Worlds Explode Read online

  Worlds Explode

  A Worlds Away Companion Story, Book 2.5

  J.L. Hendricks

  This book is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

  Copyright (c) 2017 J.L. Hendricks

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the author. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions, and do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrighted materials.

  This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. It may not be sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you are reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please purchase your own copy.

  First Edition March, 2017

  All rights reserved. Copyright © 2017 J.L. Hendricks

  Other Books by J.L. Hendricks

  The Voodoo Dolls

  Ø Book 0 – Magic’s Not Real

  Ø Book 1 –New Orleans Magic (available for pre-order now)

  Alpha Alien Abduction Tales Series

  Ø Book 1: Worlds Away

  Ø Book 2: Worlds Collide

  Ø Book 2.5: Worlds Explode

  Ø Book 3: Worlds Entwined

  A Shifter Christmas Romance Series

  Ø Book 0: Santa Meets Mrs. Claus

  Ø Book 1: Miss Claus and the Secret Santa

  Ø Book 2: Miss Claus under the Mistletoe (June 2017)

  Ø Book 3: Miss Claus and the Christmas Wedding (Christmas 2017)

  A Gamer’s Universe

  Ø Book 0 – Operation: Pirates vs Drones

  The Original Eclipse Series

  Ø Book 0 – Eclipse of the Beginning

  Ø Book 1 –Eclipse of the Warrior

  Ø Book 2– Eclipse of Power (coming soon)

  Ø Book 3 –Eclipse of the Heart (coming soon)

  Origins of the Eclipse Series – set in the Eclipse Universe but is freestanding

  Ø Book 1 – The Eclipse of Time

  Anthologies

  Ø The Expanding Universe (includes Worlds Revealed)

  Ø Myth’s & Legends (Includes Magic’s Not Real – a Voodoo Dolls Story)

  Ø Dark Destinies (Includes Eclipse of the Warrior)

  Ø Inanna’s Circle Game #1 and #2 (2 stories from the Eclipse Universe)

  Ø Glimpse (An original short story set in the Eclipse Universe)

  See these titles and more at www.jlhendricksauthor.com

  Table of Contents

  Newsletter Sign-up

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Newsletter Sign-up

  If you want to make sure you hear about the latest and greatest, sign up for my newsletter at: http://jlhendricksauthor.com/newsletter/ I will only send out a few e-mails a month. I hate spam and lots of e-mails from others, so why would I do that to you? I won’t. And I will never sell your address either. I will however, do cover reveals, snippets of new books and giveaways or promos in the newsletter, some of which will only be available to newsletter subscribers. J

  Chapter 1

  Flitting from table to table, the pretty, blonde woman was like a darting honey bee visiting a field of flowers. “Can you believe it? We have been free in this town for a month already! Tonight is the big party. Don’t forget to get all dolled up and head over to the community center for the feast and dance!” She couldn’t contain her exuberance as she darted from group to group all around the mess hall.

  One month ago to the day, this small, lonely, alien village turned into a bustling town. Around 250 humans and aliens joined the ranks of New Hope. The aliens were their captors turned friends and lovers. What started out as a mission to abduct 200 humans to be used as slaves, or in some cases mates, turned into true friendship and loving marriages.

  So far, at least twenty human women had mated with the V’Zenian warriors who abducted them from Earth only two short months before. These couples were living in wedded bliss and not one of them regretted their situation in the least bit. More were headed down the wedding aisle soon.

  “Lucy, calm down. I think everyone knows what today is.” Madeleine stated as she smiled at her friend.

  “Maddie, how can you be so calm? Everyone is excited. Can’t you feel it?” Lucy asked.

  “Feel what? The tension? The anxiety over the fact that these warriors still haven’t killed all of the insectoids?” Maddie shook her head and continued to walk to her dorm.

  “How can you not let yourself enjoy the freedoms we now have?” Lucy put her hands out to stop Maddie from walking away. “You haven’t accepted your fate yet, have you?”

  “Yes, I have. Out of everyone here, I think I understand better than anyone how crappy life is, and how to accept the losing hand we were dealt.” Maddie did stop, but she only looked over her shoulder with a scowl for her friend.

  Maddie hadn’t made many friends since being abducted. She didn’t want to lose any more loved ones, the last one broke her heart and her spirit. So she thought the best way to protect her frail heart was to not make friends.

  Lucy on the other hand, considered everyone she met her friend. She was a free spirit who always had something nice to say to anyone she met. Although, Maddie was special to her. They had been in the same cage when they first woke up in space. Neither knew the other one before that fateful day, but since have become good friends. Lucy would say best of friends. However, Maddie would barely acknowledge the friendship out loud. But, in her heart, she was already starting to feel a strong connection to Lucy.

  After being abducted by extremely handsome and very tall aliens who could send any woman’s heart a fluttering, Lucy made a point to make sure that all of the women she came into contact with were taken care of. Maddie didn’t want to be taken care of, which only made Lucy try harder.

