Blaze: A Firefighter Romance

by Lisa Lace

  "Did you know him, too?"

  "Not personally." The woman's voice was filled with emotion. "We were strangers. That made what he did for me incredible."

  "Why do you say that?"

  "At the time, I was fifteen, and eight months pregnant. The father of my child had abandoned me the moment I informed him of the pregnancy, so he was no longer in the picture. Both my parents had perished in the Fallgold incident and I was living on the streets. My baby decided she wanted to come out earlier than expected. I was bleeding and couldn't understand why. Every doctor turned me away when they found out I was poor – everyone except Dr. Hathaway."

  The woman paused for a moment, lost in thought.

  "If I had run into your father only thirty minutes later, I would have lost my baby. Dr. Hathaway did not specialize in deliveries, but he called in some favors and a team appeared like magic. Four harrowing hours later, she was born."

  "That's absolutely beautiful," I whispered. My heart swelled with so much pride that it threatened to burst from my chest. "It sounds like something Dad would have done. I'm glad to hear your baby made it."

  "She's not a baby any longer." The woman pointed out a young girl with a short, spiky haircut, sitting by the stream. The teenager picked flowers from the grass and took apart the petals, making small homes for the insects. "She's the reason I wake up every morning. Her name is Marleigh. I named her after the kind doctor who helped bring her to this world."

  "That's a pretty name. I..."

  "Gabriella?"

  Cheyenne ambled up the path from my left, dressed in black robes similar to mine.

  "Come on. It's starting."

  "I have to go." I smiled at the woman one more time, touching her gently on the arm. "Thank you."

  A somber mass of thousands of Maztek bodies left no spaces in the bleachers around me. The breathtaking circular dome of the Fallgold Colosseum was packed, but the air was supernaturally quiet. It seemed like everyone was holding a glowing candle, brightly illuminating the dome. Garlands of flowers weaved in and out of the pillars. Gold and white tapered candlesticks hovered over the triangular center stage. The ceiling of the dome displayed a moving image of diamond stars on a mystical violet night background.

  "...Specialist Artillery Gunner Maxwell Radley, Specialist Sniper Scout Jarrod Woodacre, and last, but not least – my father, Jacquim."

  I stopped looking around the dome and focused on the stage. The tiny figure of Princess Ayala dipped its head forward, her white-blonde locks of hair cascading around her shoulders and shielding her face. She removed her crown, holding the circle of intricate gold thorns encrusted with pearls and precious stones over her heart. I spotted Laz, Dallas, and Kraig in the front row. Their chests glinted with arrays of shiny medals and pins. They too bowed their heads for a moment of silence.

  Princess Ayala turned to the podium next to her and raised a silver champagne flute. "Tonight is a memorial to the dead. We give unending thanks to our military for bringing the hostages home safe and sound, as well as finally defeating the Xylox oppression. We remember the fallen souls for their bravery and for playing a crucial role in restoring peace and sovereignty to Maztek. May their memories live on forever, and may their legacies continue. Malam gambi."

  "Malam gambi."

  Voices echoed throughout the dome in unison. Simultaneously, we blew out our candles, enveloping the room in a solemn darkness. The lights in the Colosseum slowly flickered back to life.

  As I started to make my way down the bleachers, Cheyenne rose from her seat next to me. "Gabriella." She tugged on my wrist. "Princess Ayala would like to see you."

  "Me?" I raised an eyebrow. "What, like right now?"

  "No time like the present," Cheyenne said enthusiastically, nudging me down the steps of the bleachers.

  "Alright, alright – I'm going!"

  As we reached the landing, Cheyenne flashed me a giddy wink before disappearing into the crowd. I waited by the foot of the stage. I wasn't going to burst in on alien royalty. Princess Ayala had her back to me. She was speaking to a group of kingdom attendants. One of them motioned to her, and the Princess stopped abruptly.

  "Wonderful. She is here." She clapped her hands together and gestured at me. "Come on, ladies, there is no time to waste!"

