Kratos: A Sci-Fi Alien Warrior Paranormal Romance

by Ashley West

  “It looks worse than it is,” he said.

  “Really?”

  “Really. I promise. I wouldn’t lie to you.”

  He said it with such sincerity, that her breath caught. He was looking right at her now, both eyes open and clear. She wondered if he was on any kind of pain medication. If aliens even had things like morphine or ibuprofen.

  “You wouldn't?” It sounded so stupid when she said it, but she couldn’t help herself.

  Kratos looked serious for maybe the first time since she’d known him. “I wouldn’t,” he said. “Not to you.” And then, because the moment seemed to be getting heavy, he cracked a smile. “I never lie to beautiful women.”

  Kirstie rolled her eyes, relieved that some of the tension had broken. “I bet you say that to all the women.”

  “Only the pretty ones.” He winked at her.

  “Shut up. Tell me what happened.”

  He gestured for her to sit on the edge of his bed, and he filled her in, telling her all about the fight, and how he’d sliced two of The Grey clean through before beheading another one. The battle had been messy, but they’d gotten good information. They now knew that The Grey were much like The Kilan, made of many different races and hodge podged together into a force to be reckoned with. Combo had recognized some of their faces as belonging to wanted criminals, escaping justice by turning to piracy. Finding out a motive would come next.

  Most of Kratos’ injuries were superficial, bruises, gashes, burns, one minor stab wound, and maybe a cracked rib that would heal within the week due to his kind’s advanced healing abilities. “Makes me a perfect merc,” he said. “I’m never down for too long. You’re getting your money’s worth here.”

  “That’s not what I was worried about,” Kirstie snapped before she could stop herself. Her brain was screaming at her to shut up because once she said too much, there was nothing that could be done to take it back.

  “I know,” Kratos replied. “Kirstie…”

  It was odd. She didn’t think she had ever seen him lost for words before. There was always some quip tripping off his lips on the heels of a smirk, always a one liner ready to be delivered. Now he was just looking at her and saying nothing. It made her nervous to say the least. If he was going to tell her something she didn’t want to hear, then she’d rather just go.

  Kirstie was on her feet before she’d even realized it. “I should…” She gestured vaguely towards the door.

  “Wait,” Kratos said. “Please?”

  As if she could refuse him. She swallowed hard. “Yeah?”

  Kratos looked at her for a moment more and then laughed, closing his eyes. “This isn’t like me, you know,” he said. “Ask Milara. Ask anyone who knows me. Women have always been my area. I know how to talk to them and how to make them want me. I know how to get a woman in bed and out of her clothes within ten minutes of meeting her.”

  Kirstie frowned. “Is that something to be proud of?” she asked.

  He shrugged a shoulder and then winced. “I think it’s a talent, like any other.”

  “I think it’s disgusting,” she said firmly. “Women aren’t toys.”

  “But they’re fun.”

  She rolled her eyes. “I need to go.”

  “Kirsten.”

  “What?” They weren’t getting anywhere like this, and she was getting frustrated. She liked Kratos, and she was willing to bet that there was more to him than whatever playboy crap he cultivated, but he didn’t seem to want to deal with that, and she didn’t want the crap. She wanted the Kratos who smiled at her like she was precious.

  “I’m… My point is, I’m not good at this. Like, at all. I know how to get what I want, but that’s the problem, isn’t it? I don’t know what I want here.” He made a face and then sighed. “No, that’s wrong. I do know what I want. I’m just not used to wanting it like this.”

  “What do you want, then?” she asked, trying and probably failing not to sound like she was holding her breath.

  “Right now?” he asked. “To kiss you.”

  It was wholly unambiguous, and there was no way to misinterpret what he’d said. He wanted to kiss her. God, she wanted him to. Her mind was screaming at her to find out what he wanted beyond this moment. Whether or not this was going to be some game he played while he was on Earth and then promptly forgot about when the job was done. Whether he actually cared about her at all.

