Bad Panther (Alien Guardians of Earth Book 1)

by Donna McDonald

  Axel fought off his urge to snort. His mother had been entirely right in her assessment about what was going on. The oblivious Dr. Jennings was in no way prepared for what she’d gotten herself into.

  His first impression of the female had been that she was chatty, nosy, and too friendly—all qualities he hated. The sentient blade when in charge was a lot more emotionally controlled, but now he wished for the friendly female’s return.

  “I was taking Dr. Jennings to safety when the ape-men attacked,” he stated, moderating his voice into what his mother would have called one of his “nicer” tones. “As her guardian, I recommend we leave immediately.”

  “Guardian Axel of Rodu not to be harmed. Order received. Command acknowledged.”

  His eyebrows shot up at that information and his heart thumped rapidly in a panic he worked to hide. Did Dr. Jennings save him with some command to the entity possessing her?

  He glanced around at the six piles of black dust. His mother’s warnings had been more valid than she realized. The sentient blade could have incinerated him with as much ease as she had the ape-men.

  The reality made it necessary for Axel to clear his throat to speak. “We should leave before others come to attack.”

  “Recommendation accepted.”

  After that, the entity in complete control of Dr. Jennings didn’t say a word more to him or to a subdued Max calmly sitting in the back of the airship. She didn't speak while climbing into his craft or for the entire two-hour trip back to his home. Once they arrived and had gotten out, only then did she turn to address him. Max slunk off, softly whining as he fled.

  “Host recovery necessary. Symbiosis in progress. Quarters?” she asked.

  Axel had intended to put the plain-looking woman in the cabin where he stashed Max’s family when they came to visit. His idea had been to keep their proximity to each other to a minimum. He’d planned to stock the cabin with food the woman could prepare for herself so he wouldn’t have to give up his privacy even to feed her. Now he wasn’t so sure that this deadly female being out of his sight was a good idea.

  His mother had been on to something when she urged him to make the blade’s host their ally. He knew of only one sure way to gain her complete support—one he’d never failed at—one he was now no longer opposed to after seeing Dr. Sugar Jennings’ curves in her golden armor.

  Axel directed his full attention to the entity in possession of Dr. Jennings. “Your host and I have an arrangement. My fee for protection is that she—that Sugar—shares my bed as my companion female until she doesn’t need my protection anymore.”

  Once again the entity lowered her gaze. When she raised her head, she nodded. “Host amenable. Condition accepted.”

  The blade studied him much like Dr. Jennings had when the archaeologist thought he hadn’t been watching. The actual woman’s initial perusal had been warm and admiring. This check-out being conducted under the blade’s influence was far more thorough.

  “Sex necessary to host. Query—proficiency proven?”

  Axel laughed at the longest thing it had said to him yet. His sense of humor always seemed to show up at the oddest times.“Affirmative,” he answered because he couldn’t help himself.

  The blade-possessed Dr. Jennings nodded once at his reply but never smiled at his joking. The real Dr. Jennings would have probably made some flirty answer or cooed over him as she had over Max. The sentient blade gave a whole new meaning to someone being “deadly-serious” because the artifact inside Dr. Sugar Jennings was indeed that.

  If he wasn’t wrong, the blade was far more like a computer than anything remotely organic. Bedding the host of such a power might be like having sex with an android, but he’d see Dr. Jennings got what she needed from it. His mother would probably be proud of his willingness to gain the loyalty and trust of the sentient blade’s host in any way he could.

  “Let me show you to our quarters,” Axel offered, extending a hand toward his house.

  She followed him silently inside and down a hallway. Once in his room, she took time to assess nearly everything before stripping off all her clothing until it was in a pile at her feet. She walked naked to the bed and looked at the two pillows.

  “Query—third pillow?”

  He got caught boldly staring, but who wouldn’t? It took a moment for him to realize the blade was asking him for something. “Okay… sure. I get it. Dr. Jennings needs an extra pillow,” Axel said, surprised again.

