The Alien Bounty Hunters Complete Series: Books 1-8

by Mills, Michele

  “So you were brushing me off because you thought I was rude?”

  He shrugged. “Yes.”

  “Oh.” She paused and bit her lip. “You don’t still want me to talk that way to you now, right? Because it seems kinda silly considering what we did last night by the river.”

  He was amazed by the color deepening her cheeks. He’d never spent so much time around a being with so little color. His line had been of royal pigment, and even his adoptive line had been of a lighter shade of royal pigment. Most other species were blue or green or scales. He hadn’t ever spent time around another species with similar skin type as a Xylan but with so little pigment. And he’d never spent any significant amount of time around a Margol. “No…no. That is etiquette for how other species approach a Xylan. It is my tribute as a warrior. As my Bride, you are considered Xylan.”

  “I am considered Xylan?”

  “Yes.”

  “Wait, you said I’m your Bride?”

  He took a deep breath, readying himself to formally say the words that would let this female go. “Yes, you are my Bride.”

  Her mouth opened in shock. “Okay explain this to me. What does that mean exactly? And when did this happen? After I was talking to you the Hurlians dropped from the sky at the marketplace for a snatching, and I told you to get the hell outta there, but you didn’t.”

  He growled. “No, I didn’t. I transported my target to my ship, and I defended you.”

  She grinned. “That was epic.”

  He felt his lips twitch at the corners, as if he were about to smile. But he hadn’t smiled in so many years, he wasn’t sure. “The Hurlians cannot control a planet of species they kidnapped from their original home world while also keeping them as specimens. It is not ethical.”

  She sat up straighter, and her eyes flashed. “No, it’s not,” she agreed. “It’s fucking horrific.”

  He nodded. “This we agree upon.”

  She held a palm up, as if she trying to stop something, an odd human gesture. “Hold on, let’s get back to the important part where you explain to me again how I’m your Bride.”

  “I pulled you back from the Hurlians, and in so doing I touched your hand, skin on skin contact. At that moment we tested mating compatibility and I knew you were my Bride.”

  “You rescued me,” she said, a huge smile on her face. The space between her teeth enticing him like the rarest of fruits

  “Yes, I did,” he agreed.

  “Yeah, after we fell down, you were still holding my hand and I felt something at that moment, too, a rush of energy. It was weird. Like something was flowing between the two of us.”

  He bowed his head for a moment, reliving the majesty of the mating bond. This was supposed to be a momentous moment in a Xylan’s life, and for him it would be taken away. This was the pattern of his life, though, wasn’t it? His family had been taken away. Why not his Bride and offspring, too?

  His heart was stone within his chest.

  “What’s wrong?” she asked.

  “I did not intend to force mating compatibility on you,” he rasped. “I touched your skin because I was trying to save you from the Hurlians.”

  “I know. That was a crazy moment. You were just trying to pull me back, to save me.”

  He lifted his head and met her steady gaze. “Whether my intention was pure or not, the outcome is the same. Mating compatibility was forced because I am removed from the Xylan mating database. I am not allowed a Bride, so a mating compatibility performed by me is considered automatically forced. Forcing mating compatibility is against the Scales of Xylan Law. I would never force mating compatibility on an unmated female. I thought I was pulling you, allowing our skin to make contact because it was an emergency situation in the middle of battle, and also because I never thought that a human and a Xylan could be compatible for mating.”

  Her eyes grew wide. “Wait, there’s a lot you said there… First, when you touched me, how did you know I was your mate?”

  “My cock grew hard for you.”

  She sucked in a breath and her cheeks remained as pink as before. “What? For me?” She glanced down at his crotch as she said this and swallowed.

  He clenched his jaw.

  His cock was jutting out from his trousers. She was his Bride, he was fighting his breeding lust to the best of his ability, there was not more he could do.

  Her eyes lifted up and met his again. “You felt that, right away? Just from my touch?” she said hoarsely.

  He looked away. “Xylans do not feel any sexual urge until the moment they meet their mate. Mating is signified by skin on skin contact.”

  “So from just that touch, when you grabbed my hand, you knew I was your mate?”

  “Yes. You said you felt it, too. You are human, but I knew you were feeling the mating call. With my Hunter suit I was able to check your physical reactions.”

  He watched her again. She sucked in a breath, and her eyes looked pained. He found himself enjoying all the colors and emotions that swept across her skin. He ached to touch her.

  “Yes, I felt it,” she admitted. “I felt it as much as you did.”

  He clenched his fists, his jaw hard as a rock of Collumdrum. He couldn’t stand it, having her so near and yet not being able to touch her. The madness would take him soon. He had to start this review without delay. “Now that you know and understand the situation, it is time for you to make your decision.”

  “Wait. What?”

  “Computer, record and report the following to Xylan Imperial Command, attention, mating compatibility judgment.”

  “Confirmed. Judgment is recording.”

  “What are you doing?” she asked.

