Rebel (The Draax Series Book 3) Read online

  Stay cool, Ellis. Stay cool. They’ll go further into the ship. The minute that door closes behind them, you sprint for the cargo hold, lower the door and get the fuck off the ship.

  Easy peasy.

  “Sigan,” that low and sexy voice was speaking again, “are you not joining us?”

  “No. I will sit back here. It is too crowded with all three of us.”

  “Suit yourself.”

  My heart stopped. It just fucking stopped in the middle of a beat and two seconds later, kicked back in. I was trapped. He wasn’t leaving and I was trapped. What the fuck did I do?

  Sit back and enjoy your free trip to Draax?

  I groaned inwardly as the door to the cockpit slid open and then closed. I listened carefully. Maybe the one named Sigan had decided to join them after all. The creak of the seat as he sat quickly killed my hope.

  Adrenaline rushed through my body as the throbbing behind my ear grew steadily worse. I’d never even left Iowa before and now I was about to fly to freaking outer space?

  I was one hundred percent fucked.

  Galan

  Krey flipped the switch to auto pilot and sat back in the seat. “Another couple of hours, and we will be home.”

  I stared at the black nothingness, my stomach still churning from our trip through the jumpgate. Space travel always made me sick, and I stared at the blinking lights on the dashboard of the ship as I shifted in the co-pilot’s seat. “Did you put in the correct coordinates for home?”

  Krey laughed before grabbing the apple he’d bought from the market on the way back to the ship. I did not care for the taste of most Earth food, but Krey loved it. He bit into the red fruit and wiped away the juice from his chin.

  “Yes, Galan. I will return you home safely. Besides, we are in our own solar system, there is no fear of getting lost.”

  I rubbed at my roiling stomach. “The Idalia system is one of the biggest in the galaxy. It would be easy to lose our way.” I indicated to the lights on the ship. “For all I know, we could be in a completely different solar system all together.”

  Krey took another bite of his apple, chewing noisily before swallowing. “The ship’s navigation system has not failed, Galan. We are in Idalia and,” he tapped a light on the dashboard, “headed straight for Draax. I promise.”

  I closed my eyes, waiting for the nausea to settle as Krey said, “You know, if you traveled more by ship, the space sickness would not be so bad.”

  “I do not like traveling by ship,” I said.

  Although I couldn’t see it, I knew Krey was grinning when he said, “You have never enjoyed space travel, not even as a small boy. I thought the mandatory pilot lessons we took when we joined the King’s Guard might have cured you of your fear, but I believe it made it worse.”

  “The simulated crashes that Oren made us endure every single day could be the reason for that.”

  Krey laughed. “They were occasionally… terrifying.”

  I cracked open one eye and stared at Krey. He had finished his apple and he had his feet up on the dashboard of the ship, his fingers interlaced over his flat stomach. “You took to flying right away. Why did you not join the Draax Space Division instead of staying in the King’s Guard? You know that Oren would have put in a good word for you. You were always his favourite student.”

  “I always thought it was you that was his favourite,” Krey said.

  I grinned. “Truthfully, it was probably Quill.”

  Krey nodded. “You are probably right.”

  “Why did you not join?” I asked again.

  “I love piloting a ship,” Krey said, “it is why I volunteer for as many of the trips to Earth as I can, but I love fighting more.”

  I laughed as Krey patted the handle of the sword that was around his waist. “Besides, I am a mediocre pilot at best, but an excellent fighter.”

  “Calling yourself mediocre does not inspire confidence that we will arrive safely home.”

  “Relax, Galan,” Krey said. “You must learn to have faith in me. You do not hear Sigan complaining, do you?”

  I glanced at the door that separated us from the rest of the ship. “Only because Sigan rarely speaks unless necessary.”

  “It is true. Our kadana is a quiet Draax. But excellent at healing our sick.”

  Krey sat up, dropping his feet from the dashboard. “Why did you come on this trip, Galan?”

  “Because our king asked me to,” I said.

