind,” Shana said as she looked up at
him when he stood in front of her. She barely came up to his chest. Looking
deeply into his blue eyes she could feel his heat seep into her. Her heart
began to beat wildly inside of her chest.
“What questions
are running through your mind?” Kai asked, not even sure if he really wanted to
know--or if he already knew the answers to those questions.
“The first
question that comes to my mind is ‘Who am I?’” she said as she took a step
around him and entered his private office.
A computer sat on
a light wood desk with a black leather chair tucked behind it. The light peach
carpet quieted her footsteps. A white leather couch lined up against one of the
walls. The room was pure masculine and reminded her of Kai. Both
light and dark. She glanced around the office noting the strange
paintings of creatures on beige walls. They seemed to be different yet the
same, in a variety of different scenes and poses. Some were gory and yet others
were gentle. She turned back to him slightly puzzled.
“What kind of
creatures are those?” She pointed to several different paintings.
Kai looked at the
paintings to which she had pointed to. “Those are dragons. They are mythical
creatures,” he said and turned back to her. “The answer to your first
question... I know the answer to that one.” He didn’t bother to tell her that
he had just learned it seconds before she had entered his office.
Kai cupped her
face in his hands and stared down into her green eyes. “Your name is Shana
Moon.” He couldn’t fight the pull any longer. He had to taste those sweet lips
with his. He felt himself hardening and thickening. He inhaled deep breaths as
he wrapped his arms around her waist, bringing her closer to him. He saw her
eyes deepen into a darker green. He could feel her heart beat wildly as her
face softened. It was time to stop fighting against this wild urge to kiss her.
He claimed her
lips with his in a deep, soul-searing kiss.
White heat
exploded around them as their tongues dueled with one another. Kai pulled Shana
tighter into his arms. His hands cupped her buttocks as he pulled her to his
hardness. He groaned out loud as his groin hardened even more against her
softness. Yes! Finally! his mind screamed. He grinded his hips into her. Kai felt her hands tangle in
his hair at his nape. Shana’s lips fit his perfectly. She felt perfect against
his hardening body. Her leg lifted around his hips.
Her fingers tugged
at his shirt. Shana slipped her hands inside to touch the warm skin underneath
it. She ran her palms over his well-muscled chest, then
her fingers teased his flat nipples until they hardened. Kai shivered. Shana
moaned into his mouth as he unbuttoned the shirt that she was wearing. He
spread the shirt open and his hands slid down to her bare breasts.
Ever since the
accident, Shana had been wearing his long shirts that reached down to her
knees. For days her long legs had been on been on his mind. Kai slid his hand
from her back and down her smooth thigh, feeling the silkiness beneath his
fingertips. A soft moan escaped from his lips. His soft caresses along her legs
grew bolder.
Sensations shook
Shana as she felt his fingertips along her thighs. She drew her leg up his and
wrapped it around his waist. Kai slipped his hands around and cupped her
buttocks, lifting her higher into his arms. He slid their bodies against each
other as he lowered her back down to the floor, his lips never leaving hers.
Shana closed her eyes tightly at the feelings that Kai was evoking within her.
Sensation after sensation overwhelmed her. His hands swept down to her stomach
as he broke off the kiss.
Images!
Images swept through her memory. Shana fought hard to hold onto them. She saw
herself on a ship. She was looking through some type of file. She held a
picture in her hands. A picture of Kai.
Kai looked down at
Shana. He knew the moment that something changed and her mind was suddenly on
something else. She was no longer responding to his touch. Shana suddenly shook
her head as if to clear it.
“What is it? Did
you remember something?” Kai asked as he looked down at her. His hands worked
fast as he re-buttoned her shirt. While she stood there looking stunned at him,
Kai worked at a fast pace redressing himself.
“I remembered
something. I was lying on a bunk on a ship reading a file. It was a file on
you. Why is that?” Shana looked inquiringly at him. Kai looked away from her.
He closed his eyes
and worked hard to get his breathing back under control. He gulped several
times before he opened his eyes again, then turned to
look at her as she touched his shoulder.
“Do you remember
what it said in that file?” he asked. Then thought to himself,
I would like to know that one myself.
“No, I don’t
remember.” Shana said sadly, turned from him and sat down.
~ * ~
“So, Lieutenant
Moon crashed landed on
“That is what was
reported. The reports also stated that ship she was on exploded on impact. It
is unknown whether she made it out of the ship or not,” Delia said sadly. Even
though she did not know Shana personally, it saddened about the report on Shana
Moon.
She glanced up at
the President. He did not seem too happy that his plans to assassinate the
Guardian of Paradise were thwarted.
“I have to send
someone else to take her place. Send me Mikla Haze,” Grogan said, his hard gaze
on Delia.
“I am sorry, sir.
Her status says that she is breeding,” Delia said, not bothering to look at
him.
“Then find me
someone who can do the job without crash-landing on the planet.” He turned to
her once more. “Does your Reports say what caused
Shana’s ship to crash on that planet?” he asked as he turned to look out the
window and watch the swirling clouds below him.
“The Report states
that her ship contracted a virus.” Delia watched him nod his head.
~ * ~
“Why did I have a
file on you?” Shana asked as she stood up and walked over to him, placing a
hand on his shoulder.
Kai turned to her
and covered her hand with his. “You don’t remember what was in that file?” His
eyes stared down at hers. He removed his hand from hers and wrapped his arms
around her waist, bringing her closer to him as his heart thudded against his
chest. He waited for her answer as she stared up at him.
“I’m sorry, I
don’t remember. Was it important?” Shana asked as she searched his eyes for the
answer. His blue eyes seemed to sadden while hers were questioning and appeared
to be trusting him.
Kai inhaled
sharply. He searched his brain for the answer to her question. He wanted to
know what was in that file and the reason why she was sent here. His hand reached
up and combed through her disheveled hair, feeling the silky texture of it
through his fingers.
“You do know what
was in that file, don’t you?” Shana asked as she continued to search his sad
eyes.
Kai inhaled
sharply again and closed his eyes. He leaned his forehead against hers, wishing
he knew what he could tell her. He could tell her the truth and say that he
didn’t know what was in that file. He opened his mouth to tell her just that
but instead he told her, “It was our marriage documents.” He turned his gaze
from hers wondering, Where in the hell
did that come from?
“Are we married?”
Shana asked him in confusion. She stepped back from him.
Kai nodded his
head. “You are my bride. You were on Earth when we spoke our vows. You were
coming here to live.” The lies were
growing by the minute. When she regains her memory, there will be hell to pay.
He gulped at the thought.
Her head was
nodding as Shana turned away from him. Suddenly, she turned back to him and
jumped into his arms, claiming his lips in a passionate kiss.
Kai stiffened at
first, surprised by her sudden move. With a growl, he wrapped his arms around
her and turned and left his study.
Shana’s legs
wrapped around his hips as he carried her down the hall. She raked her nails
down his back. She heard him moan out loud as he walked into his bedroom,
kicking the door closed behind him with his bare foot. She felt the mattress on
her back when he lowered her down to the bed, his lips never leaving hers.
Kai couldn’t
believe his luck. He unbuttoned his shirt as he felt his shaft harden even
more. His lips moved from hers as they traveled down the side of her neck, down
to her breasts and suckling hard on a nipple as she bucked underneath him.
Shana moaned out loud at the sensations that he was triggering in her as he
moved over to her other breast. His hands unbuttoned the fly on his jeans and
he shucked them off quickly.
His hands slid
down her stomach and paused.
“Shana,” he
whispered as his gazed drifted up from her breasts and stared down at her eyes.
They were wide and glazed with desire. She stared up at him with wonder in her
eyes. His hands drifted lower until he cupped her mound in his hand. With
slowly tender movements, Kai slowly moved his hand in a circle. He felt her
damp heat in his palm as she grew even more wet and hotter.
Shana jerked up
from the bed at the feel of his hands on her hot core and at the feeling of his
finger as he entered into her wet depths. She closed her eyes as sensations
washed over her. She raised her head and nipped at his shoulder. He shivered as
she continued to nibble at the side of his neck. She felt his shaft rubbing
along the inside of her thigh. She cried out as he pulled his fingers out of
her moist folds.
“Kai!” She cried out as he claimed her lips with his. He
moaned into her mouth as he slowly entered her.
“So
wet and tight.” He felt her tight
sheath around him. Kai rose up onto his elbows and looked down into her eyes.
“You are mine,” he
whispered as he moved deeper into her. He paused at her barrier and gazed
deeply into her eyes. He wrapped his arms tightly around her. His eyes never
left hers.
“From this day
forward we will be one. Only death can part us. From this day forward we shall
live as one,” Kai muttered as he took the final plunge into her, filling her
with his hardness.
Shana stiffened
and cried out softly. She wrapped her arms around him, holding him to her. Kai
paused in his movements, letting her get used to him being inside of her.
Letting the tremors subside.
Minutes later, he
began to move within her once again. Shana lessened her hold on him and began
to raise her hips, meeting his strokes with her own. Kai grunted and raised his
head from her shoulder and gazed down into her eyes. He raised a hand and
cupped her cheek with his palm as he increased the tempo.
Shana felt herself
begin to tremble. She closed her eyes and tightened her hold on Kai.
She cried out his
name as she began to shake. She felt his lips on hers and kissed him back with
everything in her.
Kai felt her
climax over his shaft. He pumped into her hard and fast as a red haze filled
his vision. He rose up on his hands and pumped into her harder, feeling himself
let go.
“Shana!” he cried
out as he exploded inside of her.
Five
It was still dark
outside when Kai was called away by his friend, Prix. Kai leaned over Shana.
“I have to go,” he
whispered and placed a deep and tender kiss on her lips before he rose from the
bed and quietly dressed. He gave her one last lingering look of hunger as he
went out the door. Kai made sure that the door was locked before he walked over
and jumped into the hovercraft. The quiet engine lifted the hovercraft into the
air and took him in the direction of the hospital where Prix’s mate, Sira, was
having their first child.
Shana heard Kai
whispered something to her. She didn’t hear him. A dream had a grip on her.
Once more Shana
was running for her life.
Laser fire
surrounded her. She leaned back against a wall
breathing hard as she looked up at the nighttime sky, searching for familiar
lights. “Come on,” she whispered.
“Where are
they?” A blonde haired woman cried out beside her. She reached up and wiped the
sweat from her forehead before returning fire from her laser against the
enemies.
“I don’t know,”
Shana said crouching against the wall. Her breathing was hard and fast. She was
also sweating and the air around them was cold. Shana shivered slightly as she
glanced up at the dark sky.
“Hurry up,
please,” Shana whispered.
Shana’s eyes were
tightly closed as she tried to remember who was the woman in
the dream.
Why were they
being fired on?
A scream
pierced the air, Shana looked down at her friend.
There was a gaping hole in her chest. Blood began to spill from the hole onto
the ground.
“No!” Shana
screamed out tearfully. She bent over the woman. Shana tore her shirt off and
pressed down on the wound, trying to stop the flow of blood.
“Leave me,” the
woman whispered, her eyes glazed from the pain.
“No. I can’t
leave you behind to these animals,” Shana snarled as she lifted her laser and
fired a couple of rounds. She laid the laser beside her and looked up at the
dark sky. “I see them. Help’s on the way, Mikla.” She smiled down at her
friend.
Mikla’s eyes
were closed. A look of pain filled her features. “Mikla,” Shana whispered and
reached for hand. “Help is on the way,” she told her once more. The bleeding
wouldn’t stop, she pressed down harder on Mikla’s wound.
“Tell Gregor
that I love him with all my heart,” Mikla whispered as her eyes closed and her
head dropped to the side.
Shana screamed,
she gripped Mikla’s shoulders and shook her. “Don’t leave me! Stay with me!
Help is here.” Shana waved her arms at the rescue team.
“Mikla!” Shana yelled out as she jerked herself up in the bed.
Trembling, she held the blanket to her chest. Sweat beaded on her forehead.
Shana reached up and wiped it away with a shaking hand. She looked down at the
pillow beside her and noticed that it was empty. Shana frowned as she tossed
the covers to the side.
She shivered as
she got out of the bed. Her bare feet padded over to the window, and she gazed
out at the pre-dawn sky. The stars twinkled brightly. Shana crossed her arms
over her chest as she shivered in the cool air.
“Who is Mikla?”
Shana asked at the pre-dawn sky. The three moons still hung in the barely
lighted sky. The air was cool to her overheated skin, and she shivered once
more.
“Who am I? Who was
that woman and who is Gregor?” So many questions running through her mind gave
her a headache. She rubbed at the sore spot on her head.
A whir sounded at
her side and Shana looked down at the Bot with its flashing lights and beeps.
“I wish that I
could understand what you’re trying to tell me,” Shana muttered, turning back
to the window as the sun began its ascent into the sky from the faraway
mountains.
There is something about those mountains, she thought to herself.
~ * ~
“Sira’s okay now.
Everything went fine,” Kai said as he placed a comforting arm around Prix, who
stood next to him with a pale face.
“I know, Kai. After everything that we went through to be together. I just
couldn’t...” Prix’s throat closed up with strong emotions. His lips tightened
as he gulped down a bundle of raw feelings.
“I know, Prix, I
was there, remember?” Kai said softly as he led Prix down the hall to the
waiting room.
Prix tossed aside
his mask. “One would think that with the technology that we have we could
predict any type of problem when they deliver babies. I almost lost her, Kai,”
he said in a hoarse voice.
Kai sat down in a
waiting room chair and held his hands between his knees. He looked down at the
floor while they waited for an emergency c-section that was being performed on
Sira.
Kai remembered a
time when Sira had walked away from Prix when her family hadn’t approved of her
relationship with him. Prix almost killed himself over her.
When Sira had
discovered that she was pregnant, she searched Prix out on Lunar Seven. The
couple had returned. Happily.
Prix sat in the
empty seat next to Kai. “I am glad that you’re here, though. When you finally
find your mate then you’ll know what I’m going through right now.” Prix shook
his head slowly and glanced down at the ground.
“I am mated. As of
last night,” Kai muttered in a soft voice. Then he wished that he hadn’t stated
that fact to his most trusted friend so soon.
“You’re what?”
Prix sputtered as he turned to Kai. Then he said in a low voice. “Tell me that
you didn’t...” Prix didn’t complete the question as he shook his head.
Kai swallowed a
lump in his throat as he nodded his head.
“You don’t even
know where she’s from,” Prix said. “Or what her name is.” Prix was amazed at
his friend. He shook his head. “What were you thinking of? Never mind, I can
guess. It wasn’t with your head that is sitting on your shoulders, that’s for
sure. You were thinking with your other head. The one that
sits between your legs.”
“Her name is Shana
Moon, she is from Earth,” Kai said in a low, rough voice while his gaze turned
hard as he stared down at the floor. He lifted his head to look at Prix. “She
also happens to be a government agent from Earth. I found out just recently.”
“You were
definitely ruled by the head between your legs,” Prix muttered as he leaned
back against the seat. His head banged against the wall and he muttered a few
choice curse words that were banned on
“You know I can
hang you for saying those words. But I won’t,” Kai muttered. He leaned back
against his seat just as Prix had done moments earlier. His head banged against
the wall, too. Kai squeezed his eyes shut.
“Did she get her
memory back?” Prix asked.
Kai shook his
head. He placed his hands behind his neck.
“Man, why?” Prix
asked as he turned his gaze to Kai.
“I don’t know. I
have these emotions running through me every time I see her. She is constantly
on my mind when I’m away from her. And you know the other reason, what we men
go through before we find our mates and what happens when we do,” Kai confessed
and turned to look at Prix. “You know it was time for me to find my mate. She
was meant to be mine.” Kai opened his eyes and looked at Prix with a hard look.
Prix opened his
mouth to say something else to Kai, only to have Sira’s doctor interrupt them.
He stood up to face the doctor along with Kai. “How is she?” Prix asked in a
concern filled voice.
“She is fine.
Along with your son,” Dr. Mediriors said.
Kai turned to
Prix. He caught his friend as he slumped to the floor.
~ * ~
“Who did you find
for me to take Shana’s place on this mission?” President Grogan asked Delia as
she stepped into the room.
“I found the
perfect person for you,” Delia said as she slid a file across the desk with
ease. She took a step back and waited for his approval.
Jim opened the
file and took a long look at the picture. Then the President turned his gaze to
the dossier and read what was written there. He grinned as he closed the file.
“Perfect. This
person is the perfect choice. I should have picked this one instead of Shana.”
He looked up at Delia who stood there awaiting her next orders.
Delia walked out
of the office and sat down at her desk. She picked the phone and dialed the
person’s number that the President had agreed to for this mission, before
putting the call through to the President.
“This is the
President. I have a mission for you,” he said into the com-link. After a brief
exchange, the call was disconnected. Grogan sat back in his chair and placed
his arms behind his head. He had a smug look on his face.
~ * ~
Mikla sat on the
couch, her hands around her stomach as she gazed at the wall with unseeing
eyes. The hurt of loss was expressed on her face. Gregor stood in the doorway
with his hands on his hips as he watched his mate. There was nothing that he
could do to help the pain that she was feeling.
She sighed, and
her hand pressed deeper into her side. She rubbed at the spot where the baby
had kicked.
“Is the baby
kicking you too hard?” Gregor asked in a soft voice as he walked over to her
and sat down. He placed his hand over her extended stomach and circled the spot
with his thumb.
“I miss her,”
Mikla said in a sad voice. Tears formed in the corner of her eyes. She reached
up and rubbed them away.
“It was a nice
ceremony.” Gregor made the mistake of speaking the words about the loss of her
friend.
Mikla pushed to
her feet slowly and turned to face her mate. “I will not believe that she is
dead. She is out there somewhere. She can be hurt for all that we know.” Mikla
let the tears fall freely down her face. She turned and waddled out of the
living room, leaving a bewildered Gregor staring after her on the couch.
“Hormones. That must be it. She’s still having all these mixed
hormones in her system.” He rubbed his face with the heels of his hands.
~ * ~
It was late in the
evening when Kai finally arrived home. He stood next to Shana as she slept
peacefully. He knew that Prix was right--when she regained her memory there
would be hell to pay for lying to her. Kai tugged his hands into his pockets as
he stood gazing down at her with his heart beating at a fast pace.
I have spoken the vows of binding, he told himself. Kai tugged his lower lip between his
teeth. I should have told her the truth
in the beginning, but I didn’t want to lose her. He turned on his heel and
quietly walked out of the bedroom.
Kai walked down
the hallway and entered the gym thinking a good workout would help to settle his
nerves. He stripped off his shirt and pants, followed by his briefs, and tossed
them into the corner. A Robo cleaner came out and picked up the discarded
clothes and carried them out of the room.
Kai never had
figured out where the clothes went. As long as they were cleaned and hanging in
the closet for the next usage, he didn’t really care. Which reminded him, he
needed to teach Shana how to use the simulator in the morning. They didn’t have
them on Earth, or she would have noticed the unit in the bedroom and would have
made her own clothes instead of wearing his all of the time. It didn’t matter
that she filled them out in all of the right places.
Kai bowed down to
the mat before stepping onto it. He kneeled down onto the mat, his hands braced
on his knees for a few moments staring at the wall. Moments later he jumped
onto his feet.
The sound of feet
slapping onto the mat could be heard throughout the quiet house. Kai stood with
his legs braced apart, his arms stretched out in front of him. With quick movements
of his hands, he sliced the air in front of him. He looked toward the opposite
wall from where he stood. Kai looked over his shoulder as he did a back kick.
His leg moved to
execute a front snap kick without his foot touching the mat, and this was followed
by a side kick. Then a back kick.
Minutes passed
into hours, Kai breathed heavily as he kneeled on the mat once more. Sweat
covered his naked body when he suddenly heard a sound near the door. He didn’t
have to look to know who stood there watching him. He closed his eyes tightly
as he felt her energy walking toward him with slow uneasy steps.
His body shook as
Shana touched his sweat coated back.
“Kai,” she
whispered his name.
He slowly opened
his eyes and turned to face her. Kai tried to slow his fast breathing, but it
was useless whenever she was around him. He inhaled her sweet essence into his
being. Shana knelt beside him on the mat as she ran her hands down his back. He
groaned and closed his eyes once more, feeling her touch deep inside of him.
“Shana.” He
groaned out her name as his body shivered. He reached out to her and tugged her
to him, claiming her lips with his in a deep kiss that almost brought tears to
her eyes.
Shana shivered in
delight as he held her to him. His hands slipped under the shirt and cupped her
breasts in his palms as she pressed herself into his hands. She threw her head
back as Kai rained kisses along her neck and chin. She cried out his name as he
tore off her shirt. He tossed the shredded shirt over his shoulder. It landed
with a swish in the corner of the room.
The Robo cleaner
came out and picked the shirt up off the floor.
Stop this before it goes too far, Kai told himself as he felt Shana’s nails rake down
his back, and he shivered at the feeling. He whispered her name along her neck
as his tongue licked a soft spot that made her shiver with anticipation.
“Kai.” Shana moaned out loud as she dug her nails into his
lower back.
He lowered Shana
on the floor and covered her body with his. He felt his thick shaft along her
thighs and he groaned at the feeling of her silky skin along his shaft. She
lifted her hips up to his. Kai trailed small kissed down her neck and paused at
the swell of her breasts. He kissed both swells before his lips closed over one
of her nipples, gently sucking the tip until it hardened inside of his mouth.
Then he moved to the other tip sucking it until it did the same, enjoying the
taste of her on his tongue.
Kai’s hands slid
down her stomach and lowered until the palm of his hand touched the moist heat
of her core.
Shana tossed her
head back until her neck arched. She moaned out loud as Kai trailed his tongue
over her stomach, stopping when he pressed his lips at her moist heat.
“Kai!” she cried
out when he licked her moistness. Her hips bucked off the mat.
He moaned and
moved his tongue deeper inside of her. Shana reached down and grabbed onto his
hair with her fists. He moved his index finger over her bud making her cry out
longer and louder. Shana’s body began to convulse around his finger.
Kai crawled up her
body, pressing his hardness against her moist heat. Shana raised her hips up to
his, feeling his shaft slick with her wetness.
“Please!” Shana
cried out heatedly, wrapping her arms and legs around his torso.
Kai wrapped his
arms around her. He turned over onto his back, looking up at her, his eyes
glazed with heated passion and desire for her.
This
woman who was meant to be his--even if she was from Earth.
Shana looked down
at him, a puzzled look on her face, unsure of what he wanted her to do in this
position. Kai grinned up at her. He placed his hands at her waist, straddling
her over his hips. She braced her knees on both sides of him, unsure what to do
next. She saw Kai place his hand around his shaft, positioning himself for her.
Shana suddenly understood and cried out as she lowered herself over his shaft,
groaning as he filled her with his thickened manhood.
She moaned as she
felt him enter her. She lowered her hands above his shoulders as Kai’s hand
tightened on her waist and he raised himself off the floor lunging into her.
His eyes closed and his neck arched. Kai inhaled a deep breath and let it out
in a rush of air.
He took one hand
from her waist and placed it behind her head lowering her lips to his for a
deep kiss as his other hand gently raised her and lowered her.
