by Dena Christy
Alien Escape
Dena Christy
Contents
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
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
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Also by Dena Christy
Copyright © 2017 by Dena Christy
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Cover Art by Melody Simmons
Chapter One
Evangeline Valencia, better known to her friends as Evie, clenched her teeth to keep her fear at bay as her car turned into the parking lot behind the old laboratory. She’d followed Colonel Dawson when he’d forcibly taken her friend Collette from her apartment building. Why hadn’t she insisted on going upstairs with Collette? Surely the two of them would have been a match for Colonel Dawson.
Her car pulled to a halt, and she stared at the building in front of her. It was the same building that Collette had been held captive in by Dr. Avery. They’d saved her then, and they would save her now. If only the aliens would get here.
Evie took a deep breath and braced herself. She couldn’t sit and wait for help to arrive like a damsel in distress. Her friend needed her. Her hand shook as she reached out to take the door handle, and it matched her trembling insides. She helped women all the time, but it was different. She did so at a distance, through a complex network of associates. It was risky for her, but not the same as confronting a man who had her friend at the point of a gun. What if Collette got hurt?
Collette will get hurt if you do nothing. Evie clenched the door handle and shoved the door open. Collette needed her, and she was doing this. Dawson would not hurt her friend any more than he already had.
She got out of the car on shaky legs and shut it quietly so no one would know she was there. She blew out her breath, and for all the bravado she’d displayed in the car, she couldn’t seem to get her feet to move. They were welded to the parking lot.
She would help Collette, she wanted to help her, but what could she do? She was only one woman, and if her life on this planet had taught her anything it was that women had no power.
“Just stop it.” No one could take her power unless she let them, and it was time for her to stand up. If she was hurt or killed, then so be it. At least she hadn’t let her friend suffer at the hands of Colonel Dawson without a fight.
She forced her feet forward toward the building. The back door loomed ahead of her, like a menacing tooth inside an angry mouth. The cracked and dirty windows on either side were like eyes glaring at her, daring her to come forward. She could do this. She had to do this.
With any luck the door wouldn’t be locked since she’d already picked it the last time she was here. She doubted that someone would have come along and locked it behind them. If someone had, then she was screwed, since she didn’t have her hair up with the hair sticks that were cleverly disguised lock picks. She reached out and tested the knob, and it turned easily in her hand. Now or never.
The sound of tires squealing on pavement made her jump, and her heart slammed in her chest. Oh God, had Dawson called for reinforcements?
She turned around, and every part of her body melted with relief. It wasn’t Dawson’s reinforcements that had pulled into the parking lot. It was hers.
The van pulled to a halt and out came Cynric, Ryce and Synn. The argument could be made that Collette wouldn’t be in danger if it wasn’t for these three, but that thinking wouldn’t help anyone. Collette was in danger, and the four of them were going to save her.
“He took her in there.” Evie looked at Ryce’s grim, pale face as he strode toward her ahead of the others. He was in love with Collette, that much was obvious.
“Has she been hurt?” Ryce grasped her by the upper arms, and Evie winced at the tightness of his grip. He was worried about Collette, and that worry ran down through his hands and into his bruising grip.
“Let go of her.” Ryce’s commander, Cynric, stepped up to him and put his hand on Ryce’s shoulder as his order came out in a growl. “I know you’re worried about Collette, but that’s no reason to manhandle her.”
A look of shame briefly crossed Ryce’s face, and he opened his fingers and took his hands off her. “I’m sorry. Did you see him take her in there? Was she injured at all?”
“I saw no obvious injuries, but I only saw them for a moment from the road when he took her in there. She could struggle, so she can’t be badly hurt. He is armed, so we must be careful when we go in.”
Ryce nodded and opened the door at the back of the building, he charged through with Synn following close behind. Evie turned to go with them when Cynric’s hand on her arm drew her to a halt.
“Where do you think you’re going?” He looked down at her, his expression hard as his onyx colored eyes met hers. “You’re not going in there.”
“I have to. She’s my friend. I didn’t go up to her apartment with her, and I didn’t rush in here when he dragged her in there. What if he’s hurt her because I hesitated? What if I’d been able to stop him from taking her if I’d gone with her into her apartment? I have to go help her. She needs me.” She already had one death on her conscience, she didn’t need another one. Her lower lip trembled, and he reached up to cup her face.
“None of this is your fault. You are not to blame for what Dawson does to Collette. When you realized the danger she was in, you didn’t hesitate to get help for her. If you’d gone up to Collette’s apartment, Dawson could very well have killed you. If that had happened, then she’d be in that building alone with him and we wouldn’t know that he has her. You have saved her life.”
She hadn’t looked at it like that. He was right, Dawson could have killed her and left her dead in Collette’s apartment, and there would be no one to come and save her. She nodded her head, and he dropped his hands from her face.
