Kidnapped By the Alien Prince by Tori Kellett
Chapter Ten
The scream from Callie iced Zak’s blood even before he stared in disbelief as she yanked away from Vashti and got her hands on the lever to reverse the docking mechanism. Luckily N’ameth realized what she was going to do a second before her fingers clamped around it, and he slammed his hand on their own just as it started to engage. “What the—” But the words seemed to get stuck in Zak’s throat because not more than a second later, Vashti’s ship slammed into the side of their hull.
Their communicator immediately disconnected, and while N’ameth ran to their systems to check for damage, Voren managed to keep the shuttle steady. Zak had refused to bring any more warriors. He hadn’t even wanted to risk N’ameth’s or Voren’s lives, but he couldn’t operate the docking system on his own, and Voren refused to leave his side.
“Keep it steady,” N’ameth yelled and frantically started pressing commands on the control pad. The shuttle veered away from Vashti’s ship and steadied.
“Get them back,” Zak ordered.
“No reply, my prince,” Voren confirmed after an endless moment, and then the screen flickered to life, and a N’olaan warrior appeared.
“Prince Zakaarir, please try and redock.”
Every hair on Zak’s neck rose. “Where is the female? Show her to me.”
The warrior visibly gulped. “Senator Vashti has been killed, as has Lieutenant Rhador.”
“I said,” Zak enunciated every syllable, “where is the female.”
“She has been taken to the treatment bay and—”
Zak saw red. N’ameth had to physically stop him from putting a fist through the communicator. N’ameth glanced at the screen.
“How do we know you won’t open fire when we dock?”
“They won’t get the chance,” Zak roared. “Get me to that ship.” He would slay them all. If they had hurt so much as a hair on that beautiful, brave head, there would be nowhere the N’olaans could hide. No galaxy remote enough to run to. He’d known she was lying from the second she’d tried to convince him she didn’t want children. He’d just had to convince Vashti to let down his guard enough to allow them to board. He hadn’t quite worked out what he was going to do about seventy armed warriors, but he should have known Callie would try something.
“She’s hurt? How badly?”
“Rhador shot her in the chest. The senator turned his weapon on Rhador, and I killed the senator,” the N’olaan warrior stated. “We are surrendering to you. On my honor, no one will stop you from boarding.”
Zak heard the distinct echo of the docking mechanism engaging for a second time, and the shuttle stopped. He whirled around and strode to the door, trying to let out shallow breaths. She was hurt. His beautiful, brave female was hurt, and he hadn’t been able to stop it. When the door slid open, Zak nearly ran into the N’olaan warrior. All he did was beckon to him and set off down the corridor, standing back as they entered a treatment unit. Another N’olaan male was clicking some buttons on a handheld device, but Zak ignored them both. A very pale, very still Callie was laid on a hover observation bed.
“She is healed,” the N’olaan confirmed. “But I wasn’t able to synthesize enough blood for her. Human blood isn’t one of our default systems. It will be another few minutes, so she can either stay here or I will give you everything to complete the treatment when you get her home.”
Zak really, really wanted to gather her up and take her to safety, but the shuttle had only the minimum emergency aid systems, and he was pretty sure they couldn’t synthesize human blood.
He pulled out the stool under the hover bed and glanced at the warrior who had surrendered to him. “What happened?”
The N’olaan met his gaze. “The senator handpicked us for what he called a sensitive diplomatic mission. He told us the mission was extensive, but he failed to say it was one-way, and some of us have families. He told the female that she had to convince you she wanted to return to her home world, or he would imprison the other females on T’ulla and execute you and your brother. I would never be so dishonorable as to force a female into an unwilling mating. I did, however, shoot the senator, so I surrender myself to your justice. I would ask that the crew—all of whom were also ignorant of the senator’s plans—be released.”
Zak cradled Callie’s small hand in his own. “What is your name?”
The N’olaan warrior thumped his chest in salute. Zak frowned at the very recognizable Ishtaan practice. N’olaan warriors didn’t usually do that.
“My name is Lam’saak, my prince.”
Zak glanced up at him and took in the pale amber skin and silver hair the color of his own. “You are of Ishtaan?”
The warrior dropped his gaze. “My family name was dishonored. We were exiled.”
