The Alien's Ransom: A SciFi Alien Warrior Romance (Drixonian Warriors Book 1)

by Ella Maven

  I had to stop comparing him to Earth males. They weren’t the same. Daz had experienced a Spartan-like upbringing. He wasn’t a lazy asshole who didn’t know how to separate laundry.

  “I do believe you, Daz. But it’ll take time for me to stop worrying that you’ll change your mind or—”

  “But the loks—?”

  I placed my hand over his mouth, and his eyes narrowed into slits. I was sure he wasn’t interrupted often. “On Earth we wear rings or even tattoos to show we are committed to those we’ve chosen as mates. People still get divorced.”

  “Deefors?”

  “Divorce. Separate. Go on to have other, uh, mates—”

  “Dishonorable,” he spat out the word. “Never. How can you ever trust?”

  “Well, plenty are also faithful and mate for their entire lives. Divorce isn’t all bad either. Sometimes two people just don’t work. What I’m trying to say is it’s about love, not some symbol.” I held up my wrist.

  He blinked at me like I’d grown another head. “Luff?”

  “Love,” I repeated.

  “Love,” he said softly. “And what is this love?”

  Oh Lord. “Well, I think love means different things to different people. We love our parents or our brothers and sisters in a different way than say … our mates.”

  A shadow crossed over his aura, but it quickly cleared. “Is this a mark on you?”

  “No, it’s a feeling. I guess love means something different to everyone.”

  “Tell me about someone you love, so I understand,” he said.

  I couldn’t tell him about a man I loved, because I had never loved a significant other. “Um, okay, well I have a friend I love very much.” My heart ached at the thought of never seeing her again. Damn, this was hard. I cleared my throat. “Her name is Paris. I love her because she’s caring. When I was fired from a job, she showed up at my door with wine and cake.”

  “Wine and cake are things you like?”

  “Very much so.”

  “Okay, so she gives you gifts.”

  I blew out a breath. “Well, no, it wasn’t really about the wine. Or the cake. It was that she was there for me. She sat on my couch with me, and we talked, and she made me laugh, and I forgot all about how bad my day was.”

  “She gives you herself, then.”

  I thought about that. “Yeah, that’s an effective way to put it.”

  He nodded. “What else?”

  “Well, she remembers my birthday, and she makes me laugh. I love that she’s really outgoing and can make any situation fun. It’s never a dull night with Paris. And the thing about friendship is that I want to reciprocate. I like giving her myself when she’s having a difficult day.” I shrugged. “I guess loving someone means giving yourself while expecting nothing in return but knowing you will get it, because the other person loves you the way you love them.”

  He seemed to think about that for a while. I liked how he didn’t fill the air with needless words. He processed what I told him, internalized it. I could almost see all his little brain parts working behind his eyes. “Okay, and what about a mate love?”

  “I’ve never experienced that, Daz. I never loved a man like that.”

  His chest inflated. “You will love me like that.”

  He said it so matter-of-factly, so confidently, that I burst into laughter. “Is that so?”

  “It is so.”

  “You are very sure of yourself.”

  “I might not know about this love, but I will learn. I will love you, expecting nothing in return. Eventually, you will give me yourself because you want to, not because you feel like you have to.”

  I went still. I hadn’t known I wanted to hear those words. But I had because my heart skipped a beat, and my skin warmed. Of course, they were just words, and I needed the action, but in a few minutes’ conversation, he seemed to understand love, or at least the love that I needed, better than anyone else I’d ever met.

  “I think… You are lovable, Daz.”

  His grin was cocky, but I allowed it. “Loveable, huh? Yes, I guess I am.”

  Thirteen

  Daz

  I stood in the middle of Tark’s property, staring at the comm he’d given me. It seemed to be working, but I’d tried—and failed—three times to connect with Ward. I willed myself to stay calm, but my cora raced. It wasn’t like Ward not to answer. He was my most responsible male.

  “Fleck,” I spat.

