by Liz Paffel
Quixx had grown up with Tryllin; had learned to fight with him, to play and explore life. He was more than royalty; he was like a brother. To see such clear sadness on his King’s face struck him with the need to make it better.
“You know I wish for you to take a mate. So, I will give you a choice,” Tryllin said gravely. “You may remain with me, in your current role and rank, and continue to serve your people as Third Command and I will no longer require you to take a mate since you make no secret of your aversion to it.”
He clasped his hand behind him and lifted his chin. “Or, you will agree to take a mate of my choosing and be allowed to retain your rank while you accompany the discovery team to B-2 Delta.”
“Why are you so adamant that I take a mate?”
“Believe it or not, Quixx, having a woman of your own may be the balm your heart needs.”
Quixx’s nostrils flared. His King was granting him his wish, with the condition that he do the one thing he was truly unworthy of. Yet, if he let his anger flare, the deal may be taken away and he could be forced to stay behind and take a mate.
“A mate will never be anything more than someone to assist with chores. I do not see how that will benefit me except to ensure my clothing is clean and my meals are prepared. You’re granting me a lifetime servant in exchange for traveling to B-2 Delta.”
“Yiiy, Quixx. We need to work on your—” he swirled his hand in front of Quixx’s body. “Personality.” Tryllin tapped the comlet on his wrist again and filtered through the screens that populated in the air. He enlarged an image of a human female with blonde hair, blue eyes and a pleasing face.
“I cannot stop this madness the human government and Nozing created, but I feel it is my duty to help the citizens have a fighting chance. I have access to a tool that will be useful in their fight against the degarzee.”
He gestured to the female’s image. “This is the daughter of a Senator of the United States. She recently discovered that her father is assisting in the government’s plan to thin out the world population. She is fearful of what other atrocities her father may assist with and has requested to be paired with an Axxeon male and taken off this planet.”
A sinking feeling pooled in Quixx’s gut.
“In return, she will deliver to us weaponry with the ability to kill the degarzee, left in her father’s possession by the Nozing shortly after we launched our attack on them. Collect this female and the weapons and bring them here, and I’ll allow you to accompany the expedition team. The weapons will be turned over to my wife’s fireman brother, who is assembling a task unit to destroy the degarzee. This female must feel safe with you, comfortable so she does not change her mind about turning over the weaponry. Or taking an Axxeon as a mate.”
Quixx’s mood darkened. This felt like a cage he would never get out of. “I do not have it my personality to make females like me, my King. Nor does it bother me. You must send someone else.”
“There are only two warriors I trust with this. One is you. The other I cannot put into harm’s way. Not again.”
Hahn. The last heir to the Axxeon throne. He had helped defeat the Nozing, against Tryllin’s wishes. If he had his way, Tryllin would lock his brother into a comfortable containment room where no harm would ever come to him.
Tryllin put a hand on each of Quixx’s shoulders. “I’m assigning you an assistant who is going to help you become not you.”
“I do not understand.”
“You’re going to become likeable.”
“I am afraid you will not get the result that you are after, my King.”
Tryllin pulled away and crossed his arms, eyes glinting with amusement, though Quixx didn’t see the humor in any of this. “Once you are done collecting the female and the weapon, I will send you to Axxeon 9 to prepare for the scouting mission to B-2 Delta.”
“This female. Is she to become my mate?”
Tryllin shrugged a shoulder “If so, you will not argue. You will simply accept her with a smile.”
Taking a mate was the only requirement for him to participate in the honor of scouting his people a new home and his chance at redemption. He might not like it, but there was no way he was going to refuse.
He smiled. It was done.
Chapter Four
“I’m doing what?”
Priya blinked, then blinked again. Alora grasped the back of a chair to steady herself before sitting. Her face had more color today as her body adjusted to the bionic heart. Too bad the news she’d brought with her during this surprise visit was horrible.
