Fighting Chance (17 page)

When the crowd quieted once more, he announced, “There is
one last person I wish to honor today.” The crowd grew silent with
anticipation. “Katsuko Mahoney R’Varsel, step forward!”

She shot a panicked look to Mikael, but he resolutely pushed
her forward toward the king. A feeling of anticipation rippled through the
crowd as the human female warrior stepped into the spotlight. Korian gave her
an encouraging smile and she returned it wobbly.

His voice booming across the arena, Korian began, “Never in
the history of T’Kala has there been a female or off-worlder warrior among our
ranks. This distinction has long been bestowed upon T’Kalan men who trained and
earned the right to wield our blades and fight for our world to keep us safe.
Within two weeks aboard
The Ax’Sandre
, Katsuko Mahoney turned our
tradition on its head and proved that a female could not only fight as hard and
skillfully as a T’Kalan warrior, but that she could also best them and bring
them to their knees.”

“I can vouch for that!” Zandar called out, much to the amusement
of the crowd.

Korian chuckled before continuing, “Katsuko Mahoney, for
your courage in the face of the unknown, your ingenuity in the heat of battle,
and unflinching loyalty to your commander and crew, I name you T’Kalan warrior
and Lieutenant Commander of the royal airship
The Ax’Sandre.
”

Mahoney was stunned, but the rest of the arena erupted into
wild cries and cheers. As Korian affixed the two-star pin to her chest, the
warriors behind her, including Mikael, clicked their heels together, slammed their
fists over their hearts, and shouted, “HOO-AHH! LIEUTENANT COMMANDER MAHONEY!”

This signaled the end of the ceremony and the crew converged
on the overwhelmed human who still didn’t seem to understand what had happened.
Mikael dragged her into his arms for a fierce kiss while the warriors pounded
her on the back and Felonia and Jessica elbowed their way through the crowd to
give her tight hugs. The crowd dispersed and headed toward the entertainment
hall where a huge feast was laid out in their honor, and the crew followed
along happily, their voices raised in jocularity and celebration while showing
off their medals to each other.

When it was just Mikael and Mahoney left on the stage, he
pulled her away from his chest and was surprised to see tears streaming down
her face. His eyebrows creased in concern, he used his large thumb to brush the
moisture away from her cheek.

“Why do you cry, little warrior? Are you not happy with your
reward?” he asked, worry coloring his voice.

She cried harder and touched the shiny pin on her chest. “I
am just so overwhelmed, Mikael. This is more than I expected, and above what I
deserve.”

His face grew stern as he gripped her shoulders lightly. “As
Captain of the royal airfleet, I approve all officer appointments. I would not
have approved this title did I not think you deserved it. Now, dry your tears,
Lieutenant Commander Mahoney,” he growled. “Warriors do not cry.”

She laughed through her tears and threw her arms around his
neck. “As you wish, husband, so shall it be granted.”

THE END

Keep reading for a sneak peek of the next book in the
Star-Crossed Lovers series called “ACTING OUT,” the story of Jessica and
Korian!

CHAPTER ONE

“Ouch! That hurt, dammit!” Jessica MacGregor snarled.
“You’re really starting to piss me off!”

She barely ducked out of the way of the fist swinging toward
her face and countered with a blow to her attacker’s midsection. She growled in
frustration when her assailant only ducked out of the way to taunt her before
coming back with another attack.

“Don’t focus on your anger. Emotions can be deadly in
combat. You have to concentrate on my body language and predict where the next
attack is coming from,” Mahoney, her best friend and all-around badass,
answered her sternly. “If you get mad, or scared, or panic, you
will
get
hurt. Now, assume the position and we’ll go one more time.”

Jessica groaned loudly, but gamely faced off with the taller
woman. Mahoney was doing her a favor, after all, in teaching her the
fundamentals of self-defense and basic fighting techniques after Jessica had
begged her to teach her how to fight. Of course, the favor had been extracted
during a time when things were pretty normal for them. Jessica, as an
up-and-coming actress shooting an action movie, had begged Mahoney, her stunt double
and accomplished martial artist, for lessons in fighting so she could do more
of her own stunts. While Mahoney had initially been reluctant, she had quickly
changed her tune when their lives changed irrevocably only moments later when
they had both been kidnapped from her trailer on set.

