by Ella Maven
The Alien’s Escape
Drixonian Warriors #2
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 Edie Danford
Cover design by Natasha Snow
First edition March 2020
Dedication
For anyone who needs an escape…
Contents
The Alien’s Escape
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
Chapter 17
The Alien’s Undoing
Acknowledgments
About the Author
The Alien’s Escape
“She will have my babies, but on our terms.”
Valerie: I thought waking up on a spaceship was traumatic. That’s got nothing on returning to consciousness while shackled in a cell. The kicker? I’m supposed to be a breeder for the alien in the cell with me. My mother always told me I had birthing hips, but I don’t think she meant they were for pushing out blue extraterrestrials. I want to hate my cellmate, but he’s a prisoner too, and so far, he’s taken a few beatings to protect me…
Sax: The food sucks but the view has gotten a hell of a lot better since the human female showed up. I know exactly what our captors want—for us to mate so they can take our baby. Over my dead body. I’m willing to suffer their abuse if they leave the pretty female alone, but when they hurt her, all bets are off. Now I’m not only finding a way to escape with her, I’m also taking out every last captor before I leave. And then? I’ll fill her with as many babies as she wants.
The Alien’s Escape is a full-length Sci-Fi Romance novel featuring a curvy heroine with nursing skills and a snarky, devoted hero with a pierced tongue who isn’t afraid of a little pain.
One
Valerie
As I sat in a car-like vehicle hovering over the ground of a planet that was definitely not Earth, I experienced some regrets.
My mother’s voice kept filtering through my head. Live a little. Take a vacation. Date a nice man. Give me grandbabies. Every time she’d encouraged me to spread my wings, I’d balked at the idea.
I liked being responsible. “Nothing wrong with being frugal,” I’d said in defense of my simple lifestyle.
I’d never been into extravagance. I bought my purse from Ross for twenty-five dollars, and it had lasted me seven whole years. When one of the zippers broke, I’d fashioned a new fastener out of a zebra-print paperclip and felt proud of my cleverness. I didn’t buy expensive clothes or travel. What little I could, I tucked away from my paycheck as a nurse toward my house savings.
A home was what I wanted—a little rancher all to myself with sunny yellow siding and white trim. Maybe a cat and a dog. But no other humans because dating was terrible, men were liars, and I’d committed to spinsterhood. My mother didn’t understand my attitude, because my father had been her whole world before he’d died of a heart attack when I was twenty-two.
But now? I kind of wished I’d taken that vacation. Or bought that super soft blanket from Kohl’s I’d petted for an unnaturally long time while Christmas shopping. Hell, I wish I would have splurged for an extra shot in my weekly vanilla latte. And actually, I kind of regretted saying no to the man at the post office who’d asked me out for a drink. Another orgasm in this lifetime would have been nice.
And most of all, even though raising a child had never been on my to-do list, I kind of wished I’d been able to give my mother grandbabies before cancer took her life two months ago.
Instead, I was childless, motherless, and the holder of a well-padded savings account which was doing jack all for me as I sat in this … hovercraft-thing.
The body of the vehicle was shaped like a car, but the front end was more pointed like a plane. Circular disks along the bottom pushed out air to elevate us, and judging by the vibration of the craft, some kind of engine motored us forward. My stomach dipped with every small tilt, and if I were a praying woman I would have been confessing every sin in hopes of forgiveness and mercy.
But, since I was a practical woman at home and at work—I had seen some shit as an ER nurse —I needed to spend my energy figuring out what the hell was going on. Starting with why I’d gone to sleep last night in my apartment, but awoke on a spaceship manned by weird, one-eyed creatures.
Apparently, the creatures had been on a mission to kidnap women from Earth. There had been several women on the ship, all of us in various stages of freaking out. After the ship landed, the one-eyed creatures separated us. I’d been shackled and tossed into the back of this hovercraft thing. On either side of me were massive guards, who seemed to be a much different species from the one-eyed aliens. Seven feet tall at least, they wore thick armor and were strapped with weapons. Two guards sat in front of us, one holding a weapon, and the other piloting the machine.
They smelled like wet dog, so I tried to take shallow breaths because I didn’t want to vomit from fear, disgust, and terror.
The one-eyed creatures had put us in skimpy gray dresses made from a scratchy material which irritated my skin.
I clasped my damp palms together as sweat dripped down my neck, wetting the strands of hair which had escaped my messy bun.
I stared out of the large front windshield, trying to process what my eyes were telling my brain. For a moment, I tried to convince myself we were on some part of Earth I hadn’t known existed, but it was time to accept I was truly on another planet. One that sustained life. Terrifying life if the massive hulks sandwiching me were any indications.
Here, the grass was blue, almost teal, and the dirt was a brilliant green. Wispy green clouds hung in the air like cotton candy, and blue-leafed trees grew in clumps of dense forest. Maybe in another circumstance, I would have thought this planet was pretty, but now was not the time to enjoy the scenery.
