Chapter 1
1736 Words
Chapter One
Sunday 10:00 p.m.
Dagan walked briskly down the long, cold tunnel, hidden far beneath the banquet hall on the Caldorian Earth base. He looked over his shoulder and saw rivers of fluorescent minerals as far back as the eye could see and twenty of his most elite warriors. Lumerian Knights. They’ll go where others wouldn’t dare, which is why I left all my regular personal guard at home. The other sixty are cloaked and follow behind. Silent. Unseen. Deadly. It’s time we find out what the Council is really doing here. Cam’s binding ceremony couldn’t have come at a better time.
Dagan’s breath crystallized when he exhaled as the temperature was several degrees lower in the tunnel than the frigid winter air hundreds of meters above. He stayed warm only thanks to his black nanotech uniform; the thin silky metamaterial programmed to regulate his body temperature at all times. He should have been trying to figure out what the Council wanted with Earth, but his mind refused to stay focused, settling instead on the woman he’d seen outside less than a standard Earth hour earlier. Who was she?
He could’ve taken the shuttle directly from his ship, but his Knights wanted to investigate the tunnels. To be prepared. Alert. Ready. He planned to surprise his best friend and groom, Cam, in a large waiting room connected to the banquet area set aside for Cam’s binding ceremony to a human woman.
“Falden.” Dagan spoke quietly, knowing the leader of his Knights would hear him through the sensitive communicator.
“Yes, Your Majesty?” Falden’s disembodied voice came across clearly in Dagan’s earpiece.
“Will your teams be ready to enter with us when Cam opens the door? I trust he’s still expecting someone else?”
“Cam thinks your sister is coming in your place because you had to stay on Caldor to settle a dispute between Sectors. My team is still at the port. Something is off here.” Falden’s voice was a low growl in Dagan’s ear. “Vander’s team split and half are already ahead of you, ready to enter the usual way.”
“Damn. That never gets old.” Dagan squinted, trying to make out the cloaked guards ahead, even though he knew it would be impossible to see them.
“Half-time check-ins. Understood. Try to enjoy the celebrations. We’ll take care of the rest,” agreed Falden drolly. “It’s why you brought us instead of your other guards, remember?”
Dagan’s only response was a low grunt of acknowledgement. Noises echoed down the long tunnel, forcing Dagan to refocus on his surroundings. His warriors silently closed ranks around him. They were getting close to the entrance. His best friend should be waiting on the other side, and Dagan would have preferred going alone, leaving his warriors free to do what they did best. Infiltrate. Gather intelligence. Destroy the enemy. Dagan was more than capable of taking care of himself, and was, in fact, nearly unbeatable by Caldorian standards, but his warriors never took chances with his safety.
They reached the top, took a sharp left, and were soon met by a large titanium security door. One of the warriors behind him raised a hand and waved at the unseen surveillance cameras while another stepped up to the security podium to the side and breathed into the biometric scanner. The locking mechanism in the door gave a loud click and it slid open. Inside, his friend Cam stood waiting, a huge grin lighting his handsome face.
“Dagan! You ass! I thought I was going to have to spend the week entertaining your sister! She spent an hour lecturing me yesterday about taking Rachel to Caldor to have the baby. She threatened to cut off my jewels.” Cam cringed.
Dagan grinned, unable to resist prodding his best friend as he stepped through the door, “Couldn’t wait to play with the natives, Cam? I never thought to see the day one would want your ugly ass.”
Cam chuckled. “I think my bride, Rachel, would disagree with you there. She can’t keep her hands off me. If you ever fall for a human, don’t take any f*****g chances. I almost lost her, stumbling over all her Earth rituals and traditions. Turns out she needed the Caldorian way,” he said as he grinned.
Dagan nodded. “I’ll keep that in mind.” A quick brotherly hug turned into a playful shove and wrestling match in the large empty room. They were brothers in every way that counted, if not by blood.
“Damn,” panted Cam. “I forgot what a f*****g brute you are.” Cam welcomed his king and best friend, Dagan Tiranon of Caldor. “I should have known I’d have to get bound to drag your ass out here! I’m glad you made it. Welcome to Earth!”
With a deep, rumbling laugh and one last jab, Dagan rolled to stand. At nearly seven feet tall, he was huge, even by Caldorian standards, tall and heavily muscled, with short black hair in stark contrast to his lightly tanned skin. “And I forgot how stubborn you are, refusing to give in when you know you’re beaten.”
