Cosmic Cabaret

by SFR Shooting Stars

  The Calivan Security forces and Sabrina’s small group started firing their weapons at the fighters and surged forward. Sabrina’s heart was pounding as she frantically looked for a sign of movement from the location where she’d seen Dayor get hit with the blaster. She tried to tell herself that he was alright, that his neuro-shield would have been activated and would have held, but she knew he’d bit hit.

  She heard the sound of hopper engines overhead and saw their search lights illuminate the area. The cavalry had arrived just in time. Knowing they were outnumbered, the fighters laid down their weapons one-by-one.

  Sabrina ran toward the spot she’d seen Dayor take the hit. The closer she got, she could see the figure of a man lying on the ground. Heart pounding, she ran faster and then knelt beside him, tears in her eyes. She wrapped her arms around him and pulled him toward her. She wasn’t sure if he was breathing. She yelled out for a medic and then looked down at Dayor’s face.

  “You idiot! What happened? I told you not to get hurt! You’re really pissing me off right now. Breathe, damn it! Don’t you eff-ing leave me! I haven’t even had a chance to tell you I love you.”

  “Neuro-shield failed. Okay, I won’t leave you. I love you, too. Just don’t cry, okay?”

  “Oh, my stars! You’re alive. Here come the medics. You’re going to be okay. And as soon as you’re better, I’m going to kill you for getting hurt. And then, we’re going to figure out a way to be together that works for both of us.”

  Dayor just closed his eyes and smiled.

  Epilogue

  The portal is incredible! Several Alliance Science groups and Calivan representatives entered the portal together from the Caliva entrance and emerged just a few minutes later in North Carolina, within the Blue Ridge Mountains. Everyone said it was one hell of a trip. Sort of like riding the world’s biggest, fastest roller coaster.

  Kendra and Valon’s happiness is continuing to flourish as Valon has learned to be a little less serious and Kendra has easily earned a solid place within the royal family.

  Dev is happy to be spending as much time as possible with Marrette and Astria. He’s been temporarily reassigned to Caliva to fill in for Dayor as the Calivan Security Leader.

  Dayor’s injuries were serious, but he was fully recovered within a month. He’s been temporarily relieved of his Security Leader duties so he can focus on working with Sabrina as the lead investigators on the assignment, with the Alliance and the Calivans agreeing to continue their joint investigation. The two of them have found that working together is easier than they’d thought it was going to be, but loving each other is an absolute breeze.

  There are many new clues to follow, particularly on the Earth side of the portal where the stolen crystele was being temporarily stored and then transported. They’ve already helped to find the portal; they’ve learned the connection to crystele and they’ll eventually find Louvos and connect him to the Stellers. So far, they’ve been unable to find Loya Venteg’s brother, Jonko Marone, so they’ll be looking for him as well.

  Phylior Antos and Phylarina Zola are content for now. All their chicks have found the loves of their lives, except for their oldest son. They know in their hearts that his turn for happiness will come. As a special surprise to the group, they purchased Jeeves and had him secretly brought to Caliva. He unexpectedly appeared and helped serve the entire family a holiday breakfast. There were cheers all around when they saw him and Sabrina was sure Jeeves’ smile got a little brighter.

  THE END

  The Adventure Continues…

  in Star Hunters.

  Book Three in the Star Series.

  They vowed to find them and bring them to justice for the good of both worlds.

  Continue Your Reading Adventure at

  www.DianaRivis.weebly.com

  About Diana Rivis

  At the age of seven Diana Rivis found a frog that had, tragically, been flattened by a passing car. After giving it a respectful burial, she wrote a story in its honor in which it magically transformed into a little boy. With that, her love for writing was born. Since completing a career in management, she now writes full time (with the assistance of her three felines). She lives near Ann Arbor, Michigan, loves dragons and animals of all kind and can almost always be found either on her computer or curled up with a book. She writes futuristic, contemporary and paranormal romance. She also pens an ongoing series of short stories about a baby dragon that she features on her web site.

