Hunted: A SciFi Alien Romance (The Legion: Savage Lands Sector)

by Eva Priest

  My blood boiled. Slave traders were the worst kind of scum. The Legion didn’t condone it; Rodinians in particular despised it. We needed our freedom to roam. Choice was sacred. “Slave trafficking is low, even for the Savage Lands. What did they offer in trade?”

  The other two looked at each other as if willing the other to speak. “Just tell him already!” Raymy Brice bellowed. “Even if you do, it’s not like he’d understand. Stars know I sure as hell don’t.”

  “They gave us the raw materials we needed to…fold the ship,” Coop said sheepishly.

  “What?” The look on my face must have confirmed Brice’s conclusions because he gestured toward me as if to say, “I told you so.”

  Coop ignored the gesture and repeated himself. “We folded the ship.” The ship’s engineer presented his hands palms up, then brought them together as if closing an ancient book.

  What were they talking about—folding a ship? The ship’s integrity didn’t look to be compromised. “Are there hinges I’m not seeing? Did the ship break and get put back together? The ship looks fine.”

  Coop gave an exasperated sound. “We’re not folding the ship itself, but the space around the ship folds, and then suddenly, instead of being here, you’re there.”

  I tried to follow. Dorn would be better at this than me. “Are you just describing jump gates?”

  “Yes, and no. Jump gates are basically wormholes where the ship moves through space. What I’m talking about is to pull space toward you. Like, my glasses here.” He placed his glasses on the sheet covering his pod. “I can go to it and pick up my glasses or I can pull this sheet toward me, and grab it.” He demonstrated by pulling the blanket and bringing his glasses toward him. He plucked them up and placed them back on his face. “That’s what we’ve been able to do. Except the blanket is space. Well, distance, but you get it.”

  Maybe not how, but I understood the concept Coop described. Somehow, Silar Praxis and his crew discovered how to bring worlds to them without pushing their ship at all.

  My senses heightened. This is what the Legion command wanted with Silar. Their discovery. This potential for folding space and basically eliminates travel time as we knew it would all but secure the Legion’s hold on this galaxy…and beyond.

  “Great. Now that we know all that, how do we kill them?”

  “Weren’t you listening? We don’t. Their tech is so far beyond anything I’ve seen. Anything from the Sovereign Worlds or from the Legion. They have a strange phase technology. Stars, I think they used our own cloaking fields against us.”

  Raymy Brice nodded in agreement. “They’re like ghosts. Nothing we tried had an impact. Not that we were able to put up much of a defense anyway.”

  Probably had something to do with that handheld device. I couldn’t move against the field that it activated around Solana.

  “What’s stopping them from folding this ship wherever it wanted to go?”

  “Power. It needs to build up enough dark matter so it could fold space again.” The engineer looked at his wrist unit. “Juice is half empty. But in an hour, few hours max, it will be ready to roll.”

  “We won’t give them hours. This ends now.” Soon, the rest of my unit will be here, along with my ship. “What is the farthest area of ship from the medical bay?”

  Coop answered. “The medical is pretty central in case of injury, but engineering bay is the farthest possible. Wanted to keep the instruments separate so they would run on different systems.”

  “Since that’s your wheelhouse, you and Raymy Brice create a distraction there. It is integral enough that someone has to respond. As the rest of the crew is being experimented upon, that leaves the creepy scum.”

  “And where will you two be when Coop and I are dancing being toyed with by psychopaths?” Brice asked.

  “Silar and I will go to the medical bay and make sure my mate and your people are safe.”

  “Coop, you’re up, make sure we can open the doors without alerting them. We have to time it so that it just looks like a random power surge, nothing out of the ordinary.”

  A phantom cut sliced me from within. Something was wrong. Solana needed my help. Rage and vengeance mixed together within me, and I wrenched the door open. “No time. We need to move. Now!”

  7 SOLANA

  How many times did I wake only to sleep again?

  Testing, so much testing.

  There wasn’t a connection with Cade again. Why was his voice silent? I needed him, where was he?

