Kidnapped By the Alien Prince by Tori Kellett
Chapter Sixteen
Zak stood, as did everyone present, as Callie entered the room. She would have looked gorgeous in her jeans, but she had chosen the M’apeth silk, deliberately, he was sure. He took her hand and drew her to him, and she kissed him in front of everyone. Zak swallowed and hurried to sit, trying to hide his immediate arousal. He glanced at her, and she grinned unrepentantly. Zak hurried to introduce everyone formally, and Callie was her usual charming self.
“Please accept my apologies for being late. I was helping one of our females tend to another who was upset.” She glanced at Zak. “I’m not sure what I’d do without Isobel. It is fortunate she is so used to taking charge of so many.”
Zak blinked at her, opened his mouth, and just managed to close it, swallowing the grunt as she kicked him.
“I am sorry you have distressed females,” the Prime Warrior from Tamzur replied. “Perhaps you should go and see to her while we handle the discussions?”
Zak heard the less than subtle dig, and he didn’t doubt for a moment that Callie had, but she turned a polite smile on the Prime Warrior. “No need. The female Isobel is seeing to her.” She turned to Zak and laughed. “It’s a good thing you were happy with someone like me and didn’t want royalty.”
What the hell was she up to?
The vice-regent of Vedur sitting at Zak’s opposite end cleared his throat. Callie immediately looked inquiringly at him.
“The female Ish-o-bel,” he said carefully. “She is a queen on Earth?”
Callie wriggled her fingers like there was some doubt. “My country doesn’t recognize royalty. Our leaders are elected by all the people.” There were some muttered exclamations, but Zak sat back and let Callie do her thing. He just hoped like hell she had a plan. “But I am reliably informed that Isobel can trace her ancestors back to King George.”
The vice-regent narrowed his eyes. “Who is this King George?”
Callie shook her head. “You never heard of him?” She sounded shocked. “But then, I suppose you won’t have ever heard of famous battles in our galaxy.”
The vice-regent bowed his head in acknowledgment. “Perhaps after the meeting you would deign to introduce me to the female Ish-o-bel. I would be most interested to meet a queen from Earth.”
“I can certainly ask if she will meet you today. She may prefer to prepare for a more formal introduction.”
The vice-regent nodded once, and Zak corralled them back to business. He didn’t get very far. The Alliance couldn’t stop N’olaan from sending male workers to Ishtaan or even mated pairs, providing the female was over breeding age. The representative from N’epalim tried to order a vote to restrict them, but it needed a majority. As Ishtaan and N’olaan wouldn’t agree to the restriction, obviously it came down to N’epalim, Lux, Morlash, and Vedur. They were enough to impose the restrictions, but then the vice-regent of Vedur decided to abstain his vote until next time. He didn’t agree, but neither did he disagree.
Zak had a feeling it was going to depend on Ish-o-bel and whatever Callie was up to. Callie excused herself after another hour. Zak knew she wanted to get back to Gye, but she told the vice-regent she would speak to Isobel and send a message.
Callie sent a message not too much later saying Isobel would receive him but would prefer it to be on a different day. He ground his jaw a little but agreed to make arrangements. Ran’zek from N’olaan was still waiting when he had seen his other guests were taken to their respective shuttles. Ran’zek had brought a crew with him to fly their ship back.
“I have a petition from Lam’saak to remain here.”
Zak nodded.
“His family was expelled by your elder sire.” Zak knew this. “After a rebellion.”
“Unjustly,” Zak clipped out. He would not have allowed that admission to any of the other leaders that had been present up to moments ago.
“As an Ishtaan he cannot mate or rise in the ranks on N’olaan, so I am pleased to grant your request.” Zak inclined his head. He bowed. “I hope our arrangements may mean a new type of alliance for our people.” Ran’zek left, and Zak turned, drawing Callie to him.
“You kicked me.”
Callie snuggled closer. “I’ll have to kiss it better.” His mind blew with all those possibilities.
“I may have a pain higher up.”
Callie giggled, but then they were interrupted by a knock at the door. Zak sighed but called out permission to enter. Voren bowed. “The N’epalim representative is requesting a private audience, my king.”