Zak narrowed his gaze. “When?”
“In my elder sire’s time.”
“Before you were born?”
Lam’saak nodded. “But he was involved in the rebellion on Zirca Seven.”
Zak knew of the rebellion, of course. It was told as if his ancestors had put down a revolt for the good of the people, but it hadn’t been that noble. His own elder sire had believed that only true-blood Ishtaans could breed, and someone had fallen in love with someone they shouldn’t. It had nearly led to war and was ironic given what happened to the true-blood Ishtaans afterward. “You can of course return to N’olaan, but I will reinstate your name, and you will be welcome to settle on Ishtaan if you so choose. I will be named king this night, and I need good and faithful warriors to build a new future for Ishtaan.” Assuming Callie stayed. He wouldn’t blame her if she wanted nothing to do with him. And despite what he had said, he couldn’t bond with any of the others.
Lam’saak’s face flushed with pride. “I would be honored, my prince.”
Zak nodded in acknowledgment. “Go report to Prince N’ameth. Tell him I sent you.” Lam’saak bowed deeply and hurried away.
“The rumors are true, then?” the N’olaan healer asked mildly. “A new age is sweeping over Ishtaan.”
Zak was saved from answering as Callie moved slightly and moaned. He lurched to his feet. “My Callie?”
The healer pressed some buttons and watched the vital signs appear on a holo image above the hover bed. “She is awakening. The blood has finished synthesizing and is being absorbed.”
Zak glanced at the device attached to Callie’s arm and knew she was getting what she needed. The healer smiled. “I will leave you for a while to make my notes.”
Zak barely heard him because Callie’s eyes fluttered, and she opened them with difficulty. “Zak?”
“I am here, my Callie.” Zak gently lifted her free arm and pressed his lips to her knuckles. She turned her head, worry clouding her eyes.
“What happened?”
“You stopped a slaughter. Not just the one on your home planet should Vashti have succeeded, but my own and N’ameth’s.”
Callie’s lips turned upward. “And so after all that, I just decided to take a nap?”
Zak was unable to speak for a long moment. “Rhador shot you, but you are healed. If he wasn’t already dead, his entrails would now paint the ship.”
Callie wrinkled her nose. “Eww.” Then she sobered. “I didn’t mean it. The things I said.”
Zak cupped her cheek ever so gently, and she rubbed her head against his palm as if it were automatic. “I know. As soon as you said what you did about the young, I knew you were lying. We just didn’t know how to take the ship. If we had just attacked, the N’olaan warriors would have had no choice but to destroy the shuttle and us along with it, but because Rhador attacked you and violated his own honor, the warriors immediately surrendered.”
“Mastuk drugged me, but he could do this weird thing with his eyes. It was like being mind-controlled.”
Zak frowned. “I am not certain, but there are legends among the N’olaan of wise ones with that ability.” He smoothed the hair from her eyes. “I am just glad you are safe. I don’t know what I would have done without you.”
Callie arched an eyebrow. “Well, gotten with Rachel apparently.”
Zak’s smile lit his whole face. “Are you jealous, my Callie?”
She gazed at him seriously. “She would be—”
Zak laid a finger over her lips. “She will be a great mate for someone, but not mine. I only want you.”
“But I may never have children, Zak.”
Zak took her hand again. “You are more important.”
Callie’s eyes suddenly widened as she remembered their deadline. “What time is it? Are you in time?”
Zak nodded. “N’ameth has released the shuttle and will meet us on the ground. We will be there in approximately forty of your Earth minutes, which gives us around the same amount of time to present you to the Assembly of elders.”
“You believe in cutting it close, huh?”
Zak smiled but knew it was time to be serious. “And now the apology I owe you.”
“You don’t owe me anything.” Callie tried to sit up, and Zak helped her, then sat back on the stool and retook her hand. At least she didn’t pull away.
“As a First Prince, I was expected to marry into a similar family. The only exception to that was if I met my mulaa.” He gazed at Callie, hoping she understood, but she was looking at their hands. “Maylesh and I were promised as babies. You already met her father.”
Callie’s head whipped up, but she guessed immediately. “Elder Ptorean?”
