Pursued: A Sci-Fi Alien Warrior Romance (Raider Warlords of the Vandar Book 4)

by Tana Stone

  She must have read the expression on my face because she shook her head slowly, her shoulders sagging. “I appreciate you trying to help me, but I’m never going to get your marks or become your one and only. It’s nothing personal, but I’m not wired for true love or fate or any of that crap. It may work for your people but it’s never going to happen with me.”

  Even though she was probably right, hearing her state it so baldly made anger flare in my belly. I strode to her until I loomed over her on the bed. “You would rather I put you out an airlock?”

  “Maybe you should,” she whispered. “It’s not like I don’t deserve it.”

  My throat tightened. She would rather be killed than be my mate? I growled low, cursing my bad luck. Kratos had taken a female who’d been shy and scared and eager to please him. I’d taken a female who had been tasked to kill me and did not believe in any of the truths my people held dear. So far, being Raas was not what I’d imaged it to be.

  I dragged a hand across my brow, kneading the furrowed flesh. I’d already promised to protect her and keep her secrets. There was only one way to do that and keep my officers from being suspicious. If I wanted to keep my horde and keep the female from being executed, there was no other choice.

  “It does not matter.” I turned from her. “I offered you protection, and a Vandar Raas does not go back on his word.”

  “Even if it means you’re stuck with a woman who will never be your true mate? Come on, there has to be another way.”

  “There is not,” I snapped, then pushed down the bitter taste of regret and took long steps toward the door. “It is done.”

  Chapter Nineteen

  Bron

  The clatter of my footsteps echoed on the iron walkway as I stormed to my command deck. Raiders clicked their heels together as they passed but I barely glanced at them, grunting in acknowledgement as I barreled through the ship.

  What had I done? Had I gone mad?

  I scraped a hand through my hair and thought back to my days as majak. If Kratos had come to me with the same problem, how would I have advised him? A frustrated growl rumbled low in my throat. Kratos never would have taken an assassin under his protection. Even if it was an alluring female in which he wanted to bury his cock. Would he?

  It didn’t matter. I’d made a promise I couldn’t revoke. Now I had to convince my most trusted officers that I’d done an about face and decided to claim the female instead of depositing her on Ludvok.

  I despised the thought of lying to my own raiders, but I also knew that the truth would mean pain and possibly death for Alana. Despite the fact that she’d been sent to kill me, I couldn’t stomach the idea of her being hurt.

  Gritting my teeth, I entered the command deck and swept my gaze across the bare-chested raiders standing at their consoles. Svar pivoted toward me, his back straightening when he saw who it was.

  He tapped his heels sharply. “Raas. Was your interrogation successful?”

  “Do you require my assistance?” Corvak asked, stepping away from his own console.

  “It was,” I hesitated as I searched for the right word, “productive.”

  Svar angled his head at me, but before he could ask another question, I fixed my eyes on the view screen.

  “Our destination is no longer Ludvok,” I said, clasping my hands behind my back.

  Svar and Corvak were silent as they stared at me.

  “We are changing course, Raas?” Svar finally asked. “We will not be dropping off the female on the planet?”

  I gave a curt shake of my head. “We will not be dropping the female off anywhere.” I rocked back on my heels. “I have decided to claim her as one of the spoils of our raiding mission.”

  Several heads swiveled toward me. These raiders had been on board when Raas Kratos had taken a female as his war prize. There had been murmurs about his intentions then, although it was acknowledged that a Raas could take any female—especially one in league with the empire—as his captive. The only difference with Alana was that my crew believed her to be running from the empire, not in league with them.

  “You are keeping the female?” Corvak asked, his scowl dark and fierce.

  I attempted to shrug lightly. “She pleases me. Why should I give her up? Is it not the prerogative of a Raas to claim any female he wants? Are we not raiders?”

  A rumble of agreement passed through the command deck with some raiders stomping their feet.

  Corvak bowed his head slightly. “Of course, Raas. You may claim any female you wish, but I thought you had suspicions about this one and about her actions.”

