by Ella Maven
The Alien’s Revenge
Drixonian Warriors #4
Ella Maven
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.
Copyright © 2020 by Ella Maven
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce, distribute, or transmit in any form or by any means.
Copyedited by Del’s Diabolical Editing
Cover design by Natasha Snow
First edition July 2020
Dedication
To those fighting for justice
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
The Alien’s Savior
Acknowledgments
About the Author
One
Miranda
“I told you, I’m fine.” Reba struggled to sit up, but Ward placed a firm hand on her shoulder, keeping her in place.
“You nearly fell, and I won’t have my mate endangering herself, or our chit,” he announced as he sat down beside her on their bed. “I’ll stay here to make sure you take care of yourself.”
“You know it pains me to agree with his big blue ass, but he’s right,” I said from my standing position at the end of their bed.
Reba glared at me as, “Traitor,” was mumbled under her breath.
I held back a laugh. “You fell and could have hit your head. Val said your blood pressure was a little low. So, relax, drink your fluids, and enjoy the company of your baby daddy.”
“Yes, mother.” Reba sassed as she avoided my gaze, ruffling the ears of her pet welf, Luna. She knew I was right. I could understand not wanting to be confined to a bed, but too bad. It was her own fault for getting knocked up on a foreign planet by a horned alien.
She sighed and reached for Ward’s hand. “But you wanted to go hunting with your brother. You should have your sibling bonding time.”
Said brother, Gar, stood in the corner of the hut looking like he wanted to be anywhere else. I knew Gar well enough to know he had no idea what sibling bonding time was, nor did he care.
“Gar and I have gone hunting thousands of times and we’ll go hunting thousands more.”
“Fine,” Reba sighed. “I’ll just sit here, I guess. God, I miss trashy reality TV. I could really go for some 90 Day Fiancé right now.”
“You’re on your own, brother,” Ward said. “I’m staying with my mate.”
And just like that, I pounced. “I’ll go with him!”
Reba lifted her eyebrows at me and from the corner of my eye, I saw Gar jerk his big body in surprise. “Nit,” he growled.
I whirled on him, knowing this was going to be a fight. “Yes, I’m going with you. I’ve been wanting to learn how to you track and hunt.”
“Why?” Ward asked. “It’s not safe for you out there and we have dozens of males here who can hunt.”
Okay, I knew that. I knew I was supposed to be quiet and sit pretty inside the walls of the clavas for the Night Kings—a Drixonian warrior clan on Torin where we’d been deposited by some other asshole aliens who’d snatched us out of our beds on Earth.
The problem was I didn’t want to sit back and let these aliens take care of me. I didn’t want to rely on them for every aspect of my survival. I wanted to be an active participant, to learn how to stay alive and provide for my girls. They were my priority. The other Earth women—there were seven of us now—were everything to me. I’d practically raised my five younger siblings on Earth because my parents worked long, odd hours, so the maternal protector in me couldn’t quit.
There was another reason I wanted to learn about tracking, a reason I hadn’t told anyone about yet, because the last thing I wanted to do was worry the girls. It was my job to worry about them. Three of them were pregnant by these aliens. They didn’t need to worry about me, the girl who could barely see because I relied on contacts. When I was drugged and taken from Earth, my captors hadn’t been accommodating enough to grab my glasses off my nightstand. So, I’d been walking around this damn planet in a perpetual, near-sighted blur.
I’d adapted … sort of. I could distinguish people from a distance based on their stature, posture, and walk. Which was okay as long as I stayed within these walls. And while I was confident in the ability of these aliens to protect me and the girls, I had never been comfortable relying on anyone. The best person who could watch out for me was me.
Therefore, I needed to make up for my lack of 20/20 vision. And that meant getting up close and personal with the wilderness outside of these gates under the tutelage of Gar Garundum, the deadliest warrior on this whole planet.
The other women might have been shacking up and getting knocked up, but that wasn’t for me. I never wanted kids, and I never really wanted a husband either. On Earth, I’d liked my independent life and my apartment with everything where I wanted it. My bed had stayed made, my closet organized, and my toilet seat down. Just because I was on an alien planet didn’t mean I suddenly changed my mind about finding a life partner. I would be perfectly fine enjoying my freedom and being there for my girls.
“I don’t like knowing I can’t take care of myself,” I explained. “I want to learn things. And I can’t learn all I need to do if I stay within these walls.”
Gar growled low in his throat, turned, and stomped outside, his tail slapping the door as he went.
I grinned triumphantly at Reba, who snickered.
“See you soon, sweetheart,” I called over my shoulder.
“Love you, Miranda!” She hollered back. “Stay safe!”
“Always,” I shut the door behind me. I spun to see Gar already striding toward the gates. I had to sprint to catch up with him, the long-legged jerk. “So,” I chirped happily as I reached his side. “What’re we hunting today?”
