The Tradrych Strain- The Complete Series

by Marissa Farrar

  We had sympathizers who would be able to provide us with what we needed to blow up the unused facilities, but first we had to reach them. I wondered how Miko was getting on. He was more recognizable than I was, and I hoped that wasn’t going to cause any problems. The idea was that if one team had to divert from our mission, then one of the others would still have the opportunity to complete the task. Without the devices, we’d lost before we even started.

  Shouts came from up ahead, and the bangs of someone hammering on a door.

  “Quick, step back,” Geharz hissed.

  I put out an arm to stop him. “No, keep going. Act as though we’re supposed to be here. Be confident.”

  “Velos!” he swore beneath his breath, but he did as I’d suggested.

  Several of Borys’s guards were banging on the doors of the buildings lining the street.

  I strolled over to them, and Geharz followed close behind.

  “What’s going on here?” I demanded of the nearest guard.

  The guard glanced over his shoulder at me. I didn’t see any kind of recognition in his eyes, only irritation at being interrupted. “Polityk Borys has set a curfew until the culprits of the attack of his property are found.”

  “A curfew?” I frowned. “What’s that supposed to achieve?”

  “The rebel’s comrades will happily hand them over to us when the taverns and whore houses start shutting down.” He barked laughter, but I didn’t join in.

  I forced a smile. “Let’s hope this gets dealt with fast then.”

  “Exactly.” He jerked his chin. “Now, get home.”

  This was going to make things harder, which was exactly what Borys had planned. We wanted to look as though we fitted in, but if no one else was around, as they were all behind closed doors because of a curfew, there would be no one to fit in with.

  I exchanged a glance with Geharz and nodded. We couldn’t turn around now, but going across the city would mean we’d also have to get back again, and on the way back, we’d also have the device with us, if all went well. That wasn’t going to be as easy to explain if we were stopped. I wondered if Miko and the others were aware of the curfew yet? I didn’t think for a moment that one of the rebels would give us up simply to frequent some bars or whore houses—Borys completely underestimated our loyalty to one another. Not that I was surprised. He ruled through fear, and those above him did the same. Trads were expected to be ruthless and tough, and never show mercy. We didn’t all feel that way, however. What was the point in existing if our only focus in life was keeping others down?

  The guards had moved on and forgotten about us, and were busy shouting at others to return home. We kept going, picking up our pace. How long would it take the guards to reach the safe house? The idea of them banging on the door when Tara was inside turned my stomach. I trusted Aleksy to keep her safe, but it wasn’t the same as being there myself.

  I wouldn’t be happy until I’d made it back to her.

  Chapter Four

  I paced the safe house, my thumb at my mouth as I worried a piece of dry skin beside my nail. I wasn’t going to be able to think properly until the others were back and I knew they were safe. I understood the reasons for keeping us separated, but that didn’t mean I liked it.

  Zoe had taken herself back into the bedroom where she’d spent the night. Zoe wasn’t happy, but I didn’t know what I could do about it. It wasn’t as though I could just commandeer a Trad ship and fly her back to Earth myself. I remembered what Nad had said about her not being my responsibility and, in some ways, he was right—after all, I wasn’t the one who’d brought her to Tradrych—but that still didn’t stop me worrying. It was in my nature to want to help people and fix their problems, but some things were beyond my ability.

  “Tara?”

  Aleksy’s deep voice reverberated through me, and my breath caught. I turned toward him, suddenly aware of how we were alone.

  “Aleksy. Hi.”

  He took a step closer. “You’ve impressed me, Tara, and I apologize for how I treated you when we first met.”

  That felt like an incredibly long time ago now, months instead of weeks.

  “You were only trying to protect your people.”

  He moved closer again, and my entire body responded, my muscles tightening, my hair raising on end.

  “Even so, I think a part of me lost sight of the reasons we’re fighting this battle. I’m not going to pretend to you that as Trads, we don’t have our own motives to putting an end to this brutal way of repopulating our planet, but I forgot about the people I was trying to help in the first place. Human women. If we want for you to one day come to trust us enough—to fall in love with us enough—that you are willing to give up your homes to come here and have our children and help us raise them, the very first thing we should be is compassionate. I forgot that, and I’m sorry.”

  His words rang in my ears: fall in love with us...

  He ducked his head and raised his eyebrows at me. “Tara?”

  I realized I hadn’t responded. “Oh, of course. I understand why you weren’t happy at first. This isn’t exactly a situation any of us have been through before.”

  “No, we haven’t, and we’re learning as we go.” He bit his lower lip, his gaze darting from mine for a moment.

  Aleksy was nervous about something. I’d never seen him nervous. What was he about to say? Fresh butterflies danced in my stomach. I prayed he wasn’t going to suggest that I go back to Borys or hand myself over to any other men in power. I’d stomached just about enough of that. I didn’t think I’d be able to go through it again without losing who I was myself.

  “I guess the other thing I’m learning is about how human women feel about sharing. I know it’s not in your culture to take more than one mate, but it hasn’t escaped my notice that you’ve bonded with Nadeusz and Mikotaj, and even the Athion, Diarus.”