  I waved a hand. “I was wrong. She was merely curious.”

  “But she fought you in the battle ring,” he said, lowering his voice.

  I grinned at Corvak. “I prefer a female who fights back. Are you not the same, battle chief?”

  His lip curled, no doubt thinking of the pleasurers he selected when we visited the pleasure planets—athletic alien females whom he chased through the houses before they allowed themselves to be caught. “I did not know you enjoyed that, Raas.”

  “Is there a Vandar who does not enjoy a challenge? Especially since we have not tasted battle in many rotations?”

  Svar cleared his throat. “If we are no longer taking the human to Ludvok, to where should we set a course, Raas?”

  I had not thought that far. If our mission was no longer to rid ourselves of the female on the alien planet, where should we go?

  Corvak’s head dropped as his console beeped. “We might not need to set a new course, Raas.”

  I exhaled even as the back of my neck tingled at the barely controlled excitement in my battle chief’s voice. “What is it?”

  “An imperial cruiser, Raas.” Corvak looked up and grinned. “Flying alone.”

  “That was a tactical error,” Svar said.

  “It’s not uncommon for imperial cruisers to fly alone in this part of the sector,” Corvak reminded us. “Our horde is rarely here.”

  “Then bad luck for them.” I squared my stance as I face the view screen. “Show me.”

  A few taps of Corvak’s console made the image of the Zagrath ship appear on the massive glass extending across the widest part of the command deck. All the officers snapped their heads up and stared, letting out low rumbles and shifting their feet in eager anticipation.

  The dull gray hull of the chunky vessel looked intact, and the ship appeared to be cruising at a steady speed. This was no injured freighter.

  I curled my fingers around the hilt of my battle axe. “What do your sensors tell you?”

  “Imperial cruiser with a small crew. Standard weapon capability and fully operational shields.” Corvak’s gaze was fixed on the screen, and his dark eyes flashed. “There is no reason we should not be able to overtake them easily, Raas.”

  “Good.” The possibility of battle fired my blood and stoked my need for victory, even if the ship was modest. “Assemble a raiding party and alert the other horde ships. I will meet you on the hangar bay.”

  Corvak clicked his heels, tapping quickly on his screen then walking briskly from the command deck.

  I shifted my gaze to my majak. “Ready to spill some Zagrath blood?”

  He clutched the top of his own axe. “I am always ready to bring glory to Vandar.”

  As we walked astride off the command deck, my lips curled into a snarl. Now more than ever, I needed a raiding mission to remind me of my duties as Raas and my oath to crush the empire. Especially since I harbored one of their spies in my quarters.

  Chapter Twenty

  Alana

  I waited until he’d left to retrieve the sheet from the floor, wrapping it around myself as I searched for my clothes. My memory was hazy, but hadn’t I taken them off in the main room? Since they were clearly not here, maybe I’d dropped them near the pools.

  I poked my head through the arched doorway but didn’t spot my discarded clothing anywhere on the shiny, obsidian floors or counter. Gl
ancing at the vividly colored water made me cringe as I turned away, the perfumed scent a sharp reminder. If I hadn’t been so relaxed maybe I wouldn’t have spilled all my secrets.

  “And then I wouldn’t be stuck on a Vandar warbird.”

  I shouldn’t be complaining. Any other alien I’d been trying to kill wouldn’t have thought twice before throwing me in a cell or out an airlock. I wasn’t sure exactly why the Raas was so determined to save me, but I wasn’t going to question it too much. Not when the alternative was pretty grim.

  I shivered as I remembered the battle chief with the scar running down his face and the menacing look in his eyes. That guy would have no problem punishing me. Then I thought about the imperial forces. If they discovered I’d failed to kill the Raas, they’d treat me even less kindly than the Vandar.

