Chapter 14

Drake slowly untangled himself from the beautiful creature before him. It had been the most perfect bout of lovemaking he’d ever had the privilege to experience, and he was surprised at how shaky he felt afterwards.

Jamie had passed out, either from overstimulation or exhaustion, and he was content to let her rest for the moment. Running a trembling hand through his tendrils, Drake took a deep breath.

And then he paused, his mouth falling open in shock.

The hand that had risen to brush back his hair was black. He looked down at his body, the proof before him. His entire skin was midnight black.

He’d entered the mating frenzy.

Dammit, he thought. He hadn’t given a thought to the frenzy. He’d thought only of claiming his dear sweet Jamie, of driving all thoughts of another man out of her mind.

And now, he’d brought on the frenzy at the worst possible time. In the middle of unraveling a conspiracy, with the fate of two worlds and maybe countless more hanging in the balance, and he’d gone and fucked himself stupid.

And maybe sentenced himself to death.

Don’t think about now, he told himself, rushing to pull the Hareema suit back around his body. As he slid into it, the gelatinous mess shifted into the image of the nondescript human male he’d been using as his disguise.

He didn’t want to risk Jamie seeing him in this state. She’d ask questions about his skin and he would be forced to explain.

It was clear that he loved her. He’d probably loved her for weeks now, following her around, learning her endearing habits, lusting after her night after night. But once he’d gotten to actually experience her perfection, to feel her tight around him, he realized that his heart was lost.

Now he prayed that didn’t translate into his planet being lost as well.

Jamie couldn’t know how he felt, not yet. She was still engaged to another man, still in pursuit of her missing sister. This was no time to burden her with the mating frenzy.

He would do what he could to stave off the effects and focus on his mission. It had always been a matter of life and death. This particular bump would just accelerate the timeline a little.

Or so he told himself.

Jamie had begun to stir by the time he finished fashioning his suit. She gave him a little frown. “Why are you in disguise again?”

“Because the lock is about to release, little one, and we need to get out of here.”

She sat up, stretching her supple limbs in such a way that his cock began to throb anew. He averted his eyes, breathing deep and concentrating on the way the lights flashed on the consoles. When he glanced over again, she’d pulled her clothes on and was staring at him.

Jamie gave him the most beatific smile he’d ever received and his heart felt like it would burst out of his chest and into flight.

“I can’t say I regret that time lock now,” she said with a cute little giggle.

“Me neither,” he replied, meaning it.

“If I may interject,” Herman said, and Jamie jumped at the noise.

“Oh shit, I forgot he was here,” she said, then covered her mouth with embarrassment.

“What is it, Herman?” Drake asked, hiding his smile.

“Your last stated plan was to search for Dr. Lakewood. Is that correct?”

“Yes.” It made sense to find the researcher. He seemed to be the missing link in the conspiracy.

“Then may I suggest that you bring me along with you? I have a built-in GPS mechanism that is connected to a small chip Dr. Lakewood has inserted under the skin behind his ear. He was worried about some harm coming to him in his final days at this office and set this up as a safety precaution.”

“So you’re saying you can find him for us?” Jamie asked.

“I may be able to help,” Herman hedged. “The GPS has a radius of fifty miles, though, so we will need to be close to him before it will activate.”

“Understood,” Drake said, reaching down to pick up the robot. “We’d be honored if you’d help us along.”

“I wish to find my creator,” Herman replied. “And to save Earth.”

Jamie picked up her oversized handbag and opened it. “Aren’t you glad I brought this along now?”

Her smile was gloating as he placed Herman inside. “Now keep quiet in there, Herman,” she said as she closed her handbag.

Then Jamie was pulling out her phone. “I’ll start looking into flights to Chicago. But I hope you have a plan to sneak our robot friend through airport security.”

“No need,” he said. “We’ll be taking my ship.”

Her eyes widened. “Your ship?”

“Yes. A lightweight scout class ship.”

