Billionaire Romance: MAXIMILIAN (An Alpha Bad Boy Contemporary Mystery Romance) (Mysterious Billionaires Book 3, Anthologies & Collections) (56 page)

Breslin said, “We cannot rebuild hail, or anything like it. They’ll come after it sooner if we do.”

“Agreed,” Dagmar said. “I think we should stay hidden in the high lands, make our homes in the quietest of places, away from the sea. That’s where they will sail in from, and land.”

There was more silence. The sea had always been in their blood and what he was suggesting was strange and frightening. Aila asked, “But what about the fish and the other things we need from the sea to survive?’

“Hunting parties,” Dagmar said. “Or rather fishing parties. We must be able to hide and fight in a land that we know, and we need shelter and food for the winter. Summer has not yet crested up that way so we would still have time to gather and hunt for winter. We can make a few large shelters for now, and stay together in them. We don’t have the time to make many shelters, we need all the time we can spare to make it through winter.”

They all agreed. There was nothing else they could do and Dagmar’s plan had real merit. As the weary people began to prepare for their journey Northward in the morning Aila turned to Dagmar. “You were right.”

“I will never get tired of hearing you say that,” he teased. “But I have to admit that I am at a loss as to what it is that I am right about.”

“All of it, though I must say I will miss the sea more than I will care to.”

“You were always the best of the fishers anyway.”

She laughed. “Do you remember the day I went fishing and got angry because I didn’t know you had already given half a boar to our people’s fire?”

“You were so angry at me,” his fingers brushed the hair away from her face so that his bright blue eyes could look into her gray ones. “And I was so angry at you too. Mostly because you seemed to ignore me when I wanted to romp with you, which was always.”

She laughed. “I have not ignored you that way for a long time. But what I meant was you were right. We can birth our children. Our child. I’m with child again.”

His eyes lit up. “Are you really?”

“Yes, and I feel sure that this time, it is a son. I don’t know why but I feel certain that a son is what this one shall be.”

His hand rested against her cheek. Ceana muttered sleepily from her perch in Aila’s lap and Dagmar asked, “What shall we name him?”

She smiled, “I was thinking Merlin.”

Overhead the sky brightened and a single magnificent hawk rode the wind. Dagmar looked up at the raptor and said, “Yes. Merlin.”

Their eyes and hands met. Their smiles grew. Aila knew that no matter what came next she would face it willingly and gladly, and with Dagmar at her side.                                    THE END

Meredith was groggy, her head felt as though it weighed a thousand pounds and each of her limbs was tingling with pins and needles.  She struggled to open her eyes. Managing to open them just a crack she squinted against the harsh overhead light.

              “Hello?” The light bounced off the white walls and ricocheted around the empty room. Meredith lay in a crumpled heap, her knee length cotton nightgown pooling around her. “Hello? Is anybody there?” Her questions were met with nothing but silence. She opened her eyes fully, blinking rapidly as she adjusted to the effusion of light from above.

              The room was completely empty with the exception of her corpulent body sitting directly in its center. Each of the walls was solid, painted white and there was no indication whatsoever of a door or window. Meredith looked down at her bare feet. How had she got here? And more to the point, where was here?

              Outside the room there was a frantic scurrying of feet. The Kalar foot soldiers shuffled quickly about as they made preparations for their king’s celebration. Meredith’s muffled shouts barely made it through the thick walls and even when they did, they went unnoticed by her preoccupied abductors.

              “Would someone please tell me what’s going on?” Silence. “If you kidnapped me for money you’re going to be really disappointed!” Her fear had given way to anger. Shielding her eyes she looked up at the ceiling, it was only moments before she found what she was looking for – a small camera. She stared directly at it. “I don’t know who you are, but you could at least do me the courtesy of a glass of water!” She glared at the camera, tangles of her long blonde hair sticking to the side of her face. A few moments later the sound of movement came, it was followed by the sliding open of a small hatch at the bottom of one of the walls. Meredith watched in amazement as a small robot came towards her offering a glass of water. She took it, sniffed it and presuming that it was safe, drank the whole glass. “Thank you.” She wasn’t sure why she was thanking the machine, but she found herself doing it nonetheless. The robot stood with its arm held outward and as soon as Meredith placed her empty glass back in its hand, it rolled back in to the wall. The hatch closed and Meredith was once again alone.

