Ignite: A Sci-Fi Alien Warrior Romance (Inferno Force of the Drexian Warriors Book 1)

by Tana Stone

  Instead of making me angrier, her speech made the corners of my mouth twitch up. “The Kronock are not lizard men. They are a highly developed alien species with armament that eclipses anything Earth has yet to develop. And yes, I’m eager to return to the hunt for them because they’ve been a scourge on the galaxy for longer than anyone can remember.” I tilted my head at her and took a step closer, so she had to tip her head back so as not to break eye contact. “But most importantly, did you call me a hot, alien badass?”

  Zoey’s eyes darkened as the pupils flared, and she opened and closed her mouth like a Tarithian bubble fish. “I didn’t mean…you.”

  “No?” I couldn’t stop myself from grinning at her as she shifted from one foot to the other, her gaze darting anywhere but to me.

  She drew herself up to her full height and met my gaze. “I only meant it in the general way that all Drexians think they’re gorgeous and fierce.”

  “We do?” As much time as I’d spent with my fellow warriors, I’d never heard a single one refer to themself as gorgeous. “Please enlighten me on the ways of the Drexians since you have such a deep knowledge of us.”

  This made her bite her bottom lip, and I battled the urge to reach out and brush a finger across her lips, to see if they felt as soft as they looked.

  “I never claimed to be an expert on Drexians, but I’ve been around you long enough to know that you’re cocky, and you can’t stand the idea of being challenged by a woman.”

  This made me stop. Did I hate that she challenged me because she was a female, and I’d never worked with females before? It was true that I’d originally had doubts when I’d learned that the astro-architect was a woman, but that was before I’d seen how hard she’d worked, and how relentlessly she’d fought for her ideas. Now, I had a hard time imagining anyone—male or female, Drexian or human—doing a better job.

  I stared down at her, observing her chest rising and falling as she heaved in breaths, the warm, brown skin hinting at the cleavage below the scoop neckline of her snug shirt. “I do not mind your challenge. I mind your insubordination.”

  She flinched at this, her gaze dropping for a beat before she lifted her eyes to mine again. “I’ve never been great at obeying authority.”

  I breathed in the scent of her, warm and faintly floral without being cloying, closing my eyes for a moment as an image of Zoey submitting to me flooded my mind. “That’s too bad.”

  When I opened my eyes, she’d stopped breathing, and her defiant expression had been replaced by furrowed brows. I cleared my throat and stepped back, eager to put some space between us.

  What had just happened? Had I fantasized about the woman who’d been bedeviling me since I’d been on the station? I shook my head, willing the image of her on her knees in front of me to be banished to the darkest recess of my brain. The last thing I needed was to be distracted by the one person who could drag out my tenure on the station.

  Besides, I wasn’t attracted to Zoey. She enraged me on a regular basis. She was insubordinate and mouthy and didn’t respect my authority as captain. She was the last female I could ever imagine myself with. But then I thought of stopping her sharp tongue by crushing my mouth to hers and dominating her smaller body and enticing curves while she begged me for more.

  “Captain?” Her voice pulled me back to reality and to everyone staring at me.

  Had I said anything out loud? Had I groaned as I’d envisioned myself overpowering the human and making her submit?

  I clenched my hands by my sides and grunted. “You can have your waterfall, but not any more time.” When Zoey started to protest, I held up a hand. “You’re smart enough to have landed this position, which means you can figure out how to make this happen and stay on schedule. Now go give me a good reason to put up with your insubordination.”

  I spun on my heel and strode away before anyone could respond, twisting my head back at the end of the bridge. Zoey stared at me, but instead of the furious expression I’d grown accustomed to seeing when she looked at me, she looked startled. Almost as if she’d seen into my mind and gotten a glimpse of my dark visions.

  Turning away, I gritted my teeth and headed for the bowels of the ship. I needed to rid myself of whatever madness had possessed me and purge myself of thoughts of her. Zoey despised me. There was no way around that, no matter what desires she unleashed.