I thought nothing could shock me anymore. I’d been wrong. So, freaking wrong. I could, in fact, be shocked nearly catatonic by my first contact with extraterrestrial intelligent life. But really, who wouldn’t be?
My eyes welled with tears, and I didn’t bother trying to stop them from spilling over my bottom lashes to wet my cheeks. What would my coworkers think when I didn’t show up for my next shift? Did these guys leave a trace? Was my body still there and I was here, in another one? Now I knew freaking aliens existed, anything was possible. I glanced down at my knees and traced my finger over an old surgery scar from when I tore my ACL playing high school softball. I didn’t feel like I was in another body. This was me with all my scars and lumps and dimpled flesh.
The aircraft lurched, and I slid into the guard beside me. A pained cry left my lips as my hip connected with his stiff armor. With a disgusted sniff, he elbowed me back into place just as the pilot barked some words.
I lifted my eyes to the windshield again and sucked in a sharp breath. Before me was something out of a
science fiction movie. Hundred-foot-high walls surrounded what looked to be some sort of city. The sun shone off skyscrapers appearing to touch the clouds. Floating above the skyscrapers were pod-like blimps. And I could make out hovercars like the one I was in zooming between them.
“Holy shit,” I murmured. As we drew closer, massive gates swung open, and we sped through them before finally stopping above a landing zone. Other hovercars were parked nearby, their giant circular disks resting on the ground. We lowered and touched down. The pilot flipped a switch, and the loud motor gradually lessened in decibels with a mechanical whine.
This was more than a city… This was a fortress.
I saw now the skyscrapers sat on massive columns, kind of like beach houses in a flood zone. On the ground level were smaller buildings in varying degrees of disrepair. Creatures bustled about, most of them tall with silvery skin. They walked upright on their back legs, with three fingers on each hand, and two toes on each foot. Their faces were a bit flat, with small holes for nostrils and ears.
“Where am I?”
No one answered. Thick fingers wrapped around my arms and yanked me out of the vehicle. I stumbled on the ground and blinked at the sun. At least the rays warmed my skin, as this dress was about as thick as tissue paper.
One of the silver creatures approached us, and as he drew closer, I had a thought his face looked a bit like Voldemort. He wore pants, boots, and a jacket-type shirt with lapels and shiny badges. He carried himself with an air of authority, and he cast a glance at me as if I were shit on his shoe. They brought me here, and yet I was sneered at? How did that make sense?
The next few moments were a blur. The aliens holding me didn’t speak, but Voldemort issued a few sharp commands, and I was whisked into a small metal structure which looked very official. Voldemort had to open the door with some sort of ring he waved in front of a black panel. Once inside, I was shoved into an elevator-like box and smashed between the two guards while Voldemort had half the space to himself.
The doors closed, and claustrophobia set in. My head spun, and my heart raced. Could they hear the rapid thumping in this tiny space? I was about to ask what the hell was going on when the elevator dropped, and my stomach rose to jam in my throat. The last thing I’d eaten had been Chinese leftovers after my shift. My stomach cramped and I couldn’t tell if I was nauseated, or just starving and thirsty.
I swayed on my feet and nearly toppled over when the elevator came to a sudden stop. Gripping my arms tightly enough to leave bruises, the guards hauled me from the elevator and followed the silver Voldemort as he led us down a series of hallways lit by overhead lights.
Finally, we came to a glass-paneled room. Inside were various tables, instruments, and machines, as well as flat boxes that resembled monitors with rapidly scrolling numbers. As we entered the room, a silver alien spun around on his little chair, then bolted to his feet when he saw me. His mouth stretched into what I could only interpret as glee, but there was a sadistic quality about it that locked up my muscles.
“No,” I mumbled, pulling back on the massive hands holding my arms. “No, no, no, no.” I dug my bare heels into the smooth floor to no avail because they just dragged me. Sweat poured from my temples as they led me over to a long metal table with straps.
“Stop!” I yelled, even though they all ignored me like I wasn’t losing my mind. I thrashed and flailed, but the guards holding me were three times my size and probably ten times my strength. Still, I fought out of sheer terror, my flight instinct sending my heart into overdrive as it drummed a deafening beat in my ears.
“What are you doing?” I cried as they tossed me on the table like I weighed as much as a kitten. “Stop! Please!”
One guard planted a meaty mitt on my chest, holding me in place. Metal hooks rose and locked around my ankles, wrists, and neck. Pinned to the table, barely able to turn my head, I focused on breathing and not passing out. My chest rose and fell rapidly, and as pain streaked through my lungs and down my arms, I wondered if this was what a heart attack felt like.