Secretly, Jessica found it more than ironic that she had
been in the middle of shooting an alien invasion movie when they had been
kidnapped by actual aliens. Thankfully, these aliens hadn’t resembled the
snarling, deformed creatures of CGI from her film, but instead, were very human
in appearance save for the coppery shimmer of their skin and the ghostly, pale
irises of their eyes. And they were also big, muscled, and more handsome than
they had any right to be. The commander of the expedition, Mikael, was
especially drool-worthy with his chiseled body, black beard, and easy smile. He
had been immediately fascinated by the fierce Mahoney and her fighting skills,
and had claimed her as his prize when his real mission had been to retrieve
Jessica by orders of his king. Jessica had watched with glee as Mahoney finally
met her match in the warrior commander, and had fallen in love despite her best
efforts to the contrary.

Mahoney’s realization that she loved Mikael almost came too
late, however. When they were only hours away from landing on his home world of
T’Kala, their ship was attacked by their enemies, the Warfarers, who had stolen
cloaking technology and boarded their vessel. The attack was fast and vicious,
and the outcome would have been even worse had Mahoney not used her fighting
skills and quick thinking to program the training bots for combat. Because of
her intervention, there were only 5 T’Kalan warriors lost to the stars, and
many more injured. The most grievous injury was to Mikael himself when he
pushed Mahoney out of the path of a Warfarer blade and took it himself through
his stomach. Jessica had never seen her friend as wrecked emotionally during
the fraught days of his healing once they reached the home world and the
hospital. While Mahoney had held vigil at Mikael’s bedside, Jessica had kept
herself busy by visiting the other recovering warriors and eagerly absorbing
all the information she could get on the alien world and its inhabitants.

The one alien she was most interested in, however, was the
very one who had been avoiding her for days. Korian Ak’Falin, warrior king of
the world of T’Kala, had been the whole reason for her abduction, and she was
eager to find out more about the young, mysterious king. She understood from
Mikael that she had been taken in order to distract the frivolous noble class
who had recently become enamored of her first blockbuster movie,
Taking Heat
.
It had been a coup for her to land the part of a young, female detective who
became the target of a serial killer. The lead character had been her first
serious role, and it had garnered her multiple awards and increased fame. Apparently,
the rich nobles of T’Kala were able to afford the technology to pick up
broadcasts from other worlds, and Earth movies were rare and of particular
interest since Earth was mysterious and not yet part of the Great Alliance.
Korian’s plan was to use Jessica as a distraction for the nobles in order to
buy the time to ferret out who was behind the machinations to remove him from
the throne.

That plan was now up in the air after the surprise attack
from the Warfarer ship. The stolen cloaking tech could potentially be
disastrous for them as a world if the enemy were to use it to launch another
attack on T’Kala. Now, instead of focusing on the internal threat to his
throne, the king was himself distracted by the looming threat of attack from
off-world. Though Jessica could see how the situation would keep the king busy,
it still rankled her that she had been left alone on a strange planet to amuse
herself while the king was busy elsewhere.

“Hands up higher, Jess!” Mahoney barked as she advanced on
the shorter, red-headed beauty. “Now, watch my body and try to anticipate where
I will strike.”

Jessica clenched her jaw in concentration and studied the
strong, muscled body of her friend closely. When Mahoney’s fist swung toward
her face, she instinctively raised her forearm to block the strike and circle
Mahoney’s arm until she had the taller woman’s elbow extended in an arm lock.
Before she could counter the move, Jessica pulled her attacker toward herself
and kicked her in the stomach. Even though it felt like kicking a concrete
wall, Jessica was still gratified to hear Mahoney’s grunt of pain and she
danced back away from the female warrior until she was out of the strike zone.

“Oh, yeah! How you like them apples, Mahoney? Boo-yah,
bitch!” Jessica crowed, her lips stretched wide with triumph while she pumped
her fists in the air like Rocky.

Mahoney shot her a dirty look, but her lips quirked with a
smile. “Much better, Jess, but if you call me a bitch again, I’ll forget that
we’re friends and introduce your face to the wall.”

Jessica laughed and retrieved her
zala
berry-infused
water, a T’Kalan favorite drink. It tasted like a mix of strawberries and
grapes, and according to Ax’Sandre (Mikael’s mother), the fruit had natural
electrolytes and energy-enhanced properties. Mahoney joined her and the two
friends propped up the wall while they got their breath back.

