The Exodus: Planet Athion Series (Darkest Skies Book 4)

by Marissa Farrar

  “If she goes, it’ll be my fault,” I admitted. “I was a controlling jackass toward her, fighting with her about Irus, trying to tell her what to do. No wonder she’d think a life on another planet would be better.”

  “We can’t stop her if she wants to go,” Casey said. “I know Camille. She’ll have dreamed about this moment. It’s the exact reason she got into planetary science—so she could learn about life on other planets. Now she’s getting the chance to live it for herself.”

  “We could wait for her,” Aleandro offered. “She might study the place and come back.”

  I scoffed at his suggestion. “No, she won’t. She’ll have a mob of attractive Athions following her around. She won’t have any reason to come back here.”

  “Besides,” Casey said, “she’ll be safe on Athion. The Trads aren’t there.”

  I stared at him. “So, you’re saying we should encourage her to go? This is insane!”

  “He’s right, Mike,” Aleandro said, frowning. “She’d be safe. We wouldn’t need to worry about the likes of Dean Lambert or any of those other assholes taking her. She could live her life and be happy.”

  “Not without us in it,” I growled. “She wouldn’t be happy then. We complete her. You know that as well as I do.”

  Aleandro shook his head. “This is wrong. So, she chooses between us or Athion?”

  Casey pressed his lips together, his nostrils flaring. “She won a ticket. It’s only fair.”

  “No, this isn’t fair. None of this is fair.” The idea of a future stretching ahead without Camille in it tore me in two. It was just an empty chasm of pointlessness. Even my relationship with the others was nothing compared to what I had with her. Of course, I cared about them all, and maybe Aleandro and Casey would be all right together, but how was I supposed to survive?

  Irus stepped forward. “I’m sorry, Mike. I want you to know that I played no part in her selection, and I never thought for a second that I would take her away from you. I know how much she loves you all.”

  I shook my head, unable to look at him. “Don’t, Irus. You’re a good guy—I get that, but you’d be the winner in all of this. You’d get to go with her, to keep her, while the rest of us are left behind.”

  The Athion had the decency not to try to argue with me. He knew what I said was true. While Irus hadn’t plotted any of this, it was exactly what I’d been afraid of. Camille’s bond with Irus was simply another bullet in the gun that might help her decision. She wouldn’t be completely alone should she decide to do this.

  I cast a glance over to where her sister waited with Leif’s arms around her. Elodie stood between them. They all looked impossibly sad, and I experienced a stab of guilt for only thinking of my own feelings. They’d be just as miserable to see Camille go—perhaps even more so, if such a thing was even possible.

  “Should we go after her?” Casey said.

  I shook my head. “No, she’s allowed to make this decision alone.”

  The minutes passed by painfully slowly, and we were barely aware of the final names that had been called and the end of the draw, and the president congratulating those who’d won and wishing them well for their future lives. We sat around in a miserable silence, a weight on all our shoulders.

  Movement came in the doorway, and I lifted my head to find Camille standing there. Her face was streaked with tears, her eyes bloodshot, but she appeared as beautiful to me as she always had. I felt certain she was going to tell us all goodbye, and my stupid heart could barely take it.

  “Camille?”

  “I’m sorry I kept you all waiting,” she said, looking around at us all. “I can’t tell you how horrible I’ve been feeling about all of this. I mean, the chances of me being one of those chosen to go were so slim, I never actually imagined it would happen when I entered. But I did enter,” she admitted, though of course we all already knew that, “and I can’t tell you that a life on Athion doesn’t sound like a dream come true.” She sighed. “But the payment for the dream is too great. I couldn’t ever imagine living day to day without each of you in my life. So, I’ve made a call, and I’ve asked to transfer my place.” She turned to her sister. “It’s yours, Molly, if you want to take it. You can go back with Leif, and they’re happy for you to take Elodie, too. You can start up a new life for you all, somewhere safe.”

  Molly’s eyes widened at Camille. “You’re giving me your place on Exodus?”

  “Yes, I am, if you’ll take it, and if you’ll take Elodie to safety, too.”

  “Leif and I would be happy to take her,” she said. “We’ll raise her as our own.” Molly looked to Leif in happiness and disbelief. “Are you able to go back home?”

  He nodded. “Yes, of course. I can take a position on Athion. I’ll do anything to be close to you.”

  Her face broke into a smile, and she threw herself into Leif’s arms. He scooped her up against him, and the two of them kissed, deep and sensuous. The rest of us glanced around awkwardly, feeling as though we were intruding on a private moment.

  I turned to Elodie. “What about you, Elodie? Does going to Athion sound good to you?”

