by Susan Hayes
Vadir
Star-Crossed Alien Mail Order Brides
Susan Hayes
Contents
About The Book
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Book #3 - Kash
Kash - Chapter 1
About The Intergalactic Dating Agency Series
About the Author
About The Book
What do you do when your planet runs out of women? Send for takeout, of course.
Vadir has a business empire to run and no time to spare on frivolous endeavors. So how did he wind up on the far side of the galaxy to claim a mate he never signed up for? A m
His plan is simple: meet the female, negotiate terms, and leave the primitive planet of Earth as fast as he can. What could possibly go wrong?
This book contains a bohemian blonde with a hell of a right hook, and an interstellar tycoon who is about to learn that the best things in life can’t be bought or sold, they have to be won.
SUSAN HAYES
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ALL RIGHTS RESERVED: This literary work may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, including electronic or photographic reproduction, in whole or in part, without express written permission.
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All characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead is strictly coincidental. It is fiction so facts and events may not be accurate except to the current world the book takes place in.
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Copyright © 2017 Susan Hayes
Vadir (Book #2 of the Star-crossed Alien Mail Order Brides Series)
First E-book Publication: October 2017
Cover Design: crocodesigns.com
Editor: Dayna Hart
Published by: Black Scroll Publications
ISBN: 978-1-988446-18-9
Dedication
As always, this story is dedicated to my Mum and Dad, for their love and support of their sometimes crazy daughter.
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This book is also dedicated to Karen, who is the ‘sister of my heart,’ and a dear friend no matter how many miles are between us.
1
Vadir Rahal paced the floor of his office and tried to think of a way out of this insane predicament. He didn’t have time for this right now. What was the King thinking?
Turning his back on the sweeping view of the city outside his windows, he stormed back to his desk and snatched the thick piece of parchment off the surface.
No one used parchment anymore. It had been an outdated concept two hundred years ago, but the royal family loved their traditions. The damned thing had even been delivered by a royal messenger in full uniform. He read the words again, looking for a loophole. Something, anything that he could use to decline the honour bestowed on him by the King and Queen of Pyros.
There wasn’t one.
“By the Flames of the First One, why did it have to be me?” he tossed the royal decree back onto the desktop and started pacing again.
“I’ve got a half-dozen deals to broker in the next week alone, and the Qualla Mining Consortium is threatening a work stoppage that could affect the ore markets for years to come. I need to be here, not on the other side of the galaxy retrieving my mate. I don’t need a mate. I didn’t ask for one. Crown Prince Joran is the one who needs a…”
He stopped in his tracks. Joran. If anyone could get him out of this, it would be the prince. He activated a wall monitor and called the one man on the planet who had any chance of changing the King’s mind.
“So, I guess you got the decree?” Joran asked by way of greeting.
“You knew about this?”
The Prince nodded. “I’m going with you. Turns out, you’re not the only one whose mate is supposedly on that planet.”
“Why me? Is this because I refused to play nice with the Romakis during that last trade war? Is this your father’s idea of revenge?”
“Wrong parent.”
“Your mother did this to me? I thought she liked me!”
“She does. Which is why she insisted your profile be included when we screened for possible mates. The rest was luck, or if you believe my mother, the will of the Gods.”
“So, this is real? My mate is out there?” The air in his perfectly maintained office suddenly seemed too thin.
“That’s what the experts say. They may not be our true mates, but our scientists confirm we can have children with them.”
“How can they possibly know that?”
Joran laughed. “I asked the same question. The answer is hard to believe, but I’ve seen the reports. Some of these people, humans, already carry Pyrosian genes.”
“How?” Vadir demanded, too stunned by the revelation to manage more than a single word.
“I’ll send you the report, and our experts’ best guess as to how it happened. It makes for interesting reading, but the short version is, this is real.”
“Our mates are out there, on another planet? And we’re just going to wander over there, explain matters, and bring them back here? Do you know how insane that sounds?”
Joran nodded. “I know. Read the reports. You’ve got enough time to make whatever preparations are necessary, but you can’t tell anyone where you’re going. We’ll figure out a cover story, probably something about you and I taking the Firebrand out on its maiden voyage to tour the system. Your shipyard built it, so no one will question why you’re coming along.”
“If you want it to be believable, I should bring my private shuttle, too. Everyone knows I have control issues.”
Joran snickered. “Fine, I’ll leave room in the hangar for your ship. But don’t think I don’t know what you’re doing. If you want to fly yourself down to the planet, you’re going to need to clear that with Commander Denza. He’s in charge of the mission.”
