by Celeste Raye
“What else must I endure for you?” he asked her, slumping over as if she was sucking the marrow and energy out of him every time she asked him to do something for her. Yes, she needed to leave him alone. But the hurt was there, fresh like a tear in her heart. This man had promised to love her until death, but it looked more like she was loving him to the grave. And to have him say it out loud felt like the end of something.
Alexis stood on her tiptoes, snaking her hands around his waist and then his neck. She gave him a sweet kiss, more for her own benefit than for his. “You’re probably right; I need to get over it. I am sorry, I just have a lot of guilt about this,” she told him, reassuring him that he did not have to do anything: that it was over.
“I know you do, my love,” he told her in that deep, sweet as molasses voice of his. She was going to miss that more than anything. “But sometimes things happen in life we cannot control. I will be here to help you get through it. I promise.” He picked up her hand and kissed it before walking away. She knew they would meet up again in her room later, but by then, he would have noticed what she had done.
Her hand clenched around the thing she had taken from him in order to continue her plan without him. She would just have to do this on her own, with a little help from the radio she had stolen from inside his armor. Would he ever forgive her?
Alexis made her way back inside and went straight to her room. She had to take the first step before Nabvan or the king came for her because both of them would stop her for different reasons. She couldn’t risk that. Phase one of the plan was happening even if all else failed. Even if she got caught and jailed, away from the man she loved.
It took a good hour for her to figure out how to get to a frequency outside of Milisaria, but she knew with her tech experience she could make the radio work for what she wanted. Surprisingly, she remembered just how to get in touch with the Arkani, and she wasn’t sure how she did not think of it before. They were not fighters, but they were smart and desperate for these women to come to them. Surely, they could figure out a way to get the women back.
She felt her heart beating fast in her chest, praying that the king did not choose that moment to walk into the room and catch her in the middle of her message. “Attention Arkani, this is Alexis Fisher. I know where the women that were meant to come to you have gone. They are alive and being held as slaves by the Milisarian Knights. The knights will return uncooperative women to Earth in just a few short hours if they do not mate with the men that chose them. If you can find a way to come and intercept them, please do so.”
Alexis hoped it got through and switched off the radio before tucking it under the mattress where she hoped nobody would look. The call was made, and all there was to do was wait. Wait for her punishment and wait for the Arkani to come and rescue the women.
Chapter 20:
***Alexis***
King Shene led Alexis down a familiar hallway. She knew just where she was going, but she pretended as if she didn’t. The last time she came, it had been less guarded, and Nabvan had been the one to get her in. She had been desperate to convince the women to believe her and find a way to cooperate with the men who had chosen them, but it had been a no-go for everyone but one.
King Shene spoke to the four guards who were at the entrance to the quarantined set of rooms that held the human women who would be loaded up on a ship to Earth as soon as their conversations ended. He let them know Alexis was allowed in for a certain amount of time and then was to be escorted out and taken straight to the king. Alexis had no reason to believe the king suspected her. He had hardly been in her room, and he seemed happy at her presence unlike any time before they had mated. His hands kept sliding over her body possessively as if to let her know she belonged to him now and he would want another shot at her later. And he probably would.
“Will I still get to come with you to see them home?” she turned to the king and asked in a sweet voice, brushing her hand through his hair. She had to be sure he still wanted her on that ship because if things didn’t go as planned, she had to be ready for plan B.
“I am happy to have you with me anywhere I go. I am so glad that you have truly come around, my Alexis.” His voice sounded like a snake, as it often did when he said her name. He pulled her chin up and kissed her lips, smoothing his against hers. He was not the best of kissers, but if she ever wanted a rough lovemaking session, she knew who to ask. “I think when we get home, it may be time to make you my queen. We can have a wedding more beautiful that Siefer’s. Would you like that?”
Alexis imagined a wedding with all that love and the beauty of the moons shining around them, but she imagined a different groom entirely waiting for her at the end of the aisle. “Yes, I think I would like that,” she told him with a smile before he commanded the doors to be open. She looked back at him as she walked down the hall to the women until the doors shut behind her, leaving her alone with them. There was only one entrance and no windows there. The only guards were at those doors, so she knew there would be no one around to hear her. The king trusted her fully now. She had made sure of that. How wrong he was, though.
“You again!” one of the women seethed as they came out of their room to see her there.
“I came to talk. Can you get the others and take them to the last room down the hall, please?” she asked the women, keeping her distance. She didn’t want to incite any more anger.
“Why should I trust you?” the woman asked, pushing a black curl out of her face.
“Because you know now that I told you the truth about being taken back to Earth, and I am on your side. I am here to help, if you’ll let me.” A woman poked her head out of her room. She had been listening.
“I want to hear what she has to say.” Alexis nodded, and the women began to gather the others into the last room down the hall just as she had asked them to. They were squished inside like sardines when the door closed on them, and she was permitted to talk.