  That was the last thing I remember hearing before a mob of servants closed in around me. Two women slipped their arms around mine. They led me to a place I had only seen in passing: the back rooms of the dome. The princess walked smoothly down the stairs next to us.

  The attendants led me behind a thick black curtain, pushing me into one of the dressing rooms. Before I knew it, two women were undoing the ribbons tied around my shoulders. As they pulled my black dress over my head, an attendant appeared at my side. She held a white gown which reached to the floor and had a lace, gold-accented train behind it. There were accessories, too. Rose pearls adorned the belt and shoulders of the draped Grecian sleeves.

  "Is this for me?" My eyebrows shot up my forehead in disbelief. I wasn't in control of anything. The attendants slipped the gown over my head, smoothing it over my body. I spun around in a circle, gazing at the mirror which appeared front of me. The dress fit like a dream. The attendants behind me began combing out my hair. The ones in front of me attacked my face with powder puffs and sparkly makeup. "Why am I getting the Princess treatment?"

  "I know you were the last person my father saw before he died." Princess Ayala placed a hand over mine, gently squeezing. "Thank you for not leaving him to die alone."

  "Of course. Anyone would have done the same thing."

  As soon as the attendants finished fussing over me, Princess Ayala took me by the hand. She guided me out the dressing room and walked me toward the back doors of the Colosseum. The doors opened with a wave of her hand, allowing a radiant splash of afternoon sunlight to spill into the room. Princess Ayala took a colorful bundle of orchids, roses, and daisies from her attendant. She handed it to me with a smile.

  "That's not true. Many would have run away. This is my way of saying thank you. You never had the chance to have an official wedding."

  With shaking fingers holding on to the bouquet, I stepped out of the dome.

  "Oh my God."

  I stood on a white silk carpet rolled out over the lush grass. The carpet was sprinkled with flower petals, leading to a gorgeous floral arch at the end of the path. A lump started forming in my throat when I saw who was underneath the arch.

  Laz stood waiting for me, wearing his finest set of Maztek army fatigues. Stylists had trimmed and carefully groomed his hair. His beard had been snipped and carefully groomed. I loved seen a clean alien in a uniform.

  There were many people around us making noise, but I scanned them looking for one in particular. I found her in an instant. Cheyenne was sitting in the front row, and her cheers were the loudest of all. She sat next to Dallas and their arms were intertwined. She dropped his arm to wave at me enthusiastically.

  I never thought I would have so many people cheering at my wedding.

  As I started down the carpet, the orchestra next to the arch began to play a familiar melody. To my surprise, it wasn't the traditional wedding tune. A tear fell out of the corner of my eye, tainting the powdered blush on my cheeks.

  The music I heard was Dad's lullaby.

  It felt like my feet were floating down the aisle as I made my way toward Laz. Princess Ayala appeared behind the arch holding a rod of blessing. I couldn't stop smiling, and neither could Laz. He reached into his chest pocket, pulling out a gold band between his fingers. Precious Maztek stones adorned the circle of gold, and the diamond from my missing earring featured prominently in the center.

  Laz slid the ring over my finger, leaning over to whisper something into my ear. "You look beautiful, naima."

  I reached up and put both hands on his chin, pulling him in for a long, deep kiss.

  "I'm forever yours, naima."

  As I pulled away from Laz, Princess Aya
la stepped between us.

  "Brothers and sisters, we are gathered here today to celebrate the love and beauty of these two souls, and join them together for eternity."

  Irresistible

  A TerraMates Novel

  Chapter One

  EMMY

  “If you don’t let me take your place on the flight, those men are going to kill me.” I dropped my voice until it was barely above a whisper and focused on her light blue eyes. “Please.”

  My fear was a living thing, trembling through my bones and filling every space inside of me. I pressed my hands against my legs to keep them from shaking. If the stranger wouldn’t cooperate, I was dead.

