“Daddy. Daddy. Daddy,” a muffled voice chanted from the hallway.
He rubbed his face with both claws and cursed.
“It’s your own fault, you know,” Becca giggled as scooted off the bed, her naked body jiggling enticingly. “You’re the one who made sure he could say your name first.” And then she waddled that luscious pregnant ass and swelling stomach past the main portal to their room and straight into the bathroom, where she slid the door shut behind her, leaving him alone with this.
“Daaaaady!”
“I’m coming,” he shouted. Rayzor jumped out of bed and yanked on a pair of pants, willing down his raging erection. Then he stormed over and hit the panel for the door. The moment it rushed open he leaned down into little Ray’s startled face. “What do you want and why do you always wake up so fracking early?” Rayzor growled at his son.
The three-year-old’s lower lip pouted. He clutched his favorite stuffed animal to his chest but managed to keep a baby version of the warrior stance in the face of an angry Xylan. “Joyzal said…th…there’s a message.”
“He did?” Rayzor clenched his jaw. “Of course he did,” he muttered. “Joyzal,” Rayzor lifted his head, yelling down the hallway for the benefit of his best friend who he was certain was spying upon this exchange. “This better be important or your ass is mine.”
He stood and grabbed his son’s tiny claw, dragging the child inside. He shut the door behind them and sat the wide-eyed boy onto his bed. Rayzor walked away but raised his chin toward his son’s best friend, the orange and blue stuffed animal in his arms. “How is Maxon doing this morning?” he asked as he opened drawers, taking out additional clothing to put on.
Ray’s ridgeless forehead smoothed out and his features instantly brightened. He hugged the plush toy animal tighter. “Maxon is good,” he chirped.
“Can I ask Maxon a question?”
Ray’s lips twitched, causing his charming starter fangs to poke out. “Yes.” He turned the toy toward his father so Maxon could appear to listen attentively.
Rayzor made a show of looking the stuffed animal right in the face. “Maxon,” he asked it with a serious tone, “Did you wet the bed this morning?”
Ray whimpered and nodded. “Yes, he wet the bed.”
Rayzor let out an extended exhale. “Maxon, you’re about to turn four next week.”
Ray hid his face behind the toy and didn’t answer.
The door to the bathroom slid open and Becca stepped out looking fresh and ready for the day. Her colorless hair was swept over her shoulders. She wore a soft blue shirt, dark pants and some kind of foot covering that didn’t actually cover her feet, but showed off the short, colored claws on her toes. And her rounded belly, which was carrying their soon-to-be birthed daughter, was swelling enticingly under clothes.
Damn, she was sex personified, and he wouldn’t have the opportunity to fuck her again until the afternoon, if he was lucky.
“What was that all about?” she asked.
“Joyzal sent Ray to make sure we were awake and to let us know there’s a message for us.”
“Ooh. Really? Sounds important. We should get going then.” She gave their son a brilliant smile, walked over and embraced him, planting a kiss on his head. And she immediately wrinkled her nose. “Well, this one smells ripe.”
Rayzor grunted in agreement as he pulled a shirt over his head and down his chest.
“Sorry, Mommy,” Ray answered.
“It’s okay baby,” Becca responded as she lifted Ray and placed him on her hip, “no worries, we’ll get you fixed up fast.”
“And Maxon too?” he asked, lifting the stuffed animal up for her to inspect.
“Yes, we’ll wash him too,” she answered as she walked them both out the door to Ray’s bedroom.
A quarter rotation later Rayzor strode into their kitchen with his Bride and his clean, sweet-smelling son in his arms. He noted that their houseguests had already commandeered the food dispenser and hadn’t bothered to wait on them to break their fast. They were already eating at the table from an array of both Xylan and human delicacies.
Joyzal and his Bride had arrived at the farm two diurnals ago in order to reunite with their offspring and to continue with the search for Melachine. Rayzor was happy for the help, but at the same time he was already a milli-nanco away from beating Joyzal’s ass.
“Finally!” his best friend and adoptive brother announced. “The Prince has decided to honor us with his presence.”
Rayzor snorted and shook his head. Asshole.