This was the thing with Gar and me. He could “nit” at me all day and grump and give me the silent treatment, but I knew deep down he liked me. We had an easy-going brother-sister type relationship. Well, one where I talked at him, and he scowled back, but there were times I felt him relax in my presence. There was something about him I felt a connection to, and he must have felt it too, because I was the only female he tolerated for more than a few minutes.
“Antella,” he grunted back as his tail thumped the ground once.
I grinned. I’d won this small battle.
Antella were a deer-like antlered animal with a thin furred skin the Drixonians used for a variety of purposes. The meat tasted like chicken, and we’d had a lot of fun in the kitchen experimenting with sauces and native spices to spruce it up.
“Meet me at the gates in a yora,” he grumped and then stopped to narrow his eyes and assess me. I glanced down at my clothing, which was a loose shirt in the cotton-like material Anna made, along with a pair of leather shorts and sandals. “Wear long pants in the forest,” he grunted. “And proper foot covering.”
I grinned at his back as he walked away. Gar could frown all he wanted—deep down he had a big heart.
I lived in the end unit of a row of rooms that rese
mbled a one-story motel. The guys had built it in a day for us because we weren’t keen to share the multi-story barracks with the rest of the warriors. So me, Tabitha, Justine, and Naomi each had our own space. I loved it. In the corner was my palette piled high with furs. Hap had made me a dresser where I stored my few items of clothing. The rest I filled with flowers and plants. The flora of this planet captivated me.
Back on Earth, I’d filled my office at the law firm with succulents and perennials. At my home, my balcony was practically a jungle and on weekends—when I wasn’t dealing with a crisis from one of my five siblings—I could be found elbow deep in dirt in my garden. I was so grateful this was a lush planet with colorful blooms and enough blue-leafed plants to fill my room and then some.
I opened my drawer and pulled out one of my three pairs of antella-leather pants. I closed the drawer, remembering when all of us women had explained to Hap what a dresser was. He’d been so eager to get started, and even carved decorative handles. He had been our favorite from the start when we arrived on this planet, confused and terrified. He had a gentleness about him we’d responded to immediately.
I missed him. Hap had been injured in an attack by a neighboring clavas, and he took it hard he had been struck down before he could defend us women. Luckily, the other Night Kings had arrived in time to save us, but Hap struggled with his injuries.
He refused to leave his room, no matter what we said. One of the eldest Drixonian males still alive—a healer named Shep—had arrived at the Night Kings a few days ago. He was the only one who’d been able to draw Hap out of his room. Under Daz’s orders, Hap and Shep had left the clavas yesterday on a two-alien getaway. Us females viewed it as a kind of intense therapy and rehabilitation. We were eager for them to return, but after talking with the kind Shep, we knew he was in good hands.
I barely had my pants pulled up around my ass when my front door burst open. Two little feet slapped across my wooden slat floor before the small horned creature dove into my fur pallet and tugged the covers over her head.
Anna rushed in immediately afterward, frantic as she searched for her daughter. “Miranda, I’m so sorry for not knocking. I saw your door open and—”
The furs moved, and a nearly imperceptible giggle filled the room. Anna pursed her lips and rolled her eyes.
“It’s no problem, Anna,” my voice slightly louder than usual. “What’s up?”
She leaned against my door frame, a smile playing at the corners of her mouth. “Oh nothing. Nothing at all. Just doing some cleaning.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah, I’m working on Bazel’s room right now, but I can’t find her to ask her which toys she wants to keep, so I’m just going to throw them all out.”
A shriek followed her words as a blue head popped out of my furs. “No, Mommy! Don’t throw my toys away!”
“Ah-ha!” Anna exclaimed as she lunged at her daughter. “Caught you!”
Bazel screamed with joy that her game of tag had been renewed. She tore out of my furs, flew past her mother, only to get caught up at the door by Frankie. She swooped the little girl into the air and tickled her belly while Anna stood nearby, hands on her hips, trying to look annoyed but failing.
The scene was so wholesome I had to take a moment to snapshot this in my head. As much as I missed the hell out of my family at home, I had one here. A growing one.
Anna met my eyes and smiled. “How come she always sneaks in here?”
“She likes my plants.”
“Ah.” Anna looked around and leaned in to smell a large orange flower which smelled like citrus. “I don’t blame her.”
Anna had met Tark about ten years ago when she’d been stolen from Earth and her captors had crash-landed on this planet. Tark had left his clavas to keep her safe. They remained alone for ten years until Daz and Frankie found them with their five-year-old. She was the first of us—and the proof—that Drixonian and humans could procreate successfully.
With the increasing unrest on the planet with the Drixonian’s enemies, the Uldani, Tark and Anna decided to abandon their solitary life and come live in the Night Kings clavas for protection. With them came Bazel, and their dog-like pet, Rufus. Bazel was adorable and rambunctious with light blue skin, nubbed horns, and Anna’s delicate human facial features.
