Project: Adapt - Develop: A Space Fantasy Alien Romance (Book 3)

by Jade Waltz

  Kaede knew the words he’d refused to say.

  Before it’s too late.

  He was going to make sure it wasn’t.

  Nodding, he gave both Royak and Zirene one last salute before fading out.

  Groggily, Kaede held the wall as he tried to regain his balance.

  He had never tried long-distance teleportation before.

  He knew it worked in theory, if the gem had enough power and he had an accurate reading on where he needed to go, but he didn’t want to risk teleporting Selena out. He trusted his invention, but if she was injured, even internally, he feared moving her might cause more harm or permanent damage. That was why he needed his sisters to get here—wherever he was.

  Kaede glanced around the ship and shook his head in defeat.

  Q’s ship was just like he remembered. Dark and sleek on the outside, a party of color on the inside. He believed that females loved bright colors and unique patterns, but to Kaede, staring at the walls too long only ever gave him a headache.

  Contributing to his headache was the fact that Selena was nowhere to be found. Her necklace was thrown haphazardly on the cabin’s bed. Whoever had her took her elsewhere.

  He hoped he wasn’t too late.

  Kaede hadn’t teleported his drones here. They hadn’t been updated for long-distance teleportation, so he hadn’t even wanted to attempt bringing them.

  Why waste perfectly good technology on a mission that was probably doomed to fail anyhow?

  He grabbed the necklace, dropping it into his side pocket and hoping he wouldn’t need to use it yet again today. Taking inventory, he confirmed all his weapons and gadgets had indeed made it and hadn’t gotten lost amongst the stars.

  Closing his eyes, he focused on the one homing beacon he had—her blood.

  He hadn’t meant to lose control when he’d been alone with Selena several nights ago. His reaction had been a result of the cocktail of mating hormones coursing through him. He suspected he was in heat; his Bahzyl sac felt fuller, and whenever he pressed his tongue against it, drops of Bahzyl arousal venom dripped out and overcame his senses.

  Even though he wasn’t proud of what he’d done, or how he’d responded to the venom, he was glad he’d bitten her. He now had a fresh supply of her blood in his system to track her without tracking technology, which he couldn’t access from Q’s ship.

  Listening for any movement, he heard nothing as he moved along the corridor. He followed her scent in a direction that was starting to concern him; his feet led him to the med bay.

  He halted at the corner, peeking his head around to check for any of the eight original crew members. So far, he’d seen none. Not even the flamboyant male who owned the ship.

  Armed with a pistol and his teeth, he rounded the corner and entered the med bay, preparing for the worst.

  Three Trr’kiki males stood in the infirmary, focused on a very naked Selena. She lay strapped onto a medical bed, exposed for all to see. One male held her silver hair in his hand, chuckling and commenting that it would make a pretty rope. Another two had sliced open her chest with a scalpel.

  Kaede saw red.

  Snarling, he lunged forward, sinking his teeth into the closest male, who had dared to hold Selena’s hair like a prized trophy, and injecting him with Vusyte, his painful and instantly lethal venom.

  < ONE DOWN. SEVEN TO GO. >

  < THANK YOU, REI .>

  He shot the other two in the head before they could react and scanned the room for more Trr’kiki with his pistol drawn.

  < THREE DOWN. FIVE TO GO. >

  His gaze fell on a bruised, naked body tied in the corner of the room. Kaede was confused, for he had never seen a species like this in his life. As he untied the male’s restraints and uncovered his head, he gasped.

  If Kaede’s visor hadn’t lit up with a yellow dot and marked him as ‘Q,’ he wouldn’t have recognized the male blinking in the med bay’s harsh lighting.

  Someone had stripped off all his feathers and left him here, alone and naked.

  “What happened?” Kaede asked, standing.

  While he cared about the male because his sister B did, his allegiance lay with Selena. If forced to pick between the two, he would rather bring home Selena's dead body than a live Q, but hopefully, he wouldn’t have to choose.

  Kaede stood and ran over to Selena, trying to piece together how to proceed. He was no healer, and only knew the basics of stitching up wounds, but judging by the faint readings on the scans, she was still alive.

  “My crew mutinied,” Q replied. “I was waiting for Z to contact us like he always does, and they insisted that we take this one mission. The merchant was willing to pay us five times as much if we agreed to deliver some precious cargo to them. I refused; they all insisted. I told them this was my ship, and they could leave if they weren’t happy.” He sighed. “They swore they’d changed their minds, so I allowed them back on the ship, believing they were fine with waiting. Stupid me, they jumped me while I was sleeping and took over. On the way to the palace, they decided they could make a nice chunk of credits off my feathers, so they decided to strip me. I’ve been here ever since, bound in that corner.”

  Kaede shot a glance at the male. “Do you know who hired your crew? And do you happen to have anything to seal this wound?”