Joyzal’s mate sprang up from the table. “Hey, good morning, it’s good to see you,” she exclaimed as she threw her arms around Becca. His brother’s Bride, Jacole, was also a Bounty Hunter and a member of the Hunter Guild. Their mates, who were both humans from the original planet, had become fast friends. Rayzor watched them, noting how their beauty contrasted nicely—Jacole with her sleek royal pigment and his own mate with her colorless skin. Humans were strange that way, with their variety of pigment options. The two Brides cheerfully sat next to each other at the table, as they always did, and immediately began to chatter in colloquial human-speak so fast Rayzor’s knowledge of the language, and his translator, couldn’t keep up. He basically had no idea, yet again, what those two were saying.
Ray wiggled in his arms. Rayzor let him go, and his son scurried off to play with the toys that were already scattered on the floor for baby Joy. The little girl looked up from where she sat, with a block in her chubby hand, and squealed with delight at their entrance.
Joy was about one planetary rotation younger than his own son. Her skin was dark as ancient night, and even Rayzor had to admit Joyzal’s daughter was the most beautiful of Xylan offspring. The lack of ridges on her forehead and her five-fingered claws made her beauty all the more exotic to Xylan tastes. Before her disappearance, Melachine had proudly displayed pics and vids of Joy on Xylan social media, which had gone viral, and now agents from around the four sectors were contacting Joyzal and Jacole, wanting to feature their daughter in ads and vid productions.
Too bad neither of them had any interest in this, because right now their combined focus was on searching for and retrieving their mother, Melachine of Eighteen. Melachine had been Joyzal’s adoptive mother and she’d formed a close bond not only with Joyzal, but also with his family.
One moon cycle ago, Rayzor’s father, Kroga of Sixty-Five, had kidnapped their mother from the cargo bay of a Bounty Hunter ship, and abruptly disappeared, and no one could figure out where they’d gone. Rayzor still found it hard to believe it had actually happened.
The Hunter Guild focused all their resources on the retrieval of Kroga and Melachine, but there’d been zero clues. Finally, Joyzal and Jacole had taken a leave of absence from their positions as Bounty Hunters and traveled to Zamarian Prime, where Rayzor and his Bride had been taking care of baby Joy.
Melachine had originally dropped Joy off in Rayzor’s care so she could leave to confront Kroga on the Bounty Hunter ship. Not that she’d told Rayzor of her intentions, because he would never have allowed such a risky mission.
Although it did help to explain why she’d arrived at the farm to see him in person, even though the risk of the High Command learning of their contact was extremely high. Rayzor, his mother, and his biological brother, Kayzon, had all been disbursed throughout the four sectors at the time of their formal banishment and were not allowed contact with each other for the rest of their lifespans, on pain of death.
Rayzor had innocently waved goodbye to Melachine as she’d stepped onto the transporter disk, his heart full with the joy of having spoken to his mother and watched as she met his Bride and son for the first time. And as she’d wavered and disappeared on the disk, he had no idea she was off to meet head-on with her banished mate. He had to believe she’d meant to be gone briefly, not forever.
Rayzor’s Hunter license had recently been reinstated, so all three of them—Joyzal, Jacole and Rayzor—had grouped to
gether and were still searching for his mother. But all clues had dried up and they were now at a frustrating standstill. Everyone on the farm loved and respected Melachine and wanted her back immediately. And everyone in the entire four sectors seemed to want Kroga to pay for what he’d done. Rayzor’s father was now the most wanted being in the universe. And he thought often of exactly which instruments he’d use from his Cabul to implement an exacting torture session for Kroga, prior to his father’s execution.
“This had better be important,” Rayzor groused, still highly annoyed with the fact that he’d been interrupted in bed with his mate. His Bride was pregnant and horny, and his own body was raging with possessiveness. All he wanted to do was fuck Becca three times a day, minimum.
“It is,” Joyzal answered, “There’s a message from Kayzon.”
