GalacticFlame (13 page)

She sat, somehow reassured by the shifting weight of the gem
at her throat as she accepted his clasp. “Another surprise?”

He pulled her upright with flared nostrils, as though
scenting the aroma of sex they’d created. “Something like that.”

He tugged on his pants and she slipped on her dress. Then
taking her hand once again, he led her through the hanging shield with Colin at
their heels. Outside the most amazing sight greeted her eyes. The red sand was
no more. Bright and colorful flowers bloomed amongst the carpet of mottled
green and red grass.

She pressed a hand to her gaping mouth, drinking in the
glorious, incredible scenery. It was unlike anything she’d ever seen before.
“This is…it’s amazing,” she whispered.

“I thought you might enjoy it,” he said with a smile in his
voice. He bent down, getting her to lift one of her feet and then the other as
he removed the coverings.

“What are you doing?”

“For a good Earth day or two you won’t need these,” he
explained. “It’s time to feel the grass under your feet.”

Funny, when they’d made love earlier, her foot coverings had
been the only thing that’d stayed on. But she couldn’t repress excitement at
actually being able to walk barefooted—on grass!

He plucked a bloom from nearby, then straightened and
proffered it to her, “And enjoy the flowers.”

“Thank you,” she whispered, holding the large blue bloom to
her chest and staring wide-eyed all around her.

This planet might normally be an unrelenting red, but with
flowers of every color imaginable glittering as though gems from a carpet of
vibrant green and red grass, it was as colorful a world as one could possibly
imagine.

Her toes curled into the spongy, moss-soft grass underfoot.
She looked up at Genesis. “Everything grew in such a short time.”

He nodded. “The suns ensure it will all wilt in a short time
too, perhaps two Earth days. The sands absorb every drop of water, giving life
to the bulbs and seeds waiting underground for their moment of glory.”

“And here I was imagining I might get flooded out after
seeing the
bolishtas
run for higher ground.

He grinned. “The
bolishtas
hate storms, more to the
point, they hate rain, hate getting their feet wet. And though the desert sands
absorb even the heaviest downpour, water can still lie deep enough to splatter
their hooves.”

She searched out the herd in question. They were tucking
into the grass beneath the spectacular carpet of color. She shook her head. “So
they can climb vertically without blinking, but water sends them crazy?”

“That’s about it.”

One of the
bolishtas
broke away from the rest of the
herd to buck and prance, evidently delighting in the special moment of
unlimited feed that undoubtedly also gave them a boost of energy.

She grinned as something unfurled within, an urge to join in
the spontaneous moment. She swung Genesis a cheeky look. “Run with me.”

He frowned. “What?” He glanced around. “There’s no need—”

She grabbed his hand and tugged hard. Laughing, she pulled
him into a sprint with her through the endless field of flowers, until out of
breath, she all but collapsed onto the ground, dragging Genesis down with her.
On top of her.

His eyes glinted as he looked down, not even breathing hard.
“We should do this fun stuff more often.”

She giggled. “It’s nice to know an Earth girl can teach you
Carèchians
a thing or two.”

“You might be an Earth girl,” he said huskily, “but never
forget you’re also half
Carèchian
.”

“The best of both worlds?”

“Most definitely.”

He kissed her then, slow, searching. “I’ve already
overstayed,” he said at last.

She nodded. “I know.” But a selfish streak to prolong the
moment and put off having to tell him the truth, had her blurt, “Just lie
beside me, for just a minute…please.”

He acquiesced, lying in the grass and looking up into the
sky, her head moving to nestle on his shoulder while red clouds scudded across
an even redder sky. Tiny insects droned around them, no doubt taking advantage
of the flower buffet.

“I never thought to see such a sight,” she whispered. “It’s
beyond anything I could have imagined.”

Colin abruptly bounded from seemingly nowhere. He landed on
Genesis’ hard torso and tucked into a comical roll before swinging around, wide
eyes revealing his playful mode.

She and Genesis sat upright simultaneously, wanting to avoid
an accidental swipe from the
zadmet’s
dangerous claws. She looked at
Genesis as he looked at her, their sudden burst of laughter filling the air.

And in that moment she realized she’d never been more
content.

Genesis pulled her up with him as he pushed to his feet, his
stare turning thoughtful as he lifted a hand and traced the markings on her
throat. “I promise we’ll be together soon, my intended. My wife. Less than five
Earth days and we’ll never be separated again.”

Oh, Genesis.

She felt suddenly faint. She should tell him. Right now.

But as Colin wound through her legs as if an Earth cat,
Genesis stepped behind her. His hands moved downward along the web-thin fabric
that covered her breasts, his fingertips gently kneading her hardening nipples
before he continued downward.

Her head lolled back and she leaned against all his hard,
protective strength, remaining wordless while butterflies danced in her belly,
liquid heat rushing to her pussy and anticipation quickening her pulse.

