by Stone, Layla
Her channel quivered and then clenched down. He released his control over his sensations, powered through her climax, and flooded her.
When he felt her vibrate, he smiled and kissed the back of her neck. She liked it when he stayed inside for a few minutes, so he planned to do just that.
The door to the bridge opened, and Sol walked in. Yelena stopped purring immediately. Thankfully, the helm was at the back of the bridge, and there was a half wall separating them. Sol wouldn’t be able to see them connected, so Yon spoke in a toneless voice. “Hi, Sol.”
“Commander. This is unexpected.”
“Why do you say that?” Yon asked.
Sol looked at him then Yelena and said, “I haven’t seen you in here in a while.”
While Sol spoke, Yon pulled out. But it wasn’t until he was pulling Yelena’s pants up that he replied to the officer. “I am going to finish giving Yelena a tour, and then I will leave you to your empty bridge.”
Sol nodded, moved to his seat, and started up his screen. Yon fixed his own pants and then began pointing out everything on the bridge. It took no more than two minutes before he walked Yelena out.
In the elevator, she started to giggle.
“Did you like that?”
Her cheeks blushed when she answered. “Yes.”
“Good.”
31
Outworlds
Yon was sitting at the captain’s Minky desk, half paying attention to Rannn talking to Admiral Orin, and half wondering if he could effectively have sex on the Minky table. Running the probabilities, he figured he could do it, but to be safe, he would wait until the next time Rannn left the ship.
Yon started to pay attention to the conversation when he heard Orin say, “Veeda was dead when she arrived.”
“How? And are you sure she wasn’t faking? Please tell me you didn’t place her in an unsecured morgue,” Rannn said firmly.
“We do have competent doctors on Yunkin, Rannn. Not everyone has to be a Numan for us to trust their diagnoses.”
Rannn snorted. “Right, and that’s why I had to practically sneak Ansel off the planet. You all wanted him for yourselves.”
“You say that like it’s a bad thing. And yet, you had the same desire as we did. Only you were the one who successfully escaped with him.”
Yon remembered the day when Rannn had brought the Numan on board. He would have sworn that Rannn was out of his mind and that he needed to be taken to a doctor himself. But after Yon had given it some time, he found that Rannn had made a smart move. Ansel was the most clever and giving male he knew.
Ansel was not the same now, however. The Numan was no longer talkative, and he spent more time in his lab than anywhere else.
Rannn brought Yon out of his thoughts when he told Orin, “I expect to get the autopsy report because I’d like to know how a person who was strapped down was able to kill herself. Because I can assure you, she was in perfect health when she left my ship.”
Orin nodded. “I’ll forward it to you when I get it. But from what I was told, she wasn’t just unconscious. Half her face had eroded away. There was blood all over the security pod.”
Yon thought about that, and his cybernetics immediately ran the probability. He thought maybe Ansel could have killed her without anyone noticing. A part of him wanted to tell the captain, but with the quantum call in session, now was not the time.
“Did you check the pod for tampering. Maybe a Donnie captured her?”
Orin rolled his eyes. “No, there was no tampering. We had officers watching the pod the entire time.”
“Okay, but I still want that report.”
Orin agreed, and they concluded the call. As soon as the Minky table was off, Rannn leaned back and said, “You don’t think Ansel did that, do you?”
The word yes came to mind, but with the addition of time, he decided to say, “If Ansel did do that, what would you do to him?”
Inhaling deeply, Rannn confessed, “Nothing.”
Yon didn’t know if Rannn was telling the truth because it would be dishonorable to do nothing. Killing a prisoner was against the law. But all that was irrelevant if Rannn was going to choose his friend over the law. Yon updated his notes on Rannn and recalibrated accordingly, then replied, “Then I guess you have your answer.”
Rannn cut his eyes to him. “You’re still annoying, even with the cybernetics.”
Yon laughed inwardly. He made another note to Rannn’s file. “That’s good to know. Means I’m still a good executive officer for you.”
The door slid open, and a pregnant Sasha walked in, holding her belly. Behind her was a small female with short, silky, black hair, light brown skin, and a petite body. Her eyes were downcast, and she looked as shy as Yelena had when he first met her.
At the head of the table, Sasha pointed at the female. “This is the navigator I told you about. She’s finished mapping the flight path in the Outworlds.”
Rannn tilted his head. “What’s her name?”
“She’s Nue.”
Rannn folded his arms. “I know she’s new, I want to know her name.”
Yon twitched his lips and said, “That’s her name. Nue, as in N. U. E.”
