Optorio Civil War Complete Series Box Set (Books 1 - 6): A Sci-fi Alien Warrior Invasion Abduction Romance (Optorio Chronicles Book 2)

by Ruth Anne Scott

  “Who’s Donen?” Emily asked.

  “He’s my mate, and he’s Alpha of the Ursidrean faction.” Before she finished speaking, the door opened, and a man even bigger than Faruk entered. He glanced at the two women and sat down at the table with them. “Here he is. This is Donen.” Aria gasped. “I just realized I don’t know your name.”

  Emily smiled. “It’s Emily Allen. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

  Donen nodded. “The pleasure is all mine. We’ve all been waiting for you to come out of your coma. The whole city is talking about you.”

  Emily’s eyes widened. “They are?”

  Donen took a slice of the fruit. “It isn’t every day someone falls into our laps from space, let alone from a Romarie transport. I hope you didn’t have too rough a time with them.”

  Emily ate one last piece of the fruit and sat back in her chair. “Not as rough as some of the other women. I got lucky. There were so many of other women on the ship the Romarie couldn’t harass all of us. They ignored me right up until we crashed.”

  “You did get lucky,” Aria told her.

  “You don’t have to worry about the Romarie anymore,” Donen told her. “They don’t come to this planet, and you won’t be going back into space. You’ll never see a Romarie again as long as you live.”

  “Why won’t I be going back into space?” Emily asked. “Isn’t there any way I can go back to Earth?”

  Aria exchanged glances with Donen, who shook his head. “We don’t have space flight capability. None of the Angondran factions do. I’m sorry, but you’re stuck here.”

  Emily stared down at her hands.

  “I’m sorry,” Aria murmured. “I wish there was something we could do, but the rest of us are stuck here, too. Some of the women take a long time to get over the grief of never seeing their families and their homes again. Most of us who have been here a while have built new lives here, like me. Life goes on, and you get new families and new homes.”

  Emily shook her bangs out of her eyes. “Never mind, I have more important things to worry about right now. If I’m stuck here, that means my sisters and my cousin are here, too.”

  Aria jumped up. “That’s right. Donen, Emily wants to find her sisters and her cousin. They were on the Romarie ship with her, so they must be with the Lycaon. I suggested we ask Faruk to contact them along the border to find out where they are and if they’re okay.”

  Donen frowned. “You know the border patrol doesn’t contact the Lycaon over the border. That’s the most dangerous thing they could do. You should know better than to suggest it.”

  “Couldn’t you make an exception this once?” Aria waved toward Emily. “This woman just lost everything, and the three relatives she still has are somewhere on this planet. The least we can do is find out where they are. She won’t be comfortable here until she knows they’re safe.”

  “If they’re with the Lycaon,” Donen replied, “they are safe. The Lycaon take good care of strangers. All Angondrans do.”

  Aria walked over next to his chair and laid her hand on his shoulder. She dropped her voice to a soft murmur. “Won’t you do it just this once? Do it for me. Don’t you remember how hard it was for me and my friends when we first landed here? Imagine how I would have felt if I had sisters and cousins lost somewhere on the planet. You would have done anything to find them for me, wouldn’t you?”

  Donen stared down at the tabletop. Then he folded his arms on the table and let his head drop onto them. He groaned. “You don’t understand. This has been the single worst day of my life.”

  Aria’s eyes popped open. “What’s the matter?”

  “Okay, it’s the second worst day of my life,” Donen replied. “No wait. It’s the third worst day of my life.”

  Aria glanced at Emily, but neither could say anything.

  “The worst day of my life,” Donen went on, “was when that trigger-happy idiot Bianti shot that Felsite woman and children along our northern border. I still can’t believe he and the other patrollers would make a mistake like that after all the training they've gotten.”

  Aria turned to Emily. “Donen’s uncle made a terrible mistake in the woods along our border with the Felsite faction. He saw a group of figures moving through the trees, and he thought they were commandos coming to invade our territory.”