Behind the controls of the small camera sat a relatively short for his species and slender Kalar guard. His tanned sucker tipped fingers nudged the camera control stick once in a while as he zoomed in on Meredith’s pale white face. He couldn’t help but stare, he’d never seen anyone from the planet Earth in person before. Sure, there were rumors that some of the more wealthy Kalarians had human brides, but even working in the palace he had never seen one for himself. He wondered if all Earth women were so round.

              “Placan?” The guard turned from his screen to find his shift relief standing behind him.

              “Hmm?” He raised his eyebrows.

              “Why do you stare at the King’s new bride?” Placan turned back to the camera and eyed Meredith.

              “She is not his new bride yet, Tevar.” Tevar came closer to get a good look at the human woman.

              “Soon she will be and your ogling will be punishable by death.” Placan knew this, but there was something about the human woman that drew him in. She was so different to the Kalarians.

              “Do you ever wonder what it is like to live on another planet, Tevar?” They both stared at Meredith now as she seemed to stare back, her blue eyes fixated on the camera lens.

              “No. I am happy to live on Kalar.” Placan frowned, he couldn’t be the only one who imagined the possibilities of living outside of the King’s reign. “You should go now,” Tevar nudged the chair, “there are many preparations to be made.” Tevar turned to Placan, his face a blank canvas. Placan nodded.

              As the pins and needles finally subsided, Meredith carefully got to her feet. She walked cautiously forward toward the bare walls. There had to be some way to get out.

              “Hello?” She pressed her body against the wall in hopes of finding a door of some sort. “I know you can hear me!” The truth was, however, that Tevar couldn’t hear her anymore, the camera peering in to her room had been muted. Meredith pushed her whole body weight against each of the four walls methodically, finding nothing. “Seriously? You know that this is illegal, right? I am gonna sue your asses off!” She looked up at the camera and gave the middle finger before walking over to the corner and sitting directly underneath it. If no one was going to do her the courtesy of answering her, then she would force them to come to her.

              Meredith wasn’t sure exactly who her captors were and while the idea of luring them in would likely terrify anyone else, it only served to make her angry. The least anyone could do after locking you in a door-less room was let you know who they were without your having to trick them in to coming to you.

              Placan’s comm device beeped shrilly.

              “This is Placan…” There was static before Tevar’s voice broke through.

              “…needed to check the human woman…” Placan felt his heart beginning to race at the thought of actual contact with a human.

              “Repeat that, please, Tevar.”

              “You are needed to check the human woman…she is no longer visible on the security camera. Then secure her for her meeting with the king.” Placan smiled, he
was
going to get to see the human woman himself!

              “Of course, Tevar. I will be there shortly.” Placan had never interacted with a human of any kind before, but he found something appealing in the way that this one looked. She wasn’t tall and slender like the Kalarians, you couldn’t see the bony cage that framed her heart and the large mounds on her chest were like nothing any Kalarian female had. Placan wanted to touch them. He knew it would be a certain death sentence if he dared to, but something inside of him made him want to do it anyway. He found it hard to determine if his desires were merely wonderment or if they were driven by something else.

              As Placan came to the sealed cell he looked around him to make sure that no one was watching. When he found the coast clear, he placed his long sucker tipped fingers against a touchpad on the door and paused as it vaporized. As he walked in to the room, the door reappeared behind him.

              “What…” Meredith sat staring at Placan open mouthed. He cocked his head to the side as he stared back at her, just as mesmerized by her appearance as she was of his. Meredith squinted at his relatively tall frame and his obscenely long slender legs. “Who…what are you?” She had never seen anyone with such strange proportions before and as her eyes met his fingertips she couldn’t help but gasp. He was nothing like any
thing
she’d seen before either, but she refused to give in to her fear. Whatever he was she knew that he couldn’t possibly be what she suspected because aliens didn’t exist.

              “I am Placan, royal guard to Obar king of the planet Kalar.” Meredith’s brow furrowed as she stared at his caramel colored skin.

              “What?” she shook her head, “you want me to believe that I’ve been abducted by aliens?” She laughed loudly, “Yeah, okay. This is the stupidest joke ever and your costume isn’t even that good. When my dad finds out who you are, you are going to be fucked. Now tell me who you are really.” Placan stared at the redness that was rising in Meredith’s cheeks.

              “I am Placan…”

              “Yeah, I know, I know, of the royal guard of whatever the hell it was. Seriously though, let me out of here and I might not even tell my dad about it.” Placan shook his head slowly as he stared in to her mesmerizing blue eyes.

              “It is more than my job is worth to release you, Earth woman. You are to be king Obar’s bride and I will surely be cast in to oblivion if I allow you escape.” Meredith stared in to his large brown eyes in disbelief.

