The Smuggler's Radiant (Renegades Book 2)

by L P Peace

  ‘He doesn’t speak English though,’ Rhona said. ‘He understands it because of the translation chip, but if you want to understand him, you’ll have to have one installed. But I can interpret for now.’

  ‘I’m not going to lie,’ Amy said. ‘I’m terrified. But I’ll get over it. Would you like to come inside?’

  The alien smiled and nodded once. It was a slow, deliberate gesture.

  They walked into the house and sat. The mayor sat with them, awkwardly looking between the parties.

  ‘His name is Makios,’ Rhona said. She looked at the alien and introduced them.

  ‘You’re a big fucker, aren’t you?’ Anders said with a nod of approval.

  Eventually, the mayor left, and over the following hours, Rhona told them the story. The kidnapping, the cages, the buyer. When she recounted her escape, Anders beamed with pride. She told them of their mission and what happened in the intervening time between finishing and arriving back in the Earth system.

  ‘Amot?’ Anders asked. They’d been mining the stuff.

  ‘It’s a shipbuilding metal.’ Rhona’s eyes gleamed. She was holding Mikey while he had his bottle. The alien was watching her with a look of longing on his face.

  Rhona explained the amot and then told them about the Tessans and who they really were. Amy’s mind reeled with all the new information.

  The alien, Makios, said something.

  ‘He wants to know if he can hold Mikey.’

  Amy smiled and stood. ‘Of course you can.’ She gently lifted Mikey and passed him the few inches to the giant alien.

  Their eyes caught. The alien’s face softened as they watched each other, a hopeful look in his eye, and Amy realised he wanted her to like him; it was important to him. When a smile tugged at her lips, Amy allowed it to blossom and deposited her son into the hands of her daughter’s… partner? Mate? Husband?

  Returning to her seat, she turned to see the alien looking down at Mikey, beaming. Mikey looked back and chuckled at him, reaching out to touch his face.

  Something in Amy relaxed. Now she could see what her daughter saw—a gentle, kind, loving male—and knew she’d never have to worry about her daughter with him around.

  ‘He can support his own head.’ Rhona smiled. The alien smiled back and spoke. Rhona looked at her parents and then nodded at the alien.

  ‘Yeah, I think you’re right,’ she answered him. She pulled something out of her pocket and reached out.

  Anders took the paper and unfolded it.

  Amy knew exactly what it was before the picture of her grandchild was revealed. The hospital had given her the same paper with her scan picture on it. She covered her mouth with her hand and, with hesitant fingers, took the paper from Anders.

  The picture was as clear as day. Imaging technology was remarkable. The boy was sucking his thumb, flashing his gear as though already proud. His eyes were closed, but there was a small smile on his face as though he knew he was being watched and was getting a laugh out of it. Amy stared at her grandson for a minute. Anders was leaning over her shoulder; he took her free hand, pressed a kiss into her shoulder and let out a ragged breath. They were going to be grandparents. They had dreamed of this, promised a screaming Rhona she would have to go through teething with her own child someday. She bit her lip and swallowed past thick emotion.

  Amy looked from the picture to her daughter’s stomach and realised she’d completely missed the small, protruding bump. Right now, this little boy was curled up inside his mum.

  ‘I dressed strategically,’ Rhona admitted.

  ‘What’s that?’ Anders pointed at six strange, thin pads on the little boy’s head.

  Makios stood and glanced at where he was pointing before smiling and knocking on his horns.

  Anders stared at the horns in disbelief, then at his grandson. Then he looked from the picture to Rhona and Makios, and back again.

  ‘Oh my God.’ Amy rolled her eyes and stood. She gestured for Makios to hand over Mikey. He let the little boy go with a small kiss to the forehead while Mikey watched him, eyes full of wonder. ‘I’m sorry for what’s about to happen,’ she said.

  ‘Oh no,’ Rhona said. ‘I knew he’d do this.’

  A look of pure joy had spread over Anders Stinar’s face. ‘My grandchildren are going to have horns!’ he roared.

  The End

  Author Note

  Today is the 30th of July. The Mercenary’s Dawn was launched just over five weeks ago and I’ve been blown away by the way you guys have received it. I feel like I’ve made more progress than I thought I would have by this stage and that’s down to you, so thank you.

  Again, I have to thank my husband Jonathan for his support, not just emotional either. My man brings me tea and biscuits and cooks my meals (I can cook, but he’s much better at it!). He also listens to me work out story lines, kinks, and plots as well as being the first editor of all of my work. I honestly couldn’t do it without him.

  To my beta readers and ARC reviewers, Cheryl, Jane Jourdin, Jasmin, Janet, Lola, Kitty, Marianne and Whitney, thank you so much for all of the feedback and the amazing reviews you leave. Thank you for fitting my books into your busy lives!

  To Tara Phillips, who has quickly become an indispensable friend and critique partner, I love reading your stories and thank you for reading mine!

  To my editor Lindsay at Ly Publishing and Sam Muraski my ever patient cover artist, thank you for the level of work you both put into helping me create these books. I can’t appreciate either one of you enough!!!

  Daris, that Maruzen devil, is the hero of the next book. I know you’re probably wondering when Devorak’s book is coming, it is coming but it’ll be a little while yet. Devorak isn’t a Renegade, so he doesn’t belong in this series. It kills me, I love Devorak, everything he is and what he’s trying to do. But even working at full speed, which he is, it’s going to be a while before he’s going to be able to go home to take his throne.

  I’ll be sticking around in the Renegades series for a total of five books. The one after Daris is a certain Huan sitting in a bar in Caras. Danithor is a damaged male with a past which I’ll be exploring in book four, before finishing with Ronin, the sexy green bounty hunter from The Captain’s Promise. If you haven’t read that, you can find it by either clicking on the link below, if you’re reading this on Kindle, or by going to my website, www.lucypeace.com and clicking the books tab and the Book Funnel link next to The Captain’s Promise cover. You don’t need to sign up to my newsletter to download the book, but if you do, you’ll get all of the news at the same time as it becomes available on my Facebook group.

  Speaking of which, if you want to find out what happened to Decimen, I will be serialising a novella about him on my Facebook group The Author’s Renegades from September 1st. There is going to be a time jump between this book and the next and The Slave’s Duty, Decimen’s novella, will be set a several months before the events of the third book. Once that is finished, I’ll publish the novella to Kindle. I plan to do that on October 1st. I’ve been planning on writing novellas and giving free access to them, but at the same time, not everyone wants to be a member of my newsletter or Facebook group, I feel putting them up on Amazon allows people to choose which way they want to read the book. Plus, I’ve been reading Ruby Dixon’s serialisations on her Facebook page recently and I’m addicted! It’s such a great way to share a story and I love reading peoples comments after each chapter is posted, so I’ve decided to blatantly copy this fantastic idea.

  If you’ve enjoyed any of my books, please consider leaving a review, or rating on Goodreads, Bookbub and Amazon so that other readers can find them.

  Thank you again for reading The Smuggler’s Radiant. I hope you enjoyed it and I’ll see you in the next Author’s Note!

  Lucy

  Also by L. P. Peace

  The Captain’s Promise (A Renegades Short) – OUT NOW

  The Mercenary’s Dawn – OUT NOW

  The Smuggler�
�s Radiant

  Daris’s Story (Coming October)

  Danithor’s Story (Coming December)

  Ronin’s Story (Coming February)

  About the Author

  Lucy is an all-round nerd with a life-long love of mythology, fantasy and science-fiction, throw in a happily-ever-after and she’s a happy customer. When she’s not reading or writing about alien males and the human women who love them, she’s spending time with her husband and three cats in their Derbyshire home.