  I reached out as much as I could. The last time, he had been there. Now it was like all of my nerve-endings were deadened. I was numbed. It was like a huge rejection.

  “Odd. This subject seems to be mated, but the biometric scans have shown that it hasn’t been physically active with any being in some time.”

  Another voice buzzed. “The soulscan is not wrong. See here? The evidence of a unity bond forming is undeniable.”

  “We have to make sure it’s not been fused. The other who showed promise has been quite broken, and is almost beyond reach. We do not want to break more than we can replace. Our energies drain the dark matter, keeping us at a slower pace as it is. The Legion will find us soon.”

  Oh good. My connection with Cade was still there, just numbed for a while. The thought warmed my heart. It was stupid to feel relief knowing that some voice in my head was still with me, but I couldn’t help it. Cade’s voice was more real to me than any other memory I hold inside of me.

  “It will be worth it. Once we capture the attention of even one alpha unit, the rest of the Legion will follow. Soon, they will all be destroyed.”

  Oh God! Did they just casually talk about the destruction of an entire race of beings? And did I somehow make that happen?

  Insistent beeping noises blared to life. “Anomaly.”

  “Where?”

  “Pods in one of the sub-levels. The ship’s crew. A few pods seem to be offline.”

  “If they die, they die. The captain was foolish and bargained for more than he had any right to.”

  “Still, it would be prudent to check that there are no structural issues with the ship.”

  In the aliens’ absence, I started to calm and relax into the darkness that surrounded me. In the stillness, a slow rhythm pulsed inside of me. It started in my belly and radiated upward, wrapping around my chest.

  It was a heartbeat, strong and steady, and it echoed within me. Heat, raw and animalistic filled me. The icy numbness began to thaw.

  Instead of the blurry darkness, a man’s face flashed before me. His yellow eyes full of fear and rage. My hands were curled around his throat.

  Wait, those weren’t my hands. They were large and grew ever larger before my eyes. Extra joints popped and claws began to elongate. Cade?

  Other images came to me in flickering succession, mixing with my own memories that it was hard to separate between Cade’s and mine.

  Metal pods. Goo-covered men. Long, empty corridors.

  The strong and steady heartbeat started to race as I ran toward an insistent beep that grew louder.

  I felt like I was being watched. I opened my eyes. Fortunately, I wasn’t floating in a tube any longer. Unfortunately, I was lying naked on top of a hospital bed.

  I tried to hide myself, but my arms weren’t responding. Panic threatened to rise, but I swallowed it down. I was able to curl my toes, and my legs felt tingly. That was a good thing, right? Better than outright paralysis?

  The door opened and it was that drone that I’d seen before, the one that was always lurking like a shadow to the other men in black.

  What was it doing there? Surveilling me? Were the others using it as a video camera to spy on me?

  I pretended to be asleep, not like that was a hard feat. It clicked and whirred as it approached, its footfalls silent despite its size.

  How long would it be before the men in black got back?

  Feeling slowly flowed back into my limbs, and could actually flex my fing
ers now. Good. Maybe I could disable the robot and somehow make it attack its masters.

  And if that failed, beating it until it short-circuited was always a good option.

  The drone ticked along, and stopped at the foot of my bed. Weird.

  Then it started poking my toe. And then my foot. I was usually ticklish, but the numbness took that away from me. That would have been a strange sight to see I was sure—watching me spasm on the bed like a newfound method of torture.

  It dragged its finger lightly over my foot. My ankle. It walked around to the side of the pod, trailing a finger higher on my body. There was something wrong. Its touch was making me feel tainted. Violated.

  It leaned down and I could see myself reflected in its face plate, the ticking grew louder. This close, I realized that the ticking and whirring I’d been hearing weren’t robot sounds. They were labored breathing through a ventilator.

  This wasn’t a drone. It was an alien. One of those things. It spoke in low, hissing tones. “I know you are awake, omega.”

