Magic, New Mexico: Seducing Sela (Kindle Worlds Novella) (Zolon Warriors Book 2)

by Tianna Xander

  “If anyone is a rich gold miner around here, it’s me.”

  “What are you and your goons doing on our land, Johnson?” Sela spun around and glared at the man who stood just inside the cave entrance, surrounded by more of his hired guns.

  “Drop your weapons, gentlemen. All of them.” He snarled as his men spread out, some of them hiding behind the crates in case they used the shock lights again.

  “Do it,” Ceno said as he placed his body in front of Sela. He hoped she’d stay behind him and do as he asked. He didn’t need to fight her while his beast kept ramming the edge of his control.

  “Now that we’ve established who’s in charge here, you and Sela move to the back of the cave.”

  Ceno backed up, keeping her behind him. The last thing he wanted was to give the man a clear shot. He barely managed to hold his beast under a tight rein. He knew if he lost control, Johnson and his men wouldn’t hesitate to kill all of them with their automatic weapons. As much as he wanted to attack, he knew he couldn’t if he wanted to keep Sela alive.

  “You heard him, baby. Move back into the cave.” He kept his body in front of her until he felt her stumble backward. A red haze settled over his vision as he turned to her. “When you manage to back into the darkness, get down on the ground. Make yourself as small and inconspicuous as you can.”

  Ceno almost sighed at her slight nod. Thank the Goddess she’d decided to cooperate.

  He almost smiled when she reached out and grabbed her grandfather by the back strap of his coveralls and dragged him with her. Ceno stood still, using every ounce of strength he possessed. His beast was gaining more and more control.

  Both sets of twins moved back as well. Apparently, their father or Reno had instructed them to keep out of the line of fire. The hair on the back of his neck rose as the tension in the air thickened.

  Get ready to release your beast from his bonds.

  Yes, Papan, he and Reno said at the same time.

  Get ready... Hold on a minute... Now!

  In less than three seconds, the three men shifted. Their bones popped and cracked, their faces widening as their bone structure changed from human to tiger.

  At first, their enemy stared at them in abject terror, like a horror movie come to life. Their eyes widened, and their mouths opened on silent screams as three huge tigers filled the space between them and the rest of their group.

  Four of the nine men dropped their weapons and ran screaming from the cave.

  I’d hoped for that. It evens the odds a bit, his father said through their link.

  I want Johnson. Ceno mentally snarled the words.

  Then, you’d better take him out fast, or I’ll do it for you. No one threatens my sons and their mates without paying the price. His father pounced, taking out one of the remaining three who still held automatic weapons.

  The sound of gunfire filled the cave as the man went down. Orange blood sprayed from his neck when Geno clamped his large incisors onto the man’s neck. When the holographic image sensed the death of the wearer, the image pixilated and shifted back to that of an Argarian.

  Wasting no more time, Ceno leaped toward Johnson, intending to take him out. How long had the Argarians been on Earth? Was Johnson also an alien, or had the reptilian horde just taken advantage of the man’s position to mine the resources of the planet?

  As Zolon raiders, mining the resources of Earth had been their priority until they’d found sentient life on the planet. Their crash landing meant nothing. Had they managed to keep themselves from falling to the surface, their code of honor would have precluded the gathering of resources. The Argarians had no such code.

  Another jumped in front of Johnson, protecting him. Ceno landed on the sacrifice, ripping its throat out.

  A scream from the darkness spun him around as Reno attacked yet another of their assailants. The flash and sound of gunfire both helped and hindered his ability to track his enemies.

  He wasn’t sure, but he thought he saw Deno and Xeno take another out by knocking it over the head with a large rock.

  The sound and flashes of gunfire spun him around, his vision tracking the light of the hot projectiles as they flew through the air.

  Cal Johnson had dropped to the ground, hiding behind an outcropping of rock as Sela shot round after round from the semiautomatic rifle she held to her shoulder.

