Royal Defender: Her Space Guardian (Celestial Mates Book 9)

by Therron, Marla

  ROYAL DEFENDER

  HER SPACE GUARDIAN

  MARLA THERRON

  Copyright 2017 by Marla Therron

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this publication may be reproduced

  in any way whatsoever, without written permission

  from the author, except in case of brief

  quotations embodied in critical reviews

  and articles.

  This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to any

  character, person, living or dead, events, place or

  organizations is purely coincidental. The author does not

  have any control over and does not assume any responsibility

  for third party websites or their content.

  First edition, 2017

  DESCRIPTION

  Travelling from Earth on a mercy mission, beautiful and curvy scientist Jenna seeks to develop a cure for a terrible plague that is devastating the distant, barbaric world of Kastra.

  Career focused and driven to succeed, Jenna has closed herself off from emotional attachments and romance and wants only to work on a vaccine to help the Kastrans. However, after an assassination attempt nearly kills her before she can begin her work, she is assigned a surly, Alpha bodyguard called Tawn.

  A veteran of Kastra’s brutal civil wars, the brooding, stoic Tawn seeks only a quiet life and has closed off his own emotions for fear of being hurt and betrayed. When the two are forced to work together, it kindles a mutual desire that erupts into a wild and burning passion and with Tawn’s help Jenna races against time to develop a vaccine as a dangerous enemy seeks to destroy her and conquer Kastra for himself.

  What follows is a thrill ride alien romance full of suspense and passion.

  Table Of Contents

  Chapter 1: A Guiding Voice

  Chapter 2: The Royal Defender

  Chapter 3: A Growing Warmth

  Chapter 4: Lone Wolf

  Chapter 5: Lovers’ Hideaway

  Chapter 6: The Power And The Passion

  Chapter 7: An Ocean Of Love

  Chapter 1: A Guiding Voice

  The sky of Kastra was the colour of deep champagne, rich and golden, and Jenna stared at it in wonder as she guided her star shuttle into the planet’s atmosphere. Leaving the gloomy folds of astra-space behind, she found herself flying into bright sunshine and her navigation computer told her it was mid-morning in this time zone.

  She punched in the coordinates for Queen Marna’s palace, pleased that she was making good time. However, nerves began to set in at the prospect of finally meeting Kastra’s formidable ruler. This was an important day for her, and for Earth as a whole, and Jenna wanted nothing to go wrong.

  To take her mind off the impending first contact, Jenna focused her attention on the scenery below her. Kastra was a multi-coloured patchwork of living, land coral, punctuated by rivers and lakes of a shimmering crimson colour.

  Forests of glittering emerald clung to the sides of huge, strangely shaped mountains and as Jenna approached the vast expanse of Kastra’s largest ocean, she made out the spindly ice-blue spires of Marna’s own magnificent residence.

  It sat upon a shelf of rock overhanging the sea and on the inland side the picturesque white coral buildings of Kastra’s capital city spread out in a wide fan shape across the floor of a large valley. Jenna homed in on the vast settlement, locating the spaceport at the skirts of the palace.

  “Kastra Palace, this is the Tempest star shuttle from Earth, Doctor Jenna Landis speaking,” Jenna said into the comm. system, “request permission to land, please.”

  “Permission granted, Tempest,” a friendly voice replied. “Welcome to Kastra. The Queen is looking forward to meeting with you, Doctor.”

  Jenna tingled with excitement as she set the computer to initiate landing procedures. This was it, her big moment and judging by the response she’d just gotten she was in for a warm reception. That came as a big relief.

  Kastrans were extremely suspicious of aliens and very few non-Kastrans had been allowed to visit the planet. In fact, she was going to be the first Earthling to ever set foot on Kastran soil.

  Usually, Earth would have sent a diplomatic team to handle a first contact situation like this, but the crisis on Kastra meant usual etiquette was of no practical use, and Jenna’s medical knowledge was far more important to the Kastrans right now.

