by Lisa Lace
“Will you shut up?” A blonde girl a couple of seats away angrily glared over her shoulder. “You can’t get out of here unless you’re willing to float out into space and die, so you’re going to have to get over it.”
Katie peeked at the blonde out of the corner of her eye. She wasn’t wrong, but she didn’t have to be quite so rude about it. She was sure most of them were uncomfortable. The Earth Aviation Administration usually restricted commercial flights into space to celebrities, government authorities, and the uber-rich. It wasn’t likely that any of them were on this flight.
“It will be all right,” said a calm voice closer to the woman who was panicking. “Why don’t you tell me a little bit about yourself?”
The two women began speaking in low voices, and the passengers breathed a collective sigh of relief. It was hard enough to watch Earth slowly shrink below them without someone yelling about it.
The brunette turned to Katie. “So, what’s your story? Why are you here?”
She shrugged. “My rotten boyfriend cheated on me. I guess it was a bit of a sudden decision, but I was ready for a change.”
The other girl nodded sagely. “Girl, I hear you. I was sick and tired of all those stupid college boys. I mean, I’m all in for a good time, but they’re just so immature, you know?” She chomped loudly on a piece of gum and rolled her eyes up toward the off-white ceiling as she thought. “I wonder if these aliens know anything about commitment or cheating or anything. I mean, I know we’re going here to marry them, but what does marriage mean to an alien? Is it just a mating thing, or are you together for life?”
Katie, surprised by the philosophy coming out of the young girl’s mouth and started to reply, but the blonde interrupted her.
“Who cares? All I know is that we’re getting laid!” She snorted a loud laugh that echoed throughout the cabin.
Katie prepared herself for another conversation about extraterrestrial genitalia, but it didn’t come. Instead, the passengers were silenced by a shaking that pulsed down the ship. The lights blinked off for just a moment before they flickered back on again. The woman a few rows back, who had been momentarily calmed by the chatterbox next to her, let out a bloodcurdling scream.
“It’s probably just turbulence,” Katie said casually to her neighbor, trying to assure herself in the process. Was there turbulence in space? There wasn’t any air, right? How far did they have to get past the atmosphere before they were gliding along smoothly like the people in Star Wars?
The lights flickered again. A loud crashing noise came from the back of the ship. Katie stiffened in her seat, all the muscles in her body tensing. Another crash rang through the air. Katie tried to look over her shoulder, but the backs of the seats were too high for her to see anything.
“What the hell was that?” the blonde whispered, losing all of her carefree attitude in an instant. The other women were murmuring in a susurrus of panic.
A voice boomed from the front of the plane. “Silence!”
Katie looked up to see a tall man filling the doorway that led from the pilot’s area to the passenger compartment. His wide shoulders bulged out into muscular arms that were at least as thick as her waist, and they were well-displayed in a sleeveless shirt. The rugged green pants he wore over heavy boots made Katie think about someone from an overdone action movie. He had several weapons strapped to his back, but he didn’t reach for any of them. Blonde hair was trimmed so tightly to his head on the sides that she could see his scalp. Green eyes glittered out of a square, angular face as he surveyed the passengers before him.
Despite the newcomer’s commandment, no one was quiet. Most of the passengers started screaming. Katie was vaguely aware of the cacophony that surrounded her, but no cries of terror fell from her mouth. Instead, she instantly became aware of every part of her body. Her vision seemed to sharpen suddenly. Even her nose was working overtime as she caught a whiff of his natural scent, which smelled like a smooth musk.
She watched his head slowly swivel, surveying the starship. Part of her wanted his eyes to land on her and take in every curve of her body. But the rational part of her brain was on high alert. There weren’t supposed to be men on this flight. Certainly not a big, brash, scary man that looked like he could have ripped through the hull of the ship with his bare hands.
As she tried to make herself invisible, his gaze came to rest on her.
* * *
Arkhan had to stay behind and maintain the connection between the two ships. Troxeo was on his own, maneuvering through the access hatch alone. He was prepared to exert himself pulling open the door to the Earth ship, but it was only slightly harder to open than his own. Apparently the humans could occasionally make high-quality parts.
The passengers had acted in the way he had expected. They were a mindless mob. If he had raided a ship full of animals, it would have been the same. Most of them crouched into their seats, trying to make themselves invisible by becoming smaller. Some screamed and yelled, but none of them made a move against him. He felt like he could do anything he wanted. Troxeo found it hard to focus; the acrid smell of sweat mixed with the allure of females hung thick in the air.
He tried to study each one of the humans in turn, but it was hard to compare one to another when they all cowered in their seats. He never had any doubts that he would know which one of them to take. He didn’t think he needed to know their identities in advance. It was unlikely that a significant person in Earth society would sell themselves as a mail-order bride. Commander Reck said he wanted an average human, and this was the place to get one.
It didn’t take long for one of them to stand out from the crowd simply by being still. When his gaze landed on her, she stared back at him with equal intensity from her large blue eyes. Her dark hair contrasted with her fair skin and made her seem more exotic than the monotone female a few seats away that was all blonde and pink.
