by Luna Hunter
KING
Warriors of Kaizon - Book 6
Luna Hunter
Copyright 2020 Luna Hunter.
Published by Luna Hunter at Amazon.
This work of fiction is intended for mature audiences only. All characters represented within are eighteen years of age or older and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental. This work is property of Luna Hunter, please do not reproduce illegally.
Contents
About this book
1. Belinda
2. Wranar
3. Belinda
4. Wranar
5. Belinda
6. Belinda
7. Wranar
8. Belinda
9. Belinda
10. Wranar
11. Belinda
12. Wranar
13. Belinda
14. Belinda
15. Wranar
Epilogue
Preview of Alien General’s Baby
Also by Luna Hunter
About this book
I'm such a klutz.
Only I could manage to tumble into an interdimensional portal and end up lightyears from home. To make matters worse, I dropped right into the strong arms of a horned, growly, hot alien king who treats me like I'm his personal baby factory. His name is Wranar, and he claims I'm going to save his species and that I'm his fated mate.
I don't think so. I just want to get back home.
In order to do just that, we have to travel across half this harsh alien planet. On foot. Oh, and we have to share our body heat to survive the blisteringly cold nights. That means cuddling up with the tattooed, scarred, muscled alien king. It means feeling his strong, protective arms around me. It means listening to him whisper sweet alien words into my ear when he thinks I'm sleeping.
Like I could sleep with his rock-hard package all up in my nethers.
If we don't hurry up, I might just end up falling hard for this alien warrior -- and I can't let that happen. I've felt what he's packing. He'll destroy me.
I have to resist him.
No matter how hard it is.
KING is the final instalment in the Warriors of Kaizon series, featuring a courageous heroine thrust into a strange new world, and a protective, dominant alpha alien king who will stop at nothing to get her back home -- and win her heart. It’s meant to be read after the previous five books.
Warriors of Kaizon series:
Book 1: Beast (Jade and Vukaror)
Book 2: Alpha (Makayla and Kerax)
Book 3: Savage (Joan and Surlok)
Book 4: Feral (Dev and Febakur)
Book 5: Brute (Eileen and Ibalen)
Book 6: King (Belinda and Wranar)
1
Belinda
Today is the big day.
Surlok has been working hard these past few months, and it is finally about to pay off. The brilliant alien scientist has figured out a way to stabilize the portal to Kysus, the Kaizon homeworld, and today he’s going to test that invention. I can feel it in my bones.
In other words, it’s D-day.
And the D stands for Alien Dick.
For Faith and I are the only unmated females in our entire camp. All five Kaizon warriors have found their neras, and they’re not afraid to show it either. There’s even a kid running around now.
And the moment Surlok is done tinkering with that portal, more alien warriors will flood into our camp, and then it’ll be my turn. That’s why I’m bothering Surlok every ten minutes to see how his progress is coming along.
I knock on his door, carrying a tray of refreshments. “How’s the work going?”
No response, as usual. I enter anyway. Surlok doesn’t even glance up. He’s hunched over his desk, tinkering with his tools. It’s amazing to me that a man with fists the size of my head can work on something so delicate and intricate. The Kaizon are not all muscles and horns and claws. Even though they exude masculinity from every pore, there is much more to them than meets the eye.
“I’ll just leave your water here, then,” I say with a sigh as I place the glass on the counter.
Life’s good here in our camp, truly. There’s a rhythm to our life here, one I’ve never had before. At dawn, I go out for a hike and enjoy the sight of the sun rising over the mountains in the distance. Not only because I love the crisp, morning air, and the sight of the orange sun rising over the jagged peaks, but also to get away from the sounds of five dominant alien warriors claiming their mates.
Every single morning, like clockwork.
When I come back it’s time for a big, family style breakfast — and those Kaizon warriors can eat, my word. They’ve got two stomachs each, and they fill them both to the brim. Luckily, we’ve got plenty of space here to grow our own crops, and the Kaizon go out and hunt and fish as well, so there’s fresh food a plenty.
The rest of the morning is spent on chores. We rotate as a group, so you don’t get stuck doing the same thing every day. There’s washing, sowing new clothes (Ka’de is growing like mad, the little tyke needs fresh clothes every week it seems), sweeping the floors, making the beds, all that domestic busywork that needs to get done one way or another.
Jade told me that before the Big Mistake, humans had machines to do all of that work for them. That time is long gone, though, and truth be told, I don’t mind it either. It feels good to do something useful, to do my part for our little community.
Afternoons are for leisure. More hiking, a swim in the lake, or playing checkers with Faith on a board she carved out of wood herself is how I spent most of my days.
Then dinner rolls around again. Makayla has become a master chef, and I look forward to her cooking every single day. We all take turns helping her of course, but she’s the undisputed master of that domain.