  Krey cocked his head. “You have turned down Quill’s requests to go to Earth on many other occasions.”

  I didn’t reply and Krey said, “At first, I assumed it was because you wished to lay with a female. How long has it been? Six moons?”

  “Longer,” I admitted grudgingly.

  Krey shook his head. “Which is why I was so shocked when you disappeared from the Earth bar last evening.”

  I rubbed at the back of my neck. “I am sorry for abandoning you and Sigan like that, Krey. I should have said something before I left.”

  Krey waved his hand at me. “Do not trouble yourself about it. Besides, I handled both the little females after you left.” He grabbed his crotch and gave it a tug. “They were equally sated this morning when I left their bed.”

  “Did Sigan find a female to bed?” I asked.

  “I never asked,” Krey said. “Why did you leave?”

  I just shrugged. Truthfully, I didn’t know why I’d left. For the first time in my life, none of the soft and beautiful human females appealed to me. There were plenty to choose from last night, and while I, as well as Krey and Sigan, refused to offer a bit of gallberry juice as incentive for them to sleep with us, I still would have had my pick of females. There were plenty of human females who were breeding incompatible with us, but still enjoyed taking us to their bed for an evening or two.

  “If it was not to fuck, why did you come on this trip?” Krey asked.

  “I am head of the King’s Guard,” I said. “With Quill’s mate so close to giving birth, he did not want to leave her. It is my duty to take his place at the meeting with Earth’s officials.”

  “True, but more often than not, Teo is happy to go.”

  When I didn’t reply, Krey said, “Do you think this new system with the humans will work?”

  “I believe it will,” I said. “Look how many females have already agreed to work at -”

  “Galan?”

  Sigan’s voice came over the intercom. I pushed the button on the panel next to my head. “What is it, Sigan?”

  “We have a problem. There is some gallberry juice missing.”

  “What do you mean? Did we not deliver all of it to Earth?”

  “I brought a few extra, just in case,” Sigan said. “I was going over inventory and the case has two bottles missing.”

  I glanced at Krey who shrugged. “I did not take it.”

  I stood up, stretching my spine and ignoring the nausea in my stomach. Maybe I would grab some gallberry juice from the extra case. “I am on my way.”

  I frowned when Krey stood as well. “Where are you going?”

  “Relax, Galan.” Krey clapped me on the back. “Auto pilot, remember?”

  I grimaced but didn’t say anything as Krey followed me to the back of the ship. Sigan was standing beside a grey shipping container. I peered inside, studying the empty spots where the bottles should have been.

  “Maybe the case was not filled completely,” Krey said.

  “I checked them myself before we left Draax,” Sigan said.

  “Well, they did not simply grow feet and walk away,” Krey said. “They must -”

  “Quiet.” My voice was low, but Krey stopped talking immediately, his hand dropping to his sword.

  I had heard something, the smallest scrape of metal against metal and I stared at the door of a small storage space to my right. I withdrew my sword and Krey did the same. I stepped in front of the door, holding my sword in my right hand as I nodded to him.

  Movin
g quietly, he approached the door and eased his tail around the handle. He jerked it open at my nod and a young human male fell out of the narrow space and onto the floor at my feet.

  Before he could scramble to his feet, I held my sword at his throat. “Slowly, human.”

  He stood up slowly. He was wearing the rough pants that humans called jeans and a sweater that was too big. It zipped up at the front to his chin, and he had the hood up and pulled shut so that only his face was visible.

  His clear blue eyes were clouded over with pain and sweat poured down his face. His features were delicate, almost feminine-like, and he made a low groan of pain, biting down on his full bottom lip as he pressed one hand to the side of his head.

  “Who are you?” My voice was cold, and I pressed against his chest with the tip of my sword. “Why are you on our ship?”

  The male was wearing a backpack and as he shifted on his feet, his hand still pressed against his head, I heard the distinct clink of bottles.

