The Golden Heart: Alliance Book One (Alliance Series 1)

by Jessamyne Hunter

  Sartak gently caressed his cheek before he placed a soft kiss on his forehead and then on his lips.

  They shifted around; Sartak’s softening cock slid out of him while his cum ran down his legs, leaving a mess on the sheets.

  Kellan came to lie next to his husband, still breathing heavily.

  Watching his man’s chest heave up and down, he smiled happily. He started to trace the shapes of Sartak’s muscles, chuckling while he smeared his semen all over the heated skin.

  “Give me a few minutes and I’ll fetch a cloth to clean us up,” Sartak muttered, too lazy and content to walk all the way to the bathroom now.

  Kellan chuckled again, nuzzling his head against Sartak’s neck.

  “Whatever you say. Strange how you can go from sex-god to old man in seconds, though,” he teased, causing Sartak to snort.

  He smiled.

  “I love you too,” he whispered and closed his eyes, suddenly very tired but feeling safe in Sartak’s arms.

  17

  The next morning, he woke to furious voices hissing at each other.

  Sleepily, he blinked while his eyes adjusted to the brightness of the room. The curtains- those were only the sheer ones since the bed had thick ones blocking out all light and see-through ones- were still drawn, so he could only determine blurred figures arguing on the porch. Sartak was already up since the other side of the bed was empty.

  Kellan relaxed a bit, knowing it was most certainly his husband and some councilors who disturbed his lazy morning by yelling at each other in their strange Phy’vohranian language.

  Dershra didn’t seem impressed with any of it. He only made himself a nest with the help of the blankets on Sartak’s side of the bed.

  “Enough!” he heard his husband bark; the councilors winced at the one-more-word-and-you’ll-regret-that tone of their prince.

  Then he spoke again but much less loud than before, still…

  The hostility in his voice made even Kellan frown. What was going on?

  He quietly wrapped the thin blankets around himself and left the bed, looking for a robe he could just throw on.

  Finding his morning robe on the floor next to the clothes tree- Dershra had probably been fooling around there again- he donned it quickly and approached the five men barking at each other…again.

  They were so busy with arguing and snarling, they didn’t notice him standing right behind them for a while.

  Sighing, he cleared his throat and rolled his eyes when they silenced.

  All of them turned around to give him sheepish looks or nervous smiles, seemingly uncomfortable with having woken up the crown prince’s consort.

  Sartak, on the other hand, gave him an apologetic gaze.

  “What’s the matter, gentlemen?” he asked, tapping his right foot on the floor and arms crossed in front of him.

  He knew he looked…well-fucked after last night; his hair a mess and smelling of sex and semen. He just didn’t care.

  Those councilors were standing on the porch of their bedroom. They had to know that married couples who shared a bed did things such as having sex, so they shouldn’t mind it at all.

  Kellan only hoped his face had no obvious streaks of cum since he had abused Sartak’s chest as a pillow again- and Sartak’s chest had been smeared with his seed.

  Sartak didn’t answer him. He just wore the slightest of smiles, letting Kellan know the situation amused him, too.

  He still waited for an answer while the councilors gave each other glances that said as much as: You tell him!

  “Esteemed Consort, we humbly beg your Highness’s pardon for waking you, but important matters came up during the night and needed an immediate response. The pirate attacks are getting more and more. The local forces do not seem to be able to regain control over the situation. They appear to use the human fighting style called guerilla. They attack hard and then vanish. A lot of goods had been stolen already, and numerous ships had been boarded and ever since disappeared from radar. The situation all around is getting direr. We cannot split our forces into all directions. It would weaken our own defenses,” one of them explained.

  Kellan listened to his concerns, nodding grimly in agreement.