  “They made two deals to be paid twice,” Q seethed. “The Aldawi Sovereign was willing to pay them to get rid of Selena and her clan, and the Quaww were willing to pay for Selena and the cubs. My crew reminded their customers that Circuli venom—especially in mated males—was highly potent and deadly, so they received danger pay as well.”

  Kaede shook his head. She wasn’t going to survive if he didn’t do something fast.

  “Q,” he hissed. “How can I stop her bleeding?”

  “You can check the cabinets, but we’re probably out of med supplies. My backstabbing crew sold anything remotely valuable at the nearest trade station, stripping this ship to its bare bones since they were going to ditch it anyhow after they collected their money.”

  Kaede gripped the necklace in his pocket and cursed. He didn’t want to use it, not when its function wasn’t tested and verified, but he had no choice.

  Taking the necklace, he unthreaded the gem from the cord and bit down on the encasing. The glowing jewel fell into his hand as he spat out the crushed tracking device and threw it on the ground. Rolling the gem in his hand, he sent a prayer to the Stars beyond.

  He handed Q his pistol. “Stand guard and shoot anyone who enters this room.”

  “What are you doing?” he asked, confused, flicking his gaze between Selena and the gem in Kaede’s hand.

  “A miracle,” Kaede muttered. “If it works and we live, I’ll tell you all about it.”

  As if that answer satisfied him, Q shrugged. “Don’t go blowing up my ship while we’re on it with whatever tech experiment you’re about to attempt.”

  Kaede huffed a dry laugh. “I’ll do my best,” he muttered before waving the featherless Q away.

  Kaede had heard whispers in his sleep as he dreamt up fantasies of being with Selena in the future. They always ended the same.

  They would be having fun together, and suddenly something would hurt and almost kill her. Every time, a soothing female voice told him to give her the gem. The gem will save her. Use the gem.

  And every time, he refused, letting her die in his arms as he jolted awake from the recurring nightmare.

  Logically, he knew his dreams meant nothing, and yet, his current situation felt too close for comfort. The only way he could convince himself that he wasn’t insane or hadn’t knocked something loose while he long distanced teleported was how he had no other options.

  At this point, he had no other choice.

  Staring at the cut along her chest, he decided the most logical place to put a gem was beneath the sternum. From below her rib cage, the energy could radiate from a centralized spot . . . if the gem did work.

  He pressed it
inside. Instantly her spots lit up as the skin slowly began to knit together. Her eyes snapped open as her mouth gaped in a silent scream.

  She was in pain, and he was to blame.

  Frantically, Kaede bit along her limbs, injecting his paralyzing venom into her, hoping to both dull her pain and prevent her from moving.

  Her fear-laced eyes pleaded with him to save her as he sank teeth into her arm.

  “I have you, Selena,” he swore. “I’m sorry I was too late, but I promise I will make the pain go away soon. Just listen to me and hold on.”

  The ship jolted, which could only mean one thing. They were being attacked.

  But by whom? His sisters would have contacted him if they were near, to help coordinate a rescue plan, knowing that planning any earlier was futile due to their rapidly changing circumstances.

  A crewman burst through the doors, and Q instantly shot at him, but he was able to dodge, pulling out a pistol to aim at Selena.

  Kaede jumped in front of her body as a burning stab hit him midback and knocked him to his knees. A shot and a thud later, he knew Q had killed the male who had hit him.

  < FOUR DOWN. THREE TO GO. ONE PRESENT. >

  This day kept getting better and better.

  “Q, do you still have access to your Cryopods?” Kaede hissed, wincing as he pulled himself up.

  “I should, yeah. Why?” he glanced toward him.

  “We’re being attacked, and there are still hostile crewmembers onboard, so I need to get Selena off this ship while I still can,” he explained. “She is barely alive and can’t walk. I would rather have her sent away for my sisters to pick up so I can focus on helping you retake the ship.”

  “But what if the attackers intercept her?” Q asked. “What are you going to do then?”

  “Do what I do best and hunt for her,” he promised. “I was able to find her across the galaxy not once, but twice. I can do it again.”

  “If that’s what you want to do... it’s Z you’ll have to face if you fail, not me,” he muttered. “The pods are across the hall and to the right.”

  “Thank you,” Kaede whispered, earning him a stunned glance from Q. “Can you cover me?”

  “I never thought I would hear those words come out of your mouth,” Q noted. “I guess there’s a first time for anything.”

  Not bothering to respond, he disconnected Selena from all of her restraints. While her cuts were still very raw, they were indeed healing, her spots glowing a soft blue-green. He hoped that meant that the gem was helping, somehow, because he needed her to live.

  Wrapping her carefully in her blankets, he struggled to pick her up. The wound in his back was still open, and he cursed his healing for not kicking in yet.

  He took a deep breath and met Selena’s worried eyes. “I know I have begged for you to trust me multiple times. This is another one of those times.” He grunted as he lifted her off the medical table and struggled to cross the room.

  Q opened the med bay doors, checking the hall before waving him on.

