Alien Sacrifice (Zerconian Warriors Book 9)

by Sadie Carter

  “You came to find your mate,” Prince Charming told her. “And you found him. Macon.”

  Um, say what now? Her? Look for a mate? She glanced over at Macon. “If we were mated, why don’t I remember him?”

  “You hit your head,” Prince Charming said smoothly. “You have a temporary memory loss.”

  Well, her head did hurt. “This is a medical room?” Didn’t look like any medical room she’d seen. Racar made a noise, and she turned to look at him. Did he look guilty?

  “Racar, you may go now,” Gargamel said.

  “I haven’t given her the painkiller.”

  “Give it to me,” Macon said. “I will see she gets it.”

  Yeah, if anyone thought they were going to stick a needle into her they had another think coming.

  “I will give you some in liquid form. It will not act as fast, but you do not need to worry about the injector.”

  She looked over at Macon. Her mate? Her head throbbed, and she tried to push past the pain to think. Things just weren’t right.

  “He’s not my mate.”

  “He is,” Prince Charming said firmly. “Are you not, Macon?”

  “Yes,” Macon replied shortly, glancing away.

  “He’s lying.”

  “Mates do not lie to each other,” Gargamel told her.

  She snorted. “Riight. If you think that then you’re naïve and a fool.”

  Gargamel stiffened and took a step towards her. She tensed, prepared to protect herself. But Macon stepped in front of her.

  “Stay away from her,” he snarled.

  He was protecting her? Her? No one protected her. Everyone looked to her to look after them. She remembered going out to dinner once with her brother. This drugged-up idiot had attempted to rob them as they were walking to their car. Rich had stepped back and behind her, letting her handle the idiot and his knife. It had taken her less than two minutes to disarm him, like taking candy from a baby. Not that she’d ever do that.

  But no one protected her. Not even her mother. She’d always been so fragile that Annabel had grown up protecting her.

  “Hey. Outta my way. If Gargamel wants a fight, I’m willing. I don’t need you to protect me.” She moved to the side of Macon, but he grabbed her arm, pulling her behind him, his eyes flashing red. What did that mean?

  “Stay behind me.”

  “No.”

  He growled. “You are my mate. You will do as I say.”

  “And you are delusional. Because I am not your mate and I will never do as you say. Ever.”

  “We will see about that,” he vowed.

  “Enough,” Dex ordered. “All of you calm down. Koran, come with me.”

  “Are you certain we are doing the right thing?” Koran asked Dex.

  They watched through the two-way mirror as Macon spoke to Annabel. Well, more like attempted to order her as she shook her head and denied him. It might have been amusing under other circumstances. “He’s willing to go along with the pretense of being her mate in order to find out her secrets, but he does not truly believe that she is his mate.”

  “Even if they are not, then she needs to be watched. We cannot keep her here forever. Macon can watch over her and report back. But I have a feeling that they are mates. You saw how protective he is of her.”

  Koran nodded. “It all fits. Macon isn’t pleased.”

  “He does not get a choice. If they are mates, being in close proximity will bring them together. Because if she is his mate, and they do not fully mate, it will tear them apart as it nearly did Zoey and me.”

  “And if she is not?” Koran asked. “If this is all some big lie?”

  “Then we deal with her.” But he had to be certain. Because if she was Macon’s mate that could change everything.

  ***

  “Have I been here before?”

  Macon stared over at Annabel as she stood in the living area of his small house. What had he been thinking, agreeing to bring her here? To his home?

  You weren't given much of a choice. Dex wanted Macon to watch her closely. That part made sense. They needed to ensure whether this memory loss was real or part of her act. And if this wasn’t a pretense would her memory return? They could not punish her or hand her over to the Earth Council with no memory of what she had done.

  So it was up to him to decide if she told the truth now or not. He knew that Dex had also charged him with her care because there was a possibility she could be his mate. She wasn’t.

