Flame: Galaxy Alien Mail Order Brides (Intergalactic Dating Agency)

by Michelle M. Pillow

  “I am not worried about money. My brother and I spent about five hours in the casinos to raise the funds. The games are not hard when you can see through the cards. My cousin gave me the idea. He said that humans couldn’t see through them like we can, so they think the game is harder. Did you know they took out a tax when you win? They said it was because I am from Canada.” Vin shook his head. “I’m not sure that’s right. Otherwise this room would have been paid for longer. But it is all right. I will go back to the casinos and win more at a later date.”

  “Vin, does that mean you are staying here? On Earth?”

  “Yes. I would like to.” He nodded.

  “What about all the radiation you are concerned about?”

  “I thought about that. The radiation on this world is no more dangerous than the heat on mine.” Vin glanced at her mother when she began to hum to herself, before continuing, “I wanted to show you how much you mean to me, Angela. I wanted to show you how you can depend on me. You said you were worried about moving Connie so I did something about it. We carried all the boxes ourselves, and put the items just the way you had them at the other place. And, because he was worried Sev would cause an intergalactic incident, Gary piloted the moving truck for us. I did not get that pilot upload.”

  “Drove,” Angela corrected in awe. She couldn’t believe it. “He drove a truck, not piloted.”

  Vin frowned. “I’m sorry, but I do not think that is correct.”

  Angela gave a small laugh at his earnest expression. “Perhaps you’re right.”

  “So you are happy you do not have to lift heavy things? I did well?” Vin looked very proud of himself. “I know women like men to lift heavy objects and reach the tall shelves.”

  “I think maybe you watch too many rogue transmission waves,” Angela teased. “But, yes, thank you. I do hate moving boxes and carrying heavy things. And I don’t use the high shelves because I’m too short. This was the perfect grand gesture.”

  “So that is a yes? You will marry me?” He made a noise of excitement and lifted her off her feet. Dancing around the room, he hummed a strange song that clashed with her mother’s tune.

  Angela held on, as she was jostled around. She thought about pointing out that he hadn’t actually proposed and she didn’t actually accept, but he was so happy and that happiness reflected what she felt deep inside her own soul.

  When he finally stopped and set her down so he could gaze lovingly into her eyes, she said, “There are so many thoughts flying through my mind right now, and I can’t concentrate on a single one. Are you sure about this? Earth sounds nothing like Bravon.”

  “I am sure,” Vin said without hesitation. “I love you. As long as you will have me, I do not care which planet I live on. Do you think I will make a good Earthling?”

  “Well, you are already complaining about taxes. I’d say you’re half human already.” She leaned in for a kiss, only to stop. “And I love you, too, but there is one condition I must insist upon.”

  “Anything. I will do anything for you.” He nodded.

  “Take it easy on the ice cream.” Angela didn’t give him time to answer as she pressed her lips to his. Nothing beyond this room mattered. She had everything she cared about and she wasn’t about to let go. Vin’s mouth worked softly against hers as he held her.

  “I always did like that boy,” her mother said, nodding as she continued to rock on the chair.

  The End

  The Series Continues!

  Galaxy Alien Mail Order Brides

  Spark

  Flame

  Blaze

  Next in the Series:

  Blaze

  Sev (aka Blaze) isn't looking for commitment, but there is no way in hell he's letting his brother go to Earth to search for a woman by himself. He's prepared to yank the idiot out of every jail house and ice cream parlor (don't ask) if he has to. It wouldn't be the first time. He can handle a good fight. But what this alpha isn't prepared for was the hardheaded beauty determined to follow him home.

  Buy Blaze Now!

  About the Author

  New York Times and USA Today Bestseller

  Michelle loves to travel and try new things, whether it's a paranormal investigation of an old Vaudeville Theatre or climbing Mayan temples in Belize. She's addicted to movies and used to drive her mother crazy while quoting random scenes with her brother. Though it has yet to happen, her dream is to be a zombie in a horror movie. For the most part she can be found writing in her office with a cup of coffee in pajama pants.

  Michelle Online

  She loves to hear from readers. They can contact her through her website.

  Website: www.michellepillow.com

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  Space Lords: His Fire Maiden

  by Michelle M. Pillow

  Dev has found a home with a misfit outlaw band of space pirates and he will do anything to protect his makeshift family. He knows he will never be accepted into human society. The demonic race of his birth shuns him and the humans fear him. So when the woman of his dreams comes gunning for his crew, the fiery maiden leaves him no choice but to show just how naughty his demon can be.

  His Fire Maiden Excerpt

  Imperial Palace of the Zhang Dynasty, Planet of Lintian

  “Holy space balls,” Rick Hayes swore as he reached forward to poke his finger into the transparent elderly woman floating next to him. The spirit turned and arched her brow in annoyance. When she moved away from him, dark hair streaked with white lifted around her head unhampered by gravity, and her long sleeves drifted in the breeze.

  Dev tried not to let his grimace show. It appeared the Imperial Palace was infested with ancestral spirits. Actual ghosts were rare occurrences. In fact, many cultures didn’t believe they even existed. He’d seen several milling about though he pretended not to since no one else had indicated they knew the apparitions were there…until Rick’s run in with this mysterious elemental lady.

