“Duty calls,” she said, transferring control of the ship back to the pilot. “Thanks for letting me do that. It felt really good.”
“Just don't tell anyone, Sophia. I could lose my job.”
Sophia rose from the copilot’s chair and hurried out of the cockpit, down the hallway, and back to her suite. When she stepped inside, she found the medic and little Hectosh in her chambers. Hectosh was red-faced and crying, but as soon as the medic placed him back in her arms, he quieted.
“He missed you,” medic Hanno said.
“I missed him too.”
“What were you doing?” he said.
“I was wandering around. I spent some time on the observation deck. I needed to think. Missing my mate is very difficult for me,” she said. The first part was a lie, but the rest was true. She didn’t want him to be suspicious that she was up to her old tricks. She intended to get more time in the pilot’s seat before arriving on Galaton.
“I do understand,” he said with a nod, and then he turned toward the door. It slid open for him and closed again as he exited.
Sophia held little Hectosh in her arms and rocked him back and forth as she gazed down at his beautiful face. He reminded her so much of her mate that it made her heart ache with longing for him.
She didn't know how she could miss a man she'd never met. It hurt so terribly that her heart ached every single second now. She walked over to the little kitchen in her suite and programmed to the food replicator to produce a bottle of Draconian formula for Hectosh, and then plucked it out of the dispenser. She carried Hectosh and the bottle to the couch and sat down. The couch faced the broad bank of windows, looking out into space.
She offered the bottle to Hectosh and he happily accepted, sucking away at the milk that was specially formulated for a Draconian baby. Without her mate’s touch and the chemical catalyst of his mating bite, her body would not produce milk for the baby. Just as it had not been prepared to deliver such a large child naturally. Sophia accepted this situation, as was required of a bride of Galaton. But it was still difficult for her not to be able to perform such motherly functions.
She hoped that this would all change once she arrived on the planet that would be her new home. When Elait completed the mating ritual and claimed her as his own, her body would transform genetically and she would be able to carry, birth, and feed their next child.
Looking out at the view of a gaseous giant planet outside her window, she sighed heavily and thought of Elait. She imagined his lips on her skin so vividly so many times it was as if they had truly been together. Yet, they were still star systems apart, the distance between them unbearable.
Over the next several weeks, Sophia left little Hectosh with the medic so that she could sneak away to pilot the ship. No one knew but her and the pilot.
Each day, he allowed her to spend more and more time flying. Sophia thought that he liked the excuse to take a break from his work. Since he was the only ship pilot on board, he was basically on duty twenty-four-seven. He barely ever got to take a break.
While she guided the ship around asteroids and other space debris, he spent time on his holocom, researching his favorite topics or looking at nude pictures of human females.
Sophia was slightly offended by this pastime but didn't hold it against him. After a while, he usually got up and left the cockpit, allowing her to pilot the ship on her own.
It was on one of those days when Sophia was confronted with the shock of her lifetime. Worse than the second time she was denied entrance to the Space Academy. It was more shocking than realizing she was mated with a Galatonian prince. And it was even more mind-boggling than the moment she had been presented with her baby son Hectosh.
Out in front of the bride ship, a massive mothership materialized out of thin air at the edge of the solar system. It loomed behind an asteroid belt.
As soon as she saw it, she slowed the ship’s acceleration to zero and sat there staring open-mouthed at the vessel in the distance.
She didn’t know what to do, but she didn't have the chance to think about it for long. Dozens of little vessels emerged from the mothership, heading straight toward the bride ship Breaking Dawn. She had no time to think and no time to call the pilot. This was the moment she had been waiting for her whole life. She had to react; she had to keep her son out of danger.
She turned the ship around in a sharp one-eighty and accelerated in the opposite direction. The pilot came back through the door of the cockpit with an angry scowl on his face.
“What the hell are you doing?” he growled.
“Look for yourself!” Sophia yelled.
“It's the Mulgor!” he cried, slipping into his seat beside her in the cockpit. He tried to take control but Sophia piloted the ship at a breakneck speed toward the asteroid belt.
The Mulgor fighter jets pursued them and the Breaking Dawn took several hits to her hull.
“What are you doing?” the pilot demanded, trying to take control of the ship.
“We have to hide,” Sophia barked.
She sped toward the asteroid belt, bobbing and weaving through the flailing rocks and debris all around them. The Mulgor ships were smashed in the chaotic debris that flew all around inside the asteroid belt. Sophia barely dodged another massive rock; her son’s safety her only thought. It grazed the side of the ship, causing more damage.
Finally, she found what she was looking for, a hollow core in a large asteroid. She flew the ship inside it and found a place to land. The pilot flipped off the external lights and put the ship into repair mode.
“That was good flying,” he muttered, rubbing the back of his neck. “Please don’t tell anyone or I’m toast.”
“I had to do it,” she said, crossing her arms.
“I’m not sure I could have maneuvered this ship the way you did, Sophia. Your aim was dead on. You saved us.”
“What will we do now?” she asked.