Shana quickly
figured out that this is the way to move. She began to move without his help.
Her thighs tightened around his waist as she pulled her lips away from his. She
raised herself over Kai and watched his eyes close and his face tighten as his
hands gripped harder around her waist.
“Shana.” Kai cried
her name. He slowly opened his eyes and gazed up at her as he pumped into her
while he stilled her movements. He felt her inner muscles quiver around him.
She fell forward, covering him with her sweat soaked body. He covered her lips
with his as she cried out her climax, taking her release inside of him as he
continued to pump into her--until he spilled himself deep inside of her.
~ * ~
“I will not
believe that Shana is dead,” Mikla said out loud to the one other person inside
of her bedroom.
“You can’t go and
find her. Let someone else do it,” a male voice said that belonged to her mate,
Gregor.
“I have to see for
myself.” Mikla placed her hand over his stopping the caress on her extended
stomach. She gasped as she felt the baby kick inside of her.
“What of the babe?
You are at the end of the last term. I do not want my child born on some
foreign planet,” Gregor stressed as he rose from the bed and tugged on his
trousers, his back to his mate.
“I need to find
out what happened to her. I don’t believe what the President reported. I know
Shana. She would have escaped the ship before it blew up in space. I have known
her since we were children. She is a good pilot.” Mikla sat up on the bed while
she gazed longingly at Gregor’s back.
He stood there so
tense that she crawled to the other side of the bed and placed a gentle hand on
the bronzed back. She smoothed her hand up and down his back.
“You need to
understand. I have to find out what happened to her.”
Gregor turned to
look at her. “Then find someone else to look for Shana. You need to stay close
to the hospital until our child is born.” He gazed into her eyes. “I don’t want
anything to happen to either you or the babe.”
Mikla glanced away
from him. She knew that he was right. Even though they had the best technology
in birthing rooms across the galaxy and complications were rare if nonexistent,
births could still go wrong where both mother and child could die.
“You’re right.
I’ll find someone that I can trust to find what really happened to Shana.” She
spoke softly as she wrapped her arms around her mate. “I want to help her if
she is indeed in trouble or hurt. Or both.” Mikla
looked up into Gregor’s eyes. Her breath caught at the tender look that he gave
her. She reached up and pressed her lips against his.
Six
It was the middle
of the night. Kai held Shana in his arms. His thumb caressed her arm in
circles, and he placed tender kisses along her neck as the air cooled them
after a night of heated passion that was spent.
Shana turned over
onto her back and looked up at him. It was time for her to question him. She
sat up on her arm and gazed down at him.
“How did we meet?”
Kai stiffened, his thumb stopped making the small circles on
her. He inhaled sharply at her question. It was so sudden--he wasn’t prepared
for her to ask these questions.
Kai moved his arms
from under her as raised himself on his hand.
“Why do you want
to know how we met?” Kai answered her question with his own.
“I want to
remember. I need to remember my past. It’s all a total blank to me,” Shana
answered as she slid her legs to the side of the bed and stood up. She reached
down to pick up the discarded shirt and slid her arms into the sleeves. She quickly
buttoned the shirt, while her back was facing Kai. She raked her fingers
through her hair before she turned to face him.
He sat up in the
bed and watched her dress as thoughts of what to tell her went through his
mind. He raked his fingers through his hair as blood rushed through his veins.
Sweat broke out again, just thinking about what he was going to say. What
should I tell her? he asked himself.
Tell her the
truth, his mind screamed at him.
No! his alter ego screamed back.
Shana looked at
him with questioning eyes. He gave her a gentle smile. “We met on Ornus Six--”
He started to say as she sat down next to him on the bed. Kai took her in his
arms once more. Her back leaned against his front. Her bottom pressed against
his groin. He could feel himself hardening again. “--You were there on
business.”
“What kind of
business was I in?” she asked him, turning her head to look into his eyes.
“Government.” At least that part was the truth.
“What kind of
government business?” Shana asked as she sat up straight. She turned to face
him. Her gaze held his as she waited for the answer to the question that had
been bothering her since the day that she woke up and couldn’t remember
anything at all.
“I don’t know. You
never told me what that was.” That was all that he was going to tell her. Kai
claimed her lips with his as his arms went around her, bringing her closer to
him. His mind screamed out to him to stop this madness before it went deeper
than it already was.
Too late...
his heart cried out sadly. I am already
in too deep. I have developed feelings for this woman who holds me in the palm
of her hands. I just hope that she forgives me when she regains her memory.
He pulled his lips
from hers, looking deeply into her eyes. “We met and fell in love. We’ve spent
an entire year making plans for our wedding.”
He sighed as he
took her lips in a deep kiss as brought her closer to him. He adjusted her legs
around him and claimed her in one deep lunge of his hips. His hands slid down
and cupped her stomach in the palm of his hands. He was hoping that a miracle
would take place. One that would bind them together, for the
rest of their lives.
~ * ~
“You want this man
eliminated?” she asked and looked up at the president. “May I ask why?”
“No. You may not.”
She nodded her head
and continued to read the file. “I’ll do it.” Her final parting words floated
back as she walked out of the office. “My ship is ready for take off as we
speak. I am always prepared.”
~ * ~
Morning had come
too soon. Shana rose from the bed and stretched her arms over her head and
groaned as her back popped in several places. She quickly dressed in another
shirt, then found a note from Kai:
I had to leave on business. I’ll be home later this
evening. I’ll be thinking of you throughout the day.
She smiled and
tucked the note in the shirt pocket. What
can I do with myself today? she thought
cheerfully, as she brushed her hair and twisted a braid along her nape. She
picked the leather scrap and tied the end with it. She gave herself a long look
in the mirror. With a skip in her walk, Shana left the bedroom that had became theirs in a few short days. She passed the Bot on her
way down the hallway. Shana smiled at it. She was in a good mood.
The doorbell rang
indicating a visitor.
The Bot was
already at the door letting the visitor into the house. Shana paused as she
watched a woman enter into the home. The dark-haired woman stopped, surprised,
and looked over at Shana. Her brown eyes roamed over her.
“Who are you?” the
dark-haired woman asked in a demanding voice.
“I am Shana. May I
ask who are?” Shana asked the woman. She placed her hands on her hips as she
waited for an answer.
“Sonya. What are
you doing in Kai’s home?” Sonya asked her as she marched over to Shana and
stood in front of her. Sonya’s hands rested on her hips. Brown eyes were
squinted at Shana in disgust.
“I live here. I am
married to Kai.” Shana responded in a soft voice, not wanting this woman riled
her. Her heart was racing inside of her chest. Kai? What is the woman to Kai?
“Married?”
Sonya gasped she took a step back. She quickly composed herself. She walked
around Shana as she glanced over her shoulder at the woman who could destroy
everything that she had planned. “Kai never mentioned that he was married. He
would have told me.” Sona spoke harshly. She turned away from Shana. Sonya took
a few steps away from her and quickly scanned the living room. All of this
could be mine, Sonya thought to herself.
Sonya took in a
few deep, shuddering breaths, then let them out slowly
trying to gain control of herself. Everything that she had hoped to gain was
within her grasp, now it was no longer there. She mentally cursed herself for
letting Kai go that night last week. She had come to his house hoping to get
another try about becoming his wife and co-ruler of this planet. Then this
woman came and took everything away from her.
Sonya became
jealous. She turned back to Shana. “If you are his wife, then why did he come
to visit me last night?”
“That is
impossible since he was with me. All night long. If you are looking to rile me with your
insinuations, I suggest that you use a different approach with the correct
information next time.” Shana drew each word out, letting the words sink into
this woman who, for some reason, seemed to feel she had some sort of claim on
Kai. Which puzzled Shana even more as she frowned and a
crease appeared in the middle of her forehead while she considered it.
If Kai and I
were planning to get married, then why was he seeing this woman? Shana asked herself as she watched Sonya turn on her
heel in a huff and quickly leave the house.
Shana looked down
at the Bot and shrugged her shoulders. The Bot turned on its wheels and the
lights were blinking rapidly, then the Bot turned and rolled down the hallway.
She figured that the Bot wanted her to follow it.
She stepped back
into the bedroom that she shared with Kai. The Bot rolled over to the panel on the wall
that Shana had noticed a few times since she had arrived here. The Bot punched
in some keys and waited.
A moment later,
clothes appeared inside the panel. The Bot turned back to Shana and beeped a
couple of times. Shana approached slowly, unsure what to expect as the Bot
turned to the clothes then back to Shana. Then back to the clothes.
“I think that I
understand that those are for me.” Shana gave a short laugh, then
looked down at the Bot. “Why didn’t Kai show me how to use this?” Shana pointed
to the panel. “Why was he letting me wear these shirts if I could have made my
own clothes?” Shana asked in a puzzled voice. She shook her head slowly.
Shana reached out
into the panel and scooped up the black leggings and blue thigh length shirt
that felt like silk in her hands. How do
I know what silk feels like if I had never felt this material before? she asked herself, then gasped out aloud. She looked down at
the Bot, “I just had a memory!” she cried out happily. She spun around
clutching the clothes to her chest. She remembered shopping in a market and
coming across a vendor that was selling nighttime garments. Shana had touched a
nightshirt with her fingertips, feeling the silky texture. She had sighed
because she couldn’t afford the high price.
Shana stopped
spinning and grabbed onto the nightstand. “If we had machines
that could produce clothing, then why the vendors?” Shana asked herself
with confusion.
She walked over to
the bed and sat down. The clothing dropped to her lap. “Nothing makes sense. If I could only remember.” Shana looked down at the clothing
in her lap “First that woman, Sonya, comes here saying that she has a relationship
with Kai. But he told me that he had been making plans to marry me for the past
year.”
Shana stood up and
tossed the clothes onto the bed. Her hands dropped to her side and she began to
pace the length of the bedroom. Beeps sounded at her side and Shana glanced
down at the Bot.
“Are you trying to
tell me something?” Shana asked with a frown. “That is another thing. Why
hasn’t he put a chip in me to communicate with you?” She threw her hands in the
air and walked over to the bed as she shrugged out of the clothes that she was
wearing. She tugged on the leggings and the shirt that the Bot had made for
her.
“I need some air,”
Shana muttered as she tugged on her shoes and stormed out of the bedroom. “I
need to do some thinking. Nothing is making sense to me at all.” Shana walked
at a brisk pace down the hallway and out the front door. She scanned the yard
and her eyes lit on a small white hovercraft. Shana marched over to the craft
and glanced in through the window. “I think I know how to drive this thing,”
she muttered under her breath and climbed inside the craft.
The keys were
already in the ignition. Shana reached over and turned the key. The hovercraft
started with a low purr. Shana smiled slightly as she lifted the handle off the
floor. The hovercraft slowly lifted from the ground. Shana looked over at the
house. The Bot stood there watching her with its lights flashing and making
beeping sounds. It spun on its wheels and rolled back into the house.
Shana couldn’t
help but smile as she imagined the Bot calling Kai and telling him that she was
stealing his hovercraft. Shana didn’t care at the moment. As
long as she got away from the house for a while. She needed the time to
think things through--everything was happening to her way too fast for her
peace of mind.
A sob escaped her
lips, and she turned the hovercraft in the direction of the mountains.
~ * ~
Kai walked into
his home that early evening. The Bot came out to greet him with flashing lights
and beeps. He stood there with a stiff back as he listened to the Bot.
“She
what?” Kai shouted at the Bot. “I
don’t care if your feelings are hurt. Why didn’t you call me?” Kai’s voice
softened as he stepped away from the Bot.
“She left hours
ago? And she took the white hovercraft?” Kai turned back to the Bot giving the
machine a hard glare before he stomped out of the house. He walked around to
the back yard and saw that Shana had indeed taken the white hovercraft.
Kai raked his
hands through his hair as he walked back around to the front of the house and
jumped into the black hovercraft. He looked over to the front door and asked
the Bot which direction that Shana had left.
Beeps told Kai
that the Bot didn’t know which direction because he had entered the house to
call him. But Kai hadn’t been reachable.
“Maybe I should
have a chip made so that I can communicate with the Bot through my mind instead
of just translating with it,” Kai muttered as he turned the ignition on and
lifted the craft off the ground. Once Kai was in the air, he took a look around
him. He wondered where she could have gone.
Kai pointed the
craft in a direction that he figured she may have gone.
His heart began to
pound in fear as he reached the ocean’s edge and drove the craft along the
shore. He couldn’t find her.
“Where could she
have gone?” he asked himself as he glanced over his shoulder at the mountains.
“Could she... Maybe.” Kai pointed the hovercraft in
the direction of the city. The sun was already beginning to set on the horizon.
~ * ~
Lost. Shana was lost. She stood next to the white hovercraft
as she looked up at the darkening sky. She rubbed her arms with her hands and
tried to stop the sob that was threatening to burst forth. Her hands dropped to
her sides as she leaned into the hovercraft and peered inside searchingly.
Maybe this model
had one of those emergency beacons like the earlier models on Earth, Shana
thought. She gasped and pulled back. “How would I know that? Earth?” she asked
herself, stunned as she stood there staring at the hovercraft. “Did I just have
another memory?” Shana seemed confused, a crease formed in the middle of her
forehead. She rubbed a forefinger along the crease as she continued to frown.
“Earth,” she
muttered. “Kai called this planet
A moment later she
found it, right underneath the steering wheel. She pressed the button and
stepped back from the hovercraft. When she got back to Kai’s house she had a
lot of questions to ask him. Starting
with what Sonya meant to him.
Shana walked over
to a boulder and sat down. She glanced over at the charred ground that she had
noticed when she first landed here. She was confused by it. She shrugged her
shoulders and walked over to the boulder upon which she sat.
Shana stared at
the charred spot while she waited to be rescued. The charred remains still
puzzled her. She drew her knees up and rested her chin on her them.
The remains
look fresh, Shana thought to herself.
She stood up and walked to the circle of charred earth. She bent down on her
knee and picked up a handful of soil. She lifted her hand to her nose and
inhaled.
There seemed to be
an aroma that was familiar to her but she couldn’t seem to exactly place the
odor. She dropped the soil to the ground and brushed her hand on the leggings.
She stood and gazed around the charred remains once more before she walked over
to the boulder again and sat down. She turned her gaze up to the slightly
darkened sky.
It was starting to
get late, stars were beginning to appear. Shana lost track of the time. “How
long does it take for someone to respond to the rescue call?” Shana asked as
she kicked a small pebble with the toe of her shoe. She was starting to get
scared. She jumped when a night bird hooted in the air. She leaned back against
the boulder and looked over her shoulder as she heard the roar of a small
engine.
She jumped off the
boulder and stood as the black hovercraft landed near the white one. Shana’s
breath caught in her throat as Kai jumped out of the hovercraft. He stood next
to his hovercraft and took a long, hard look at her.
Kai was relieved
to see that she was unharmed. So many thoughts rushed through his mind when he
received that emergency call on his hovercraft. He was on the other side of
Shana was relieved
to see Kai. She kissed him deeply. Her arms tightened around him, holding her
near him, his body close to hers. Her heart began to pound wildly against his.
She felt Kai lift her up, then lay her on the ground,
his body covering hers.
Kai worked quickly
to tug the clothes off of her. His followed quickly. He laced her fingers with
his, placing them close to her face, his tongue deep inside of her moist mouth.
His hips bucked against hers as he thrust deeply into her.
“Shana!” Kai cried
out to her. He gazed deeply into her eyes as he filled her.
“Kai!” Shana moaned out loud. Her legs wrapped around his
waist as she lifted her hips to take him deeper into her. Her eyes never left
his as he thrust deeper and deeper into her.
Shana tried to
free her hands from his. She wanted to feel his skin under her hands. Kai
tightened his hold and continued to hold her gaze with his. She began to thrash
wildly under him, her climax growing nearer. Her hips bucked against his as his
tempo increased at a much faster rate, their gazes still locked.
“Kai.” Shana cried out panting. Her legs tightened around
him.
He let go of her
hands, and cupped her face with his hands as he filled her deeper and faster.
He inhaled several deep breaths as he neared his release. Sweat dampened his
body as he continued to pound into her, crying out her name until he lunged
against her one last time, feeling his seed flow into her body.
~ * ~
Shana tugged her
clothes on and took a step away from Kai. So many emotions began to run through
her. She raked her fingers through her hair, noting that the braid had come
loose. Her hair lifted in the soft breeze. She glanced over her shoulder at Kai, he was still tugging on his jeans. Shana let her gaze
roam back to the charred remains. She walked over to the circle and gazed down
at the blackened soil.
“What happened
that day of the crash?” Shana asked as she looked over at Kai.
Kai stiffened at
her sudden question. He inhaled sharply and let it out slowly, wondering why
the questions all of a sudden. She’s
curious about her past, he told himself. I would be, too, if I were in her position.
He sat on the
boulder and tugged on his socks and shoes. Kai glanced over at Shana as she
stood and waited for him to answer her.
“If you’re asking
about what happened to your ship, I don’t know. I was outside waiting for your
arrival when I saw the ship was on fire. You landed here in the mountains. I
rushed over to help in the rescue and you were the only one on board. If I
hadn’t gotten there any later, it would have been too late. You would have
perished in the fire.” Kai had spoken the truth. She seemed to settle for the
explanation.
Shana turned away
from him and gazed up at the nighttime sky, her arms crossed over her chest.
Kai noticed her shiver and spun her to face him. She bit her lip and her eyes
swept over him.
“Does the name
Sonya mean anything to you?” she asked and held his gaze with her own.
Kai stiffened at
the name. His eyes went cold and hard at the same time. “Where did you hear
that name from?”
Shana turned away
from him and took a step away. “She came to the house while you were gone.”
“What did she
want?” His voice was hard and held an edge of bitterness--he could not believe
that Sonya came to the house.
“She wanted you.”
She spun toward him. “Tell me something Kai, what was she to you? If we were
making plans to be married, were you involved with her during the time that we
were separated?” she demanded. She threw her hands in the air as she waited for
his answer, then placed them on her hips.
“She is a part of
my past. It was over before I met you, “ Kai answered
truthfully. Just as the previous answer, it was on of the few truths that he
had told her since they day they met.
“Why haven’t you
shown me your world? Since I have been here, all I’ve done was stay in your
house. You haven’t taken me out.” Shana hated the way her voice sounded. It
made her sound like she was a whiner.
“You were in the
healing process. You had a head injury, a concussion. You also had internal
bleeding. I didn’t want to take you out while you were healing. You still are.
It was too soon for you to do any traveling.” Kai’s voice had softened with
each step that he took closer to her. He pointed to the white hovercraft over
his shoulder as he spoke the words.
Shana nodded her
head and lowered her gaze down at the charred remains. She kicked a small
pebble with the toe of her shoe. Her hands had clasped behind her back. She let
his words sink into her mind. She looked at him as she stepped closer to him,
“Am I from Earth?”
Kai knew that it
was time to tell her the whole truth. He wasn’t sure if this was the time, or the place though, to do so. He nodded his head as
he pulled her into his arms. Her gaze held his. Her arms wrapped around his
neck.
“Let’s go home,”
Kai muttered before he claimed her lips with his. He stepped away from her and
placed her hand in his. Together, side by side, they walked over to the
hovercrafts. Kai reached into the white craft and placed his hand underneath
the steering wheel and turned off the emergency beacon.
“You can follow
me. I’ll be your guide for the night.” He smiled down at her. Kai gave her one
last brief kiss before he walked over to the black hovercraft.
Shana waited until
he was in the air before she lifted off the ground and followed him through the
night.
Seven
Kai landed his
hovercraft and started to walk over to Shana’s. He watched as she jumped out
and headed toward him. His heart pounded as his sixth sense kicked in abruptly.
Danger was lurking
about them. He stopped in mid-stride as he tuned his hearing to his
surroundings. His eyes adjusted to the darkness around him. There were too many
shrubs in the way. Too many hiding places for the enemy to
hide behind. He saw that Shana was closer to him. Sweat beaded on his
forehead. His hands grew damp. Kai began to walk toward her at a fast pace. He
shouted her name but he couldn’t hear his own voice over the pounding of his
heart.
Shana heard Kai
shout her name. She stopped and stared at him with wide eyes. His voice held a
trace of urgency. She lifted a strand of hair from her eyes caused by the
breeze that she had felt earlier as it grew into a more intense wind. She saw
that Kai’s eyes were hard and dangerous, just as his face. Her heart pounded in
fear. She had never seen that look upon his face before now. And it scared her.
She took a step away from him. He kept yelling something at her, but she
couldn’t hear what he was saying over her pounding heart.
She turned away
from him. A man stood next to a bush pointing a laser at her.
Then Kai was
suddenly in front of her just as the man fired the laser.
Kai jerked against
her, and slumped to the ground. Shana just stood there looking down at Kai’s
blood-soaked shirt.
“Kai!” she
screamed out as she dropped to her knees. She looked over toward the bush and
noticed that the man was gone. She tugged her shirt from her chest and pressed
it down on Kai’s chest. My God! This is
just like the dream. I don’t even know if Mikla even lived or not.
The Bot appeared
at Shana’s side. Its lights were flashing and it was beeping at a wild pace. “I
still can’t understand you,” Shana cried out sadly. She looked down at Kai’s
pale face, tears streaming down her cheeks. She needed to get him to the
med-unit and she couldn’t lift him. He was too heavy for her.
“What am I going
to do?” Shana asked the Bot. She turned to the machine to find it gone. She
looked over her shoulder in time to see the Bot enter into the house. “Kai.” Shana lifted a bloodied hand and brushed a lock of
black hair from his eyes.
They were open and
glazed from pain. He stared up at her. He lifted a hand up and cupped her cheek
in the palm of his hand.
“I love you,” he
whispered before his eyes closed and his hand dropped down to his side.
“No!” Shana
screamed as she placed her fingers along his neck, searching wildly for his
pulse. She couldn’t find one. Tears streamed down her face.
“Kai! Please, don’t leave me! Shana sobbed as she covered
him with her body hoping to warm his cold one.
A beep sounded at
her side. The Bot and the Robo cleaner were at her side. Shana lifted herself
off of Kai’s body and the Robo cleaner’s metal arms popped out from the middle
and lifted Kai’s slumped body from the ground.
Shana stood and
watched as the Robo cleaner took Kai into the house. A nudge at her back told
her that she should follow. “It’s too late... He’s dead,” Shana whispered as
she choked back a sob. She followed the Robo cleaner, looking through
tear-filled eyes, and went into the house.
Shana opened the
lid to the med-unit and the Robo cleaner placed Kai inside gently. The lid shut
by itself and lights appeared on top of the lid. Shana stood there amazed at
what she was seeing.
Lights flashed at
her side and Shana looked down and gave the Bot a watery smile.
~ * ~
“I found the
perfect person to find Shana,” Mikla said as she entered her home. Gregor sat
on the couch putting together the crib for the baby that was already two days
overdue. He watched his wife waddle over toward him. She smiled when she sat
down beside him.
“Who did you
find?” he asked as he set the screwdriver down on the side table. He turned and
took her hands in his.
“I won’t say his
name. He does this kind of work secretly. The law is after him as we speak.”
“Mikla. What did you do? You didn’t hire one of those
Freelancers? Tell me that you didn’t?” Gregor dropped her hands and took a few
steps away from her. His hands were braced on his hips.
