Page 1 of Taking Jenny
CHAPTER 1
Jenny
The day my sister Sarah vanished right in front of me, I thought it had to be a government conspiracy. A kidnapping. A glitch in reality. Something explainable.
It wasn’t. She didn’t vanish. She was transported—beamed up, quite literally—onto a spaceship. And somehow, that wild truth had become a part of my own reality, as well.
I used to love conspiracy conventions, especially watching people cosplay as aliens with their foil hats and green body paint. It was fun. A joke, even. Not that I wasn’t open to the possibilities—my other sister Elizabeth liked to say I was too open-minded—but aliens were never something I really believed in.
Not until they came for us.
Elizabeth and I were taken aboard a ship headed for a microplanet called Halla, where Sarah had been living all this time. Turns out she didn’t disappear. She’d relocated.
When the Ladrians—the alien species who’d brought us aboard their spaceship—first revealed themselves, I couldn’t stop staring in fascination at how different they were from humans. Elizabeth was more suspicious, but even she eventually warmed up to them. They weren’t threatening. If anything, they’d been thoughtful and kind, like they didn’t want to frighten us.
Dr. Ode, the ship’s physician, gave us an injection that embedded their foreign language directly into our minds. Within minutes, we were speaking fluent Ladrian. It was unsettling how easily it happened, but understanding their words made it easier to understand their purpose. We were here on their planet to help our sister, Sarah.
And somewhere along the way…I started to like it here. Elizabeth, though, not so much.
The Ladrians were stunning. Tall and elegant, with opalescent skin that shimmered with iridescence and graceful tails that gave them an almost feline fluidity. The men especially had classically handsome features: strong jaws, high cheekbones, expressive eyes in shades of violet and gold. The women were beautiful too. Curvy like human women, just taller and more regal.
But true to form, I mostly paid attention to the alien men.
Ladrian males had physiques that made human gym rats look underdeveloped. Broad shoulders. Powerful arms. Their uniforms were always rolled up to their elbows, showing off thick, sinewy forearms that made me stare longer than I should have. Their hair flowed down the backs of their necks in a strip that seemed to continue along their spines and tails, like a sleek, alien version of a horse’s mane. I hadn’t seen any of themfully undressed yet, but the way their uniform puffed slightly along that line made me suspect I was right. They were huge everywhere.
And then there was Tiger. The second I saw him, something shifted inside of me, an immediate awareness and attraction settling low in my belly.
His skin was darker than others. A rich, metallic gray that gleamed with hints of deep purple, like a black pearl in sunlight. His hair was black with a sheen of blue when the light hit it just right and his eyes glowed a warm honey-gold when he smiled. He was massive, nearly two feet taller than me, and when he brushed past me in the hallway, I had to crane my neck to meet his gaze. One look from him sent a thrill through me I couldn’t explain.
I was gone for him. Just…gone.
Naturally, I wanted to know everything about him, so I started questioning Jac, Tiger’s boss and one of Sarah’s companions. Tiger’s last name was Orne, and he’d recently lost his cousin, Kapok, during a battle that had involved my sister, Sarah, as well. According to Jac, Tiger was sharp, kind, and endlessly observant. I’m sure Jac said other things too, but I didn’t hear them. I was too busy watching Tiger work on Jac’s spaceship,Sovereign. His hands moved with purpose—deft, skilled, and confident. I could have watched him for hours.
And maybe that’s why I did something so reckless, because I wasn’t ready to say goodbye to Tiger, not yet. Heart pounding, pulse wild, I crept into one ofSovereign’stiny crew cabins and closed the door quietly behind me.
Somehow, unbelievably, no one had noticed I’d snuck aboard.
He was leaving to take Elizabeth back to Earth before continuing on to Orhon, a planet near Halla. It would be his first official spying mission, ordered because the king of Orhon—orwhoever he was—was likely going to be furious once he learned that my sister’s friends had killed the tyrant, Rex Terian, who used to rule one of the nearby planets. Sarah needed intel on what the king planned to do next.
It sounded dangerous and thrilling and I wanted in on the excitement. That was me, always up for an adventure.
I didn’t care about returning to my old life. Not like Elizabeth who couldn’t wait to get back to the normalcy of Earth. She was a nurse at a good hospital with people who depended on her. I understood why she couldn’t just walk away from a job like that. But me? I was a barista at a cozy little pop-and-pop coffee shop. I’d miss my bosses—Rob and Jeff were the sweetest couple I’d ever met—but they’d understand. If I ever had the chance to explain where I’d disappeared to.
They loved hearing about my escapades. I had fun telling them, too. But this particular one? This might have to stay a secret.
Just like the fact that I was currently stowed away on a spaceship.
I already felt like a spy, pressing my ear to the door as Elizabeth and Tiger boarded. She was nervous. I heard it in her voice—tight and wary. My older sister had always been cautious around men, like she expected danger in every shadow.
“So…how long have you been doing this?” she asked, her voice apprehensive and her footsteps hesitant.
“Around five years now, I think,” Tiger said in that smooth, rich Ladrian voice of his. “Watch your step there.”
I heard a stumble and then her sheepish, “Thanks. Um, you know how to get to Earth?”
“I’ve made this trip several times, Elizabeth,” he said patiently. “You don’t need to worry.”
“Right. It’s just that…I don’t really know you.”
