by Ella Maven
The Alien’s Undoing
Drixonian Warriors #3
Ella Maven
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.
Copyright © 2020 by Ella Maven
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce, distribute, or transmit in any form or by any means.
Copyedited by Del’s Diabolical Editing
Cover design by Natasha Snow
First edition April 2020
Dedication
To not being the victim
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Acknowledgments
About the Author
One
Reba
I was a true-crime junkie. Podcasts? Listened to ‘em. Books? Read ‘em. Netflix documentaries? Watched ‘em. I was the proud owner of pepper spray and a cute little cat-shaped keychain which doubled as an eye gouger.
However, my pepper spray was in my purse hanging on the chair in my kitchen and my fashionable eye gouger was swinging from my keys by my front door. Those crime deterrents were ineffective seeing as I was snatched from my bed in the middle of the night.
None of the true crime information I inhaled like air had given me any indication of what to do when aliens transported me to a distant galaxy.
Worse?
I’d just seen a contingent of giant blue aliens on hover bikes with freaking blades under their scales slaughter a bunch of other aliens.
I was now face down, ass up on one of these bikes, zooming toward a place where they’d surely flay me and eat the skin from my bones if their large fangs were any indication of their eating preferences. They had sharp, black corkscrews for horns jutting out the sides of their heads, and tails.
The alien who had me cut his hair close to the scalp, so it was just a half-inch of black hair, which only seemed to emphasize how utterly big his skull was.
His chest was bigger than any bodybuilder I’d ever seen, and his massive hand was clamped down on my back in a warning not to struggle.
Because I had.
After the slaughter, I’d lost my mind when this one grabbed me and dragged me toward his bike. The death glare he’d given me had rendered me immobile for a half second which was enough time for him to throw me over his bike and zoom away with me.
I lay across his massive thighs, which hardened and flexed as he moved with his bike through the air. His boots on the footboard had to at least a size eighteen, if such a thing existed. His sheer size sent my heart into overdrive so my whole body shook, and my teeth chattered.
Which led to my current dilemma.
Kidnapping 101.
Don’t let your assailant take you to another location. I wasn’t positive, but I was willing to assume Karen and Georgia from My Favorite Murder would also recommend this advice even when outside our galaxy.
I had to get back to the sight of the slaughter. Not because I was excited to revisit the gore, but because that was where the spaceship which brought us here had landed. I wanted to get back there, sit on my ass, and wait for the next shuttle to arrive so I could hitch a ride back to Earth.
Did I really think it would be that easy?
No.
But I was terrified out of my mind, sick as hell from the twisting and turning of the hover bike as we sped through dense forestry, and so close to an actual mental breakdown I was barely hanging on by a thinning thread.
I had a one-track mind, and that was getting back to the spaceship site.
They had to return, right?
I’d sneak aboard like a stowaway to return to Earth and my new mattress in my little house with my two cats and one fish.
I would not be a victim. I would not be a victim. I would not be a victim. Not after my sister’s fate…
Shit, I couldn’t think about that now, because the last thing I had time for was a grieving, crying jag. I struggled to lift my head and peer through my curtain of blonde hair, wondering how the hell I was going to get back to the ship’s landing site. I had to try. It’d been a massive clearing, so it couldn’t be too hard to find, right? If I could just get off this damn bike!
I squirmed and flailed enough the alien driver must have sensed I was uncomfortable or about to lose it. I was both, but that wasn’t why I wanted him to stop.
He slowed the bike, and before I knew it, I was coughing up green dirt from this godforsaken planet as we landed among some dense brush.
The alien lifted his hand from my back long enough for me to slide to the ground in a heap. I brushed my hair out of my eyes and glared up at him.
He looked at me down his nose, and his lips curled to reveal his very real and very sharp-looking fangs. His prominent, nubbed brow lowered.
He reached down for me just as the other bikes settled around us.
I scrambled away as one of the other aliens spoke to mine.
He growled a few words back at them.
I looked in the direction we’d come from. I could maybe get away now. Sure, they’d follow me—maybe—but I could certainly hide. Unless they had ultra-sniffer noses or something. God, I was so out of my element. I had no idea what secret senses these guys had. They had damn hidden weapons in their bodies!
My alien’s eyes narrowed at me as he swung off his bike.
I scrambled away from him as he stomped toward me. I held my arms out to ward him away and said the first thing that came to mind. “I have to pee!”
He stopped abruptly and stared at me.
The other women on the bikes—who didn’t look terrified enough, in my opinion—glanced around nervously.
The one with the braids spoke up. “You okay?”
I wanted them to come with me, but I didn’t think a mass escape attempt was feasible. If I could get home, I could send help. Or something. I wasn’t sure. My brain was a jumble. “I just have to pee,” I said to the women.
