Page 1 of Taken By the Gargoyle King

Chapter 1

Kalzudaud

My best friend halted me just as I started to board the small, high-speed spacecraft. “Are you sure about this, Kal?” he asked with an anxious shuffle of the huge leather wings at his back. He glanced over his shoulder into the darkened interior of the royal hangar bay located behind the palace. “Shouldn’t you stay with Sera? Any moment could be her last…” The pained tones in my best friend’s voice echoed those I felt in my heart.

My heart daughter, the child of my sister, and my only surviving heir, lay sick and dying in her bed right at this very moment. Undertaking this journey meant I might fail to be at her side when she drew her last breath; it could mean another attempt on her life. But I had to try to find a cure. There was no other choice because I could not give up on sweet little Sera.

I shrugged out of Iru’s firm grip and straightened, my hand finding the hilt of the sword strapped to my hip. “Sera is strong. She will fight!” I said, fervently wishing these words to be true. “Aderia is not far. If all goes according to plan, I will return within the week.” All I had to do was sneak away from my planet, avoid another assassination attempt, and steal a healer from the heart of Aderia’s capital.

Iru’s craggy face became more pronounced when he frowned, and when he started to shift into his battle-form, it became outright ugly. The male’s muscles swelled and his skin turned as hard as stone, his features settling into harsh lines and grooves. Behind him, his tail lashed wildly, but that was no surprise. I could not recall a single day in my life during which Iru managed to control his temper.

“But Kal, you are talking about stealing a healer from our ally! One of their own. Surely this will incite war…” My friend had a good point but I had no choice. The Aderians were the best healers in the entire Zeta Quadrant, their skills as scientists and empaths unrivaled. They were also endless bureaucrats, an official request for their aid would be too slow. Sera would be dead before they’d even landed my request in front of the right institution, in triplicate.

“Not their own!” I hissed, my own tail lashing and the impulse to raise my battle-form strong. It was a call; to see my friend shifted meant my body tingled to match him. “This scientist is not Aderian. She is human, and she is Sera’s only chance!” I spun away and stomped into the small shuttle, ducking my head to ensure the crown of horns ringing my head didn’t bump into the airlock door.

Iru followed me in, delaying my departure. He opened his mouth to speak again, but I raised my fist. “Enough. Obey your King. Take Sera to safety and await my call. Now leave! I have made up my mind.” His tusked jaw snapped shut, his peace-form shivering back over him. With a solemn nod, he bumped my shoulder with his fist and then he was gone. Silently darting out of the shuttle and into the dark hangar bay, doing as I’d ordered; protecting my heart-daughter with his life.

A mixture of fear and excitement coursed through me when I settled into the pilot chair and sent the shuttle out into the dark of night. Would this human female be able to do as I hoped? Would her cure be able to fix the damage to my precious Sera? It better, because I did not know what I would do if I lost the last of my family. Heads would roll, that was certain. Rage simmered through me as the possibility occupied my mind; I just might lay waste to the whole of Tarkan if Sera’s murderer succeeded.

One thing was certain, I would be ruthless when it came to punishing all those that had played a part in killing my sister and hurting Sera. But first, I’d ruthlessly take what I needed to save her. I would take this human female and I would make sure she knew the consequences of failing me, Aderia, and our treaty be damned.

***

Caitlyn

I ducked out of the boring reception as soon as I politely could. My mind was already whirling with ideas about how to retry the last round of testing. I was sure that with just a little tweaking, I could finally achieve the results I was looking for. If I rushed to my apartment, I could grab my notes and change clothes, then dive right back into the work.

With success this close, even just going home to sleep seemed like a waste of time. This reception was even worse, but I’d been forced to attend because that’s what you did if you relied on donations to fund your research. I smoothed my hand down my hip to get my skirt’s hemline to obey, annoyed that the warm and friendly Aderians could throw such boring, stiff parties.

I ducked through an alley as a shortcut, not in the least worried about getting robbed or hurt. Aderia, the capital planet of the Aderians, was one of the safest places in the entire Zeta Quadrant. I should know, after being abducted from 21st century Earth, I’d woken up from a stasis pod there. Several hundred years in the future, and billions of light years away from a home that had long since crumbled into dust.

I’d learned my craft as a medical scientist there, at the best and most advanced university in the galaxy, at the knees of masters of the medical craft. I was lucky to end up where I had, able to continue my studies at a level that had at first boggled my mind. Now I felt like I had always lived there, even if the Aderians did have the freakiest, completely black eyes and the confounding ability to know exactly what you were thinking, or rather, feeling.

The hairs on the back of my neck suddenly stood on end, coldness washed over me from above. Oh boy, it would be just my luck to be the only one in all of Aderia to run into trouble in an alley. I dug my fingers into my small purse, looking for a weapon, but all I had was a datapad, some makeup, and some tissues.

I spun around but didn’t think to look up until it was too late. Something heavy landed on top of me, warm and rough, smelling intensely of herbs and musk. My skin seemed to tingle and while I crashed to the ground, my body was enveloped, cradled in a warm cocoon. I fought against the all-consuming darkness, struggled against the tight bonds around me, but even with my eyes wide open, I saw nothing.

Then a pair of eyes blinked at me, shimmering silver gray like mercury. The cocoon parted just enough over my head to let in a shaft of light, streaking across a strong, stony jaw, a crown of horns, and a set of killer cheekbones. A Tarkan male; what was going on? They were supposed to be protectors and allies of the Aderians.

“Let me go!” I said, sounding calm when I should be frightened. His luscious mouth quirked into a half smile, and then everything went dark again. My mind fading into unconsciousness with a final thought spiraling through my brain. Not again.

Chapter 2

Caitlyn

I woke up with a pounding headache and a foul taste in my mouth. Awareness flooded my system, adrenaline coursed through my veins. My body wanted to jerk upright in a fighting pose, but I forced myself to lie still and take stock first.

Someone had abducted me, someone with wings, if my memory wasn’t faulty. I recalled the rustling noise from above, the scent that filled my nose, and the warmth and softness that surrounded me before I’d passed out. My body tingled at the recollection. My mind drew me an image of a craggy face, a crown of horns, and a stony, chiseled jawline.

I knew the creature that had taken me; a Tarkan male. That didn’t make a whole lot of sense to me, as the Tarkan were allies of the Aderians. Why would one want to steal me from the capital? A dozen unsavory reasons flashed through my mind almost immediately. Humans were extremely rare out in the Zeta Quadrant, and because of that, also very coveted. Was I about to get sold at some slave auction?

I didn’t really want to believe that. But even if the Tarkan were a matriarchal society that revered their females, a species considered trustworthy and honorable, that didn’t mean all of them were. There was always a bad seed, a bad apple in every batch. Just my luck to have run into this one in what was supposed to be the safest place in the entire quadrant, for a human.

Slowly opening my eyelids a sliver, I tried to figure out where exactly I was. On a spaceship, judging by the gentle hum of an engine. I could hear the rustling of wings not far away, at least, I suspected that noise was from wings. There was also a deep voice softly speaking to someone, maybe a com device because the conversation was one sided.

Good. That meant I might be alone in here with my captor. The ceiling above me was gray, the surface beneath me was soft, a mattress on a cot or something. That spoke for my captor; he wasn’t a cold-hearted bastard if he’d bothered to put me down somewhere soft. I also wasn’t bound, and that was going to be his fatal mistake.

The Aderians had trained me to be a doctor and a scientist, but they had no such thing as a Hippocratic oath like on Earth. I was going to clobber this guy on his head and then call for help. I couldn’t have been out long, so there was no way we were out of Aderian territory yet.

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