Drenched: Elemental Warriors (A Sci-Fi Alien Warrior Paranormal Romance)

by Ashley West

  Slowly, a smile spread over Sorrin’s face and he inclined his head. “I would like that.”

  “Great.” Abby grinned back and held out her hand for him to shake. “Hi. My name is Abby. I was a prisoner and a spy, and now I’m just a person trying to get her life back in order. It’s nice to meet you.”

  “Sorrin,” he said, shaking her hand. “I was a warrior and then I was consumed with the thought of revenge, and now I’m just trying to figure out where to go from here. The pleasure’s all mine.”

  “You know,” Abby said. “There’s plenty of opportunity here. The government sort of owes you at this point, and you could use that to your advantage. You could be whatever you wanted.”

  Sorrin looked around and then licked his lips, nodding. “It’s something to consider.”

  Halphia didn’t seem at all surprised when Sorrin declared that he would be staying. Abby was by his side when he told her, and she’d just smiled and hugged him close, reminding him that he could always come and visit and that there would always be a place for him at her side. As a show of how much she meant that, she made him the ambassador from Gollen Par to Earth, a show of good faith that the Independent colonies meant to hold up their end of the deal with Earth. Others would be sending their own ambassadors, she told them, but Sorrin would be the first. He would be there to make sure the people were safe.

  Kaleth also stayed on Earth. She said she wanted to help make up for some of the things her people had done, and no one told her she couldn’t. Sorrin wasn’t at all pleased about sharing a planet with a Camador, but he let it go. Holding grudges, he told her, wasn’t worth it.

  "I'm proud of you," she told him with a warm smile, nuzzling against his shoulder where they were wrapped up together. They were lying on a blanket in the grass outside of the apartment building that felt amazingly like home now, watching the stars.

  "Mm," Sorrin replied, but he tightened his arm around her. "Because you think I am unreasonable and resistant to change?"

  Abby laughed. "No, no. Never that." Her tone was teasing, and Sorrin pinched her lightly, making her yelp with surprise.

  Things were good. It was different than she had been expecting this to go, but moving slow, to a point, was good for them. There were so many things they didn't know about each other, and learning them would only help them grow stronger. After all, Abby reasoned, if Sorrin was going to move down here, leave his planet and his people behind and start a new life here, then the least she could do was make it worth his while.

  He kissed the top of her head, and a sound in the distance made her look up.

  "Is that a car?" she asked.

  Even with everything that had happened and the Camadors being defeated, they'd still had the building mostly to themselves. Some people had come back, mostly to get their things and then leave again, and a couple had moved back in, but it had still been quiet and cozy for them.

  Abby lifted her head more, and her eyes widened when she saw that she definitely recognized the car in question. It stood to reason that she would, considering how many family vacations and trips to the grocery store or some manner of school activity had seen her in the back of it. She slapped a hand over her mouth to stop the helpless noise of surprise from spilling out.

  Sorrin, to add to her surprise, didn't say anything. He just withdrew his arm so she could get up and make her way over to the car at a full tilt run.

  Her mother was out of the car and opening her arms in a heartbeat, and Abby practically flew into them, crying openly now as she was wrapped up in her embrace. Neither of them spoke, they just clung to each other, crying and holding on and then laughing breathlessly.

  "Oh, my little girl," her mother said, stroking her hair. "You're okay, you're okay."

  Her sister and father joined in until they were wrapped in a huge family hug, the likes of which hadn't been seen since her sister had graduated from high school.

  It took several long minutes before any of them could get themselves together enough to form coherent sentences, and all Abby could do was stare. This was her family, and she’d missed them. How could she have thought that she could live without this? How could she have even hesitated to call them as soon as she was free? This was what she’d needed this whole time, her family to ground her and make her feel like this.

