by Amanda Milo
RESCUED by an ALIEN
by Amanda Milo
Copyright © 2017 Amanda Milo ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. This book contains material protected under International and Federal Copyright Laws and Treaties. Any unauthorized reprint or use of this material is prohibited. No part of this book may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by an information and retrieval system without express written permission from the Author/Publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Dedication
To everyone I missed mentioning in my first officially published book. Guys, I didn’t know anyone would read it! ;D
To readers:
Thank you to each and every one of you that put “I want to read his brother’s story now!” in your review ♥
(For those of you who reviewed and said you needed Crispin’s book; hang tight! His is coming up. And ditto for Tara’s. And Beth’s. And Dohrein’s. …whew, this is gonna be a fun ride, yeah? =D
To readers that messaged and emailed about the fate of a certain seeing eye dog: I promise she’s safe! You’ll see more of her in her owner’s story.
Last thing before you start: I wanted to let you mull on this Trivia/Tidbit/Note.
I grew up next to an exotic pet farm. The owner had a beloved black swan that had imprinted on him. He told me that blacks were the rarest of the swans.
I’ve since read information to the contrary, but all the same, it’s left a lifelong impression on me.
REALLY IMPORTANT WARNING!
If you’re new to the series-
*waves happily* Hi! Welcome :)
-you should know that the hero is a gladiator.
If you’ve read Stolen and came back for more-
*hugs* is it too soon to declare that I love you?
-you’ll remember that the hero of this book tears creatures up with his bare hands and kills other aliens to make a living.
He also kills to protect his human mate. If you haven’t read the story previous in this series, the heroine was raped. In this book, there are descriptions of harm and violence against a woman. This book contains controversial subjects and dark, sad, difficult things, and violence.
This book also depicts incredibly strong love, affection, and healing.
The two main characters do get their Happily Ever After.
But.
If you don’t like to read about controversial subjects, or dark themes, or books with violence, or books with sensitive subjects; you may want to skip this one. I’ll have some sweet romances releasing in the future - everything from contemporary to paranormal shifter.
But for now, this is Zadeon’s story.
Chapter 1
ZADEON
The crowd is a muted roar - but I take no pleasure in being able to hear.
I haven’t heard her in rotations.
That fact is a fresh agony no battle has been able to quench.
Why have the dreams stopped? Where are you?
Movement out of the corner of my eye has me turning to face a large group of guards assembling in the tunnel.
Not now.
We’re under the arena, and even with the staff hosing me down, I can’t cool off. The steam rises from my skin, and I’m spoiling to go back up and find another challenger.
I’ll need to notify my brothers. I’ll be leaving tonight. I must find another match.
Because I’m losing my teveking mind staying still.
The Gryfala finally makes her way through her throng of hobs. I shake my head in disbelief. Her guard service is one of the larger I’ve seen. She is a collector.
My stomach sours.
I vow right here; even if I never find my female - I won’t be so desperate that I’ll turn myself into an acquisition for a bored princess to play with.
I don’t bow.
I don’t have to.
I have a reputation for being a machaai and perversely, acting like one has often seen me rewarded.
I do however, nod - because my dam raised me to have manners, and I do have them, no matter what the general populace believes.
She smirks at me, acknowledging my disobedience but not punishing or even reprimanding me for my rudeness.
“Rotk Kotok Zadeon,” she fairly purrs at me. “I’m here to make you an offer.” She smiles wide, all sharp teeth - then she retracts her fangs in a lewd display, as if promising me a lovebite.
I snort.
Normally, I ignore princesses until they get offended and leave.
But I can’t stop myself. I have to ask. I need to know.
“Do you know of a princess without wings? She has a mane of fire and-”
The Gryfala’s lips close over her teeth to form a disapproving moue. “You’ve been with another? I hadn’t heard this.” Her gaze roves over me with a hungry disappointment; like I’m a table laden with food, she’s starving, but someone just told her everything had gone spoiled. “You’re such a fine specimen I might be able to overlook it.”
“I wasn’t cast aside,” I clarify. “I belong to another. I need to find her.”
She crosses her arms, looking as intrigued as she is resentful. “You weren’t cast aside, but she left you, and now you don’t even know where she’s at?” She tilts her head in mock sympathy. “Won’t answer any of your Comms?”
My fists clench.
“Were you bonding to her?”
My body tenses.
Too late, I regret asking a Gryfala. Too curious; no tact.
“Did she know? Is that why you’re so dangerous? Is that why she left you?”
I don’t believe she put emphasis on those three words. But she may as well have. It gives voice to the doubts of my mind.
But no.
She would never leave me.
“Was she afraid?”
In a flash, I feel it all over again; the sudden shock to our connection. A feeling of being walled off from her. That lick of fear I tell myself I couldn’t have felt.