His original plan had hinged on returning in disguise with the crew in the Earhart. It would have gotten him entry into NASA, and the experience of the Earhart crew would have been invaluable.

But when he’d insisted on the plan, four sets of eyes had glared back at him. It turned out that Captain Brooklyn wasn’t so keen on being separated from her mate. And he’d known that Ontarii had physically restrained himself from punching Drake at the suggestion.

Not to mention the fact that there was already a bump showing how well the mates had gotten on together. Even if he could have convinced Ontarii to allow his mate to undertake this dangerous mission, he didn’t know how they would have been able to explain the accelerated and abnormal pregnancy of the Earhart’s captain.

And then there had been Lieutenant Jeffrey Brunt and his mate, Kat’Chinna Yarr. Although Yarr was a seasoned soldier, she’d taken Brunt as a mate and his seed had sprouted in her belly, a Zantharian-human hybrid growing inside her.

That had meant that half the remaining human crew had no desire to return to Earth at the moment. So instead of bringing the two remaining crewmembers back and having to explain their missing crew, he’d gone alone in a Zantharian ship that was undetectable to human scans.

He’d parked the ship outside the city limits, in an abandoned barn. He’d put warning beacons around the place so he’d know if anyone attempted to disturb it, and so far, it remained undetected. Now he’d use the ship to take them to Lakewood’s lab in a fraction of the time needed by conventional travel.

Despite the swiftness of their ship, he had a sinking feeling that they would not find the scientist in his lab, and likely not anywhere on Earth. Still, they had to try and tie up any loose ends that they could before he sent them on the most dangerous path they could take.

A path that led them to the Hareema prison planet.

Drake repressed a shiver. He had no desire to return to that evil place. But all signs pointed to it being the nexus of the Hareema technological advancement that made them impervious to Zantharian bioenergy.

Still, if he did have to go there, he would go alone. And it was possible he’d never come back.

If the mating frenzy doesn’t take you first, his mind warned. The doors finally unlocked, but it almost felt too late.

Shrugging off his dark thoughts, he put his arm around Jamie as he led her out of the lab and back down the corridor into the main area of the restricted section.

“How are we going to get out of here?” Jamie asked when they reached the security door that led back out into the lobby.

“The same way we got in. Make yourself small and stay behind me. I’ll find a way to distract the guard’s attention so I can turn and keep you invisible while we move towards the elevators.”

Although he sounded confident, Drake wasn’t certain that his plan would work. He shoved open the door, keeping Jamie hidden by slightly angling his body. He was lucky she was such a small little thing, or this plan would never work.

He shifted so she could crouch behind him as he approached the desk. “Hey there,” he said to the security guard sitting behind the desk. “Could you call me a cab? My cell died.”

The guard nodded and picked up the phone. While he was dialing in the numbers, Drake turned, pulling Jamie so that she was in front of him now and hidden by his body. They walked in tandem towards the elevator.

“Your cab is on its way,” the guard called out to him, and Drake gave him a small wave without turning around. He had to reach out to the side to hit the elevator button, and when the doors open, he sidled inside.

He was sure he looked like an idiot, but when the doors closed, it didn’t matter anymore. Jamie was staring up at him with her beautiful green eyes, and just looking at her filled him with such a sense of contentment that he could feel his anxiety beginning to subside.

They exited into the main lobby and the lights were low, the building almost completely empty. Security nodded at them as they passed, and soon they were out on the street.

“I literally cannot believe we pulled that off,” Jamie said, her smile bright enough to light up the entire street. And his heart.

“Me neither,” Drake said with a laugh, placing a tiny kiss on her upturned nose. “Let’s hope nothing happens to make them review their feeds in the next few days.”

“Like noticing a missing robot,” Jamie chimed in, tugging her handbag higher up on her shoulder. “He’s a heavy little bugger.”

A cab pulled up as they exited but Drake grabbed Jamie’s arm and walked them up the street. “I thought you wanted a cab,” she said, confused.