“I have made contact with the Arkani,” she told them. Shocked whispers rippled through the room, and some looked confused as to how she could have pulled that off. She couldn’t blame them. She was shocked she had been able to do such a thing. But she had done it for them. “I was able to get a hold of a radio and tune it to their frequency. I asked if they would come for you and told them where we were going. I will be on that ship with you.”
One of the women spoke up. “But the Arkani are further from Earth than Milisaria. What if they don’t make it to us before we get to Earth? Their ships are fast, but I would guess that the Milisarians have some pretty good ships too.” Alexis nodded. It was what she had feared as well. It was exactly why she needed to talk with them about the backup plan.
“That is true,” Alexis said, trying to make sure the room would be calm for what she said next. “Which is exactly why I want to be on that ship. I say that if we get halfway to Earth with no sign of the Arkani at all, that we fight to take over the ship. We will either succeed and get to the Arkani, or we will die trying.” Alexis looked around at all the faces in the room as they took on new appearances. Some were shocked, others afraid, and even more with determined looks. She could tell that at least a few of them would fight.
“You think just a few women can take over that ship?” one of the women asked, incredulous.
“I don’t know for sure, but I know we can try. It’s a last resort. How many of you actually feel okay with going back to Earth? If you all do, then I will leave it alone and let fate decide.” Alexis went to leave the room, but they begged her to turn around. She knew they didn’t want to go back.
“Anything is better than being sex slaves to these men, but I don’t think I would be okay if I went back.” Alexis nodded. The plan was on then.
As Alexis was led back to the king, she thought about Destiney. She got the feeling she would never see her again and never see what her child with Siefer would look like. If the Arkani caught up to them, then she would be caught. The king would
know she was the only one capable of getting that radio. And if they had to fight, she would be the first to go down because hers would be a betrayal. She wished she could say goodbye, but she couldn’t let Siefer in on the plan.
The king took her by the arm affectionately. “Are you ready?” he asked, leading her towards the hangar. So, it looked like she wouldn’t be seeing Nabvan again until they were on the ship. Perhaps that was for the best.
“Yes, I am.”
Chapter 21:
***Dravik***
Nabvan knew the moment he found that his radio was missing who had taken it. The most surprising part to him, though, was that he was not angry. In fact, fear was the stronger emotion at the moment. Luckily, he had been able to recover it under Alexis’s mattress before he had to meet the others on the ship. The king had already taken Alexis there, and the women were being loaded on when he finally made it to the hangar. There was a new determination to them he had not seen in them before, and that just served to make him even more concerned. Alexis was up to something, and she was going it alone. He had let his emotions get the better of him and slip off of his tongue, and it had led her to a desperate attempt to do something insane to save these women from going back to Earth. He had to find a way to get to her and see if there was any way to reverse it. Otherwise, he was going all in to help her. He was not going to lose her. He had fought too hard to have her.
Nabvan found himself in the king’s quarters on the ship, guarding her once again. The king didn’t like to be bothered on most of his political missions. The fact that Alexis was there was mostly for show once they made it to Earth, he was certain. King Shene would show off his conquest to them as intimidation. He doubted the king had any intentions of putting in a good word for the women, and he had kept that to himself to try and appease Alexis. It clearly had not worked.
He went into the room cautiously to find her waiting for him, looking regal as always. She was always the bright spot, so much so that he was afraid to look at her at times. “What have you done?” he asked her, which sent her into a fit of tears he wasn’t expecting.
Nabvan went straight to her, sitting down and pulling her into his arms like she was a child. He cradled her there and sniffed that musky scent of her hair he loved so much. “Oh, god, Nabvan, I knew you would hate me, but I couldn’t let them go back to Earth.” Nabvan felt himself holding back his own tears. Whatever she had set in motion, it was going to change everything. “I contacted the Arkani. They’re coming to get them. And if they don’t, we fight. We fight and win or we die.”
Nabvan let out a sigh. He could not feel anything but anguish and love. He knew this woman, deep down to her soul. He should have realized the moment she pulled away back in Milisaria that she would continue with her plan anyway. This was the woman he loved, and he couldn’t be angry because it was exactly what she was meant to do. She changed worlds. She had changed his so completely.
Nabvan began to kiss away her tears as they each fell, not having anything comforting to say. He was so afraid for her. He could not watch her get tortured and killed over this. He knew what he would do to prevent it and what that would do to her too. There was no happy ending now.
“When this is all over, no matter what happens, I want to be with you forever. I want this to end with us together in my own personal Heaven or me in your arms because we got out of this. And I know you don’t want the same, but I just have to tell you, it’s killing me, the way I have to touch him and look at him as if he is you.” Nabvan caressed her face as she confessed this. If only she understood. It was all he wanted as well.
He pulled her back onto the bed, sliding her dress off of her so easily, like water flowing through a stream. His body called for hers and always would, even if this was the last time they could feel each other this way. He pulled his clothes off quickly, wanting to savor this moment before it was taken away from them. The ship took off, flying into the stratosphere as he began to kiss her with every ounce of passion he had for her. He was letting go this time, letting her have it all in case he never got to touch her again. He knew that the events that were coming could rip them apart for good.
