by Maia Starr
"What do you have to say for yourself, Commander Duron Spaunok?” the Supreme Leader Giut Thoen asked me.
"I say that I deserve a fair chance to claim the redheaded human female known as Shia Heton as a forever mate. As you know, we have already mated and it is very likely that she carries my offspring. In punishing me or punishing her, you are in fact stopping the Corillion race from the very thing that we have tried to do for years now: to survive.”
"Yes, but you are not a leader. You are but a warrior, a commander that is in charge of bringing human females to your leaders, not for your own indulgence. That is the way of things. Those are the rules. If we allow you to defy those rules, then what would stop other warriors from following in your footsteps?” he asked.
"I know that what I have done is wrong. But I have spent many years gathering human females for our leaders and have never touched one. It was my leader, Baradur Spaunok, that charged me with taking care of this human female in my own living quarters. I restrained myself from the temptation as much as I could. But it was whenever the human female came to me and offered herself to me that I could no longer hold back,” I said, looking over at Shia.
The council mumbled together in astonishment. Then they looked at Shia and asked, “Is this true human female? Are you the one that instigated mating with this commander known as Duron Spaunok?”
"Yes, Supreme Council. I am the one that wanted this commander. I was in his care for a very long time and we formed a bond. I am the one that mated with him. It is very possible that I am carrying his offspring, and I want to. But I want the commander at my side. I love him. I want him as my forever mate."
I turned to her quickly. Did she say that she loved me? Was this the truth or was she merely trying to spare my life? I wanted to rejoice if it was true. I also loved her in return. It was a very strong feeling that I had not been able to put into words until she did.
The council mumbled again quietly to themselves. I don't think that they were expecting Shia to speak on my behalf. This was the first time they were faced with such a unique situation.
"We have never heard a human female speak in such away. At least not about a warrior that was not a leader. This does bring hope to the race of Corillion. If this human female is capable of falling in love on her own with a Corillion warrior, perhaps there will be many others that follow in her footsteps. She was not forced to love this Corillion warrior; she chose on her own. That is important to our survival."
"It is the truth, Supreme Council,” I said to them. “I know that I defied the rules because I am not a leader. This human female mated with me on her own accord. She has given me a longer life, and possibly a hybrid offspring. But I understand the Supreme Council's words about other warriors following in my footsteps. I do not wish to insight such defiance, and that was not my intention.”
"And yet it is what will happen. If we let you live in peace with a human female that was already promised to a Corillion leader, then other warriors will want to do the same. It will cause chaos in the entire system, and it is something that we cannot afford at this moment. We are under siege by the Earthlings on the moon base. How long before they reach us? We must deal with you and the human female quickly; we have a war to win.”
"I understand, Supreme Council. What is to be my punishment?” I asked, tired of dancing around the topic. I needed to know now, and I needed to know soon so that I could plan our escape once more. I was not giving up on her.
"Where is she?!” a booming voice shouted. I turned to see a Corillion that I feared: it was Xet Crasis coming in the massive doors of the hall with his entourage of Crasis warriors.
"Where is the human redheaded female that is promised to me? Where is the human female that has caused so much trouble and disobedience that the entire Corillion galaxy speaks her name on their lips?" Xet Crasis asked as he walked in.
Great. All of her defiance and my act of defiance and stealing her away had created a word-of-mouth chaos about the redheaded known as Shia Heton. Now every Corillion would want her because of this. We had never experienced anything like it since we started taking human females. Now she was a prize. Now all would want her. Now I would have to kill everyone.
"Xet Crasis, we the Supreme Council apologize for the chaos and the delayed delivery of your human female that was promised to you by leader Baradur Spaunok," Giut Thoen said.
"She is not Baradur’s's to give,” I growled the words.
Xet Crasis moved over to me and stared me in the eyes and said, “So this is the defiant commander warrior. You should kill him before more follow in his steps. You must make an example of him."
I narrowed my eyes at him in hate. I could kill him right then and there with my bare hands. Then he moved over to Shia beside me and looked at her over. Now I really had to restrain myself not to jump on top of him and take his life from him. “This is the redhead. I can see why she has caused so much trouble. I would be happy to make her my forever mate."
"Do that and I will kill you the second that your back is turned,” she spat out the words. There was a hushed silence and shock over the hall. I smiled. This was why I loved her so much.
"How dare you speak to me in such a way, human female. I will have you killed for such a thing,” Xet Crasis growled.
"Touch her and die,” I said to him.
"Enough!” Giut Thoen shouted. “There is only one way to settle this. Commander Duron Spaunok must fight Xet Crasis for the ownership of the human female known as Shia Heton. The winner takes the female as a forever mate."
"No,” I heard Shia whisper.
"I accept,” I said.
