Page 4 of Sevan

Chapter Two

Planet Sargaidia

Two weeks later…

Lorelei Janelle slid in behind the control panel in the central observation deck to see what vessel had sparked the warning probe’s alert system. The facility had many technologies, making it feel very separate from the village it was built within. She didn’t love technology, but she understood it was necessary.

She didn’t like the idea of ships in their vicinity. Her planet, Sargaidia, was hardly safe for those who lived on it, let alone visitors. On more than one occasion outsiders had arrived, only to be met with death. Not by the hands of her people, the Shamenians, but at the doing of the others.

A shudder raced through her at the thought of the others. Her people and her family had been touched by tragedy because of the others so she knew firsthand just how deadly they could be. How they could show no mercy and how they enjoyed toying with their victims. If the ship above didn’t leave their atmosphere, they could very well be the next playthings on the menu for the others.

As much as she disliked worrying about outsiders, she did enjoy the company they provided. Her village had once boasted a large population, but the constant war with the others had dwindled their numbers. They weren’t as low as some villages, but they certainly weren’t numbers that anyone was proud of.

As she looked over the control panel before her, the tiniest urge to be on the vessel above, ready to leave the planet, came over her. The opportunity to flee had presented itself more than once in her life, and she’d turned it down each time. This was her home. She’d stand and fight for it—no matter how foolish the act was. Besides, the universe wasn’t any safer for her people. Supernaturals were not welcome among the other planets.

For a second, her thoughts went to her brothers who had gone off world, wanting to see and do more than the planet provided. Deep down she had to hope they were still alive and well. She’d gotten no word from them since they’d gone off—before all hell had broken loose on their home planet. They’d all been close once, but circumstances changed that.

And while she still had two sisters remaining on the planet with her, she often yearned for a large family once more. Yearned to be part of something bigger. A family of her own even. Perhaps that was why her nights had been filled with dreams of a man too good to be true and her days were a rude awakening to the harshness of her world. But her nocturnal lover hadn’t come to her in two weeks, and her fear that her mind had finally given up generating him was great. It would, of course, wait until she’d mated mentally with him to pull the plug.

She pressed a button to open a line of communication with the vessel above. “Unidentified craft, identify yourself.” There was a beeping and then the system did an auto reset. It tended to be temperamental. With a curse, she was about to press the communication button once more to repeat her instructions when the line opened.

“This is Captain Vasil of the Alpha Brig Three, requesting permission to dock. Emergency Commission Code three-two-seven has been initiated,” a deep, familiar voice said in her earpiece.

Her breath caught in her throat and her body heated. Who was this man who sounded so very much like her secret lover?

Sevan isn’t real, she thought, calming herself. You’re lonely and your mind is playing tricks on you.

Assuming the ship was another Dsendiyun vessel, she sighed. Lorelei was beginning to think the sex-starved planet the alien race came from encouraged them to get lost as close to her people as possible. They had a nasty habit of accidently breaking down and requiring assistance. They also had a habit of trying to grab the arses of the women of her planet. It wasn’t like they got any sort of sexual stimulation while they were here. Not unless they considered being chained together good fun.

Some men did.

Lorelei tapped the readout screen as the system glitched once more. Seeing no sign of a vessel nearby, she double-checked her radar to be sure she hadn’t imagined the entire thing. There was no way she could have received a hail signal yet have the radar detect nothing. The electromagnetic waves that a vessel put out in an uncloaked state would have shown up before.

None did.

Having seen many unauthorized vessels attempt to dock in her lifetime, Lorelei knew exactly how to handle them. She tweaked the computer’s controls and demanded a more precise reading. Varying the frequency of the waves sent off, she hoped to initiate a reflection of some sort, allowing the radar system to accurately pinpoint the vessel’s location.

It didn’t work.

She tweaked the calibrations even more. She set the control tower’s sensors to ultra, in hopes of catching a pattern of bounce-backs consisting of the direct opposite waves than they were sending out. If the outsiders thought they were going to get away with active cancellation, they were wrong.

Dead wrong.

She may not be the most tech savvy of her people, but she could hold her own when need be.

Much to her surprise, still nothing showed up on radar. To date, none had eluded her. Lorelei tried another approach. She shifted to the Commission-based recognition systems they’d installed after a sanctioned vessel crashed into their red sea. Her planet was not part of the Commission network and for good reason. That didn’t mean the Commission’s technology didn’t come in handy every once in a while.

Instantly, a blip appeared on the screen. Zeroing in on it, she brought it up closer and began to run a remote diagnostic on it. The main fuel tank had a crack so large that she knew the ship had lost the majority of its liquid fuel as soon as it happened. The life support system was dangerously close to giving out and the alternate source of power seemed to be having issues as well.

Who would be foolish enough to enter our atmosphere with that amount of damage and chance breaking apart upon entry?

As soon as the question formed in her head, Lorelei knew the answer. The Dsendiyuns. Once located on radar, they were easy to spot with their flashy crafts and telltale too-strong pick-up lines. But they would certainly have announced themselves to her by now. The tiny bit of thrill they got from trying to make her work at pinpointing their entry would have long worn off and she’d have gotten it right within seconds. Not to mention their ability to stay cloaked for long intervals within the planet’s atmosphere was almost nonexistent. No. Who or whatever approached them couldn’t be the notorious romancers from the very planet they were named for—Dsendiyun.

Disappointment shot through Lorelei, catching her by surprise. The idea of being touched by one of them should have repulsed her. It was a testament to just how sexually deprived she was. It had been a long time since she’d been touched by a man her mind and dreams did not create. The two weeks that she’d gone without dreaming of Sevan felt like an eternity. She missed the feel of his strong arms wrapped around her, the feel of him buried deep within her and the knowledge that even though she’d invented him, he loved her. Her body was reaching the point where the desire to reproduce was almost upon her. The problem being, it had transcended her normal boundaries and infected her mind with a make-believe man whom she had mated within a dream.

It was as absurd as it sounded, and although she truly did love the idea of Sevan, she couldn’t live her life married to a fantasy. Waking up and crying every morning would get her nowhere, and she knew it.

Irritated, Lorelei stared at the radar, watching the blip approach. “No way would a Commission vessel venture into uncharted territory. The ship’s probably stolen, and I bet it was those damn traders again. Probably want to nab off with more of our artifacts. I will not have my people’s legacy sold to the highest bidder. I swear I will shoot them on sight if they attempt to take one thing.” She wagged her brow and smiled. “If they’ve come to take me to bed, I’ll reconsider. Mmm, bloody hell, I’m horny.”

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