Then Sociopath Silver leaned over me, blocking my vision from everything but his face. He lowered some metal object to my forehead, and I whimpered as I tried to move away even though I was stuck. I closed my eyes, thinking this was when they would put a bullet in my brain. Did they have bullets here? Tears coursed down my cheeks to wet my hair, and I couldn’t stop the ugly sob from bubbling up my throat. What had I done to deserve this? I was a good person! A nurse for Christ’s sake. I saved lives!
After a few seconds, I heard a beep and the cool metal was removed from my skin. Dread opened like a black hole in my gut as I waited for what was next. I opened my eyes to see Sociopath Silver tap away at a screen. He murmured a few words to Voldemort before shifting back to me with a giant-ass needle. I breathed through my nostrils so I wouldn’t vomit.
“Please don’t,” I whimpered. It didn’t matter. He pricked my arm with the needle, and I gasped, waiting to feel fire in my veins. But as the vial filled quickly with red liquid, I realized he wasn’t injecting me—he was drawing blood.
“W-what are you doing with my blood?” I mumbled. “Is this it? You’ll take me back home now, right? Do you need urine? Spit?” My body trembled and my teeth chattered. I was reaching my limit on what I could handle, and I hated I was this weak. “I’ll give it to you if you just let me go back home.”
Sociopath moved away from my line of sight, murmuring more words to his buddies I didn’t understand. He took the vial of my blood and pushed it into the slot of a metal box. Something hissed, followed by a rapid tapping and the soft whir of a machine. My blood was sucked out of the vial into the unknown depths of the little box.
I closed my eyes. I needed to preserve my sanity for whatever they had planned for me next.
Hands tugged at my hair, and I still didn’t open my eyes. Something cool was pressed against my scalp behind my ear. Agony streaked through my head like I’d been hit with a hammer. My eyes shot open and my back bowed off the table.
“Wh-what is—?” I couldn’t get the words out, and I couldn’t do much of anything but hold my breath and hope this pain subsided. If it didn’t, I was going to die. Right here on this table surrounded by aliens; I was going to die.
My eyes leaked copiously, and Voldemort snapped his fingers in front of my face, frowning at me. “Is she okay?” he asked.
“Humans are not so resilient. She seems to be in a lot of pain. It’ll subside.” Sociopath was completely unbothered I was in my death throes.
Wait, I could understand them? I blinked at Voldemort as the pain began to ease. I opened my mouth, but no words would come out, just a series of dry clicks. He smacked my cheek with a stinging slap of his palm. “Speak, human.”
“Wh-” I licked my dry lips. “What are you doing to me?”
He turned to Sociopath. “Seven rotations?”
“Seven rotations,” answered the asshole who now possessed my blood.
“Toss her in a cell.” Voldemort curled his lip in disgust. “Such a shame this pathetic species is our only hope.”
“They’re not so bad.”
Voldemort poked me in the side. “This one seems a little thick.”
“She’s a bit over the average weight of her species.”
Seriously? I was being fat-shamed by aliens? “I don’t understand,” I sputtered. “What is happening? Why am I here? Seven rotations of what?”
The metal straps loosened, but before I could move on my own, the guards hauled me off the table and dragged me toward the door. I yanked on their hold and yelled over my shoulder. “Why won’t you answer me?”
Sociopath rubbed his hands together and his face split into that awful grin. “In seven rotations you ovulate.”
“What?” I screeched as I struggled. The glass door closed, shutting me off from the two silvers who didn’t seem to give a single shit I was losing it. I turned my attention to the armored guards. “What are they talking about? What’s
going on?”
I wasn’t sure the guards could talk. They hadn’t spoken once, and they didn’t speak now. They didn’t acknowledge I was a living being or that my voice had gone shrill with body-numbing fear. “Please,” I sobbed. I hated this side of me, this pleading and begging. I always prided myself on cutting off my emotions when I was working. I followed procedure and worked hard. “Please just tell me what’s going on.”
They didn’t, and eventually I stopped asking. My feet barely touched the floor as they hauled me down a few flights of stairs, deeper and deeper underground. We entered a hallway where barred cells—like there’d be in a prison—lined one wall. They opened one, tossed me inside and closed the door. The echo of the lock clicking into place made me flinch. Without a word, they turned and walked away.
I sat huddled on the cold floor alone. As much as I hated the smelly guards, Voldemort, and Sociopath, being alone was somehow worse. My head spun, and my lungs tightened painfully until I could barely inhale oxygen. Panic set in, and I clawed at my throat as I gasped in air. I hadn’t had a panic attack in years. My head swam as I tried to remember techniques I’d learned to get me through these attacks, but I couldn’t focus. The bars of the cell seemed to close in, and I scrubbed my skin where the dress irritated me. I fingered the area behind my ear and touched a small disk. Tugging on it sent pain streaking through my scalp, so I left it alone. What the hell was it, a tracker? And how had I been able to understand their language?