Couldn’t, because it means she is in danger.
Was! Not is - can’t be still.
Then why haven’t I heard her?
Maybe she’s dead.
I have not allowed these words to have power. I have banished the whispers before they have conscious form.
Until now.
The possibility fills me with sorrow, and such agony that I bellow.
The walls tremble. Even the crowd above us hushes.
The hobs are scrambling, trying to drag their Gryfala out. She’s reluctant. I don’t even know her, but I hate her. Hate what she represents. Hate that she watches me as if I’ve been reduced to carrion; nothing but entrails left and she still wants to pick me over.
Most of all I hate that she woke my deepest fears about my female.
My throat shreds at the force I use to form my vow: “I WILL FIND YOU!”
One of her hobs leans down to shout in her ear, never taking his eyes off me. My ears are still ringing, but I read what he says. ‘No wonder he’s such a brute in the pit! He’s been driven completely insane...’
Her interest doesn’t dim. She seems to be waiting for me to change my mind. She wants a pet gladiator. Tevek. That.
I clear up any misguided notions. “Disrespect my female by visiting me again, and it will be your blood in the sand.”
Now the hobs are in a frenzy. I blow a s
tream of fire as far down the wall as I can see; sending all the torches ablaze with a whoosh.
Let her see me clearly. Let her see me, still coated in the blood of my opponents. Let her see just how insane I have become without my princess. The hose writhes wildly as the staff abandons their task to scramble from the tunnel too.
The Gryfala lets them herd her out this time, but just before she disappears from view her mouth makes two words; ‘Your loss.’
When she and all of her many males finally clear out, I can’t help but feel she’s right.
My loss.
Not her - I felt no hesitation in the moment, and feel no regret now.
But I did lose something.
Someone.
Somehow, I will get her back.
Chapter 2
ZADEON
My mood has not improved.
The abduction of my sister has shaken me to my foundations. I, like my entire family, dropped everything to search for her. A few clicks ago, Tahmoh sent an extremely patchy transmission saying he’d retrieved her, she’s safely been returned to the family den - then something about needing something from me.
I don’t feel civil enough to visit with him; I’m relieved to a bone scalding degree that our sister is alright, but now that she’s out of harm’s way it’s imperative that I lose this edginess that’s festering inside me.
But I let Tahmoh dock the galaxy’s saddest excuse for a ship - where does he find these? And his greeting to me is a terse, “I’d tell you that you look like you need a break but we don’t have time. We’re going to need your muscle.”
Despite myself, I’m intrigued.
“I need your ship.”
Nevermind. I’m not intrigued any more.
“You can’t have it.”
“Zadeon, hear me out-”
“No.”
And I turn my back on him, so I only hear every other word, and it’s muffled enough that I can ignore him almost completely.
Until I hear the word, “-princess!”
Normally, I wouldn’t tune in, wouldn’t strain myself in any way to hear more about the goings-on of Gryfala but… now I’m worried about my Gryfala.
Something is wrong.
I feel it.
I whip around so quickly that Tahmoh trips back, ducking to avoid being nailed with a horn to the bridge of his nose.
Again.
I still feel bad about that sometimes.
“Say that again.”
Tahmoh is glaring aggrievedly at my horns. “What part?”
“The part about the princess.”
He makes an impatient noise. “That’s what I’m telling you. It’s all for the princesses.”
“Princess...es? As in… more than one?”
His middle toes clack on the floor excitedly. “Yes! No one knows the details, but someone delivered a shipment of Gryfala to an auction planet.”
My blood turns to hoarfrost in my veins.
“No.”
“To save time, I’m going to interpret that as a rhetorical and I’m going to urge you to hurry. Arokh stole one from some Krortuvians,”
We both hiss.
“But because the pod is only a tri-seater, he insisted that I leave him and the princess behind in favor of getting our sister returned home and now we’ve got to pick them up and your ship can obliterate anything if we need to go on the defense-”
If it’s possible for a brain to split in opposite directions, I believe mine just did. Worry for my brother, terror for my female - my synapses overload for an entire click until I’m able to bark out, “When did this happen?”
I know what he’s going to say before he says it.
“Rotations ago.”
When the dreams stopped. Rotations ago.
Tahmoh slowly nods as if he’s had to drag me to this conclusion. “We’ve got to move!”
Yes. We do.
I know it in my horns this is why my female is missing from my dreams.
But it can’t mean…
She’s not dead. I would know, I’m sure I would know.
“You live!” I bellow - not only in my mind, I realize when I see Tahmoh’s alarmed expression.
If ever my thoughts could be strong enough to reach her, I hope they can now. I hope she is filled with resolve, and keeps her unshakable determination to survive.
Stay strong. I’m coming for you.
