Chapter 1

Venus

Serena and I exchanged a long, bone-crushing hug, although she did most of the crushing. While we were of the same height, Serena had always been the stronger and more muscular one. I released her with much reluctance, saddened by the fact that I wouldn't see her again for many weeks, if not for many months.

As much as I hated that her new life had taken her away from us even more than her previous hunting career, I couldn't resent the sincere happiness she found here on Trangor. Had anyone told me my baby sister would end up marrying a snakeman, I would have strongly suggested they urgently seek therapy. And yet, here we were.

I caressed her hair, my fingers lingering on the softness of her locks. Serena immediately narrowed her eyes at me. I snorted and made a face at her.

"Don't give me that look," I said mockingly. "I was merely thinking that your hair looks really healthy and smells incredibly good."

My sister puffed out her chest before giving me a smug smile. "Of course it is. And guess what? It's all thanks to a hundred percent natural products."

I waved a dismissive hand. "Obviously. It's not like there are any spas or salons here," I replied, the disapproval highly audible in my voice. "But you know, I have a few acquaintances who would love to commercialize—"

"No!" Serena interrupted in a tone that brooked no argument while she leveled a stern stare at me.

I rolled my eyes and shrugged in concession. "You're hopeless. You've never learned to seize the countless opportunities that keep strutting their stuff in front of you."

"Venus, you're even more hopeless than I am. I don't need those opportunities. I have everything I need and want right here," Serena added, gesturing at her sons flanking her husband next to us, in the docking bay where I was readying to board my vessel.

It was Szaro's turn to puff out his chest and give me a taunting smile. I had never been particularly attracted to other species. While it freaked me out the first time I saw what species Serena had been forced to marry, I had to admit that my brother-in-law had grown on me. I no longer saw a being who was half cobra, half man, but a very muscular, fine-looking male, with a heart of gold, and who treated my sister like a goddess. I couldn't have hoped for a better partner for her.

"Fine, fine. Be that way," I retorted with pretend discouragement. "But you could use a manicure. And so do I for that matter."

Serena burst out laughing and shook her head at me like I was beyond redemption—which I was, in this instance.

"You're so high maintenance!" Serena chastised affectionately.

"I am, and shamelessly so," I deadpanned in an unrepentant tone before giving her one last hug.

"By the way, Mother is planning another exposition for Belle. Both of them would be thrilled if you could make it," I said in a slightly more serious tone, my palms resting on the gorgeous golden scales she had developed on her shoulders and arms since bonding with her husband.

"We'll see," she said in her usual noncommittal fashion.

Ordosians never left their planet. Not only had they not bothered to develop space travel technology, but they also held zero interest in traipsing around the galaxy. In the six years since marrying her husband, Serena only left the planet five times. Each trip had been a very brief visit. The fact that it was her choice not to travel more often didn't make it any easier or lessen how much I missed her.

I turned to my nephews, Sethe and Gallen, the perfect miniature replicas of their father, with their snake tail instead of legs, human torso, and a face that was the loveliest mix of human and reptilian framed by a large hood. The boys each gave me the most tender embrace before stepping aside so that Szaro could do the same.

After one final wave, I headed towards the shuttle that would take me from the surface to the space station. With Trangor not allowing off-worlder tourism, this place was always empty. As the planet was still classified as primitive, the Prime Directive continued to severely restrict its access. Therefore, it cost a hefty sum to appoint a luxury cruise ship to make a detour here, pick me up, and take me home.

Needless to say, as soon as I checked into my cabin and dropped my luggage, I made a beeline for the spa. While enjoying a mani-pedi, and getting a facial, my thoughts kept going back to Serena. It shamed me that I should feel any envy towards her.

Obviously, her life wasn't for me. I was genuinely far too high maintenance and addicted to my creature comforts to rough it out in the outdoors looking after wild beasts or culling their numbers when they threatened their ecosystem like she did. But I couldn't deny longing for the type of obvious love she shared with her husband and children.

I resented my loneliness.

Sure, I loved my job. As a lobbyist—mostly in the medical engineering and sustainability fields—I got to put my finger on the scales that would have lasting impacts on cities, countries, and even entire planets or solar systems. I enjoyed a good mind game, spanking narcissists and assholes that wielded their power, wealth, and influence to crush others, and being the voice for those who had none. Unfortunately, that also meant I was constantly surrounded by superficial, greedy, and self-serving people. None of them qualified as mate material. The handful of decent potential partners had been snagged off the market a long time ago.

