Leaving Earth

Daggar Torfa has finally the found the one. The woman that completes him, the other half of his soul. But in the midst of conspiracies to kill him, one that comes close to home and almost succeeds, can he protect her? Only if he can curb her headstrong ways. It turns out the fight of his life may be to claim his mate, not fighting his enemies.

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Daggar Torfa, Overchief of the Warrior Caste of the planet Delroi, wouldn't say he was hiding. He stood in the shadows on the observation deck in the Royal Palace keeping watch over his sister in law, Laney. A job that should have belonged to his brother, but the responsibility fell on Daggar while Alrik was away looking into rumors of rebellion. Laney didn't know he was there and he didn't feel the need to clue her in. She'd overreacted already to their vigilance in watching over her, something that was unavoidable since she carried the heir.

As he watched, the shuttle landed in the bay and its ramp lowered. The baby was due in just a few weeks, two months at most, and his growth in his mother's womb was really starting to be obvious. Laney waddled across the tarmac of the landing bay to greet its disembarking passengers. He grinned. Not that he'd ever tell her she was waddling. He valued his skin too much.

If he felt the slightest pang of envy, he rationalized it was natural and forced it away. What red-blooded Delroi warrior didn't want to see his der'lan, the mate of his heart, heavy with his child? Unfortunately he had neither mate nor impending fatherhood to look forward to.

The number of females born on Delroi dwindled every year, a fact which had prompted them to invade Earth after his scientists assured him the Delroi would find mates there. The invasion of and subsequent treaty with the other planet had, in large part, been successful. The other planet was recovering from its long years of war with the help of the Delroi people. The trade was a bonus, but the real triumph was the number of mated pairs returning to Delroi in the last few months. The women of Earth may save his planet after all. Not that things were going particularly smoothly. The grumbling on Earth had died down to be replaced by complaints on Delroi—that the process wasn't fast enough, that the Warrior caste benefited unequally.

To appease the people of Earth, the process of merging their peoples was cautious going. His detractors claimed it was too slow, purposefully dawdling, and the selection process to rotate to their colonies on Earth was weighted in favor of Daggar's allies. At the same time, very few people had been brought from Earth to Delroi and most of them were male.

But among today's arriving Earth contingent were two single women and he lurked in the shadows, watching with a small seed of hope. He felt different, as if his life would soon take another direction. He'd felt the same when his scientists came to him with the discovery of Earth. Somehow he knew his mate was going to step off this shuttle. Or maybe it was just a desperate wish. Foolish hope. He wanted what his brother had, even if he prayed his own mate would be more manageable.

Finally, people began to disembark. There were several men, from Earth and Delroi, a few women escorted by warriors and finally the two women Laney was waiting for. The first was petite, pretty with long black hair. His gaze dismissed her and zeroed in on the other one. He was overcome by a surge of lust so intense he almost hit his knees. This one, his soul cried out.

She spoke to the other woman as they walked down the ramp and he drank her in with a groan. Blonde, tall, curvy. She was dressed in no nonsense slacks and blouse and walked with a military bearing he couldn't deny. This was Laney's friend, the Army doctor who'd come to help deliver the first Delroi-Earth child, a suspicion confirmed when she reached the other woman and embraced her. Alrik would get a good laugh at his expense given how much Daggar had teased him over the past few months about not being able to control his independent, former-soldier mate. Instinct told him this one wouldn’t be very obedient either. Would she at least privately be sub to his dom? He hoped so.

He abandoned his plan to stay hidden and went to the stairs, taking them two at a time down. When he reached the landing bay floor, he paused and took a deep breath. He needed more of a plan in mind than stalking over and pulling her into the closest empty room. Something told him she'd cause a scene if he tried.

It was Laney's laughter, her obvious pleasure in being reunited with her friends that spurred him into movement. But it was the other one, the blonde doctor, who arrested his attention. Her pinned-up hair was a pale, almost silvery blonde. She was taller than her friends, only a couple inches shorter than six feet. But her height in no way hid her curves, the soft voluptuously feminine body designed to drive a man crazy. To drive him crazy.