While everyone focused on the Games Director, no one paid any attention to me. I slipped away to the storeroom in the back, where I’d seen medtechs gathering supplies all night.
The station had stopped shuddering from weapon blasts. This fight was almost over—I had to hurry if I was going to take this opportunity to get replacement translation-trackers.
I had just realized that all the cabinets were closed with the same kind of wristcom locks everything on the station used when one of the med techs entered the room.
“What are you doing here?” A purple Khanavai male demanded.
I cast about frantically for something to say. “I’m looking for an arm sling. There’s a man out there with a broken arm and I want to stabilize it until someone can help him.”
The tech frowned, then punched in a number on his wristcom. A series of supply cabinets popped open. “I’m not sure which cabinet it will be in. But it should be somewhere there.” He gestured at the cabinets, and then he bent down, gathered supplies of his own, and left the room.
My mouth hung open as I stared after him.
I don’t fucking believe it. I think the gods are on my side tonight.
Quickly, I began shuffling through the open cabinets.
For one long, miserable moment, I was convinced the tech had given me access to only first-aid supplies.
But then I found them. An entire cabinet full of neonatal and surgical supplies. And a box of brand-new chips.
Quickly, I grabbed several and slipped them inside my bra. I didn’t know if they were programmed yet, and really I didn’t care. I could find someone on Earth who could do that.
Before I left, I snagged a sling, too. Closing all the cabinets behind me, I slipped back out into the main triage room.
No one was watching, and the stream of injured coming in had slowed to a trickle.
The man I had helped in still waited, clutching his arm miserably.
“Here,” I said, pulling the sling from its package and sliding the brace under his arm. “This should help until someone can take better care of you.”
He blew out a relieved breath. “That does feel better. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.” I glanced around to make sure one of the actual medtechs was nearby. “See that green guy over there? He’ll be with you in just a minute.”
No one needed me right now. I had done what I had come to do, both by helping and by getting the implants I would need once I returned to Earth.
Just keep watching. You’ll see your chance, I promised myself.
I hoped I could believe my inner cheerleader.
Chapter Sixteen
Eldron
The Alveron Hordeship would give me nightmares later. I was sure of it.
The octagon halls were a uniformly dark gray, with none of the bright colors that decorated Khanavai ships. Our scientists had speculated that perhaps the Horde didn’t see the same color spectrum that humans and Khanavai did.
Worse, though, everywhere I went, those odd, paper-thin husks remained, as if they had been performing actions and had simply slipped out of their skins and disappeared, leaving behind only crumbling shells of what they had been.
On what I presumed was the bridge, several of them stood with forelimbs stuck to the instrument panels, held there by some biological glue, like the bodies of bugs on a wall.
I had hoped that by getting here immediately after a battle, I might gain a better sense of what we were dealing with. For all that the Khanavai had been fighting the Horde for decades, this was all we had ever found on their ships—empty bodies and dead instruments we could not make work.
“Zagrodnian hells,” I cursed, slamming my fist through one of the Horde bodies. It crumbled away into dust.
We had at least three dead Hordeships just like this one, and not one of them had ever given up its secrets to us.
I punched a few instruments randomly, hoping to learn something, anything, from one of them.
Suddenly, something behind me spun up with a loud whirr. With another curse, I jumped and spun around, barely refraining from shooting my drawn weapon.
“Watch your six, you bumbling idiot,” I muttered to myself. Apparently, my angry, random instrument pounding had started something. I made my way across the bridge to examine a series of blinking lights on the screen.
I stared at it blankly for a moment, and then it seemed to resolve itself into a familiar schematic.
That was Station 21.
And those lighted dots moving around the screen? Those were people.
Specific people, not just life-signs—there were many more station inhabitants than were showing up on this screen.
I began counting and trying to match the numbers of dots to any particular Station 21 group.
“Humans,” I said aloud.
More than that, human females. The number of dots on the screen matched up with the number of human females on Station 21.
What, by all the Blordl death goddesses, were the Alveron Horde doing tracking human females?
Maybe it really did have something to do with destroying all Khanavai means of reproduction.
Was one of those dots Mia? Could she be the one moving down the Bridal Suites hallway even now?
No. I told her to remain in her rooms. She has no reason to be out.
Then again, human women had garnered a reputation of not always being the most compliant of females. Not that anything in Mia’s actions had ever suggested that she wasn’t perfectly well behaved—except, of course, for that wicked gleam I occasionally caught in her eye.
My stomach clenched at the thought of the Hordeship targeting my mate.
All our mates.
I will protect her, no matter what.
I watched the dots move around on the station for a while longer, then pulled myself away and moved through the rest of the ship, checking to make sure there really wasn’t anything else alive.
At least we have one more piece of information than we had before, I consoled myself when I couldn’t turn on any other instruments, no matter where I went.
The longer I spent in this ghost ship, the creepier it seemed.
