Her Mate's Secret Baby:Interstellar Brides, Book 9(23)

"Your parents keep their plane at the municipal airport," Miranda  reminded me. "I'll call and have it readied to take us to Miami."

The thought had never occurred to me to use my parents' private plane.  Since they were overseas and the plane didn't have that reach, they went  first class on commercial flights. Their jet was just waiting to be  used.

"Thank you," I said to Miranda. "Tell them we'll be there in twenty minutes."





Chapter Thirteen

Roark



I couldn't wait to get off this primitive fucking planet. The ReGen wand  was the only thing keeping me well enough to protect my family and see  us to the transport center. Money spoke here on Earth, just as it did on  Trion. Natalie had not mentioned that she came from wealth. Of course,  we'd had one night together and we hadn't done much talking.

The size of her home, the fact that she had servants to assist her, the  extravagance of the furnishings and art in her home all led me to  believe she was wealthy. But the airplane was something else entirely.

Natalie's jet was small and slow, nothing like the ships used in the  Coalition Fleet, but it was the best they had on Earth. I assumed their  military had better, faster ships, but had no way to know for sure. Nor  did I care. My highest priority was to get my mate and my son home to  Xalia where I could surround her with guards, keep her safe and sleep  beside her every night. The jet was slow, but I was thankful for it now,  knowing I could get Natalie and Noah-and the woman, Miranda, who seemed  to be my mate's second-to the brides program's transport center faster  than by any other means.

An efficient woman, Miranda had arranged for our transportation within  moments. She had driven a large vehicle while Natalie and I sat in the  back next to a large seat Noah was buckled into like a warrior's battle  harness. Natalie said it was a car seat, but since we, too, sat in seats  inside the vehicle, I did not understand the significance. Miranda  drove us the short distance to the airstrip while Natalie ran the ReGen  wand over my wounds, one after another. As soon as the bleeding stopped  in one wound, she would move on to the next. But each time I moved, the  wounds would tear open and the blood would flow.

I needed a ReGen pod. I doubted Warden Egara had such technology  available to her in the processing center. And I would not allow the  primitive human doctors to touch me. They still used steel and primitive  stitches to heal major wounds since they were new to the Coalition and  did not have access to the more advanced tools of the trade . I did not  need to be cut open further. Nor did I wish for a human blood  transfusion, as Natalie suggested. I had no doubt my body would reject  any such efforts by the human doctors.

No. I needed to get my family off this planet. And quickly. If I didn't  get to a ReGen pod, I'd most likely die within a few hours.

I must have blacked out for most of our flight to Miami. When I woke,  Warden Egara stood over me. She had two military brutes with her,  humans, ready to haul me off the airplane.

They lugged me to my feet, cursed at how big I was, but threw their arms  around me and assisted me to the waiting vehicle. Warden Egara was  already in the driver's seat. The vehicle was larger than Natalie's and  all of us piled into the long black vehicle. Inside were four rows of  additional seats. Natalie sat on one and the human men lay me down next  to her, my head in her lap. She ran her fingers through my hair as the  men applied pressure to my wounds.

"Are you guys EMTs?" Natalie asked the dark-skinned man leaning over my  chest. His hair was darker even than mine, a pure black like the deep  shadows of space. His skin was a deep brown, his eyes dark pools I could  not read. He was pushing down on my shoulder and chest, hard, the pain  like a knife blade shoved deep.

"Paramedic," he answered, nodding his head at his friend who leaned over  the back of the seat. The second man applied pressure to the wounds in  my back. "He's a field medic."

Natalie nodded. "Marines?"

The man behind me had skin a pale, pasty white, with bright auburn hair.  They were obviously a different type of human and I wondered at the  difference between all of them in awe. Natalie, with her pale hair and  fair skin, the warden with her dark hair and darker skin. And these two  men, on opposite extremes of color from one another. Once, long ago,  Trion had been more colorful, our people more varied. But over the ages  we had blended into a single race. Our uniqueness now came from breeding  with aliens, like Natalie. People from other planets.

