Forever's Not Enough (Galactic League of Planets) (13 page)

The premier wandered aimlessly to a window and stood with his back to the room, hands clasped behind his back, watching dust devils dance on the barren soil beyond.

Hill gently lifted her hand, kissed her cheek, and left her standing alone. Stepping up beside the premier she heard him say, “I want to help.”

“Why would you? Why on Zandill, or any planet for that matter, would anyone want to?” The premier sounded angry and hurt.

She couldn’t imagine what they were talking about. Looking at the premier’s sister standing close to the fire, she watched a sadness fall on the woman’s shoulders like a stone and a single tear roll down a weary cheek.

She couldn’t stand it anymore. “What? Help with what? I must ask that you forgive me, Premier, but you’ve been raiding our planet and killing our people for the last six months. Why on Meline would anyone want to help you?”

“Because it wasn’t the Zandill that raided your planet.” Hill’s response made no sense.

“But I saw them! You saw them! They were there!”

Hill remained mute and waited.

The premier finally stepped away from the window, rubbed his hands together as if warming them, and smiled. “Yes, Princess, so I have heard. Here, sit with me by the fire and I will explain.”

Chapter Five

Crenshaw marveled at the carpet of Zandill warriors that covered the floor of the cavernous shipping base on the Queen moon of Meline. Leaning over the railing, he could make out neatly sorted piles of arms and munitions waiting to be picked up as the Death Warriors streamed into the transporters to reappear in the royal sector below on the Meline planet.

No, he thought, there will be no mistakes this time. No bomb planting or theatrics. They would simply sweep in, kill everyone in sight, the royal family included, and put up the Zandill flag.

Then, with the royals gone, the UC can come to the rescue, banish the Zandill forever, and walk away with whatever they want from a grateful planet. Did it really matter that they wanted the entire planet?

Yes, he decided, a hundred thousand should do the trick nicely.

When Lucy Lighton leaned close he shivered. “How soon will it start?” she asked.

Looking at his watch, he explained. “Nightfall is in ten hours. We’ll wait till then.”

Her hand ran down his back, across his ass, and between his thighs where she grabbed a handful of material and balls, and squeezed, “Good. That gives us at least eight hours to negotiate.”

* * * *

She couldn’t believe it. It can’t be true.
How could they have? How could her father have denied Bast? It was blasphemy!

“No, this can’t be!”

“I know it must be a shock, Princess, but I swear by Djark that all I tell you is true. And, if you prefer, I will swear by Bast as well!”

Hill had settled beside her on the large couch facing the fireplace, and it was his arm around her shoulders that provided an anchor in this storm of lies and untruths.

She was adamant, “It can not be done! No Meline would allow it! You lie!”

Zad only smiled and looked at his sister sitting in an armchair a few feet away. Finally, with a note of belligerence, he offered, “Ask your father.”

“Even if it were true, it does not explain the Zandill Death Warriors that have been invading my planet!”

“You are right, Princess, it doesn’t. But, truth be known, I could barely muster enough Warriors for a good hunting party on this Djark forsaken planet, much less invade another…”

“But the Zandill are the most feared warriors in the galaxy!” She jumped up, planted her feet, and stared down incredulously at the premier. “Your kill rate is highest, your warriors the bravest, and your arsenal of weapons the deepest…”

“And how I wish that were true.” The Premier came to his feet and walked back to the window where he rocked on his heels, silent and somber.

“You deny conquering a million soldiers with less than a hundred thousand in the dark-star wars?”

“Of course not,” Zad shot back.

“Was it not the Zandill that quelled civil unrest in the Blue moon system only sixty years ago? And you did it with less than two hundred death warriors against more than two hundred thousand rebels!”

“You know much of Zandill’s history, Princess,” came out as a sarcastic accusation, then Zad added, “About the Zandill raiding your planet, you might want to ask the good sergeant. I believe that is what really brought him here.”

Her head felt light and she knew all semblance of self-control was gone, “I know enough to know you are telling me nothing but lies and more lies! No wonder my father doesn’t trust you!”

