Chapter 2
“This part of the building is where the smaller children—young—will take their lessons,” Tera Kincaid said nervously as she escorted Prima Lindsey and Prime Leader KadEN around the partially built school. Construction had just gotten underway, but this would be one of the best schools she had helped plan and oversee. It was exciting and a little intimidating to be presenting a rough, unfinished building to the people who’d hired her to do the job. It was hard to tell by their expressions if they liked what they saw or hated it.
Prima Lindsey was friendly and gave her a reassuring smile. She was a pretty woman with golden brown hair, and completely human. Her husband—mate—Prime Leader KadEN was a tall, dark-haired and well-built Kiljorn, but he was also very quiet and intimidating. His eyes seemed to see right through her.
KadEN frowned. “The children will be separated from each other by age group. That is different from how Kiljorn schooling is arranged. Some of our children were taught from home; while others were placed in training rooms based on their knowledge and ability, not age. What is the security going to be like for this new school?”
Tera took a deep break and released it. She had prepared for questions like these by learning everything she could about Katieran and Kiljorn education. She also knew that since Kiljor had been attacked by their enemy the Morins, the ones who almost wiped them out years ago with a virus, their biggest concern would be the safety of their people.
She spoke confidently, even though she was nervous on the inside. “The school will have a security detail assigned for each part: the elementary school, the middle school, and the high school. Commander TylOR is going to personally pick the members of each security detail and give his final approval. The building itself will be secured at all times, and only authorized teachers, security, students, and parents will have access.”
Lindsey moved to her mate’s side and placed her hand on his arm. “It’s going to be fine, honey. Our children will be perfectly safe, and so will the others.”
KadEN looked down at his mate with so much love in his eyes that Tera felt uncomfortable watching such an intimate moment. Glancing away, she pretended to survey the ceiling and hoped that her answers had satisfied the leader. Her new position heading up this project was important to her, and she felt needed for the first time since leaving Earth.
Tera had traveled from Earth to Katiera through a relocation program almost five years ago. Earth’s natural resources were being depleted, and its overpopulation was a major problem. The leaders of Earth had sent out a mayday signal, and their call was answered—by the Katierans.
The Katierans didn’t come to Earth’s aid purely out of the kindness of their hearts; they had their own reasons. The Katieran Nation was facing the end of their race if they didn’t find a species that they were compatible with, which would be able to produce viable offspring. They believed that the women from Earth were their answer.
They struck a deal with Earth’s World Government (EWG). They would help renew Earth’s natural resources, and in exchange, they would be allowed to institute a voluntary relocation program. No one from Earth realized at first why the program only accepted single young women.
It seemed to work out for all parties involved. Many of the Earth women brought over to Katiera had mated with Katieran warriors, Kiljorn warriors, or warriors from the Colony. The successful matings resulted in a baby boom unlike anything that could’ve been predicted. Earth females had proven to be extremely fertile. However, that wasn’t the only reason schools needed to be built on both Katiera and Kiljor.
Earth’s government had tried to deal with overpopulation by regulating births. In cases of unapproved pregnancy, the mothers were punished with incarceration, while the babies were taken to government-run orphanages. This had led to an excess of children in need of homes.
When the Katieran Leader RendEL heard of the plight of the orphans he requested that the children be brought to Katiera to find foster homes with families who had no children of their own. The Katieran council approved the relocation of orphaned children from Earth. Surprisingly, many families applied for the foster program. Excitement spread throughout Katiera and Kiljor over the hope of a future for their race.
The orphans’ ages ranged from infants to seventeen-year-olds. So many were coming that Katiera had asked Kiljor to sponsor some of the children as well. Since Tera was instrumental in creating the school program on Katiera and helping set up the foster program, she was asked to oversee the program on Kiljor. There was even talk of setting up a program on the Colony. Her life felt almost full; she just wished she had someone to share it with.
She heard Lindsey clear her throat, so she felt it was safe to turn back around. “Was there anything else you would like to see? I apologize for the state of construction. The classrooms should be finished in another day or two. You could come back.”
KadEN waved his hand at the disheveled area. “This doesn’t bother me. I just want to make sure that the children will be safe. I’ll ensure that they have everything that they need to learn. Top-of-the-line learning tablets, access to educational materials from Earth as well as Katiera and Kiljor, and whatever else you can think of. Just let me know.”
