Read Taken (Warriors of Karal Book 3) for Free Online

disappointment, this was what it felt like to launch into space.
    “We keep the exact location hidden from Earth, I believe,” Malik said, eying her cautiously.
    “Yes, of course. It’s just I have spent so many years going over star maps of the universe, well, our known universe, which is probably not as big at all as your known universe … sorry, I never realised I could talk so much.”
    He kind of smiled, and a hint of blue crept up his face as if he was blushing. “I never knew a female from Earth would be so interested in space.”
    “I have been since I was a little girl. My dad used to be an astronaut,” she said, and then her vision became cloudy as tears formed. He had experienced this, had experienced the wonder of leaving your home planet behind, and he too had never come back .
    “You are sad?” he asked.
    “No, just a little overwhelmed. I trained as a space cadet, but when the Karal arrived, the programme got cancelled. I gave up believing I would go into space, let alone go to another planet. And see the moon .” Her voice drifted off in awe.
    Chrissi leaned forward. If she could, she would have squashed her face against the window of the space ship to get a closer look at the moon as it loomed large in front of them.
    She was only slightly aware of him watching her as they burst out of the Earth’s atmosphere and into the deep dark of space. Only it wasn’t dark: their field of vision was filled with the silver-white of the moon, giant, ethereal, and so close she wanted to tell him to take a detour so they could land on it. “It’s more beautiful than I ever imagined.”
    He tilted the control lever he clutched in his hand and took them nearer. “You cannot see your moon clearly from Earth anymore?”
    “No, the pollution is too thick. When I was little we could still see it. Once or twice a year, usually in the fall, we caught clear glimpses.”
    They flew around the face of the moon, Chrissi looking for all the craters, all the moon landmarks she had read about in books and seen in old photographs. “There’s the Sea of Tranquillity, and the Copernicus Crater,” she said as they swept around, the cruiser slowing so she could look properly.
    “Karal doesn’t have a moon. But we have two suns; they circle each other in an endless dance through time and space,” he said. “Much like your moon goes around the Earth, endless.”
    This news made her drag her attention away from the moon’s surface for a moment. “Two suns. I can’t wait to see them. And your stars? Is your sky clear, will I be able to watch them, do you have telescopes?”
    He laughed, she was sure he laughed, but then he answered cryptically, “Yes we do. But you won’t be there long enough to get to know them.”
    “What do you mean?” she asked, a sense of dread trickling down her back. Wasn’t she going to Karal to breed? Or was that some kind of trick and really the Karal were cannibals, or perhaps the baby she conceived made its entrance into the world through the walls of her abdomen.
    “I mean, you are only staying on Karal for a day, and then we are going on a mission into deep space. One of the other warriors could not go; his potential mate became ill and the Hier Council will not allow her to travel to our planet. There was some panic that the mission would have to be delayed, but then Darl found you. Apparently, we are a perfect match.”
    This was sounding more preposterous by the moment. “You mean I got matched to you yesterday, when I entered the lottery? So it’s not random?” she asked. Why was she not surprised?
    “No, we are matched by our DNA and how compatible we are,” he said.
    “Wow. And there was me thinking my dad was looking down on me and making my dream real,” she said, her eyes stuck on the moon as they cruised around it, now passing the dark side. Was that what she really thought? That her dad was somewhere in heaven and had made this happen? No, there was no such thing. If