  She looked around her, studying his house. There was a hint of nervousness in her face that surprised him. The Annabel in the interrogation room prior to being injected with the truth serum hadn’t been nervous in the least. Was this an act too?

  It made his head hurt trying to work out if she was real or fake. There was no way she could be his mate.

  “No, you have not been here.” He told her.

  “No?” she questioned.

  “No.”

  “Why not?”

  “I do not need to explain myself.” He knew he was being abrupt. But he felt angry at the disruption to his life, and he did not know how to explain this to Hagartha. His anger grew at the realization of how this female was turning his well-ordered life upside down. Dex wanted as few people as possible knowing the truth about Annabel. Zoey already knew, and Koran intended to tell Mila to gain her insight, but that was as far as it went. No one else would know until they discovered who she was and why she had been sent here.

  And until Macon discovered if they really were mates. The only way to be truly certain was to join with her. And he was not going to do that. He was not even attracted to her small, child-like body.

  Not at all.

  Not to mention that would be a betrayal of his promise to Hagartha. He was a warrior. His word was everything. So he needed to ensure that Hagartha did not learn of her presence in his house. At least the other humans had left on the transporter so they would not have to explain her absence to them. To everyone else, Dex had decided he would tell them she was ill. It would buy them some time.

  Her eyes widened, and she placed her hands on her hips. “Well, excuse me, I didn’t realize I couldn’t ask questions.”

  Macon forced himself to relax a little. He did not wish her to grow suspicious of their supposed mating.

  “You have not been here before because our mating is very new.”

  “Oh, right. So we haven’t done the nasty yet?”

  “The nasty?”

  “Yeah, we haven’t gotten down and dirty between the sheets, bumped uglies, played hide the salami, done the horizontal mambo?”

  He just stared at her, completely perplexed.

  “Have we had sex?”

  “No.”

  “How do I know I’m really mated to you and that you’re not lying?”

  “There are signs,” he said stiffly.

  “Yeah? Like what?”

  “Human mates generally feel dizzy or faint when they first touch their Zerconian mate.”

  “And that happened to me?” she asked with a frown.

  “Yes.”

  “What else?”

  “Arousal. Their bodies become very aroused to the point of pain if they do not join with their mate.”

  She gaped at him. “You’re kidding me, right? What if I don’t want to fuck you? I just get more and more aroused until my body takes over?”

  His jaw tightened. “Yes.”

  “Jesus fucking Christ. I don’t even know you, dude. I don’t know if a word coming out of your mouth is true, I am certainly not jumping into bed with you.”

  “Why would we jump on the masic?”

  “What?” She looked confused as she raised her hand to rub her head. “Feels like I’ve stepped into the Twilight Zone.”

  “That area over by Nebus?” he asked. “Why would you wish to go there? It is a dead zone.”

  “Huh? Um, yeah, whatever. What happens now then? Where am I sleeping?”

  He studied her
closely, noting the lines around her mouth that hadn’t been there before, the way her forehead was puckered. “You are in pain. You must take the inhibitor.” He had tried to convince her to take it earlier before they left the interrogation room.

  “I’m fine. I don’t like taking them.”

  He sighed. “My mate will be expected to obey me.”

  She snorted. “Then you might want to try to find another one, dude. Because obedience was never my strong suit. And I have a name. It’s Annabel.”

  “There is only one mate for each Zerconian.”

  “Yeah, well, I’m still not convinced I’m your mate. And I’m really not convinced that what you’re telling me is the truth. Because there is no way I came here looking for a mate.”

  “Perhaps you had an ulterior motive,” he said carefully. Dex hadn’t wanted to tell her that she’d worked for him because he didn’t want her wondering why she wasn’t at work. And Dex didn’t want her anywhere near his office. For obvious reasons.

  “And I didn’t tell you? I thought we were mates.”

  “It is new. Very new. I only just discovered you were my mate right before you hit your head.”

  “Did you push me?”

  He stared at her, horrified. “What? No. I would never push you.”

