Description

EXCERPT

Chapter One

Zafer

Finally, he’d tracked the human woman to this slum. It hadn’t been easy to find Pei Ling Xiang, his assigned proxy, but he’d been diligent, devoting every spare moment he had to finding her after she’d fled from the Faction Embassy after they’d spoken five months ago. He’d been coming to her via teleporting from the Spaceport in orbit above Earth once his shift ended. By the time he’d arrived, she’d panicked and fled.

To his annoyance, she’d fled before modification and tagging, so he’d had a rough time finding her. The Faction had lent assistance, but they were spread thin, as were Earth authorities. It had taken him a while to cultivate the right contacts around the city, but he’d finally found a gang willing to spy for him. They’d watched her for a few days and assured him it was his proxy.

He’d been pleasantly surprised to find they were right. Not taking any chances, he immediately gassed her to sleep and opened the door completely. He picked up Pei Ling and slung her over his shoulder, grunting in surprise. She was considerably lighter than he’d expected, and he worried she was malnourished.

He was irritated at the time he’d lost, and the effort he’d undertaken to secure her, but he was also concerned about her. She had to be in good health to bear him a child, and he very much wanted to be a father.

“I’ve had no family for a long time, Pei Ling,” he said to her unconscious form as he strode from the POD. A few of the gang members waited nearby, and he gave them the agreed-upon rathium bar.

“The POD is empty?” asked one of the girls, who had a lean face and a look of prolonged hunger. She didn’t seem old enough for the draft.

He nodded. “You can probably get a few rathium chips for the contents.”

The girl’s eyes widened as her belly rumbled. “I’m more interested in the synthicator nutrient levels.” She rushed toward it.

The other four gang members followed behind her, and he headed to his skid. He’d borrowed it from the Embassy after teleporting from the spaceport, since it was the easiest way to travel when one was on Earth rotation.

Now, he used it to return to the Embassy. As they reached the skid parking, he stopped and hopped down, noticing she was waking. She stirred over his shoulder, so he tightened his hold. She started to kick and squirm a moment later. “Let me down.”

His teeth gritted at the shrill sound. alphans had sensitive hearing, and it irked him. “Lower your tone.”

That only incensed her, and she got shriller, making more incoherent demands as he strode into the Embassy. He was amused at the way others gave them a wide berth as he took her straight to Medbay, ignoring a proctor who tagged along.

“Have you found her, Captain?” asked the young man in the black coat.

He grunted and kept going, not stopping until they’d reached Medbay. Then he dropped her on an exam table and pinned her in to keep her from running as Med Chief Quillin approached. The golden mosaic alien was a combination of various aliens stitched together to keep their race alive. If not for the mosaics, they wouldn’t know how to alter human DNA to make a woman fertile with an alien but not significantly change her own DNA.

“This is Pei Ling Xiang?” asked Quillin.

“Let me out of here,” said Pei Ling, still trying to get past Zafer.

He put a hand on her shoulder, lightly squeezing, but not to hurt her. “Calm yourself, human.”

She glared at him. “I don’t want to calm myself, alphan. I want out of here.”

The proctor stepped forward with a severe expression. “You’re lucky Captain Karr was willing to search for you, Ms. Xiang. If he hadn’t overlooked your defiance, you’d be in prison now. If you refuse to do your civic duty, you’ll automatically receive five years in a federal facility. There’s nothing your family’s money can do to buy you out of this.” His voice dripped with disdain.

Zafer, feeling oddly protective, turned to the proctor. He flashed his fangs when he growled. “Out.”

“But, sir—”

“We’ll handle this ourselves. Threatening her isn’t going to conquer her fear, proctor.” He growled the words.

The young man’s eyes widened, and he scurried from Medbay.

Quillin laughed. “As diplomatic as ever, Zafer.”

Zafer grinned before turning his attention to Pei Ling. “I mean you no harm, human woman. I want a child, and your government agreed to this situation. I understand your fears, but you won’t be harmed.”

“No, I’ll just be expected to give you a child and walk away after you turn me into some sort of submissive sex slave.”

He frowned. “I…what?”

“She’s referring to being modified to have an omegan receptor. It’s a necessary part of the modification.” Quillin’s voice softened when he turned to Pei Ling. “It isn’t how you imagine. The procedure will trigger a natural heat. During that time, your alphan mate will be irresistible, and you will spend much of your time mating. After the heat ends, you’ll return to a normal level of intimacy…or not, depending on the couple. You’re likely to be pregnant following your first heat.”

