Cali & Drake (The Alliance Book 1) (10 page)

Cali
paced
in the quarters she
shared with Drake. Her anger at being teleported without permission had
lessened, then grew again, then
lessened
.
Right now she sat solidly in the middle between calm and angry.

She hadn’t had a chance to talk with Drake about the future.
Obviously,
her mistake had been in thinking
there would be time. She knew it meant something special to be Drake’s chosen
mate, she just hadn’t taken the time to question exactly what that entailed.
She would need to rectify that as well.

She’d transported with Drake and before she knew it he’d seen her
to
this room. After kissing her quickly he’d
left to attend a meeting. A few minutes later, her door had chimed.

“Yes. Come in,” Cali called. She was still slightly reeling from the transport.

Another dark haired male, in
purple-tinged
armor,
stood in the hallway. “Drake has
asked me to bring you something appropriate to wear.” He held out his hands.

“Thank you.” Cali took the dark purple material absently.

The male bowed and went to move away, the doors closing behind him.

Fingering the soft material, Cali shook it out and held it up to look at
it. Was it supposed to be a dress? In all of her training, it had been
instilled in her to honor any culture she was exposed to. This dress would be a
good challenge for her. Moving into the other room for privacy she shimmied out
of her uniform. Taking the material, she pulled it over her
head
and tried to arrange it so everything
vital was covered.

It really was lovely once she had it on. The ties of the dress met at the
back of the neck, leaving both shoulders and all of her back to the top of her
ass uncovered. The front had a deep V. In her opinion if left a tad too much of
cleavage showing, but she couldn’t find a way to drape it any differently. The
rest of the layers floated over her curves, landing in waves to mid-calf, with
slits to mid-thigh. Taking her hair out of the bun, she shook her hair out.
Satisfied, Cali went barefoot back into the other room.

“Computer,” she called. “Can you tell me the location of Chan’ Drake?”

“Chan’ Drake is in observation room three.” The computer’s masculine voice
echoed around her quarters. They certainly were patriarchal.

“Are there any others from
The
Reliant
onboard, besides myself?” She knew that Vareen had to be here as
well, but had anyone else been taken.

“There is only one lifeform from the spacecraft known as
The Reliant
on board
The Maxon.”

Cali sighed. It was just her then. Vareen hadn’t been taken by Mica. She
either wasn’t interested in him, or she’d talked him into letting her stay on
The Reliant
for some reason.

The door opened and Drake strode in.

“Cali.”

She jumped out of her seat, “Drake, you have to take me back.”

He stopped short, his expression eating up her body in the dress. His
eyes flashed and Cali recognized the heated look.

“I can’t, even if I wanted to.” His voice was thick.

“I need to warn Nellia and Vareen of Diandra’s allegiance to my mother. I—”

“Cali, I spoke with Vareen before
The
Maxon
left for Titus. Your friend said she is fine with taking over as
captain and will make sure
The Reliant
makes
it to Cestori. I assured her, and Mica for that matter, that we would be no
longer than a week behind them. I’ll stand by you as you face your mother and to
right any wrongs, I promise. There are a few things I need to fix on Titus
first,
though.” Drake towered over her, his
eyes a glowing blue. “I’ve been missing for ten months, Cali. My family—”

Cali gasped and drew her arms around Drake’s waist. “You were in stasis for
that long?” Cali was stunned. She knew there was the possibility he had been
missing for a long time. To hear him say it, with such pain in his voice was
her undoing. Where her mother would be furious at losing her as a pawn, Drake’s
family had been mourning, thinking he was dead. Seven days wouldn’t be too long
a gap to get to Cestori.

Drake drew himself back to look into her eyes. “Cali, I know we haven’t
had a chance to talk about what a chosen mate means. Just know this one thing.
As my chosen mate I want you by my side, forever. Where your partnerships could
be dissolved if either person desired, a mating on Titus is forever. If I were
to be kept from you, for any reason, I think I would go mad.”

Well, that put matters into perspective. Drake wanted her to be his
forever.