“Yes. Kaleth is also very close to him, and I hope he will choose him as an advisor, if not his second. Maylesh was sick for a long time. I didn’t even think at one point she would live to be mated, but her stubbornness for life won over. She seemed to recover and even fell pregnant, which was unheard of with the disease so progressed. Our healers wanted to stop the pregnancy because they thought it likely it would kill her.” He had come into her rooms one day to find her clutching a knife. The healer had merely wanted to give her a strengthening tonic, but she had been convinced the healer was going to give her something to bring on the birth.
“She confounded us all by living another nine cycles. Kaleth would have spent all his time with her, but because she barely had the strength, he was raised by Tamara. I have done what I can, but up to three days ago, the role of First Prince when it is in direct opposition to the king can be time-consuming and exhausting.”
Callie seemed to be listening to him at least, so he carried on. “Ishtaan has natural challenges that need to be managed. Earth has four seasons?” Callie nodded. “Ishtaan has six. Traditionally, Ishtaan was a world that lived off the land, so our seasons take their names from the management of it. Wet. Seeding. Growth. Harvest. Dry. Barren. We always had enough water and food produced to save for the Dry. Our people never hungered. Then Azteen was discovered.” He paused. “Our ancestors thought it was the making of our planet. To go from a farming community to one that had money to fund space travel. Build huge ships that flew across the Dark. The mines were suddenly the focus of the king, and the land was abandoned. Much of it will take careful tending to rejuvenate, and we simply haven’t the workers to do it. Those available are in the mines because unless we satisfy the Alliance quotas, we cannot trade. I am trapped in an endless cycle I can do nothing about until I am king.”
He took a deep breath, and miraculously, Callie’s hand tightened. He could have cried like Kaleth.
“But our newfound wealth wasn’t enough. We weren’t satisfied with the wealth we had or could produce and decided that we had the right to take what belonged to others.”
“I think that tends to be the problem in most universes. Bullies start in the schoolyard and grow up,” Callie said.
Zak frowned. “Schoolyard,” he repeated slowly. “My translator cannot find a match.”
“A place where we send our children to learn. Unfortunately, the lessons they sometimes come away with aren’t what was originally intended.”
Zak nodded. “Our young are taught by their families. It is only the wealthy that can afford wise ones. To have them available for all is something Ptorean has petitioned for. It would be something I would also like, but we need young born first to be able to teach them anything.”
He felt Callie’s fingers squeeze his own again. He looked into her soft brown eyes. “It was not my intention to cause you hurt or embarrassment in the Assembly. If it helps, Azlaan was furious for you.” He laughed shortly. “I think he wishes he was the older brother.” Callie smiled for the first time since early that morning, and his heart thumped in response. He desperately wanted to lean down and taste her again, but he wasn’t sure if that would be welcome.
“What would I do if I was queen?”
Zak gazed at Callie, trying to work out what answer she required. “You don’t have to do anything.” He noticed the faint lines of displeasure tightening her luscious lips and had to drag himself back to her question before he got lost in wanting to taste them. “You would do whatever you wanted to do.”
She chewed her lip. He desperately wanted to pull them free of the abuse her teeth were working on them and pressed his other hand hard into his thigh to stop it moving.
“I’m not very good at doing nothing. I want to help.” She smiled faintly. “I don’t know anything about running a country or farming, but I can learn.”
It was a double-edged sword, Zak acknowledged ruefully, having heard Ptorean say that so many times. The fact that she was thinking of her role meant he hadn’t ruined their chances of mating, but that she was also thinking about what would be no doubt dangerous activities filled him with horror. He decided to concentrate on the better one. “Does that mean I am forgiven?”
Callie met his gaze properly for the first time since she had fled the Assembly. “I suppose it depends on you. I want to be included. I don’t want you going all Tarzan on me.”
He frowned, and she waved a hand as if it didn’t really matter. He blew out a breath. “We have not the time for an elaborate mating ceremony.”
Callie nodded and chewed her lip. “Do you think that’s a good idea even if we had?”
Zak inhaled sharply. “You don’t want to be mated?” She had changed her mind? He had thought—
Callie shook her head. “I mean an elaborate ceremony. I mean, what’s actually involved?”
“In the mating?” Zak’s heart rate returned to normal.
She smiled. “I kind of thought we already did that last night.”