After hours alone, I finally decided there was nothing left to be learned and was about to head back to the hangar bay, when inspiration struck.
I hadn’t been banging indiscriminately on panels on the bridge when the human-tracker had come to life.
I slammed my fist through one of those creepy alien bodies, and it crumbled to dust. Then I hit the panel—presumably with that dust still on my glove.
Could it really be that simple? Our scientists had attempted various chemical interactions with the Alveron Horde instrumentation, always to no avail.
I need to test this theory before I make a fool of myself by sharing it with anyone else.
Instead of heading back to the docking bay, I turned again toward the bridge.
There, the dead Horde members still stood sentinel. Swallowing down my revulsion, I made my way to the instrument panel that, had I been guessing, I would have assumed controlled propulsion. With a quick motion, I swiped my hand through the nearest husk-body, gathered the crumbling dust in my hand, and began moving my hand over the panel.
Lights began blinking to life.
I was right. Something about the dust their bodies produced really did help power up the ship.
I resisted the urge to continue experimenting.
I didn’t want to slam the Hordeship into Station 21 if I could help it. That would not be a fitting legacy, I thought wryly.
There would be plenty of time to experiment when I got an actual engineering team over here.
The fact that the horde was tracking human females made me that much more determined to learn what they were doing and why—and that started with learning how they use their technology.
This time, as I headed back to the docking bay, excitement warred with disappointment. I would need to spend the next few days working with that
engineering team to see what we could figure out about how the Horde used its own bodies to control the ship.
Which was all well and good—and I really was excited about it. Except for one thing: it meant I wouldn’t be able to spend much time with Mia over the next few days.
I hoped she would understand.
Chapter Seventeen
Mia
Almost three days.
That was how long it had been since I had seen Eldron.
I shouldn’t care. I told myself that over and over, trying to convince myself I wasn’t disappointed by his absence.
After all, if I’d had the opportunity to transport back to Earth, I would have taken it without hesitation.
But if I had to be stuck on Station 21 with no easy way to contact Josiah, I would have preferred to spend my time with the commander.
He, however, was busy analyzing the Hordeship the Khanavai had captured. Which meant I ended up helping Natalie prepare Amelia and Zont’s wedding.
I’d been right—Natalie really was good at getting people to do whatever she wanted them to do.
And now I was preparing to be a bridesmaid in a wedding broadcast across the whole galaxy.
God, I hope Frank isn’t watching.
Natalie and I marched into the small, mostly undamaged room we had commandeered for the wedding. As we walked up the aisle created by temporary seating, we dropped petals from both Earth and Khanavai flowers on the floor.
Zont, dressed in his kilt-like chavan uniform, waited for Amelia at the front of the room—but I couldn’t stop staring at Eldron, who had been pulled from his scientific inquiry long enough to perform the ceremony as the senior officer on the station.
At the front of the room, we turned back to face the doorway, and Amelia stepped into the doorway, vidglobes floating around her.
Zont gasped when he saw her, and I couldn’t help but smile at how obviously smitten he was with her.
Cav stepped up and offered his arm to escort her the short distance to her groom.
Drindl and Plofnid, Natalie’s two bridal assistants, took up the rear of the tiny procession, and at the last minute, one of the station medics pushed Vos Klavoii into the room on a floatchair.
After I left Frank, I swore off the whole idea of marriage.
But I couldn’t help but feel a swell of emotion as Zont and Amelia promised to love and honor each other, and to protect one another, allowing their infinite love room to grow.
As I watched Zont and Amelia exchange their vows, I swallowed hard, glancing up at Eldron, wondering if maybe—just maybe—marriage to him would be different than my life with Frank had been.
Could Eldron save me?
Oh, God. I hope so. The thought flickered through my mind before I could quash it.
Tears sprang to my eyes, and I blinked them away before he noticed.
What should I do?
Running wasn’t an option. Amelia had tried that, and she’d ended up here on Station 21, mated to and marrying the alien who had chosen her.
At least she’d had the option of either agreeing to be with Zont or going through the Bride Games. Vos Klavoii hadn’t given me a choice in the matter—he was determined to have another series of Bride Games with several grooms vying for my affections.
Of course, Eldron and I hadn’t had sex, and rumor had it that Amelia and Zont had been together before they even made it up to the station, that he had actually mated her without her knowledge—whatever that meant. The Khanavai were pretty cagey about how the mating process worked. When I’d asked Eldron about it a few moments before the ceremony, he’d simply caressed my cheek and said, “I promise I’ll tell you all about it. But not until we’re officially paired.”
Every single day since I met him, I had thought about that moment in the corridor outside the hangar, when I had been about to board the Earth-bound shuttle.
I thought I’d escaped being given to an alien warrior. I was wrong.
God. I was less than an hour away from washing out of the Alien Bride Games.
None of the Khanavai warriors had chosen me, and I was scheduled on the next shuttle off the filming station.
My secret was still safe.
