by Jenny Foster
He cleared his throat. “Please forgive my manners,” he said and bowed slightly, so that he was almost at her eye level. “The weather on your planet is so inhospitable that I didn’t want to delay our departure.” Gold sparks flew in his eyes and then disappeared again. “My name is Talon Delkhari. I am one of the warriors of his Majesty Ferthoris III, who is also called the Wise One.” The last few words came out in a squeaky tone, and she wondered if he had caught a cold during his short stay on Earth. Before she could ask him about it, however, he pointed to a sprawling sofa against the wall. Overall, the entire interior of the ship was extremely luxurious. A few comfortable-looking chairs were arranged around a small bar, and two people could have easily slept on the sofa without bothering each other. Cat sat down on the sofa and nearly drowned in the overly soft upholstery.
“We will arrive at the mother ship in about an hour,” Talon explained. “Please make yourself comfortable until then. You are allowed to go anywhere except for the cockpit, and if you are hungry or thirsty,” he raised his eyebrows quizzically, “you are free to help yourself here.” He leaned down and opened a small cupboard under the bar. The pouches probably contained dried food, but as long as she couldn’t read the foreign, swirling symbols, she would rather go without.
“Thank you,” she said politely. “Will you keep me company during this time? I would love to learn more about you and my new home.” She tried in vain to interpret his facial expression and threw her head back. This would never work – not from this low-seated position. It would be better for her to make things clear, so she stood up. Now she wouldn’t have to look up at him all the time. It wasn’t easy to fight her way out of the sofa, and after some awkward flailing, Talon lost his patience and pulled her up. His skin was warm and dry and felt so silky that she brushed her thumb over the back of his hand before she could stop herself.
He jerked back as if her touch had scalded him. His pupils widened, until his glowing gold eyes were reduced to a thin ring. A dull growl came from his throat. Cat’s heart gave a big lurch and she drew back. “I am sorry,” she stammered and cursed her involuntary action silently. “I didn’t mean to get that close to you. I thought…” She lost her voice.
“It’s okay,” Talon snarled. His nostrils flared, and Cat saw a bead of sweat run down his temple. He stepped back slowly, as if doing so took all of the self-control he could muster.
“I will leave you alone now. I am expected in the cockpit. We will discuss everything else,” he was looking at a spot that was behind her head somewhere, “when we are on board the Stella Solaris.” He turned to leave, but before he walked through the door that probably led to the pilot’s cockpit, he looked at her one more time with that look that simultaneously made her afraid and something else she couldn’t quite put her finger on. “If you want to start preparing for your duties, you will find a handbook on the table next to the sofa. It contains everything you need to know about your new home and husband.” With that, he departed without saying goodbye, leaving Cat behind. She needed a moment to understand what he had said. Finally, when she saw the title of the fairly comprehensive binder, it dawned on her that she had made a mistake. “The King of Kanthari 7 and his Brides” was written on it in bold letters. Below the title, she saw the same man she had noticed in the portrait earlier, but with one significant difference: he was sitting on an elaborately carved throne, and female creatures of every type and color you could imagine, and also a few you would rather not imagine, cowered at his feet.
Talon was not her future husband. Fate had secured a place for her in Ferthoris III’s harem.
Chapter 2
Talon left the operation of the space glider to his officer. The cheeky whippersnapper had taken one look at Talon’s dark demeanor, and all of his questions about the new woman had gotten stuck in his throat. Talon barked his commands and they took off in the direction of the Stella Solaris. The maneuverable little ship passed through the Earthly barriers without anyone stopping them. The officers in charge, he thought cynically, were probably sitting around, drinking their disgusting beer, and bragging about their affairs with women. Humans! Once again, he marveled that this species had not gone extinct yet. Not only had they destroyed their own planet’s biosphere, but they were also doing everything possible to exterminate each other. He had absolutely nothing against a reasonable and small conquering expedition, or even a war, if it was about defending your home, but no Kantharian (not even their crazy king) would ever attack their own race. He shook his head. The humans had tried to subdue other races in an insane undertaking, and to conquer other planets, but had almost completely annihilated each other. They had even undertaken crazy experiments on their own race. How ruthless must a scientist be, to stoop to that kind of research? Over the years, this experimentation had created humans that had special abilities. Some could see the future, while others could move things using only the power of thought. He wondered what the king’s new toy was capable of. This was probably the reason, he thought resignedly, why Ferthoris III had paid such a hefty sum for the little woman to begin with. He already had more than enough legitimate sons, and his illegitimate ones were so numerous that he recruited his bodyguards from their ranks. The kick he would get from having a new wife would last one, maybe two weeks, and then he would get bored with his new toy. This one, however…
Talon leaned back and closed his eyes, thankful for the moment of peace before he had to take up his duties as commander of his ship again. This woman with the cat name had gotten under his skin. If he was honest with himself, not just under his skin, but also in his loins. She was tall for a human woman and seemed to be strong enough to be able to fight with a lion. Under all of that strength that she wore for show, however, there was a vulnerability that touched him against his will. He clenched his fists, without knowing it, as he thought of Cat in the king’s bed, moving underneath him and uttering small sounds of lust.
