Axxeon Prince's Prize: A Sci-Fi Romance Novel

By Liz Paffel

She’s a midwife to monsters.

Human midwife Sasha Black was abducted from Earth and sent to an alien breeding farm to deliver hybrid babies. Suddenly, the monsters who put her on the desolate planet abandon them, and if she doesn’t get help soon, they’ll all die.

They’ve run out of food and water, and her expectant mothers are delivering something unexpected. Something else.

Hahn, Prince of Axxeon 9, receives a covert message from his father, the exiled King. He’s in trouble, and time is running out. Hahn must reach him soon, but a frantic transmission from a ghost planet forces him to jump far off course.

He’s sworn to protect his father and keep their secret pact, but duty is challenged by the human female who needs him, and tempts him with her curvy body to forget his true purpose.

When his heart overrides loyalty, Hahn must make an impossible choice. Will he sacrifice everything for his fated mate, or do the unthinkable?

AXXEON PRINCE’S PRIIZE is the third book in the Mates for Axxeon 9 series. Each book is a standalone and can be read in any order.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Bryant Street Publishing
• Release date: Jul 2, 2024
• ISBN: 9781094470559

Liz Paffel

Liz Paffel traded a twenty year career in emergency medical services to write about strange lights in the sky and things that go bump in the night. She's the author of science fiction romance and paranormal romance and lives in the Midwest, USA with her family.

Book preview

1

I t could be our lost crew.

Hahn, Prince of Axxeon observed the incoming transmission populating on the interva screen. His middle tensed with relentless hope as the bright green line wavered up and down. The signal was faint, and the resulting on-screen signature was weak. But it was there, and that was enough for him to believe.

They’d received the unstable transmission two days in a row and the only thing intel could determine from it was that it was sent from well beyond their current galaxy in the same direction the crew of the Zeph had been heading when they’d left on their planet discovery mission.

His brother, King Tryllin, didn’t look overtly convinced, but a small muscle in the left side of his cheek jumped. It was a sign that he was mulling over the possibility, weighing the odds. He clasped his hands behind his back and spoke to the technician at the interva controls. Anything audible that can be deciphered? Voices, distinct sounds or vibrations?

Nothing, my King. Just as yesterday.

Hahn moved closer to his brother and mimicked his stance. Tryllin gave him an unmoved look, but the glimmer of interest was there. What makes you think it could be them, Hahn?

He shrugged one shoulder. The crystal ball I acquired on Earth. What else?

One corner of Tryllin’s lips pulled up at the sarcasm. I’ll admit that the direction from which the signal is coming intrigues me. The Zeph planned to jump along that same path to search our fellow galaxy for planetary accessibility. Other than that, we have nothing to go on, brother.

Tryllin trapped his chin with his first finger and thumb. The lines creating the hexagon pattern over his reddish green skin lit up, yet another sign that he was interested in the possibility of finding their lost men. It has been countless rotations since we last heard from them, Hahn. In human terms, it has been four years. We lost them. If not for the war⁠—

We would have searched.

"We would have searched hard."

The signal grew in intensity, grabbing Hahn’s full attention as it populated faster and robust on the screen. Grabbing a headset, he inserted the earpiece and focused his superior hearing for any sound. His chest squeezed as he expected a distress call, a voice, a call sign, something. But as quickly as the strength had increased, it receded until the green line went completely flat before fizzling out.

Hahn ripped the earpiece out and threw it on the console. The five-man crew of the discovery cruiser Zeph had disappeared without a trace. No comms. No transmissions. No signal detectability. It was as if the ship and her crew had never existed. He’d desired to be among the crew, but Tryllin wouldn’t allow it. As usual, he’d feared the mission might be too dangerous, and Hahn could now admit that his brother had been right.

But only this once.

It had always bothered him that he’d been denied a place in that mission, and later, that his people could not send a search crew after them. It was an open and festering wound that refused to be ignored. The Zeph had been on a mission to find their people a suitable unclaimed planet to become their new home. After the death of their females from a virus, and their planet from a deep freeze, the Axxeon were near the end of what they could survive. The Zeph gave them hope for a stable future.

While Hahn, Tryllin and a full crew of warriors had gone to Earth to gather supplies and females, the Zeph had disappeared. They’d become embroiled in war on Earth with a rival alien species, and prevented their ability to search.

Until now. Hahn couldn’t explain it, but he knew this odd transmission meant something.

Hahn crossed his massive arms. My crystal ball also says we will send out a search party.

Tryllin shook his head. We already have a full crew on another discovery mission. We can’t spare further personnel on a blind search.

This doesn’t sound like you, brother. Leaving men behind.

Tryllin’s eyes narrowed. It sounds as if you are challenging your King.

No. I’m challenging my older brother. The one who wants to search as much as I do. I can’t let it alone. Since I first saw the signal; I can’t let it go.

Tryllin grasped his shoulder and gave a hard squeeze. It was a warning sign this conversation was over.

Perhaps your mind is finding something else to focus on other than our father’s upcoming exile. It has been weighing heavily on you.

Hahn took a step away from his brother. The topic made him bristle, and he suspected Tryllin brought it up intentionally. One of us must continue to care about what happens to him.

No. You cling to your soft emotions for a man responsible for the genocide of our females. I call that man a criminal who deserves his fate.

What was the word his brother had learned so easily on Earth? Yes. Fuck. Fuck that. He wasn’t sure exactly what it meant, aside from being an expression of extreme frustration. He’d like to give a ‘fuck that’ to his brother’s indifference. There would be no closing the divide between them where their father, the denounced and imprisoned king, was concerned.

I feel things more deeply than you, my King. That does not make me soft.

