by Kate Rudolph
And maybe Xandr had been lying about his aversion to slavery. She had no reason to trust him. He could just be waiting for the right moment to sell her, or sell her out. If he needed leverage at the border, she might do.
If she’d woken up before him, Andie might have run away, might have tried to make it home and escape Xandr’s grasp. Every step away from the center of the city only added to her fear and she was certain she wasn’t going to make it out of this alive.
She didn’t know what had fouled Xandr’s mood and she wasn’t about to ask. They were close to the end of their journey together, and though Andie regretted starting on it in the first place, she was determined to see it through.
Andie had never been this far out before and it wasn’t what she’d expected. It was so... normal. The buildings weren’t as tall, and it was a little less crowded than the city center, but otherwise she spotted people going about their days, eyes carefully averted from the guards. The citizens out here still smiled, they still yelled at their children, and the kids laughed and joked just as much as they did where she lived. Everyone seemed to ignore the border that was just out of sight, the illusion of freedom that must have haunted their dreams. She wondered if she would have grown so complacent if she’d been assigned quarters this far out. Maybe she wouldn’t have let herself forget what home was like if things had gone differently.
“So what’s the plan?” Andie asked as they made it to one of the quieter streets. Everything was quiet here, a reverent hush reminding them that the end of the city wasn’t too far away. They only needed to make it a little longer and they’d be there, be free. But they weren’t out of it yet, and though Andie could make out the vast rippling plain beyond the city border, she didn’t fool herself into believing they could simply walk there. Every piece of land here was under constant surveillance and as soon as they got close to the border, guards would close in on them.
“My people should be waiting for me. We have a rendezvous point about three kilometers out.”
“That seems awfully close.” The plains around the city were as flat as could be. Even without binoculars or anything else to enhance vision, the guards could see something three kilometers away.
“It’s far enough,” Xandr assured her.
Andie wanted to demand an explanation, but they didn’t have time for that. Soon someone might begin to question their presence, and they needed to be gone before then. “So how do we get that far out? As soon as we step past the border, our lives are forfeit, and it’s sure to set off alarms.”
Xandr was infuriatingly calm. “If you do your part correctly, we will be free within the hour. You must trust me.”
Trust him? A murderous outlaw who’d kidnapped her from her place of work? Was Andie crazy?
One thing was certain, this thing had to end, and she didn’t want to end up collateral damage. “What do you need me to do?”
“When the guards talk to you, take as much time as you can. You’ll know when it’s time to move.”
“And then?” Could he be more cryptic?
“And when it’s time, you run. I’ll be there waiting.”
That wasn’t the kind of detail she wanted to work with, but a moment later Xandr took off and it was all Andie knew she was going to get. She let out a cry of frustration and kicked at the dirt on the road, sending up a cloud of the stuff. It would serve Xandr right if she sold him out at this point, if she told the guards exactly what she knew and prayed for leniency.
She trudged back to the main road with that thought in her mind, and when harsh fingers gripped her arm, she was ready to give Xandr a piece of her mind, but the dark blue uniform and the green skin of the man who held her told her that things had just gone from bad to worse.
An Ixiltan guard. Wonderful.
“Come with me,” he commanded, pulling her along towards the shade between two buildings where another green skinned guard waited for him.
Andie tried not to show her fear. Two guards cornering her in an alleyway was not how she’d planned to leave this world, and the violent glints in their eyes told her that this wasn’t going to end well for her. Why had she ever gone along with Xandr’s plan? This close to the city border, home had never felt further away.
“Who was that you were talking to earlier?” the guard who’d grabbed her asked, shoving her against the wall and thankfully letting go of her.
This was her chance, Andie could reveal all and hope these two wanted the glory of returning an escaped prisoner more than they wanted to rough up a helpless citizen. She didn’t think Xandr would expect her to turn on him, he’d never see them coming.
But she remembered that blue sky gaze and the way he’d looked at her a few times when he hadn’t realized she was paying attention. There was a hidden softness to him, something that his years as an outlaw and his months in prison hadn’t been able to harden. It was something she’d want to explore more if she had the time, something she didn’t want to see deadened by the harshness of Ixilta.