She didn’t look any less frightened. Zafer felt bad for her, but it couldn’t be helped. “I’ll be there to guide you.”

She looked skeptical, and her deep brown eyes welled with tears, but she blinked them back after a moment. “Fine. What choice do I have, right? It’s a one-year sentence or a five-year sentence.” She sniffled, looking a tad pathetic.

He brushed a furred knuckle down her cheek, making her shiver. He didn’t think it was in displeasure from the way her eyes widened, and he sensed a shift in her pheromones. The modification would only increase his ability to detect her pheromones, and he was eager to experience it as her mate. Not mate, he scolded himself. He couldn’t count on this becoming permanent.

Quillin had been preparing the injection while she spoke, and now he used the hypodermic to put it in via her upper arm. “You might have some side effects for a few hours, but mostly, you’ll probably just want to sleep.” He looked at Zafer. “You can take her to your ship now and let her rest for a while.”

Zafer nodded, stepping forward to pick her up.

“I can walk,” she said with a hint of shrillness.

“I’d rather not risk it.” He didn’t want to spend another five months chasing her, though with her being tagged now, she’d be much easier to track. It didn’t sit well with him to have to tag and track her, so he’d rather ensure she came with him as willingly as possible.

She tried to squirm away as he strode through the Embassy to the teleport station. When he’d had enough, he firmly smacked her bottom once. “Settle.”

She let out a sharp cry of outrage. “I’m not a dog, alphan.”

“Perhaps you would obey if you were.” He laughed when she increased her struggles, finally setting her down when they were on the teleport pads. He took hold of her hand and pulled her close to him. “Hang on, Pei Ling.” He doubted she’d teleported before.

Zafer held Pei Ling’s hand tightly as they teleported to his spaceship, a sleek vessel that was his home during his rotation on Earth. He led her to the living quarters. He gestured for her to sit, but she remained standing, arms crossed over her chest.

“I don’t want to be here,” she said, her tone defiant.

“I understand that, but you agreed to the genetic modifications and mating. This is where we’ll begin.”

Pei Ling sighed, her shoulders slumping. “I know. I just…I didn’t expect it to be like this.”

Zafer frowned. “Like what?”

“Like being taken against my will, injected with some strange drug, and then forced to mate with an alien I barely know,” she said, her voice trembling. “I feel like a…a broodmare.”

Zafer felt a pang of guilt. He hadn’t meant to make her feel like that. “I apologize if I made you feel that way. I’ll do my best to make you comfortable.”

Pei Ling nodded, but her expression remained guarded.

Zafer decided to give her some space and left the room, closing the door behind him. He wandered around the ship, checking on various systems, but his mind kept going back to Pei Ling. He couldn’t blame her for being scared and wary. He had chosen her for her genetic compatibility, but he hadn’t considered the emotional toll it would take on her.

A while later, he found her in the galley area, staring at a vidscreen that displayed Earth’s current news. He cleared his throat to announce his presence, and she turned to face him. “Hungry?” he asked, gesturing to the synthicator.

Pei Ling shook her head. “No, thank you.”

Zafer poured himself a glass of water and leaned against the counter. “I know this is difficult for you, but I hope you understand I didn’t choose you lightly. I’ve wanted a child for a long time, and you matched best with an alphan. I have first choice, and I chose you because of your health, beauty, and genetic markers.”

Pei Ling raised an eyebrow. “So, I’m just a walking incubator to you?”

Zafer bristled at her words but tried to remain calm. “No. You’re the future mother of my child. That’s an important and respected role in my culture.”

Pei Ling snorted. “I’m sure it is.”

Zafer took a deep breath, trying to keep his temper in check. “I understand you’re angry and scared, but I hope you’ll give me a chance to prove I’m not your enemy.”

Pei Ling looked away, her expression softening. “I’m sorry. It’s just…this is all so overwhelming.”

Zafer nodded. “I’m sure it is.” They fell into a slightly uncomfortable silence, but he found himself relaxing in her company. Perhaps she wasn’t as spoiled as he had initially thought, but rather, she was scared and defensive. He wondered what her life had been like before he’d found her. “May I ask you something?”

Pei Ling looked at him warily. “What?”

“What was your life like before I found you?”

Pei Ling hesitated for a moment before speaking. “When the vorathans first invaded, I was ten and lived in Singapore. We were blessed in many ways, and my father used our wealth to buy a spot in a bunker in what used to be Wyoming. It’s where we weathered much of the invasion.”

Zafer nodded to indicate he was listening.