He placed himself over her body, feeling her heat against him. His lips dragged across hers and then down to her chin, tasting every inch of her skin. Then, he slid down her body, tasting her navel and sliding his tongue down to that sweet spot that gave him so much pleasure. He felt himself growing in response as she arched her back into his lapping motions.
Alexis squirmed under his touch, and he loved that he knew he could get her going like that. He had no confidence the first time they had done anything like this, having never mated before. Of course, it was instinct. Milisarians had even more instinct for such things than humans where they were lacking in scientific and creative thought processes. So, he knew he would know what to do, but he didn’t know how much she would love it. It was her reactions that really drove him, making everything that much more intense. He could not imagine feeling anything better with anyone else. The king must have been insane to be with Alexis and then be able to still be with another woman.
Not able to wait any longer to have her, he slid back up her body, planting the head of his shaft right at the entrance to her warm, wet center. He slid inside of her with a sigh that let out all of his beautiful relief to finally be inside of her again. He pumped into her at a steady rhythm as she moaned into his mouth, reaching for it with her lips. Their tongues danced with each other as he moved his whole body over her, writhing with all his strength as he meant to pleasure her even more than the last time they were able to be together.
He felt her nails raking up against him just the way he liked, leaving her mark on him, just as he began to feel that pulsing sensation he knew meant she was climaxing. He loved how her body squeezed and worked his member to completion, making him moan so loud. He released into her, leaving his own kind of mark. He wanted to fill her with pieces of himself. Maybe she would have his child instead of the king’s.
Just as he was going to continue for round two, the door opened abruptly, revealing the two of them there together, him still inside of her. The king saw all, and the look on his face was one of shock, disappointment, and embarrassment. It didn’t matter what plan Alexis had come up with. It would all be over now.
The king called for the guards as Nabvan was promptly made to cover up and dragged away with Alexis screaming and crying for him the whole time. He knew what his punishment would be, but his heart and soul went out to his love. Would she survive what was coming for her?
Chapter 22:
***Alexis***
Alexis’s lungs and heart hurt the more she called out to and cried for the love of her life. He was long gone, taken away by the king’s guards while the king waited for her to stop wailing so he could dole out whatever punishment he had for her. All was lost, and she knew it. She would never be able to help the women now. She would never get to be with Nabvan. So, she hoped that her punishment would be a death that would lead her to a place where she could be with his soul. She did not want to live the life that would be ahead of her if the king kept her around.
“I cannot believe the betrayal that I have seen with my own two eyes. I cannot believe after all you have scolded me for that I have found my human mate, the woman I have chosen to be my queen, in bed with a man I count as my second. I cannot believe you have taken on another lover. Do I not please you when I thrust myself into you? Do I not make you shake and shiver with madness when I touch you in your special places?” he asked, his voice rising into a fever pitch over her now softening cries. She was losing her voice and losing her will to scream. For all she knew, the one she loved was dead already. If he wasn’t, could she ask for him to be spared?
“Please, before we get into this, I beg of you to save his life. Spare him. He has betrayed no one. He loves me dearly, and that is his only crime. He has no other mate, nobody else to answer to. I will die in his stead if a punishment must come d
own. Or send him away from this planet, somewhere else, anywhere. But please, do not hurt him. I will do anything.” Alexis pleaded through her tears, falling to the ground and begging at the king’s feet. It was the lowest moment in her life that led her down there, offering her life or anything the king commanded to save the love of her life.
She looked up at the king as he cocked his head to the side, not unlike a confused dog. He did not laugh, but he did not give her the answer she was looking for either. Alexis could feel her heart shattering inside her chest. She was certain it could never be whole again. “You would die for this Milisarian knight that has betrayed his king: this young, inexperienced man who took you just the way I wanted to?” the king asked as if it surprised him. The king would probably never give his life for anyone. No wonder he survived every battle. He probably used the rest of the knights as meat shields. It was sickening.
“Have you not ever heard of anyone willing to die for the one they love?” she asked, winning her a slap across her face that stung. His nails had raked her skin as well, leaving bloody claw marks that she grabbed and held, holding back her tears this time. Nothing hurt like the loss of Nabvan.
“Love? You have allowed yourself to fall in love with a man when I have chosen you? I have chosen you for a worthy position: to be the queen of all of Milisaria. I have had you in my bed and given you all the freedom you have asked for. I have not forced the women and men together. Instead, I am sending them home. All of this I have done because your wit and beauty had bewitched me in a way I never thought possible. And still you tell me you love another: a keeper that I gave to you to care for you?” he asked, clearly enraged. He did not understand. He would never understand.
“I am flattered that you find me so wonderful, but love is not a choice. If you had ever felt it yourself, you would know that,” she cried, hitting him where it hurt: that stone-cold heart if his.