Chapter 1
Iave
I grumbled to myself under my breath as I followed Zathar and Corin into the outside from the tunnels we’d traveled through.
A sky-ship was a good catch, scavenging technology and valuables could indeed do as my best friend hoped; restore our places in the Clan.
I just didn’t think we should want such a thing.
The Queen had discarded each of us because we’d gotten too old; I curled my lip into a snarl at the thought.
We should have found our mate by now if she was among the Clan.
We hadn’t, so we were a burden Thunder Rock didn’t need.
Fine with me, I didn’t need them either.
I liked being out here with just my friends, testing myself against Serant’s predators and against the forces of nature.
I didn’t need some stupid Queen to tell me what to do or how to behave. It would pain me to say goodbye to Zathar and Corin, but if this sky-ship indeed held all the treasures they hoped for, I wouldn’t be returning with them. I was done with Thunder Rock.
Up on the mountain flank, just over the edge into Bitter Storm territory lay the smoking remains of the sky-ship we’d spotted streaking from the heavens.
I groaned when I realized that it had partially sunk into the subterranean lake it had exposed.
That was going to be such a hassle to extract anything from.
But even I knew that we had to do this whether we were going to use what we found to get back in with the Clan or not. The technology we might find inside the sky-ship could make our lives so much easier, and Corin was an expert at figuring out how things worked.
It wasn’t until we’d slipped into the cracked side of the ship that my curiosity fully engaged.
Coffins lined the interior of the ship, making for a bizarre and morbid type of cargo.
While Zathar and Corin talked, I scanned the rest of the vessel.
There was a fragrance that stirred the air, and I followed the enticing scent I could taste without hesitation.
Something really delicious was in here, and I was going to find it; no matter what.
I flicked out my split tongue to draw more scent particles into my mouth, pressing them up against the receptacle at the top to get the best taste.
Yeah, that was better than Abseal, and any hunter worth his salt loved the spicy, alcoholic drink.
I was especially fond of it, but this…. This was much better.
Spicy, sweet, and mouth-wateringly good.
There! It was coming from a coffin near the front of the broken sky-ship.
In just a few twists of my coils, I was at its side, leaning over the hard, see-through top and peering in.
The sight that met me made my heart stutter in my chest. The creature inside it was beautiful, it was like a Goddess had fallen from the sky aboard this vessel. A Goddess made just for me.
I leaned in further, almost pressing my nose to the hard, transparent surface so I could take in every perfect detail.
From the way her nose tilted to the sky, to the deep brown smoothness of her cheeks.
I loved every single part of her face. In an instant, it felt like my entire universe had shifted.
No longer was I anchored to Serant, my loyalty binding me to my friends, now my compass would always point to her.
She was nothing like a Naga female but that hardly mattered.
I greedily cataloged each difference I could find, from her slender but muscled shoulders to the soft smoothness of her richly colored skin.
The hair on her head was not long and smooth like mine, though it was the same midnight black.
Hers was this crinkly texture I wanted to sink my claws into; would it feel as interesting as it looked?
There was a slight rise and fall to the curve of her chest where her breasts were abundant, like a nursing female.
These weren’t coffins like Zathar and Corin thought, these were resting places and my beautiful Goddess was asleep, not dead.
But how did I wake her? It seemed of the most urgent importance now to know what the color of her eyes was.
Would she smile at me when she woke? Would she know that she was meant to be mine like I did?
I’d been so engrossed with her that I had barely paid any attention to what was going on in the rest of the wrecked sky-ship.
The sound of a strange, melodic voice was what shook me from my obsession.
Lifting my head, I was startled when I located the source.
There was another female similar to my Goddess standing next to Zathar and my friend’s azure eyes were completely focused on her.
When she moved to the nearest resting place and started messing with the lid my heart rate sped up.
She knew how to open them! She could get my Goddess out.
As soon as she was done with the first pod I was practically vibrating when I made my move.
