Seduced by the Alien Warrior

by Hope Hart

  Seduced By The Alien Warrior

  Hope Hart

  Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Epilogue

  Chapter One

  Alexis

  I scowl at the massive warriors surrounding us, long, lethal swords in their hands.

  “I’m getting really sick of this planet,” I mutter.

  “Preach,” Nevada says.

  Don’t get me wrong, I’m enjoying the view. I let my eyes linger on the warrior with the dark eyes, who sends me a wink. But I’m tired. Nothing has been easy since the Grivath abducted us, sold us to cruel purple aliens, and crash-landed on this planet.

  “State your business,” one of the warriors says, his face hard.

  “We must talk to Dexar,” Terex says, and his voice is calm. That’s right, dickheads. You can’t intimidate us.

  Terex is one of the warriors who found us in the clearing while we were mindlessly following the Voildi back to their camp like lambs to the slaughter. Turns out the Voildi were planning to eat us.

  See what I mean? Nothing is easy here.

  “You have not sent a messenger to request a meeting,” the warrior replies, and Nevada gives him a grin. She bares her teeth while caressing her sword, and I smirk as the warriors surrounding us all stare at her like she’s a bomb about to go off.

  They’re not used to women carrying swords here, and they’re definitely not used to them wearing leather pants and training with the guys.

  “We did not have time,” Terex says. “Both of us know that Dexar and Rakiz have formed an alliance. Do you wish to put that in jeopardy with your actions today?”

  The warrior narrows his eyes at Terex and waits for a long moment. I almost roll my own eyes. Another man with something to prove. It’s the same on every planet.

  Finally, he moves to his side, gesturing for us to go ahead. I’m riding with Asroz—one of Terex’s buddies—and he keeps the mishua in line as the creature snorts at the other warriors.

  Riding a mishua is an adventure in itself. The animals only let warriors ride them, but honestly, I wouldn’t want to ride one alone anyway. They’re scary as hell.

  The animal beneath me is scaled with furry legs. It’s like a mad scientist merged a camel and a horse, gave it scales and horns, and painted it green.

  Thankfully, Asroz handles the mishua like he’s been doing it his whole life, and we make our way into the camp.

  Our camp is a couple of days from here. Rakiz is the tribe king, and Terex is in charge of his warriors. He’s hot and muscled, and since the moment he met us, he’s only had eyes for Ellie, who is currently smiling up at him as we ride through this camp.

  I thought Rakiz’s camp was large, but this one must sprawl for miles. At the center, a huge kradi stands, at least twenty feet high and the size of a small stadium. This kradi puts the smaller tent-like structures at our camp to shame.

  The people here call their tribe king “qatai,” and apparently, he’s been gradually taking over more and more land since the moment he planted his butt on his throne.

  We dismount, and I blow out a breath as I finally stretch my legs. The warriors who found us lead us into the massive kradi, and I gasp, immediately entranced.

  My feet sink into thick rugs, and while I expected to be entering a huge, open space, walls have been constructed out of some kind of thick material. One of the warriors lifts a piece of that material, revealing an entranceway.

  My geek brain is going nuts for this. There’s no way I would’ve noticed which part of the material wall was the door. This place has been built like a maze, obviously with defense in mind.

  Whatever material they’ve used, it’s pretty damn good at soundproofing. As we file into the next room, the sounds of voices almost make me step back, and my mouth drops open.

  There must be close to a hundred people in here, all sitting in groups, murmuring at each other as we walk in.

  On a large dais, a man sits on a throne, his dark eyes regarding his subjects with what looks like boredom. He raises his head, and my breath leaves me in a whoosh as his eyes meet mine for a single moment.

  “Terex,” he says, and the murmuring ends.

  Nevada caresses her sword again, and Ellie hisses something to her. Likely, she’s warning her not to start any shit. Right now, we’re completely surrounded on all sides.

  “Dexar,” Terex nods at him, and the qatai meets my gaze again.

  “Who are these females you bring with you?”

  The qatai is still staring at me, and if this were any other situation, I’d call him out for being a creeper. I feel the urge to shuffle my feet, and I grit my teeth, staring back at him as he raises his eyebrow.

  The man is massive, and a frisson of awareness travels down my spine. His full lips twist as he finally moves his gaze from mine, slowly getting up from his throne and prowling toward us.

  I can’t help but watch the guy as Terex tells him all about how we ended up on this planet. Not for the first time, I wish we’d been lucky enough to crash-land on a planet like Arcavia, where the Arcav would simply have arranged for us to get on the next ship back to Earth.

  But no, we had to land on a backward, barbaric planet where we’ve already stared down death numerous times. At least we have man candy to perv at along the way, I guess.

  The people surrounding us have begun whispering again, and I frown, narrowing my eyes at a woman who seems to be discussing me. In fact, most of them are staring at me, and I have the sudden urge to elbow my way out of this kradi and get the hell away from here.

  I get it, I look different. There aren’t many people with light hair on this planet, and mine is long and white-blonde. Combine that with light-blue eyes, and I stand out like a sore thumb. Still, the gawking is rude as hell.

