Craving: A SciFi Alien Mail Order Bride Romance (TerraMates Book 8) (20 page)

"The remainder of my men will disembark from the ship and take control of the station," Jidden told, clearly more at ease now that I had given him command. "As long as there is no trouble, the women of this station will be allowed to continue on with their normal routine."

"Will other ships be landing?" I asked, and then I quickly added, "Because we have plenty of room on the Fortuna if you wish to accommodate yourself. You will find our marble halls to be quite–"

"No," he said, cutting me off. "All men who visit the Fortuna will remain housed within their own ship. We will be patrolling the station, but that is all."

He didn't directly answer my question, but his response was revealing. It sounded like other ships planned to dock. That was good news for me. It meant the signal to attack would be prolonged even further.

"And what of our negotiations?" I asked. "I have requests regarding our surrender."

It was clear by his expression that Jidden felt no obligation to hear out any requests. To him, the surrender had already taken place. And in many ways, it had, but he complied. "Fine," he said through gritted teeth. "I will hear you, in private. Name a place."

In private? Alone? I had not expected that. My heart began to flutter, both in fear and for other reasons I refused to admit to myself. "The gardens," I said, slightly off key. "Near the willows."

"I will meet you there in... what is it you humans use... an hour," he said. "Now leave us. I need to speak with my men."

* * *

"
I
don't like this
," Bellona declared, struggling not to walk ahead of me as we made our way towards the Grand Hall. "We have given them too much."

"For now," Gallia said, using her soothing voice to help calm Bellona.

"It could be worse," I said.

"How could it be worse!" Bellona cried. "They have total control over the Fortuna."

"They
think
they have total control," Gallia corrected. "Terra is right. It could be much worse. You know the stories of the colony that was attacked. What they did to the women...My biggest fear going into today was that we were going to have to abort our mission in order to protect our integrity. At least, for now, that's something we don't have to worry about."

That's why I respected Gallia, despite the fact that she had never warmed to me. She had her flaws, but she would never expect us to give up our bodies freely, not even for the sake of intelligence.

"It's a shame they are so damn hot," Lucina chirped beside me. "When the time comes, it'll make slitting their throats a lot more depressing than if they had fangs or slobbered everywhere. Did you see the way their eyes sparked?"

"I don't mind a little fang," Gallia divulged. "There's no pleasure without danger."

For the life of me, I couldn't tell if she was joking or not.

"We shouldn't be having this discussion in the open," I suggested, afraid the Surtu were somehow following our conversation.

The women around me went silent in agreement, until Lucina said, "You did good, Commander, dealing with their Lead Officer." She smiled as she called me Commander. It was awkward, even for me. "But you don't have to meet him alone in the gardens. We'll come with you."

"I think he'll talk more freely if she's alone," Gallia objected, whispering.

"I'll be okay," I assured Lucina. "Thanks, anyway."

The truth was, I didn't know what to expect. The only thing I could gauge from my conversation with Jidden was that he couldn't care less what happened to anybody on board the Fortuna. I saw nothing but disdain in his eyes.

I wanted to ask Bellona what I should say to him regarding the negotiations. She would give me wise counsel. When I turned towards her, she was gone, having disappeared into the shadows.

* * *

J
IDDEN

"Did you see the little blonde?" Kalij asked from his seat on an ammo box while he polished his blaster. "I bet I could please her in a way no human man could."

I immediately went over to him and yanked the blaster from his hands before shoving him in the gut with it. "You know the Fleet Captain's orders. The women are to be left alone."

"The women are why we're here," Kalij sputtered between breaths as he held his stomach.

If I had it my way, the men could do what they wanted to the women. It made no difference to me, but I wasn't going to let the redheaded bastard steal my shot at a promotion.

"You touch her, you die," I warned. "The lives of these women are worth more than your own. Our planet has plenty of soldiers. Don't make the mistake of assuming you are irreplaceable."

"What about the light bond?" Kalij asked, recovering.

I wanted to smack his ruby head, but the other men around us laughed, humiliating him for me.

"You'd never light bond," one of the soldiers alleged, chuckling. "One woman for the rest of your life? You'd rather have ten ugly ones than be stuck with that blonde the rest of your life."

Kalij merely grunted.

Unable to tolerate any more of the heathens, I went to my quarters. I looked forward to the day I was promoted and no longer had to play big brother to a bunch of thugs.

Being Lead Officer of a ship was impressive, but there were other, more profitable titles to be had – titles where respect wasn't earned, it was mandated. Securing the Fortuna nearly guaranteed me a promotion if everything went according to plan.

My one doubt about the plan was the Commander of the station, Terra.

