The Regent's Rapture: (An Alpha Alien Romance Novel) (Lords of Zanthar Book 1) Read online

  Table of Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Chapter 41

  Chapter 42

  Chapter 43

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Find Liza Probz

  Description

  Introduction

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Chapter 41

  Chapter 42

  Chapter 43

  Zanthar 2 Info

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  About the Author

  Copyright Page

  The Regent’s Rapture

  The Lords of Zanthar, Book 1

  by

  Liza Probz

  Find Liza Probz

  http://lizaprobzauthor.com/

  Description

  It was supposed to be an exploratory mission, and it was... Just not the kind she expected.

  Dr. Sylvia Cohen, MIT's premiere astrobiologist has been chosen for a follow-up mission to Zanthar, a planet showing the promise of life. Leaving little behind on earth, she sustains a crash landing on the large seaweed planet and encounters far more than the micro-organisms discovered years earlier.

  The Supreme Regent of Zanthar has a natural affinity for human females and finds himself quite taken with the lovely doctor, but war stands at their door. His determination of her innocence or guilt will change the future for both of them. He will test her in many ways, finding himself wanting her to succeed more and more each time.

  Sylvia determines that science can explain most anything, but matters of the heart are forever a mystery.

  Introduction

  Find out how it all started…

  Sign up for the Liza’s New Release mailing list and get a free copy of her “list only” novella The Vartik King Chronicles – The Beginning

  Click here to get started.

  Chapter 1

  Dr. Sylvia Cohen hoped the cameras couldn't see her hand shake as she held the "thumbs up" pose for the crowd of photographers and journalists. She was to be the first woman ever to set foot on an inhabited planet. The thought filled her with such excitement and anxiety that she had been averaging three hours of sleep a night for the past week. Now the big day was here, the shuttle was about to blast off, and she wondered for the thousandth time if she was making a huge mistake.

  Her sister, Jamie, hadn't been shy in listing the myriad reasons why Sylvie shouldn't be heading off to explore a new world all alone. Most of them seemed to boil down to, "you could be eaten by some alien monster with acid blood and three rows of razor-sharp teeth."

  Jamie watched too much Holo-TV.

  She scouted the crowd again for a glimpse of her sister, but didn’t see her. It seemed Jamie had better things to do than see Sylvie off on the greatest adventure of her life. Jamie usually had better things to do. Better things named Steven. Or Douglas. Or Jimmy.

  One more reason to risk a horrible death by an alien monster.

  No one would miss her much back on Earth.

  Soon she was inside the small craft, going through her pre-launch checklist, breathing deep and reminding herself that she'd been training for a mission like this for years. As soon as faster-than-light travel had been achieved, it was only a matter of time before they found a planet capable of sustaining life, but that time had finally arrived.

  JL-398 was a planet comprised mostly of water. It had an atmosphere similar to Earth, and NASA's probe had discovered evidence of microorganisms on the planet's surface. Life!

  As MIT's premiere astrobiologist, she had been consulted about the next phase of exploration. NASA had been planning on sending their robotic scavengers to the surface first, but Sylvie had convinced her colleagues to support her proposal of sending a team of scientists to investigate.

  Sylvie had testified in front of the committee charged with planning the mission. "The scavengers are not far enough advanced to perform the type of critical thinking that would be required. We need someone who can troubleshoot, someone who can respond on the fly."

  The issue was safety. It always was. While there had been plenty of landings on uninhabited planets, this mission had the potential to be more dangerous. NASA wasn't ready to risk the lives of an entire team.

  Then an idea popped into her head and flew out of her mouth before she could stop it. It had the power to turn her life upside down, but that was a problem for later. Surely they would choose someone far more qualified than her.

  "What about a single human volunteer?"

  It made sense. A scientist would be much more efficient at scouting the best areas for potential life, and at making the split-second decisions that might be necessary in the survey of a new and unknown world. In the end, the committee had agreed with her.

  She was the chosen volunteer.

  Now it was lift-off, and before she realized it, she was out of Earth's atmosphere and into the darkness of space.

  "Wow." It was awe-inspiring. The void burned with countless points of light. In the distance, the moon was looming larger by the second. "Just... wow."

  "Please repeat your query."

  Sylvie laughed. She'd forgotten about Magnis. Multi-Access Generative Networked Information System. The ship's computer.

