Found

by Reagan Woods

  Lacy wasn’t surprised by Miska’s insistence. In fact, she thought it was a grand plan, but she kept her opinion to herself.

  “It’s not a good idea,” Tivio argued. “We don’t know what we’ll find. Bram didn’t have the time to finish the communications relay.”

  “Do you think your own son will turn you over to Darkan?” Miska pressed.

  A jolt of intuition had the hairs on Lacy’s neck standing up, it made her sit up and take notice. When Lacy pushed, Miska had grudgingly agreed that someone needed to scout Earth and report back. She hadn’t wanted Lacy to function as the scout, but she had agreed to send her if it was the only option available. Now, Lacy realized going to Earth had always been the Corian queen’s goal. She believed Darvan was still there, and she wanted her son and his armada back under her control. Miska was ready to fight back.

  “Of course not. I’m not convinced Darvan remained there, but you are correct – we should look.” The king increased their speed until they were travelling faster than Lacy realized was possible. “Maybe the old Lyaran jump gate is still functional,” he proposed.

  “We might be able to make it work,” Bram agreed slowly, sparing a nervous glance for Lacy. “I don’t like to risk her, though, and, frankly, I would rather never take her back there.”

  “No one is going to harm her,” Miska said with a frown. “Right, Tiv?”

  “Bram is right to worry. She’s with child,” Tivio explained and Miska drew in a sharp breath, eyes cutting accusingly to Lacy.

  Lacy shrugged, her own eyes narrowed as she warned, “She is right here. Don’t talk about me like I’m not present.” She wasn’t about to apologize to the Queen for playing a better hand at the manipulation game, so going on the offensive seemed the best course.

  “Apologies.” Tivio grinned over his shoulder, his striped face and copper eyes more scary and foreign than friendly. Of course, that might be because she preferred her aliens with pink eyes and snowy white skin. “No one will challenge your right to be together if you’re with child.”

  “They better not challenge us anyway,” Lacy replied, not backing down. “I’m not going to tolerate any further interference in my life.”

  Three skeptical faces turned to her. “I’m putting it out there to the universe; I will do exactly what I did to the cannibal priests on Xani if anyone interferes in my happily ever after.” She pointed a finger at Bram, drew an imaginary line to her heart and down to her stomach. “This is my sacred space. They better not test it.”

  “That sounds like a fascinating story.” Tivio slid a considering look Bram’s way. Perhaps the lack of trust among their small group was understandable but it wasn’t conducive to good decision making.

  Bram shook his head, a bemused smile on his face. “I was as good as dead. Lacy didn’t handle that well. She did some vigorous bloodletting with a laser sharp.”

  “It’s settled,” Miska decided, clapping her hands to bring the conversation back around to her agenda. “We shall make for Earth and see what our eldest has been up to since he couldn’t be bothered to come home when we called for help.”

  Lacy had no idea what that little rant was about. Really, she wasn’t sure she cared. Right now, she felt pretty darn smug because her family was staying together. That was what she cared about.

  “I doubt it was that simple,” Tivio defended his son. This was obviously a tired argument between the two. Listening to the Corians bicker cemented Lacy’s belief that Miska was a lot more than what she seemed.

  “I stuck my neck out for him and the Earther with the High Council. That relationship is part of the reason they turned on us,” she ranted, eyes narrowed. “Could they bother to come home for the party to celebrate their bonding? They could not. A little political damage control might have gone a long way.”

  Tivio pursed his lips, hands steady as he keyed in coordinates. “I think the stress of running might be getting to you.”

  “I think you should be quiet and fly the shuttle,” Miska retorted, folding her arms across her chest.

  Lacy locked eyes with Bram. Maybe she should have paid more attention to Miska’s whiny stories instead of worrying so much about Bram and herself. There was no time like the present to rectify her mistake. “Sounds like we missed a lot.”

  His smile was weary but warm and she felt his love like a physical touch. “I would miss it all again to find you.”

  “That’s a totally sweet thing to say,” she approved, heart bubbling over with contentment in the midst of fleeing certain death.