“All right, Nue, show me the path.”
Nue looked at Sasha and then said to the table, “May I touch the Minky?”
“How else are you going to show me the flight route?” Rannn asked sharply before Sasha could reply. And the meeting went downhill from there. At the end, the navigator had proven that bringing the Garna to the Outworlds would be a mistake and said they had to take a smaller ship. Something no bigger than a galleon.
Once Nue had finished her report, Rannn instructed her to leave. Sasha followed. That’s when Rannn turned to him and said, “If we take the luxury liner we commandeered, we can fit the Boore in there and a select crew to go after Fynbar.”
Yon ran the probabilities. It didn’t look good. “I am the example of what happens when you go up against a Numan without a proper evaluation of what you’re up against. If Fynbar makes cyborgs like Sands, then it’s safe to say that a small, elite crew won’t succeed against those odds.”
“So, we find out what we’re up against.”
“How do you propose we do that?” Yon asked.
“Simple, we go to the source. Sands.”
“Or we do a lot more recon when we arrive.” Yon couldn’t even crunch all the numbers of how unsafe it would be to go up against Fynbar.
“That’s an obvious priority. But what I’m thinking about is who stays on the ship if we all leave. We can’t leave the Garna open for some unknown commander to come and take over. Plus, Clalls wouldn’t respect them, and he’s our wild crewmate that we can’t fully trust.”
Yon actually chuffed at that. “Right. Well, you still have a limited crew. That’s good because there won’t be as many people trying to cause problems. You need someone who can handle a great deal of responsibility who has razor-sharp instincts.”
At that, Rannn leaned back in his chair and looked up at the ceiling. Less than thirty seconds later, he said, “Vivra. I’d bet my ship that she can run it better than both of us.”
Yon agreed. “I’ll start the paperwork to promote her to commander. But we will need someone else to promote to take on the ship’s excess duties that Vivra will no longer be able to handle.”
Rannn snapped his fingers. “Sol. He’s got the background, sensibility, and he would be fine to work as Vivra’s support.”
“I don’t know Sol that well, so I will trust you on that.”
Rannn nodded his head then stopped and said, “Okay, so who’s going on the mission? I am, and you are. Pax, Ansel, and Sands have to go.”
Yon debated quickly if he should say the name in his mind. “Yelena should come, too,” Yon held up his hand to stop Rannn from cutting in. “She has her illumia, and if Sci hasn’t shown you what she did in that lab, ask him to. She’s a fighter, and her defenses can be used to our advantage if anyt
hing should happen.”
Rannn paused for a series of moments. “You wouldn’t bring your mate into a dangerous situation, so I’m going to allow it. But I can’t say that I like the idea. If anything happens, I don’t want her to have to use her illumia.”
Yon agreed but didn’t think he had to say so. Instead, he added Yelena to the list of crew members for the mission. “I assume you already know that Sasha and Sci will be coming with us.”
“I do.”
The room fell silent as both thought about who else to include. Rannn was the first to speak. “Nue should come in case we need to alter course.”
“Agreed.”
“I can’t think of anyone else.”
“Me either.”
Rannn tapped his knuckles on the table. “Then I guess we’d better let everyone know because we’re leaving first thing tomorrow morning.”
Yon stood up and said, “Then I better get that paperwork filled out.” It was a lie, Yon was already filling it out mentally, but he didn’t want to tell Rannn that he was craving his mate again. Some things should stay private. Not to mention that he had to do a search on all the extra security measures he wanted to have the ship outfitted with before they left. And supplies. They were going to need extra everything, and should the worst happen, he wanted to make sure his mate had a safe exit strategy.
Rannn held up a finger adding, “And on our way to the Outworlds, we’re going to stop by Lotus Adaamas to check on Karr and make sure he’s found a doctor to remove the illumination from the Flourgs’ skin. He hasn’t returned my messages.”
Yon didn’t like the idea of returning to the planet, but he had no intention of leaving the ship. Plus, it would give him the opening he needed to lay claim to the Minky table. “Sounds like a good idea.”
“I know. That’s why I said it.”
Yon chuffed once as he left the captain’s office. On his way down the hall, he thought about how far he had come and everything that he’d had to endure before he’d finally gotten the life he’d dreamed of when he was a young male heading to the Federation expecting that his life would get better surrounded by Yunkins. Little did he know that he wasn’t done struggling and fighting those who couldn’t see past his Demon marks.