I mean, I’d been on television. The whole world had seen me participating, even though I tried to keep a low profile. But I couldn’t count on not having been seen. When I got back home, I’d have to run.
Again.
Change my name, get new ID cards.
Get the new translator-trackers implanted.
I shuddered at the thought of another back-alley procedure. They were dangerous at best, and I knew I was risking getting caught by the authorities by going back.
Worse, taking the risk of getting a new tracker might put me right back on the Bride Lottery list.
But then a bright red alien passed me in a hallway. A whole long line of women waiting to board the shuttle, and a Khanavai warrior had stopped, sniffed the air, and turned to scan all of us.
I ignored him, staring at the floor and huddling down into myself, trying to avoid any attention at all—just as I had during the entirety of the Bride Games up until now. Even during the pageant and interviews, I had mumbled my responses, hoping to make myself as boring as possible.
But then the cherry-red giant made a beeline toward me. He placed one finger under my chin and gently raised my face so he could look me in the eye.
“You’re beautiful,” he whispered. Then he leaned down, those luscious lips of his aiming for mine.
And the next thing I knew, we were all over each other. He picked me up and I wrapped my legs around his waist. His tongue plundered my mouth, leaving me gasping, his kiss making my head spin.
I inhaled the scent of him, something dark and heavy with a swirl of sweetness to it, like chocolate or coffee. Everyplace his body touched mine—which was everywhere—sparks of sheer lust shot through me, spinning me into a world where only the two of us existed.
If not for the shouts and cheers of the other brides in line, I probably would have let him fuck me right there.
Instead, I reluctantly pulled away from the kiss, and he set me on my feet.
When he said, “Come with me,” and held out his hand, I followed him.
One of the vidglobes had caught it all, and it had been broadcast live—complete with commentary from Vos Klavoii, as I’d learned later.
Now, the memory of his kisses sent a shiver down my spine, and Eldron glanced down at me, taking my hand in his and bringing it up to his mouth long enough to drop another spine-tingling kiss on it.
I smiled up at him, unwilling to let him know how anxious I was.
Bad enough that my name had been drawn in the Bride Lottery.
Now, even though they were supposedly over, I was back in the Games. And not the usual ones, either—a whole new set of challenges, just for me.
Guess it’ll make for good television back home.
I sent up a silent prayer to any god who might be listening that I could resist my attraction to Eldron long enough to get back to Earth, to the people I love.
Back to the people I needed to save.
And that I would be able to keep him from learning my most desperate secret.
The odds aren’t looking good, though.
Afterward, Plofnid and Drindl rushed out while everyone else was congratulating the newlyweds, returning with station employees bearing a table, chairs, and a meal for everyone to share, including an astounding number of bottles containing a pale, fizzy Earther alcohol.
Eldron waited until everyone was eating and turned to Zont. “I had a conversation this afternoon with Command Central,” I said. “And we have a proposal for you.”
Zont tilted his head in interest. “Yes?”
“We are considering opening up a permanent station on Earth for a Khanavai diplomatic corps. We think you might be a good fit to act as our military liaison.”
“Me? Really?”
Eldron gave him a wink. “We w
ould also like to have a Special Ops presence there.”
Amelia leaned around her mate to speak to the commander. “Would this be a long-term posting?”
“Why yes, yes it would.” Eldron smiled, pleased at his ability to offer the couple this gift.
He really is a kind man.
Zont glanced at his new bride, checking with her before he replied. “I would be happy to take the position, sir.”
“That was nice of you,” I whispered, slipping my fingers into his large, red hand.
How could I possibly leave him? He was a good man.
For Josiah.
I met Eldron too late. There was no room for him in my life.
I’m leaving.
Then I saw my chance.
With a distracted air, Eldron took off his wristcom and set it on the chair next to me as he stood to dance with Amelia.
Making sure no one was watching, I picked it up and dropped it into the evening purse I’d chosen to carry.
As soon as my giant, red alien stepped off the dance floor, I took his hands. “Could you escort me back to my quarters? I’m afraid I had a little too much champagne. I’m tired. We could meet again for breakfast tomorrow.”
It wasn’t fair to let him walk me back to my room, kiss me goodnight, and make plans for the next morning, all the while planning to be gone within an hour.
But I did.
Chapter Eighteen
Eldron
Outside her door, I wrapped Mia in my arms. “We start our Bride Games tomorrow,” I reminded her. In anyone else, I might have taken the tiny twitch of her body to be anxiety about my embrace. But somehow, I knew that Mia was nervous about the next day. “I’m sorry I was not able to get Vos to agree to simply allow us a wedding like Amelia and Zont.”
She rested her cheek against my chest, her skin brushing lightly against mine. “That’s okay.”
Anxiety thrummed through her body, as if it vibrated from her soul into mine.
“Would you like to talk about what’s bothering you?”
Claimed for the Alien Bride Lottery Page 7