~ * ~
Shana woke slowly
as she heard the med-unit lid slide opened. She rose from the chair, and warily
went over to the unit. She didn’t want to look but she had the urge to see Kai
one last time. Her gaze looked down upon him.
He lay there so
peacefully. She reached out and cupped her hand around his face. Tears swelled
in her eyes, she blinked rapidly to stop the flow. She gulped several times as
she moved her hands over his face.
Shana jumped back
from the unit and gasped out loud. Her hands covered her mouth as she took a
step forward. She wasn’t sure what she had just seen. She could have sworn that
Kai’s eyes moved under his eyelids. She stared at Kai for several moments
before his eyes moved again. She looked down at his chest and saw the rise and
descent. Tears of joy flowed freely from her face as Shana watched Kai open his
eyes.
Kai opened his
eyes and watched tears slip down Shana’s cheeks. He reached up and touched the
tears with his fingertips. He tried to speak, but couldn’t since he was so
weak. His arm dropped to his side as Shana bent over and placed her lips on
his. The kiss was brief and gentle. She reached inside and helped Kai out of
the med-unit.
His knees buckled
underneath him. The Bot appeared at their side and helped them get Kai to the
bed. He sat with a weary sigh and slid his legs out in front of him. Shana
tossed the sheet over his body, and took the glass of water from the Bot’s
metal hand.
Kai took the glass
from Shana and drained the entire glass in several gulps. He turned to look up
at Shana as he gave the Bot the empty glass.
“What happened?”
Kai asked, he took her hand in his and tugged her down to his side.
“You were shot,”
she whispered as she slid down next to him laying her head onto his bare chest
that held no scarring from the laser blast. She could hear his heart thumping
wildly inside of his chest. She closed her eyes, feeling his warm skin next to hers,
knowing that he was alive and well. She wrapped her arms around him and held
him tightly. When she rose up and looked down at him, he was fast asleep.
“Just as well,”
Shana muttered to herself. She rose from the bed and went into the adjoining
bathroom for a quick shower. She walked over to the simulator and made an
outfit for herself. A nice blue buttoned down shirt that reached just below her
hips and a black pair of leggings.
Shana walked down
the hallway as she braided her hair and tied the end with the leather strip.
She went into the dining room and sat down. As if on cue, the Bot entered the
room with a single plate with sweet smelling meat and veggies.
It feels strange to eat alone, Shana thought to herself. But you have eaten alone before plenty of times. Her thoughts
wandered as she pushed the food around on her plate.
He took the blast that was meant for me. Why? she asked herself as she
placed her elbow on the table and cupped her chin. She replayed those last few
seconds in her mind over and over again.
Kai rushing to
her, standing in front of her as the man shot the laser. He’d aimed his cannon
laser at her. Oh my God! Shana thought to herself.
Shana pushed the
plate away, as she stood from the table and began to pace the length of the
dining room. What she couldn’t understand was why someone wanted to hurt her.
Sonya was the
first person that came to mind. She was jealous and vindictive. That Shana
knew. She quickly discarded Sonya. The one who had shot at them was definitely
male.
Why? That was the question that kept repeating itself over
and over in her mind. It was still on her mind as she went to bed that night,
next to Kai.
~ * ~
The following
morning while Kai slept peacefully, Shana stepped outside to inspect the scene
where Kai had been shot. A man stood out there between the hovercrafts, and he
was hunched down on his knees gazing at the bush where the man that had shot
Kai had stood.
“Excuse me. Who
are you? And what are you doing?” Shana asked as she walked over to him. She
watched as he stood upright and turned to face her.
“You must be
Shana? Kai’s mate?” The raven-haired man said with a
soft grin as he moved over toward her. His hand stretched out to hers.
Shana looked at
the offered hand, then back to the man as she gazed up at him with wary eyes.
He dropped his
hand and looked down her with a soft smile. “I am Prix Samuels. Kai’s friend. I heard about what happened last night and
thought I’d come over and find out what was going on around here. Did you get a
close look at the man who did this?” Prix had looked over his shoulder at the
bush, then back at her. His smile had vanished.
Shana stared
deeply into his eyes and knew that he was telling the truth. She glanced over
his shoulder and at the bush, took a few steps, then
paused. Shana stood there gazing at the bush. She choked back a lump in her
throat.
She couldn’t seem
to stop the images running through her mind as they were replayed over and over
again. The moment when Kai had been shot. Shana still
could not believe that he was alive. He had died in her arms last night. She
had watched him take that last breath.
“It’s okay,” Prix
said softly as he stepped up behind her. He placed a gentle hand on her
shoulder.
“It had happened
so fast.” Shana gulped back a lump in her throat. “I didn’t even see the man
until it was too late.” She turned to face him and his hand dropped from her
shoulder. Her face held such raw emotions thinking that she had almost lost
Kai. Shana was in such turmoil because she was still confused about her growing
feelings for him.
“Is there some way
that you would know him if you were to see him again?” Prix asked as he stepped
closer to her. He could understand why Kai had chosen to mate with this woman.
She held such inner and outer beauty and she held herself up with
determination.
“I’m not sure. Maybe. It was dark when we returned from the mountains.”
Shana pointed in the direction of where the mountains stood. Prix followed her
hand.
“The Shadow’s
Edge,” Prix muttered under his breath.
“Oh. Kai mentioned
that name the other day and he rushed out of here,” Shana said as she gazed at
the mountains. “I wondered where that was.”
Prix knew why Kai
had rushed to The Shadow’s Edge that night of which Shana had just spoken.
There was a smuggling ring going on at that particular spot on the mountain,
and Kai was trying to put a stop to the ring. Prix looked at Shana.
“How is Kai this
morning?”
“He’s resting at
the moment. He died. Then he came back to life. How can that be possible?”
Shana asked as she turned away from him.
“As long as he got
to the med-unit within moments of his death, the unit can bring him back to
life,” Prix said. He could see that this woman had strong feelings for his
friend. He saw how confused she seemed at the moment. He could relate to her being
confused about how fast their relationship was going. His and Sira’s
relationship had been a whirlwind.
Shana turned to
him, “Nothing seems familiar to me. Kai said that I am from Earth. I don’t
think that we have anything like that there.”
Prix nodded his head. “Earth is not as far as advanced as we are here.
They lost much of their technology when Earth was in a Great War centuries ago
and have barely made a comeback into space technology,” Prix said as he bent
down near the brush where the attacker had stood the previous night. Nothing on
the ground gave him a clue.
Must be a
smuggler, Prix thought to himself.
Kai was getting close to discovering the smugglers’ identities.
Prix stood up and
faced Shana one last time, “Tell Kai that I’ll come by and visit him later on
this afternoon. It was nice to finally meet his new mate.” He smiled and
turned, walking to his silver hovercraft and jumped inside quickly.
~ * ~
“I met Kai’s
mate,” Prix said as he entered the house. Sira was on the couch nursing their son.
He walked over and cupped the back of his son’s head and gazed down at the
baby’s sleeping face.
“What is she
like?” Sira looked up at Prix.
“Pretty. I can
understand why Kai chose her. She is strong and determined. She is upset about
the fact that Kai almost died last night.” Prix took young Michael in his arms.
“He almost died?
You didn’t tell me that.” Sira sounded distressed. She placed her hand on his
arm.
“I didn’t know
until Shana told me just moments ago. The reports did not state that fact.” Prix
stepped into the nursery and placed the baby in the crib. He covered Michael’s
sleeping body with a small blanket.
“Do you have any
idea who would do such a thing to Kai?” Sira asked in a soft voice. Her eyes
were moist with tears as she wrapped her arms around him.
“I think it was
those smugglers at Shadow’s Edge.” His eyes and voice hardened as he spoke
those words. Sira sighed as her arms tightened around him.
“I wonder what
they’re smuggling out there?” She asked with curiosity in her voice. Prix’s arms
went around her, holding her tight against him as he gazed down at his sleeping
son.
Eight
“I said that I’m
fine,” Kai mumbled as he looked up at Prix who sat in a chair beside him near
the bed. Shana had made herself scarce so that the two men could talk in
private.
Prix nodded his
head. “The reports did not indicate that you almost died, Kai. I had to learn
that little tidbit from your mate,” Prix said in a low and harsh voice.
“I wanted it that
way for a reason,” Kai said as he sat up in the bed with a pillow tucked behind
him. His arms were crossed over his chest.
Prix once again
nodded his head in understanding. “I also found out something else about
Shana’s ship that wasn’t in the report either.” Kai glanced over at the door
and pointed his chin in that direction. Prix rose from his chair and walked
over to the open door. He glanced in both directions and noted that Shana was
not in the hallway.
Prix looked over
his shoulder and shook his head, then stepped back into the room and closed the
door. He walked back to his chair and sat down, scooting the chair closer to
the bed.
“I have a man
inside the government system on Earth,” Kai told Prix with a hard expression.
“Kai, you’re
playing a dangerous game here,” Prix warned him.
“I know. They have
someone inside in my administration. I just don’t know who,” Kai said in a hard
voice that matched the glare in his eyes. “What I do know is that the Earth’s
President is in on the smuggling ring, and he wants me terminated. That is why
Shana was sent here.” His voice softened when he spoke the last few words.
“Is that why you
mated with her?” Prix’s eyes softened, then hardened.
“You should not be messing with her feelings if that’s why you’re keeping her
close to you. You’re playing a dangerous game,” Prix said in a harder voice
then he had ever spoken in before to him. He was stunned at what his friend had
just revealed.
“I mated with her
for an entirely different reason. I thought that I mentioned that to you a few
days ago. Besides, she has lost her memory--you do remember that?” Kai tossed
the covers aside and rose from the bed. He walked over to the closet and began
to pull some clothes out, tugging them on as he spoke. “I need to find out what
they are smuggling and why Shana’s ship had a virus on it. The computer
detected the virus mere moments before the crash. The ship caught fire in
space.” Kai turned to look at Prix with a pained look on his face. “Our sources
indicated that there was another ship near Shana’s ship. But they don’t know
who the ship belonged to.”
“Do you think that
it’s linked somehow?” Prix asked as he rose from the chair and faced Kai.
Before Kai could
answer, the door opened and Shana walked inside the room. She looked at Kai
with a surprised look on her face.
“What are you doing
out of bed? You should be resting.” She walked over to him and placed a hand on
his chest. She tried to push him back into the bed but he wouldn’t budge.
“I have some
business to do.” Kai walked over to the vacated chair that Prix had just
occupied as he began to tug on his socks and boots.
“What business
could you possibly have to do that is so important it can’t wait, when you
should be resting? You never did tell me what it is that you do,” Shana said as
she braced her hands on her hips and glared down at Kai.
Kai looked over at
Prix and grinned. Then he turned to look at her. “I will tell you that at
another time, but not right now.” He stood and kissed her on the lips before he
walked out of the room with Prix at his side.
Shana stood there
and watched them leave. There was nothing she could do when someone was
determined to do as they liked. Just like Mikla.
She gasped and
covered her mouth with her hands. “I just had another memory!” Shana muttered
under her breath. “My memory must be returning.” She smiled to herself as she
stepped over and tossed the covers to the headboard. Sometimes she let the Bot
do its chores, other times she helped out just to keep herself busy.
“One of these days
I will remember who Mikla is and what she means to me. Who I am.
And what those dreams mean, or if they are flashbacks,” Shana spoke sadly as
she gazed around the bedroom. She had often wondered what her life was like
before she opened her eyes and didn’t remember anything before last week. Shana
made a sound of frustration before she turned and stormed out of the bedroom.
~ * ~
“I’ll look this
way and you go that way,” Kai said as he pointed in the western direction. Prix
started to walk in the direction that Kai had pointed while Kai started his
trek through the thick foliage on the mountain. Lifting thick branches out of
his way as he stepped underneath them, he swatted the air in front of him when
small flying insects got in his way. He wasn’t sure what he was looking for at
the moment. He was only searching the area for some sign of who
these people are that were using his planet as a drop zone.
He muttered a few
oaths as he stumbled upon a circle of rocks in an open area on the mountain. He
kneeled down and placed his hand in the small circle of rocks. The charred
remains that were once a small fire were still warm. He rose from his knees and
muttered a few more chosen oaths as he eyed the remains on the burnt ground,
his hands on his hips.
His eyes had
hardened, his face tightened. He began to search further past the charred
remains of what once was a small campfire.
Two hours later,
Kai’s search turned out to be a waste of time. He met up with Prix at the
hovercrafts. Prix shook his head when Kai asked if he had found anything of
use.
Kai led Prix to
the campfire site.
“Set up a team to
watch this area for a few days. I damn well want to know who is using our
planet as a drop zone,” Kai told him.
“I’ll get on it as
soon as I get back to the Capitol,” Prix said as he climbed into his silver
hovercraft.
“I’ll be in the
office tomorrow. I want the commandant to be in my office by
Prix nodded his
head as he lifted from the ground with a quiet purr from the hovercraft. Kai
decided to stay behind for a few quiet moments, trying to slow down his beating
heart rate. He glanced all around him making sure that no one else was in the
area before he made a few kicks and punches, venting out his anger through a kata.
He landed on his
knees next to the white hovercraft. Sweat dampened the clothes that he was
wearing. He shook the hair out of his eyes and gazed up at the sky through the
breaks in the trees. Kai slowly rose to his feet and wiped the sweat from his
brow before climbing into the hovercraft. He took one last look around before
he left the area on the mountain.
~ * ~
“What’s going on,
Kai?” Shana demanded as soon as he walked in the door. Kai walked past her,
down the hall and into the bathroom. Shana followed him as he shut the door,
locking her out.
“Kai!” Shana shouted through the closed door.
Kai shed his
clothes and left them on the bathroom floor. He stepped over to the shower
stall and turned the water on as Shana called out his name. He was not in the
mood to be interrogated. When the water temperature was to his liking, he
stepped into the shower. The water pulsed over his naked body, the spray
working the kinks out of the muscles along his back and thighs.
He turned in the
shower, lifted his face up to the spray with his eyes closed, letting the water
cascade down his chest and into his lower regions. He stepped back when he
heard the door open and close. He could have sworn that he had locked that
door.
The shower door
opened and Shana stood there, watching him, in her naked glory.
“I thought that
maybe you might want to have some company. I didn’t know that I could pick
locks, either, but I did,” she spoke softly as she stepped into the shower.
Kai placed his
hands on Shana’s hips and turned her into the spray. Water sluiced over her.
His lips claimed hers. Kai’s arms tightened around her as water cascaded around
them. Shana wrapped her arms around his neck. Kai dropped to his knees and
claimed the most intimate part of her.
“Kai!” she
screamed out when his tongue slipped inside of her. She grabbed onto his
shoulders as he slipped her legs around his neck. He slipped two fingers inside
of her, his tongue swirling around her tightened bud.
With her eyes
closed tightly, Shana leaned her head back against the wall. She moaned as Kai
continued to slide his fingers in and out of her. His lips closed around her
nub. Shana tightened her legs around him as she moved with him.
Kai gave her one
last lick along her mound before he rose from his knees. Shana’s legs dropped
to the floor and she slid down the wall. She cupped him in her hand and closed
her fingers around his shaft. She rubbed up and down along his hardened length.
She looked up at him from her position and saw that he was looking down at her.
She smiled up at him as her lips closed around him.
Kai tilted his
head back with his eyes closed. His hands braced on the wall in front of him
for leverage. He felt himself inside of her mouth, her hand around him moving
along with her mouth and tongue. Kai could feel the pressure slowly building
inside of him. He grabbed her shoulders and pulled her up onto her feet. He
claimed her lips with his, his tongue digging deep inside of her moist mouth.
His put his hands
on her hips as he lifted her up and braced her against the wall. He plunged
into her deeply in one swift thrust. He wrapped his arms around her tightly as
he plunged into her over and over until they both screamed out their release.
~ * ~
“You won’t let it
out that I am paying you to find Shana?” Mikla asked the Freelancer as she
paced the length of the living room, her movements resembling a waddle. She had
her hand on her back to ease the pressure there that had been building all day.
The Freelancer
nodded his head as he watched her with concerned eyes. She had also told him
that she didn’t want Gregor to know about this as well.
“I am the most
discreet person there is. Why do you think that I have not been caught?” he
asked with a smug smile
Mikla sighed as
she pressed harder into her back. “I just want her found and brought home,”
Mikla said as she walked over to the chair and sat down. Sitting down did not
help the pressure either. She held out her hands and the Freelancer stood up,
then he helped her to stand.
“Are you all
right?” he asked.
Mikla nodded her
head. “I’m fine. You do know what to do?”
“Yes. Are you sure
that you’re fine?” he asked watching as she continued to walk around the living
room. Once more, Mikla nodded her head.
“How soon can you
leave?”
“I can leave right
now,” he replied in a casual tone.
“The sooner the
better,” Mikla replied with a wince.
It was
Mikla rested on
the hospital bed and stared up at the ceiling as the baby slept in the crib
beside her.
~ * ~
Shana tossed and
turned for most of the night. Kai had left early that morning while Shana was
still sleeping. He did not touch her that night, and Shana didn’t understand
why he had turned cold after what they had shared in the shower. Kai had seemed
preoccupied, quiet and distant toward her.
She rose from the
bed ate a quiet breakfast that the Bot had given her.
Restless.
Shana felt
restless. She couldn’t seem to sit down. She paced the length of the living
room. Couldn’t seem to read the mystery novel that she had
started last week. Shana placed the book down on the coffee table,
walked over to the window and stared out at the horizon. Her arms were crossed
over her chest and she gazed out the window.
A piercing pain
filled her head. Shana dropped to her knees as she placed her hands to her
temples. Her eyes squeezed tight as she cried out from the pain. The pain was
more intense then it had been previously.
“Make it stop,”
she whispered to the empty room.
~ * ~
Kai answered the
com-link on his desk with an irritated sigh. He listened to the sound of beeps
on the other end of the line. His spine stiffened as he continued to listen.
“Get her to the med-unit. Fast,” Kai commanded into the link. He stood up as he
turned off the link. He stormed to the door and slammed it opened. Laura looked
up as he walked past her desk and out of her office. She followed him with her
eyes in a stunned gaze. She slowly shook her head.
Nine
Her eyes opened
slowly. Shana seemed confused at first as to how she had come to be in bed. She
slowly turned to the side and saw that Kai was asleep in the chair beside the
bed. Her heart went out to him. Shana could still remember the words that he
had spoken to her that night.
“I love you.” His
words whispered over her in a chant. I should have told him of my feelings,
Shana thought to herself. She closed her eyes against the pain that filled her
heart. Not yet. Not until I know who I am.
Her eyes closed as
she turned away from him. Her arm lifted and covered her eyes, blocking out the
pain that she felt inside of her. Maybe if I were to go home, the memories
would return Shana thought. Her arm slowly lowered back to her stomach. She
opened her eyes once more and gazed up at the ceiling.
Kai has a computer
in his office, Shana remembered. She turned to look at him and noted that he
was still asleep. She slowly raised herself into a sitting position while her
gaze remained on Kai’s sleeping form. Her legs moved to the side of the bed and
Shana slowly stood. Her legs were a little shaky, but she held herself steady.
She braced her hand along the wall as she moved slowly down the hall and into
Kai’s office.
Shana sat down in
the overstuffed chair and reached out with her hand to turn on the computer.
She leaned back as she waited for the computer to boot up. She closed her eyes
as a twinge of pain filled her mind. The pain quickly went away.
She sighed as her
eyes opened and gasped out loud as she saw her picture on the screen. Shana
reached out and touched her image. To the side of the picture was her bio.
“Shana Moon.” Her
eyes opened wide as she continued to read the short bio of her life.
“I am a government
agent on Earth,” Shana whispered softly as she leaned back in the chair and
covered her eyes with her hands.
She didn’t know
how much time had passed when she felt Kai’s hands on hers. Shana looked up at
him with puzzled eyes. Kai turned to look at the computer, then back to her.
His eyes seemed to question hers.
“What kind of
agent am I?” Shana asked.
“I don’t know. You
never told me,” Kai spoke softly as he helped her to stand.
Shana stood with
his help, as she continued to look at him with questioning eyes. “Nothing makes
sense to me,” Shana muttered under her breath as she turned away from him. She
slowly made her way out of Kai’s office. She heard him record in a few commands
on the computer. She turned and watched her life disappear from the screen.
“I shouldn’t have
used your computer. But I had to know who I am.” Shana paused in the doorway as
she watched Kai slowly walk toward her. He nodded his head in understanding and
took her hands in his. He let go of one of her hands and cupped her cheek in
his palm.
“I do understand,
Shana. I really do. If I was in your position, I would have done the same.” He
brushed his lips over hers and took a step away from her. He took her hand and
led her out of the office and down the hall. He was about to take her in the
bedroom when the Bot interrupted them with a series of beeps and flashing
lights.
Kai stood in the
doorway with a stiff spine as he listened to the Bot. He nodded his head and
turned to Shana, “I have to go. This is important.” He let go of her hand and
brushed her lips with his once more, then turned and walked down the hallway
and out of the house.
Shana stood there
and watched Kai leave. She sighed and shook her head. There was a small grin on
her face as she looked down at the Bot. “One of these days, I will find out
exactly what he does on this planet.”
Kai jumped in the
hovercraft and took off to the government building that housed his office. As
much as he wanted to be intimate with Shana at this moment, Prix had decided
now was the time to report what he had found out about the smuggling that was
going on in his world.
He muttered a few
choice curse words in several different languages as he swerved to miss a tycan
bird that flew over him. He turned to look at the bird with a hard glare before
he scanned the horizon with a softer look.
Kai landed the
hovercraft on top of the government building. He looked over the ledge down
into the bustling street and grinned. The city was flourishing nicely this
early in the morning. He took the elevator down a few floors to where his
office was located.
His bodyguards
surrounded him in an instant. With his knowledge of the old martial arts he
didn’t necessarily need them, but when the occasion arose for tighter security,
did he put in a call to them. At the moment, Shana had a great need for the
added security, more so than Kai.
At the door to
Kai’s office the two security guards stopped and took their positions outside
the door. Kai walked inside and sat down while he waited for Prix to arrive.
His thoughts turned to Shana once more as he leaned back in his chair and
looked out through the six foot by six foot window behind his desk. The
feelings that he had for her had become so overwhelming that he couldn’t think
about anything else but her.
He mentally shook
himself as he turned his thoughts to other matters. Like the smuggling ring
that was currently on his world and how he should stop it. If he could just
figure out what was being smuggled. The blood in his veins turned ice cold when
he thought about the options in his mind. None of them appealed to him, he was
thinking, when Prix walked into the office with a grim face.
“What do you have
for me?” Kai asked as Prix took the chair opposite him.
“Nothing. There is nothing new to report from the site that we
found the other day at Shadow’s Edge.” Prix rubbed a finger along his jaw as he
crossed his ankle and slouched down in the chair.
Kai mentally
swore, then he grimaced and pounded his fist on the
desk.
“Reports did come
over the com-link last night of strange lights over Pif’s Edge,” Prix said as
he watched Kai’s reaction.
