Beyond Reach: SciFi Romance

by Jessica E. Subject

  A tingle shot from her chest down to her limbs. Finally, she knew who’d taken her. But, why did her father and mother believe Mekai’s parents responsible? “Why didn’t you tell our parents? Why do they hold Mekai in a prison cell when he’s not guilty of anything?”

  “I did.” He sat on the bench at the foot of her bed. “Before Luca and Rosa threatened to kill me in my sleep, I did tell our parents. But, they didn’t believe me. They refused to believe their friends would steal their daughter away.”

  “Friends? I would hardly call them that if they deceived our parents.” Nixie placed her palm on her forehead. “What do they look like? I remember the Terrans who left me on Schedar. If I could identify them, I could prove you right.”

  Alexander jumped from the bench. “We don’t have time for that right now. The guards will only be unconscious for a few more minutes. We must leave now if you want to see Mekai.”

  “They’re unconscious?” She peeked beyond her door to where the guards were supposed to be stationed. “What did you do to them?”

  “It doesn’t matter.” Her brother glanced down the hall in both directions before pulling her into the corridor. “If we don’t go now, we’ll never get another chance.”

  She spotted the guards slumped on the floor on either side of her room. Definitely out of it, but not dead as their chests rose and fell with breath. “Fine, let’s go.” She followed him through the castle, heading farther down and away from her room. She quickly became lost, the trek seemingly longer than when she’d been taken to her quarters. Alexander would have to guide her back to her room, or hopefully, out of the castle entirely with Mekai by her side.

  He brother suddenly stopped and held his hand up. “We’re here.”

  Nixie glanced around the stone hallway. Torches lined the walls, but when she placed her hand on the stone, she felt it’s wetness. She shivered as a chill crept through her. Where was Mekai? Three openings lay ahead, and she hoped to find him behind one of them. Or maybe she’d been led into a trap, trusted the guy who claimed to be her brother too easily with the hope of seeing her fiancé again.

  Alexander placed his finger on his lips then leaned ahead and peeked through the closest archway. When he came back to her, his face had paled. “He’s in there, but he doesn’t look good.”

  Mekai leaned against the cold wall, sucking in air through his teeth. After the multitude of slashes he’d received across his back, every position he’d tried to make himself comfortable only enhanced the sting of his punishment. Punishment for telling the truth. No matter how many times he’d told Nixie’s father and the man with the whip that his parents had nothing to do with her disappearance, they refused to believe him. He’d rejoiced when they finally left. Yet the open wounds on his skin still brought him torture. Regardless of the pain, he didn’t regret meeting Nixie. His short time with her—even if that’s all they had—proved the most fulfilling days of his life. He only hoped she found happiness on Earth without him.

  A shuffle from beyond the entrance caught his attention. Had his torturer returned for another round? Mekai lolled his head to the side and closed his eyes, hoping his visitor would assume him asleep and leave.

  When his visitor rattled the bars of his cage, he sneaked a quick glance. Yet neither the king nor the man with the whip stood outside his prison. Maybe he had fallen asleep, because the most beautiful woman in the universe stared at him.

  “Mekai?” She gripped the bars, reaching one hand through, toward him. “Are you okay?”

  “Nixie?” He struggled onto his feet, unsure whether to believe his eyes. “Is it really you?”

  Even in the faint light, he caught the reflection of her tear as it slid down her cheek. Sucking in a deep breath, he ignored the pain as he made his way to the bars. Placing his hand on her cheek, he wiped away the tear. “You shouldn’t be down here.” She didn’t need to see what had been done to him.

  Pulling away, she moved to the door and rattled the bars. “I have to get you out of here. We need to leave.”

  As much as he yearned to escape with her, he’d already tried every possible way to break out he could conceive. “It’s not going to happen. I’m stuck in here until they kill me or I die of starvation.”

  “No!” She shook the bars harder, the whimper in her voice breaking his heart. He wished they had a future together, but it wasn’t meant to be.