She smiled. “Thank you, I appreciate it. I’ll let you know if there is anything else.”
“Security is going to be top priority, though. I’ll meet with Commander TylOR and go over the security plans. If you two will excuse me, I have a meeting with him scheduled in fifteen minutes.” He bent to kiss Lindsey. “I’ll see you at dinner.”
“I love you,” Lindsey told him, and he kissed her again before leaving.
Tera looked away again, not wanting to intrude on their private moment. Seeing the love on their faces and how the Prime Leader couldn’t keep his hands off of his mate made her feel a pang of longing. Not that she wanted KadEN, but she did want to have a love like theirs for herself. In all her time on Katiera, with all the warriors she’d met, none of them were the right one for her. None of them looked at her the same way that KadEN looked at Lindsey, as if the suns and moon rose and set around his mate.
Lindsey turned her way. “That went well. I’m impressed with how much has been accomplished already. It looks like the school will be finished long before the children arrive. Now all we need is to find the right foster families for each of the children.”
That made her frown. “I thought that all the foster families had been approved already?”
“Well, we’ve had to make extra-detailed inquiries to verify that no one who held prejudices against Earthlings would get their hands on one of the children. There were a few families with questionable motives, whom we’ve had to remove from the program for now until they can prove themselves trustworthy. Now we need to find replacements for the families removed from the list.”
That was definitely a real danger to consider. A rebellious group of Katierans, Kiljorns, and Colonists had attacked a few of the Earth women. They believed that mixing the races was an abomination, and spouted that nonsense to whoever would listen, despite the fact that without the women from Earth, the Katierans would die out from not being able to reproduce.
The three Prime Leaders—RendEL, KadEN, and LarIS—enacted stricter laws, declaring that any person who endangered a human would be banished from their home world or severely punished. Since that warning, over a year ago, no major incidents had occurred. At least that was what the public knew. Was there something going on with the rebels, or worse, the Morins, that the public didn’t know about?
It wasn’t that long ago that the Morins, the enemy that had used the viral attack on the Katieran Nation, had attacked Kiljor. Many were killed, and their females had been taken by the Morins. The Morins were said to have retreated, or possibly were now all wiped out. However, seeing how much KadEN was worried over security had her second-guessing whether the Morin threat was completely gone.
As they exited the partially built building together, she wanted to ask Lindsey what the security concerns were but knew it was inappropriate. If there were a true threat, the humans would be warned to take precautions. Her imagination was probably just running wild. She was alone on a new planet; she’d left her family back on Earth, and the only friends she had made thus far were mated and on Katiera. It was a scary feeling being a single woman on her own in a foreign land. Thank God she had the translator implant from when she joined the relocation program, or she wouldn’t be able to understand their language at all.
“What do you say?” Lindsey asked.
She stopped walking, realizing that she’d been so caught up in her own thoughts that she hadn’t heard a thing Lindsey had said. Evidently the Prima had asked her a question. “I’m sorry, I was distracted. What did you ask me?”
“I asked if you would be available to come over for the evening meal tonight, at seven. It would give us a chance to talk about the security detail and school supplies.”
Tera bit her lip. “Will there be many people there? I admit to not being good around a lot of adult people. Kids are fine; I can be in an auditorium full of children and handle it with no problem. But when I’m alone with four or more adults I start to...freeze up. I don’t know what to say or do. I babble and sometimes make no sense.” She could feel her heart rate speed up just thinking about it.
Lindsey reached out and patted her hand reassuringly. “Easy, it’s okay. You’ve met everyone who will be there tonight. We’re just having a few people over, including Commander TylOR and his mate.”
Feeling foolish, she let out a deep breath. “Sorry, I swear I’m not a basket case. I think the move from Katiera to Kiljor was just a lot to take in. I was happy to come, don’t get me wrong. The position I’ve been given and the chance for adventure is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. It’s just that I left behind the few friends I had made back on Katiera. It’s been a little lonely.”
“Of course it’s been a lot to take in. I promise you’ll make new friends here as well. Look, we’re already friends. You’re just coming over to have a nice quiet dinner with your new Kiljorn friends.”
Tera smiled at the other woman and nodded her head. “What time did you say dinner was?”