But his touch strayed no farther than her belly, where his
fingers possessively interlinked. His breath warm on her throat, he murmured,
“Our baby could be forming here right now. Our future. Our legacy.”

Her breath hitched. Shock. Denial. Hope. But as emotions
rolled over her one after the other, her heart never once ceased to flutter with
wonder. She’d never factored children into her future, it’d always been an
impossible dream. Now…it could well be a reality.

And if he wants the baby but not you when he learns the
truth?

She closed her eyes, real fear clutching at her innards as
though a fist. She couldn’t even contemplate such a thought. But she also
couldn’t live with the web of lies she’d spun any longer. Her voice cracked.
“Genesis, there’s something I need to tell you.”

His arms stiffened around her. “This sounds serious.”

She nodded, biting her lip. “It is.”

His hands moved from her middle to rest on her hips in what
she had to wonder was an involuntary withdrawal. Was he aware just how
momentous her next words would be?

“I’m listening,” he said quietly.

She opened her mouth but the words wouldn’t come. Wouldn’t
squeeze past the lump in her throat. She turned in his hold and looked up. He
stared at her expectantly, waiting patiently, and then not so patiently, and
all the while her heart thudded faster and faster, a cold sweat forming on her
brow.

“Eden?”

Colin abruptly hissed and dived for cover, causing her to
swing her wide-eyed stare away from Genesis and toward the sudden clomping of
bolishta
hooves, made so much louder in the long grass. She pressed a hand to her
mouth as Trasean and Auron rode toward them, their expressions grim, hard.

They knew.

She no longer faced Genesis, but he fairly radiated disquiet
beside her, even before he asked the men, “Something to tell me?”

Auron’s fierce stare landed on her, his lip curling. “I’m
guessing you haven’t let our prince in on your little secret.”

The world slowly revolved around her before steadying. But
it didn’t stop the nausea from swirling within, the hot flush sweeping up her
neck. It didn’t stop the lash of Genesis’ stare.

Trasean wasn’t looking at her, his grim eyes assessed
Genesis, clearly gauging his reaction before imparting anything further.

Genesis remained immobile, but his query that was directed
her way betrayed a whole world of hurt as he asked quietly, “What is this all
about?”

She could only be thankful the two alien males allowed her a
moment to answer and to at last tell the truth. She turned to her husband. “I’m
not who you think I am.”

His nostrils flared, shock causing his eyes to chill.
“You’re not…Eden?”

She wondered right then if the vast world of
Carèche
had
suddenly shrank, enclosed them into a sphere where it was just her and him.
“No,” she said hoarsely, “I mean, yes, I’m Eden. But…I’m not the firstborn.”

Chapter Eleven

Genesis’ gut churned as the truth unfolded. She wasn’t his
intended? It was his worst nightmare come true. Denial was his last vestige of
hope when he croaked, “Then your brother is the firstborn?”

Her face paled. “I have no brother,” she admitted in a
whisper. “I lied. I have a…a sister.”

Shock paralyzed his muscles, froze his ability to speak.

She lifted a small hand, her eyes stricken. “I’m sorry,
Genesis.”

He heard her voice as if from a great distance away, somehow
perceived his men’s pitying looks even as rage crept into his shocked psyche,
tearing down his emotional defenses until something raw and bleak was left
clutching at his soul.

She’d said she loved him, yet she’d deceived him at every
opportunity. His fists curled into a knot at his sides even while a piece of
his heart died.

He’d marked Eden, but she wasn’t his intended. She’d never
been his intended. Breath sawed in and out of his lungs. They weren’t meant to
be together and there wasn’t a damn thing he could do about it.

Did he even want to be with her now? She’d manipulated him
at every corner.

Oh, fuck.
He did. He really, really did.

Eden bit into her bottom lip, clearly scared, exhausted and
too damn thin. “Aline, my sister…she never wanted this life,” she explained,
voice soft but somehow strong. “When you arrived on Earth and mistook me for
her, all I wanted was to protect her and allow her to be happy.”

His jaw clenched so hard he wondered how his teeth didn’t
crack from the pressure. “And what about your happiness?” he asked. “Our
happiness?”

“Aline is very beautiful,” she said dully, “I believe you’ll
come to love each other very much and make one another very…happy.”

He stared at her with disbelief. That was all she had to say
to him? No fighting to stay with him? No sobbing apology? No begging for mercy?

No. Nothing.

“So all we’ve shared has been a lie?” he asked bleakly,
hoping against hope she’d reveal at least a spark of feeling. Any feeling.

She opened her mouth as if in denial, then her lips pressed
together. After a long moment she nodded, her eyes clouding over. “I…yes.”

He wanted to shake her, to shout and tell her to at least
pretend she cared, but as though his anger had reached boiling point and
beyond, his emotions abruptly cooled. He swung away from her without a word and
with long strides headed in the direction of his
cercanne
.