“I didn’t know that’s how it worked for you.” Cali drew a ragged breath.
“I don’t want to be parted from you Drake, but—”

“Ahem. I don’t mean to break this up, but we’re ready to resume the
meeting.”

“Cali,
this is my brother. Chan’ Varian,” He swept her up to the other male, “This is
Calinae Edal.”

Cali held out her hand, “It’s
nice to meet you.”

Ignoring her hand Drake’s
brother swept her into a
bone-cracking
hug and then returned her to her feet. Kissing both cheeks, he said. “It’s nice
to meet you.”
[FC1]
 

Drake pulled her away. “I’ll be right there. I just wanted to update Cali
on what’s happening.” Turning to her as he strode to the door he said, “We’ll
talk later. I shouldn’t be too much longer. Thank you for understanding.”

The door closed behind him.

*****

“We’re ready to teleport.” Chan’ Varian was talking to Drake. “Dak,
Arik,
and Tae have already left. You know how
fast word travels. If you want to get ahead of the gossip, we better get
moving. It should just now be reported that
The
Maxon
is in orbit, we’ve kept radio silent so the surprise would have more
impact.” His brown eyes danced with mischief.

Cali glanced around Drake to look at Chan’ Varian from his place in the
doorway.

“We can transport from here. Directly into the dining room will suffice.”
Drake ordered the other male.

“Suffice to give
mother
a heart
attack,” Varian laughed.

Something hit Cali and she yelled, “Wait a minute. When you
said
—”

She hadn’t protested soon
enough
because she felt the familiar sensation of teleporting once again.

The room they materialized into was very large. Directly in front of her
was a massive table in the middle of the floor, with cushioned chairs all
around it. There were chairs and couches placed along the edges of the room for
additional seating.
The light
was flowing
in from large windows placed at the top of the wall, as well as through large
doors in three of the four walls. The covers on the doors were floating with a
breeze, that Cali was happy to say had a nice earthy smell to it. On the fourth
wall was a large fireplace, with an intricate mantelpiece.

The room was currently empty, but Cali heard a feminine voice coming from
somewhere outside the room.

“
Varian,
what’s this I’m hearing
about
The Maxon
returning? The
telecommunication unit is going crazy. I haven’t answered because frankly it’s
all idle gossip if you ask me. Also, you know how your father feels about
teleporting directly into the house. It better be important for you to break
protocol.”

A woman in a purple dress that matched the one Cali was wearing came into
view from an archway on the end of the wall on the left. The only difference
between them was the fact that this woman was tall, slim, and fit, where Cali
was curvy and…plush.

“I’ve made extra food if you want to stay for—” her voice died suddenly
when she got a good look at the three of them standing in the middle of the
room. “Drake?!”

“Hello, Mother.”

With a flash of purple, the woman made it to Drake. It seemed t
heir women had
the same special abilities too. That
wasn’t something Cali had expected. The woman embracing Drake was beautiful.
Cali might be gnashing her teeth in jealousy if Drake hadn’t said this was his
mother. She had the same dark hair pulled off her shoulders in a ponytail. She
had laugh lines at her eyes and mouth. She was very tall, at least to Cali and
held herself with a regal authority.

“By the moons, I can’t believe it.” His mother stepped back to get a good
look at him.

A sudden commotion drew everyone’s attention. The doors behind them swung
wide and Cali caught a glimpse of some type of
driveway
before they closed again.

Another flash of purple and another female was in Drake’s arms. This one
so exceptionally pretty Cali did gnash her teeth.

“I just heard.”

“
Nevir
!” Drake held the woman
tightly and Cali’s unease grew. Who was she? The newcomer was young, with
luxurious black hair. Her face was porcelain smooth, with no scars or
blemishes. Her blue eyes were losing their electric blue tinge and returned to
a color similar to Drakes. Like Drake’s mother, this female was tall and slim,
wearing the same purple dress.
This time,
Cali did notice that both women were wearing some type of
sandals
, where her feet were bare. She spared a
moment to worry about breaking some protocol, then decided to let it go. Drake
wouldn’t have left her barefoot if it was insulting to his mother.

Pulling away from the woman named
Nevir
,
Drake turned to her.

