Damaged: A Sci-Fi Alien Romance (Fated Mates of the Kalixian Warriors Book 7)

by Presley Hall

  A moment ago, I was thinking about what I’d do and say when he let go of me, and now I only want him to hold me closer, as close as two people can possibly be, and never ever let me go.

  “Druxik,” I whisper, his name springing to my lips without my meaning for it to.

  It’s somehow the only word I can think of to say, the only response that feels right, and I see his pupils dilate as I say his name, his whole body tightening against me. I can feel every inch of him react to that simple word, and I realize with a dizzying flush of heat that he’s hard.

  He’s wearing only a loincloth, as most of the warriors do, and it does nothing to disguise his arousal. Beneath the leather strip hanging from his hips, I can feel him rigid and eager, straining between us as he makes a small, hungry noise deep in his throat.

  With his gaze still fixed on mine with that surprised, slightly dazed expression, he turns me and backs me up against the wall, his body still close to mine. I feel a surge of desire again, and a sudden, deep need to run my hands over him, to strip away our clothes and feel him naked against me.

  I want to see every inch of him, and as he cups my face with his large hand, his gaze flicking to my lips as a groan rumbles in his chest, I’m very close to giving in and touching him. He’s the hottest man I’ve ever seen, and just minutes ago I would never in my wildest dreams have thought he’d do anything more than keep a respectful and professional distance from me.

  And now he’s got me up against a wall, only my own clothing and his loincloth keeping him from sliding between my legs and feeling how wet and achingly aroused I am.

  He leans forward, his breath warm against my hair, his expression one of awe.

  “I had no idea it would feel like this,” he murmurs, his voice thick and heavy with desire. “I didn’t know…”

  “What?” I breathe, the word an impossibly soft whisper. “Know what?”

  I’m not even sure he heard me, at first. But then he answers, still holding my gaze as if he’ll never look away.

  “You are my Irisa.”

  My eyes go wide with shock as I stare up at him, frozen in place.

  I know exactly what he means. I know what Irisa means.

  Mate.

  There’s no doubt about what he’s saying to me.

  Something inside me lurches, pushing me toward him, drawing me like the pull of a magnet. In this moment, I don’t think about why it’s impossible, why it can’t be, why there must have been a mistake. I don’t think about the glaring reason why I can’t possibly be anyone’s Irisa, especially not Druxik’s. This tall, handsome, cocky pilot could have any woman in the universe, so why would he want me?

  But none of that registers fully. My mind has gone perfectly, absolutely blank, with only the echo of his voice murmuring Irisa over and over.

  I’m petite, even compared to an average human man, and Druxik definitely isn’t average. I’m shorter than he is by a long shot, but that’s not going to stop me now. I’ve never wanted anything the way I want him, no matter how irrational it is. I can feel that same desire pounding through him too, and I’m powerless to resist it.

  I stretch up onto my tiptoes as I reach up to wind my arms around his neck, bringing my lips toward his. His are full, and they look soft and warm. There’s nothing in all the world that I want more than to feel them pressed up against mine, to learn the texture and taste of him.

  My body is screaming for it. For him.

  He mirrors my action, his hand stroking my hair as he dips his head to bring his lips toward mine as well.

  And then, just as he’s about to kiss me—or I’m about to kiss him, it’s impossible to tell which—the ship lurches wildly, throwing us both sideways.

  An alarm blares through the air.

  6

  Druxik

  It feels like I’ve been jolted out of a trance.

  My brain feels foggy, slightly dazed with the unexpected realization that I’ve found my Irisa. I’m flooded with emotions—shock, desire, uncertainty as to whether or not I’m ready for this, and happiness that out of all the Terran women, it’s Cora.

  She’s different from other females I’ve known, in all the ways that I would have hoped to find in a mate. She’s intelligent, brave, and tender besides being beautiful. I can’t help but feel a thrill of joy that she’s the one the mate bond has chosen for me.

