by KD Jones
“Okay.” It was probably a mistake, but looking at the tight fit of his uniform and the sparkle in his eyes, she knew it would be worth it.
“There’s just one thing I should tell you. I don’t want to mate with anyone right now. I want to concentrate on learning about my new world and concentrate on my career. Will that be a problem?”
“I leave in the morning for a mission, so it won’t be a problem.”
No sooner had they gotten through the doors to his quarters when they began tearing each other’s clothes off. AshOR was younger than the men she usually liked to be with, but he made up for it with enthusiasm.
He was careful not to release his seed inside her, which would have been making her his mate by default. As much as they both enjoyed the experience, they held something back from each other. She woke to an empty bed and it made her think about how that was how she felt inside—empty. She was grateful to have her gigs to concentrate on.
******
Thinking about AshOR was pointless. She heard that while away on his mission, he found his bond mate, which the Katierans believe is a mate that the Gods destined to be together, like soul mates. Well, good for him. She had enjoyed their time together but she definitely didn’t feel any love for him. She was starting to think maybe there wasn’t anyone on all of Katiera that she could feel that way for.
She sat her guitar down, leaning it against the wall. She adjusted the binding holding her long brown hair up in a ponytail. She felt a presence behind her. She turned and smiled at the warrior standing there. He had been watching her most of the night.
“Is there something I can do for you?”
“I have never heard anything so beautiful. Your voice is silky and pure. Amazing.”
“Thank you.”
“My name is Lieutenant CarLO.”
“I’m Melody Song.” She checked over his uniform and noticed that it was different from other Katierans. “Are you from Katiera?”
He smiled, pleased that she knew he was different. “I’m from Kiljor. We are doing a type of exchange with the Katierans, warrior for warrior, to learn new things.”
“We have something like that, too, on Earth. How long will you be here on Katiera?”
“I leave at the end of the week to go back to Kiljor.”
“I would love to hear more about Kiljor.”
“Perhaps you would be interested in spending time with me while I am still here and talk about whatever questions you’ve had.”
“I’ve got several gigs and performances for the next few days but I am available during Midday Meals.”
“I’ll contact you after my shift each morning to meet you then.”
She smiled at him. “That would great. I need to get back to finish my set. Nice meeting you, CarLO.”
“You as well, Melody Song.”
As Melody went back to begin her next set, she noticed that CarLO didn’t leave, but took a seat at one of the tables. She hoped that he hadn’t misunderstood her. She still wasn’t sure she was ready for a permanent relationship, yet, she really was interested in getting to know about the other inhabited planets in this solar system.
She would have offered to meet with him after her set, but she needed to take her recording, with the Katieran security team’s approval, of her show. She had to go back to her suite and use her editing program to get the video prepared to share over the Internet. Once the video went through the usual checks by security, she would send it to her record company back on Earth. The whole process, since she did it all by herself, usually took two to three days.
So far, she had been able to send six music videos. All of them hit massive record downloads on social media. What she really wanted to do was to showcase new songs, but her record company told her that what she was doing was working out the most and to keep it up. They did make comments about wanting her to show more alien landscapes, especially something in space, while doing her videos. That was a difficult request to fulfill, because after the Morins attacked Kiljor, security had tightened up tremendously.
She finished up her gig and packed her equipment. A few of the men were waiting to ask her back to their quarters. She politely told them all no. Even though these guys were like sex on a stick, she wanted an instant spark with someone.
She left the banquet room and headed to the lift that would take her to the floor her suite was located on. A security guard, who was a warrior, was standing at the lift. It was so weird being on a world that was mostly militant run.
Back on Earth, things were starting to get to that level. Because Earth was suffering from a lack of natural resources and an overpopulation problem, all the world governments had combined into one governing body known as the Earth World Government, or EWG.
The EWG had issued a mayday message and sent it into the galaxy, and the Katierans were the ones that answered. An arrangement was made between the two nations. The Katierans would help rebuild Earth’s natural resources and relocate almost half of Earth’s inhabitants. In exchange, Earth allowed the Katierans to conduct the relocation program the way they saw fit, as long as it was humane and voluntary.
After going to the interviews, it became obvious that the Katierans were putting a priority on relocating single women who were in their childbearing years. However, eventually, the Katierans would relocate whole families to Katiera. The transports were not coming and going as frequently as they had been when she had first arrived, because of the reappearance of the Morins.
She shivered at the thought of the bald and sickly looking Morins. All the women from Earth were told more details about the enemy in hopes to help protect the women. A transport from Earth was attacked and some of the Earth women were taken prisoner. Some were rescued, but others…were not.
Fear of the Morins was one of the reasons she had not attempted to travel anywhere off-planet before now. If she wanted to push her career in a new direction, that was going to have to change. She would have to start taking some risks.
