Alien Warlords' Baby: SciFi Menage Surprise Baby Romance (Warlords of Octava Book 1)

by Vi Voxley

  She didn't have a choice. Turning to her daughter, Riley crouched down and lifted her into a shallow little alcove in the wall they were hiding behind. Mya began to cry and reached out her hands.

  "Stay here, little one," Riley said, pressing a kiss to her forehead. "Mommy will be right back. Stay here, Mya. No matter what happens, don't come out and don't make any sound!"

  A scream pierced the air and Riley didn't have time for anything else but to dash out from behind the wall and open fire.

  The training she'd received a long time ago came back easier than she'd expected. There was a fierce temptation in her heart to close her eyes and pretend she wasn't shooting living creatures but the fact that they were Eridons was making it easier.

  Riley was a good shot but it wasn't like shooting ducks in a pond. After the first two fell with groans and the women scattered, running away, the other soldiers turned to her. They took cover and began creeping towards her, their long spears swaying dangerously in front of them.

  Riley had written enough about them to know that one touch of those poisoned blades and she was as good as dead.

  It wasn't much of a threat to a Gargon warrior in full armor. She was wearing only street clothes and nothing protected her from the potential death coming her way.

  She was cornered. Crouching behind a low wall, Riley kept firing as best she could. Her entire attention was focused on not looking Mya's way, not to do anything that might alert the Eridons to her daughter's presence.

  One more Eridon fell with a sharp cry when Riley's shot hit him square in the stomach. The creature collapsed, writhing in pain. Riley couldn't rejoice for long because in the next second, she realized it was over.

  She could no longer see one of the Eridons which meant he was somewhere above her, closing in with terrible speed. The Eridons climbed incredibly well with their red armors making them look like gigantic fire ants.

  Unable to take her eyes off the approaching two soldiers, Riley kept firing, her mind blank. She was certain she was going to die, through the hands of the Eridons after all, even if it wasn't Magorra himself.

  She thought about Mya and her resolve strengthened. As long as she still drew breath, she was going to keep those monsters away from her daughter.

  Riley couldn't bear to think of her fateds. In the light of their last lie, she didn't know what to make of the bond between them anymore.

  With a terrifying cry, the Eridon above her finally revealed his position, jumping off the roof of the building behind her. It was amazing how fast he'd scaled the wall.

  The last thought that crossed Riley's mind was that she should have told them who she was. Perhaps then she would have bought herself enough time to come up with a better plan and lead them away from Mya.

  She turned, ready to go down fighting – and then the commanders were there.

  Harbor dashed through the air so fast Riley could barely see him. With three mighty steps he had practically ran up the wall and grabbed the approaching Eridon. They fell together, with Harbor twisting them in the air with such a dark expression Riley winced.

  The big warrior landed quite softly, one boot crushing the chest cavity of the Eridon and his long blade embedded in the creature's throat.

  Hearing a cry from behind her, Riley rounded just in time to see two blades flying through the air and hitting the remaining two Eridons. Cole followed his blades just as quickly, finishing the enemies before their bodies ever hit the ground.

  Both turned to her, concern mixing with love in their eyes.

  "Are you alright?" Harbor asked at once, coming over.

  He made a move to pull her into his arms but Riley stepped out of his way. She wasn't ready to get all cuddly again yet. The day hadn't gone as well as she'd hoped and the fact Cole and Harbor had hid things from her still stung.

  The big warlord nodded to himself quietly, taking a step back.

  "I'm fine," Riley said, trying to put on an encouraging smile.

  She left them there, running over to where she'd left Mya. She lifted her daughter out of the alcove and cradled her against her chest. Mya clung to her, holding on like she was never letting go.

  Riley had no objections to that. Slowly, she walked back to the commanders who were regarding her with curiosity.

  "What happened?" Cole asked. "We know you're upset, Riley, but we need to know."

  "Don't you already?" Riley answered tiredly. "You know Magorra is looking for me. You didn't think warning me about it would have been the proper way to go?"

  Harbor and Cole exchanged glances and the look of regret there truly made Riley regret for a second.

  "We can talk about that later," Harbor said seriously. "Right now, we need you to tell us everything about this attack. We'll get you and Mya to safety and let the healers check you out. Thank the gods your guards were able to send us your location before–"

  "What guards?" Riley asked, gently petting Mya's hair to calm her down and distract the girl from the fact her parents were definitely not having a great day.

  "Your guards," Cole said a bit reluctantly. "The ones who were charged with your protection. They lost you and Mya in the crowd for a short while and they never actually made it back to you.

  “They saw you enter the alley and were forced to stay there and fight off the other Eridons who wanted to follow. Luckily they were able to send us a call."

  Riley's ears were rushing.

  "You had me tracked," she said. "Gods, you really don't tell me anything, do you?"

  "Riley–"

  "Don't," Riley said, shaking her head. "I'm just tired of finding out about things when they drop on me from out of the blue. I want to get home and make sure Mya is okay."

  "Everything we did was to protect you," Harbor said again.