“Pif’s
Edge?” Kai asked as his spine
stiffened and he straightened up in his chair.
Prix nodded his
head as he continued to stare at Kai, then he spoke in a low voice. “I did, in
fact, send out a team to investigate the sightings. There was nothing there by
the time that they got there. So we’re out of luck on that particular matter.”
Kai mentally swore
one more time before he rose from his chair and began to pace the length of if
his office. “We need to patrol our space above
Prix continued to
sit in his chair in front of Kai’s desk and nodded his head in agreement. “I
already have several teams ready for launch at a moment’s notice. I assembled
these teams last night. I will have them posted at every section of the Androne
galaxy and its ports of entry and exits,” Prix said as he rose from his chair
and turned to look at Kai with a softened expression. “How is your mate taking
all of this?” Prix asked.
“I haven’t told
her anything yet.” Kai turned to look at Prix with an odd expression. “She got
into my computer this morning. I never took the time to delete the last entry
that I made on the computer. It was her bio on Earth.”
Prix nodded his
head and remained silent as he waited for Kai to continue.
“When Shana saw
herself on the screen, it didn’t jar her memory. She is still clueless about
what she was before the accident,” Kai said in a low and soft tone.
When he was
finished Prix got up and Kai watched his friend leave the office. When the door
was closed behind him Kai added for his ears alone, “I am not sure what she
will do when she finds out that our relationship was based on a lie. I should
have told her the truth.”
~ * ~
Shana took a deep
breath as she stepped outside the house. She was beginning to feel restless
from being cooped up inside the house day in and day out. She looked over at
the hovercraft with longing in her eyes. Then she looked down at the Bot when
it beeped at her.
“I know. Kai said
to remain at the house today. I don’t understand why,” She muttered as she
looked over at the hovercraft once more. “But it did feel good to be able to
fly the hovercraft the other day.” Shana sighed as she continued to stare at
the sleek black hovercraft. “I am so tired of being in the same place all the
time. Why doesn’t he take me somewhere? What is he afraid of?” she asked in a sigh.
Shana turned to look back at the house, and realized that she had moved forward
quite a distance away from it. She was now only a few feet from the hovercraft.
Freedom! Her mind screamed. He’s a
dangerous criminal and needs to be terminated. A male voice whispered
through her mind.
She raised her
hand and rubbed at her temple as a small throbbing ache made its appearance
known. “Who was that?” Shana asked herself as she looked back at the black
hovercraft. There was something familiar about the hovercraft that she hadn’t
noticed earlier. She walked the remaining steps to the chunk of metal.
Images flew
through her mind. Shana saw herself standing in a room with pictures hanging on
the wall. There was an unknown woman standing next to her explaining what the
subjects of the pictures were. Shana couldn’t hear the woman’s words but her
mouth was moving.
Another image came
into her mind. Shana was standing on a cliff looking over a waterless ocean.
She was sad about there not being any water. She turned to watch her friend
approach her. They were talking. Again, Shana couldn’t hear what they were
saying.
Shana stood in the
president’s office. She couldn’t recall his name, but being in his presence
caused chills down her spine. There was something about this man that didn’t
seem right at all. It was like that he was two different people.
He placed a file
in front of her. Shana gasped loudly as she saw a photograph of Kai in the
file. She looked up the President. His mouth was moving, but Shana still
couldn’t hear what was being said.
Shana stood next
to the hovercraft shaking her head as the small headache began to fade. “What
does it all mean?” she whispered. She ran her hands up and down her arms when
she felt a chill seep into her being. She looked down at the Bot,
she could almost see the concern in the look it gave her.
“I am fine. I
think that I just had another memory. I just don’t know what it could mean. I
need to find out who I am. Soon.”
“You must be Shana
Moon, the mate to Kai Morgan.” a male voice said behind her.
Shana spun on her
heels to face the intruder with her hands poised for defense.
“There is no need
of that,” he said softly as he watched Shana lower her hands to her sides.
“Who are you?” she
demanded from the man who stood in front of her.
“I am Commandant
Carlos Sanchez. Kai has asked me to take you to him for the afternoon meal.”
Shana didn’t like
the way the man was looking at her. There was something in his eyes that sent a
mental warning to her brain. “How do I know you that you’re who you say you
are?” Shana asked as she took a step back from him. Her body tensed for action
that she felt sure would come. There was something in his manner that told her
to be wary of this man. She looked down at the Bot who just stood there. Still.
Its lights were not flashing and no beeps were heard from the machine.
She was backed up
against the hovercraft. Carlos took a step closer to her. Shana could feel her
heart beat faster and the palms of her hands were sweaty. She placed her weight
on the balls of her feet. She heard the blood rushing through her veins, her
mind running through the kata of self-defense.
Carlos looked over
his shoulder, and Shana followed his gaze and she saw that there were four more
men who stood behind him. He turned back to her, “So, what will it be, the hard
way or the easy way?”
Shana knew when
she was defenseless.
~ * ~
Kai had taken a
ship off-world. He flew to
“I’m sorry Kai,
there hasn’t been anything strange going on here on
“Thank you for
your time.” Kai shook hands with the fifty-something year old man.
“I wish that I
could have been more help,” Ty said as he walked Kai toward the doubled-paned
doors of his office. “I’m sure that you will find whatever it is that you are
looking for.” He stopped Kai with a hand placed on Kai’s arm. “When are we
going to meet the First Lady of Paradise?”
Kai grinned at Ty.
“Soon. Very soon.” When Kai
stepped out of Ty’s office, he began to have his doubts that the other
President would ever meet Shana. Well, possibly when she got her memory back.
With a gentle
sigh, Kai sat down in the pilot’s seat, then punched
in the coordinates of Bliss. The ship began to vibrate and there was a small
jolt that told Kai the ship was moving toward the small white planet. He leaned
back in his chair with his eyes closed. It would take several hours to reach
Bliss.
~ * ~
Shana had remained
silent as she was taken to the other side of
How can I
recall the era of that house when I can’t even recall my life? Shana asked herself as the hovercraft landed on a
small, cemented landing pad. One of the four men helped Shana down from the
hovercraft as the remaining three surrounded her. Carlos followed behind her.
He placed his hand on the small of her back, gently pushing her in the
direction of the house.
“Is this where Kai
is meeting me for lunch?” Shana asked as she sidestepped away from Carlos. His
hand dropped to his side as he stopped walking and turned her to face him.
“Of course,”
Carlos responded with a small grin on his face. He waved a hand toward the
house and Shana gave Carlos a hard look before she started walking toward the
house again.
Her heart pounded
in fear as she recalled that she was once in a position such as this. Where?
When? She tried to recall, but failed to remember. She rubbed her temple
with her fingertips as the pain in her head started to pound. Her steps
faltered as the pain began to intensify. She stopped walking as she covered her
head with her arms. She could hear the men talking around her but the voices
seemed muffled.
“What the hell is
going on?” Carlos demanded as he caught Shana before she fell to the ground.
Her face looked as if she was in intense pain. He placed his arm under her legs
and carried her the rest of the way to the house. Once
inside the dark house, Carlos laid her down on the couch. He placed a blue
blanket over her thrashing form.
“Make it stop,”
Shana whispered, her eyes tightly closed as she tossed and turned on the couch.
Carlos could only stand there watching with a horrified look on his face. He
muttered a few chosen oaths as he began to shout orders to his men. They
quickly scrambled to do his bidding.
~ * ~
Kai’s spine
stiffened when he felt negative energy in the air. He knew that something was
wrong with Shana.
“Is something
wrong Kai?” Madame President Evie Roman asked as she noticed that the Guardian
of Paradise was no longer listening to what she was saying.
“I’m not sure. May
I use your com-link to call my home?” he asked as he stood up from his seat in
Evie’s office. Before Evie responded to Kai’s request, Kai was already walking
out the door.
Kai swore when he
couldn’t get an answer at his home. He quickly disconnected the call and walked
back into Evie’s office. “I’m sorry but I have to leave. There is an emergency
at home,” Kai told her as he turned and left the office once more in a hurried
stride.
His heart pounded
in fear and sweat beaded on his brow as he walked through the maze of halls of
the government building. He paused next to the entrance of the building, opened
the closet and pulled out his thick mackinaw. He pulled his mackinaw on and
pulled the thick hare hood over his head. He tugged the gloves out of the
pocket and pulled them on his hands. He took his heavy woolen boots out of the
closet and pulled them on over his socked feet. He opened the entrance door and
cold air hit his face. Kai pulled the hood lower over his head and walked out
into the swirling snow of Bliss.
~ * ~
Shana opened her
pain filled eyes to total darkness. She quickly closed her eyes against the
pain that was still tormenting her. She let out a small groan and turned over
onto her side.
“Kai,” Shana
whispered in a small, pain filled voice. Her eyes opened into mere slits.
“Kai isn’t here to
help you, my dear,” Carlos said in a deep voice that sent chills down Shana’s
spine.
She stiffened at
the sound of his voice. Her eyes remained closed; she didn’t dare to open them.
“What do you want
from me?” Shana dared to ask as she opened her eyes into slits once more. Carlos’s
form was a blur to her. Her head was still throbbing.
“Let’s just say
that, what I want is best for the community,” Carlos answered in a low tone. He
stood from the bent over position that he was in when he came into check on
her. He noticed that she was still in pain. He nodded at another man that had
entered the house while Shana was thrashing about on the couch.
Shana looked up
into an elderly man’s face with thin, graying hair. He looked down into her
face and raised a hyper-spray to the side of her neck. Shana closed her eyes as
she felt the hot needle quickly inject under her skin. Shana felt the pain
reliever work to ease the headache. She opened her eyes to see the pity in the
doctor’s eye before he stood and handed the hypo-spray to Carlos.
She turned over on
her side facing the back of the couch as her eyes felt heavy with sleep. Her
last thoughts were of Kai before sleep claimed her.
“What are you plan on doing with her?” Edward asked as he stood next to
Carlos and watched Shana sleep.
“Something that
should have been done to her weeks ago,” Carlos answered as he gave Edward the
Hypo-spray and turned and walked out of the living room.
~ * ~
“You went ahead
and hired that Freelancer anyway, didn’t you?” Gregor asked Mikla as she nursed
their son.
Mikla looked up
into Gregor’s face with a look that said I hope you understand what I did. “I
had to know,” Mikla said as she smoothed her finger along
“Mikla...” Gregor
said in a louder tone that made him sound frustrated. He ran his fingers
through his hair and turned away from her.
“I needed to know
what happened to Shana. I don’t believe that she is dead.” Her voice tightened
as she eased her nipple out of
“I can understand
why you did it. I would have done the same thing if I was in the same
position.” He wrapped his arms around her waist and gazed down at the sleeping
infant.
Ten
The hovercraft
landed in front of the house. Kai jumped out and noticed that the Bot was
standing completely still in the yard next to the black hovercraft. With his
heart beating at a much faster pace, he ran over to the Bot. Kai dropped to his
knees as he quickly scanned the Bot with a hand held device that he had pulled
out of the hovercraft. The scanning process was completed. The Bot checked out
fine.
Kai rose to his
feet with a confused look on his face. He couldn’t understand why the Bot was
not moving at all. He turned and dashed into the house and called the Botics
Department. Kai told the woman over the link what had happened, asking if there
was something that they could do.
“I’ll send someone
out to fix the problem,” the woman, who had introduced herself as Lucinda, said
before the call was disconnected.
Kai raked his
fingers through his hair as he turned to look the window and saw the still form
of his Bot who would be able to give him the answers about what had happened to
Shana. While he waited, Kai went through the house and noticed that there had
been no struggle inside his home. He ran his hand down his haggard face as he
opened the door to let in the repairman. Kai led the man, who introduced
himself as Stu, through the house and out the back door where the Bot still stood.
Stu picked up his pace and walked over to the Bot, dropping his toolbox on the
ground near it.
~ * ~
Shana opened her
eyes to bright sunlight. She quickly shut her eyes again and tossed her arm
over them, letting out a small groan. She moved her arm from her eyes and
slowly sat up on the couch, her gaze scanning the empty living room. Shana
stood up and quickly scanned the rest of the living room and didn’t see any of
the men who had brought her here. Or Carlos.
She eased herself
over to the window and scanned the horizon in front of her. Shana walked over
to the door and opened it softly. She stepped outside and placed her back
against the house and eased herself along the wall looking down the side of the
house. She didn’t see any hovercrafts in the yard. Just as carefully she eased
her way to the back of the house and didn’t see any hovercrafts in the
backyard.
Shana eased
herself away from the house and stood in the backyard with her hands on her
hips. She was alone. “And I have no idea where I am,” she said softly as she
walked back to the house and entered the kitchen. She began to feel hunger
pangs and opened the fridge door, peering inside for food. “At least Carlos is
not going to let me starve to death.”
She pulled out
some fruit that she recognized she had eaten at Kai’s. Thinking of his name
brought a soft pain to her chest. Shana raised her hand and placed it over her
trembling heart. She closed her eyes as she wished with all of her might that
Kai would find her before it was too late. She may not know what Carlos had
planned for her, but she knew, deep down inside, that it was not going to be
good.
~ * ~
“So, Shana is
alive and well on
“Yes,
sir. I have her in one of my
houses in the country. No one will find her. There is no way that she can
escape either. The house is fully guarded with a Mambo Liz,” Carlos responded
as he used a finger pick to dig the dirt from under his fingernail.
“I’ll have someone
pick Shana up while he is there and take her to Manaor,” Grogan said, he
reached out and terminated the com-link. He sat back in his chair and gazed out
into nothingness. His hands on the desk shifted and with his forefingers
steepled in front of him, a small grin formed on his lips before he reached out
and turned on the com-link once more.
~ * ~
“Can you have him
recall the last several minutes of what he saw?” Kai asked Stu as he tightened
the last screw on the Bot’s back.
“Sorry, Guardian,
No can do. His circuit’s are fried. His whole memory
has been erased,” Stu said. He lifted the toolbox from the ground and walked
over to his hovercraft.
Kai stood next to
the Bot with a grim face and his hands fisted on his hips. He mentally swore as
he walked away from the Bot toward Stu. “How long will it take to fix the
problem?” Kai asked as he gave Stu a hard look.
“It could take
days,” Stu answered, giving Kai a puzzled look.
“I don’t have days
to fix the Bot. My mate is missing and the Bot is the only one who knows where
she has gone.” Kai spoke in a hard and lethal voice. Kai gave Stu an even
harder look.
“I’m sorry man,”
Stu said with much sympathy. “I’ll see what I can do. I also will try to regain
the memory loss,” Stu added as he turned from Kai and walked over to the Bot.
Stu lifted the Bot in his oversized arms and carried the machine to the
hovercraft. After Stu made sure that the Bot was strapped in, he turned and
looked at Kai once more.
“I’ll do my best.
There are no guarantees about the Bots,” Stu said before climbing into the
hovercraft and lifting off the ground.
Kai stood there,
watching the swift red hovercraft fade into the horizon. He turned and faced
his house. With his hands deep in his pockets, Kai slowly walked into the
house. It stood empty and silent. With a deep, heartfelt sigh, Kai walked down
the hallway and into his office. He turned the com-link on and quickly dialed
Prix’s number. Kai leaned back in the chair and waited for Prix to answer the
call.
~ * ~
Shana munched on a
small organge as she gazed out the window. “I’m alone. I can get up and leave,”
Shana told herself. She gasped out loud and her mouth gaped open as she watched
a greenish, scaled creature slither up to the window. The creature stared at
her with small, beady red eyes. Shana backed away from the window in small
steps until her back reached the wall behind her. She placed her hands against
the wall as she breathed in deep gulping breaths, and her heart began to beat
rapidly.
The creature’s
forked tongue slid out of its mouth and touched the window. Shana cried out and
placed her hand over her mouth. Her heart, still beating wildly in her chest,
pounded harder and faster. The creature roared at her before it turned and
slithered away from the window.
Shana watched the
creature slither away into the yard. Her breathing was still ragged and hard.
She reached up and rubbed her chest to try to soothe her pounding heart as she
walked slowly up to the window and stared at the departing creature. “What in
the world was that?” she whispered, her eyes on the creature’s back. Shana took
a step away from the window and turned to dash into the living room.
Her steps halted
in front of the door, her hand over her mouth. “No wonder they left me here
alone in the house. With that creature out there...” Shana stopped in
mid-sentence. With one last, longing look at the door that could give her
freedom, Shana turned away with a heartfelt sigh. She slowly made her way to
the couch and slouched down into the cushions, her head pressed against the
back of the couch.
~ * ~
It was early in
the evening when Shana heard another loud roar outside the house. It was
followed by a second roar off in the distance. Her head whirled to the window
as the creature slithered past the living room window. It stopped and looked
into the dense forest. Shana slowly stood up from the couch, not wanting to
draw the creature’s attention. She walked over to the window. The creature’s
back was to her.
Shana watched the
creature’s belly puff out as it was getting ready to let out another loud roar.
She jumped at the sound that it made. Seconds later another loud roar was heard
that sounded several miles away from the house. The creature slithered on its
legless body away from the house into the forest. Shana placed her hands against
the window pane, feeling the warm glass against her cold fingertips. She stood
and watched the creature’s body fade into the green foliage.
She knew that this
was her chance to make her escape. Shana turned away from the window and ran to
the front door. Leaving the door wide open, Shana dashed out into the dusky
evening.
~ * ~
Kai sat at the
table in the dining room, staring at the place where Shana always sat when they
shared their meals. He pushed the plate away and stood up. Kai walked down the
hallway, pausing in the doorway to the bedroom that they shared, his hand
braced against the doorframe. His head hung low. He gulped around the lump in
his throat. His stomach churned at the thought of losing her. To what fate? He
didn’t know. What he couldn’t understand was why she had left, or even if she
left willingly or not. His first thought was that she had gotten her memory
back.
Kai had sent out a
team of searchers looking for her. As far as he knew, Shana hadn’t left
“Where in the hell
is she?” Kai muttered as he stepped into the bedroom. He stripped off his
clothes as he made his into the bathroom. The Robo cleaner came out and picked
the clothes up off the floor. Kai turned the shower knobs and water streamed out
of the showerhead. He stood there, letting the water stream down his muscular
body. He tilted his head back against the shower stall and closed his eyes,
letting the images of Shana fill his mind.
With a loud groan,
Kai opened his eyes and quickly washed his body. He stepped out of the shower
and dried himself with a coarse towel. He dropped the towel onto the floor.
Once more, the Robo cleaner came out of the wall, picked up the towel and moved
silently back into the wall.
Kai walked out of
the bathroom and into the bedroom. He tossed himself on the bed, lying down on
his back with his arms tucked under his head. He gazed up at the ceiling as his
thoughts turned once more to Shana.
~ * ~
Shana ran with all
her might. She came across a small hill and slid down to the bottom, dust
following her trail. Her breathing was hard and fast. Once she was at the
bottom, she sat down to get her breathing under control. She leaned her head
against her bent knees. She wiped the sweat from her brow with a trembling hand
then raised her head and looked up at the night sky. She had no idea where she
was or what the time was at the moment. All that Shana knew was that she had
pressing matters that needed to be taken care of immediately. She rose to her
feet and began to pull down her pants.
When that pressing
matter was taken care of, Shana walked toward the edge of the forest. She
gasped out loud at the scene that her eyes beheld her. Lights twinkled like
stars from the city below her. She pressed a hand over her mouth. “Why didn’t
Kai bring me here?” she asked herself as she took a hesitant step toward the
city.
A sound vibrated
the air above Shana. She looked up to see what appeared to be an outline of a
hovercraft. With a rapidly beating heart, she ducked down into the thick
foliage that she had just left. Shana waited until the sound of the engine
faded into the distance. She left the refuge of the foliage and looked over at
the city with the twinkling lights. She gulped several times as she looked over
at the direction the hovercraft had gone, then back to the city.
Her mind was made
up quickly. She didn’t know when Carlos would find out that she had made an
escape from the prison where he had left her. She ran with all her might toward
the city.
~ * ~
Kai bolted upright
in bed with sweat pouring off his body, a ringing sound in his ears. It took
him several minutes to realize that the com-link was indicating there was an
incoming call for him. He pulled a blanket over his torso, covering his naked
regions. Kai reached over to the nightstand and turned the com-link, answering
the incoming call.
“What?” Kai
growled into the small com-link.
“We haven’t found
her,” Prix said in a serious voice, knowing what Shana’s absence was doing to
his friend.
“Keep looking,”
Kai said in a hard voice as he raked his fingers through his hair. He looked
over at the clock on the wall and noted the time. He rose from the bed as Prix
continued. Kai pulled on his black jeans.
“Look, Kai, we’re
all tired and its past the Midnight Hour.” Prix stressed
the words, Midnight Hour. “And you know what happens when the Midnight Hour
comes.”
“The hovercrafts
are equipped with defense mechanisms. You can deal with the creatures of the
night,” Kai responded as he pulled a dark blue shirt over his head and turned
to glare at the com-link. “I want her found before she becomes a meal for the
creatures.” His voice was lethal when he spoke and his eyes were hard and
looked determined to find his lost mate. He left the house to go in search of
her.
~ * ~
When Shana
approached the city’s edge, she noticed that the lights were being turned off,
one by one. She was puzzled by this. The street was empty as she stood and
gazed around where there had been people only a little earlier.
She walked along a
dark street trying to find someone who could help her find her way back home.
All of the shops along the street were closed. Empty. Shana sighed as she past
by another store that was dark. She stood alone on the sidewalk and spun around
in a circle hoping to find a window where she could see a light shining. Even
the houses were dark. She had no idea where she was at the moment. As far as
Shana knew, she was in a city. “I don’t even know what time it is,” she
muttered to herself. She looked up at the dark sky and her gaze found the moon
hanging high in the sky. “It must be close to
There! She
heard the noise of what sounded like flapping wings. Shana continued to search
the dark sky until her gaze landed on what appeared to be an oversized bird.
The creature was a tan color and five feet long, with a large, pointed beak.
Her mouth dropped opened and she couldn’t speak. The bird resembled ones that
had roamed over Earth in the early centuries. She had seen pictures when she
was at the Historian.
“Oh my God,” Shana
whispered. The bird must have heard her mutter, because red eyes looked down at
her suddenly and the creature let out a loud screech.
Eleven
Kai heard the
Tetre bird’s call. He turned his gaze as he saw the Tetre looking down at his
prey. His heart began to beat at a faster pace as he looked away from the Tetre
and onto the street below him. He could not see what the bird’s prey was.
He looked back to
the bird and saw that the Tetre’s gaze was still on the prey. Kai jerked the
shifter in the hovercraft to a hard right. The hovercraft moved in the
direction he indicated. Kai swooped down and caught the bird’s attention with
his black hovercraft. The Tetre caught sight of the hovercraft, lifted its wing
and batted the hovercraft away from him.
His vision blurred
as Kai did a three-sixty away from the giant bird. He fought to regain control
of the hovercraft and did so a few moments later. Kai was surprised at how far
he had gone when he found the giant bird on his radar screen once more. His
vehicle had been batted at least a mile away.
His heart was in
his throat as he pushed the hovercraft to its limits as he saw the Tetre swoop
down to his prey. It was then that he noticed the prey was Shana.
