“Or else she’s brought us a curse that will start a war.” Tarak lets out a breath. “King Zander will need to decide what to do with her.”
This does not sit well with me. “Asylum for her, of course,” I say, frowning.
Tarak tilts his head. “Unless our planet is better served by returning her.”
“I would never give a human—”
“Not under normal circumstances. But if it were for the good of Zandia…” His voice trails off.
My chest feels tight. “It will not come to that,” I vow, although of course I have no way to ensure it is so. “We cannot send a sentient being—a human, no less!— back to certain torture and death.”
“Humans have been enslaved for millennia by Ocretions and most of the rest of the species of our galaxy. Zandians never interfered before,” Tarak says.
I growl. He’s right, of course. But now that I’ve held that human in my arms, there’s no way I’d ever send her to her death.
I stand up straight. I need to get myself together. My whole life had been devoted to Zandia and the survival of our species. Not only am I a captain of a fighter ship, I am also in training as a judicial sage, under none other than King Zander himself. I must keep myself cool and level-headed so I can make decisions about asylum and matters of state that best protect Zandia...not my own selfish desires.
“Of course you are right.” I’m letting my lust get the better of me. “It’s said that humans bring out emotions in Zandians an
d weaken them. I should stay away from her so that does not happen.”
Tarak slaps my shoulder. Before I follow him to our command center, I take one last glance back through the window at Taisha. She’s shifted in her sleep and one perfect hip juts up. My cock hardens and I force myself to concentrate on the task at hand—landing my ship on Zandia.
Exquisite though she is, I cannot afford to waste mental energy and my time on her. My king and planet need me to be completely devoted.
But even as I go through the maneuvers I’ve learned by heart, skillfully adjusting our craft, she’s in the back of my mind. Her shining eyes, her taut skin, the taste of her mouth. The way she matched my body perfectly. How I yearn to make her mine.
Suddenly the comm in my ear beeps. “Captain Drayk? It’s Dr. Daneth again.”
“Yes, Doctor?”
“I’m here with Master Seke. You may be able to complete a mission for me. It’s one of personal nature… but important to me.”
“Anything, Doctor.” Dr. Daneth holds a highly respected position in Zander’s palace. As high as Master Seke, our war commander. To refuse him a favor would be career suicide. Besides, he just helped me with the human.
Dr. Daneth clears his throat. “My human mate gave birth to two human young as a slave breeder for the Ocretions. They were taken from her. I have been seeking them through normal data logs and diplomatic channels to no avail. I have concluded the only way to determine their present location would be to break in and steal the physical records from the breeding facility where Bayla was held.
My heart beats faster, my warrior-trained body already eager for a new mission.
“We would be pleased to undertake this mission for you, Doctor.”
“Thank you.”
Master Seke’s voice comes through. “Remote monitor shows that you have sufficient fuel for at least two hyper jumps, and supplies to last a lunar rotation. Correct?”
“Affirmative.” I switch the comm so that my crew can hear as well.
“And you are near the planet Fonquin?”
“Affirmative.”
Tarak sits straighter beside me, probably equally excited by the new mission.
“Is the human on board contained and stable?”
“Yes.”
“Divert to sector A-47 to the planet Fonquin. We intercepted a masked communication that physical slave records are going to be moved to a new facility, a more heavily guarded one. This is the only chance we’ll have to sneak in undetected and steal the ones we need.”