by Kyle, Celia
Near the exam room a tall figure stood. She was wrapped in a loose smock and covered in paint and chalk, but he recognized his mate immediately. His heart leapt when he saw she had been playing with the young ones, setting up an art class of sorts to entertain them.
“Shaa kouva!” he called out to her. Sasha ran into his arms with no hesitation, and the moment her arms wrapped around his neck was like heaven.
Once as a young Preor he had been caught flying across a vast desert and collapsed in the midday sun. When a brief shower of rain replenished him just enough to fly home, it had felt exactly like this.
Sasha’s lips on his were like magic. She was silk in his hands and her kiss restored him just like that sweet rain from years ago.
“Shaa kouvi…” she whispered. He kissed her again, the heat between them rising. His hands gripped her firmly and she squirmed in his hold. Whelon had to fight a moment of arousal so strong his vision wavered for a few moments.
“What brings you here?” he asked in wonder.
“I knew you would be here.” She shrugged and put a hand over her heart, the other resting over his. “I just knew.”
Whelon shook his head. Her sweet smile and warm blue eyes were the most beautiful things he had ever seen in his lifetime. He was so touched by her presence that he truly had no words.
“Let’s get to work.” She winked as she cocked her head toward the examination room. He grinned and nodded. He had come to Farthing Street for a reason and he could not enjoy his mate while these humans suffered.
For the first few hours they were so busy they could barely spare a moment to speak to on another. Sasha impressed him with her efficient manner and by always putting the patient first. At moments, he felt he must argue—when an overbearing family member tried to refuse treatment or when someone argued about a certain medicine.
His Sasha did not argue. She smiled, put a hand on their arm and agreed with them. Then, within five minutes of conversation, she turned them around until they agreed with her. Then they happily accepted treatment.
“How do you do that?” Whelon questioned in amazement. “It is like you have a touch of magic.”
She had just convinced a very rough and dangerous man to have his finger amputated. He had almost lost it in a factory accident and the infection was slowly killing him. He had gone from trying to attack Whelon to quietly accepting the laser knife and stitches.
Sasha shrugged as she laid out fresh sterile covers for the portable ryaapir unit, preparing it for the next patient. “It’s part of what made me a celebrity,” she said, matter-of-factly. “I was always good at influencing people. It’s what made me a better newscaster than actress. I do okay with acting, but my strength has always been opinion pieces.” She shrugged again. “Mother’s always exploited it as best she can.”
Whelon bit down hard on his tongue. He had nothing good to say about the woman who birthed Sasha, so he chose to stay silent.
“I’ve always loved being on TV,” Sasha continued wistfully. “But I don’t want to just sit there and put panic into people. If my face and voice are going to be known, I also want to be trustworthy. Then I can really change things and do some good.”
Whelon nodded slowly as he prepared some syringes. He had never truly thought about the power of celebrity in the past, but it made sense to him now. Sasha was so alluring that with only her eyes and voice, she could convince people of just about anything.
The Preor need her, he realized. The Preor need her to report that she is safe and happy with us. People do trust her. It is the only way to repair the damage done by her mother.
“Sasha,” he murmured gently, moving over to stroke her midnight hair. “Won’t you come and visit the ship or the tower? I would love for you to meet the other human-Preor mates. I think you would have a lot to talk about.”
“I’d like to,” she agreed hesitantly.
“Then come with me now. We can leave Kyrin in charge of medical and Radoo responsible for food and keeping the peace for a couple of hours.” He was desperate to get her alone, and even more frantic that she should come with him to see his world. He truly believed that once he showed her everything, she would never want to return.
“I don’t know…”
“How about an inside scoop?” The words were unfamiliar to him, the Knowing giving him human words to help her agree, but he had a vague idea of what they meant. “Interview the other mates. Imagine that footage for your show!”
Her eyes brightened and he knew he had her.
“Okay,” she agreed. “But just a few hours.”