Zak frowned but nodded. “Do you want me to leave?” Callie whispered, but Zak shook his head. He had no intention of letting her go. In fact, if Gye was still sufficiently diverted, he was taking her back upstairs.
The young N’epalim representative stepped in. Zak hadn’t given him much consideration earlier. He despised the N’epalim. Their genetically engineered uniformity and their quest for species purity made any interaction nearly as impossible as with the Karthians. Zak waited a moment as both Callie and the N’epalim gazed at each other. His blue-black, smooth skin wasn’t covered in the same plates as the Ishtaan, but intricate red markings covered his arms and chest. His hair was tied and fell long to his waist.
Callie put her hand out. “Calista, pleased to meet you.” Zak was just about to interrupt and explain N’epalim didn’t have individual names, just serial numbers tattooed on their forearms and were uniformly addressed as N’epalim, when the representative shocked him. He took Callie’s fingers very lightly and bowed over them. “I am Teer’ka. It is an honor to meet a daughter of Earth.”
Zak stared in shock for a moment until he pulled himself together. “I am puzzled,” he said at last, “but honored you would give your true name.”
He smiled faintly. “I will be direct, providing I have your word this information will not leave this room.”
Zak thumped his chest. “You have my word.”
“Then I believe our worlds may cooperate fully, especially if you have any more Earth queens to trade.”
Zak thought he had been shocked before, but this request made him speechless.
Callie smiled. “We need the ones we have to repopulate our planet.”
Teer’ka frowned. “But I understand you don’t have a reproduction suite. Six females will never produce the young you need in a short time frame.”
Zak sighed. “No, but our world believes the females should carry their young.”
“You don’t?” Callie sounded shocked, and Zak automatically reached out a hand to draw her into his side.
Teer’ka shook his head, somewhat regretfully. “Because our physiology is different to the Ishtaans, we were not affected by the genetic malformations. Our females are unable to carry young and have been for many hundreds of years. Their eggs are harvested and after suitable insemination are grown in a reproductive chamber. We have perfected this method for male births, but for some reason, the rate of success with females is significantly lower.”
“Your babies are grown in a lab?” Callie asked, the shock clear in her voice, but at Teer’ka’s discomfort, her voice softened. “I’m sorry. That was incredibly rude of me. I’m sure you are doing your best faced with unsurmountable difficulties.”
Teer’ka smiled slightly. “The elders of our world were panicked into making decisions that some of us wish we could reverse.” He looked around the room as if double-checking there was no one listening, and Zak’s curiosity immediately picked up.
“The Alliance doesn’t know, nor do our ruling elders, but one of our research vessels left our home world on an exploratory mission approximately twenty cycles ago.” He glanced at Callie. “One of their last messages to us was that they had found a solar system comprising of one sun, eight planets bound to it by gravity, with dwarf planets and moons surrounding it. One planet had a humanoid race, and from what I can see of Callie, with certain external differences, their females accounting for forty-nine percent of the population have the same physiology. We received a garbled message saying their thruster engines had died, and the populated planet didn’t have the resources or knowledge to assist with repairs. They were heading back to our galaxy, but without the speed they needed, they were putting ninety percent of the crew in cryogenic stasis until they returned. We believe they had some Earth females with them, but we haven’t had any communication from their computers for at least seven cycles.”
Callie gaped, and Zak immediately understood. “Earth females?”
He nodded. “If they are alive, we believe so.”
Callie clutched Zak’s hand. Teer’ka blew out a frustrated breath. “Our main concern is if any of the Alliance intercept them while either they are all in stasis or the systems are damaged. They could be destroyed before we even get a chance to see if they are alive.”
He paused. “Our second concern is if our ruling council finds out about this.”
Zak nodded and glanced at Callie. He took in her beseeching glance, but she had no need to worry. Of course he would help. “My younger brother is the best pilot I have ever met. He regularly breaches the Dark searching for our other brother, who has been missing for the last two seasons. If you come with me, I believe we should go talk to him. He will have suggestions.”
“Teer’ka?” Callie asked. “If you have this technology, I don’t understand why you cannot go look for them.”
“Because I am forbidden. N’epalim is no longer run by a royal family but by a consortium. Officially, I am their delegate for off-world negotiations; unofficially, I have been leading the rebellion for the last three cycles. And should they find out, I will be executed.”