The pale man shook his head and twisted his hand, making me groan in  pain. "No. Army. Used to be." He grunted at me. "Sorry, man. But you're  bleeding like a stuck pig."         

     



 

I had no idea what that meant, but it couldn't be good.

"Used to be?" Natalie asked.

Pale man nodded. "Yeah. Used to be. Now we belong to the Interstellar Coalition."

The dark-skinned man smiled. "Sort of. Usually, we handle supply and  personnel transport between Earth and the Colony. Today is a bit more  exciting."

"What colony?" Miranda piped up from the back as Noah made bubbling,  blowing noises. I imagined him with his chubby little hand in his mouth,  drooling all over her.

"The contaminated," I answered. Everyone in the Coalition Fleet knew  about the planet colonized by Prillon Prime. They sent their warriors  there to live out their days if, during the course of battle, they were  captured and contaminated by Hive technology. The settlement was  originally designed just for Prillon warriors, but as more and more  warriors had trouble assimilating into civilian populations with their  new cyborg implants, the colony's population swelled to include other  races.

"Careful, bro." The dark-eyed man stared down at me and I opened my eyes  to discover the telltale silver ring around his iris. He might have  been human once, but he was more than human now.

"I meant no offense."

"You fight those bastards?"

"Yes. Four years in Sector 843. I have no love for the Hive." I'd  volunteered to serve in the coalition Fleet the morning of my twentieth  birthing day. Four years on a battleship fighting the scourge of the  universe was more than enough. I'd done my time, and summoned my bride,  as was my due.

He stared down at me, sizing me up, until his counterpart broke the  tension. "Mostly, we just do whatever Warden Egara tells us to do."

Natalie looked confused but I didn't have the strength to explain. I would answer all of her questions in time.

"They're my guys. You can trust them." Warden Egara tossed the words  over her shoulder. I ignored all of them, focused on Natalie's fingers  running through my hair and the sound of Miranda cooing to my son in the  backseat as thought of space and war and the Hive drifted from my mind.  If not for my time in the war, I would not have my mate. With Natalie's  loving touch soothing me, I did not regret a single moment of that  hell.

The Warden's movements were calm and efficient as she pulled into the  parking garage of the brides processing center and I wondered about her  history. She was very calm, considering the chaos surrounding her.  Still, Natalie trusted her and I could see love in her eyes every time  she looked at Noah. That meant I trusted her, too.

The warden's man helped me out of the vehicle and onto an elevator. Once  we were all inside, the warden hit a button and the doors slid closed.  She turned to me, addressing me for the first time.

"I would say, Councilor Roark, that it is good to see you again, but it seems you have run into some trouble here on Earth."

"An assassin."

She raised her brow but said nothing as the doors slid open and she led  us to the transport room. The men settled me in a chair as the warden  moved to the control panel. "I need transport codes. This might take a  few minutes."

I sat, slumping to my right and into a position I found most  comfortable. Natalie moved behind me and waved the wand over my back  again, the pain easing slightly. Miranda stood nearby and swayed,  rocking Noah as he looked around with wide, curious eyes. He'd eaten and  fussed on the airplane, then slept the entire flight. I had to hope he  would sleep during transport. The bright light and sensations might  scare him.

Warden Egara spoke to the red-haired man who had joined her at the  controls. "Trion. Xalia's transport center. Set the coordinates."

"Yes, ma'am. They just sent new codes. Five minutes."

"Tell them to prepare a healing pod. He'll need it as soon as we return," Natalie ordered.

"A ReGeneration pod?" The warden looked to me for confirmation of the extent of my injuries. I nodded.

"Tell Doctor Brax to implement my arrival plan, as previously discussed."

She looked at me strangely, but transmitted exactly what I told her.  That done, she looked at me and crossed her arms over her chest, the  calm, efficient woman replaced by a furious female. "Tell me about the  assassin."