Total pages in book: 44
Estimated words: 41511 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 208(@200wpm)___ 166(@250wpm)___ 138(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 41511 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 208(@200wpm)___ 166(@250wpm)___ 138(@300wpm)
That I—I who had been so despised by the mother who should have loved me—should be given the great gift of being able to have an offspring—only the third of my kind to do so in three hundred years.
I raise my voice. “I have done this for you. My people, Shak, and I have worked tirelessly for you so that you, too, can know this joy of being able to once again procreate. Do you not see?”
I hold onto Giselle by her waist, but thrust her about a foot in front of me. “My mate is the third human to become implanted and foster a child. And it changes everything for us. We will continue on.”
“What does it matter if we’re stuck on this coffin?” yells someone from the crowd.
I am ready for such a question. It could not have played more perfectly than if I’d planted it myself, in fact. “If you’d only but given your King a bit more time, he could have told you himself! A deal has been struck with the Earth governments. In three weeks time, all Draci not currently in stasis will disembark onto an island in their Pacific Ocean, where all shall undergo the transformation. We have worked with their scientists to streamline the process and it is faster than ever.”
“And you trust these humans?”
I scoff. “Of course not. We retain our bargaining power by keeping a presence on the crafts in the sky. But we can switch out the crew, and wake up those who have been in stasis for the job. We are also playing the human governments against one another, offering our technology to the most powerful on different parts of the globe in exchange for safe passage. They will cater to us as the kings we are as they seek our favor. It is a dangerous game, but one that the cleverest among our race will be keen to play as we go forward. We will need our best tacticians to advise the King.”
Murmurs go through the crowd.
Just to make sure my point is clear, I continue, “We are tens of thousands and they are almost eight billion. King Shak is right to work with them. It will not diminish our quality of life on this new planet. We are helping them replenish the planet they were on track to destroy in mere centuries, and now we can all share this home.” I deepen my voice. “And if they forget our charity made such technological advancements possible, we will always have our might at our backs to remind of them.”
A cheer rises at that.
It is not the enthusiastic endorsement for peace I might have hoped for, but it is still something. Hopefully, I’ve given them a vision for the future they can start to embrace. It’s time to let go of fantasies of an empty planet that we can take for the plundering.
Just then, my mate looks up at me with glittering eyes. “You were listening. All those times I talked about how peace was the better way, you were listening.”
I wrap an arm around her shoulders and guide her from the room, down one of the long aisles of the entertainment room. Even the aisles are crowded, but everyone moves back and the path parts before us.
“You can be very persuasive.”
I am quiet as we pass from the large antechamber into a narrow hallway that leads back to the shuttle. I’ll need to stay on board as a liaison between the crew and Shak, but her I want back on solid Earth as soon as possible for her safety and the kit’s. As we turn another corner, though, I pause, tugging her to a stop. My large hand engulfs her small one.
“It must have been difficult. I know you despise violence, so I know what you did back there to save my life was a sacrifice for you. I will not forget the life debt, I swear to you, my mate.” I never imagined being happy for a life debt, but here I am. I would pay the debt a hundred times over, for a chance at being by her side.
She shakes her head, brow furrowed. “That’s the thing, though. It wasn’t difficult. I saw that bitch going for you. And the other knife was at my feet and it almost wasn’t a thought. I couldn’t let her kill you. That was just not something I could allow to happen. Not when I knew I could prevent it.”
I grasp her and pull her to my chest, covering her mouth with mine. The mating need strikes me suddenly. Has there ever been a more perfect mate than the one I am holding in my arms?
She giggles and then groans in my arms, and then giggles again, struggling and pulling away from me. Her face is flushed as she wipes coyly at her bottom lip with her thumb. “Thrax,” she says, giggling again.