  I turn my attention back to Terex, who is finally explaining why we’re here.

  “During the battle, three of the females were taken by the Voildi. Rakiz has sent warriors to look for them. However, another female also disappeared around the same time. She was small and dark-haired.”

  A pang of guilt hits me in the gut. Charlie. Her name is Charlie, and she was seriously hurt. Her head was dripping blood after we crashed, and once the Braxian warriors killed the Voildi, we searched the surrounding area for her, just in case she’d crawled off somewhere to hide and fallen unconscious.

  Finally, Terex and his friends convinced us to leave. We were sitting ducks at that point, and our numbers had already been halved when three of the other human women were stolen by another Voildi pack and Charlie disappeared. He promised us that Rakiz would send warriors to search the area.

  Unfortunately, none of those women have been found.

  I’m watching the qatai closely, which is why I see the instant recognition in his eyes when Terex describes Charlie. I stare at him, wishing everyone else would disappear so I could shake him until he tells me what I need to know.

  Good idea, Alexis. And how do you think your puny human body will move that giant mountain of a man?

  “What is your name?” the mountain suddenly asks me, and I frown at him.

  “Why does it matter?” Talk about irrelevant details.

  I grind my teeth as gasps sound throughout the huge room, and suddenly, the kradi is so quiet that I could likely hea
r a pin drop.

  He stares at me, obviously confused by the fact that I haven’t immediately told him what he wants to know.

  Get used to it, big guy.

  Oh shit. I expected him to glower at me, maybe push his weight around. What I didn’t expect was the sudden grin that transforms the hard lines of his face. There are suddenly a bunch of butterflies going nuts in my stomach.

  He moves slightly closer, and the light hits his eyes. They’re lighter than I thought, but the deep-green color reminds me of sunlight peeking through the leaves of a dark forest.

  “You wish for my help, and yet you won’t tell me your name?”

  Okay, this is getting weird. Why isn’t he asking the other women their names? I glance at Nevada, and she has her eyes narrowed at the qatai like he’s an unpredictable, dangerous animal.

  Glad to know I’m not the only one who’s getting weirded out.

  The silence stretches, and I blush, annoyed at the number of eyes on me.

  “Alexis,” I grind out, and his eyes lighten further. I have the strangest urge to punch him and remove some of the satisfaction from his face.

  “Alexis,” he drawls, lingering over my name. He moves back to his throne and sits, returning his attention to Terex.

  “Three nights ago, I received word from a group of my men stationed in the northeast corner of my territory,” he says. “I was unsure what to make of their message, believing they must have had too much noptri that night. The female was wearing strange clothes that my men had never seen before and was bleeding heavily from her head.”

  “Charlie,” Ellie murmurs, and Terex wraps his arm around her shoulder. Nevada narrows her eyes at the qatai, and I wish she were closer so I could elbow her. Something tells me that this is a very dangerous man. While he’s obviously playing some kind of game, it’s evident that he’s unused to anyone showing him disrespect.

  “And?” Nevada asks.

  “And I find myself unwilling to offer up such vital information without anything in return.”

  “You son of a bitch,” Nevada says, and I nod. What an asshole. I wish I could take back all the nice thoughts I’ve been having about his huge body.

  Dexar gets back to his feet, staring at Nevada. My chest suddenly feels tight, and I realize I’m holding my breath.

  “What do you want?” Terex asks.

  “I want her,” Dexar says, gesturing to me, and my breath leaves my chest as I almost choke. I can feel the blood draining from my face. He’s joking, right?

  “You have got to be fucking kidding me,” Nevada says, and I nod.

  Same page, girl. Same page.

  Dexar removes his heated gaze from me and turns back to Terex.

  “Your tribe has found three females,” he says, and I’m glad we didn’t tell him about Vivian, who’s hanging out back at camp, just in case Rakiz’s warriors manage to find the other women. “You are searching for four more. You are well aware of our shortage of females.”

  I’ve got pretty good instincts when it comes to people. Growing up in the foster care system will do that to you. And he may be justifying his assholery, but I don’t buy it. I glance at Asroz and move behind him, hoping the giant warrior will protect me if the shit hits the fan.

  “You would be safe here,” Dexar tells me. “I would see to it personally. No one would harm you, and I will give you the information needed to find your friend.”

  Charlie. I stare at the ground, a sudden lump in my throat. I’ll never forgive myself for not searching for her for longer. Sure, logic said that we had to move on before it got dark, but I still picture her face at night before I go to sleep. Still see her puking in the bushes and walking unsteadily as she suffered through her head injury.

  “What kind of person would ask something like this?” Once again, it’s Nevada who says what we’re all thinking. She’s a tough-as-nails marine, and I couldn’t be more thankful to have her on my team.

  “I am not a good person,” Dexar shrugs. “Like most on this planet, I take what I want, and I do not apologize for it. You will need to learn this lesson well if you are going to stay here.”

  I shoot Nevada a look, which she can’t see, but luckily Ellie steps forward and elbows her in the ribs. No point letting the qatai know our plan to get to the crashed spaceship and see if we can fix it. All of us want to go home and resume our lives.

