Page 6 of Sublime Target

Research Kordolians.

Got it.

After all, even if the world was about to come crashing down around them and aliens were seizing everything left, right and center of Earth’s immediate orbit, she still had a bloody mortgage to pay.

FOUR

Jerik didn’t quite understand why he felt strange. Humans weren’t intimidating at all. For the most part, they were a soft species, unused to the rigors of space travel and sheltered from the conflicts of the Universe.

So sheltered.

But now, sitting in the domain of the human mates—the reserved space onboard Silence that his kind were permitted to enter only by invitation—he felt a certain way. Pulse a little faster than usual. On-edge. Out of place.

He hadn’t been like this since he was a raw recruit.

Maybe it was because the surroundings were so alien to him. He was used to the functional minimalism of Kordolian warships, not this cluttered eccentricity—a room filled with vegetation and mismatched furniture and decorative trinkets.

Although he hated to admit it, the visual exuberance of it all was making him mildly anxious.

It reminded him of chaos and unpredictability.

He was in their territory, and he was about to broach a topic that was seldom spoken of by his kind, let alone disclosed to humans.

There were going to be two of them.

In another life, he might have even admitted to himself that he felt intimidated.

Here they are.

The Qualum doors slid open, and two figures appeared.

One was a tall and graceful human called Alexis.

The one that had captured a big, fierce First Division warrior called Nythian.

When Jerik first learned that Nythian had found his mate, he’d hardly believed it.

But he’d seen the changes in his friend. The fearsome warrior was a little less reckless; a little more measured and intentional.

Even in battle.

Not that it made him any less lethal.

Secretly, Jerik quaked a little at the thought. Not that he was frightened or anything… it was more of a sense of astonishment and awe.

How would he react to a human? Would he change, too?

The female beside Alexis was Sienna. She was mated to his good friend Commander Ikriss Peturic, and just as with Nythian, Jerik had witnessed the warrior change in subtle ways. Cold, calculating Ikriss had learned to relax a little; to enjoy company and leisure time, and interestingly, food.

Both humans were here on account of his dilemma. To advise him on human mating and attraction rituals. Before he went about seeking a human mate, Jerik wanted to be educated on certain matters.

Although he could easily do so, he did not want to take her by force. He came from a civilization that had built its power on enslaving other alien races. Kaiin’s Hells; he’d even participated in subjugating countless poor beings during his time in the Kordolian Imperial Military.

His hands were stained with the blood of innocents. Redemption was necessary, and he had a long way to go—that’s why he’d been one of the first to jump at Tarak’s invitation to join the Darkstar Mercenaries.

And it was the very same reason he found the idea of taking a mate by force so distasteful.

So much so that it made him sick to the stomach.

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