Living among the Stars (Sky Riders #2)

by Rebecca Lorino Pond

  Living among the Stars

  Sky Riders 2

  By

  Rebecca Lorino Pond

  Cover Design by Melody Simmons of eBookindiecovers

  Copyright

  No portion of this book may be reproduced in any form without the express permission of the author. All characters, places, and situations are a product of the author's imagination. Any similarity to any person, living or dead, is pure coincidence.

  Dedication

  For all those who have been inspired to write a book. Let your imagination flow.

  Index

  Title page

  Copyright

  Dedication

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Epilogue

  Author Page

  Chapter 1

  Kelly was beyond frustrated. She left Vulmar’s ship to have a little time to herself before Kharis was released from the medical unit. The man was driving her nuts and she was ready to kill him! She avoided him every chance she got, but it didn’t seem to deter him any. He was insistent that she belonged to him. Like she was some kind of object to own!

  She paced back and forth in her room she shared with Lexie and Hunter. Her other two friends had remained up on Vulmar’s ship and would come down with Maggie and Etor as soon as he was released. The injuries the leader of Qetera had sustained when his ship was attacked by the Lephusans required that he remained in the medical unit for a few days. This would give her some time alone time. Time to figure out what she wanted to do about the massive Qeteran who chased after her. She had to admit she was a bit jealous at times when she saw how happy her best friend, Maggie, was now that she was mated to Etor and expecting a baby. How different their lives were not even a year ago.

  She and Maggie had left Earth because Maggie was on the run from her ex-boyfriend. Her poor friend had witnessed Mark commit a murder and she had been terrified he would kill her, which she had no doubt in her mind he would do. She had seen it too many times while on the police force. Several times she had worked both cases of the one first murdered then the witness’s murder. Maggie had been acting strange anyway for a longtime anyway. She always made up excuses why she couldn’t go out with her or go shopping for the day. It was always the excuse that Maggie and Mark already had plans. She knew better than that. Mark was isolating Maggie and was doing a wonderful job of it.

  Kelly had actually been very surprised when Maggie called her up and told her she was able to go shopping with her the next day. She had her suspicions why she was so readily available then and not all the other times. When Maggie revealed to her what Mark had done, there was no question in her mind that they needed to leave Earth.

  The transports had been bringing people to new planets for the last twenty years. After the air quality had been designated too poor to sustain life on Earth much longer, the government had come up with a way to relocate those who were willing to leave Earth forever. By the time, she got the idea to relocate with Maggie, hundreds of thousands had already made the journey. She had even heard back from a few of those who had chosen to leave that their lives had greatly improved. Contact with others living in the universe had been made over fifty years ago. There were many planets out there who were willing to take on the Earth humans who wanted a new life. Some even sent their own private carriers to pick up people who were lined up daily at the convention center.

  When she picked up Maggie that morning at the house, she shared with Mark, her whole world turned upside down when Maggie told her what had happened. Immediately, she had taken Maggie to the motel where she routinely hid some of her witnesses. She left Maggie to run back to her apartment to grab a few things that she didn’t have the heart to leave behind, considering she was about to leave Earth. Maggie, on the other hand, didn’t have anything more with her other than her purse. It would be a dead giveaway if her clothes suddenly went missing and Mark noticed.

  Back at the motel she had to convince Maggie that getting on one of those transports was the best way to save her life. There were only so many places she could have hid on Earth, but with Mark being who and what he was a girl didn’t stand a chance. Finally, Maggie agreed to leave and just in the nick of time. Mark showed up at the convention center just as they were boarding the transport.

  What she hadn’t counted on was their transport being sold to a lunatic then hit by an asteroid. Luckily, their transport was found by the Qeterans but at the expense of forty-six of the fifty women on board dying. Only she, Maggie, Hunter, and Lexie survived the devastation the transport incurred while in flight.

  Now, here she was on Qetera being pursued by a man who towered over her and had a dragon for a pet! A dragon of all things! The first time she had seen Etor’s dragon she had nearly peed her pants! There wasn’t much she was afraid of but, come on, a freaking dragon! Those things only lived in fantasyland, or so she thought. After a while, she got used to seeing Rhaegos flying around outside Etor’s home or walking down the corridors at a much smaller size. He really was an incredible creature when she finally got up the nerve to study him.

  Kharis’ dragon was back in the city that he ruled over so she hadn’t seen him or her yet. She really didn’t have any desire to see his dragon. Oh, yes, you do! Admit it! Her inner self argued constantly with her about what she wanted and didn’t want. But, why was she always on the defensive when he was around. It was like she was intentionally trying to build up a wall that Kharis wouldn’t be able to get through.

