gaian consortium 06 - zhore deception
Page 27
She slept beside him for hours and hours. So much so that when Trinity woke up, she felt almost dizzy.
Then Zhandar’s hand was on her shoulder. “Good afternoon, my love.”
“Afternoon?” she echoed, sitting up and rubbing at her eyes. The bedroom was quite dim, the shades almost fully drawn, but she thought she could see the faintest traces of bright light seeping around their edges.
“Yes. You’ve slept for almost twelve hours.” His hand moved to her hair, stroking it, and she almost purred at his touch. Even now she could feel herself begin to tingle and come alive, her body needing him. Craving him.
Seeming to sense her arousal, he moved his hand lower, stroking her. She cried out as his fingers buried themselves in her sensitive flesh, and she rocked her hips in time with those delicious strokes, knowing that the orgasm would hit her very soon, partly because she’d already been so relaxed, so satisfied, to begin with.
She clung to him as she came, and even as the shudders were still rippling through her, he lifted her and set her down on him so he could fill her again. Ah, that was it — that was perfection, Zhandar inside her, their bodies moving together, no words, only their need and the one thing that would satisfy it.
This time he climaxed first, but only by a few seconds. Gasping, she let herself collapse on his chest, feeling the shudderingly delightful sensation of all those tiny scales against her naked breasts. For a long moment they stayed that way, until their breathing smoothed out, and they were quiescent. Trinity knew she’d have to get up soon, go take a shower, do whatever else she needed to do to get ready for the day, but this felt so good that she didn’t want to move.
“I didn’t know it could be this perfect,” she said at last, her voice barely above a murmur.
A long pause. Then Zhandar replied, “Neither did I.”
Something in his voice seemed to catch at her. Very gently, she pulled herself off him, then lay down at his side. She pushed a long strand of night-black hair away from his face. A sort of hidden pain seemed to pulse from him, although she couldn’t tell exactly what had caused it. Taking a breath, she said, “It’s — you don’t have to say that if it’s not the truth.”
“‘Not the truth’?” he echoed, his tone genuinely incredulous. He stared into her face, his silvery eyes a cloudy gray in the darkened bedchamber. Then he shook his head. “Oh, my love. That is not what I meant at all. It is only — ” The words stopped there, as if he was turning them over in his mind, attempting to find the best way to arrange them. When he spoke again, his voice was so low that she had to strain to hear it. “After Elzhair, I had thought there would be no one else. It is very rare, you know, for someone to have the sayara bond with two different people. Not impossible, but it also does not happen very often. So to have it with you, and then to realize….” He paused again, and Trinity forced herself to remain silent, knowing that this was very difficult for him. “…to realize that what I share with you is even more than what I had with Elzhair….”
Once again words seemed to abandon him. Trinity pressed against his side, molding her body to his. “Zhandar, it’s all right. This is not a betrayal. This is only affirming that life goes on. You will always love Elzhair. But you love me, too. Love isn’t something finite. You can have as much love as you need for everyone in your life.”
For a long moment, he said nothing. Then at last his hand slipped over the contours of her form, going from thigh to hip and then resting there. Finally, it moved to her belly, still flat, showing nothing of the child growing within. At last he spoke, his tone filled with wonder.
“Yes, life does go on.”
EPILOGUE
Gabriel Brant knew, from the look of glee on his coworker’s face, that Eli Turner had some piece of news or other tidbit that he wanted to torture him with. After six months here, Gabriel still couldn’t decide which was worse — being demoted to data analysis in this windowless hole of an office, or being forced to share said windowless hole with Turner, who seemed to delight in his office mate’s fall from grace.
It could have been worse, he supposed. At least he wasn’t coordinating waste removal in Luna City.
Yet.
“What is it, Turner?” he asked, voice as even as he could make it. Letting that little bastard hear even the slightest edge of irritation was enough to set Eli off on ever-increasing rounds of petty torture.
“You might want to see this, Brant,” Eli said, making the vowel in Gabriel’s last name as flat and nasal as he possibly could. It was an affection that had made Gabriel begin to hate the sound of his own name.
“We’re on a deadline.”
“This’ll only take a minute. Besides, it involves your last mission. Sort of.”