  Silently, Lacy renewed her vow to let nothing come between her and Bram. Whenever they were together, there was nothing they couldn’t do. She and Bram might not be rich or royal, but they were the lucky ones. Cuva, Earth or some other planet altogether, they had everything as long as they had each other.

  Shifting in the comfy seat, she pinned Miska with an expectant look. “Now, tell me everything you know about Earth and what’s been happening. Don’t leave anything out.”

  From Reagan

  Hi! Thanks for reading Found. The next section is a shortie I sent out to the awesome people on my web-site’s email list a while back. If you’re on that list, you can stop right here! Nothing beyond this point is new content.

  I’ve had tons of questions regarding future short stories lately, so I’d like to take a minute and let you know what’s in the works! There are two shorties ahead – not sure when I’ll get them edited and out but I’m working as fast as I can! The first is for Estelle and Soryan (minor characters from Book 2 Willa’s Way). After that, I’ll release Holly and Merik’s story (also minor characters from WW). Again, not sure when I’ll have time to polish them to the perfection they deserve but they are in the works. Thanks for sticking with me! Y’all are the best.

  Reagan

  Writing is often lonely. Trying to corral a cast of head-strong and flawed alpha aliens and the smart, sassy ladies who (semi) tamed them isn’t always an easy task. It’s a field of rabbit holes that I constantly pitch into head-first . To those of you who cheer (and laugh) as I climb back out, dirty and dazed, thank you. Your Facebook posts, memes, and email encouragement make me laugh and help keep me on task.

  Borden, I could not have done this without your eagle eye and fantastic follow-up questions.

  Earth Neverafter 3.5

  Flagship Victory, Orbiting Earth

  Reagan Woods

  Lara

  Shimmering strings of seeking energy vibrated industriously. Their incandescent glow gave the atmosphere of the psychic plane a lovely rose-gold sheen. Monitoring the threads was akin to checking a hunting trap. Lara had thought she’d dread the monotony, the energy drain, of feeding and maintaining so many psychic location feelers. She’d been relieved to learn just how wrong she was.

  If ever she’d needed a happy surprise, it was now. Digging deep, she found a dab more power to push into the web. The beautiful filaments practically sang as they arrowed through the universe in search of missing dear ones.

  There was something cleansing about converting her emotions into positive action. The beauty of watching her creation at work brought a peace like she’d never known. It was temporary, of course, but even a brief reprieve was better than none.

  These last weeks were the lowest she’d ever experienced – that included the years after she was kidnapped from her home on Earth and enslaved by the VENTIX Emperor, Hash-Han. Vank, her mate, was her rock in this difficult time.

  Just thinking about him sent a flash of warmth through her. His eight-foot frame would have Mr. Universe cringing with shame. Vank’s body fairly bristled with muscle and many mistakenly assumed his combination of brawn and good looks equaled an intellectual Neanderthal. Nothing could have been further from the truth. Her beautiful male had a sharp intellect and a loving heart.

  Many things had stood between them, but Vank was determined to keep her close. In the end, his bravery and loyalty had won her over. By no means was he a ‘g
ood guy.” Vank was a CORANOS Warrior. They were known throughout the universe for taking whatever they wanted, from planets to people. He wasn’t just a run-of-the-mill Warrior, either, but the second in line for the Corian throne behind his brother General Darvan D’Corian. They were a fierce family full of fearsome individuals.

  That was why she felt humbled that he allowed her to retreat and lick her wounds privately now. Her heart ached with hurt and confusion. After so long away, she returned to Earth, found her twin sister, Arianna, miraculously alive and, unbelievably, mated to Vank’s brother, General Darvan D’Corian of the CORANOS Galactic Alliance.

  Arianna, heavily pregnant and somewhat fragile, rejected her. At first, Lara believed her sister needed time to come to terms with the shock of discovering she lived but, as the days passed, she came to realize Arianna wouldn’t accept her.

  Vank, ever attuned to her needs, made sure they were assigned new rooms far away from Arianna and Darvan. For years, dreams of family reunion were what kept Lara going. Now, that secret hope was nothing but a smoldering pile of ash. Still, Vank tried to fill the void left by the burnt-out husk.

