Irresistible: A SciFi Alien Mail Order Bride Romance (TerraMates Book 9) (29 page)

* * *

"
O
ur next mission
is rescuing a group of slaves assigned to fields within the eastern grasslands," Daniel told me. He sat on the cot opposite of me in the sleeping quarters.

Tonight, no one was sleeping. Everyone was awake, preparing for the battle to come. "It's a little more than a rescue mission. They are slaves to a High Commander, who has claimed the land as his personal retreat. The slaves will be leaving. The High Commander and his men will not."

"I'll go with you," I said quickly, before Daniel had a chance to assign me elsewhere or order me to stay behind.

"Of course you will," he replied. "Just don't get yourself killed. After this is over, we need to find our mother."

"And what of our father?" I asked. I was afraid he had information he was not sharing with me.

"We believe it is likely our parents are in different locations. I don't know what has happened to Dad. The best we can hope for is that they enslaved him instead of killing him outright. We know that Mom is alive. She is a warrior, like you, but she needs our help more."

"Okay," I agreed. "We'll look for our mother first, after we rescue the slaves in the grasslands."

Daniel shifted uncomfortably on the cot. "Kylu will be with us. I don't expect you to get along with him, but I do expect you to refrain from murdering him."

I scowled. "Can't you order him away?"

"I'm not in charge here, Terra. I'm not a Commander, like you. But even if I was in command, I'd let him stay. I know he hasn't proven himself to you, but I have seen him in action. Do you know why he was at the house the day you met?"

"Enlighten me," I said cynically, folding my arms.

"That's where he goes to think. Kylu is like my brother. He knows the pain his actions have brought. The house reminds him of the people he hurt, like our parents, and keeps him motivated to fight our cause."

I wasn't impressed. "As opposed to what? Rejoining his father?"

"He would never do that. He has no loyalty left to the Surtu. From what you've told me of Jidden, Kylu is nothing like your light bonded. Kylu does not care about saving his people. He detests them. He's not part of the network; he's part of the resistance."

"He's part of Captain Fore," I insisted. "You may consider him your brother, but to me he is the enemy."

* * *

I
n the grasslands
, I crawled close to the ground, using the tall grass as camouflage. Twenty other people were around me. Our weapons were strapped tight against us. I glanced up, hoping the intelligence we received about the Surtu flight schedule was correct.

The skies were expected to be clear for the next four hours. That gave us plenty of time to free the slaves and escort them to a rescue ship located a few miles to the north.

Peering over the grass, I caught first sight of the slaves. It was just as Daniel had said. Older men and women as well as children picked strawberries within the confines of a large field. The Surtu had shackled their feet with the same weightless prism bonds I had seen wrapped around Kylu's wrists days before.

Picking strawberries was not labor intensive, but they were still slaves. One of the men still wore the suit of a business person. All walks of life had been conscripted to reap the harvest of the High Commander.

I had nothing to do with the High Commander's assassination. My brother was on that unit, but I was not. My responsibility was to see the slaves to safety.

Our efforts had to be synchronized. When the rescue ships landed, they only be on the ground briefly before taking off again. It was the only way to evade the Surtu military. Rescued slaves came from all directions, hoping for salvation. The didn't know that salvation meant extraction to a different planet.

Only those who arrived in time were able to board the ship. The rest had to wait for the next arrival, which could be days later. Those days could make the difference between escape and recapture.

"There are twelve guards and about a hundred slaves," Kylu informed me, crawling up beside me in the grass.

"I told you to stay away from me," I hissed, struggling to keep my voice level.

"Where's the fun in that?" he answered. Before I could respond, he pressed his wristwatch, projecting a miniature hologram of the field. "The guards mostly patrol the outer borders. That works in favor of the unit storming the retreat, but not for us. If we want to get all the slaves out alive, we'll have to kill the guards simultaneously. We outnumber the guards two-to-one. It shouldn't be a problem."

"I'll take the guard closest to the retreat. I can kill him without calling attention to myself. He'll be dead before even he knows it."

"Sounds sexy," Kylu said, "But completely unnecessary. Our unit leader has already assigned us the trio of guards here," he said, pointing at his hologram.

"Us?" I asked unenthusiastically. "I'm assuming you had something to do with that."

"I told you, you're my redemption. I don't want anything to happen to you. Crawling behind you also gives me a fantastic view of your ass."

I slapped my hand over his wrist, making the hologram disappear. "Listen, and listen well. I'll work with you only because these people need our help, but the last thing I need is another Surtu man thinking he knows what's best for me. I don't need your protection."

Kylu pointed his blaster in the direction of the trio. "Lead the way, cupcake. Just remember, I can heal. You can't."

"I won't need healing. Like I said, they'll be dead before they know it."

I navigated through the grass, stopping within the range of our targets at the border of the strawberry field. Kylu crawled beside me again, and we waited silently for the unit leader to give us the signal to attack.

It came in the form of a howl. Instantly, I stood up, and I aimed for the heads of the guards. I only had seconds to fire before they realized what was happening.

Those seconds were lost when my blaster jammed.

"Damn it!" I cried.

