KRAL: A sci-fi alien romance (Mail-Order Brides of Crakair Book 4)

by Ava Ross

  He shrugged. “Useless, you are.”

  “It’s not my fault. You’re the one who kidnapped me from the kidnappers and tried to escape to Yarris.”

  “Over, it is.”

  Not if she had any say in it. “So much for selling me in a yard sale. In case you didn’t know, I didn’t volunteer for this mission.” Her hands hurt from gripping the armrests. “What can we do?”

  “Nothing.” His head dropped, and he curled forward.

  “Try, damn you.”

  He didn’t move. He didn’t flinch when she leaned sideways and smacked his arm.

  “Great. Give up, why don’t you?” she said through tears of frustration. “Like that’ll help.” Looking around, she tried to find something that would indicate how to drive this thing, but none of the dials were labeled, and she didn’t see a stick shift or anything that might give her control. She might talk a lot and cry more than she should, but she also hated letting fate take the wheel.

  When she turned back to the window, she gulped. Fate had already decided.

  The ground rushed up too fast. Was it good she was strapped down and would never get free? That would keep her from smacking against the windshield on impact, right? During Safety Week at the library, they’d showed older—okay, very old—films for the kids who hung out in the afternoons until their parents got home from work. One of the films highlighted the importance of wearing a seatbelt.

  Taylor was about to experience what happened when a vehicle going a billion miles an hour impacted with a planet. The end result pictures in the film hadn’t been pretty, and those vehicles had only been going fifty-five miles per hour. She’d had to shut the film off before it finished. Kids had run from the room to vomit. Let me tell you, she’d mailed it back to the company, telling them never to suggest that film for children again.

  As she began to make out trees, mountains, and rivers, she broke out in a cold sweat. This was it. Her life would end on a world far from Earth. No one would mourn her loss.

  Her mom… Did she know Taylor had been kidnapped? Tay could picture her mother waiting by the phone for the call saying her daughter was safe.

  The call would never come. How long before everyone gave up on her?

  Her pants rang out in the small cabin yet she’d barely moved. Her heart rattled behind her ribcage. Breathing normally was not an option. Her brain had shut down. Saliva pooled in her mouth, and bile crept up her throat. She was going to hurl and even the threat of the loss of gravity couldn’t stop it.

  The ground rushed closer.

  With a jarring roar, they made impact, hitting hard then skimming along the surface, taking out trees and bushes with their clumsy passage. Flipping up and over boulders, they smacked down on the other side. The ship spun to the right and then tumbled end over end so many times, Taylor lost count.

  Her head snapped left and right and her gaze blurred.

  She let loose a scream.

  Beside her, the blue alien groaned, though the sound barely reached her through the screaming crunch of metal giving way to unforgiving ground.

  With a thud that thrust her forward against her restraints, the ship came to a stop and… Lights out.

  Taylor woke dangling from the straps pinning her to the chair.

  Was the ship upside down? No, it was on its side and Taylor hung upside down. Time to thank the alien for pinning her to the chair.

  “Blue guy?” she croaked.

  No sound reached her other than a humming buzz, dull thuds, and bird calls, which made no sense. The rumble of the spaceship had gone silent.

  Twisting her head, she peered in the direction where the blue alien had been sitting. He should be below her, maybe still bent forward like people were pictured in airplane brochures, the fliers you were supposed to study as the stewards stood in the front of the plane and did their spiel about who should get the oxygen mask first.

  Pain arced down her spine as she shifted around, but she had to see how the alien was doing.

  Holy shit. No chair. No blue alien sitting beside her.

  “Blue guy?” Panic bubbled up in her voice. What the hell…?

  Warm, balmy air swirled through the tiny cabin, drawing her attention to the big window. She couldn’t hold back her gasp.

  Light poured in where the glass had been. Something vaguely resembling a dragonfly, except it was the size of a housecat, buzzed past her head. It flitted around the cabin before zipping back outside.

  Taylor’s jaw dropped permanently.

  Beyond where the glass should be, a profusion of plants made up of blue, green, and purple grew so thickly, her gaze couldn’t penetrate more than five feet. Had they crashed in a jungle?

  The plants shifted in rhythmic jolts as if the earth moved beneath them or a marching band was coming their way.

  Thump. Thump. Thump.

  Her skin prickled, and her heart leaped up in her throat. Taylor had seen Jurassic Park.

  Frying pan? Meet fire.

  Why hadn’t she quizzed the blue guy about Yarris while she’d had the chance?

  Where the hell was he, anyway? He’d kidnapped her from her kidnappers and bailed the moment they hit the planet, taking his chair along with him.

  Stains on the wall below where he should be drew her eye, and she squinted, trying to interpret the spatter. Dusky and gleaming, they reminded her of the aftereffect of an explosion.

  A quick brush of her hands on her body proved she had no obvious injury. So where had the blood…

  Thump.

  Closer. Louder.

  Scarier.

  Oh. She gulped and held her breath until her lungs ached. Don’t move. Don’t make a freakin’ sound.

  Fuck, fuck, fuck.

