Warriors of Phaeton: Axis Read online

  Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Blurb

  Prologue

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Chapter Thirty

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  Epilogue

  Look me up!

  About Leora Gonzales

  Warriors of Phaeton: Axis

  Book Seven of the Warriors of Phaeton Series

  Copyright © 2020 Leora Gonzales

  All rights reserved.

  Warriors of Phaeton: Axis

  By Leora Gonzales

  As the Phaeton’s master interrogator, Axis was often called upon to handle the most difficult missions. His natural ability to sniff out lies, plus his intense training, had never let him down.

  Until it did.

  Questioning his place amongst the brethren he’d failed, the Skrammon warrior has been living on the planet Euphoria in the Pleasure Sector trying to work through his mistakes. Although technically on leave, the Phaeton Council requested one small favor in exchange for the free time he’d been granted.

  Keep an eye out for anything unusual.

  Nova Rodriguez is more than a little unusual, and that’s not counting the fact that she’s a human imprisoned in a space brothel. The details on how she ended up in a whorehouse versus her original destination are more than a little murky, but one thing is completely clear: she needs to get the f$#% off this planet before Cruum, the gross alien master with a penchant for torture, sells her off to the highest bidder.

  With sheer determination, the help of a couple of sex kittens, and a list of rules to live by, Nova comes up with a plan: find a Phaeton—preferably the one she’d seen in the market and can’t stop thinking about—and convince him to help her. Not only does her life depend on it, so do the lives of the other two women Cruum has already sold.

  Prologue

  “My fellow Americans, negotiations have concluded with the Phaeton Warrior race. After speaking to their council of leaders, we have learned that the Phaeton race has been surviving by using cloning. Unfortunately, the science that they have used has resulted in a low female birthrate. For their species to survive, they have been searching on other planets for potential mates.

  “The State Department has decided to initiate a ‘mate match’ for single female volunteers to apply for what we are referring to as the ‘Bridal Pact.’ In exchange for these volunteers, we will be able to use the Phaetons’ medical advancements to save American lives. We will have access to a new fuel source that will all but eliminate our need for oil, both foreign and domestic. And we will also have the protection of their military from other species that may discover Earth.

  “This is not a draft. It is completely voluntary. Women who apply will be compensated for filling out an application and signing the contract. We want to assure you that your safety and the safety of your sisters, daughters, and friends will be our number-one concern. We are working on a profiling system with national dating sites and the Phaeton Council to make matches, similar to what many of you have used in the past to find companions. As of right now, this is only open to women who fall within certain criteria but may be expanded after an initial trial period passes.

  “Please keep an open mind and know that the safety of our citizens and country is our top priority. Women wishing to volunteer or get more information can contact their local intake centers, which will be listed by state following this news conference or found at bridal-pact-dot-state-department-dot-gov. This is an exciting time for our country and its people.”

  Chapter One

  Axis tore a chunk of meat from the bone he was gnawing on, popping the morsel into his mouth as he perused the stalls in the center market square. Aliens bustled about, bartering with anyone who stopped for even a moment in front of their goods.

  Even though it seemed he was surrounded by chaos, Axis felt at ease. Here he could shake off the mantle of being the Phaeton Council’s interrogator, a heavy responsibility that gained more weight the longer he held the role. He’d needed a break in more cycles than he cared to admit.

  The moment he’d docked his shuttle at the landing field, he’d turned off his link. The council knew how much he needed this time away from his duties, but he wasn’t taking any chances. Kaine and the council had called him back once already, and he wasn’t about to cut his vacation any shorter than it already had been.

  Even now, the last mission lingered with him. The warrior whom he’d interrogated had been tortured by their enemy, the Verge, while he’d been held as their captive. His friend, or the man who’d once been his friend, was a shell of himself after the abuse the Verge had put him through. Not only had they attacked his body, they’d almost broken his mind.

  Somehow, he’d managed to not only escape but fly back to Phaeton One where the med center had patched him up as well as they could. Tamin and Rodin were excellent doctors, but his friend needed more than a doctor. He needed a miracle. The entire situation had left him with a sour feeling in his stomach, reminding him of the last time he’d been called to interrogate someone.

  At the memory of his failure to Finch’s bride, the piece of meat that Axis was swallowing momentarily caught in his throat. The food settled heavily as he mentally dissected the details of the day again. A day he’d failed not only Claudia, but also his people with his duties as the council’s master interrogator. Since then he’d had a difficult time trusting his instincts, trusting himself. The reality of what could have happened that day often woke him up, sweating and fighting the nightmare villains whom he’d assisted that day. Claudia and her husband, Finch, had had since become his friends, but their forgiveness of his transgressions make him feel even more humble.