  Reaching through the bars, he pulled her toward him until their lips met. He kissed her with everything he had, hoping she’d never forget their last moment of intimacy. Then he shoved her away. “Now leave. Go, and don’t ever come down here again.”

  “Mekai.” Her voice cracked. “How can you say that?”

  More tears, but he couldn’t let them change his mind. “You need to move on. We were never meant to be.”

  Footfalls from the hallway echoed into the room. Then he heard the distinctive whistle of his torturer. His stomach sank.

  “Hide.” He pointed to some crates on the other side of the room. If the man with the whip caught Nixie down there, his life was over, and he dreaded what his torturer would do to her.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Nixie dove behind the wooden boxes. As much as it tore at her heart to leave Mekai at the mercy of the person who had broken his skin and left him bleeding, she wouldn’t find a way to get her fiancé out if she was caught.

  The footsteps grew louder, and something sharp hit the ground. A whip. Whoever had entered the room planned to hurt Mekai again. Where was Alexander? Had her brother brought the torturer down? Or maybe the visitor had already killed her brother, just as the man who’d kidnapped her had threatened to do to him.

  Nixie dared a peek. The torturer faced away from her, so she couldn’t confirm or deny whether he was the one who’d abducted her. Reaching into his pocket, the man pulled out a key and slid it into the lock on the prison cell. The door clicked open, and the man let himself inside, dragging his whip along with him.

  “You ready to confess yet, Deadskin?”

  Nixie covered her mouth to hide her gasp. She’d heard the derogatory term for Ubetrons before, but such words were punishable by law if spoken on Schedar.

  “Never.” Her fiancé stood up straight with his hands behind his back, as if he hadn’t already felt the bite of the whip. “I cannot confess to something I didn’t commit.”

  “Wrong answer.”

  The whip hit him hard, drawing blood in a straight line across his chest.

  Nixie swallowed a cry. She couldn’t bear to watch the man hurt Mekai, but she needed to know his identity.

  “Let’s try this again.” The man drew the piece of leather across his palm. “Admit that your parents kidnapped Nadia and took her to Schedar to work as a sex slave, and that you raped her until she believed she loved you.”

  Mekai rushed the man, screaming as he lunged. But an ill-placed boot stopped him. He crashed to the ground.

  The man lifted his whip. “There’s no escape.” The leather came down across Mekai’s back, chewing up his already bloody skin. The man stood on the back of his neck, pushing Mekai’s face into the ground. “I don’t care if you did it. You will confess, or you will die.”

  Bile rose to Nixie’s throat as the whip hit Mekai again. Her fiancé jerked with every strike as they came faster and harder until he ceased all movement. Tears streamed down her face. She couldn’t watch anymore, couldn’t bear to see the love of her life killed. Pushing up from the ground, she yelled, “Stop!”

  The man with the whip turned to face her, and she recognized the scar on his lip and his crooked, hooked nose instantly.

  “Well, well, well, if it isn’t the tainted princess herself.”

  “Leave him alone, Luca.” Nixie left the safety of the boxes and approached the man she had long believed to be her father, the one who’d left her on Schedar. “Let Mekai go. You know his family is not responsible for my kidnapping.”

  “Ah, so you know my name.” He drew the piece
of leather across his palm. “That means you either have a great memory, or your brother told you. Seeing as you somehow managed to get past your guards, I would bet Alexander is somehow involved. I should have taken him out long ago.”

  “I remember you.” She stared him down, hoping to keep his mind off her fiancé and her brother. If Alexander hadn’t been caught, he could still help her and Mekai. If he hadn’t abandoned them. “You and your wife took me to Schedar. You left me in a bar. All by myself.”

  “Yes, but do you remember what I said to you all those years ago, when I left you to rot on that filthy planet?” Luca exited the barred cell, his eyes in slits, reminding her of kans—creatures on Schedar that slithered around on their tiny legs. When he grabbed the back of her hair, she winced.