The fact that I was particularly picky and a strong, independent woman, didn't make things easier.

I headed back to my room, looking through what clothes I had brought with me. As Ordosians held few social gatherings, and since their people didn't wear clothes, I hadn't brought too many fancy outfits. After ten days straight of casualwear, I was way overdue to strut my stuff fully decked out. While boarding, I spotted a few members of the elite on their way to the bar. Shame still burned my gut that they glimpsed me so basically dressed and with my nails looking like they belonged to a harpy.

Prepare to be impressed!

A sudden pressure at the back of my head pulled me out of my superficial musings. I wasn't prone to headaches, but this one was quickly building. I stopped walking in the middle of the hallway and rubbed my temple then my nape. The discomfort didn't lessen, but it also didn't increase. Feeling both baffled and annoyed, I resumed walking towards my cabin, hoping I had some painkillers that would nip this in the bud as I had no intentions of remaining cooped up in my room.

To my dismay, the pressure increased with each step, going from unpleasant to downright painful. I stopped again. Like the previous time, the pain remained at the same level, neither increasing nor dampening. Another step forward caused it to crank up a notch.

That's not possible!

Refusing to accept the horrible thought crossing my mind, I turned around and walked in the opposite direction. To my shock, the pain immediately decreased, each step further lessening it. Wanting to confirm my suspicions, I turned around again to head back towards my room. The pain came back with a vengeance.

Feeling on the verge of panic, I debated what to do. I doubted I could reach my cabin without the pain reaching a debilitating level. A million thoughts raced through my mind as I tried to make sense of what was happening.

I retraced my steps, the pressure-pain steadily waning. It completely vanished when I arrived directly in front of cabin 16A.

What the fuck is going on?

As soon as I walked past it, the pressure came back. I couldn't decide if whatever was causing this was trying to lure me to that cabin, or if that area was the only safe zone. Not wanting to be caught loitering in front of that room in case someone came out—or worse tried to drag me inside—I moved as far away as I could without the discomfort entering painful territory. As I began tapping a few instructions on my com—an advanced prototype I designed myself—a couple I didn't know entered the hallway.

My heart leapt with a mix of hope and worry. I shifted closer to the wall so as not to stand in their way and gave them a polite smile as they walked past me. They returned the smile before continuing on their way, seeming totally unfazed by whatever was affecting me.

More baffled than ever, I launched the short-range scanner from my com. It immediately picked up the sonic signal emanating from cabin 16A. When I first realized something was happening, I feared we were under some form of sonic attack. In such instances, the aggressors used directed pulsed radio frequency energy to discreetly harm their targets. The effects would be gradual, from dizziness, to headaches, nausea, sensory defects, and flat-out brain damage.

But this was different.

Beyond the fact that sonic attacks normally had an area of effect, thereby impacting all the people within the targeted radius—not just a single person—the symptoms didn't manifest themselves this quickly, and certainly didn't fluctuate in real time the way mine were. But the dead giveaway was the fact that the signal emitted from that room did more than just specifically target me. Its frequency matched that of a telepathic communication. The scanner also clearly indicated it wasn't coming from a device but from some type of life form it couldn't identify, who shared the room with a human male.

That freaked me out even more.

Despite reorienting my career to mainly work as a lobbyist, I held a PhD in mechanical engineering, and still worked from time to time as a biomedical engineer. For years, I specialized in designing medical equipment meant to diagnose and heal foreign species using the most extensive database available in the known galaxy. What the hell kind of species was unknown to my device?

I immediately sent a message to the security team of the ship before using my high security clearance to send another message directly to the Enforcers. Having connections certainly came in handy. It didn't hurt that both my parents were also involved with the highest spheres of intergalactic politics, which opened many doors for me.

Although it felt like an eternity, the ship's security team arrived promptly. To my surprise, Captain Simmons himself was leading the three armed guards following him. He was a big, burly man in his late fifties. His muscular body testified to his previous career as a Space Marine before joining the largest commercial fleet to spend time with his new wife.

In a hushed tone, I swiftly explained what was happening and showed him my scan. His guards frowned at seeing my device, but Simmons didn't blink. He knew of my diplomatic security clearance, which allowed me to have and use technology forbidden to most common passengers. Obviously, this type of scanning could be deemed intrusive and a violation of people's privacy.

