Project: Adapt - Achieve: A Space Fantasy Alien Romance (Book 2) Page 5

  Zirene raised his hand to halt Xylo, knowing what he was getting to.

  “I will make sure they have full rights to enter the Royal Aldawi Commons, leaving the apartments restricted to them unless someone invites them. It is my mistake for not already including them under the list of guests allowed in here.”

  Relief flooded Xylo’s facial features as he shot Zirene a smile. “Thank you.”

  Lowering his hand, he returned the smile before putting his focus on his tablet. Zirene sent out a notice that both the Circuli princes and the rest of Xylo’s medical team had permission to come and go as they pleased.

  Worrying about Selena’s health and keeping watch on her made him slip up on this matter. That was something he needed to keep track of and prevent himself from doing in the future. Making simple mistakes could mean life or death, and cost him everything he had built up.

  His advisers felt Selena was a mistake and a waste of resources. A few even voiced how she was unnatural and an abomination. Zirene made sure he quickly silenced those opinions. They were dangerous, poison to everything he’d built up. Selena didn’t need to hear them either. It would only add to her self-doubts and stunt her growth in her newly found freedom.

  Zirene had disagreed with the CEG when they stopped hunting down all the remaining Yaarkins in their galaxy. They didn’t believe him when he stated that more existed, and his father didn’t want to use any of the Empire’s funds. Zirene had used his own funds and labeled the missions as test runs for their new technology. Royak kept their father’s attention away by distracting him with his urgency to find Royak a Seedbearer to produce heirs.

  Knowing Selena was still being experimented on, aboard a Yaarkin ship, drove him to continue his hunt and rid the galaxy of the plague that they were. The CEG may have believed they were gone and had given up—but he proved them wrong.

  Denying the Stars’ and the Fates’ plans was pretty much suicidal. He knew of folks who did and fared poorly because of it. Welcoming them allowed you to finish on top. He was connected to Selena for a reason unknown—it didn’t matter. He wasn’t going to mess things up even worse than what they were, because she was his gift to have—even if he needed to share.

  And now he was raking in the benefits. Selena was with him now, even with their relationship still on the mend, and his military was now the strongest and equipped with the highest tech.

  The entry doors opened, revealing Royak, flanked by Vikvez and Pavryn. Prince V’dim and Prince Z’fir followed them with the healers trailing behind. Every gaze in the room roamed around the Royal Common room, taking everything in.

  A team of servants pushed carts full of breakfast. Zirene noticed them trying not to be obvious, sneaking glances at Selena and their cubs. He ignored them, seeing no harm in their curiosity. The news had already spread throughout the space station, and it was only natural for them to want to see if it was true.

  “It seems I found your lost party, brother. Good thing we arrived at the same time, so I could make sure the guards enforced your order.” Royak chuckled and shot him a bright smile.

  “You are lucky I am in a good mood this morning, and I am—”

  “Letting you use my new gadgets and—” Royak mimicked mockingly.

  “Will make sure you don’t have fun with them.” Zirene teased.

  Each of the three princes of the Aldawi Empire was in charge of their own star system. Since Zirene discovered Agent Kaede and his “Fab Five” half-sisters, the scientists on his star system’s base had come up with better technological advancements than the other two princes’ scientists. Zirene got along with all of his siblings, but Prince Royak and he had a closer relationship. Many thought they would always be at each other’s throat since they were alike and so close in dominance. Instead, Zirene was Royak’s largest supporter and never even considered ruling the Empire, which baffled many.

  “You two are always bantering,” Pavryn scoffed, shaking his head.

  “It is because he is jealous of the breakthroughs I have achieved,” Zirene taunted.

  “If by achievements you mean getting mated and having cubs without the Empire knowing it, then no, thank you.” Royak glanced over at Selena, who was sitting between her nestmates. She had a shocked look on her face at their exchange. “No offense to you, Selena. You are a treasure, I am sure. I am just not in the mood to get tied down by a female and have her provide me cubs. Father says I need to find a well-bred female and sire some heirs soon, but I am not even Sovereign yet. I keep telling him I still have time.” Zirene watched as Royak gave Selena a sly smile.