“I’ll bring her back to you, whole and alive.” He gently moved her aside and entered the building like a predatory animal. She could still feel the imprint of his palms on her cheeks, even though he’d only used the faintest of touches. She put her hands to her face for a moment. She shook her head and went over to the van. She would not sit idly by and wait. There had to be something she could do to prepare for Collette’s rescue.
She opened the glove box and rummaged around inside. The time alone, looking for the first aid kit she knew was inside, gave her too much time to think. About Cynric.
The first time she’d seen him he’d been like a ghost from her past, since he’d taken the form of Commander Roland Clancy. To her, Clancy was the devil come to life, and to see him in the parking lot of her building had paralyzed her with terror, until he’d changed and became the Cynric she’d help to rescue.
Something about him disturbed her, and she tried to tell herself that it was because of how he’d first appeared when she’d met him. But she didn’t think seeing him as Commander Clancy was what caused the emotion he stirred up inside her. He was an attractive male, but then so were Ryce and Synn. Those two stirred nothing inside her except mild annoyance, which had turned into a grudging respect when she’d seen how much they loved h
er friends Miranda and Collette.
She grabbed the first aid kit and shoved her thoughts of Cynric away. Now wasn’t the time to analyze what was going on inside her. She backed out of the front of the van and opened the door to the back. She laid the first aid kit on the back seat and hoped it wouldn’t be necessary to use it.
Cynric wasn’t even her type. Adam had been her type, and he’d been the complete opposite of the alien male who had dominated her thoughts since his friends had brought him to her compound.
Adam had been slight, passive and more of a dreamer than anything else, but that’s what she loved about him. Cynric was tall, broad and there was an air of authority about him that he wore like a second skin. Ryce and Synn had said he was their commander, and even if they hadn’t told her that, she would have known by how he carried himself. There was a toughness inside him too.
She didn’t know half of what he’d been through when he’d been held as Colonel Dawson’s prisoner, but there was a resilience that had kept him alive under torturous conditions. He’d carried bruises on his face, and the parts of his body that she’d seen, and he moved stiffly when he thought no one was looking. He was still affected by what had been done to him, at least physically.
The acrid smell of smoke drifted to her, and a wave of cold fear swept through her body as she turned to look at the building. There was no mistaking that the smell was coming from there, and while she could not see the flames, it would only be a matter of time until she did. She rushed toward the building. She didn’t dare go in because the last thing anyone needed was to rescue her from a burning building.
Please come out. She gripped her hands tightly in front of her. With all her energy she willed them to come out of the building. As if her thoughts had manifested, the door at the back of the lab opened and Synn walked out, carrying Collette in his arms. The door closed behind him, and Evie was rooted to the spot where she stood. Collette wasn’t moving and her body was limp in Synn’s arms.
“Is she…” She couldn’t finish her sentence, couldn’t speak what was clinging to the edges of her mind.
“She’s alive.” His voice was grim as he walked toward the van. Evie rushed behind him, and once he’d placed Collette on the seat, she climbed into the back of the van and knelt on the floorboard in front of the seat. There was blood on the side of Collette’s face, and Evie opened the kit, hoping there was something in there to clean it off to allow her to judge how severe her injuries were.
“What happened in there?” She pulled gauze out of the kit and gently wiped at the blood. The skin was broken in Colette’s hairline, and it seemed to be the source of the blood.
“A fire started somehow, and Dawson was chasing Collette on the catwalk when we got in there. Ryce tried to get her away, but Dawson grabbed her and hit her head with his weapon.”
Evie looked out the window of the van, but there was still no sign of Ryce and Cynric. Synn eased himself out of the van.
“Where are you going?” Evie scooted out of the van to follow him.
“I have to go back in for them.” He took a step toward the building and Evie grabbed his arm.
“You can’t. What am I supposed to tell Miranda if you die in there? That you made it out safe and went back in?”
The muscle in his jaw flexed as he looked at the building and then over at her. It wasn’t fair to bring up Miranda, but she would do anything she could to make sure that she wasn’t left in the parking lot, helpless and alone with the injured Collette.
“I’ll be in and out.” There was no conviction in his voice, because part of the building, the furthest away from where they were, was now burning. It wouldn’t take long for the flames to consume the entire laboratory. “I can’t let them burn to death in there.”
Whatever else he’d been about to say was interrupted when the door opened and Ryce dragged himself out of the building, coughing and gasping. Synn rushed forward and pulled him to his feet. There was no sign of Cynric.
Where is he? She rushed toward the door and she was there when Cynric crawled from the building.
“Are you okay?” She reached for him. His face was pale and covered in soot. She braced her feet as he took her hand and pulled himself up. She moved closer to him and put her arms around his waist. His body was so big and solid next to her that she couldn't believe that anything could hurt him.