  But the ship’s alarm cuts through both my desire and my elation.

  I’ve been a warrior and a pilot for a long time, and that training runs deep. It focuses me instantly, pushing everything else to the background for the moment.

  The pulsing shriek of the alarm is familiar. This particular alarm signifies an engine failure, not an attack. But that’s not much better, out here in the depths of space. We’re too far from Kalix to turn around or call for help, and not close enough to any other planet to put out an alert.

  Something has gone wrong, and I need to find out what it is. Quickly.

  I blink, pulling away from Cora, who’s staring up at me wide-eyed. We’re both breathing heavily, and I can feel the aching weight of my arousal, the lust pounding through my body like a second heartbeat, hard to ignore even now.

  I’ve never desired anyone as much as I do her in this moment. I’ve never felt anything like what washed over me when she touched me, the powerful, all-consuming need to take her, to claim her, to make her mine.

  If not for the alarm, I’m not entirely sure that I wouldn’t have claimed her here in the hallway, heedless of the fact that someone could’ve walked past at any time and seen us. I’ve known desire, but I’ve never felt an urge like this before, something that could override all of my good sense. It’s almost frightening.

  As our bodies separate, I can feel some of the tension between us ease, as if the connection has severed. It leaves me feeling empty somehow, but I can’t stop to dwell on that now. There will be time to explore the bond between me and Cora later, but I have to be a pilot and warrior first.

  I have to keep her and everyone else on board this ship safe.

  Turning on my heel, I run down the corridor and race toward the engine room. Several of the other members of the squadron fall in with me on the way, everyone on high alert.

  “What’s happened?” M’Xelni asks breathlessly, and I shake my head.

  “I don’t know,” I tell him grimly. “But we’re about to find out.”

  It’s immediately apparent when we enter the engine room what has happened. The mechanism that powers it has several separate, small components that spin at an incredibly high speed.

  They’ve gotten jammed, which is one of the worst possible things I could have imagined.

  If the pressure on the engine continues to build, it’ll cause an explosion that will most likely kill everyone on the ship. If by some miracle some of us survive, the ship would be too badly damaged to fly, the communication systems wiped out. Those of us who lived through the explosion would be left drifting in space, with no way to call for help.

  “M’Xelni, Vrexen, grab the tools I need,” I direct them, my voice tight and sharp. “Zhori, help me over here. I need someone to put a direct light on this so I can see what I’m doing.”

  My heart is thudding in my chest, and I remember what I thought back in the council room on Kalix when I saw the fear in Cora’s eyes as she made her argument.

  Fear doesn’t mean you’re not brave. It means you’re smart enough to know what’s worth being afraid of. Bravery is doing it anyway.

  I saw determination in her face then, and the memory of how brave my mate was spurs me on. Even now, as I work to get the engine running again before it blows the entire ship to pieces, it feels as if a small part of me is back in the ship’s hallway with her. I can’t shake the memory of how sweet her body felt pressed up against mine, of how close her lips were.

  It seems a shame to die without ever having kissed them.

  Focus, I chastise myself, breathing deeply as Vrexen hands me the first of
the tools.

  Instead of allowing the thoughts of Cora to distract me, I channel them, using the need to save my Irisa as a motivation to block out everything else. I let it focus me, narrowing my thoughts down to the engine in front of me and letting the fear and worry recede.

  It takes longer than I would like, the seconds ticking by so quickly that I can almost hear it in my head. Something is keeping the pieces from spinning, but what?

  I peer between the blades of the engine fan, trying to look for what’s happened.

  Is it faulty wiring? A blockage? Something else entirely?

  At last, as Zhori angles the light, I see it. A component has come loose and fallen between the jammed pieces and the casing that holds the rest of the engine apparatus. It looks as if it broke, and when it fell, it jammed the entire thing.

  I let out a breath. At least I know what’s wrong. Now I just have to fix it.