  Her novella, Star Gazers, was a finalist in the RWA FF&P 2016 On the Far Side competition. She’s a member of the Romance Writers of America, its Fantasy, Futuristic and Paranormal Chapter and the local Greater Detroit Romance Writers of America Chapter.

  Read More from Diana Rivis at

  www.DianaRivis.weebly.com

  Catch a Falling Star

  CJ Cade

  She has a star in her grasp, but this one will burn her…

  Chaz Jaguari, inter-galactic singing star, is in trouble. As he hides from his adoring public and the paparazzi on the luxury spaceship LS Quantum, the great ship detours close to his home planet, Bryght… and into the pull of his mating moons. Now the Tyger is in mating shift--mad, bad and dangerous to anyone but a willing female Tyger.

  Lucky for him, there's one available.

  Roxie Fellura, failed holovid journalist, is in trouble. As she goes about her PR duties on board Quantum, she's beguiled into a tryst as shift-mate to a virile, handsome male of her race. A Tygress' sensual dream come true.

  If she doesn't help him, he'll have to be tranqed until he can be transported off the liner. If she does… she'll have the liaison of her life. There's just one, big, snarling problem… he's the reason she ran from their home planet in disgrace. The celebrity she humiliated before the entire galaxy.

  And if he finds out who she really is…she may lose more than her job this time.

  One

  Chaz Jaguari, inter-galactic singing star, was hiding out. Not only from the merciless spotlight of the galactic paparazzi, but from his agent, his family, and even his friends.

  He'd chosen to hide aboard LS Quantum, because a luxurious spaceship the size of a small city was the last place anyone would think to look for him. Everyone knew that when he'd had enough of fame and adulation, he sequestered himself at one of his homes, or the home of a wealthy acquaintance.

  He had no doubt that on planet Bryght, both his Rawr City penthouse and his country estate were being surveilled round the clock. Likewise, his vineyard estate on Pangaea, and the more recent of the many resorts he'd favored between tours.

  Let them look—let them all look, and send their spy-bots and drones and robo-holovid cams after him. They wouldn't find him.

  He'd been smuggled on board Quantum in a privacy pod, and delivered to this private suite on one of the platinum-level decks. Hells, Quantum PR should call this an iridium-level suite, it was certainly luxurious enough.

  He rolled his head on the exquisitely soft air-pillow of his chaise lounge, just enough to gaze at the miniature arboretum area, fashioned after a Pangaean tropical garden. Clever placement of mirrors behind the foliage and flowering plants, which included plumquot and gremel-fruit trees, made the garden seem nearly endless. As if he could wander until he lost himself in a jungle of green. Moss carpeted the floor of the small area. Glow-lamps floated around the edges of the area, their soft golden glow like that of dusk on planet. There was even the occasional warbling trill of a bird, and the soft sound of water splashing into the swimming pool.

  And he had it all to himself.

  The crew of Quantum knew only that a wealthy, unnamed being occupied the suite for the next two, possibly three lunar weeks. And that he wished to be left completely alone, served only by his own robo-concierge, unless he invited a living being to do so.

  The resort supplied live concierges, of course, but it was too easy for them to smuggle in tiny spy-cams. After being holo-vided in the lav on his first big tour, Chaz had lea
rned to be uber-cautious. Better to be alone than to have his urine stream replayed across the galaxy. Or worse, a sexual liaison.

  And for the most part, when he wasn't rehearsing, performing or interacting with his few close friends and associates, being alone worked just fine for Chaz.

  But right now, he didn't want to be alone. In fact, he couldn't bear his solitude for many more hours. He wanted, needed, craved with nearly every fiber of his being, another of his kind. A female Tyger, a Tygress.

  Any attractive, adult female of his race would do. But she'd better arrive soon, or he wouldn't be responsible for the damages.

  In a surge of restlessness, he bolted upright off the divan, and paced across the suite, into the perfumed shadows of the foliage. In fact, if they didn't find him a female soon, he was going to begin shifting without her, and that would not be good... for the suite or for his public relations.

  Because the slashing fang- and claw-marks of a lust-maddened Tyger were difficult to disguise as anything else.

