by Vi Voxley
First, they needed to survive her little tumble.
"Come," he ordered her. "There is no way you can climb that."
He pointed to the rock wall that was smooth and solid, so steep it might as well have been a wall in some sections.
Jackie eyed it with suspicion, biting her lip.
"No," she admitted. "I probably can't. But I'm not entirely sure what you mean."
"I mean hold on," Kol-Eresh said, turning around. "Climb on my back, strap yourself in if you can and hold on. Watch out for the sword."
He waited. For a long moment, nothing happened. The harbinger chuckled.
"Are you weighing up your options?" he asked, not turning to see the truth in her eyes. "Are you planning to push me into the chasm in the hope I'm not so lucky this time? You wouldn't be the first female to do that. Not even to her own fated."
"No," Jackie shot angrily.
"I don't believe you," Kol-Eresh said, chuckling. "It would be a natural reaction. I don't blame you. Just don't expect much. The gods and I have squared off many times and I'm still standing. Don't count on luck."
"No," Jackie said, carefully moving around to stand in front of him, holding on to his armor not to fall off the edge.
Her heels were over the edge, but she seemed to trust him now, for whatever her reasons were.
"I wasn't considering that," the female told him, her voice firm and serious. "I would never do that. I don't kill people, especially those who just saved me. I need you to believe me."
"Why?" Kol-Eresh asked, cocking his head to the side and looking at her with interest, smiling. "Does my opinion matter all of a sudden?"
Jackie looked gorgeous even when she was glaring at him.
"I matter to myself," she said. "I'm not the sort of person who takes revenge. And I definitely don't push people from behind. I want you to understand that I'm not like you."
"I don't stab people in the back," Kol-Eresh replied.
"Yes, because it's more honorable to kill those who you're facing," Jackie said. "I know. All warrior species believe that. I still think you're horrible."
He laughed. The sound echoed in the chasm, making Jackie jump back from the edge.
"I've been called much worse, female," the harbinger said then, "but don't push your luck."
Jackie didn't reply at once. Her eyes kept flickering between the drop in front of them, the long climb ahead and him.
"I thought you said you didn't want to die," Kol-Eresh pointed out.
"I don't," Jackie said, the odd note back in her voice. "You have no idea."
"Nayanors aren't exactly eager to die either," the harbinger said. "So come now. I can't be worse than death."
The look in her eyes told him that she was still considering that. Even so, Jackie moved behind him. Kol-Eresh crouched down and helped her up. She was so light.
"Are you ready?" he asked. "You can wrap your hands around my neck."
"I don't want to choke you," Jackie said. "I can hold on to the sword sheath."
"Breathing is a secondary concern for me right now," Kol-Eresh said, stepping ahead and judging his first jump.
"Gods above," was Jackie's only response. "What is the first, then? Your warrior pride?"
"Your safety," Kol-Eresh replied, hearing her quiet when she heard that. "Now, get a good grip, because I'm going to jump and I already saw you don't like that much."
After a brief hesitation, Jackie did as he'd told her and wrapped her hands around his neck. Her soft, small hands intertwined as she held on for dear life. Kol could hear her breathing next to his ear as she dug her legs into his sides, bracing.
"Here we go," the harbinger said, pushing himself off the ledge.
Jackie let out a broken, terrified scream as they flew through the air. Kol couldn't pay more attention to her than that. He landed heavily, grabbing a hold of the cliff wall and immediately going into the next jump, using his momentum. Like a predator on Luminos, he jumped up the wall, forcing his body to provide him the energy he needed to do that.
The mechanical diadon, a power reserve with a glowing sapphire diamond in the center, was implanted in his chest. It was the mark of every Nayanor warrior, pushing their bodies to their limits and further.
Jackie didn't scream after the first jump. The harbinger could feel her concentrating on not being a burden to him. She relaxed when he was climbing and tensed up when he jumped, doing everything she could not to choke him.