  Asroz is still positioned in front of me, and I scowl at Dexar from behind the warrior’s back.

  Dexar raises one eyebrow, shrugging his shoulders elegantly as if he couldn’t care less. But his body holds a strange kind of tension that tells me that my answer is crucially important to him.

  Fuck.

  My brain begins inventing and discarding options as I search for a way out of this. But there’s no logic here, and I attempt to blink back tears as I realize I only have one choice. I glance around at all the people gawking as if we’re on a strange, alien reality TV show.

  “Out,” Dexar instructs, and I meet his gaze again. Instantly, people are up and moving, revealing hidden exits as they leave the large space.

  “What is your decision, female?” Dexar asks.

  Panic is rising in my chest. I don’t want to separate from the other women. We’re like a team. A club filled with the only other people in the universe who know what it’s like to be sold on a slave planet only to end up crash-landing on barbaric Agron.

  I should never have come to this tribe. And yet what kind of person would I be if I didn’t take the chance to help Charlie any way I can? When we get back to Earth, I’m the one who’ll have to look at myself in the mirror when I get ready for work in the morning. And it must be hard to meet your own eyes when your cowardice has cost someone their life.

  “You won’t give us the information any other way?” I ask.

  He shakes his head slowly, and I grind my teeth. He’s promised that I’ll be safe here, but who knows what that even means. I bet his definition of safe and my definition of it are not at all the same.

  “Don’t do it,” Ellie murmurs to me. “We’ll find another way.”

  Nevada nods, still glaring at Dexar. “Ellie’s right.”

  I blow out a breath. This decision requires more data. “What does this mean? What exactly do you want from me?”

  Dexar shrugs, and I’m once again transfixed by the elegance of the movement. For such a huge man, I’d expect him to move like a brawler. But he reminds me of a lion, slowly stalking across the plains.

  And I’m his prey.

  “I simply want you here, where I can see you,” he says.

  I wrinkle my nose, unconvinced, and Nevada snorts. Neither of us were born yesterday.

  “Just so we’re clear,” I say, “I’m not sleeping with anyone.”

  Dexar grins, and I have to look away. The guy is making me leave my friends, and yet my thighs just clenched at the beauty of his face. What is wrong with me?

  “I don’t need to make a bargain with you for a tumble. Females beg me for this.”

  I bet they do. His brow is raised, the look on his face supremely arrogant, and I can practically see women coming to him night and day, fluttering their eyelashes at him, twittering until they get his attention. Strangely, the thought makes my teeth unclench, and I roll my eyes. If he has all these women bowing and scraping, then this isn’t about me at all. Maybe he’s just trying to give Rakiz a giant “fuck you” for some reason, and this is the way he’s chosen to do it.

  Idiot. In that case, he should’ve made Nevada stay. Rakiz would probably burn down this world to get her back.

  “How long do I have to stay?” I ask. I’m guessing a week or two. Maybe a month. Hopefully by then, the other women will have been found and we can mosey on out of here.

  “One revolution,” he says, and once again, I can feel the blood leave my face.

  Tell me he doesn’t mean what I think he means.

  “Is that a year? How many days is that?”

  “Two hundr
ed and ninety.” Dexar says the words as if they don’t matter, but all I can see is almost a year of my life, disappearing like smoke.

  Nevada and Ellie gasp, and I weigh my options. There’s no way I’m staying here that long. This man thinks he has me right where he wants me, but he’ll learn. For now, we’ll take his information and let him think I’ll stay here for a year. But as soon as the other women are found, I’m getting out of here.

  I’m the only one who has a remote chance of being able to fix our ship.

  I turn to Ellie and Nevada. “Charlie was really hurt, you guys.”

  Nevada leans forward. “Play the game,” she whispers. “I’ve got your back.”

  I nod and take a deep breath. “I want one more thing,” I say, and Dexar smiles. It’s not a nice smile. The lion has me trapped beneath his paw, and he’s enjoying watching me squirm.

  “What?”

  “Rakiz has sent a group of hunters looking for our friends, but they haven’t returned. I want you to send some as well. But I want you to swear that if they find them, they’ll return them to Rakiz’s tribe.”

  Unlike this motherfucker, Rakiz seems to be trustworthy. Plus, Terex is obsessed with Ellie. He’ll make sure the other women are well looked after until I can break my way out of here.

  Dexar frowns, and it’s like a cloud has covered the sun. Good. Why should I be the only one who’s unhappy?

  “Why would I do this?” he asks.

  “Maybe you’re not a good person, but you don’t have to be a bad one.”

  The scowl on his face deepens suddenly, making his face look so dangerous that I find myself stepping back behind Asroz.

  Dexar doesn’t seem to like this because he steps forward. “Fine, female. Now cease hiding behind another male. I am the only male who will provide you with protection.”

  Jeez.

  “Swear it,” I say.

  He nods. “You are a brave female. I swear that I will send my hunters to look for your lost friends, and if found, my men will return them to Rakiz’s tribe.”