Alien Shifter Force: A SciFi Alien Shifter Romance

by Maya Kane

  His hand brushed against soft, smooth skin. He smiled in the darkness. Of course—it was Kate. He had been lamenting the loss of a once in a lifetime opportunity when she came to his door.

  Redon may have been surprised, but he wasn’t stupid. Any fool could have read the intention in her eyes. He still couldn’t believe it, even though she was lying beside him making satisfied little groans as she slept.

  Redon swelled with satisfaction. He would never forget the shock in her eyes as he played her body like some sort of exquisite musical instrument. It almost made up for the fact that he had had to rush things. That was his one regret. But in a time of war, it wasn’t like he could take her to the valleys of Dorane for the usual days-long retreat Dreon took to explore their others.

  “We’ll go when all this is over,” he whispered, stroking her bare shoulder.

  She stirred. “Whu-huh?” she murmured.

  Redon closed his eyes and tried to translate his words into the unfamiliar syllables of Uniton. He brushed his lips against hers. “After fight enemy. Redon Kate go clouds.”

  She pushed herself up so she was leaning over him. The dim light glinted in her eyes. “What?”

  “Place in the clouds. Redon Kate. We go there.”

  “Don hunderstan,” she whispered, her white teeth flashing in the light.

  “Speak Uniton,” he whispered in that language.

  She laughed and shook her head. “Difficult. What Redon say?”

  He opened his mouth to start again, but the words just weren’t coming. It was impossible to think—he was in too much of a blissful post-coital fug. “No matter.”

  “But want know,” she said, sounding insistent.

  Redon sighed. He was about to try again when he thought of something; something far more impactful than badly phrased Uniton. He reached down under the covers and found the core of her; that soft downy skin that seemed to hold the key to her pleasure.

  Kate gasped as his fingers found that strange raised place and began to massage.

  “Better than Uniton,” she whispered, pushing her hips against him and reaching up to nip his neck with her teeth.

  ***

  Redon opened his eyes, realizing he must have fallen asleep again. He reached for her and found the other side of the recliner empty and cold. He sat up with a start.

  Somebody has taken her.

  Redon rushed through the ship, seething with rage.

  “Kate,” he roared. “Kate!”

  Kate was nowhere to be seen. None of his soldiers were in sight either.

  “Kate,” he called again.

  “In here,” a calm voice said in Dreon.

  Redon thrust open the nearest door and stared at his second-in-command. “Come. Kate has been seized. We must find her. I will not have my mate taken.”

  Aron stared at him with a funny look. “You sure?” he said at last.

  Redon shook his head. “Of course I’m sure. I’m telling you, aren’t I?”

  Aron scratched his cheek. “Okay, calm down, Sir. What makes you think she’s been taken?”

  “She wasn’t in my cabin when I awoke.”

  “No sign of a struggle?”

  Redon shook his head.

  “No noises? I know I didn’t hear anything. Apart from…”

  Redon snorted. “No. Nothing out of the ordinary.”

  To his immense surprise, Aron began to laugh. Redon stepped closer. “You find this amusing? Please tell me, Aron, that I’m misreading your expression.”

  Aron shook his head and held his hands up. “Please. No. It’s just… I saw her here just moments ago. With the other humans. Sir, I never thought the mating fever would affect you like this.”

  “Like what?” Redon growled.

  Aron finally managed to straighten his features. “You seem somewhat… agitated.”

  “She should be in my cabin.”

  Aron raised an eyebrow. “Sir, I think it may be different here. The culture. Your human is a soldier. Like we are. She is as eager to commence the mission as we are.”

  Redon scowled. “She is my mate. I will not thrust her into the path of danger.”

  “And how does she feel about that?”

  “I’m sure she will understand.”

  Aron bit his lip.

  “Say it.”

  “It’s just… I’ve had the opportunity to communicate with the humans—with Athena. And it seems to me that they aren’t like the female Dreon. They are fiery. Independent. You saw what they did last day surely?”