He chuckled and then risked it, leaning forward. He took her lips slowly, sensuously, with his full attention, leaving her in no doubt that she was his entire focus. Callie drew back, he hoped reluctantly. “We just stand together in front of three elders. I name you as my queen, and the elder accepts us both. My sire then removes his circlet and places it on my head.”
“And you think he’ll do that?”
Zak nodded. “He has to. It’s the law. It is the last thing to be done.”
“And if he doesn’t?”
“Then the decision would be the elders’. My sire was named king by the elders when my elder sire died, but he was only one Lunar phase short of becoming king anyway.
Callie smiled. “Forty minutes, huh?”
Zak leaned over to kiss her on the cheek, but Callie moved at the last minute, and he touched her lips. Groaning, he was helpless not to taste them. He drew back with difficulty.
“Forty cycles isn’t long enough to explore your body and the million ways I plan to make you cry out in pleasure.” Callie shivered. “But none of that will happen if I don’t make the Assembly.”
Callie sighed but knew he was right. “Does this ship have a shower?”
“I believe so.”
“With real water?” Callie brightened, and Zak had no choice but to kiss her again.
“Let us go see?”
Apparently they did have the water option, and now that they weren’t flying to another galaxy, they didn’t need to conserve it. Zak thanked the young N’olaan warrior who showed them the cleansing area and left them an assortment of clean clothes, then glanced back and commanded the locking mechanism to engage.
Callie’s eyes twinkled. “I thought you couldn’t spare the time?”
“I also need a shower, and I cannot condone the waste of resources for two separate ones.”
“Such a wise ruler,” Callie whispered as she flicked the fastener on the weapons belt hanging across his hips and pressed her lips to his chest, licking and sucking the ridges of his skin. He closed his eyes in pleasure.
“Are you descended from dragons?”
It took him a moment, but then he chuckled. “No, the plating on our skin was one of the changes done. It makes it much harder for any projectile to penetrate.” He arched his neck in pleasure as her teeth found a particularly sensitive spot, uncaring when his head hit the wall. “I don’t think I can breathe fire, but every touch of your lips makes my skin alight.” Zak’s cock burned with such need he felt like she had lit a match inside him.
He felt Callie’s deft fingers undoing his pants and nearly groaned at the relief as his cock sprung free. He felt her move to take her own clothes off, then take his hand. “Turn the shower on.”
His command could be barely heard, but the water started cascading, and Callie took his arm and led them into the small space. When he had righted the wrongs at home, the first thing he would do was build them a water-powered shower big enough for both of them.
Callie pressed in close. “It’s a little snug.”
He smiled and lifted her immediately, and she wrapped her gorgeous legs around him. “What is your favorite scent?”
“Just clean,” Callie murmured, and Zak issued a command and caught her lips with his own. The soap rained down on them with the water, but neither of them cared as their bodies became slick. Zak lifted Callie up and opened his eyes to watch her as he slowly lowered her down on his cock. She gasped, her pupils dilating, and flung her head back as she arched her back. “Again.”
Zak lifted her easily and then lowered her quicker this time, and the satisfied moan from her lips was better than the music from the Eishelle strings he had so loved when he was younger.
“Again, my Callie?” He was so close, but he refused to surrender to his own pleasure until he felt the grip of hers.
“Zak,” Callie cried out as he lifted and dropped her again and again, until she screamed and her body tightened all around his length, pulling his own release from him that he was helpless to hold back any longer. Callie laid her head on his chest, and he closed his eyes, content to simply stay in this position forever.
They couldn’t, of course, and very gently he helped Callie cleanse as she did him, and then Zak commanded the water to stop. She would have gotten straight out to fetch a drying cloth, but he held her hand. “Wait.”
He watched her eyes widen as a gentle beam dried her skin and hair as she stood there, and smiled at her eager delight. “I love this.”
He lifted her because he wasn’t quite ready to let her go and put her down securely next to a rack with a few outfits on it. He eyed the railing, knowing they were a mixture of N’olaan and Ishtaan but made with the silks of M’apeth. He guessed Vashti had gotten them as gifts to impress someone, and Lam’saak had known they had found a more deserving home.
“These are beautiful,” Callie murmured, letting the multicolored silk slide through her fingers. He helped her into the loose pants and the shirt of a deeper color that fell to her delicious bottom. There was a sash to cinch the waist and a matching scarf to tie her hair.