  A flock of sleek, amber coloured birds caught her attention, moving through the sky to the left of her. She watched them on the 360 degree view monitor, amazed at their grace and beauty and hoped that sometime during her mission she’d have time to study the planet’s wildlife.

  She gazed at the birds as she neared the city, making a mental note to find out what they were called when she’d landed, and was about to focus on making her landing when she noticed one of the birds suddenly breaking from the others and heading her way.

  She was only half-watching it, as she was now concentrating on the spaceport, and didn’t look at it again until it was almost only a few feet away and keeping up with her craft.

  Jenna frowned as she now fully watched the bird on the monitor, noticing the strange black streaks along its body and patches of bare, blistering skin where the feathers had fallen away. It looked diseased and she suddenly realised its eyes were glowing with a baleful red light.

  The bird unnerved her and she was just about to bank away from it when it darted forward and collided with the side of her craft. Jenna let out a startled cry as a shudder went through the compartment and the controls started going haywire.

  Panic stricken, Jenna suddenly found she was no longer able to pilot the craft. The city was growing bigger on the view monitor, and she was hurtling uncontrollable towards it!

  “Kastra Palace! Kastra Palace! This is the Tempest! I am in trouble! I cannot control my ship! Please respond!”

  The ship lurched and rolled before righting itself. Jenna froze with panic. With a chilling realisation, she knew there was no way out of this. She was on a collision course with the city and the thought of innocent people below being killed when she hit finally spurred her into action.

  She jabbed at the paralysed controls and tried to regain some kind of control. If she could somehow aim the shuttle so it hit the surrounding countryside then at least only she would die. It was all that mattered now.

  “Tempest,” a deep, masculine voice suddenly filled the compartment. “Tempest come in. Are you all right?”

  Jenna jerked her head up when she heard the voice. It was not the one from before, and it thrummed with authority and power. The sound of it made her feel calmer.

  “Kastra Palace, I’m here. Listen, you have to evacuate the city, I don’t think I can steer my ship away from you. You have to get people away before I crash.”

  “Don’t worry about that, Jenna,” the man on the other end of the comm. system said. “I’ll get you down safely. I’m coming up to your position now.”

  On the view monitor a sleek, black vessel with streamlined wings swooped up from the city. It disappeared from sight and Jenna’s heart jumped when she felt a sudden heavy thud from somewhere above.

  “Jenna, I’ve got you secured in my ship’s docking clamps,” the voice said. “I’ll fly you down to the spaceport. Stay calm and relax. We’ll soon be on the ground.”

  Relief flooded through Jenna and she sank into her seat, her body drenched in icy sweat. “Thank you,” she called out to her mystery saviour. “What’s your name?”

  “Tawn,” the man replied brusquely. “Keep quiet now. I need to concentrate on getting us to the l
anding pad or there will be two ships crashing, and I’m in no mood to die today.”

  There was no argument to that, and Jenna fell silent. She closed her eyes and breathed deeply. This was shaping up as a fine start to her mission. She’d come to save the people of Kastra, and had ended up needing saving herself!

  Chapter 2: The Royal Defender

  The Queen and her tiny retinue were waiting as Jenna made her less than graceful landing at the spaceport, her crippled ship set down by Tawn’s vessel like a toddler being put down by an adult.

  As she disembarked and stepped out onto the apron of white stone, she took in the damage to the Tempest. Its hull was blackened, and one of the back engines had crumpled in as if damaged by an explosive.

  Jenna thought about the strange bird she had spotted before she’d run into difficulties and frowned. Surely, a bird couldn’t cause all that damage?

  “Doctor Landis, are you quite safe?” Queen Marna asked anxiously, bustling past her courtiers and guards to get to the earthling.

  At barely four foot, she was a stocky, energetic woman with long grey hair that was braided and decorated with seashells. She was clad in a simple outfit of boiled leather, and a clay pipe jutted from the corner of her mouth. She was not exactly Jenna’s idea of royalty.