So when she opened her mouth and began speaking, it wasn’t Xandr she spoke of. And several minutes later when the bombs started going off and the guards left her alone in the alley, she ran as fast as she could for the border and for freedom, hoping Xandr was as good as his word and they were both about to escape to something better than this place had to offer.
Chapter Five
HER FEET POUNDED AGAINST the hard dirt of the plains underfoot and Andie crossed the border out of the city before she realized it. Her skin tingled as it met air that suddenly seemed a bit colder and something unfurled in her chest as she breathed free air for the first time in six years. She was outside of the city. If she could get far enough away, the guards couldn’t touch her, couldn’t drag her back or put her down. There was nothing they could do to her!
And then the blasters started firing and she realized that she wasn’t home free yet.
Andie picked up the pace, unsure of where she found the last bit of endurance, but she ran like all life on Earth depended on it. Her feet kicked up a cloud of dust in her wake, but she didn’t care. Maybe it would do something to obscure her form, make her harder to shoot. She wasn’t too worried about the guards—they too were forbidden from breaching the city boundaries. It was the drones that were sure to come soon that could do her in.
Something pounded beside her and for a moment she thought it was a drone’s engine, but Xandr’s purple form appeared beside her, running at her pace and subtly guiding her where he wanted her to go. This far out, it became clear that the plains weren’t as flat as she’d been told. There were a few dips and ravines, breaks in the land that could keep them out of sight from anyone looking from the city, even if they’d do little to obscure them from drones with all of their sophisticated sensors.
The blasters stopped firing as she and Xandr made it out of range. It was a small comfort as Andie’s lungs burned and every muscle ached. She couldn’t run for much longer, she didn’t have the endurance, but she couldn’t take the time to tell that to Xandr either—she couldn’t spare the breath.
He must have sensed it, though, since a minute later he took pity on her, finding one of those ravines and climbing down into it slowly. Andie almost tripped over her feet, but Xandr gripped her hips, his hot palms searing a mark against her flesh. She wanted to lean into him, wanted to rely on his strength, but she didn’t think now was the time. Not when they were in the middle of running for their lives.
“The drones are going to be coming at any minute,” she felt the need to point out as they hunkered down in the ravine. It came out in harsh gasps as she tried to catch her breath.
“I’m not worried about those,” Xandr said, dismissing them with barely a thought.
“So you’re just going to sit here until your ship comes for you? How are they even going to find you?” And why was she still waiting there with him? Andie didn’t say that last part out loud, but now that she realized it, their deal was over. She was outside of the
city, free of its influence, and she could find her own way home. She didn’t know what else there was on the planet, but she was going to have to learn quick.
“We’re going to sit here,” Xandr corrected. “Unless you want to die in this desert. You got me out of the city, the least I can do is get you to a space station where you can catch a shuttle heading back home. Or...” He popped his head up over the top of the ravine and sank back down, letting the thought trail off.
“Or what?” He wanted to take her with him? Was this a trick? She’d be completely at his mercy on his ship, but it wasn’t like she was in much of a position to argue.
Xandr looked over at her and offered a cocky grin. “Or you can join up with us. The company’s a bit uncivilized, but the money’s good.” He stared at her so intently not saying something that Andie’s skin prickled.
She wasn’t imagining the gleam in his eye, wasn’t creating a possibility out of thin air. There was nothing for her back in Ixilta, nothing but prison or death. But did she really want to sign on with a bunch of outlaws because she was hot for their leader? Oh God, that would be a stupid, reckless, impulsive decision.
“You don’t have to decide now,” Xandr conceded, settling back onto the ground.
“How are they going to find you—us? I don’t see any beacon or anything.” It would have been quite a trick to hide something like that for two months in prison, but if anyone was capable of it, it was Xandr.
“I’m the beacon,” he said. “We all were injected with a tracking isotope before this job. It was too dangerous to break into the prison to retrieve me, but now that we’re outside, my ship should be here at any moment.”
A boom shook them and Andie startled. The drones?