  He spoke to the computer. “Kayzon of Twenty-Six a Xylan Bounty Hunter, designation Banished and non-compatible, inadvertently tested mating compatibility with a human female during mission log THX690. Compatibility was confirmed. Mating occurred immediately according to custom.” He bowed his head, wishing he’d been able to hold back and not claim his Bride, but he’d been blinded and trapped by the hormones flooding his body, the hormones that still throbbed within. “The customary one planetary cycle of determination by the female for disavowal will start…now.”

  A chime sounded within the ship. A countdown clock floated on the wall above. “Message sent and received.”

  “What the heck just happened?” his temporary Bride asked, her eyes wide. He analyzed her features, trying to memorize them before they were taken away. The way her husky voice sounded and that delicious space between her teeth. He’d almost forgotten the sound of his mother’s voice these last ten years; he didn’t want to forget his Bride’s. He might not have much life left, but what he had, he wanted her sound, her touch, clear in his memory.

  “I’ve given you the choice of review, which is customary in a contested mating.”

  “What? You mean you’re really not my mate?”

  “No, I am your mate.” It was hard to tell this to her, hard to admit the shame of his past. “I am not allowed to test mating compatibility with a female. As I said before, I have been removed from the Xylan mating database and I am not allowed to have a Bride. I am also Banished from Chronos. Due to these factors our compatibility is under review. During this review period you have a choice as to whether you will confirm our mating or reject it. It is entirely up to you.”

  “Me?” Kia squeaked and glanced with alarm at the giant freaking countdown clock on the wall. This whole thing was hurting her head. First he said she was his Bride, then he was saying, “no, wait a sec, maybe not, because I’m not supposed to have a Bride.” What the hell?

  “The female makes the final decision of disavowal in all cases of mating compatibility review.”

  “Well, that’s nice…” It really was. On New Earth they wouldn’t have let her decide shit about her own future. “But explain to me again why we’re under review.”

  He turned his head, looked away and muttered, “I have been removed fro
m the mating database and deemed unworthy of a Bride,” he repeated. “I should not have tested compatibility. As I said before, it was an accident and I was swept up by the mating hormones.”

  “You didn’t mean to mate with me? You knew that you aren’t allowed to have a Bride, so it was all a mistake?”

  “Yes.”

  The luscious male who’d taken her virginity the night before was telling her it was all a mistake? She took a deep breath, her nose stinging. “So…you don’t want me? This is all a mistake?”

  “Yesterday I lost control. I let the primal hormones, the mating lust…” He paused and looked away again. “I should not have claimed you. I am deemed not worthy of having a mate by Xylan High Command. In good faith I have to warn you that this mating might not be appropriate for you. You are therefore given the choice of disavowal, which means rejection. This mating is under review. You are given one planetary cycle to decide whether to remain with me in this mating or to leave.”

  “Leave and go where?”

  “Back to New Earth. Back to your old life. We will both resume our lives as if this never occurred. There is another decision you must make that is equally important. You are also—”

  She stood up and put a hand out. “Hold on, speaking of my old life. Where is my family? What is happening to them?”

  He looked startled. “Your family? Your line? I do not know.”

  “I know that all this talk of review is important to you, but what about my family? You plucked me off of my planet, and we had a great time last night, but I’m really worried about my family.” She paused and shook her head, trying to get him to understand, to see the urgency. “I can’t even talk to you about any of this until I know everything is okay with my family. I can’t leave them there on New Earth alone. How long have I been gone? My father is living in hiding, afraid for his life. My mother isn’t allowed to work. I have two sisters. They must all be fed. I’m the eldest. They were depending on the extra currency I was going to bring home today. They will starve without me.” Her eyes watered. “What do they think happened to me? Do they think the Hurlians took me? Do they think I’m dead?”

  Kayzon snarled, turned around and began to tap his claws on a screen on the wall.

  “Did you hear what I said? I can’t—”

  He kept tapping on that damn screen.

  “Kayzon.”

  He whipped back around. “It’s fixed.”

  “What’s fixed?”

  “Your line is no longer in danger.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “We are in orbit around New Earth. I have not left the planet yet. So I have sent them currency. Their account is now full enough to pay for all of their needs.”

  She blinked. “I can’t believe you did that.”

  “You are temporarily my mate. At this moment your line is my line. You need the time to make your decision without the added burden of worry over your human family. And I sent a message that you are safe and well.”

  Her jaw dropped.

  He was huge—seven feet of mountainous muscle and scarred with that creepy glowing eye that never followed what the other one did.

  This warrior looked so scary, so heartless, but he really wasn’t, was he?

  She shifted on her feet and couldn’t help the grin that spread across her face. “That was nice of you, thank you.”

  “Nice? I do not understand this word. There appears to be no translation for it in Xylan.”

  She smiled. “You don’t understand ‘nice’? Um, how about, that was an honorable thing to do?”

  He tucked his chin into his chest. She could swear she spotted a small smile curving his lips.

  She took a deep breath. “Okay, now I feel like I can focus on what you were saying before. Hey, how is it that you’re speaking Xylan now and I can understand it? And I can read the time on that countdown clock?”

  “I had a translator put into your brain when I took you to medical bay to have you checked for wounds after the Hurlian attack.”