              “Wait a minute…you’re telling me that not only are you an alien and I’ve been abducted to your planet, but you are marrying me off to your king?” She burst in to laughter, the sound shocking Placan. He blinked slowly.

              “Yes. You will be very happy, I am sure of it.” He wasn’t sure of it, not really, but he had heard that the other wives of the king were satisfied with their life. Part of him however, hoped that Meredith wouldn’t be because he wanted her for himself. Meredith stood up and walked towards Placan. Placan looked at her uncertainly, Earth women certainly were strange creatures with their short shapely legs and their pale white skin.

              “Okay, this has been great, really, but seriously...” She pinched at the tan skin on Placan’s long slender forearm, it puckered for a moment before sinking back against the bone of his arm. Meredith frowned and reached up to his face, Placan flinched. Meredith pinched both of his hollow cheeks and attempted to pull them away from his bony skull. When the skin snapped back in to place, Meredith’s eyes widened and she stared at Placan, horrified. His massive eyes stared right back at her quizzically. “You…” she pulled her hands back, her fists balled up. “You’re not wearing a costume…” Placan shook his head.

              “On my planet we do not wear costumes like you humans do, just simple robes…” Placan reached his long fingers forward and fingered the sleeve of Meredith’s nightgown. Meredith stepped backward, a look of horror on her face as she looked him up and down. She had never seen a creature with eyes as large as his, they were twice the size they should have been and she couldn’t help but stare in to them.

              “Why am I here?” This time her voice shook with uncertainty.

              “You have been chosen to wed Obar, King of the planet Kalar.” Meredith shook her head.

              “I know, you said that…but it doesn’t make any sense. There are billions of people to choose from on planet Earth, there have to be billions of people on planet…Kalam too? Why doesn’t he just marry one of you? Why drag me in to this?”

              “Kalar, it is planet Kalar.” Placan couldn’t understand why she was not honored to be chosen as the king’s bride like all of the others had been. Instead she seemed almost panicked by her selection. “The king has chosen you, this is a great honor.” Meredith shook her head, great honor or not, there was no way it was going to happen. Even back on Earth Meredith had had her doubts about marriage, and now she was being asked to marry someone from a different planet who she had never met? It was never going to happen.

              “Why has the king chosen me? I didn’t even know that he existed so how could he possibly have chosen me?” Placan had never faced a situation quite like this before and he found her unique resistance to be quite intriguing.

              “King Obar is aware of all planets in the universe. It is his mission to take a wife from each of these planets to foster trade relations. You have been selected by the king himself to represent the planet Earth.” Meredith slumped down against the wall, shaking her head slowly from side to side. It was like a bad dream, none of it made sense.

              “Wait a minute…” She replayed their conversation in her head, “Now I’m going to become part of some harem so that your king can foster trade relations? That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard!” She could feel her body shaking with a mix of anger and fear, “That is not how things work on Earth and I am not going to be bullied in to it on Kalam either!”

              “Kalar…” Placan interjected.

              “Kalar, whatever you call it. I don’t know how your
king
got my number, but I’d appreciate it if you told him I wasn’t interested. I’d like to go home now.” She tried her very best to hide her fear as she ordered the creature before her to take her home. Placan however, could hear her heart rate beginning to race and his own anxiety began to pick up. If he was responsible for causing the king’s new bride to have second thoughts about the marriage it would most certainly be his head. He began to wish that he had never stepped foot in to the cell in the first place.

              “It is an honor to be chosen by the king…” Meredith glared at Placan and he shut his mouth knowing better than to finish his sentence.

              “It may be an honor on your planet, but on my planet this is called abduction and I don’t want to get married, to your king or anyone else for that matter.” Her heart was racing so much faster than anything Placan had heard before. He took a step forward and leaning down he placed the suckers on his fingertips against her bare arm. Meredith felt the smoothness of his fingers on her skin, but more than that, the touch of his fingertips brought with it a peace. Meredith took a deep breath, her heart rate slowing down. “I am sure you are just trying to do your job…but this is…” she couldn’t think of the words to describe what she wanted to say, “illegal.” She wondered if the term even had any meaning here.

              “This is not what you desire?” Placan asked as he cocked his head curiously to the side, she shook her head.

              “I just want to go home.” Tears welled up in her eyes and Placan nodded. He didn’t know a thing about the women from Earth, but he knew about compassion and he knew about fear. Meredith was afraid and there was nothing he could do for her but give her compassion.