  “They are your allies, are they not? You must help them. Try to send the homecoming ships on a mission again. I could ask my brothers to send their own regiments to aid, but I wouldn’t bet on it. They probably have the same problems with their colonies and allied planets. I’ll send the four battlecruisers from EVE-4. That is five-hundred hunters. This is all I can do myself,” he said while watching the councilors’ reactions. “We must get patrols up in the surrounding orbit; ready to call back some of the nearest ships if trouble finds its way towards us.”

  He looked at Sartak, thinking he had overstepped his authority by far and to seek approval of his suggestion. Instead of anger or any other negative reaction, he found his husband’s gaze full of pride.

  “That was what I would have suggested. There is no way denying our aid, but we must take precautions. I must also thank you for your help. Are you sure EVE-4 can spare their ships?” Sartak asked him.

  Kellan nodded. His planet didn’t have anything of worth for the pirates, except their weapons.

  EVE-4 was the planet of illusions and holograms.

  They also would just blast everything hostile into shreds before it reached the surface of the planet.

  They had highly efficient and destructive rockets and high-tech artillery. After all, his mother had been the daughter of one of the main weapons manufacturers.

  “They can defend themselves just fine without spaceships. I will have them send a bunch of weapons too. It’s always good to have some weapons made by HAWK. I’ll see to that immediately. Have a good day, gentlemen,” Kellan declared and turned around, leaving the baffled men standing on the porch.

  He called for Dershra and strode to the bathroom where he quickly cleaned himself. Then he went to his dressing room and dressed in a heavy black robe with silver embroidery.

  While walking down the hallway, Jorax and Kalik joined him.

  He purposefully drew the doors to King Leylos’s office open and greeted his father-in-law with a nod before he walked right into the Ambassador’s office. It could also be entered through another hallway but he though his father-in-law should know that he was up to something.

  Lord Daron Jaxtell wasn’t here, but his other subordinated ambassadors were still working busily. All the twelve Phy’vohranians- men, women, and kmer- looked up as he took the seat of their boss. Leylos just strode in a few seconds later, giving Kellan a quizzically look that he didn’t answer.

  Instead, he opened the massive screen wall behind the Royal Ambassador’s desk and dialed his Advisor and General on EVE-4 whom he yet needed to meet in person. Since the planet was not yet ruined, he took it as a good sign of the man’s knowledge and skill.

  Soon after, Lord Horace Byrn’s face appeared on the screen.

  EVE-4 had taken the splicing-business further than Earth dared, although there were heavy rumors about the military almost succeeding in activating some of the parts spliced with the human DNA.

  Lord Byrn’s face showed the features of a savage predator. EVE-4 had managed to alter people’s appearances- those alterations were there from birth on while the military tried to set free the predator-genes that lay dormant in human’s DNA or even add some abilities- such as shifting their form temporarily.

  Lord Byrn showed features of the animal that was most prominent in his genes- his face was long, eyes sharp and a piercing yellow, his lips faintly gray, as was his hair; his ears were slightly pointed with fur covering the tips. He also had a beard shadow.

  Lord Byrn stood tall and long-limbed in his gray coat. His hard glare seemed unforgiving; something wild ravaged inside his eyes.

  Kellan knew that when the man smiled, he would show sharp canines.

  Even though he seemed strangely human, he also wore the striking resemblance of a
hostile wild wolf. But his alterations didn’t end with the likeness of a wild animal.

  The lord also had bio-mechatronic body parts, making him a cyborg.

  One could clearly determine that his right eye was a little machine that was able to record what he saw and heard. Both ears had metal pieces, probably for hearing a different kind of sound variety that normally would go unnoticed by a human. Both arms were completely robotic too, giving him inhuman strength.

  Those kinds of modifications were more common on the main planet than the heavy noticeable splicing; instead, they had the hybrids- crossbreeds between human and alien races. So cyborgs were less common on Earth but existed. Though, EVE-4 had taken the cyborg-technology to a new level.

  Kellan also knew of the androids that could easily blend with the regular folks. Those androids were a rather controversial topic.