"Is there any way you can go wait in the safety of your cabin?" Captain Simmons asked.

I shook my head. "Believe me, I wanted nothing more than to call you guys from my cabin. But the pain was getting too debilitating to let me reach it."

"Very well. Stay here. Hopefully, we can get this swiftly resolved," he replied grimly.

Heart pounding, I watched the four men march resolutely towards the cabin. One of them kept walking past it, as another passenger entered the hallway. He gestured for her to stay put. Captain Simmons first pressed on the door chime before firmly knocking.

"Captain Simmons," he announced in a booming voice. "Please open the door."

It took about twenty endless seconds before the human male my scanner had detected opened the door. I couldn't see him from where I stood, and his voice was too hushed by the distance for me to clearly hear the conversation that ensued. However, judging by the increasingly stern way the captain was talking, I could guess the man was not being very cooperative. My stomach dropped when the two guards still flanking Simmons put their hands on the blasters hanging on their weapons belt.

"Mr. Tobin, we can do this the easy way, or the hard way," Simmons suddenly exclaimed. "Whether you like it or not, we're coming in to inspect your cabin. We have undeniable evidence that you smuggled an unauthorized life form on board. So you can step aside and let us investigate, or we can arrest you and still investigate. Any way you cut it, we're coming in."

"FUCK YOU!" the man named Tobin suddenly yelled.

I gasped and instinctively flattened myself against the wall when Captain Simmons lunged forward. The muffled sound of a blaster going off resonated in the distance, followed by the typical noises of physical battle. The two guards also charged forward. At the other end of the hallway, the passenger stopped by the third guard took cover behind the wall of the connecting corridor she had come from. Still, she poked her head forward, her wretched human curiosity taking over her sense of self-preservation.

The ruckus in cabin 16A quickly died down, indicating the captain and his men had managed to restrain Tobin.

"You can't do this! I have rights!" Tobin shouted.

For the next few minutes, he continued raging and shouting, the guards apparently completely ignoring him as they searched the cabin. According to my scanner, it was a three-room suite—deemed luxurious by most interstellar cruise ship standards but basic for our ship, the Radiant Star. While it didn't display detailed images of that location, it showed me the guards securing the first two rooms before heading to the back one where the unidentified being was located.

To my shock, the orange line indicating the sonic wave targeting me shifted to a blue color. This meant the frequency no longer had potential to be harmful. Only then did I realize that the pressure squishing my head had faded away. Instead, a lovely sound filled my ears. That wasn't quite the proper description as I wasn't actually hearing it through my ears. It felt more like telepathically hearing a hauntingly beautiful melody.

Flashes of color started appearing before my eyes as the music grew into a crescendo. Mesmerized, I marveled at the life-size kaleidoscope swirling before me, drawing me in. Distant voices attempted to pierce through the music. The more I tried to cast them out, the more urgent they sounded. A part of me told me I should heed them, but I didn't want to.

"Miss Bello, STOP!" Captain Simmons shouted.

The frightened sound of his voice snapped me out of my daze. I blinked. My jaw dropped, and my heart nearly leapt out of my chest when I realized I was now standing inside cabin 16A and right in front of some sort of heating cushion. On top of it, what I could only describe as a large cocoon appeared to be glowing from within. Shimmering colors, reminiscent of the kaleidoscope that had floated before my eyes, danced over the rippling yet smooth surface.

I attempted to step away from it. Not only did I fail to emit any sound when I tried to gasp, but I watched in horror as my hand reached for the cocoon with a will of its own. Captain Simmons' large hand grabbed my forearm in an effort to drag me away. No sooner did he make contact than he cried out and fell to his knees. The glazed look in his eyes hinted that, like I had when I was entranced to walk here, he was hallucinating. That thing had taken over his mind.

But my hand coming into contact with the cocoon squashed any thought of the captain or his guards. A tingling sensation spread from my palm through my arms and entire body. My knees wobbled, and I started feeling faint, seconds before a stabbing sensation brutally pricked the center of my palm. Only then did the thrall break. I yanked my hand away and stumbled a few steps back. The tingling sensation multiplied a thousand-fold, and my vision blurred. Seconds before a veil of darkness descended before my eyes, I saw a sharp thorn-like spike resorb inside the cocoon before the seam closed shut.