Despite himself, Gabriel scowled. The last thing he wanted to be reminded of was that complete cock-up of a project. And that stupid bitch, Trinity Knox. How could someone who looked that innocent and big-eyed and sweet be such a conniving wench? Every once in a while, in the darkest hours of the night as he lay awake, rehashing what had gone wrong and what he could have done to change it, he might have admitted to himself that wanting to screw her senseless could have impaired his judgment a little. Still, how was he supposed to know that the Zhore could have mounted anything like that assault on the space station where his little breeding experiment was supposed to take place? Those scaly bastards were supposedly complete pacifists. What the ever-loving hell were they doing hiring mercs to do their dirty work?
“I’m busy, Eli.”
Grinning, Eli pointed his handheld at the screen on the opposite wall. It was supposed to be used only for official business — projecting charts and graphs, watching the occasional “motivational” vid — but Eli used it for his noon entertainment, mainly because he knew that Gabriel hated the mindless shows that he watched.
What appeared in the next moment, however, was not the sort of vapid entertainment broadcast or rerun of an adventure serial that Eli usually chose. Instead, the screen showed a background of blue, blue sky, the sort of blue one never saw on Gaia any longer, and waving fronds of lacy blue-green trees that looked alien, although Gabriel would admit that he was no expert on botany, alien or otherwise.
That wasn’t what drew the eye, however. In the center of the screen was a very pregnant Trinity Knox, looking glowing and radiant and happy, despite her bulk. To either side of her were two women that Gabriel also recognized, although he had never seen either one of them in person. One was the coolly beautiful former ambassador, Alexa Kreg, and the other was Annika Jespers, the colonist’s daughter from Lathvin IV. Alexa held a sleeping infant in her arms, an infant with the glinting rainbow-scaled skin of the Zhore, while Annika was wrestling with a similarly complected little boy, almost two standard, who clearly wanted to get down and run around.
And standing behind them were three tall Zhore, similar in appearance at first glance, although their eyes were all different. The one with Alexa was the tallest, the other two just a shade shorter.
All these observations passed through Gabriel’s mind in an instant. Then his thoughts caught up with his eyes, and he had to prevent himself from doing a double take, because Eli would have enjoyed that too much.
None of those Zhore males were hooded. They wore high-necked tunics in shades of black and dark gray and the deepest green, but that was all. And they stared into the camera steadily, showing no sign of discomfort that they were so revealed for all the galaxy to see.
Trinity was speaking, her voice clear and steady. “…change comes to everything, even Zhoraan. We wanted the galaxy to know our stories, and those of our families. The Zhore are not monsters, but merely another humanoid race, like the Eridanis and the Stacians. One that we can join with, and mingle with, if our hearts and minds are compatible.” She paused for a second and smiled, and the Zhore behind her — who must have been Zhandar — laid a hand on her shoulder.
They both looked ineffably happy, and Gabriel wished he somehow had the power
to reach across the light-years that separated them from him and punch them both in the face.
The camera shifted to Sarzhin. “Too long we have kept ourselves separate, but, for many reasons, that time is now at an end. We want our children to be citizens of the galaxy, to be part of a greater community, and not locked away.”
Annika smiled up at him, nodding, even as the camera moved once again, this time focusing on Alexa Kreg, who apparently had just handed her sleeping infant off to the Zhore male behind her. Damn, she was gorgeous. How was it that those scaly-skinned freaks could somehow attract the best-looking women?
When Alexa spoke, her tone was cool, matter-of-fact. And damning. “But our stories are not the only ones that need to be heard. For decades…centuries, really…the Consortium has been involved in the very worst sorts of activities — extortion, illegal research, kidnapping, false imprisonment, intimidation on every level. Some of these activities began to come to light with the scandal in the Hunan Province last year, but that, I assure you, was only the tip of a very large iceberg.”
Gabriel couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Oh, sure, he knew the Consortium’s hands were dirty, and didn’t much care. Business was business. But how the hell was this signal not being jammed at the source?
He shot a sharp glance over at Eli, who had rocked back on his heels and had his hands jammed in his pockets. “They’re going to cut this off at any second.”
“I don’t think so,” Eli replied, sounding way too cheerful. He was the type who couldn’t resist a bit of schadenfreude — even if said delight in the misery of others involved the possible downfall of the very government that employed him. “It’s coming in on all channels. It’s flickered once or twice, like they’re trying to kill it, but whoever’s pushing the transmission through obviously has a lock on the entire communications network.”
Which meant they were good. Really good. The smallest tendril of worry began to worm its way down Gabriel’s spine. He’d always thought of the Consortium’s citizens as sheep, stupid, easily led, and ready to be exploited, but if someone slapped them in the face hard enough and woke them up….
