Secret Baby for the Alien Dad

Chapter 1

Jax

     “You sure you want another, Jax?”

     I scoff and tap on the table, motioning for him to hit me with another drink. Klexas knows better than to question me, but that doesn’t stop him on a night like this. Actually, he’s been like this almost every night this week, which means I’ve been drinking like this every night this week.

     “Let me know if you need a ride home,” he comments while placing another drink before me. 

     I roll my eyes and hand him some koltecs. “Thanks for the offer, but I think I’ll be fine.”

     My eyes float to the table I just left. Travelers from two towns over who are vacationing. Kalei only knows why they decided to come to this shithole of a city.

     Loud, high-pitched laughter catches my attention from the other side of the bar. A group of female Kaleidians has just walked in, no doubt looking for a good time. Let’s hope they have eyes for me.

     I shift through the crowd of drunkards and new faces at Orman’s to get to the dartboard. Orman’s has been on Station Ten for years. It’s one of my favorite places to go, especially when I’m feeling down.

     Station Ten has been quite the ride since I arrived on Glimner. It’s one of the largest stations this planet has, and it’s always crowded with visitors. Why, I don’t know. Maybe it just seems exotic to those that have never been here before. Unlike some of the more wartorn planets, this place is a party planet, save for the danger of aliens of ill-repute trying to shake tourists down.

     Leaning my elbow on the bar, I take a sip of my drink and survey who’s playing darts. There’s a group of Northams, skinny, gray things I don’t care much to associate with. Sighing, I shift my gaze to the next lane. My eyebrows rise. Another group of Kaleidians, a team I just finished a corporate espionage mission with, waves me over. I hold up a finger, letting them know I’ll be over in a moment.

I’d prefer not to be drinking with them at all, truth be told. I don’t like to stick with any one team for too long. Too much commitment. I had it once, and never again.

     I keep my ears open for the sound of the Kaleidian females’ laughter while walking over to the male group, hoping the females will call me over to give me an excuse not to talk to the crew. 

     The first mate of the crew, also a Kaleidian, calls me over. His face lights up when he sees me, and he raises his glass. “Jax! It’s been a wild ride.”

“Sure has been, Rognam.”

     “Please, please, join us! After all we’ve been through, the least I can do is share a drink.”

     Raising my glass and giving him a nod, I sit down and stretch my arms over the back of the uncomfortable bar couch. Crossing my legs, I make myself appear as big as possible and face in the direction of the Kaleidian women at the bar, pleading for them to save me from this attempt at ‘male bonding.’

     “So...” I pause and clear my throat before looking at my Kaleidian male conversation partner. “What’s next for you?”

“I’d love to go on another mission with you at the helm.”

“We’ll see. I have some off-galaxy work I have to be doing soon,” I lie.

“That’s too bad. I hear there’s some good jobs to be had around Yerrup.”

“Yerrup, that’s the  base a few miles south of here?”

“Yep. Sure is.”

     I laugh, throwing my head back and ensuring the sound is loud enough to reach the barstools the three Kaleidian females have taken. I gaze directly ahead and see them glance over at me from their peripheral vision before they giggle and whisper to each other while pointing over here.

Rognam interrupts my attempt at flirting with more conversation. “You know the Guigli plant there?” he asks.

Some of the crew members groan. “That used to be our primary target before someone else wiped out the CEO,” a pilot named Zartak says.

     I point to myself and smirk. Zartak’s jaw drops, and some of the other Kaleidians start laughing out of what I assume is disbelief.

     “That was you?”

     “Yep.”

     “How did you get in?” another asks.

     My eyes shift to the bar, and I lock onto the tallest Kaleidian female. She has long brown hair, and her scales glisten under the lights of the bar. I smirk and turn back to the group before me. I speak loud enough so that I know she can hear me, and the light in her eyes lets me know she’s hanging on my every word.

     “I posed as a courier for a delivery company for a week. Made a map of the place while I was undercover. Turns out there was a back hallway with no cameras. I was able to slip in and out before they even noticed he was dead.”

     The Kaleidian crew keeps talking amongst themselves while I look at the bar again. I’m unsure if she heard the whole story, but if not, hopefully there will be an opportunity to tell her later.

     “Where are you from?” one of the Kaleidians asks me.

     Laughing, I stand up and raise my glass to them. “Please excuse me for a moment. Good to share a drink.”

     “Good to see you, too,” Ragnam says.

