Tokalas

by J. S. Wilder

  Tokalas

  Hot Dating Agency

  Book 3

  by

  J. S. Wilder

  © 2017 J. S. Wilder

  All Rights Reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  This book is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or places, events or locations is purely coincidental. The characters are all productions of the author's imagination.

  Please note that this work is intended only for adults over the age of 18 and all characters represented as 18 or over.

  About Tokalas…

  Tokalas was Catherina’s weak side, her primary protector, and trusted bodyguard. Catherina had started working on the Dating Agency and had found Tokalas, a mate. He had fought hard to resist his feelings for Henmop.

  But in the end, the alien had a choice to make. One was his duty as a bodyguard, and the other was love. This short story tells his story and how Tokalas finally opened his heart to love.

  Author's Note:

  Tokalas is a stand-alone novella and it is a short story about Tokalas who was Lady Catherina’s guard. I hope you enjoy the action-packed adventure with plenty of steam in this alien love triangle romance.

  About J. S. Wilder

  J.S. Wilder has spent many years working in the IT industry. She has left the computers behind and taken up her passion for writing. She loves to write romance and still believes in fairy-tales.

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  Early Afternoon

  “Our Lady is moving,” Peval said. “Escort, form a perimeter.”

  I smiled to myself as I helped my fellow security escorts open a path in the crowd. Ten weeks ago, I was at Lady Catherina’s weak side, the place of high honor now occupied by Peval. To resign as the personal guard of the Lady or Lord of Firaspatciti for a reason other than infirment was allowed, but rare.

  The crowd parted with ease. After the attack on Lady Catherina on Boforous, people knew that any attempt to resist our attempts to keep her safe would be dealt with swiftly and harshly. We opened a wide path and held the cheering crowd at bay as Lady Catherina walked behind us, waving and smiling at the crowd while her four personal guards formed a tight square of protection around her. There had been no more attacks since the incident on Boforous, and her security detail was committed to keeping it that way.

  As she moved, we moved with her, opening a large bubble of space in front of her, then allowing it to collapse behind her after her passage. When she reached the stage, the bulk of her detail surrounded the stage as her personal guard took up their station at the corners of the stage. She had full access to the stage, but her personal guard could to be at her side in seconds, the rest of her escorts only a hand full of seconds behind them.

  My position was at the steps leading to the stage. I would be the last line of defense before an attacker could reach the stage, and the first of her escorts to reach the stage in support of her personal guards if something were to happen.

  I’d earned that position on Boforous when Peval and I, along with our Lord, had held off an attacking throng long enough for reinforcements to arrive. There were rumors after my resignation that I wasn’t back to full strength, or had lost my will as the results of my injuries, but I’d put those rumors to rest by taking down any that wanted to challenge me in combat training.

  I kept my eyes moving, watching the crowd, looking for something or someone that looked out of place. I saw nothing, but I didn’t relax my guard. I would gladly give my life for Lady Catherina’s, as would all of us on her protection detail.

  She gave her speech promoting the idea of the Peoples interbreeding. I’d heard her speech so many times I could repeat it verbatim, but it was her delivery and enthusiasm that made her message sing. We all knew her cues, and as she approached the end of her delivery, the two escorts to either side of me began to inch their way toward me to begin creating a bubble of space at the foot of the stairs. Lady Catherina would spend an hour or two talking with the Yualair before she was ready to return home, and it was up to us to make sure that nobody who approached her had a concealed weapon.

  That was the most dangerous time for her. Peval had tried to convince her to stop the practice, but even our Lord couldn’t talk her out of it. As her personal guards hovered close, the rest of her escorts began to push the crowd away from the stage to create the safe zone. Our Lady and her personal guards stepped into the bubble and we expanded it farther, then began to slowly allow people to enter to speak with Lady Catherina.

  I carefully looked over the family in front of me, patting down the father and mother, and then taking a peek inside at the swaddled infant. They didn’t protest as I went about my task. I waved them past and repeated the procedure on the woman that stepped into the spot just vacated by the family.

  Mid Afternoon

  The portal opened and as we held the cheering crowd back, Lady Catherina and her four personal guards stepped through and disappeared. The moment they were gone, we allowed our perimeter to collapse in an orderly manner as we stepped through the portal. I was one of the last four to step through and return to the palace. I was on the tip of the spear, a member of the group that was first to arrive and last to leave.

  We stepped into the receiving room of the palace. My duty rotation was now complete and I could leave and return home. I had three days off before I rotated back to the palace as part of the security detail for our Lady.

  “Tokalas!” Lady Catherina called from the side. “You’re dismissed,” she said with a nod to her personal guards. They dipped their heads and pivoted before leaving her side. Once in the palace their duty to her was discharged unless there was an emergency or she asked for their assistance.

  I approached and dipped my head. “Yes, my Lady?”

  “How are you? I haven’t seen you in a while.”

  “I’m fine, my Lady.”

  “Catherina,” she corrected.

