Close Enough Read online

  Offered up by her government, Cyreen is given over to an ancient hero to placate him into cooperation. No pressure.

  When the Hero of Morcud was betrayed and put in stasis, he demanded that if they were ever to wake him, he needed the woman that they had denied him.

  Five hundred years later, his help is needed, and Cyreen is one of three women with the DNA profile that he demanded. As he is still in his stasis tube, she got a good look at all parts exposed by the clear housing. When he sat up and returned her frank gaze, she is taken aback. The two delicate and lovely creatures that also matched his requirements were huddled together and weeping at the thought of the hybrid general touching them. Cyreen was intrigued.

  General Xan looks at his options and makes his decision. Cyreen is his, and there is no end date to the contract.

  Oh, the things she is willing to do to save her world. She had better make a very long list before he puts some trousers on.

  The characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.

  Close Enough

  Copyright © 2020 by Viola Grace

  ISBN: 978-1-989892-06-0

  ©Cover art by Angela Waters

  All rights reserved. With the exception of review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, is forbidden without the express permission of the publisher.

  Published by Viola Grace

  Smashwords Edition

  Look for me online at violagrace.com, and other eBook sellers.

  Close Enough

  Stand-Alone Tales 2

  By

  Viola Grace

  Prologue

  Xan stood facing the portal, and he stretched out his arms to put his fists in the locks. He put his energy and strength into the portal, and the gate formed, sealing the gateway to the other world.

  There was roaring, there was a blaze of fire, and then silence.

  He turned and flexed his hands, his armor scorched and body exhausted.

  With leaden steps, he walked out of the crater and faced the dregs of the defending army. They saw him, and a wave of cheering began.

  He smiled slightly and kept walking toward the vehicle, altered for his use.

  He was heading for the capital and his weeping reward. He sighed. Thiara was lovely, but she was so very delicate.

  He stepped out of his conveyance and walked across the marble courtyard that led to the exotic scientific buildings and the head of global security. That was his destination.

  He headed back to the quarters he had been assigned, and once he was inside, he slowly stripped off his armor, dropping it on the floor. The door to Thiara’s room cracked open, and he saw her grey eyes and dark hair peeping around the wood. “Are you back? Is it safe?”

  Xan nodded and kept removing the armor that he had been wearing for the last five days. “It is safe. The gate is closed. The funerals will be held for the fallen over the next few weeks, and then, life will start again.”

  Thiara stepped into his room, and she wrinkled her nose. “What is that smell?”

  “Five days in bloody armor. I will take a shower.”

  She smiled brightly, and Xan looked at her. Behind her, through the walls, he could see the heat signatures of several men.

  He sighed and completed removing his vambraces and kicking off his boots. He peeled off his clothing as he walked toward the bathing chamber. The bots would clear them up. He was tired. He just wanted a shower and some sleep. He would figure out how to unentangle himself from the lovely and timid Thiara in the morning. Right now, he just wanted to be clean and get some rest.

  They were waiting for him when he left the bathing room, clean with a towel around his hips. General Yeni stood in front of his daughter and said, “General Xan, the people of Morcud, thank you for your service, but it has been decided that we would like you to enter stasis for the future of our world.”

  Xan cocked his head. “Any of my offspring or descendants would be able to close the gateway.”

  Thiara squeaked from behind her father.

  Yeni frowned. “It is the decision of the council that you enter stasis immediately.”

  Xan cocked his head and looked down at the much smaller man. “So, you are breaking your word? Retracting my payment? I will remember this.”

  Yeni winced but kept his expression stern. “Great. When you are woken again, you can make your demands then. I am sure the generations in the future will be far less protective of their children.”

  Xan sighed as they prepared the module they had moved into his room. “Do remember, Yeni, that you are the one who offered your daughter. You made the deal. You aren’t living with it. When I wake, I want the genetic match to Thiara in front of me and willing to take me to her bed.”

  General Yeni snorted. “Good luck with that.”

  Xan dropped his towel and got into the module while the medics stared at him and looked away.

  Born on Morcud as the unwanted half-bred of a demon and a Morcud woman, Xan didn’t have a family. He had grown up during the war with the demons of Mechal, educated and confined in the city until he was conscripted to the battle. Now that he was an adult and capable of wearing the demon armor that closed and opened the door, he had finally been useful.

  Xan’s destiny was now cold storage, but he wasn’t going to forget his stipulations. General Yeni was going to pay.

  Chapter One

  Cyreen was in the fields, working on trimming the vines when she saw a line of government vehicles near the entrance to the farm. She kept working and moving to the next row when the vehicles pulled up at the edge of her row.

  She kept working, snipping and putting the cuttings in the basket tied around her waist.

  “Cyreen Albaret?”

  She kept working. “Yes.”

  “Come with us. You are needed to help your planet.”