  He went to the linen closet in the hallway and hoped to find one there. If not, he was going to have to leave Her Naked Hineyness alone to go to the cabin to get one. Luckily, he found a spare in the closet and brought it right back.

  “Your host body is awfully small to need two pillows for her head. Mine are the expensive kind that doesn’t lose their volume with use,” Axel explained as he handed the pillow over.

  “One for head. One to hug. Emotional comfort necessary.”

  Feeling strangely moved by hearing such an intimate detail, Axel watched the female recline and wrap both arms around the extra pillow.

  “Will Sugar be in control again after the host body wakes?”

  “Affirmative. Symbiosis not complete.”

  “What percentage has been reached?” Axel asked. What he really wanted to know was what kind of symbiosis was happening. There was so much to learn.

  “Forty-seven point nine five current approximation. Emotions change estimate.”

  “Do you have an estimated time for completion?” Axel watched her close her eyes. He wasn’t sure she was going to answer. When she did, the answer blew him away.

  “One hundred five years Gregorian calendar. Estimate expected to change daily.”

  “Will she live a hundred and five more years?”

  “Host alive until death.”

  Axel snorted at the enigmatic statement that told him nothing. He was planning to ask more questions, but Dr. Jennings started softly snoring. Deciding he could guard the female just as well from his kitchen, Axel headed back down the hall.

  He’d learned a lot in just one afternoon. One of the most exciting things was what an incredible body the chatty Dr. Jennings had been hiding under her boring clothes. Even the golden trident glowing between her breasts hadn’t put him off.

  Now he was oddly turned on by the idea of bedding a being powerful enough to kill him whenever she wanted. Suddenly a hundred and five years of babysitting the sentient blade and its owner didn’t seem as bad as it no doubt should have.

  He was already wondering if the curvy, sexy, archaeologist could ever learn to give his inner feline the personal space it needed. If she turned out to be the clingy type though, Axel would move her out to the cabin in the next week or so. It wouldn’t be the first time he’d used it to put distance between him and a female.

  However, his mother had requested he become Dr. Jennings’ friend. He’d never really been friends with a female outside his family, but he supposed he could learn. The stakes were high in this case so he’d have to figure it out.

  In the coming years they’d have together, he’d have to take off now and again for a bit of time when the urge to bed other females hit him as it always did.

  Perhaps when the symbiosis and her training had moved further along they could do a few jobs together. Working toward a common goal often bred friendships—or so he’d observed in others. Between his mother and Eva, there should be plenty of opportunities for Dr. Jennings to indulge the sentient blade’s ruthless skills. His task would be how to make himself useful to her.

  Axel was glad now that his mother had asked him to do this. For once he wasn’t bored, and he wouldn’t mind being Dr. Jennings’ mentor and trainer. The friend stuff might be a stretch, but after all, sacrificing his body and time was what a true Lyran prince would do.

  7

  Sugar woke up hugging the pillow now lying on top of her but outside of the covers. She was naked and spread-eagle in the very middle of what she knew had to be
Axel’s bed. Despite his cool reception to her at the Psych Central office, he’d seen to it that her body ended up in his bed even though he hadn’t bothered to spend the night with her. She could tell because his pillow didn’t have any indentations and there were no signs of fresh DNA on his side.

  Rolling her head to rid herself of her strange thoughts, she spied the abandoned pile of her clothes on the floor where the artifact had shed everything covering her nakedness without her knowledge. It was an action it always took during her recovery which resembled a bear’s hibernation far more than human sleep.

  Her face flushed now remembering the total lack of shame the artifact had shown in undressing while Axel watched. As she’d requested, the artifact had allowed her to be cognizant of everything said and done, though she hadn’t been allowed any more input after that initial communication. The place where her consciousness had been the whole time was like watching and listening from the other side of a two-way mirror.

  Seeing the ape-men get disintegrated hadn’t bothered her a bit. Her lack of caring surprised her because she’d been highly distressed by the other deaths the sentient blade had caused. Maybe it was because the ape-man had lasered Axel while he’d been trying to guard her.

