Project: Adapt - Achieve: A Space Fantasy Alien Romance (Book 2) Read online

  But this wasn’t a happy reunion.

  There was still an unsettled atmosphere between us. We were going through the motions to protect my clan, surrounded by everyone to make it official.

  Zirene purred as he placed his lips against my collarbone.

  A sharp pain exploded. My mouth opened to a silent scream, but I refused to allow myself to wince, to cry, or to make any noise.

  I was stoic, as I always was when they experimented on me. I willed myself to ignore everything around me—to become numb to the world around me.

  This was my price for safety for my clan: making it known I was his.

  Claws dug into my waist. I could feel blood seeping out and soaking my dress, but I refused to move. Moving would mean I failed; that I wasn’t strong enough to be his Nova and to be connected to one of the most powerful males in the galaxy.

  A scratchy tongue lapped the blood inside his bite, causing him to growl.

  Holding steady was a force of will when my body wanted to respond to him on a primal level. I was torn between wanting him to pin me against the ground and mount me or to jerk away and have him beg for forgiveness for everything had done to me.

  A distant part of me wanted him to hold me close as he lapped my neck and begged for forgiveness.

  I could feel my knees becoming weak, but I refused to let them buckle.

  I tried to open my eyes, but my lids prevented me from doing so.

  Slowly, I could feel myself give in to him and the darkness that came from him.

  Chapter Four

  Selena

  The soft sound of purrs woke me from my slumber. My body felt stiff as something silky and soft surrounded me. The side of my neck felt raw. I carefully touched my mark to check the damage and winced in pain. Surprisingly, my breasts didn’t feel achy or full. I opened my eyes to a scene that differed greatly from what I remembered.

  How did I end up here? What happened?

  The room was dark, the only light from a lamp sitting on a black desk across the room. Zirene was sitting in a matching chair with his back turned to me, looking out through the glass wall. The jacket he’d handed Kaede was hanging off the back of his chair. The open view of space was amazing. Only a few small ships traveling to and from the space station took away from its emptiness.

  I was lying on a strangely curved corner bed. It was slightly smaller than my nestbed and wedge-shaped as it connected one wall to another in the corner. The mattress was the same height, while the pillows and blankets were royal purple with silver details along the edges that shimmered by the starlight.

  Xylo and Odelm were curled up on either side of me, sleeping with their bodies uncovered. My cubs seemed slightly larger as they slept between Xylo and myself—piled on top of each other against his chest. His vines boxed them in, creating a barrier around them.

  I sat up and winced at the stiffness in my body as I pushed the heavy blanket down, revealing I was no longer in the dark green dress I had arrived in. Instead, I wore a soft nightgown, the color of my hair.

  How much time had passed while I was unconscious?

  Slowly, I pulled my legs up and out of the blanket, trying not to wake up my sleeping clan. I carefully crawled across the bed, failing to muffle a soft hiss from the stinging on my shoulder.

  “Selena?”

  I jerked my head up to the source of the voice.

  Zirene jumped to his feet and raced toward me, lifting me gently off the bed. His face filled with concern as he studied me with weighted eyelids. His amethyst eyes met mine.

  “Tell me what you need, and it will be yours,” he whispered. His deep raspy voice sent shivers down my spine.

  “I need answers,” I responded wryly, my hands gripping his mane, feeling its soft and silky texture between my fingers. “What happened while I was out?”

  “Let me take you to the bathroom, so you can freshen up,” Zirene answered. “Then we will go to my office, and I can fill you in. We have a lot to discuss. I am hoping to have the doctor I assigned to you examine you.”

  The door automatically opened, revealing a bathroom that put the one on the Destiny to shame. It screamed masculinity with its royal Aldawi coloring. A deep black stone tub with silver accessories and details sat along the glass wall. Shelves and cabinets lined the walls, and the black and purple marble stone floor matched the counter.

  “Wow.”

  “This is my personal chamber in the Aldawi Royal Apartments. I remodeled everything to make sure it provided for our clan.”

  Turning my gaze away from the bathroom to him, I searched his face. He had just called my clan his.

  “What did you have to remodel?”

  He looked away, toward the glass wall. “I upgraded the bed to fit more bodies. There was no bed shaped like a Circuli nestqueen’s nestbed available, so I had one custom-built. Even if you don’t welcome me into your bed, I wanted to make sure you had a bed that would fit everyone in your clan. I have a normal size one in my guest room.”

  His thoughtfulness surprised me.

  I frowned.

  Guilt soon followed. I wished there wasn’t a wall between us, and that things were different. I was still upset at him, and I had the right to be. We needed to have a long conversation about working out the problems between us sometime soon, because I didn’t want to continue with the way things were left unsaid.

  “That was thoughtful of you,” I whispered.

  He glanced at me. “It was nothing compared to what you deserve.”

  Gently, he lowered me onto the ground and stepped back toward the bathroom door.

  “Zirene, I don’t feel comfortable having a doctor whom I don’t know examine me.”

  “I would feel better if he could. He aided Xylo and the others in stabilizing you.”