     I can tell by his furrowed brow and slightly cocked head that he’s confused. That’s fine. I don’t expect him to be fine with me randomly walking away. Most of these groups are confused by the erratic action, but the cut-and-run is a move I’ve perfected greatly, especially when I can tell that someone’s trying to get too close.

     Rounding the bar, I go to the opposite end and sit behind the wall of booze bottles so no one can see from the other side of the room. When I’m out of their sight, I sigh and sit on the barstool while downing the last of my drink.

The sounds of the insanity of the bar drone out while I get lost in my thoughts. Life was grand back when I was comfortable talking about my life beyond a few surface stories. I even used to be able to let loose. But that hasn’t been true for a while now.

     Now, most nights are spent like the one tonight at Orman’s, shifting from crowd to crowd, talking just a little and saying even less. Just the way I want it. Any deeper would be pointless. Anything aside from surface-level anything is pointless.

     I had it all once. The fated mate, the wealth, the status. What kind of Kaleidian lets his fated mate slip away? A self-destructive one. Someone whose darkness makes others run. 

When you know what it’s like to have mind-blowing sex with a being who was put in the universe just for you, a fated mate, it’s hard to want to go through the hassle of connecting with anyone. Having found and lost my fated mate, I’m not very eager to try. By definition, I know no one would measure up. 

If only Luna could hear me now. She’d never let me live it down after how cocky I always was with her.

     Klexas walks up to me and sighs while putting his hands on the bar. With a solemn look, he nods at my glass.

     “Another?”

     “No,” I reply in a low voice, throwing him some extra koltecs.

     “Hey,” Klexas says while I’m turning away. I glance back at him. “See you tomorrow.”

     “Yeah,” I reply while I walk away.

     My eyes glance over the crowd, and the Kaleidian woman looks at me again. I don’t smirk or smile back, just simply turn and walk toward the door.

I know I could have her, take her to my bed, take her to the limits of what she thought she knew of pleasure. But what’s the point? Just someone else who I have to push away again. No. Easier just to stay alone.

Right before I’m about to push the door to leave, it opens so quickly it almost hits me in the face. But no one’s straight ahead. When I glance down, I see a boy standing before me, smiling up.

     “You lost?” I scoff.

     “No,” he replies with a wide grin while the door closes behind him.

     “You shouldn’t be in a bar,” I reply, wondering where the fuck this kid’s parents are.

     He shrugs. “Well, I’m here.”

     I look back at the bar. I don’t know why this kid is here, and frankly, I don’t care, but I don’t trust any of these bums to keep him safe. Right as I’m about to tell him to go home, the Kaleidian woman approaches us.

     “Well, hello there,” she coos, bending down to shake the boy’s hand. “I’m Karilla.”

     “Nice to meet you,” the boy responds politely.

She turns to me and smiles, nodding at the group I was with before next to the dart board. “I heard you were the one that took out the CEO of that Guigli plant.”

I cross my arms with a smug smile. Then I look down at the kid. Should I talk about killing someone in front of him? I’m not sure boys that young should know about all the darkness in this world.

“I was,” I reply, clearing my throat. “It was a two-week-long operation.”

“Operation?” the boy asks excitedly.

I grin at him and nod. “Yeah, it was a mission I took on a while ago. Got me a lot of koltecs.”

“How many?” the boy asks.

I glance at the Kaleidian female with one of my eyebrows raised. “Enough.” My eyes glance over. She’s hot but not enough to make me risk inviting an attachment. 

She places her hand on my arm. “That’s quite impressive. What’s your name, soldier?”

“Soldier?” I scoff. “More like mercenary.”

I close my mouth tightly at the last word while I glance at the kid. I wonder if he even knows the meaning. He shouldn’t be hearing any of this.

“Well, give me a call if you ever want some company, mercenary.”

She reaches into her purse and pulls out a card before handing it to me and walking away with a wink. I breathe a sigh of relief as she leaves. I really didn’t want to have to deal with her – not tonight, and especially not in the morning. But nice to know that I could if I wanted. And I can if I get bored.

I look down at the kid and rip the card she gave me. 

“Why’d you do that?” he asks.

“Because independence is power, kid. Dependence is a weakness I don’t have time for.”

“Independence is power,” he repeats with a glimmer in his eye and a wide grin. “Yeah! Yeah, I like that!”

I chuckle and ruffle his hair. “You know what? You’re not bad. Wanna hear some more stories?”

“Yeah!” he responds enthusiastically.

“Come on,” I reply, leading him into the bar. “Wanna hear about the time I took on three armored guards at once?”

“Three?”

“Three.”