Alien Sentinel’s Mate by Mina Carter

8

“So… The matching program is complete and ready for deployment?” Cameron Murphy, President of Earth and all the Terran Systems, said while leaning back in his chair and watching Daaynal with a gaze like a liiraas snake. Not for the first time did the Latharian Emperor wonder if the human had more than a little true Latharian DNA in his genetic code.

“Not quite,” he admitted, settling back in his own chair. Of all the beings he had contact with—from imperial generals to Krynassis hive queens and even pirate princes—Cameron Murphy was by far the most interesting. Of them all, the human was the one Daaynal could never predict, the one being for whom he had to guess at motivations and work to figure out his next move. It was… exhilarating, which was saying a lot considering his morning routine often contained an assassin in his shower or his dressing room. Once even in his bed when his concubine had been implanted with a behavior modification device. Assassination by remote control. He’d probably have had to rise from his grave to kick his own ass in shame if he’d let that happen.

“My cyber-warriors say the program is ready for initial testing in a small focus group at first to ensure no unexpected… aberrations occur.”

“A sensible precaution, something my own scientists had suggested.” A crease formed between Murphy’s brows. “Are you sure cyber-warriors are the best choice for this project? Surely doctors… maybe a team of geneticists… would be better?”

“Hmmm…” Daaynal mused, rubbing at his chin. “Possibly, but what is DNA other than a form of code? It was easier to teach… how do you call them? Hackers?”

Murphy gave a small nod. “Among other things.”

“Excellent. My command of your language requires work,” he commented idly. “It was easier to teach hackers to recognize genetic code than to teach a doctor how to manipulate data.”

Murphy’s eyebrow winged up. “I highly doubt that… your command of our language, I mean. It’s excellent,” he replied.

In perfect, unaccented Latharian.

Daaynal chuckled. “Well played, Mr. President.”

Murphy’s lips quirked slightly at the corner. “Thank you, your imperial majesty. Now… when should we expect your team to arrive for the final test? I assume it will be conducted here?”

Now they got down to business. Daaynal didn’t let his expression alter as he considered the human. Another human was there, just out of view of the camera so he couldn’t see whoever it was, but his instinct told him it was a female. Why he thought that, he didn’t know.

“Now why would you assume that?” he asked mildly, more interested in spinning the conversation out to see if he could get Murphy to give anything away. It was a small game, and inconsequential in the battle of empires they waged, but the small things interested him. They mattered… little things to ease the isolation of his position. “The empire’s genetic ark is on Lathar Prime. It would make more sense for the final test to be conducted there.”

“Half of my team are female,” Murphy said bluntly. “I’m not stupid. If I send them to Lathar, I’m not getting any of them back.”

Daaynal pretended to think about it, his gaze locked onto Murphy’s face as he rubbed at his bearded chin. “That is entirely possible, but how can you blame us when your females are so alluring?”

Murphy chuckled. “You won’t be saying that if I send you Professor Haverington. Woman’s ninety if she’s a day, balls of steel, and she scares even me.”

Daaynal’s lips split in a broad grin. “We like nothing better than a challenge.”

“All due respect,” Murphy grinned, “there is definitely something wrong with you, Your Majesty.”

“I keep telling you, it’s Daaynal.” He spread his arms out over the back of his couch. “And I will agree to send my team to Earth on one condition.”

Murphy’s eyes searched his, no doubt looking for what his end game was, but Daaynal was too long in the tooth to give anything away.

“Which is?”

He smiled. “Your companion comes out from her hiding place.”

* * *

Gracie landedin Seren’s arms, and true to his word, he didn’t drop her. He caught her easily, holding her against his chest. As she gazed into his eyes and saw the longing and need mirrored there, her breath caught in her throat. For a moment, her resolve wavered… but then the sound of the crowd murmuring behind him caught her attention.

“Is that a… female?”

“Is she some kind of new oonat?”

“That’s no oonat… looks almost like a small Lathar.”

“Have they found females who escaped the plague?”