Rayzor sucked in a sharp breath. “My brother?” He lurched forward and grabbed Joyzal by the shoulder. He hadn’t seen Kayzon in almost fourteen years. Since the day their father was declared a traitor to Xylan and as a consequence, their immediate line was banished for two generations. They were both paying for the sins of their father. None of them, including Melachine, were allowed to return to Chronos during their lifespans, nor were they allowed contact with each other. Because of this dispersement and communication ban, Rayzor hadn’t seen Kayzon since the day of their formal banishment.
“Yes, there’s a message from your brother. He’s living on New Earth and he set up a live vid session for all of us. It’s on standby. I let him know you were on your way.”
A squeak of surprise exploded from across the room. “Rayzor,” Becca called out. His Bride swiftly moved to his side. He looked down, meeting her watery gaze. She reached out and clasped his claw.
“My brother lives on New Earth?” His two hearts squeezed in his chest. He was simply pleased to confirm that Kayzon was alive. His brother had only been fifteen years old when their family was separated. And Rayzor had had very little knowledge of Kayzon’s whereabouts for the last fourteen years.
“Yes, he’s there living in their capital city, Singapore. Are you ready to speak with him?”
“I can’t believe this is finally happening,” Becca whispered. “This is what you’ve always wanted.”
Rayzor swallowed past the lump in his throat. It was what he’d always wanted. “I’m ready. Turn it on,” he told Joyzal.
And then the large holo screen blinked to life. At first there was nothing but an illuminated multigod altar recessed into the wall of a room. And then he heard faint voices and finally his brother stepped forward and filled up the screen.
“Oh wow,” Becca said.
Kayzon had grown into a formidable warrior. He was dark as ancient night. Dense silver threading lined his ridges, denoting a Xylan whose lineage stretched to the original fires of Chronos. Kayzon’s facial features were more like their mother’s, except for the fact that he’d lost an eye, and in its place was an obviously cheap, old-model cybernetic replacement. The type that was permanent. Which pissed Rayzor off and told him all he needed to know about the level of care Kayzon received as a youth.
And then a half-color human female with dark hair and a kind, open expression, crowded into view and proudly stood next to his brother. She was shorter than Kayzon, only reaching to his shoulder. His brother put an arm around the tiny female and pulled her in close, declaring his love for his mate.
Rayzor smiled, pleased to see his brother happily mated. “I see we all have human Brides,” he commented.
“Yes,” his brother answered. “This we have in common. And also, the fact that we both became Bounty Hunters.”
Rayzor nodded. This was the one piece of information that he’d learned about Kayzon over the years, that they were both Hunters working opposite sides of the four sectors. “This is my Bride,” Rayzor explained, “Becca of One. She is a human from the original planet. I have started my line with my three-year-old son, Rayzor of Thirteen. We own an agri farm business here on Zamarian Prime.” He placed a claw proudly on his Becca’s swollen belly, “And we have another female offspring on the way.”
Becca raised her human hand and waved at her new brother and sister-in-law. “Hi. Nice to meet you,” she said.
“And this is my Bride, Kia of One,” Kayzon responded, “She is half human and half Gravian. Kia and I are both Bounty Hunters. And we’ve started our line with a daughter, Kay of Nineteen.”
Kia smiled and waved at her new family.
“Kia, I’ll vid call you later,” Becca said, “so you and I, and Jacole, the other human here from the original planet, can talk together. It’s always a treat for me to meet other human females. And I’d love to learn more about New Earth.”
“Okay,” Kia gushed. “I’d love that too. And I can’t believe you and Jacole are both from the original planet. I’ve never met a human from the original planet.”
Becca laughed with delight at Kia’s response, and Rayzor found his hearts warming more than before, if that was possible.
“Our mother would be proud,” Kayzon stated.
“She would,” he agreed. “She would…” And then he glanced back at his best friend who was now holding baby Joy in his arms and snacking on food from the breakfast table. “Have you met Joyzal,” he asked, “and his Bride, Jacole of Two?”
This would be the true test of his future with Kayzon. Would his biological brother accept Joyzal into their line as he and Melachine had? Joyzal was a Margol. On Chronos warriors of the House of Ulmath did not associate with half-colors. But his mother had loved Joyzal as her own and Rayzor considered him a brother… And if Kayzon couldn’t also accept Joyzal and his line as family, well, that would be a serious problem.
