Sekkol: (Scifi Alien Romance) (Galaxy Alien Warriors Book 2) Read online

  “I don’t understand why you laugh,” she said. “Whether he chooses me or not, you die.” And with that, she hit a panel in the wall and withdrew a conical device. She pointed it at me and sneered. “Let’s see who laughs now.”

  “Wait!” I shouted and held my hands up. “What if I talk to him?” I shrugged my shoulder, hoping to appeal to her logic. I could see why she would never catch his eye, and I didn’t plan on dying just to soothe a jealous alien’s ego. She stood there watching me and waiting for the explanation. “Sekkol doesn’t want to marry me, so he is still fair game.”

  “What does that mean, fair game?” she asked, squinting her eyes. “He has never been hunted.”

  “It just means he is still available because he and I are nothing. So if I could just get the chance to talk to him and plead your case, then maybe he would agree to this marriage proposal you speak of.”

  “Do you take me for a fool?” the woman asked as she bore down on me. “I was just at the Great Pike, telling his father that he had imprinted on me, thinking that would have made a difference. Do you know what he did?”

  No, of course I don’t know what he did. And what is this imprinting thing?

  “He walked away,” she snarled, “and that’s because of you. I will not have my future in ruins because of one earthling woman.”

  She brought her hand up, the device high in the air, and her eyes glowed red as she brought it back down. I dodged and swung to my left, and it hit the ground and charred it. I staggered, the blood rushing to my ears and my eyes scouring the room for something, anything, that would act as a defense. There was nothing, but I was not going down without a fight.

  She charged into me, and just as we got entangled and my hands found her thinning wisps of hair, the door opened and the commander walked in.

  “What is going on?” he shouted, immediately rushing to pull us apart.

  I was heaving, and my hair was askew; I slapped the pieces away that dangled before my eyes. “Get this psycho away from me,” I answered while keeping my eyes on her.

  “Nala, what is the matter? I thought you went over to the Great Pike to see Lord Magnus.”

  “I did,” she snarled again. “Sekkol came and all but spat in my face.”

  “I don’t understand. Didn’t you tell Lord Magnus he had imprinted?”

  “I did. He summoned Sekkol, and when he came and got wind of the story, he stormed out without even a word to his father.”

  “Hmm,” the commander growled and looked at me as if I were to be blamed for that, too.

  “I have a solution,” I quipped, and they both stared at me like I was rude to speak. I had been getting that a lot since I arrived on this planet; I had the feeling they thought their kind was better than the humans, but their behavior had shown them to be lesser beings. “Just send me the fuck home. I want to go back to Earth, and then you and her and Sekkol can work out your problems. I won’t be a part of it any longer.”

  The commander walked over to me and gripped me by the face. I held on to his hand, but my strength was no match to his. “Do you think Sekkol would allow that? He bought you for a reason, and if we were to send you…” He paused then and turned to his sister, a sinister look clouding his face. “Then again, that may not be such a bad idea. We can take her back to Jonas so she can be sold again.”

  “No. No!” I shouted as I remembered all too well the horror of the cave when I had arrived. Jonas had been the one to receive us when we got to Jupiter, and we were chained and held like criminals, barely fed, and allowed little sleep. “Don’t send me back there.”

  “Oh, the poor little thing doesn’t want to go back,” Nala drawled as she sashayed over, smoothing her hair to the back of her head as she did. “We will send you back, and if Sekkol tries to take you, Lord Magnus will hear of his treason.”

  “I don’t understand,” I pleaded. These two were like gutter rats, scavenging off the nobles in a bid to climb the social ladder, and I was fast learning they had no conscience to appeal to. But I had to try. “What is this treason?” Maybe if I kept them talking long enough, it would give Sekkol, or Brom, enough time to figure out I was being held here. She did say she had mentioned me to Sekkol, so I could only hope he would risk saving me. He was my only hope now.