  Chapter Four

  Zoey

  “What just happened?” Nina asked after the captain had stormed off.

  “I believe he approved the waterfall addition without any additional time,” Reina said, her face creased with worry. “Is that possible?”

  Normally, I’d have said no. You couldn’t add to a project without adding extra time to it. But after Kalex had challenged me, implying that if I’d been smart enough to earn this job over every other candidate then I could find a way, I had to try. “We’ll make it happen.”

  Nina groaned. “I know what that means. No mojitos for me tonight.”

  I gave my friend a mock look of sympathy. “I thought you said the mojitos they made here sucked?”

  “They do.” She let out a tortured sigh. “You can’t make a decent mojito with that alien booze, but at least they take the edge off work and being so far from home.”

  I put an arm around her shoulders. “How about this? I promise to find a way to get some decent rum up here, if you help me crank out this work.”

  She eyed me. “Cuban rum?”

  “Don’t push it.”

  Nina laughed and tossed her curls off one shoulder. “Okay, any rum will do. And you have yourself a deal, Boss Lady.”

  I rolled my eyes at the nickname, although it secretly pleased me. Not that anyone called me that but Nina. Still, I’d worked hard enough, fighting against plenty of stereotypes and prejudice, to get where I was, and I deserved to be the boss. Too bad the captain didn’t see it that way.

  My pulse fluttered as I remembered the way Kalex’s eyes had flashed, not with their usual annoyance or anger, but with something else—something darker. His husky voice had sent a jolt through my body and made heat pulse traitorously between my legs. That hadn’t happened in years, and it made no sense that he’d been the one to provoke it.

  Captain Kalex was a thorn in my side. He’d done nothing but question me and thwart all my ideas since I’d arrived. At first, I’d thought it was because I was a human, and then maybe because I was a woman, but considering the way he’d reacted to that accusation, maybe he was just an asshole. A gorgeous asshole, who made my mouth go dry.

  I pushed aside the thoughts of Kalex and how my body had reacted. The last thing I needed was some weird crush on a guy I didn’t even like. I needed to keep my head in the game if I was going to finish this project on time, especially with all the changes being thrown at me. Men were nothing but a distraction, which was why I’d faithfully avoided them since my fiancé had died. Theo had been the last guy I’d cared about, the only one I’d allowed to get close. I’d let him in and allowed myself to fall hard for him. When I’d finally recovered from his death, I promised myself I’d never let myself be that vulnerable again. It hurt too much to lose him, and I never wanted to hurt like that again.

  “Should I even ask about my changes to the fantasy suites?” Serge said, his fuchsia hair gradually becoming purple again.

  “No,” Nina and I said at the same time.

  Serge jumped, his elbows going out to the side and reminding me of a very yellow grasshopper. “I suppose I should be grateful for the waterfall. I’m sure Mandy will forget all about her fantasy suite ideas. She’s got new-baby brain, anyway.”

  “Why don’t we go down to the promenade?” I suggested. “We already know where the waterfall will go, but I’d love to check on the construction of the shops and cafes.”

  Serge led the way to the end of the bridge, swiping his hand over a metal panel to open the door to the inclinator. Stepping inside, we were greeted with glowing pink light and soft backgr
ound music.

  “I thought we agreed to tone it down with the Earth nostalgia,” I said, turning to Serge once I recognized the instrumental version of “Baby’s Got Back.”

  The doors glided shut and the inclinator car dropped before rotating and continuing down. Drexian inclinators were like our elevators, but they were multidirectional, the compartments spinning and twisting while keeping passengers upright. The engineering had been of particular fascination to me when I’d first arrived. That was before I’d seen the rest of Drexian technology.

  “What?” Serge gave me an innocent look. “I didn’t use any of the television theme songs that you deemed ‘cheese flavored.’” He made air quotes with his fingers.

  “Cheesy?” Nina asked, her lips twitching.

  He snapped his stubby fingers. “That’s it. Cheesy. You said no cheesy, vintage-TV theme songs, so I didn’t use them.”