"Don't move," a guard yelled, pointing his blaster at me. "Move, and I'll shoot that lovely little arm of yours off your body."

Women don't need arms to bear children, I thought angrily, wishing I had the ability to move objects with my mind like the Surtu did. I would make the guard point his blaster somewhere he'd truly regret.

"Walk towards them," Kylu whispered, still hidden in the grass. "Distract them."

Unable to respond without giving him away, I stepped forward, my arms raised in the air.

"Good girl," the guard said. "You know to listen to your masters."

"Wait," another guard called, looking around the field. "Something's wrong."

Suddenly, hundreds of strawberries around us lifted off their stems and floated in the air, distracting the guards and blocking their view of the invasion happening in the field. Moving with the agility of a mercenary, Kylu stormed at the guards through the strawberries, taking each of them out. When they were dead on the ground, the strawberries returned to the earth, like flowers falling on a grave.

"You killed your people," I stammered.

His face showed a combination of rage and remorse. Kylu charged towards the rest of the field, determined to rescue the slaves. "Of course I did. My people have not earned the right to survival. Yours have."

"Why?"

"Because you allow yourselves to love," he replied, and he kept walking.

I felt my feelings towards Kylu begin to shift. I saw what my brother saw – a man with a carefree spirit who was repulsed by his people. I watched as Kylu tenderly removed the shackles from the ankles of the slaves, cracking jokes to put them at ease. He put two children on his back as we ran for the rescue ship, holding them tightly so they did not fall.

He cared about humanity in a way I had not seen in the Surtu before, not even in Jidden.

We arrived at the rescue ship just as it landed. The children cried as Kylu set them down. "We want to stay with you," they pleaded.

"Trust me, you want to go to your new home. You will see dinosaurs there."

"There are no dinosaurs!" I exclaimed, slapping Kylu on the arm. "But there are treehouses. Lots of them."

We calmed the kids down, but any sense of victory I felt vanished the moment I saw Godfrey step off the rescue ship. "I should have known," I muttered.

"Hello, traitor," she said smoothly, sauntering my way. "Do you plan on returning Jidden's ship anytime soon?"

"If he wants it, he can come and get it," I said. "He doesn't need you to speak for him."

"No, he doesn't, but let me tell you something. He is miserable without you. I hate to say it, but he needs you. You should come back with us."

Instead of waiting for an answer, she moved on to help the people we rescued onto the ship. They were slaves no longer. I stood guard, making sure our perimeter were clear as more civilians arrived. When the time came to depart, the loading doors immediately began to close.

"Last chance," Godfrey called. "Are you coming with us?"

I wanted to, but I couldn't, not with my family still to find. "Not this time," I told her.

She seemed happy with my decision. "Your loss. I'll take care of Jidden for you."

After the ship left, disappearing in light, Kylu rested his arm casually around me, as if I were a tree holding him up. "I know that must have been hard, but you did the right thing."

"It was the right thing for my family," I said, closing my eyes. "I'm not sure if it was right for my relationship."

With Kylu close to me, I realized something. "When we kissed at my family home, could Jidden sense it?" I asked. I was appalled.

"Nah," he said. "It didn't mean anything. There was no emotion to transmit." Then, with his eyes sparkling, he asked, "But if I kissed you now, would it mean something? We can test it out if you want."

Playfully, I shoved him away. "No point. The result would be the same. You're getting nothing from me."

"Whatever you say, cupcake. I think differently but – Get down!" he shouted.

"What?" I asked, not understanding the joke. When I looked down, I saw a small hole in my stomach. My hand filled with blood when I touched it.

"I don't feel so well," I said, the world spinning around me.

Instantly, Kylu picked me up in his arms and we ran, following the rest of our unit to the glider waiting to take us back to the outpost.

The glider wasn't there. It was in the air, firing at the band of Surtu soldiers who ran at us, blasters drawn.

"At least they didn't see the ship leave," I said, struggling to breathe.

"Hush," Kylu instructed, setting me on the ground. He put his hands over my stomach, and I felt the familiar warmth of Surtu light as it stitched my insides back together and healed me. When he was finished, I felt refreshed. I was ready to fight once more.

We were unnecessary. The glider took care of the soldiers for us, then looped around to pick us up. We got on the ship. I was ready to return to the outpost, but it was not meant to be.

"We can't risk being followed," the pilot announced as we lifted back into the air. "We'll have to take the long way home. I hope you all like sleeping in the mountains."

"I would rather take the desert heat," I murmured to myself.

Kylu chuckled. "Don't worry, cupcake. I'll keep you warm."

* * *

T
he mountains were cold
, but they were beautiful. As the day turned to night, the land beneath us filled with starlight. The glider sat concealed within a high cave, but unlike the caves of the outpost, this one was small and cramped. It felt like a birdhouse, and the glider was a plump bird, leaving no room for others. Many of our squad chose to sit on the wide ledge outside that overlooked the shadows of the valley.

"Is Surt anything like this?" I asked Kylu as he set a blanket over my shoulders. "Do you have mountains and valleys?"

"Yes, we do. The universe is pretty uniform. A star is a star, no matter what galaxy it's from."

"Great science lesson," I teased.

"I'm a great guy," he replied.