by Lisa Lace
I shut the door to the changing room and immediately pulled out my wings. I had learned that putting off the transformation didn’t make it any easier. All it did was add a horrible anticipation to the agony.
After the pain had faded, I made my way to the huge flying area and jumped. I pumped my wings hard and flew toward the high, distant ceiling. I smiled as I soared. When I flew, I forgot all my troubles and felt truly free.
It was a shame the rest of my life couldn’t be like flying.
Chapter Twelve
PRIYA
I was alone in the dark. Gwen and I had come to lead the rest of the women to safety. After a few terrifying hours of being held captive by pirates, we had managed to free ourselves and had almost made it to the correct area of the ship when Gwen had taken off into the outside corridor and disappeared.
I didn’t know where we were or which way we should go. I told everyone to sit down and wait. We were going to have to rely on someone to find us. I hoped Gwen had a good reason to abandon us. I had thought she was smart and responsible. I couldn’t imagine she would risk all our lives without cause.
A familiar feeling came over me, and I looked around. Something reminded me of Allex. I could see a person moving toward me in the narrow passage. I stood up and prepared to fight. It might be Anders or Allex, but it could also be a pirate. I waited quietly, but I felt like I was going to throw up.
I relaxed when a man came into my view. I could recognize Allex’s form even from a distance. His walk seemed familiar, too. I felt like I had sensed his presence and wondered if our bond had something to do with it. I moved toward him until we met. Tears fell from my eyes when Allex pulled me into his strong arms.
We had only been apart a few hours, but we were acting like we’d been separated by interplanetary war. I felt as though I needed Allex the way I needed food and water. He was essential to my survival.
“Priya, I’m glad you’re safe.”
I didn’t say anything. I hugged Allex back and inhaled his familiar scent.
“What happened to you? Why are you stopped here? Anders came looking for you but never came back.”
“The pirates managed to capture us, but they were dumb enough to put us in regular quarters.”
Allex interrupted me. “The ones with secret passages? I bet you were out of there in minutes.” I nodded. “Hold on. They caught you?”
“It’s a long story, and I can fill you in later. We should leave.”
“But why are you here?”
“When Gwen left, I didn’t know which way to go. I thought someone would be looking for us when we didn’t arrive, so I decided to wait instead of wandering around the ship.” I was saying too much. I wanted his approval. “I didn’t know what to do, Allex. I’m not a leader like Gwen.”
“You did well.” Allex lifted my chin, forcing me to look at him in the dim light. “Waiting might have been the best thing you could have done. After we move the women to safety, we’ll find out what happened to Anders and Gwen.”
“It was Anders.” I finally put two and two together.
“What about him?”
“He’s the only reason Gwen would leave the women. Something must have happened in the corridor.”
Allex nodded. “Maybe. I hope they’re okay.”
“Me too. They’re smart and can take care of themselves for a little while.”
Allex didn’t seem convinced, but started moving resolutely in the direction he came from, toward safety.
Allex and I stood in the secret passageways. I wondered if my eyes would ever get used to being in the light again after all the darkness. We had relocated everyone from the ship into the Fifth Wing. As soon as we located Anders and Gwen, we could beam everyone out of here.
“How can we find them? Can you use the ship’s computer system?”
“Technically, yes, but the pirates have control of it. They would receive an alert and know we’re here.”
“How about a manual search? Let’s gather some of the men and look into all the possible hiding places.”
Allex shook his head. “The ship is the size of a small city. It would take too long and put other lives in jeopardy. If we can’t find them, we might have to do the mass transport without having a lock on them. I don’t want to risk their lives.”
The technology behind mass transportation hadn’t been perfected. Scientists had figured out how to teleport a single person, and these days it was considered as safe as flying or riding a bus. Moving two or more people at once was complicated. Sometimes the computer could only get a partial lock on people and left parts of their bodies behind.
“Allex, aren’t you guys supposed to be royalty? Don’t you have ways of finding each other?”
Allex’s eyebrows drew together. “We have trackers inserted under our skin, but we don’t have access to the readers. Anders is better with computers than I am. On the other hand, there’s an emergency computer system running on a separate network. It’s designed to operate independently. I might be able to use it to find Anders.”
I clapped my hands. “Perfect. We should hurry. It’s going to be morning soon. When the pirates go to move the cargo and realize it’s missing, it won’t take them long to figure out what we did to them.”
Allex located Anders and Gwen within thirty minutes, but he had bad news — they were in one of the ship’s prison cells. I felt like I was getting an accelerated course in Auxem cursing.
I put my hand on his arm. “The Markan ships will be here soon to support us. How can we get them out of there?”
“That part’s easy. I have the master codes to the cells. The patrols are the problem.” He motioned to the screen in front of him. “There are eight guards in the area.”
“I think there’s a way around any security, Allex. These guys are always thinking about sex. They were feeling us up as soon as they saw us.”
Allex’s head appeared in front of my face with a black expression. “What do you mean by that?”
