Her Alien Alpha (Salvaged Hearts Book 1)

by Leslie Chase

  “Very well, we will do it your way,” I said. “Your cunning has gotten us this far; I will trust your judgement now.”

  At least until we’ve seen the enemy, I added to myself. Khaa-Ree was cunning but soft, not a trained warrior. She didn’t want to see more violence, and I loved her for that — but I would not let it keep me from protecting her when violence was the best option.

  Sticking to quiet, dark passageways, we crept towards the port, passing the unfortunate souls who lived in these forgotten corridors. Huddling under rags, keeping to themselves, these people’s lives hadn’t changed with the fall of the Empire. I wondered if they even noticed the change.

  Finally we came to a blast door, buckled in some explosion and jammed half-open. Beyond, the rusted remains of a ship blocked the opening, but there were enough gaps to squeeze through if we wanted to.

  I recognized the ship. Most of it was gone now, even hull plating stripped for resale, but no damage to the Fireblade would make me forget the assault ship I’d served on for years. My hearts skipped a beat as I ran a hand along a rusted, bent spar.

  Whose side did you fight on in the end? Did your crew side with the Empire or the rebellion? There was no way to tell. All that was clear was that the ship had died in battle, crashing into this deck late enough in the war that no one reclaimed her before scavengers took her apart.

  A reminder that everything I’d left in the past was gone, a sign that the galaxy had changed in my sleep, and a bittersweet keepsake of my past. But, mostly, an obstacle. Pushing aside my nostalgia, I edged past the hulk beside Khaa-Ree, seeking a position with a view into the hangar bay beyond.

  13

  Carrie

  The wreck wasn’t easy to squeeze past, and Delkor had a harder time with it than I did, but I knew there was space for us to get through. Michaela made sure that every member of our crew could get past it with a full pack, back when we were new to the station and she wanted to be certain we had an escape route.

  Thank god for her suspicious mind. We’d never needed it to get out, but the same path would let Delkor and me in. Minutes of effort brought us to a gap in the wreckage that let us see through to the far side and out across the dock.

  Inferno burned beyond the hangar’s forcefield, dominating the sky beyond as the station rotated past the burning planet. The red flickering glow added an eerie, surreal look to the scene.

  “What in the name of Lost Home happened here?” Delkor hissed, staring out at the spaceport.

  His muscles tightened so much I thought he might snap in two, his metal arm vibrating where he gripped the hull of the crashed ship. His fingers left imprints in the metal.

  I put a hand on his shoulder, and he calmed instantly, going almost disconcertingly still. Thank goodness, because I’d worried he’d bend the metal and draw attention to us with the noise.

  If we wanted to reach the Ladies’ Choice without being spotted, we’d have a hard enough time without drawing more attention our way. There were a lot of people out on the dock, more than I was used to seeing.

  Drall strutted amongst the rusting wrecks, tall Elsinas and insectoid Chrichri moved here and there, and everyone looked alert for trouble. For us, more likely.

  “Okay, we were right. There is a bounty on us and they’re waiting for me,” I said, careful to keep my voice hushed. “Syrcen’s a motherfucker, but he isn’t stupid — I had to come here eventually.”

  “I’m not talking about the dock,” Delkor replied, his eyes fixed on the burning world outside. “What happened to Flower of the Empire?”

  “Oh.” I squeezed the bridge of my nose, glancing out at the burning planet. “That was in the war. I don’t know who set the fire, or how it’s still burning now, but it’s been that way for… well, at least since the Empire pulled out of the system.”

  “I never thought that they’d use it,” he muttered. When I looked a question at him, he continued. “The Ultimate Sanction, a threat the Empire used to keep their holdings in line. If they can’t have a world, they’d deny it to anyone else too — and visit a horrible death on the population.”

  He was quiet for a long while before saying, so quiet I wasn’t certain he meant me to hear, “There were nearly four billion people on Flower of the Empire when I was here last.”