“That was just a diversion. I don’t want a cab to take us to the location of my ship. We don’t need any potential witnesses.”

They turned a corner and Drake led her into a parking garage. There were likely cameras everywhere, but he wasn’t too concerned, not planning a trip back to D.C. anytime soon. He found a late model vehicle with electronic locks and a keyless start and stopped behind the truck.

“You stay here and play lookout,” he told her.

“What are you going to do?” she asked, her eyes wide.

“We’re going to borrow this car.”

“Borrow?” She laughed. “I think the word you’re looking for is steal.”

Drake gave her a smile. “We won’t damage it, and they will be able to recover it fairly easily, I promise.”

Peeling back a portion of the suit that had been designed for just such a purpose, Drake exposed a fraction of his real finger. He let out a tiny flash of his bioelectricity directly into the electronic locking mechanism. The lock popped and he opened the door, motioning for Jamie to climb inside.

Sliding into the driver’s seat, he again used his finger to send a charge into the panel beneath the start button. There was a brief flash, and the car started.

“Neato,” Jamie said while strapping on her seatbelt.

Even the small compliment made his chest swell with pride. You’ve got it bad, he told himself.

Drake maneuvered them out of the lot and onto the streets. He headed towards the state line and the open fields of Virginia. Traffic had thinned out after rush hour and it only took them about a half hour to hit rural roads.

Turning down a gravel road off a two-lane highway, Drake scanned his surroundings, looking for the abandoned barn he’d claimed as a parking spot.

“It’s quiet out here,” Jamie said, her voice small. “And dark.”

“Don’t worry, we won’t be here for long,” he replied, pulling down a road that was little more than an overgrown dirt track. A huge, dilapidated barn yawned in the distance. It had once been the home of a large herd of dairy cows, or so the stink had told him, so it was big enough to hold the Zantharian vessel.

He stopped the car several yards away from the barn, behind a stand of high grass so it wouldn’t be seen from the main road. Then he turned the car off, climbed out, and waited for Jamie to join him in front of the vehicle.

“Spooky,” she said, a little shiver running through her.

Her reaction pushed his protective impulse into overdrive. He wrapped a reassuring arm around her, pulling her close to him, then set off towards the barn.

He had to force the door open, which was as planned, as he’d reinforced it before he’d left. Inside, the gloom hid much of the barn’s interior. Jamie pulled out her phone and set it to flashlight mode, shining it on the large tarp-covered shape in the center of the barn.

Drake removed the tarp, exposing the ship. He then folded the tarp up and brought it with him as he punched in the code to open the ship’s hatch.

“I can’t believe you got this thing in here,” Jamie said. “And kept it hidden.”

“It wasn’t easy, but the fact that most of the roof is missing certainly helped. Not to mention that the tarp is coated with a special Zantharian substance that reflects light in a way that makes it nearly invisible.”

“You think of everything,” she said and he gave her a smile, then motioned for her to board the ship.

Inside he pointed Jamie to the bridge. “We’ll get her up and out of here in no time. Then it’s just fifteen minutes to Chicago.”

“Fifteen minutes?” she breathed. “Why don’t they replace planes with these things, then?”

“Because it required a special Zantharian fuel to be able to travel at those speeds within the Earth’s atmosphere. Fuels on Earth are still too cost-prohibitive.”

“Oh,” she said. “We really are backwards humans to you guys, huh?”

“Not backwards,” he replied, regretting his earlier outburst. “Just not quite as advanced.” He bent to give her another kiss, unable to help himself. “But you humans make up for the lack in other ways.”

“I think I know what other ways you’re talking about,” she said with a smile.

Drake wanted to pull her back into his embrace and not let her go. He wanted to explore every inch of her delectable body again and again.

Instead he strapped himself in at the control console and started punching in coordinates. “Find a seat and fasten yourself in. It’s going to be one hell of a ride.”