  “Now that Zirene has you and you provided him cubs, I am sure father will stop pestering me for some time.” Royak’s head turned toward the sleeping cubs. “Especially after he meets them. They definitely resemble members of the Aldawi Royal line.”

  The sounds of the doors opening, along with the shuffle of feet, silenced the conversation in the room. It wasn’t until they all heard the doors closing before Zirene spoke up.

  “One rule in the Royal Aldawi Commons is we don’t use titles. This room is one of the few places where we can relax from outside pressures, and since most of us hold titles, it seems pointless to use them among each other, especially since most of us are either together or related. Can everyone agree to that?”

  The room was filled with agreements and nods from everyone. A smile appeared on Selena’s face as he met her gaze.

  “Now that is settled, let’s eat, then have our meeting.”

  Chapter Seven

  Selena

  As I sat between Odelm and Xylo, I watched everyone mingle. Xylo was engaged in a heated discussion with his fellow Circuli.

  As I studied the Aldawi, it was interesting to see the paw gestures and body expressions they used together. Anyone looking at the group could see they were close and got along well. I didn’t know if they were trying to be considerate and not wake up the cubs, or if they were trying to make sure we didn’t hear what they were saying.

  The atmosphere in the room was calm but held a contained excitement. It was as if they were waiting for something groundbreaking to happen, enjoying being together and getting prepared for a historic meeting. I knew my capabilities were one of a kind, including being able to produce interspecies offspring—remarkably not a weird hybrid, which was unheard of.

  Sometimes, I thought it was what I was that made people want to know me and get in my good graces, not who I was as a person.

  A vine wrapped around my wrist, pulling my attention away from the Aldawi to its owner. “Selena. You know that isn’t true.”

  Xylo’s gaze held mine, refusing to let me break away.

  “What isn’t true?” Odelm asked.

  “Our nestqueen was having dark thoughts. She was wondering if others were only interested in what she is instead who she is.”

  “That would explain why her spots are turning orange and brown.” Odelm wrapped an arm around me, pulling me closer until I rested against his chest. “There is no need for those thoughts. Xylo and I love you for who you are and what you are to us.”

  “You truly were having those thoughts?” Zirene asked behind me, his voice strained.

  I turned my body around in Odelm’s hold and faced Zirene. His facial expression, along with the others around him, was full of bafflement.

  “What did you expect? I leave the Yaarkins and get discovered by the crew on the Destiny.” I point to the Circuli behind me. “Then, I am told how barbaric and savage I am.” I tilted my head toward Chyox. “Or how amazing my capabilities are.” I wrapped my arms around myself. “Everyone keeps saying how I am history in the making and how I will change everything around me with what I can accomplish.” I could feel tears forming at the edges of my eyes. “Same with my cubs. Then you tell me some politicians may force us to be part of some experiment?” I locked my eyes with Zirene’s, challenging him.

  “Tell me now. Did I escape one master only to be transferred to the hands of another? Does being your Nova guarantee my obedience? I refuse to be led on and told everything will be fine and work out—for me to not worry—only to be caught unprepared to be let down and lied to.”

  The room fell silent. They didn’t like it? Too bad. I knew Xylo and Odelm didn’t mean to make me feel the way I did. They had always cared about me as a person, yet they still made the same comments in passing when talking with others. It was tiring. Was I always going to be that female? The female who was a Yaarkin prototype? The female who was able to adapt to any species she was with and capable of producing purebred offspring?

  What about Selena? The female who survived growing inside a tube and brought to life only nine years ago? The person who taught herself whatever she could get her hands on? The female who learned to keep her head down and survive? The one who found her own way to escape when the mission to rescue her failed?

  I had dreams, needs, and wants too. Emotions and feelings. Opinions.