  Everything Morley and I had worked for, and everything he had died for would go with me. One of the most precious cultural artifacts in the galaxy would go into the private collection of a selfish, self-centered, rich bastard who didn’t give a shit that other people could also benefit from it.

  I wouldn’t let it happen. It was too important, and would help many people. I had to survive and find it. The woman in front of me looked conflicted.

  “I don’t even know who you are,” she began.

  “Look at this.” I activated the computer on my forearm and tapped the communications unit until it displayed my bank account. I grabbed her arm. She frowned as I swiped her ID number. I created a pending transaction and pointed at my computer’s display.

  “500,000 credits, in your name. I’ll transfer them now. It’s a lot more than the cost of this spaceflight.”

  The woman gasped as she stared at the number.

  “I’m in trouble. Please, do a girl a favor.” I knew I was begging at this point, but they were coming this way, and it wouldn’t be long before they spotted me.

  I needed to get on the flight.

  “Okay,” she said, surprising me. “But you need to know something first.”

  I wasn’t listening, though. I shook my head and had her speak her name into my computer, then I transferred the money into her account. I didn’t think twice about it. Morley gave me the money for research.

  I couldn’t do any research if I were dead.

  When it transferred, she allowed me to change the name on her ticket. “But listen,” she said, more agitated than before. “You should know something first.”

  I shook my head. “I’m sorry, but I don’t have the time. Thank you.” I started moving away. She would never know the depths of my gratitude. I glanced back at Abel’s henchmen, who miraculously still hadn’t spotted me, and thanked my lucky stars again.

  When I reached the desk, there wasn’t even a line. They were announcing final boarding for spaceflight 46789 to planet Stalwart in Sector 91. I had no idea where Sector 91 was. I had never been good at Interplanetary Geography in school, and now I wished I had been a better student.

  Did it matter? Right now, all I cared about was getting far away from Earth.

  The woman behind the desk verified the ticket. I ducked into the walkway leading to the spacecraft, knowing I wouldn’t feel safe until we took off.

  An hour later, the shuttle was still on the ground, and I was wondering if my luck had finally run out. The captain had announced a flight delay just before our scheduled departure time. My heart started to beat fast. Why was taking so long? Was there a problem with the shuttle? I couldn’t afford to have a delay, especially if it meant I would have to transfer to another ship.

  Two men entered the spacecraft, and I ducked down into my seat. It was the men Abel sent after me.

  Shit.

  I didn’t think. I unbuckled, got out of my seat, and headed toward the bathrooms as they began searching the front of the shuttle. My breathing was erratic, but I tried not to look unusual, keeping my face as neutral as possible.

  When I finally reached the bathrooms, I realized they would check those too, and I would be trapped. Was there a place they wouldn't check? Yes. The carry-on storage. Every passenger on an interplanetary flight was allowed a single piece of luggage for the multi-day trip between worlds and they were all stored in compartments during take-off.

  I shuffled farther back, moving to the location of the baggage compartments. The flight staff were at the front of the ship for the launch. No one was around.

  I opened one of the large doors and crept inside. I moved the luggage one piece at a time, carefully replacing it behind me until I had made my way down to the back. There was a suitcase-sized hole for me, and I slid into it. My knees pressed against my chest. I pulled a smaller suitcase on top of me, trying not to hyperventilate in the small space.

  As a final precaution, I swiped on my computer and activated a program to hide my body signature. I didn’t know if they were using scanners, but I wasn’t going to take a chance.

  Then it was time to wait.

  It seemed like I was trapped in that tiny, dark compartment forever, afraid to move and as still as a statue. But finally the door was wrenched open, and I heard men speaking as they peered in the cargo hold. They weren’t speaking Standard, which was the language of the galaxy.

  Years ago, most planets had adopted Standard as the primary language of trade and business. If the men weren’t speaking Standard, it meant they didn’t want anyone understanding what they were saying.

  Fortunately, I knew the language they were speaking. It was English.