He needed time alone, needed to clear his head.

Trasean and Auron dismounted from their
bolishtas
,
following him at a respectful distance to retrieve their own
cercannes
nearby.
He didn’t try to stop them. Hell, from the moment the monitor had revealed the
image of the Earth woman, Aline, they’d no doubt formed an instant connection
to her, mistakenly believing she was their intended too.

The audio would have revealed Aline’s true identity soon
enough, not to mention the fact she’d have been flagged at the same location as
Eden.

Yeah, his men would understand at least a little of his
torment.

But right then he was void of anything except the need to
escape the bitter hurt that would soon come howling back into life.

Once on his
cercanne
, he didn’t look back. He
couldn’t even consider the woman he loved whose betrayal cut deep. He leaned
forward, pushing his
cercanne
hard.

His men would catch him when he was ready and not before.

The landscape around him was no longer wondrous to behold,
it was overly bright and pretentious. It was…false. And he wanted the return of
the barren red desert with something close to desperation. The flowers and
grass might well have covered the unrelenting sand, but it’d also inadvertently
exposed the one secret he wished he’d never learned.

A flock of native
kwahks
burst from a particularly
profuse patch of flowers, their dazzling plumage failing to rouse him from his
dark thoughts. With each bird sporting a savage trio of serrated beaks, he only
wished they’d attack him and, for a moment at least, make him forget everything
but the will to survive.

He grimaced. He’d have fought to the death for Eden. And
even now, knowing the truth, he couldn’t accept she wasn’t his true love, his
true intended. No other woman could replace her, not even the sister pledged to
him.

Especially not her sister.

But on this world, his feelings meant little. A long ago
promise had been made between his and Eden’s parents. The people of
Carèche
would expect him to uphold that pledge.

A fierce swelling of denial built in his throat. The
cercanne
accelerated to its full speed. His head rocked back and he let loose a pained
shout of despair, careless for a moment he was riding without looking along
dangerous terrain.

Only the instinct of self-preservation caused his focus to
return ahead. Fang-sharp rocks the size of an Earth car loomed just ahead.
Shit
.
He really had been lost in thought not to realize where he’d been headed. There
were too many hidden dangers this close to the mountain, dangers that lay just
beneath the sand until the rains hit.

He tipped the
cercanne
into a sideward slide, the
fine red sand clouding into dust high around him.

Too late to stop.

The
cercanne
smashed into a boulder, throwing him
clear. Air pushed out of his lungs, the impact leaving him dazed as he sprawled
somewhere amongst the large rocks. But it was the stabbing pain in his chest
with each new breath that left him dizzyingly aware he was hurt bad.

The shouts of Trasean and Auron sounded so far away as the
blessed relief of darkness closed around him, quickly taking away all pain and
awareness. All hurt.

But not before grief constricted his chest. He couldn’t die,
not yet.

Eden was his intended. The mother of his future children.

~

Genesis looked out over the crowd of
Carechians
, the
three once-mighty province nations gathered together to celebrate the
announcement of his newly appointed settlement.

His mother and three fathers stood behind him on the dais,
their pride and love restrained only by the knowledge that soon he’d be far
away, claiming a chunk of the their savage world that needed his influence to
maintain natural order.

He lifted his hands and a hush immediately fell over the
crowd, a few of whom were Earth women and their resultant part-alien children.
He smiled at the bright-eyed curiosity of one child. Their population was
slowly growing, thanks to the Earth women and their ability to conceive with
the men of
Carèche
.

He turned for a moment and directed another smile at his
mother, the queen of
Carèche
, who’d once also been a queen on her planet
Earth. She was a beautiful woman still, thanks to the longevity given by this
world’s plants. But he was certain it was the love of her three husbands that’d
given her a special inner glow that caused men of all ages to take a second,
lingering look.

His stare swung to his blood father, Maddox. He shared much
of his stature and looks from his father and knew they could easily pass as
brothers. Though it was Maddox’s knowledge of plants that had touted him a
genius, Genesis was only pleased his father’s brilliant mind had been passed
along the genetic line as well.

Maddox was a man he was beyond proud to call his father.

His eyes continued on to his connect-fathers, Dar and Ezra.
He swallowed a lump in his throat, loving the people equally who’d raised him
and molded him into what he’d become. It had to be painful to them too, knowing
they’d soon lose him to foreign parts of
Carèche
.

He turned back to his people, resolute.
“Eckn’a,
my
people,” he greeted, his voice strong, calm. His people stared up at him with
rapt attention. “My time of disbandment has come.” He let his words settle over
the people below. “I have been assigned to rule the people of my province
bloodline.
Pyracade
is my new land of choice.”