  "I thought you weren't coming for a couple more weeks," she said, leaning back so she could see them all properly. Her mother was exactly the same, greying hair, a bit portly, but beautiful. Her father was still tall and firm, his eyes crinkling at the corners when he smiled, and her sister was the spitting image of her at that age, though there were subtle differences that spoke to how they had grown up differently.

  "We wanted to see you," her father said. "And your...Sorrin, over there, called and said now would be a good time."

  Shocked, Abby turned to see Sorrin standing at the edge of the parking lot, watching them with a wistful smile on his face. "Sorrin?" she asked, wonder in her tone. She hadn’t even known he knew how to contact them, but she supposed that wasn’t hard for someone like him to figure out. And he had connections.

  He inclined his head as was his way. "I wanted you to remember how much you care for them," he said softly.

  It showed her how much she cared for him, too.

  It was little things like that that showed her this would work. Sometimes Sorrin was moody and unhappy, but for the most part, he was learning how Earth worked in earnest and finding his place in it. He had many calls with Halphia about the state of things and how they needed to progress, but as weeks turned to months, it became clear that the Camador threat was as good as gone and everything was going back to normal.

  Abby went back to her life, working at starting up her own business. It was hard, but with so many things in flux in the city as people came back or decided they were done with city life for good, there were plenty of spaces to fill.

  And of course, no matter how hard her day had been, there was nothing better than coming home to Sorrin and the new extra-large bed they had purchased so he’d be more comfortable, and letting him take care of her.

  In more ways than one.

  When the evening ended with him holding her while they watched a movie, she was fine with that. And when it ended with him spreading her out on the bed, his head between her legs as he pleasured her long and slow, well, she was more than okay with that.

  Her fingers tightened in the short strands of his hair that he was growing out (specifically for this reason, he’d said), and she arched her back, head pressing harder into the pillows as she moaned for him.

  “Sorrin. God, right there.”

  He had a mouth on him, and knew how to seek out those places on her body that made her sing for him. His hands smoothed up her thighs to her hips, and his reach was long enough that he could play with her nipples while his mouth worked, pressing kisses and just the slightest edge of teeth to her sensitive places.

  She was breathless with the pleasure of it, practically grinding against his face in her urge to get more, please, now. So close to her peak while he teased her.

  Eventually her soft whimpers and moans turned into begging, and she felt Sorrin grin against her. He pushed one finger inside her warm wetness and then followed it with another, working her until she was spilling over his fingers in a wet rush and crying out for him.

  He made a show of licking his lips, and then he slid his fingers into his mouth, tongue running over each digit in a slow caress that made her blush to see it. Sorrin just smirked.

  “Better?” he asked, tilting his head to one side.

  Abby nodded. “Better,” she agreed. Her soft, satisfied smile turned just the slightest bit predatory, and she hauled him up to kiss him properly. She could feel him hard and wanting in his pants, and she wasn’t going to let that stand. “But we’re only half done here,” she teased him and then pushed until he rolled over onto his back. She moved to straddle him, legs spread wide and hands planted firmly on hi
s chest. “It’s my turn now.”

  One year later

  Time, Abby was learning, could change a lot of things. It could heal over old wounds, change someone’s perception of you, and make things that had once seemed impossible completely possible. It allowed room for growth, space to figure things out, wiggle room for adding new ideas and new people in your life. It brought people together.

  A routine could be thrown off by something as small as a bad hair day, or as large as an alien invasion. Going with the flow was important.

  “Thank you for dinner, Mrs. Warren,” Sorrin said, ducking his head as he and Abby stepped out of her parents’ house. His absurd height made it hard for him to manage without knocking his head against the doorframe, unless he stooped. Abby still found this funny.

  “Oh, please call me Marilyn,” Abby’s mother replied, flapping a hand at him. “And it’s no trouble. You’re always so enthusiastic about my cooking.”

  “He’s enthusiastic about food in general, Mom,” Abby said. “How do you think he maintains that svelte figure?”