  Two

  Roxie Fellura dashed along a narrow back passageway of LS Quantum, and skidded to a stop before a door. Not one of the sleek, glamorous portals used by passengers, this was a plain, unadorned barrier separating plebeian staffers from the mighty.

  A door which would open only with the proper credentials. Which for this visit alone, Roxie possessed. She placed her hand close to the gel pad beside the door. It lit up in response, inputting her data.

  She'd been summoned by her boss. Well, as the CEO of LS Quantum, he was everyone's boss on the space station resort, except the guests. And, if he really wanted a guest to do something, he had uniformed and armed ship guards to back him up. So, he was definitely top of the food chain, for everyone.

  While Roxie was somewhere near the bottom, maybe one step above the glo-carp swimming under the transparent floor of her favorite dining room on the ship. The shimmering orange-and-gold fish were there to be decorative until someone decided they wanted fresh fish for dinner.

  Roxie was on board to make sure their guests believed an expensive fish dinner, or a game of holo-shuffleboard, or a luxurious spa treatment, or a shopping spree in a high-end boutique was the best idea ever, and that the guest simply must have all the luxuries their credit rating would allow.

  In other words, she was in Public Relations. And when the CEO summoned, PR came at top speed.

  And if Roxie was the PR summoned, she came even faster. Because she could not afford to lose this job. She'd been lucky to get it, and she knew this. Losing it meant returning home to planet Bryght in even worse disgrace than she'd left two years ago.

  Thus, her tummy was tied in a knot, and her throat was so dry she felt like she had to cough up a fur-ball.

  Being a Tygress, usually confident and buoyant, she was not used to being nervous. Although in the last months, she'd experienced it often enough. She was an observer pretending to be a persuader, and by now even the CEO had probably heard about her latest PR disaster.

  Or the one before that.

  First had come her tangle with the Pangaean First Husband, who'd demanded she model sex toys for him (she'd refused).

  Next, and even worse, her debacle with the Serpentian courtesan who Roxie sent to 'escort' an Aquarian diplomat. How was Roxie supposed to know Serps and Aqs hated each other? In her nightmares, she still heard the Serpentian hissing about cold, slimy fish-eaters while the Aquarian retorted that he refused to be seen with a scaly viper who dined on dune-creepers.

  The Aq then promised to see that Roxie and the Serp lost their positions on Quantum.

  They were both still employed...so far.

  But as the identi-mech unit on the CEO's door chimed its acceptance of her, Roxie struggled to keep her feet planted on the floor, when her instincts snarled at her to run away, as fast as she'd arrived—or faster.

  For reassurance, she ran one hand down over her hip, where under her clothing, the gossamer lace of her favorite undies cradled her. The red spider-lace panties had been a gift from her maternal grandmother when Roxie came of age.

  Gran Fellura had promised, with a wicked twinkle in her eyes, that the panties would give her little Rouge, her pet name for Roxie, the courage to go after what she really wanted...and when the right Tyger saw her in them, she'd get the male she wanted too.

  They were gorgeous, and when Roxie wore them, she swore she felt braver, more sensual, more comfortable in her own skin. Like a Tygress who could take on the galaxy and win. She'd even found a matching bra in a consignment shop in Rawr City, worn once by a wealthy Tygress and discarded. Even second hand, the bra had cost more than she could afford, but she'd been unable to resist.

  Right now, shaking in her sensible shoes, Roxie was glad she'd spent the credits for the bra. She needed all the courage she could get. She knew many of her co-workers on the ship relied on stims and relaxants to get through their days as sales-beings/diplomats/concierges, but both types of legal meds made her feel sick as a canine.

  "Enter," said a saccharine, AI voice.

  The door slid open, and Roxie straightened her shoulders and walked into the CEO's office.

  She expected to be met by the grave, even reproving gaze of the slim, silver-haired CEO of Quantum, always garbed immaculately with a blush tanga blossom in his lapel.

  Instead, she found herself the cynosure of two new gazes—Tygean, like herself. The two males were virile, athletic, and bold of eye, like nearly all Tyger males. They looked to be about her age. The larger had golden brown hair and broad shoulders, the other's hair was so pale it had to be enhanced, and he was slim as a whip.

