Alien Overnight (23 page)

“You’d better believe it.” Monica scowled back. “And if you want to keep him alive, Sir, you’d better let me off this interstellar pimpmobile.
Now
.”

“That would be most unwise, daughter.”

“Tough shit! I’m ready to be out of here.” Then her eyes narrowed. “And don’t you
daughter
me. You let them do this to me!”

“Do what to you?” He looked incredulous.

“Let them…”
Fuck me
? No way could she say that to him. “Let them…”

What could she point to? What
had
they done to her, after all, that she hadn’t ultimately enjoyed? Except
this
, opened up this yawning chasm in her chest that she feared would never be filled again. “They made me—” Tears clogged her throat and she had to turn away before she broke down in front of him.

They made me love them
,
and it hurts so damn bad
!

“They hurt me!” she finally managed to croak.

123

Robin L. Rotham

“I find that difficult to believe.” He didn’t sound so cocky now and Monica whirled to face him, let him see the tears streaming down her cheeks.

“Well, believe it.” Her voice was unsteady and Cecine frowned.

“Daughter…” He took a step toward her and she backed up.

“My name is Monica.”

Cecine held out his long hands in a gesture of supplication. “Monica, there is only one reason I can think of that Kellen and Shauss might have…acted in a manner you would consider distasteful. I’m certain they didn’t intend to hurt you.”

Her head tilted as she looked at him. What in the hell was he talking about? “I’m listening,” she said brusquely.

“Will you sit?”

Since he’d phrased it as a question, she dropped into a chair and waited. She almost winced when he settled into her spanking chair.

“Has Kellen revealed anything of our pre-attack culture?”

“No. Was he supposed to?”

“No, he wasn’t. Not until we leave Earth’s orbit.”

“Well, he’s been a good little soldier, then.”

His eyes narrowed at the sarcasm, but he let it pass. “Yes, he has, and probably much to his own detriment. Perhaps if you’d realized the kind of treatment he and Shauss received at the hands of our females, you might have been more receptive to their…demands.”

Demands. Oh yeah, they’d made plenty of those, and she’d been way more than receptive.

“Treatment?” The word suddenly caught up with Monica and fear bubbled within her. “What kind of
treatment
are you talking about?”

“Our pre-attack society was matriarchal, Monica. Females ruled with iron fists and they used sex as a weapon to control their mates, indeed, all the males within the society. As if they needed another weapon,” he added wearily.

Shock rippled through her, and disbelief along with it. Kellen and Shauss, ruled by females? The idea was almost ludicrous. She’d never known two males more alpha by nature.

Our females could
,
and quite often did
,
pleasure themselves and each other while we waited
on them for relief
… Kellen’s words suddenly held ominous new meaning.

“I see you grasp the import of this truth, my dear,” her father said. “And before you begin your diatribe about females being just as qualified to reign as males, let me assure you that our society functioned well for nearly a thousand years as a matriarchy. It wasn’t until our leaders began taking their power for granted, and then abusing it more with each passing year, that the situation became untenable. Rebellion among the males was growing, although to voice opposition to female leadership was to take one’s life 124

Alien Overnight

into one’s own hands. Despite the fact that they relied on males to protect and serve them, the punishments they meted out for infractions of both recorded law and household rules were swift and severe.”

Monica’s head was spinning. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

“Hardly. If it had become known that I…” Cecine grinned ruefully. “Let me put it this way—I would have been executed if word of my liaison with your mother had reached Garathan.”

Executed
?

“And although our brief time together was more than worth dying for, your mother would probably have suffered the same fate if I’d tried to see her again. My mate still lived then, and while she no longer had any use for me in her bed, she would not have stood for my finding relief elsewhere. Vindictive doesn’t begin to cover the nature of some of the females of that era. If I had known conception was possible…” He sighed and shook his head. “I would still have had to stay away, for your protection as well.”

“You loved her.”

“Yes, I did. Cecilia was lovely and kind and so very giving.” He cleared his throat.

“Of course, since I’d told her I could never return, I expected—hoped, even—to find her happily mated to another. Hearing of her death was painful.”