Thinking of her made me ache like a man, but I pushed it aside. She was superb and she worried me. There was an intelligence within her, so strong it was mesmerizing. I could see it in her doe-brown eyes – a soul that was much older than the twenty-odd years she appeared to be.

Women like that – they didn't run off to join a sisterhood. I could believe that she was in charge of the Fortuna, but I knew there was much more to her than some spiritual nutcase.

And that made her a threat.

Too bad beauty is so dangerous…

I shook my head, hoping the physical action would take the thought in my mind away. Claiming a woman was not in my plans. I wanted a promotion. I wanted power. That was what mattered.

So why couldn't I get Terra out of my mind?

* * *

T
ERRA

Around me, the soft branches of the willow trees touched to the ground, sweeping lightly against the creek that ran through the gardens. On a normal evening, the gardens were my favorite spot on the station.

This was no normal evening. Normal no longer existed, thanks to the Surtu, not since their first attack on the colony.

Earth had only a few colonies that inhabited foreign planets. They were not favored. The expeditions to the colonies cost a great deal of money, and a large percentage of the 'explorers' died on the journey or the new planet, usually due to some technical glitch like a busted air mask.

Florentine was different. It was the one colony
everyone
on Earth was excited about. The atmosphere on Florentine was comparable to Earth's. No air masks were required, no heavy space suits. It was a second home, and it was a backup plan for our species.

Should anything happen to Earth, humanity would not perish. We would live on.

Then the Surtu attacked. Until the attack on Florentine, alien races were still a myth. Scientists hypothesized that they could exist, somewhere out there, but no contact had ever been made.

If only that were still true. Then all the women and children on Florentine wouldn't have been taken as slaves. And the men wouldn't have been slaughtered.

And the Fortuna wouldn't have need to exist.

I looked up at the stars through the transparent roof, made of the same unbreakable material as the divide in the docking bay. Among the stars was Florentine, now isolated. I wondered if any of the people taken were still alive. If they lived, where were they?

I didn't know how the handful of survivors escaped the attack on Florentine but thank God they did. Otherwise, they never would have been able to warn Earth about the Surtu. We wouldn't have been prepared.

The problem was I didn't FEEL prepared. I'd been thrown into the role of Commander the way a baby bird is tossed out of its nest into the air and expected to fly.

I was willing, but I wasn't ready.

That didn't matter now. Jidden was here, in the gardens. Lucina led him to where I waited, and then she left, leaving us alone.

He had changed into a navy blue uniform that highlighted his dark features. The uniform was sharp and sophisticated, matching Jidden well. I wanted to hate him and his uniform, and everything they represented, but I couldn't, not until I heard what the Surtu needed.

As children, we may have whispered over campfires about the Depraved – monsters that roamed space – but my heart told me the Surtu were not barbarians. If their plan was to simply annihilate Earth, they would have already done so.

They needed something from us. I was sure of it.

"Don't look at me like that," Jidden said, forgoing any formal greeting. "I'm not a specimen to be studied."

"Then tell me why you're here," I prompted, hoping he would reveal information Earth was looking for. We may look alone, but there were ears listening in.

"You'll know, in time," he said. "You may be the Commander of this space station, and I may be the Lead Officer of my ship, but there are people above both of us who will decide when that conversation takes place."

So he had a reverence for hierarchies. It might work to my advantage. "As a Commander, I pull rank over you, so I'd appreciate it if you weren't so evasive."

Oops. Bad mistake. He was indignant, to say the least.

"And as a Surtu, I pull rank over you," he snapped.

"That remains to be seen. You haven't conquered Earth yet."

"But I have taken over this station."

"We surrendered."

"Because you had no choice."

Terra, stop it! I scolded myself. I didn't know why I was arguing with him. The plan was not to anger the sexy alien. I had to earn his trust and get him to talk.

But something about his gorgeous body and mythological eyes...

I took a deep breath. "Yes," I said, smoothing the edges of my pale blue dress. Unlike Jidden, I had not changed clothes. "We had no choice. We are a peaceful sisterhood. We do not want war. No one profits from war, no matter who wins. Everyone suffers."

"Finally, I hear something legitimate from you," Jidden said. "That's probably the first authentic thing you've said to me since I arrived."

He was right. My thoughts on war were my own, but it alarmed me that he could read me so well. If he had suspicions that I was not being truthful, I had to squash them.

Everything depended on it.

So be truthful, I told myself. It's the only way you'll earn his trust.

"I'd like to show you something," I said, and I waved my hand to the side. "Hologram," I instructed. "Earth."

"What are you–" Jidden began to ask, but he stopped when a magnificent blue marble appeared above us – a perfect replica of Earth.