Finally, the last jump took them back into the daylight outside. As soon as his feet touched the ground, Jackie slipped down and backed away.
"Don't run," Kol-Eresh warned her. "I think you should have learned the lesson of what happens when you try to escape from me. It's utterly futile. I would follow you to the other end of the galaxy if need be. There is no getting rid of me. We have the rest of our lives together."
The look in Jackie's eyes told him that she knew.
He extended his hand to her.
"Will you come along quietly or do I have to carry you? Because I don't mind either."
It seemed that Jackie did. Kol-Eresh couldn't fight his amusement at how much she needed to fight him to keep her pride. Somehow, it made her all the sexier to him, making him long for a chance to make their bond complete.
For now, Jackie walked past him, and his hand, heading down the path to his fighter. Kol-Eresh followed, looking at the settlement burn in the valley below.
Four
Jackie
From freedom to slavery in five minutes.
That was all that Jackie could think of, walking down the path as slowly as she dared. She wanted to take in the stunning view and fresh air of the Rockies while she still could. Very soon she'd be on an alien warship, on her way to a planet she knew nothing about.
All the Galactic Union had was a name – Luminos. Even that simple knowledge, along with the secret of the wormhole travels, had been brought at a price. Three women had managed to escape a while back, letting the Palians come up with early warning systems, but they had spoken of the horror on the ship. Thousands of women had still been taken while they got their lives back. None of them had ever returned.
There was no escape from Luminos. The women were trapped there not only by Nayanors, but by the vast distance between the Union's worlds and the Nayanor domain. The cage wasn't bars and blades and muscle. It was the short, fragile lifespan of humans. No ship that ever reached them could do anything to help, because it would be trapped by time just as they were.
The Palians had overruled sending any ships to look at random. They focused on trying to crack the secret of wormhole travel instead.
So far, the wisest species in the galaxy hadn't succeeded. It was worrying.
Jackie glanced at Kol-Eresh, walking a step behind her, wary and silent. The harbinger must have expected another escape attempt, but Jackie wasn't going to antagonize him further. She'd tried her best and it had nearly gotten her killed.
Kol-Eresh's words echoed in her head. About never letting her go, about dying for her if he had to. It spoke of obsession, of unnatural attachment that Jackie had a hard time believing in. But despite all that, there was a curiosity in her that she couldn't deny, much less banish.
She looked at the Ellora Resort burning far below them in the valley.
"Was that strictly necessary?" she asked the harbinger, nodding her head in that direction. "I bet you got what you wanted. Why the destruction of something so nice? It was a good place. I was happy here. What did stone and metal do to you?"
Kol-Eresh snorted dismissively.
"It's a reminder to the other Terrans that we are not to be trifled with," he said.
"You don't need to intimidate us," Jackie said, hoping the few friends she'd made and all the nice staff were okay. "We are already afraid of you. This is just overkill."
No one was okay, though. Nayanor ships were slowly returning to the orbit, which meant they'd finished their search. The Terran army was nowhere in sigh
t, as always – Nayanors were too clever to be troubled by them, although they sometimes provoked them on purpose by attacking a settlement right under their noses. The casualties were terrible each time, so in a way Jackie was grateful.
It would be as it always was. All the women were rounded up, taken away by the dropships that had accompanied the fighters. And the men were dead.
"This is war," Kol-Eresh stated. "Every means has a purpose here. You don't need to worry. No one will touch you now that you're mine."
"It's not me I'm worried about," Jackie said, looking at the warlord. "What will happen to the other women?"
"They'll be taken to the Leviathan. Then we will return to Luminos and they will be claimed by their fateds."
"What happens to those who don't find them?" Jackie asked, wondering if she actually wanted to know the answer.
"They'll wait."
"For how long?"
"Forever, if need be," Kol-Eresh said, observing her with his dark, mesmerizing eyes.