  That self-preservation instinct was there, but she ignored it, shoving it to the back of her mind because for once, she didn’t want to worry about that. She didn’t want to second guess his motives and make herself miserable fretting about the outcome. Someone wanted her. Someone thought she was worth wanting. All she wanted was to go with that.

  “Okay,” she said softly.

  The smile that bloomed over Kratos’ face made it worth it.

  He reached out for her hand, and she slipped her fingers through his, allowing him to use that grip to tug her closer. His breath was warm on her face as she leaned over him, her free hand keeping her braced above him so she wouldn’t put pressure on his wounds.

  She licked her lips. His eyes followed the motion. She noted the flecks of gold in his eyes, visible only from very close. She wanted to be this close a lot.

  Before she could get overwhelmed in her thoughts, he kissed her.

  It was soft to begin with, just a brush of lips, testing the waters. When she made a soft noise of pleasure and approval, he leaned in more, his free hand lifting to cup the back of her neck and pull her in closer.

  They kissed unhurriedly. Kratos seemed content to explore her mouth, and Kirsten was mostly just trying to remember how to breathe at the moment.

  She'd been kissed before, of course, by a variety of guys with different techniques. But there was something different about the way Kratos kissed her. Different from other kisses, and different from what she had expected from him. His mouth caressed hers gently at first, and when he pressed for more, it wasn't a demand. He didn't take anything or try to hold control of the kiss at all. Instead, he went slowly, letting her get used to the pace of it, the press of his lips against hers, light grazing of teeth on her bottom lip, the way he flicked his tongue.

  He kissed her like she was precious, like he wanted to seduce her and keep her, and Kirstie couldn't help the way she moaned softly into it.

  Kratos was solid and broad, and she ran her hands over his shoulders and then down his chest, careful not to put pressure on his wounds. He'd said he'd be healed soon enough, and she was glad for that.

  She was glad for all of this.

  The tension that had been building between them didn't snap so much as it rose to a gradual crest and then broke over the both of them.

  "Kirsten," Kratos murmured, his lips still against hers. "You taste delicious."

  She giggled. "That's weird."

  "Is it?"

  "Mmhmm." But honestly, Kirstie didn't care. She didn't want to move from this spot. She didn't want to stop kissing him.

  Boldness seized her, and she pressed a kiss to the corner of his mouth and then to his lips proper, before she dipped her head and nuzzled at the side of his neck. He smelled like sweat and the sharp scent that went along with things meant for healing.

  "Do you have any idea how long I've wanted to kiss you?" Kratos asked.

  Kirstie shook her head. "No. How long?" she asked, mouth moving against the skin of his neck as she spoke.

  "Long," Kratos replied, his hand sliding down her back and then up again in a soothing caress. "Practically since I saw you."

  "You have not," she said back. She wasn't pretty or interesting enough for that, and Kratos was an alien. Human women were probably dull by comparison, and she was dull for a human.

  "Have too," he said. "You don't know, do you? How you are?"

  "What's that supposed to mean?"

  "Nothing bad," he soothed. "Just...I saw you, and I wondered what kind of person you were. You didn't seem like the type to put u
p a fight, and then you charged right into our ship and demanded we work with you."

  "I didn't demand!" Kirstie insisted. "I bargained."

  Kratos laughed, and it was a husky sound that made her lick her lips. "Okay, fine. You bargained. But you won. We were all very impressed."

  "Were you really?"

  "Yep. You were willing to put yourself on the line to make sure your people got help. Like Combo said, Kirstie, that's bravery."

  “According to my brother, it’s stupidity,” she muttered under her breath.

  “Eh, he just wants to keep you safe. Love makes people say and do crazy stuff, you know?”

  Kirstie just shrugged her shoulders. She didn’t know what love made people do. She’d never been in love before, not really. She loved her family, but they were best dealt with from afar, and they’d never been a family that was overly demonstrative with their feelings. So she couldn’t say for sure.