Chapter 3
ZADEON
We never reach Arokh.
We hear much about him and his princess though.
And the news is like taking a spear to my spleen.
This princess has no wings.
All people can talk about is how inappropriate his behavior has been with her. Hobs escorted them offplanet - but the rumors don’t stop there.
I can’t listen to the whispers. But I read it on their lips.
Bonded.
My brother is being accused of being bonded.
To a princess.
To a princess that happened to appear wingless.
Make that an iron caltrop to my feet to go along with that spear in my spleen.
In all my spans of searching, I’ve never found a wingless Gryfala. How many could there be? Has she been taken from my dreams because she has bonded to my brother?
Tahmoh keeps eyeing me, wary of my moods; black, blacker, and deadly.
To be fair, I only seem to be cycling between the latter two.
I snap another neck.
“You’re going to get us stoned to death. You can’t keep killing people!” Tahmoh has a large, throbbing vein at his temple.
It’s unsightly and I’m sick of looking at it. I kick the dead alien into the scrub grass. I want my brother out of my face and I want off of this planet and most of all I need to find my female. “Did you hear what he said?”
Now it’s Tahmoh’s turn to growl. “He said if he could have won a piece of Gryfala ass, he would have wrestled Arokh for her.”
Hissing, I turn the dead into a one-man pyre. We’re on the desert side of this planet, and in this canyon, the fire will choke out and die on its own. There’s nothing to feed it; just empty, endless sand.
There’s nothing here at all.
No trace of her...
I add more flames. Unnecessary, and perhaps I should have warned Tahmoh.
He’s beating off his shirt (a luxury fabric made for the sole purpose of style - which he knows better than to wear; fireproof clothing is just wise) when I turn away, and I hear him talking to me. I might catch words like “-wrong with you!” and “worse than usual” but I keep walking, and leave him to catch up.
I don’t know what makes me look over.
Dendroaspis are nomads on auction planets like this. They buy (or steal) an item only to turn around and barter it or upsell it further along as they continue their journey.
They are notoriously cruel to their live chattal though; no one wants to buy a slave or a whore after the Dendros are through with them.
So on a normal rotation, I wouldn’t stop myself from tripping one of the slavers if they were chasing a runaway from their camp.
Clumsy feet I’d tell them. Accidents happen.
But when I see a female running full out, a furious, jeering Dendroaspis behind her… tripping him isn’t what I envision. I don’t realize I’ve halted until Tahmoh slams into my back.
“Infernofire! LOWER YOUR TEVEKING SPINES!”
I ignore him.
Then. I run.
When the female looks back, I’m not sure if she’s more terrified to see her owner pursuing her - or me.
But when I shove her sideways and she lands on her back in the sand - she watches me take a blaster bolt that was meant for her and after that, she turns that terrified look away from me and onto him.
What was the slaver thinking? Was he so angry with her he’d kill her? Aiming for me would have been pointless; he’d know I’d survive any hit with his weapon - but females are precious. Perhaps he simpl
y didn’t want me to get away with his runaway merchandise. An ‘if I can’t have her no one can’ mentality, I surmise.
Whatever the intention; while his weapon goes bright orange recharging, I leap for him and release a burst of flame on him so intense his bones cremate.
Then I turn and meet the eyes of a very, very frightened Gryfala.
A Gryfala with no wings.
◆◆◆
“She’s so small!” Tahmoh coos, his tail curled up and pressed to his lips as he peers at her in wonder, instantly infatuated. “I wonder why she isn’t speaking Gryph.”
“Stay with her,” I order.
“What do you think you’re doing?” he asks - and I’m surprised he is able to peel his eyes from the female. He looks half enamored already. “They’re going to be sore from losing their runaway and they aren’t exactly going to thank you for killing one of their sssiblings,” he mimics the sibilance of the slavers.
I stalk past him. “I’ve got to save her.”
“Congratulations, you did…” he trails off. “You’re acting strange. Did that blaster hit your head?”
She’s here.
For the first time in my lifespan, I sense her close to me.
I take off running, knowing Tahmoh will be safe because he won’t bring a Gryfala into the middle of danger, and he won’t be able to leave her behind in danger either.
And although he has no heart for battle, I know my brother’s protective instincts are strong as every Rakhii; he will defend her if he has to.
I don’t plan for him to have to take that action though; they won’t be getting the chance to retrieve their runaway.
Even knowing their reputation, I’m not prepared for what I find when I reach their camp.
Dendroaspis taste nasty.
They are so repellent; when faced with a bite-or-be-bitten situation it’s almost worth taking their venom if it means I avoid having to put my mouth on them.
Almost.
Thankfully, I don’t have to get close enough to bite often. Many years honing my flame range makes me confident I will only strike my targets and no any innocent bystanders.