  “Catherina,” I repeated.

  The exchange had almost become a game with us. I had been part of her personal guard almost since the beginning and we’d become friends. When she’d bonded with our Lord, I’d begun calling her by her title, as was her right and tradition, but she’d asked me to continue to call her by her name. I had, while in private, but now that I was no longer her weak side, I’d reverted back to my Lady until she asked me to call her by her name.

  “How’s Henmop?”

  I smiled. Catherina had, to use her term, ‘fixed me up’ with Henmop, a Peragin. Henmop was the reason I was no long at Catherina’s weak side. The Lord and Lady’s personal guard were stationed and lived at the palace. They were on duty twenty-eight hours a day, eight days a week. I had thrived on challenge and honor of keeping our Lady safe, but now I had discovered something I wanted more than the honor or being our Lady’s weak side.

  “She’s well, Catherina. She asks about you often.”

  She smiled. “Walk with me.” She led me out of the receiving room, the most heavily guarded room in the palace, so that we could have a bit of privacy. “You should bring her to visit sometime.”

  I smiled. “Of course.” I’m sure Henmop would be delighted to visit, but it didn’t matter if she wanted to visit or not. If the Lady of Firaspatciti suggested you visit, you visited. “As I recall, you expressed an interest in visiting Peraginisis. Perhaps you could be our gu
est.”

  She sighed. “I’d love to, but there is so much going on it’s difficult to get away.”

  “Catherina, you are our Lady. While my home is very modest compared to the palace, if you wish to visit, no one can tell you can’t, except our Lord.”

  She grinned broadly. “Which is exactly what appeals to me, Tokalas. I’d like to be just Catherina again, even if for only a few hours, and get away from all of this.”

  “You’re always welcome at my home.”

  “Thank you, Tokalas. I mean it. I may take you up on it some time. I’d really like to see Peraginisis with my own eyes and see if it reminds me as much of Scotland in person as it does in the storage cubes.”

  “It is much different than Firaspatciti, but I’m beginning to see the beauty of the land.”

  “It does look very beautiful. Are you cycling onto or off duty?”

  “Off.”

  “Then I won’t keep you. Do bring Henmop for a visit.”

  “Yes, my Lady. What day?”

  She looked at me with that way she had. “It’s not an order from ‘my Lady.’ It’s a request from Catherina, your friend. Since I fixed you two up, I have a personal interest in you both. Talk to Henmop and find out when she’s available, then we can work something out, okay?”

  I dipped my head. “I will bring suggested dates when I rotate back on duty.”

  She smiled. “That’s all I ask. Thank you. I get so tired of everyone tip-toeing around me. Only you, Peval, and Stevan can seem to relax around me. That’s why I like Quathaul so much. She doesn’t treat me any different now than she did when I was that terrified little girl almost three years ago. I can feel that in Henmop. She’s not impressed with all this ‘my Lady’ bullshit, and I like that.”

  “Yes, my Lady,” I said and then smiled at the look she gave me.

  “Go,” she said, making shooing motions with her hands. “Your mate is waiting on you.”

  “Unlikely. She’s in much demand. Her reputation is spreading quickly and she travels more and more now.”

  “That’s a good thing, right?”

  I dipped my head. “In some ways. She’s pleased when others ask for her help, and helping the animals pleases her a great deal. But sometimes we only see each other for a few hours in the evening, or not at all.”

  “That’s too bad.”

  I smiled. “Yes, but after an absence it’s very pleasant. It reminds me of how much I care for her.”

  “Absence makes the heart grow fonder.”

  “An Earth saying?”

  “Yes.”

  “That makes it no less true on Firaspatciti or Peraginisis. You Humans seem to have a keen insight into such matters.”

  “Nah,” she said with a broad smile. “We’re just horny all the time.”

  I blinked in confusion. “Horny? You have horns?”

  She giggled. “No, silly! It means we’re lustful. I forgot you haven’t learned all the Earth slang like Stevan has.”

  “Ah,” I said. Human speech was riddled with words that meant more than one thing, and their alternate meanings weren’t always clear from context.

  “I think the term comes from males having an erection. They grow a ‘horn’ when they’re sexually excited. So they’re horny.”

  “I understand,” I said as I shook my head indicating I didn’t.

  She laughed in delight. “I know. We humans are confusing. Stevan tells me that all the time.”

  “Our Lord is very wise,” I said, keeping my voice neutral.

  She twittered out another laugh. “And patient. I won’t keep you, Tokalas. I’m sure you want to get home to Henmop.”

  “It’s always my pleasure to speak with you, my Lady.”

  She smiled at me. “Same here. Dismissed.”

  I dipped my head in respect, took one step back, then pivoted and walked back to the receiving room. I really did enjoy speaking with Catherina, but I was anxious to return home. I’d only seen Henmop briefly before I’d left for my duty cycle and, as Catherina had said, my absence these past thirty-two hours had ‘made my heart grow fonder.’ Henmop knew my schedule on the guard was irregular. Sometimes, like today, I was on Lady Catherina’s security detail off planet when my duty cycle ended and I had to serve until she was safely back in the palace or another detail arrived to take over security.