Priya helped Alora sit, then spread a blanket over her lap. “Are you sure that you’re supposed to be out of bed? I could have come to you instead.”
“I needed to get out of that bedroom, Pri. I’m so sick of being confined. Tryllin is taking me to the baths later so I can sit under the waterfall.”
Leave it to a King to have a real waterfall inside an underwater compound surrounded by ice.
Satisfied that her friend was comfortable, Priya found herself wandering around her small quarters. “I don’t understand why I was chosen for this mess. Is it because I’m the only other female in this compound besides you?”
There had been an Axxeon female here, with her daughter, but they’d been sent to the base station. It was strange knowing you were so terribly outnumbered in the gender department.
Alora held out a small bowl of fruit. “Raspberry?”
“No. Seriously, Alora. I don’t want to do this.”
Alora reached into the pocket of her white, flowing pants and produced something with a brown, crinkly wrapper. Waving it teasingly, she sweetened her voice. “How about this?”
Priya was about to get really annoyed, until she saw the Snickers in her friend’s hand. She advanced on it like a starving person. “God, yes. Where did you get this?”
“The Axxeon love human candy, as it turns out. They have a whole stockpile to be sent to the base station. Apparently, being Queen means I can take some whenever I need to make my friend feel better about doing something kind of weird and… well, it’s weird.”
Priya ripped open the candy bar and took a bite. Chewing, she looked at the wall, thoughtfully mulling things over. The delectable chocolate melting on her tongue was a definite bonus to helping her settle down as she pondered things. “If your husband wants me to do this, he has to give me something in return. Something that I actually want. Not a mate.”
Alora moved some fruit around with her finger and popped a grape in her mouth. “That’s fair. I mean, he owes me a favor after implanting me with a deadly virus that destroyed my heart.” Her voice was light, but Priya didn’t see the humor.
She strode to her friend and got down on one knee, taking a hand in her own. “How can you joke about it? How can you forgive him for what he did to you?”
The Axxeon had abducted Alora and planned to use her as a deadly bioweapon in their mission to kill the Nozing that would have resulted in her death. King Tryllin may have recognized her as his fated mate and stopped the plan, but only after it damaged her human heart beyond repair and nearly killed her. She was slowly adjusting to the alien parts now keeping her alive. Alora looked good, Priya thought as she scrutinized her friend’s appearance. Her skin was radiant, and her hair seemed… longer, shinier. She looked healthier.
And she looked happy and content. Two descriptives that never fit Alora before.
“They’re not us, Pri. They’re not human with the same emotional map as us. Not completely. I was a means to an end-- a tool to be used in war. Honestly, from what I’ve learned, they’ve done nothing less than humans have in our bloody history. Not that it makes it easier to swallow. Trust me when I tell you that Tryllin is very, very apologetic and guilty over what he almost did. And he’s doing everything he can to let me know how he feels about me.”
Priya stood with an irritated sigh. “Is making me Quixx’s dating coach part of his display of love?”
“No, actually, t
hat was my idea?” Alora gave an uncertain grin, as if she knew a blow-up was about to commence.
The hair stood up on the back of Priya’s neck. “Your idea?”
When Alora had shown up a little bit ago, Priya expected a regular social call so they could catch up and be together. Sure, her friend had brought some more human clothing, thank goodness, so she no longer had to wear the ugly brown dress someone found in a storage room. She’d also brough real coffee with two creamers. She could deal with almost anything after being properly caffeinated. Two cups hadn’t been enough to sweeten the news that Quixx was being sent on a mission to collect a woman who may become his mate and needed a crash course in how to act around human females, so he didn’t scare her off. And that she’d been assigned as his dating coach.
“Hear me out, Priya, okay? Just sit down and listen.”
Priya went to the small table where Alora had set a self-heating carafe of coffee and poured herself another cup from the glowing blue vessel. She finished the candy and chewed hard. “I’m listening.”