“She named me after you, didn’t she? Monica Sessienne. My grandparents

pronounced it Sess-ee-EN.”

His smile was nostalgic. “Obviously spelling didn’t make our very short list of must-dos. She was amazing.” He sobered. “As are you, daughter. Monica. You please me greatly.”

There was no holding back the tears this time. Her face crumpled at his words, but she couldn’t stop looking at him. “I do?” she choked out.

“You do. Like nothing else ever has.”

“But you don’t even know me.”

“Oh, but I do. I’ve been watching you closely since the day Kellen claimed you.”

“Oh yeah? How? I never saw you.”

He smiled mysteriously. “We have our ways. There is much to love about you, Monica, but it’s your compassionate heart that pleases me most. That and your courage.” She had to look away at that. If only he knew. “You’ve spent your life turning adversity into opportunity, and despite being abandoned, you have devoted yourself to protecting and caring for others. These are the marks of a true leader.”

Her nose prickled as tears threatened again and she sniffed. God, he made her sound like Gandhi, but she felt more like a snot-nosed kid. Where was a tissue when you needed one?

“I regret that you knew so little of love in your growing years, my child. May I?” He held out his arms and she hesitated only an instant before launching herself into them.

125

Robin L. Rotham

Her father held her tightly while she cried, and the joy of it, chafing roughly against the pain of giving up Kellen and Shauss, only made her cry harder.
Oh
,
Kellen
!

“Kellen is a good man, Monica, wise and very controlled.” He pulled back slightly and looked at her. “I selected him to administer Narthan’s punishment because I knew I could trust him to exercise restraint in targeting only specified areas for destruction.”

Monica’s brow furrowed as she wiped her eyes with her fingers. “I thought he just toasted the whole planet.”

“It suits our purposes for Terrans to believe that.” He smiled grimly. “No, we sent out a planetary bulletin five days beforehand to allow for the evacuation of Narthan’s three largest cities, as well as all their military installations and long-range spacecraft, before we destroyed them. We wanted to forestall any future attempts to finish us off.”

Wow. Now she felt pretty smart for not being able to think of Kellen as a mass murderer.

“Part of the reason for our leniency—”

That was leniency
?

“Was the suspicion that seditious Garathani males might have been instrumental in delivering the virus.”

“Holy shit, you’ve got to be kidding me! They helped wipe out half of their own population?”

“It’s never been proven, but we haven’t come up with any other explanation for the simultaneous appearance of the virus in eighteen of our major population centers.”

“That’s just heinous,” Monica murmured.

“Indeed. But the point I’m making is that there is no one I trust more than Kellen.

And Shauss is one of his most trusted men.” It dawned on Monica that she was still sitting on her father’s lap. Self-conscious, she tried to move away, but he held her fast.

“Will you tell me how they have hurt you? Perhaps we could sort all this—”

“Minister…” His look said he would have preferred a different title, but she plowed ahead, “This isn’t something that can be sorted out. Honestly. Shauss himself has already decided to annul the bond.”

Cecine practically dumped her onto the floor in his surprise. He grabbed her hands just before her butt hit the floor and hauled her back up. “You must be mistaken.”

“I’m not. Ask him.”

Monica waited, her heart in her throat, while he lost focus, concentrating on whatever was going on in his head. His frown told her Shauss was making it official, and it was all she could do not to break into fresh sobs.
Shauss
!

“I see.” He looked at her intently. “And there’s no way the bond with Kellen can be salvaged? Shall I contact him, as well?”

“No. He won’t agree, but I don’t see how I can ever…” She couldn’t finish, just sat there shaking her head while her heart crumbled into dust.

126

Alien Overnight

“Well, I suppose there’s nothing I can do but set aside your bond,” he said heavily.

“I hope you’ll still accompany us?”

“Of course.” She leaned in and kissed his cheek. “I wouldn’t miss it. Although I’d just as soon not run into Kellen or Shauss any more often than I have to.”

“I’ll see to it.”

“Thank you…Father.”

“Daughter.” He set her down and stood. “I’d say I was happy to help you in this, but it would be a lie.”

