Aydarr glared at Gabe and gathered Jill close.
“He’s my friend, there was nothing intended but comfort.” Jill stood on tiptoe to brush a quick kiss on Aydarr’s chapped lips. “Humans have different customs.”
Another tense moment or two passed before Aydarr relaxed. “If I misread the situation, I apologize. But hands off my mate.”
“You got it,” Gabe said. He and Flo lowered their blasters. “Listen, we’ve done all we can do here. We need to withdraw before help arrives from any of the other stations, or the guards coalesce into an effective fighting unit under a leader with some smarts and get organized.”
“Are the flyers returning for our extraction?” Jill asked.
He nodded. “One last trip since I didn’t know what shape your guy might be in. I didn’t know if he’d be up to a rapid retreat through the forest on foot today. I told the pilots to shear off if things don’t look right to them.”
“We’d better get to the landing pad then.” Jill checked the empty room as if hoping to find Megan tucked away in a corner. “We will find them, no matter where the Khagrish sent them on this hellhole world.”
“Yes, we will, I give you my word,” Aydarr said. “But we have to escape to help your people or anyone else held captive on this planet.”
She let him pull her into the corridor, and ran with the others to the flight line. One ship was already landed, and Jill recognized her pack members frantically loading supplies on board. The second flyer angled in and made a neat landing close by.
“Intercepting signals from approaching aircraft,” MARL said out loud. “Should arrive in three minutes at the present rate of speed.”
“We have to go,” Jill said. “Tell those guys to leave the rest of the stuff, no matter what it is, and take off, now. Top speed to the valley.”
Mateer ran to do her bidding.
“Any of our forces remaining in the lab complex?” she asked Gabe as she sprinted up the ramp into their flyer, Aydarr keeping pace with visible effort.
The captain shook his head. “All gone, either on the shuttle earlier or else into the woods heading for the valley. We’re clear.”
“If the other flyer has lifted off, let’s go,” Aydarr said as Flo closed the hatch behind her. “I’ve no desire to be recaptured.”
Jill sank into a seat, Aydarr beside her, as the flyer lifted off. The craft was buffeted by more massive explosions in the facility and, as the pilot angled to the east, she watched the buildings burn. “No one will be doing any more perverted ‘science’ in that lab.”
“I have the entire AI database in my memory,” MARL said, floating easily in the aisle next to her, bobbing a bit as the flyer banked. “No knowledge will be lost.”
“Some things should be.” Aydarr’s voice held more than a hint of a growl.
“Once we raided the armory, I had our teams leave a few surprises here and there,” Gabe said, sliding into the seat across the aisle. “Figured our best bet long term was to deny the Khagrish any use of the place. Salvaged what we could then cut our losses.” He eyed Jill and Aydarr. “I know now isn’t the time, but we do need to map out a long term strategy. I have ideas.”
“Maybe tomorrow.” Jill pushed her hair off her face. “Today I’m bitterly disappointed we didn’t find Megan or the other colonists.” ”
“We will, I give you my word to make it our highest priority.” Aydarr hugged her as best he could, careful of her injured shoulder. “You’ve pulled off this amazing feat today, we’ll manage to duplicate the success for your people. The Badari are warriors and we now owe you a life debt.”
“I found the data on the humans,” MARL said. “It was in a new type of file construct I haven’t seen before. I’ll know to look for it in any future Khagrish AI setup.”
“Do you think they did it to fool us?” Jill was alarmed because their ability to hack the AI was their single most crucial advantage over the enemy.
MARL’s colors swirled. “I think it was a result of Dr. Cwamla taking over and receiving her own super user status on the system. She created her own files in a most idiosyncratic configuration.”
“And?”
“The colonists were dispersed to several different locations, to begin recovering from stasis prior to the initiation of the Chimmer-requested experiments. We have a window of time as there are still no detailed specifications from the Chimmer.”
“Which facilities? Where?” Ignoring the pain in her shoulder, Jill sat straighter. “We should start planning the next raid right now—I have to find my sister.”
“My only strategic planning for today involves getting private time with my mate so she can rest,” Aydarr said. “And have your wound properly treated. I understand your worry about your other sister but even you need a night to recuperate—you don’t heal as rapidly as we Badari.”
“Tomorrow then,” Gabe said. “I’ll study whatever data MARL has found, if you’ll instruct him to share it with me. I’ll develop some preliminary proposals for you. You two get your rest.”
“Rest?” Aydarr whispered in her ear after Gabe moved to a seat in the bow of the flyer. “I had more interesting things in mind.”
“As do I, if you’re feeling up to it.”
“The pink nightgown?”
She shook her head. “Didn’t survive my escape—sorry. I know you liked it.”
“I like what the fabric concealed and revealed,” he said, nipping at her ear lobe with his teeth. “But in my present mood, I’d have removed it too rapidly to savor the experience anyway.”
Much later, after a huge victory dinner of meal rations and freshly caught fish, with everyone celebrating, Jill took Aydarr by the hand and led him to one of her favorite places in the valley—a small cliff overlooking the lake, which reflected the huge moon. The ground was soft, and she brought along two blankets, carrying them looped over her arm. She spread one out under the trees and invited him to join her.
“MARL will make sure no one surprises us,” she said as Aydarr sat next to her.
“As will Mateer.” He grinned. “Great minds think alike. Or well mated couples.”
“Do you mind Jamokan swore loyalty to me? Or that I have a human pack now?”
He shook his head. “I’m your alpha, yes?” He took her in his arms and kissed her, gently at first then more urgently as the passion between them began to crest. He laid her on the blanket and loomed over her, his arousal heavy and insistent against the vee of her legs.