  She eyed him suspiciously. Did she really believe he could have pushed her? What sort of male would push a female?

  “Then how’d I hit my head?”

  “You tripped.”

  “On what? There was nothing in that room to trip on. Why was I in that room?”

  Macon’s mind raced. “You tripped over outside the palace. We brought you to that room as it was quiet and close by.”

  “So why don’t I have a bruised head?”

  “The regen chamber fixed your head.”

  “Uh-huh.”

  Macon searched for something to distract her since she clearly was not buying his explanation. “You may not know how matings on Zerconia work, but as the male, I am in charge.”

  “How old are you?” she asked.

  He was surprised by the abrupt change of subject.

  “Sixty-one.”

  “Figures. You’re a granddad.”

  “A grandad is a name that is given to a father’s father. I do not have children or grandchildren.”

  “Yeah, but you’re ancient and stuck in your ways, obviously. Look, I don’t remember you and that kind of sucks for both of us. I don’t know if what you’re telling me is the truth or not.”

  “You will need to trust me.” He was aware of the irony of his words, considering he could never trust her. But he did not have to.

  “I’m not a very trusting person. How long have I been on Zerconia?”

  “You arrived two months ago.”

  This didn’t sit well with him. None of this did. Macon did not like lies or pretense. That is why he wished to mate with Hagartha, she was truthful. Perhaps sometimes to the point of being rude. But she did not play games like these humans did. She said what she thought, and he did not have to second guess her. So it was difficult now to have to lie to Annabel, not to mention deceive Hagartha.

  “And we only just discovered we are mates? Wow, you work slowly.”

  Because he had not been looking for a human mate. He watched as Annabel moved around the main living area. He had imagined Hagartha moving in here. She had been here a few times and had not appreciated how small the space is, but he could not contemplate leaving. She would adjust.

  “Wow, is that the ocean?” Annabel moved toward the balcony, she opened the doors and the breeze filtered through. She breathed in deeply. “It doesn’t smell salty.”

  “Why would it?” he asked in confusion.

  “Oh, on Earth, the sea is salty.”

  “How do you drink it then?”

  She grinned. “We don’t drink it, silly. Even if it wasn’t salty, it’s polluted as hell. Can I swim in it?”

  He frowned, remembering her struggling under Norman’s weight in the waves. He did not like the idea of her swimming out there. Anything could happen. A large wave. A rip.

  “It is suitable for swimming, but you will not swim in it.”

  “I won’t? Why not?”

  “Because I command it.”

  She placed her hands on her hips. “Okay, I get that we haven’t known each other long. But let’s get one thing straight, I am not the sort of person who you can just boss around. You say jump, and I’ll tell you to take a flying leap into a volcano.”

  He frowned. “I do not understand why you are speaking of jumping. I have not ordered you to jump. I have ordered you not to go swimming in the ocean. You will obey me because you are my mate and that is how things are done on Zerconia. Females follow their mates’ lead. Or their male guardian.”

  She raised her eyebrows. “Really? No wonder you guys are desperate for mates. You’re a bunch of throwbacks to the nineteenth century. And you’re telling me that all the human mates are okay with this?”

  “Others’ relationships are not our business.”

  “So I’ll take that as a no.”

  “This is the way our relationship will be,” he stated arrogantly.

  She shook her head. “Oh dear, you don’t know the first thing about human females do you?” She patted his chest. “I seriously cannot believe I’m on Zerconia and I have a mate.”

  “Why else would you have come to Zerconia if not to find a mate?” he asked, trying to probe her.

  “Hmm, that is the million-dollar question isn’t it?”

  “I was not going to pay you for the answer.”

  She rubbed at her head again.

  “You are in pain,” Macon said.

  “Talking to you is a bit painful.”

  Talking to him hurt her?

  “You need to take the pain inhibitor and sleep. Come, I will show you to your bedroom.”