  Something roared near the window opening, it’s growling voice slamming across Taylor like a tsunami. Her mouth went dry as she scrunched in her chair, trying to make herself as small as possible.

  A purplish arm the length and width of a kayak and with two-foot long claws, shot inside the small capsule. It raked through the rubble and pulled back, dragging wires and computer parts outside along with it.

  “Blue guy?” she whispered. Please, please, please. If only he was here with a laser pistol in his hand.

  No blue guy. No laser. Taylor pawed at her legs and around the chair, but found nothing she could use to cut herself free.

  Her heart blasted up into her throat as the thumps came closer.

  She wasn’t a hostage any longer. Taylor had become bait, a lure dangling from a fishing line.

  In true, maiden in distress fashion, Taylor whimpered, barely holding back her scream.

  Grunts erupted outside. Of course. Whatever had come closer had invited neighbors to the feast.

  The owner of the clawed kayak arm, a creature made up of six legs and scaled, deep purple skin, lowered itself onto the ground in front of where the window used to be. It peered inside the cabin with a solitary, gleaming yellow eye, and its attention fixed on her.

  As it reached inside to extract her like she’d used a pick to pull meat from a lobster claw, she yelped.

  “Haiii!” someone yelled.

  Taylor’s eyes widened when a tall green dude dressed in tight black pants and what looked like a fur shirt leaped from the top of the ship and landed on the beast’s back.

  The green, alien guy hefted a sword up and, with a grunt, drove the blade down through the creature’s head.

  If you’d like to read Wulf & Taylor’s story,

  you can find it on Amazon.

  * * *

  Turn the page for a peek at

  AXIL, the complete story that started it all.

  Axil is FREE when you sign up for my newsletter

  at avarosswrites.wordpress.com/

  AXIL

  It isn’t every day an Earth woman

  is chosen to be a

  mail-order bride for a hulking beast of an extraterrestrial race.

  * * *

  En route to meeting h
er alien fiancé for the first time, Julia gets lost inside the lower corridors of the alien starship. When she slams into a grease-spattered alien and he grabs her, she does what any self-respecting Earth girl would do—she stabs him. He flings her over her his shoulder, hauls her to his room, and tosses her onto his bed. Then he kisses her.

  * * *

  No puny Earth female should dare to assault him, yet this one challenges him at every turn. He wants her, and he’s used to taking whatever he wants. When she signals for him to kiss her, what’s a hot-blooded alien to do? He climbs over her and captures her mouth with his own.

  * * *

  An Earth woman and an alien beast of a man collide on a starship bound for the planet, Crakair. Will the seven foot tall, pissed off alien warrior release her or take her as his bride?

  * * *

  Axil is a novella in the Mail-Order Brides of Crakair Series. This standalone story has on-the-page heat, hot aliens who look and act alien, a guaranteed happily ever after, no cheating, and no cliffhanger.

  * * *

  Turn the page for the first chapter…

  Chapter One

  Julia

  Tonight, Julia would meet her fiancé for the first time. Leave it to her to get lost within the depths of the alien spaceship fifteen minutes before the formal introduction ceremony between the Earth mail-order brides and their Crakairian grooms.

  Her best friend, Thea, skittered beside her, gaping around at the dimly lit gray metal halls they’d been rushing through for so long even Julia could no longer tell which way was up and which way was down.

  “You sure this is the right way?” Thea asked.

  “At this point, who knows?” Julia cringed. “I’m sorry. I messed up. They’re going to be pissed off at us, aren’t they?”

  Dressed in formal gowns sent to them by the Crakairian government—which were too damn long—they hurried down a hall that led to another, only to find themselves at an intersection with four more halls. Right or left?

  Julia growled and flung her hands up into the air, then snatched at the rolls of the dress she’d tucked underneath her belt. Safety pins hadn’t been enough. How tall were Crakairian women, anyway?

  “They’re going to think we stood them up,” Thea said. She released a high-pitched, nervous giggle.

  “They’ll wait.” Julia paused in the next intersection before leading them down a ramp to a floor below. If only she could find an elevator, assuming the ship had elevators. “It’s not like they have many choices.”

  “Maybe in my case they do. I mean, I’m marrying a regular guy, assuming scaled alien guys who are seven feet tall and have muscles on their muscles can be considered a regular guy. I imagine he will wait. But your guy?” Her dark eyebrows lifted, and her brown eyes gleamed. “Your situation is a bit…different.” She gave Julia a short curtsy. “My queen.”

  “My fiancé is the Crown Prince of Crakair, not the King.” Julia stopped to study a diagram affixed to the wall, but while the you are here arrow pointed to this location, she couldn’t figure out how to get from here to the ballroom where the formal reception was supposed to take place.

  “Okay, then,” Thea said, releasing another nervous snort. “All hail the Princess of Crakair.”

  Maybe? Julia’s future title hadn’t been explained to her yet. A lot of this hadn’t been explained to her yet.

  A year ago, a mysterious disease had swept through the galaxy, killing most of the women on the planet Crakair and the men on Earth. In a quest to continue their species, the Crakairian council had sent messages into the stars, seeking brides. One of their pings connected with Earth.