  “Sekkol isn’t supposed to be with an earthling,” Nala explained. “None of us are, but he is especially held accountable, being the heir to Lord Magnus. I couldn’t imagine being the subject of an Earth queen,” she said with such disdain it contorted her features.

  “All the more reason to send me home,” I told them. “I’ll be gone, and Sekkol will be with you, or whomever.”

  “If he wants you, he will have you, and I can’t have that,” she replied. “Come, Jared, let’s take her to Jonas before he figures out she is here.”

  The commander pushed me toward the door, and I stubbed my toe when I missed the first step. I grabbed onto the metal flooring while Nala pushed me on the back, urging me on. I didn’t want to think about the life I would meet if I wound up being the slave to someone like the commander and his maniac of a sister. Maybe Brom would be a better master; I was certainly living it up being at Sekkol’s house.

  But if he knew the trouble he would get into by having me there, why did he buy me at the auction? Why did he keep me at his home? What did he really want with me?

  The questions ran amuck in my mind, but I was hurled back to reality when we got to the landing and I fell to the ground.

  “Nala, get the hovercraft around to the front,” the commander told her, and she hurried off. I reluctantly rose to my feet, not certain which fate was worse: remaining with them, the devil I knew, or with another owner who could potentially be worse.

  I didn’t get the chance to decide. He came over and sank his talons into my shoulder, and I let out a screech when I felt them piercing my flesh. I could feel the spot burning now, and I glanced over just in time to see fresh blood begin to appear. I staggered to the door with him as he hit the panel and the opening appeared. He shoved me through, and we stood at the top of the stairs as we waited for Nala to return.

  I could hardly face my impending doom, and I stood there, remembering my parents and the crash and the solitude of a life that had followed. For a fleeting moment, I thought it might have been better if I had died with them, for I had experienced no quality of life since they had gone. And now to die in a strange way, in a strange place was sort of an anticlimax.

  I was still brooding when I saw the hovercraft come around the side of the building and felt the commander’s hold on me tighten. He started down the steps, pulling me behind him, and I tripped a few times before I got to the bottom. He brought me around to his front as the hovercraft settled lower, and for the first time since I had arrived on Jupiter, I felt relief when I saw it was Sekkol.

  Chapter 15 / Sekkol

  It seemed we got to the commander’s home just in time to see him pulling Keira outside. I hit the descend button just a few yards from where he stood and then hopped off. Brom and Gideon did the same, and we stood before him now, blocking his path.

  “Don’t even think about it,” I said as I moved closer to him. He had been reaching inside his waist to retrieve his communication device.

  “Sekkol, stand down,” the commander growled and bared his teeth like an animal.

  “I will not let you take her,” I replied. “She is mine.” I could feel the blood rushing inside of me, driving me to madness. I could hardly believe anything that was happening, and I knew very well the consequences of my actions. But I felt my choice had been stripped from me, and I was only left with the desire to protect her at the expense of my existence.

  “You know that if… when Lord Magnus hears about this, he will have no choice but to punish you, his only son, for this act of treason,” he said, perhaps as a way of intimidating me, for he now wore an evil grin that was slowly spreading all the way across his face.

  “I won’t say it again,”
I said and pulled my device from my waist. “Hand her over to me.”

  “Or what?” he barked and then looked to his right when Nala’s hovercraft came into view. He pulled Keira back and wrapped his arm around her neck as she struggled against his weight. She pleaded with me with her eyes, and something inside me cried out.

  I was not about to watch him take her away, nor did I have any intentions of facing my father and his wretched Tribunal either. I stepped closer, and the blue laser shot out and aimed at his head. I saw Brom and Gideon come up on either side of me, their weapons already raised, too.

  “Back down, Enforcers,” Styx barked and staggered back as he went closer to Nala, who was poised at the edge of the craft, baring her teeth. “I am your commander, and you must obey me.”

  I saw them glance at me for a brief second before turning back to their commander. I saw him look at Nala, and then, as if in silent communication, he grabbed Keira and hoisted her where Nala was supposed to grab her into the hovercraft and take her away.

