Page 1 of Choosing Jenny
CHAPTER 1
Jenny
Waiting was frustrating.
We couldn’t storm Credo Bateen’s island home—that would have been suicide. Not after Tiger and I had secretly sprung our boyfriend out of the very place he was now walking back into. One misstep could have gotten us all killed.
When word came from the palace that they’d agreed to reinstate Mal to the royal council, we’d raced to get him back to Credo’s island before anyone noticed he’d gone missing. The plan, if you could call it that, was to slip him back into the house like nothing had happened. But waiting to see Mal get onto the imperial cruiser felt like an eternity and all we could do was watch.
We were safe inside my ship, while our boyfriend was on the enemy’s turf. It felt so wrong. My ship,Cheesecake, had cameras with microphones to monitor every inch of the outside world, sowe had a panoramic view and surround sound.Cheesecakewas submerged in the sea next to the island, tucked among some of the stilts of the five-story house. Between the stilts, the view was of the stairs from the house’s front door down to the beach, where the imperial cruiser had parked. The ship that would take our boyfriend back to Orhon, where he was to be reinstated to his position on the royal council and everything would go back to normal.
Until Mal wanted to talk about killing the Ruler of Orhon, Justice Bateen.
I guess treason was our new normal.
My whole life had been flipped upside down ever since my sister vanished and I’d discovered she’d been whisked away to an alien planet. Now, I lived in a world of seven foot aliens, magical curses, and deathmatches for sport. For the most part, though, I loved the adventure of it all. Especially since I’d fallen in love with an alien mechanic and an executioner who wanted to overthrow his corrupt government.
I tried to keep Mal’s regicidal plans out of my mind so I could focus on the tasks at hand.
Step one: make sure Mal got onto that cruiser safely.
Step two: sneak our magician friend Surge into the house.
Step three: help Surge try to put Credo’s ghost back into his body, therefore curing Credo’s curse.
Step four: return to Orhon with Credo and maybe, just maybe, stage a coup and topple the corrupt government, which was led by Credo’s evil son, Justice.
My to-do list was going to get me killed, I was sure of it. But I’d never been happier in my life. Except for the waiting and worrying about Mal.
“I hate doing nothing,” I muttered, voicing my feelings to the others who were with me in my ship.
“We’re not doing nothing,” Surge said, his gaze locked on the monitor like the rest of us. “We’re waiting.”
Five of us watched the screen. Six, if I counted Rhonda, Longshot’s strigella. Technically a snake in Earth terms, but more a mystical, mirrored noodle with attitude and special powers. Honestly, she might have been my favorite person onboard, if not for my other boyfriend, Tiger.
Mal’s friends had become ours, and like him, they were each a little peculiar in their own unique way.
Surge was a half-size—his term, not mine. Every adult Ladrian I had met was somewhere over seven feet tall, but Surge was only four feet. That didn’t stop him from being intimidating. He was built like a short boulder of muscles and if that wasn’t enough, he was also a magician. Brilliant black skin with a red sheen that flashed in direct light, bald, and quick with a smile, Surge Footwick’s main hobby was strategy. And since he approved of waiting, I knew it was probably the right thing to do. Even if I didn’t want to.
“How long can it take to walk someone out of a house and onto a ship?” Tiger groused.
My impatient boyfriend stood close enough for me to catchy his heady scent—a cedar forest and something unique to him. He smelled like comfort. When we had met, I didn’t know his skin tone was exclusive to his clan. According to him, all of the Orne clan had pearly gray skin with a purple sheen. His honey brown eyes and kind smile made him look sweet, but beneath that cuteness was the heart of a passionate man who would do anything for the people he loved.
Discord, lounging near the entryway, gave a nonchalant shrug. “The waiting is always tedious. Find a way to relax.”
“Easy for you to say,” I grumbled. “He’s not your boyfriend.”
“No, he’s only my best friend. Obviously, I don’t care at all,” she said sarcastically.
Discord Scrylock was tall, thin, and gorgeous, by Ladrian standards. Hell, she would have turned heads on any planet, but breaking necks was more her speed. Beige skin that glittered pink in the light, Discord was a natural blue-nette, but dyed her hair black for some reason. I couldn’t sort out why. I had heavily streaked my blonde hair with blue since I was a teenager, but she and I were not exactly gal pals, so I wasn’t sure how to ask her why she wanted to cover her natural color. Both black and blue hair was natural for Ladrians, and I hadn’t seen any fashionable significance to either color since I had come to their planets.
“Be glad you two aren’t spies,” Longshot said from his seat by the control panel.
“Why do you say that?” I asked.
“Because itismostly waiting.”
“I thought you were a sniper in the army, not a spy.”