I stepped back, surprised by his vehemence. “I misspoke. They almost grabbed me, but I got lucky. One asshole had his hands on Gwen, but he ended up getting beaten. Gwen said she was okay. She’s pretty tough.”
Allex started muttering in an alien tongue.
“My point is that these guys have a one-track mind.”
Allex stopped swearing and stepped toward me, pulling me tightly against him and kissing me. He cut off the rest of my words. When he pushed me away, I was panting.
“You’re my mate, Priya. Mine. No one else can touch you.” He looked like he might lose control at any moment. I had never seen him this way, and it was intimidating, to say the least.
“Okay. I didn’t know it was like that.”
He narrowed his eyes at me before tilting his head. “Do you think I’m overreacting?”
I shrugged nervously. “Maybe?”
“I’m not.” He eyed me speculatively. “What would you think if one of those sexy women wandering around in slave outfits grabbed me, kissed me and put her hands down my pants?”
“I’d kick her ass.” I couldn’t believe the intensity of my feelings. I became angry immediately.
He smiled in satisfaction. “Exactly. Having a bond mate isn’t like any relationship you’ve ever had before, human. Everything is different now.”
“I guess it is.” I shook my head.
“What was your idea, anyway?”
“All we have to do is get some of the women half naked. Once those guys start leering at them, I think they’ll leave their posts. I bet they’ll do anything for a fuck as long as they believe they won’t get caught.”
It was surprisingly easy to break Gwen and Anders out of jail. My biggest problem had been waking up Anders.
I kept my voice quiet as we entered the secret passages. “It would be terrible if the pirates grabbed one of the princes.” I stepped into the darkness and looked around for Allex. “I’m just a stowaway. It won’t matter if they catch a no
body.”
“It will matter to me.” Allex spoke from the shadows, and I felt my heart begin to pound. He took me in his arms and kissed me so intensely that when he stopped, I could hardly remember where I was.
“It has already begun.” Allex looked at Anders and Gwen. “The Markans have already engaged the pirates. Aren’t you guys supposed to be hacking the tractor beam?”
Anders shook his head. “We can’t do it from here. They’ve increased their security since I poked around in there. I won’t be able to break through in time.”
“Well, if we can’t hack into their tractor beam from here, I guess we’ll have to blow something up.”
Anders and Gwen exchanged a smile of pure mischief, but Anders was the one who spoke. “I suppose we can launch a missile at the generator.”
“Good. The Markans can only keep them busy for so long.”
Anders and Gwen nearly crashed their ship trying to destroy the tractor beam, but once they did their job, everything else was easy. Allex and I used weapons from the armory to overpower the pirates in the control room. As soon as the tractor beam was down, we started a mass transport for each wing of the ship and beamed the pirates directly to a prison ship.
And just like that, our pirate problem was solved.
As soon as the chaos began to die down, Allex took me back downstairs to our quarters. I had to sit on the pallet by myself while he went back to his family. He said everyone needed to apologize to Anders.
The pirate threat had disappeared, but my problems remained. I wondered how much longer I could play this game. A little while ago I hadn’t known what to do, and I had no good reason to get off the ship.
But now Allex was part of my life. I wanted to be with him, but there were many problems between us. I was a criminal and tested positive for H4T7. He hadn’t said much about his father, but I had the feeling the king wasn’t going to welcome me with open arms.
I thought about my options. I loved Allex and wanted to be with him, but realistically, how could we be together? We would have to leave the ship eventually. I hadn’t known him very long, but it seemed that he was close to his brothers. I’m not sure he would leave them for someone he just met, regardless of our bond.
How would we get off the ship? The idea of a stowaway and a prince remaining together in the long-term was as ridiculous now as it ever was.
I didn’t want to take him away from his family, but I didn’t see a way for us to be together here. If I stayed, someone would find out I didn’t belong. I wasn’t only worried about myself anymore — I didn’t want to bring shame to Allex or his family.
I couldn’t stay, but I didn’t want to leave.
My eyes were starting to feel heavy. I was exhausted. Allex and I hadn’t spent a lot of time sleeping lately. My plans would have to wait until tomorrow.
I dozed off in an instant.
Chapter Thirteen
ALLEX
I made my way through the ship silently, but my body was alight with anticipation. I hadn’t seen Priya for two weeks. It felt it had been two months.
We couldn’t keep living like this. We both knew Priya needed to get off the ship, but neither of us knew what to do from there.
I wasn’t sure how to leave. I intended to talk to Priya about it right after I fucked her brains out. I was already getting hard thinking about my beautiful mate.
There was also the issue of marriage. I wanted to marry Priya officially, but I didn’t know if we would have the chance to have a proper ceremony. We would probably have to get married after we left the ship. I planned to be with Priya for the rest of my life, and all I had to do was make everything official and legal. It was a shame that we couldn’t have a proper Auxem wedding.
My memories of our homeworld were hazy at best. I had spent most of my life on the ship, and I didn’t want to leave my family, but I knew I would have to. There wasn’t any other way for Priya and me to be together.