  “Come on out, Johnson. If that’s even your name.” Another shot rang out as she stepped closer. “What’s the matter?” She took another shot. “Face me, you son of a bitch!”

  Chapter Nineteen

  Sela fired another shot. Stone chips flew up, hitting the walls of the cave and the man hiding behind the rock.

  Her chest ached as she stared at him. What if he was human? Could she kill him knowing that? Even though he might be responsible for her family’s deaths, could she really bring herself to shoot another human being?

  Slowly, she lowered the barrel of the gun. She couldn’t do it. She could never take the life of another. Not like this. Her stomach churned as she thought of how she’d wanted nothing more than to end his life. Now, faced with the opportunity, she couldn’t do it. She couldn’t shoot an unarmed man.

  “Damn it!” Sela shot three consecutive rounds toward the man, sending shards of stone everywhere.

  The odd hologram-like thing surrounding him faltered. Pixels of color and light flashed around him, and his disguise failed. In Cal Johnson’s place was a large green reptilian creature. Like a human, it had two arms, two legs, a body, and a head, but that was where the similarities ended. The creature standing before her had a head more like a tyrannosaurus than a man. Its glowing orange eyes tracked her every movement.

  Gasping, she leaped back, the barrel of the rifle dropping lower still in her disbelief.

  Taking advantage of her shock, it lunged toward her, reaching for the gun.

  This time, she didn’t hesitate. Sela repeatedly pulled the trigger and unloaded the semiautomatic weapon into the center mass of the... thing that had been Cal Johnson.

  The creature fell back, the strange orange glow fading from its monstrous eyes. Her stomach churned as she dropped her weapon to the ground, heedless of any danger around her.

  How could she come to terms with the things she’d seen and done? How would she ever return to a normal life after seeing gorgeous men turn into huge saber tooth tiger-like things and green aliens from hell?

  Spinning around, she ran from the cave. If Johnson, or whatever that was, had more men out here, they were welcome to put an end to her misery. Dying was preferable to losing her mind, and Sela was sure she’d totally lost it.

  Blindly, she ran and ran through the darkness, stumbling through brush and over tree roots. No matter how fast or far she ran, she couldn’t seem to outrun the scene in the cave that kept replaying in her mind.

  Cal Johnson was an alien. A dead alien. And she’d been the one to kill him—it—whatever.

  That part didn’t bother her as much as finding out she was crazy. Either that or the man she’d been quickly losing her heart to was a strange-looking shapeshifting tiger-man thing.

  Her foot caught on a thick tree root, and she fell onto her hands and knees. Her chest heaving, she stayed on the ground, her fingers digging into the soft soil. Coiled energy drained from her and into the ground. As strange as it seemed, she felt her body drawing in a new, calmer energy from the Earth itself. Closing her eyes, she attempted to bring everything that had just happened into focus, trying to make some sort of sense out of it.

  “We’re just like you, you know.”

  She didn’t jump at the sound of Ceno’s voice. In fact, part of her had realized he followed her. No matter what she might feel with any other man, he would never frighten her. Just the sound of his voice calmed her more when she knew it shouldn’t. She felt confusion, sure, but shouldn’t she feel fear as well? After all, the man could shift his shape. That wasn’t even possible, was it?

  “What... What are you
?”

  “I am a Zolon raider turned warrior.”

  “What’s a Zolon warrior?”

  “A man, for the most part.” He shrugged and leaned against a tree, his hands in his pockets. “Originally, my brothers and I came here to raid this planet of its resources. We had no idea it was occupied until we crashed here.”

  “You were going to steal our resources?” She took a deep breath. “Great. I’ve been hanging out with a thief.”

  “You’ve got it all wrong. We had no intention of raiding your world when we discovered sentient life here. But our ship crashed, and we had no choice but to stay and make a living on this planet.”

  “No choice, huh?” Her heart sank. How could she fall in love with a man who would leave her the first chance he got? It was Jack all over again. What was it with her and falling for the walkaway types?