“You are what makes it beautiful,” Zak said and gratefully pulled on the clean uniform pants and buckled his weapons belt. He held out his hand, but Callie grabbed their dirty clothes. Zak pointed to the small door on the wall. “Put them in there. It’s automated.”
Callie grinned. “Automated laundry? You sweet talker, you.”
He chuckled, and this time she took his hand. They made their way back to the bridge, and every warrior stood and bowed as they arrived. Zak waved them back down and looked at Lam’saak. “We are grateful for your thoughtfulness.”
“My prince,” he acknowledged.
“What space does this craft need to land. Is it programmed with a vertical descent?”
Lam’saak nodded. “Yes, my prince.”
“Good,” Zak said approvingly. “Then please land it on the lawn in front of the palace if you have enough space to clear the trees.”
Lam’saak looked at another warrior inquiringly, and after a moment and a few keystrokes, the warrior nodded. Zak smiled his satisfaction. His sire had always loved making an entrance. It was about time Zak showed him how to do it properly. “Can you let Prince N’ameth know? And ask if he can follow us.” The shuttles didn’t have the vertical landing technology, but they were much smaller, and he wanted them to all meet at the same time. He also didn’t trust his sire not to have something rigged to intercept them. They had barely forty minutes now for Zak to be named king, and he wasn’t leaving anything to chance.
Zakaarir exited the N’olaan ship with Callie amidst an honor guard of more than a hundred and twenty warriors, including the N’olaan ones. He hadn’t quite decided what he was going to do with them but decided he needed to be named king first. Everything else could be second.
Zak stepped into the assembly hall, noting all the elders were there. His sire very obviously was absent. He looked for Kaleth, and his heart settled as Kaleth jogged over.
“Where is our sire?” N’ameth joined him, and Azlaan hurried to meet them.
“We don’t know,” Azlaan said gravely. “He disappeared with his guards a few minutes after you discovered Callie was missing, but we have a missing shuttle. It was seen to take off just before you returned. Fashtaa is also absent.”
“He is hoping his absence will delay the naming.” Zak knew that. It was a last-ditch, desperate attempt on behalf of his sire to hang on to power with his fingertips. The tradition included the current king symbolizing the transfer of power by removing the circlet from his own head and placing it on his son’s. It was why his sire had performed the very public action of removing his designation of First Prince by taking the ceremonial circlet from Zak’s head. If three elders didn’t agree to name Zak officially, he wasn’t sure what to do. The last thing Ishtaan needed was the threat of civil war. But allowing his sire to continue as king would be worse.
Zak glanced over as Elder Ptorean moved away from the cluster of elders he had been talking to. “First Prince Zakaarir, we are agreed that even though it is unusual, you meet the stipulations for the naming ceremony. You have three elders ready to ratify your name and that of your queen. Elders Iskaan and B’ordak disagree and have asked to be excused.”
Zak nodded respectfully to the two elders as they left the Assembly. Zak looked at the large sundial above the thrones as the shadow moved to the bottom. Everyone had accurate timepieces now. It had been thousands of cycles since their people had told the time with the full daylights, but this law was as old as that.
Elder Ptorean called everyone to order and stepped up to the dais, turning to address the Assembly. Silence hung heavy. When Zak had been young, he had dreamed of this day, including feasting and celebrations that he had been told often lasted a week or more. The villagers all sent representatives, and the villages themselves always held their own celebration. This hurried, somber moment wasn’t what Zak had imagined, but then there would be enough time for feasting when Ishtaan could once more feed its own people.
He was grateful for what he had.
Callie squeezed his hand. Incredibly grateful. Ptorean asked the future king Zakaarir to step forward and name his queen, and Zak immediately responded that he recognized Calista of Earth. Ptorean then bowed to Zak and Callie and declared that from this moment Zakaarir and Calista were named king and queen of Ishtaan.
His warriors all took to one knee and swore fealty. Even his brothers and the elders present did. Traditionally Callie should have, but it would take a braver warrior than him to tell his Callie that.
“Is that it?” Callie whispered, and Zak bent his head and took Callie’s lips in a long kiss. It was a daylight to make new traditions.