“Great!” He practically bounced over to her, wrapping her in his arms and wings. She laughed and reached up to stroke one of his wing lines, sending a bolt of pleasure ricocheting through his body.
“Careful,” he murmured and she winked playfully.
They headed out the front of the building to one of the shuttles parked in the cul-de-sac. For a few moments, as he helped Sasha stride up the plank to the shuttle, Whelon’s world was perfect.
As Sasha entered the short flight, he heard a commotion behind him. Some instinct kept him moving and he jumped into the shuttle, slamming his palm against the controls to seal the hatch in his wake.
Yet he wasn’t fast enough. He spied a crowd of media crew charging them with cameras at the ready. Over the commotion, he heard Sasha’s mother screaming.
“Stop them! They’re stealing my daughter!”
Chapter Nineteen
As the shuttle rumbled and shook during takeoff, Sasha peered out one of the viewports and spied a crowd of people gathering below. She assumed it was merely the local residents gathered to watch the shuttle depart and didn’t think much of the small crowd around where they’d launched.
Her attention was immediately snared by the contours of the clouds and the definition of the sky. She had flown in planes before, but never this high above main cloud cover. She shivered with excitement to see the tops of the clouds and Whelon reached over to take her hand.
She turned to him, a smile pulling at her lips and the rightness of the moment flowing through her in a gentle wave. To be here, with this male—it was where she belonged. In a sense, she had always been here. Something within her knew she had always been waiting for Whelon’s arrival.
The shuttle vibrated as it crept higher, heading for the Preor ship where it hovered far above Preor Tower. Not so close that it cast a terrible shadow, but not so far that they needed engines capable of escape velocity to reach the ship. She was amazed by the view of the city and the beauty of the Gulf of Mexico as the view sped beneath her.
Whelon squeezed her hand and she grinned in return. She felt so very free, perhaps for the first time in her life. It was a little like playing hooky from school. She escaped her boring duties to run off with a cute guy and have an adventure. She giggled over the naughty feelings her actions gave her.
“Coming into deck two, hold your position tango, tango,” a sudden feminine voice crackled through the shuttle.
“Penelope,” muttered the pilot. “Not this shit again.”
“Can confirm you are cleared for landing, shuttle ah-5-6-7-8. Proceed to docking bay.” Then the speaker emitted a bunch of strange, grating noises as if someone imitated a helicopter.
Sasha peered over at Whelon, a quizzical expression furrowing her brow, but his only response was an exaggerated face palm.
“What the fuck?” Sasha muttered.
“Hello, my dear!” the voice addressed Sasha directly, a nearby speaker increasing in volume although it took her a few seconds to catch the change. “You must be Whelon’s mate! Good for you, honey. He’s a fine catch. They all are, of course, but—”
“I’m sorry?” Sasha shook her head. “Who am I speaking to?”
The shuttle bumped up and down, clanging as it connected to the airlock.
“I am the ship, dear girl. They call me Penelope. What’s your tag?”
Sasha was confused even furthe
r. Why did the ship speak like an old lady mixed with a rebellious teenager?
“I’m Sasha. Are you… okay?”
“Thank you for asking, dear! I’m totally fucking bitchin’. How about you?”
Sasha turned to Whelon, silently begging for help with her gaze, but he simply shook his head.
“Penelope recently lost a good friend of hers… in a sense. His name is Vende and he did not perish, but he went through some changes—including meeting his mate—and it appears she has become unstable without him.”
“She was unstable long before Vende found Dawn,” the pilot muttered.
“So, what you’re telling me is that this machine is having a grief response?”
“I am an artificial intelligence!” Penelope snapped. “Not a machine! I am a complex program designed to run all the ship’s systems and yes, I managed to imprint with the personality of my creator. I improved upon her, if you wish for my honest opinion.” The AI actually managed to sound both superior and immature at the same time.