“You’ve always been very open with me about your love life. I used to wish I could be as confident as you about meeting men and going out and having a good time. I just figured, since you’ve had like a million dates, you’d be good at giving him pointers.”
A hazy memory of trying to explain to Quixx what it meant to take someone home went through her mind. The man had been clueless… and she’d been pretty frank in explaining it to him. He hadn’t seemed impressed. She wasn’t one to feel guilty over having lovers. Why should she? She had needs, she liked men, and she wasn’t about to feel ashamed for being human. Just don’t ask her to enter into anything long term. She would… if she ever found the right man which seemed to be a monumental task.
“I’m going to be blunt and tell you that a lot of my interactions with men started by flirting with a hot guy for five minutes over a drink at a bar, deciding I wanted to sleep with him, taking him home, and never seeing him again. I don’t have a lot of experience in the traditional dating sense, you know?”
Alora laughed. “Well, it’s way more than me. I went on three dates with the same guy that ended with him orgasming inside his jeans while we fumbled getting my shirt over my head.”
Priya hung her head and laughed. “It happens. I’m sorry. You know, Quixx strikes me as kind of a prude.” She sipped her coffee. “Kind of like an old-fashioned grandpa who thinks women should be seen and not heard. He’s not very open-minded.”
“He’s an alien.”
“He’s going to argue and buck everything that I say or try and show him.”
“Fair point.” Alora dropped her gaze and trailed a finger around the rim of her bowl. “Look, I knew you wouldn’t want to do this. But they have the mindset here that everyone has to be useful for something. You have basically three choices. Helping the doctor, which you already turned down, being shipped off to Axxeon 9 to make alien babies, which I know you don’t want, or help Quixx navigate his love life.”
“What happens when that task is completed? Then I get shipped off for baby-making?”
“I’m going to do everything that I can to not let that happen. We’ll just have to find a new purpose for you.” Tears shimmered in Alora’s eyes. “Brandon has requested to go back to the city. He’ll be leaving as soon as Quixx gets back from this mission. Apparently, she’s bringing something with that Brandon needs to fight off those fire-breathing degarzee.”
Priya’s heart fell. Pressing a hand over her forehead, she set down her cup. “I’m sorry, Alora. I know you’d hoped he’d go to Axxeon 9.”
Alora’s brother, Brandon, had been rescued from the Nozing after his entire crew at the fire station had been abducted. The enemy hadn’t wanted fire personnel on the ground to fight the degarzee-born fires, so the damage would be more wide-spread.
Suddenly anxious, she paced the room. She’d heard the fires were spreading farther than just their city. Something had to be done before all hell broke loose. “Brandon’s going to keep fighting the fires?”
“Yes. He said he’s gathering a task team to go after the fire-breathers. Tryllin sent a small crew of warriors into the city to meet the group and help them prepare.”
It seemed like a futile fight. Even the aliens had been unable to stop the beasts. She understood fully why Brandon wanted to dive back in and do what he could to help.
“Being a fireman is in your brother’s very soul. He can’t not help. It’s the same way you and I feel about creating cures that save lives.” A flood of adrenaline pumped through Priya. She used to save lives as a physician… until she didn’t. Then she’d turned to creating life-saving drugs and it had filled that desperate need inside her to be useful, to make a difference. It never was quite the same accomplished feeling she’d gotten working as a surgeon, but it was something.
She had to do help, too. “I want to go back with Brandon.”
Alora’s face paled. “What? No. Why would you want to return to the uncertainty out there when you can go to a new place and leave all this behind?”
Priya set her jaw. “I see your eyes lighting up as you’re asking me that. You know exactly why I want to go back. You feel it, too. Our research into new antibiotics has to continue so when this is over, we have new ways to cure people.”