  Really, she didn’t want to think about it. Not when there were better things she could be doing.

  “Kiss me again,” she said, leaning back into him. If Kratos knew why she was doing what she was doing, he didn’t say anything, just did as she asked, kissing her warmly.

  Chapter Thirteen: Out of Danger

  The Kilan’s ship had become something of a second home to her in the time that she spent with them. Kratos called it keeping an eye on their possible payment, but Kirstie wasn’t fooled, and judging from the skeptical and disdainful looks from Combo and Milara respectively, she was pretty sure that they weren’t fooled either.

  She couldn’t say she minded, of course.

  Kratos’ compulsion to keep her close worked pretty well with her desire to be close to him, to learn about him and figure out what made him tick. So the fact that he usually wanted her around, even if they weren’t training or having informational meetings or whatever worked for her.

  Sometimes when they left the apartment building for the night, Kirsten went with them, following Combo and Kratos out and all the way back to the ship. None of them complained, and the room she’d been given the first time she’d come to the ship, weeks ago when the deal had been struck, was still hers when she wanted it.

  Milara had warned her against exploring too much, saying the ship was large and no one had time to come looking for her if she got lost, so she kept to the parts she was familiar with. The dining area, Kratos’ room, the cockpit.

  Combo never seemed to mind her hanging around when he was there, and she and Kratos often found themselves in the command center, Kratos with his feet up on the dash and Kirstie sitting next to Combo, watching him work.

  She had a lot of questions, about space, about the things on his screens, about what he was learning about The Grey, and Kirstie learned quickly that Combo enjoyed lecturing and encouraged her to ask her questions and respond to his answers. It was odd, definitely, but it was sort of like having a strange...uncle figure who taught her things.

  Something like that.

  Kratos mostly kept quiet, feet up, eyes closed, but sometimes when she glanced at him, she could see a little smile on his face, and it made her smile, too.

  It just so happened that she was sitting in the cockpit on a sunny afternoon, Kratos nowhere to be found, when Combo made a noise.

  It made her head snap up from the book she’d been reading on her phone because Combo making any sound that wasn’t speaking while he was busy with his screens was odd. “Something wrong?” she asked softly.

  “Perhaps,” he replied, face pulled in thought. He glanced at her, and it had been some time since she’d thought there was anything odd about his eyes. They were just a part of him, and she was coming to like him a great deal. “I believe…” He trailed off.

  “You believe?”

  “I believe The Grey are back for a round two, as it were.”

  Kirsten sat up quickly in her seat. She hadn’t been there for round one, only coming back to hear about how Kratos had been injured. He was fine now, a couple of weeks later, but she was still worried.

  “Where?” she asked.

  “Not far from your building,” he said. “Perhaps they are getting suspicious.”

  Kirstie swore under her breath. If they attacked the building with no one there to defend it, then it would definitely be a bad thing. She had no idea where Kratos was, or how to contact him, and Milara and Sanaal weren’t exactly people she could just go to for help. No matter how many times Kratos said they worked for her, it didn’t get less awkward to ask them for things.

  “I have to go,” she said, getting to her feet.

  “And do what?” Combo asked, standing as well. “You will be killed.”

  “Where’s Kratos?”

  “I...am not sure.”

  “Then I don’t have a choice, Combo.”

  She didn’t even let him get another word out before she was pelting out of the command center and down the corridor, heart pounding in her chest. She pulled out her phone and called Keith, swearing repeatedly until he picked up.

  “Kirstie?”

  “Keith. Get everyone inside. Now.”

  “What? What’s happening? Where are you?”

  “I was just with Combo and he spotted The Grey on his radar. They’re near the building. Get everyone inside.”

  He swore, much like she had. “Okay. What are you going to do?” Kirstie didn’t reply for a moment. “Kirstie,” Keith said firmly. “Stay where you are. Do not do anything stupid. I mean it.”