“We can’t fight them or run away. The bride ships don’t have weapons or warp drive. We’ll put up our cloaking mechanism and signal for help. That is the protocol for the situation. We were assured by Draconia that there were no Mulgor in this sector. We’d heard rumors, but they assured us they weren’t true.”
“I’m going back to my baby. Please let me know as soon as you contact my mate.”
Chapter 7
The distress call came through loud and clear from the bride ship Breaking Dawn. It was his mate's ship. Sophia was in trouble.
“Prince Elait,” the pilot said over the long distance between Galaton and the ship, “our ship is in trouble. We've been attacked by the Mulgor. We need immediate assistance.”
“We were assured the Mulgor were not in that star system,” Elait growled. “Have you contacted the Draconian military?”
“I have, but they are a light year away from here. They cannot help us.”
“I will come to help you. But first I must ensure that my kingdom will not be overtaken by the unruly males of the Air Lands.”
“Perfectly understandable, Prince Elait. But please, come quickly. We cannot hold out very long. Our ship is damaged, and we've taken refuge inside a hollow asteroid within an asteroid belt. But the Mulgor jets are constantly patrolling the area. Eventually, they will find us. You must make haste or all will be lost.”
“I will leave Galaton by the end of the day.”
“Thank you, Prince.”
“Await my further instructions,” Elait said.
The pilot's face blinked off the screen and Elait sat back in his chair, letting out a rumbling sigh. His mate was in trouble and he was the only one who could save her.
Unfortunately, the males of the Air Lands had grown more violent in the last months. He’d had to fight for his life nearly every day since his son had been born.
The announcement that the Draconians were allowing Galaton to enter the mating lottery had not helped matters at all.
The males of the Air Lands brutally fought to overt
hrow his power, a power his family had held for a hundreds of thousands of years. It was always the same. As soon as the females began to die out, the males would rise against their leaders, seeking to bring in a new regime.
Every time they had attacked the princes they’d failed, but this time he feared he would lose his ancestral lands. If he had to leave Galaton now, there was no telling what would happen to the Air Lands in the time he was gone.
All he could do was ask the other princes to secure his lands for him, but they were busy enough protecting their own lands. However, they also awaited their brides. The princes had to work together to ensure the safety of the females.
It was essential that the princes were the first to mate, otherwise the overthrowing of their lands would be much easier. An heir for the succession was essential to maintaining the throne. The Earls and Dukes were working together now, trying to overthrow the princes. But Elait would never allow that to happen.
He walked out onto his balcony and looked down from the Crystal Palace over the lands of air. His castle was atop the highest mountain at the far north of the planet. White clouds puffed around the peak.
Elait jumped up into the air, shifting into his blue dragon form as he fell. He dropped down onto the landing pad and jumped onto his speeder. He had to travel to the Temple of the Four elements. As he took off, he called the other princes on his holocom and let them know to meet him there. He had much to ask of them and it was essential that they made haste.
When he set foot on the landing deck of the Temple, he got off his speeder and walked under the tall archway and into the Temple. Inside was a tall arching roof that rose above a brilliantly polished stone table. Elait took his place at the north end of the table. All four princes stood around the stone table looking at each other.
The Fire Prince was the first to speak.
“What is the meaning of this?” he asked.
“I've received a distress call from my mate’s bride ship. They were attacked by the Mulgor in a system not far from Galaton. I must leave now to protect her. But if I leave my lands, the Dukes and Earl will surely overtake my throne. I have come to ask you all for your assistance.”
“Why should we help you?” the Earth Prince asked.
“Your brides will encounter the same dangers. I have so little time to negotiate this. Your cooperation is critical.”
“I offer my help,” said the Water Prince.
“Thank you,” Elait said.
“And I offer my assistance as well,” said the Fire Prince.
The Earth Prince spoke too. “If what you say is true, it is critical that we work together. Once we have our brides and open the mating lottery to the rest of the males, they will surely calm down. Everyone's mind is close to cracking. It is critical that we make this transition as peaceful as possible.”
“Then we are in agreement. The other princes will help the prince who must leave to ensure the safety of his lands and his throne.”
“It is agreed,” they all said at once.
They placed their hands over the stone table, making a mark that was a signature of their agreement. Any prince who broke the bond of agreement would be thrown out of the Princes’ Council. In times like these, their word was bonding. Without it, they were all lost.
Having secured the agreement of the other princes, Elait hurried back to the Air Lands and waited for the troops of his allies to arrive.
The dragons of the Fire Lands were the first. The Fire Prince had sent his strongest admirals to fight in the fighting pits on Elait’s behalf. Soon the earth dragons and the water dragons arrived as well. Elait had a force of sixty of the strongest dragons on Galaton to defend his throne while he was gone.
Satisfied that his lands would be secured in his absence, he readied for travel. He took a transport pod from the base of Galaton and flew into space to board his own ship, the Slipstream. Compared to a bride ship, the Slipstream was a technological marvel. It had a warp drive and weapons that the bride ships were not equipped it with. The bride ships were originally constructed to take brides from Earth to Draconia. His crew prepared for the journey and Elait took a seat in the pilot's chair.