  “Now, Abby, don’t tease your mother,” her father cut in, walking them out. “But it was good to see you both. Thanks for making the drive out here.”

  Both of her parents hugged her, and then, in a surprise show of familiarity, her mother threw her arms around Sorrin. Sorrin looked shocked, and he awkwardly patted Marilyn on the back until she let go.

  Abby was still laughing as they made their way down the driveway to where the truck was parked. Sorrin, she knew, was dreading the drive back, being big enough that he had to duck his head in the truck, too, and she appreciated him coming out with her all the more because of it.

  It had been a year, and he was still there. Still by her side. When she woke up in the middle of the night, dreaming of screeching and horribly twisted faces, he was there, reaching for her before she could even say anything. With her face tucked against his chest and his arms around her, she felt that same feeling of safety and security that she’d felt the first time he’d wrapped her up, and it made her even happier that he’d decided to stay with her.

  The drive back was quiet, but comfortably so, and by now Abby recognized the look Sorrin got on his face when he was lost in thought. She played the radio softly, humming along to a popular song, tapping her fingers on the steering wheel as she drove.

  “Your parents are bonded, yes?” Sorrin asked suddenly, and she looked up.

  “Bonded? I guess so. Married, we call it here.”

  “Married,” Sorrin repeated. “That’s for life?”

  Abby chuckled. “Supposedly. That’s what the promise is supposed to be, but it doesn’t always work out, you know? Some people just don’t work together.”

  “And when they do?”

  “Then they’re like my parents, I guess. Married—or bonded—for life.”

  Sorrin was quiet for a moment more before he spoke again. “Did you think about getting...married when you were younger?”

  “Mm, sometimes. I think everyone does. Especially little girls, I guess. You dream about your dress and your flowers and what your husband will look like. Everyone I knew when I was like ten had at least one fake wedding. Why, did you?”

  He inclined his head, more so than it was already. “In a way. I thought about having someone to protect. Someone who would need me. Who I would die to keep safe.”

  “Jeez. You warrior types are always so extreme.”

  Sorrin shrugged a shoulder. “It is our way.”

  “Apparently. Anyway, why?”

  “Would you like to get married?”

  Honestly, it was a wonder she didn’t swerve off the road at the question. “What?”

  “To me, specifically,” Sorrin clarified. “We’ve been...close for a long time.”

  “We have…” Abby admitted, chancing a glance over at him before she put her eyes back on the road. “I’m not sure you know what you’re asking.”

  He gave her a look. “I’m not ignorant,” Sorrin said. “I know what it means to be bonded where I come from, and I have seen your parents. I understand, I think, how it works here. It is for life. That’s what I want here. Earth is a place of opportunity and growth and change, but I am still here for you. Because I want to be with you. Is that not what marriage is supposed to be based on?”

  Abby was speechless, but she couldn’t deny that he had the gist of it. She let her breath out in a messy whoosh of air, unsure of what to say. Did she want to stay with Sorrin? Yes, yes she did. He was everything she could have dreamed of in a fantasy husband. Strong, kind, protecting. He listened to her and made her feel like she mattered. Even after what she had done, he’d let her back into his life and trusted her again. What they had now was beyond her wildest dreams for how this would have turned out.

  Her, the one with the plans and goals and ambitions, caught off guard by how things had ended up.

  She realized Sorrin was still waiting for an answer.

  “Yeah,” Abby said finally, a smile spreading across her face. “I think I’d like that a lot.”

  Prequel One: Rise

  “Some people have all the luck,” Kain lamented, one elbow on the polished surface of the counter, and his hand under his chin.

  “If you can call that luck,” his friend Ama sniffed, looking unimpressed. Ama always looked unimpressed, though, so it was hard to tell if this particular situation had him more unimpressed than usual. “I say having to be at the beck and call of the Prince isn’t luck at all.”

  Kain rolled his eyes. Everyone who knew Ama knew that he had some kind of problem with Prince Comman. Seeing as Ama was a whole five years older than the Prince and much less important, he didn’t know what the big deal was.