  Attack! That’s what the people on Earth had thought, and they’d scrambled to prepare for an alien invasion. But when Earth’s tentative reply reached the Crakairians, the council Elders sent a delegation, and an agreement was formed. Mail-order brides from Earth would be sent to Crakair to become mates for eager Crakairian grooms.

  When the idea was presented to the public, Earthlings had laughed. Until pictures of the available men arrived.

  Yes, they had appendages jutting off their heads that resembled thick dreadlocks—called naanans—and the guys were universally green and had scaled skin. But they provided Earth women a chance to have a family outside of artificial insemination.

  Julia and Thea had applied and been accepted in the first group of five women. Julia was intrigued, nervous, and a bit excited to see what came next. And now she could be blowing her chance with her alien fiancé.

  A bang behind them made Julia skitter forward. Her breathing came fast and her heart bolted up into her throat. While it was silly, Julia felt better with her jackknife in her hand. She flicked the blade free.

  “What was that sound behind us?” Thea whispered, her wide-eyed gaze meeting Julia’s.

  Julia’s hand tightened on the grip of her blade. “I’m not sure I want to find out.” She snagged Thea’s arm and they jogged forward.

  Her skin crawled with goosebumps. Who knew what kind of creatures they’d find wandering around in the basement of the ship?

  Overhead, the lights flickered.

  “Oh, jeez. Oh, jeez.” Thea’s voice rose to a screech.

  “Run!”

  They bolted forward and turned right.

  Julia smacked into a rock-solid wall of green muscle. Hands grabbed her forearms and held tight. She gaped up at the super-tall, scaly alien male holding onto her. Grease speckled his face and clothing. A mechanic? If so, his helper stood beside him, his hands securing Thea, who stared up at him with her mouth ajar.

  “Holy hell,” Thea whispered.

  The alien holding Julia studied her face before he gave her a short bow. “Dreafillar.”

  “Let me go.” Julia wrangled in the mechanic’s grip, but his hands tightened.

  When he tried to tug her closer, she shrieked. Her arm rushed forward, and she stabbed him with her knife.

  As he grunted, her knees quaked and horror rose from her belly, threatening to burst from her throat.

  “Oh, shit. I’m sorry,” she blubbered as blood pooled in a growing circle on his white shirt. “I’m a nurse. I don’t usually…stab people. Her gaze followed the blood as it trickled down the leg of his black leather pants.

  He frowned at the knife still clutched in her hand. Prying it from her fingers, he tossed it aside. He latched onto her wrists again, unbalancing her, and she tumbled forward into his arms. He hefted her up and flopped her over his shoulder.

  While Thea wiggled and screamed, the other alien dude did the same with Julia’s friend.

  “Damn you, let me go,” Julia yelled. She kicked and flailed.

  The alien smacked her butt.

  Oh, my freakin’ no.

  “What did you just do?” she bellowed. “What did you just do!?”

  The males parted, the other guy striding down the corridor they’d come from while Julia’s alien carried her in the opposite direction. He pressed a button beside a door and the metal panel swept open. Stepping inside, he grunted something she didn’t understand, and the small room shuddered. The door opened again, and the alien stepped out, still carrying her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes.

  She pummeled his back with her fists. “I said put me down!”

  His hand smacked her butt again, harder, and he barked out a command. While it didn’t translate, she also didn’t want his big palm landing on her ass again.

  Maybe. She’d never thought that was her kind of kink, but who the hell knew?

  She must be out of her mind to be thinking about sexy times with an alien who was abducting her.

  But come on, her inner demon said. He’s kinda hot. Actually, this whole situation is kinda hot.

  Julia fanned her flaming face.

  He has muscles on his muscles.

  Grease-covered muscles. Julia had a fiancé. She didn’t need a quickie with a hot alien handyman. She was saving her quickies for Axil, her intended, though she hoped he’d be
up for more than a few quickies. Julia preferred longies.

  The alien strode down a hall with better lighting and shinier walls.

  He’s got cool, thick dreads, the inner demon girl said.

  One of the appendages stroked across Julia’s ass.

  She shouldn’t be turned on by this.

  Like, can you help it? demon girl shouted. Steamy alien abduction is your secret catnip.

  “Shut the fuck up,” Julia hissed. So she read every single alien abduction book she could get her hands on. That didn’t mean she wanted to act them out.

  “Yes, fucking,” the guy said.

  You spoke aloud, her demon said, not me.

  “You are me!” When Julia growled, the alien did too, the rumble of his chest rising up and teasing her belly.

  His palm glided across her ass again, and he murmured something too low for her to understand.

  Back on Earth, she’d had a translator implanted behind her ear, but had been told it might take time for the device to learn her speech patterns and perform with accuracy. They’d be able to communicate, but it would initially sound rough.

  She’d planned to get her translator up to speed with her alien fiancé.

  Stopping at a door, he entered a series of numbers in a keypad and the panel swooshed open. He stepped inside and locked things up.

  Turning, he tossed her onto a bed on the side of the small room.

  Climbing up and over her, he braced his legs on either side of her thighs. When she slapped at him, he grabbed and pinned her hands over her head.

  With a guttural grunt, his full, hard length pressed down on top of her.

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