If he didn’t watch himself, he really would be beheaded, for committing high treason, and not just for having a big mouth.
Really… who was he trying to fool anyway?
It was already too late for caution. The predator inside him had only needed to look at Cat once – at her breasts that were clearly defined, even under her thick parka, at her round hips, and her light, curly hair under her hood – and had sharpened its claws in desire. More than that, really. His animal had roared. It hadn’t been a battle cry. It had been the cry of a predator that was ready to mate, a predator who was claiming a female as his. When she had touched him, running her thumb over the back of his hand, he had been close to losing all self-control. It hadn’t been the thought of his king that had stopped him from seducing her right then and there. It had been the sadness in her eyes that had made him hold back. It was only because he had worked on controlling his body for his entire life, that he had been able to put the predator in his place.
If he survived the trip home with his health and sanity intact, he would ask his king for an assignment that would take him far away – if necessary, to the ends of the universe. Damn it, he would even humiliate himself to the point of begging his king. Talon knew that he wouldn’t be able to handle seeing Cat every day, imagining what her nights in the king’s arms were like. At some point, he would lose all control, and kill anyone who got in his way.
A static hiss tore him from his dark thoughts. All he could hear was “… are being attacked… irates…” coming from the loudspeaker on the steering console. With a start, he was back in the present. “Stella Solaris, repeat please,” he said as calmly as he could, and turned up the speaker. One look at the pilot told him that the boy was staying calm and relaxed, despite being relatively inexperienced. He nodded at him quickly and concentrated on his first officer’s voice again. “Pirates have just boarded the Stella Solaris,” the man said. “Position 34.02 west of the Earth’s moon. Protective shields…” there was a short pause, and Talon leaned forward so he wouldn’t miss a single word. “
Protective shields are at zero percent. Our weapons room has been blown up. They…” His words disappeared in the static of the universe once again.
“How far are we from the mother ship?”
“Another 50 minutes,” the pilot responded and checked his instruments one more time. “We won’t make it in time.”
Talon pressed his lips together. Even if they could reach the beleaguered mother ship in time, they would be able to do nothing. The weapons on the space glider would be nothing more than an annoyance to the pirates. All they would do is irritate them, and it wouldn’t stop them. He thought for a second. The Stella Solaris was only about an hour away from Earth, and there were enough space gliders to hold every single one of his men. He grimaced when he thought of the king’s budget measures. The king had wanted to spend all taxes on gaudy jewelry and women. Thank God, that notion had faded again. Talon furrowed his brow and listened, but nothing else came out of the speaker. His men were waiting for his decision.
“Evacuate immediately,” he ordered. The man next to him closed his eyes in relief, before concentrating on flying the glider again. “Fly towards Earth. We will meet at position 47.46.03X. There is enough room to land there. Two miles west of there, you will find an abandoned building, where we will stay for now. Good luck. Over and out.”
“You heard me,” Talon told his subordinate. “Back to where we started.” He looked out at space through the super reinforced windshield. Somewhere out there, his men were preparing to abandon the Stella Solaris, leaving their ship to its fate. The hairs on the back of his neck stood on end when he thought about the pirates who would now have their hands on a second-class Star Cruiser, but Talon knew that he hadn’t had a choice. In the time it would have taken for him to reach the Stella Solaris, the majority of his men would have been wounded or even dead. That was something he would never risk, not even when his honor as a warrior lord was at stake. He would rather let his kind accuse him of having lost the mother ship, than put a single one of his men in unnecessary danger. Talon was proud that, until now, he had always brought every warrior home, even if some of them had been severely wounded.
He clenched his teeth, thinking about Ferthoris and his new bride. The vain king would not be happy about the delay that was a certainty now. They would need to find a way to track the pirates from Earth, so that they could recapture their ship. A wave of pugnacity rushed through Talon’s veins as he imagined how he would teach the pirates something about respecting private property, and he spent the next few minutes daydreaming about their punishment in the brightest of colors. He hadn’t felt this happy in a long time. If he was honest with himself, the pirates’ attack was the best thing that had happened to him in a long time.
His smile disappeared when they passed through Earth’s orbit, though. He remembered Cat, who was sitting in the passenger compartment without a clue – probably already familiarizing herself with the customs and morals on Kanthari 7. He was in a bind, and not just because of the immense attraction he felt for her. He furrowed his red-gold eyebrows deeply. This damned attack might take his predator’s mind off the woman for a while, but now they would be stuck together on Earth for some time. Talon was hopeful that he would be able to find some sort of spaceship somewhere, but what would he do with Cat in the meantime? He had taken on the responsibility of caring for her and making sure that nothing happened to her. The animal inside him bared its teeth in anger at the thought of putting her in danger.