Chapter 3
Purist Headquarters
“So, you’re the Kiljorn traitor that claims to have information that is vital to the Purist movement?”
StrykER turned to look at the male who had walked through the door of the room. He had been kept there since arriving at their final destination. It had taken a few hours, but the Purists had succeeded in keeping their headquarters hidden. There was no way he could identify where they were.
“I’m not sure who you are, but the information I have is for the leader.”
“I’m Commander MarIK. Anything you want to tell my leader, you can tell me.”
StrykER shook his head. “No offense, but I didn’t come all this way to have someone else relay the information I have.”
“How can you expect us to trust you? You interrogated our people and betrayed your own leader.”
StrykER held his silence, staring the male down.
“I told you he wouldn’t go for it, MarIK,” another voice said from the entrance of the room.
StrykER glanced over and recognized the male. “Leader OrIN, it’s a pleasure to finally meet you.” He reached out to clasp forearms as the other male approached him.
“I am intrigued to see what the well-known Kiljorn interrogator will say. How could I not come?”
“I have information on weapons that both the Kiljorns and Katierans have been stockpiling to use against the Morins.”
OrIN looked at MarIK. “I would be interested in hearing about that. What exactly is it that you want from me?”
“I just want a chance to prove that I am devoted to the cause.”
“It’s going to take time, but we’ll start with the information on that stockpile.”
StrykER proceeded to tell them the information that KadEN had directed him to give. He had five locations but he would give them slowly, one by one. It would help his people track which ones are hit and possibly give opportunities to track the Purists.
“I appreciate this i
nformation, StrykER. We will check on the location that you provided. Now, I want to know everything you know about these Earth females.”
He wasn’t expecting that. “I don’t understand.”
“The reason for our discourse is the breeding with these aliens. I want to know your take on them. Have you interrogated any of them?”
“I have had limited experience with them. Commander TylOR was very protective of his mate and barely let any other male around her. The same goes for Prime Leader KadEN. He would not let males near his mate unless they were a specially chosen guard. I spoke with the female that HarvEY and his partners tried to take. She seemed intelligent, harmless.”
OrIN snorted. “Harmless? These females must have some way to manipulate males around them. My scientists think it has to do with something called pheromones. They emit these pheromones and males bend to their will.”
“I would think I would know if I was being manipulated.”
“Would you? Maybe it affected you differently than others because of your mutated DNA.”
“Perhaps. What I know about these alien females is that they are much smaller in size and strength than our own females. They don’t have our senses and they seem to have no protectors.”
“I heard that they sleep with multiple males. Is that true?” MarIK asked with disgust.
“I would not know that. Many of them have shared sex with males without mating with them.” He wasn’t sure where this was going, but he wasn’t comfortable with it. He used his other senses to try to get a read on them, but they were good at keeping their emotions under check.
“Make yourself at home. You won’t be allowed to leave this room without a guard. That’s just a precaution until you have earned our trust. Someone will bring your meal.”
StrykER nodded. “I look forward to getting to know your people better and proving myself.”
He watched OrIN and MarIK leave. It seemed to go well but he wouldn’t know until they’d recovered the stockpile. That should help seal his commitment to them.
*****
“What do you think?” OrIN asked his commander.
“He could be telling the truth. We’ll have to verify the information he gave us.”
“He could prove to be valuable with his knowledge about the Kiljorn and Katieran leaders. We didn’t even ask him about his abilities yet.” OrIN felt it was a gift from the Goddess that this male was dropped into their laps.
“I don’t know if I would trust mutated DNA,” MarIK said.
“I agree that those who were mutated don’t deserve the same rights as pure Katierans, but they are Katierans or descendants. These Earth females are not even the same species. Send males out to check the stockpile.”
“Yes, sir. Anything else?”
“What of our other team?”
“They have had to reschedule several times but news came that they will have something for us soon.”
“Good. Keep me updated.”
*****
Katiera
“Why do you want to go to Kiljor?” Commander KydEL sat in a room with his second in command, his uncle, questioning the females who requested to board the next transport bound for Kiljor. Some of the females were nurses, one was a priestess, and one was a singer.
“I want to share with my people more about the Katieran planet and more about the other nations like Kiljor and the Colony.”
“You think to do this with your videos? What kind of information are you relaying?” He and some of his security had screened the videos she had made during the last few months and hadn’t detected anything threatening.
“It’s entertainment, but it could be used for so much more,” Melody Song responded passionately.
“How?”
“Songs and music have been used to tell stories of history. There have been songs thousands of years old included in our religious texts. For example, songs were written as psalms in our Christian bible. Folk songs used to tell how we lived in the past. Musicians have come together to help raise awareness on sickness and starvation.”