  "Nothing, Magnis. Just taking in the sights." She punched in the command for the view screen to shift, pulling up the image of Earth shrinking behind them. It was beautiful, a swirl of white, blue, and brown.

  A pang of homesickness hit her in the chest but it didn't last long. The ship was shooting
through space at such a speed that before she knew it, Earth was just another point of light.

  Chapter 2

  On the third day of the journey, her target appeared on the view screen for the first time. Sylvie had seen pictures of the planet, but they hardly did it justice. Captivating clouds of soft lavender whirled around seas that shifted from deep indigo to aquamarine and every color in between. There were darker ridges of maroon that became more apparent the closer the ship came. They were few in number, with great distances between them. Land.

  Sylvie stood and walked to the view screen, which took up a large portion of the ship's hull, the game of Go she'd been playing with Magnis forgotten. Magnis always beat her anyway. Like he beat her at holo-checkers. And he'd cleaned her out at tarot poker. It had been a long three days.

  But the journey was worth it, just for the chance to see a new world with her own eyes. The first human eyes ever to take in the beauty of JL-398.

  That name's got to go.

  She would be on the surface for ten days, more than enough time to come up with something fitting, and hopefully enough time to find definitive signs of life.

  To be the first to prove that humans were not alone in the universe would surely cement her scholarly legacy for all time. The most important scientific discovery of the twenty-second century. It would justify all the long, lonely hours spent in the library, in the lab, alone in her room reading and writing and running experiments. It would be the pinnacle of her young career. Of her life.

  "Sixty seconds until we enter the atmosphere," Magnis informed her.

  Sylvie scrambled to her seat and struggled to strap down her protective harness.

  "Atmosphere in five seconds." Magnis's calm tone was a strange counterpoint to her own frantic feelings.

  This is it. She closed her eyes and breathed in deeply as the seconds ticked by.

  Suddenly the ship shook with a powerful impact. An alarm began sounding.

  "Main power is down. Auxiliary power spent sealing multiple hull breaches and sustaining life support. No residual power for navigation."

  "What?" Entering the atmosphere couldn't be responsible for such damage, could it?

  Magnis's voice was as tranquil as ever. "We have lost navigation. The ship is about to crash."

  The view screen showed their descent. The seas of this unknown planet were getting closer by the second. Then the screen crackled and cut out.

  "Impact in ten seconds."

  The alarms blared. Lights flickered.

  Magnis began to count down. "Impact in five seconds. Four. Three. Two. One."

  "Impact."

  Sylvie's entire world exploded around her, then she knew nothing but darkness.

  Chapter 3

  She was wet. And lying on something hard and warm.

  Sylvie opened her eyes and blinked into the light of a blue sun. She sat up and groaned, taking in the scene around her, but not understanding it immediately.

  Sun winked off the silver of her ship's hull as it bounced on the waves of an endless purple sea. As she watched, the silver slipped under the surface. Her ship. Her equipment. Her way home.

  Gone.

  She looked around. She was sitting on a lone outcropping of red rock in an ocean of deep purple. The rock was painted with oranges and yellows where the waterline hit. Tiny living creatures, perhaps, that lived on the border between land and sea?

  A low squeaking drew her attention to her left, where Fido was busy untangling some exotic form of seaweed out of its tracks. Fido, or Firstwave Intelligent Defense Operative, must have kicked into action immediately upon impact. She owed her life to the robot NASA had insisted she bring with her.

  "Thank you, Fido," Sylvie said as she moved herself closer to the machine. She helped it untangle itself, then examined the seaweed.

  "Life," she whispered.

  In her hand she held definitive proof that life could exist on another planet.

  She glanced up as her jaw fell open. A transparent craft of some sort dropped from the sky to land above the spot where her ship had sunk. A door opened, and two figures with skin light green in color jumped into the waves, disappearing beneath them. Two more moved to a round platform, which detached itself from the craft to zoom across the waves.

  Straight toward her.

  Sylvie couldn't believe her eyes. The probe’s data had led them to believe the planet had the beginnings of life, mainly small, single-celled organisms. Nothing in her wildest imagination could have led her to believe that there might be advanced intelligent life. But figures, with what appeared to be two arms and two legs, were currently approaching her at lightning speed.

  "Proximity alert."

  She jumped at Fido’s voice. A panel of warning lights blinked on along the lines of the robot's two extender arms. The electronic display that comprised the unit's face turned from placid blue to angry red. A small hatch popped open on Fido's shoulder, and a weapon appeared from the hatch.