  Despite the widespread use of Standard, a few of the old languages survived in pockets on every planet. Earth was no different. Many of its poorest and most technologically backward areas still spoke English. It was surely the spoken language in whatever district bred Abel.

  Morley had been a stickler for being able to understand things for ourselves. He said that if we needed someone else to translate old documents and the writing on artifacts, we would never know if they were accurate. And what if we found a secret, and didn’t want anyone else to know about what we had found?

  He had made me learn English for our studies on Earth. He had learned the language twenty-five years earlier himself when he had been a graduate student in archeology, and I had still been in kindergarten. I had complained about the irregular tenses and ridiculous spellings. Standard had none of that. If there was a letter, it sounded like what it looked like, and nothing else. It was almost impossible to spell anything incorrectly because Standard was a created language.

  Morley didn’t care about my complaints. He had made me keep on with my lessons until I was fluent. I didn’t speak it often, but I learned languages with ease, and people had mistaken me for a native speaker before.

  As if learning English wasn't hard enough, later on, he also made me learn Karfalun. It was the ancient language of Heralla, a place where someone hid the Silver Mestolo of Zelia. And if I had thought English was difficult, I should have saved my breath to complain about the new language.

  “She couldn’t have gotten on this spaceship,” one man said in English. “Our scanners would have found her. There’s nothing but inanimate luggage in here. We should go back and do a thorough sweep of the spaceport.”

  “The boss will kill us if we let her get away. She’s got the key to the latest old piece of junk he has his heart set on.”

  “Look, the compartment is full. She can’t be in here. Let’s go. The boss’s pockets are deep, but they’re not that deep. If the spaceport officials look closely at our papers, we’ll be in trouble. It’s time get out of here.”

  “Let’s try one more time. You check this compartment, and I’ll check the other one. Then we’ll go.”

  I held my breath, but the man assigned to search my area didn’t seem to be doing anything. I heard him shuffling things around at the front of the compartment at first, but then he started tapping on his computer as he waited for his partner.

  “Did you find anything?”

  “Nothing. She’s not in here. Let’s get off the shuttle before we get arrested for forging papers and delaying the flight.”

  There was no response, but soon the door closed, and I was
in darkness again. I waited as long as I dared before trying to get out. I couldn’t be in the luggage compartment when the shuttle took off, or I would have escaped one death only to find another.

  I climbed back over the luggage to the door and peeked out. There didn't appear to be anyone around. I quickly emerged and shut the door, being as quiet as I could. I walked on soft feet to the bathroom, using it before returning to my seat. When I sat down, I heard an announcement to strap in for take-off.

  I used two crisscrossing belts to secure myself. As soon as the sound of the shuttle taking off filled the spaceship, I knew I was leaving Earth, where I had grown up.

  I let out a deep sigh. I was safe from Abel, for now.

  Four days later, I stared at the viewscreen as the turquoise planet increased in size. Something had been on my mind now that my life wasn’t in immediate danger.

  What had that woman wanted to tell me? She seemed anxious and hadn’t liked it when I brushed her off.

  Now I felt like I should have listened to her. My gut told me that I had escaped one sticky situation and dove straight into another one. I just didn’t know anything about the new problem.

  Once we landed, I let everyone exit in front of me, stalling before I left the shuttle. I wasn’t sure what was making me uneasy, but I had learned to trust my intuition. And my intuition was saying that there was nothing but trouble for me when I stepped off the spaceship.

  I was slowly packing up my bags and starting to maneuver up the aisle when a man entered the spacecraft.

  “There it is, sir,” one of the attendants said, pointing at me. “Seat 257. Is this the person you’re looking for?”

  I lifted my eyes and saw a handsome alien man. His eyes were the deepest black. I felt that I might fall into them and never emerge if I wasn’t careful. His hair was black as well. He had a light purple stripe that ran diagonally across one eye, ending at his nose. The net effect was to give him a rakish look as if he had a permanent black eye.