  I nodded. Bonded. Was that the best way to describe what we had together? I wasn’t sure myself, only that I felt complete when they were with me. I couldn’t imagine there being one of them without the other now.

  “Some humans take more than one lover,” I said slowly, feeling my way around what I was trying to say. “Sometimes it’s without their other partner knowing, and that becomes all kinds of complicated, and feelings get hurt and families break down. But some people have an agreement with their partners, and they understand that you can’t always expect to get everything you need to fulfil you from one person. If everyone is in agreement and everyone benefits from the setup, then it can work.”

  He moved closer still, now only a matter of inches separating us. As though he was aware of how tall he was, so I had to crane my neck to look him in the face, he tilted his head a little, and his long silvery hair fell over his shoulder.

  “Do you think you could care enough about us to want to remain here, Tara? If we won this war, would you be willing to stay?”

  I thought about it for a moment and then nodded. “Yes, but with some understanding set in place.”

  He frowned but nodded. “Such as?”

  “Namely that I’m not treated like some baby-making machine, and I think all other human women would say the same. You have to remember the way we were brought here and what we went through after we arrived. The very possibility of having to go through that again, even if it was with someone we loved, is traumatizing. You need to make sure the women are wanted because of who they are and not because of what they can do for you.”

  He nodded thoughtfully. “I’ve seen how you are with the other woman, Zoe. Having you around is important, not only for us, but for them, too. Seeing another human among our number will go a long way to reassuring them that we’re here to help them, and not use them like they’ve already experienced.”

  I remembered what Zoe had said over the breakfast table about still being trapped. “And you’ll allow those who want to leave to go home?”

  “Yes. We’ll do everything we can to make that happen.�
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  “Because you understand the vast majority will only have that one thing on their minds. They won’t want to be here for a moment longer. They’ll have spent all their time missing home and their loved ones, and even if you’re helping them, they’ll still struggle to think of you as anything but the enemy.”

  He pressed his lips together and then said, “You didn’t.”

  I frowned, not understanding. “I didn’t what?”

  “You didn’t see us as the enemy. You went with Nad and Miko, and you trusted them.”

  “Yes.” I tried to put into words how it had felt to be with them. “We had a connection, but I didn’t trust them at first. That took time.”

  “So, maybe that’s simply what the other women will need—time.”

  “Perhaps, but this isn’t something you’ll be able to force, Aleksy. They’ve already been forced, and this was the result. If connections happen, they need to happen naturally.”

  “What about us?” he said suddenly. “Do you think we have a connection?”

  He was gazing down at me now, and my heart stuttered.

  My cheeks flared with heat, and I dragged my eyes from his. “You may have been on my mind.”

  “You’ve been on mine constantly.”

  I could barely believe what I was hearing. “I’m a woman, and human, and you haven’t been around females recently. It’s only natural that you would consider me.”

  “No, it’s more than that. Zoe is here now, too, but I haven’t given her a single thought—at least not in the way I’ve been thinking about you.”

  My heartbeat pounded, blood rushing through my ears. Aleksy had been thinking about me? I knew he wasn’t using the pheromones on me to attract me to him. What I was feeling was all from me.

  He leaned in and his fingertips met with my chin, lifting my face to his. His intense gaze studied me. And his thumb swept along my jawline, sending a rush of goosebumps across my skin. My nipples tightened, and a pleasurable thump of arousal pulsed at my core. How would it be to have sex with Aleksy? I imagined him taking complete control, being deliberate in every touch and stroke and kiss and lick. He’d study my body and face to remember and learn how each little thing affected me and what my response would be. He’d be a careful and considerate lover, I was sure.

  He ducked his head and pressed his lips to mine, soft and warm. Whisked away in the moment, I wrapped my hands around his neck. I tangled my fingers in his hair, the strands silky soft. Surely it should be breaking some kind of law for a male to have such beautiful hair. I parted my lips and tasted his tongue. The tingle of arousal I’d experienced at his touch turned into a torrent, and I kissed him harder, our tongues meeting. He backed me up against the kitchen counter and then scooped his hands under my thighs and lifted me. In this position, I was able to press myself against him, feeling the hard length of his cock beneath his pants. Fucking hell, he was huge. All Trad cocks—that I’d experienced so far, at least—were big, but Aleksy seemed to be on a whole other level. I imagined how stretched my pussy would need to be to take him, and how deep he would go.

  A sudden wave of self-awareness hit me. What was I doing? I’d only just talked to Aleksy about how this kind of relationship only worked if everyone was open and honest about things, but the others didn’t know about what was happening here. Aleksy might be the one in charge, but that didn’t mean he got to do whatever he wanted, especially not where I was concerned.

  I broke the kiss and placed both hands to his chest, pushing him away. I jumped down from the counter and stepped to one side, needing to put space between us. My heart fluttered, my stomach churning.

  “I’m sorry. I can’t.”

  “I don’t understand.” He raked his hand through his silvery hair, directly through the middle of his horns. “Did I do something wrong?”

  I shook my head. “It’s not you, it’s me.” I sighed. “God, that’s such a cliché.”

  He frowned at me again. “Cliché?”