Silence fell between them and the more Priya considered going back to the city, the more sense it made. She had no interest in leaving earth. Especially not when she could be an active part of making things better. There was no shortage of unrest and madness in human history. Time moved on. People recovered and grew stronger. There was no reason to think they wouldn’t bounce back from whatever spell the nation was currently under. And when they did, they’d need medicine.
“Where are you going to go? The hospital was destroyed by fire. Our lab is gone. Our apartment buildings are gone. Half the city is, just, gone.”
“Maybe Tryllin can find out if there’s a central location where the displaced are gathering. Or, something similar for emergency and medical personnel. We’ll figure it out.”
Alora rose, sadness heavy in her eyes, though her smile was encouraging. She wrapped Priya in her arms for a long hug. “Brandon will be happy to take you back with him. And I’m going to miss the hell out of you.”
Priya tightened her hold on her friend, afraid to squeeze too tight, but needing to anyway. She pulled away to discourage the sting of tears in her eyes from getting any worse.
“Will you talk to the King? Do you think he’ll allow it?”
A sound behind them made Priya turn. Tryllin had come silently into the room. He approached Alora and put his hands on her shoulders, giving a loving squeeze. Alora looked up at him and his expression softened even more as he gazed into her eyes.
“I do not like it. But I will allow it. You have my word. When you complete what I’ve asked you to do, you may stay here. On Earth.”
Chapter Five
Quixx entered the cruex at exactly 0-600 as he did every day to beat the rush of hungry men and grabbed a random dehydrated meal from the officer’s section of the food line. Passing it beneath the synthesizer, he waited impatiently until the tray slid out, perfectly rehydrated and steaming hot. He didn’t bother to see what his meal consisted of as he veered to the private dining room where high-ranking officials ate. It was empty, as it generally was this time of morning.
He liked the solitude of taking his meal alone, in silence. This room was surrounded by holographic windows which displayed the image of rain falling into the depths of a lush forest outside. A pink waterfall gently dove from a high cliff and dumped her shimmering waters into a pool below. The flora and fauna dipping and bouncing from the gentle rain were all native to his home planet. Closing his eyes for a beat, he imagined he could smell the damp soil and misty clouds kicked up from the falls. The holograms of his home were so real, so tangible, that sometimes he forgot he was deep beneath a frozen lake, in a compound built on an alien planet.
/> He wasn’t home.
He’d never be home again. Not really. Axxeon 8 was gone. He lost his appetite as homesickness stabbed and twisted into his gut. He missed his mother. His sister. The friends he’d lost.
Suddenly angry with himself and the outcome of his life since the destruction of his planet, he veered to the left and headed to his normal table in the corner where two panes of hologram met. He loved that spot. It made him feel as if he were immersed in Axxeon’s jungle where he used to run and play as a child.
Soon, he’d breech B-2 Delta’s atmosphere and see if months of probing research was accurate. Initial scans of the planet suggested it was compatible with their needs for creating a permanent planetary home. Restlessness nearly consumed him as he considered returning his tray and skipping the meal. He had work to do.
But a figure sitting at his table pulled him up short. His eyes narrowed, a harsh groan bubbling from his throat when he recognized the form. “What are you doing here?”
“Well, good morning to you, too, sunshine.” Priya moved fruit around on her plate with a slender fork as she watched him approach.
He set his tray down hard. “I am in no mood to figure out what you mean when you speak to me. We both know that I am no ray of sun.”
One corner of her mouth lifted, her eyes sparkling, and he had the feeling he’d unintentionally said something she found amusing. Her expression softened his emotions a little. She was wearing different human clothing today. The red shirt had a deep V at the neck that showed off the length of her throat and a silky expanse of her chest. Her dark hair was wet and pulled into a braid over her shoulder.
Interesting. He hadn’t realized before that she was so… attractive. A stirring low in his gut snapped him back to attention.
“I asked you what you are doing here. I require a response.” Quixx straddled the bench across from her.
“I’m eating.”
“This is a place for officers. Not humans and especially not females. Who is accompanying you?”