Of course he was. Who else would the King entrust with the life of his son and heir? “I’ll talk to him. I may have to obey this decree, but I’m not going to negotiate mating terms with some alien female surrounded by royal guardsmen. There are advantages to being me.”
“Just be on board and on time.” Joran grinned at him. “I’m sure you can negotiate the rest of the details to your satisfaction.”
“I wouldn’t dream of being late. An order is an order.” And apparently, this was one command he wasn’t going to be able to charm or buy his way around. Vadir recalled the final line of the missive he’d received. You will go to Earth and determine if the female is your mate. If she is, then you are hereby commanded to bring her home to Pyros. “I don’t suppose I’m going to be allowed to do some trade negotiations while I’m there?”
Joran laughed at him. “Father said you’d ask, and his answer is no.”
“I had to try.”
“Of course you did. We’ll talk again soon. I’ll send you over the file with all the information we have on your match. It’s not much, but at least you can see what she looks like. Her name is Lisa.”
Joran signed off, leaving Vadir alone in his office.
I’m going to be mated. The thought hit him with the force of a rogue comet strike. He’d never imagined this day would come. Hadn’t planned on it. Why would he, when there were so few unmated females on Pyros? He enjoyed the occasional dalliance with females from the planets he
visited for business, but those were simple, short-term affairs. Taking a mate was anything but simple, which was why Vadir had hoped to avoid it. But not even his wealth and power allowed him to refuse a royal command.
Faced with a new challenge, Vadir did what he did best. He set aside his emotions and focused on making a plan. He’d been ordered to negotiate the biggest deal of his life, and failure was not an option. If the King and Queen wished him to bring back a mate, then that’s what he’d do.
He needed to know as much about this Lisa as he could. Every being he’d ever met had a price. This female would be no exception. All he had to do was determine what she wanted, and offer it to her in exchange for leaving her primitive, isolated world to join him on Pyros and live in luxury for the rest of her life. It should be an easy sell.
Business had been slow all day, but that suited Lisa Woods just fine. She was still nursing a hangover from the wine she’d drunk last night. Or maybe it was an ice cream overdose. She pondered that idea for a moment and then rejected it. There was no such thing as too much ice cream.
There had definitely been too much wine, though. That’s the only reason she had broken her vow to never go back to online dating. Apparently, four glasses were all it took to drown out the voice of reason. The proof was in her email inbox this morning: confirmation of registration to the Star-Crossed Dating Service.
At least she hadn’t done it alone. She’d dragged Maggie and Gwen along with her on a quest for what the email promised would be an out-of-this-world dating experience.
“I could use a little out of this world,” she mused to herself as she looked around. Vancouver was a beautiful city, but it was easy to forget that when you never got to compare it to anywhere else. Lisa had spent her whole life here, and she dreamed of taking off to explore the world someday. Someday was still a long way off, though, considering she barely earned enough money to eat and make her rent.
Lisa made her living drawing caricatures and quick sketches for tourists. It wasn’t exactly a glamorous or high-paying job, especially when the tourists were few and far between. It was still early in the season, which meant the artists and street performers that dotted the seawall outnumbered their potential customers. She could head home to work on her paintings, but the spring sunshine was too nice to head indoors yet.
She sat underneath the canopy of her umbrella, idly sketching her surroundings when inspiration struck. She opened her sketch book to a fresh page and started drawing, the world around her fading away as she worked. Apart from the occasional pause to push her blonde hair back from her face, she stayed focused on the face taking shape on the paper.
Her mystery man had dark hair with a hint of curl in it, a strong jaw, and a mouth that curved up into an arrogant smile. Try as she might, she couldn’t get his eyes right, though. She’d drawn them dark and brooding, staring back at her from beneath a lightly furrowed brow. She kept working at them, and then, in a flash of insight, she knew what was wrong. She reached out with a bare foot to snag the strap of her crocheted art supply bag and pulled it close enough that she could reach it without setting down the sketch book.
She fished out two of the artist’s pens she used for signing her work and considered them for a moment. Gold or silver? She dropped the silver one back into her bag and quickly added a few gold highlights to her creation’s eyes.
“Better.” She stared at the face she’d drawn, wondering where her muse had drawn her inspiration from this time. It wasn’t a face she recognized from television or the movies. And if she’d ever laid eyes on a man that good-looking in person, she’d damned sure wouldn’t forget it. Especially not with those amazing eyes.
A breeze stirred, lifting her hair off her shoulders and ruffling the page of her book so that his eyes seemed to sparkle with silent amusement.