Zak’s eyes widened, but he nodded. “Then I think we can help each other.”
“I’m going to find Gye,” Callie said. “He went for a walk with Neela and H’adaar.”
“And Queen Ish-o-bel?” Zak teased. Callie’s blush was delightful, and he steered Teer’ka out, making sure they weren’t seen.
Callie blew out a long breath. She felt like she could do with a nap but headed to the kitchen to check on Gye, followed as always by Voren. Neela smiled and said he had left with H’adaar to go back to her room to wait for her. She hid a yawn and trudged to the female’s suite, hoping Isobel would agree to meet the vice-regent. She walked into the lounge to find it empty, but then she spotted the person she had come to see.
“Isobel?”
Isobel ducked but not quite quick enough that Callie didn’t see her red eyes. She chose to pretend she hadn’t, though, and launched into an explanation of what had happened and that the vice-regent of Vedur wanted to meet her.
She was silent for a moment as she gazed at Callie. “Now?”
Callie shook her head. “I said you preferred a formal introduction in a couple of days.”
“But your king needs breeders,” she said bluntly, and Callie winced.
“Yes, but he also needs political allies. Vedur could have maintained the blockage, but they elected to abstain until the next meeting. I also hinted very strongly you have ties to King George.”
“Washington?” Isobel asked wryly.
“I’ll leave your backstory to you.” Callie was beginning to wonder if her impulsiveness was going to get her into trouble. Gary always said it would.
“So your king needs me,” Isobel said flatly.
“We all do,” Callie said and for the very first time knew her blunt honesty had won respect. Isobel stood up, no trace of whatever had been bothering her when Callie came in.
“When?”
“Two days.”
She nodded. “Make it three.” Callie chuckled, and she saw a smile on Isobel’s face. “I’m not usually a bitch.”
“I think we’re all entitled to be at the moment,” Callie offered generously.
“Maybe,” Isobel allowed, but she hesitated. “I’m struggling to believe that after everything I worked for, it’s all been taken from me.”
Callie eyed her, wondering if Isobel wanted to talk. It was certainly the first time she had shared anything. She could understand resentment. Isobel seemed to be the only one of them that genuinely missed Earth, but she had a feeling even that wasn’t quite that simple. As far as she knew, Isobel had inherited wealth from elderly parents. That wasn’t work, merely an accident of birth, but there was definitely something Isobel wasn’t sharing. Then she smiled and waved an airy hand, standing up. “Three days, then.” She eyed Callie. “I’d better get some of those silks.”
Callie smiled. “Let me introduce you to Tamara.”
She left the room, Voren falling into step behind her. “You must be really bored following me around all the time.”
Voren tried to look offended, but then he smiled. “It is an honor to protect my queen, or any females.”
“You wait until you get your own female. You might regret saying that,” she teased.
Voren’s face fell. “That will never happen.”
Callie glanced at him as they walked down the corridor to her suite. Should she acknowledge she knew who he was? But his unhappy expression stopped her. “With your handsome face? Are you kidding me?”
“I do not joke about such matters,” Voren clipped out, then looked mortified that he had been short with her. “My queen—”
But she waved his apology off. “Tell me why you are so certain you will never get a female?”
He swallowed. “Because I am unable to give a female a young.” Callie was so stunned she didn’t say a word as Voren quietly shut the door behind her. She’d been expecting him to say something else. Something about who he was, but he hadn’t.
She paused a moment in the quiet room and walked through to the bedroom, half expecting to see Gye curled up on her bed. She carried on into the connecting room, but there was no sign of him there either. She had been tired earlier but knew she wouldn’t settle until she had found him. As she slipped quickly into her jeans, the sudden and very loud explosion made her stumble.
The door to her suite burst open, and Voren ran in. “My queen, there are three unidentified ships firing on the palace. You must come quickly to the cellars.”
“Zak?” Callie’s heart seemed to beat so hard it threatened to break her ribs.
“All pilots have to go to the shuttles. He’s on his way.”
“But you’re a pilot. Leave me. I can—”
“Never,” Voren vowed, but they both ducked at the sound of another explosion and breaking glass.