  “I told you...” He learned into her ear. “...that making a deal with the Deadskins would bring ruin to our planet and if you ever returned to Earth, I would kill you.”

  “You will do no such thing!” A loud voice boomed, and Nixie jumped back.

  Luca’s face paled, and when her father entered the room, the torturer glanced around as if looking for an escape route.

  “Guards, arrest Luca Scordato. When he is secure, hunt down his wife and lock her in the cell next door. And take that poor Ubetron boy to the infirmary.” Her father tightened his jaw. “I guess I owe his parents and apology.”

  Finally, her father knew the truth. But would Mekai’s parents torture her for what had been done to their son? Would they blame her because Mekai fell in love with her?

  Men and women in multi-green uniforms rushed to and fro, the room becoming a flurry of activity.

  The two guards stationed to her room had recovered and dragged Mekai’s limp body from the cell before shoving Luca inside. Nixie rushed to her fiancé’s side, unsure if he’d survived that last round of torture. But two women in white uniforms shoved her away before they loaded him onto a stretcher and carried him away.

  “Is he okay?” she called out, but received no answer. When she tried to follow, her father caught her arm and held her back.

  “Our best doctors will work on him. Until I find out more, you will stay with me. We have a lot to discuss.”

  She jerked from his hold. “I have already told you everything, but you chose to believe your supposed friend over your own family.” Turning from her father, she raced out of the room, searching for Mekai. But the stretcher and the women in white were gone. She had no idea if he’d survived the torture. If only she’d stood up sooner.

  ***

  Mekai clawed his way toward the light, struggling to reach the surface. Though he swore he was underwater, he could still breath. When he emerged, heat penetrated every part of his body, taking away his chill. He opened his eyes to find himself back in the white room of the ship belonging to Nixie’s parents. Only he wasn’t alone. A woman stood nearby, her loose-fitting white outfit dotted with blood. His? Pulses of electric pain raced across his back. He rolled onto his side, trying to escape the torture.

  “Whoa there, Mekai.” The woman rushed to his side and yanked steel bars up in front of his face. “We don’t want you falling out of bed.”

  Bed? The Terrans had actually given him a bed rather than making him sleep on the floor like an animal?

  Bustling away from him, the woman returned with a cup filled with a clear liquid. “It’s purified water. Drink some, and then we’ll talk.”

  Talk? No. He’d done enough talking. And no one believed him anyway. He turned his head.

  “Fine.” She pulled a metal holder from the bars and set the cup inside. “Then just listen to what I have to say.”

  Sounded like a great idea. If only someone had shown him the same courtesy on Earth.

  Without warning, the top half of his bed began to lift up, making it impossible for him to remain on his side. He rolled onto his back, only to feel the fiery pain again. Sucking in air through his teeth didn’t help, but it seemed to get the attention of the woman in the room with him.

  “Oh, sorry.” She rolled her thumb across some tube. And that’s when he noticed it was attached to the back of his hand under a bandage.

  He grabbed the tube to yank it out, but stopped when the pain disappeared, replaced with a cold sensation. Much more bearable. “What did you do to me?”

  “I upped your dosage of pain medication.” She released the tube, and stared at him. “It should make you more comfortable and help your body heal after what that asshole, Luca did to you. He fooled us all.” Holding a hand over her eyes, she drew in a deep breath before turning her back to him. “Nadia will be in soon to see you.”

  Nixie was on the ship with him? Going back to Carbae? Maybe something good would come out of the torture he’d received. But would she be accepted, or receive the same punishment he had on Earth? He wouldn’t allow it. He’d rather receive a thousand lashes than to see her experience any bit of pain.

  Mekai’s eyelids suddenly became heavy. As much as he desired to see his fiancé again, he couldn’t help but succumb to the demands of his body.

  At the gentle press of someone’s finger on the back of his hand, Mekai pulled away. He didn’t want the woman in white to remove the medication, needed another hit as he opened his eyes. Instead of the woman he expected, he laid eyes on his beautiful fiancé. Though the lines across her forehead made his gut clench. He braced for bad news.

