Taken (Warriors of Karal Book 3) by Harmony Raines Read Free Book Online

mouth open, making the bruise on her chin look more pronounced. He still intended to find out exactly what had happened to her. Whatever it was, he suspected it was recent. The bruising was still coming out, deepening in colour.
    “You are over a hundred years old!” she said when she had got over her shock.
    “Yes, we age slowly, until we reach our prime. It gives us time to learn about our world, and gather wisdom to pass on, and it has given recent generations time to go out and find a female to breed with,” he said, guiding the ship into Karal’s atmosphere.
    “Wow, we are so different,” she said. “What about the colours on your skin?”
    “They flare up when we experience strong emotions,” he said.
    “It’s amazing,” she said, and reached out and touched his cheek. He felt the colour pulse where her fingers touched him. “There is so much I want to learn about you, and Karal, and everything. I can’t tell you how grateful I am for this opportunity.”
    “It is not done out of charity. We need you; we need the females from Earth to breed with,” he said, his voice harsher than he meant, but the words had to be driven home. “You are here for one purpose, Chrissi. You are accompanying me into space for one purpose, and that is to give me a child.”
    His words offended her, and she half turned away from him. At that moment Malik felt a pang of guilt and red crept up from under his sleeve and across the back of his hand. No doubt he had spoiled this moment for her; it shouldn’t matter to him, but it did. Only by concentrating on the descent into Karal did he stop himself from apologising.
    He was beginning to think by the time they came back from this mission, he would be trained like a pet Marmoto to fetch and carry and roll over for her to tickle his belly. Trying to let those thoughts make him angry failed. He liked the way she spoke to him. Unlike the other warriors, or any other male Karalian, she was easy to talk to and excited about the world around her.
    In that moment he understood Okil a little more. This was what humans could give the Karal, a depth of feeling his species shut out every time they tried to control their colours. Maybe once the Karal had daughters as well as sons, this might change.
    He certainly hoped so.
     

Chapter Nine – Chrissi
     
    Chrissi let his words jerk her back to reality. Of course, he was right; and yes, she had somehow let the excitement of the day over take her. Her training seemed to have left her. Instead, she had behaved like an excited schoolgirl. He hadn’t meant to be mean: in fact, he was probably being kind, reminding her that they weren’t friends, they were simply two beings who had to learn to live together while he put a baby in her womb. After that, who knew?
    As they came into land, the one thing she did know was that she would be forever grateful for being plucked from Earth and sent here to a world full of life.
    “We will land and then go to the old breeding house. That is where we will take off from tomorrow,” he said.
    “Breeding house? I feel I should ask what you breed there, but part of me doesn’t want to know,” she said.
    “It is where our forefathers kept the females they were breeding with.”
    “So they used to keep them like cattle?” she asked.
    “My mother was not as intelligent as you humans. They resisted,” he said.
    “And if I resist?” she asked.
    Malik looked uncomfortable, but didn’t answer. Instead he brought the cruiser down, landing it in what looked like an airport, but they didn’t stop; they simply drove along the ground, as if the space cruiser was also magically a car now. Their technology fascinated Chrissi. If only they would share it with Earth.
    “Is everything here solar-powered?” she asked, changing the subject.
    “Yes. We embraced the technology and store as much of the suns’ energy as we can.” He seemed happy to talk about their technology on a general level, and she hoped that