MILITARY ROMANCE: The War Within Himself (Alpha Bad Boy Marine Army Seal) (Contemporary Military Suspense & Thriller Romance)

by Claire Branson

  Yet, before me stands such a creature. My curiosity and fear of the unknown battle inside my chest as we stand there, evaluating each other. Eventually, my professional side comes out, and I start to scribble notes down on the paper I’ve been allowed. It’s – I don’t want to make any speculations about gender so ‘it’ will have to do for now – approximately six feet in height with astoundingly similar construction to that of humans with four limbs, two of which it is standing on, and two more, which are similar to arms. Its musculoskeletal design is impressive, as it is thickly covered with corded muscle. I wonder what it would feel like to run my hands across those...

  What? Where the hell did that come from? Get a grip, woman. You’re on the cusp of human-alien history and thinking about sex?

  I shake my head, trying to clear it of the rogue thoughts. Who'd want to have sex with an alien anyway?

  Me.

  Christ! What’s happening to me? I can’t focus on anything.

  Okay, the head has two eyes, set wider apart than a human’s and has no discernible iris. They are deep blue with hidden depths, like falling into a warm sea...

  STOP!

  The nose is broad and flattened with a ribbed, possibly cartilage-based, appearance, which runs up between those...beautiful...blue eyes.

  Shit, what IS going on?

  All I want is to touch this creature before me, to run my hands across his – it has to be male, please God – muscles. The skin on my hands is actually aching with the want to touch him, and I can feel my face heat with embarrassment.

  Arousal?

  Apparently he’s got four chest muscles, two larger ones above two smaller ones. I can’t see any evidence of nipples, but he has got some kind of material covering him. If I could just figure out a way of getting him to take that off, I’d be able to lick...

  Fucking stop!

  I’ve got to get away from him. I have to, or this whole thing is going to be a huge, huge mess. I put my right foot back to step away, I can’t turn because I’d have to stop looking at him, and he’s so sex...

  Nope. Not going there!

  My left foot follows my right, and I’ve managed to move away from him a little. Good, okay. Now, just to do it again.

  ***

  I must frighten her. My appearance must be too horrible to bear because as soon as the door retracted, her eyes widened in fright. She managed to scratch at the thing in her claws with the thing in her other claws. Then her flesh changed color! It was a sight both beautiful and terrifying to behold. From beneath, what I assume is some kind of clothing, she has the ability to turn her face red! I can only guess as to why she would do this, but I assume it to be fright because she immediately took a step backward, distancing herself from me.

  I cannot understand why I feel a pain in my thorax. I have sustained no injury, yet it feels as if this is linked to the disappointment her fear of me has provoked. I cannot bear to frighten such a beautiful, gentle, creature as she, so I must leave even though my hearts do not concur.

  “Farewell, sweet one.” I say to her as she takes another step backwards. Her head snaps up to look at me, and I am amazed because she can not only change color but alter the shape of her face too! The furry things over her eyes have pulled down through some magic of her species, and her mouth...her mouth has opened a little. She breathes out a little huff of air. The soft lighting from Acrulla reflects from the soft-looking, red sections around her mouth, and I wonder what they taste like. This is odd to me because I cannot ever recall a time when I have wished to taste the mouth of another.

  A burning spike of heat rushes to my sex organs when I see her put the lower red section in her own mouth and bite it. What purpose this serves is beyond me, but at the same time, I find it utterly arousing and overwhelmingly endearing at the same time.

  I can hear a member of the monitoring crew returning, so I must leave. I cannot let anyone discover I have broken quarantine regulations so easily. It is as if my thought centers have been taken over by another, someone bent on my downfall. I have worked for thousands of cycles to get to this position and now seem utterly content to throw everything away to get the attention of this alien female.

  Maybe I have entered madness. Perhaps something has gone wrong inside my thought centers and I need attending to. Should I go and see the healer to rid me of these feelings?

  The truth is I do not want them gone. Never before, not in the heat of battle, nor in the fires of passion have I felt so completely alive. It is this feeling I crave, and the only way I can gain it is to access the large female. This is what I must do.

  I allow the door to close, cutting off the closeness between us and feel bereft of something I cannot identify. I have to find a way to be close to her, to be with her, maybe even to touch her. Just once, so I could feel how soft she is.

  “Commander!” Bhentus’ voice is full with shock. “I did not expect you to be here.”

  I give her a dead stare, quiet for a long moment before telling her, “I go where I wish aboard my ship.”

  She reads my tone instantly and returns to subservience. “Of course, Commander. I was shocked to see you. That is all.”

  “I care nothing for this,” I tell her bluntly. “Continue.” My order is also my final word, and I leave the hastily installed monitoring station. I leave, yet it feels as if I have left something behind, something for the female to keep safe with her, and I find it completely baffling to understand what any of that means.

  ***

  He spoke to me! I’ve got no idea what he said, but he did speak to me. I was trying to get away from him until I heard him, but his voice sounded so heart-breaking, so utterly bereft like whale song, and so sad I had to comfort him.