At night the Kaizon break out the home brewed good stuff, and we get to listen to them swap tales about their strange homeworld — before they retreat back to their cabins with their mates, and the sounds take over the campsite once more.
It’s a good life. Much more pleasant than my old one, as Joan’s right hand. We used to live off scraps, and spend our days hunting down raiders and mercs, freeing slaves whenever we could.
I no longer have to sleep in a hole in the ground, clutching my rifle to my chest, praying that the old rusty barrel won’t lock up when a merc scout stumbles across our makeshift camp. I no longer have to scrounge for berries, or chew on roots to survive.
But, all that said, I do miss the adventure.
“Fancy a game?”
Faith breaks my chain of thought with her sing-song voice. I shake my head as I plop myself down on a wooden stump. “I can’t focus right now. You know what’s going to happen when Surlok finally fixes that thing, right?”
Faith reaches down and places the familiar, worn-out board of checkers on the table, completely ignoring my answer. “I do,” she says.
“You don’t sound excited. He’s going to open an interdimensional portal across space and time to Kysus,” I say.
“Yep,” Faith answers. That’s classic Faith. She’s like a rock. Nothing seems to faze her. Even when we were hunting down mercs together she was always calm and collected.
I’m not like her at all — and yet we’re best friends.
“And that means that we’ll be mated soon,” I say. “Mated.”
“Correct.” Faith grabs one of her pieces and moves it diagonally. “Your move.”
Absentmindedly I move my piece. She roped me into another game. She always does.
“It’s not that I don’t want a mate,” I say. “Joan seems su
per happy. As do all the other girls. Right?”
“Right.”
“I’m not scared or anything,” I say.
“I didn’t say you were,” Faith answers as she stares down at the board with a look of pure concentration on her face. After a moment of silence she moves her wooden piece, advancing her little army of wooden circles towards mine one step at a time.
“Right,” I say. “I know. I just want that to be clear. I’m not worried about the portal to Kysus being opened. It’s just that…”
“Go on,” Faith says.
“What if they’re all like Kerax or Ibalen? All dominating and controlling? I don’t think I could handle that.”
“Then don’t,” Faith says, aloof as usual. “The Kaizons don’t mate without permission.”
I wish I could be as calm as Faith, and see the world so logically. I know that the Kaizon mean well, but that doesn’t mean that the prospect of one of them trying to get in my pants doesn’t freak me the hell out.
“Do you ever miss it?” I ask Faith. “The hunting?”
Faith looks up from the board for the first time since we started playing. “Do you mean if I miss the fear, the uncertainty, the stink, the hunger? The covering yourself with dirt for camouflage? Do I miss having no running water, no baths, no showers? Do I miss having to wade into a freezing cold river just to feel clean for a minute or two?”
“Well, when you put it like that…” I say.
“A little bit, yeah,” Faith says. “I miss it. The excitement of the hunt, the reward of knowing we put down a gang of raiders and saved an entire town from destruction. That’s what I mis. But our life is good here, isn’t it? We are helping our friends, we are putting food on the table. It’s not so bad.”
“Don’t you think we should do more?” I say. “With Governor Livingston out of the way, now’s the time for Joan’s Blades to rise again, to seize power!” I say, rising up and gesturing wildly, drunk on my own words.
“Except that Joan is pregnant, and if you pitch your idea of putting her in danger to her mate, I’m pretty sure he’s going to have some words with you.”
“Right,” I say, slinking back down. “That’s a good point.”
“Our numbers are too few,” Faith says. “When Surlok creates a permanent portal, the Kaizon will come flooding in, and with their numbers behind us, we can seriously change this world. We were doing good things as our little merc unit, sure, but did we REALLY change something out there? Last time I looked, there’s still gangs and mercs a plenty out there. For every gang we took down, another one just took their place. Our place is here, Belinda.”
A deep growl interrupts our conversation. Surlok slams open the door to his cabin and screams at the top of his lungs.
“ITS WORKING!” he screams. “ITS WORKING!”
I swallow the lump in my throat. My hunch was right.
Today is D-Day.
2
Wranar
Blindingly white snow covers the rugged landscape as far as the eye can see. Kysus’s twin suns are barely visible through the blizzard that has been raging without end for weeks now.
I scour the ground for animal tracks, but see none. The snow covers the world with her cold blanket. My two stomachs hunger for a fresh kill, but the season has been unusually harsh.
And then I pick up the scent. I stop and hold my fist, and my hunting party comes to an instant stop behind me. My fingers grip the wood of my spear tightly.
There.
I kneel down next to the fresh tracks, barely visible through the thin-layer of snow already erasing the evidence. An arktos, judging by the size of the beasts claws. A solitary predator.
It’ll have to do.
I was hoping to find rennos tracks, for they travel in flocks, and their meat is tender. Arktos are barely edible, for their organs are poisonous. We are not in a position be picky, though. The clan needs to be fed.