  The recent collapse of the CGA meant Vank worked overtime at his brother, General Darvan’s side. Lara knew they were still trying to nail down the precipitating events and flesh out who remained alive and in power in each system. It was frustrating work that left little room for a trip to Earth to memorialize her deceased parents. Vank made it happen, anyway.

  Tears of gratitude threatened to fall, but Lara refused to waste the emotion. Instead, she scraped the bubbling energy from her soul and fed it to her creation, the unique web of locator energy. The web was her way of easing Vank’s pain. It was cathartic for her, yes, but it also gave her a tangible way to contribute.

  Vank and Darvan’s parents, King Tivio and Queen Miska of the Corian people, were missing and presumed dead. In addition, their younger brothers had vanished without a trace, and their traitorous Uncle Darkan had forced Vank to abandon his best friend and aide, Bram.

  Nevertheless, Vank came through time and again for her. That was reason enough to expend every drop of energy and more trying to find his missing people.

  An almost-audible hum pulsed across the diaphanous strands, causing a ripple in the energy current. If Lara were in her body, she knew her mouth would fall open in shock as the search alerted. For a moment, she simply accepted the tingling zing of power as the various strands locked onto the auras they were created to find.

  This was it! Her hard work was paying off. At last!

  Fingers crossed that the good luck continued, Lara anchored the web to her own aura and began the process of waking her physical body from the trance. After all these weeks, something was finally going right. Her heart overflowed at the prospect of seeing Vank’s face when she told him what she’d found.

  Arianna

  Wiping sweaty palms down her thighs, Arianna stared at the closed door of Vank and Lara’s cabin. When Darvan told her not to worry about bumping into Bellara in the halls any longer, she had no idea how far away he’d sent the pair. It took her more than an hour to find the place. How Vank fit his muscled, eight-foot frame through that narrow door was a mystery.

  Vank and Lara weren’t in standard crew quarters. Arianna hadn’t ventured to this part of the Victory before. The walls, normally white in public spaces and boring beige in private rooms, were speckled a dirty tan and rippled as though someone ran a giant, uneven comb horizontally across them. Given the proximity to the engines, that nasty texture had to be some sort of sound-proofing.

  Bottom lip clenched between her teeth, she reconsidered her reasons for coming here. Now that she had two tiny daughters of her own, could she justify holding Lara at arms-length? Had she been a proper example for Sari and Rian? She feared not.

  Shoulders square with determination, she acknowledged it was time. Sure, Belle – er – Lara was an Amazon who spoke, dressed and acted like an alien, but Darvan insisted she was Bellara Wellingcourt, the sister she’d witnessed disappear in a lightning flash more than fifteen years ago. So, though her arrival was suspect and the female herself was slightly (or enormously) intimidating, Arianna was determined to right her relationship with this stranger.

  As the General’s mate, she owned certain responsibilities. One of those duties was to keep the female drama on the ship at a minimum. It was time to, if not embrace her sister, then at least acknowledge her. Right? Right.

  Not finding a buzzer or palm plate, she raised a hand to knock but hesitated. After that freaky mind-meld thing Lara did to Darvan, Arianna had been even more leery of the female. Nothing pertaining to the Vank and Lara story made logical sense. Psychics, telepaths, telekinetics, might as well be fortune tellers, witches and zombies. It was all so ridiculous.

  When she considered the timing – her kidnapped twin sister showed up mated to the brother of the alien general who took her as tribute, conveniently after the years of war, pestilence and alien invasion - Arianna hadn’t been able to wrap her mind around it. Why was Bellara really there? Who sent her? Why now? Chalking it up to coincidence and having a teary-eyed family reunion would have been the reaction of a sucker. Arianna was not a sucker and coincidences were absolute bupkis.

  Surely Lara hadn’t expected Arianna to greet her with an open heart? After being hunted and captured, used as a pawn between Darvan and Jorkan, and, ultimately, threatened by the CORANOS High Council, she was slow to trust. Her priority was Darvan and the family they made together.