  The door snaps closed as we both hear something, and I see his head turn away from his study of me to look at something else. Now all I can see are some vague shapes through the keratin window. I notice something shift on the other side of the partition and realize he’s left. He’s gone, and I can’t help but feel his loss completely in every part of my body. I don’t know if they can control the gravity aboard this ship, but it feels as if it has been increased. My body weighs me down.

  This is completely nuts! How can I feel so utterly sad? To begin with, I’ve only just met this creature. Then there’s the fact he only just left the room. Plus, what the fuck?

  I trail slowly through to the area where we three have been sleeping and lay on the mobile platform. Tears trickle across the bridge of my nose and drip from the end of it to land on my cheek, and I’m at an utter loss to understand the cavernous well, which has grown in my chest. I can feel the loss so keenly it’s all I can do to hold back the wail of despair, which is threatening to burst from me.

  I hear someone approaching and hope it’s Deakins rather than Nerravin because at least he might ignore me. I roll over and face the odd wall, so whichever one it is doesn’t see my tears. I hold my breath as much as I can, while whoever it is shuffles about doing whatever they’re doing.

  “What’s up?” Deakins asks, knowing something must be wrong.

  Neurons fire through my brain, concocting a lie at the speed of thought. “They’re all dead, and I think it’s just hit me.” I sniff, “I can see their faces: Kowtoi, Derenus, Trant and the rest.” My breath hitches in my chest, but not for the reason Deakins thinks. I hear him sigh and feel his weight as he sits next to me, laying a gentle hand on my shoulder,

  “Yeah,” he tells me quietly, “I know, Hetty, I know.” I can feel him gently rubbing my shoulder to soothe me. Although I appreciate his efforts, I can only wish he would leave me alone and manage to get myself together enough to sit up and pretend I feel better.

  “What’s this?” Deakins asks, grabbing my little journal and reading through it. His eyes search my face through his glasses. “Have you seen one close up?” He asks me.

  I nod my head a little and draw my knees up to my chest, wrapping my arms about them and hugging tight.

&nb
sp; “What happened?” he demands, his eyes alight with wonder. I relate the story, even though thinking about the alien leaving me carves the well of desperation out of my chest again. I pointedly avoid telling Deakins about my feelings and try to keep my narrative as professional as possible.

  “Amazing” is all Deakins can say when I finish my telling. “To think we were never alone in the galaxy after all.” He shakes his head. “What a bunch of conceited people we were to believe it.” Deakins sighs again. “I don’t suppose you got any idea what they’re going to do with us do you?”

  “No idea,” I tell him and realize it’s the truth.

  He nods and makes a face. “Suppose we’ll just have to wait and see then,” he adds and leaves me to be alone.

  ***

  I make my way to the command section and claim my seat at the head of Acrulla.

  “Report!” I bark the command across the small room and feel satisfaction as each member of my crew gives me their information.

  “We remain on course, Commander. Estimated time to Intrellian space remains constant.” Talacrus growls from navigation control.

  “Acrulla’s systems are all fully operational, Commander. We have sufficient fuel to make the journey.” This comes from Jonober in the engineering section.

  “All weapons systems are fully operational as usual, Commander.” This boastful report comes from Shaktee, the only female in the command center at present, although there are others aboard. This one has had designs on me since she boarded, one of the many who want to share my bed and the prestige my name brings.

  A number of the other officers have also expressed a desire to do this, but I have never allowed any of them to do so. I have earned my place as Commander of this vessel through hard work and violence and will allow none of these inferior creatures to suck my prestige from me like a Garatulean parasite.

  “Talacrus, locate a nearby planet with the likelihood of prey. I will hunt this cycle.”

  “As you command, my lord.” I watch as his interface pulses, telling Acrulla to locate and head for a viable planet.

  No sooner have I settled back in my seat than my thoughts turn to the alien female. My fixation on her is a distraction I do not need, and briefly, I consider jettisoning all three of them into space.

  “May I be permitted to join you, my lord?” This comes from Shaktee again, and I hear a few hisses from the other members of my crew.

  “You may carry my weapons and clean my kills if it suits you,” I snap at her in a dismissive tone.

  A few of the others laugh, and she snarls at the obvious put down. I look at her with a dead stare as she begins to rise from her seat, and an air of anticipation fills the command center, my crew looking forward to seeing one or the other of us being ripped savagely apart.

  Shaktee looks around at the collection of Intrella who are all watching her with expectant faces. Her eyes alight on me, and she looks away fast, sitting back down and turning to her console.

  “Anyone else wish to perish this cycle?” My voice rumbles ominously across the room, finding only silence as a reply. Without another word, I leave for my room.

  Once within the confines of my private rooms, I can relax and think about the alien.

  ***

  The incessant hum from the engines – how can it have engines if it’s alive? – stop, and I glance towards Deakins and Nerravin, whose expressions must mirror mine. We’ve all been in space for long enough to know when we’ve entered the atmosphere of a planet and landed.

  “This might be our final destination.” Deakins theorizes ominously.

  I roll my eyes at his depressive attitude. I swing my legs from the bed and utter a little sound of wonder as the walls around us begin to lighten, eventually turning white and then translucent before finally becoming completely transparent.

