Rogue Warriors of Lorr
Captured By the Alien Chapter 24

"Scarlett, the ceremony was beautiful." She turned to the sound of her mother, Colette's, voice. So familiar yet foreign at the same time. She hadn't heard it in so long that she was surprised she even remembered it. Scarlett smiled at her, folding her arms around her. Her mother gave her a tight squeeze before pulling back to cup her face.

She looked good, even though she'd aged quite a bit since Scarlett had seen her last at twelve. The familiar laugh lines were still there, with some newly added stress ones around her eyes. Her mother's long beautiful hair had been pinned back on top of her head where a small crown sat. "I missed you, my love," she told Scarlett.

The words made her heart ache. "I missed you, too, Mom."

"Come meet everyone."

Her mother slung an arm around her waist and guided her away from the head table where the king sat with a dozen or so plates of food in front of him. Grux had long since left to go mingle with a few of the people from his father's court, their baby still tucked carefully in his arms.

She found the sight of him showing off their son adorable. Her new husband's pride and joy were palpable to see, even from where she'd been seated at the head table watching him. Scarlett guided her mother through the ballroom.

All around them were hundreds of guests she'd never seen before, let alone knew who they were to the Lorrz family. She assumed most of them were dignitaries from either Noxxa or other neighboring planets that had allegiances with Lorr. "I can't wait to meet the baby," her mother told her. "Though, I do have to say I'm surprised you married someone from Lorr."

Scarlett smiled a little. "Yeah, me, too. It was definitely a surprise to both of us."

They stopped at a table near the back of the hall. She looked over, spotting her father, Dane's, familiar face, and her brother, Justin's, more grown-up one. Both men immediately stood and brought her into an embrace, holding her tightly. "We're so happy to see you, Scarlett." Her father was the first to speak.

She could see the tears in all of their eyes while she tried to fight back her own. She didn't want to ruin the carefully crafted makeup her servants had painted on her face, but seeing all of her family here together once again was making that rather difficult. Scarlett dabbed under her eyes with the back of her hand. "It's so nice that you all got to come. I've missed you guys."

Justin, her brother, grabbed her arm and led her over to the other side of the table. "Scarlett, I want you to meet my wife and my daughters."

Her heart squeezed. She couldn't believe she'd been gone so long that now her brother was married and had two kids.

"This is Paulina." He gestured to a woman who stood, holding out her hand. "And these are my two twin daughters, Judith and Tara."

Scarlett waved at the girls, who looked around five or six. "Hi."

Even though they both ducked their heads out of shyness, they were polite enough to wave back to her, which made her laugh softly. She remembered being that age and being dragged to political functions with her parents and the long hours trying to keep her and her brother entertained.

Just as she was about to open her mouth to offer to take the girls over to where the other kids were, Grux came up behind her and kissed her cheek.

"How's everything going over here?"

Scarlett's mother gasped. "Oh, the baby!"

Scarlett laughed again. "Do you want to hold him, Mom?"

Collette pressed her hands together, coming up close to see Gruxor cradled in Grux's arms still.

"May I?"

Grux leaned toward her, carefully passing the baby into her arms. He watched her warily, making sure she had a firm grip on him before stepping back and letting her rock him gently in her arms.

Scarlett placed a hand on his back, running it along his shoulder blade.

"Oh, he's precious." Her mother spoke softly, looking down at his sleeping form.

"The nursemaid fought to keep him up all morning so he'd sleep through the ceremony. He might be out for a bit."

Both her father and brother came up behind Collette to peek over her shoulder at the newborn.

"I can't believe you had a baby, sis."

Scarlett laughed, nudging Justin with her arm. "I can't believe you had two!"

He grinned at her. "Time sure flies. Doesn't it?"