  “Can we wait until Xylo wakes up? I’d rather have him and his team present. They have been studying my progress since they found me.” Pulling my gaze from him, I looked down at my feet. “I still have issues with infirmaries and having others who I don’t know run tests and experiments on me. Xylo and his team understand my triggers. They have helped a lot with them and worked around them.”

  Arms wrapped around me, Zirene pulled me to his hard, furry chest. Leaning down, he lowered his head, rubbing it along the side of my neck—the opposite side of where he marked me. A rumble vibrated from his chest.

  “I understand perfectly well, my little Nova. If that is what you want, then I will wait until Xylo and his crew are available before having my doctor come to examine you. I am sorry for not making the connection to your time with the Yaarkins sooner.”

  I took in a deep breath, smelling him. His warm and spicy scent had a slightly sweet afterglow as it calmed me with each intake. It was made for me.

  “Thank you.”

  He reluctantly pulled away and brushed my hair behind my ears.

  “Freshen up. Take your time. I will leave and wait for you in my office. It is directly across the social room from this chamber’s door.”

  Without waiting for my response, he left the bathroom.

  Right away, I used the waste unit, then washed my hands, splashing my face before dabbing it with a towel. Satisfied, I left the bathroom and quietly walked over to the bed to check on my clan. They were all still in a deep sleep in the same spot I left them. Slowly, I walked away and made my way to Zirene’s office.

  His office shared the same color theme as the rest of his apartment - black, royal purple, and silver. His desk was against the glass wall, facing the center of the office. There was comfortable-looking black cushioned furniture in the middle of the room.

  Zirene stood next to the glass wall, near his desk, staring into space.

  I walked up behind him and was about to touch his shoulder, but his voice halted me.

  “About nine years ago, I was in the middle of a conversation with my brother, Prince Royak, when I first felt you. A tingling sensation traveled from the tip of my tail and up my spine, drawing
my attention away. Denial of the whole event plagued me, knowing Novas were almost nonexistent during these modern times. Later that day, I heard a small ringing in my head, paired with the same tingling sensation I felt earlier. I automatically stopped what I was doing and hurried to my bedroom, forcing myself into a warrior’s sleep. That is when I first met you.”

  Silence fell between us after his confession. I didn’t know how to respond. Instead, I placed my hand on his shoulder as a low purr radiated from him.

  “Since that day, you changed my life. At first, it baffled me that you weren't Aldawi. In all of our recorded history, there has never been a Nova that existed outside of our species. Being paired with you was both a blessing and a curse.” I felt him take in a deep breath and let it out slowly. “I am the second in line to the most powerful species in the CEG and ruler of the second star system in the Aldawi Empire. My star system is the closest to this space station and to my people’s greatest rival in power, the Quaww Empire. Regardless of all this, the Fates and the Stars matched you with me.”

  Zirene turned around, making my hand fall from his back as he gently brushed my hair off my mark. Glancing up, he locked his amethyst eyes, which I had loved all this time, with mine.

  “I spent the next nine years getting to know you and learning everything about you. While also giving you as much knowledge about what is outside of our dreamscape and freedom to enjoy yourself as I was allowed. Outside of our dreamscape world, I led the hunt to rescue you, with the Yaarkins as my prey. It took all of my willpower not to take you away the night we met. Doing so would have prevented us from collecting all the knowledge needed to hunt down the ones who were working with them. The Yaarkins broke our deal, and in response, I had my fleet hunt down their customers. Once we slew their only clients, I returned to capture the Yaarkins and take you away from them.”

  Zirene grabbed my hand and slowly stepped back, leading me toward his couch. He sat down gracefully, and I followed as he let go of my hand. His eyes roamed my body.

  “By Fates, you are beautiful.”

  I could feel myself blushing as I looked away, embarrassed by the direct compliment.

  “You are pretty handsome yourself. I am glad I can finally see who you are.”

  A black paw-shaped hand lightly gripped my chin, bringing my gaze to his.

  “I am sorry for keeping my identity a secret from you. I didn’t know if the Yaarkins would somehow find out—if they could pry any information from you. Not knowing where you were drove me insane, yet I had to put up a strong front when I wasn’t alone. Only a select few knew how much it affected me, mainly Prince Royak and Agent Kaede.”

  He looked away and dropped his hand. Standing, he went to the drink dispenser, selecting two drinks before returning to me. He handed me a steaming dark purple beverage in a black cup before he placed his own on the table. I watched as Zirene pulled out a blanket from a cabinet and carefully tucked me in before grabbing his drink and sitting down next to me.

  “By the Yaarkins own records, your ship housed the last of their species. We rid the universe of them, but at what cost? They sacrificed their other experiments in order to try to escape. We failed the mission and weren’t able to save those lives… And we almost lost you in the process.”

  “But you didn’t.”

  He smiled gently at me. “No, because you are a strong female and saved yourself.” His tail brushed against my leg, sending a tickling sensation through me as its soft fur dragged lightly on my bare skin. “I knew you weren’t dead. I felt no disconnect after our failed mission, only a void whenever I tried to dreamwalk to you.