  Cyreen snipped away. “No. You haven’t told me who you are or why you are here.”

  A woman paused and explained. “We are from the defense force. General Xan is being woken, and we are looking for citizens who match his requirements to pay for his services.”

  Cyreen paused. “Wait, the General Xan? The half-blood General Xan? The scourge of demons General Xan?”

  The woman nodded. “He required a woman who matched the genetic profile of his promised bride, Thiara. You are one of three matches that we have found.”

  “So, you just have to show us to Xan, and he is going to be happy?”

  The woman blushed, and the males in the group looked away. “He is insisting on taking his reward before he will assist us, according to the records.”

  Cyreen snorted. “So, what do I get out of this? I mean, it is unlikely that I am going to be his first choice.”

  The woman nodded and rushed in. “For simply coming with us, your property will be given three hundred thousand credits. There will be more offered if you are chosen.”

  She blinked. “So, to get that first money, I just have to go with you now?”

  “Yes. We have notified your mother that we are requesting her acquiescence. She has agreed.”

  “Yeah, she isn’t my mother. It’s my aunt. My mother lives in the underwater colony.”

  She untied the basket from her waist and put the clippers in it. “Fine. Let’s go. If we are going to have any kind of harvest, I need to get back here once I am rejected. Are we ready?”

  The woman was a little motherly. “Why do you think you will be rejected?”

  Cyreen looked out at the men who were looking her in the eye. “I am too tall, too strong, too rough, and too blunt. Oh, and my han
ds are like sandpaper.”

  They began to walk to the vehicles. The woman asked, “Do you want to change?”

  “No. All of my clothing is like this.”

  The agents nodded, and she was tucked into the central vehicle, and then, they were on the way to the capital with snacks and water provided to her.

  She was wearing her grey work suit; it was tight to her body and spotted with green smears. It was going to take a blind idiot to try anything with her. She looked like a greenscaper.

  “When we arrive at the capital, you will be escorted with the other matches to the area where we are waking Xan. You will wait there until he makes his selection, and then, there will be funds sent to your family if you are the one he chooses.”

  They drove through the pristine streets of the city, and they parked in front of the main research building.

  The gathered personnel surrounded her when she exited the vehicle, and they ushered her into the building, past all of the folk who were coming and going in their daily tasks.

  Cyreen looked around and saw the trappings of wealth everywhere around her. The men and women grouping around her were wearing bland military tunics, but the gleaming ranks and medallions on their chests were bright and glaring.

  She was hustled to a lift at the back of a building, and a special key was produced to open the doors. Cyreen was scooted inside with four other men, and the lady who had spoken to her waved as the door closed.

  Cyreen could smell her own sweat and the traces of the suns in her suit. The folk of the city didn’t smell like anything.

  She watched the indicators slip past and got a little queasy as they got deeper and deeper.

  When the lift stopped, she was breathing deeply and slowly. Her focus was on not imagining the tons of rock above her head.

  Her group hiked through the hallways, and she was brought into a room where a large sarcophagus was in the center of the space, and two women who looked remarkably like shorter versions of Cyreen were holding each other and looking at the sarcophagus.

  She was pushed away from the door, and it was locked behind her.

  “Fuck.”

  The women on the floor gasped at her harsh words. They were both ladies in the literal sense. Delicate dresses, delicate hands.

  “So, you two are here for the selection as well?”

  “Yes. Why are you here?”

  She pointed to her eyes and lifted her ponytail. “I am close enough.”

  Cyreen stepped toward the stasis chamber and looked through the toughed top of the cylinder. Xan. She had read about him in school, done a project on him in college, and wondered how tall he really was in person. It was a hard thing to hear a number and equate it to a living person.

  There was condensation on the lower part of the tube, and she angled her view but still couldn’t see beyond the abs that were still ridged in repose. Her gaze slowly dragged itself up the comforting width of his chest, the broad expanse of his shoulders, and the small quirk of his lips.

  Wait. He wasn’t supposed to be smiling. She stepped back when the release was struck from inside the stasis pod. Xan sat up, his blond hair carefully braided to keep it from his face, his black eyes crinkled in amusement.

  “I did not think they could manage it. To improve so dramatically on the original was unexpected.”

  The two against the wall shrieked and shivered as he slowly swung his legs out and stood up.

  Cyreen looked at them. “Oh, shut up. That isn’t accomplishing anything, and it is making you look like a toddler in a thunderstorm.”

  One of the women scowled. “Look at him; he’s huge!”

  Cyreen’s gaze looked at Xan, focusing on his groin. “A little big, not beyond the realm of reason.”

  Xan’s shoulders shook.

  He was looking at her with fascination, and when she met his gaze, she blushed. “Apologies.”

  His words were slow, but his voice was raised. “I have made my choice. Get the others out of here.”

  Cyreen sighed and went to stand next to the door, but a large hand wrapped around her wrist and held her.