“I’m fine. We have to get out of here.” He leaned on her for a moment before he straightened and pulled away. She could feel the heat radiating off the building, and they wouldn’t have much time to get away. She strode toward the van, and out of the corner of her eye she caught Cynric wincing.
“I thought you said you were fine.”
“I am fine. It’s a lingering injury from my confinement. We don’t have time to worry about it.”
Evie looked at Synn, who stood beside the van. “Is he going to be okay?”
He looked at Ryce, who held Collette close in the back of the van.
“He will be once she’s okay. We have to get out of here. I’m assuming that you're going in the car?” Synn got in the front driver’s side of the van.
“Yes I’d hate to lose such a nice vehicle, and it wouldn’t be good if the authorities found a dead man’s car here.”
Evie turned and hurried toward Dr. Avery’s car. The van doors slammed behind her, and at least they were all ready to go. She opened the car door and got in. The passenger side door opened and Evie let out a gasp of surprise as Cynric eased into the seat.
“I thought I’d ride with you.” He moved stiffly as he fastened his seatbelt.
“That’s fine.” She pressed the button beside the steering column and the car roared to life. She gave it the address of her bunker and the car inched forward toward the mouth of the parking lot behind the van. She looked in the rear view mirror as the building behind them erupted into an inferno.
It hadn’t escaped her notice that there had been no sign of Dawson the whole time she’d been there. She knew without being told that when Synn had come out alone with Collette that Ryce and Cynric had stayed back to make sure that Dawson would never come after Collette again.
Good riddance. She turned her gaze away from the burning building and faced the road ahead.
Cynric Tronstad sank down on the lounge in the common room and tried to relax enough to get comfortable. Exhaustion seeped into his bones, which was paired with the soreness stubbornly residing in his muscles. His lungs hurt and he was sure he’d inhaled more smoke than was good for him.
His time in prison hadn’t done him any favors either, but at least he was alive. He’d been on the verge of giving up when his friends had saved him from the hell of a military prison. Refusing to help Ryce in his time of need was not an option. He’d forced his battered body to take part in Collette’s rescue and he’d avenged himself on the man who’d tortured him in prison.
Ryce’s woman was with the doctor and for Ryce’s sake, Cynric hoped she would pulled through her ordeal. It was a miracle that his friend had found his mate, and he couldn’t lose her now. He needed both Ryce and Synn to be at the top of their game, and in order for that to happen their women needed to be happy and most of all healthy.
The three of them were stranded on a hostile planet, and while they were among friends, they needed to find their way home. The enormity of the obstacle ahead pressed down on him. He had to get his men and their mates safely off this planet, with few allies and scant resources. It was the most daunting challenge he’d face in his ten-year career as a commander, and he could not fail them. Their lives depended on their success.
He tipped his head back, rested it against the back of the sofa and closed his eyes. It was a good thing that he wasn’t expected to save them all tonight because he would fail if he tried. He didn’t think he could move from where he was. They were all safe for tonight at least, and he’d think of a way to get them off the planet tomorrow. Right now he was too tired to think of anything.
�
�Shouldn’t you be resting?” A soft, feminine voice spoke beside him and he knew without looking that it was Evie. He’d known her for only a day, and yet he’d know that voice anywhere. It was soft and slightly husky, and just listening to it soothed him. It made him forget all the worries weighing on him and made him hope that things would turn out the way he wanted.
“I am resting.” He slowly opened his eyes and lifted his head. She stood in front of him, and a frown pulled her eyebrows together. He wanted to pull her down beside him, to use his thumb to smooth the worry from her face, but he was too tired for even that. “How is Collette?”
“The doctor says she’ll pull through.” Evie sat down on the sofa beside him. At least there would be a happy outcome for Ryce if his mate was going to make it. “He’ll be with her for a little longer, but he can examine you after that.”
“I don’t need examining by the doctor.” He shifted in his seat, suppressing the wince that made him a liar. What if his true nature came out during the exam? It was a risk he couldn’t take. He’d only just gotten out of prison, he didn’t want to go right back. Memories of the electro pad they’d strapped to his body, which had sent painful jolts of electricity through him, flooded his mind. More time in prison would be the end of him. He’d only just escaped with his sanity intact this time.
“Is that so? Then why do you wince every time you think no one's looking?” She turned toward him, with tawny eyes that seemed to glow. He kept his focus on her eyes and didn’t allow his gaze to drift anywhere else. He didn’t need to look at her figure to know she was built with the grace of a dancer and had womanly curves in exactly the right places. Wincing wasn’t the only thing he did when no one was looking. The last day and a half had been spent memorizing her face and form, and now he could conjure her up in his mind anytime he wanted. Right now it seemed she was determined to get him to see the doctor, but that wouldn't happen. Not if he could help it.