  The whole time she had been aware of everything Axel said and did as well, though all she felt about his questions was confusion.

  He hadn’t shown the slightest bit of interest in sleeping with her when he’d shown up at Eva’s office, but something had sure changed his mind since. She could read it on his face the moment the artifact said she approved of his suggested sleeping arrangement.

  Though what was that whole sex for her greater good answer about? She didn't need anyone’s permission or help in choosing a lover. The sentient blade inside her had no right to speak of her sex life in that manner.

  “Ready for breakfast? You must be starved.”

  Axel grinned at her squeal and the cover clutch that followed it as he walked out of his bathroom wearing only a towel around his hips. Gathering several pieces of clothing from a dresser drawer, he carried them over and dropped them on the bed beside her.

  “If any of this fits you, you’re welcome to wear them. I toss them out once a year. Luckily for you, I hadn’t gotten around to that level of housecleaning yet.”

  “They’re all women’s clothes,” Sugar said, lifting them up a piece at a time to inspect them.

  Axel grinned. “You call them women’s clothes. I call them souvenirs.”

  “And I’m sure you’re very proud, but I’m not wearing some other woman’s underwear. There are some things no woman should ever have to do regardless of how desperate she is.”

  “Suit yourself,” Axel said.

  “Can’t I wear your underwear instead?”

  “I don’t wear underwear. I don’t like to be constrained and shifting would destroy it anyway.”

  His smirking grin had Sugar shaking her head. She grabbed a few pieces of clothing from the pile. “I want my own underwear. It’s not like I don’t have money to buy panties for myself.”

  “Bad idea. Spending money reveals where you are.”

  Sugar thought about it and then nodded. “You’re right. I discovered that a few months ago. Some anti-mutant group broke into my condo and stole my vitamins. I couldn’t bring myself to press charges.”

  “Why?”

  “Would you press charges over vitamins?” Sugar asked with a laugh. “I’ve got way bigger problems dealing with Golden Girl taking me over whenever she pleases.”

  Axel laughed. Golden Girl? So she knew. “Come to the kitchen when you’re ready. It’s down the hall. I’ll make you some food. You must be starved.”

  “Guess I should be. The last time I ate was before I went to Psych Central.” She saw the strange look on Axel’s face and immediately knew what had happened. “That wasn’t yesterday, was it? How long have I been out?”

  “Three days.”

  Sugar sighed in relief. “At least it wasn’t five this time. Let me grab a quick shower. I’ll be there in a few.”

  She climbed out of bed and walked naked to the bathroom with Axel still watching. What difference did it make? Axel had seen her naked three days ago and that hadn’t enticed him to sleep with her a single night since.

  She preferred her men to be completely interested. Otherwise, why bother?

  8

  “It sounds like a computer when it’s in control of you. Acknowledge. Activate. It uses computer terms. That’s how it answered my questions.”

  Sugar sighed. “It’s spoken English to me every time I’ve heard it, but it does talk to itself in some other strange language once in a while. Often I can’t tell if it’s my brain thinking or the artifact trying to communicate. Its intelligence is obvious, but its logic is unexplainable.”

  Axel stared at her, trying to figure out how strange it must be to have a living computer inside you. “The word intelligent fits what I experienced. It’s a highly logical, thinking entity capable of the kind of rational battle decisions any trained general would envy.”

  “Hey now,” Sugar said with as much snark as she could summon. “I’m smart too. Sure, my intelligence may sometimes be debatable. Mostly I’m a curious person, but I guess curiosity can kill a cat, right?”

  Sugar kept making jokes and poking at his unemotional armor, but the man making her breakfast didn’t snicker or glance her way. It was unfortunate that someone so handsome had no sense of humor. Axel went on doing what he was doing like he hadn’t even heard her speak.

  She rolled her eyes as she picked up her coffee and took a drink.

  “It’s trained in defense and the weaponry at its disposal is amazing but unexplainable,” he said.