  “Oh, that’s why I felt so good. Thank you for that.”

  He nodded.

  She waved a hand around. “You know, you don’t seem like you’re happy about this.”

  “I’m not.”

  That lump in her throat was returning. “So…you don’t want me?”

  “I don’t want you to be beholden to me.”

  “Why?”

  He let out a sigh of frustration. “Why are you so accepting of this?”

  “Why wouldn’t I be?”

  “You’re mated to a Banished Xylan warrior. I am not of your species. On Chronos I am considered lazhul. I should not have a Bride. I never thought I would have a Bride.”

  He looked angry. His eyes flashed and his hands were fisted. He obviously resented the fact that his body was making him want her. She wrapped her arms across her chest and tried to do her best to stop the tears that were pricking her eyes.

  Humiliating. This had to be the most humiliating and embarrassing moment of her life. And there’d been plenty of embarrassing moments back in the middle of her father being suddenly outlawed as multigod and her family thrown in poverty. Friends turned on her. Family turned their backs. Her grandparents changed over to unigod and couldn’t understand her parents’ inflexibility on the issue, so turned on them, too. They’d had no one.

  But even that wasn’t as much of a painful stab in the heart as this was now.

  And she’d thought they’d had something special back there. She’d never been kissed, never touched by a man. She’d never dated. Once, she’d shared a few heated glances with a man in the New Earth peacekeepers, the men who patrolled the streets to try to bring peace and order. But shortly after the religious persecution started he’d quickly folded and turned unigod and dismissed her as if she’d never existed. She’d convinced herself that this had been for the best. She’d never have been able to be herself around him. How could she marry a man from New Earth and still manage to hide her strength from him? If anyone had found out they would’ve thought her a freak. Her parents had always told her to keep it a secret for her own safety. If she stayed on New Earth the rest of her life, she’d have to live a life of secrets and lies, all the while being alone and without children.

  She was overjoyed that she’d finally found someone who she could reveal her strength to and he wasn’t revolted by it. She’d bit him and mainly all he was doing afterwards was admiring it, like a badge of honor. So, to her, they seemed to be a good match. There was something here. His body had picked her for a reason. Her body had picked him for a reason. Why deny this? They might as well both go forward with this and give it a chance.

  But instead, he didn’t want it. He was upset that he even had a Bride, and he was rejecting her and not even trying to fight for their relationship. What the hell?

  “So basically you think that I’ll be gone in—” She glanced at the clock. “—less than twenty-four hours?”

  He nodded. “I think at the time of review you will decide to leave.”

  “I don’t understand how you can say that…after what happened last night…”

  “Mating compatibility was forced upon you,” he gritted.

  “But you warned me, you know. You really did tell me to leave you alone, that nothing good would come from me associating with you. And I’m the one who still followed you. That was my choice. Then the Hurlians came. And you saved me.”

  “The circumstances were extreme, but the result is the same. The review is required by Xylan law.” He took a deep breath. “I will leave now. You need time to yourself to come to your final decision. I will sleep elsewhere in the ship.”

  “Can’t I at least stay and talk with you, get to know you better before making my decision?”

  He looked uncomfortable.

  Goddammit. She couldn’t believe him.

  “You were going to ignore me, weren’t you? I can’t believe it.” She threw her hands up. And shoot, that sheet was start
ing to slide, but what the hell! She was so mad, she couldn’t think of anything else. “You were going to leave me in here in this room alone and then return me when the time was up, weren’t you?”

  His hands fisted, and a vein throbbed at his throat. His eyes turned hard and dark. “It makes little sense to increase a bond that is meant to be broken. It is the right decision for the both of us.”

  “You’re not even going to fight for me, to try to talk me into staying, are you? You don’t want me,” she croaked.

  6

  His control seemed to snap. Her new husband strode straight for her, his lips pulled back and his fangs bared. She couldn’t help the little girl squeal that slipped from her lips. She backed up and hit the wall. The whole length of him pressed against her, including the pressure of that huge cock. She should’ve been afraid, but all she could do was sigh with delight.

  Dominance and harsh power radiated from every masculine pore. “I am not a worthy mate,” he snarled.

  She swallowed and kept her tone as even as possible, which was hard to do when a scary as hell, seven-foot tall Xylan warrior had her pinned in a tight spot, his lips so close to her own.

  This reminded her of their power play in the forest. He was rough, he was harsh, he was all the things she would expect a warrior of his species to be, but…fuck, he’d saved her life. He’d said she was his Bride, and somewhere deep inside her heart resided an essential truth: I can get through to him. He’ll listen to me.

  “You are my mate, you said so yourself,” she reminded him softly.

  He inhaled, his great chest rising and falling against her breasts. His gaze locked with hers. “There is choice for you,” he answered. “You can leave and go back.”

  She let out a bitter laugh. “Leave and go where?” she blurted out. “Back to New Earth? Why would I do that? That’s stupid.”

  He pulled back slightly and stared down at her with a hard look on his face. “Don’t do that,” he said. “Don’t use me just to get away.”