  Redon growled.

  Aron shook his head. “Kate and the others. They were on a mission in space. They arrived back to find earth had been attacked. Yesterday, they made a stand against their commander.”

  Redon stared at him.

  “They approached us. She did—Kate. They want to ally with us and go in search of this unknown enemy whom we believe to be the Collective.”

  Redon said nothing. He was thinking of the dangers. He would not allow her to be put in that position, not now that he had found her.

  Aron seemed to read his mind. “What I’m trying to say, sir,” he said with a sigh. “Is it may not be your decision.”

  “Don’t be ridiculous.”

  “You think a woman like that—a fighter—is going to wish to stay behind and make home for you?”

  Redon bristled. “No. That’s not what I wish for her. But I will cherish her—not force her along on a dangerous mission.”

  Aron looked skeptical.

  “It is no place for her.”

  “The other humans won’t go without her. And we need them. Already, Athena and I have come up with a plan as to where we should begin our search. They know the terrain; the sun cycles. You know there is only one moon here? That each day is twenty-four hours long. See—it is small factors like that that will make it impossible to go alone.”

  “I know this, Aron. I am the one who first thought of approaching the humans.”

  “Nothing has changed then,” Aron said imploringly. “She is a fighter. Tough.”

  “She is my mate.”

  “Then protect her,” Aron said, rising. “Yours is the fiercest Drayon there ever was. Now that you’ve regained control of your powers you will be unstoppable.”

  “In the face of a different enemy, that might be true. The Collective, though? With their—” He spun around to the door, where Aron had moved. “Where are you going?”

  “We must coordinate with the humans. To finalize our plan. We don’t have any maps and the humans were unable to take supplies from their base before they left. We are reliant on a plan Athena has drawn from memory.”

  “You trust this human? If it is inaccurate then we may as well—”

  “Yes. She is a scholar,” Aron said, almost adoringly. “If she has drawn it, it is correct.”

  Redon raised his eyebrows. “As you say. Come. Let us face the humans then. I will assess Kate’s suitability to join us.”

  Aron made a face but said nothing.

  Chapter 18

  When they were all seated around the table in the strategy room, Athena and Danni ganged up on Kate. She had never before seen such light in their eyes and she knew it was reflected in her own.

  “Well?” Athena exclaimed.

  Kate grinned. “Well, what? I did my duty for my planet.”

  Athena snorted. “We both know that wasn’t your main motivation. Spill. Come on. How was it? I’ve been daydreaming about what it might be like since…”

  “You?” Kate was surprised. She shook her head. All sorts of strange things had been happening since they arrived back on earth. “You and Aron?”

  “Nooooo,” Athena said, swatting her hand. “I was just curious. Anyway; come on. Stop changing the subject.”

  Kate fought to keep the grin off her face. Redon had been fast asleep when she left him. She couldn’t lie there anymore even though she knew she’d never get tired of staring at his distinctive features and rugged body. Bu
t her stomach had growled stubbornly and she had realized then that she hadn’t eaten since before leaving the base. The night before, she had been too busy obsessing over Redon to think about food. To her relief, she had bumped into Athena and Danni as she tiptoed through the ship, and they had shown her the galley. The Dreon supplies were a bit strange and chalky, but they were edible and it sure beat sneaking back to the base and running the risk being arrested by her own soldiers.

  “Earth to Kate.”

  She shook her head. It was hard not to drift back to memories of their night together. “It was amazing,” she said, stretching languorously. The night before, she had gone to great lengths to hide her intentions from the others, but now she no longer cared. It was like being with him had rid her mind of all unnecessary clutter or worries. All she could think of now was war and Redon.

  “Did he know what to do?” Danni asked, almost anxiously.

  Kate nodded enthusiastically. “Yeah. More than that—he was amazing. He worked my body like he was playing a musical instrument. I don’t know how he did it. Maybe Dreon women have similar bodies to us.”

  Danni shuddered.