~ * ~
Shana let out a
loud scream as the bird swept down and lunged its beak
at her. She ran for the cover of the store’s awning and hit her head against
the glass door--hard.
Pain exploded in
her head and she cried out, catching the attention of the bird as he flew up
and past her. The bird stopped in midair and turned its red gaze on her. Shana
raised a shaky hand to the back of her head. Unbearable pain brought her to her
knees, and she shook her head to gather her bearings as the bird swept past her
once more. Visions of her past suddenly filled her mind as she watched the
bird.
“I remember everything
now,” she told the bird as she rose up on her shaky legs and continued to face
it. At that same moment she also heard the loud roar of a hovercraft above her.
The bird tore its gaze away from Shana and let out a loud screech of anger.
Shana watched as the bird flew up and batted at the hovercraft with its wing.
She chose that moment to run from under the safety of the awning and darted to
her right to another storefront’s awning, with her heart beating at a fast
pace. She knew to whom that hovercraft belonged. It belonged to the man that
she was sent to assassinate. And the man who held her heart in his hands. Shana
slid down onto her buttocks and raised her knees to her chest. Tears slid down
her face as she tried to figure out what to do next.
One thing that she
did know, she needed to escape this giant bird.
Shana wiped the
tears from her face as she stood up and looked up at the sky. The bird was on
the street looking under the awning where she had hid under just moments
earlier. Shana knew from the bird’s stance that it was not happy to find its
prey gone. She ducked back under the awning before the bird could see her.
~ * ~
There was only
thing that he could do. Kai landed the hovercraft on the street, a hundred
yards from the Tetre. He grabbed the laser cannon and handgun from under the
pilot’s seat. He jumped out of the hovercraft and turned the safeties off the
cannon and handgun. The Tetre watched Kai slowly approach him. The Tetre’s
spine stiffened as he slowly walked toward Kai.
Shana watched with
her heart pounding as the bird passed by her hiding place. She did not dare to
move a muscle until the bird was way beyond her and she was out of his visual
range.
Kai stopped a few
yards away from the bird. A safe distance when he knew what the bird would do
next. He watched as the Tetre stopped in his tracks and began to shake his
body, his wings tucked behind his back. Kai tucked his handgun in the back of
his waistband. He lifted the cannon onto his shoulder, and waited.
The bird had
stopped shaking then pointed his beak at Kai. Kai had waited for this moment
when the Tetre opened his mouth. Before the bird let out a ball of fire, Kai
pressed the trigger on the cannon. A loud boom
filled the silence of the city. The laser hit its mark and entered the Tetre’s
mouth. The bird let out a screech as he landed on his back.
Shana watched from
her safety of the awning as the bird was thrown on his back in front of her.
Sweat beaded on her forehead and it wasn’t from the heat of the night. She
reached up with a trembling hand and wiped the sweat from her forehead as she
watched blood spill from the mangled head. Shana looked away from the bird as
she heard her name being called from a distance. She stepped out from the
awning with careful steps. She looked down the street at Kai who was now
running toward her. She looked away from him at the dead bird and placed a hand
over her still rapid beating heart. Shana was frozen to the spot.
“Shana!” She heard
Kai cry out her name as he came closer to her. Still, she couldn’t seem to look
away from the bird.
“Shana,” Kai said
her name from behind her as he wrapped his arms around her trembling form.
Shana cried out as
she turned and wrapped her arms around his neck. She heard him whispering
comforting words to her that she did not really hear, since her heart was
beating so loudly in her ears. She felt his lips along her temple and cheek and
down her throat, but she couldn’t seem to stop crying.
“We better leave
while we still can, there are others nearby,” Kai said in her ear.
“There are more of
those things out there?” Shana asked in a hoarse whisper. Kai rubbed his thumb
along her cheek, wiping the tears from her eyes as he nodded his head.
Shana’s spine
stiffened and she took a step back from him, suddenly remembering that he was
her supposed target on this mission. Kai stood there and looked puzzled for
moment as he stared down at her.
“Let’s go home.”
Kai spoke in a low, deep voice that had always sent chills down her spine.
Shana nodded her head as he took her hand and laced their fingers together. She
let him pull on her hand as she followed him down the street toward the
hovercraft. She was going to have to sort out her memories and figure out what
to do next, without letting Kai know that she had regained her memory.
Unbeknownst to
them, they were being watched.
~ * ~
Mikla disconnected
the call, her face pale when Gregor walked into the room. “What has happened?”
he asked her as he walked toward her and wrapped his arms around her.
“Shana’s alive,”
Mikla whispered into his chest. Letting his body heat warm her, letting her
tears seep into his shirt. “She is alive,” Mikla said with a soft sigh as she
lifted her head to look up into her mate’s eyes.
~ * ~
It was deep in the
night as Shana lay on the bed next to Kai after a bout of intense lovemaking.
Her breathing was still hard and fast and the sweat on her body was being dried
by the cool air coming in through the window. She still couldn’t get the ugly
night creature from her mind from the previous night, nor would she ever forget
the creature’s screeches.
A Tetre, Kai had called the creature, talking to her on the
way home, then again just before they had made love. He lay behind her with his
arm thrown over her middle. She could still feel his heart beating wildly from
behind her, but he was in a deep sleep. She slowly lifted his arm from her
middle and eased herself off of the bed. Shana bent down and picked a black
shirt up off the end of the bed and slipped it over her head. She looked over
her shoulder and saw that Kai was still sleeping. She suddenly realized that
Kai had stayed home with her all day today instead of going to the planet’s
Capitol for his business meeting. She still had not told him that she had
regained her memory. It pained her not to tell him. It also pained her to know
that she was sent here to kill him and she didn’t know why.
After everything
that she had seen here, everything that she had seen him do for this world, she
still didn’t know why he needed to be assassinated. After a heartfelt sigh,
Shana slowly turned and walked out of the bedroom. Answers.
That is what she needed and there was only one person who could give her those
answers. But not right now.
Shana eased the
door open and stepped out into the cool air, shivering slightly. She wrapped
her arms around herself as she gazed up at the dark sky. Kai told her about
what happened during the Midnight Hour every night and what kind of creatures
those Tetre’s were--carnivores.
She shivered as
she remembered how close she had become to being the Tetre’s next meal. She
shivered even more as she thought about what she hadn’t told Kai about her
feelings.
She looked at the
moons that hung above her. Shana thought that she would have missed her own
world and the space travel to which she had grown accustomed. She didn’t. She
felt at ease on this world, even though she hadn’t seen much since she’d been
kept in this house from the first moment that she had arrived on the planet.
Her memories
brought her to the last few moments on her ship. The way that
the ship had malfunctioned. The fire had broken out while she was mere
moments from
Sabotage seems
like a good word to use here, Shana
thought to herself. Her spine stiffened as she thought harder about those last
few minutes on the ship. My God, it was,
she told herself. “Why?” she silently asked the night.
“Why,
what?” Kai asked from behind her.
Shana turned to
look at him with a puzzled expression. “I was just thinking about what had
happened the other night,” Shana lied as she turned away before he could read
the lie on her face. She gazed up at the night and the moons once more before
she turned to look at Kai.
He stepped forward
and wrapped his arms around her, holding her close to him, feeling her warmth
seep into his chilled bones when he feared that something had happened to her.
She still hadn’t told him what she went through and who had taken her. He
needed to know, now.
“I need to ask you
something,” he said softly as he eased her away from him. He guided Shana over
to a chair in the corner of the porch and helped her to sit down. Kai dropped
to his knees between her opened legs and stared up at her. “I need to know what
happened the day that you were taken.”
Shana’s heart
constricted the way he spoke those words with such intensity. She reached out
with a hand and cupped his cheek in her palm. She was about to speak when a
movement in the corner of the yard near a tree caught her attention. Her spine
stiffened as the figure stood out into the soft glow of the moons. She knew
him.
“What is it?” Kai
asked as he turned to see what had caught her attention.
The man that had
stood there darted behind a tree.
“It was nothing. I
thought that I saw something,” Shana rapidly replied as she got to her feet.
“Let’s go inside.”
Kai got to his
feet and turned to look at her with questioning eyes. He nodded his head and
took her hand in his to guide her back into the house. He turned back to the
tree that sat in the corner of the yard. What? Kai thought to himself as
he thought that there was a movement next to the tree. He felt Shana pull on
his hand, then he stepped over the threshold and
closed the door. He let her lead him down the hallway and into the bedroom.
There he stood and
watched her pull the black shirt over her head, standing in the moonlit
bedroom. Kai’s breath caught in his throat at the sight that she made, her body
washed with the glow of the moons. He tugged at the fasteners on his pants and
tugged them slowly over his hips and down his muscular legs until they pooled
at his feet. Kai kicked them away and they landed in the far corner of the
room. The Robo cleaner came out of the wall with a slight purr and picked up
the shirt and pants and faded back into the wall once more. Kai and Shana stood
there looking at each other, unaware that the Robo cleaner had made its
presence known.
Shana was the
first to step forward and touched his chest with her fingertips. Kai shivered
slightly at her touch. He let out a soft growl and wrapped his arms around her
tightly. Shana stood on the tips of her toes and pressed her lips to his. Her
arms wrapped around his neck as she pressed herself into his rock hard body.
His hands traveled
down to Shana’s buttocks and Kai lifted her to him. His hard shaft slid across
her mons. He let out a soft moan as he felt how wet she had become. With his
tongue he opened her mouth and at the same time thrust into her. He swallowed
her soft cries deep within him as he carried her over to the bed and laid her
down on the soft mattress while they were still joined. He lifted his chest off
her as he pulled his lips from hers. He stared down in her eyes, seeing the
love that she had for him. His heart began to beat at a faster rate with the
unspoken words. He pulled out of her until the only tip of him stayed within
her, then plunged in hard and deep with only one lunge of his hips.
Shana watched his
eyes as they suddenly darkened and swirled with emotions that she didn’t
understand. She pulled her hands free from his neck, and Kai lace her fingers
through his raising them over her head. He lowered his chest down to hers once
more as he continued to pump into her with slow and measured movements. Shana
lifted her chest and rubbed her breasts along his smooth, hard chest.
Kai couldn’t help
but growl at the feel of the beaded tips along his skin, and he crushed her
mouth with his and thrust his tongue deep into the moistness of her mouth. His
tongue searched hers out before they tangled with each other. He eased himself
out of her and she cried out heatedly. Kai tangled their legs together and
flipped them over easily. He was now on his back and pulled his lips from hers.
His lips traveled down her neck until they touched the tips of her breast,
pulling it deep into his mouth, hearing her soft cries of desire.
Shana tossed her
head back with a soft moan as Kai raked his soft fingernails down her back. Her own nails lightly grazed his chest. Shana sat back on
his hips, his wet shaft under her. She rubbed herself along the length of him.
Kai lifted himself off the bed and opened his eyes to stare up at her. She
looked down at him with a wicked gleam in her eyes. Shana rose up onto her
knees and reached underneath her taking his shaft in her hand and smoothed her
thumb over his tip.
She heard his soft
moan and felt him as he lifted his hips up off the bed. She smiled down at him
as she moved backwards until she straddled his legs. She looked up at Kai and
saw that he was watching her, knowing what she was about to do him. She smiled
a teasing grin at him as she lowered her mouth over him.
Kai jerked into
her mouth and tossed his head back with his eyes squeezed tightly shut.
“Shana,” he cried
out as he felt her lips close around him. His breathing came in hard and deep
gasps as she swirled her tongue around the tip of him and gently sucked. He
reached down and grabbed her head into his hands. He dared to raise his head
and looked down at himself and saw that she had her eyes closed and her head
rose up and down slowly. There was nothing like feeling her lips sliding over
him.
“Damn,” he
muttered softly as he laid his head back down onto the pillow. Sweat poured
from his face as he lifted his hips into her moist mouth. He felt her take him
full into her mouth. His hands fell from her head and grabbed the sheets in his
fists.
She enjoyed the
taste of him in her mouth. She wasn’t sure what had made her want to do this to
him. She thought that maybe it was because she enjoyed it so much when he had
done this to her. She slipped his shaft from her mouth, rose up on her knees
and moved over him sliding his shaft back into her.
His hands let go
of the sheet and held onto her hips as she rose over him and slid down, once
more taking him deep into her body. Kai threw his head back, holding her in
place as he pumped into her hard and fast as he grew closer to exploding.
Shana braced her
hands on his shoulders as she neared her climax. “Yes!” she cried out as she
closed her eyes tight, her body arching into him. When her arms could no longer
hold her up, Shana collapsed on top of him. His arms wrapped around her as he
continued to pound into her. He claimed her lips with his in a deep kiss as she
cried out her release. He felt his deep in his soul as he poured himself into
her.
~ * ~
It was near
morning when Shana slipped out of the bed. She walked over to the simulator and
had some clothes made for her. She quickly donned them with quiet ease, not
wanting to wake Kai up from the deep slumber. She looked over her shoulder and
felt a sense of déjà vu as she remembered that this was the same scene from
the night that had just passed. She bent and slipped on a pair of shoes and
left the bedroom on silent feet.
She made her way
out the front door. Shana glanced over at the tree where she had seen the
Freelancer. She hoped that he had survived the night with Tetres flying about
somewhere on the planet.
“Shana,” she heard
him whisper her name. She looked to the right and there he stood.
“Who are you,
Freelancer?” Shana asked in a hard voice as she stood in front of the
dark-haired man with a set of deep gray eyes.
“That’s not
important. I am here to take you home,” he said in a hard and deep voice.
Twelve
“No,” Shana
whispered as she looked up at the man who seemed so familiar to her. She
couldn’t seem to place his hard, chiseled face at the moment. She watched him
running his fingers through his already mussed hair. “Who sent you?” Shana
demanded of him. She was afraid, she did not know why. She took a step back
wondering if she really wanted to know the answer.
“Mikla sent me,”
he answered softly.
Relief rushed over
her. She closed her eyes for a moment and looked up at the dawning sky. “How is
she?” Shana asked as she turned her green gaze to the man who stood before her.
“She is worried
about you. That’s why she sent me.” His hard gaze softened for a moment. He
stared at her with a knowing gaze as he looked down into her eyes. “You made a
promise to her that you would be there when her time came for her to give
birth,” he muttered softly.
Shana gasped out
loud and took another step away from him. “How did you know?”
She looked at him,
into his eyes. “You are one of The Hunted.”
She stared with wide eyes, taking another step away from him.
“Aye, I am,” he
said, “as a matter-of-fact.” He grinned at her.
“But how can that
be? They all were eliminated over a hundred years ago.”
The Hunted was a
term used by her ancestors for the ones who had clairvoyant talents. A law
enforcement team was formed to eliminate the clairvoyants when they proved to
be dangerous. Thus they were termed The Hunted.
“A handful of us
survived. We learned to hide our talents.” He stared down into her face.
“In fact, the
great Leader of ours on Earth is also a Hunted. I know this since we can sense
others like us,” he said in a voice that held much disgust.
Shana’s face
paled, “No,” she said in a hushed voice. “That cannot be true.”
“It is true,
Shana. How do you think he wins the elections every year when the whole
population of Earth cannot stand the man? How does he make his wives fall in
love with him and marry him?”
Shana had thought
back to the moment, before she was sent on this mission. The
time to where she and Mikla had talked about President Grogan.
“The idea sickens me. How in the hell
did the son of a bitch become the president anyway?”
“I can’t even stand working for him. He is such a
bastard it’s a wonder he hasn’t been assassinated yet.”
“Who knows.
This is his third term and he always makes good promises to The People.”
Shana turned to
the Freelancer with an astonished look on her face. “I don’t believe you,”
Shana said as she turned and began to walk toward the house until his next
words stopped her.
“You’re in danger
here on
She turned to look
at him with a puzzled expression. “What do you mean by that?”
“When
you were kidnapped by that man, the Commandant. He won’t stop until you’re off this planet. He was
paid to kidnap you. And not by one person,” Freelancer said in a soft voice,
his eyes softening toward the woman before him.
Blood drained from
her face. Her heart began to pound in her chest. There was a sound of blood
pumping through her veins as she stood there, staring at him. She heard her
name being called in the distance, but she didn’t turn to see who was calling
her. The Freelancer’s mouth was moving, but she didn’t hear the words coming
from him.
“Who?” Shana asked, barely getting out the one word. She
jerked at the slight touch on her arm. Shana turned to see Kai at her side,
glaring at the foreigner.
“You know who is part of the plan, Shana. You have failed this mission and
another is on the way to take your place. And to eliminate you or to send you
elsewhere-somewhere that is not a pleasant place.” The Freelancer then turned
to acknowledge Kai’s presence at her side.
“Guardian.” He nodded at Kai, who had returned the nod.
“Who are you and
what do you want with my mate?” Kai asked as he stepped in front of Shana.
“I know what she
is to you, Guardian.” The Freelancer smiled at Kai’s stunned expression. “I
came here because her friend, Mikla, sent me for her to take her home. But
there is danger to her there as there is here.”
“I am aware of the
danger here because of recent events that have taken place.” He turned his eyes
to Shana. She stood there with a glazed look in her eyes.
“Are you all
right?” Kai asked her as he placed his hands on her shoulders. She nodded her
head. “I ask you again, who are you?” Kai looked back to the man who had shaken
Shana to her core.
“I am a Freelancer
on Earth. And I was sent here to bring Shana home. But I sense danger lurking
around her,” the Freelancer said once more. He could also sense that they were
destined to be mates--plus another change within Shana. Something
that she was not aware of yet.
“He’s right Kai. I
trust him.” Shana spoke in a hushed tone as she turned to look at Kai. “I
remember everything.”
This time, it was
Kai’s face that turned pale. “I...” He wasn’t sure what to say. So many
emotions were warring within him. He was afraid that he was going to lose her
to this stranger who called himself a Freelancer. Something inside of him told
him to take her and run.
“I have an idea
about who is behind this,” Shana said as she turned away from Kai to the
Freelancer.
“How can we stop
him?” Shana asked as she took a few steps away from the men.
“We can’t announce
that The Hunted have survived this past century. We will become The Hunted once
more,” The Freelancer said in an exasperated voice, his hands braced on his
hips.
“Who are The Hunted?” Kai asked as he looked from The Freelancer
to Shana.
“The Hunted are
the ones with the talent of Clairvoyance. It was decided that the ones with the
talent posed a danger to our society and should be eliminated.”
Shana turned to
look at Kai. “We had a special police force to hunt them down. They were called
The Enforcers and they were trained in a special way to block out The Hunted’s
abilities. After they thought that the last Hunted was eliminated, The Enforcers were disbanded. Space travel was
discovered a decade later. The Enforcers were banded together once more to
enforce Space Law,” Shana continued.
The Freelancer
nodded his head with each word that she said.
“Now it appears I
have discovered that not all of The Hunted were
destroyed after all.” She waved a hand at the Freelancer as she turned to look
at him. “Not to worry, Freelancer. I won’t say a word about your talents. I am
not even sure if you are still a Hunted since that law was disbanded along with
the Enforcers. Your secret is safe with me.”
“As well as with
me,” Kai mumbled. Shana turned her eyes to Kai and glared at him hard. “Who am
I going to tell? We haven’t communicated with Earth since my ancestors left the
planet. That has been over two centuries.”
Shana nodded her
head in agreement. She turned and started walking back to the house. The two
men behind her followed closely.
~ * ~
There was someone
lurking in the shadows. A presence that the Freelancer did
not sense. This man had a sense of danger about him. He meant harm to
Shana. He failed once and he was not about to fail again.
“You know what to
do,” the woman said as she stepped up to Carlos. He turned to look at Sonya as
she wrapped her arms around his waist.
“Of course I know
what to do. I would still like to know how she escaped the Mambo,” Carlos
mumbled as she placed a soft kiss behind his ear. Immediately he began to shake
with need that made him ache for release.
“I wonder if you
do. You failed once. Are you going to fail me again?” Sonya said as her leg
lifted and wrapped around his waist.
Carlos’ eyes
closed as she pressed herself against his buttocks.
“The further she
is far away from
The feel of her
hot breath along his neck made him hardened and lengthen. Carlos continued to
shake with his need of her.
“Do you want more
of this?” Sonya asked in a sultry, desire filled voice as her hand slid around
his waist and into his pants. She grabbed onto his manhood and slid her
fingertips down his hardened length.
Carlos inhaled
sharply, then he jerked in her hand. She released him,
and Carlos groaned at the loss of her touch. Her hand slipped out of his pants
and she turned him toward her.
“Make sure that
you don’t fail me this time,” Sonya said in a hard, lethal voice. Her eyes
turned to Kai’s house with longing. “Someday all this will be mine.” She spoke
in a low and determined voice as she glared at Carlos. “Make it happen, fast,”
she said to him one last time before she walked off into the woods beyond the
clearing.
Carlos’s eyes
followed her retreating back. Then he turned to Kai’s house. He needed a plan.
He needed one fast.
~ * ~
Kai looked down at
Shana’s sleeping face. His eyes were soft and tender whenever his gaze was upon
her.
“What are your
plans for Shana?” the Freelancer asked Kai as he watched them. They were
sitting on the couch discussing various topics. Shana had fallen asleep an hour
earlier.
Kai had looked up
at the other man’s question. “I wish to spend my life with her. She is my
mate.” His thumb circled her cheek, her eyes fluttered at the movement. His
action stopped, he cupped her cheek with his palm.
“Tell me how Shana
was kidnapped,” the Freelancer asked as he leaned back against the recliner,
his fingers steepled as he watched Kai closely. He felt the tenderness drain
from Kai. Anger and fear seeped into the man. The Freelancer tried to hide the
smile behind a yawn.
Kai’s eyes slowly
moved from Shana’s sleeping form to the foreigner sitting across the room from
him. “She didn’t tell me much about what happened.”
The Freelancer
slowly rose from the recliner with ease, and he walked over to the mantle above
the fireplace and lifted a winged creature into his hand. A dragon, he thought
to himself. I have seen paintings of these mystical creatures in the museum. He
placed the porcelain figurine back on the mantle. “Tell me, Kai, what are you
plan on doing with your Commandant Carlos?” He turned to see the puzzled
expression on Kai’s face.
“What about my
Commandant?” Kai slid his gaze away from Shana, as he rose to his feet and
glared at him.
“He will come into
command if something should happen to you, is that right?” he asked as he
walked over to a painting on the far wall in the corner of the room. He stared
up at the mountain peak with twin moons hanging on the wall.
“If
there are no heirs. But there is a distant cousin who will be the next in line to
become The Guardian,” Kai said, unsure to where this was coming from or where
it was leading.
“So, what will
become of The Commandant? He was the one who kidnapped your mate.”
“What?” Kai asked
in a hard voice. He shut his mouth tight as he stood there and glared at The
Freelancer. His heart began to pound inside of his chest, sweat beaded on his
forehead. His breathing came in short and shallow breaths. One hand braced
against his hip while the other hand ran through his hair. He glanced down at
the beige carpet on the floor.