Cam snorted good naturedly. “Beaten, my ass. You’re just a huge f*****g bastard who doesn’t know when he’s outclassed by superior speed and intellect!” They both laughed, still amused by their childhood insults. “Be careful, or you’ll scare the little Earth women right into their panties.”
“Very funny,” Dagan growled. “I noticed you’re not lit up yet. Saving the maju paste for after the ceremony?”
“No. Rachel would be the first human to try it. Without knowing how she would react, we don’t want to risk the baby. Besides, lighting our markings is a tradition, not a requirement.” Cam looked regretfully down at his chest where his markings were still a dark amber. “Rachel said she doesn’t need me to broadcast my status as a claimed man. She trusts me.”
Dagan absently rubbed a hand over the dark blue markings beneath his black uniform shirt. “That’s rough. I don’t think I could forego it. I’d want every man and woman on the planet to know my female was off limits, and vice versa. Rachel must be truly special.” He thought about the woman he’d seen earlier and closed his eyes, pressing his fingers against his closed lids. His low, thoughtful tone was full of regret. “As for me scaring Earth women, I think it might be too late, actually,” he rumbled in his deep, gravelly voice.
“What? You literally just got here!” Cam said in disbelief, his expression telling Dagan he was relieved to be off the topic of his own unlit markings. “What happened?”
“We were near the human transport area on our way to the tunnels when we saw a woman off to the side. She was upset, almost in a panic, and I assumed something had happened, so we started running to help.” Dagan paused, not wanting to add the last, but needing to confess to the only person he could. “She screamed and ran.”
“Why would she run from help?” Cam asked with confusion. His brown eyes bulged and he failed to hold back a strangled laugh at the mental picture he made of his huge friend racing to the rescue, accompanied by some very large, fierce looking warriors. “Don’t answer that. By transport I assume you’re referring to what the human’s call an airport. It’s right next to our docking station. She’s probably long gone by now.” Cam groaned and ran his hands through his short, sandy hair. “s**t. She could have been one of Rachel’s friends. They’re flying in from all over the world. Most of them have never met any non-humans, unless they’ve visited our base. I wonder what was wrong? You were using the translator, right? She knew you were just trying to help?”
Dagan opened his eyes in sudden realization. “f**k. Maybe that was it.” He tapped the A.I. translator in his ear and heard a beep notifying him that both the ear piece and the microscopic voice descrambler imbedded in his voice box were now turned on. “A human, then,” Dagan murmured under his breath, a slow twinkle building in his eyes. “And she had no idea I was coming to help.”
“Sure. Couldn’t have been that ugly mug of yours.” Cam’s grin was slow to return as they walked into the banquet hall. “At least make sure not to scare any more of my bride’s guests. Oh, and she only mentioned about a hundred times that some of her friends have a basic understanding of Caldorian ways, but not all, so never make assumptions. Our mission here is to intimidate potential threats, not romance the natives.”
“I know. I gave the order, remember? Not that you ever listen.” Dagan snorted. “Right now, all I’m interested in is food. I came here straight off the ship, so give me an hour to acclimate. You may live here now, but this is my first time on the surface.” Dagan took a deep breath, enjoying the scent of exotic, alien vegetation. No wonder Cam had volunteered to stay and rough it without many of their technological comforts.
Dagan’s thoughts returned to the woman he tried to help earlier. All he’d been able to see was long silvery blonde hair attached to a tiny but very curvy package. Delicious. Before he could dwell on the memory, Cam broke his train of thought.
“Food. You got it. Grab what you want on the way up. Rachel wants to meet you. If I wasn’t sure she loved me, I’d be a very jealous man!” Cam gave Dagan an affectionate punch on his massive shoulder. “When I told her about that Kuvu bear you saved, she got all dreamy-eyed and said you sounded sweet and perfect, so I spanked her for talking about a warrior like that and making me jealous, then pleasured her until the only name on her lips was mine.” They both laughed, knowing that most Caldorian warriors looked for the smallest of excuses to spank their women. Or touch them. Or f**k them. Or shower them with gifts.
Cam led Dagan through the empty meeting room, up a flight of stairs and into the crowded hall, only stopping long enough on the first floor for Dagan to grab a plate of food and a cup of yavo juice, similar to Earth’s stoutest beer. His guards dispersed throughout the banquet area, leaving only two to follow close behind. They finally reached the top floor where Cam wasted no time in introducing his best friend and king to his bride Rachel.
- Writer