  The council had given him a reduced punishment for helping Claudia once he’d realized the situation was not what he’d originally thought. In the end, he’d been moved to lower-class duties for a brief span of time, which hadn’t bothered him since they kept his mind occupied, drowning out the internal struggle he felt over his misjudgment. Once those were completed, he’d been assigned to high-priority missions as if his judgment hadn’t almost cost them the trust of allegiance of a Phaeton bride. His slate had been essentially wiped clean, his penance paid. Kaine and the rest of the council members still trusted him to use his natural instincts to their advantage, unaware of the doubt Axis felt toward these so-called instincts.

  He couldn’t brush aside the fact that he’d almost cost Finch his bride. Doing so under the ruse of the traitors plagued him. He did himself no favors by repeating it all in his head. He’d trusted the wrong group of Phaetons. He had acted without the council’s approval. His mission to ferret the truth out of Claudia had been a
n ill-fated one from the start, considering she’d been telling the truth from the beginning. The conspirators’ anger initially moved him, but he soon realized something was not right before it had been too late. He’d trusted the wrong person, a mistake he was worried he would make again.

  Shaking off the turmoil that filled him every time he recounted his past errors, Axis looked around the market where he’d found solace. He was more than a little happy to be back amongst the bustle that allowed him to escape the failures that mentally haunted him.

  At first, Kaine and the council had denied his request for leave on the busy trading planet in the Pleasure Sector, a popular hub for Phaetons seeking respite. Axis himself hadn’t understood why he wanted to go back, but for some reason, the idea had appealed to him enough that he hadn’t let it drop. He’d been surprised to hear from Kaine with a reversal of their decision just as he’d been about to walk into the council chambers to plead his case. His leave had been granted on Euphoria with one caveat.

  He was ordered to keep his eyes open for anything out of the ordinary.

  Axis snorted to himself, remembering that particular conversation with the senior council member. Kaine had either been unwilling or unable to give him any further instructions beside that.

  “The council has no further clarification for me?”

  Kaine shook his head. “Not at this time.”

  “Come on, Kaine.” Axis shook his head as he leaned forward, appealing to his friend. “All I want is some time to unwind and think about things without having to worry about looking around for something the council only wants to describe to me as unusual. Even you must acknowledge that is not enough information for any type of mission, even if it is simply intel.”

  Kaine stood, shaking his head. “That’s all I can tell you for right now, Axis. Believe me, I want to tell you more, but until we know for sure….”

  “Know what for sure?” he asked, unable to not interrogate his superior for more information. “What could possibly be unusual in the Pleasure Sector, Kaine? That place has anything and everything the galaxy has to offer. Do you know how many kinds of Jalorian candy I was able to find during my stay?” Patting his stomach, he felt for the weight he was sure he’d gained with all the exotic delicacies and sweets he’d gorged on.

  “Axis,” Kaine growled, the normal diplomacy in his voice absent. “Just watch for anything unusual.”

  Even now, surrounded by the definition of unusual, Axis had no clue what Kaine could have possibly been referencing. He’d only been on the planet a short time and had already seen more shady dealings and aliens than he cared to admit.

  His stomach rumbled, requesting more sustenance than the small bit of meat he’d stripped from the almost bare bone in his hand. Craving a taste of something sweet, he cast a glance around. In the middle of trying to spot the stall with his favorite candy, his instincts took over momentarily as his attention was drawn to a small, cloaked shape. He watched the creature weave through the vendor stalls, intrigued by the prickling sensation that tickled the back of his neck.

  Tossing away the bone, he followed with curiosity. A figure like that would not normally draw his attention, but there was something about this form and how it moved that reminded him of Paine and Rowe’s bride.

  They moved like a human. A female human, he judged.

  Ducking behind a row of animal skins, he scanned for a glimpse of skin, fur, or something that would put his mind at ease as he studied his mark.

  When a small, pale hand emerged from the sleeve to grab a piece of fruit from a nearby cart, his heart almost stopped in his chest. Despite the temporary tattoos on her hands marking her as a brothel worker, he was certain he was tailing a human.

  “What the…” Axis looked around, scanning the crowd for threats but seeing none.

  With purposeful strides, he moved quickly and efficiently, grabbing the hand and pulling the cloaked person behind him even as they began to struggle. He needed to get her somewhere safe, a place where they could go and figure things out.

  “Let go!”

  Axis pushed the woman against the wall of the alley he’d dragged her into. The voice was definitely female. None of this made sense.

  “Where did you come from?” he questioned as he pushed the hood of her cloak back.

  The face looking up at him made his jaw drop. Never before had he seen such a beautiful female, even with the split lip and blackened eyes that glared back at him.

  Although his lips refused to move, a million questions flew through his mind as he studied her.

  “I promise I was going to pay,” the female pleaded, frantically searching the cloak’s pockets.