  “Hold the light steady,” I tell Zhori. “I need to reach in there and dislodge the component that’s broken off. I’ve got to get it out of there quickly, both before this whole place blows, and before the engine starts up again if I can pry it loose.”

  I can see steam starting to curl from the engine casing—our time could already be up. The whole thing could blow at any moment, taking me and everyone close to it out, even if those in the other parts of the ship are left alive.

  The thought of Cora, drifting alone and frightened in space, is enough to spur me onward.

  Reaching down, deep into the fan unit, I try to grab the broken component. My fingertips brush against it, and I grit my teeth. If I knock it farther down by accident, it’ll be impossible to get out. We’ll have no chance of averting disaster.

  Taking a deep, slow breath, focusing my mind on moving slowly and cautiously, with purpose, I let my fingers slide over the component, curling around it. When I feel certain that I have a good grip, I begin to slide it upward, feeling the resistance as I attempt to tug it loose from the spot where it got wedged.

  “Krax,” I mutter, my voice tight.

  There’s something holding the piece in place, but I have to get it out quickly. We’re nearly out of time.

  I clench the small component firmly and close my eyes. Sending up a prayer to all the Kalixian gods and any others that might exist, I yank upward, hard.

  The piece comes loose. I feel it dislodge, sliding free, and I let out a grunt of victory.

  But my relief comes a moment too soon.

  The engine starts back up almost immediately, too quickly for me to pull my arm all the way free. The force of the spinning parts sucks my hand into the engine.

  For the brief flash of an instant, I feel it crushing my hand, the component still clasped in my fingers. My whole body is jerked forward by the force of the pressure on my arm, and a shock of horror runs through me as I realize what’s happening.

  And then the pain blinds me.

  Hot, searing agony floods my veins, too great for me to withstand.

  The world around me goes black.

  7

  Cora

  The shock of the alarm cutting through the air and breaking the moment between us, and even the sickening feeling of the ship lurching, sending us both toppling to the floor, was nothing compared to the shock of what I felt when Druxik pulled away from me.

  For a second, there was a hollow emptiness in me, an ache for him to be close to me again, like a physical need.

  I could see the regret in his eyes when he let go of me to turn and run down the hall toward the engine room of the ship. I felt a dull sort of terror as I watched him go—something had clearly gone very wrong. I had no idea what it was or how bad it was, but at the same time, I felt oddly confident that Druxik could fix it. That he could solve the problem, whatever it was. After all, he’s the best pilot on Kalix. He knows this ship as intimately as a lover.

  Lover.

  The thought sends a thrill of desire through me as I hurry toward my own cabin, the alarm still shrieking in my ears, my body swaying with every lurch of the ship.

  What would have happened if that alarm hadn’t gone off? I would have kissed him. I’m sure of it. And I’m certain he would’ve kissed me back. Would it have gone farther? Would I have let it? Would he have picked me up and carried me off to his quarters or mine, or would he have taken me in the hallway, his arousal and my willingness too strong to be denied?

  The thought of him fucking me right there in the open like that, unable to tame his desire for me, makes my core clench. It’s an image so wanton, so completely beyond anything I’ve even dared to fantasize about, that it makes me weak in the knees in a way that has nothing to do with the rolling of the ship.

  The second I’m in my quarters, I slam the door shut, trying to breathe as I lean against the wall to steady myself. I’ve always had a tendency to get motion sick. I hate flying in planes, and I’ve studiously avoided roller coasters for all my life. Spaceships have rarely bothered me—that’s a thought I never imagined having—because they often fly so smoothly that there’s little sense of motion at all.

  But now, this ship has turned into the worst combination of airplane turbulence and a roller-coaster, and I’m on the verge of throwing up. My stomach is churning, acid burning the back of my throat.

  I lean against the wall for what feels like forever, my eyes tightly closed as I focus on long, regular breaths.

  And then, suddenly, the alarm stops.

  The ship rights itself, the shaking and lurching stopping all at once. I sink to the floor with my back still against the wall, my knees suddenly weak for a completely different reason.