  "Yes," she replied, taking Mya away from the bloody site. "But I don't feel very safe right now. I'm trying to get my life going again and all I asked for was the truth. You couldn't even give me that. I know you're trying to help but if not you, who could I trust?"

  27

  Cole

  The ride back home was as different from the morning's happiness as it was possible to be.

  Cole had sent Riley and Mya ahead of them under the strictest guards, half a small army to make sure his jewels were protected. Harbor and he stayed behind to make sure every Eridon stupid enough to still be on Octava was dealt with.

  Reports from other parts of Octava came in, too. Leaving those to their brother commanders, Harbor and Cole headed back to the villa on the first transport ship they could find.

  It was a gloomy trip, sitting in the darkness, just the two of them. Somehow, Cole didn't even have the desire to fight with Harbor anymore. Quarreling seemed pointless now that Riley was thoroughly disappointed with them. The situation wasn't improved by the fact that none of their fighting would change the Lord General's orders. They were still going out there.

  With Riley.

  Hiding things from her was always going to be a gamble, but at this instant he couldn’t help but think he should have trusted in her strength more.

  They found Riley sitting on their bed, writing something. The tablet illuminated her face when she looked up, giving it a glow that made Cole's heart speed up a little. Even mad, she was gorgeous.

  "Is Mya okay?" Cole asked. "The healers told us she didn't suffer any damage."

  "She's fine. A little shocked but who wouldn't be in her situation? It's the first time I'm glad you've brought her up in the midst of all this war stuff. I think it helped a little to soothe her fears. She had seen guns and warriors before, heard explosions.

  “The monsters were new, though."

  There was a growl from Harbor.

  "Your guards should have made sure you never even met the Eridons," he said bitterly. "You can be assured they will be punished for losing you and Mya. It's their own city, they should be able to track you through a blinding storm if need be."

  Riley didn't reply and Cole want
ed to kick Harbor for mentioning tracking again.

  "Are you writing Mya's metalbug stories again?" he asked conversationally instead.

  Unlike Harbor and his vigorous creed of open honesty that he no longer believed in, Cole put his hopes on time. It had helped them before and it would come to their aid again.

  There was a weird look in Riley's eyes and she said nothing. Instead, their fated got up and left the tablet on the bed.

  "I'm going to check up on Mya," she told them, walking out of the door. "We are going to have a talk when I get back."

  Their bedroom seemed empty and dim all of a sudden. All the joy they'd experienced there, the happiness that Cole had thought was cemented by now was gone. Only grueling, harsh tension remained, the expectation of something much worse.

  Frustration rose within Cole. He was the commander of one of the largest armies in the galaxy. Helpless wasn't how he was used to feeling.

  Riley was everything to him, as she was to Harbor. It was the only truth that kept him from resuming their duel, to know that Harbor was thinking roughly the same. All Gargons had the same approach to their fated.

  There was simply no other way of being. The love they felt, the commitment it brought – there was no room for diversity in the absolutes of emotions. Both of them would have died to keep her safe and done anything to make her happy. It now seemed it was hard to do both at the same time.

  He paced impatiently in their room, unable to get the images of Riley being happy there out of his head. To distract himself, Cole picked up the tablet Riley had left on their huge bed. He only intended to read a little of the story she was writing to their daughter, slip into their happy fantasy world for just a second.

  Then his eyes skimmed over some lines and Cole stopped pacing. He stopped altogether as though life itself had been knocked out of him.

  Word after word, he read until it seemed they had lost their meaning.

  The Gargon bonds, the most unbelievable thing of our time, are something I had previously no interest in. All the promises they make, the eternal devotion and love, it's too much. How can a person put such blind faith in something that they can't see?

  The answer is, of course, hope. Hope that perhaps this fairytale is real, that it can work.

  […] I found myself thrust into a life that had been handcrafted for me while I was in a coma. One of the first words my fateds told me was that we're going "home" now. That is what Gargons are like.

  They see the world in the most straightforward way imaginable. Not once did it pass through their heads that my home was somewhere back on Terra. That perhaps I might not want a villa. Their intentions are good but –

  […] I find myself drawn to them with this incredible force in me that I've never felt before. It's everything they promised and yet I need to ask myself the questions other women probably don't. When you're this happy, it seems blasphemous to try and poke holes in it but I want the truth, no matter what it is.

  I would give anything to know if I'm falling for the commanders or if their insistence that this "pull" is true love is convincing me of their chosen truth.

  It went on and on like that. At some point, a single word fell from Cole's lips.

  "Harbor."

  The other commander came over, a disinterested look on his face as he was anxious for Riley to return. As soon as his gaze had fallen on the first paragraph, he fell as silent as Cole and together, they read.

  It was all there. A book, or a fraction of it. Titled "The Gargon Bonds: Terran Bride Tells It All". It took several moments for his brain to connect that the bride was Riley and that the stories she told were, in fact, theirs.

  Their lives shone on the screen of the tablet, stripped naked before the readers of something called Objectively Terra. Cole's eyes flew over the lines, taking in Riley's true thoughts about them and the way she really felt.

  He didn't miss the publication date or the comments below.