“That is something your leaders should take care of. They need to be the ones to tell your people what is needed and make sure it is done.”
She sighed. “Songs have been known to reach people’s hearts and souls in a way that government laws and regulations never could. Do your people not have that?”
“We—” Before KydEL could finish his response, another voice from one of the other women interrupted him.
“Of course we’ve had poems and songs, even from centuries ago when we didn’t have written language. We had songs that taught our young about our culture and history,” the priestess said as she leaned forward.
“Priestess HonORa, I appreciate your input, but this is a security matter,” KydEL told her gently.
HonORa snorted. “She sings songs and makes videos. She is not a warrior and is not passing on classified information about Katiera.”
KydEL tried to hide his smile when the Earth female Melody smiled at Priestess HonORa. It was clear that an instant camaraderie was developing. This was something his brother, RendEL, felt may be missing from their current society. Females from both planets needed to come together and unite. If more of his people, not just the ones that were mating, could relate to each other, it would help ease some of the rising tension. The council felt that it was the main reason the Purists had risen up.
“You will make sure to give your video to the security I assign to your group to review prior to sending it to Earth?”
“Absolutely.” Miss Song quickly answered.
“Fine.”
“I can go?”
“Yes, all of you have clearance to leave. You must stay with your security detail. Do not stray into an area that’s been deemed unsafe.”
All the females nodded their agreement as they stood to leave. He watched as Miss Song fell into step next to Priestess HonORa. Maybe her next video would reflect her new friendship.
*****
“Thank you, Priestess HonORa, for taking up for me.” Melody was surprised that the Katieran woman would help. Since she had arrived on Katiera months and months ago, she’d had very little interaction with female Katierans. Granted, there weren’t very many of them because of the devastation caused by the Morins, but the few she had seen gave the Earth women a wide berth.
“It was no problem at all. I have seen some of your performances.”
“Really?”
“Yes, you have an amazing voice and you are very talented.”
“Thank you.”
“I must say, I prefer your softer songs over the hard, fast-paced ones. Did you write all of those songs? They seem to be so—varying.”
Melody smiled. “Truthfully, not all of the songs are mine. My career on Earth was starting to dwindle. The record company I work for demanded that I sing more cover songs over my own work.”
“What are cover songs?” The priestess motioned for them to go to the outside garden.
“Cover songs are songs written by other artists.”
“Why would your music people insist you sing other people’s songs?”
They sat down on a bench and Melody looked up into the beautiful sky. Both suns were shining brightly and a warm breeze brought the clean scent of the nearby Katieran waters.
“Cover songs are popular. Everyone already knows the words and can follow along. Those records sell. My songs were different.”
“How so?”
“Cover songs are usually fun, exciting, or sexy. When I wrote my songs, I was going through a really bad time in my life. My father died, my mother had a nervous breakdown over it, and I caught my boyfriend of two years having sex with my best friend.”
Priestess HonORa reached out to squeeze her hand comfortingly. “My dear, you suffered so much at a young age.”
She hadn’t realized that tears were falling from her eyes until the drops hit her hands in her lap. “Writing songs was an outlet for everything I wa
s going through. I might have gone crazy myself if it hadn’t been for making my music. I poured my heartache and pain into those songs.”
“That sounds like a Goddess-given gift.”
“Unfortunately, my heartache and pain does not equate into sales. None of my own songs got a lot of records sold so the record company ordered me to do cover songs. I haven’t been able to write anything new since.”
“May I hear one of your songs?”
“I don’t know…”
“Please.”
“I don’t have my guitar or keyboard with me.”
“My people don’t use instruments with our singing.”
“Yeah, I noticed that. I guess I could do the one about my father.”
She closed her eyes and let the song pour out of her. The song was about how her father went from a young boy to adulthood, to becoming a good man and a father. Then it ended with her placing a rose on her father’s casket and feeling his absence the rest of her life.
When she was done, she glanced over at the priestess and noticed the other woman was crying. “Are you okay?”
She wiped her tears from her face and smiled. “That was beautiful, absolutely beautiful.”
Melody patted her back. “It made you cry.”
“Yes, it did. It’s supposed to. You told a sad and loving story about your father’s life. The emotions you felt were all there in every word. You should sing more songs like that.”
“Not everyone wants to hear sad songs.”
“It was more than that. It was inspiring.”
“How does it inspire? My father died.”
The priestess put an arm around her shoulder. “Your father had a full life. You told his story through your song, and you showed your strength when you say at the end how you will never forget him as you continue to live your own life. That is very inspiring.”
Melody considered it. “I never thought about it like that. My record company certainly never thought of it that way.”
“Well, my people believe in things that inspire. You should share your songs here with them.”