  They were helpful, yet dangerous. An ordinary person had no means to determine them from real people because the androids acted too natural; emotional, intelligent and could think on their own.

  Artificial Intelligence was a hotly debated topic. A lot of doctors on EVE-4 were androids; still, they were closely surveyed by a human. Anyway, it remained yet to be seen where all this would take them.

  Lord Byrn, who preferred to be called General Byrn, bowed deep and courtly.

  “Sire,” his deep voice sounded.

  “General Byrn, it is good to see you. We have spoken yesterday morning. The prisoner’s body is on its way. But I need to discuss another matter with you,” he opened the conversation and yet again the advisor gave him a polite nod.

  “Do tell me, Sire. I shall try my best to satisfy your every wish,” he answered sincerely.

  Good.

  “I need our battle-cruisers fully manned and armed. Shield the cities and make the artillery ready. The cruisers shall respond when they leave the orbit. We have a pirate problem. All space forces shall be under Warlord Sartak Nexvrin’s command until I say else. Do send an escorted cargo ship loaded with our newest hand-weapons to Phy’vohran’s military moon. The crew of that cargo ship must be ready to escape with the rescue shuttles and set the self-destruction of the ship with all its weapons if needed. We cannot allow the pirates to take advantage of our weaponry,” Kellan dictated, his voice steady and his tone no-nonsense.

  Poor General Byrn could only nod and comply with Kellan’s demands.

  “At once, Sire,” he responded, bowing low and waiting for Kellan to end the conversation.

  After Lord Byrn had disappeared from the screen, Kellan turned around to face his confused father-in-law, finding Sartak and the four councilors right beside him.

  “Now I will try to reach Blake or Luke,” he informed them, turning back ready to punch in the commands on the screen.

  Just seconds later, a connection was established, but they were still waiting to get through.

  Kellan waited and waited while he got more and more impatient with every minute the call went unanswered. Then, fortunately, his brother’s face appeared on the screen.

  Blake had dark circles under his eyes and looked overall ready to drop into his bed.

  His brother wore a small smile upon seeing him. Just behind him was Luke.

  Kellan’s other brother sat casually on a seat and held a bottle of beer. He also looked tired, but less strained than Blake. Kellan could only imagine what they were going through.

  Blake was probably busy with commanding his regiment and the troops on Earth while learning how to be president.

  Luke was supposedly occupied with being Admiral of the fleet of the name Alpha Pride since father didn’t move a finger in that department despite being the Great-General which was comparable to Warlord.

  Both his brothers wore ragged old uniforms but didn’t seem to bother too much.

  “Finally a sign of life from you, lil' bro,” Luke said. “Thought those big bad Phy’vohranians have eaten you…well no meat, only bones. Think you might have been still alive after all. Too puny.”

  Blake made a disgusted noise upon his brother’s ill sense of humor.

  “You know those big bad Phy’vohranians are right behind me, do you? Behave, Luke! Anyways, you busy with pirates too?” he asked, rolling his eyes.

  “A little. Papa is managing all that. We are just sitting here and waiting on orders, actually,” Luke grunted before Blake could reply.

  Kellan frowned.

  So their father was doing something…or maybe he was just up to something.

  “Care to send your little brother some military aid? I have a serious pirate problem over here,” he said.

  Luke shrugged and gave him an expression that meant: Not in my powers.

  That, on the other hand, gave Kellan reason to be suspicious. What the hell was going on over there?

  “Father took command so King Leylos must address him personally. Though he should only do it if things get really dire for Phy’vohran. We have an alliance with your new home, not their allies,” Blake said apologetically.

  “You see, we’re doomed to be sitting here as decoration, but then he sends us retrieving stuff or aiding our own allies. Don’t really know. Nothing much to do, though, all this stuff is chaotic and tiring. Like seriously. I haven't slept in days now despite anything to do. Father wants us on alert, waiting for some ridiculous commands. We have no idea what’s up because he does the lone commander shit with us. Old man is trying to get his old-day-glory back or something. Your father-in-law must talk to the President but don’t think you’ll get anything out of that. He’s busy ordering us around space doing useless shit,” Luke recounted bored out of his mind.