  Fra-kee stood nearby, petting Rufus. Her head went up at my curse, and her aura trembled with anxiety. In my mind, her glow was golden. Sometimes it sparkled, and other times it soured to a pale yellow, like now.

  If I couldn’t contact Ward, then Gar was my next option. As Ward’s brother, he was just as dependable, although a bit rough around the edges. In the Uprising, he’d sustained head injuries, leaving him with scars on his face and only half a left horn. The horn was now a jagged thing he refused to file down. He cut an imposing figure.

  Signals in the western half of the continent were spotty. The Uldani had tried to destroy all their towers to cut off our communication, but we’d anticipated that move and saved as many as we could. Taking out satellites would be their only hope for completely shutting down our comms, but they didn’t touch those because that would mean cutting off their own communication system as well.

  When Gar answered my call, his image was blurry, and his voice garbled. Eventually, the signal strengthened. He glowered at me, angry, but I could also see relief passing through his eyes. “Where have you been?” he barked.

  “My comm was destroyed by a pivars pack.”

  “How the fleck did that happen?”

  “Doesn’t matter. I’m leaving Tark’s soon with enough implants for the rest of the females. Status, please.”

  He made an annoyed huffing sound, the rings in each of his nostrils shifting with his breath. “They are alive and well. Eating and drinking. They have locked themselves away in a room and will only let Hap inside to deliver their daily rations.”

  “What?”

  “The one with darker skin punched me in the ear.”

  Fra-kee clapped her hands over her mouth, but I didn’t miss the bubble of laughter that escaped.

  I frowned at Gar. “If you laid one finger—”

  “They are unharmed.” His voice rose, indignant. “She just doesn’t like me, and that’s fine because I don’t like her either.”

  Fra-kee made another undignified noise.

  “And one is missing,” he added, his voice lower and his words rushed together like he hoped I wouldn’t notice their meaning.

  “What?” I roared. “How was that not the first thing you mentioned?”

  “Missing?” Fra-kee squeaked, her nails digging into my arm.

  I shushed her. “Explain,” I barked at Gar.

  “Ward had her on his bike. The one with yellow hair who yelled a lot.”

  “Shrieky blonde,” Fra-kee murmured. “Oh no.”

  “We stopped to give the females some qua, and she took off while Ward was taking a piss.”

  I pinched the bride of my nose. “Go on.”

  “Ward took off after her. During the last communication we had with him, he said she was taken by a Rizar pack, but was still alive. He planned to track them and rescue her when he was able. We haven’t heard from him since, and all attempts to reach him have been unsuccessful.” Gar’s expression and tone didn’t change. If anyone had just met him, they would have assumed he didn’t care about his brother’s silence. I knew Gar, and I knew he cared more than he’d ever admit. This had to have been tearing him up inside.

  I didn’t try to soothe Gar with soft words. He wouldn’t want that. “Ward is one of our best. He will return to us whole with the female. You know he will.”

  Gar’s jaw ticked almost imperceptibly before he jerked his chin in a stiff nod.

  I glanced down at Fra-kee’s big eyes. “We are leaving soon.”

  “That would
be good,” Gar said. “These females say a lot of things, and I’m sure they are all insults. I’d like to be able to insult them back.”

  “Gar,” I admonished.

  He hmphed. “I know. I know. She Is All,” he muttered.

  “They’re okay with Hap?”

  “They smile at him. One pinched his cheek while another squeezed his biceps.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Hap could charm a piver.” He was the youngest of all of us. He’d been born to one of the last living females during the end of the virus’s rampage. During the Uprising, we hadn’t let him on the front lines, which he resented. But there was something about his innocence we all instinctively wanted to preserve. “I will be at the hideout in two rotations, maybe. We will move fast.”

  “Travel safe,” Gar grunted.

  “Always.”

  I cut off the signal, and Gar’s image blanked out. I blew out a breath and turned to Fra-kee. She twisted her hands together and ignored the blukas nudging her leg. “So, one female is missing? What is a Rizar?”