"That is horrible," Jackie breathed. "It's utterly barbaric. Could you – I don't know, bring some of the women back? When they've been on your world for a long time and no fated has appeared, why not release them from the imprisonment?"
"No one leaves," Kol-Eresh said firmly. "Luminos must stay a secret. Every female who comes there would know more about it than the Union does now."
That was true, of course, if not comforting.
Jackie was amazed at how amicably the warlord was answering her questions so far. She suspected the reason was keeping her in a good mood for later. She knew what was coming, after all. Nayanors were brutish in their search for solutions to difficult problems, but not without their reasons.
Luminos was a curious planet, but the one thing the Union knew about it was that there were no women there. None born on the world, at least. It was the reason why Nayanors roamed the many worlds of the Union, looking for their fated mates.
It meant only one thing for Jackie. The man walking behind her, dark eyes already undressing her with relish, wanted to fuck her. He wanted to her to carry his babies, too, but that wasn't going to happen anyway so Jackie considered it a distant trivial concern.
She was damaged goods. It was the most pressing question in her mind – should she tell him? Would it help her case at all?
Jackie kept it to herself for the time being. She needed to get a measure of the harbinger first, judge the warlord's character before she could make any rash moves. Maybe telling him that she wouldn't be around for him to play with for much longer would send the warlord into a rage. Gods knew Nayanors had their issues. She didn't put it past him to take his disappointment out on her.
Her legs didn't start shaking before she actually saw the fighter.
This is really happening. I'm getting kidnapped.
Jackie froze to the spot, unable to take another step. The harbinger's hand came around her, pulling her along gently but firmly. She felt a lone tear run down her cheek as she took her last steps on Terra.
Then her sneakers touched the floor of the fighter and she stepped into the cramped space of the sleek ship, watching the hatch close behind them. Her last glimpse of Terra was the sun shining over the lower hills, trees swaying in a soft breeze like nothing was wrong in the world.
Kol-Eresh pulled her into his arms when the fighter started off the ground with a lurch. His dark eyes observed her with an odd emotion, somewhere between curiosity and wonder.
One strong, armored hand reached out to wipe the tear from her cheek.
"Don't cry," the harbinger told her. "There is no weakness on Luminos, but you are safe with me. Nothing will happen to you while I still draw breath."
"Except you," Jackie pointed out, steeling her nerves.
"Yes," the harbinger allowed with a ravenous grin on his lips. "Except me."
"Are you –" Jackie began, hesitating for a moment as the fighter kept speeding upwards, breaking through the atmosphere. "Are you going to hurt me if I refuse to give you what you want?"
Kol-Eresh chuckled.
"I don't need to use force to make a female mine," he said firmly.
His arrogance was astounding, but on the other hand Jackie guessed that a man who looked like he was custom-made for wet dreams didn't have problems getting women to warm his bed. Every inch of Kol-Eresh exuded power and charisma, his powerful arms wrapped around her made Jackie feel safe despite everything. At least she wouldn't trip and fall. The rest was still one big question mark.
"I have no idea how you think to seduce me," she told the warlord. "I'm not so weak-willed that I give in to every hunk that kidnaps me."
"Is that so?" Kol-Eresh asked, the grin telling her that she was accidentally turning him on. "That's nice to hear."
"What?" Jackie asked, frowning. "That I won't be spreading my legs for you?"
"That you think I'm a hunk," Kol-Eresh said with a mischievous look on his handsome face.
"Bad choice of words," Jackie defended herself, trying to ignore the fact that her panties were wet from merely being close to the man.
"Was it?" the harbinger asked in a tone of voice that said he knew she was lying. "We'll see how long your resolve holds."
"Yes," Jackie said. "What about yours, then?"
"What of me?" Kol-Eresh asked, pulling her more tightly against his body.
She was pretty certain that he didn't need to hold on to her anymore. The fighter was flying smoothly at a steady speed without unexpected twists and turns.
