Page 23 of Crash Landed: The Daranthiki

She wasn’t sure whether to laugh or cry. She wasn’t a virgin by any stretch of the imagination. Though she had no desire to be pampered doll for one of the wealthy sons her father frequently tried to persuade her into accepting, she’d had sex many times over the years. Some were casual encounters with handsome men groomed to attract a wife from a family among their peers, but most were nameless men among the lower citizen classes who were willing to keep things simple and themselves just looking for a good time with an unknown woman. She had fucked. She had never made love. She had never been in love.

Until now. And she had broken one of her cardinal rules—never get sexually involved with someone under her employ. It complicated things.

She shook her head at herself as they headed away from the residential area and back into the operational district of the mining village. How could she have let herself fall in love with an employee? That was a guarantee of heartbreak.

Her eyes followed Zil, skimming over him longingly. Fuck, she was stupid. He was not only her employee but an alien. Her father and grandfather would both be pissed. Not only because she had “sullied herself” with an alien, nor because the fines that they would have to pay would be astronomical, but because their family would become a subject of gossip and mockery among their peers. Daisy couldn’t care less about that. Of course, they could lock her up in an attempt to avoid the rumors, but what was the worst that could happen if she managed to escape? They would cut her off? Big deal. She had a substantial inheritance of her own that she had long ago shifted off Earth and into the intergalactic banking system without their knowledge. She had been considering settling on Galaxoros and had been using her proposed “vacation” to scout out her new home.

Now, however, she felt very little excitement at the prospect. She could avoid her father’s demands that she return home once she was recovered from the planet—credits greased palms in all sectors of space, not just that of mercenaries—but idling her days away on Galaxoros no longer had much appeal. It sounded... boring.

It struck her that her life over the years had become exactly that. It had all been fun when she was young and fresh out of university with money to spend and places to see—outside of the obligatory picture-perfect family vacations which were always more about social connections and showing off to their friends as well as establishing new connection in society. She had even become bored with her lovers, hadn’t she? How long had it been before Zil?

She didn’t even remember. The last few years had blended together in an endless stream of social obligations and work-related galas. The last several days stranded on the planet had been some of the most miserable—and most incredible—of her life. Never in life did she want to be stranded on a barren wasteland of a planet, and yet she would do it all again to enjoy every moment with Zil.

It wasn’t that she wanted to seek out adventures necessarily—although she was getting a certain charge out of it—but she wanted to be right by Zil’s side, experiencing it together. Did he feel the same way? Or did he regret what they did?

She glanced at his profile and promptly tripped and tumbled forward. Zil’s hand shot out, catching her, his red eyes narrowing with the intensity of his focus.

“Have you harmed yourself?” he demanded.

Her heart melted a bit as his eyes raked over her with concern. Stop it! He is probably just worried about a reduction in pay. Her silent reprimand to herself hurt, but it was a necessary warning to her heart not get too carried away by a fantasy.

“Don’t worry, I am not going to fine you for bruises,” she teased. Physical bruises or invisible ones to her heart.

Damn. She was going to be one of those tragic heroines in the alien melodramas pining for the hero from afar. With nothing to comfort her but her wealth, she would simply exist, lonely and heartbroken.

An annoyed look crossed his face. “I am not such a male as you are making me out to be,” he growled stiffly.

Daisy blinked, brought back to herself, and stared at him, dumbfounded. She’d been so certain that he would have laughed with her. She had even thought she might catch a look of relief cross his face. Instead... he was mad. She was still scrambling to mentally catch up with the situation when his jaw tightened at her silence, and he turned away to study the largest buildings in front of them. Without warning, he headed to the left where a cluster of slightly smaller buildings sat, leaving her to scramble behind him.

“Wait! Wait up,” she panted as she hurried after him.

Chapter 19

Zil helped Daisy as they descended deeper, following the road further into the mining village. She probably could have navigated it just fine without him holding onto her, since she still had possession of her glow rod and its light wouldn’t fade for another day or two, but he felt an innate need to hold onto her and touch her as much as possible. The euphoria of mating still hummed through him, but it was only dimmed by the realization that she did not understand the full weight of what they had done.

His annoyance was less with her words—he knew exactly what the terms of the relationship were as she had outlined them to him—and more with himself. Of course, that would be what she assumed. His growing feelings for her and the consequences of what they had done were his responsibility.

There was a reason that unmated Daranthiki males used pleasure bots to milk their cocks when their need to rut became too strong to ignore. There was no breeding with a female without mating, as the male released the pheromone-laced mating spine into her womb. Already it was embedding itself where she might one day have carried their offspring.

He shook his head, chasing away the thought. He could not allow himself to have such fantasies. She would not stay with him. She was a woman of influence and wealth; she did not belong with a mercenary, nor would she wish for the sort of life he had to offer. And even had he wanted to, he would not fit into her world either. There was no point in dwelling on it. He had given his mating spine to her, and her scent was already changing in response to it, but he did not regret it. It was unlikely that he would ever have given the spine to any female if it hadn’t been for Daisy, and there was no other female whom he wished to save it for. A mercenary’s life was not something that attracted females interested in mating. Daisy was the only one for him, and he would take comfort from the fact that she would carry that part of him with her forever.

His only guilt came from knowing that she would struggle to conceive with another male should she wish for any offspring, but it would not be impossible. The benefits she would enjoy would be greater. The nanos attached to his spike would already be replicating in her bloodstream. She would enjoy a long life, with hundreds of years filled with blessed youth until the end, as if she were a cybernetic legionnaire. This exact blessing was the reason that mating and breeding for retired legionnaires was carefully selected at the end of their service. His brow furrowed slightly. That could be alarming if she were not prepared for the way her body rejuvenated and repaired itself. He would have to warn her.

His gaze fell on the generator building, and he smiled. First, he would provide power to the mining village. That would help his mate feel more at ease and less at a disadvantage.

“This way,” he murmured as he headed toward the building at a brisk clip.

Daisy glanced at it curiously as they approached. “What’s this?”

“A generator building. It supplies power to the entire mining complex,” he replied. “For a building of this size to be here suggests that this isn’t just a common generator. There are likely solar power gatherers anchored to various parts of the mountain to keep the generator crystals charged and power flowing through the village. We just need to turn it back on.”

She made a noncommittal sound but followed him inside as he opened the door. The equipment in the room was covered with a thick layer of dust, but he was familiar enough with such systems from his training as a legionnaire. All the information on how to proceed was contained within his processors. Releasing her hand, he went to the equipment while Daisy walked through the room, her head swiveling as she looked at everything curiously.

“Are you hoping that with a system this big that they might have some kind of cargo-ship stashed here?” she asked slowly as she squinted at the power structures that lined the ceiling of the room to deliver power through the mine.

He glanced up at her briefly before returning his attention to the panel in front of him at the workstation. His gut clenched warily, but he ignored it as his fingers ran over the panel confidently. “It is my hope. Or at the very least, a very powerful comm system.”

Daisy nodded thoughtfully and looked over at him with a strained smile. “Then this might be it. Our chance to get out of here.”