  “Instead, you used questionable hip-hop played by a string quartet?”

  Serge put his hands on his hips. “What’s questionable about this song?”

  I put my hands on my own hips. “Baby Got Back?”

  Serge shrugged. “I see no problem. All babies have backs. It’s an integral part of anatomy.”

  “It does seem harmless.” Reina bobbed her head up and down, clearly pleased to be agreeing with her Gatazoid colleague again. “Everyone loves babies.”

  “This is all true,” Nina said, grinning widely at me as we came to a gentle stop and the inclinator doors swished open, as a new instrumental song began to play.

  I groaned and shook my head, deciding to let this one go and accept the fact that I’d be enjoying “Funky Cold Medina” played on the harp for the foreseeable future. “Never mind. Let’s see how the promenade is coming along.”

  We stepped out onto a paved walkway, and I peered up. From below, the view of the wide open-air atrium was even more impressive, and the view of space from the clear walls more spectacular. The inclinator shafts twisted up overhead, creating a web of clear tubing that was interspersed by bridges connecting one side of the station to the other. From the outside, the station looked like a beefy baby’s rattle with wide discs at the top and bottom, and a long, central atrium connecting them. The promenade was located in the bottom disc, although there were quite a few levels below it, including lots of the station’s storage and quarters for the staff.

  “The promenade on the Boat was designed to resemble Beverly Hills,” Serge reminded us. “But this one has more of a European feel to it.”

  Nina winked at me, clearly as amused as I was that Serge spoke about Earth as if he was a native, when, in fact, he’d never set one platformed foot on the planet.

  “Like Paris without all the dog poop,” I said.

  Serge made a face. “Another reason human pets are not allowed on the Island.”

  The wide avenue that was almost fully constructed did have a European feel, although it was more of an eclectic mix of multiple places instead of a close recreation of one country. A glass-fronted bakery had a black-and-white striped awning over its door, and it was easy to imagine the case filled with croissants and apple tarts. Next door was a bookstore with a weathered-looking, wooden door that would have looked at home nestled in London’s Notting Hill. And across from the bookstore was a coffee shop that looked so much like a Starbucks knock-off that the green awning made my mouth water as I imagined the aroma of freshly brewed coffee.

  “You okay?” Nina asked.

  “What?”

  “You moaned out loud,” she told me, one eyebrow lifting. “What on earth were you thinking about?” She gave me a wicked grin. “Unless who you were thinking about isn’t on earth.”

  I laughed. “Not a who—a what. Coffee.”

  “You were moaning over coffee?” Reina asked.

  Nina nodded. “I feel that.” She glanced at Reina. “No offense, but the Drexian version of coffee doesn’t cut it.”

  “But it has more protein and nutrients than your human stimulant,” Reina said.

  “Doesn’t matter,” I said. “It still can’t beat a quality cappuccino from Seattle.”

  “This again?” Serge loosed a tortured breath. “I know you miss your home, but I can’t imagine something being as good as you keep saying Seattle’s coffee is.”

  “There’s plenty about Seattle I don’t miss,” I said. “The rain, the cost of living, the rain. But you’d never convince me to live in space for good unless you managed to get a decent barista up here.”

  “Baristas?” Reina cocked her head. “Are those like the Teralistas from Terra Prime?”

  “They’re not a type of alien,” Nina said. “They’re specialists in making coffee.”

  Reina tapped her fingers on her chin. “A species that only makes special coffees. How strange.”

  Nina smiled at me with amusement. “Again, she’s not wrong.”

  Serge jumped as his device trilled, sighing when he pulled it out and looked at the screen. “Mandy again. I’ll have to break it to her about the fantasy suites. Let’s hope she isn’t feeling weepy today. I do not do well with tears.”

  I shook my head as I walked forward, visually inspecting the buildings that lined the wide walkway. Although the shops weren’t stocked yet, it was easy to imagine the cafe filled with people sitting around the wooden tables, the racks in the boutiques brimming with stylish clothes, and the bridal salon’s wide, glass windows displaying billowing, white gowns. Before I could even feel the pang of regret that I’d never wear one of those gowns, a scream tore through the air.