I turned to my alien and tried to figure out how to convey my need to him. I made a rushing water sound and gestured between my legs while pressing my knees together in the classic Earth sign for “need to relieve my bladder.”
My alien wrinkled his nose and only looked agitated. “Mah bust de rapundi,” he growled at me.
I pointed to a tree. “Right there. I’ll pee. And come back.” I tried to mime some hand motions with that.
He crossed his arms over his chest and braced his feet apart. God, he was massive. All muscle, horns, and glower.
I shuffled over to the tree and held up my finger. “Just a minute. Can you turn around?”
Of course, he only stared at me.
One of the aliens said something, and mine turned his head to face them. Another laughed, which drew my alien’s attention enough he gave me his back.
He took a step toward his companions, gesturing with his massive hand in an impatient tone.
I ducked down. Thankful for the thick brush which extended over my head, I began to
crawl away on my hands and knees. I nearly held my breath, because my life depended on me not getting caught. Not a victim. Not a victim. Not a victim. I chanted in my head. This couldn’t be happening to me. My parents couldn’t lose another child to some freak bullshit—
I froze as I realized I didn’t hear any voices anymore. How far had I crawled? It couldn’t have been that far. I glanced behind me, but all I saw was more of the thorny bushes. Well shit. Keep going. You can do this, Reba. Keep crawling. Away from the big bad aliens. Away from Glower. I wished the other women were with me. I thought for a second about going back, but what could I do to help them if I was held prisoner by these blue guys same as them?
I wondered where the leader had taken the loud girl. She’d been terrified as he’d ripped her away from us, and I’d tried to cling to her like the other women. That was my other fear—they were going to separate us one by one, and no way in hell was I going to be alone with one of those big bastards. I didn’t want to think about what the leader was doing to the loud, pretty one. I shuddered and kept crawling, sending up a short prayer for her.
Wherever she was.
If this was her end, I hoped it was quick.
The sun beat down through cracks in the large leaves over my head, soaking through the thin shirt and shorts I usually wore to bed. My hair plastered itself to my sweat-dampened neck. Burning streaked through my palms and knees as rocks and sticks dug into my skin. I ignored the bloody trail I left behind and kept going.
The foliage on this planet was a brilliant blue and teal. Every once in a while, I caught a glimpse of another planet next to this one, visible along the horizon, its atmosphere a swirl of greens and blues.
I kept crawling, and when the brush around me began to change, I took my chance and stood up to run at a loping crouch. When we’d left, the sun had been at my left, I remembered that much. So, if I just ran with it to my right, I’d eventually make it back to the landing site. Right? Sure, let’s go with that.
But as I continued, every step in the opposite direction of the women and the blue aliens seemed wrong. I second-guessed myself, which I hated doing. The blue aliens knew how to survive on this planet. They most likely had food. Shelter. What if they were my best chance at survival? Before the leader had ripped away the pretty brunette, he had killed the big alien who’d hit her.
I slowed to a walk. Then I stopped. My breathing hitched with the beginnings of a freak out. “Calm down, Reba.” I whispered to myself. “Just… calm down. Go back. Stick with the women and the blue assholes. Try to learn their language. Communicate. Plead your case.” Wasn’t running away playing the victim?
I took a deep breath as I heard footsteps behind me. This was probably Glower, here to reprimand me and toss me on his bike like a sack of potatoes. Try to look innocent. Fragile. Maybe he’d take pity on me and not exact some horrible punishment for running away.
I turned around, adopting the most apologetic expression as I could when a body crashed through the brush. Actually, not just one body. Several bodies. And they weren’t Glower. They weren’t any of the big blue aliens. These were big lizard-like creatures with yawning jaws of sharp teeth, clawed hands, and oily bodies. One reached for me, and I opened my mouth and screamed.
Ward
The scream cut through the air like a blade and I whirled from where I’d been talking with my brother, immediately rushing toward the tree where the little human crouched to relieve herself.
I gripped the trunk and reached blindly for her, but my hands grasped at nothing. She wasn’t there. Another muffled scream echoed through the dense forest, sending my cora into a frenzy. Peering at the ground, I caught sight of markings in the dirt leading away from the tree. I would have to follow them and track her.
I gritted my teeth. Daz, our drexel, had given me one job, one flecking job and that was to protect the humans. I’d had her in my possession for less than a yora and I’d already lost her.
“Fleck,” I spat and turned to face my brother, who was off his bike and crashing toward me. I held up a hand, and Gar stopped immediately, his nostrils flaring. “She’s gone.”
“Gone?” A slight widening of his eyes was the only emotion my stoic brother displayed at the news, but I knew him. Like me, he was all about duty.
