His to Claim: A Sci-Fi Alien Romance - Taylor Vaughn Page 0,81

find her smiling when I had turned from the gamma sink to face her.

But her pretty moonstone face had gone cold, as she said, “My father is very disappointed. In both you and the Kel.”

My father….

N’Maryah is the daughter of the prime minister. The same prime minister who constructed that report that was just true enough to gloss over all its outrageous lies.

I understand that now as I listen to her tell the unknown alien, “In any case, this is the best possible outcome after the Kel forced our hand. We had planned to wait to deliver her to you until after she’d given birth, but when Kel D’Rek made that sickening announcement, we knew we’d have to move fast or risk him upending our entire way of life. If his plans go through, Xalthurian females will have no place left on our own planet. We might even be forced to serve those disgusting hu’man females.”

I shake my head, realizing just how far from an ally N’Maryah had been this entire time.

“I do not like this change of plan,” the alien voice grumbles. “This was supposed to be an acquisition trip. We were promised at least a thousand females to take back to the emperor, not just this one.”

“And it still will be an acquisition,” N’Maryah assures him. “My father is currently trying to calm the other council members after the Kel’s announcement. But when he is finished, he will meet you at this rendezvous point and escort you to New Terrhan himself. Consider this a down payment for the soldiers you will provide him to support his bid to depose our Kel.”

My heart seizes. They’ve not only kidnapped me, but they also plan to dethrone D’Rek and abduct a bunch of other women from my defenseless planet? Oh moons…oh moons.

“A down-payment. But she is already pregnant. I cannot imagine presenting such a gift to our emperor without incurring his wrath.” Unlike the Xalthurians, the alien is capable of tonal change. His voice dips low and angry as he points out my pregnant state and takes on a fearful whine when speaking of his emperor.

“Then make her unpregnant. We do not care now that my father has decided to seize power from the Kel, and I am no longer required to marry him to put our house in the Keldom line.”

“I am a Kaidorian captain. I would never kill a child.”

“Fine, then wait until she is not pregnant then. You and your men can enjoy her body until she passes the baby. But I warn you, making sex with this species can be quite addictive. The Kel became so obsessed with this one, he sought to do the unthinkable and make her his Qel. It was all so very embarrassing for me. And to think I turned down so many proposals in the hopes of marrying that fool. I cannot wait for him to get his comeuppance.”

Bile rises in my throat, hearing her words. No, N’Maryah is definitely not a friend. In fact, I can clearly hear her disgust in her atonal words. For me. And now for the male she apparently coveted for herself the entire time she smiled in my face, claiming to just be worried about me whenever I spoke of my growing feelings for D’Rek.

She’s wrong. D’Rek wasn’t a fool, I was. A fool for not only trusting her, but protecting her identity, so that he’ll have no idea where to find me.

My only hope is that he started looking for me, as soon as he discovered I was gone. But would he?

“No, I do not like this. If he is as obsessed with her as you say, he will come after her. And while the Kaidorian are mighty, one ship is not enough to face down his army. Especially if you cannot convince the General to ally with us.”

“Leave my cousin to my father. He will join in our efforts to overthrow the Kel or he will die. It is as simple as that.”

I cover my mouth to smother a gasp, remembering how D’Rek called the General his best friend when explaining why he expected everyone, even his friends to defer to him.

“And as for him coming after her, I already took care of that. Before my father helped L’Than escaped to the Amnesty Station, I asked him to write a note in her language, saying that she was leaving him for the hybrid. Not only is he powerless to extract her from that station,