Sold to the Alien Mobsters: A Curvy Girl Alien Reverse Harem Romance (Rogue Aurelians Book 2)

by Corin Cain

  Riff’s aura holds barely-contained fear. He’s nervous, but I know he’ll lose that nervousness the second we start combat. It’s a death sentence. A suicide mission. Those tend to focus you.

  The place I pointed to is deep inside Don Slip’Nak’s territory. I know where he lives, and I will cut down every man between him and I.

  Once I kill him, the mob families of Taton will bow to my rule.

  Petra.

  The word is a chord in my mind. It strums and travels down my spine. There’s a hint of hesitation, and I fear succumbing to it. I could turn this ship around. I could go to that space station and find her…

  I could fight for her.

  But that is my doom. I know that with that tendril of hesitation in the back of my mind, I would have no chance to do what needs to be done. With that hope, I’d have something to lose – and because of the fear of losing something, I’d lose everything.

  I’m taking Riff and Kreos into death. We have to accept that.

  The black anger that lives in my soul rises up. My fists clench without conscious thought, and I envision plunging my fist through the Toad bastard who killed my father with his cowardly weapons.

  Perhaps we will die.

  But we will have vengeance first.

  “Take the weapons.” Kreos telepaths urgently, and I walk to the gunnery station and relieve my silent warrior brother. As my hands curl around the controls of the gunner station, I scan the dead space for any sign of enemy activity. Kreos steps out of the room without a sound – ever the silent ghost, who will rip the spines from men today.

  23

  Kreos

  I leave the gunnery station and walk slowly to the armory. The pure focus before a battle is heaven to me. There’s nothing that feels more natural than the moments before war – when all thoughts disappear.

  The only thing that’s different is her.

  I can feel Petra, and I cling to her aura like a drowning man. I’m so lucky to have experienced her. I’m so lucky to have had her.

  I press the secret button which opens up a hidden side door – revealing to a room filled with racks of guns. I walk past all of them, and instead pick up a battle-axe, hidden in the corner of the room.

  A man once tried to use it against me when we were first carving out our territory on Taton. Daran chose an area so lawless that even the other mob groups were too afraid to try and take control of it.

  I run my hand down my side. There’s a tattoo of the very same battle-axe on my side oblique, covering up a nasty scar where the axe once cut deep into me.

  I took that man’s life, and I took his axe. I heft the blade into the air. It feels right.

  Turn back.

  The though comes suddenly and unbidden to my mind. I snarl, not knowing if it’s my own thought, or if it was placed there by the Bond.

  The Bond.

  Petra.

  My body aches for her.

  I push down my need. I push down my desire. I must be in that space of pure focus – accepting the nothingness, becoming the nothingness, and pulling my enemies into the nothingness.

  I sit down and I wait. My mind clears until there’s nothing left except for the animal that lives deep inside of me.

  “Atmospheric in 10 minutes,” comes the thought from Riff. There’s fear wavering in his being. It doesn’t touch me. None of the anger that roars up in Daran affects me. There’s no more desire. There is only awareness – and what needs to be done.

  At Riff’s thought, I stand and stride to the last escape pod. Daran waits inside, running his fingers over his Orb-Rings. In combat, a single touch of them will burn through anything. No armor can withstand the force of the Orb-Material.

  Riff comes last. He cradles a laser-pistol in his hands. I’ve seen him shooting. He can take the eye out of a fly. Now that he has the power of the Bond, I’m eager to see the devastation he can wreak. There are no men I’d rather fight next to.

  There are no other men I’d rather die beside.

  “Going old-school, I see,” Riff quips, and I know his way of dealing with the nervousness before battle is to laugh.

  I don’t answer. The doors shut behind us, and the escape pod jettisons from the main ship.

  The moment we land we’ll be deep in hostile territory. We’re striking at the foul heart of the beast – the grey office building where the Toad leader of the biggest mob on Taton commands his troops; like a general of old standing on a hill surveying the battlefield.

  Don Slip’Nak will have high security. It’s unlikely our pod will even land – it’ll probably be blasted out of the sky as soon as Slip’Nak’s sensors detect it. If our pod does land, then we’ll be deep in a sea of our enemies.

  My hand grips the battle-axe tightly.

  This is what I was born for.

