Ignite: A Sci-Fi Alien Warrior Romance (Inferno Force of the Drexian Warriors Book 1)

by Tana Stone

  “Potentially a rift in the energy signature the Kronock used to jump in,” Jax said.

  “A rift?” Vekron ran a hand down his stubbly cheeks. “If that’s true, then we could use it to send a fleet in after them.”

  Jax nodded eagerly. “Attack them before they can have another go at us.”

  “Do you have the specs of the rift?” Vekron asked, his mind clearly already whirring with possibilities.

  “That’s the only problem. The rift comes and goes, and I need to be practically on top of it to get any readings. From what I can tell, it’s not totally stable.”

  “Then you need more fighters out there,” I said, my fingers practically tingling in anticipation of flying a fighter again.

  Jax thumped a hand on my bare arm. “If you’re up for it, Captain.”

  Vekron opened his mouth then shook his head. “You were always one of our best pilots. You belong out there.”

  Part of me regretted leaving the station, but another part of me knew the faster we could eliminate the Kronock threat, the safer the station would be. And as captain, my first duty was to keep the station safe—no matter what it took.

  “Let’s do this, Jax,” I told him, then nodded to Vekron. “Have the bridge ready for our transmissions.”

  He gave me a one-fisted salute. “Yes, Captain.”

  Jax cut his eyes to me as we left Vekron and walked toward the hanger bay. I noticed him looking and glanced down at my bare chest and drawstring pants. “You’ve got extra flight suits on the hangar bay, right?”

  Jax laughed as he slapped my back. “If not, it wouldn’t be the craziest thing you’ve done.”

  I returned his wide smile, my body humming with excitement at the possibility of tracking down our enemy and bringing the battle to them. My mind flicked to Zoey for the briefest moment, but I pushed that regret aside.

  She’d been right to run away from something that was wrong for both of us. Now it was my turn.

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Zoey

  “Another,” I said, holding out my empty glass to Nina as I sat on the floor of her suite, my legs crisscrossed in front of me.

  She scrunched her lips to one side in contemplation for a second before sighing and pouring the pale-pink liquid. “How bad was your meeting with the captain?”

  I took a swig of the overly tart liquid, my cheeks puckering. “It didn’t happen.”

  Nina leaned her elbows on her own crisscrossed legs. “Then why are you drowning your sorrows with cheap Noovian wine?”

  I made a face. “Why do you only have cheap alien wine?”

  “That’s not the point, Zo.” She gave me her most severe look, setting the nearly empty bottle down on a nearby end table, between a glass figurine of a dolphin and a chunky, pink pillar candle.

  Nina’s quarters were much like mine in basic design, with a sunken sitting area below the larger bedroom. But while my suite was simple and practical, hers was a riot of colors and packed with decorative knick-knacks. A bright-pink duvet covered her bed and was topped with multicolor cushions, some beaded and glittering. Glass bubble bowls sat on low tables jammed with artificial wildflowers and interspersed with framed photos of her large extended family back home. It even smelled different, the flowery aroma of her perfume making her quarters look and smell just like her.

  I swallowed another gulp of wine, the alien booze making the tips of my fingers tingle. It wasn’t the same type of electric jolt I felt with Kalex, but it made me think of him. I bit back a groan. “I messed up, Nina.”

  “I’m sure it’s not as bad as you think it is. What happened?”

  The Noovian wine might have been cheap, but it still gave me the liquid courage I needed. “The captain summoned me to meet him at his quarters.”

  “That’s weird. Has he ever done that before?”

  I shook my head. “I’d never been to his quarters.” I took a breath and closed my eyes for a beat, remembering how the glow of the candles had illuminated his nervous smile as he’d stood inside waiting for me. “When I got there, I freaked out and ran.”

  Nina’s brow wrinkled. “I still don’t get it.”

  “He’d set up this big romantic gesture for me—candles, wine, music—and I took one look and bolted.”

  Nina sat up with a jerk. “The captain made a move on you?”