  “When the Circuli princes contacted me about your discovery, a great weight lifted off my shoulders. I told them to bring you here as I prepared a home for you and our cubs. I put all my focus on perfecting everything for us. Having my brother, Royak, on our side will prevent others in the CEG who want to study you and our cubs from taking away your futures.”

  I took a sip of the drink and winced when the spicy flavor burned as it went down. Coughing to clear my throat, I placed the drink on the table and grabbed his tail, feeling it flicking in my hand.

  “What do I need to do for them to leave us alone?”

  Zirene growled. “You need to come with us to the council meeting with all the representatives. They want to meet you and our cubs. Now that I’ve marked you, they will have to let you be. Some will have choice words about the matter, but they won’t have the power to do anything about it. We may have to allow some scientists to come with us and observe you and our cubs, but I won’t allow them to do anything you don’t want, or prevent you from living your life freely. You have been locked up, alone, and experimented on long enough.”

  Dread filled me.

  Was I ever going to be able to get away from it all? I just wanted the freedom to live, to be able to explore life with my clan, to travel among the stars, and visit other planets and cultures.

  I wanted to be able to settle wherever I wished without any restraints; to live my life with my cubs and the males who filled it.

  And to learn about my amethyst-eyed Aldawi dreamscape male, Prince Zirene Darcaw, Second Prince to the Aldawi Throne, Ruler of the Lunkai Star System.

  “What about us?”

  Chapter Five

  Selena

  His tail stopped flicking in my hands. I looked up to find the cause, only to see his focus was on my hands. Just as I was about to let go, his voice halted my release.

  “I want to take the time to know you again. You have changed since the last time we spent a night in our dreamscape world. You have become stronger, more confident. And you have a fiery attitude about you. These traits weren’t as dominant before. I feel like spending time with the Circuli has changed you.” His forehead scrunched. “Not in a bad way.”

  What he said was true—even with the craziness of being pregnant, my time on the Destiny changed me. Both Odelm and Xylo taught me it was okay to have opinions, to have the need to learn, and to desire independence. I felt as if I could be myself, instead of trying to be a submissive test subject for the Yaarkins. Finally, I was about to have my own opinions, wants, and needs without fearing punishment.

  “Are you jealous of them?”

  Zirene looked up, locking his eyes with mine.

  “Jealous? I wouldn’t call it that.” He placed his drink on the table next to mine and picked up my legs, placing them on his lap, and began to massage my feet. “If I had it my way, you would only be mine. The Stars and the Fates made you my Nova for some unknown reason. But knowing this, I would feel uncomfortable leaving you alone for long periods of time. I know I will be a difficult male to be with and to love. I spend a lot of time traveling and managing my star system. Meeting you in our dreamscape world wouldn't be enough to fill all the hours you would spend alone in between. How can I be jealous when only I can spend time with you while you sleep? Odelm and Xylo give you things you need. Things I may not be able to give you—ever. And I know you care for, love, and want them. Forcing you to be alone when you have been alone all of your life would be unfair to you. How can I love you, knowing I also hurt you?”

  “But you did hurt me. You impregnated me without my consent,” I breathed.

  He halted his hands as his face filled with sorrow.

  “Selena…”

  I yanked my feet out of his paws and sat up.

  “You have all the power. Can’t you see that?”

  “What do you mean? You are my Nova, and we are now mated.” His face scrunched in confusion.

  “I am inferior to you in every way. I am in no way equal to you—physically or in status. Not only are you rich, but you are also an ishing prince of the most powerful species in CEG! How am I supposed to compare to that?”

  Zirene jerked back as if I had hit him, pain filling his eyes.

  “That may be true, Selena, but I would never use that against you.”

  “But you did! Don’t you understand? You did!
You bought me and used our connection to coax me into having sex with you, knowing full well you were going to impregnate me. Then you took your time to return for me, only for that mission to become an utter shit-fest! If it weren’t for me escaping by myself, I would have died. Now, tell me—if I wanted to continue to travel the stars with the Circuli instead of coming here, would you have allowed me? Or would you have hunted me down, so you could take me and the cubs you impregnated me with to wherever you wanted to go?”

  He closed his eyes and looked away before taking a long sip from his glass.

  “You are right… and wrong…” He paused, unable to stifle his chuckle. “But I would have assigned Kaede to protect you permanently until you wanted to reestablish contact with me again. Then I would have tried to convince you to live on the estate I built for you.” A sad smile crossed his lips. “We are connected in ways others won’t be able to imagine… and there is nothing that could stop that. I only want the best for you.”

  I wanted to trust his words and go back to the way it was between us when we met in the dreamscape. Our time together there had felt natural and carefree—but his actions had caused strife between us.

  I was sick of fighting, but I also needed to get everything off my chest. He needed to know how much he hurt me.

  “Don’t you see? How can I trust you? If I don’t want to do something, are you going to force me? The Yarrkins just took, took, and took— no matter how much we didn’t want it.” My voice cracked as tears started to fall. “Some women accepted their fate and learned to love it, others like me tolerated it because if we didn’t, it would be the end of us. You are in the same position of power—but it’s worse because you betrayed me.”