  Deakins and Nerravin come to stand beside me as I look out over the landscape of an alien planet. The ship has landed in a vast plain seeded with pink, grass-like plants that wave in a breeze I can't feel. Dotted about are larger bushes, in groups or individually, in a myriad of bright colors. Apparently, there are no pastel shades here as everywhere I look is a riot of hues: blue, purple, orange, yellow and even some greens. The light of a nearby star beats down and, judging from the angle of the shadows I can see, it is almost directly overhead.

  I can’t see much of the rest of the ship as the floor and ceiling above us are still the original gray-green color they have been since arriving. What I can tell, from the vague glimpses of shadow and limited vision I have through the wall, is we appear to be amidships, and the craft is massive in comparison to anything built by humans.

  I run my eyes across the landscape again, trying to record every last detail of the place, even though I have no idea where it is in space or whether we are likely to be here for ten minutes or the rest of our lives. I turn right and see a large, irregularly shaped pool of some kind of liquid, probably water. The lake, as I’m going to call it, is rimmed by a light orange soil bank, which slopes gently up from the water’s surface. Occasional ripples on the water indicate something is moving in its depths, and I get the impression that whatever it is, it’s huge.

  My attention is caught by movement nearer to us, and I look down to see him standing on the plain, the pink grass dancing round his feet, making it look like he has living socks. I hope the involuntary gasp, which escapes me, is mistaken for surprise by my two human companions, and it must be because they’ve got no idea how this creature stirs me.

  Even though he’s facing away from me, I can tell he looks different. He’s wearing some kind of body covering, which looks tough, hardened like an armor of some kind, and he’s got an array of primitive weapons with him. Belted to his waist are what I can only think of as, swords and long knives with curved blades.

  A well of feeling springs up inside me, and I press my hands on the transparent wall of the ship, hoping he’ll turn to look at me. Disappointment crushes me as he walks off towards whatever his destination is, and I can barely hold back the tears.

  What is wrong with me? It’s like he’s got some hold over me, and I can’t break it. But the more I think about it, the less I want to break the spell.

  Looking magnificent as he clears the shadow of the ship and the sun begins to glint from various pieces of his armor and weaponry, my alien stalks off towards the lake.

  My alien now, is it?

  Some part of me must know what he’s going to do because an overwhelming fear for his safety is crushing my chest with cold fright. Whatever is in the water, huge and ancient, is massive and evil. I can sense it without knowing how.

  My breath is coming in short gasps as I watch him approach the water, alone and looking so small, so vulnerable. Seconds tick by as he cautiously puts one foot in front of the other. I scan the water, checking for any sign which might threaten him but see nothing. Everything seems calm, until something massive explodes from the water. Chitinous and vile, the thing, whatever kind of monster this is, has a dirty gray-blue color to it like the clay you can sometimes find back on Earth. Long limbs (Legs? Arms?), which have multiple joints along their length, shoot towards my alien, piercing claws ready to burrow into his flesh and rip his internal organs out, and I hear someone cry out, “No!” Never realizing it’s actually me.

  Guilt hits me then, pulling me down as if the gravity has been doubled as he dodges to one side and flicks one of the swords from his waist towards the still accelerating limb.

  How can I doubt his skill?

  A three-foot section detaches and flies off into the pink grass, spraying black ichor, like a smoke trail, in its wake. The second limb slows and shudders, clearly affected by the loss of the end of the first, and the bulk of the creature begins to rise from the water.

  Gallons of lake water sluice from the creature along with tons of associated detritus, mud and rotten leaves drop from the sides of it to splash back down like vast blood clots into the water. I can see the bones and sk
ulls of huge animals this thing must have fed on, lying in wait for prey to come to the water for a drink before leaping into action, skewering them with the tips of its spear like legs and pulling them into the cold depths of the lake.

  Fright grips me again as I see the beast rise to its full height from the water and note it’s at least double my alien’s height. It’s got a huge array of the weapon-like limbs in different lengths, and they all point towards my alien. At the junctions where these limbs meet the main trunk of the monster, sit openings, which look to me like mouths, ringed with spiked, beak-like structures that resemble those in the maw of a squid.

  A blur of movement and the battle begins. The monster stabs out with more limbs than I can count, but my focus stays on the alien I met right here, aboard this ship. I can see a savage beauty in his movements as he dips and dodges, lighter on his feet than a dancer and easily as graceful. His swords flick left and right, deflecting and chopping, hacking at the hideous tips which fly through the air, landing with splashes of the black blood that seems to pump through the beast and twitching in the pink grass.

  I watch him fight, astounded and awed by his skill and prowess with the blades, rooting for him like a cheerleader and clapping when the vile creature slinks back below the surface of the water, pools of the dark blood floating like an oil spill.

  The huge grin on my face fades as I turn to face Deakins and Nerravin, and the smaller security officer catches me with a fierce glare. “What the fuck is going on, man?” Her eyes are wide and filled with unspoken accusation. Both of them stay silent, leaving me to fill the gap in conversation.

  “Well...I...uh...” I don’t think I can tell them I’m under some kind of spell, cast by an alien. No, I’m sure that wouldn’t go down well.

  “What happened when you met the alien you told me about?” Deakins asks.