  “Or maybe he’s a really fast learner.”

  Kate shrugged. “Could be. We aren’t able to speak to each other—I thought that was a major negative at first, but I’ve changed my mind. It made us find more creative things to do with our bodies. The guy fucks like an athlete.”

  Danni practically fell out of her chair, she winced so hard. Kate turned to her.

  “Grossed out? Aren’t you curious?”

  Danni shook her head. “No. Not grossed out. It’s just… I’m not used to such graphic conversations.”

  “You need to go and make love to a Dreon. Then I’ll bet you everything I own that you won’t be able to stop talking about it,” Kate laughed. “Sadly, we’ve got an invasion on our hands. But believe me, if that wasn’t the case? I’d be boring you guys to death about Redon’s amazing fingers… and his—”

  “That’s enough,” Athena interrupted, rolling her eyes and grinning. “But you’re right about one thing. We have a campaign to plan. So while you were… otherwise engaged, Aron and I sat down and spoke about what we might do. We need to speak to the entire group, but I think we all agree that we need to find these assholes. And the sooner we do that, the better.”

  Kate nodded enthusiastically. “That’s exactly what I was thinking. We need to find out where they’re hiding and how many there are. Then we regroup and figure how best to annihilate them.”

  Athena nodded. “Aron and I discussed sneaking back to the base and raiding the systems for any useful information. We both agreed it’s a bad idea.”

  Kate tilted her head to one side. “I don’t know. We need some way of planning our mission. We don’t want to go to the far reaches of Canada when we want to head to major population centers. They’ve hit LA and Vegas that we know of, right? So the best place to begin is the ground between those places. I might be wrong, but wouldn’t it make sense for them to base themselves where they can easily coordinate the attacks?”

  Athena nodded slowly. “It’s up to you, but I have drawn a map.” She unfurled a large sheet of thin paper.

  Kate stared at it in disbelief.

  “It’s not going to be as accurate as the ones in the base systems. And I wasn’t able to overlay it with details of the topography, but—”

  “Athena, this is amazing. How did you do this?” Kate stared at it. The level of detail was impressive—she may as well have been looking at a map on one of the strategy systems back at the base.

  Athena shrugged, smiling modestly. “I’ve always been interested in geography. It’s just a rough sketch, but it should get us where we need to go.”

  Kate nodded, finding LA and Vegas on the map. She ran her finger along the space between the two cities. “Here. This is where we need to investigate. It could be that the entire area has been wiped out, but that may not be the case.”

  Danni bit her lip. “What if they’re there?” she asked nervously. “Won’t that mean we’re flying straight into the hornet’s nest?”

  Kate glanced back at her. “That’s one way of looking at it,” she said slowly. “Don’t think about that. Think about it as us getting our revenge. You can get them back for destroying your home.”

  The truth was, the idea of flying right into their enemy’s midst made her nervous. But it was also the best way they were going to get an idea of the enemy’s power. There was no sense in flying halfway around the planet if there was a strong likelihood they were concentrated west of the base. That would exhaust the Dreon. It wasn’t like they had a support unit and unlimited supplies. They’d need to hunt for food where they could get it and try to recruit any other humans they met along the way.

  “But… Look, I know the commander was extremely reluctant to take action, but isn’t this the other extreme? Shouldn’t we take our time and try to find other survivors? What if those cities are the only ones affected? If we get help from other bases and coordinate our attack, then we might have more chance of success.”

  Kate nodded. “I didn’t mean we all fly into the danger zone.”

  Danni’s mouth fell open. “Shouldn’t we at least all stay together?”

  “No. There are a number of things we’ll need to accomplish.” She tapped the map. “We’ll divide the Dreon into three groups. I’ll travel here with the first. Athena, you’ll go with east withAron. Danni, you and the third group will—”

  The door burst open and all three women turned to stare at it. Aron and Redon marched through. Kate couldn’t help but feel a stir of desire in her core, even though she still ached from earlier.