He wanted to know
who had dared to harm Shana. He did not expect someone else to tell him who
that person was. He did not expect that person to be a clairvoyant and a
foreigner. His eyes traveled the length of the carpet to the couch and to
Shana. His eyes softened as they lingered on her for several moments. Kai’s
eyes left Shana and moved to the Freelancer then his eyes hardened to a lethal
level. Without saying another word, Kai turned on his heels on stormed out of
the living room.
The Freelancer
watched the stunned Guardian leave the room with quiet, deadly steps. He could
feel the anger rolling off the man. With a single thought the dragon from the
mantle floated in the air and landed in his outstretched hand. The Freelancer
smiled as he looked down into the dragon’s red eyes.
~ * ~
Kai slammed the
door to the gym shut. The sound vibrated into the quiet room and echoed off the
walls. The mirrors on the wall shook with the force. His shoes were kicked off
and hit the mirrored wall. Kai placed his hands behind his neck and tugged off
his shirt.
He threw it across
the room and the Robo cleaner slid out of the wall and picked up the discarded
items, then wheeled itself back into the wall.
Kai’s black
leather pants gave a soft squeak as he dropped to his knees on the mat with his
eyes closed. He rose to his feet with a single leap. His foot struck above his
head with swiftness, then smacked down onto the mat, the sound vibrating in the
room. His hands shot out and slapped the air in front of him. He moved to his
side and clawed the air. Kai ran into a leap and shot his foot out, hitting the
wooden wall and leaving a three-inch dent in his wake. He turned and scooted
across the mat executing chops with his hands outstretched.
When he was in the
center of the room, Kai stopped and did a wheel kick, followed by another one,
then another. He stopped, dropped to his side with his hand above his head then
kicked the air above him. He turned on his back and kicked into a standing
position. Kai did a handless cartwheel, he landed in
front of the mirrored wall, his hands braced on the cold glass.
Cold eyes met cold
eyes in the mirror. He lost the leather thong that had been used to tie his
hair back. He was breathing hard and fast, sweat had dripped from his face. The
leather pants felt hot to the touch and glistened with his body sweat. Kai’s
glanced away from his image in the mirror as he muttered a few choice words.
~ * ~
“Where is Kai?”
Shana asked The Freelancer as she sat up on the couch. She rubbed her eyes and
looked at the man sleepily.
“He’s cooling off
right now. I have never seen a man that looked as angry as he did moments ago.”
He smirked as he put the book he was reading on the end table. He steepled his
fingers and looked at Shana. She is a
lovely woman, he thought to himself. But
she is not the woman for me. Besides, she belongs to someone else. I know that
he will treat her right. Mikla will be delighted to know of this. The last time
that I spoke to her, Mikla was worried about her friend. He sighed as he
stopped his thoughts for the moment.
“Tell me why you
have not told Kai the truth behind the kidnapping?” he asked, his eyes never
leaving hers.
“I...” Shana began
but stopped when she felt Kai’s presence nearby. She looked away from him to
see Kai standing in the door to the hallway. She could tell that he had been
working his anger off in the gym. She gulped in several deep breaths.
“Why did you not
tell me that Carlos was the one who kidnapped you?” Kai demanded as he walked
over to her and kneeled at her feet. He clasped her hands in his and tightened
his grip.
“I don’t know,”
Shana said in a hushed voice. “I guess I needed some time to think things
through.” She looked away from him and closed her eyes. “When my memory came
back that night of the Tetre attack, everything was a jumble in my mind. I just
needed some time to think.” Shana looked up at him with sad eyes that nearly made
Kai weep. It broke his heart.
The Freelancer
decided that this was the time to leave the two of them alone. While they were
staring at each other, he walked over to the door and stepped out into the
bright sunshine.
Kai stood up and
helped Shana to her feet. He wrapped his arms around her, holding her close to
him. Feeling her close helped to ease the shivering deep inside of him. He
still held the fear that Shana would be leaving him now that her memory had
returned. He felt her hands slide over his chest and around his neck.
“When did your
memory return?” he asked softly in her ear. He felt her shiver and his arms
tightened around her.
“The
night when I escaped. The night
when I was almost attacked by the...” Shana mumbled as she pressed herself
closer to him.
Kai placed his
hands on her shoulders and stepped away from her. “Then you know that I...” Kai
didn’t finish the thought. He turned his back on her, raking his fingers
through his hair. A moment later he turned back to Shana, to find her no longer
in the room with him.
~ * ~
Shana ran from the
house. How could she have forgotten that Kai had lied about everything? She
paused at the flower garden, her feet barely touching the soft brown soil, her
arms crossed over her chest. She gulped in several deep breaths as she stared
down at a pink flower that sat in the center of white, peach, and red flowers.
She remembered seeing that flower once before on Earth.
How can I still
have these feelings for him after what he’s done? How he lied to me? Did he know why I was sent here
or was it something else? Why didn’t he tell me the truth in the beginning? Shana
thought to herself and she inhaled deeply as tears misted in her eyes. She
rubbed her thumbs over her eyes, drying the lone tear that had slipped forth. Her
thoughts took another turn.
What about the danger the Freelancer had spoken about? she thought. President Grogan, is he the one who is
behind it? The way my ship...? Shana shook her head. She thought back to
that moment on the ship once more.
A
virus? How can that be? Shana asked herself. “The ship was designed to
eradicate all viruses that came in contact with the ship,” she muttered under
her breath as she began to walk down the length of the flowerbed. Only the President knows when agents go on
missions. He knew the exact moment when I was leaving on a mission. Shana
stopped when she got to the end of the flowerbed. When would he have had the time to plant the virus, and why didn’t the
ship eradicate the virus on it’s own?
She thought back
to when she was already deep in space. She was struck in the rear of the ship
when she was about a day away from arriving on
“My God,” Shana
whispered as she turned to look at Kai who had quietly walked up behind her. “I
wasn’t supposed to arrive here. He wanted to make sure that I didn’t return to
Earth at all.” She looked up at him with tear filled eyes. “He wanted to kill
me. Why?” She turned away from him. “I need to go back to Earth,” she mumbled
under her breath.
Thirteen
Kai stood still as
he watched Shana’s retreating back. He couldn’t get her last words out of his
mind. I need to go back to Earth.
“No,” he
whispered. “I can’t let her go,” he mumbled to himself. His hands fisted at his
side as he watched her enter the house. He closed his eyes and turned his head
away from the closing door. “This can’t be happening,” he said under his breath
as he looked back at the house. Emotions filled him that he had never before
felt. His nostrils flared as he thought about what had happened these past few
days. Kai started walking back to the house when the Freelancer’s voice stopped
him.
“She’s right, you
know. She has to go back to Earth.”
“Why is it so
important that she go back?” Kai said in a stiff voice, his eyes hard, boring
into the Freelancer.
“It’s not my place
to say,” he said offhandedly. He looked past Kai’s shoulder at the house.
“Shana holds the key to unlocking the President’s secrets. Instead of coming to
Kai’s face paled
at what he was just told. He remained speechless.
“She does not know
of this,” the Freelancer said as he looked away from the house and at Kai. “There
is a lot about Earth that is kept quiet. Even the people of Earth are unaware
of what their leader does to keep Earth thriving. Slavery was a thing of the
past. But little do people know that slavery is still happening around them.
They have an underground market. Most of the slaves are women and children.
They are what you call ‘Love Slaves’ which is illegal in twenty galaxies.”
Kai nodded his
head, still stunned at what he had just been told. He braced his hands on his
hips again as he turned to look at the house. His face hardened and his eyes
turned to a smoky color. She was to become a ‘Love Slave’. Kai felt sick as he
thought of how he had rescued her from a terrible fate.
“Why would the
President of Earth do such a thing?” Kai asked in a hard whisper, his eyes
remained on the house.
“Greed
and power. They are the most
deadly combinations that will cause people to do evil things,” The Freelancer
had spoken in a bewildered voice.
Kai turned to look
at the Freelancer with a stunned look. Those words were foreign to him. He did
not understand this man that stood before him.
“People will do
almost anything within their power to achieve money and more power,” he
explained as he walked over to the flower garden and plucked the pink flower
that was in the middle of the arrangement.
A far off noise
drew Kai’s attention back to the house. Prix came running up to him and Kai
turned to look at the Freelancer, only to find that he had disappeared. Kai
looked all around him but couldn’t find a trace of where the man had gone.
“Kai, I am glad to
find you home. There has been another landing on Shadow’s Peak.”
“When?” Kai demanded as he took as step toward Prix.
“Early
this morning.” Prix said as he
took in several deep breaths. “I am not sure how they penetrated our defense
but they did. I have people working on tracing their trail and how they managed
to slip through our fingers.” Prix wiped sweat from his face.
Kai nodded his
head as he looked over his shoulder to try to locate the Freelancer, but he was
still unseen. He slid his arm around Prix’s shoulder as he led them back to the
house. In a hushed voice, Kai told Prix, “I want you to do something for me. I
want to find anything, and I mean anything, about Freelancers on Earth--who
they are and what they represent.”
Prix stopped
walking to look at Kai with a puzzled expression. “I have never heard of
Freelancers. Who are they?”
“He is claiming to
be one of these Freelancers--and one of a group called The Hunted. He was sent
here from a friend of Shana’s to take her home, to Earth. But there is
something else that he told us. There is danger lurking around her from Earth
as well as here.” Kai’s expression turned hard once more as he related to Prix
about what was said about Shana and Earth.
Prix gave a low
whistle and turned away from Kai, his eyes unfocused as he took in what Kai had
told him. He turned back to Kai and asked, “Are you going to let her return to
Earth?”
“I don’t know.”
Kai raked both of his hands through his unbound hair. “I’m not sure of anything
right at this moment. What will happen if I let her go? Will she return to me?”
“Or you can go
with her and protect her. Make sure that she is safe from the harm that is
surrounding her,” Prix said as he watched Kai’s face change from a hard look to
a softer one.
Kai nodded his
head as he started back to the house. As he got to the back of the house a
noise heard from the front got his and Prix’s attention. Both men looked at
each as a shout from Shana had them running as quickly as possible toward the
front.
Kai stopped in
mid-run as he watched Shana struggle with two men who had a hold on each of her
arms, dragging her to a hovercraft that Kai did not hear arrive. He watched as
Shana dug her feet into the ground, halting the men. She pushed her arms in
front of her and the two men staggered forward. Then Shana pulled her arms back
and the two men lost their hold on her. She leapt into the air and fly kicked
the man on her right. When Shana landed on her feet again, she was a good foot
away from the remaining man.
The last man
standing made a dash toward Shana as the fallen man began to rise. Shana moved
to the side with her arm outstretched and he ran into her arm and fell
backwards. Shana looked at the man that had risen to find him climbing into the
hovercraft. But he didn’t get halfway into the vehicle when Kai dragged him
back out the door. Prix was running toward her. When he stopped next to her,
Prix picked up the other man by the collar and yanked him off the ground.
“Take these men
into custody and question them. And while you’re at it, bring in Carlos also.
He was the one behind the kidnapping the first time. I don’t doubt that he is
also behind this attempt on Shana.” Kai looked at Shana as he spoke the words.
She was breathing fast and was also sweating. Her eyes grew wide at how hard
his voice seemed. She nodded her head as Prix took both men and shackled them,
then placed them in the back seat of his hovercraft. With a final nod at Kai,
Prix climbed into the front seat of the black hovercraft and started the
engine.
Within moments,
the hovercraft was a tiny speck in the sky.
Kai watched as
Prix took off and slowly walked over to where Shana stood. He wrapped his arms
around her and felt her trembling. He placed a tender kiss on her brow, bent
over and picked her up in his arms. He walked into the house and strolled down
the hallway until he came to the bedroom. He stood next to the bed and swept
the covers back. Kai slid Shana down his body until she was on her feet. He
could still feel her trembling as he slowly lifted her shirt from her. He
squatted down and took her running shoes off her feet. His palms slid up her
legs as she dropped her hands on his shoulder to keep herself steady.
He slid his
fingers into the waistband of her leggings and slid them back down, taking her
panties with them. Kai looked up to find Shana staring down at him with her
lips parted when he slid the rest of her clothes from her body.
“Kai,” she
whispered his name in a breathless sigh.
He pressed a soft
kiss on her navel, followed by another just below the first one. He grasped her
thighs in his hands and slightly parted them.
“Kai.” Shana moaned as he pressed a kiss on one of her
thighs, then the other one. Her hands tightened on his shoulders. His hands
slid down her thighs and stopped at the back of her knees. As Kai stood up, he
wrapped her legs around his waist. His lips claimed hers in a deep kiss as he
carried her to the bed. He placed her in the middle and followed her down, her
legs coming up to cradle him.
Shana arched her
back as she felt his hardness through his leather pants. Her fingers fisted in
his shirt as she tugged the soft, dark blue material off of him. “Kai.” She murmured his name as her fingers pressed into his
naked back. His smooth chest pressed against hers, his nipples pressed into
hers. Shana inhaled sharply at the sensations that went through her. His hands
slid around her and cupped her warm breasts, her nipples hardened even more
against his palms. She swept her hands down over his back and palmed his
buttocks as she raised her hips into him.
Kai pulled his
lips from hers and trailed them down the side of her neck at the same time he
pulled his hands from her breasts. He quickly shed his pants and shoes. His
naked manhood pressed against her wetness. Kai groaned as he wrapped his lips
around her nipple and gently suckled her. Shana arched off the bed as sensation
after sensation overwhelmed her.
“Kai!” she
screamed out, wrapping her arms around his neck. Her legs wrapped around his
waist tightly. “Please,” she begged.
Kai smiled around
her nipple before he tugged on it one last time. He rose on his arms and stared
down at her. Shana was panting and gleamed with sweat. He crawled backwards and
sat on his knees as he continued to stare down at her. His hands smoothed up
and down her legs, his gaze burning into hers.
“Shana,” he
whispered in a soft, tender voice that shattered her heart, and tears filled
her eyes.
“Kai.” Shana spoke his name the same way that he had spoken
hers. Kai’s heart pounded in his chest as his hands slid up her thighs and
stopped at her heated core. His thumbs gently slid over her hardened bud,
causing Shana to whimper. Her arms stretched out as she reached for him. Kai
shook his head as he stretched out his legs and laid himself between her
thighs. Shana dropped her hands on his shoulders as Kai began to lave her wet,
heated core.
Her hips rose as
she met his tongue and she cried out his name. Shana’s legs wrapped around his
shoulders as her arms tightened around his neck. She arched off the bed and her
eyes closed. Her fingers slid from around his neck to the back of his head and
grasped his hair with her fingers. Shana panted and gulped in several deep
breaths as Kai continued to tease her with his mouth. She kept her eyes closed
when she felt him pull away from her. She was close to her release as he slid
over her and into her with one powerful lunge of his hips. She felt the tip of
him all the way into her womb.
“Look at me,” Kai
commanded as he placed his hands around her face.
Shana blinked her
eyes open as he looked down at her. His eyes were dark and intense as he began
to move within her. She gasped out loud as she recognized the look in his eyes--desire
and passion. And love. Tears welled in her eyes once more. A single tear slid
from her eye and pooled on the pillow beside her. Her arms wrapped around his
waist as she rose to meet his thrusts. Kai’s eyes never wavered from hers.
“Keep them open
for me,” Kai muttered when Shana closed her eyes. She opened them again. She
stared up at him as she neared her climax once more. Kai groaned and moved
harder and faster into her as he felt his release rising within him.
Shana arched off
the bed as she moved faster and harder against Kai. She closed her eyes as Kai
gathered her to him. He grew taunt and stiff as he spilled himself into her.
Shana began to shake and sobbed into his shoulder.
“I love you,”
Shana cried out to him.
Kai stiffened even
more as he heard the words that he had wanted to hear from her lips. When the
ebbs of passion eased from his body, Kai rose on his arms and stared down at
her with longing in his eyes. He pressed his lips to hers and whispered against
her lips, “I love you,” before he collapsed against her with his chest still
heaving. Their combined sweat began to dry in the warm evening.
Moments later, Kai
shifted his body to the side and onto his back, taking Shana with him. She
cuddled at his side with her arm draped over his chest. His thumb trailed
circles on her shoulder. Her eyes grew heavy and weary from exhaustion. Soon,
she fell asleep. Kai was still awake as he stared up at the ceiling. He should
feel elated that Shana loved him as much as he loved her, or did she? That was
not what was keeping him awake. So much had happened this day and he thought about
what the Freelancer had told him about the danger that Shana was in currently.
He needed to make plans for the trip to Earth. Kai tucked his arm under his
head as his hand slid to her back and felt her still heated skin under his
palm.
He also needed to
figure out how he was going to get to Earth without being detected from the
patrol around the planet. As thoughts and ideas swam through Kai’s mind, he
fell asleep.
~ * ~
“You
bastard!” Sonya shrieked at
Carlos, her hands waving in the air around her as she stormed across the
bedroom floor. Carlos’ eyes were downcast toward the wooden floor, glaring at
the swirling patterns on the floor panel. “You said that you had a fail-proof
plan.” Sonya continued to rant, her voice vibrating against the bedroom walls.
“How was I to know
that she knows the art?” Carlos asked in a soft voice as he turned to look at
Sonya.
“Of course she
knows the art,” Sonya said nastily as she slowly walked toward Carlos. “She’s a
government agent. They teach them the arts.” She trailed her finger down his
chest until she stopped at the waistband of his pants. She looked up at him
with a small grin on her face.
“You failed
again,” she smirked. She turned and walked away, leaving Carlos to stare up at
her retreating back, watching the gentle sway of her hips.
“I do not like to
fail,” she spoke in a hard voice as she turned to look at him. “Neither does
Jim.”
Carlos’s eyes
opened wide at the mention of the President’s name from her lips. He averted
his gaze from hers; hurt filled his vision.
“You do know what
Jim does when others fail him?” Sonya said as she continued to have her back
turned toward Carlos. Then she ran her hand down her thigh until she reached
the hem of her skirt.
Carlos could only
stare at her curvaceous buttocks. He did not see what she was doing until it
was too late when she turned around to face him.
~ * ~
Kai slid into
Shana when the morning light filled the room. Shana stared down into Kai’s face
from her position above him. “Say it again,” Kai said softly as his grip
tightened on her hips as she raised herself and slowly slid down on his shaft.
Shana dropped to
her arms, which brought her lips an inch from his and whispered the words, “I
love you.” She touched her lips to his.
Kai inhaled
sharply, his fingers digging into her flesh. His back arched off the bed as he
moved deeper into her. His feet pressed into the mattress and his knees were
bent as his hips pounded into Shana.
She tore her lips
from his and buried her face into the pillow next to Kai’s, muffling her soft
cries as she found her release.
The bedroom
vibrated and the windows shook when Kai shouted his release.
~ * ~
An hour later, Kai
pushed Shana’s chair up to the table as he served her breakfast. The Bot would
be arriving back sometime after breakfast. Minutes after he had his bout with
Shana, he got the call from Stu saying that the Bot was fixed but he couldn’t
retrieve the lost memory banks. There was a virus that had caused the memory
banks to crash.
“It’s no longer
necessary. I found out what I wanted to know,” Kai told Stu.
“But I did do
something new with the Bot. Something that I have been working on for several
months. I’m working on a new technology that will bring the Bots new life in
this century and it’s a surprise for you,” Stu said before the call was
terminated.
Kai and Shana ate
their breakfast in silence but gave each other knowing looks that held secrets
of what they had shared the night before and earlier this morning. Shana would
grin at Kai and he returned hers. He reached over and took her hand in his, “I
am going with you to Earth,” he told her softly.
Shana stared at
him with wide eyes--she couldn’t believe what he had just said.
“I don’t want you
to go alone. I will be there with you,” Kai added in a softer tone. Shana
nodded her head as she stood up from the chair she was sitting in.
“You have no idea
what you are getting yourself in to,” Shana told him, crossing her arms over
her chest and glaring at him. She did not want to argue with him, not after
what they had shared earlier. Her body was still tingling in places that she
never knew she had.
“I do know what
I’m getting myself in to. You are my mate. My first priority is to make sure
that you are safe at all costs,” Kai said as he swiftly stood from the chair.
The Robo cleaner came out of the wall and put back the chair without drawing
the attention of Kai and Shana.
“I love you and I
don’t want to see you get hurt,” Kai said softly as he walked around the table
and took her in his arms. He held her close to him, burying his face into her
thick red hair.
Slowly, Shana
raised her arms and wrapped them around his neck. “I love you, too. But we
won’t know what to expect from President Grogan until we get there. I know he
was the one who sabotaged my ship.” Shana took a step away from him, her arms lowered to her sides and turned around, away
from him.
“I figured as much
when we took what was left of your ship to the salvage yard.”
“You have my
ship?” Shana asked as she spun around to face him.
Kai nodded his
head. “It’s near the Capitol. I had people look over the ship to find out who
you were and why you were on my planet.”
This time it was
Shana who nodded her head. “What did you find out? About my
ship?”
“There was not
much left of the whole system. You would have perished if I hadn’t rescued you
from the inferno.”
“Take me to my
ship. Please. I want to find out for myself what kind of damage has been done,”
Shana said, her voice so hard and cold that it nearly
made Kai wince.
“I’ll take you,”
Kai said as he turned toward the door just as there was a knock that sounded
someone’s arrival. “As soon as I get my Bot back.”
Fourteen
Kai stood in the
middle of the meadow and stared at the gray Bot with his hands on his hips.
There was something different about the Bot, but he couldn’t put his finger on
what it was. Kai looked over at Stu and shrugged his shoulders silently, telling Stu that he couldn’t figure out what was
different about it.
“The lights,”
Shana spoke softly as she looked up at Kai. “The lights are gone.” There was a soft
glow to her face. She stepped away from Kai’s side and walked over to the
silent Bot. She pressed her hands along the top of the Bot and smoothed them
over the now solid surface.
Kai glanced at the
spots where the lights once were. He flew a glance at Stu with a question,
“What have you done with the lights?”
Stu held up a
finger to silence Kai as he walked over to the Bot’s back. Shana had stepped
aside as she also watched Stu.
She looked as Stu
opened the back panel and pressed a button. The Bot began to whir and spun on
its wheels.
“Greetings.” The Bot spoke in a computerized voice.
Kai stood with his
mouth gaped opened and glanced over at a stunned Shana. She had her hands
pressed to her mouth and her eyes were wide. “Oh my, gosh,” she whispered. Shana
turned and ran up into Kai’s arms. She held tightly to him as he wrapped his
arms around her waist, bringing her closer to him.
He looked over
Shana’s head to Stu, who stood with his hands behind his back. “Thank you,” he
mouthed at the other man. Stu nodded his head as he bent over the Bot, making a
few changes as well.
“I am at your
service,” the Bot said as it turned on its wheels and faced Kai.
Kai dropped his
arms from Shana’s waist and walked over to the Bot. “This will get some getting
used to,” Kai muttered under his breath. He felt Shana at his side and he
looked up and grinned at her.
“What did you do
to give it a voice?” Kai asked Stu as he placed a screwdriver in the tool belt
at his side.
“Nothing
much to do. I replaced the program
that it came with. I basically reprogrammed the Bot with a voice instead of the
beeps and whirrs as the first Bots were given over a century ago. It was
something that I have been tinkering with for the past several years.” Stu
grinned at Kai and Shana.