Frankie placed Bazel back on the ground, and she wasted no time racing out of my hut on another adventure. Anna sighed and looked to the ceiling. “Okay that’s it. I’m done for the day. I think her father can handle her now.”
“Yes, go treat yourself.” I gave her hand a squeeze.
Frankie, now unburdened by the child, sashayed into the room, and flopped dramatically onto my pallet with her forearm over her eyes. “I don’t know how you do it. I’m exhausted and hot just walking from my hut to this one.”
“You’re pregnant. And kinda whiny on a good day.”
Frankie glared at me from under her arm as I laughed.
“The beginning was the worst,” Anna told her. “But good news is you’ll only have to deal with five more months of this. My pregnancy was six months long, and Bazel was maybe a three-pound baby. She grew at an abnormal rate after that, but at least I didn’t have to push out eight pounds with horns attached.” She walked toward the door. “With that said, I’m going to go chase down my spawn. Miranda, I’m almost done that shirt for you.”
“You’re amazing, Anna.” Long ago, she had found a plant that bloomed with a substance which could be spun into a cotton-like material. It was a lot cooler than the antella leather the men favored.
She gave us a wave and left, shutting the door behind her.
I turned to Frankie who was giving me a weird look. “Why are you wearing pants?”
I sat down on the pallet next to her. “So, since Reba fell, Ward is staying with her. I convinced Gar to let me go hunting with him.”
Frankie bolted upright, her head nearly colliding with mine. “What?”
“Yeah, I want to—”
“Miranda, no. The forest is dark and full of terrors.”
I rolled my eyes. “The Game of Thrones references are tired, Frank.”
She ignored me. “I’m serious. You didn’t nearly get eaten by those hippo things. You weren’t chased by the giant wasps.” She grabbed my hands. “Stay in the compound. It’s safe here. We have pie.”
“Pie is great, but I really want to do this. For myself. I don’t like being dependent on anyone. You know this. I was the first to volunteer for the translator implant because I didn’t like not knowing what was going on around me. I wanted to communicate with the Drix. And now I want to know if something happens, I can survive out there.” I threw my hand out. “I get that you’re scared for me, and this isn’t something you want to do, but I need to do it for me.” I squeezed her hands. “Please understand that.”
Her eyes watered, which had been happening a lot since Daz knocked her out. Her nose twitched and she looked down at our joined hands. “I understand,” she whispered.
“Frank—”
“No, you’re right. I just hate being separated from you. From day one in this new life, it was your face I saw.” She glanced up at me with a wobbly smile. “You’re my good luck charm.”
I wrapped my arms around her, drawing her to me. I closed my eyes, remembering when I’d handed her my lucky necklace when she was off on her dangerous mission with Daz. When they’d been captured, they’d used the wishbone charm to pick the locks of their bonds.
Frankie’s words only solidified my reasoning for wanting to learn to hunt. They relied on me, even Frankie, who as the leader’s mate was something of a queen to the clavas.
“Look, I’ll be fine,” I pulled back, swiping the tears off her pale cheeks. “I’m with Gar of all aliens. He’d cut off his arm before I was harmed. You know that.”
She sniffed. “I do. But you watch your back too, okay. And if you’re going to do this stupid life-risking thing, you better pay attention and come back like fucking
Katniss.”
“You like shows where everyone dies, don’t you?”
She scrunched up her face. “The books were better.”
I groaned. “I miss books.”
“Tabitha’s short stories of pure filth she’s been writing for us have been getting me through.”
“That girl,” I muttered. “She’s trouble.”
“She can write a wicked sex scene,” Frankie said. “Just saying. And I have wicked sex so I—”
I smacked my palms over my ears. “Lalalalalalala, I can’t hear you talk about your alien sex life. Lalalalalalala.”
Frankie collapsed on the bed laughing, and then with her growing belly got stuck like that, so I had to help her up. I tended to my plants, watering and plucking dried blooms, while Frankie piddled around my room smelling the foliage.
Gar had said to meet him in a yora, which was about an hour. The only way I could tell time was by a small sundial outside my front door, which told me it’d been about a yora. I slipped on the thick-soled boots Anna had made each of us.
“It’s time for my adventure,” I called to Frankie, who had her face in a gigantic yellow plant that resembled a sunflower.
“Fine, I’ll just sit around here and sweat by myself.”
I rolled my eyes at her and gently pushed her outside into the sun. After I straightened the small flower wreath I’d hung by the door, I closed it.
Frankie gave me a hug. “Be safe. Come home. Don’t do anything stupid like run into a pack of Rizars and almost get eaten.”
“Haha. I won’t pull a Reba. I’ll stick by Gar’s side like glue.” I didn’t add I’d do that because I couldn’t see well enough to be more than five feet away from him.