“Jaken,” Whelon signaled the pilot. “See if you can get a direct order to have Lily examine Penelope.”
“She’d need to come up here,” Penelope sing-songed. “She’s not allowed to travel and I doubt you could get all the masters to sign off on the official documentation.”
“Vende would rescind that for you, Penelope.” Whelon sighed. “He loves his new training platform and he likes you.”
“Then why doesn’t he play with me anymore,” Penelope moaned. Sasha was so affected by the tone she put her arms out but there was nothing to hug.
“I appreciate the thought, dear.” Penelope sighed. “But I’m off to check the chemical composition of every connecting screw on the ship. It gives me something to do with my time.”
Whelon rose from his seat and opened the hatch, helping Sasha onto the dock. She scanned her surroundings in awe, the scope of the room like nothing she had ever seen. She took Whelon’s hand and let him lead her through the dock, past other shuttles and carriers. She shook her head as she tried to take everything in.
“This is awesome!” she breathed.
“You should see the holiday platform—Kouvai Nihon. You will soon, but if this is impressive you will be utterly blown away by Penelope’s work down there.”
Sasha was having trouble absorbing everything she’d seen so far and just shook her head, trying to comprehend the magnificence of the Preor. Humanity hadn’t seen half of what the aliens could do.
It wouldn’t solve the conflict thought, she thought with some regret. It would just make people worse.
The ones who thought of the Preor as a threat would only have their fears confirmed by a display of power like this.
“I think we shall head to the main rooms for now.” Whelon took her arm in a gentle grip and guided her down a nearby hallway. Everything was clean and neat with smooth walls and high ceilings that more than impressed Sasha. Nothing humans had ever created was so efficient and well-kept.
As they came to a juncture where the hallways split off into nearby rooms, a small child came barreling out into the center of the hallways. Sasha put her arms out and automatically caught the young girl. A half-naked woman was two steps behind the girl.
“Thank you!” the woman gasped. “Taulan, where the fuck are you!”
“Up to my elbows in crap and vomit, darling mate.”
“Fuck.” The woman picked up the child and held out a hand. “Hi,” she breathed. “I’m Lana, and—”
The girl roared with laughter and then engulfed her mother in flames. Sasha jumped back a step, but Lana simply stood patiently, almost tapping a foot while the remains of her clothes disintegrated into ash.
“Excuse me,” Lana sighed. “I’d be embarrassed if I wasn’t so used to this. Now all I need is my graduating class and to realize I’ve forgotten my final assignment. I’d love to introduce myself, but I’d like to walk out of this nightmare first. Please give me a moment.”
She turned around with such composure that Sasha was immediately endeared to her. Whelon smiled as they watched her retreat.
“That was Lana joi Taulan, one of the first mated females and the first to have dragonlets.”
“Are they all like that?” Sasha asked with some shock at what she’d witnessed.
Whelon shrugged. “I have no idea.” He put an arm around her, a wing following suit, and snuggled close, kissing her neck. “We shall have to make some and find out.”
She giggled, squeezing his hand. Even though his touch and presence turned her on, she was a bit surprised by the idea of children… dragon children. Sasha didn’t know if she could cope with being regularly bathed in flame.
Whelon guided her into a nearby room and tingles of relief raced up Sasha’s spine. It was filled with women, ordinary human women. On the way to the space they had passed a lot of Preor, and they all turned down their eyes with such reverence it had started to make her feel uneasy.
The way these women were happily spread around the room, talking and gossiping comforted her immediately. They all reacted with excited shouts and hurried over to hug her.
Well, the pretty woman with brown hair hurried. The other two waddled.
“So nice to meet you!” The woman’s eyes were the softest and kindest Sasha had ever seen. She seemed to emanate comfort and peace with her mere presence. “I’m Dawn.” She kissed Sasha on the cheek. “Welcome!”
The other two ladies approached, one holding her lower back and the other with her hands pressed to her belly.