“We had everything we needed in the bunker. Food, water, medicine, and even entertainment. It wasn’t until the government found us and took us out that I realized what life on Earth had become. I was shocked at the devastation and destruction and people suffering.”

“I see. So, you were sheltered from much of the war?”

She nodded. “Yes. We had everything we needed in the bunker until almost six months ago when the government found us and claimed all the young women eligible for the draft. They arrested our parents for sheltering us, and I haven’t seen my mom, dad, sister, or brother since. They took us to a processing center and explained the situation to us.”

He felt a pang of sympathy. “That must have been difficult for you.”

She shrugged. “I didn’t really understand what was going on at first, but they gave me the datapad with all the information after you and I spoke. I was afraid, so I ran. I didn’t know how to take care of myself, but I met Brighton, and she explained everything to me. She helped me adjust to life outside the bunker and taught me how to survive on my own.”

Zafer nodded, impressed. “Brighton sounds like a good friend.”

A small smile graced her lips. “She is. She took me in and helped me when she didn’t have to. She had to be a broodmare though, so she left three months ago.”

Zafer felt a twinge of annoyance at her phrasing of Brighton fulfilling her duty, but he pushed it aside. He had to focus on building a connection with her and proving he was a worthy mate. “I’m glad you had someone to help you.”

Her eyes were sad. “The last three months have been frightening, and I started feeling watched.”

He shifted slightly. “I paid a number of sources to look for you. I imagine you were being watched.”

She glared for a moment but then sighed. “I guess this is inevitable. I shouldn’t have tried to run.”

He didn’t like how she sounded like a sacrificial lamb, but he didn’t want to argue with her. “As I said, I won’t hurt you.”

“I’m scared of this omegan thing and the heat cycle.”

“I’ll be here with you.” He shifted. “Honestly, I haven’t been through it either. There aren’t many alphans left, male or female, and the few I’ve met were either already mated or incapable of entering an omegan phase. The mosaics tried to help us solve that problem, but it seemed most of us with an omegan ability died between the vorathans invading our solar system and diseases that ran rampant in the aftermath. Most alphans can only impregnate, not be impregnated, now.”

She blinked. “Even your females?”

He nodded. “Alphans need a partner who can enter an omegan heat cycle. When that happens, the alphans enter our alphan cycle, and we’re a compatible match. Otherwise, sex is for pleasure, not reproduction. Only during a heat can an alphan with an omegan gene become pregnant. Mosaics found it impossible to manipulate our genome enough to make some alphans acquire the omegan gene without changing our very species. It’s easier to adapt human women and men, for some reason.”

“Lucky me,” she said with a hint of bitterness before sighing. “I’ll do my best to give you what you expect, Zafer.”

He inclined his head. “I’ll do my best to make you happy during the process.” It was his silent wish that she’d choose to stay with him, but he wasn’t going to put much hope in that when thirty percent of proxy surrogates walked away at the end of the year or the end of a pregnancy. He couldn’t pretend he didn’t want her to stay, but he wouldn’t tell her that unless or until he thought they had some sort of true connection.

“What about you? What was your life like before the vorathans?”

He blinked, trying to remember. “I was a small boy when they invaded my planet. There were six planets in the alphan solar system, and five supported life. I lived on Alpha Three, which was a colony world. I remember a large city, beautiful art my mother always admired and tried to imitate, and being happy.” He flinched as he recalled the invasion.

It had started with dozens of explosions and flashes of lights. His parents had probably been aware of what was happening, but neither he nor his siblings had any indication of the situation until the actual invasion. “It was terrifying to a small child. I hid in my toy chest. That was where the Faction soldiers found me two days later, when they came to search for survivors.”

Pei Ling listened intently, sympathy in her eyes. “I’m sorry. That must have been horrible.”

He nodded. “I was lucky to be found by the Faction. I’ve been with them ever since. They’ve been my family since I was a child.”

She reached out and touched his arm. “You’ve been through so much.”

He shrugged. “It was a long time ago. I’ve had a good life, despite the war and the loss of my family. I had a chance to live, unlike most of the people I knew in my life before, and I’m grateful for that.”

She blinked, looking on the verge of tears. “I’ve never known loss like that. I’ve been sheltered and privileged my whole life.”

He understood her guilt, and he didn’t want her to feel ashamed of her upbringing. “That doesn’t mean you haven’t faced battles of your own. Everyone’s struggles are different.”

She smiled slightly, and he felt a spark of connection between them. Maybe, just maybe, they could build something together. For now, he was content to keep getting to know her and building trust.