"What about your resolve?" Jackie asked. "Maybe I'll seduce you. Rule your ship. Free the women on Luminos. Start a revolution. Become the queen of Nayanors."
It felt good to joke. Liberating, just like the running had before. It took away some of the dark, terrible fear that lurked in her heart, growing with each passing day. Jackie knew it was there. She tried to fight the monster of depression and despair with all her might, but it was so close now.
Out of the corner of her eye, she could see it standing right behind her. Its fingers were nearly touching her.
With all the irony in the world, being in Kol-Eresh's arms pushed the monster just a little further away and Jackie didn't want to let go of that.
Maybe this is a blessing in disguise. If I can hold him off until I run out of time, maybe he'll provide enough distractions for me to not notice when it comes.
The harbinger was laughing now, the sound deep and sonorous, resonating pleasantly.
"Go ahead," Kol-Eresh dared her. "I give you permission to try. Seducing me will be easy, of course, but ruling my ship is out of the question. I would like to see you become the queen of Nayanors, however. If you can figure out a way to rule my species, I'm interested to see how. We haven't figured that out in thousands of years."
"You're not ruled?" Jackie asked, curiosity getting the better of her.
"Not as such," Kol-Eresh said with an amused smirk. "We are led by harbingers and warlords strong enough to make the others obey. It's much less rule than it is dragging our brothers along because they don't have the power to overrule us."
"Warlords such as you?"
"Yes," the harbinger nodded. "Exactly like me. You should meet some of the others. They're not nearly as nice as I am."
Jackie's lips were smiling. She realized they'd been doing that for a while. The corners of her mouth were hurting a little. It had been so long since she'd genuinely smiled instead of trying to put on a brave face for others.
She looked at her fated, trying to envision spending the rest of her very short life with him. If that was her destiny, Jackie wanted to do it on her own terms.
"Your ship," she said. "If I come along quietly, do you promise not to lock me up?"
Five
Kol-Eresh
"Wow," his fated said, taking her first tentative steps in his quarters.
Kol-Eresh looked on as Jackie went from room to room, trying to take in everything. Her shock was evident, not that he blamed her. Nayanors were a warrior
race. Terrans had so many items they didn't need, whereas Nayanors had none.
The only things Kol-Eresh owned that didn't serve a very particular purpose in his day-to-day life were his war trophies. Weapons taken from powerful enemies, tokens of value. They lined the walls of one of his rooms, some still so fresh from battle that there was a distant smell of blood around them.
Their owners had not been eager to die.
Jackie quickly left that room, taking deep breaths when the door slid shut after her.
"That's horrendous," she said, pointing. "Why do you keep things like that? At the very least, you could have them cleaned up."
"No," Kol-Eresh said. "To have them still coated in the blood of the enemies I took them from shows I won them in hard combat. It is a sign of strength."
"It nearly makes me sick," Jackie admitted, glancing at the closed door.
"I won't pretend to like the smell of blood," Kol-Eresh said, leading her deeper into his quarters on the Leviathan. "But it is a necessity."
Jackie didn't utter any of the things that were very obvious from her expression. Instead, she ventured deeper into her new home, her hands wrapped around herself protectively. The overly big coat she seemed to be wearing did not compliment her. Kol-Eresh swore to have it off her soon enough. His eyes traveled over her tanned, smooth legs and the ass that the tight pants framed perfectly.
His cock grew even harder than it had been before. The lust he felt for her was unlike anything the harbinger had ever experienced before. It was more than a need for her body. It was a complete and overwhelming ache to possess every inch of her, to make the female his in a way that even the galaxy couldn't deny.
Soon.
"Where... Where am I going to live?" Jackie asked at last after having glimpsed his bedroom and quickly walking away from that.
"With me," Kol-Eresh said, grinning when he saw her eyes go wide. "These are not just my rooms anymore, they're ours."
"I'm assuming that includes the bed," Jackie replied in an emotionless voice, her eyes searching his face.