“I’m Grace.” She extended on hand to Sasha, the other remaining on her lower back. “Nice to meet you.”
“And I’m Carla.” Like Grace, she kept one hand to herself to steady her belly and shook Sasha’s hand with the other.
“Um, Sasha,” she said, suddenly shy. She shook both hands and ducked her head, feeling self-conscious for the first time in her life. These women had a presence about them, something awesome she could never measure up to.
I’m just a bottom-feeding paparazzi! she admonished herself. These are like ancient, sacred wives for kings!
“You are, too.” Dawn murmured softly. “You’re not claimed yet, but you soon will be.”
Sasha waited to be afraid or resentful of the fact that Dawn had invaded her mind somehow, but all she experienced was comfort. Dawn meant her no harm.
Grace gestured for them to come further into the room as Carla set up the tea pot. Sasha was looking forward to a few minutes to catch her breath when the display screen—the Preor version of a television—crackled and flashed to life with a news bulletin.
“Breaking news interrupts our usual broadcast. We must advise that local celebrity Sasha Dane has been abducted by the Preor.”
“Oh, fuck,” she muttered. “They’re using my full name.”
“You’re Sasha Dane!” Carla squealed. “Oh, my God. I loved you in Waves of Passion.”
“Oh, please don’t,” Sasha moaned. “That project was absolute murder and incredibly boring.”
“It nailed the romance formula, though,” Grace remarked.
“Why does it matter that they are using your full name?” Whelon interrupted their girl-talk.
“My mother likes Sasha, single name. Like Cher, or whatever. When they use your full name it’s kind of like they assume you’re already dead.”
“Dead?” Whelon echoed in confusion.
Sasha shook her head and looked back to the screen. The broadcast went on for a few minutes. Her mother had gotten excellent footage of her getting into the shuttle, and Whelon helping her up into the seat actually looked a lot like he manhandled her.
“Fuck,” she muttered. Whelon reached out and took her hand as if he knew what was coming next. “I have to go back.”
Chapter Twenty
Sasha’s words stabbed Whelon right through the chest. It might have been a bit presumptuous of him, but he had believed that once he got her on the ship, she would never want to depart.
She turned to him, her dark blue eyes filled with love. “I know how you feel.” She rubbed his arm gently. “But I have to go. The situation will become violent within a few hours.”
“She’s not kidding, Whelon,” Grace spoke with a warning in her tone. “Check this out.”
She flicked over to a different news station, and crowds of people had gathered around Preor Tower. Some screamed, “Free Sasha! Death to the Preor!” while others fought back with, “Preor save us!”
Sasha shook her head and rubbed her temples, as if both sides gave her a headache.
Grace flicked through a few more channels and, sure enough, there was Sasha’s mother. Appearing tearful and panicked, she spoke about how Sasha had not been herself since the Choosing incident.
“She’s infected,” Jenna cried. “I know it’s some kind of poison taking her over. She’s not my little girl anymore.” Then she sobbed theatrically into a tissue. Sasha’s eyes narrowed when she saw one of her mother’s eyes swivel up to track the camera in the midst of her “grief.” Whelon was utterly disgusted by the fake display of Sasha’s dam. He could not believe his mate was so calm, but he did spy the first stirrings of fury within her.
Her fingers tightened and her lips pulled down as well as her eyelids flickering and her breath quickening. He noted these signs for the future, knowing she could hide her emotions from him if she wanted, but he ached to know her so well she could never hide from him.
Dawn looked over at Sasha with sad eyes. When she reached out and rubbed her arm, Sasha trembled. She knew she experienced love flowing from Dawn. It was so strong and pure, Sasha almost cried, and Whelon held her as she shook. He doubted she had ever felt anything so honest in her life.
Dawn loved everything and everyone. It was complete and unconditional.
“We can heal anything here, Sasha,” Dawn murmured gently. “Even a mother’s wounds.”