  “Peragin, code 1684.7142 mark 7235.4701,” I informed the portal tech, giving him the location of the house I shared with Henmop.

  An instant later, the portal opened and I could see the main room of my house. Portals were one way gates and even if Henmop had been in the room, she wouldn’t have known I was arriving until I stepped through the tunnel and into my home.

  “Thank you,” I said as I walked to the portal and stepped through. The trip across 8,457 light years was as quick and uneventful as stepping from one room to another in my own home.

  Evening

  “Henmop?” I called softly. Peraginisis and Firaspatciti had different rotations. While it was afternoon on Firaspatciti, the sun was setting here on Peraginisis. “Henmop?” I called again, louder this time. There was still no answer.

  Our home on Peraginisis was small and cozy. Made from local stone, it sat in the middle of a large parcel of land owned by Henmop’s family. It was the smallest of the family homes, one of the homes that had been abandoned hundreds of years ago as the family grew. Henmop had claimed it for her own use, and her family had agreed to award her the home and 5,000 squares of land as a bonding gift if we bonded.

  We were still working on the house. We’d cleaned it up, purchased furniture and dug a new well to provide water as the old well had gone dry. By far the most interesting part of getting the house habitable had been when the energy collector had opened its portal near the sun for the first time in years, only to have the collector explode. The failure had taken down one of the walls of the collector building and burned a ten length deep hole in the ground in the fractions of a second it took for the safeties to shut down the portal. We had laughed about it after the fact, but that was the reason energy collectors were placed well away from inhabited structures. We’d replaced the collector and were in the process of rebuilding the collector building, but at least we had power now.

  I trudged upstairs to our bedroom. “Henmop?” She wasn’t there, nor was she in the bath.

  I could feel disappointment squeezing my heart. She’d probably been called away on an emergency. I started to open a communication portal, but decided to check the stables first. I trotted down the steps and out of the house.

  Peragin was mountainous, green, and far cooler than Firaspatciti. Though the nanites regulated my body temperature so I wasn’t cold, the crisp cool nights made snuggling with Henmop an enjoyable experience. I smiled as I approached the stable. The lamps were on, which meant Henmop was probably inside.

  I opened the heavy door that kept the gralls from getting inside and killing the animals, making sure it was securely latched. Gralls weren’t something to be trifled with. They were big, bold, animals with dagger like teeth and wickedly sharp claws. I’d tangled with a pack of them once before, but I was in the open where I could maneuver with my long blade. Even then, I’d been bitten once and had my thigh opened up by another’s claws before both animals paid for their victory with their life. I would not want to face even a single grall in a confined space.

  “Henmop?”

  “Tokalas! Help me!”

  I hurried to Henmop’s side. She was on her knees beside a huyarah, one of the animals that the Peragins raised for its fur and meat, trying to hold the animal still. The animal was lying on its side, its eyes rolled back in its head as it thrashed and kicked. There was a deep bloody wound on its side and one of its front legs was clearly broken.

  “What happened?”

  “Hold her down!”

  I threw myself across the back of the animal, trying to grab the beast’s rear legs to stop it from kicking. I got one, then the other, but
not before it kicked me hard in the leg, making me grunt in pain.

  Henmop grabbed the syringe from her mouth and drove it into the side of the animal, pressing the plunger down before jerking the syringe back and throwing it to the side. She threw herself over the front of the animal and wrapped a cloth around the huyarah’s head, covering its eyes. Gradually the animal began to calm as Henmop’s gentle touch and the drug began to work.

  “That’s my girl,” Henmop whispered, stroking the animal’s head. “Everything is going to be alright now.”

  “What happened to it?” I asked as the animal stopped struggling.

  “Fell off a cliff,” she said as she continued to stroke the animal. “Looks like it happened a couple of days ago. The Butherat family called and asked if I could come look at her. She’s very weak, so we brought her here. I’m going to keep an eye on her for the next couple of days.”

  “I didn’t know a huyarah could fall.”

  Henmop smiled at me. “They’re very sure footed, but accidents happen. I’m surprised the fall didn’t kill her. The only reason the gralls didn’t get her is they couldn’t reach her. They had to lower me down on a line. I couldn’t do a thing for her at the bottom of that ravine, so we tunneled back here. It took six of us to get her up and through the portal. She came around while I was looking her over.”

  “Where are the Butherats?” I asked, trying hard to keep the annoyance out of my voice. Leaving my mate here to deal with their injured animal alone? I was not pleased by that at all.

  “I sent them away. They were trying to get me to put her down and I wouldn’t do it, not while she still has a fighting chance.”

  I sighed. “It’s their huyarah,” I pointed out softly.

  “If they were just going to kill her, they shouldn’t have asked for my help. Hold her. This is going to hurt.”