by Ella Maven
Thanks for reading about my Drixonians! I’d love it if you’d consider leaving me a review on Amazon or Goodreads!
If you missed reading about Daz and Frankie, you can get their story in The Alien’s Ransom.
Want to know if Ward ever tracked down his runaway human? Read on for a sneak peak of THE ALIEN’S UNDOING.
The Alien’s Undoing
Excerpt from Chapter One of
THE ALIEN’S UNDOING.
Reba
I was a true-crime junkie. Podcasts? Listened to ‘em. Books? Read ‘em. Netflix documentaries? Watched ‘em. I was the proud owner of pepper spray and that cute little cat keychain that doubled as an eye gouger.
But my pepper spray was in my purse hanging from my kitchen chair and my fashionable eye gouger was swinging from my keys on the hook by my front door. Those crime deterrents were ineffective seeing as I was snatched from my bed in the middle of the night.
None of the true crime information I inhaled like air had given me any indication of what to do when aliens transported me to a distant galaxy. Worse? I’d just seen a contingent of giant blue aliens on hover bikes with freaking blades under their scales slaughter a whole bunch of other aliens. I was now face down, ass up on one of these bikes, zooming toward a place where they’d surely flay me and eat the skin from my bones if their large fangs were any indication of their eating preferences. They had sharp horns too in black corkscrews jutting out the sides of their heads, as well as tails. The alien who had me cut his hair close to the scalp, so it was just a half-inch of black hair, which only seemed to emphasize how utterly big his skull was.
His chest was bigger than any bodybuilder I’d ever seen and his massive hand was clamped down on my back in a warning not to struggle. Because I had. After the slaughter, I’d lost my mind when this one grabbed me and dragged me toward his bike. The death glare he’d given me had rendered me immobile for a half second which was enough time for him to throw me over his bike and get us off the ground. I lay across his massive thighs, which hardened and flexed as he moved with his bike through the air. His boots on the footboard had to at least size eighteen, if such a thing existed. His sheer size sent my heart into overdrive so that my whole body shook and my teeth chattered.
That led me to my current dilemma. Kidnapping 101. Don’t let your assailant take you to another location. I didn’t know for sure, but I was going to assume Karen and Georgia from My Favorite Murder would also recommend this advice even outside of our galaxy.
I had to get back to the sight of the slaughter. Not because I was excited to revisit the gore, but because that was where the spaceship that brought us here had landed. I wanted to get back there, sit on my ass, and wait for the next shuttle to arrive so I could hitch a ride back to Earth. Did I think it would be that easy? No. But I was terrified out of my mind, sick as hell from the twisting and turning of the hover bike as we sped through dense forestry, and so close to an actual mental break that I was hanging on by a fraying thread.
I had a one-track mind, and that was getting back to the spaceship site. They had to return, right? I’d sneak aboard like a stowaway to return to Earth and my new mattress in my little house with my two cats and one fish.
I would not be a victim. I would not be a victim. I would not be a victim. Not after my sister’s fate…
Shit, I couldn’t think about that now, because the last thing I had time for was a grieving crying jag. I struggled to lift my head and peer through my curtain of blonde hair, wondering how the hell I was going to get back to the ship’s landing site. I had to try. It’d been a massive clearing, so it couldn’t be too hard to find, right? If I could just get off this damn bike…
I squirmed and flailed enough that the alien driver must have sensed I was uncomfortable or about to lose it. I was both, but that wasn’t why I wanted him to stop. He slowed the bike, and before I knew it, I was coughing up green dirt from this godforsaken planet as we landed among some dense brush.
The alien lifted his hand from my back long enough for me to slide to the ground in a heap. I brushed my hair out of my eyes and glared up at him. He looked at me down his nose, and his lips curled to reveal his very real and very sharp-looking fangs.
He reached down for me just as the other bikes settled around us. I scrambled away as one of the other aliens spoke to mine. He growled a few words back at them.
I looked in the direction we came from. I could maybe get away now. Sure they’d follow me—maybe—but I could certainly hide. Unless they had ultra sniffer noses or something. God, I was so out of my element. I had no idea what secret senses these guys had. They had damn hidden weapons in their bodies!
My alien’s eyes narrowed at me and he curled a lips as he swung off his bike. I scrambled away from him as he stomped toward me. I held my arms out to ward him away and said the first thing that came to mind. “I have to pee!”
He stopped abruptly and stared at me. The other women on the bikes—who didn’t look terrified enough, in my opinion—glanced around nervously. The one with the braids spoke up. “You okay?”
I wanted them to come with me, but I didn’t think a mass escape attempt was feasible. If I could get home, I could send help. Or something. I wasn’t sure. My brain was a jumble. “I just have to pee,” I said to the women.