  Heat prickled through me as a rage filled me. Strength rushed into my limbs, and I grabbed its head and twisted. The helmet snapped off and flew across the room. It flailed its arms, getting a lucky strike across my face.

  Fury filled my body and kicked it away from me for all I was worth. The door opened.

  I readied for an attack, but none came.

  The drone was snatched mid-leap by a beast so large, his head nearly grazed the ceiling. He took one look at me and back at the alien in his hand who hung like a limp doll in comparison and hurled him into the wall.

  Surely, the alien was dead, but the beast picked him up. I gasped at the familiar tufts of golden fur over pointed ears that blended in with the rest of him. His head turned my way, amber eyes burning with a rage that echoed mine. “Look away, Solana.”

  I covered my eyes and turned around for good measure.

  I should have covered my ears. The wet, gurgling noises would haunt my dreams. My legs weakened and I gripped the bed to keep me up.

  Gentle hands encircled my waist. I flinched and the hands came off me, resting against the pod on either side of my arms. They were large, the bronzed skin smooth and free of gore. “You don’t ever need to fear me. Can I help you?”

  The timbre of his voice was lower than it was earlier, more primal. But it was Cade nonetheless. All the tension that had built up inside of me melted when I heard his voice.

  I nodded. “Yes.” I didn’t trust my legs. He helped to turn me around and sat me upon the edge of the pod.

  He was somehow less beastly than he was during the attack, not quite as massive. But that still made him close to seven feet tall. He might not take up as much space as he did when he was in action but he was no less savage. He was teetering on a razor’s edge with his eyes lit with a fiery glow. His gaze was palpable, scorching like touch that trailed on my skin.

  A shiver rippled over my body, and that broke the spell. Hissing to himself, Cade took two long strides to pick up a suit hanging on a nearby hook and then approached me with it in hand.

  I took a step back from him, from the intensity that rolled off of him.

  With what seemed like effort, he spoke. “I will not hurt you, Solana. I wanted you warm. I am coming closer now.”

  I felt my face flush. What was wrong with me? Of course, he wouldn’t hurt me. He could have done so a million times over by now.

  The bodily fluids that were splattered all over the room and which I was choosing to ignore attested to that.

  Cade helped me step into the suit and zipped me up. I thought I heard a wistful sigh, but it must have been a mistake.

  Huge alien man-beasts didn’t sigh…did they?

  He was going out of his way to be careful with me, because he thought I was afraid of him. I was just startled. I wasn’t used to seeing someone with his burning intensity. Someone that made me feel as deeply as he did.

  Someone that made me feel wanted. Everyone in my life had either walked away from me or was happy enough to let me go. Admittedly, I’d done more than my fair share of cutting people out of my life. But the thought of rejecting him made it hard for me to breathe.

  I wasn’t equipped for saying my thoughts or emotions out loud. Words always seemed inadequate. I let action lead the way.

  I reached up to stroke his hair before I could stop myself. He stilled, and my stomach clenched. I did something stupid. I knew it.

  But, instead of pulling away, he ducked his head and pushed against my hand. As if I could mistake his silent request for more, he started to purr. The sound was hypnotic, relaxing every muscle in my body.

  “So soft.”

  The rumbling sound vibrating in his chest intensified as I continued to pet him. I never wanted to stop touching him.

  Boots skidded at the door, and someone spat out a string of curses. “You did all this in the two minutes you were out of my sight?”

  Cade had stood in front of me as soon as this stranger joined us. I peeked around his large body to see. “Who is that?” I asked him.

  Cade snarled. “A walking dead man.”

  The man had wild orange hair that looked like it was styled from the set of Whoville. Aside from the strange yellow eyes and slightly gray cast to his skin, he could pass for a tall human. A really tall human.

  The orange haired man paused when he saw me and offered a slight bow. “Otherwise known as Silar Praxis, Captain of the Lucky Duck, this fine vessel upon which you are traveling. You must be the mate furry here was going gaga trying to find.” He turned to Cade. “See what did I tell you? She’s fine.”

  “Thanks to your delays, she very nearly wasn’t.”