  “I guess we found our thief,” Krey said. He studied the man as Sigan moved closer to get a better look. “Do you know what we do with gallberry juice thieves, boy?”

  The human opened his mouth and I stepped back as he vomited onto the floor.

  “Krono!” Krey skittered back and stared at his own feet in disgust. “Ugh, there is vomit on my boots now. What is wrong with you, human?”

  “He does not understand you,” Sigan said. “Not without a translator.”

  The male wiped his mouth with a shaking hand, and I grunted in surprise when he made a high-pitched scream and grabbed at his head. His eyes rolled back in his head and he crumpled to the ground.

  “Sigan, stay back” I said when the kadana knelt beside the earth male.

  Sigan ignored me, peeling back the human’s eyelid and studying his pupil. “There is something very wrong with this human.”

  “There is vomit on my boots,” Krey repeated.

  Sigan gave him an impatient look as he stood and crossed the room to a metal cabinet. “Galan, put the human on the table.”

  I sheathed my sword and crouched, sitting the human up. I took the backpack off of him, leaving it on the floor of the ship, before sliding one hand around his back and another under his thighs. I lifted him, frowning at how light he was, and carried him to the table. The ship was too small to have an infirmary, but the cabinet Sigan was rifling through was stocked with a few basic medical supplies, as well as bags of gallberry serum in intravenous form.

  I laid the unconscious human on the table as Sigan joined me. He had a pleirdox in his hand and he ran the small silver box over the human’s body and up past his head. He stared at the screen and frowned. “The human is burning up from fever. He will die if we do not get him cooled down.”

  He pushed another button on the screen. “He has some sort of infection, but I do not know what. The pleirdox does not recognize it and nothing is coming up from my database of Earth infections. Krey, bring me a needle and a bag of serum.”

  “Will the serum help?” I asked.

  “It should,” Sigan said. “I do not know this type of infection, but the gallberry plant cures everything in humans.”

  “Why are we wasting gallberry serum on a thief?” Krey asked.

  I frowned at him and he held his hands up. “Just a question.”

  “Bring Sigan his supplies, Krey.”

  Krey walked toward the cabinet as Sigan pushed a button on the pleirdox. A screen popped up in mid-air and Sigan read the information printed on it. “Perhaps, it is some kind of infection that only Earth males can get. I mostly have studied the female humans.”

  He glanced at the human. “Galan, remove his outerwear, please. We must get him cooled down as quickly as possible.”

  As Sigan scrolled through the screens of the pleirdox, I untied the laces holding the hood tight and pulled down the zipper. The hood loosened and I might have been surprised by the long blonde hair that was now visible, if I hadn’t been distracted by the white bandaging wrapped around the male’s upper chest.

  “Sigan, look at this,” I said. “It looks like he was previously injured. Perhaps that is the cause of the infection?”

  Sigan moved forward and studied the bandaging. “I do not see any blood or smell any signs of infection.”

  He reached into his pocket and produced a pair of small, sharp scissors as Krey returned with the gallberry serum. Sliding the scissors between the bandaging and the human’s flesh, Sigan carefully cut his way upward. He snipped the last of the bandage and the material slid down to pool on the table.

  The breath whooshed out of my lungs in a harsh rush and I heard Sigan’s grunt of surprise.

  Krey leaned over my shoulder and stared at the unconscious human. “Krono, is that…”

  “Yes,” I said as I stared at a set of small, pert, and utterly perfect breasts. “The human is female.”

  Chapter Two

  Galan

  Krey had barely set the ship down on the landing pad outside of the castle, before Sigan was opening the door to the cargo hold. “I will return with a stretcher.”

  I picked up the small female carefully. “I will carry her to the infirmary. It is faster.”

  I followed Sigan through the maze of corridors to the infirmary, nodding to the Draax we passed and ignoring their curious glances at the female.

  “Put the female on the bed,” Sigan instructed as we stepped into the infirmary. The castle that we both called home was massive in size and the infirmary was large enough to house a dozen beds.