“I will track her.” I brushed past him as the females started to chatter with frantic little voices. Retrieving my solar gun and pack of supplies from my bike, I strapped them to my belt. “Hide my bike, and I’ll return for it once I find her.”
“Ward—” Gar began.
“Daz said to protect the women and that’s what we’ll do. Take them to the hideout and I’ll rendezvous with you there. With the wayward female.”
Gar’s jaw clenched and he grasped me around the neck, touching our foreheads together. “Stay safe, brother.”
I returned the gesture, taking some comfort in his words and tight grip. “You too.”
“She is all,” he whispered, his black eyes brightening to a deep purple for a beat.
“She is all.” I echoed the Drixonian Warriors creed. We hadn’t had females to protect for one hundred and fifty sun-cycles. We wouldn’t fail this time. We couldn’t.
With a nod to the rest of the males, I took off after my female at a fast clip.
Her tracks indicated she traveled alone, and despite my vow to protect her, I still cursed her. She’d been trouble since I’d laid eyes on her, in more ways than one. First, because she’d been hysterical and difficult and second because I couldn’t look away from her.
When I’d grabbed her to put her on my bike, I’d felt a bolt of heat run through me at the feel of her soft skin. Her straight shiny hair the color of the sun had brushed my chest and for the first time in my life, my cock awoke.
I’d been six cycles old when a virus had swept through our civilization, killing all the Drixonian females and more of our elder males. I hadn’t expected to ever meet a female, let alone have one awaken my dormant libido. It was the little escapee too, not the other females.
She was yellow-haired with perky breasts on a little frame and constantly leaking light-colored eyes. Her lips were round, lush pink pillows below a small nose.
I growled to myself. Since when did I notice things like this? Since your cock got hard, a voice in my head whispered. I shoved it away. This human wasn’t mine to keep or mate. I protected her until Daz gave the next order. Daz wouldn’t give the females to the Uldani, but his choice was complicated. The Uldani held his brother in exchange for us delivering them, which we wouldn’t do. The Uldani wouldn’t treat the females well. We didn’t know what they wanted with them, but the Uldani only acted selfishly. The females were a means to an end for something, that was for sure.
I had to focus on her small scuffled prints in the dirt as I ventured deeper into the forest. Time to ignore my cock and how just her touch had made my head spin. When I got her back, I’d let her know just how dangerous it was to run away. How there were many species on this planet who’d do her harm. I wouldn’t let her out of my sight again, even if I had to tie her to me. I knew enough already about her to know she’d hate it—probably toss that gorgeous sheet of hair and fire those eyes at me. Good, I hoped I angered her. Then she wouldn’t pull this flecked-up scheme again…
The tracks changed. She’d been crawling on all fours, and now she switched to upright. Her steps were light at first, indicating she’d been moving fast, but then slowed as she either grew tired or… I hoped she’d realized her mistake and was sitting close by waiting for me to find her. I’d still shake her and maybe turn her over my knee like a naughty chit.
This would be the last time she’d run away from me.
I was Ward Garundum. Brother to Gar Garundum and to the late Mave Garundum, our sister. Our father served under Daz Bakut’s father. We came from a long line of legendary warriors. I could handle one little human female with her dull claws and blunt teeth.
Abruptly the tracks changed, and my body went
still. Mixed with my little female’s tiny tracks were the unmistakable markings of a Rizar. And not just one, but an entire pack.
My focus narrowed. I hated the flecking Rizars—a filthy flesh-eating race who were dumb but hard to kill. They traveled in large groups, and while a few Drixonians would take on a handful of them in a scouting party with ease, an entire pack of Rizars had been known to overpower and kill a lone warrior. Of course, none of those warriors had my skills, but I still had to be cautious.
The Rizars would only want my female for one thing, and if they’d hurt her yet, I wasn’t sure what I’d do. I took to the trees, scrambling up a trunk with my claws extended. I climbed to the tallest branch that would support my weight and surveyed the direction the Rizars had taken.
In the distance, a cloud of green dirt alerted me to a pack traveling at their normal lumbering slow pace. I scanned the line of Rizars, my palms sweating. Had they killed her? Where was she?
My eyes caught on a streak of yellow hair, and I exhaled roughly. My female sat in a cage carried by four Rizars. She was alive. Her head turned, and her little fists grasped the cage bars. She didn’t appear to be hurt or bloody.
I grabbed the comm from my belt and connected to my brother. He picked up and I could see in the background that they’d made it to the hideout. His expression was stoic, but I caught the slight flicker of relief in his eyes when he saw me. “Brother.”
“She’s been taken by a Rizar pack.”
“Fleck,” he bit off.
“She’s alive and caged. They’re taking her to their caves, but I’ll steal her back in time.”