  “Heads up!” Someone yelled from above as a metal beam came hurtling down.

  We all ran for cover, except for Serge who was absorbed in the video call, one finger pressed into his ear.

  “Serge!” I screamed.

  “I cannot hang up on her again,” he said, waving a hand at me, obviously unaware of the danger.

  Just before the beam crashed into the paving stones, I spun around and dove for Serge.

  Chapter Five

  Kalex

  By the time I reached the crew holodecks, I was breathing normally again and no longer grinding my teeth together in frustration. Still, my expression must have been stormy, because Vekron shook his head when he saw me stalking down the corridor.

  He stood at one of the holodeck wiring panels, the insides of the contraption spilling out as he worked on it, his long hair pulled up into a topknot. “I take it your discussion with Zoey didn’t go well?”

  I blew out a breath in an attempt to release any latent frustration. “She’s going to make her additions, but I didn’t give her any additional time.”

  “Sounds fun,” Vekron said, turning his attention back to the wiring. “I guess I should expect some long nights coming my way.”

  I blinked at him for a moment, before realizing that adding work to holo creation meant more work for him. “Sorry, but we can’t afford to lose any more time.”

  “I get it. You aren’t the only one who’s anxious to get back to our Inferno Force ship.”

  I scraped a hand through my hair. “Is it that obvious?”

  “Only to anyone with eyes to see you impatiently stalking the construction workers, or ears to hear you scold any of us for falling behind.”

  I rubbed a hand over my forehead. So much for keeping a cool and collected demeanor as captain. According to Vekron, I was a tyrant with no patience. At the moment, it didn’t sound like such a stretch, even to me.

  “I was tasked with getting this station operational by the time the tribute brides arrived. If I allowed Zoey and Serge to have their way, they’d redesign the entire place every time someone had a new idea.”

  Vekron leaned one hand against the shiny, white walls. “I’ll admit that we’ve got a lot of opinions going on. As Inferno Force, we aren’t used to so much dissent. The captain gives the orders, and we obey as a disciplined unit.”

  “Exactly,” I said, pacing a slow circle as I thought about how close we w
ere to the station being done. “But that’s not what’s happening here. My orders are challenged and sometimes openly flouted.”

  “We aren’t dealing with Inferno Force. Your team is a collection of women, aliens, and a partly human construction crew. There’s bound to be friction, if you try to run this like an Inferno Force ship.”

  I stopped pacing and looked at him. “You think I’m at fault?”

  Vekron considered his words before speaking. “I think your expectations are betraying you.”

  I snorted. “That’s a nice way of saying I’m being rigid and demanding.” I shook my head. “I never should have accepted this post.”

  “Acting captain is a big step up, Kalex, and one that you deserved. You’ve been Captain Brok’s first officer for long enough that you could easily lead your own Inferno Force crew.”

  “But this isn’t that. I miss the hunt and the thrill of battle.”

  “From what I hear, our old crew isn’t getting much of either, right now.”

  “Still no sign of the Kronock?” This worried me. Our enemy had gone quiet before, and they’d come back stronger than ever and had almost destroyed our original space station and invaded Earth. Quiet was never better when it came to the Kronock.

  Vekron shook his head. “Nothing. So don’t be jealous of them. We’d be cooling our heels, even if we were on our old ship. At least here, we’re doing something productive.”

  “Building a space station to indulge human women?”

  My friend raised an eyebrow at me. “And the Drexians they take as mates. Are you not a fan of the tribute bride program?”

  I bristled at this. I knew as well as anyone that human females were the answer to our species’ survival, but I also couldn’t help thinking that all our emphasis on mating and pleasing the humans was making us soft. It was certainly a distraction. Every Drexian I knew was eagerly awaiting their own match, since there were now willing volunteers and no more interminable waits. If we weren’t careful, every Drexian warrior would be so busy with their new brides that the Kronock would be able to waltz through our defenses.