"She will be mine,” Xet Crasis said.
"Then it is settled. Let us not waste any time. Clear the floor. We must make an example for other warriors to know that they simply cannot take human females. Commander Duron Spaunok will not simply be given this human female; he must fight one of our greatest warriors and leaders in the Corillion galaxy, Xet Crasis!” Giut Thoen shouted.
Shia was removed from the floor and I could see just how anxious she was. But I needed to focus now. I needed to focus all of my attention on Xet Crasis. I was thrown a long staff weapon. Xet was given the same.
“Fight!” Giut Thoen shouted.
Xet Crasis growled as he came toward me. Bam! Bam! Our weapons met in the air as we hit over and over trying to get a good hit at each other. He was quick. He was more skilled than I was when it came to hand-to-hand combat. I was the commander of ships, and my skills were in air battle.
Whoosh! His staff aimed at my legs and I jumped over it. Then I twirled and my staff almost made contact with his head, but he blocked it with his staff.
"You will lose. You will die,” Xet Crasis growled at me.
I said nothing. He was simply trying to distract me with his words and I was too focused to even hear them. Boom! Bam! The staffs in our hands were knocked out of our hands as we both gave hard blows. They flew across the room.
"Swords!” Giut Thoen shouted. A sword was thrown at me and at Xet Crasis. Cling! Clank! We were crashing swords together as soon as they landed in our hands. We were of equal match, so it seemed. Suddenly all the rumors I had heard about his fierce skills seemed to be lies. I was just as good as he was and that amount of confidence allowed me to charge him. His eyes grew wide at my sudden confidence and skill. I caught him off guard and my sword dug deep into the left side of his body, the side that did not have the protection of our blue scales.
"Xet Crasis is down!" Giut Thoen shouted. The crowd erupted into cheers. But it wasn't enough. I was not going to leave any chance that Xet Crasis would claim Shia as his. He was on the ground underneath me. I grabbed the hilt of the sword and pushed it into him deeper. All life left him.
"Commander Duron Spaunok is the winner! He is the rightful owner of the human female known as Shia Heton!”
I looked at Shia and she had a big smile on her face. She ran to me and wrapped her arms around me. I kissed her
deeply.
"Since you are but a commander, it is important that you now become a leader. You will take leader Xet Crasis tribe on Crasis and become the leader of Crasis. We the Supreme Council make it so,” he said.
"I accept," I said.
"Now we must deal with this business of the invasion of the moon base Altid. Commander Duron Spaunok, you were there, you were engaged in battle with the Earth ships before they arrived. You will join us in our meeting. Your forever mate will be taken to quarters to wait for your arrival,” Giut Thoen said.
I gave Shia a big kiss before I obeyed orders to join the supreme Council to discuss the invasion of the Earthlings. It was all happening so fast, and I did not think that it could have such a good and fair outcome. It was too good to be true.
"I will wait for you. I am so happy. We will be together. No one can separate us now,” Shia whispered in my ear.
"I will come for you soon. It is my duty to join the supreme Council and discuss this matter. I am very grateful to them for allowing me to fight Xet Crasis and win your hand. I owe them my attention now,” I said giving her another kiss.
"I see why she has caused so much trouble. She is a beauty. Congratulations, Commander Duron Spaunok,” Giut Thoen said as he joined me at my side.
"She is worth dying over,” I said to him.
"Take her to my forever mate, Rachel,” Giut Thoen said to a warrior at Shia's side.
Shias eyes grew wide with astonishment. I do not think she was expecting to be taken to another human female, nor was I. It would be a pleasant experience for her and she would feel safe. I too would feel safer knowing that she was with another human female, and not a warrior. Word of her beauty and defiance had now spread far and wide, making her a very popular target for all Corillion warriors that came to her side.
"We will speak again,” I said as I kissed her on the cheek and then followed Giut Thoen out of the room into a council chamber.
"Now this business about the battle you were in before the siege on Altid. Spare no detail. We must know everything. It will help. We have a lot of work ahead of us,” the supreme leaders said to me.
Chapter 11
SHIA HETON
I could not believe everything that had happened. I went from being captured by the Corillion warriors, to falling in love with one, to being under siege by Earthlings, then to being the prize in a prizefight. It was all too much to handle. I didn't ever think I would end up in such a strange place. Yet here I was, hoping that I could finally just be at peace with Commander Duron Spaunok and live out our days together. It is all that I wanted. I never dreamt that I would be longing for such a thing.
Watching him battle the fierce warrior known as Xet Crasis was the most terrifying thing that I had to endure. If Xet Crasis defeated him, not only would he have taken the life of the warrior that I loved, but he would also have been taking my life as well. It was too much to handle, and I was on the edge of a breakdown as I watched. But watching Duron in his element was very attractive and sexy. He truly was the strongest and most skilled warrior I had ever seen. When he finally defeated Xet Crasis, I felt such extreme relief and extreme attraction for him. He was the one for me. He was the Corillion warrior that I wanted to mate with forever.