You are correct. However, it means that your impulse control is questionable. You are an excellent warrior. A champion at hand-to-hand combat and the most skilled pilot in our fleet. But your heart leads you to places it should not go.

Ah, so his brother knew that he’d been visiting their father more than the allotted once every seven rotations. With his impending exile, Hahn couldn’t help but soak up as much time with the man as he could. It would be a point of contention between his brother and him, but his soft heart didn’t mind.

Tryllin tapped the comlet on his wrist and brought it a few inches from his mouth. I need the navigation records from the Zeph’s pre-planning session, and their last known course. Send it to my comm.

A soft voice came over the comlet. Populating now, my King… you should have them on your comlet.

Come with me, Hahn. Let us look at these maps over a meal.

Hahn had a flicker of dread. They’d been cruising on course to reach a supply planet for several rotations now. The wasteland where his father would go into exile was on the way. His plan to save his father’s life was not yet complete, but he’d figure it out, and soon.

It didn’t matter that he’d become a traitor himself if he went through with helping his father escape his fate. He struggled with the loss of their father. He hated what he’d done, but he couldn’t reconcile the father being the monster. Besides, it was him, Tryllin and their father. There was no further royal bloodline. His brother’s new human mate may one day give him a kinder.

Until then, all they had was each other.

Are you done?

Hahn’s attention refocused at his brother’s words. What?

You are staring straight through me. You have been mind-drifting often. He arched a brow. You must be thinking about a female.

As the humans liked to say, that would be a cold day in hell. No, not a female. I’ve no desire to be fussed after every moment of my life.

You are young. You will someday change your mind.

Most of their warriors were now matched with human women, all of them settling into their new lives here on Axxeon 9. Tryllin had taken a mate, as had their Third Commander, Quixx, whose mate was about to give birth. Hahn hadn’t felt ready to take a mate before, and now, with his plan to help his father escape, it would be foolish. He wouldn’t subject a mate to the shame and upheaval his act of treason would bring. No female deserved the fallout that would follow.

I am not interested in having a female.

Tryllin gave him a curious look. A male, then?

No, my King. I am not interested in affection from a male, either.

Then what does interest you? You’ve been in a low mood since we left Earth.

Hahn spread his arms wide. I am a warrior with nothing to do. These signals we’ve been receiving are worthy of a search team. I would like to be on it. In fact, I will lead it myself.

And find the perfect planet to whisk his father off to while he was at it.

Hahn kept his face expressionless. Though he was a toughened warrior who’d seen his share of conflict and battle, he’d never quite mastered the art of masking his emotions from his brother. Any misstep, and he’d give himself away. Tryllin would see right through him.

You do, in fact, have something to do. Something that is safer than an unchartered search mission. Admiral Jah of Galax Union Omni-X2 has accepted my offer to send you as part of their discovery team. He would like to know how soon you’ll be joining them?

Hahn tempered a grimace. Tryllin had volunteered him to the Galax Union, where he’d be the representative of the Axxeon people. The GU was a collaborative federation of planetary representatives tasked with encouraging and enforcing peace between participating planets. He’d spend months encouraging interspecies peace measures, using non-combative measures, of course. A delegated task GU task force was in place to deal with those who’d rather draw blood than be peaceful. Of course, his brother couldn’t get him an assignment with that group. Tryllin wanted him tucked away where he’d be safe, protected. Bored.

I am a warrior, yet you have me assigned to a peace-keeping crew.

I want you to be safe. You know this. Tryllin looked him straight in the eye. You are all that I have left.

Hahn’s nostrils flared. His usual humor was buried so deeply within him he couldn’t find a lighthearted response to make his brother smile. He couldn’t find a joke or a sarcastic jab that would ground them with laughter. His heart was suddenly stone, struggling to beat as it threatened to fall to his feet.

I am aware fully of that, brother.

"Life is changing, Hahn, but our ways do not have to. I want you here, safe, to assist me in keeping the culture of the Axxeon alive. I need you to be my storyteller, my reciter of battles. You may not think of the GU assignment as one of honor, but it is. And it is safe."

Honor.

Honor… our ways do not have to change.

Hahn pulled in a breath. The old ways offered an amendment to honor.

His skin prickled with excitement. I will meet you soon to go over the maps. Something slipped my mind that I must take care of.

He moved to walk past his brother but paused Tryllin called his name.

How is Metetto?

Frack. He disliked that Tryllin called their father by his name.

He didn’t turn around. He’s in a bare cell. Alone. Wasting away. How do you think he is?

What do you talk about with him?

Hahn shrugged. I… tell him about Earth. He’s very interested in trying pepperoni pizza. I said perhaps I’d synthesize a slice for him before… you know.

I never understood your obsession with pizza and craft beer.

You should bring your new mate to meet him. He is lonely. He knows his days are numbered.

A heavy silence hung between them before Tryllin’s soft, yet firm voice broke it. You know I cannot do that. Watch yourself with him.

Hahn said nothing, those words of warning only driving his need to help their father more. No one might understand what he intended to do, and he’d pay for it when everyone found out.

But repercussions would not stop him.

With a curt nod, he exited the room and took a sharp left toward the hanger bay.

The plan had just come together in his mind. He needed to get his hands on the Zeph’s maps, and honor would take care of the rest. Resolved, he went to the belly of the base station and took a right into the damp, cold tunnel that led to his father’s cell.

2

I was snowshoeing in the woods behind my house when they abducted me.

Sasha Black slipped on a pair of what passed as medical gloves and lifted a sheet covering the knees of the alien female on the bed before her. She wasn’t sure what species the laboring woman was, but her third leg was in a very inconvenient place for giving birth.

Whaaaaa—what is this snowshoeing? The female grunted in static-filled words, her seven-fingered hands gripping the bed sheet. Sasha touched the translator implanted into the base of her skull