  Annabel followed Macon as he moved down the hallway. This whole situation stank to the high heavens. She knew she had to quickly figure out what the hell was really going on because she wasn’t buying a word of what he was saying. She hated that she had lost part of her memory, it made her feel vulnerable in a way she never had before.

  There was no way she would have come to Zerconia to find a mate. What did she want with a mate? Especially one who seemed to think she would be all obedient and biddable.

  Stuff that.

  So, say she’d come here for another reason, what would it be? She couldn’t think of one. That wasn’t the only suspicious thing about this whole set-up. If she really was Macon’s mate, then shouldn’t he be happy? Or at least not be so distant and formal? Maybe all Zerconian males were like this, but she’d thought they were desperate to find their mates.

  Macon acted like she was a present gift-wrapped from the devil, sent to torment and torture him. She could totally do that if he wanted. She knew she wasn’t easy to live with. But if they didn’t know each other well, shouldn’t he save the judgment until after the honeymoon period? Not that there would be a honeymoon, no way was she getting her freak on with a stranger.

  Especially not one who couldn’t bring himself to touch her.

  “Does this meet your expectations?”

  Did he have to speak so formally? Couldn’t he just say, hey, Annabel, this cool?

  She glanced around. “It’s got somewhere to sleep and a window, it’s good.” And the window gave her an escape route.

  “There is an attached bathroom. The windows in here only open partway, due to safety precautions.”

  Safety precautions? She moved to the window to see it was a straight drop down the cliff face. There went that exit.

  Fuck.

  Stuck on a strange planet with a strange man with no memory of how she got here.

  “This is a bad dream,” she muttered with a frown, rubbing her head.

  Suddenly, Macon moved in behind her. Gently taking her hands from her forehead, he massaged her head with his fingers.

&nb
sp; She groaned, the pain easing considerably. “Holy shit, you have no idea how good that feels.”

  “I do not like to hear you swear. Swearing is not ladylike.”

  She snorted. “Honey, one thing I know for sure is we really don’t know each other well, because I’m sure as hell no lady. I swear. I prefer pants to skirts or dresses. I’d rather head to the shooting range than go shopping. If you’re looking for a lady, then you got the wrong mate.” And she wasn’t going to change who she was, not for anyone. If she wasn’t good enough for him…

  He moved back away from her. She almost whimpered, wanting his touch. And not just because he’d eased the aching headache for a moment, but because there were other aches building in her body.

  “I suppose you might wish to redecorate.”

  “Nah.” She shrugged. “This is fine.”

  He looked around. “There is nothing in here.”

  “What more do I need?”

  He gave her a funny look. Then frowned as she winced. “I will find you something to wear and get the pain inhibitor.”

  He was gone before she could tell him not to bother. She moved into the small attached bathroom. God, a shower sounded great. She stripped and climbed in, letting the water pour over tired muscles, relaxing her. When she climbed out and wrapped herself in a towel, she found a long shirt on her bed. Bringing it to her nose, she sniffed.

  It smelled like him. Her body stirred, despite her fatigue. It felt like her body had been on high alert since she’d awoken. Her skin was sensitive. Her clit full and throbbing. It was bizarre. She’d never reacted this way before to any man. Well, not that she could remember. She pulled the shirt on. She hadn’t noticed the Zerconian males wearing anything but vests, so she wondered when he wore this shirt.

  What was going on? She knew there was something she wasn’t being told. Why would she come here? What was she going to tell Rich? He was going to lose his shit.

  She pulled back the bedding and climbed in. She didn’t like to admit it, but this headache was starting to kick her ass. She was never ill, but she supposed if she’d hit her head she should expect to feel a bit off.

  Reaching up, she pressed her fingers against her skull, searching for any hint of a bump. She guessed a regen chamber might erase any injury. She’d never been in one before. She had a rare blood type which a regen chamber couldn’t simulate. Thankfully, she’d never injured herself badly enough to need one. Back on Earth, it cost you a fortune to use one. She certainly wouldn’t have been able to afford one for a simple head injury.