When the premier spun on his heel, she saw Hill jump to his feet and felt the warmth of his body against hers as he took up post against her back.

The arrogant prick stopped short and growled, “Your father, Princess, is a stubborn bigoted ass, but he certainly is not stupid and I would guess his daughter isn’t stupid either. You don’t believe me?”

She sniffed as if a foul stench had come close and said simply, “No, I don’t.”

“Then find him! Bring him here! Ask him to his face!”

“So you can kill him? Ha, you think me a fool!”

She cringed when the premier stepped closer and stated flatly between clenched teeth, “If what I say is true, I would die before I could harm a Meline and you know it.”

Hills big hand fell on her shoulder and she suddenly realized the premier’s wild-eyed look was not unbridled arrogance, but overwhelming desperation, and her resolve wavered.

The premier’s sister stepped up and touched his shoulder, her voice soft, imploring, “Zad. Let it be. You must not torture yourself like this.”

Zad jerked away and unsheathed the sword he and Hill had been inspecting earlier, and blade in hand, offered it to Hill.“Here, he can kill me if he suspects anything! I will not resist! Now find him and bring him here!”

She looked at Hill and found her rock, calm but attentive, his big hand wrapped around the hilt of the sword, the blade glinting menacingly in the firelight.

* * * *

He didn’t know what they expected him to do. As a voting member of the board of the directors in charge of expansion, Jandron Finnegan went over the projections a third time and cursed. How can this be?

While building a deep space vessel capable of two hundred times the speed of light and housing a billion people was a daunting task in and of itself, doing it ten times was overwhelming.

And then this.
How on earth could they expect him to meet the production schedule if the soil needed, a special mix of inorganic material, silicates, and zinc, was not made available as promised?
Without the soil there would be no ceramic outer skin to protect the starship’s vulnerable cargo from the ravages of hitting a grain of sand at 37.25 million miles per hour in the vacuum of space.

He sighed and set the production schedule aside, and fished out another report that was just as distressing. The helium 3 currently under contract in the known galaxy would be just enough to get the ten ships halfway to their targets. Then the light-beam drives would go dark, the ships artificial eco system would fail, and everyone would slowly freeze to death.

Turning to his D screen, he punched up the chairman’s office and asked for an emergency board meeting.

* * * *

It had been a long day, and Peenzan was tired and angry and needy. She alternately cursed and blessed Bast for her mate whose imposing presence kept her chest rattling and had her so wet she wondered if she’d start chiming.

The transporter room which was really only a big cavern carved out of solid rock below the surface of the planet, the same room they’d arrived in earlier, was depressing and in spite of her misgivings about the wild claims the Premier had made, she felt sorry for the Zandill people and the dead ravaged state of their planet.

Even under such harsh circumstances, Hill’s hand finding hers brought a smile to her face and she selfishly leaned into his arm, and if only for a few heartbeats, let her purr run wild.

When the premier’s sister looked over and smiled, almost knowingly, she leaned away quickly and swallowed hard.
Bast! I hate you Bast! I will always hate you! You are a…

The hum of the transporter saved Bast from further verbal abuse, and she was shocked to find the transporter filled with Meline fighters and a very frightened Pran.

Before anyone could speak the fighters, ten of them, filled the receiving chamber, weapons at the ready and Pran ran to her side.

“Princess! How can this be? The Queen and King are coming! Here! To Zandill!”

Before she could respond, the transporter hummed again, and in full royal regalia, her mother and father appeared along with a handful of aids and two more Meline fighters. And no one else. Turning on the premier she scoffed, “See! She didn’t even come with them! You lied!”

Then she felt it. At first she thought it was her own chest and swallowed to stifle the rumble, but it reverberated off the rock walls and filled the cavernous room. When the woman stepped forward, she didn’t recognize her. She had never, in her entire life, seen her aunt dressed in anything but her black robe of mourning.

Her jaw dropped and she stared openly when her aunt ran into the premier’s arms crying. Her mother smiled and when she found her father’s eyes he looked away. She was on him in two strides. “How could you!”