Perhaps her most surprising feature, though, was her behavior. While the other females were in full panic mode, this one sat as still as a statue, studying him just as much as he studied her.
He strode forward down the aisle and noticed that the female’s eyes followed him. She was definitely the one. He reached across the passengers sitting next to her, who were now babbling and crying. It only took a single swipe of his massive hand to undo her safety belt. He scooped her from the seat and threw her over his shoulder with ease.
She was surprisingly soft, unlike the Oretoz women made of nothing but sinewy muscle and pure venom. Troxeo was pleased to find that she weighed little, and she barely struggled against him. Perhaps she was smart enough to understand that there was no point in fighting him. Maybe she was too stupid to know she was in danger.
Either way, he had the human. Troxeo turned and headed back to his ship.
Chapter Seven
As the large man advanced down the aisle of the ship, Katie suddenly realized he must be an alien. For a moment, she felt slightly perverted admiring his physique, but she remembered that she was on her way to marry an alien, after all. No men on Earth were quite that big or that scary. At least, no one she knew. This man would be entirely out of place in the business attire Ben always wore. The wool wouldn’t hold his bulging muscles for an instant.
When he batted her restraint away like a child’s plaything, Katie’s stomach contracted. What was he going to do? Was he going to take her? She couldn’t seem to do anything other than watch him dumbly.
He lifted her out of the seat and tossed her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes before she knew it. He felt like nothing but hard lines and solid muscle. His arms were smooth rocks as they wrapped around her waist. He was so solid that he might as well have been a machine.
When she looked up from her odd position, she realized something was terribly wrong. Yes, this man had hijacked their ship and forced his way inside. Yes, he was most likely an alien. Even if he was from Earth, he wasn’t the kind of guy with whom she wanted to be associated. Yes, she was c
urrently slung across his shoulder like a girl in an old black and white movie.
But when she looked up, she saw the faces of the other women on the plane. She saw fear in their eyes, and it was because of her.
Their fellow passenger was being removed from the ship when she was supposed to be headed to Bonaan. She saw terror in their widened eyes, nails clawing at their carefully colored lips, hair that had suddenly pulled loose from little buns to stand on end like halos around their heads.
Her body and mind finally got in sync. Katie struggled against the great hulk of a man. This couldn’t be happening, could it? Maybe she could do something to save herself. Katie swung her feet, but her sneakers only swiped through empty air. She hit something. Unfortunately, it was only the head of another Earth woman.
Katie beat her fists against the man’s back, but her only reward was faint thumping sounds. She scratched at his fingers around her waist, at the back of his head, and at his eyes. The alien barely noticed her struggle. He continued to walk to the front of the spaceship, his arm tightening around her. She started thrashing around, pummeling against every part of him that she could reach.
As they reached the doorway, she shoved her fists into his back and pushed against him with all of her might. His arm never moved, but she heard a crunch as she accidentally slammed the left side of her head against the wall. Katie saw sparks that danced and spun, and then everything went black.
* * *
With his mission accomplished and the human female draped over his shoulder, Troxeo reboarded his ship. Even though he had never been one for sentiment, he couldn’t help feeling relieved to be back in familiar surroundings. The broken lines and dull colors of the Earth vessel couldn’t compare to the artistic efficiency he had come to know so well.
His ship was much smaller that the one he came from, but there was no doubt that it was far more comfortable than the Earth design. Instead of a long tube with windows and fins like the other ship, it was the shape of a sphere, making it much more efficient for space travel.
His captain’s quarters were the epitome of a well-organized space, with everything he needed within arm’s reach. There was even a small holding cell, which he used whenever he had the opportunity. The bridge had a spacious floor plan, with plenty of room surrounding the captain and co-pilot’s seats. He dumped the human unceremoniously in the open space.
Arkhan turned his head briefly and eyed Troxeo’s payload over his shoulder. “Is that your chosen one? I didn’t realize it would be this small.”
Troxeo moved back to his seat, trying to keep his mind off of the way the human felt in his arms. It wasn’t like him to feel sentimental, and now wasn’t the time to start. “She was the easiest to carry,” he replied curtly. “The others were all bellowing and pulling their hair like primitives. She was the calmest one.”
His cousin shrugged. “She couldn’t have been too calm if you had to tranquilize her.”
Troxeo’s shoulders became tense as he replayed his exit from the plane. He had wanted to laugh at the human for struggling. He was obviously physically superior, so what was the point of fighting? The memory of the terrible sound her skull made as it hit the doorway made him cringe. He must be running on insufficient sleep or something. Why was he so concerned about whether a stupid animal hurt itself? He didn’t bother correcting Arkhan on how the human became unconscious.
“Setting course for Oretoz,” Arkhan said formally as he maneuvered the controls of the ship.
Troxeo was happy to leave Earth in the distance as they headed back to their planet. With luck, he wouldn’t have to return to this region of space until it was time for the invasion. Commander Reck hadn’t made him privy to all the details of his war plan, but he knew from experience that it would be quick and efficient. Perhaps promptly retrieving the human would prove him worthy of another promotion, and he would get to lead part of the onslaught personally.