  “He didn’t even stop to check first,” Donen added. “He didn’t check where he was in relation to the border. He thought they were on our side of the border, when in fact they were well within their own territory, and it was our patrol that invaded their land.”

  Aria clucked her tongue and petted his furry head.

  “The second worst day of my life,” Donen went on, “was when Renier drove us away from the Felsite city.”

  “Renier is Alpha of the Felsite faction,” Aria told Emily. “Donen attacked his city, but the attack failed. The Felsite defended their territory, and the Ursidreans had to withdraw.”

  “I had to attack!” Donen cried. “I didn’t want to. Everybody knows Bianti made a horrible mistake. We should have apologized to the Felsite and offered to make reparations any way we could. That would have been the honorable thing to do.”

  “The Supreme Council decided otherwise,” Aria told Emily. “They’re the ones who make the decisions about going to war and all that nonsense. They ordered Donen to attack the Felsite to defend Ursidrean honor. They said Renier’s accusations were inflammatory, and we had to reinforce our border.”

  “Every word Renier said about us and about Bianti’s patrol was true,” Donen growled. “He was stupid and reckless, and he should be barred from the corps.” He lowered his head. “Maybe I should join the Felsite.”

  Aria chuckled and sat down on his lap. She pressed his head against her chest. “Then you wouldn’t have me, darling.”

  He encircled her waist with his arms and lifted his face to hers. Emily squirmed while they shared a deep, passionate kiss. “Don’t worry. I would never leave you and the boys.”

  Aria stood up and took the fruit plate to the counter. “So why is today the third worst day of your life?”

  Donen pushed his chair back. “That windbag Oxlo wants me to renew hostilities with the Felsite. I told him over my dead body. If the Supreme Council wants to renew hostilities, they can get another commander.”

  Aria spun around. “Are they likely to do that?”

  “They can’t,” he replied. “I’m Alpha whether they like it or not. They can’t replace me as commander of the army, and I won’t go back to the Felsite—not over something as ridiculous as this. It would be different if some other faction invaded our borders and attacked our cities, but the Felsite haven’t done that. We have.”

  “So what are you going to do?” Aria asked.

  He pounded the table with his fist. “I sent word to Renier that I want to negotiate a long-term peace agreement between our factions. I don’t want to repeat these disasters, and I’m sure he doesn’t, either. He’s a reasonable man.”

  “What will the Supreme Council do when they find out you sent the message?” Aria asked.

  “I already told them,” he replied. “They can’t do anything. I’m the Alpha. I bear the ultimate responsibility of keeping our people safe, not the Council.”

  Before anyone could say another word, the door burst open and the same two boys tumbled into the room. They punched and kicked and spat, and crashed into Aria’s chair. They bounced off and toppled into Donen.

  He closed Rekti in his arms and pushed Mirin away. “Hey! What’s going on here? What’s all this commotion?”

  Both boys shouted at once. “He started it. I did not! He hit me first. That’s a lie!”

  Donen held up his hand. “That’s enough out of both of you. Now tell me exactly what happened. Let’s start with you, Mirin.”

  Rekti tucked into his father’s arms, and Mirin took a deep breath. “He said I’m not allowed to go into the army because I
don’t know how to read, and that’s not true.”

  “So what did you do?” Donen asked.

  “I thumped him.” Mirin waved his fist in his brother’s face. “And I’ll keep thumping him every time he says anything like that. I can read as well as he can.”

  “He cannot,” Rekti interrupted.

  Donen squeezed Rekti. “Never mind about who can read and who can’t. That doesn’t matter. Mirin, I’ve told you before it’s your job to look out for your younger brothers, and I’m counting on you to do it. What would happen if you got stuck outside in a snowstorm and no one else was around to take care of you? Your brothers would need you to make sure they got home safe, and not thump them every time they say something you don’t like.”

  “But he.....” Mirin began.

  Donen closed his eyes and shook his head. “It doesn’t matter what he says. Thumping him is not an option. Do you hear me?”

  Mirin scowled down at the floor.