But Xandr let out a whoop of laughter. “That’s them! I’d recognize those engines anywhere. You ready?” His purple skin glowed in the bright sunlight and there was something irresistible about the smile on his face.
Stupid. Reckless. Impulsive.
“Let me check something first,” Andie told him.
Xandr seemed confused, as if she might actually refuse to climb aboard his fast approaching ship. “What?”
She closed the distance and sealed her mouth over his, surprising him with a kiss strong enough to make him let out a shocked sound that quickly subsided into a pleasured purr. His lips opened under hers and she controlled the kiss, her tongue darting into his mouth and dancing with his, imprinting his taste on her mouth. His hands came around her, gripping her tight, setting her body on fire. If they hadn’t been hidden in a ravine under immediate threat from drone fire and on a tight deadline of escape, she might have done more, might have peeled off his clothes and let her tongue trail down even further.
If she was going to be reckless, she might as well enjoy the ride.
But after a moment, Andie pulled back, her lips wet with his kiss. Xandr’s own blue eyes seemed darker, his pupils huge, and he stared at her like he couldn’t quite believe what he was seeing, but sure that he wanted more.
Andie licked her lips and tasted Xandr. She couldn’t help but grin at the pleasant sensation that rocked through her body. Was more of that on order? “Yeah,” she murmured, almost to herself. “I thought so.” She’d wanted him from the moment he’d tried to take her captive, and she’d followed him because something inside of him called to her.
There was nothing waiting for her back on Earth, no family or friends to miss her. But this hulking purple alien beside her kissed like the devil and there was a promise of more in his eyes, if only she had a little faith that something between them—her a simple human and him an Oscavian outlaw—could blossom into a relationship fit for the galaxy. She’d need to have faith, and strength, and no fear whatsoever.
His ship cast them in shadow as it grew closer, descending rapidly to avoid any fire from the nearby city. The bay door was already opening before it stopped moving and Xandr had sprung up onto his feet in anticipation of their final run. He held out a hand to her. “Are you ready?”
Andie put her hand in his. “Hell yeah. Let’s see where this thing takes us.”
“Us?” His hand tightened around hers.
“You think I’m going to let this thing end after a kiss like that?” Andie wanted to laugh, her adrenaline surging with the danger on the horizon mixing with the constant lust she felt around Xandr.
“You’re going to love it,” he promised.
And you. Eventually. It was a hell of a thought, one that should have scared her. But Andie was grabbing her destiny by the horns and taking control of her life for once. She wasn’t going to run away in fear, not when it was finally time to start living. She and Xandr sprinted for his ship and in a matter of seconds were on board, the bay doors closing behind them and the ship rocketing into space and taking them on their next adventure.
Xandr wrapped his arms around her and kissed her again as they broke atmo, and Andie melted into him, sure she was finally exactly where she was supposed to be.
Want to know what comes next for Andie and Xandr? Rogue Alien’s Woman is coming in March!
Need more sci-fi romance from Kate Rudolph? You can get a free, full length novel by joining her reader club. Download Ruwen today!
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Also by Kate Rudolph
Sci-Fi Romance
Snowed in with the Alien Beast
The Alien’s Winter Gift
Crashed
Mated on the Moon
Alien Outlaws
Escape from Ixilta
Rogue Alien’s Woman
Mated to the Alien
Ruwen
Tyral
Stoan
Cyborg
Krayter
Kayleb
Detyen Warriors
Soulless
Ruthless
Heartless
Faultless
Endless
Paranormal Romance
Marked
Bear in Mind
Alpha’s Mercy
Gemma’s Mate
The Mate Bundle
The Alpha Heist
Entangled with the Thief
In the Alpha’s Bed
Find more by Kate Rudolph at www.katerudolph.net
About Kate Rudolph
KATE RUDOLPH IS AN ex-derby girl who lives in Indiana. She loves writing about kick butt heroines and the steamy heroes who love them. She's been devouring romance novels since she was too young to be reading them and had to hide her books so no one would take them away. She couldn't imagine a better job in this world than writing romances and sharing them with her fellow readers.
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