As many of the younger males cast each other disbelieving
looks, he noticed quite the opposite from the elders. He’d done his research
well. Since the mothercraft’s airwave transmitter had been broken beyond repair
in an unchartered meteor collision, their whole species might well rely on
their world’s tallest mountain to find future Earth women.

His smile was all on the inside as he absently mulled over
the innumerable challenges ahead. “Many of you are aware that my promised
intended is waiting for my arrival.” He nodded at their excited murmurs. “I’ve
had a purpose-built craft designed for her retrieval…but I have hopes it will
be later used to claim other Earth women once they are located.”

His eyes connected with Trasean and then Auron, younger
brothers to his connect-fathers. He was well aware the two powerful males from
different provinces would be his best chance of help in exchange for the
possibility of an Earth woman. They were full-blooded alien males, two of the
youngest to have survived the virus, and they were beyond eager for a woman.

Better yet, Genesis knew they would gladly share.

“The men of my province will be kept busy rebuilding and
protecting a new society. He ran his eyes over the unattached males, aware more
than just Auron and Trasean wanted an Earth women. “In exchange for the use of
my craft, I need two volunteers from other provinces to build an airwave
transmitter device atop the mountain.”

As many of the males dropped their eyes as they thought over
the obvious dangers, Trasean and Auron stepped forward with bent heads and
their arms crossed.

Genesis nodded at the two men. “Then it is decided.”

The males nodded in return and stepped back even as the
mothership drifted silently overhead. As a snowy-white shield dropped from its
underside, the people of his province, including those already gifted with
Earth women, headed to the shield that would take them aboard..

And to
Pyracade
. Their new life.

A life he’d soon share with his intended.

A shiver of presentiment trekked up and down his spine even
before he turned back to his mother. She stepped toward him, tears glistening
in her eyes. “I know you will do us proud, my son.”

Maddox moved beside her, an arm closing around her shoulders
as he focused on Genesis. “You have only a short time before Ally and Renate
assume you will arrive on Earth to retrieve their daughter.”

Genesis nodded, all too aware of the excitement that clawed
deep within, anticipation that’d been ignited long ago and burned hotter and
hotter as the time had drawn near. “I have had many cycles of the suns to plan
this day. There will be time enough to have my people settled, the crops
planted and my craft tested and ready before leaving to find her.”

Dar nodded and spoke up. “I’ve had my men recall the
navigation history from the mothership into your craft’s finder. You will
return to the exact last known location of her parents.”

Ezra’s eyes glistened, revealing much emotion. Though
perhaps the toughest of his fathers in many respects, he’d had Ezra wrapped
around his finger as a child. Time hadn’t changed things overly much. “Be safe,
my son,” Ezra murmured, standing behind the queen and wrapping his arms around
her waist, a comforting touch.

Genesis felt his smile slip. “And you too, my family.”

When he turned, the few people of his province, as well as
Trasean and Auron, had already stepped onto the shield that’d whisked them into
the bowels of the mothercraft.

He vaulted neatly off the dais and stepped onto the shield
the moment it slithered to the ground. It settled around him and then pulled
him up through the air as though a slingshot.

It was the oddly drawn out motion that made him realize he
was dreaming about his past, even as the pain of the present sucked him into
full speed wakefulness.

~

Eden woke with an all too familiar cramp in her belly and
stickiness between her thighs.

Oh, hell.

But there was no denying the evidence and wishing she was
pregnant wasn’t going to make it true.

Forcing back a wave of desolation she forced her shaky legs
to support her weight and stumble outside, into the bright and colorful world
she barely noticed. Her focus was all on locating the long, straggly plants
with their tiny red berries, which she’d read would stop a menstrual cycle
almost immediately.

Discarding the noxious berries, she chewed on the bitter
leaves until they were a near unpalatable wad, before she forcibly swallowed.

Colin had followed her outside and sat amongst a row of
plants to watch her, his unblinking eyes saucer-round with concern.

“Thanks for the sympathy, but you really wouldn’t
understand,” she said, but somehow the trite words spoken to the animal had her
succumb into grief. She sank to the ground, hot tears pouring down her face and
her emotions so tangled she wondered if she’d ever feel normal again.

Bad enough that she’d lost her family. But to lose her
intended and now the chance of ever having his baby…it was unbearable.

At its cruelest level, justice had been served to her.

She swiped a shaky hand across her eyes and loudly sniffled.
Perhaps she would have been better to have watched her sister taken away from
her instead of losing all she’d fought so hard to keep?

No, better to have loved and lost than never to have loved
at all. She’d read that quote in one of the many Earth books her parents had
salvaged and stored in their huge house library. Though the words seemed
fitting somehow, she drew no real comfort from them.

Would Genesis send her to a new province of mostly men the
same as he had with Sala? No, he might be ruthless but he wasn’t cold. He’d be
more likely to banish her back to Earth and exchange her for Aline, his
rightful intended.