  “Okay, okay,” she said. “I’ll be safe.”

  When the call ended, she let out a breath. As safe as she could be, anyway.

  It was some kind of stroke of luck that she ran right into Kratos on the way to the building. He caught her up in his arms, grinning before he saw the look on her face. “What’s happened?” he asked.

  By this point, she was breathing hard, and she knew her face was splotchy and red from running and panicking in turns. “Combo said…”

  Apparently she didn’t need to explain more than that.

  “Where?” Kratos asked, reaching back to touch the hilt of the giant sword that was strapped to his back.

  “Near the building. I sort of...ran out before I could get an exact location.”

  Kratos looked off in the direction the ship was in, as if considering going back there and trying to get more information, but ultimately he shook his head. Kirstie approved. There wasn’t time for that. Her sense of urgency was railing against even this lull in progress, and she fidgeted, heart still racing.

  “Will you help me?” she asked, looking up at him.

  He looked at her and frowned. “You can’t be thinking of going after them.”

  “I have to do something.”

  “Yeah, you can go back to the ship and leave this to me.”

  She huffed, shaking her head. “No. I’m not just going to sit and wait. We’re wasting time.” Kirstie barely gave him time to catch up before she took off running again. All she could think about was the fact that her family, her friends, the people who were depending on her, on The Kilan, were in danger.

  It only took a second or two before Kratos was next to her, barely jogging to keep up with her strides. “You’re going to get yourself killed one of these days,” he said with a sigh, and off they went.

  By nature of the way The Grey liked to do things, it wasn’t hard to find them. They followed the scent of burning and the sound of things being destroyed and made their way into the part of town where the building was located, but just a little bit south where there was a hotel and a couple of smaller inns.

  One of which was on fire.

  Smoke billowed up into the sky from it, and Kirstie watched with wide eyes as the little inn smoldered.

  Out of the wreckage stepped a hooded and cloaked figure. The same as usual, and she swallowed hard, moving to stand behind Kratos before he could finish his motion to sweep her out of harm’s way.

  “Stay back,” he murmured.

  She d
idn’t need to be told twice. Not about this.

  Kirstie held her breath as Kratos drew his sword. She knew this was a highly inappropriate time to be so attracted to him, but really, she couldn’t help it. He stood there with his sword in hand, stance shifting as he moved into a fighting position.

  Another cloaked and hooded figure joined the first.

  “This is hardly fair,” Kratos said, rolling his shoulders as he eyed his opponents. “You’re so outclassed.”

  Kirstie wanted to point out that Kratos was outnumbered, but she didn’t, instead, biting her lip and taking another step back. He could count. He knew what was happening here.

  “Be careful,” she whispered.

  He didn’t turn his head to look at her, but she knew he’d be smirking.

  The fight was terrible. The Grey always had their blasters, and even though the ones they were using against Kratos were smaller versions of the ones that they used when they opened fire on people in large groups, the devastation they caused was no less terrible. The buildings around them got hit when Kratos managed to leap out of the way time and time again, and they’d smoke and crumble from the blasts.

  Kratos kept the creatures on their toes, his massive sword keeping them at arm’s length, making it so they couldn’t get too close to him. Not that it mattered when they could easily blast him with their guns if they tried just a bit harder.

  Kirstie got the feeling that they were toying with each other, and it was stressing her out.

  There were no screams or sounds of chaos from the direction of the apartment building, so she was relieved that these were the only adversaries for the moment. If Kratos kept them busy, then they couldn’t go after the building. Which was perfect.

  Kratos seemed to be enjoying himself, really, laughing and taunting the creatures. At least until one of them managed to get close enough to stab him with an odd colored knife produced from the cloak it wore.

  He hissed and swore and then got slashed from behind by the other one.

  Kirstie wrung her hands together, not sure of what she should do.