  Some demanded more, with "steamy details" thrown in. Others pointed out how badly Harbor and he had obviously handled the situation. Some even dared to pity Mya for being put in the middle of all that if her parents clearly didn't know anything about anything.

  Cole's rage surged through him like an explosion. He wanted to reach out his arm through the flickering screen and grab each and every one of those people who thought they knew what was wrong with their bond.

  Worst of all – more painful than any comments – were the words Riley herself had written.

  Her doubt, her quest to find the truth about the most sacred part of his culture, her hope to connect with her daughter and her fear she wouldn’t.

  Some of it was heartbreaking, almost word for word the very thoughts the healers had warned them to look out for. It was insane to think how easily they'd been deceived by Riley's assurance that she was fine when she clearly wasn't.

  Unfortunately, even that wasn't the worst part. The blow that struck harder than any enemy ever had was the way she talked about the sacred bond between them. Cole couldn't believe someone would try and attempt to take the bond to pieces, analyze it and see how it was put together.

  The love he felt in his heart, the love he'd believed Riley felt – it turned out she didn't know if it was real, whether she could trust her own heart.

  It was impossible for a Gargon to imagine something like that. Their hearts were their compass in life and the love of their fated was the light that they followed.

  He only raised his gaze from the tablet when the door slid open again.

  Riley was standing there, her beautiful eyes wide, a thousand emotions flickering over her shocked expression.

  "Let me guess," Cole said slowly, throwing the tablet on the bed. "We weren't supposed to know. For our own good, perhaps?"

  28

  Harbor

  It felt like his heart was being torn in two.

  Harbor looked at his fated standing before them, shaking a little. The emotions warring on her face switched between anger and sadness and regret. There were others he couldn't decipher in his own fury.

  No Gargon could ever hate their fated, but they alone possessed the ability to truly wound them and Riley had done so. The way she searched for words told him that Cole's accusation wasn't entirely false.

  "This is a terrible day," Riley finally managed, closing the door behind her to make sure Mya didn't wake up. "Everything seems to go from bad to worse to absolutely unbelievable."

  "Don't try to pin this on some twist of fate," Cole retorted. "You clearly don't believe in that."

  Riley shot them both a hurt, sharp look.

  "I'm not doing that," she said through gritted teeth. "I'm just saying that if there is some kind of destiny, today is the day it just keeps heaping everything upon us. This isn't even supposed to be about my notes, not today."

  "The notes you wrote," Harbor said. "You're a writer. You came to Octava to try and find out if the bonds were even real!"

  Now there was a deep sadness in Riley's eyes and he nearly took his words back. The anger was too fresh and too powerful in his blood, however, and he couldn't bring himself to offer her mercy. Not even with some of the later chapters showing she was falling for them.

  "That," Riley pointed to the tablet, "was never meant to get out there! Those words are nothing but expressions, the book was never supposed to be published like that."

  "Expressions," Cole repeated furiously. "You mean your actual, true reactions and feelings towards us. Everything you really thought about the bond, Octava and our lives."

  "It's not like you don't have feelings you don't share with me," Riley shot back. "If I could see a similar confession from you, what would that say?"

  "Nothing new," Harbor replied at once, surprised at how dark his voice sounded. "Gargons don't lie. Every word we've told you is how we feel. About you, about everything."

  For a second there, Riley was taken aback until she found her footing again.

  "Unless you're lying to me,
you mean, Harbor?" she demanded. "Unless you're hiding important details about my life from me, like the fact that Magorra is looking to find me. You treated me like a fool and there's nothing you can say about that."

  "Very well," Harbor said, ignoring Cole's glare. "We admit it. We wanted to make sure you were ready for the truth before we told you. Magorra wasn't close enough to be a problem and we wanted to give you time to heal.

  “Now he's close and the truth is out. You on the other hand just admitted that everything you've told us is some version of you that you thought would work best. You never even told us you were a writer."

  "I was going to!" Riley protested. "You have to believe me. I was unsure of whether I was actually going to write the book and if I was, it wasn't just going to be about me, or us.

  “It was going to be about the Gargon bonds, the honest truth about them. As we're standing here, you can't say it's always as sunny and cheerful as it's advertised. I was going to have you read it and tell me if I could go through with the book!

  “If you weren't okay, I would never have shown it to another soul. I was wrong to trust Rowan, I know that now but I can't take back what already happened!"

  Neither Harbor nor Cole answered that for a long moment. Harbor considered her words. The adamant tone of Riley's voice told him it might very well have been true.

  "We have to believe you?" he asked quietly then, never taking his eyes off Riley. "That's interesting considering you don't believe us when we tell you that we were eventually going to tell you about Magorra."

  Riley opened her mouth to respond to that but the truth, for once, was clear enough. A heavy silence set over them as they stared at each other, trying to figure out who hurt the other most.

  In his heart, Harbor knew it didn't matter. The wounds they had dealt – best intentions or not – ran deep.

  "I think it's best if I leave," Riley said then. "For a while, at least. I think we all need to figure out what to do, especially with Mya. I'll take her with me."