Sara could not have said what woke her, but from one second to the next she was sleeping deep and the next wide awake.  Her eyes took in the ceiling above her, a ceiling that had been fabricated in technology that would make the builders of Earth weep. 

In the two weeks since they had arrived on the planet they had built two houses like this one.  Both within an easy walk of each other.  Both close enough to the shore that you could walk off the porch and touch sand.  Both with the help of the guardians. 

The guardians might have left their mortal flesh behind eons ago but they still remembered how to create amazing technological wonders for their new tenants.  Case in point the house Creeg and Sara now resided in on the coast of the Azure Sea.  At least that was the closest translation for the name the guardians had shared with them.

She knew Creeg had woken right after she did even though he was simply holding her as he had all night and saying nothing.  He could see her thoughts now as easily as simply looking.  At times it was a bit much, but most of the time now it just felt right.  Anyone else and she would have gone slowly insane, but sharing her thoughts with her mate now just seemed natural.  Because of that she knew he was giving her time to understand what was bothering her.

Since they had gone to bed with the walls and roof translucent last night she had an unhindered view of both the starry sky and the moonlight reflecting off the waves.  The wall facing the dense jungle they had left opaque as they usually did.  There might be no other people on the planet but that did not mean the wildlife had disappeared as well.  The new inhabitants had learned quickly that curiosity was rampant among their animal neighbors.  It only took one time waking up to see a dozen pairs of eyes glowing out of the darkness to learn to keep the jungle wall solid.

None of that had anything to do with what had woken her.

With the sister moons as bright as they were tonight she did not need lights to see that nothing was amiss in their home or surroundings.  But something…

Sara sat up with a gasp finally remembering what she had heard that awoke her.  She turned to Creeg and shared a look, and the memory with him right before they both stood naked from the bed.

Sara bypassed the sarongs and breezy dresses that she favored on the planet and was already pulling on a clean pair of shipboard tunic and trouser when he finally spoke.

“This could be a trap,” he said grimly, but he was still pulling on his leather armor and weapons.  It made Sara love him just a little more than she had only seconds ago.

She knew he would not believe her until he saw for himself, but she tried to reassure him anyway.  “Ariel would never bait a trap for us, no matter what they did or said.”

Creeg did not answer, but she knew he was still suspicious.  That was fine, as long as he still helped her do what needed to be done, he could be suspicious.

“Do you think Megan heard her too?”  She asked the question and immediately knew someone was approaching the house.  She knew it was her sister and Morax, even before the scents reached her.  There was an air of expectation and nerves coming from Megan, and suspicion from Morax.  They had heard the call and were set on the same course as Sara and Creed were.  Sara sighed in relief.  That would save time.

Creeg just grunted, and headed for the stairs to the front doors.  Sara set her palm against the walls of their house and willed it back to opaque.  Immediately the walls and roof shimmered and slid back to solid, blocking out the view but not the light that still filtered through.

She grabbed the sword Creeg had been helping her practice with and a few other things she might need and headed after her mate.

She looked back at their room once, its spacious airy light filled space had welcomed them almost the instant it was fabricated.  They had very little furniture and they both found they liked it that way.  The ocean and the jungle the only decoration they really needed.  She sighed, she had a feeling their short respite here was over now, and it would be a long while before they made it back.

At the sound of a chime Sara wasted no more time and headed down the stairs.  Creeg was answering the ship to land call as she made it down to them.  Sara went right to her sister and hugged her.  She wanted to ask her how mated life was treating her but she could see for herself that she was blooming.  She nodded at Morax but they all stayed silent listening to the conversation Creeg was having behind her.

“Report,” Creeg commanded.

“This is Crogan,” the call started so that they could all hear it.  “I apologize for waking you Commander, but I thought you should know Benak was running a system diagnostic and ran into a few surprises.

There was a moment and then Creeg growled out, “define surprises.”

“From what we can tell the guardians have made a few upgrades in our systems.”  He paused and then said.  “I think you have to see this for yourself sir.”

Creeg looked at his mate and she shrugged.  “Is Logaan back from his exploring yet?”

“No.  Benak and I had only just returned ourselves.”

“Contact him, we will pick him up on the way.”

Crogan paused and then said with obvious surprise.  “On the way to where?”

Creeg chuffed unhappily.  “My mate and I assume her sister received an invitation this night.  They are needed back on Earth.”

“An invitation,” Crogan came back slowly, voice dripping the same suspicion both Morax and Creeg wore on their unhappy faces.  “From who?”

“Their sister Ariel,” Creeg answered flatly.  “Seems the child has gifts of her own.”

 

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Look for BRAX, The Tellox Book III in 2018 for Ariel’s story.

 

 

Check out www.Kellylucille.com for more books by this author.