  “Never mind. I mean that I can’t do this without talking to the others first. I don’t know how they’d feel about it.”

  “In our culture, we’re open to sharing. I thought I’d already mentioned that. It’s the same in the Athion culture.”

  “Yes, but in my culture, getting together with someone without first making sure everyone is okay with it is called cheating, and it’s a definite no-no.”

  He pursed his lips. “I’ll speak with Nadeusz and Mikotaj then. I’ll tell them what we want.”

  “No, you won’t. You’re their leader, and they will feel they can’t say no to you. I’ll be the one who talks to them.”

  His gaze darkened again. “So, you do want this?”

  My mind blurred. Did I? My body certainly did, but wasn’t I happy with Nad and Miko and Diarus? Did I really want to add Aleksy into the mix? He might change the dynamic of our group, and I didn’t want the others to feel I was bringing in someone who was more important than them, because, in my mind, no one was more important.

  “Honestly, I need to think about it. I’m sorry. I let my body take control of something my head clearly should have been managing.”

  He pressed his lips together—lips I now wouldn’t be able to look at without thinking of kissing them—but nodded. “I understand. This is what you were talking about when you said that human women need to be allowed to make their own choices.”

  I smiled, pleased he’d understood what I’d said, and not only that, that he’d been listening in the first place. I’d met enough human men in my time to know that plenty of them acted as though they were hanging on your every word, only to discover they were thinking about the latest sports results.

  The front door banged open, and I jumped, still feeling guilty.

  I exhaled a sigh of relief. Nad and Geharz were back.

  Aleksy immediately returned to business, no sign of what had just happened on his handsome face.

  “How did you get on?”

  “Good,” Nad said. “We’re getting things in place. There’s a lot of support out there for the cause.” His gaze flicked to me. “I think you’d be surprised.”

  The door opened, and Miko entered with one of the other Trads, Trovik. He gave a nod to everyone to say they’d been successful in their mission, too, and then Miko crossed the room to me and planted a kiss on my cheek.

  “Everything okay here?” he asked.

  I smiled and nodded. “All good.”

  Diarus and a rebel Trad called Zuniq were the last to arrive back. I imagined Diarus must feel as though he was swallowing a bitter pill each time he had to go out in public and take on the role of slave to whichever Trad he was with. We were all working toward freeing the women on Tradrych, but no one had even mentioned putting an end to the practice of Trads owning Athion slaves.

  Chapter Five

  Miko

  I WOULD HAVE HAD TO be deaf, dumb, and blind not to have noticed the atmosphere between Aleksy and Tara when we’d entered. Jealousy wasn’t something I wanted to feel, but I couldn’t deny that green worm twisting through me. I had no right to lay any kind of claim to Tara, but still I shot a glance to Nad to see if he’d picked up on it as well. By the thinning of his lips, I guessed he had.

  But this was about Tara. If our plan was to give women free choice, then she had the choice to be with whoever she wanted. And the truth was, any one of us would rather be thrown just a tiny piece of her than no piece at all.

  “Did you all get the devices?” Aleksy asked, now we’d all returned.

  “Yes.” I slipped the small, silver disc out of my pocket and carefully placed it on the table. “Amazing that something so small can cause so much damage.”

  Aleksy reached out and touched it lightly with the tips of his fingers. “It can absorb anything within a hundred-meter radius. Enough to remove the facility from the face of Tradrych and most likely a good chunk of the planet beneath it as well.”

  Tara’s eyebrows had lifted, and she stare
d down at the device, her skin pale. “That sounds dangerous.”

  “It is,” Aleksy confirmed. “Extremely. But don’t worry, there is a delay on them which allows plenty of time to get out of the vicinity.”

  “But...” She hesitated. “If someone is accidentally still within range when it goes off, it will kill them.”

  “It won’t just kill them. It’ll evaporate them. There won’t even be a body left. It’ll be as though they never existed.”

  Her voice was small when she said, “Oh.”

  Nadeusz placed the device he’d recovered on the table with the one I’d brought back. “We’ll make sure there’s no one around when we set the timer.”

  “I won’t mind if Borys is around,” she said, the coldness of her voice surprising me.

  Once more, I found myself wondering exactly what Borys had put her through while she’d been under his roof. Purely for a selfish reason, it wasn’t something I’d wanted to think about. I’d torture myself with images of his hands and lips on her skin and more. I hated myself for even considering my reaction when she’d been through far worse.

  “We’ll make him pay for what he did to you,” I told her. “I swear it.”

  Dairus was the final one to place his device on the table. There were three of them. One for each of the facilities.

  “I don’t think the human women should be involved,” Aleksy said. “They’re safer if they stay here.”

  I glanced to Tara. She crossed her arms over her chest, her lips pressed together. She wouldn’t appreciate being told to stay behind again.

  “Borys has his guards going door-to-door,” I said, wanting to fight her corner. I didn’t want her to stay either, and a part of me wondered if Aleksy was only saying she should so he would get her to himself. “They haven’t covered this part of the city yet, but that doesn’t mean they won’t. If they reach this place, they’ll find her, and we’ll be too far away to help. I vote that it’ll be safer if she’s with us, no matter where that is.”