by Luna Hunter
“So that’s your solution? To do nothing?”
“Extending our hand towards the humans is not doing nothing. I’ll help uplift them, guide them into the galaxy in a peaceful manner. Think about what I’ve said, Novak. From this moment on, you’re suspended from active duty. Marko will take command.”
“I’m what?! You can’t!”
“I can and I will. You are not fit to lead in your current condition, Novak. I’ll give you three weeks to find yourself. End of transmission.”
I stare into nothingness. Now even my command has been stripped off me. I have lost my mate and my ship.
I’m left with nothing.
17
Michelle
“When are you going to come up with answers, ambassador?! It’s been weeks, yet still, all you have is excuses! This is unacceptable! Unacceptable!”
The Terulian man is shouting in my face. The scaly alien is red in the face with anger, pounding his fist on my desk, his split tongue wetting his lips.
“I understand your concern, sir,” I say. “We are doing our utmost.”
“If this is your utmost, then you are a sorry excuse for a race indeed!”
I wince, but keep smiling. That is what my role as ambassador has been reduced to. A verbal punching bag.
It’s been two weeks since I arrived back on the Observer, but the anger amongst the alien populace about the Humanity First’s attack has yet to subside. The main problem is that we’ve yet to identify the mole. We know that one rogue engineer blew up the station, but we don’t know how he got there in the first place. Was he a lone wolf? Or is there a larger conspiracy at work?
As long as we haven’t arrested and tried anyone for these crimes, the species of the Alliance consider all humans suspect. So far all trade agreements have been broken, and humanity is losing millions of credits by the day. There have been some calls in the human media to just sentence anyone for these crimes, whether they’re guilty or not, just to placate the aliens. Fortunately Riley has taken a firm stance against that.
I thought Novak overreacted when he kicked us from his ship, but I’ve gotten the same treatment from damn near everyone here. Still, I would have hoped he was different…
Time hasn’t mended my broken heart. Quite the opposite, in fact. Every day that goes by I miss him more. I’ve started to realize that my life won’t be complete without him. I’ve had a taste of true love, of being whole, and now every day that I spent broken deepens my wounds.
I miss the feeling of his warm blue skin. Of the way his lips curl up into that naughty, sexy smirk. I miss that twinkle in his eyes that meant his strong hands were going to roam my body, that he was going to take me whether I wanted it or not.
Of course I wanted it. I wanted it bad.
The Terulian leaves, muttering and sputtering. The moment the door closes behind him I let out the biggest sigh of my life.
“Is that the last one?” I ask my assistant.
“No,” she answers. “You have five more appointments.”
“Five?! But this was the tenth of the day already!”
“I know,” Cindy answers. “I already had to turn twenty other ambassadors away.”
My personal com beeps. Riley. Oh thank god.
“I have an important call coming. Cancel my other appointments.”
I can hear Cindy tense up. “They won’t be happy,” she warns.
“They can’t get any madder at me, can they?”
My assistant chuckles. “True. What should I tell them?”
“I don’t care, honestly. Use your imagination.”
“Will do.”
I accept Riley’s call, leaning back in my chair. Please have some good news for me, Ri.
Her holographic image fills my room. She’s dressed in her business attire, her hair pulled up into a tight bun. A badge of her ministry’s logo, a spaceship circling Earth, is sewn onto her chest. Her normally cheerful face is now devoid of a smile. The bags under her eyes prove that her nights have been as restless as mine.
“Riley,” I say. “Please tell me you have good news.”
“Hi Michelle. I have news, but I don’t know if it’s very good, per se. I pulled all the strings I have and thanks to Thabo’s help the Zorans have finally agreed to share some of the intercepted communications-data going to and from the Gautur station with us. Unfortunately, we don’t have the computing power to analyze all that data in a timely matter. I want you to share this data with the Falurians. Together we can figure this out much faster.”
Ugh, that means I have to ask that creep Jakob for help. I’ll do it for mankind as a whole, but I dread every second I spend in his presence.
“It might be a dead-end, but I’ll take anything at this point,” Riley continues. Even her voice sounds tired and defeated. She must be under as much stress as I am — I’m just an ambassador, but as Minister of Interplanetary Affairs, she’s responsible for the human participation in the Andromeda Project.
“I’ll do it,” I say. “But I doubt the Falurians are going to be much help. Their ambassador practically gloated to me about our intergalactic fall from grace.”
“Try your best,” Riley answers. “Please. Keep this off the record, but this is really our last chance. Every lead has grown cold. If we can’t find a scrap of evidence, then I can’t keep the hawks at bay. The trade embargo is squeezing every last credit out of us. Food supplies are already running low. Heads are going to roll sooner rather than later. Literally. And seeing as this whole mess happened under my watch, I’m likely to be the first.”
“They can’t,” I say, aghast. “They won’t!”
“I don’t know,” she sighs. “I really don’t.”
“Thabo won’t allow it!”
“Thabo will protect me and our family ‘till his last breath… but there’s only so much he can do against a raging, hungry, bloodthirsty mob.”