  “Brom, get her!” I shouted as I started running to Styx. The commander tossed Keira, who landed halfway onto the craft and dangled by her legs as it prepared to move off. Brom was just in time to block Nala from moving off. He settled beneath Keira and pulled her back down and onto his hovercraft. I realized she was not in as much danger anymore and fully focused my attention on the commander.

  He had backed away and had his device to his lips now. He stashed it just as I turned around, but I knew that meant we didn’t have much time to make our escape before the armed guards were upon us.

  “Gideon,” I called, and the man raced with me to the hovercraft. Styx was wearing a scowl and watching the skies, and I knew it was time to go. “Come on,” I told them as I joined Gideon on his hovercraft. I urged Brom forward as we took up the rear, all the while watching for any signs of an attack.

  It wasn’t until we were halfway across the city when we saw a few black specks in the distance.

  “Here they come,” Gideon said.

  “Make the switch,” I told Brom, and he slowed so we could pull up alongside him. He stood and hopped onto the craft while I took my place before Keira. I looked behind and noticed what seemed like the entire fleet of guards chasing us.

  “Sekkol, do we engage them?” Gideon asked.

  “Fire at will,” I told them and armed my craft as I responded. They would not relent, and neither would we.

  Brom looked back while Gideon controlled the wheels and aimed at the nearing vessels. The fast-approaching hovercrafts whizzed between and around the buildings as they tried to escape getting hit.

  I felt Keira’s hold on me tighten as I swerved and faced my craft around. I started firing at my attackers, the same men I was working with not so long ago, and watched as some of them lost control and collided into the sides of the glass buildings. One burst into flames and bounced and rolled along the sides until it crashed into the street below.

  “Sekkol, we cannot defeat them all like this,” Brom said over the communications device. “I need to create a diversion and get you away from the city.”

  I looked back at then and instantly swerved, a laser narrowly escaping me. It hit the glass to my right and sent shards flying. I heard when Keira cried out, and I glanced around to see her clutching her arm. “Okay,” I said to Brom. “I will lead them into a loop close to the tunnels, and you go around. I will lose them on the other side, and you can take it from there.”

  “Copy that,” Brom replied.

  “Hold on,” I told her, hinting at the fact she could not cling to her arm any longer despite how hurt she was.

  She clutched me around the middle as I lowered my head and shot forward. The buildings were a blur as we hurtled past, and I was acutely aware of her fright as she dug into me and buried her head against my back. The tunnels were coming up close, and I looked behind for a fleeting moment, long enough to see Brom and Gideon a little way back and farther above. They were firing at the oncoming vessels still and spinning around and sideways as they dodged the lasers being fired at them.

  I got to the tunnels and hit a button on my hovercraft. An entrance opened, and I popped inside, and then it closed around me as I did. I slowed the gear and waited as I tried to detect Brom and Gideon. Their signals were visible and moving fast as I saw them fly past the hidden door. I slowly restarted the engine and cruised through the narrow tunnel, the lighting barely bright enough to see.

  Keira was still flattened to my back, and her fingers seemed to have merged with the fabric of my clothing. I could feel her heart beating rapidly against my own skin.

  “Are you all right?” I asked her as I got to the other end and shut the engine down. Styx could easily read my signal from his main control; I needed to get another hovercraft.

  “Hmm,” she groaned and didn’t attempt to move.

  “We need to go,” I told her as I slowly pried her hands away. I hopped off and then helped her down. She wobbled as she walked, the fire I had come to expect from her temporarily abated. “This is a little secret place I keep that I’ve never had a use for before now.” I held her hand as I led her along, very conscious of the softness of it.

  “Why are you doing this?” She tugged on my arm, pulling me to a stop.

  “This is not the time,” I replied and attempted to walk off again.

  “No!” she cried. “This is exactly the time.”

