Page 5 of Lorrd
What if they… she couldn’t complete the thought, and she strived to keep her expression neutral, not wanting Emmy to know what she was thinking about.
“So, you knew all those women?”Emmy asked.
“Yes, though not very well,” Wren admitted.“They were all a few years older than me.I just know their names.”She swallowed hard.“There have been others too, most of them women.Only about half have been tracked down and brought back to Harmony.”She tried but failed to suppress a shudder as she remembered the punishment that awaited her if she were captured.
A very public rebuke from the Prophet, hard labor in the fields, a period of shunning, and the Shroud of Disgrace—a thin black veil that would mark her as the worst kind of sinner.
And that didn’t include facing her parents’ disappointment.
“There’s another option I’ve been meaning to tell you about, darling,” Emmy said with a playful, scheming glimmer in her eyes.“In fact, it’s the option Harlow took.”
“What do you mean?”A sudden knock on the bakery door startled a gasp from Wren.
Annoyance darkened Emmy’s visage.She drew in a huge breath and shouted, “We’re not open yet!Come back later!”
“Oh god, oh god, oh god.”Wren teetered on the verge of panic.“Is it them?Can you check your security footage?”
Emmy withdrew her phone from her apron pocket and swiped the screen a few times.Wren moved to stand directly beside her and stared down at the small device.She covered her mouth to keep from shrieking when her brother’s face appeared on the screen.It was Alec.He’d been the one to knock on the bakery’s door.
At present, Alec was still standing on the doorstep of Emmy’s Cupcakes, while the other five Harmony guards stood watch in the street.Did her brother somehow sense her presence?
“Myles will be back soon,” Emmy said in a calming voice as she returned the phone to her apron pocket.“That no-nonsense husband of mine will chase them away if need be.He has his grandfather’s old-fashioned shot gun.It’s a bit clumsy compared to modern weaponry, but it’ll get the job done.”
“I don’t want anyone to get hurt on my behalf.”Wren struggled not to break down in tears.“What’s this other option you were preparing to tell me about?The option you said Harlow took?”Desperation clutched her.She would do nearly anything to avoid being dragged back to Harmony.
“Vaxxlian Alien Mail Order Brides,” Emmy announced with a broad smile.Then she pulled her phone out again, swiped the screen a few times, and finally showed Wren the device as a video started playing.
Wren stared at the screen, transfixed by the huge, muscular aliens that appeared.A commercial, she realized when she heard the voiceover.She was watching a commercial for a mail order bride service called Vaxxlian Alien Mail Order Brides, which was part of the Intergalactic Dating Agency.
Oh god, was Emmy suggesting what Wren thought she was?
“Ladies, are you lonely?Are you tired of waking up to more frightening news every day?Would you like to live on a beautiful and safe planet with a mate who will cherish and protect you?I bet I have your attention now, and I would like to tell you about a new interstellar dating service called Vaxxlian Alien Mail Order Brides.”
The voiceover was in a human woman’s voice, and as the woman talked, more pictures of handsome, shirtless alien males flashed on the screen, as well as breathtaking images of otherworldly landscapes.Eventually, the woman’s face appeared on the screen.
“My name is Blaire, and I signed up for Vaxxlian Alien Mail Order Brides because I was lonely, and I no longer felt safe on Earth.The dating service matched me with a handsome Vaxxlian warrior named Kazzik, and he came to Earth to get me.We were strangers when we first mated, but during the last six months we have fallen deeply in love.All the human women I’ve met on New Vaxx are happy in their mating unions.”
Blaire continued talking about the benefits of becoming a Vaxxlian’s mate.She also presented a simulation of a shimmering, translucent shield that protected the entire planet of New Vaxx, promising the world was safe from enemy attack.Then she launched into a glowing description of the planet’s beauty, displaying numerous images of Starzzia—the main settlement on New Vaxx—as well as additional views of the alien world’s forests, mountains, and beaches.
Wren absorbed every word and every image.
At the conclusion of the commercial, Blaire shared the details on how to apply for the VAMOB program.
“Wow, a mail order bride service that matches human women with aliens?I think I need to sit down.”But since there wasn’t a chair nearby, Wren settled for leaning against the counter.She struggled to take in air.She’d known about the existence of aliens, but she’d never heard of humans mating with them.
“Vaxxlians made contact with Earth only very recently,” Emmy explained."They lost most of their females and children when their home planet was destroyed by the Irrcons, a race of warmongering aliens which they eventually defeated.New Vaxx was a previously unoccupied world that they claimed and settled on, and now they are trying to start over and grow their population—hence their need for human females.I’ve heard that Vaxxlians are the only aliens that humans are sexually compatible with, and vice versa.Anyway, last year Harlow found herself in a similar situation as you—the Greenrail shut down temporarily, the bridges blocked, and Harmony guards on the prowl—so she signed up for Vaxxlian Alien Mail Order Brides.”
Wren’s mind reeled.She had never in a million years considered traveling to another planet.It was too fantastical of an idea.She’d never fathomed she might have the resources to leave Earth.
But now the idea of leaving held a lot of appeal.
The Prophet didn’t approve of space travel, which meant Harmony guards couldn’t follow her across the stars.
But… mate with an alien?
Her heart commenced beating rapidly, and she felt suddenly breathless as she thought about the handsome Vaxxlians from the commercial.Was Blaire telling the truth?Did Vaxxlian males really cherish and protect their females?
Just because Wren didn’t want to marry a man from Harmony didn’t mean she didn’t eventually want to get married—to the right man.To a kindhearted, open-minded man.To a man of her choosing.