Lisa had long ago learned that when her muse took over like this, it was because the universe was trying to tell her something. Her friends teased her about it, but they knew it was true. After all, she’d drawn pictures of both Gwen and Maggie before they’d ever met. She’d drawn other things, too. Warnings that she had been too young and innocent to understand at the time. She wasn’t innocent anymore, though. These days, when the universe whispered in her ear, she listened.
The wind came up again, lifting the hem of her skirt so that it swirled around her legs and sending goose bumps chasing down her spine. Something was coming. She stared down at the picture in her hands. Or someone.
2
Vadir made his way along the seawall, dodging tourists taking photos of themselves against the backdrop of the Pacific Ocean. It was early afternoon, and the sun had already turned the skin of many of the humans around him a painful shade of pink. Most of them seemed oblivious to their discomfort thanks to the wide array of sights and sounds that served as enticing distractions.
The city itself was noisy and crowded. In many ways, it was the same as a hundred other places he’d visited. It was clearly a hub of trade, with a bustling port system and a steady stream of visitors arriving to admire the natural beauty of the area.
He could make a killing here if he were allowed to initiate trade with this planet. Unfortunately, the Interplanetary Council had very strict rules about contacting species before they had reached a certain level of development, and humans still had a long way to go.
As frustrating as it was to be denied a chance to make a profit, Vadir had to admit, he was enjoying his brief visit. The weather was pleasant, and the views were stunning. The air was laden with the scent of a myriad of tempting foods and confections, and there were any number of stalls and stations selling everything from artwork to jewelry.
Humans might be a primitive species in many respects, but they clearly had an appreciation for commerce.
In theory, the Council’s rules made sense. The no-contact policy was meant to ensure that a species didn’t acquire power and technology they weren’t ready to use responsibly. It also meant some races, like Earthlings, were left to struggle with global issues that could have been easily resolved if they had the right tools. He had researched everything he could about this world, and it was entering a period of transition that not every species survived. Taking his mate away from here would be an act of kindness.
He still struggled to come to terms with that term: mate. If that’s what this human female truly was. He’d read the report confirming that she carried Pyrosian DNA and gone through all the documentation that verified their compatibility. He still didn’t believe she was his mate. His match, yes. The science all confirmed that he should be able to have children with this female, which was good news for his species. With only one female to every six men, the Pyrosian race was in danger of going extinct. But being compatible didn’t mean she was his true mate. How could a female from the other side of the galaxy be his soul’s other half, the one destined to unlock his abilities to manipulate fire? It didn’t make any sense.
Not that it mattered. He was under orders to claim the human female and bring her to Pyros, and that was what he intended to do.
According to the limited amount of information that had been gathered about his supposed mate, she was an artist who spent the summer months selling her artwork to tourists somewhere along the seawall. She wouldn’t have been contacted yet, but he wanted to see her. To watch and learn what he could before they met. He never entered negotiations until he had all the information he needed, and he didn’t know enough about her. Not yet.
It was her laugh that drew his attention first. It wasn’t a polite chortle but a full-throated exclamation of happiness. He turned to look for the source of such unfettered emotion, and there she was. Lisa Woods. The woman he had crossed a galaxy to meet.
She was perched on a small stool, making faces at a child as she sketched the boy and his parents. He couldn’t see the drawing from this angle, but that didn’t matter. Her talent wasn’t what he’d come here to see.
It took a few minutes to find a vantage point
that suited his purposes. He needed to watch without being noticed. A nearby vendor offered roasted tubes of meat wrapped in bread, and he purchased one, selecting several of the offered toppings at random before taking a seat nearby.
From here, he could observe and learn. She had an easy, approachable manner. A natural saleswoman, she made everyone she spoke to feel special. He could see it in the way they reacted to her. It didn’t hurt that she was quite beautiful. Her pale blonde hair was loose around her shoulders despite the summer heat. Her multi-hued dress was light enough that every breath of wind made it swirl and flutter against her body, showing off her slender form and long legs.
He watched her for the next twenty minutes. By the time he finished eating the strange but tasty street food, he had discovered more than he’d learned in the hours he’d spent reading her files. Those had been the facts of her life. Useful in their own way, but none of them had prepared him for the vivacious energy and inherent gentleness of this female. Finding her price to leave with him would be a challenge, but spending time in her company would be no hardship at all.
He pulled his communicator out of his pocket and punched in a brief request to the ship in orbit. It was time to initiate the match.
He rose from the bench and slipped back into the crowd, resisting the temptation to linger. Lisa would be getting an email soon, with his picture. He needed to be out of sight before that happened.
The next time he saw his future mate, he’d make his pitch and start negotiations. By this time tomorrow, he should have closed the deal and completed his mission. He was rich, powerful, and could offer her a life of luxury and safety. What female would say no to that?