by Emma Castle
“Yes. I stayed with you the entire time. I entrusted Trevlin to track down the male who betrayed us.”
“Did you catch him?”
Sef nodded. “Yes. His name is Uther. I don’t know him. He came from Krina on one of our recent transports. His motivations in helping the resistance were far from selfless. He intended to gain power for himself here on Earth. The bombing that was being planned was a ruse—not to expose us, but to break into one of our research labs to steal some new technology to use for his own personal gain. He will face judgment before our Council. The humans arrested with your brothers have been unharmed, aside from Mitch Davis, who died in the explosion. Their memories will remain intact, and they have been returned home. We gave them access to our world here, and like your brothers, they changed their minds about us.”
Harper turned to face Sef, stepping into his open arms. She took in his rich scent as he held her, one that reminded her of the passion shared between them.
“Harper, I must tell you something.” Sef pulled back so that she could see his troubled expression.
“What is it?”
“I was wrong to force you to come here with me. I stole you away from your life in Lawrence. I…” He paused, stark pain in his eyes. “I am offering you the freedom now to leave. I should’ve offered it to you the first time, but I was so blinded by my desire for you that I was wrong.”
She stepped back, his hands dropping from her body. “Wait, what? You don’t want me now? What are you saying?”
“I will always want you, more than my own life,” Sef vowed. “What I am trying to say is that I release you from your promise. Your brothers are safe, and you no longer have to stay with me to protect them.”
Harper was quiet a long moment, searching her heart for what she truly wanted for her future.
“Do you love me?” she asked at last.
Sef smiled. “It may have taken eight thousand years, but yes, I have found love. I cannot imagine a world without you in it. You own me, Harper. You own my heart.” He looked down at his boots and chuckled. “I thought fear was at the heart of love and that was what made it so dangerous. But now I realize that only courage and compassion dwell at its core. I am honored by the days you have given me, and even if you choose to leave, I will never regret loving you, not for a second.”
Harper bit her lip, wanting so desperately to kiss him, but she extended her hand to him first.
“From this moment on, there will be no secrets, no more games or power plays between us. You won’t ever use anything as leverage against me again. Swear it.”
He caught her hand, lacing their fingers. “No more.”
“And I’ll stay with you, wherever you go. Forever.”
He tugged her to his chest. “You should know then that could be a very long time.”
“What?”
“We have forever ahead of us now. The nanocytes used to save you have seen to that. You won’t grow old, and you won’t die.”
She struggled to process that, her mind reeling. “But what about Liam and Mason?” She could think of another dozen people she didn’t want to lose to old age while she remained forever young, but she couldn’t live without her brothers. They mattered most, if she had to make impossible choices.
“We can petition the Council for them to receive nanocytes. It’s a lengthy process, but we could argue that it will help build bridges between our people. But if they happen to become charls to any of my kind in the meantime, they will be granted them, just as you have.”
Harper smiled. “I guess I’m going to have to play matchmaker then, huh?”
“I’ve taken the liberty of getting started. I’ve had a number of single females I know show them around the Center, and several have shown great interest in them. I think it’s safe to say it’s only a matter of time before they settle down.”
He rubbed his cheek against the crown of her hair, and she tilted her head to feather her lips along his jaw as she reached for his mouth. They kissed, and their embrace tightened, their love carrying the heat of a newborn star and the strength of the tides.
Falling in love was easy, but loving someone who had broken her heart and learning to trust him a second time—that had taken every ounce of her courage. And she did trust Sef now, because she saw that her Krinar had a code of honor, a code that extended to those he loved. She could give Sef every bit of herself because he would never break that Krinar code of love and loyalty.
She brushed her fingertips along the back of his neck as they kissed. Once their mouths parted, she gazed up at him.
“Ready to be a father yet?” she asked.
His eyes widened. “But that’s not possible.”
“I know, but you said it would be eventually, and I want lots of practice beforehand.”
Sef’s eyes gleamed with sensual hunger. “I see. Then we should practice right now.”
He scooped her up in his arms and raced upstairs, laughing the entire way.
Epilogue
Two months later
Harper peered at the tablet in front of her that explained the complex engineering system of a new spacecraft. Every letter and number stayed perfectly still, and her head was ache free. It had taken only two days for her to decide to let the Ks adjust the neural pathways in her brain, and now literally an entire universe of possibilities had opened up for her.
While many of the mechanical elements of their technology were close to what she had predicted, their understanding of physics was far more advanced, which left the science of things like their power sources a mystery to her…for now. She was learning new things at a wild rate, partly thanks to the nanocytes keeping her body and mind at an optimal condition.
She had started working on a new design for a small flying vessel with a little help from a Krinar engineer named Korum, who Sef said was one of their best technological experts.