  Vank and Lara were connected there, too, so it made sense to smooth things over. Especially now. If what she suspected was true, her daughters would need all the loyal protectors they could find. But -

  The door slid back from beneath her poised fist. Hastily withdrawing, Arianna wasn’t fast enough to avoid her sister’s charging form. “Oomph!”

  “What the –.” Lara smacked into her. The taller female’s quick reflexes saved Arianna from falling on more than her pride as she reached out and caught her before she hit the floor. “I didn’t see you there. Sorry about that.”

  Lara stood her up, gripped her upper arms to make sure she had her balance and quickly withdrew. “Oh. It’s you. Is there a reason you’re posted up like a speed bump outside my door?”

  “Speed bump?” Arianna’s words were strident as her arms crossed over her breasts defensively. Her lumpy post-partum body felt ungainly and foreign. Standing next to her stunning twin and holding her head high was an exercise in self-acceptance.

  This wasn’t going at all how she’d pictured it. In her mind, she saw herself meeting Lara mature-female to mature-female. It hadn’t been ten seconds and already her back was up.

  Lean body straightening, Lara tilted her chin down to make eye contact. “I’m the smallest alien on the ship and I’ve got a foot on you. You don’t want to get run over by one of us.”

  Intrigued despite feeling vaguely offended, Arianna tilted her head to the side. “Is that how you see yourself? As an alien?”

  Lara’s shrug appeared forced, her posture stiff beneath the silvery unitard that accentuated her every curve. “I’ve lived far longer away from Earth than I did on it.”

  They studied one another in silence for a moment.

  Without warning, Lara brushed past. “Whatever you’re after, this isn’t a good time. I need to find Vank.”

  “Wait! He’s with Darvan,” Arianna volunteered as she strained to keep pace with Lara’s long strides.

  Sweaty and short of breath, she followed into the lift compartment, grudgingly noting that Lara knew her way around the ship better than she did. As they spilled onto the administrative floor, a little devil on her shoulder prompted her to ask, “I thought you and Vank were in constant ‘mental contact’ or something?”

  Hands on hips, Lara spun to confront her, heedless of the interested glances they drew from Darvan’s Warriors. “I’d never intrude on the General’s strategy sessions.” She continued, brow raised in challeng
e. “But you don’t know that because you don’t know me. You’ve rejected me time and again.”

  “I realize it wasn’t fair of me to treat you like I have. I’m sorry. It’s just, well, you haven’t been where I’ve been,” Arianna blurted, mortified by the blush firing her fair skin as she glanced nervously at the crowd gathering round. She felt defensive and resented having to air her personal business in front of her mate’s crew.

  Bottle green eyes, eyes identical to her own, narrowed. “I heard things were rough for you,” Lara commented mildly, turning to saunter down the corridor towards Darvan’s office door. She pinned her direct gaze on any Warrior stupid enough to stand and gawk. “And, you’re correct, none of that is my fault. However, I think, if you look a bit deeper, you’ll realize that’s only part of your problem.”

  Arianna felt like she’d been slapped on the back of the wrist like a misbehaving child as she trailed her sister. This was how an alpha female behaved, she realized. Lara didn’t take disrespect from anyone, Warrior or not.

  Many of Darvan’s Warriors continued to regard Arianna with suspicion after her part in the loss of the Horizon nearly a year prior. She wondered how they could see her as anything other than the alien female that cost them and their beloved General everything. The answer paced self-assuredly in front of her. There was a time when she was bold and confident like Lara, but her time as a Captive had wiped that out of her. With the girls to think of now, she needed to dig deep and find that person again.

  Laying her palm against the security scanner, Lara requested access citing personal information for her mate. After a few moments, the door slid back, and she tossed a challenging look over her shoulder. “Well? Aren’t you coming?”

  Vank

  Pinching the bridge of his nose, Vank massaged as the headache roared behind his eyes. “I don’t know what else I can tell you, Dar. Nantik and Darkan have relocated their people. It sounds unbelievable, b-.”