  “I guess I have no choice,” I whispered, pulling the silky sheet tighter around me and attempting not to think of the huge warlord who’d claimed me as his property. Part of me bristled at the idea of belonging to anyone, but another part of me couldn’t deny the intense reactions his touch provoked. My pulse tripped at the mere memory of his lips brushing my skin.

  “Come on, Alana.” I stamped a bare foot on the hard floor. “Get a grip. You’re not some innocent virgin being swept off your feet. You’ve had plenty of guys before.”

  And killed most of them, a little voice reminded me. And stayed with none longer than a few rotations. The thought of staying on the Vandar ship indefinitely caused panic to flutter in my chest. I never stayed anywhere long enough to get attached or be remembered. It was part of the job. And now this Vandar warlord was telling me I had to stay? Permanently?

  “As if,” I mumbled as the engines of the ship slowed, and I grabbed the doorframe for balance. Was the Vandar ship stopping because we’d reached the planet the Raas claimed he wasn’t going to leave me on? No, that would have been too fast.

  My skin prickled with fear. My highly tuned instincts were telling me that something was wrong—and my gut was never wrong about these things.

  I gathered the sheet tighter around me and stomped to the door, pounding on it until it opened. The guard outside raised an eyebrow at me, but didn’t comment on my attire.

  “Why are we slowing?” I asked.

  He frowned at me, clearly debating if he should disclose any information to me.

  I sighed and tried to give him my most endearing smile. “Come on.” I waved a hand at my sheet. “Do you really think I’m a threat?”

  His frown didn’t fade. “It’s a raiding mission. It won’t take long. Go back inside and wait for the Raas.”

  “A raiding mission? Is it an imperial fleet?”

  His frown hardened. “If it was a fleet there would be red alerts and the sounds of battle.”

  “So, a single ship?” The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end. This was not an accident. The horde had come across another imperial ship so soon because the empire had planned it this way.

  The guard grunted, clearly done answering my questions and maybe not pleased with himself for telling me anything at all. “You should wait inside. The Raas will return soon.”

  I backed up and allowed the doors to shut again, my mind racing with possibilities. What was the strategy? I was willing to bet my life this was part of some imperial war game. The Zagrath rarely sent out solo ships. The question was, were they doing this to save me or kill me?

  Since my ship had been destroyed along with the tracked cargo, they’d lost all ability to track me. I’d also been unable to send any sort of transmission. They must think I was either dead or captured. Either way, they were now sacrificing one of their ships so they could lure the horde into showing itself or attacking.

  Then what? I paced a long path from one end of the room to the other, the sheet dragging behind me like a tail. Having the Vandar raid their ship wouldn’t make it possible to hunt down the horde, and it certainly wouldn’t guarantee that the Raas was killed. It wasn’t like the empire had invisibility shielding or could hide a fleet from view. Vandar sensors would pick up on approaching vessels and be able to vanish like smoke.

  “It’s something more subtle,” I whispered to myself, nibbling my bottom lip as I thought.

  What would I do if I needed to find a captured spy? My gut coiled into a hard ball. I’d send in another spy.

  “Fuck me sideways,” I said. That was it. They were using the imperial ship as a way to lure the Vandar into sending raiding ships. Once the raiding ships were on board, the spy would manage to sneak onto one and return with the raiders. Then he’d be on the warbird. I knew in my gut that this was what the empire was doing because it was something I’d done before, just not against the Vandar.

  One of my most notorious missions had been when I’d snuck onto a pirate ship that had attacked an imperial vessel. While the pirates had terrorized the crew, killing them all, I’d climbed onto their transport and made it back to their main vessel. There I’d systematically murdered all of the alien mercenaries without them ever figuring out they had an imperial spy in their midst.

  I groaned. If I was right, the empire was using my own playbook against me.

  I strode to the inset dresser, grabbing one of the hanging kilts and pulling it on. It was huge, so I rolled it up around my waist until it stopped slipping down my hips. I opened a drawer below and pawed through it until I found a baggy tunic. I pulled it on and tied it in a knot at my waist as my mind whirred.