  Those words knocked the breath from me. I’d never thought about what that constant fire meant. It was easier to accept it as a fact of life than it was to imagine how many lives it had ended. But Delkor’s horror as he saw it for the first time bled over into my imagination.

  People on Inferno, going about their business. Sure, it was war, but life went on and they had jobs to go to, families to feed, sunsets to watch. And then… a wall of flame coming over the horizon, spreading across everything, burning and consuming. I shuddered, tried to banish the image, but it stuck in my mind’s eye.

  It was the survivors I felt most sorry for. Those who’d been able to get through those first horrifying minutes and found that the flames never went out. A submarine crew perhaps, safe out at sea… except that there was no land to return to, the air was full of smoke and ash, the oxygen sucked from the atmosphere.

  Delkor’s arm slipped around my shoulder and his embrace brought me back to myself with a start. Okay, that’s one thing I never want to think about again. Tearing my eyes off the flame-covered planet, I looked down to see a Drall leaving the Ladies’ Choice, Michaela following him.

  They were talking, and though I couldn’t hear the words, the body language was clear. Neither of them were happy with how the conversation was going.

  The Drall said something, a joke from the way he threw his head back in laughter. A poorly chosen joke, from the dark look on Michaela’s face. Half a dozen more of the lizard-aliens ambled closer, backing up their friend.

  Michaela didn’t care about those odds. She never did, bless her. As the Drall shook with laughter, she dropped and lashed out with a kick that hooked his legs out from under him, sending him tumbling to the deck with a crash.

  Before he recovered, she had her pistol out and pointed at him. The rest of the Drall watched, laughing, as their comrade spluttered in outrage. It didn’t erupt into a fight. Not this time.

  But next time might not go so well. We had to get through before something got out of hand.

  Beside me, Delkor braced himself. Left to his own plans, he’d take the straight and simple route through the bounty hunters and gangsters.

  He’d win, I thought. I’d seen him fight, and there weren’t that many opponents here, but the Ladies’ Choice was not a tough ship. A stray shot through the wrong part of it would strand us here, unable to leave Nautilus Station until we patched the damage. Which we’d never manage in time to escape.

  “Don’t,” I said quietly. “There has to be a better way.”

  Delkor’s scowl was remarkably expressive and almost funny. Keyed up, on edge, he wanted this fight. Wanted to spill the blood of my enemies. But he sighed and nodded, accepting my request.

  “Very well. You wish to spare them? I will not deny my mate anything.”

  His devotion made me blush and tingle all over again and forcing myself to focus on anything but him was a challenge.

  Look, body, you can lust after him all you like once we make it back to the ship. You know, the place where the bed is? That didn’t help as much as I’d thought — the mere thought of me, him, and a bed all in the same room spread a warm glow through me.

  Delkor had more discipline, his training letting him overcome his feelings for the sake of the mission. He moved away, breaking the spell on me. I followed him into the shadows inside the wreck.

  “I have a plan,” he said. “One with no violence. But I warn you, Khaa-Ree, more blood will be spilled before this is over. Better to thin out their numbers while we have the advantage of surprise.”

  My turn to scowl. It wasn’t that Delkor was wrong. Tactically, he had a good point, but between the fact that the Ladies’ Choice was vulnerable
and the bounty hunters were…

  Okay, no, they weren’t innocent exactly. But out here it was just a job. I didn’t want them torn limb from limb in front of me unless there was no choice. I’d already killed too many by the simple act of unleashing Delkor. It was enough.

  “Please?” I asked, not knowing what else to say. “I don’t need more deaths on my conscience.”

  He nodded. “For you, my mate, I would do anything. Keep watch until I wake.”

  Not giving me a chance to object, Delkor closed his eyes, lent back against the wreck, and froze still as a statue. Only his eyes moved. Beneath closed eyelids they darted rapidly from side to side. Whatever he was doing I didn’t want to disturb him, so I turned my back and kept an eye out for trouble. We were in cover, but not so well hidden we didn’t have to worry.

  Minutes passed. Hours. Days. Years. Children were born, grew up, fell in love, aged, and died. Finally, Delkor inhaled sharply, breaking the spell. I glanced at my comm bracelet: all of five minutes had passed.