Now I found myself in an even more peculiar situation. I was sitting in a room with another human female known as Rachel. She was the forever mate of the Giut Thoen.
"So you are the redhead human female that everyone has spoken of for so long. Even my own husband does not stop talking about you,” she said in an almost jealous and spiteful way. It was not what I was expecting from her. I thought I would find a human female that was excited to see another human female. But I soon learned that she was not the only one. This Corillion planet, that was known as Pourock, had many leaders on it, and therefore had many human females on it. So she was not as excited to see me as I was to see her.
"I did not know that I was so talked about. I have been locked up. I have been a prisoner, as I'm sure you were at some point in time.”
“You mean to tell me that you don’t know how famous you are? I think you are just trying to be humble. You are talked about every night in court. The defiant redhead that would kill a Corillion leader in his sleep if given the chance,” she said.
“No, I didn’t know that. I was a scientist on a space station and then I was captured. I’ve been locked up ever since, until now.”
“Oh, but you weren’t so locked up to fuck your captor, now were you. I have to admit, Commander Duron Spaunok is very sexy. I can see why you threw yourself at him. I would have done the same.”
Clearly she was not going to be friendly. I was not going to argue with her anymore about my fame that I wasn’t even aware of so I turned to chitchat. “Tell me, Rachel, where are you from?” I asked her.
"I am from New York. I was taken many years ago. I was taken during one of the first Corillion visits to Earth. I was on one of the very first rounds of abductions right after the war started. Most of the human females here are from that same round many years ago. I have been here a long time,” she said to me. “This is my life now.”
"Then you must have many offspring. You must be very happy,” I said to her with a smile.
"No. I am not. I also do not have any offspring,” she said spitefully.
I furrowed my eyebrows at her. I was so confused. “Do you mean that you have not mated with your husband?”
"No, I have many times. But you see, not all of us human females are compatible with the Corillion mating. I happened to be one that is not able to give him offspring."
"I don't understand. If you are barren or if he is barren, then why are you kept here? Why are you not allowed to go home? Why not return to Earth?” I asked her.
"Because I do not want to go home. I love him. But that does not mean that I am able to give him offspring. In the meantime, he is simply using me until he finds another. Until another human female is brought to him that can give him the offspring that will keep the Corillion race alive. Mating with me has allowed Giut Thoen to prolong his life. The rule no longer applies to him, but he wants more than that. He wants to procreate.”
"I am sorry for that, Rachel. That must hurt you greatly,” I said to her.
"How dare you speak to me of hurt!” she shouted. I did not understand her. I did not know what she wanted from me. Why did my presence offend her so much? Then the door opened and a warrior waved to her.
"You must excuse me. Make yourself comfortable,” she said to me. Then she left the room. I was glad that she was leaving because it was very uncomfortable being with her.
I could not wait until the time that Duron would return and we could go start our life together. I was very happy that he had been granted a leader. This way no one would ever again challenge us being together. He would also be able to lead a tribe of warriors, and he had the heart and skill for it.
"There you are,” I heard a voice say. Giut Thoen walked in.
"Oh, Supreme leader. Your wife just stepped out for a second. She will return shortly,” I said to him.
"No, she won't.”
"What do you mean?” I asked him.
"I made sure that she would not be returning to this room. I made sure that no one would be bothering us. I wanted to have my own time alone with the redheaded human female that has sparked so much trouble. I now see why. I must have a sample,” he said, stepping toward me. I began to panic. Shit. This bastard was going to try to be with me. This was why he called Duron away from me. This was why he made it seem like I was going to meet and hang out with his wife. It was all a cover to trick Duron. It was all a cover to trick me. I had to find my confidence.
"So you have heard that I am a threat to a Corillion that would try to mate with me without my consent. You have heard that I would kill such a Corillion if he tried, and yet here you are, testing me. Do you have a death wish?” I asked, trying to be as confident as I could be. I was trying to make real threats eve
n though I was trembling on the inside.
He laughed. “You are just as feisty as I have heard. I am going to enjoy this immensely,” he said.
"Not if I kill you first,” I said to him, narrowing my eyes at him.
"I assume my wife has told you that I have evolved beyond mating simply for offspring. Once I realized that she could not give me offspring, I started to mate with any human female that I could. Perhaps it is nature wanting me to spread my seed. It does not matter the reason, it is who I am now. Now, I want you.”
"And I do not want you. I only want Duron,” I said to him.
"That does not matter to me. I rank higher than Duron. There will be nothing that he can do once he finds out about this.”