  “Let me hear you say it,” Donen told him.

  Mirin poked his toe into the floor.

  Donen dropped his voice a register, and his voice rumbled through the house. “Let me hear you say it, Mirin.”

  Mirin glared at him. “Thumping him is not an option.”

  “Good. Now Rekti.” Donen squeezed his younger son. “You should know better than to antagonize your brother like that. Pretty soon, you’ll both be grown up, and I’ll need you working together for our faction. I couldn’t have you two in the army with me if you fight all the time.”

  Both boys hung their heads in silence.

  “Now, Rekti,” Donen went on, “if reading is so important to you, you should go read for a while until you’re ready to spend time with your brother again.”

  “But I don’t want to read,” Rekti cried.

  “Then you shouldn’t say things like that to Mirin when you know you’ll make him angry,” Donen told him. He repeated, “If reading is more important to you than your brother, then go do it.”

  Rekti sniffed, but he slid off his father’s lap and shuffled out of the room. He shut the door behind him. Emily and Aria sat in silence, but Aria smiled at Donen and the boys.

  Donen squared his shoulders. “Now, Mirin, I didn’t want to say this in front of Rekti, but you’re the oldest, so I’m going to tell you something no one else knows.”

  Mirin’s head shot up and his eyes widened.

  Donen fixed him with a hard stare under his heavy brows. “I’ve been looking for a strong smart warrior to do a very important job for me, and I haven’t found anybody I can trust. Maybe you could be the one.”

  Mirin stared at his father with wide eyes, but he didn’t say anything.

  “I want you to go down to the Land Transport bay,” Donen told him. “I want you to find my transporter. You know which one is mine, don’t you?”

  Mirin nodded with his mouth open.

  Donen pressed his lips together. “I know you’ve been working a lot lately on fixing machines and rewiring them. I want you to repair the tracking system on the left roller track. You can do that, can’t you?”

  Mirin nodded again.

  “I know you can,” Donen told him. “I’ve seen you do it on your little bay buggy. The system is exactly the same. The wiring is the same, too, just much bigger. Do you think you can handle that job for me?”

  Mirin’s face broke into a radiant smile. Joyous light beamed out of his eyes. “Could I really, Father? Could I really?”

  Donen didn’t smile. “This is an important job. You won’t be able to mess around wrestling with your brothers while you do this. You’ll have to stick to it until you finish, or I won’t have a transporter when I need it. Do you think you can do that?”

  Mirin straightened up, but he couldn’t wipe the smile off his face. “I can do it. You can count on me, Father.”

  Donen sighed. “All right. I’m trusting you. Now go tell the guard at the gate you’re on duty for me. He’ll give you a pass to enter the bay. You can’t share it with your brothers, and none of them is allowed on the bay floor. Do you understand that? This is only for you.”

  Mirin nodded. “Don’t worry. I won’t take any of my brothers.”

  Aria shot Emily a knowing smile. Donen clapped Mirin on the shoulder. “Good. Now off you go. I know you’ll do a good job.”

  Mirin left, and Aria settled back in her chair. Donen pulled a handheld device out of his pocket and touched it. “What are you doing?”

  “I’m relaying authorization to the guard to let him through,” he replied.

  “Do you really think this is a good idea?” Emily asked. “He’s only a boy.”

  “He’s the best mechanic in the whole city,” Donen replied. “He’s taken apart vehicles more complicated than the transporter and put them back together better than they were before. I told him the truth. I can’t find anybody to fix that roller track. The sooner he gets involved with the army, the better. He’s too old to play with Rekti anyway. He needs to push himself and accomplish something for himself.”

  “It’s wonderful,” Aria exclaimed. “It was a stroke of genius. It’s the best thing that could happen to him, and he won’t fight with his brothers when he’s working on the bay floor.”

  Donen stood up. “He sure won’t. He’ll never share this with anybody. Now I have to go. I’ll see you later.”

  “Wait a minute,” Aria called after him. “What do you say to asking Faruk to contact the Lycaon to find out about Emily’s relatives?”