  “You gave us quite a shock back there,” the Queen went on, peering at her with sharp, onyx black eyes.

  “Oh, your majesty, I’m fine,” Jenna said, getting flustered. Everything she’d memorised about Kastran etiquette and gone clean out of her head thanks to the crisis. Belatedly, she performed what she hoped was a curtsy.

  “I am honoured to finally meet you, my lady. I bring friendship and well wishes from the planet Earth.”

  “Don’t bother with all the boring formalities, earthling,” the Queen replied with a dismissive wave of one meaty hand. “You’ve been through enough torment for one day. We need to get you indoors and put a few glasses of kelp brandy inside you. It won’t make you feel any better, but it’ll put hairs on your chest.”

  Jenna blinked and then burst out laughing. The Queen gave her a wide, brown-toothed grin. “Feel a bit better?”

  Jenna nodded. “Yes thank you, your majesty.”

  “Call me Marna,” the older woman said. “You’re here as an equal.”

  She turned her head as she noticed something behind them and raised her hand. “Ah, here is my Royal Defender, Tawn. You have him to thank for your safe landing. It’s about time he did something useful.”

  Jenna remembered the deep voice over the comm. system and spun round quickly to thank her saviour. After setting her ship down, he had landed his own fighter craft a little ways off on the landing pad and was now walking towards them.

  Jenna’s eyes widened and she felt an emotional punch to her stomach as she took in the large, handsome alien. He was broad and well muscled, literally bulging out of the tight leather vest he wore.

  It was the same burgundy colour as his leggings and his knee-high boots rang out on the white stone as he strode with confidence across the landing pad. Deep set eyes of cornflower blue looked out from a chiselled face of hard contours, devastatingly handsome with its strong nose, high cheekbones and seductive, bow-shaped lips.

  His pale blond hair was almost white and neatly oiled back away from his face, coming down to just below his ears, and, like all Kastrans, he had a distinctive upside down triangular marking of dark red skin around his left eye, which contrasted with his bronzed tan.

  Butterflies danced madly inside Jenna’s chest as the Defender drew closer and she began to panic. Her mouth had gone dry and she couldn’t think of anything to say to this powerful, gorgeous man.

  “Tawn,” the Queen called out. “This is Jenna. Be polite, and try not to scare her too much.”

  Tawn had now joined the little group, towering over Jenna and was close enough for her to breathe in his rich, musky scent. His eyes flicked over her for just a fraction of a second and he bowed his head. “Earth woman,” he said gruffly, in way of greeting.

  Marna barked a laugh and her pipe nearly went flying out of her mouth. “You see what a master of eloquent conversation he is, Jenna? I despair at you sometimes, you big oaf!”

  Tawn shrugged his big shoulders at this retort and said nothing. He was no longer looking at Jenna, and kept his steely gaze on the floor, his face an iron mask.

  “I’m pleased to meet you Tawn,” Jenna said timidly, finally mustering up the courage to speak. “You saved my life. I am very grateful.”

  Tawn lifted his sultry eyes for just a moment and made his mouth into a thin line. “It was nothing,” he said dismissively.

  Jenna took a step back, stung by his apparent arrogance. Back on the shuttle, Tawn had seemed so protective and concerned for her safety but now he could barely be bothered to look at her. The swell of attraction he’d first provoked in her now gave way to cool dislike.

  “You’ll get used to Tawn if you stay on Kastra for a few years,” Marna drawled. She had now ambled over to Jenna’s shuttle and was surveying the damage.

  “Looks like you had quite the mishap,” she said, rubbing her chin thoughtfully. “What happened up there, girl?”

  Jenna remembered the strange, sinister bird with its frightening red eyes. It had flown straight at her, that was true, but it couldn’t have caused her near crash. She shot a sidelong glance at Tawn who seemed to now be completely disinterested with her and her ship.

  Jenna decided not to say anything about the bird. She did not want to earn the Defender’s scorn or run the risk of the Queen thinking she was crazy.