  The Zagrath were definitely coming. They were coming to finish the job I hadn’t. I bristled at the thought of another imperial assassin on the ship, not only because I hated the thought of my competition, but because I knew now I couldn’t let them succeed. I could not stand by and let them murder Bron. Not when he’d put himself on the line for me.

  The heat prickling my skin was like a fever that made my heart beat unevenly and my mouth go dry. There were more reasons that I couldn’t bear the thought of the Raas being killed, but I didn’t want to think too hard about why the alien warlord provoked such unwanted feelings of desire and longing in me. All I knew for sure was that he’d been the only person to put himself at personal and professional risk for me in…well, ever. Foiling the empire’s plot against him was the least I could do, especially since I’d been plotting to kill him myself.

  Once I’d dressed, I forced myself to take in a long breath to steady the relentless drumbeat of my heart. The question was, who had they sent after me, and could I find them before they assassinated Raas Bron and then me for failing to kill him first?

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Bron

  I let out a roar as my raiding party spilled onto the imperial ship, shields braced, and our axes poised to rain terror on the enemy soldiers. We’d used our invisibility shielding to slip onto their hangar bay without trigging any alarms or sensors, but we had no desire to hide our attack now.

  The Zagrath cruiser wasn’t close to the size of one of our warbirds, but it was large enough to hold the two raiding ships we’d just landed in the hangar bay as well as a pair of imperial shuttlecrafts. A member of the deck crew who looked shocked at our appearance ducked out the wide arched doors when he saw us. Moments later, red lights flashed overhead, illuminating the walls and making my fellow raiders’ faces appear even more menacing in the crimson glow.

  We advanced as a single unit, our shields locked in front of us, as we moved swiftly through the ship. The imperial ship was like all the others we’d seen—bright, enclosed corridors that now pulsed red as wailing alarms echoed off the sleek walls. For as many enemy ships as I’d raided, the brightness always made me flinch as I wondered why the aliens chose glaring lights and blaring white surfaces that made my eyes ache to look at them.

  “Should we break off, Raas?” Svar asked as we came to a fork in the corridor.

  Remembering the layout of the last imperial cruise we’d stormed, I nodded to a pair of raiders. “Clear the right passage then return to us.”

  On
e of the raiders gave a sharp nod. “No prisoners?”

  I thought of the merciless empire that had destroyed the home world I’d never seen, subjugated millions, and kidnapped Alana, forcing her into a life as a killer. “No prisoners,” I growled.

  Rounding a corner, we were rushed by two helmeted soldiers firing their blasters. The blasts ricocheted off the thick iron of our shields, then Svar swung his shield up to slam into both of their arms and send their weapons flying from their hands. Without even a moment to register the shocked looks on their faces, I sliced my battle axe through the air and lopped off their heads. Blood splattered the pristine walls as the helmets cartwheeled through the air and landed with decisive thud.

  Screams came from behind us—an indication our pair of raiders had found imperial fighters—but we stepped over the lifeless bodies and moved forward. I glanced at the slick blade of my axe, the dripping blood making my pulse dance. It had been too long since I’d handed out Vandar justice, and my chest swelled at the sense that all was as it should be.

  We passed more empty rooms as we moved through the ship, Svar quickly dispatching another pair of soldiers without one of them even firing off a single round.

  As the lifeless bodies dropped to the floor, I grinned at him. “Well done, majak.”

  His face was alight with excitement, and his eyes burned with vengeance. “It feels good to strike a blow to the enemy.”

  I knew how he felt. Every dead Zagrath was one less soldier who would enslave alien civilizations or occupy peaceful planets. The fact that they were faceless creatures in helmets made it even easier.

  When we reached a central space in the ship with corridors leading off it like spokes of a wheel, I sent pairs of raiders down each one.

  “Strip the ship of any weapons or technology,” I told them before they rushed off down their assigned corridors. “We need to know what the enemy is up to. Once you’ve taken what we need, return to the warbird and we will follow once we’ve dispatched the command crew.”