  Blast it all!

  Dev had been on enough high skies adventures to know things generally did not end well when Rick became curious. The pilot’s big mouth was sure to drop them into trouble again, and it would be Dev’s duty to make sure he pulled them out of it. He owed Rick his life. If Captain Samantha’s crew hadn’t saved him and made him part of their family, he’d be nothing but a crispy memory told by a Data Moon Base Brimstoneman.

  Rarely had he felt such desperation and fear, as he had the day he was almost sacrificed. Bad wiring had compromised Dev’s vessel, and his shields had given out during entry into Data Moon Base’s atmosphere. The local zealots saw the flaming ball of his ship zipping to the ground near their Earth Settlement and naturally assumed it was a special delivery from the devil.

  Yeah, Dev thought sarcastically, because what would be more likely? The legendary devil cared enough to attack a fanatical orb of a dust ball world, or a transporter ship had malfunctioned and had to make an emergency landing?

  Luckily, Dev’s Bevlon blood had kept him from burning up during reentry. Not so fortunately, that same blood had also almost gotten him skinned and set on fire. In his nightmares he could still hear a young boy’s hateful chanting, “Into the fire! Into the flame! Burn him now and feel no shame!”

  Dev knew how he appeared to many humanoid cultures. One look and they wanted him dead, all because he had been born Salebinaben Johobik en Dehauberkelsain en Thoraxian en Yyrtolzx Devekin. His father had been full-blooded Bevlon, a demonic-like race in appearance. His mother had been human. The fruition of his parents’ strange relationship had produced Dev. It was his red skin and dark eyes that had set the Data Moon zealots off. He’d
inherited the intense coloring, large body size, and black eyes and hair from his father. The humanlike form he’d received from his mother.

  “Burn him! Listen to the angel and burn the demon spawn!”

  “Crucify him!”

  “Burn the demon!”

  The voices were etched deep into his memory. Dev hadn’t expected to be rescued. Back then, no one cared whether he lived or died. Bevlons did not coddle their children into adulthood, and he didn’t know his human mother.

  His loyalty to Rick and the others was from more than the fact they’d saved him, an outsider no one else cared about. The crew had become something Dev had never imagined he would have—a real family. Sure, Rick was like the pesky little brother he sometimes wanted to throw into deep space without a suit, but no one else better try it.

  Remembering the past helped Dev stay focused in the present, but more importantly it reminded him why he wasn’t dragging Rick from the palace by his hair. Rick made another move toward the spirit. Dev focused a glare of warning in the man’s direction and gave a small shake of his head. Rick winked back at him.

  Dev had been alone until Captain Samantha and her band of misfits came for him, a condemned stranger. Crewman and empath Evan Cormier had seen Dev in one of his visions. Rick, Samantha, and Evan had come in with laser pistols blasting while the brothers, Lucien and Viktor, had waited with the ship ready to make their getaway.

  Dev would give his life to protect his makeshift family. They accepted him, teased him, baited him, and, yes, occasionally called him Barbecue Boy, but they would put themselves on the line to save him. Together they traveled from adventure to adventure, wherever their ship landed. Recently, Samantha had married a cat-shifter and was now settled on the man’s home planet of Qurilixen. It did not change their bond, and Dev would always answer her call if she needed him.

  His new captain, Jarek, was Samantha’s brother-by-marriage. The man had offered them a place on his ship. He needed to replenish his dwindled crew, and they needed a purpose. Jarek and his men were all honorable, even if they were borderline space pirates.

  Jarek’s second-in-command, Lochlann, was a dragon-shifter. The men came from the same home planet. The two were long-time friends who had run away from home because dragon-shifters and cat-shifters were at war. Neither one of them had wanted to fight, so they chose the high skies. Though the war on Qurilixen was over, the men’s families didn’t fully accept their friendship.

  Lastly, there was Jackson, a highly trained super soldier. To Dev, the man was a kindred spirit. He had the same drive and determination, and the almost compulsive need to train for battle in the Virtual Reality room aboard their ship.

  This was Dev’s life. It was more than a half-demon reject could have ever hoped to achieve. He did not dare aspire to have more. And it was how he found himself in a royal alien palace silently praying Rick would not sexually proposition an old lady’s ghost.

  One would think escorting Princess Mei to visit her family wouldn’t demand a quick departure off planet. Then again, One wouldn’t know Rick’s penchant for mischief in any situation.

  They stood inside the Hall of Infinite Wisdom located in the center of the palace compound. The building was a large structure, set high upon stone to tower over the surrounding courtyard and gardens. If the ornate décor was any indication, the local royals had lived in isolation for some time, away from any kind of real intergalactic conflict.

  Dev stayed toward the back of those gathered to keep an eye on everyone. He didn’t like their odds of escape from inside the belly of the fortified palace, but bad odds didn’t mean impossible. There were numerous official reasons why they had come to the planet, but really it was so Jarek could ask for Mei’s parents’ blessing to marry her. Since, technically, the crew had kidnapped Mei to begin with, it wasn’t likely her parents would be too excited by the proposal.