  “Would I still get to see you and Mike and Aleandro and Casey and Irus?” She almost ran out of breath by the time she’d reached the end of all our names.

  I smiled. “I’m not sure when we’ll be able to visit, but when we do come to Athion, the first thing we’ll do is come and find you. And we can always see each other via video calls as well. I promise we won’t lose touch.”

  She gave a small smile. “Then I guess that would be okay.”

  Molly turned to Camille. “Are you sure about this?”

  Camille’s gaze flicked over to us, and she shared a secret smile with each of us. “Surer than I’ve been of anything in my life.”

  My heart lifted with hope. She’d chosen us. She’d given up her dream of a future on another planet to spend her life with us.

  I stepped forward, desperate to be closer to her. She gave me a tentative smile, as though she wasn’t quite sure what my reaction was going to be. I moved into her body space and cupped her face in my hands.

  “I love you, Camille. I’m sorry I’ve been such a jerk at times. I can’t tell you how fucking scared I’ve been of losing you.”

  She gazed up at me. “I should never have even considered leaving you all. I’ve played with your emotions—I know that. But I don’t want to go anywhere without you—without any of you. I swear it. And you never know, maybe the option to go to Athion will be open to all of us. It’s not as though you guys don’t have any skills the Athions might need. But that option isn’t even open to us yet, so let’s just take this one day at a time, okay?”

  I nodded. “Okay.” And then I leaned in and kissed her.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Saying goodbye to Molly and Elodie had been hard—possibly the hardest thing I’d done in my life. But I knew it was the best thing for them, and Leif had promised me he’d take care of them both. They’d all be put in cryostasis and wouldn’t notice the passing of time like I did on Earth. In six months, when Exodus landed safely on Athion, they’d be able to contact me again, and then they’d go on to live their new lives.

  In the meantime, I was happy. I had four guys now—something that made me giddy with disbelief at just how lucky I was—and I still had a job to do.

  “Hey, how’s it going?” I leaned over the top of Mike and placed a quick kiss to his ear. We always tried to remain professional while we were working, but since we now lived in the same place that we worked, the boundaries were often hard to define.

  He twisted to face me with a smile. “Good, as far as I can tell. Exodus is well on its way. Have you seen any of the others?”

  I knew exactly who he was talking about when he said ‘others.’

  “No, I haven’t seen anyone recently.”

  “Does that mean I get you all to myself?”

  He spun around on his chair and pulled me into his lap. I let o
ut a squeal but made no effort to get away. Instead, I looped my arms around his neck and then reached up a hand to ruffle his dark hair. “You certainly do.”

  I leaned in and kissed him.

  “Hey, are you monopolizing our girl again, Mike?” Casey’s voice came from behind me, but I could tell from his tone that he was teasing.

  I stopped kissing Mike long enough to glance over my shoulder to see Casey standing there. For once, there was no one else around.

  Casey approached and stopped behind me to join in the fun. He swept the hair away from the back of my neck and ducked his head to place a kiss at my nape. I exhaled a sigh of pleasure, leaning back into him, wanting more. He continued, his lips firm and warm. His tongue traced a track, hot and wet, up to my earlobe. where He gently sucked the lobe, and I squirmed with pleasure. I wriggled back into him, my body reacting to his attention, my nipples tightening and a tingle spreading between my thighs. I reached back to thread my fingers through his soft blond hair.

  “Hey, what about me?” Mike said, tugging me back into him.

  I giggled at them mock fighting over me. We all knew we were quite happy to share.

  This was my favorite place to be—sandwiched between any combination of the guys. There was nowhere I felt more loved and cherished.

  But a light suddenly strobed on the dashboard.

  The fun was over, for the moment, anyway.

  “We’ve got communications coming in from high up,” Mike said as I climbed off his lap.

  I knew he meant the president.

  I looked to Mike. “You’re sure everything is okay with Exodus?” I asked, suddenly worried. Molly and Elodie were on the spaceship, and even though she was safer up there than she had been on Earth, I continued to worry about my sister’s safety and knew that wouldn’t change until she had her feet firmly on Athion.

  He double-checked the stats of the ship. “Yep, everything’s fine.”

  “I’ll call the others up,” Casey said. “This might be important.”

  “It’s important,” I confirmed. “The president doesn’t call for no reason.”

  Casey hit the chip in his wrist to place a call to Aleandro and Irus. “You might want to get up here. The president is on the line.”

  “We can’t keep her waiting,” Mike said.

  “Nope,” I agreed. “Link us up.”