  Someone outside our little hiding place shouted and I froze, afraid he’d spotted us. The shout wasn’t in any language I knew, but the urgency came through loud and clear.

  No one looked in our direction, though. More shouting from out in the open, followed by running footsteps. The eerie clicking of the Chrichri language I recognized, though I didn’t understand a word of it.

  It didn’t matter. All of the bounty hunters hurried away, leaving the hanger at as fast as they could run. It seemed impossible, but less than a minute later the way to the Ladies' Choice was clear.

  I looked back just in time to see Delkor open his eyes and stretch.

  “Have they all gone?” he asked. I nodded.

  “What did you do? They just left.”

  The edge of his mouth turned up in a hint of a smug smile. “Now that I’m not in a dead zone, my implants can talk to what’s left of the station’s network. I found Syrcen’s reward post for us and reported a sighting. Unencrypted.”

  An answering smile dawned on my face. Of course bounty hunters would listen to all the communications traffic they could. And as soon as they thought they knew where we were, none of them would risk the rest getting to us first. Still, it was far from a perfect plan.

  “Clever, but what happens when they find out that we aren’t there? They’ll know they’ve been played, so they’ll come back here angry.”

  “No they won’t,” Delkor said, stepping out of cover cautiously. No one opened fire or shouted an alarm. His ruse had emptied the place of hunters. “My message said that we’d been seen at the Silver Flower — and when they investigate, they’ll find that we were.”

  That moved it from being a good plan to a great one. They’d never know they’d been fooled, and they’d have no way to know we’d entered the ship. We might get away with this.

  A fresh spring in my step, I led Delkor to the cargo ramp of the ship. It dropped as we approached, letting us up into the hold.

  My crew were waiting there, all five of them. Six if you counted Munchkin the cat, climbing on the cargo netting bound up on the walls. The girls were all armed, though only Michaela looked remotely comfortable with a weapon.

  “Carrie! You’re okay!” Bella’s grin was as wide as her head as she holstered her pistol. “We were just getting ready to go rescue you.”

  “What kind of trouble you gotten us into?” Michaela asked before I had a chance to reply, frowning past me at Delkor. Her blaster pistol wasn’t quite aimed at him. “And what the hell’s his deal?”

  “Never mind that, what the hell are you wearing?” I rolled my eyes. Alice, as ever, focused on the important questions.

  “Thanks, but there’s no need for a rescue,” I said to Bella, responding to each of the three in turn. “This is Delkor, he’s a… friend. It’s complicated. And as for what I’m wearing, Alice, we had to take a detour and I needed a disguise. This is the best I could find.”

  Michaela grunted, unconvinced, her eyes fixed on Delkor and her blaster held at the ready. Alice’s eyes gleamed and she grinned. I’d almost managed to forget the skimpy, revealing outfit I’d stolen, but Alice’s amusement made me flush all over again.

  “Took a shortcut through the Silver Flower, huh?” She laughed as she spoke, and my glare did nothing to stop her giggles.

  Flustered, refusing to ask how Alice recognized the specific brothel, I stomped past them. “Fine, I can see I won’t get any sensible conversation out of you till I’ve changed.”

  Alice stuck her tongue out as I pushed past, and as annoying as she was being I was relieved to be back with her and the rest of my crew. Thank god they hadn’t gone out to save me yet, that would only have led to disaster.

  Delkor followed me across the hold only for Michaela to step into his way. His growl chilled my blood, but she didn’t even flinch.

  “Carrie’s the boss,” she said. “If she says you can come aboard, okay, but don’t think for a second I won’t be watching you. If you do anything to hurt her, I will end you.”

  I wasn’t sure whether to laugh at that. Michaela might be fierce, but Delkor towered over her like a wall of armored muscle. If he took offense… but no, he nodded solemnly, as though accepting her terms for entry.

  “I would never harm Khaa-Ree,” he said in that deep rumble which made me shiver. Michaela glowered up at him suspiciously, and I tried to think of something to say before she pushed the standoff into something worse.