“Where’s Gye?”
“With H’adaar. Quickly, my queen.” But they both looked up at the sound of running boots, and H’adaar appeared.
“Voren, you are ordered to the shuttle bay. I am to escort the queen.” Voren hesitated. “By order of the king,” H’adaar added in case there was any doubt. A third explosion sealed it.
“Come, my queen. I have Gye.” Which kind of sold it. She let H’adaar shield her as they both ran, and thankfully he was as good at his job as Voren because she nearly fell twice and he saved her both times.
They rushed down a corridor she’d never noticed before, and H’adaar pushed open a heavy door into which she expected to find some sort of cellar, bomb shelter sort of thing, but the sunlight that met her brought her feet to a stop. The sight of at least ten warriors flanking Zak’s father made her want to throw up.
She took a step backward, only to bump into H’adaar. He stared down at her stonily. And she understood. “Zak will kill you.” And she wasn’t saying it as a euphemism.
His eyes flickered with what she hoped was fear, but laughter from Zak’s father made her turn to face him. H’adaar dragged her over to the hell-cats. Absently, she wondered where they had been hidden because they looked new.
Another guard took hold of her and led her toward Az’kye. He watched in apparent fascination as she tried to struggle, but the guard was too strong. As soon as she got close, Az’kye stepped off his platform. She opened her mouth to ask him what the fuck he thought he was doing, when a blow to the side of her face nearly knocked her out. She cried out, would have gone sprawling if the guard hadn’t kept tight hold. She could barely breathe around the stinging in her cheek.
“You speak when you are spoken to, female. My son might allow such disrespect, but I do not.” She spat the blood out of her mouth and was absently disappointed when it didn’t hit him. She didn’t reply, though. She needed to be conscious to escape, and after the last blow, she had a feeling she wouldn’t be if he hit her again.. “That’s better.” He gripped her chin, the pain making her eyes smart, and forced her gaze up. “I am so going to enjoy taking every little thing Zak has stolen from me away from him. Including you. A bit too mouthy for my own tastes, but I’m sure you will soon learn the value of silence.”
He waved them all to the hell-cats. “Quickly. They will soon miss her.”
“My king?” She looked back to see H’adaar had stepped toward the nearest one, only to have a guard block him. Az’kye smiled and walked back. “Of course.”
Callie’s heart sank. The slither of a reply didn’t promise the gratitude H’adaar might have been expecting.
“We owe you our gratitude for delivering the Earth female.” H’adaar seemed to straighten a little. “However, in doing so you showed you are happy to be bought.”
Callie saw the way H’adaar seemed to look offended at the implication, which would have been laughable if it wasn’t so pathetic. “My king. Your only promise was a female. I have served you faithfully.” Understanding slammed into Callie along with a remembered comment.
We have all been lonely for a long time.
“And yet you didn’t tell me what else I need to know.”
H’adaar drew himself up. “The young were an unexpected complication.”
Young?Callie thought. Did he mean the ones from the camp? But that made no sense, and what else was H’adaar supposed to do?
Az’kye paused. “Then knowing you were able to switch loyalties, how can I possibly take the risk you wouldn’t do it again?” And he pulled the blaster from his belt and shot a hole through H’adaar’s chest before he even had a second to protest his loyalty. The guard stepped over him and turned to follow.
Dizzy sickness swam over Callie, but she widened her eyes in grim determination. Guns were a fact of life near her last apartment. She had even seen a drive-by and been lucky not to get caught in it. She was tougher than this. She had to be tougher than this. If there was a chance she could escape, she needed to be ready.
Of course, the fact that a giant hole just got blasted through H’adaar’s chest could account for shock, and a certain squeamishness, but she was the best friend that held your hair out of the way in the bathroom when you’d had too much to drink and never cared what a baby she was holding spit up on her. Everyone had always said she’d be a great mom. The irony was downright cruel.
“Are we disturbing you?” The sarcastic question finally pierced her thoughts. She was tied—when had that happened?—and being led to what looked like a cave. She didn’t even remember leaving the clearing. She was pushed onto a bare cot. “Sleep or don’t, I don’t care. You might want to be wide-awake when you become my queen though.”
Callie doubted that. She doubted that very much.