  Lucy was a school teacher back on Earth. Here, on Zeleron 10, she was able to obtain a position as a school teacher as well. They didn’t have many children on the planet, but she was the first fully trained and experienced school teacher they had abducted. So she became the head teacher to the twenty three children born to the human/alien couples already on this planet.

  “I can’t wait for the day when you meet your mate! Maddie, you will fall in love one day, I just hope I’m here to see it.” Lucy walked away from her friend not quite as happy as she had been during her lunch break.

  Maddie thought about what Lucy said and hoped a male didn’t want to mate with her. If what everyone said was true, she wouldn’t have a choice but to fall in love. She did, however, have the ability to say no if one should propose to her.

  Chapter 2

  Later that night, everyone was making their way to the celebratory dance. Maddie was still in her bunk house trying to decide if she wanted to head over to the party or not. It was a big deal. They had been free for a month when the commander of the only village on the planet offered them safe haven after they crash-landed. Their captors didn’t have the ability to keep them locked up in cages until a new ship could arrive to this very distant planet and rescue them.

  With the exception of a few small incidents, they had been very safe. She had heard that some men had gone missing. Although, it was probably that they ran away and didn’t want to stay here and work for their livin
g.

  She looked at herself in the mirror. The seamstresses had made her a beautiful dress for the occasion. Maddie was a seamstress herself, so she was surprised when her team gave her this gorgeous red dress that made her feel sexy. They must have worked on it when she wasn’t around since she hadn’t seen this pattern or the fabric laying around the work areas.

  It was made of what felt like silk and overlaid with an intricate lace pattern. The sleeves were short and cape-like. They were loose and flounced about making her arms look better than they really were. On a warm night it was the perfect dress to keep from overheating. The length went to just above her knees. Normally, she wouldn’t wear something that short, but it made her legs look long and slender when paired with matching red heels.

  As she gazed at her image in the mirror, she smiled at her reflection. She hadn’t smiled at herself in a long time. She couldn’t remember a time over the past five years when she had occasion to appreciate her image. The extra pounds she gained hadn’t helped matters any. However, this dress made her look ten pounds lighter and gave her the confidence she once had.

  She stared at her image intently and wondered if she had lost some weight since arriving on this planet. Before she was abducted, weight was an issue for her. Now, it appeared to be melting off.

  “Hmm, I can’t believe this is really me.” She twirled in front of the mirror and smiled again. “I only hope that none of the warriors try to latch on to me tonight. When are they going to get it through those dense brains of theirs that I’m not interested in them?” Maddie said as she grabbed her purse and made for the door before she changed her mind.

  She stopped in the opening of the community center room and looked around with her mouth agape. Lucy walked up to her and pushed her chin up and said, “You better keep that closed before one of the men here notice. That would be embarrassing! Hopefully, you stop drooling soon too.” Lucy giggled and pulled Maddie by the hand to a table where she saved her friend a seat.

  “Maddie, do you know Betty and Sarah?” Lucy asked.

  “Yes, I believe we have all met. Nice to see both again.”

  Betty and Sarah nodded and in unison said, “Nice to see you, too.” Then both said, “Jinx, you owe me a Coke.”

  “If only we had Diet Coke here. Then it would be perfect,” Lucy said.

  Maddie looked around the room. “Wow, I had no idea that aliens knew how to decorate. This place looks very nice, and totally opposite of their normal, drab rooms. When did they learn what color was.” Everyone around the table laughed with Maddie as she sat down next to Lucy and Betty.

  “I know, our cells were nothing more than a bland gray color. None of the hallways on those ships had any color either. Thankfully, human woman had painted the bunk houses, or we would still be living in shades of gray.” Sarah responded.

  The room was full of reds, pinks, blues, purples, all the colors of the rainbow. Streamers were everywhere. The walls had actually been painted a light purple and had various paintings hung on them. Those paintings had been commissioned by the base Commander himself. He had seen a couple of the humans painting. Their canvases evoked emotions he didn’t know he had. Some were of landscapes that were so lush and green, he wanted to visit Earth for the first time, ever. He asked them to paint something to commemorate this event. The general feeling the room exuded was happiness and hope. Maddie was smiling from ear to ear, something she rarely did any more.

  Maddie could hardly see the ceiling with all of the streamers coming down and shaped like they were expensive, crystal chandeliers. “Who decorated the room? It’s fabulous! Makes me feel like I’m at prom or something else just as exciting back home.”

  Lucy responded, “I know, right? I helped a little, but it was mostly the V’Zenians. They are all so happy to have us here working alongside them that they spent the past two days making this the most beautiful room on the planet.” She smiled dreamily as she eyed one of the seven foot tall alien men.

  Most of the aliens looked very similar to humans, except for the fact that they were all close to seven feet tall, their skin was more of a purplish gray, still close enough to humans that it wasn’t what made them stand out. But their eyes, those beautiful purple eyes kept many women drooling and ogling more than they worked most days. The other feature that truly set them apart was their veins. They flashed different colors to match their mood. The more human DNA they had, the lighter the colors. Those who were purebloods, like Captain Zelan, had deeper shades of colors flowing through their veins.