  Fleck. Maybe giving her the ability to understand Drixonian was a bad idea. “The pack we saw when we were hiding in the tree.”

  Her eyes went wide. “What? They were eating raw meat. Will they…” Her pink cheeks drained of color. “Oh my God, would they eat her?”

  I couldn’t lie. Why bother? “They most likely would. Yes.”

  “Daz!”

  “But Ward is our best tracker. Out of all my males, he is the best to rescue her.”

  Her eyes filled with liquid and her lip trembled. “I can’t imagine how scared she is.”

  I placed my hand on the back of her neck and squeezed. “There is nothing we can do. Ward had not checked in, so we don’t know his location. But I promise he will do everything in his power to save her.”

  “But he doesn’t know her or care about her.” Fra-kee was working herself up into a panic. She was so caring of others, my mate. When I saw her reaction to my species devastation, I knew I couldn’t tell her about my brother. Not yet. Her reaction would be extreme and visceral. She continued to babble beside me. “What’s to say he won’t just give up and return home—”

  I gripped her shoulders and gave her a firm shake. Her teeth clacked together. “Fra-kee, listen to me. I don’t know what your males are like, but Drixonian males are honorable. As his drexel, I gave him the order to protect the females at all cost, and he will do it. It’s in his breeding, in his blood, to put the lives of females above his own. That might be hard for you to believe, and I understand that, but it’s the truth.”

  She swallowed, and studied my face for a long moment, before slumping in my grip. “Okay.”

  “Okay,” I murmured, drawing her into my arms and pressing her slender body against mine. I dropped a kiss on top of her head. “It’s time to say bye to Enna. We need to be going. At least you will have a chance to see the rest of your humans.”

  She nodded, her hair brushing my bare chest. “I’m sad to leave Anna, but I’m excited to see the other women. Are we traveling to your home?”

  I shook my head. “Our home is much farther away. We have a hideout closer by where we will meet up with my men before taking all of you to our settlement. We will be safest there with lots of males to protect you and a defensible structure.”

  “So, all the women will be safe? You will protect all of us, and not just me?”

  “All of you,” I said. “I promise.

  The smile she aimed my way made my cora beat rapid-fire in my chest. “That is what I’ve wanted to hear for days.”

  Tark emerged from the workroom with a package in his hands and Bazel at his side. “Go to Enna in the house,” I told Fra-kee. “I need to talk to Tark.”

  She nodded and with a pretty smile and a kiss to the inside of my wrist, she trotted off.

  I turned to Tark, but as it had since we first arrived, my attention diverted to Bazel. She was enchanting. Her features so human-like, yet her skin and horn nubs giving her away as part Drixonian.

  She skipped up to me, and I dropped to one knee as she held out a braided length of fabric. “I made this arm band you!” she said, placing it in my palm. “I tried to match the colors to your drexel band. I hope you like it.” Her little voice fluttered around me and her featherlight touches tickled my skin.

  The band was red and black, woven together with a few stems of the silvestra flower. “Thank you. This is the best gift anyone has ever given me,” I said. And that was the truth.

  Bazel beamed and looked up at her father, who smiled at her with so much devotion my heart ached. “That was nice of you, Bazel.”

  I held it out to her. “Can you wrap it around my arm?”

  She inhaled sharply, and her cheeks flushed. She nodded eagerly, and with careful hands, wound it around my biceps just above my drexel band, before tying it off. I held my arm out, eyeing my new accessory. “I think the rest of my males will be jealous, don’t you agree, Tark?”

  “Absolutely,” he said.

  Bazel’s face dropped, and she clapped her hands on her cheeks. “Oh no! Should I have made more?”

  Tark and I laughed. “No,” I said. “I want to be the special one and brag to them that I got to meet the beautiful and kind Bazel, as well as earned her favor.”

  Her expression immediately lifted, and she giggled. “Will you visit us again?”