They were speaking an odd type of Latharian, so thick that her translator matrix almost didn’t pick up some of the words. Which didn’t make sense given it was Latharian tech and they were the same species. But she managed the meanings of the words filtering through to her and she stiffened. The Lathar had no women, so no wonder Seren reacted to her the way he did. To put it crudely, she was the first sniff of pussy he’d had in… well, forever probably.

Her eyes widened a little. Oh shit, was he a virgin? No way, he couldn’t be. Surely?

Regardless, being cuddled up against his chest was not the best introduction to his people. She pushed at his shoulders to make him put her down. He did. Instantly. She ignored the small pang of disappointment at not touching him anymore and turned her attention to his brother, who watched her with interest.

“Cade, right?” she asked, holding out her hand. “I’m Gracie.”

“I am. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Lady Gracie,” he said, sweeping what she could only describe as a bow. It was courtly, and so out of place she just looked at him and tried not to let her jaw hit the deck.

He straightened up, the same little smile on his lips, and looked at her hand. His confused expression clued her in. He didn’t know what a handshake was.

“I’m sorry. I don’t know what greeting is appropriate here.” She smiled. “Where I’m from, a handshake is the norm. Should I curtsy instead?”

“Curtsy? No, I am no khaaitan. I hold no rank here.” He shook his head, looking toward his brother with confusion. Seren jerked his head meaningfully toward her hand. “My apologies, I have never…”

He stepped forward and a second later her hand was swallowed up by his. Literally swallowed up. She’d never seen hands so large, and they positively dwarfed hers. His eyes widened a little and he shook carefully, as though scared of hurting her.

“Never seen a female before. Huh?” she guessed, smiling when he shook his head. “Don’t worry. We’re not that delicate. I promise.”

Now that her feet were on the ground, she realized her impression of him as young and small was off the mark. He was younger than the others. That much was obvious from his youthful face, the boyish and charming smile he treated her with reinforcing that impression. But he wasn’t actually that much shorter than Seren and his shoulders were just as broad. He just lacked the heavier set of maturity and was still lanky with youth.

“Indeed,” Seren broke in, watching them carefully. No. He watched Cade carefully. A second later she yelped in surprise as the younger warrior stepped forward and buried his nose in her hair.

“Hey!” She slapped at his chest. “Less of the up close and personal, buddy-boy. We only just met!”

“Cade,” Seren growled, getting between the two of them with his hand out as if to ward his younger brother off. But Cade just shook his head and grinned.

“Apologies, my lady.” He smiled, his voice a little deeper and rougher than before. “Your hair… it just smells so good.”

“As long as that’s all that smells good.” Seren’s voice was deep with warning, his metal hand clenched so tightly she was surprised he didn’t pop a servo or two. “Human females are not like any we are used to. Apparently, they are known to eat males who annoy them.”

Cade blinked, his surprise evident on his face as he looked her up and down. “How? She has no natural weaponry… not that I can see.”

She hid her amusement, deciding not to tell them that the story Jay had told Seren was about a female shark on Earth, not a woman. “Yeah, well, we’re sneaky that way. You gotta watch us. Some males would rather rip their own dicks off and throw them at us from a safe distance than risk it,” she added, continuing with the aquatic stories.

Cade looked horrified and took a step back. “Then I apologize, my lady. Please don’t eat me.”

Her stomach rumbled, just at that moment, and the young Lathar went gray.

“Well,” she drawled. “I am a little hungry, but… I’ll forgive you if you promise me there’s going to be food soon.”

“Of course,” Seren hooked his arm under hers to lead her toward the assembled warriors. “Let me introduce you to my clan, and then we will show you the famous Vorr hospitality.”

* * *

Seren breatheda sigh of relief when Gracie didn’t fight him as he led her past Cade toward the rest of the warriors from the village. There weren’t many, and only a few were younger than Cade. Tarveth was their youngest, only five winters old. Surrogate births had been lower and lower each year, and viable young scarce. Most didn’t survive long after birth due to defects or mutations. Cade had been one of the lucky ones. His… issues were hidden most of the time.