Kai walked over to
Stu and clapped him on the shoulder before he shook the other man’s hand.
“Thank you,” Kai said as he stepped away from the other man.
“It was a pure
pleasure to work with the Bot,” Stu said as he nodded his head at Shana and at
Kai. “Give me a call next time you have a problem with the Bot. I have been
working on other programs, too. I am in the planning stages of upgrading the
looks of Bots as well. I am planning on a humanoid look for the Bot.” He
grinned once more before he turned and walked back to the hovercraft.
“Humanoid? That will be something. But we don’t even have a Bot
like this one on Earth,” Shana said as she looked up at Kai.
Kai nodded his
head as he stared at the Bot. “Now that I have my Bot back, we need to start
making plans for our journey to Earth.”
“May I make a few
suggestions?” the Bot spoke. Both Kai and Shana looked down at the Bot and
started to laugh.
“This will take
some getting used to. I can actually understand what it’s saying instead of the
beeps and whirrs.” Shana grinned up at Kai.
Kai looked over at
the area surrounding his front yard. There was suddenly a dire feeling washing
over him. “Let’s go back to the house,” Kai said in a fast, harsh voice that
made the hairs stand at her nape.
“I have this
feeling that we’re being watched,” Kai said in a hushed tone as he continued to
look at their surroundings. He took Shana by the elbow and guided her toward
the house when the Bot’s voice announced, “There is an incoming call from Prix,
sir.”
Kai groaned as he
sped up their walk to the house. “If it’s not one thing, it’s another.” Shana
stepped into the bedroom to start preparing for the journey to Earth while Kai
kept walking toward the office with the Bot at his side.
“Shall I make
refreshments?” the Bot asked.
“No,” Kai said as
he sat down at his desk and typed into the computer. He waited as Prix’s face
appeared on the monitor.
“We have a
situation here that you should be aware of, Kai,” Prix said. Kai noticed that
his face was pale and weary. There was a hint of agitation in his look as well.
Prix ran a hand over his face as he looked over his shoulder when one of the
Security Team asked him a question that Kai could not hear.
“Take him to the
morgue,” Prix responded. “We have found Commandant Carlos’ body at Raven’s
Kai stiffened, this was not going as he had planned. This time
it was Kai who ran a hand over his face. “What was the cause of death?” Kai
asked.
“A
laser blast--to the abdomen. We
are not sure when this happened. We are working on it as we speak. We are also
working on who was the cause of the Commandant’s demise as well,” Prix said as
he terminated the link.
“Damn,” Kai
muttered under his breath as he pushed his chair away from the desk. “This is
the last thing that I needed right now.” Kai stood away from the chair and
began to pace the room. His hands fisted at his side and his steps were angry.
~ * ~
Shana sat on the
edge of the bed and her stomach twisted inside of her. She was nervous. She
wasn’t sure why she was so nervous about going home. It was what she wanted,
wasn’t it?
“I don’t know,”
she cried out softly as she brought her fist to her mouth. Tears welled at the
corners of her eyes. She inhaled several deep breaths and pressed her thumbs at
her eyes to stop the tears. She stood up from the bed and walked over to the
simulator.
She typed in the
command for the simulator to create a travel bag that was large enough to carry
her and Kai’s clothes. When the bag appeared in the simulator, Shana picked up
the black bag, walked over to the closet and began to take out shirts and pants
that belonged to Kai.
She placed them in
the bag and turned to find Kai standing behind her. She gasped out loud as he
looked down into her face. His look held longing and desperation.
Kai reached out
and cupped her cheek in his palm. “I can’t go with you. My Commandant was
killed last night,” he said softly.
Shana did not need
to ask which one since she only knew of one of them. “Carlos?” She asked anyway
with a dreadful look in her eyes. She was saddened for Carlos but she ached for
Kai. She reached out and placed her hand over his on her cheek, staring deeply
into his eyes.
“I need to stay to
investigate his death,” Kai said as he moved his hand from her face to her
shoulders, kneading her neck with his fingers.
A sad look filled
her eyes as she looked down at her hands on her lap and twisted her fingers.
Shana nodded her head as she fought back the tears that filled her eyes. “I can
help you.” She looked back up into his face.
“You’re needed on
Earth,” Kai said softly as he dropped to his knees between her legs. His hands
dropped from her shoulders to her thighs, and she could feel him smoothing his
hands up and down against her skin. He began to feel the heat of her seep into
his hands.
Shana continued to
stare at him with sad eyes. A hard lump filled her throat and she gulped
several times to ease the emotions choking her. She wrapped her arms around his
neck and kissed him with everything she had in her. She poured her heart and
soul into the kiss. Shana felt Kai’s hands slip around her waist and he held
her close to him. She wrapped her legs around his waist as she fell to her
back.
Kai lay on top of
her, his hands sliding from around her waist and under the hem of her shirt,
cupping her breasts in his hands and filling his palms with her heated skin.
Her nipples tightened into tiny buds instantly. He swallowed her sharp gasp
deep inside of him. He had to taste her. Now. Kai
pulled his mouth from her and tugged the shirt from her body. He gazed long and
hard into her eyes before claiming her breast with his warm mouth.
She cried out as
Kai suckled her breast. Her legs tightened around his waist as she arched up
into his hardness, feeling the hard length of him against her softness.
“Kai,” she
murmured his name as she slid her hands under his shirt, smoothing her hands
along his well muscled back. She pressed her lips along his neck and gently
suckled him.
He gave one final
tug on her nipple before he pulled away from her. He stood on his feet, his
eyes locked with hers as he pulled off his shirt. Shana gave him a longing look
as his hands reached for the waist of her pants. His look was hot and heavy
with desire for his mate as he slowly peeled the garment from her legs.
He was already
hard for her. He stood and tossed her garments over his shoulders. Kai reached
for the waist of his pants and tugged them down his legs while Shana kept her
hot gaze on him.
He tugged Shana to
the edge of the bed as he dropped down on his knees once more. He spread her
open for him. He eyed the one place that he wanted to taste. He inhaled her
sweetness as he placed tiny kisses along her thigh. She gasped out loud and her
hips jerked. His hands held her hips firmly as he held her down on the bed and
his lips claimed her moist, heated spot. His tongue left a wet trail over her
bud and Shana cried out. Her hips jerked and Kai gripped her tighter.
Shana’s hands
grabbed the sheets in her fists. Her neck arched off the bed as Kai continued
to assault her with his mouth. “Kai!” She screamed out
his name. He... she wasn’t sure what he was doing to her, she only knew that it
felt good and lost herself in the sensation of his tongue sliding over her
heated flesh. As his tongue softly made circles on the small nub, she cried out
as her body shuddered with her release, her legs wrapped around his neck and
her eyes closed tightly. Her body relaxed but her breathing was hard and deep,
he could take her to places that she had never been without him there with her.
She opened her eyes to stare down at him for several long seconds.
He rose to his
feet and looked down at her. His gaze was hot and heavy. Shana watched as he
bent over her and placed his lips on hers. She could taste herself on his lips
and tongue. She wrapped her legs around his waist as her arms wrapped around
his neck, holding him to her.
Hips met each
other as Kai slid into her. Moans were heard in the room as skin slapped
against skin. Sweat glistened on their entwined bodies. Kai held her gaze and
watched as Shana climaxed again. He felt her burst around his hardened shaft as
he continued to pump himself into her. He pulled her legs over his shoulders
and gripped her hips to hold her still under him as he drove deeper and deeper
into her. He felt himself harden even more and lengthen longer than he ever
had. Sweat poured from his body to mingle with Shana’s. His gaze never wavered
from hers when he shouted is own release.
Minutes passed
when Shana slipped her legs from Kai’s shoulders with a soft sigh. She ran her
nails along his spine as she shifted her legs down his calves. Kai’s harsh
breathing sent tingles along her neck as her own breathing began to slow down
finally. Shana gulped in several deep breaths as her hand slid up his spine and
cupped the side of his neck as she murmured his name, “Kai.”
His arms tightened
around Shana, holding her as if he didn’t want to let her go, which Kai didn’t.
He had to, it was for both their own good. He
reluctantly loosened his arms and rose on his elbows to look down into her
eyes. His eyes still held a passionate glaze that made her gasp out loud.
“Shana,” he whispered her name in a thick voice. Kai leaned over and pressed
his lips to hers before he rolled over onto his back, his arms still holding
her to him.
Shana laid her
head on his chest as she listened to his heart return to a normal beat in his
chest. It was only mere moments when her eyes closed as she fell into a deep
sleep.
His eyes remained opened and alert. Kai gazed up at the ceiling as his
hand ran up and down smoothly on Shana’s arm in a lazy and contented manner. So
many thoughts were running around in circles through his mind. One of the
thoughts was about getting Shana off
The Freelancer, Kai thought. His body tensed as he thought about the
man who was sent by Mikla to retrieve Shana. The Freelancer could get Shana to
Earth safely. The last thoughts that were on his mind were getting the
Freelancer to agree to return Shana to Earth.
Getting Shana to
leave
Fifteen
Shana woke the
next morning and as her eyes opened, she saw a gray metal ceiling that seemed
all too familiar to her. She jerked herself upright in the bed with a muttered
oath as she looked around the too familiar room. She raked her hair back from
her face as her other hand pushed the lightweight blanket from her legs. Shana
moved her legs to the side of the bed as she felt the slight vibrations of the
ship. She eased herself from the bed, then quickly sat down and braced her
hands on the side of the bed frame. Her vision blurred and she felt dizzy.
“The bastard
drugged me and sent me off with the Freelancer,” Shana muttered under her
breath. She shook her head to clear the dizziness, but it worsened. With a
groan, Shana lay back down on the bed and closed her eyes as she felt
nauseated. She pressed her hands on her stomach and rolled to her side as she
gulped down several deep breaths.
Moments later,
when the sickness had passed, Shana stood up on shaky legs. She made her way
into the bathroom with her hand against the wall as she walked. She looked into
the mirror above the sink as she turned on the water faucet. Shana gasped as
she saw how pale her face was, she inhaled several
breaths as she cupped a handful of cold water. She splashed her face several
times and patted her face dry with a white and fluffy hand towel.
She reached up
with her hands, pulled her hair back from her face, twisted her hair and
clipped it back with a hair clip. Shana walked back into the bedroom and pulled
out the duffle bag that she had noticed that was sitting in the corner of the
room. She pulled out a pair of leggings and a shirt--she noticed that it was
one of the black shirts that belonged to Kai that she had worn before she
started using the simulator to create her own. She brought the shirt up to her
nose and inhaled his scent deep into her being. Tears formed in her eyes, but
she couldn’t seem to understand why she was crying. She wiped the tears with a
hand and with a soft whimper, shook out the shirt and slipped her arms through
the sleeves. She buttoned the shirt quickly with trembling fingers.
Shana dug through
the bag and pulled out a pair of black socks and slipped them onto her feet.
She saw a pair of anti--grav boots in the corner where the bag had sat. She
picked them up and slipped them on, they were a perfect fit. She slipped off
the bed and tossed the covers to the headboard and tucked them under the
mattress. She took in a deep breath before she walked over to the door and it
slid open. Shana took a shaky step outside of the bedroom and the door slid
shut behind her. She glanced over her shoulder, then down the hallway that
loomed ahead of her. She wasn’t sure which way to go. This was an unknown ship
to her.
“Shana, I see that
you are awake,” the Freelancer said as he walked up behind her.
“Freelancer,”
Shana returned his greeting. “I should be angry with you right now.” She spoke
sternly, while she was glaring at the man that she thought she could trust.
“I know that
you’re angry, I can feel it radiating from within you.” The Freelancer looked
her over with concerned filled eyes. She’s
confused right now. He thought to himself. “Kai thought that he was doing
right by you,” he said as he tucked his hands into the pockets of his dark blue
trousers.
Shana closed her
eyes as she looked away from him, “I wanted to stay with him. To be there for him. He almost died recently because he took
a shot that was meant for me.” She opened her eyes to look at him. “I failed
this mission that I was sent on. I was sent to kill him. For
what? I do not know. I have never questioned the President’s orders
before,” Shana said as she began to walk beside him down the hallway.
“You are not the
only one to feel that way,” the Freelancer said as he stepped into the galley.
He looked over at Shana as she took in the interior of the galley. He winced as
he too noticed the drab gray walls and the table and chairs of his galley. He
probably should have upgraded. I don’t
even get what the craze is of redecorating ships, as long as they serve their
purpose, he told himself, still feeling uncomfortable about his
surroundings with her looking at them.
“Hungry?” he asked
as he looked down at her.
“Yes.” Shana said
as she stepped further into the galley. “What can this ship make?” she asked as
she turned to look at him.
“Whatever your
heart desires,” he answered with a grin that matched the twinkle in his eye.
~ * ~
“Damn,” Kai
muttered as he slammed the door shut to his office. The sound vibrated in the
walls around him. He raked his hair with his fingers. He closed his eyes for a
moment, then opened them slowly. He glanced around the
office and muttered a few more choice words. He walked in a hard, fast pace to
the other side and looked down at the busy streets below him. He placed a hand
on the glass pane while he stared down at the street.
He still could not
figure out for whom Carlos was working. He took his hand off the window and
leaned his shoulder against the glass. He gave out a long sigh as his thoughts
turned back to Shana. He missed her. It had been two days since he had carried
her on board the Freelancer’s ship. The drug that he had given her must have
worn off by now. He still felt guilty about drugging her, but letting her go
back to Earth was his main priority at the moment. He thought back to that
night.
The Freelancer had
told him that she was going to be pissed off about him drugging her.
“It’s for her own good, she will not
listen to me,” Kai had told him.
“Still, do you have to drug her to get her to go? The
drug will not harm her, will it?” The Frelancer questioned him before he
boarded the ship and began the launching sequence.
“No, the drug will not harm her,” Kai
answered the question as he left the ship and a sleeping Shana and walked away.
“Did I do the
right thing to send her away?” Kai muttered to himself in the empty office. He
turned to look over his shoulder as the door to his office slid opened.
Sonya walked into
his office. “Kai,” she said in a breathless sigh that grated on his nerves. He
wondered what he had ever seen in her in the first place.
“Sonya, what
brings you to my office?” he said in return as he took his eyes away from her
and back down to the city below him.
“Do I need a
reason to see you? Besides, we have unfinished business that was never
concluded.” She raised her hand and touched his arm.
Kai looked down at
her hand as she began to run her fingertips along the exposed skin. “I am mated
now,” he said in a harsh voice as he shook her hand from his arm. He turned
away from her as she stepped between him and the window. Sonya squinted her eyes and glared at him.
“You sent the
little barbarian back to Earth, did you not?” she asked in an angry low voice
that made Kai turn back to her. He wished that he hadn’t when she gave him a
smile--a sexy smile. His heart began to pound at a fast pace but not for the
reason that she wanted.
“How did you come
by that little bit of information?” he asked as he took a step back from her.
“No one knows about that.”
“I have my ways of
finding about things when it concerns you.” Sonya gave a diminutive laugh. She
raised her hand and placed her palm over his heart. “Now that she is gone, you
need another mate to take her place. It is the law that once you release your
mate, you must take another.”
“I did not release
Shana as my mate. I merely sent her to Earth for some business that she needed
to take care of. I needed to stay here to investigate my Commandant’s death, then I will follow her to Earth,” Kai told her as he once
more stepped away from Sonya. He glared at her from beneath his lashes as she
gave him a pout.
“I was not told
this,” Sonya muttered under her breath as she glared at Kai.
“No one else knew
of this. You should check on the person who is giving you this information.
Whomever that is,” Kai said as he watched her carefully. She lifted her hand
and checked her fingernails.
“I should do just
that,” Sonya said huffily as she looked past Kai’s shoulder to the person who
was standing there. “Maybe I should...” She never finished the sentence as Kai
turned to look over his shoulder at Lara who stood there. She made a mad dash
out of the office and into her own office.
“Lara? You had my
secretary spy for you?” Kai gave her a hurtful look that also spoke of his
anger. He turned away from her, walked over to his desk and sank into his
leather chair. He gave her another look of astonishment.
“If the price is
right, people will do almost anything that you tell them,” Sonya said softly as
she sashayed over to him. She placed her hip on his desk and a hand on his
chest. “What is your price, Kai? What will I have to pay to spend another night
in your arms?”
Kai reached up
with his hand and covered her wrist. He was about to shove her away when a
thought entered his mind. He knew now deep down inside that she was the one who
murdered Carlos. He wasn’t sure how he knew this, maybe it was something that
she had started to say when Lara interrupted them or that she had caught
herself before she said it.
He stood up from
his chair and kept his hand on her wrist as he walked around to stand in front
of her. He grinned down into her eyes and lowered his lips, an inch away from
hers.
“Tell me who
killed Carlos and I’ll spend eternity with you,” he whispered. He pulled back
from her and looked deeply into her eyes. He placed a hand behind her to a
button that called Prix’s office, privately. He hoped that his friend was in
there to listen to what Sonya had to say.
“Is that what you
really want, Kai?” Sonya asked in a low, sexy breath. She placed her hands over
his chest as she kept her eyes on him. The hands slowly slid up his chest until
she entwined her arms behind his neck.
“That is what I am
willing to pay to know who killed Commandant Carlos Sanchez. Since you know
everything that happens on
“If you really
must know, will you still love me after I tell you?” Sonya pouted up at Kai.
He placed his
hands on her hips and brushed his lips against her cheek. “You know my feelings
for you,” he answered, even though what he really felt for her was disgust and
wanted desperately to pull away from her.
“If
you really must know. President
Jim Grogan ordered his assassination, along with yours. That is why Shana was
here to begin with. Since she failed and you mated with her, Jim sent another
to take her place. Carlos and I were the ones chosen one for the mission. I was
the one who was ordered to assassinate him and Shana. Then
you. But I could never hurt the Guardian of Paradise, not when I have
such strong feelings for him.” Sonya looked up into Kai’s hard eyes and gasped
out loud, stunned at the rapid change in his expression.
Kai’s jaw was
clenched tightly and his eyes were hard. His hands tightened on her waist hard
enough that Sonya cried out from the pain. He looked away from her to Prix who
still stood in the doorway with a stiff spine. Kai nodded his head at him, and
he began to walk in the office when Sonya lifted her leg and kicked Kai in the
groin.
“Shit!” Kai cried
out as he grabbed his family jewels and dropped to the floor. He shut his eyes
as tears blurred his vision. He could hear the scuffle over the blood rushing
through his head. He heard Sonya scream and drop to the floor beside him.
“Are you all
right?” Prix asked Kai as he kneeled down beside him.
Kai opened his
eyes slightly, though it was too painful to even breathe. His vision was a red
haze and blurry. He nodded his head at Prix’s question and Kai rolled over onto
his side with his hands cupping his groin. He tried to breathe through the pain
as he clenched his teeth together.
Through the blood
pounding in his ears he heard Sonya mutter, “This is not over, Kai. I have a
little surprise up my sleeve. Let’s just say that Freelancer should have looked
over his ship very carefully before he launched into space.”
“What did she mean
by that?” Kai asked Prix with a pain filled voice as he slowly opened his eyes
to look up at his friend.
“I’m not sure, but
I don’t like that sound of it.”
“Prepare my ship.
She has two days on us. I hope that I reach her before it’s too late,” Kai said
as he closed his eyes against another wave of pain that filled his entire
being.
~ * ~
“What do you mean
that we have been traveling in space for two days?” Shana cried out as she
jumped from the seat in the galley. Her hands braced on her hips as she stared
down at the Freelancer who continued to sit in his chair looking up at her with
mischievous eyes. “This is not funny,” she told in him in a huffy voice.
He couldn’t help
but to laugh out loud. Shana stood there tapping her foot on the floor while
her hands continued to brace her hips as she glared at him.
“I am sorry to
laugh, I couldn’t help it. Just seeing the look on your face,” he said as soon
as he sobered up from his laughing spell.
“I’m glad I could
help to amuse you like this,” Shana said as she turned away from him and
stormed out of the galley.
“Well I thought it
was funny,” he told the empty room as he stood up from the chair and walked
away from the table. He placed his hands into his pockets and walked out of the
galley while he whistled a merry tune.
He passed a still
steaming Shana along the hallway as he made way to the front of the ship. He
sat down in the pilot’s seat and scanned the readout reports that he had
continuously run from the ship’s computer. In his line of work he needed the
continuous scanning of the ship’s functions for anything unusual. He felt Shana
enter the bridge and she took a seat next to him. His eyes continued to scan
the readout until they landed on something that caught his eye.
The Freelancer’s
spine stiffened as he reread the printout from the computer. He straightened in
his chair and his face grew serious.
Shana turned in
her seat to look at him. “What is it?” she asked him as he stood up from his
seat and walked over to the main computer terminal, then
began to punch in a series of codes. “Computer, what is the compound on the
ship’s exterior hull?” the Freelancer asked as he braced a hand on the console.
“The compound on
the ship’s exterior hull is of an explosive matter. I detect that the explosive
matter will discharge in six hours and thirty point seven minutes.” The ship’s
computer generated voice answered his question. He looked over at Shana with an
expression of grief that matched her own.
“My God,
Freelancer, what are we going to do? Why didn’t the computer detect this
sooner? We need to get the explosives off the ship.” Shana stood up and began
pacing the bridge.
“I need to suit up
and take a walk in space,” he said as he pushed himself away from the ship. He
started to walk toward the door of the bridge when he stopped and turned back
to Shana. “If I don’t make it back, keep the ship and go on to Earth. You need
to stop the President before it’s too late.”
“Freelancer, I
have faith in you,” Shana stated as she walked up to him, placed her arms
around his waist and hugged him. “I have faith that you will make it back”
He returned her
hug, then pulled away from her, “Very few people know what my name is. My name
is Blade,” he said before he turned and walked away from her.
~ * ~
It took Blade over
an hour to suit up, which left him five hours to get the explosives off his
ship. He pulled the thermal gloves over his hands after he turned on the suit’s
heating unit. It heated the interior of the suit in less then five minutes,
since space is colder then any arctic planet in the universe. He was about to
step into the ship’s air lock when Shana called out to him.
“Blade. I wanted to wish you the best of luck before you step
outside. I’ll have the communications on at all times in case you need any
help.” Shana spoke in a fast and shaky voice.
“That means a lot
to me, Shana. And I thank you.” He reached out with a gloved hand and cupped
her cheek, “I am glad to call you friend, and Kai is one lucky man to have you
as a mate.”
Shana smiled at
the kind words--in her line of work, there was little room for friends in her
life. “You are a kind friend. When you make it back, you will find your own
mate.”
Blade shook his
head, sadly. “Not with what I do for a living, Shana. I smuggle contraband
throughout the universe and I am also a hired killer. I am a borderline pirate, there is no room for a mate in my life.” With that
said, Blade turned and walked into the air lock. Shana watched the door slide
shut. “I feel for you, Blade. I truly feel for you. Never say never until love
finds you. Just as it did me and I changed. I can no
longer be an agent for our government. Your turn will come,” she said to the
door of the air lock. Shana turned on her heels and walked down the hallway to
the bridge. “It’s going to take a strong woman to change the man that you are
today,” she added as an after thought.