  I glanced up at Tark. His expression was distant, and a small frown marred his lips. “I’m sure,” I said to her. “We will meet again. Don’t you worry.”

  “I’m going to go say bye to Frankie now,” she said, tugging on Tark’s hand. “I have a gift for her too.”

  Tark nodded, and she ran off toward the house.

  I rose to my feet. Tark kept his eyes on the back of his retreating daughter. “What are you thinking?” I asked.

  He didn’t speak for a moment, and his shoulders seemed to droop with an invisible weight. He rubbed his hand over his forehead. “Times are changing. More humans are arriving now, it seems, and I’m not sure the wisest decision will be to keep Enna and Bazel so isolated. I’d do it forever if it were up to me, but I must think about them, and their well-being. I see how they have responded to you and Fra-kee…” He shook his head and shuffled his feet. “I think I might need to reconsider how we’ve been living.”

  “You are always welcome with us,” I said. “Always. You know we will protect Enna and Bazel until the last male is standing.”

  His smile was distracted. “I appreciate that more than you know.”

  “I have Fra-kee now. I understand.”

  “Yes, I’m sure you do.” When he smiled again, his expression was lighter. “Anyway, I know where to find you. Until then…” He handed me the package. “Inside are a dozen implants and several updaters. I’ve accumulated a lot of scavenged parts over the years, and I also built a machine that replicates QR chips.”

  “You’re a genius, Tark,” I said.

  He shrugged. “I like the word resourceful.”

  “Well, you are that.”

  “Please keep me updated on your progress. If there’s anything I can do, any way I can help Sax get his freedom, let me know. When do the Uldani expect their shipment?”

  “Three rotations,” I said, the reminder of my deadline looming like a descending blade over my head.

  Thoughts of my brother washed away the warm feelings I’d had since Bazel gifted me with the handmade armband. “There is so much ahead. The females. Sax’s rescue. The missing human. I have to take one step at a time, or I feel as if I’m drowning. My first mission is to get Fra-kee to the hideout safely. The rest I will deal with on a new day.”

  Tark stepped forward. He clasped my neck, and I did the same to him. We brought our foreheads together. “Thank you for all you’ve done for me,” I said. “I don’t know how I’ll ever repay you.”

  “You can repay me by taking care of you precious female and the rest of the humans.”

  “Always.” I smil
ed.

  “She Is All,” he whispered.

  “She Is All,” I returned.

  Frankie

  Anna bent over a pack made of a rough canvas-like material. “I packed some food for you. I make a special spiced antella jerky that’s different from what the men make, so I wanted to make sure you had some. Antellas are kind of like deer, did I tell you that? Well, now you know.” Her words rushed out of her mouth, like one long stream of consciousness. “Anyway, I packed you as many clothes as I could for you and the other women. This pack should fit over the back of Daz’s bike, although I’m sure he’ll complain about it, since Tark always does. I also packed some extra fabric. It’s not much, but I think someone with decent sewing ability could get a few shirts out of it. I’d pack boots for them all, but I don’t have enough.” She straightened without looking at me, frowning at the pack. “Shoot, I should have made some more special muffins. They are a great morning protein and—”

  “Anna,” I said, interrupting her sweet yet ongoing babble.

  She stopped talking and her shoulders trembled slightly. She glanced up and blew a stray red curl out of her face. “Yes?”

  I took a step toward her. “Thank you.”

  She waved and turned away, but not before I caught her eyes glistening. “Of course. I’m sure anyone—”

  “I don’t think that all women would have welcomed me and helped me the way you did. Without hesitation, you opened up your home and family to me at a time where I had nothing but an alien who couldn’t understand me.”

  Anna sniffed, and her shoulders shook as she tried to hide her tears.

  “I can see why Tark treasures you so much. Not just because you are a human female who can give him children, but because you are caring and so very capable.”

  “That’s so kind of you to say.” Her voice was soft.

  My own insecurities bubbled to the surface. “I don’t know what I have to offer Daz but my womb. I can only hope I’m half the woman you are—”