“He can take on anyone he wants, he’s a Zoran warrior!”
“Where did your sudden faith in the Zoran come from?” Riley says. I’m happy to see I made her crack a faint smile. “I thought you hated their arrogant, multicolored butts.”
“They are arrogant, yes, and their sculpted butts are an array of different colors, true, but they won’t allow harm to come to you, your baby, or Thabo. They’ll rescue you if they have to.”
“I’m sure some humans will see that as an alien invasion,” Riley answers. “I don’t want to cause an intergalactic war.”
“You won’t be the cause, that bloodthirsty mob will be!” I shout. “Enough about this, because this is simply not going to happen. I’m going to take this data to Jakob right now, I’ll get his compliance one way or another, and we’re going to find out who did this and why. We’re going to arrest them, and the intergalactic community is going to get the stick out their collective butts and treat as like equals once more. Peace and order will be returned, and you will be lauded for your effective leadership in a crisis. And that’s final!”
Riley’s lips break out into a wide ear-to-ear grin. “I haven’t seen you this fired up in years.”
“That’s because I haven’t had to save your butt in years. Now, allow me to save the day.”
“I won’t stop you,” she says. “Take it away, Michelle.”
I download the intercepted com’s data onto a data-stick and tuck it into my bra. It’s the safest space on this space station.
“Cindy, hold my calls,” I say. “I have to make a delivery. I’ll be back in half an hour.”
“Uhh, Michelle,” she says, stammering. “Th-there’s someone here to see you.”
“I told you to cancel all my appointments,” I say, growing slightly agitated. This mission can’t wait.
“I know but… you’re going to want to see this.”
Fine.
I exit my office, which is on the second floor of the Intergalactic Alliance’s Hall of Perpetual Peace. Cindy’s desk is down below in the hall, as is the waiting room. I like
to keep a bit of distance between me and my guests, or else they’ll barge into my room unannounced.
The waiting room is filled with aliens, all of them scowling and either staring at their tablets or talking into their com-devices. No doubt they are all here to see me and chew me out.
However, my eyes are inadvertently drawn to one very special alien. He towers over the rest, taller and broader than any of them. The other aliens appear almost comically small compared to him. His azure blue skin is beautiful to see, even in the fluorescent office-lighting. Even from where I’m standing I can see the grim, determined look on his face; that familiar, panty-melting frown of his.
Novak.
He’s come for me.
I grip the railing, my knees suddenly growing weak as my heart leaps right into my throat. A myriad of emotions course through my veins — anger, sadness, longing — at the same time. Seeing him in the flesh makes my heart break once more as I’m reminded of the pain he caused me. Of the hurtful way he betrayed me, after the most special night of my life.
I want to forgive him, to jump into his strong arms, to pretend it all never happened, but I can’t.
The pain is too much.
I turn my head away and close my eyes.
I have a job to do, and I cannot let anything — even Novak — stop me from doing it.
18
Novak
I have to see her.
I have to.
The moment King Vinz relieved me of my command, I felt empty. A hollow shell, a husk of my former self. Nothing mattered to me anymore. Nothing — except her.
I remember her scent the most. It stirred something inside of me, awakened an urge I didn’t know existed. Now that the beast inside of me has awoken, only she can tame it.
Michelle. My mate. My everything.
The words my King spoke rang true. Perhaps I’d been too quick to judge, too quick to jump to action. Then again, the entire galaxy seems to side with me. All factions within the Alliance have turned against the humans. The Zorans are the only allies they have left, and even that support is waning, now that the anti-alien movement on Earth is growing.
Difficult times, but I cannot bear that responsibility. I did what I thought was best, what I thought was right.
And it killed me to do it.
I cut off a piece of myself when I had Michelle arrested, when I had her shipped off, and what did I get in return?
Demoted.
Suspended.
‘Relieved from duty’.
Failing to go down with the Andromeda has brought me great shame, but it’s nothing compared to this. No Zoran general has ever been suspended before. They have been executed for treason when they grew too powerful, when their men only obeyed them instead of the Zoran government, sure, but a suspension because of emotional turmoil? Because of an inability to lead?
Unheard of.
My gross incompetence has just made history.
I couldn’t even face Marko. I left the Behemoth without saying a single word. Every second I spent on that vessel, on my vessel, was torture. I took one of the cruisers and set off without plotting a course.
The only thing that could nurse my pain were the many bottles of cuhla on board, but even that stopped working after day three. I decided to try and find peace in the inhospitable mountains of the planet Certia. The planet is uninhabited, its harsh terrain unsuited for civilization. A perfect place for me to tend my wounds.
I kept my mind preoccupied during the way. I searched for wood, built a cabin, tried to grab fish with my own bare hands. I found a semblance of peace.
However, that didn’t stop my thoughts at night. When I lay in my makeshift bed all alone, gazing up at the stars, my thoughts drifted to Michelle.
Where was she at? What would she be thinking about? Was she safe?
Was she thinking of me?
I tried to shake the thoughts, but they only grew stronger and stronger, until I couldn’t fight it any longer.
I had to see her.