  Quantum's CEO remained at his very large, gleaming desk. He nodded to Roxie, then watched with apparent disinterest as the larger Tyger prowled around behind her, while his companion looked her over from head to toe.

  "Uh, sir?" Roxie said, cocking her head in an attempt to meet the CEO's gaze. "You summoned me?"

  "We called you, kitten," the slim Tygean said, giving her a smirk. "Whaddya think, Burl?"

  Roxie stiffened as the bigger Tyger moved close behind her and sniffed, loudly. She whirled, giving him a narrow-eyed glare. He smirked, as did his companion. "Now, don't get your fur in a ruffle, puss," he drawled. "Just gotta make sure you aren't reeking of some male."

  "I beg your pardon?" Roxie didn't reek of anything or anyone, thanks very much. She'd shower-dried only a few hours ago, and donned clothing fresh from the cryo-cleanse unit.

  Burl merely winked at her, before turning to his partner. "She'll do, Ives," he pronounced. "Though we'll need to get her into a decent ensemble. No offense, puss, but that suit's a real woofer."

  Roxie snarled at him under her breath. Her trim flight-suit was standard issue uniform for Quantum office staff. Fitted tights of dark gray and a matching sleeveless top under a pale gray jacket, with comfortable shoes. So, gray wasn't one of her best colors—okay, to be honest, it was her worst color. With her tawny skin, golden brown eyes and mane of brunette curls, the uniform made her look sallow, even with cosmetic enhancements. And so her ass was too big to be parading around in tights and a short jacket. That didn't mean these alley cats had to insult her appearance.

  To her utter shock, instead of frowning back at her, the Tygean reached out a long arm and gave her a friendly smack on her ass. "No worries, doll. With those lips, tits and ass, we'll soon have you looking hotter than Lorena McKitt in full mating shift."

  "Yep," Ives agreed smugly. "All she has to do is give the boss that 'I'm gonna burn you up' look she's giving us right now, and he'll be all over her like Tyger-nip candy."

  Hands clawed to fend off any further physicality from either of them, Roxie backed toward her boss's desk, keeping both Tygers in view. "Sir?" she asked urgently. "Would you please explain to me what is going on here?"

  "Clause in your contract, Ms Fellura," the CEO said, in a tone that said he was as distant from the proceedings as a holovid. "Other duties as may be assigned, etc, etc."

 
That sounded…ominous. In fact, it sounded downright dire. Her heart began to pound.

  "But who are they?" she demanded. "And why do they seem to think I'm some kind of escort?"

  The slim Tygean smiled at her, and sauntered toward her. Since his friend--or partner in crime, whatever—was circling the desk the other way, almost as if the CEO, the most powerful being on this station, wasn't even in the room, Roxie backed against the desk, and glowered at both of them in turn.

  "Kitten," the slim Ives said, moving in toe-to-toe with her. "For the next one hundred lunar hours, give or take, you are."

  "I am what?" Roxie was now leaning back as far as she could over the broad desk—which, since Tygeans strong and lithe, meant her hair, twisted neatly at the back of her head, brushed the desk behind her.

  But even this did not put her out of Ives' reach. He loomed, giving her a look glittering with cheerful menace. "You are an escort. A courtesan. A concubine. Call it whatever you like. You shall be a vessel of relief for our boss."

  "A 'vessel of relief'," Burl repeated. "That's near poetic, Ives."

  "Thank you." Ives preened, smirking at Roxie. "Y'see, puss, this cruise wasn't supposed to—well, at least, we didn't realize when we bought the tickets that we'd be lingering here in home territory, so close to Bryght. And now, one set of our Cattarus system moons have risen to their male phase, inciting the predictable hormonal reaction in—er, Charlie."

  "Which is a big problem, 'cause the poor guy's shifted," Burl put in.

  Roxie blinked. "So? Why doesn't he just use a hormone patch, and postpone shift until he's back on Bryght?" He could take a fast shuttle, and find a whole planet of willing females to be his shift-mate.