Page 4 of Zahhn's Mate
Will I spend years sleeping on a hard surface with nothing but the clothes on my back?
Guilt visits me a second later. Because what these six women are facing will be so much worse than my fate. A race of barbaric aliens wants to use them for breeding purposes.
At some point, I drift to sleep. The purple eyes set in a shadowed face feature prominently in my dreams. I also dream that I’m trying to reach theHaxxal, that I’ve commandeered a transport vessel so I might board the lead ship in the Darrvason fleet. I awake an indiscernible time later to discover several security officers standing outside the cell.
Commander Hampton steps into view from behind them, and his sinister smile causes cold fear to drench me. “Good morning, ladies. Sleep well, did you?”
A quick glance around the cell shows my companions are awake, each displaying varying expressions of dread.
I lift my chin and meet the commander’s eyes. “Good morning, gentlemen.” Somehow, I keep my voice steady and infused with confidence, though inside I’m quaking with terror. “Come to serve us breakfast in bed?”
The commander snorts. “Not quite. I need five of you for a little science project.”
“That doesn’t sound ominous or anything.” I glare at the commander as my anger toward him starts to outweigh my fear. Because of him, I’ve lost everything. My freedom, my friends, and my bar. My whole life and all I care about, gone.
His eyes narrow on me. “I’m supposed to collect five women between the ages of nineteen and twenty-five for the Darrvasons to poke and prod, but since you’re being such a goddamn delight this morning,Leona, consider yourself drafted.” He steps back and nods at the guards. “Grab the mouthy one and four others. And put the mouthy one in restraints.”
Chapter 2
ZAHHN
Agitation gnawsat me as I peer around the inadequate, painfully low-tech medical bay of the human worldship. I don’t want to be here. I long to be back in my private laboratory aboard theHaxxal, conducting important research that will better the lives of my people. Any Darrvason physician capable of holding a medical scanner could’ve come in my place. Yet Emperor Radakk had ordered me to join the team of doctors who are scheduled to examine a small group of human females.
I suppress a growl. Even though I’m sterile, an unfortunate effect of the Haflassan Flu, the high-handed emperor believes I should take a mate from among the humans. That’s why he ordered me to come here. To tempt me into accepting a human female. He thinks my scientific achievements warrant a reward. He believes I deserve a human female solely for companionship and pleasure, never mind that the entire purpose of the Darrvason-human alliance is to prevent the extinction of our race.
My blood heats with anger. The emperor is perhaps the closest thing I have to a friend, yet there are times I want to pummel him bloody. Would I like to possess a human female? Of course I would. But it wouldn’t be logical when I cannot impregnate a woman. As I’ve already told him numerous times, a female would be wasted on me.
Though the terms of the alliance have already been settled, the exams are necessary so we might discover the full extent of our intimate compatibility with the humans.
In a matter of days, the first wave of human females will be handed over to my people. A group of thirty. After the handover, a team of our most skilled engineers will board theJansonnaand begin repairs on the dilapidated worldship.
Once repairs are complete, the humans will give us one hundred additional females.
Eventually, after my people help locate and guide humankind to a habitable planet, a final wave of two thousand human women will be surrendered.
I have no intention of claiming a female from any of the waves. The emperor can attempt to meddle in my life all he wants, but I will never accept a mate. I might endure a lonely existence, and I suspect I’ll experience jealousy toward my peers who do claim females from among the humans, but I have my research to keep me busy.
It’s a great shame of mine that I’ve never succeeded in curing my own sterility, nor the sterility of the other Darrvason males who suffered from the Haflassan Flu. Despite the illogicalness of my claiming a mate, perhaps this failure of mine is an indication that I don’t deserve a female. Or maybe it’s a sign from the Star Gods that I should focus on my research. If I took a mate, surely the female would be a distraction.
I glance at the four Darrvason doctors who accompanied me today. All appear eager and impatient for the arrival ofthe human females. They keep glancing toward the door and fidgeting with their medical bags.
The five of us will each be given one patient to examine, a female between the ages of nineteen to twenty-five, the age range at which we believe the women will be most fertile. DNA samples we received in advance already confirmed that Darrvasons and humans can propagate, in theory, but we aren’t yet sure if we’ll be able to physically copulate with the females to accomplish pregnancy. If our sexual organs aren’t compatible, conception will have to be achieved in a laboratory.
Several human doctors huddle on the other side of the medical bay, whispering amongst themselves and occasionally glancing our way. I try but fail to keep from staring at the female doctors as I wonder how many orifices they have for claiming. Do they have two slick holes to accommodate the dual appendages our males possess?
At last, the main door zips open. I watch as security officers escort five trembling human females into the medical bay. Our patients have arrived. It’s my understanding that the women were taken from the brig, and I can’t help but wonder about their crimes, especially when I notice one woman’s wrists are bound behind her back.
I study the petite dark-haired female who’s wearing manacles, my curiosity growing. Her curvy form is pleasing, and her bosom is enticingly plump. My scrotum commences a slight vibration, and my dual shafts harden as I imagine taking her to an exam room and stripping her naked.
When our gazes collide from across the medical bay, a fierce sense of ownership for the small female steals through me.
Mine mine mine.
Her dark eyes are enchanting and soulful, and no matter how hard I try to tear my gaze from hers, I’m unable to look away.
For the first time in my life, I find myself utterly entranced by a female. I take a deep breath and filter out the various scents in the room until I detect hers. Star Gods, how her sweet scent calls to me.
To my utter shock, the ancestral markings that cover my chest begin to tingle. It’s an odd sensation, one I’ve never experienced before.Mine. My female.