  Before I found the right words, Munchkin interrupted, leaping from the cargo nets at Delkor’s head. I tensed, about to shout a warning, but Delkor’s reflexes were faster. He snatched the pouncing cat out of the air one handed, and my heart shot into my mouth.

  For a long, heavy moment, I thought that was it for the cat. Munchkin attacked everyone who got close aside from me, and I’d seen Delkor’s reflexive kills…

  But instead, a loud purr filled the hold. Delkor held Munchkin close, stroking his fur with gentle care and crooning something in an unfamiliar language. Any lingering doubts I’d held about the alien warrior vanished as I saw how quickly Munchkin took to him, and how carefully Delkor responded to the animal.

  The tension in the room fell away, Alice laughed, and even Michaela’s shoulders relaxed. She stepped aside, apparently satisfied, letting Delkor follow me into the ship.

  A great weight lifted from my shoulders as I trod the worn deck, passing through the cramped common area and on through to my cabin. Home. Safety, of a sort at least. Now, if need be, I could run from my problems.

  Or at least, it felt like I could. Realistically, the Ladies’ Choice didn’t have a hyperdrive and there were no other large habitats in the system. We could flee the station, sure, but then we’d be desperately searching for air, water, and food to keep us alive until the next freighter came through. And a ticket out of the system would eat up all the money we’d kept aside.

  I sighed, opened the hatch into my cabin, and tried not to let despair overwhelm me. Ever since the first fight with Syrcen I’d been focused on getting back here, back to my home and crew. Now it started to sink in that my problems had only begun.

  Powerful arms slid around me from behind, one muscle and one metal, the contrasting textures strange but pleasant. Delkor had followed me into the cabin, so quiet I hadn’t noticed his approach. Leaning back into his embrace, I shut my eyes and breathed deep.

  His scent was warm, welcoming, a heady and very masculine musk. The warmth of his arms, the solid muscle of his chest, the rhythm of his two hearts, all calmed me and grounded me, let the tension in my muscles fade away.

  Not just the tension of the last day — the months since the Ladies’ Choice arrived in this system had been tough, and there’d been no one to turn to. The curse of being the leader: I had to be strong for the girls, which meant I didn’t have anyone to confide my own fears to.

  Finally, I had someone I could show weakness in front of.

  “What am I going to do?” I asked the qu
estion quietly, more of the air than of him, but Delkor answered anyway.

  “You will survive and thrive,” he said, voice stern. Brooking no argument he continued, holding me tight. “I will protect you from harm, and together we will find my fellow Caibar.”

  Hands stroked down my sides, Delkor’s touch and voice and scent all making me tremble. My heart raced, matching the pounding of his twin heartbeats against my back, and his lips lowered to my neck, teeth grazing my skin.

  I opened my eyes, found myself looking into my reflection. The mirror mounted on my wardrobe let me see my fancy stolen lingerie for the first time — black straps wound around me, arranged to show off skin while technically staying decent.

  The woman I saw in the reflection wasn’t me, couldn’t be me. Even when I raised a hand and the reflection followed suit I didn’t quite believe it. She was far too sexy, far too pretty. Tight smartcloth clung to her figure, accentuating curves, lifting and supporting, but still comfortable in a way that nothing I’d worn before had been.

  Behind her — behind me — stood a blue-skinned mountain of a man. Delkor’s hands gently caressed my body, tracing the straps, teasing my skin. I didn’t have to ask if he liked what he felt and saw; the evidence was there, rock hard against my back.

  A flush spread across my face, down my neck, over my breasts. Reaching up, I trailed my fingers along his arms, scratching his blue skin gently. It felt like armor under my fingers, but there was a softness too. A give that was missing from his metal arm.

  Delkor shivered and growled something wordless as my nails scraped his forearm. His own touch grew more insistent, hands exploring my curves, teasing me, making my breath catch. In the mirror I saw his eyes, golden and gleaming, and his teeth nipped at my neck.