“May I join you?”
“Of course.”
“I’ve been looking for you. Guess what?” Madeleine asked, rubbing her own belly.
“Vibrating? You too?” Delilah asked.
“I love it already.”
“You got yourself a good one with that Javelin. You know he saved the transport ship from going down?”
“Yes! How did you know?”
“One of the chameleons filled me in. He’s been waiting ages for his mate and he rescues you from the sky. You can’t get more romantic than that. I just fell for the big cock,” Delilah said with a shrug.
“Never underestimate the power of a big cock,” Madeleine reasoned. “It’s just … amazing.”
“It’s nice knowing our kids will be growing up together.”
“It really is.” Madeleine moved closer and put an arm around her. “We can go back to the colony more often too. They received Javelin and Mykos well. And this moss is amazing. How is your cough?”
“Completely gone. Wish I would have known about this ahead of time.”
“Would you have changed your mind?”
Delilah rubbed her belly gently and said, “You know what? I don’t
think I would.”
“Me neither,” Madeleine whispered.
“A little warning would have been nice,” Javelin said as he pulled Zara aside.
“Huh? Warning from what?”
“That I will feel perpetually love drunk and not be able to get anything done.”
Zara laughed and hugged him. “How were her parents towards you?”
“Lovely, but that was before last night. Not sure how they’ll accept me now.”
“I thought it was every parent’s dream to have their daughter pumped full of dragon seed,” she said with a smirk.
“Well, it should be.”
“I’m proud of you, by the way. It’s good to see some pep in your step again.”
“Thank you, Zara, for all your encouragement.
“I should be thanking all of the women,” she said. “The hormone apocalypse is over. We finally have peace again.”
Zara could not have been more wrong. Captain Badeed was on a hunt, searching for something to break or someone to hurt.
June was working in the greenhouse and saw the shadow in the distance. She wrongly thought it was her sister coming for another visit and ran outside, hoping to see Mykos again. As the shadow got closer, she realized it wasn’t a dragon at all. Three spacecraft were flying lower than normal and heading for the colony. Everything in her being told her to run. She raced back to the greenhouse and locked the doors. The low altitude alarms were now blaring throughout the buildings, which meant they were close.
Before she could even think of another hiding place, the roof of the greenhouse burst into flames as the smugglers melted it with their lasers. The first ship descended and hovered. She tried to run, but one of the men shot a small hook from a weapon, snagging the flesh of her calf and dragging her back towards them. The plants gave way as she clawed at them in failed resistance. Once they had her aboard, they torched every plant and the remaining walls of the greenhouse.
Captain Badeed stood over her as she cowered in a corner. “You look just like your sister. Don’t worry, I’ll get her too. A matching set is always better. Up we go,” he said before the ship increased altitude and sped towards the cliffs.