As they moved out of Earth’s solar system, Troxeo could see out of the corner of his eye that Arkhan had turned in his seat and was casually looking at their cargo again. “Is something on your mind?”
Arkhan shrugged, and a slight red tinge crept into his skin. “She’s not as horrific as I imagined she would be.”
Troxeo felt angry, but he wasn’t sure why. “What is that supposed to mean?” He wondered if there was something about being close to Earth that was making them both get weak.
“Look at her yourself for a minute,” Arkhan urged, and Troxeo reluctantly obeyed. The human’s dark hair was spread out around her head on the floor. Her arms were loosely spread out. If Troxeo didn’t know how she came on board, he might have thought she was taking a relaxing nap. Her breasts gently rose and fell in the rhythm of her breathing. Her shirt had ridden up, exposing the soft skin of her belly. Hips curved in a way he had never seen on Oretoz women. For a moment, he allowed himself to imagine what it would be like to hold onto them.
“I don’t see anything special.” He made sure to keep his voice flat and uninterested.
Arkhan snorted. “Me neither. She’s just like all the other ones. Since they’re all the same, how about you let me have this one? We can go back and get you another one for Commander Reck. He’ll never know the difference.”
“What do you plan on doing with it?” Troxeo asked.
Arkhan grinned and waggled his dark eyebrows. “I can think of plenty of things.”
Unbidden, an image entered Troxeo’s mind. He saw the human woman underneath him, writhing and moaning. The women from his planet were soldiers, just like the men. They viewed sex as another mission for them to accomplish so they could ensure the future of their species. They took no pleasure in the act of mating and didn’t expect to give any. It was the way of their people. Troxeo had never questioned it before in his life. But as he looked at the soft, supple figure on the floor of his ship, he couldn’t help but wonder if he had been missing something. What would it feel like to have her velvety skin pressed against his hard and lusty body?
“You’re sick.”
“The Bonaan are already doing it. I don’t see how it would be much different, anyway. If the parts are compatible, then what’s wrong with that?” Arkhan looked thoughtful. “Besides, you know the women at home aren’t much fun. The Earth girls must be interested in mating if they’re willing to leave their planet to do it.” He looked at the limp form on the floor again. “Let me propose something. I’ll take her to my cabin when she wakes up, and I’ll see exactly how compatible we are. You can have her back when we reach headquarters.”
“Like hell you will!” Troxeo was up and out of his seat in an instant, indignant at the thought of his cousin fucking the human.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa.” Arkhan held his hands out to stave off Troxeo, but he couldn’t wipe the smug grin from his face. “Why do you care?”
Troxeo struggled to find the right words. “She’s under my protection.” It was a logical statement, but it wasn’t exactly accurate. Commander Reck had been rather vague in his commands. He wanted an average human, and that was all he said. Reck specified nothing about the human’s treatment on the way back to Oretoz. If someone decided they wanted to have a little fun, it wouldn’t be the first time soldiers took advantage of the spoils of war.
But the idea of someone else mating with this human started to make Troxeo feel uncomfortable. She was his prize.
Arkhan had always been good at getting under Troxeo’s skin. He turned back to the controls of the ship. “Okay, if that’s the way you feel about it. But keep in mind that if we invade Earth the way Commander Reck intends, it’s going to be open season on humans. There will probably be orgies all over the place.”
Troxeo couldn’t argue with his co-pilot. Males from their planet were soldiers, and they had dedicated their lives to conquest. It didn’t matter what form victory took. In private, no one would care about the public opinion of humans. He sank in his chair and ran a hand over his forehead. “Let’s get this over with.�
�
Chapter Eight
Troxeo closed his eyes and listened to the hum of his ship. It was the only thing that relaxed him, and he certainly needed to escape. It wasn’t the kind of thing he would normally care about. He was a soldier, after all. His life was meant to be spent on the battlefield, taking down the enemy either via force or intelligence. Sometimes both. The Oretoz soldiers weren’t challenged by much. They accepted their missions and carried them out with vigor.
When Commander Reck gave him the assignment of retrieving a human from Earth, he never imagined it would be a problem. It should have been a simple job. Go in, get out, and return to Oretoz with his prize. The hardest part of the operation was deciding on a plan, but even that wasn’t terribly difficult.
He wasn’t the type of person to go through the minimum required training and lay it aside, focusing on the battlefield by day and the easy life at night. No, Troxeo spent his extra hours honing his body and his mind, preparing for anything that dared come at him next.
The human still lay on the floor of the bridge behind him. He focused on the feel of the ship’s controls under his fingers, the beauty of the universe slowly slipping by the windows, and the promotion he was certain to get upon his return,. Anything to keep his mind off the figure on the floor, all soft curves and smooth lines.
The door to the bridge opened, and Chixo entered. Chixo, like Arkhan, had worked with him for a long time, but she wasn’t related to him by blood. She had attended the Academy alongside Troxeo, and he knew she was a valuable soldier. She was considered dainty for an Oretoz woman, barely coming up to his shoulder, but she made up for her size with a big mouth. Most of the time it didn’t matter. He had learned to ignore her.