  He hit the button to accept the video call, and seconds later, the president’s face appeared on screen.

  “Madam President,” I said, standing straighter. “What can we do for you?”

  “Congratulations on the launch of Exodus,” she said.

  I ducked my head in a nod. “Thank you. It was a bit precarious there for a while, but we got there in the end.”

  I noted how she hadn’t congratulated us on the success of Project Exodus. Until the transporter ship had landed safely, and the women were fully integrated, we couldn’t be sure that it had even been a success.

  Behind us, Irus and Aleandro slipped into the room.

  “Miss Harran,” the president continued, “I’d like you to head up a team that will oversee the whole of the process of transporting women to Athion, and make sure their lives on the planet are as they’d hoped. It’s a big ask, as it would mean you’d be splitting your time between Earth, space, and Athion. I realize that kind of life isn’t for everyone, but I’d give you the opportunity to choose your own team, and I’m happy for that team to include Athions as well as humans—in fact, I’d prefer it if you did, since an Athion would give us greater insight into how things worked on their planet.”

  “You would?” I said, my mouth gaping. I could hardly believe it. What an amazing opportunity. It would mean I’d get to see Molly and Elodie even sooner than I thought. I realized what I’d said and corrected myself, “I mean, I’d love to, but it’s not only my decision.”

  I looked around at the guys. There was no question that they would be my team, and if they didn’t want to take on the roles offered, there was zero possibility of me doing it either. I’d already almost split us up once, and I had no intention of doing the same thing again.

  But as my gaze traveled over each of their faces, they were all smiling and nodding. I stopped at Irus. “What about you? Do you think your commander will allow you to take on this job?”

  He nodded. “Of course. I’m here to help with Project Exodus in any way I can. It makes no difference to me which planet I’m on. As long as I’m helping you, that’s all that matters.”

  I knew he wasn’t only talking about work. He meant personally as well.

  I turned back to the president. “Thank you, Madam President. We’d be honored to take that role.”

  She smiled in return, and there was something knowing in her dark eyes. “I thought you might. Stay in touch, Miss Harran, and good luck.”

  “Thank you, Madam President.”

  The line went dead, and I turned to the guys. “Are you sure about this? Traveling to Athion and back again? Living on a spacecraft for months on end?”

  Aleandro moved closer and took my hand, lifting it to his mouth to press a kiss to the backs of my knuckles. “Where ever you are, Camille, we’ll be there, too.”

  “You’re sure?” I asked him, still not daring to believe this was actually happening.

  Mike got to his feet. “Absolutely. You know there’s no chance I’m letting you go to Athion without us.”

  I grinned at him. “I wouldn’t expect anything else.”

  “And I’ll look forward to showing you all my home planet,” Irus said.

  “And you, Casey?” I asked him.

  He leaned in and kissed me. “Are you kidding? A chance to get out among the stars and be confined with you for months? You couldn’t stop me.”

  I looked around at their handsome faces, unable to prevent the stupid grin from stretching my cheeks.

  This was going to be a new start for us all.

  The Trads hadn’t gone completely. There was a good chance they never would, but we were going to have to adapt to that being our new reality.

  It was far from perfect, of course, and our war wasn’t over, but the battle, for the moment at least, had been won.

  THE END

  LIKE WHAT YOU READ? Want to know what happened to Camille’s best friend, Tara? Watch out for Tara’s story in ‘Breeder: The Tradrych Strain, Book One’ which will be out on the 25th of June and is available to pre-order from Amazon!

  Planet Athion is a shared world that once you’ve dipped into will have you hooked.

  TO IMMERSE YOURSELF in other stories about Earth women’s struggle against the Trads, find more fantastic reads from a whole bunch of awesome reverse harem authors by following these links.

  PLANET ATHION WEBSITE

  JOIN THE PLANET ATHION FACEBOOK GROUP

  About the Author

  Marissa Farrar has always been in love with being in love. But since she's been married for numerous years and has three young daughters, she's conducted her love affairs with multiple gorgeous men of the fictional persuasion.

  The author of more than thirty novels, she has been a full time author for the last six years. She predominantly writes paranormal romance and fantasy, but has branched into contemporary fiction as well.

  If you want to know more about Marissa, then please visit her website at www.marissa-farrar.blogspot.com. You can also find her at her facebook page, www.facebook.com/marissa.farrar.author or follow her on twitter @marissafarrar.

  She loves to hear from readers and can be emailed at marissafarrar@hotmail.co.uk and to stay updated on all her new Reverse Harem books, just sign up to her newsletter! https://landing.mailerlite.com/webforms/landing/e2x3e1

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