Her mother stepped up and touched her shoulder. “Be kind, Daughter. There is more you do not know.”

“But how could he deny that which Bast ordained?”

“There, there, my child. At last it has been fixed.” Her mother touched her chest. “I think you have more important things to tend to.”

* * * *

As soon as the premier’s sister pulled the two heavy doors shut, she was kissing him while his hands explored her back, his fingers playing with her back-fall. In spite of his size she shoved on his chest and pounded his shoulder until he backed into the middle of the room.

She came alive with the feel of his hands on her skin, and they both tore and tugged at each other’s clothing. She moaned when his mouth found hers with a hunger that said he felt the same need, the same desires she did.

She kissed his chest and let her hands slide down his arms. Looking frantically to one side, she saw an elegant wardrobe before his mouth found hers again and insisted.

“Yes, my love,” she managed before his lips stifled her words.

When his big hands found her ass and pulled her against his body, his hard cock trapped against her stomach, she managed to look to the other side and saw only an ornately carved stone slab that stood a foot above the floor with an animal skin thrown on it.

“The bed! Where’s the…” She sighed, grabbing his shoulders to climb up and get a peek at the rest of the room. A low guttural sound came out when she found no bed.

Too late! His beautiful brown eyes fixed hers as, standing in the middle of the room, his hands cupped beneath her ass, her back-fall swishing around his knees, he dropped her onto his cock. Her feet locked behind his ass, and she squeezed while she pulled on his neck and floated on the feeling.

He was like a mountain she could climb on, and she thought wickedly, fuck to my heart’s content. When her world spun she clung to him, when his knees hit the floor pushing his cock deeper she grunted and felt her chest explode in a fit of purring.

She loved his strength, his power, the way he held her and searched her face with his mouth until he found hers. But most of all she loved his unbridled hunger.

When he pushed her back on the floor and rode her hard, his cock seemingly possessed, all coherent thought melted into a burning glow that filled her mind with only one purpose.

She grunted and pushed against his sweaty body, her hands sliding on his back, her existence numbing into the electric surge of her own climax while his eyes still searched for hers, never left hers, bore into her soul.

His harsh grunts and groans were a symphony, his heavy breathing a director’s baton that she followed until her head filled with a mad rush, her breath caught, her purring stopped, and her cunt exploded, taking her with it.

His form melted into an ethereal blur of color with eyes that never let her disappear and she willed him to join her, to find the edge and jump over.

Then she felt a swelling against her contractions, a warm wet rush, and heard him grunt.

“Yes, my love,” was all she managed.

He froze, and the only movement she felt was another swelling of his cock and a spread of warmth through her womb.

My tree,
she thought,
my mountain.

There was no clear line between conscious thought and her dreams, only a warm glow and one word.

Mate

* * * *

He smiled when her lids dropped on her slightly crossed eyes. He found no doubts or hesitation when the word love popped into his head, and laying his head between her breasts, enjoying her purr, he whispered it reverently like a penance. “Love.”

She stirred and he found a brown nipple where he licked and said it again. “Love.”

Taking in the room, he let her head drop gently to the floor and watched her curl into a ball, her knees pulled up around her chest and her chin tilted down. Her platinum hair was a halo around her head and her back-fall a fan around her ass.

Standing, he surveyed the room. There has to be a bed somewhere. The only thing that came close was a low stone slab with an animal fur on it, but it looked entirely too hard and uninviting.

Stepping to the edge, he leaned down to pat the fur and was surprised when his hand met a warm resistance a foot from the top of the slab. Pushing harder he felt his fingers dig in then stop. Like reaching into warm water. As hard as he tried he couldn’t reach the fur or the stone slab.

“I’ll be damned.”

Picking up his princess, he stepped back to the edge of the slab and lowered her until she freely floated above the stone slab. When he tried to push her, to move her to the middle of the stone slab, he felt resistance.

Letting his knee fall beside her, he steadied himself and picked her up again, moving her where he wanted her. When he stepped away, she was still curled above the stone slab, her hair fanned out around her, and he said it once again, “Love.”