  She didn’t want a mate or a husband. She was her own woman and could provide for herself, she’d been doing that for a long time now. Her parents never played an active part in her life as she was growing up and had to rely on her grandparents who took her in when she was just two years old. That was how she met Maggie. They lived next door to each other and grew up together. They both adored her grandparents and were crushed when they passed away. First, her grandfather died from lung cancer when she was in high school then her grandmother passed away a year after she finished high school. That was when she decided to join the police force. She felt the need to protect herself as well as be able to support herself since she had no one else to rely on to pay the bills. Maggie eventually moved into her grandparents’ house with her when her parents were killed in a car accident. It took Maggie a longtime to get over and accept the death of her parents but together they were able to share in the sorrow and pull each other through.

  What it basically boiled down to, was that she was scared of losing someone she loved again. She didn’t want to get close to Kharis only to have him taken away from her. It was the one thing she never talked to Maggie about. Sure, she had numerous boyfriends and dated a lot, but as soon as she felt the guy was getting too serious, she broke it off. It was a secret she wasn’t willing to share with anyone.

  Walking around in the gardens on Qetera got her to thinking about her grandparents. She could still clearly see the love they shared for each other and the way they were always holding hands. That’s what she wanted, but was too afraid to go after it. If she didn’t fall in love with someone then, her heart cou
ldn’t be broken.

  She had spent two days alone before Etor and Maggie came down from Vulmar’s ship. Her peaceful tranquility ended, but she was glad for it in a way. Hunter and Lexie came back too with Etor and Maggie. They had a girls’ night the first night back on the surface and got totally smashed! A week later life in the house of Qetera’s ruler had returned to normal.

  For Kelly though, she was bored out of her mind with nothing to occupy her time. It felt like she was on a vacation that she would never return from and she was screaming for something to do. She got the idea one day while sitting in her room alone. Maybe she could start some kind of self-defense classes or aerobic classes for the women who lived in the palace. Better yet, how about any women in all of Yhadell. She brought the idea up when she was sitting out in the garden with the girls’ one evening.

  “I was thinking about maybe starting a self-defense class or something,” she blurted out.

  “What for?” Hunter asked.

  She shrugged her shoulders. “I think the women here need to learn how to protect themselves if there is ever another attack and besides, I am bored to death!”

  “I think that is a great idea!” Maggie said. “It would give us all something to do.”

  “Whoa there, baby mamma. Do you really think it’s safe for you to take part?” Lexie asked as she sipped on her glass of water. “I mean, with the baby and all.”

  “Do you really think if Qetera was attacked again that the enemy would leave me alone just because I am pregnant? I don’t think so. There are plenty of women who are pregnant and participate in those types of things.”

  “I’d ask Jonik if it was okay first,” Lexie said.

  “I know my body and I think it would be good for me and the baby. Speaking of the baby, this one has me tuckered out. I’m heading off to bed.” Maggie stood up, said goodnight to her friends then left the garden.

  “Me too. I think I’m going to try and figure out some more of Qetera’s language.” Hunter followed suit and walked in shortly after Maggie.

  “You going in,” Kelly asked Lexie.

  “Not if you are. I love being out here in the evenings. The stars are incredible to look at. Have you gone out into the field behind the house and just lay down in the grass and stare up at the night sky?” Lexie asked.

  “Never thought of doing that.”

  “Want to come with me? I do it when I can’t sleep at night. Sometimes when I go out there and it’s all quiet and everything, it gets kind of spooky.”

  Kelly stretched her arms over her head. “Sure why not?”

  They spent the rest of the evening looking up at the stars that were nowhere near Earth. It still blew her mind to think she was actually on another planet! The night sky was every bit as beautiful as the night sky back on her home world, except she could see planets in this night sky.

  Eventually, they made their way back to their rooms and went to bed. She lay down in her bed and thought about everything that had happened to her since leaving Earth and about the one man she was trying to avoid. Her heart fluttered as she pictured him in her mind’s eye.

  Standing at six foot ten, Kharis was an awesome specimen. His body was nothing but a mass of pure muscle that was clearly defined as he walked or even moved! His biceps were so big she bet she couldn’t even spanned them with both her hands, it would probably take at least four of her hands to go all the way around. He wore his hair in a short crew cut that the men in the military did back home and was the blackest hair she had ever seen on a person. His eyes almost matched his older brother’s eyes but were a lighter shade of violet and without the white flecks. His skin reminded her of someone from Italy with its olive tone. All in all, he looked like he just stepped right off of a GQ magazine.