  Turning, she started walking. She might not have the energy to find her way home, but she’d damn sure find that little cabin her grandparents stayed in when her parents were both alive. It was around here somewhere. She could feel it.

  Sighing, Sela shook her head. Good grief! She’d gone from not believing in her grandfather’s hooey to living it. Still, her irritation didn’t keep her from following the strange feeling of the cabin in the distance. She’d follow the odd pull, and when she got to the little cottage, she’d slam the door in Ceno’s face.

  She turned and limped toward the north. That’s exactly what she’d do.

  “Yes. We had no choice. The crash landing destroyed our ship and almost killed us. If it weren’t for the kind people of Magic, New Mexico, we all would have perished in the resulting fire. Luckily for us, the townsfolk there are a little different from most. They pulled us from the wreckage and helped us build a life here.”

  “Where are we going?” He followed her for a few minutes, obviously waiting for an answer.

  “I’m going to find my grandparents’ old cottage. It’s around here somewhere.” She glared at him and arched a brow. “I have no idea where you’re going, but it’s certainly not with me.”

  “We need to talk.”

  “No, we don’t.” She pressed her lips together to keep herself from saying something she’d regret. “We needed to talk when you first got here. When you insinuated yourself into my life. Before you turned into some kind of... of weird tiger-like thing right before my eyes.” She wiped her eyes to clear her blurred vision. “The time to talk was before...” She sobbed and waved her arm. “Before all of this. Before I...” She lowered her voice to a whisper so he wouldn’t hear her—couldn’t hear her. “Before I fell in love with you.”

  “I love you, too.” Ceno swept her up into his arms and nuzzled the top of her head. “I’ve waited most of my life to meet a woman like you. You have no idea what it’s like on my world. You’re a miracle to me.”

  How could she believe him? How could she ever come to terms with the fact that he was at least part animal and she loved him? Was marrying someone like him even legal?

  Where had that come from? Sela pushed the thought away. She was so not marrying a strange shapeshifting alien from outer space. God, that sounded so much like a B-movie title, it almost made her laugh out loud. She snorted instead.

  “Put me down, Ceno. I’m not about to let you sprain your back. You and your family are leaving tomorrow. You can have all the gold in the cave. Just get the hell out of my life.”

  “You don’t mean that.”

  He was right. Sela sighed. How could he know her so well in such a short time when she knew so little about him? She wriggled in his arms, snuggling closer to his warmth. She might not know him, but she knew she liked the feel of his arms around her. Was that really such a bad thing?

  “If you’re going to insist on carrying me to my grandparents’ cottage, the least you could do is shift that blaster to the back of your waistband instead of the front. It’s digging into my hip.”

  “That’s not a blaster, darlin’.” He winked at her and then grinned. “Though, I thank you for thinking it was.”

  Oh, God. Please let me drop dead now.

  “It’s that way.” She pointed a bit to the left.

  “I know.”

  “How could you possibly know that?”

  “I can smell it.”

  “Please don’t remind me that you’re not quite human.”

  “I’m not quite an animal either.” He moved silently through the brush. “I hope you don’t mind, but I told the others I have you and you’re safe. They’re taking Clyde back to the house.”

  Wonderful. She didn’t think she could face anyone else just yet. Figuring out what she was going to do about her inappropriate feelings for an alien shapeshifter was enough on her plate for the rest of the night.

  They walked in silence until the cabin came into view.

  “Is the door locked?”

  “Yes. But the key is in one of those key rock things you always see people using on TV.” She wriggled a bit and then stopped, her face burning when she came in contact with his blaster again. “I’ll get it if you’ll put me down.”

  “I’ll put you down if you promise not to lock me out. We really need to talk about what’s going on between us. You deserve an explanation.”

  “All right.” She sighed. “You can come in, but I’m not promising I won’t kick you right back out after you say your piece.”

  Chapter Twenty

  Ceno entered the musty cabin, and following her lead, immediately started opening the windows.