  Evan crossed his arms over his chest and kept his attention on the Emperor and Empress. Dev wasn’t sure if Evan was trying to read the royals, or trying not to, so he watched the man for a sign that all was not well. Evan did not like using his ability, but would if necessity called for it. Returning a kidnapped princess to angry parents with an army at their fingertips might warrant such a necessity.

  Like a child with a new toy, Rick couldn’t seem to help himself. He ran his hand into the apparition’s upper leg. “She feels like air.”

  Mei turned at Rick’s words and eyed the situation. She nodded toward the spirit, and quickly introduced, “This is my great-grandmother, Zhang An. She is my ancestor who helps to watch over and guide us,” before continuing her somewhat private conversation with her parents and Jarek.

  Rick made a move to touch An again and the spirit silently glided out of his reach. An was clearly aware of what was happening but chose to ignore Rick as she focused on her living relatives. Dev let loose a captured breath as it appeared the crisis might be averted.

  Dev shared a quick look with Jackson. The man leaned toward him and whispered, “Should we grab Rick before he does something really foolish?”

  “Next time I vote we lock him on board the ship.” Dev studied the locals, trying to judge their temperament. He had a feeling one word from the Emperor would produce a significant number of trained guards. Part of him wanted the fight. It might be a fun challenge. Then again, he wouldn’t want to put the others in harm’s way.

  “Mei belongs with the captain,” Jackson whispered. “If they don’t approve, we take her by force. Look at how they act toward her and then watch her expression. She does not belong here. If only we would be so lucky to find—”

  “Jackson, you have to feel her,” Rick interrupted softly. He had stepped close to the spirit once more. “I swear, it’s like she’s not even there, but she is.”

  Jackson made a move to grab Rick as if he’d forcibly pull him from the room. Dev placed his hand on his arm to stop him. “This is the captain’s future. Let him handle it how he sees fit.” Observing a servant looking into the room from a doorway across the hall, Dev nodded to direct Jackson’s attention to her.

  “If Rick’s ass gets thrown into a local prison for feeling up a dead woman, I’m not going after him.” Jackson kept an eye on the servant until she disappeared. Dev knew it was a lie. Jackson would be the first one to volunteer for the mission.

  As Mei began to argue about her future happiness with the ancestral spirit and her parents, Dev felt sorry for Jarek. Dev couldn’t imagine having a woman to love. He long ago accepted he was not meant for such things. After years of being ridiculed and feared as a demon, he was used to people trying to attack him without reason or provocation. What sane woman would want a half-breed devil in her bed, let alone in her heart? If the Emperor thought Jarek was unworthy of his daughter, Dev could only imagine what would have happened had a demon stood in the captain’s place.

  “She should marry the father of her unborn child,” An declared in support of Mei leaving with Jarek.

  That caught Dev’s attention. Mei was pregnant out of wedlock? Her parents didn’t seem too pleased by the news. They stared at the couple in shock. The Emperor looked ready to call his guards.

  “Oh, blasted spaceholes,” Jackson swore. His entire body tensed. “Get ready.”

  Dev waited, carefully watching the Emperor for a sign of attack.

  “Way to go, Cap!” Rick yelled suddenly, breaking the awkward silence as he drew the heated attention toward himself. “You sent off some straight shooters right up the ole—”

  “Rick,” Dev growled, unable to take the man’s nonsense a second longer. He grabbed him to shut him up.

  “Ow, let go,” Rick demanded. “I didn’t knock her up.”

  Dev released him, realizing a second too late that Rick knew exactly what he was doing. The man only acted the way he did to pull negative attention away from the captain and his pregnant lover. In comparison to Rick, Jarek would look like an exceptional choice. Also, if everyone was staring at Rick, the
lovers would be able to make a run for it if they so chose.

  The ploy worked. An turned on Rick to keep the attention off Mei and Jarek. “You insolent little...”

  “Whoa, easy there, ghostly sweetness, you’ll get your chance at me,” Rick said, grinning at the older woman. “No need to call Dev names.”

  The bad joke was Rick’s attempt to defuse the situation he’d created. An’s figure shuddered with light and her face tinted with pink. Furious, she pointed at him, “I will teach you respect, little man. You will bow in the presence of my greatness.”

  Rick paled, apparently realizing that he’d played his asinine role too well. “Hey, now, I was just joking around. Things were getting a little tense, and I was just trying to save the captain from everyone’s anger. You know, lightening the mood with humor.”

  “Do not make me curse you,” An warned.

  “Rick, I’d listen to her and say no more,” Evan interjected.

  “Easy, don’t get your, uh, gown in a twist,” Rick said, ignoring Evan’s sensible advice. Though he was great at causing trouble, he wasn’t the best at calming it. “No need to threaten us with whatever mojo power thing you have.”

  Jackson hit Rick’s arm. “Shut your black hole.”

  “Ah, so you think you are funny?” An’s eyes glazed with white. “Let’s see how humorous you and your friends think my power is.”

  Jarek started to take a step forward to protect his men. Dev awaited his command. Mei pulled Jarek back, shaking her head. “She predicts their future. No physical harm will come to them.”