Blade checked the
line cable to make sure that it was anchored to the ship and his space suit. He
also checked the line to make sure that there were no cuts or breaks, which
took another hour. That left him with four hours to get to the explosives.
“Shana, are you
there?” he asked before he opened the door to the outside of the ship.
“I’m here,” Shana
responded.
“I am stepping
outside now,” he told her as the door slid opened. He could feel the air as the
space sucked it out of the ship.
Blade closed his
hand over a handlebar that was located outside the ship. He could hear his
fast, harsh breathing through his mask. He closed his eyes briefly when a drop
of sweat fell into them. He searched for the second handle bar a mere foot away
from him. He pushed himself to the second handlebar. His hand closed over the
steel bar.
His hand slipped
and he drifted two feet above the bar. He bit back a shout as he pushed himself
down and grasped the bar in his hand. He closed his eyes for a moment as he
thought about almost drifting off into space, forever. At least he had the
cable, he thought to himself.
Blade could feel
the sweat on his face as he carefully made his way to where the explosive
compound was located. He looked at the small timer and noticed that the timer
read mere minutes were left. What? he asked himself. The
computer read the timer wrong! He
took out the flashlight and shone the beam of light on the compound. He pressed
his face closer to the green putty type compound. He wasn’t sure how to take
the compound off his ship without setting off an explosion. The compound was
tightly sealed onto the ship.
Blade muttered a
few choice words as he pressed a screwdriver around the compound removing a
section of the ship’s exterior hull that was holding the explosive and yanked
it off the best that he could. He threw the compound as hard as he could into
space and watched it spiral away from him and his ship. He looked down at the
quarter-sized hole that he had made and pulled a small piece of heavy sheet
metal from a pocket to place over the hole. He quickly screwed a few screws
into the metal and his ship. Just as he was done, the compound exploded several
feet away from him. The impact of the explosion pushed him into the side of the
ship, knocking him unconscious.
Sixteen
Shana jumped in
her seat at the sound of the explosion. She blinked her eyes open and took a
quick glance around the bridge. As soon as she got her bearings she realized
what had woken her. She ran to the portal window and looked out through the
glass. She searched the space and saw Blade’s inert body was still attached to
the rope and the ship. And he wasn’t moving at all.
She gulped down
several deep breaths as she pushed herself away from the window and ran down
the corridor then stopped when she reached the air lock. She tugged on a space
suit and palmed the lock to open the air lock door. She stepped into the air
lock and began to pull on the rope.
Her arms grew
heavy as she finally pulled Blade’s body into the airlock. Shana reached up and
palmed the door closed. She tugged her space helmet off and reached for
Blade’s. With slow arms, Blade helped her tug off his helmet.
Blade slowly
opened his eyes and saw Shana kneeling before him. “Thank you,” he said in a
raspy voice.
“I couldn’t just
leave you out there,” Shana answered as she tugged off her space suit and
helped Blade out of his with slow and measured movements.
“What happened out
there?” Shana finally asked as she helped him to stand.
“The compound was
stuck to the ship. I had to wedge it off. The computer had read the timer wrong
and I thought that I had plenty of time, but I didn’t. I threw the explosive as
far as I could, but since there is no gravity in space it didn’t go very far
before it exploded. I was thrown against the ship,” Blade said as he wrapped
his arm around Shana’s shoulder and she helped him walk down the corridor with
slow steps.
“I just wonder who
put that compound there in the first place?” Shana asked
as she helped in his seat in the bridge.
“I don’t know. My
senses are in a jumble right now. I just can’t seem to think straight,” Blade
whispered as he closed his eyes and leaned back in the seat.
“Maybe you should
go lie down on the bunk and get some rest. I can take over running the ship,”
Shana said in a low voice.
Blade didn’t hear
what she said, he was fast asleep.
~ * ~
Kai couldn’t
sleep. He paced his ship’s bridge back and forth while he searched for his
mate. “I hope that I get to her before it’s too late,”
he mumbled under his breath. He sat down in the chair when his legs grew too
weary from his pacing. He stared out the port window with weary eyes that grew
heavy and sleepy. He tried to blink them open to stay awake, but he soon fell
asleep at the ship’s console.
“He’s finally
asleep,” Prix said to Sira.
“How long was he
awake for?” Sira asked as she laid Michael down in the cradle that she brought
with her.
“He has been awake
for two days straight. I wish that you would have stayed home. It’s too
dangerous for you and the baby to travel,” Prix said as he tugged a blue soft
blanket over Michael.
“I wanted to come
with you. It has been too long since I have been off
“As much as I hate
to be away from you for any time period, I am glad that you came with me,” Prix
said in a low, husky voice that sent chills down her spine. “But I need to get
Kai to a bed before he falls out of the chair.”
~ * ~
It was a day later
when Kai finally awoke from a deep sleep. “Why did you let me sleep so long?”
Kai demanded from Prix as he stumbled onto the bridge with bleary eyes and he
scanned a printout from the ship’s computer.
“You needed the
sleep, my friend. You have been awake for two whole days. It’s not healthy to
go without having any sleep for that long period of time,” Prix said in an easy
manner.
Kai nodded his
head as he went back to his reading the printout from the ship’s computer. His
thoughts weren’t on what he was reading, they were on Shana.
~ * ~
“I can’t believe
that you are really here,” Mikla whispered in Shana’s ear as she embraced Shana
tight against her.
“I missed you so
much,” Shana said as she pulled away from Mikla. “What did you have? A boy? Or a girl?” Shana glanced
down at Mikla’s thin form.
“A
boy. We named him
“He’s gorgeous,”
Shana whispered as she turned to look at her friend.
“He is, isn’t he?”
Mikla eyes shone with pride. She placed a gentle hand on her son’s back and
smoothed her hand up and down his sleeping form.
“I am sorry,”
Shana said as she let Mikla lead her out of the nursery.
“They said that
you were dead. I couldn’t and didn’t believe them. That is why I hired the
Freelancer. To find you.”
“I’m dead?” Shana
gasped out loud and stepped away from her friend. “But... but... how can that
be?” Shana turned away from Mikla and took a few steps away from her.
“Remember before
we left we had wondered how the President always wins his elections when he is
the most hated President that we ever had?” Shana asked as she turned to look
at Mikla once more.
Mikla nodded her
head as Shana continued.
“Do you also
remember in our history about The Hunted and their clairvoyance? How they were
hunted by the Enforcers?”
“What are you
saying, Shana? That they were never eliminated as we thought they were?” Mikla
asked as she sat down on the couch and stared up at Shana.
“That is what I am
saying. The Freelancer, he is one of them. He told me that over the last
hundred years, they hid who and what they are since only a handful of them
survived being hunted. The President is one of them,” Shana said as she sat
down next to Mikla on the couch and took her friend’s hands in hers. “There is
more, Mikla. I was never supposed to arrive on
“Shana,” Mikla
said her friend’s name and her eyes looked sad for what her friend had gone
through as Shana told her about Kai and how he had lied to her about them being
mated. And how she fell in love with him.
“All that I can
say is that you had an experience of a lifetime,” Mikla said as she continued
to sit on the couch in awe.
“Yes, as a
matter-of-fact, I did,” Shana said. “But as soon as I confront the President, I
am going back to
“What? But you
just got here. I cannot loose you again so soon,” Mikla said as she stood up
and whirled to face her friend.
“We can still
visit each other. It’s only a week’s flight in space.” Shana stood up a little
too fast. Dizziness overwhelmed her, and Shana pressed a hand to her forehead
and sank back down on the couch with her eyes closed.
“Shana, what is
it?” Mikla sank down on her knees in front of her and braced her hands on
Shana’s legs.
“I don’t know.”
Shana’s stomach heaved and she pressed her hand over her mouth and ran quickly
to the bathroom.
Mikla waited
outside the bathroom until Shana was done. The door opened slowly and Mikla
placed her hand on Shana’s arm. “Come on,” Mikla said.
“Where are we
going?” Shana asked as she let Mikla lead her down the hallway.
“We are going to
see the Medic. And to find out what is going on with you,” Mikla said. If she
was guessing correctly, Mikla knew exactly what was going on with Shana.
~ * ~
“Everything is
ready, Kai. I got us rooms at the local housing unit in the Capitol. The
Freelancer is waiting outside to escort us to the units,” Prix said as he
pulled the strap of a duffle bag over his shoulder. Excitement showed in his face
about this being his first time on Earth.
“Let’s do it
then,” Kai said as he turned on his heels and out of the bridge.
~ * ~
“It’s good to see
you again, Kai,” Blade said as he slapped Kai on the back, falling into step
beside him.
“Where is Shana?” Kai
asked as he walked over to a hovercraft in a model Kai had never before seen.
Blade remained
silent with a grim face.
“What is it? If
something has happened to Shana...” Kai didn’t need to mention the threat as he
stood in front of Blade, his face within inches of the other man’s.
“You need to
understand something about Earth’s customs, Kai. When Earth became so
overpopulated, a law was passed concerning breeding. A woman cannot breed
without special permit. If she does, she will be publicly executed. The last
time that a woman was executed in public was over a hundred years ago. Until now.” Blade didn’t need to say more as he let what he
had just said sink into Kai.
The man began to
grin, a wide grin that matched the one in his eyes. Kai turned to Blade. “She’s
having my baby.” The smile then quickly turned to a frown. “And she’s about to
get executed.” Kai turned and climbed into the hovercraft, determined that he
wanted to get to his mate before it was too late.
“I need to see
her. I need to be sure that she is okay,” Kai said with a grim voice as he
stared out the window with unseeing eyes.
“I am sorry, Kai, but you can’t see her. She has been placed in a
special security cell. It is impossible for anyone to see her. Except for the
guards, that is.” Blade spoke with a knowing smile.
~ * ~
“You can’t do this
to me,” Shana said in a hard voice as she wrapped her hands around the metal
bars to her cell. She shook the bars to make her point.
“I am sorry,
Shana. I have orders from the President,” her guard, Jackie, said with a somber
voice as she looked at Shana with eyes that held strong pity. “You were such a
good agent. We all know that. I can’t believe that he would this to you.”
“Then let me out.
I’ll go somewhere that he will never find me,” Shana said with determination in
her voice . Her eyes pleaded with Jackie’s.
“And have me take your place? I don’t think so. I am sorry, Shana,
that you are going through this.” Jackie shook her head as she turned her back
on Shana.
Shana let out a
heartfelt sigh and hung her head down against the metal bars in defeat. Her
eyes were closed as she felt tears fill her eyes. She could feel them slip down
her cheeks. She blinked her eyes open and glared at Jackie’s back before she
turned and walked with hesitant steps to her narrow bunk.
“We need to find out what is wrong with
you, Shana. You could have carried a virus that can wipe out our entire
population on Earth,” Mikla said as she walked by her side to the hovercraft
outside her housing unit.
“I don’t know, Mikla. What if I am to be put under observation. Or worse, to be put to death.
Then I’ll never get to see Kai again,” Shana said as she sat in the hovercraft
but didn’t close the door.
“Then there is only one way to find out. Maybe you’re
pregnant,” Mikla said with a grin.
Her heart began to beat in her chest as Mikla closed
the door to the hovercraft and walked over to the driver’s side, then climbed
into the seat.
Two hours later and an agreement with the doctor,
Shana got the results from various tests.
She was indeed pregnant.
Doctor Wortz was not the person who had told the authorities that Shana
was pregnant. It was her nurse, Elizabeth Oliveraez.
The authorities were waiting for her as she
and Mikla were walking out the door to the
~ * ~
“I can’t just
leave her in there, Gregor. It is all my fault that
she’s in this predicament in the first place.”
“What are you
going to do, break her out of her cell?” Gregor said with dry amusement.
“If I have to,”
Mikla said with a strong and determined look in her eyes.
“No,” Gregor said
as he took her shoulders in his hands and turned her to face him. “I will not
allow this. Maybe she shouldn’t have returned to Earth. She would have been
better off on
“I can’t believe
you said that. I thought that you loved Shana like a sister. She is my best
friend,” Mikla said with a hurt look on her face as she shook Gregor’s hands
from her shoulders and took a step back from him. “How could you say such
things?”
“I only have your
best interest at heart, Mikla. I love you and don’t want to see you hurt like
this. Ever since she left on this last mission, you have changed.”
“I never did
change,” Mikla said with a wave of her hand in the air. She glanced away from
him, then turned back with an even more determined
look in her eyes. “I was worried about her. Can’t you understand that? I am
even more worried about her now. Especially since they are
planning on executing her tomorrow.” Her determined look faltered into a
sad one and her eyes began to fill with tears as she turned away from Gregor
once more with a shaky breath. She held back a sob with a fist in her mouth.
“Mikla,” Gregor
said in a soft voice as he stepped behind her and placed a gentle hand on her
back. “There is nothing that you can do. You know how tight security is
concerning prisoners.”
“I can always
appeal to the President.”
Seventeen
“Sir, you can’t
just walk in there,” the young brunette woman said as she stood up, fast, from
behind her desk. She walked in rapid steps toward Kai as he walked to the
President’s door.
Kai stopped in
mid-stride to face the secretary with a hard glare. “Watch me,” Kai said in an
even harder voice as he turned and barged into the President’s office.
Jim Grogan looked
up at the man who had dared to enter his office without being announced. “What
is the meaning of this? And who the hell are you?” The President stood up and
placed his hands on the edge of the desk, his finger on the button that would
call security to his office.
“You know damn
well who I am. I am Kai Morgan, The Guardian of Paradise,” Kai said with a
snarl.
President Grogan
paled and sat down in his chair, “What are you doing in here?” Jim said in an
angry voice as he shook himself out his stupor and glared at Kai, who had
remained standing in front of the desk with his hands braced on his hips.
“You know damn
well why I’m here,” Kai said as he stepped closer to Jim’s desk.
“I’m sorry, I
don’t,” the President said in a hard and amused voice.
“I am here for
Shana. She is my mate and she is carrying my child,” Kai said in a lethal voice
that matched the look in his eyes. “I want her back at my side right now.”
“She broke an
Earth law. She knew what the consequences were for breaking that law. And she
is a citizen of Earth even if she was on your planet when she became pregnant,”
Jim said with another smirk on his lips.
“Maybe that law
should change--it is inhumane and a stupid law that should have never been
passed to begin with,” Kai said with a dry voice.
The President
shrugged his shoulders. “I didn’t make the law. I only enforce it. Besides, why
should you even care? I sent her to assassinate you.” Jim smirked at the look
on Kai’s face, thinking that he had surprised Kai with that fact. What Grogan
didn’t know was that Sonya had already told them everything that Grogan had
been planning.
Kai stiffened when
he heard the last part of the President’s statement. He couldn’t believe that
the man would just admit it outright. He felt chills run down his spine and his
face darkened with anger.
“Why?” Kai asked
as he braced his hands on the desk and he placed his face within inches of the
President’s.
“Because,
I need your planet as a drop-off point. For years we’ve been using your planet as the stopping point and you
never even knew about it.
“I’ve sent out
female agents, single mothers with their children--even a few of my wives when
I tired of them--into space and caused their ships to malfunction. They were
then picked up in deep space from the so-called ‘rescuers’ and dropped off on
your little planet. Then the buyers pick them up there.” Jim grinned up at him
as his hand slowly opened a drawer and pulled out a small laser pistol, aiming
it at Kai. “I figured if I got you out of the way, I could take over
Kai stepped back
as he felt something trying overwhelm him. He shook
his head and turned away from Jim Grogan.
“What are you
doing to me?” Kai asked as he turned back to face the President, trying to
block out the sensations that were bombarding him. “Whatever it is, it won’t
work with me.” He stared down at the President.
Sweat began to
form on Jim’s face and he began to shake as Kai stared at him with
determination in his eyes. Jim continued to stare at Kai.
The President
broke the contact with him and sat down in the chair slowly, as the laser dropped
to the floor.
“I know what you
are,” Kai stated with a soft voice. “I know that you made these people on Earth
vote for you when you couldn’t buy those votes at every election once you knew
that you were going to lose.” Kai snorted as he glanced past Jim and out the
window behind him, then nodded his head.
“You wanted to
turn Shana into a slave just to get her out of the way of your plans. She was
gathering information about your past and what you truly are. Am I right about
that?”
Jim looked up at
Kai with a surprised look on his face. “She never knew anything about me. I had
already sold her into slavery; she was never supposed to have arrived on
Kai’s spine
stiffened once more. “The Romaini’s are into this slavery ring with you?” He
muttered under his breath. When I get
back to
“You are a
clairvoyant. You have no right to make the people of Earth vote for you against
their wishes,” Kai accused the President with hard, cold eyes.
“You have no
proof,” Jim said as he stood up from his chair once more and glared at Kai. “It
would be your word against mine that I used my powers over the people of Earth.
And I am their President. Who do you
think they will believe?”
“You’re right. I
don’t have any proof. But you just admitted it to the whole population
yourself.” Kai tilted his head in the direction of the window behind the
President.
Jim slowly turned
to face the window. His face paled once more as he looked at the Media that
were standing there on a large hovercraft with their cameras and microphones at
an open window on the four-hundredth floor. He turned to face Kai with anger in
his eyes. He made a move toward Kai that spoke his anger and need for revenge
against the man who had done him wrong.
“I wouldn’t do it
if I were you. Not with the whole population watching. You’ll be convicted
before there’s even a trial.” Kai spoke softly, reading the President’s
movements from his years of training.
“Fine. I’ll release Shana to you. But I don’t ever want to
see either of you on my planet ever again.” He tucked the laser into the still
opened drawer and slammed it closed.
~ * ~
Shana was released
from her cell two hours later. Kai held her in his arms tightly as they stood
in Mikla’s housing unit. “I never thought that I’d see you again,” she
whispered in his ear as she stepped out of his arms.
Kai let her go
reluctantly. He turned to face Blade behind him. “I want to thank you for getting
the Media together as quickly as you did.”
“It was no problem
at all. All I did was make a few calls and the word spread as quickly as laser
fire,” Blade said with a sheepish grin. He reached out shook Kai’s hand.
“I am going to
miss you so much,” Mikla said as she turned Shana in her direction.
“I am going to
miss you, too. But you can always visit us on
“I will,” Mikla
said on a sob as she hugged Shana one last time. “Both of you need to get off
this planet before the President calls in security.”
Both Shana and Kai
nodded their heads. With one last hug and a last farewell, Kai and Shana were
transported back to his ship.
~ * ~
“It’s not over yet,”
Shana said as she stepped out of the cleansing unit on Kai’s ship, The Challenger. “Even though you exposed
him as a fraud and he will be forced to resign. It is not completely over.” She
let the towel drop from her still damp body and walked into Kai’s arms.
He lifted her into
his arms and carried her over to the bed. Kai laid her in the center of the
bunk and quickly shed his clothes. Shana opened her arms for him as he slid
over her. He claimed her lips with his in a deep, soul-searing kiss that made
Shana’s heart beat wildly in her chest.
“I love you,” she
whispered as she pulled her lips from his and he stared down into her eyes.
“I love you, too,”
Kai said as he claimed her body in one hard thrust of his hips.
~ * ~
“So, I hear that
you were sent to assassinate me,” Kai said as he lay behind Shana with his arms
wrapped around her.
“That was the
mission. Or I thought that it was.” Shana turned over to look down at Kai. “But
I couldn’t do it. Not after I had regained my memory and had gotten to know you
the way that I did. The file said that you were a drug runner. Even though I
had never known what you actually did or why you had never taken me with you to
your office, I knew deep down inside that the files were faked. In my heart, I
knew that you were not the man that was written in the files,” Shana said with
her heart in her eyes.
“I believe you.
What I couldn’t understand was why Sonya did what she did,” Kai said as he
tugged Shana down to his side.
“She was jealous
and greedy. President Grogan pays well for outside help. Sonya was greedy and
wanted to you. She also wanted your position to gain whatever power she could,”
Shana said with a soft sigh.
“Sonya had help
from Carlos. She wanted you out of the way so that she could take your place,”
Kai said in an angry voice.
“That is what she
had hoped to gain and she failed, because I am still by your side. By the way,
we never did get to see my ship,” Shana added with a grin.
“Do you still want
to see your ship?” Kai asked as he flipped her over onto her back. He rose up
on his elbows and stared down at her.
“I don’t think
that I need to see my ship now that I know everything that I really need to,”
Shana said as she rose up and claimed his lips with hers.
Once more, Kai
took her to paradise, with his body and with his heart.
Eighteen
Eight months later
“Push,” Mikla
ordered a sweaty Shana.
Shana sat up on
the bed, then fell back as wave after wave of pain
filled her entire body. “I can’t,” she panted as her whole body tightened and
another wave of pain filled her.
“You don’t have a
choice, Shana. The baby has to come out,” Mikla said as she rubbed her hand
over Shana’s extended stomach.
“I am so glad that
you are here,” Shana said with a hard and loud moan as she rose up on the bed
and pushed with all her might.
A moment later the
baby was born. “It’s a girl,” Mikla said as the doctor cut the umbilical cord.
“I don’t think
that I’m done yet,” Shana moaned as she began to push once more.
“Another
girl.” Mikla grinned down at
Shana. “Are you finished this time?” Mikla said as she turned to look at the
twin girls as they were being placed in a glass bassinet.
“I’m done. I wish
Kai was here to see them being born. I never did tell him that we were having
twins.”
“He had pressing
business with the Romaini’s. He didn’t know that it was going to take three
months,” Mikla said as she bit back a groan of her own and sat down on Shana’s
clean bed. “Jim Grogan resigned from his office three months after you and Kai
left Earth. He is nowhere to be seen,” Mikla told her.
“And Sonya
committed suicide. We won’t have to deal with her any longer,” Shana said as
she glanced over at the twin babies sleeping in their bassinets.
~ * ~
“Two.” He
said the single word in a soft voice as he stared at the twin bassinets next to
Shana’s bed.
Shana nodded her
head as she watched Kai slowly walk over to the twin girls. “They are both your
daughters,” she told him with a soft smile as her heart was beating wildly in
her chest.
Kai nodded his
head as he turned to look at her. “Thank you.” He leaned over and kissed her
lips briefly.
“Are you happy
with the girls?” she asked him in a soft low voice. She could hear Mikla and
Gregor talking in the background but she didn’t hear what they were saying
while her heart was beating in a fast tempo in her chest.
“I am happy to
have daughters, we can try for a son later on. What
did you name them?”
Shana placed her
head on the left bassinet, “I named her Kayla and her sister, Kaylene.” She
looked over at Mikla, “Thank you for being here when my time came. I’ll be
there for you when your time comes again.”
~ * ~
Three months after
the birth of the twin girls. Kai and Shana walked along the ocean’s shore on
Earth. “I still can’t believe that within a year, Earth finally has water in
the oceans.”
“It’s amazing what
technology can do when it comes to the will of the people.” Kai stopped in
mid-stride and pulled Shana toward him.
“And look at all
of the people that are here to see the wonder of the ocean,” Shana said as she
pushed a strand of her hair behind her ear.
“I like to see the
wonder in you,” Kai said before he sealed her lips with his.
Meet Tamia Dawn Osburn
I’ve always wanted to be a writer.
Thanks to Wings, that dream is coming true for this
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