  Ever since we landed, everything revolved around my health or the cubs, not about me as a person.

  And the one male who begged me to trust him and let him in, even if it was only as a friend and not a member of my clan, broke down the walls that I had built up. My punishment for foolishly trusting him was that he had been absent ever since my labor. Kaede hadn’t checked on the cubs or me. He hadn’t been around other than leading us to the welcome party, where he refused to acknowledge me at all.

  What happened to us being friends? What happened to him being my Head of Security? Not checking, in the flesh, on the one person you were in charge of went against everything he told me.

  I knew I was foolish for welcoming him. He would always put his duty in front of what little friendship we formed. Lesson learned. I would keep him an arm's length away and refuse to let him in again.

  A cry sounded from where the cubs were sleeping, pulling me from my thoughts.

  Odelm released his hold on me, allowing me to move away. I climbed off the lounge chair and walked around the Aldawi males gathered together. I could feel the weight of the room’s occupants gazing on me as I walked to my cubs. Meti had woken up crying while her twin brothers continued to sleep.

  Picking her up, I brought her to my shoulder and grabbed a formula bottle from the dispenser. I walked over to the glass wall that faced outside and fed Meti as I watched ships come and go from the space station. Steeling myself, I refused to break down in front of everyone as if I was a fragile female who needed coddling.

  “Selena. You know that is not how we feel about you,” Odelm comforted.

  “We are sorry for making you feel that way. I admit I get excited about your abilities and studying you, but that has nothing to do with how I feel about you. I want to make sure I can understand as much about you as possible to make sure you are healthy, so that if something happened to you, I could aid you. Everything you do is history in the making, but that doesn’t mean we don’t see you as a person, Selena,” Xylo confirmed.

  Grabbing both of their golden bond threads, I replied, “I wasn’t talking about you guys. You both have made me feel like a person and cherished. I understand what I am in your field of study, Xylo. Sometimes, when you are talking among your colleagues about me while I am present, I feel like I did with the Yaarkins. They would talk about me in front of me, as if I wasn’t intelligent enough to understand what they were saying. Sure, I didn’t know all of their medical terms, but after a while, it didn’t take much to figure out what they were.”

  “I am sorry for making you feel that way. I didn’t know that was how I made you feel,” Xylo explained.

  “Selena?” Zirene asked softly behind me.

  Refusing to turn around and face him, I continued to look out into the beautiful darkness of space.

  “Did you order Kaede away?”

  “What? No. He has his orders, but I didn’t order him away. He is still in charge of protecting you. Why?” Zirene answered, confused.

  “So why hasn’t he visited me since I had our cubs? He hasn’t had a conversation with me since I went into labor.”

  “Perhaps he believes he needed to distance himself from you and felt as if you both were getting too personal. He likes to keep to himself and remain detached on missions. I believe he said, feelings cause mistakes, and he does not need them… He must have his reasons why he has kept away from you.”

  I rolled my eyes. If I was too emotional and somehow distracting to Kaede, that was his problem, not mine. What did everyone expect? I just delivered cubs. Of course, I was still hormonal, but that didn’t mean I was unstable. My crying fits during my whole pregnancy pissed me off, but I didn’t believe I was as bad as everyone made it seem. At least not from what I read about humans and what Xylo told me what to expect during postpartum.

  Kaede could go run off and play with his drones for all I cared.

  If he had no good reason why he wanted to distance himself from me, then he couldn't tell me what to do. He could spend his time acting like one of the guards hovering around. Someone paid to be security and nothing else. Not someone who tried to get me to trust them and form a friendship. I guessed being friends with his assignment was too much for him.

  I had more important things to deal with than to think about some male who wanted nothing to do with me outside his job.

  “Selena. Is that how you feel?” Royak’s warm voice asked.

  I turned to face the males in the room and noticed they were all watching me with a range of facial expressions that varied from confusion to concern to sadness.