As they maneuvered away from Galaton and accelerated into space, all he could think about was his mate and his child.
As they departed, he opened up his holocom and hailed the bride ship Breaking Dawn.
The pilot answered immediately with a dark look on his face.
“We are leaving Galaton now,” Elait said.
“We await your arrival,” the pilot said.
“We might have to push our warp drive to the limit, but we’ll be there in less than a week's time,” Elait said.
“I only hope that we will last that long.”
Chapter 8
Elait sent updates as his ship made its way from Galaton to their location. Sophia was terrified about what would happen to her and her baby and could think of nothing else. When he finally arrived in their system, the pilot gave him coordinates to their hiding place within the asteroid belt.
The Breaking Dawn had taken heavy damage in the collision with the asteroid belt and fire from the Mulgor. Sophia’s piloting skills had saved them from certain destruction but their ship was beyond repair and barely able to sustain their life support.
Elait’s ship had a much stronger cloaking device that allowed him to sail past the Mulgor undetected. When his ship manifested right outside the windows of the Breaking Dawn, it nearly gave Sophia a heart attack.
But that couldn't compare with the fluttering in her heart at the prospect of meeting her mate for the first time. She hurried to her chambers and fixed her hair and face before picking up Hectosh. Gathering him in her arms, she stood and hurried down the hallway to the entrance of the bride ship.
Elait and his crew came through the entrance hatch and emerged into the hallway of the Breaking Dawn.
Sophia held Hectosh, breathing heavily and barely able to stay on her feet from the intensity of her heartbeat and the excitement in her chest.
When he saw her, their eyes locked. He covered the distance between them in two strides and looked from her to the baby and back again.
Her voice caught in her throat. He was more gorgeous than she could have ever imagined. The holoimages were nothing compared to this man standing before her. The height of him, his broad shoulders, the way he moved. Not to mention his masculine smell. It overpowered her senses and she was instantly light-headed.
For the very first time, they were in the same room, breathing the same air. He reached out to her and touched her shoulder. She looked up at him, her lips parted, her eyes watering with unshed tears of excitement.
In that moment, she knew that she needed him more than anything.
“Prepare your things, we are abandoning the Breaking Dawn.”
The crew of the bride ship hurried into action, packing up their things and readying for abandoning the ship.
Sophia didn't move, she waited for Elait to address her again. Slowly, he turned to look at her, but she still could not make her mouth form the words she so wanted to say. Finally, she spoke.
“This is your son,” she said at a whisper.
She handed the baby to his father and Elait took the child in his arms, clumsily, as if he had never held a baby before. Which of course he had not. A child hadn't been born on Galaton for a hundred years. Elait looked down at Hectosh with wide eyes.
“He is perfect, and strong,” Elait said.
“Like his father,” Sophia said, her voice cracking.
“We must hurry,” he said, reluctantly handing the baby back to her.
She took Hectosh and went to her room, confusion and desperation pounding in her brain. She could feel her desire growing deep in her core. At a time like this she should not be thinking about coupling, but it was all that she could think about.
Her desire for Elait was unbounded. As she threw her things into a bag, visions and her fantasies played across the scree
n of her mind. Sophia shook the thoughts out of her mind and quickly packed hers and Hectosh’s things. She hurried back to the exit hatch of the Breaking Dawn where the crew were all assembled and ready to depart.
The exit hatch opened and they walked through the tunnel that led to Elait’s ship, the Slipstream. When they boarded, she saw that it was a much more technologically advanced vessel than the bride ship. Once the exit hatch had been sealed, Elait addressed her.
“You will come with me,” he said, his voice tight.
“All right,” she said.
He led her down the hall and brought her to his private chambers. There was already a cradle set up for the baby in a side room off the master bedroom.
“Husband,” she started. “It is so good to finally meet you.”
“I have been holding back for so long. It is painful for me to even look at you. But I must first address the crew. Then, my love, we will be together,” he said.
“I need you,” she said, unable to hold back.
“Soon,” he said. “First, I must fully understand how this happened.”
“I was piloting the ship at the time,” she blurted out. “I am the one who piloted the ship away from the Mulgor attack. It is because of me that we are still alive.” She couldn’t lie to him. Not now. Not ever.
“That's impossible,” he said.
“But it's true.”
“What were you doing piloting the ship?”
“The pilot taught me everything he knew about the vessel. He let me fly from time to time when he needed a break. But one day, a Mulgor mothership appeared in the distance and immediately sent fighter jets out to attack us. I thought fast and piloted away as quickly as possible. We took some damage but I was able to outmaneuver them. I then took refuge here in this asteroid.”
“I will have the pilot’s head for this,” Elait growled.
“No! I did this of my own free will. You can’t blame him. He was overworked for almost a year. The only pilot on the ship. And I pestered him every day. I’ve been a pilot all my life. My skills and attitude may be the only reason we are still alive.”