  “Hi.” She folded her hands in front of her instead of touching him, a sure sign something had changed between them. “I’m glad you’re awake. Are you okay? Do you need more pain medicine? The nurse... altrix showed me how.”

  He nodded, too afraid a single word would lead to her saying what she had to, then leaving him forever.

  Nixie pressed a button on the tube then reached out to him, but never made contact. Was she really ending things after all they’d been through?

  Thrusting his arm out, he grabbed her hand and placed it on his chest. Over his heart. He refused to let her go so easily.

  “A lot has changed since we left Schedar.” A tear slipped down her cheek, a sure sign of their doomed future.

  He shook his head. “Nothing’s changed.” His words came out in a cracked whisper, but he didn’t want to lose her. “I love you.”

  More tears fell. “How can you love me after what my family did to you? I hate them for it, for not believing you and me, and especially Alexander.”

  Alexander? He recognized the name, but how? Was she leaving him for that man? He’d fight for her even from the bed if he had to. Kissing the back of her hand, he repeated his words. “I love you.”

  She chewed on her lips then sighed. “I don’t think it will be that easy for us. My dad and Alexander have traveled ahead to Carbae, but I don’t think your parents will be so quick to forgive.”

  Mekai released her hands and blinked hard. She was making excuses. “You want to marry Alexander.” Perhaps she’d told him while he slept, the reason he’d recognized the name.

  “No!” She scrunched up her face. “Alexander is my brother. My older brother. He was with us the day Luca took me, and tried to tell my parents. But, they didn’t believe him either.”

  So, she worried about his parents, what they’d think of her because of the treatment he’d received. It didn’t matter. He didn’t care what anyone thought. Reaching over the bars of his bed, he cupped her side. “We don’t have to live on Carbae, but we will be together, and we’ll get married. I promise.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  The ship came to a sudden halt, sending Nixie flying off the chair in Mekai’s hospital room. When it accelerated in the opposite direction, worry twisted through her stomach. They had almost reached Carbae. Had something happened to her father and brother? She rushed down the hallways in onto the bridge. “What’s the matter? Where are we going?” she asked the captain.

  The second-in-command shrugged. “We’re heading to Ubetron. That’s where your father told us to meet him.”

  Ubetron. Had he
fled there after Mekai’s parents had threatened his life? What about Alexander? He didn’t deserve any sort of punishment. But neither had Mekai. They’d both told the truth all along.

  Glancing at the view screen, she spotted a small planet in the distance.

  “How far away are we?” If she could get Mekai to an escape pod, they could land separately from the ship before escaping to another planet far away from both their families and her past. Exactly what they should have done when Mekai asked her to leave Schedar with him the first time.

  “Maybe thirty minutes, if that.”

  Nixie bolted from the bridge, back to her fiancé’s room. They had only a matter of minutes before the ship reached the planet’s atmosphere, making any pod escape impossible.

  Dashing into Mekai’s room, she grabbed a crew suit and tossed it at him. “Get dressed. We’ve got to go right now.” Thank goodness the doctor had already removed all the tubes attached to his body.

  “Why? What happened?” He shucked off the gown, making her wish she had more time to touch his muscular body, make love to him as she had on Schedar. But his wince when putting on the suit reminded her of his scars and their urgency to get off the ship.

  “We’re not going to Carbae now. My father redirected the captain to Ubetron.”

  His face drained of color, affirming her doubts about their change in destination.

  She grabbed his hand before he had the chance to zip the suit over his chest. “We can leave in a pod before we reach the atmosphere, land faraway before hitching a ride to Gophandoreon, or some other distant planet.”

  “Good plan.” Mekai sped up, keeping pace with her around corners, and up lifts. If not for the time she’d spent wandering the halls while she’d waited for him to regain consciousness, she wouldn’t know where to go.

  The pods were in sight when the cold tingle of a transporter beam gripped her body. She reached for Mekai, never wanting to be separated from him again.