  “It’s not like that,” I said, rushing to defend him. “We’d already…we were kind of…we’re involved.”

  My friend stared at me for a while without speaking. Then she slapped her hands over her mouth and shrieked. “Are you fricking kidding me? You and the captain are seeing each other?”

  I jumped at her reaction, surprised that she seemed so happy about it. “Not for long, and it’s nothing serious, but yeah.”

  “I knew it!”

  “What did you know?”

  “That you two would make a great couple,” she said, a smug expression on her face.

  I cocked my head at her. “You thought Kalex and I would make a great couple? In what universe? We fight all the time.”

  She pointed a finger at me. “Exactly. There’s so much sexual tension between you two that you could light a fire off it.” She dropped her voice as if someone else was in the room. “I’ll bet he’s a great kisser.”

  My face heated as I thought of Kalex’s lips soft yet firm—and everywhere he’d put them. “He’s great at everything.”

  Nina’s eyes practically bugged from her head. “Does that mean you’ve…done everything?”

  I nodded, not meeting her gaze. “Pretty much.”

  She exhaled loudly as she shook her head. “I can’t believe this. I mean, I can, but I can’t. You and the captain.” She slapped a hand on my knee. “Zoey, this is amazing.”

  “It’s not amazing. Didn’t you hear me? I screwed everything up. I freaked out when I saw his romantic setup, and I ran.”

  Her smile faltered. “Right. Why did you freak out if he’s great at everything, not to mention unbelievably hot?”

  I reached for the bottle of wine, hoping that maybe one more glass would wash away the shame I felt for hurting Kalex. Somehow, I didn’t think there was enough booze in the world to remove the memory of his eager smile fading as I’d turned tail and left him standing alone. “Because we were only ever supposed to be casual. Neither of us wanted more than sex.”

  “So, you were fuck buddies and then he tried to make it something more?”

  I wasn’t crazy about the term fuck buddies, but that about summed it up. “I told him I was just in it for the fun. Besides, neither of us are staying. He’ll return to Inferno Force, and I’m heading back to Earth.”

  Nina leaned back against the back of an unholstered chair. “It never occurred to you that it might become something more?”

  “But it didn’t. It was only crazy sex. We didn’t even do it on beds.” Then I thought about being tied to the bed in the fantasy suite, and I bit my lip to keep from moaning out loud. “Well, not usually.”

  Nina’s mouth fell open, but she gave her head a little shake. “It must have been more than wild sex to him—and to you. Otherwise, you wouldn’t be here getting wasted on my floor.”

  I wanted to argue that she was wrong, but I couldn’t. As much as I’d wanted to keep emotions out of it, they’d managed to sneak in. I was used to having strong feelings about Kalex—irritation and anger mostly—but now there was something else. When had I started to care about the arrogant Drexian?

  She touched a hand to my arm. “Does he know why you didn’t want anything serious? Does he know about Theo?”

  I sucked in a breath, waiting for the sharp stab of pain and regret. But it didn’t come. Thinking of my fiancé made me smile, but it didn’t make me ache with sadness anymore. “I never told him.”

  “I’m no expert,” Nina said. “But I think you and the captain need to talk. He needs to know why you ran and why you’ve been afraid to get too close.”

  “You’re right.”
I owed the Drexian an explanation and an apology. “It didn’t seem to matter since we were just about...”

  “Sex.” Nina laughed and rolled her eyes. “I get it. You’ve been having amazing sex. You know, you don’t have to rub it in. Not all of us are lucky enough to find guys who want to fall into bed with us.”

  I laughed and swatted at her. “I’m sure any guy would want to fall into bed with you.”

  “Think again,” she said, her cheeks flushing. “A chubby brainiac is not the winning combination you might think it is.”

  I threw an arm around her shoulders. “You are not chubby. You’re curvy. If I wasn’t currently in a mess of a non-relationship, I’d go for you.”

  She choked back a laugh. “Thanks, I think.”

  Her door beeped, and we both swung our heads toward it.

  “Does the captain know you’re here?” Nina asked.