  What the heck he saw in her she had no idea. She was of average height at five foot five inches and a little on the skinny side. She liked to keep her long, strawberry blond hair up in a ponytail so that it didn’t get in her way when she was on duty. Her dull brown eyes probably could use a little help from glasses or contacts since she started having trouble seeing things far away. At the ripe old age of twenty-five, she refused to wear glasses. She knew it could one day get her into a lot of trouble if she were to chase down a criminal who might be hiding a weapon.

  Oh well, she thought to herself. At least Kharis finally went back to his own city of Ashme. She had watched his ship take off earlier while she was in the garden alone and felt a sort of sadness as she watched him leave. Vulmar too had returned home.

  She yawned big and turned on her side. The house was quiet and the cool air coming in through her open window had her sleeping in no time. It was just another day down and wondered what tomorrow would bring.

  Chapter 2

  She woke up the next morning feeling a bit out of sorts. It was one of those days when she didn’t want to get out of bed and face the day. Reluctantly, she got out of bed, dressed, then went to find some to eat. Walking through the corridors, she heard voices coming from around the corner she was about to turn. It sounded like Kharis and Vulmar, but it couldn’t be. She watched him leave yesterday.

  Paddling her way around the corner she stopped dead when she saw him. Kharis stood there in a crisp, clean uniform and looked absolutely magnificent. She tried to turn back around before he saw her, but she was too late.

  “Kelly, may I have a word with you?” He moved to stand in front of her while Vulmar stood to his back.

  “Umm…sure,” she said and tried to swallow down her erratically beating heart. He had stared down at her before he said a word, making her feel a bit uncomfortable. She licked her lips out of nervous habit and wished he would just say what he needed to say and let her go about her way.

  “We have received reports that a Lephus prisoner escaped yesterday.” He shifted from foot to foot.

  “Okay. What does that have to do with me?” She had a bad feeling he was about to tell her something she didn’t want to hear.

  “We have decided to take precautions and move you, Hunter, and Lexie to other quarters.”

  She was confused. “Why? Aren’t we safe here? And what about Maggie? Is she being moved too?”

  “No. Maggie will stay here with Etor. You, on the other hand, are coming with me,” he stated matter of fact.

  She wasn’t sure she heard him right. Maybe he meant all three of them were going with him. “All three of us right?”

  He shook his head. “No, just you are coming with me.”

  “Oh, hell no!” she shouted into his face. “I go where ever Hunter and Lexie go. I prefer to stay right here with Maggie though. I’m not going anywhere!”

  “You will come with me even if I had to throw you over my shoulder and carry you to my ship. Etor has too much to worry about and doesn’t need the added worry of three extra females on his hands right now. You will come with me and Hunter and Lexie will go with Vulmar.”

  She had enough of him trying to tell her what she was going to do. She stepped forward until she was toe to toe with the big Qeteran and looked him straight in the eye. “Listen buddy, I’ve been able to take care of myself for a longtime now and I don’t need some alien man telling me I need his protection! Nope, no way, no how! I am staying put!” She dared him to tell her anything else!

  I didn’t think so, she thought to herself and smiled inwardly. She was just about to turn away from him when she was suddenly jerked up against his hard chest as his face came down to meet her shocked one.

  “You are coming with me,” he said calmly right before he picked her up and tossed her over his shoulder.

  “Put me down!” She pounded on his back with her fists. She kicked her legs in an attempt to land a hit anywhere she could. Behind her, she heard Vulmar roaring with laughter at her predicament. “I said, Put. Me. Down.”

  Kharis no sooner listened to her then the man in the mood. He strode down the corridor with her on his shoulder screaming bloody murder. He took care to pin her legs down to his
chest after she heard him mutter an “Ow.” At least she got one good kick in.

  “That’s what you get! Now put me down, you big goon!”

  They passed numerous people in the corridors as they headed in the direction of where she knew the landing pad was. At one point, she got a quick glimpse of Hunter and Lexie as they passed them in the corridor. “Guys! Guys help me! He’s kidnapping me!”

  She saw Hunter start after they but as soon as she heard Vulmar call her name, she took off running. Lexie stood there dumbfounded not knowing what to do.

  “You’re an ass, you know that? You have to right to do this! I can take care of myself! Where’s Maggie? Maggie!” she shouted.