“I want you to meet Cali.” He pulled her into his arms and both women
gazed at her intently. “Cali this is my mother, Chan’
Essdey
.”

“It’s nice to meet you.” Cali held out her hand. Drake’s mother
reluctantly held out hers. Cali grabbed it and shook gently, “Your home, from
what I see of it, is very lovely.”

Cali had learned in Cultural Classes at the Academy that complimenting an
alien host on their domicile was the first thing you should do.

“Thank you,
Cali,
” Drake’s mother
smiled faintly. “It’s nice to meet you as well. Please call me
Essdey
.”

“Cali, this is Nevir.” Drake motioned toward the younger woman.

 
“Nevir,” Cali held out her hand
again, this
time,
the younger woman took
it immediately. “It’s nice to meet you.”

“Cali,” The younger woman smiled warmly, “That’s a beautiful name.”

“Thank you. It’s short for—”

“Cali and I would like to wait for
father
to arrive before going into any further details.” Drake interrupted her.

“He should be home soon,” Nevir offered. “Everyone is talking about it.”

“Talking about what?” Essdey asked, her confusion clear. “I turned off
the telecom unit. It wouldn’t stop ringing.”

“The reason for
The Maxon
coming back so soon,” Varian hurried to get Essdey up to speed. “Not only did
they find Drake, but Mica, Tae, Arik and Dak as well.”

“All of them?” his mother gasped. “The clans have a reason to celebrate
then. Five of their sons have been returned to them.”

 
“Drake!?” A male voice boomed from
the doorway.

All eyes swung that direction, and a male who had to be Drake’s father
stood there. He was wearing the same purple shirt, black pants and boots as
every male of the Renari clan she had seen. The difference in Drake’s father
was the air of authority he carried. His hair had silvered at the temples and
his eyes and mouth held small lines, but he was still an imposing figure.

“Father,” Drake bowed slightly and then the male moved and grabbed him
into what appeared to be a crushing hug.

“
Virrel
,” Essdey was speaking to
Drake’s father so Cali surmised that must be his name. “I will order cook to
add some festive touches to dinner tonight. Everyone must stay to eat. I
suspect
Nallan
and Lathan will be here
soon.” Drake’s mother was far more composed than Cali would have believed
possible. Except for the sign of emotion in darkening of her electric blue
eyes, she held herself together well. Moving with
impossible
grace she left the room by the same arch she had
entered.

“We need to hear what happened,” Drake’s father released him, and turned
to eye her speculatively.

“Yes. I’ll tell you everything,’ Drake insisted. “I would prefer to sit
down for the telling. Also, it wouldn’t hurt to wait for mother to get back.
That way we only have to explain it once.”

“As you prefer,” His father gestured to the seating in front of the
fireplace.

Drake took her arm and led her to a couch that would hold two occupants.
Gesturing for her to take a seat, she did as he asked and he sat next to her.
The heat of his thigh was burning against her leg, a soothing reminder of their
connection.

“Cali?”

“Yes?” she drew her gaze from where their legs touched to see Drake’s
mother offering her a glass.

“Would you like something to drink?”

“Yes, please.” Cali took a glass and saw that there were small tables at
the end of her and Drake’s couch to place them on when not drinking. “Thank
you.”

Taking a sip, her mouth started watering and her lips puckered against
her will. The drink was semi-sweet but very sour. Taking another sip, the
effect lessened and Cali had to admit it was refreshing.

“Do you like it?” Essdey was seated across from her in a chair next to
Drake’s father, Virrel.

“Yes, it was sour at first, but very refreshing now that I’ve gotten used
to it.”
Cali didn’t believe in lying and was
honest about the taste.

“Some clans drink it straight. I find that to be too sour, so add a touch
of sweet nectar.”

“I’m grateful that you did,” Cali laughed and Drake’s mother joined her.

“I don’t mean to be rude,” Virrel had run out of patience for small talk.
“Can someone explain what’s going on, what happened to you, and just who
exactly our lovely guest is?”

Cali recognized the threat behind the softly spoken words. If Drake’s
father didn’t like what he heard about her, then he had the authority to make
this unpleasant.