  I shook my head, my stomach roiling from nerves and too much alien wine. I wasn’t sure if I was ready to see him. What would I say?

  Nina jumped up without waiting for me to speak, hurrying to the door and pressing the panel to open it. But it wasn’t Kalex standing on the other side of the sliding door.

  “Two birds with one stone,” Serge cried, as he swept inside Nina’s quarters, with Reina bustling in behind him.

  “Are you two celebrating something?” Reina asked when she spotted me holding the nearly empty bottle of wine.

  “If you weren’t before, you will be now.” Serge beamed at me as he held out his electronic tablet. “I was able to get a special dispensation to use the holo link. Now you can have your date.”

  “A special dispensation?” I asked, knowing that it hadn’t been long since I’d left the captain in his quarters. “From whom?”

  Serge cleared his throat and waved a hand. “Not important.”

  “He decided to authorize himself,” Reina said with a nervous giggle.

  Serge shot her a murderous glare. “Only because the improvements to the stations’ systems are complete. The captain would have done it himself, if he was still on the ship.”

  I almost dropped the wine bottle. “What do you mean ‘if he was still on the ship?’ Where is he?”

  “Off on some mission with that other Inferno Force pilot,” Serge said. “Something about the Kronock.”

  I swallowed hard. Kalex had gone on a mission that had to do with the deadly Kronock right after I’d rejected him? This couldn’t be good.

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Kalex

  I strapped myself into the cockpit of the fighter, tugging the straps so roughly they bit into my flesh through the borrowed flight suit. I grunted at the pain, welcoming it. Anything was better than the ache gnawing at my gut. The familiar sounds and smells of the hangar bay were comforting—burning fuel, clanging metal, roaring engines—but they weren’t distracting enough to make me forget what had happened.

  I tried to push the recollection from my mind, but her shocked face had been seared into my brain. Shock followed by an expression that could only be described as revulsion mixed with fear.

  Zoey hadn’t been pleased by my attempt at romance. She’d been horrified. So horrified that she’d literally turned and run from me.

  Grek. I raked a hand through my hair with a growl. How had I been so wrong? I’d been sure that she wanted more than just mindless—but incredible—sex. Didn’t all females?

  “Not her,” I said darkly under my breath. Or maybe just not with me.

  That thought stabbed at me, making me miss the previous numbing ache. I’d been convinced that her body’s eager response to mine and her obvious desire for more sweaty encounters had meant that she desired me. But had it only been me who wanted more? Had I been falling for her, but falling alone?

  I turned my attention to the inside of my cockpit and the blinking lights that indicated that the ship was ready to launch. Flipping a switch to engage the engine, I forced out a breath as the machine beneath me rumbled to life. Why was I letting this get to me? Hadn’t I been the one to insist I didn’t want any attachment? I’d only agreed to her proposal because it was no strings attached. The last thing I’d been looking for was a romantic entanglement—especially with her.

  Memories of my hands moving across her skin and her eyes half-lidded with desire made my cock twitch and my pulse quicken. I’d been a fool to think it could ever be anyone but her. Zoey had been challenging me and firing my blood since the moment she stepped on to the station. She was the kind of woman who could stand up to me and give as good as she’d take. I didn’t know if I was going to miss fighting with her or fucking her more, but one thing I was sure of—losing her was going to carve a hole in my heart.

  “Everything okay over there?” Jax’s voice came through my cockpit as if he was sitting next to me, although he was in his own fighter.

  I glanced over at the glossy black ship beside me and the Drexian pilot looking at me. “Couldn’t be better,” I lied, touching the device hooked to my ear engaging the energy helmet around my head. “Let’s do this.”

  He gave me a curt nod, and fired up his own engine, the haze from both of our ships making the Drexians on the flight deck appear distorted. With a roar, his fighter shot forward and across the flight deck.

  I waited until he’d cleared the enormous mouth at the far end before slamming my own thrust lever forward. The force of the acceleration pressed me into the back of my seat as the ship rumbled down the length of the hangar bay and burst through the energy field and into space.