And even after all of that, he knew he’d do it all again knowing that he would end up mated to Yelena. The sweetest female in existence, one that could bring light to his day any time he thought of her. He was finally at peace. Even his anger stopped flaring once he mated her. Sometimes, his cybernetics stopped him from saying something sarcastic, but on the whole, he was better when she was near.
Epilogue
Five Years Later
Hettan
Yelena was outside in the warm star’s rays. She watched her son climb a waist-tall boulder. The spry three-and-a-half-year-old slid a few times but was making a valiant effort to get to the top.
“You can do it, Erannn. Keep going.”
Her sweet baby kicked his small feet up the last few inches. His hair and skin were eggshell white like his father’s, but Erannn had her eyes.
When he sat up, he victoriously thrust his arms into the air and shouted, “Yaaaah. You see me?”
“Yes, I saw you, sweetie. I’m so proud of you.”
Erannn clapped for himself and then peered at a nearby tree. “I’m going to jump. Okay, Mom?”
The distance wasn’t too bad, but Yelena wasn’t sure he would make it. But then a boy who never tried, never succeeded. “Okay. Jump as hard as you can.”
Yelena startled as she felt hands wrap around her stomach. Yon kissed the side of her neck. “You’re encouraging him to get hurt? There is little chance he will make it.”
“He needs to learn. And if I told him no, he would do it anyway when I wasn’t looking.”
Yon kissed her again and then pulled her harder against his chest. “Erannn would never, or I will have to explain for the hundredth time what honor means.”
Yelena tried not to smile, but she couldn’t help it. Yon was having a hard time with his son’s dishonorable will. To her, it wasn’t dishonorable at all, it was child willfulness and natural. But Yon had different views.
“Why are you smiling?”
“Because you expect our three-year-old son to be a young adult.”
Yon grunted. “He knows better.”
Yelena watched as Erannn lined up the jump, studied the tilt in the tree, and then leapt. He made it to the tree but missed the landing and crashed down onto the ground. The little one growled, and it reminded her of a wolf puppy from her home planet. Erannn hated failing.
Looking at her, her son said, “One more time.”
She nodded at him, and the boy went back to the rock. Behind her, Yon huffed. Turning in his arms, she threaded her arms through his and laced her fingers behind his back. Yon was looking down at her, his eyebrows raised in question. Yon had gotten better at showing his emotions, but he still had to work at it.
“This is unexpected, Commander. What are you doing home so early? I thought you were still interviewing the Hetten recruits for the Federation?”
Yon kissed her forehead before answering. “I rescheduled my day.”
“Why?”
“Because the doctor is coming by today for your appointment.”
She shook her head. “Why did you tell him? He worries just as much as you do about the baby. You do know that pregnancy is natural, right? I’ll be fine.”
Yon lowered his head in a way that used to intimidate her, but now it just showed her how much he cared. “First, I’m not letting anyone touch you without me there. And you know that. Secondly, anything can happen, and having a doctor check you out is smart.”
Yelena smiled. “He doesn’t touch me, he scans me.”
“The scan touches you, and he’s in your space, which in turn, is my space.”
She threw back her head and laughed. At the same time, she heard a little male scream. She turned to watch her son run and jump from the rock to the tree in true warrior fashion. Erannn jumped high into the air and was able to wrap his hand around a branch.
“He made it.” She felt her chest warm with pride.
“Well, he is my son.”
Yelena scoffed as she watched Erannn move to a seated position and pump his arms into the air. “I did it. I did it.”
Yelena clapped her hands. “You’re amazing, sweetie. I’m so proud of you.”
“Dad, did you see?”
“I saw.”
“I bet you can’t do it,” her son challenged.
Yon moved from behind her, and she closed her eyes. Not again. Turning, she headed back to the house. Yon and Erannn would be outside one-upping each other until the doctor arrived. Until then, she needed a glass of fresh water and to answer a message from Vivra. At least she had her friend. Seth help her if the baby was another boy. She was already outnumbered.
Acknowledgments
As always, I’m grateful for my supportive family. A very big thank you to my alpha reader: Jennifer for always being brutally honest with me.
Great big bear hugs to my beta readers: Jessica-the-fabulous and Suzie Q for all the great feedback.
To my editor: Chelle, Literally Addicted to Detail, you amazing and my books would sound like a toddler wrote them without you.
And to you, my reader, thank you for taking the time to read my story.
If you’d like to hang out with me, visit my Facebook page. Check out my Instagram if you like Sci-fi art too. If you want to get to know me, my writing schedule and get some freebies every once in a while, you can sign up to my newsletter.
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