  Currently, the Captain’s veins were flashing a deep purple as he looked at his new bride. Purple meant love and contentment. Which was very evident from the relaxed way the Captain was sitting next to his mate.

  Maddie looked at them and commented, “Since Zelan and Natalie married, I don’t think his veins have changed from purple to anything else.” She laughed as she turned to look back at her friends.

  “You might be right, but can you blame him? Natalie’s gorgeous. Plus, she’s one of the nicest people you will ever meet. When we were still in the cells after crashing on this planet, she made sure to visit us as often as she could. One day, she even brought me some dinner rolls with ham and cheese.” Lucy recalled as she waved to her friend.

  Natalie walked over to the table, “Hi ladies, you all look so beautiful tonight. Have any of you picked out your future mates yet?” She giggled as she sat next to Lucy. “Lucy, don’t you know just about all of the males on this planet? Why haven’t you picked out your future husband yet?” Natalie hugged Lucy while she asked her question.

  “Too many men, too little time. Until I meet them all, I just can’t decide who I want. Besides, I’m leaning towards the twins. Too bad Rachelle has her sights on them both.” Lucy said as she sighed.

  In the corner nearest them, Rachelle sat between the twin aliens who were scanning the crowd.

  “I think they aren’t all that interested in her. She’s probably keeping their bed warm at night, but they don’t see her as anything else.” Betty commented.

  The girls at the table started giggling and just before they could gossip any more, Commander Venay and his wife, Paris, joined them.

  “Oh Maddie, I love your new dress! Did you design that one?” Paris asked as she pulled a chair closer to Maddie.

  “I wish I had, but no. My co-workers did this as a surprise for me. The only reason I came tonight was this dress.” Maddie smoothed the fabric over her stomach. She wasn’t fat, but she wasn’t skinny either. Her stomach stuck out a little and she thought she needed to go on a diet the next day. Little did she know, but a certain alien male was watching her and thinking that she looked perfect.

  ***

  Marcon watched the woman in red and felt a pang in his stomach. It wasn’t pain as much as it was a longing. A longing for something he couldn’t have. Over the past two weeks he had tried to speak with Maddie, but she always brushed him off and walked away before he said two words.

  “Come on, there is a table of single human females just waiting for us to ask them to dance. Time to show off our moves.” Lorlo said as he slapped his friend on the back. “Stop drooling over the woman in red. She’s never going to give you a chance. Not a single warrior has even gotten her to say ‘Hi’ since they moved here.” He shrugged his shoulders as he moved toward a table full of waiting women.

  Marcon knew his friend was right, but he also knew she was the one. There was no way he was going to give up. Tonight however, was a party. One he planned on enjoying with his friends and any human females who would dance with him.

  ***

  Rachelle noticed that Maddie was wearing the best dress in the whole place and she was livid. How in the world can a lowly seamstress have the best dress? She must have hoarded the most exotic fabric for herself as soon as she got that job. Maybe I should have taken it when it was offered to me. I would have the best outfits and all of the men would be ogling me, and not her. Can’t they tell she’s a fat cow
? Rachelle thought to herself as she noticed Max watching Maddie and smiling.

  “Come on, one of you must know how to dance. Sitting here is so boring. Let’s dance.” Rachelle grabbed Max’s hand along with his twin brother’s hand and tried to lead them to the dance floor. Max and Zel had been happy to take Rachelle to the dance when it was first announced two weeks ago. That was, until they got to know her better.

  At first, it sounded like fun. Sharing a human woman. No other aliens did that. Most were too territorial to share. But neither of the twins had met their mate yet, so they thought something lighthearted and fun was in order. After about three dates, they wished they hadn’t agreed. Now, instead of fighting over who gets the woman, they fight over who gets to leave the woman behind.

  Max had already decided that he was going to tell the chatty girl after the dance that he no longer wanted to spend time with her. His brother wasn’t happy either, so Zel was going to say the same thing. Neither cared that she was going to get dumped by both of them in one night. She was too annoying and mean. Life was short and they had no plans to be miserable, not when there were so many other women to enjoy.

  While they walked to the dance floor, Max felt something come alive inside of his body. At first, he thought it must be the music. Some of it was pounding so hard, he could actually feel the music’s beat in his bones.

  Then, he saw her. A woman with blonde hair and a smile that lit the room like the morning sun after a long storm. He felt himself smile at her as he tried to remember her name. They had met before, but he was too busy thinking about Rachelle and what he wanted to do to her that night, he didn’t even bother looking at the girl when they were introduced.

  Max started to guide his group to the table where that morning sunshine was waiting for him, calling to him even. Rachelle broke into his thoughts when she said, “Wrong way, we don’t want to bother the Commander and the Captain. They look to be busy right now. Come on, let’s dance.” She pulled him again toward her and he allowed her to take him to the dance floor.