  “Very nearly not-fine isn’t the same as being not-fine, okay? Let’s thank our lucky stars, and move on.”

  Cade took a menacing step toward the captain. Chaotic images swirling in rage flickered in my mind as fury gripped my heart. I gasped at the onslaught.

  One moment, I swayed on my feet and the next I was cradled against Cade’s body. Between his body heat and purring, I found a measure of peace again. “I didn't mean to scare you, kitten.”

  “Startled, not scared.” It felt good to clarify my actions.

  Cade gifted me with a smile that transformed his features from killer to cuddly. “I’m not used to filtering my thoughts. I’ll do better.”

  “Okay, lovebirds. Mind nesting up later? We’re only halfway through this whole rescue op thing. Geez, I thought you Legion were into protocol.”

  Cade didn’t take his eyes from me. “You refer to the Eridani. The Legion has many in its collective.”

  “Yeah, yeah, save the recruiting speech. You got your mate, right?” Silar Praxis looked at me. “You all right, lady? All this must be crazy for you, being human and all. You sure you want to go with tall and furry here? If not, just let me know and I’ll drop him for you and take you to whatever outpost you want to go.”

  I didn’t miss the way Cade inhaled, nor the way his posture tightened just a moment. Even his tail stilled, as if he every bit of muscle waited for me to make my choice. I felt something I’d ever rarely felt in my life: powerful.

  These two alien males outsized me, Cade doubly so, yet beneath the growls and snarls, and despite the urgency of the matter, they waited for my consent. “Yes, I’m sure, thank you, Captain.”

  The man nodded. “Noted. Now come on, fuzzball. I thought you were supposed to be fast.”

  Cade nuzzled my neck and inhaled. “See how I am not killing him in a rage?”

  The translator didn’t quite capture the nuance of their banter, but I could tell from his tone that he was joking.

  “I admire your restraint.”

  His answering grin set my heart racing. God, if I felt this way from being in his presence for just a few minutes, what would happen after a few hours? Days?

  I didn’t want to find out, but I didn’t know how in the world I would keep him while continuing my work. Not to mention the fact
that everyone on my expedition had died. I needed to go back to let their families know how they died. The university would need to be informed, too.

  I choked on the bitter pill of reality as I swallowed it down. There was nothing I could do about that at the moment. For now, I was being tucked against the hottest male in the known universe, and I was determined to enjoy it.

  8 CADE

  Holding my mate against my body gave me immeasurable peace. She smelled of sunshine and morning mists in a verdant jungle. I wouldn’t be satisfied until I had her tucked away safely in my den. But until my squad arrived with my prowler in tow, holding Solana against me was the safest place I knew.

  This was why Rodinian males killed anyone stupid enough to stand between him and his mate. The fact that she trusted me to keep her safe humbled me. I only hoped that she would continue to allow me to protect her.

  Our unity bond flared between us, a hypnotic heat that started from my neck and radiated down to my chest. It was still a shadow of what it would be whenever Solana would decide to bond with me. I couldn’t read her mind, but I was attuned to her emotions.

  There had been a soulful melancholy that fogged her senses for a moment before her sharp determination pierced through the haze. I was so proud of her. Being taken from her sheltered existence and thrust into this trying time. I wouldn’t have thought less of her if she would have been scared. Anxious even. Terra Prime wasn’t inducted into any alliance of sentient planets, not since the ancients have retreated from this sector.

  Instead, she seemed fascinated. She had a curiosity about her that made her endearing. Solana was resilient and strong, and I would do everything in my power to be worthy of my mate.

  I glanced once to see what had intrigued her, but there was nothing but cold metal and empty corridors. “What do you see, mate?”

  A rosy hue warmed her cheeks. It was such a precious sight. “Everything. Everything is unbelievable.” Solana turned her warm eyes that seemed to see everything, on me. They were windows to her soul, full of wonder, and I hoped she didn’t find me lacking. “You are unbelievable.” She trailed her fingertips along my jaw, light and delicate. “Thank you. For saving me.”