I didn’t know what would happen if I didn’t have big brothers ordering me around. I would have to work up the courage to tell them and make a plan to leave. But I wasn’t in a hurry yet. The danger to Priya was real, but none of this felt urgent. If I didn’t make waves, I could have the best of both worlds and have time with both Priya and my family.
Things never worked out when I procrastinated.
I thought I knew the man who was making his way toward Priya. I couldn’t see his face in the dim light, but I thought he was a scientist. He seemed to be testing the air quality. He stopped and took an instrument out of his kit, slowly waving it around until it beeped and flashed green. He made a note on his computer and kept walking.
He was probably just doing a routine inspection, but if he kept going, he was going to run into Priya. I couldn’t let him find her, but I didn’t have an excuse for being here myself.
I decided to silently follow him while trying to figure out a plan that wouldn’t ruin everything. When he stopped to run another test, I stopped too. When he moved, I darted after him like a shadow. I hoped Priya had heard him and wouldn’t reveal herself unexpectedly.
As long as he completed his tests, he would leave on his own and not come back. It would be ideal if he came as close to Priya’s hideout as possible. Once he had finished scanning the area, I could distract him to keep Priya’s secret without alerting him to my presence.
I needed him to be called away at exactly the right time. Avren worked as a geneticist and also supervised all the scientists on the ship. He had an assistant to organize everyone’s schedules, but he could tell them what to do. If Avren called the guy back, he might wonder why, but he would leave.
He was rapidly approaching Priya’s location. I started to sweat. If he found her, they would put Priya in jail, and I wouldn’t get the chance to see her again. I couldn’t wait another second. I needed Avren’s help. He would have uncomfortable questions for me, but I had to protect her.
It only took me a moment to send Avren the request. On the computer screen, his only reply was a bunch of question marks.
I watched the scientist step into the open area next to Priya’s quarters right before his communicator chimed. “Hello? Yes, sir. It’s going well — I’m almost finished here.” He fell silent, listening for a moment. “All of the tests are negative. Do you want me to come back to the lab?” He broke the connection and stared at his computer before glancing at the unused ventilation shaft. He stepped toward the maintenance door.
Was I going to have to knock him out after all? I didn’t want to have to explain assaulting a fellow crew member, and it would draw unwanted attention. He reached out and put his hand on the doorknob. I moved quietly toward him, ready to strike.
His communicator chimed again, and he glanced down at it. I had asked Avren to make sure his man complied. The scientist sighed and shook his head, but turned and walked away. In a few minutes, he had disappeared. I felt my shoulders drop as I relaxed.
PRIYA
As soon as Allex stood up after crawling through the maintenance door, I threw myself at him. He clutched me without saying anything.
“They almost found me,” I whispered.
We made our way to the bed and sat next to each other. Sometimes we used the bed for other things. I tried to forget the image of the last time he had visited me. Allex had been sitting in the same spot, but I had been on his lap, riding him.
It was hard to stop thinking about when Allex was around. I didn’t know if the bond made me hornier than usual. I just knew I wanted him all the time.
I tried to pay attention to what he was saying. “It was just one person. I think he was testing the air quality.”
I nodded. I had been about to go into the greenhouse when I had spotted the head approaching me above the pipes. The light from his computer drew my attention. I didn’t have time to run away before he saw me, so I hid instead.
I had been terrified. My bizarre life had suddenly come into sharp focus, and I realized I was living on the e
dge of doom. I resolved to get out of here immediately.
“It’s time for me to go home, Allex. You can help me, right?” I took his hand and looked into his eyes.
“I know. I can do it as long as we make a plan.”
“It’s harder now that I’ve met you. Before it didn’t matter if I left or stayed.”
He searched my eyes, and I saw fear in his expression. “Everything’s going to work out.”
“Could Anders sneak me onto his ship when he’s going on a flight?”
Allex nodded. “That’s certainly a possibility. I’ll talk to him about it when I go back.”
“Okay. But where will I go?”
“You’re not leaving without me.”
I looked away from him. “Of course. It just slipped out of my mouth.”
“Priya.” He turned my head and forced me to look at him. “We’re going to stick together.”
“Of course we are.” His words were only slightly reassuring. We lived separately now, and we didn’t know what was going to happen.
“I thought Susohn was a possibility. I know the king, and we could fly under the radar without attracting any attention. If we have a planet in mind, if we find a place to lie low for a while we can start building a new life. I’ve already moved a big chunk of credits to a joint account.”
He looked down at his computer and issued a few commands. “You have access now. Go ahead and check. We won’t have to worry about money. What do you think?”
“How long is it going to take? When will our flight path take us by Susohn?”
“The mothership is still more than a week away. On the other hand, one of the smaller, faster ships can be there in a day. As soon as you leave the mothership, you are technically not a stowaway. I’ll try to talk to Anders today.”
I sensed Allex’s mind had moved elsewhere. His hand slid up my thigh, and he started to kiss my neck.
“Thank you.”
I lost myself in his body.