Monica cracked a small grin. “You’ll get over it.”

His response wiped it right off her face.

“Ah, but will you?”

*

“What do you mean, she’s
gone
?”

Kellen swayed, overcome by the phenomenon Terrans called déjà vu. His voice sounded as if it came from very far away, perhaps even from some other mouth.

Considering the question, he could only hope it did.

“I annulled my daughter’s bond with you and Lieutenant Shauss,” the minister repeated. He stood at the view field in one of the Council’s conference chambers, staring down at the darkened surface with his arms crossed over his chest. “She was transported back to the compound an hour ago.”

Kellen’s ears were ringing now, and he wondered if he were about to have some sort of brain attack.
Monica is no longer my mate
. His mouth opened, working silently for several seconds before his vocal cords finally engaged. “I realize that Shauss wanted out of the bond. I’ve been trying to convince him to give it time. But may I ask why you…”

He choked on the words.

“She wasn’t happy with you.”

“Wasn’t…” Now he knew he was having a brain attack. Little starbursts of light were exploding at the edges of his vision and he was having difficulty drawing air into his lungs. He blinked to try to clear his sight, but the flashes remained and the ringing in his ears got worse. His stomach was pitching wildly, and for a second he flashed back to the moment when an inertial dampener had failed during his takeoff in one of the surface pods. This was exactly the same sickening sensation—twenty gs and a hefty dose of panic.

“Of course she was happy!” he declared unevenly, trying to get his bodily responses under control.

Cecine turned to him then.

“So tell me, Commander. If she was so happy, why was she crying in my arms as if her heart was breaking?”

127

Robin L. Rotham

“What did you say to her?” Kellen demanded.

“I?” Cecine looked affronted. “She said
you
’
d
hurt her.”

“Hurt her!” His heart pounded. “On my oath, Minister, I would never hurt any female, much less one I—” Oh merciful Peserin, he’d fallen in love with her.

Terrifyingly, painfully in love. With Monica, his little Terran—who was no longer his.

“One you…?”

Kellen blinked. “One I adore so completely,” he said hoarsely. “I must speak with her, find out why she’s done this.”

“Ah, Kellen.” Cecine shook his head. “As much as this grieves me, I must forbid it.”

“No! Minister, I beg of you, please do not do this.”

“I cannot do otherwise. She is my daughter.” He turned back to the window. “I’ve already contacted marital liaisons on Garathan and arranged for your bond with a full-blood Garathani maiden who will come of age in two point two years. I know this is poor compensation for your loss—”

“Compensation!” Kellen shouted. “I don’t want compensation. I want Monica.”

“Control yourself, Commander, or you will be relieved of duty until such time as you are able to.”

Kellen automatically assumed a respectful posture, stiff and cold, and gave a short nod. Then he turned on his heel and left without another word.

128

Alien Overnight

Standing in the darkness backstage, Monica wiped her clammy palms on her lab coat and drew a couple of deep, cleansing breaths. Jesus, she hadn’t had stage fright like this since she played a little old lady in the second-grade pageant. Back then, the shaking hands and quivery voice had stood her in good stead, made her super-believable when facing the evil landlord who wanted to throw her out on her ear. Now it just made her look like a super-wimp.

She
was
a super-wimp. She’d hidden out in her room for the last three days, licking her wounds and drowning her sorrows in root beer floats that Shelley brought from the snack bar twice a day. Though she couldn’t really take all the blame for that—Alliance leaders had decreed that she remain out of sight until they decided how to explain her existence to the Earth’s populace. But now the matter had been taken out of their hands and she was being trotted out in front of the candidates in an effort to keep any more of them from jumping ship.

Project confidence
,
Monica
!
You are now the planet
’
s foremost authority on the
Garathani
—
act like it
!

Her father was out there right now, finally laying it all on the line for the candidates. Although over a hundred of them had already left the compound, eight hundred and twenty sat in the cavernous auditorium, stirring restlessly as Cecine did some fast talking to counteract the anti-Garathani propaganda that had flooded the nation practically overnight. Whoever was behind the media blitz had woven just enough truth into the allegations for them to be dangerously effective.