“Yes, we met. Joyzal answered the vid and we spoke at length. He introduced us to his Bride and his offspring. I discovered he took our mother under his care as the Manager of his line since the moment of her banishment. I have already given Joyzal my gratitude for taking care of our mother, and I placed my honor before his. I am pleased to hear that you consider Joyzal of our line.”
Rayzor grinned, and glanced again at his friend and adopted brother, who didn’t even seem to be listening to this exchange and was instead chewing on meat.
“But Rayzor,” Kayzon continued, “there’s a reason why I’ve suddenly contacted you after all these years. A reason that is so great, it’s worth breaking the Scales of Xylan Law that ban our communication as a banished line.”
“Really?” Becca blurted out. “What happened?”
“Yesterday I received a message from our mother, Melachine.”
“What?” Joyzal shouted. He tossed down his food, passed his daughter off into the arms of his Bride and strode across the room to stand on the other side of Rayzor. “Wait, this part of the story I didn’t know. Kayzon has been holding out on me. Yesterday? Melachine messaged you yesterday? How?”
“For a few years now, our mother has been sending me the occasional coded message embedded in the data streaming through the Leaderboards. She’s only sent a few and they are necessarily short.”
Rayzor’s jaw dropped open. He turned to meet Joyzal’s stunned gaze. “I had no idea,” he said. “Did you know about this?”
Joyzal threw his claws up. “I didn’t know either. She didn’t say a word. Damn, that Melachine is wily.”
“What did she say?” Becca asked.
“Before I pass on her message, I have to tell all of you something first. I’ve recently come to the realization that due to Kroga’s kidnapping and our mother’s sudden disappearance, that the old rules of non-communication no longer apply.”
Rayzor glanced at Joyzal and grinned with delight. “You did? Because we’ve recently come to the same conclusion that these rules are ridiculous in this situation. We are Melachine’s sons and we want Kroga captured and judged for what he’s done more than anyone else in the four sectors. Why is it that we are sidelined while others are allowed to try, and fail, to track him down?”
“We’ve messaged the High Command,” Joyzal said, “asking for a reprieve on the ban so we could find you and work together to plan Kroga’s capture. But they haven’t responded.”
Jacole snorted. “That’s because the High Command is full-on ghosting us,” she remarked.
“Assholes,” Rayzor grumbled under his breath, agreeing with her blunt statement.
“‘Ghosting us?’ Not sure what that means,” Kayzon’s Bride said, cutting into the conversation from the vid screen. “But something new has happened that helps to change our situation. I’m not sure if any of you know this but Kayzon was here on New Earth when the Xylan fought to rescue our planet from the Hurlians. We live here now, and my husband is the Xylan Ambassador to New Earth…and this means that he’s befriended the Imperial Warlord, Zhoryan of Eighty-Two, who guards this sector.”
Joyzal gagged. “Zhoryan? I hate that warrior with the force of ten thousand suns.”
Rayzor nodded, agreeing.
“It’s true that he’s a conceited asshole,” Kayzon responded, “No one can deny that observation. But, my work includes regular contact with the Imperial Warlord and we’ve bonded over our mutual hatred of Kroga. Rayzor, don’t forget that Zhoryan is an Ulmath, therefore he’s actually our cousin. He does a good job hiding that we’re relatives and treating me as nothing more than a banished Xylan and a throw-away Bounty Hunter, especially in the presence of other Xylan, but in private he likes to reminisce of his youth, when Melachine was the youngest female ever promoted to co-Manager of his line. He cares deeply about our mother and was devastated by Kroga’s treason and her banishment.”
Rayzor exhaled.
Joyzal shook his head. “Nope, I still hate him.”
“Understood,” Kayzon remarked. “But we can use this relationship with Zhoryan. If I left New Earth to join you…”
“Zhoryan could purposely not notice,” Rayzor remarked, finally understanding where his brother was going with this, “He’d be the only Warlord who wouldn’t report to the High Command the fact that we’re breaking the communication ban and forced disbursement. Any other Xylan would eagerly report us, but not Zhoryan. This would give us the freedom we need to work together.”
Daxon's Hostage (Alien Bounty Hunters Book 6) Page 14