It meant the group of warriors he introduced her to was small. He scanned them quickly, and none of them were a threat to her apart from his brother. He’d been on edge the instant Cade had crowded her, in case his darker instincts came to the fore. If that had happened, if Cade had tried to claim her, blood would have been spilled. Either he or his brother would have died right here on the landing pad.

Thankfully, though, Cade had smiled and stepped back, only remarking on her hair. The relief that had washed through Seren had made him weak-kneed. He didn’t want Gracie’s first memories of his home to be ones of violence and death. Plus, the last thing he wanted was his brother’s blood on his hands. He’d practically brought Cade up, their genetic stock almost identical but for one quirk that made him khaaitan here, and Cade… something else.

“They all seem very nice,” Gracie murmured, staying close to him after the introductions were complete as he led her up to the main long hall. “A little quiet, though. Do they ever smile?”

He chuckled. “They’ve not seen a female for many years. The last female of any species we had here was over a decade ago.”

She nodded. “I noticed some younger warriors in the crowd and a little boy. They look different. Half Latharian?”

He wrinkled his nose.

“Yes and no. Except in a few rare cases, Latharian genetics are normally dominant, so all young are fully Lathar… and now always male, with all the problems inherent in the genome. The trouble is we can’t successfully procreate with many other species. And we’re not allowed access to the breeder species,” he added, a grimace of distaste at the idea crossing his features. “No Vorr would touch them anyway. The last females we had that were prepared to rent us womb space were a harem of Lerexta. Unfortunately, most of the offspring were sickly and died. Only Tarveth survived.”

One of her eyebrows winged up. “I’m going to put aside the disgust at the idea of a breeder species to ask… why aren’t you allowed access? That seems the shitty end of the stick, especially as your species is fighting for survival.”

He paused by the door to the long hall and looked down at her. She was a scarily intelligent female and her perception at times startled him. A rumble sounded in the back of his throat as he debated what to tell her. If he revealed the truth, there was no way she’d accept his claim. Why would any female shackle herself to a cursed male and a cursed bloodline?

“We Vorr are not liked in the empire,” he finally admitted, pushing the door open and standing back to allow her to enter first. “Many would like to see us die out.”

She didn’t step forward as he expected, instead eyeing him with a keen look. “Yeah. I’m gonna let you in on a little secret here, handsome. I can spot a bullshitter a mile off, so don’t even try. Now, do you want to tell me the real reason they don’t like y’all?”

He gave her a slick smile, like his brother’s. “Why do you think? We’re the best on the battlefield. That’s why they want us gone.”

It wasn’t the main reason. Hells, it wasn’t even the second main reason, and she seemed to know it, glaring at him as if she could make him crack and talk just with a look. He was made of sterner stuff, though. He’d had to be to maintain his cover as just another imperial warrior while serving the K’Vass. Most of them had had no idea what he was.

Finally, she huffed, stalking past him. “I’m onto you, handsome, and you know it.”

He just smirked in reply and followed her into the hall. “This is where we gather and eat,” he explained as she walked ahead of him with awe on her face as she looked around. “Warriors from other settlements would bunk down in here when visiting, but there’s just us now. When the weather gets bad in the winter, we all sleep in here to conserve warmth. If it gets really bad, we have shelters beneath.”

She nodded, her gaze running along the carved beams of the ceiling, and further, up into the eaves where the weapons of his ancestors hung. “It’s amazing. Like pictures I’ve seen of ancient Earth. This looks like a Viking long hall.”

He shrugged. “I do not know this term Viking. How to build this type of dwelling has been handed down from father to son since the first Vorr set foot on this planet many lifetimes ago. From before the empire.”

She nodded. “That’s the second time someone has mentioned a time before the Lathar were Lathar, and both times it’s been around you.”

His expression shuttered. He’d said too much, way too much. He couldn’t afford for her, for anyone, to work out what was going on here. Innocent lives depended on it.

“A mere coincidence, I’m sure.” He smiled and extended an arm. “Since I am khaaitan of this place, and you are my guest, allow me to show you to your quarters.”