  I stopped, held my head down, and sighed. “I promise I will answer your questions, but right now, we need to go,” I said to her. I looked at her, the fright and panic still remarkably visible on her face, but she didn’t persist. For once. I turned again, and this time, she followed me silently. Humans are such complicated things.

  I got to a door and searched for the panel along the wall. The screen shot out, and I traced my fingers on it as I made a pattern. Then there was a whooshing sound as mist escaped from beneath, just after the door cracked open. I pressed my hand against the wall and pushed it to the side. I stepped in and then looked back at her and ushered her inside just before the doors slid shut again.

  “Welcome, Master Sekkol.”

  “I don’t have much time, Sari,” I told my automated companion and instantly started combing the place for what I needed. “I need food and medical supplies. And is the hovercraft suited for travel?”

  “The hovercraft is fully functional, sir. What kind of supplies are needed?”

  “Anything that can last me a few days away from home,” I replied and went to the back of the room where I could find the pod containing the hovercraft I kept in case of an emergency. I had never used it before.

  “You have everything here that can last you several months.”

  “I can’t stay here, Sari. My father knows of this place,” I said and looked back to Keira. She was standing there in awe, or perhaps fright still, her hand clamped over the spot where she had suffered a bruise earlier. Her hair was a tangled mess, and she turned about in confusion as Sari spoke. There was much I needed to tell her, but I didn’t think eternity was long enough to explain.

  “Very well, sir. Proceed to the bay area where you will find all you need. And, sir?”

  “Yes, Sari,” I answered her.

  “Please, be safe. My sensors detect elevated levels of endorphins.”

  I smiled after she spoke. At least she didn’t detect any injuries. “Thanks, Sari,” I replied and then went to the section of the room she had indicated. Soon enough, the wall opened and a trolley rolled out containing food items, water, and medical supplies. “Help me with these,” I told Keira as I began to lift them off the trolley.

  She slowly came over and started to help, and we quickly gathered the things and brought them to the hovercraft. I opened the storage unit, hastily packed them inside, and then lifted her onto the seat.

  “Sari, open the door,” I told her and jumped into the driver’s seat. The door eased open, and I tapped the screen to fire up the engine. Slowly, it purred to life,
sputtered, and whirred for a few seconds, and then the lights came on. The hovercraft buzzed beneath us, and I guided it to the door.

  “Sari, seal the room,” I commanded.

  “Request confirmed. Powering down.”

  The craft just barely made it out before the doors sealed shut behind us. I slowly cruised to the other end of the tunnel and edged the craft above it on the other side. There was no battle in the sky any longer or any craft hovering above.

  “Where are you going?” she asked me.

  “To the desert of Epoch,” I answered her. “We should be safe there for a while.” I was not capable of truthfully replying to any further questions; they were all answers I did not know and longed to be enlightened about. I had never been away from my home, not for an extended period of time. And I did not know for how long I would be gone. Only one thing had been made clear: I needed to go. We needed to go.

  She said nothing else as she wrapped her arms around me, and I guided the hovercraft out of the city. We traversed the city of Anon and then crossed over into Bulova, where the commander and his family originated. The lands were mostly made of jagged stones and rough sands; I did not expect to encounter many life forms during the daytime. However, I kept the vessel high enough to remain undetected as we jetted past the prison on the outskirts of civilization before we entered the barren lands of the desert.

  We had ridden for a considerable time before I saw the mountain I had envisioned. It was made of granite and would serve as adequate shelter and protection from the glaring sun. An opening appeared on the farther side of it, and I easily guided the craft inside. Keira remained on the hovercraft while I looked around and secured the place. When I returned, she was already on the ground and tracing her hands along the smooth walls that were cool to the touch.

  “This is beautiful,” she said and sounded almost as if in a trance. I wondered if the heat had made her delirious, and I stepped closer to have a look at her. She turned away then and hugged herself as she backed into the wall. I paused in my stride, and being aware of her protective stance, I hopped onto the hovercraft again and positioned it at the entrance of the cave, where it would act as some sort of shield and also be ready for sudden flight.