There was a sadness in his voice-a kind of melancholy-that she wasn't surprised by. Even though today was a day of celebration that brought them all together finally after so long, it was still a reminder that Scarlett had been stolen from them all those years ago. She didn't doubt for a second that they looked for her right up until they got the call from Lorr about her binding to the Lorr prince and were shocked to hear that she'd gotten herself all the way over to Xoyosis and back to Lorr.

The only consolation to all of this was that now she was in a position where she would be able to visit them whenever she wanted. She would no longer be under the thumb of servitude in order to work off a debt she'd never accrued in the first place. Scarlett held out her arms when Gruxor started to wake and whine.

"Uh-oh." Her mother smiled, passing him back to her. "Feeding time."

Scarlett curled her arm under Gruxor and stuck a finger against his lips, letting him pull it into his mouth to suck on it. She smiled and looked back up at her family. Her heart warmed from their loving stares.

"Thank you all for coming."

When the celebration of their binding was over with, both he and Scarlett headed back to their room to change and get the remaining bits packed in their bags for the baby.

His original plan was to take her to the far-off island of Tageind on Noxxa, where his brother had retired after marrying his wife, Gianna. From Kozien's own mouth, he'd described it as a "paradise among the stars," which sounded perfect for their little vacation away from the Lorr palace.

But now that Grux thought about it, maybe they could travel before they settled down on Tageind for a while. He wasn't sure how long Scarlett wanted to remain on their honeymoon, but neither of them had any pressing matters to attend to. So however long she wanted to stay away from Lorr, he didn't care one bit.

They met Scarlett's family at the outside gates leading to the ship that Grux had requested for their travels. The Mason clan had formed a line that Scarlett went down, hugging them all tightly as she promised them she'd come to visit Earth as soon as she could. Grux couldn't help but get choked up at the scene. He knew how much Scarlett's family meant to her, and seeing them all finally reunited under such a happy circumstance filled him with immense joy.

As they boarded the ship, Scarlett waved to them and blew them kisses. It made Grux laugh and hold up Gruxor's tiny little arm to wave at her family, too. Even though he hardly knew any of them, he could tell they were good people.

They were the type to take care of their own, and that was something he could appreciate.

Shutting the door and getting Gruxor settled into his carrier in the back of the ship, Grux made sure Scarlett was all strapped in before getting himself into the pilot's chair. He flicked on the ignition, letting the engines heat up before they took off. "So..." Scarlett turned in her seat to look at him. "Where are we going?"

He grinned, pulling back on the throttle to lift the ship up into the sky. "Would you hate me if I told you it was a surprise?"

She laughed. "No, but I am curious."

"I figured since we don't have any kind of time limit, we could travel around and see the sights before settling down at our final destination."

He watched as her eyes instantly lit up. "I would love to!"

Grux grinned and shifted the ship back, aiming for cruising altitude. "How did I know you'd say that?"

"You know me too well," she teased.

"I think that's my line."

Scarlett smiled and turned to look out her window, watching the buildings of Lorr grow smaller as they flew higher. Grux coasted them at a level that was comfortably away from all of the air traffic surrounding Lorr but not too far as to make the city below completely disappear.

Grux had planned for their first stop to be a few cities away from Lorr in a town called Severia, which was famous for its otherworldly food and the city lights twinkling as soon as the sun dipped below the horizon.

He wanted to show Scarlett everything that Noxxa had to offer because in doing so, they could start to figure out where they wanted to go once they were back from their honeymoon.

Grux wasn't exactly sure where his own priorities lay when it came to their living situation, but all he really cared about was Scarlett's happiness along with Gruxor.

It would also be a nice bonus if they could be closer to Noxxa's major city, Rosoha, so that he could help out Trigg with PAPS, but that was on the lower list of priorities at this point. "Grux?"

He turned to Scarlett's voice, seeing her still looking out the window next to her.

"Yes, my love?"

She smiled a little before turning in her seat to look at him again.

"While we travel... could we maybe make a pit stop to see Earth? I kind of want to see what's changed over there and get to know my sister-in-law and the kids." Grux smiled.

"Of course, we can."