  Axis dropped her arm. Her tears drew an instinct to calm her and ease the upset he’d caused. She was so much smaller than he was, he could have easily hurt her with his strength and not even known it.

  “Shhhh, sweeting,” he murmured patting her shoulder awkwardly. Looking around again, he didn’t see anyone searching for the female he’d hustled away. Where was her protector? How was she here? “Who are you? Where did you come from?”

  “I’m nobody,” she whispered, her gaze shooting to the ground where it stayed focused, even as he tried to get a better look at her. “Please let me go.”

  “Go where?” he asked, still trying to wrap his head around the fact that he’d found a human. A female human. Wandering alone in the market of Euphoria.

  “Please.” Twisting her wrist in his grip, she pulled with all her might. “They’ll punish me if they think I’m trying to run away again.”

  Fearing he could hurt her, Axis loosened his grip only to curse as she slipped her hand right out of his hold.

  “Wait!” he yelled after the woman as she darted in front of a cart, barely missing its large wheels that could have easily caused her serious harm, if not death.

  Running after her, Axis tried to keep her in his sights, but with her size and the crowd, it wasn’t long before he’d lost her. Needing not only his communicator, but also his weapons, he made his way back to his shuttle as quickly as he could.

  He booted the comms and quickly typed out a message for the council. He’d found what Kaine meant when he’d said out of the ordinary.

  A human was living on Euphoria. A woman he was going to find.

  Chapter Two

  Nova bit her lip until the taste of blood filled her mouth. The taste was unpleasant but managed to give her something to focus on other than the asshole alien whipping her. Her cries only made him strike harder. She struggled to control the sounds being torn from her throat until they became silent screams against the wood beam in front of her. It was the only thing she could do in hopes that he’d get bored and end things sooner rather than later. Considering this wasn’t her first punishment, she’d thought she would have gotten used to it or built up a tolerance to the fire searing her back, but she hadn’t. The pain was fresh each and every time he swung the whip. He’d done it so many times she’d lost track. Time seemed to slow whenever she tried to keep track of the beatings, prolonging the pain. Each second seemed a thousand years long as Nova struggled for breath through the cutting agony.

  Her body bowed forward, even though there was nowhere for her to run. The pole she was tied to kept her from moving too far, but at this point, she appreciated its sturdiness. It was the only thing that kept her standing, since her knees had given out long ago. She wasn’t sure how long exactly, but it had to have been a few hours at least. The abuse had started with pinches, slaps, and punches, but progressed to the whipping more recently. Things were blurry, but Nova knew it hadn’t been a full day since Talis had dragged her back to the brothel by her hair.

  Literally.

  “Enough,” Cruum interrupted, the old translator they’d implanted in her ear turning the strange, garbled noises he made into words her brain understood. She didn’t question how it worked; she was simply grateful it did. If she was going to survive this hellhole, she needed all the help she
could get.

  Nova lifted her head enough to look to the side where her “master” watched with boredom. She wanted to rip out the beady eyes from his red, bulbous head and stomp on them. Actually, she wanted to do much worse, but that was the current scenario that flashed through her pain-filled head. He’d enslaved her, chained her, beat her, and took pleasure in it. At the very least, she wanted to kill him with her bare hands Kill Bill style.

  “Any further strikes and she will need more medical attention than we can provide for her here.” Cruum studied her back for a moment. “Make her wait for the healing cream though…Maybe the extended pain of this punishment will remind her to behave.”

  “Yes, master,” Talis said with a bow, winding the whip up and attaching it to his belt.

  Nova shivered at the sound it made sliding through his hand, barely able to keep from telling both of them to fuck off.

  You want to live, Nova.

  The mantra she’d been repeating in her head was becoming more and more faint the longer she was trapped on this godforsaken planet.

  “Do you know if she spoke to anyone?” Cruum asked, moving forward to run a finger over one of the bloody gashes on her back.

  Nova hissed, flattening herself against the pole, but was trapped. There was no way for her to escape his touch. She only had a second to process the chuckle coming from his strange, rubbery blue lips before he dug his nail into one of the wounds she’d received as punishment for trying to escape in the market.

  “Did you, slave?” he repeated, his fingers feeling as if they were tipped with literal fire where he probed.

  “No!” she screamed the lie, holding onto her secret despite how much it hurt to defy him. There was no way she was going to let it slip that she’d run into a Phaeton. She just had to focus on outlasting the aliens behind her. Talis had asked her the same question earlier, punctuating each time he’d been made to wait with a slap to her face. Despite her certainty that they were a bloody mess, she’d managed to keep her lips sealed. She wasn’t a fool. The memory of the Phaeton kept running through her head, alongside her fantasies of revenge, but she knew enough to know that Cruum would definitely kill her if he suspected someone knew she was here, which meant her lips had to stay zipped—no matter what. She wasn’t going to give in after all she’d been through. She was stronger than that.