“But you don’t have to take my word for it,” Alexa went on. “Accompanying this signal is a data feed with information on the murders they’ve covered up, the treaties they’ve reneged on, the people they’ve sent to rot in prison for no crime other than trying to expose the Consortium’s own criminal activities. We urge all of you to analyze this evidence and see for yourselves, then make your own decisions. The power lies in your hands, for this government — in word, at least, if not practice — is a democracy. You can change it. If enough of you will this change into being, then it can exist.” She stopped then, gray-blue eyes seeming to bore into the camera, and said simply, “Don’t let the Consortium make you its slaves any longer.”
She stepped back. After panning across the faces of those in its field of vision, human and alien, but all determined, all willing to put their privacy on the line to show that a fundamental shift had just occurred, even if most of the galaxy hadn’t realized it yet, the screen went dark, except for one word written in Galactic Standard.
Change.
For a few seconds, neither Eli nor Gabriel said anything. Gabriel’s mind was racing. Then he said harshly, “Was she telling the truth about that feed, or was that just a line of bullshit?”
“I don’t — ” Eli blinked and looked down at his handheld, then swiped his finger across it. “Holy shit.”
Gabriel didn’t bother to ask what he was seeing. Instead, he pulled his own handheld out of his breast pocket. The alert on the home screen was flashing, indicating that he had a new message.
How someone had managed to send a simultaneous transmission to every device in Consortium space capable of receiving it, he had no idea. Not the Zhore. The Eridanis? Maybe. They’d always been in bed with the scaly freaks.
With a shaking finger, he swiped across the screen, downloading the message. Almost at once a parade of images began to flow across his handheld. Worlds he’d never seen. Faces he didn’t recognize. Bodies being processed in a facility that he guessed was in Hunan Province. Documents and contracts and treaties and lord knows what else. All of it there, just ready to be dissected for the damning evidence it contained.
He looked up from the handheld’s screen to see Eli staring at him, the first traces of fear obvious in his pinched face. “What does it mean?” he asked at last.
“The end,” Gabriel said heavily. Maybe it wouldn’t happen today, or next week, or even in the next month. But the change Alexa Kreg and her compatriots had called for was coming, sweeping in with the inexorable power of the tide.
And Gabriel knew that he, and many others like him, would probably drown in that tide.
The End
* * *
The Gaian Consortium series will be going on hiatus for a while. At the moment, I don’t have any plans for future books in this series, but I’ve learned to never say never. I do want to say thank you to all my readers for spending time in the Consortium universe with me!
However, look for a new series of space opera romances from me, coming in 2016. You can sign up here to be notified of all of my new releases!
IF YOU ENJOYED THIS BOOK…
If you enjoyed reading The Zhore Deception, please consider taking a minute or two to leave a review. Reviews are a valuable resource in helping readers find other books they may enjoy — and they help the author, too, as there are many promotional opportunities only available for books that have a certain number of reviews.
Thank you again for reading!
ALSO BY CHRISTINE POPE
THE WITCHES OF CLEOPATRA HILL
(Paranormal Romance)
Darkangel
Darknight
Darkmoon
Sympathetic Magic
Protector
* * *
THE DJINN WARS
(Paranormal Romance)
Chosen
Taken
Fallen
* * *
THE SEDONA FILES
(Paranormal Romance)
Bad Vibrations
Desert Hearts
Angel Fire
Star Crossed
The first three books of this series are also available in an omnibus edition at a special low price!
* * *
TALES OF THE LATTER KINGDOMS
(Fantasy Romance)
All Fall Down
Dragon Rose
Binding Spell
Ashes of Roses
One Thousand Nights
* * *
THE GAIAN CONSORTIUM SERIES
(Science Fiction Romance)
Breath of Life
Blood Will Tell
The Gaia Gambit
The Mandala Maneuver
The Titan Trap
The Zhore Deception
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Christine Pope has been writing stories ever since she commandeered her family’s Smith-Corona typewriter back in the sixth grade. Her work includes paranormal romance, fantasy romance, and science fiction/space opera romance. She fell in love with Sedona, Arizona, while researching the Sedona Files series and now makes her home there, surrounded by the red rocks. No alien sightings, though...not yet, anyway!
To be notified of new releases by Christine Pope, please sign up here.
Christine Pope on the Web:
@ChristineJPope
ChristinePopeAuthor
www.christinepope.com
Table of Contents
Copyright
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
Chapte
r 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Epilogue
If You Enjoyed This Book…
Also by Christine Pope
About the Author