  “I don’t know,” she said honestly. “It could have been a fire in the engine fuel core. It’s been known to happen when ships jump out of astra-space and back into the material plane.”

  “Technology,” Marna said with not a little trace of contempt in her voice.

  “Don’t like it. Never have, never will. Give me a sea buffalo between my legs and a stingray sword in my hand and you’ll be looking at a happy woman. I don’t trust machines in the slightest. That’s why I keep Tawn around as my bodyguard instead of an android, though they both have the same amount of personality.”

  Tawn let out a snort. “Even a mechanical man would be driven to distraction by my Queen’s fractious nature. Fortunately, I am made of sterner stuff.”

  Jenna looked at him and a crooked smile of pearl white teeth flashed across his face. In an instant, the gloomy and stoic expression evaporated, and Tawn suddenly looked boyish and carefree. It was only for a moment though. When he saw her looking at him, his face darkened again. The effect was akin to a cloud moving across the sun.

  “I think the damage is pretty superficial though. The onboard repair drone will get to work fixing the engine,” Jenna said returning her attention back to the Queen.

  “My equipment hasn’t been damaged, thank goodness, and I still have all my stuff,” she added indicating her travel case which she had brought off the ship with her when she disembarked.

  Marna nodded and began to stride away. “Come then, Jenna, we are being lax in our manners. You need some food and drink inside you. Tawn, move yourself and carry our guest’s bag inside.”

  Tawn stirred and went over to pick up her travel bag. Immediately, Jenna moved to intercept him. “It’s okay. I can manage it myself.”

  “I’ll take it,” Tawn boomed. One large hand came forward at the same time as she slipped her fingers around the handle of the travel case.

  For just the briefest of moments, they touched each other, and a tingling heat sparked in the pit of her belly and spread all along her body. She felt her cheeks start to burn and became painfully self-conscious. She glanced at Tawn, but he showed no flicker of emotion.

  Swiftly, she moved away and let him take her bag after all. He picked it up and sauntered away after the Queen and her courtiers.

  When she didn’t immediately follow, he swung his head round and scowled. “Come, this is the way,” he said slowly, s
peaking to her like she was simple.

  Jenna clamped down on her raging hormones and the fire of passion she had experienced through the touch went out abruptly. I don’t like him, she thought to herself as she followed Tawn along the landing pad.

  * * *

  “The Screaming Plague has caused more havoc than the two hundred years of fighting my planet endured during the Kingdom Wars,” Queen Marna said with feeling as she, Jenna and Tawn sat together in the great hall of the palace.

  The vaulted chamber was fashioned from coral of a rich blue colour, and held aloft by huge columns of bronze. A massive hearth shaped to resemble an oyster blazed with a roaring fire that filled the chamber with intense heat and shadow-fringed light. Jenna found the cavernous room both intimidating and fascinating.

  “The report I got on Earth said that you’d suffered massive causalities,” she agreed, picking at the plate of buttered scallops that had been offered to her.

  She found the food quite delicious but the main topic of conversation had robbed her of much of her appetite. “I understand it started when one of the fishermen in a remote settlement was struck down by a mystery illness.”

  Marna nodded and relit her pipe, sending out plumes of seaweed scented smoke across the table. “The man broke out in a rash of black pebble-like growths on the first day and by the forth he was raving like a madman and writhing in agony. Fearing a Water Demon possessed him; the other villagers threw him from the cliffs and let the sea reclaim him. They hoped that was the end of it, but soon others started to fall sick as well.

  “Worse still, a travelling merchant had been in the village and contracted the Screaming Plague but for some reason he didn’t sicken straight away. He only became ill when he reached Kastra Capital. After that the plague spread like wildfire.”

  Jenna listened intently, trying not to grimace at the part when the villagers killed the fisherman rather than at least attempting to help him. Though Kastra had developed respectably sophisticated astra-travel technology, it was still very much the feudal barbaric world it had been for thousands of years.