We follow the tracks to the beast’s den.
Silently I order my hunters to take their positions. With the blizzard raging and the wind screaming I doubt the arktos could hear us, but I am not taking any chances.
I take the lead and enter the cave. My eyes have to get used to the sudden darkness for a moment, after the blindingly white world outside.
An animalistic roar greets me as the massive arktos jumps at me from the darkness, its claws aimed right at my face. I fall onto my back and kick out at the hairy beast, sending it tumbling over me. In an instant I’m back on my feet, my spear in hand as I thrust out at the savage predator. I strike it in the shoulder, and it drops to the snow with a haunting wail.
A second later my hunters strike from their positions, their spears piercing the beast multiple times over. It’s deeply wounded, but an arktos is not easily felled.
I grab my knife and kneel down next to the beast.
“Thank you for providing for us. Your sacrifice honors us,” I say as I mercifully end the arktos’s life.
I wipe my knife on the snow, and stand up. I instruct my hunters to take the arktos back to the caves. Every part of it will serve the clan, from its hide to its meat. We live in harmony with Kysus, and she blesses us in return.
Or she did.
Now, it feels like the world itself is punishing us Kaizon. The Sickness has culled 95% of our people, and the civil war that rages between the Seven Houses is going to finish off what the illness started.
An extinction burst.
That’s all it is. Whichever House wins will have nothing left to rule. King of the ashes.
I watch my men carry off the arktos with mixed feelings. The clan will eat fresh meat tonight, yes, but the furry beasts are usually shy, careful beings, only entering a fight they know they can win. His aggression proves it was famished, desperate even. Which is bad news for us — if this beast can’t find sustenance in these mountains, then we won’t be able to, either.
The situation is grim.
Mount Cernd was supposed to be our House’s salvation, but I fear I have led my people to their damnation instead. A brutally harsh winter has come, and our food supply is dwindling quickly.
My brothers have all left for Earth. Human females are compatible with our DNA. They are our only hope. While my brilliant brother Surlok works on opening up a portal to Kysus, I have chosen to stay behind and watch over our people, ensuring there is still a Kaizon people left to safe…
Surlok better hurry.
3
Belinda
The entire family — that is how I think of us now — is gathered in Surlok’s small cabin.
“I’ve done it,” Surlok says triumphantly. “I have harnessed the power of the crystal, and captured its essence in a closed loop!”
The Kaizon all nod as if this makes perfect sense. If no one else is going to speak up, I will.
“In English, please?” I say. “We’re not all rocket scientists like you.”
“Thank you,” Faith whispers from behind me.
Surlok clears his throat. “It means that the portal can be opened… permanently. The power won’t be lost after two or three charges. It means connecting Kysus and Earth.”
“It means saving our people,” Vukaror growls approvingly.
“And that gives us a fighting chance against the raiders,” Joan says.
“So what are we waiting for?!” Kerax growls. “I long to see Wranar again.”
Surlok hesitates. “We must find a proper place, and wait for the perfect alignment of the Earth’s geomagnetic fields,” he says.
“Sounds like that’s going to take a while,” I say with a breath of relief. “Nothing to see here, everyone. Let’s all go back outside.”
I turn to leave quickly. So quickly that I lose my balance. I stumble backwards, my hands reaching out for the table to stop my fall. I land on something hard and metallic.
Surlok gasps. I turn around slowly, wondering what I did this time.
With horror I see the palm of my hand pressing down on a big,
red button.
That looks bad.
“Uhm, that wasn’t connected, right?” I say.
The device suddenly hums to life, a swirl of intense colors filling the room.
Okay, it was connected.
“Out! Now!” Surlok bellows. The Kaizon each grab their mates and exit the room. I follow.
Or I try to. A sudden gust of wind pulls me backwards, knocking me right off my feet. A bright blue light now fills the room, coalescing quickly into a portal.
And an unseen force pulls me towards it.
My fingers claw at the wooden floor, trying to hold on to something, and failing miserably. I slide towards the portal, inch after inch.
“What’s going on?!” I hear one of the Kaizon growl.
“I don’t know,” Surlok yells back as he runs towards me. “The portal won’t stabilise! I set the location for Mount Cernd, but it seems the region is too unstable!”
A gust of a freezing, arctic wind pushes Surlok back. My legs slide into the portal, dangling in nothingness as I hold onto a table leg with all my might.
“Guys, a little help please,” I croak.
“It is too late,” Surlok says, fighting against the freezing gale. “You must let go.”
“What?!” I scream. “No way!”
“The portal is unstable — it will end at any moment, and you will end up spliced in two.”
Oh. Fuck. That doesn’t sound good. I actually prefer being whole.
“I will re-calibrate the device for the throne room, okay?! You must travel there!”