  Kaede followed, slowly and carefully, for without his gadgets and severely wounded, he was useless. Too slow to bite someone or to dodge. The best he could do was try and hack the ship’s control system, closing off sections and perhaps even cutting some air supply to wait out the battle until his sisters arrived.

  Another bolt hit the ship, slamming Kaede into the wall back-first. He hissed in pain yet refused to put down Selena. He had made a promise, and he was going to keep it. Her life was more valuable than his.

  “You ok, Kaede?” Q whispered. “The pods are just around the corner.”

  “I got it,” he grunted. “Just cover us.”

  He refused to cry from the pain in front of Selena. If she wasn’t crying about her injuries, then he wouldn’t either. A shot in the back was nothing compared to her being scalped and having her chest split open, for Stars only knew what horrifying procedure.

  Q opened one of the Cryopods and nodded. “I will keep watch,” he whispered, squeezing his shoulder.

  Kaede sent him a silent thanks as he placed Selena into the Cryopod, checking her wounds as he carefully buckled her up.

  Another bolt hit the ship, knocking Kaede forward. He grunted when one of his horns caught on the ceiling.

  “Kaede,” Q muttered. “I don’t know how to tell you this, but we’re in the middle of a three-way fight at the moment. Two ships are firing on each other, and we’re returning fire. I don’t know what we’ve run into, but one ship is Quaww, and the other isn’t a ship that I’ve seen before.”

  Kaede cursed once again. He couldn’t believe his sisters hadn’t hailed him yet.

  < REI. HAIL MY SISTERS. ARE THEY NEARBY? >

  < A NEGATIVE. >

  < B POSITIVE. >

  < K NEGATIVE - PALACE. >

  < N NEGATIVE. >

  < Z NEGATIVE. >

  If K was at the palace, that meant she’d been redirected there to aid Selena’s Favored. B was nearby, which meant they just needed to hold on until she arrived.

  But first, he needed to get Selena to safety. As soon as he got her off this hostile ship in her Cryopod, he could breathe easier knowing that she had a better chance of survival out there. If she remained on board, he wouldn’t be able to protect her; he could hardly defend himself.

  Leaning over, he cupped her face like he’d seen her Favored do and gazed into her lost and confused blue-green eyes.

  “Selena,” he whispered. “Listen to what I’m about to tell you, because I may not be able to say these words again. Remember that night I told you about the stars and the constellations? How some species within our galaxy have a belief—a theory, if you will—that the stars are lost souls, waiting to be reborn. They believe that constellations are collections of the stars’ loved ones, connected in the afterlife.”

  Kaede shuddered, licking his lips to prepare for what he had to get off his chest. “I have a confession. I’ve secretly wanted you ever since I laid my eyes upon your file. You became an obsession, a craving, an addiction. I wanted to know everything about you, for reasons I didn’t understand. Once we met, it dawned on me: We are stars within the same constellation, just trying to figure out where and how we belong. The connection we felt to one another from the beginning proves we were meant to be together all this time.”

  He looked away as he tried to voice the words that were coursing through him. Grabbing her hand, he returned his gaze. “Selena, I love you. There are so many things I want to say to you, but delaying you any further will only reduce your chance of survival. However, know this, I will find you again. It may take another life, but I will find you, and when I do, I won’t make this mistake again. I will love you freely, together with whoever else is in our constellation, because you are worth waiting for another lifetime.”

  Another bolt hit the ship, smacking his head once more against the wall. The warning alarms blared. Doom was upon them.

  Leaning over, he kissed her lips as tears fell freely from his face.

  “Remember me when you look up at the stars,” he muttered. “For if I survive, I will spend all my life trying to find you once again. Until then, picture me smiling down upon you.”

  AUTHORS NOTE:

  Thank you for taking the time to read my book!

  I know… That ending…

  I promise things will get better for Selena and her crew!

  While I am working frantically on Failure, there will be two side stories about two of Kaede’s sisters working behind the scenes, between the events of Develop and Failure.

  Their stories will follow them as they search for answers to what happened --- and unexpectedly discover love along the way.

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  Project: Adapt

  Failure

  I had sworn to her that I would find her again... No matter what.

  I would fix the mistakes that I had made and bring her home…

  The Aldawi Empire is in chaos, with their enemies approaching from all borders. And none of that matters to me.

  Unknown enemies have forced my hand into sending her away to save her life. And now that I have survived, I will do what I do best--hunt.

  It has taken me eight years to find my master’s Nova, but now I am not searching for her on his behalf. This is my own personal mission and I will not let others interfere with my quest.

  Selena will always be my prey. And when I find her, I will make sure she remembers what I said before I had sent her away.

  I refuse to be a failure.

  READ NOW!

  Project Universe Timeline:

  Project: Adapt #1 – Found

  Project: Adapt #2 – Achieve

  Project: Adapt #3 – Develop

  Project: Adapt #5 – Failure

  Project: F5 #1 – Bird of Prey

  Project: F5 #2 – Scaled Heart