Blocking her path to the next one and demanding she open mine.
I winced back when Zathar got in my face, unsheathing a sword to lay against my neck as though I’d just threatened him personally.
I only needed to glance from him to the pale-skinned female to know what he was feeling.
Then he laid his arm around her waist, hauling her protectively against his body and all the sigils along his body lit up. She was his mate.
Dipping my chin, I offered the symbol of respect by exposing my vulnerable throat to my own horn, jagged and broken though it was. Fine, I would back off, as long as she opened the shell my Goddess was in. Mates were sacred, Zathar would understand, just like I understood his protectiveness.
It went against every instinct I had, but I backed away, uncoiling my tail from around the shell my female was in.
Zathar would never let his mate approach if he thought I was a threat, so I couldn’t stand in the way.
I would just hover at the edge of darkness and watch as my Goddess opened her eyes and took her first true breath of Serant air.
There would be time enough to conquer her heart once she was free from that strange shell.
I would simply wait and watch, I’d stake my claim when she was ready for me and everyone here would know that this Goddess from the heavens was meant to be mine. Mine, and mine alone. I would make her the happiest mate, give her everything her heart desired, and protect her with all my might.
***
Kalani
My mind struggled to become fully alert, my brain unable to detach from the dusty desert planet I’d last been on.
Sand everywhere, the sun glaring in my eyes, and the screams of the locals ringing in my ears as my battalion advanced on them.
Clenching my fists against the assault of my memories, I forced my eyes to open.
Anything was better than remembering that.
The pale face of the girl hovering over me was a surprise.
She looked vaguely familiar but I was sure I’d never met her.
Long blonde hair, blue eyes, and a slightly upturned nose.
She looked refined and beautiful; nothing like the rough and tumble gals that were part of my battalion, or the girls that had filled the orphanage I’d grown up in.
Then my eyes widened when I noticed the completely alien face above her shoulder; a looming, giant shadow.
He was azure blue and covered in scales, his eyes glowing fiercely in his sharp face.
Blue hair curled around to frame his foreign features, partially up in a knot on top of his head, while a horn jutted from his chin.
He was holding the girl, his arm clutched around her middle, and I immediately leaped to the worst option; was he holding her hostage?
“It’s okay,” she said, and when she boldly glared at the male my worry eased a little. “We’ll figure that part out later.” She backed up to give me space and I quickly looked around to take in the rest of my surroundings.
The interior of a small spacecraft or what was left of it at least. The front was crushed and light filtered in from the gaping crack at the side.
I was pretty sure the back half of the ship was missing as well so it was no wonder the lights weren’t on.
My eyes picked out enough in the dark to notice the bold lettering that was printed on some sections of the interior: UAR.
Instantly I remembered what had happened; the court martial, the swift judgment.
I was supposed to be dead. What the hell happened?
“I’m Kalani,” I said to the woman. There was another creature like the one holding her a little further away.
Paler and long and sinewy. He was waking another human from a stasis pod like the one I’d been in.
I could finally see the entire body of one of these aliens and had to smother a wince.
With a long snake body tapering into a male torso, they looked like the mythical Naga we had stories of on Earth.
I shot the male holding the girl who woke me a fierce look, making sure he knew I wasn’t going to let him manhandle me.
That’s when it clicked who she was. Vera Clayborne, the rich heiress who had been executed when she’d been exposed for committing fraud.
How ironic that a poor orphan like me and a rich heiress like her, had ended up in the same position.
Supposedly dead, yet somehow crash-landed on an alien planet.
That’s what I assumed at least because I’d never heard of real Naga existing back in the Alpha Quadrant and I’d been all over that place.
Leaping from the stasis pod, I quickly checked over my body.
Good condition, not too sluggish from spending time in stasis, that meant I hadn’t been out very long.
Not years, at least, I thought it likely I’d been out for a good amount of months though, because we had to have traveled quite some distance.