She told me to never come back, but that is one order I’m not going to follow.
Finding her was easy — she was still the human ambassador on the Observer. Getting her to agree to see me… now that would be tricky.
I decided an offensive strategy would be the best one.
That is how I find myself standing in a small, annoyingly well-lit waiting room. The human embassy. Michelle’s office. Cindy is sitting down at her desk in front of me, trembling.
“Sh-she’ll be right down,” the young human girl stammers.
I glance up — and lock eyes with Michelle.
She’s standing on the second floor, her hands gripping the railing. She peers down at me with those big, blue eyes of hers. I cannot read her expression. It’s a mixture of shock and awe, with anger and sadness sprinkled in as well.
She has every right to be angry with me, but I won’t let that stop me.
My heart skips a beat when our eyes meet. The broken feeling inside of me fades away, the pain inside my chest is replaced by anticipation and anxiety. Will she strike me or kiss me?
Michelle turns away.
I run after her. Cindy gets up and tries to stop me, but I’m already halfway up the stairs before she’s left her seat. I make my way to the second floor, but she’s nowhere in sight.
Luckily I can still smell her. That alluring, warm scent of hers… the air is thick with it. I follow my nose, and it leads me down several identical hallways, until I finally, finally find her.
She’s standing in an office room. Most likely Falurian, judging by the interior design. She’s staring at a monitor, her hand is clasped over her mouth, her chest rising and falling with every deep breath.
“There you are,” I growl, barely keeping the lust from my voice.
Michelle looks as gorgeous as ever. Her blonde hair is slightly disheveled and her clothes are slightly crinkled, as if she’s been working for three days straight. It doesn’t distract from her beauty, however. It only adds to it. She could wrap herself in a burlap sack and I’d still want to ravish her.
I walk towards her, taking every step with purpose, my heart going the speed of light. This is it. The moment I’ve been simultaneously looking forward to and dreading for weeks.
She will accept or reject me. Either way I hope I find peace.
Michelle, however, pays no attention to me whatsoever. This bruises my already wounded ego. Does she not care? Does she not feel the same way? I thought that what we had was special, that it meant something to her… but the monitor has captured the full extent of her attention.
“Michelle?” I say as I walk up to her.
Her scent is now so strong it’s nearly overwhelming. My pulse is racing, and the blood rushes to my cock. I find it incredibly hard to stop myself from throwing the monitor across the room, shoving her onto the desk and ravaging her luscious body right here, right now. Take out all my anger and frustration out on her curvy, irresistible body…
Something stops me though. I sense that she’s in shock. Her body is almost frozen, her hand still clasped in front of her mouth. Something’s terribly wrong.
“Michelle?” I say again. I rest my hand on her shoulder.
She nearly jumps out of her skin, as if she hadn’t seen or heard me at all.
“Novak,” she says, her voice nearly breaking. Her big blue eyes study me, drinking in the sight of me. I feel her warm breath on my neck, and my cock pulses eagerly. All I have to do is reach out, cradle her cheek in my hand, and lean in…
“Novak, it’s… it’s him! It’s been him all along!”
“Who?” I say, my skin prickling with heat. “What are you talking about?”
“Him!” she cries, pointing at the monitor. “Look! Look!”
I tear my eyes away from her perfect face and look at the monitor. A boring inbox fills the screen.
“What am I looking at?”
“Jakob’s inbox,” Michelle says.
That Falu
rian asshole again? My eyes scan the many small letters on the screen. When I realize what I’m reading my heart misses a beat. The truth has been under my nose all this time…
“He’s the mole! A traitor! He’s the one who leaked the damn Andromeda Project to Humanity First!”
“That bastard,” I growl. It all makes sense — that smug look on his face, the constant snide comments. I’m sure he styled himself as some elaborate manipulator, making us dance to his tune. Now the tables have turned.
Michelle turns to me. “Do you believe me now?”
Ouch. I deserved that.
“Of course,” I say. “Of course. I’m… sorry.”
Her eyes widen. “You’re what?”
“I’m sorry,” I growl. “I’m sorry! I acted… hastily. I should have trusted you more. I’m sorry.”
Michelle rests her palms on my chest, a small smile appearing on her lips. “Thank you, Novak. That means a lot to me.”
I cover her hand with mine. I feel her warm skin and it sets off fireworks inside of me. I lean in, but Michelle pulls back.
“No…” she says softly, almost apologetically. “We have to—”
“Well, well, well. Can’t ever stop putting your nose where it doesn’t belong, hm? Humans, I swear. And look, your lapdog is back. How sweet.”
That smarmy, nasal voice, that underlying current of unwarranted superiority… that can only mean one thing.
Jakob.
I whirl around to find the Falurian ambassador standing in the door opening — a blaster pointed straight at Michelle.
Fuck.
19
Michelle
I’m staring down the barrel of Jakob’s gun.
I don’t think I’ve ever gone from complete elation to total devastation quite so fast. One moment I’ve saved Riley’s life, exposed a traitor, and even been reunited with Novak… and the next I’m staring death in the face.