  “Yes. Most of my conversations since I woke up on the Destiny—outside of the ones I had with my nestmates—have always been about my body and my cubs, not me as a person.” I replied, meeting his pale lavender eyes.

  “I wasn’t aboard the Destiny, but I would like to get to know the female who captured my brother’s heart. Whether or not you know it, being his Nova and Mate has officially made you my sister. We may not be littermates or born to the same parents—or even the same species—but that doesn’t mean you are worth any less as a person.”

  “Sadly, you have little time to get to know each other if we are to prepare you for the meeting at the CEG Assembly tomorrow. We have to go over our strategies and the plans for afterward. You asked me for a wish before everyone arrived, and I plan on fulfilling it. To do so, we need to have our meeting.” Zirene walked up and paused in front of me, locking his eyes with mine. They pleaded for me to understand.

  “To make sure my plans are successful and everyone gets everything they want, we need to focus on making the politicians content to leave you and our cubs alone. Once I get our clan settled, you can get to know each other better.” He tilted his head toward his brothers behind him. “I am sure my brothers and all the folks I have waiting for you want to get to know the amazing female I have been talking about for the last nine years.” He leaned forward and kissed the top of my head before he brushed my hair back, glancing down at Meti feeding.

  “I searched for you for the last nine years, with only our time in the dreamscape world to keep me sane. I traveled across the stars to find you. Things didn’t work out as planned, and instead of rescuing you myself, others brought you to me. But now I have you with me, I am not planning to let you go. You can have your freedoms and you will be safe in the Aldawi territory, but now you are my Mate, nothing will keep you away from me. I swear it.”

  Chapter Eight

  Selena

  Things settled down after my outburst, and I returned to my spot between my nestmates on the lounge chair. Xylo cleaned Meti up while Odelm and I fed the twins. When she fell asleep, Royak asked to hold her as she slept. He and Vikvez doted over her as if she was theirs. It was cute, and I felt no bitterness at the scene. I kept an eye on Zirene to see if he showed any signs of jealousy and was relieved when none came.

  After the twins had their fill, my nestmates cleaned them up. Ayces and Pavryn each took one. I mentioned they enjoyed being near each other, and that caused a flurry of questions that overwhelmed me. Xylo and Odelm took over and answered them, for which I was thankful. Even though I was still upset about my breastmilk drying up, I realized the benefits of having an alternate feeding option. Having the ability to allow others to feed them when I wasn’t around gave me a sense of ease. Zirene said once the cubs were old enough to hunt with a mentor, things would be easier.

  Over our delivered lunch, Zirene spoke of his plans to please the CEG Assembly during our appointment tomorrow. He felt if he gathered a collection of doctors and scientists whom he trusted to respect my wishes, it would force the Assembly to let everything be. I was an Aldawi Prince’s Mate, and the cubs were his. They might become future leaders in the Aldawi Empire, something that hadn’t crossed my mind until now.

  “If you have Vikvex as our Primary Aldawi Doctor and Xylo as a Senior Scholar, why not hire Senior Healer Chyox and his Assistant Healer Usthu too? You enlisted Pavryn to be our cubs' mentor, but what about hiring Hatchery Manager Ayces also? Xylo has worked with his co-workers for over five years, and they all have worked well together since they found me. We both trust them. You trust Vikvex and your half-brother, Pavyrn.” I spun my body toward Xylo. “Aren’t your fathers well-known healers on your home planet? Couldn’t we enlist them to work for the Aldawi?”

  His pupilless teal eyes widened as he looked between Zirene and me.

  “Yes. They are famous for their work. They both stated they would settle wherever we colonized once I gave the word. That is, if they are welcomed.” His gaze landed on Zirene.

  “That leads me to my next subject.” Zirene peered at the Circuli princes. “Selena told me you had something to ask me.”

  Both Princes glanced at me with shocked expressions as they figured out what I told Zirene. I shrugged and snuggled closer to Xylo’s side as Odelm’s tentacles tightened around my legs.

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