“But you’re not my boss,” she said, continuing her thought despite the distraction of what he was doing with her needy body, teasing her nipples with his tongue and clever hands.
“No,” he agreed. “But in the pack structure, the fact you swore loyalty to me means I command those you command as well. Your friend Gabe may not see it that way exactly—”
“He’s ex-military, he won’t be a problem. He understands command hierarchy. Besides, this is your world.”
“And I don’t wish to discuss another man while making love to my mate.” Aydarr lowered his head to hers, his tongue penetrating the seam of her lips as she opened fully to him. “This night is for us,” he said when the long and involved kiss was done. “Tomorrow is time enough to begin planning the next phase of the war.”
He unfastened her utility pants and pushed them down over her hips as she shimmied to assist in the disrobing. “So beautiful,” he said, pausing to admire her in the moonlight after she was naked. He ran one hand teasingly over her body, circling her navel then probing gently between her legs as she opened to him.
“You now,” Jill said, although his touch made her shiver with pleasure. She lay back and watched appreciatively as Aydarr made quick work of shedding his shirt and pants. “Oh yeah, that’s the view I prefer. When you first rescued me in the Preserve, this was pretty much the way you looked. Very hot.”
He laughed as he came to lie beside her. “I was wearing a loincloth. I believe you even mentioned my lack of clot
hing later.”
“I wanted to touch and stroke and taste—” Blushing, she clamped her lips together before she got too specific about her desires.
Pillowing his head with his arms, Aydarr lay back. “Feel free, we have the entire night.”
“Tonight I have two things I dreamt of but never thought were possible,” he said, much later, as they lay together under the second blanket, staring at the stars. “And both are true only because of you.”
“Care to share?”
He rolled over to smile tenderly at her. “I imagine you know the answers—a mate to love and cherish is the most important.”
“A woman likes to hear it said, as many times as possible, in case you need any encouragement.” Jill gave him a wink and a loving smile. “And the other?”
“Freedom. For the first time in eight generations since we were created, a Badari can gaze at the stars as a free man. I can make plans, have hope for the next generation—” He broke off, emotion choking his voice. “I’m not deluding myself, I know we have a long and bitter struggle ahead just to survive, much less to defeat the Khagrish and beyond them the Chimmer, but to have hope is such a precious thing to me.”
She stroked his arm. “I know, and that’s as it should be, my love. We may not even be the ones to see the end of the struggle, although I hope we are, but the fight is a worthy one.”
He lay back to contemplate the stars again, pulling her close to pillow her head on his shoulder. “Which one do you think is yours?”
Startled, Jill said, “No idea. Someday maybe we can get MARL to figure out where the Sectors might be from here. I know Gabe’s number one hope is to communicate with or travel to the Sectors and get their help, but for now none of us knows how to accomplish either one.” She sat up so she could emphasize her point by making direct eye contact. “The colony wasn’t my home, not really. I was settling into life there, and I wanted my sisters to have a stable place to live, ironically as it all turned out. My real home for most of my life was the military, I guess, but you can’t stay in the cocoon of the service once your usefulness is over.”
“You’ll always have a home wherever I am.” He tapped his heart. “And my home will forever be with you.”
“I love you.” She snuggled close again as he pulled the blanket more securely over her. “And my home will always be with you.” She felt as if they’d exchanged solemn vows. “Even if we do contact the Sectors, I won’t go back there without you. If you choose to stay here, I stay too. In case you were wondering.”
His smile was broad and his eyes glowed in the moonlight. “I hoped that might be your answer, but I was afraid to ask.”
“Hey, nothing gets left unsaid between the two of us, remember? We made a deal. You’ll never lose me,” she said. “The Badari mate for life, and I’m a Badari in good standing now.”
Laughing, he hugged her so hard she could barely breathe. “You certainly are. Anyone who wants to dispute that fact has to answer to me.”
“After I’m done with them.”
“So fierce.” His tone was admiring.
“You better believe it.”
A shooting star crossed the sky, casting off sparkles as it plummeted until it faded into the dark night. She made a wish and held it close in her heart.
“You’ve grown quiet,” Aydarr said.
“Thinking about my other sister, Megan,” she admitted. “I need to find her and bring her and the others to safety with us, sooner than later.”
“We’ve both dedicated our lives to the quest now, have we not? And the larger task of destroying the Khagrish on this planet. I’d love to carry the fight to their home world eventually, but I don’t see the path to the ultimate goal as yet.” He hugged her again. “All of that will be waiting tomorrow when the sun rises. Tonight is just for us.”
And so it was.
**************************************
Thank you for reading AYDARR (SECTORS NEW ALLIES BOOK 1)! I really hope you enjoyed the adventure (and of course I’d love a review if you have time and the inclination to write one – even a few sentences would be wonderful. Authors relish reader feedback).
MATEER, Book 2 in this new series, is coming in January 2018 and will continue with the Badari story and the quest to find Jill’s missing sister.
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Author Bio and Links:
USA Today Best Selling Author
“SciFi Encounters” columnist for the USA Today Happy Ever After blog
Veronica Scott grew up in a house with a library as its heart. Dad loved science fiction, Mom loved ancient history and Veronica thought there needed to be more romance in everything. When she ran out of books to read, she started writing her own stories.
Seven time winner of the SFR Galaxy Award, as well as a National Excellence in Romance Fiction Award, Veronica is also the proud recipient of a NASA Exceptional Service Medal relating to her former day job, not her romances!
She was honored to read the part of Star Trek Crew Member in the audiobook production of Harlan Ellison’s “The City On the Edge of Forever.”
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