  I didn’t realize how frightened I was until the danger was past. A cold sweat has broken out all over my skin, and although I still don’t know what caused the alarm, I have a feeling that I just came very close to death. It’s not a good feeling. And we haven’t even made it to Nierra yet.

  Beyond that, my mind is spinning. I’m reeling from what Druxik said in the hallway, my emotions a complicated tangle. Although I’ve seen half a dozen other women find their mates, having it happen to me was entirely unexpected.

  It’s not possible, my mind insists.

  I didn’t come on this mission to find a mate. It was never my intention or my expectation.

  I asked to join this mission because I wanted to help, to ease some of the fear that the captured women on Nierra will undoubtedly be feeling. I wanted to do something like Lucy did, something to contribute, to make a difference for all the humans like us who have been abducted. We were lucky enough to be rescued before the Orkun could violate us, and now I can help other women who were stolen.

  Although it was a bit intimidating to join a rescue mission with a bunch of hardened alien warriors, I felt comfortable around them because I knew there was no possibility that I could ever be chosen.

  I thought the bond would recognize that I can’t be a good mate, that I’m not fit for it.

  That’s why I let myself fantasize about Druxik a little. It seemed innocent, something so impossible that it was safe to dream about it. I never in my wildest dreams thought that it would actually happen.

  Would you want him, if it were possible?

  That would make all of this easier, if I didn’t want Druxik.

  But I do.

  Not just physically, although the desire that flared between us was beyond anything I’ve ever experienced, but emotionally too. He’s the embodiment of all the things I find attractive in a man. Confident, a little cocky, with a sense of humor and adventure, but not reckless or foolish. He can be serious when he needs to be, but I can also tell that he would be a lot of fun.

  I haven’t had nearly enough fun in my life. And if it were possible, I think I could be happy with Druxik. Really, truly happy.

  So what’s the problem?

  The problem is that you can’t be mated, I chastise myself, trying to get a grip on my runaway emotions. It’s not right. You can’t agree to this when you know you can’t b
e a good mate. You accepted that fact already, so why are you fighting against it now? Don’t condemn Druxik to be with you, someone who can never fully give him everything he needs in a mate, when you know better.

  It makes my heart ache. But I know the tiny voice in my head is right. This is a mistake, and Druxik would figure it out soon enough anyway. Better to end it now, before there’s time for real feelings to develop and we both get our hearts broken.

  I straighten, pushing myself to my feet and away from the wall. I need to talk to Druxik, to put an end to this before it can go any further. And I need to do it now, before I can talk myself out of it. A tiny part of my mind is already trying to convince me that one night with him—and god, how I want that—would be just fine.

  But it wouldn’t. It wouldn’t be fair to either of us.

  With my heart aching but my mind made up, I step out of my cabin and walk down the hall, turning into the main corridor. As I start to head toward the captain’s deck, a rattling sound behind me draws my attention. I glance back just in time to see several of the warriors rushing a medical stretcher down the corridor.

  My hand flies to my mouth, my eyes going wide with horror as I realize the man on the stretcher is Druxik.

  He’s unconscious, his body spattered with blood, covering nearly every inch of him. And all that’s left of his right arm is a shredded mess, unrecognizable as a limb from the shoulder down.

  I sag against the wall, moving out of the way as nausea rises up into my throat, choking me. Tears spring to my eyes, my blood running cold as I hear the men talking urgently in tense, hurried voices.

  “Osynth has medical training,” I hear one of them say. “He’ll be in the med bay. But this is beyond anything he’s seen before.”

  “Tissue regeneration on this scale is nearly impossible,” I hear Zhori say tightly. “Even if we were home, it would be unlikely. Here, it can’t be done. And we can’t get to another planet soon enough.”

  My stomach tightens. What does that mean? Druxik’s arm is lost, plainly, and the thought of what that will mean for him makes me ache with sorrow.