Her life had become wonderful in the most unexpected ways. Both of her brothers had become charls to Ks of their own and seemed quite content with that. Liam and Mason’s mates, Pria and Driana, were both fascinated with humanity. Driana was a biologist who would be teaching at Princeton that fall. Her daily commute between Kansas and New Jersey was possible thanks to Krinar flight technology. Pria was a doctor, or healer, as they put it, and she planned to open a clinic in Lawrence to work with human patients. It never ceased to amaze her that her brothers had managed to win over two intelligent females as mates. Who’d have thunk it?
Her brothers were leaving the Center tomorrow to return to Lawrence with their cheren to get back to work at King’s Bar. It had taken some getting used to by the local townsfolk, but the pub was now a regular attraction for anyone who was curious about the Krinar. Pria and Driana had started to work with the Krinar Council on solutions for human towns suffering from an economic loss after the invasion. Plans for new ways to revitalize were already in order. Harper had sold her auto shop to Ruby, who had hired out several local mechanics in addition to Jeff and Alan, so it was doing well. Sef had given Harper the freedom to do what she loved with the man she loved, and that was what she was doing at exactly that moment.
She looked over at Sef, who sat beside her at the large desk as he pored over her old blueprints, double-checking the math of her equations. He’d left the guardians and taken up engineering again. His first task had been to help her complete her original designs, as a means of helping her learn the fundamentals of Krinar technology.
Harper couldn’t help but remember how she’d first seen him in the bar, blond-haired and blue-eyed, and how so much had changed when she saw the real Sef, with dark hair and dark eyes. And yet so much of him was the same.
The man he was, the man who had believed in her even when she’d doubted herself, the man who’d known they were meant to be together—that man had never changed. He’d fought for what he believed was right, and while he might have been a bit foolish to blackmail her to come with him to the K Center as his charl, he hadn’t take
n advantage of her, had given her the time and space to realize that he was in fact what she wanted. He’d given her the chance to walk away, to have the freedom she thought she needed. But being with him now, like this? This was the truest freedom she’d ever experienced.
“I love you, you know,” she whispered.
His brown eyes met hers. “I know. I love you too.” He reached over and placed a palm on her thigh, stroking her in a way he knew would have her ready for him in less than a minute.
The doorbell chimed, and Sef grinned. “But you are going to love me even more in a minute, I hope.” He stood and pulled her to her feet. “We have a very important guest.”
Mystified, she followed him downstairs and to the front door.
“Please try not to be alarmed,” he said as he opened the door.
A lovely young brunette woman stood on the porch, and a tall, darkly handsome man was right behind her, his hands on her shoulders. It took her a second to realize that the woman was human.
“Hello, Harper,” the woman said, her face red as she smiled in embarrassment.
Harper looked at the woman, a strange sense of déjà vu tugging at her mind. Her breath caught in her throat as she stared at the woman who seemed more and more familiar by the second.
“Harper, honey…it’s me.” That voice. That tone. The tone was so hauntingly familiar, as though she’d heard someone saying her name like that a thousand times. Because she had. Harper stared into the woman’s eyes, searching for answers, and then she realized what was so odd. The woman had her eyes, the same slightly almond-shaped creamy brown eyes.
No…there is no way…but…
Harper cleared her throat, trying to speak past the sudden lump that had formed there.
“Mom?” It was impossible, yet somehow it was true. Pamela King stood there, looking as young as Harper was at that moment.
“Yes, honey, I’ve…” The young woman’s smile suddenly wavered as she choked back a sob. “I wanted so badly to see you, to come and find you after Zane saved me, but I couldn’t go back, not like this.”
Wiping away tears, Harper looked to the handsome male behind the young woman who was and yet couldn’t be her mother.
“I rescued your mother from the river five years ago. I failed to reach your father in time. I tended to your mother, healing her of her injuries by using the nanocytes, and I fell in love with her. I begged her to become my charl. It was why she couldn’t go home to see you. Humans who are not charls are not allowed to know about our nanotechnology.”
Harper’s head felt light as she stared at the woman who looked to be around her age, yet she knew it was her mother. “Sef? How…?”
“While you were recovering, I searched for information about your mother, hoping to give you some peace by knowing her fate. I heard from Arus only yesterday that she was still alive. I contacted Zane last night to see if he would bring her to see you. I didn’t tell you sooner because I was afraid to let you down if they didn’t come.” Concern flashed across his features. “Are you upset?”
“Upset?” she echoed faintly. “You brought my mother back to me, Sef. You did the impossible. If it was possible to love you any more than I already do, I would.” She placed a hand on his cheek and smiled, then flung herself at her mother, hugging her so hard they both gasped for air, before they both broke out into laughter.
It took a while to catch her mother up on everything that had happened to her and her brothers. She gasped at how close they had come to having their memories wiped, and the explosion in the prison, but she sighed in relief once she learned everything had worked out so well.
“And they fixed your dyslexia?” Her mother stared at her, tears in her eyes.