“So, how has it been living in the king’s compound?” Mahoney
asked after a moment of comfortable silence. “This place is so huge that I
would get lost just trying to find the bathroom.”

Jessica snorted with unladylike censure. “Please, there is
no chance of getting lost in this place. I am ‘escorted’ everywhere I go by a
warrior, and even if that wasn’t the case, the king has one of those delightful
computer systems that scares the crap out of me like the one on the ship. I
can’t complain too much, though. I’ve learned a lot about this world in the
past three days of my captive boredom.”

Mahoney arched a narrow, black eyebrow. “The king has you
under surveillance? Do I need to talk to Mikael about this?”

“Nah,” Jessica forestalled her friend, completely unworried.
“They’re all really nice and respectful and they aren’t intrusive. Besides,
since you and Mikael have become ‘lifemates,’ you’re now a citizen of T’Kala
and the king is now
your
king. No sense in making any more waves than
our arrival has done already.”

Mahoney nodded in agreement and replied, “Still, Korian has
to know that your 30 days are ticking away before T’Kalan law requires him to
return you home, so you would think that he would get his ass in gear on moving
forward with his grand plan.”

Before Jessica could reply, a knock sounded at the door of
the training room they were utilizing in the king’s compound. The door opened
and a young T’Kalan warrior by the name of Mantor stuck his head inside. He had
been her usual escort for the past three days and they had become friendly
enough with each other for her to wave him inside with a smile.

“Hey, Mantor! What’s up?” the young actress inquired of the
large, muscle-bound soldier.

The warrior offered her a charming smile and then a
warrior’s salute to his comrade-in-arms, Mahoney, by clasping his fist to his
heart. Mahoney returned the gesture smartly and waited for him to continue.
“Sorry for the interruption, Miss MacGregor, but I have a message for you from
the king.”

Jessica and Mahoney traded loaded looks before she turned
back to him and replied, “First of all, for the hundredth time, call me
Jessica. Secondly, we were already done training, so there is no interruption.
Thirdly, what’s the message?”

Mantor just shrugged and held out a small envelope for
Jessica to take from his hand. She quickly opened the envelope and scanned the
message inside before she met Mahoney’s openly curious gaze. “He wants me to
have dinner with him tonight. In his rooms,” she explained, her sapphire blue
eyes wide with apprehension.

Mahoney smirked and teased, “What was it you said to me on
the ship again? Something about getting some alien
strange
? And if the
same thing holds true for all T’Kalan warriors, then I can assure you that his
dick will indeed be as big as the rest of him.”

Jessica’s pale skin lit up with a mortified blush as Mantor
barked out a laugh at Mahoney’s crude words. “As a T’Kalan warrior myself, I
can attest that the assumption is generally correct.”

Jessica rolled her eyes and made a rude gesture to both of
them. “Yeah, well, if I am indeed going to get any alien strange, then it won’t
be the freaking king of all people. That’s just a little too pressure to put on
a poor little Earthling like me. Now Zandar on the other hand…” she trailed
off, waggling her eyebrows at her friend.

Mahoney just rolled her eyes and began to walk toward the
door. “Don’t hold your breath on that score, Jess,” the half-Japanese woman
warned her. “If I have learned one thing about T’Kalan warriors, it’s that they
are very territorial when it comes to their captives. Don’t be surprised if you
find that Korian will want to keep you close.”

Mantor, apparently feeling more at ease with the casual
banter between friends, interjected, “I have to agree with Lieutenant Commander
Mahoney, Miss MacGregor. Just the thought of my lifemate, Jaxon, around another
man makes me want to pull my blade. It is my relief that he works as a teacher
of younglings and has little contact with other males who may covet him.”

Jessica’s eyebrows flew up her forehead. She wasn’t sure why
it hadn’t occurred to her that same-sex partnerships were just as likely on
T’Kala as it was on their own world. From his matter-of-fact admission, paired
with his military training, it was also apparently a non-issue on this world.
She recovered herself quickly, though, and replied tartly, “Well, I’m not the
king’s lifemate, now am I? If I have to be here for the next month, then I mean
to have as much fun as possible.”

Mantor sighed as he held the door open for the feisty
actress to walk ahead of him. “Somehow, I was afraid you would say that.”