  They were sitting in The Rock and Crater, a cantina just on the edge of town that catered to everyone from the mine workers to the Prince’s Guard. The latter had just walked into the cantina, all in their green and white uniforms, heads held high as they went to get a table and were immediately offered free drinks.

  Ama’s lips curled, and he went back to his drink. “I think you’re fine as you are, Kain,” he said. “Although I know that doesn’t mean anything to you.”

  Kain rolled his eyes again. Leave it to his best friend to turn saying something nice about him into an act of long suffering. Ama was so dramatic sometimes, and it was a wonder he’d made it through training at all.

  “You know that isn’t true,” he said, knocking back his shot before signaling to the pretty woman behind the bar for another.

  “I suppose.”

  It wasn’t only Ama who wasn’t overly fond of the Prince. Most of the people of Jontira, and especially the capital city, had an issue with their young ruler. His age was one of the problems, but when Queen Odei had died, there wasn’t anyone else to take her place. Prince Comman had been a young thing, only sixteen movements old, but he was smart and clever, and he’d risen to the challenge, Kain thought.

  Other people just saw his age and they saw the violence.

  Enemies of Jontira, of which there were plenty, had seen the young prince as easy prey. They’d been sure that it would be no matter to pick off the Prince and take control of the kingdom. Of course, they hadn’t counted on the Stone Guard and all their power, and so each uprising of enemies had been summarily put back down.

  Lives had been lost, though, and many saw the Prince as the reason for it. When their Queen had ruled, no one would have dared to even try to attack them, and that colored the people’s opinions of their ruler.

  There was also the fact that the Prince wasn’t a warrior.

  He didn’t have command over the ground beneath his feet, as even his mother had, and people saw that as a sign that he wasn’t worthy.

  It wasn’t unheard of for a ruler to not be a warrior, but it had been a good hundred movements since their last ungifted king.

  The Queen’s Guard had been there to protect her, but she’d been more than capable of protecting herself, as well, c
alling rocks to her bidding, building walls of the very ground to protect herself, wielding weapons that were forged right in her own hands. She had been a force to be reckoned with, and now in her place was her son, who couldn’t even defend himself at all.

  From what Kain could tell, even his guard had a low opinion of him for his supposed weakness, and that bothered Kain. Whatever the Prince was or wasn’t, he was their charge, and they should be loyal to him.

  He shook his head, letting his thoughts go as he watched two members of the guard laugh with a serving girl who had brought their drinks over.

  “You could do much better, Kain,” Ama was saying in his arch way. “You could stay in the Stone Guard. Rise through the ranks. Become their leader, even. You’re good at what you do.”

  Kain snorted into his drink. “Would you call me General?” he asked.

  “Of course. I don’t hold with insubordination.”

  “Maybe you should aim for General,” Kain pointed out. “You’ve the temperament for it.”

  “Is that your way of calling me difficult, Kain?”

  “Who me?” Kain laughed. “Never. You? Difficult? Never.”

  “Alright, alright. I take your point.” Ama signaled for a fresh drink of his own. “All I’m saying, Kain, my dear friend, is that you have talent and skill and integrity. Which isn’t a combination often found in the Stone Guard or in anyone else, for that matter. You could do so much more than end up giving your life for Prince Comman.”

  Kain sighed. He hated that. People were always taking wagers on how long it would take a member of the Prince’s Guard to lose their life for him. It had been two movements already, and no one had died so far, but everyone always said that it was only a matter of time.

  He didn’t see the point of dwelling on that, honestly. Any of them could lose their lives at any time, for the Prince, for their people, for their planet. But things had been relatively peaceful of late.

  Maybe the tide was turning.

  WHAM! CRASH! BANG!

  Kain jerked awake, startled out of sleep by a cacophony of noises from outside that shook his house down to the foundations.