“Yes. I was nervous to at first. I didn’t want people to think something was wrong with me. But the pain was bad, and I knew this could work, and I wanted…I wanted to be the best version of myself possible. Once I came to accept that I wasn’t fixing something inside me that was broken, I was merely accepting that the advanced science could help me, it all became so clear.”
“Honey, that’s incredible.” Her mother hugged her again, and Harper marveled at how strange it felt to have her mother back, yet physically the same age as her. In fact, she looked to be around the age she would have been when she’d given birth to Liam.
“Mom…do you miss Dad?” Harper whispered, even though she suspected Zane could hear, but she had to know.
“Of course, honey. Every day. But if there’s one thing I’ve learned in life, it’s this. You have moments where the world has given you everything—a husband you love, a family you love, a life you love. But that moment doesn’t always last. Some beautiful wonders in life are not endless, no matter how brilliant they may be. I loved your father with all my heart, but I lost him that day the bridge collapsed. Once my heart healed, I realized that despite the pain I’d suffered, my life wasn’t over. I’d been given a second chance with Zane, and I wasn’t going to let that chance slip away. I don’t think Jim would have minded. And if the situation had been reversed, I would have wanted him to find his second chance too.”
Harper’s heart swelled with emotion. Sef was her second chance. Xander had broken her heart, and Sef had shown her how to put the pieces back together. She didn’t need a man to complete her, but Sef’s love had shown her that she deserved to love herself and be proud of who she was. She couldn’t help but fall hopelessly in love with a man like that, even if he was from another world.
“I’m so glad you and the boys are with the Krinar now. Perhaps we can be a family again. All of us.” Her mother looked to Zane, who smiled back. Harper didn’t miss the look of open adoration on Zane’s face. Her mother was truly loved, and that was all that mattered.
Hours later, after her mother and Zane had left with the promise of meeting again the next day, Harper took Sef’s hand and led him to their bedroom. She pushed him to lie back on the bed and crawled in beside him.
“Linda, lights off please,” she ordered. The lights around them dropped into almost pitch blackness.
“Harper, what are you—?”
“Shh.” She silenced him with a kiss before she spoke again. “Linda, show us the stars.” That’s exactly what the central core system did. It beamed a vast virtual blanket of stars and galaxies over their heads.
“Make love to me beneath the stars,” she said.
Sef rolled her beneath him, and they came together with fire and passion. Harper knew then that Sef had been right all along. There was hope for Earth, so long as humans and the Krinar could come together like this, with undying love, loyalty, and compassion.
Thank you so much for reading The Krinar Code! If you haven’t read Soren and Bianca’s story yet, keep reading for a 3 chapter sneak peek of The Krinar Code by Lauren Smith!
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Now…turn the page to see how Soren seduces Bianca in The Krinar Eclipse!
The Krinar Eclipse by Lauren Smith
Prologue
Five years ago
Bianca’s sweet sixteenth birthday should have been celebrated with a new car in the driveway with a pretty bow on it, not with an imminent alien invasion. Instead of Bianca rushing out the door, shiny new keys in hand, two Secret Service agents rushed into her bedroom and hustled her into the hallway toward her father’s room.
“We have secured Hummingbird. Repeat, we have secured Hummingbird,” one agent said into his ear mic. The two armed men trapped her near the back wall of her father’s bedroom, shielding her with their bodies.
“Bianca?” Her father rushed over to her, his own security detail flanking him.
“Are you all right?”
“I’m fine…” Her voice shook as she looked around the room. “What’s going on?”
“A ship has appeared in orbit, just outside our atmosphere.”
“A ship? What do you mean, a ship?” Bianca stared at her father’s ashen face. There was really only one possible answer, but she had to hear it for herself.
“A spaceship.”
Bianca would have laughed if it wasn’t for the looks on the faces of the men around her. No one was joking.
“You mean…like aliens?” Her heart raced so violently in her chest that it hurt. She struggled to process what was happening.
“Yes, we—” Her father’s words were cut off as a man materialized in front of them in the center of the room with a flash of light. The man—or alien, presumably—looked straight at her father.
The Secret Service agents drew their guns on the sudden intruder. Bianca just stared at the man—who looked human, yet was somehow too perfect to be human—as he spoke to her father. This was no thin green specter with oval-shaped black eyes who’d dropped to Earth in a beam of light from a flying saucer. This…creature looked more like he’d stepped off the cover of a fashion magazine. It didn’t make sense. Why would aliens look so human?
His speech was slow and measured, with a hint of an accent she’d never heard before. Her stomach knotted, and her body flushed with a rush of heat as she stared, bewitched, at the beautiful man before her. She was only sixteen, but her hormones were already raging. She knew a sexy man when she saw one, and this one was beyond sexy.
“President Wells, I know you spoke to Arus, one of my kind, a few minutes ago, and he made it clear that we, the Krinar people, are no threat to you.” The man was tall, too tall, with russet hair and brown eyes that seemed to flash a tawny gold every few seconds. There was something terrifying and fascinating about him that made it impossible to look away.