  “She is still feverish.” I set her down on the closest bed. I could feel the heat radiating from her pale skin. I brushed her hair away from her face, studying her delicate features.

  She was much too thin, the skin on her cheeks stretched tight and her body barely heavier than a maluken’s. I wondered when she’d eaten last.

  “Why is the serum not helping?” I said.

  “It is,” Sigan said. He was crossing the infirmary, turning on lights and various machines. “She is still alive, is she not? Without the serum, she would be dead. There is something very wrong with the human.”

  My stomach clenched in an odd manner at the thought of the small female dying. My tail flicked agitatedly. Why should I care if she lived or died?

  “Can you find out what is wrong?” I said.

  “Now that we are home, yes.” Sigan went to lift the female off the bed and I put my arm out to block him.

  He frowned at me. “Galan, I must get the human into the scanner immediately.”

  “I will carry her.”

  “Fine by me. I have never met a human female who smells so terrible,” Sigan said.

  Sigan was right – the little female did smell terrible – but I ignored the smell and carried her fragile body to the scanner. I set her down and Sigan straightened her limbs before locking her wrists and ankles to the bed.

  “In case she wakes,” he said. “It is doubtful, she is barely clinging to life as it is, but if she did wake and thrashed around, my scans would be ruined.”

  I stepped back and watched as Sigan turned on the hrotti connected to the scanner. He typed rapidly and the scanner hummed to life. A long silver wand connected to the top of the scanner swept the human’s body from her head to her toes. Her pale skin glowed in the blue light as the wand made another sweep.

  The machine quieted and a hologram screen popped up above the hrotti. Sigan studied it before making a grunt of satisfaction.

  “What?” I said. “What is it?”

  “Move her back to the bed, Galan.” Sigan returned to the long counter at the back of the infirmary and rummaged in a cupboard above the counter.

  I unlocked the cuffs around her wrists and ankles and returned the female to the bed, easing her onto it with infinite care. Her face was pale and her breathing incredibly shallow.

  “She is barely breathing,” I said.

  “I know.”

  Irritation washed over me. Sigan was b
eing slow and callous with the human’s fate and I didn’t like it.

  “Tell me what is wrong with her,” I said.

  He glanced at me, surprise showing on his face. My tone was angry and that wasn’t like me, but my worry for the little human made me feel odd.

  “Sigan?” The door behind us opened. “I’m here for my… Galan? What’s wrong? Why is your tail whipping back and forth like that?”

  I turned and bowed. “My queen.”

  She rolled her eyes. “How many times do I have to tell you to call me Sabrina? This ‘my queen’ shit is getting old.”

  “My queen,” Sigan said with perfect timing and bowed from his spot by the counter. “Forgive me, but I will need a few extra minutes before beginning your scan.”

  “That’s fine,” Sabrina said. “Quill is supposed to be joining us and he’s somewhere with… whoa. Is that a human?”

  She hurried forward and peered around me. “Who is this? I don’t recognize her from the database of women we hired.”

  “She is a thief,” Sigan said.

  I grimaced. “We found her aboard our ship shortly before we arrived home, hiding in the storage space.”

  “She had stolen two of our bottles of juice,” Sigan said.

  “Seriously?”

  Sigan nodded as he joined us.

  “What’s wrong with her?” Sabrina said. “She looks and smells awful.”

  “She is dying,” Sigan said. He was back at the hrotti and he pushed a few buttons. “She has a cancerous tumour on her spine. A few more moons and the tumour will constrict her spinal cord and paralyze her.”

  “Oh my God,” Sabrina said. “That’s terrible.”

  “Indeed,” Sigan said. “It appears to be quite an aggressive form. The scanner indicates it has already spread to her lungs. It will take a large amount of juice to heal her.”

  He frowned at the hrotti screen before pushing a few more buttons. “Humans are so fragile. So many of you seem to have this cancer disease.”

  “Poor thing,” Sabrina said. “No wonder she’s so thin and pale.”