  She looked back at him and scowled. “You have to be kidding.”

  Xan grinned. “I am not kidding. You are my choice.”

  “Seriously. I am only here because they didn’t want to give you only two options. I am a decoy to make the proper women look better.”

  The women in question were silent and inching toward the door.

  He slowly pulled her in toward him. Cyreen looked up at him and noted that he was very tall. The average male height was an inch below her own height. He was not shorter than she was. He was exactly as tall as the history books had mentioned.

  “No offense, General Xan, but you are naked, and I don’t know you. If you could put on a towel or some trousers or something?”

  He chuckled and pulled her close enough that he was able to put a hand behind her head and tilt it back. “The superficial markers are definitely there. The hair, the eyes, but your mind is much more active.”

  She was staring into the black eyes that were boring into hers. She was up on her toes. Cyreen held her breath as he leaned in toward her, and then, she mentally cursed when the door flew open.

  “General Xan, so, you approve of this one?”

  She looked down her nose at the man wearing a handful of shining medals on his chest.

  Xan pulled her away from the other man and tucked her behind him. The view was nice from here as well.

  The man extended his hand to Xan. “I am General Poille. I am the current commanding officer for the defense forces.”

  Xan chuckled. “I believe you will find that I am the current commanding officer of the defense forces. Has the gate broken?”

  “No, but there is a sign of the barrier wearing dangerously thin.”

  Xan’s back relaxed. “So, why am I awake?”

  Poille gestured toward her. “You said that you wanted your reward before you would go into battle, so we brought you suitable genetic matches to Lady Thiara.”

  “She was not a lady. She was the daughter of a general; that did not make her nobility. She was a sad, timid, treacherous little shrew.”

  Poille stiffened. “She was my ancestress.”

  Xan cocked his head. “I don’t see it. That is a good thing.”

  Cyreen peeped out from around Xan. “Can you get him some clothing? This is very distracting.”

  Xan snorted.

  The general looked irritated. He might not be able to bully Xan, but she was another matter. “Keep your mouth shut. It isn’t required for this.”

  Cyreen broke off and howled with laughter.

  Xan must have caught on because he hauled her to her feet and tucked her under his arm. “You have brought her here to placate me, so don’t ruin the effect by threatening her. I am not yet needed on duty, so perhaps some clothing would be in order.”

  Cyreen also piped up. “As I am here at the request of the government, and all I had to do was show up so that he could have an assortment to choose from, I can go now.” She smiled brightly.

  The general’s eyes widened. “No, no, you can’t.”

  “Yes, I can. No citizen shall be impeded within the boundaries of their world.” She smiled brightly. “I am a voting citizen. Ergo, I am free to go where I please.”

  She tried to take a step away from Xan, but he held her tight.

  The general was looking at her with a sort of sick horror. “You are a freeman.”

  “Worse. Workman. I work all day every day. This is what I wear, all day every day.” She gestured to her stained bodysuit.

  Xan smiled. “I don’t have a problem with it.”

  “Good. As they have made no offer of a change of clothing, it is what I am stuck with while I am fulfilling the request.”

  Poille blinked. “There should... didn’t they ask you to pack anything?”

  She cackled. “They hauled me off a vineyard. I just had time to put my clippers
down. I am now a twelve-hour walk from home and have nothing with me but the clothing on my back. This wasn’t a well-thought-out plan, was it?”

  The general looked away. “We thought he would choose one of the others. We had clothing that would fit them.”

  Xan nodded. “Bring my clothing. We will figure something out.”

  Cyreen looked up at Xan as Poille left the room. “What are you planning?”

  “I thought I could wear the bottoms, and you could wear the tops.” He smiled.

  She stared at him, and she muttered, “You had better be joking.”

  He shrugged.

  She looked at the door and said, “How do you feel about public nudity?”

  Xan smiled. “If it is you, I am all for it. Me? Indifferent.”

  “Good. If you let me go, I can get us out of here in three minutes.”

  “I would rather hang onto you. In case you make a run for it.”

  She sighed. “I am not a virgin. I haven’t run from sex since I figured out how to have an orgasm. I am not going to run from you.”

  Xan’s expression was surprised, and then, he smiled slowly. “I am glad to hear it. Fine, see if you can get us out of here.”

  She went to the stasis chamber and reached underneath it, yanking some wires.

  “What are you doing?” He was curious.

  “Making sure that they can’t shove you in there again.” She put one of the wires in her thigh pocket and went to the door panel to open it. A tap gave her an error message, so she looked at Xan. “Can you open this?”

  He walked toward her and pressed his palm to the door. It hissed open.

  She put the second wire away. “Looks like I don’t have to pick the lock.”

  He grinned. “Are we really just going to walk out?”

  “Do you have something else to do today?”

  He shrugged. “Lead on.”