  Sugar shrugged at the information. Frankly, it was hard for her to care so intensely about what the artifact chose to do in every battle crisis. She was far more freaked out about wearing underwear that had been left behind by some other woman Axel had bedded and kicked to the curb.

  So far, it seemed the gargoyles had been right about her new guardian. The title Bad Panther suited him perfectly. She hoped the underwear’s previous owner at least got her paranormal problem fixed.

  She forced a friendly smile to her face when Axel passed her a plate with a beautiful omelet and some melon on the side. “Thank you. The food looks wonderful.”

  Axel nodded at her statement instead of responding. Sighing, but this time at his lack of emotion, Sugar dug in and ate. The food tasted like ambrosia. After a few minutes, she slowed eating enough to talk again.

  “I haven’t said this to anyone else, but in the historical records I’ve studied, the artifact is called a sentient blade. Its creator, Athena the Ancient, was by trade a metal-smith. Who knows? Maybe one of her many lovers was a programmer. We’re talking about a mega advanced technological society and a woman who was likely considered a great catch in her time. Wouldn’t you like to know how she managed to make the artifact sentient? I sure would. It’s implanted itself in me like a parasite, but yet continues to function on its own. Despite the fact it’s turned my life upside down, I can certainly see the thing is incredible. I may hate my experience of it, but at the same time, I can’t help but admire its existence.”

  “Sentience is a simple matter of personal opinion though, isn’t it? From my interactions with the artifact possessing you, I think it must have had a mega-intelligent programmer. The artifact processed data and came to logical conclusions with great speed.”

  Sugar laughed. “Yes, but don’t you agree all human brains do that as well? The capacity of artificial intelligence to be self-learning may be debatable, but I think the sentiment blade proves all that is quite possible.”

  Axel grunted. “I’ve seen many intelligent machines. There is always something that ultimately proves they are only mechanistic in their thinking.”

  She studied him while she ate another bite of her delicious food. “Even though you’re a cat shifter, I can tell you’re not one of t
hose earthy types who shun electronics. Your house is full of them.”

  Axel shrugged. “I don’t come from a human-based shifter species. Maxwell does. What do you mean one of Athena’s lovers?” he asked. “Didn’t all early Earth societies consider females property and their sexuality a thing of commerce?”

  “That’s what you latched onto in all I said?” Sugar chuckled and put down her fork. She picked up the excellent coffee he’d made her. “Most societies still do that today. Case in point—you’ve turned all your captive lovers into objects of sexual commerce.”

  “How would you know what I do? And for your information, what I do is not the same—not at all.”

  Sugar snorted. “No, it’s worse. You’re extorting favors from disadvantaged women who are unable to change their situations on their own. That makes you a sexual mercenary.”

  She held up a hand when she could see him gearing up to deny it. “Now don’t get me wrong—I’m all for the barter system, but only when both sides are in agreement of the exchange of value. If something like that happens between us, you can know for damn sure that I won’t be leaving my underwear behind for some other desperate woman to wear after me.”

  “Dr. Jennings, I fought to save you before the artifact you possess intervened. This morning I gave you clothes, fixed you breakfast, and made you more coffee than I ingest in a week. Why are you critiquing my life based on rumors you heard from people you barely know better than me? That’s illogical.”

  “I’d show you the evidence of why their stories are believable, but I’d have to get undressed to do it.” Sugar laughed at his pouting lip. “Okay. You’re right. Even if all rumors of your predatory sexual nature are completely true, how you conduct your life is still none of my business. If my dead daddy were here, he’d point out that I’m being rude to my host.” She rubbed her nose. “Forgive me, Axel. And thank you for bringing me here.”

  Her apology didn't wholly appease him, but it made no sense to remain upset over her opinion of his sex life. What this female thought didn’t matter to him. “Your reluctant apology is accepted. How do you know so much about Athena’s sex life? She lived over twenty-five thousand years ago. Records of those days are long gone.”