  “It’s been at least four months since I aired this place out. I wouldn’t be surprised if there was a mouse nest in the middle of the mattress.” She moved into the kitchen, grabbed a small bottle of water and primed the hand pump on the edge of the sink.

  “You plan on staying here long?”

  “No. I just like knowing there’s water if I need it.” Grabbing a flashlight from next to the stove, she moved away from the sink and into the narrow hall.

  “The bathroom is this way. We have a toilet, but you’ll have to work if you want to use it.”

  She opened a door and shined the light into the room. A toilet stood against the far wall, another hand pump with a bucket sat not far from it.

  “You’ll need to pump water to flush the toilet. We have a septic tank that’s the size of two corn silos buried underground. There’s no electric for a pump, so Dad wanted to make sure there was no way the tank would overflow.” She turned and headed back out of the room.

  “This is the bedroom. Grandma always left her quilt on the bed. I can’t imagine not leaving it there as well.” She shined the light onto the bed, covered with a patchwork quilt and sighed. “I killed someone tonight.”

  “You killed a monster, an animal. That thing was no more a person than a snake or an alligator.” Ceno moved behind her, wrapped his arms around her middle, and drew her back against him. “Argarians are monsters. All of them. Don’t beat yourself up about it, baby.”

  He nuzzled her temple and inhaled deeply, taking in her sweet scent. She leaned back, relaxing against him.

  “Why do you smell so good?” She inhaled deeply. “It’s something between cloves and ginger. I love it.” She shook her head. “But I shouldn’t. You’re an alien.”

  “Yes,” he agreed. “I’m an alien. My brothers and I crash-landed on the outskirts of Magic, New Mexico. We’ve lived there the past few years, learning how to blend in on this world.”

  “I shouldn’t feel this way.” Sighing again, she shook her head. “I don’t believe in love at first sight.”

  “I do.” Bending, he slipped his arm behind her knees and lifted her to his chest, holding her against him. He wanted her to feel cared for—as precious as she was to him. “I’ve believed in it since I walked into that convenience store yesterday afternoon.” He pressed a kiss to her temple. “It took me a while to realize it, but I finally did when we were tumbling down the side of the mountain. I realized I didn’t want to live without you.”


  He sat on the bed, holding her in his lap.

  “I’ve wanted you since the moment you punched JC in the mouth.”

  “Right.” She laughed and shook her head. “That was the most unladylike thing I’ve ever done in my life.”

  “It was awesome.” Ceno cupped her cheek in his hand, his thumb caressing her hammering pulse.

  She might try to tell him she didn’t want him, but he knew better. Still, she must agree to a claiming. He couldn’t keep her otherwise. Ceno wanted nothing more than to keep her.

  “Do you fear me?” He met her gaze, thanking the Goddess, his family had flown here instead of driven. Otherwise, the Argarians might have gotten their way and extinguished the lovely inner light in her beautiful hazel eyes.

  “No.” She shook her head. “You don’t scare me. Though, I kind of wish you did.”

  “Why?” He cocked his head to the side. Humans said such odd things from time to time. “What makes you say that?”

  “It would be easier to say no.”

  Her comment made his chest ache, and he stared down at her clasped hands. He slid his fingers over her light mocha skin. He loved the silky texture. He wanted her more than he’d ever wanted anything or anyone, but he couldn’t have her without her consent. It was the way of his people.

  “Why would you want to say no? We’re perfect for each other. It is almost as though we are two halves of the same whole, separated by time and space, brought together by destiny.”

  Reaching up, he touched her face, lightly drawing his fingers over her cheek. Cupping her jaw, he lowered his head, his lips caressing hers as she wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him closer. Sliding her soft velvet lips against his.

  Blood rushed in his ears, and his beast stretched languidly deep inside him. It sat patiently, awaiting their coupling, their mating.

  His cock throbbed beneath her as she settled deeper in his embrace. Like butterflies, her soft hands skimmed over his shirt, first unbuttoning it, and then slowly pushing it from his shoulders.