  Adrenaline surged through me as I banked hard to the left, hugging the curve of the station as I flew one full orbit around it, before breaking off and joining Jax’s fighter. From out here, the space station looked like a glittering jewel, lights shining from within the transparent hull, and shiny steel curling around the inside. Even though I knew it was built from reinforced steel and thick, clear polycarbon, it appeared almost delicate when I peered at it from a distance.

  “This is it.” Jax’s voice boomed into my compact cockpit. “The last indications of an energy rift came from these coordinates.”

  I scanned the inkiness of space surrounding the station. If this is where the Kronock had intended to jump, it would have put their battleship virtually on the doorstep of the Island. A protective rumble worked its way up my throat. Not on my watch.

  Glancing at my console, I shook my head. “Levels look normal now.”

  “Let’s set up a search,” Jax said. “We’ve got the rest of the security patrol out here with us. We might as well set up a proper search grid.”

  “Agreed.”

  I let Jax take lead. I might be the station’s captain, but it was his patrol team. I was only along for the ride. And to get my mind off Zoey, I thought.

  Muttering a curse under my breath that she’d left my thoughts for mere minutes before rushing back in, I forced myself to focus on the task at hand. If Jax’s hunch was right, it meant that the Island was in graver danger than we’d originally suspected. But it also meant we had a chance to eliminate that threat.

  The other Drexian fighters fanned out around us, falling in place beside Jax as we began to fly in a standard Drexian search pattern. I swiveled my head to view the row of identical, pointed-nose fighters, pride surging within me. I’d missed flying with my fellow Drexians. Being the captain meant I commanded from a distance, but I missed being in the trenches with other warriors.

  A red light flashed on my console, lighting up my cockpit. “I’ve got something.”

  “Same here,” Jax said. “Looks like we’re right on top of the energy rift.”

  The energy readings displayed on my console rose quickly, causing more alert lights to blink on and off. It wasn’t just the energy readings that were off the charts—it was everything.

  “What’s going on out there?” Vekron’s voice broke into our comms link. “We’re picking up some unusual fluctuations from here.”

  I glanced toward the Island, my g
aze going instinctively to the top where the command deck was located. I couldn’t see anyone inside the darkened glass of the wide view screen wrapping around the bridge, but I could easily imagine Vekron standing at attention and watching us, his dark hair pulled tight on top of his head.

  “We’re reading them too,” Jax said. “It’s not just energy though. I’m reading gamma rays.”

  “You should back away from the source until we can determine what it is and how powerful it might be,” Vekron said, his voice breaking up on the last words.

  I wasn’t one to shrink from a fight, but I also wasn’t in the mood to have my fighter blasted apart.

  “Engaging reverse thrusters,” I said.

  From the corner of my eye, I saw that Jax was doing the same, and his ship was reversing course alongside mine. Then my ship shuddered and jerked forward, slamming the back of my head into my headrest so hard I yelped.

  “Grekking hell!”

  I tried to lift my hand to rub my head, but I was pinned to my seat as my ship was propelled forward. The air left my body, and I closed my eyes as the ship emitted a series of beeps and wails. I couldn’t even take a breath until the ship was thrust forward and everything went quiet.

  With a gasp, I opened my eyes. The ship was no longer wailing, and lights weren’t flashing on the console. The console showed nothing unusual. No anomalous readings. No fluctuations.

  I managed to lift a hand to my head, which had started to throb. “What the grek was that?”

  “Kalex?” Jax’s voice was low and cautious.

  I glanced to my side, grateful to see his ship next to mine. “Did you feel that?”

  “Affirmative.”

  “Vekron,” I said. “Did you record any of that?”

  “Vekron’s not here,” Jax said.

  I swung my head to the other side where the Island had been. He was right. It wasn’t there. Instead, there was a hulking gray Kronock battleship, the armor covering its hull like the scales of the Kronock themselves. Bile rose in my throat as I glanced around and realized that only Jax and I had been pulled into whatever energy rift had brought us to Kronock space.