He wondered if she would agree to him leaving her on her home planet for a while longer and picking her up again after the “Taming of the Pirates”. At the last second, he was able to suppress a sigh that would not have made him look good as a commander and warrior.
He suspected that Cat would offer him more resistance than was good for him.
****
Cat put down the handbook she had been leafing through absentmindedly. The book really was nothing more than endless and gushing praise of the power, good looks, and virility of the man who had won her, fair and square, through the company. The more she read, the more certain she felt that she needed to nail down the details of her vague escape plan as soon as possible. Somehow, she needed to get Talon to make a stop on an inhabited planet along the way, and to let her off the ship.
This would be more difficult than she had expected. He didn’t look like a man who would be easily fooled, even if she used all of her female charms. She had seen the almost eerie intelligence that shimmered in his eyes, and knew that he would see through any clumsy attempt at seduction in a second. Maybe she could bribe one of the officers, but with what? Suddenly, she regretted her thoughtlessness in leaving the money the PGL had deposited into her bank account, behind. She had thought it would be an unnecessary burden. On the other hand, Talon seemed like a man who knew every one of his men very well, and who had all of them under control. Would any of them dare to go against him, anyway?
Unfortunately, there were no windows in the cabin. She would have liked to watch her flight from Earth. She thought about the planet she had grown up on, with a mix of relief and melancholy. She thought of her parents, whom she had never met. Her adoptive parents had died soon after she had arrived at the Mind Reader Academy. The only thing that really hurt was thinking about Coran. Her twin brother had disappeared when they had turned 15, but she had never given up hope of finding him some day. She thought of the games they used to play together. Coran was the only person who had ever showed her unconditional affection and thinking about him hurt so much that she had to bite down on her lip to make the lump in her throat go away. The further they travelled from the blue planet, the more she felt like she was betraying Coran. Wasn’t her escape from the Mind Readers just that? A betrayal of everything Cat had ever believed in. After more than ten years of searching for her twin brother in vain, there seemed to be little hope of finding him alive, and yet… She sighed. She had given up on getting lucky a long time ago, but how could she leave the only place where she had a chance of finding Coran alive?
Maybe, she thought in a deeply buried corner of her heart, she could have been somewhat happy with a man like Talon, but with a vain braggart like Ferthoris III? Definitely not. At that moment, the space glider came to a standstill. Cat stood up, uneasy, took a few steps towards the door behind which Talon had disappeared, and then came back. Was the small spaceship changing direction now? She had the feeling, even without being able to look out the window, that they were flying back towards Earth.
Her heart started to beat loudly and irregularly. A bead of sweat ran down her back, and not because of the near tropical temperature onboard. Had the commander made contact with the authorities before departing the official territory that was under Earthly control? If so, then he would know that there was a warrant out for her arrest. The game would be up before it had even started. Nobody could resist the power of the Mind Readers, even if only a fraction of the once powerful agency existed now, after the collapse. She wondered if it would help if she threw herself at his feet and begged him to save her. Maybe it would help if she appealed to his protective instinct.
At that moment, the door opened, and Talon came into the passenger cabin. Even though his face was expressionless, Cat thought she detected tension in the way he held himself. His broad chest and proud, sweeping neck gave nothing away. His clenched fists, however, were an obvious sign. They stared into each other’s eyes for seconds, until finally they started speaking at the same time.
“This isn’t what it looks like,” Cat said.
“Our mother ship has been captured…” he said.
His red-blond, straight eyebrows went up in question, and Cat bit down on her lip.
“Which is why our departure is being delayed,” he finished his sentence.
He was the one to speak again next.
“What isn’t what it looks like?” Was he biting back a smile, or did he just have a weird twitch on his lips? Cat sighed dramatically and sat down in one of the chairs at t
he bar. She thought feverishly about how she could get out of the bind she was in, but in the end, it was probably best to just tell him the truth.
“I am wanted by the authorities,” she admitted outright, and held his gaze. He didn’t flinch, nor did he interrupt her. All he did was motion for her to continue as he sat down across from her.
“You know about the abilities some humans acquired as a result of the experiments the government had decreed, right?” Talon nodded, and Cat groaned inside. He wasn’t going to make this easy for her. “The skills I have are really quite unique,” she said softly. “No, not quite. They are unique. The Secret Service trained me, and I spent a few years with the Mind Readers.” She made a face when she saw his eyes widen. No secret service agency in the whole universe had a worse reputation than the one on Earth, and the Mind Readers sub-unit was despised because of its brutality and ruthlessness. “Let’s just say that at some point, I didn’t agree with their methods anymore, or with the horrible pay,” she added, just in case he had started to think of her as soft and overly sensitive. “I went underground and got false papers, but they didn’t give up, of course, and when I realized that they were never going to let me be, the poker game seemed like the perfect chance for me to get out of there.” She stopped talking and looked at him expectantly.
Talon nodded, and Cat groaned again. This really wasn’t going to be easy.