  Blake actually had the decency to look miserable and sorry about the situation.

  Kellan sighed since he had already guessed that getting help from Earth would be tricky. He hadn’t thought it would be this tricky though…and weird.

  Since he had nothing more to say- oh well, he had, but now was just not the right time- he decided to not further press the matter. He needed to talk with Leylos about the help from EVE-4.

  “So…Hope this stupid phase will be over soon. I’ll call you another time after our pirate struggles are solved,” Kellan waved both of them goodbye.

  Blake looked rather concerned and Kellan knew that his brother wished to talk to him, but he had no time for that.

  He felt like an ass for ignoring his brother’s pleading sad look. He hadn’t contacted them since he had left the governmental ship.

  Hell, he hadn’t even talked to Blake for days before he had just left. Luke had been the one to see him off. On top of that, he should really inform them about his pregnancy. He had totally forgotten about it.

  Sighing, he called them again, and just seconds later they appeared on screen once more, both wearing a deep frown.

  “Missed us already or problem solved?” Luke grinned.

  Kellan shook his head but smiled. Blake was his favorite brother, but he loved Luke the same. Blake was just easier to deal and talk with sometimes.

  “I just forgot to tell you before... Well, how do you do this? Err…look at me?” Kellan suggested and both of them did.

  Luke’s eyebrows sprung up.

  “Maybe they are going to eat you after all. Do they try to fatten you? You look a little out of shape, bro,” he said and Blake nodded.

  Kellan chuckled.

  “No, not quite. It’s just…the two of you are going to be uncles soon,” he let them digest that first, waiting for them to answer.

  It was quite funny to watch them, especially Luke, so speechless. Blake gasped like a fish, not knowing how to respond.

  “No shit, seriously?” Luke finally managed to ask after several tries at finding words.

  “Yup,” Kellan laughed.

  “Bro! That’s great! You happy? Uncle Luke’s gonna spoil that kiddo rotten!” he exclaimed.

  “Good God, Kellan! Congratulations! Have you told father yet?” Blake was definitely the brother with the better manners.


  “No. Can you do that? He might be expecting it, though. It was in the wedding contract,” Kellan answered.

  His choice to call his brothers had a reason. He didn’t want to deal with their father. Not after all the lies and especially not after the wedding night, he was responsible for.

  “It was?” Luke asked frowning since he hadn’t heard of it before.

  Kellan didn’t want Luke to address the matter further, so he just ignored him and waited for Blake’s response which came with a nod.

  “Of course,” he said just as an alarm set off, signaling his brothers to go back to duty.

  “Take care and don’t strain yourself too much!” he warned before they disappeared from the screen, probably running from the room to assemble in the great hall.

  Kellan stared at the screen for a while, jerking when someone touched his arm. He wheeled around to see his husband stand behind him.

  Smiling, he relaxed and leaned back against the muscled, strong body of his man.

  18

  Kellan sat in the Ambassador’s office with the other ambassadors. It was quiet beside the sound of shifting paper and the occasional scratching of pen on paper.

  He typed away on some document on his screen and swiped it away when he was finished.

  All the documents concerning taxes, he sent over to someone else because he had no head for this right now.

  Sighing, he signed another document and sent it over to Leylos to approve. Yawning, he opened another file just to be confronted with some complaint to the crown.

  He read through it and found the complaint stupid because they had nothing to do with this. Anyway, there were still so many people who thought that whining about their problems to the crown would get them somewhere.

  Groaning, he replied to the complained by politely telling that person to fuck off and sort out the problem on their own since this didn’t concern the crown.

  He had just sent it away when the Lord of the Royal Treasury sent him the next complaint. To Kellan, it was high-class whining, but he wouldn’t tell that anyone.