  “Hello,” she whispered, unable to keep the grin from her face. She tried, though—she didn’t want to be all gross and PDA’y in front of the rest of the group, especially not at a time like this when they couldn’t afford any distractions.

  Redon, on the other hand, had no such reservations. He marched across the room and pulled her chair back, lifting her up into his arms.

  “Um… hello,” she whispered, staring into his blazing eyes.

  “Kate. You leave cabin,” he murmured, leaning in and kissing her deeply.

  Kate pushed against his bulky shoulders. “Oh-kay,” she laughed, glancing helplessly at Athena. “Let go! Not in public.”

  He made no move to let her go. Kate glanced at Athena again and shot her a pleading look. Athena turned to Aron and whispered something in Uniton, all the while trying to keep the smile off her face.

  Aron spoke to Redon in their own language and he dropped her back on the chair, a hurt look in his eyes. Kate reached up and stroked his face, a dart of pain shooting through her at the thought of hurting this huge Dreon who had captivated her heart.

  “I hope I haven’t offended him,” she whispered, when he wouldn’t meet her eyes.

  “It is their culture to greet their mates enthusiastically,” Athena said, translating Aron’s words. “They do not feel embarrassed about doing so in front of others.”

  “Wipe that smile off your face,” Kate groaned, shaking her head. “Okay. Okay, tell him… tell him I’m sorry. I grew up in a conservative family. We’re weird about public affection.”

  Athena rolled her eyes. “You think he’s going to understand that?.”

  “Oh, you know what I mean. Tell him something.”

  Kate watched anxiously as Athena spoke in a hushed voice to Aron. She had no idea what her friend was saying, but she felt sure she had caught the Uniton word for ‘shy’. Aron nodded and spoke to Redon. Kate scrutinized his face. He turned to her and his eyes lit up. He nodded and reached for her hand.

  “What did you say?” Kate whispered to Athena.

  “Maybe it’s best you don’t know.”

  “What did you say?”

  “It worked, okay? I’ll tell you when the mission’s over.”

  Kate sighed. “I’ll hold you to that. Let’s hope we both live to see
that day.”

  “We will. Now. We’ll—”

  The sound of Athena’s voice was drowned out by Redon, who spoke loudly to Aron. Kate glanced at Athena, who shrugged.

  “We’re going to need to work at this, seeing as Aron and I are the only ones with a common language.” She turned to Aron and said something to him. Kate heard the word ‘stop’.

  Athena nodded. “He says Redon has some news for you first. He doesn’t want you to come on the mission.”

  Kate’s stomach plummeted. “He said what?”

  “Look, I know it’s annoying, but rhetorical questions are kinda difficult with this whole translating thing. He doesn’t want you to come.” She turned to Aron and whispered something and waited for him to answer. “Something about you being his sweet precious mate.”

  “Tell him,” Kate sputtered. “Tell him that he can’t just come in here and order me around like that. Who does he think he is? I abandoned my unit. I will not abandon this mission. You hear me?”

  Everyone in the room was watching her closely. Athena translated her words for Aron, who in turn relayed them to Redon.

  Kate waited for him to relent; to explain that he understood and he had it all wrong. But he said nothing. She looked at Athena.

  “Explain this?”

  Athena shrugged. “He hasn’t said anything.”

  Kate rubbed her eyes. “I can’t believe I’m hearing this.”

  “He doesn’t think it’s right for his mate to be in danger.”

  Kate felt like her head was going to explode. “I’ve been in danger ever since we got back here. It’s my job to be in danger. And I’m trained for it. You tell him.” Her eyes narrowed. “Actually, you know what? You tell him we’re done. We fucked; he got his powers back. My role is done. I’m not his mate. I’m a colleague who administered the equivalent of a flu shot.”

  It hurt her to say those words, but it hurt more to hear Redon’s opinion. He thought she wasn’t a fighter? All those hours where she had felt they had a perfect understanding of each other seemed so laughable now.