Read Colliding Worlds Trilogy 02 – Implosion for Free Online

as well. After all, his people brought no violence to their new world. If anything, the Sephians were the aggressors, though he admitted they’d had just cause. Slavery tended to cause unrest.
    Unfortunately, the Sephians had been first to align with the humans, bending their unwitting hosts’ ears with misperceptions. A costly mistake to the Draeken. For his people to be accepted on Earth, he needed Apolo to earn support of the human military. Without full human buy-in, Kreed’s people were as good as dead. He glanced at the clock. Frustration burrowed in his gut. Time was running short. One of the base auto-scans that ran every twelve minutes could catch his electronic dampener’s signal any moment. “I’ll check in again when I can.”
    “If it gets too hot, get out of there and call for a pickup. The humans can be challenging, but they’ve been fair by us considering we crashed their party without invites.”
    “I’m counting on that,” he replied. “We’re going to need your support if the Draeken are going to join the party.”
    “You always have it as long as your people don’t pick a fight.”
    Kreed smiled and went to hit the button.
    Apolo lifted his chin. “One more thing.”
    “Yeah?”
    “Watch your back.”
    “
Sheescaten, ta deiti
,” Kreed said.
Peace, my brother.
    Apolo dipped his head. “
Deiti
.”
    The screen went blank. Kreed paused. If he made the smallest error, he was dead, which made it all the more important that he made no mistakes. He punched in several commands to remove the electronic distortions to his face. Apolo and Kreed hadn’t been face-to-face since they were boys. The Sephian would no longer recognize his childhood friend. Wearing an altered face onscreen protected them both, and Apolo knew it. As long as no one knew what Kreed looked like, no one could be tortured to surrender the identity he now wore. He would stay safe as long as he was careful.
    On the downside, when it came to reveal himself, things would get tricky. Apolo couldn’t confirm his identity, and so no one would believe him, which made his other identity critical. Not that the odds of survival were in his favor, anyway.
    Once the com’s settings leveled off to normal, he leaned back in his chair and massaged his temples. It’d been a long day. The last two scheduled supply drops from Hillas’s Earthside camp hadn’t yet arrived, and he knew it was because the Grand Lord grew jealous of Roden’s power and the loyalty of Roden’s guardsmen.
    Right now, Hillas was the only thing that stood in the way of peace. If things went right, the Draeken would reach peace with the humans and Sephians by year-end and blend somewhat into human culture. His people would be safe.
    Only one problem.
    Kreed knew things never went right.

Chapter Six
    Nalea knew Roden was there even though he made no sound. He haunted her reality as cruelly as he haunted her dreams.
    Keeping her back to him, she continued to face the wall where she’d been imagining swimming in the Golran Sea. Whenever Lord Homs had granted her a break from her duties, she went there. It was one of the few vacation places not frequented by Draeken as wings made swimming difficult. Nalea, on the other hand, was an excellent swimmer. The water, fed by hot springs, caressed her skin.
    She’d been fortunate. Most Sephians never enjoyed vacations. Lord Homs had been a kind master, treating all fourteen of his slaves as though they were a part of his family. He went so far as to refer to them as his family unit. But, even as a young girl, Nalea knew they could never be family. Not as long as those born with wings had power over those born without. A fact she proved the night she sliced her master’s throat.
    Blood Night.
    It was the night that changed everything. She’d still been a child then, having not yet reached the age of thirteen. War didn’t care. It sucked all ages into its deadly maw. On that night, slaves revolted across Sephia to take