I turned to my alien and tried to figure out how to convey my need to him. I made a rushing water sound and gestured between my legs while pressing my knees together in the classic Earth sign for “need to relieve my bladder.”
My alien wrinkled his nose and only looked for agitated. “Mah bust de rapundi,” he growled at me.
I pointed to a tree. “Right there, I’ll just pee. And then come back.” I tried to mime some hand motions with that.
He crossed his arms over his chest and braced his feet apart. God, he was massive. All muscle and horns and glower.
I shuffled over to the tree and held up my finger. “Just a minute. Can you turned around?”
Of course he only stared at me.
One of the aliens said something, and mine turned his head to face them. Another laughed, which drew my alien’s attention enough that he gave me his back. He took a step toward his companions, gesturing with his massive hand in an impatient tone.
I ducked down. Thankful for the thick brush that extended over my head, I began to crawl away on my hands and knees. I nearly held my breath, because my life depended on me not getting caught. Not a victim. Not a victim. Not a victim. I chanted in my head. This couldn’t be happening to me. My parents couldn’t lose another child to some freak bullshit—
I froze as I realized I didn’t hear any voices anymore. How far had I crawled? It couldn’t have been that far. I glanced behind me, but all I saw was more of the thorny bushes. Well shit. Keep going. You can do this, Reba. Keep crawling. Away from the big bad aliens. Away from Glower. I wished the other women were with me. I thought for a second about going back, but what could I do to help them if I was held prisoner by these blue guys same as them?
I wondered where the leader had taken the loud girl. She’d been terrified as he’d ripped her away from us, and I’d tried to cling to her just like the other women. That was my other fear—they were going to separate us one by one, and no way in hell was I going to be alone with one of those big bastards. I didn’t want to think about what the leader was doing to the loud, pretty girl now. I shuddered and kept crawling, sending up a short prayer for her. Wherever she was. If this was her end, I hoped it was quick.
The sun beat down through cracks in the large leaves over my head, soaking through the thin shirt and shorts I usually wore to bed. My hair plastered to my sweat-damp neck. Burning streaked through my palms and knees as rocks and sticks dug into my skin. I ignored the bloody trail I left behind and kept going.
The foliage on this planet was a brilliant blue and teal. Every once in a while, I caught a glimpse of another planet next to this one, visible along the horizon, its atmosphere a swirl of greens and blues.
I kept crawling, and when the brush around me began to change, I took my chance and stood up to run at a loping crouch. When we’d left, the sun had been at my left, I remembered that much. So if I just ran with it to my right, I’d eventually make it back to the landing site. Right? Sure, let’s go with that.
But as I continued on, every step in the opposite direction of the women and the blue aliens seemed wrong. I second-guessed myself, which I hated doing. The blue aliens knew how to survive on this planet. They most likely had food. Shelter. What if they were my best chance at staying alive? Before the leader had ripped away the pretty brunette, he had killed the big alien who’d hit her.
I slowed to a walk. Then I stopped. My breathing hitched with the beginnings of a freak out. “Calm down, Reba.” I whispered to myself. “Just… calm down. Go back. Stick with the women and the blue assholes and try to learn their language. Communicate. Plead your case.” Wasn’t running away playing the victim?
I took a deep breath as I heard footsteps behind me. This was probably Glower, here to reprimand me and toss me on his bike like a sack of potatoes. Try to look innocent. Fragile. Maybe he’d take pity on me and not exact some horrible punishment for running away.
I turned around, adopting the most apologetic expression as I could when a body crashed through the brush. Actually, not just one body. Several bodies. And they weren’t Glower. They weren’t any of the big blue aliens. These were big lizard-like creatures with yawning jaws of sharp teeth, clawed hands, and oily bodies. One reached for me, and I opened my mouth and screamed.
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Acknowledgments
I first and foremost have to thank the readers who took a chance on a new science fiction romance author and launched themselves headfirst into my Drixonian universe. I feel so, so lucky that I get to do this, because I’m having so much fun writing these brawny guys and their females. THANK YOU! I hope to keep making you happy and giving you a fun escape.
Thank you as always to the amazing Natasha Snow, my cover designer. You captured Sax perfectly! Thank you to Edie Danford for your copy edits, and Del for your great proofing. I have a good team!
About the Author
Ella Maven is the pen name for a multi-published USA Today Bestselling author who decided to finally unleash the alien world that had been living in her head for years. (Is that weird? Probably). Her books feature dominant, possessive aliens who are absolutely devoted to their humans.
She lives on the East Coast with her completely normal husband and two spawn who sure seem alien some days.