  Donen headed for the door. “You know that’s impossible. The border patrol doesn’t contact the Lycaon or anybody else. Their job is to patrol the border, not to relay messages back and forth. We have diplomatic channels for that.”

  “But this is the fastest way to find out if the women are there and if they’re safe,” Aria argued.

  Donen’s shoulders slumped. “Okay, I’ll ask him, but you know what he’ll say. He’s not an errand boy.”

  Emily stepped forward. “Wait a minute. I don’t want you to send a message. I want to see my sisters and my cousin for myself.”

  Donen stopped at the door and stared at her. Aria set down the plate in her hand. “You can’t go to the border. It’s too dangerous.”

  Emily turned on her. “I don’t want to wait around while he goes without me. If it’s safe enough for him to go, it’s safe enough for me.”

  Donen set his jaw. “If Faruk doesn’t agree to take you, you’d never find the border. If you can’t convince him, you don’t have any choice but to wait.”

  Chapter 3

  Aria and Emily stood on the Observation Deck overlooking Ursidrean territory. Snow-capped mountains towered over them, and below the deck, rocky hills fell away to dark forests and beyond. The sun sparkled on the snow.

  “Are you sure you want to go out there?” Aria asked. “You’re welcome to stay here as long as you want.”

  “I have to find my sisters,” Emily told her. “Waiting here is the last thing in the world I want to do. If Faruk finds them, I want to be there to see them for myself and know they’re safe.”

  Aria sighed. “It doesn’t look good down there.”

  On the gravel field below them, Donen and Faruk stood face to face in heated conversation. They punctuated their exchange with wild gesticulations. “Faruk doesn’t look happy about this.”

  “You can’t blame him,” Aria replied. “He’s only ever traveled with trained border patrol. You’re an unknown quantity to him.”

  Donen ended the conversation with a chop of his hand and strode back to the Observation Deck. “He refuses to take you, just like I told you he would.”

  “What are we going to do about that?” Emily asked.

  “We,” he replied, “aren’t going to do anything. If you want him to take you, you better go down there and convince him. There’s nothing more I can do.” He walked away.

  “Can’t you order him to take me?” Emily as
ked. “You’re commander of the army.”

  Donen called back over his shoulder. “I did order him, and he still refused. Go talk to him yourself. Maybe you’ll have better success.”

  Emily gazed down the field. Faruk squinted into the sun toward the Observation Deck. His team of armed border guards waited for him at the edge of the trees. Aria sighed. “If you’re going to talk to him, you better do it now. He’s about to leave, and who knows when he’ll be back.”

  Emily gritted her teeth and strode down the steps onto the field. Faruk saw her coming and waited. He studied her movements on the way down the field. She picked her way through the stones and stopped in front of him.

  “What’s this foolishness about you coming with us to the border?” Faruk asked.

  “It’s not foolishness,” Emily told him. “I have two sisters and a cousin with the Lycaon, and I want to find out if they’re safe. This is the only way I can do it.”

  “You can wait here, and I’ll find out for you,” he told her.

  She shook her head. “I don’t want to wait.”

  “It’s too dangerous,” he told her. “Anything could happen on the border. Aria told you about that Felsite woman who was killed. That could be you.”

  “I don’t have anything else in my life now,” she told him. “These are the last relatives I’ll ever have. I want to see them for myself and satisfy myself that they're safe and happy. You would feel the same way if you were in my place.”

  He waved toward his team. “These are all hardened warriors with years of combat experience. They’ve been patrolling the mountains for years. Do you really think you can keep up with them?”

  “I’m not too weak to hold my own with them,” she replied. “The rotational compensator repaired my muscles, and I’ve spent the months since I came out of my coma working to get myself back to full function.”

  He shrugged. “I know, but…..”

  “I worked on mountain search and rescue in Prince Rupert for six years,” she told him. “I’ve spent years in the mountains, too. I know I can keep up with your men if you just give me a chance.”