  "Wait," she said, patting her robotic watchman on the arm. "We're not sure if they mean us any harm. Let me try and communicate with them first."

  The outcropping of rock was only a dozen feet across, and Sylvie imagined that at high tide only a few scant inches might be uncovered. They had to get off this stone island if they had the chance, and the beings headed toward them obviously had a means of transport. Best to see if they could be reasoned with.

  Her mind spit out calm suggestions while her heart acted like it was going to punch its way out of her chest.

  "Hostile life forms approaching. Defense initiative Alpha-01 activated." A red light began to blink from the weapon on Fido's shoulder.

  "No!" she shouted, but Fido did not obey. A laser beamed from the robot straight at the approaching figures.

  Sylvie wanted to avert her eyes but forced herself to watch, unable to comprehend that NASA's fool robot was about to destroy the first sentient beings humankind had ever made contact with.

  Before the laser could obliterate the aliens, it hit some sort of force field around them. The field entirely absorbed the beam.

  Sylvie bit her thumbnail, nervousness causing her stomach to turn. The beings, who a moment ago had seemed to have skin the color of mint, suddenly flashed to bright yellow.

  That can't be good.

  The laser was useless against them.

  The round disk slid to a stop a few inches from the outcropping, and Sylvie got her first good look at its occupants. They were taller than average humans, both figures easily over six and a half feet tall. Their skin was indeed yellow, and as she watched, their surfaces seemed to pulse in gentle waves of light. Two arms that ended in digits, similar to humans except for the webbing, and two legs that ended in feet, again webbed.

  Their heads were similar to humans, although covered in something much finer and more articulated than hair. Two glowing eyes sat in faces that were more angular than human features. Their noses appeared to have nostrils covered in a thin film. And their mouths held rather plump lips. The overall look was not at all unappealing.

  Let's hope they don't have three rows of razor sharp teeth. Sylvie shook her head to clear it. This was not the time for hysterical inner monologues.

  The pair was wearing clothing woven of a substance that didn't seem too different from the seaweed she was still holding in her hand. The soft fronds fell from their waist into an intricate sarong, then were braided into two straps that crept up muscular chests to tie around their necks. The material appeared both sturdy and comfortable.

  One of the beings took a step off the disk and onto the rock outcropping. An alarm sounded from Fido.

  “Defense initiative Delta-17 activated." One of the robot's extender arms shot out toward the figure, grabbing it around the bicep.

  The light waves that before had been a gentle hypnotic pulsing now engulfed the whole of the being's arm in a bright burst. The crackle of electricity sounded, and Fido fell backward, his arm charred and smoking.


  The creature's skin started glowing, charging up the electric shock weapon to finish off Fido. Her hero was about to be reduced to a pile of smoldering parts.

  Although the dumb machine didn't know when to try diplomacy, it didn't deserve to be blasted to bits.

  "Stop!" she yelled. Surprising herself, she burst forward, shoving the creature that was about to blow Fido to bits. Her hands touched the being's skin and the energy that was about to take out the robot shot into her. The world exploded in white, and Sylvie and consciousness went their separate ways.

  Chapter 4

  The transparent walls surrounding her were unnerving. Sylvie knew she was being watched, could even see the faint outline of figures on the other side, but the most she could see was a faint impression. Otherwise she was encased in an opaque world of four walls with only a large cushion in the center of the chamber. The cushion was made of the same seaweed material as the uniforms on the beings who'd imprisoned her.

  There was no sign of Fido. No sign of anything, except faint twin burns on the palms of her hands. There was no pain, which she would have expected from such an intense shock. Just the faded outline of raised flesh.

  Sylvie's stomach growled. She wasn't sure how long she'd been unconscious, but enough time had passed for hunger to become a serious issue. That and the need to find a bathroom.

  Without warning, a tear appeared in the side of one of the walls. Sylvie blinked as light streamed into the room, threatening to blind her. A shadow materialized as one of the beings entering the chamber.

  The being was similar to the others who'd confronted her on the rock island. Its skin was light green, its eyes black, and its head was covered with tendrils that were a very deep blue. It wore a different uniform from the others, although made of the same material. It featured several braids that climbed up the figure's chest and back to join in a collar that circled the figure’s neck.

  "Accompany me."