  24

  Riff

  Daran’s palm slaps the control to shoot our escape pod into the coldness of space.

  Our course is set, and we spin into the atmosphere; flames burning and blocking our view as we reach the atmosphere.

  Daran timed the release of the escape pod to coincide with the moment our ship reached the atmosphere. With any hope – a hope above hope – the scanners of Don Slip’Nak will assume the pod is just debris being released prior to reentry…

  …but that’s one hell of a gamble.

  The scalding flames slowly fade, and through the blackened glass I see Taton below. We’re heading towards Tatonia. It was the city that I had called my home. Now all our territories there are lost.

  I wish there was some way to push Petra out of my mind. Even if we survive this, we can never have her again. She’s lost to us.

  But we deserve nothing less. The moment out mansion was breached and all of those women in our harem – the helpless women who depended on us – were killed, we lost our right to Petra. An Aurelian is worthless if he can’t keep his women safe; especially his fated mate.

  Fear grips me - and I know I deserve it. Every instinct in my body tells me to run. It’s too late now, though. We couldn’t change the course of this escape pod even if we wanted to. I’d sealed my fate as soon as I stepped inside this tiny craft.

  Within minutes, we’ll crash right through the roof of Don Slip’Nak’s headquarters...

  …assuming the ship’s AI works properly.

  If it doesn’t, we’ll crash into the streets, or burst into nothingness.

  It’s a gamble, and my only comfort is knowing that my cowardly father would never have stepped into the escape pod in the first place.

  If I live, or if I die, I’ll at least know I’m never going to be him again. I’ve already proven myself more. Not stronger, or richer, or more successful… All those things are trappings.

  I’ve proven myself more by making the choices I know he wouldn’t… or couldn’t.

  My father’s shadow leaves me and I feel myself taking his place. I’m not just the clone of a lowlife loser. I am my own man, and I make my own choices.

  The cradle the gun in my hands. It’s fully-charged and has both automatic and single-shot modes. I flip it to single-shot. I don’t want to waste the energy on a single missed blast – and now I trust my aim and know I can make every – any – shot.

  Everything moves in slow motion. My adrenaline is building and building inside of me and everything seems so fucking crisp and clear. I can see every line in the steel of Kreos’ battle-axe. I can watch as the Orb-Rings on Daran’s finger glimmer and shimmer suck the light from the escape pod. The impossible reality-bending Orb-Material seems to rip at the fabric of the universe, and as ridiculous as it sounds – because Orbs are things, not creatures – it’s as if the Orb-Rings hunger for Don Slip’Nak’s blood.

  I turn to face my battle-brothers.

  “If we don’t make it… I’m glad I met you two. Without you, I’d be my father.”

  Daran shakes his head. “Your aura is your own, my battle-brother.” He reaches forward, clapping his right hand onto my l
eft shoulder and steadying me. I feel the fear melting away under his heavy touch.

  Kreos leans forward, placing his left hand on my right shoulder and staring into my eyes. He nods silently, and his fearlessness calms me. His aura is barely there in my mind, but only because he is made of the same steely metal as his axe.

  We will take the throne of Tatonia – or die trying...

  25

  Petra

  Fuck! Fuck, fuck!

  Even with the Bond muted, something has changed. I can feel the ever-so-faint aura of Riff, Kreos and Daran still lurking in my mind… and it’s changed.

  Kreos has become rock. Daran has become rage. And Riff has become… pride.

  Their flaws have taken over their nature and I know it’s going to be too late.

  “How much longer!” I yell at the AI. The robotic voice takes six seconds to answer.

  “Two hours and twenty-four standard minutes to reach destination,” comes the calculation. I seethe. I’m stuck in this flying prison until then. Even if I get to the station, I’ll still have to take a shuttle to Taton.

  Despair fills my mind. I have no plan. I have no way of saving the three warriors who need me so desperately. I’m so far away from them and they aren’t letting me in.

  “You don’t have to do this,” I think as hard as I can, but I can tell my thoughts are staying within my own head. The three men are going to their death, and there’s nothing I can do to stop them.

  I look around the escape pod for anything that could help me. There are seats that passengers can strap into, the monitor of the computer where the AI is programmed, and the portal to the blackness of outer space.

  There’s nothing that I can use.

  Fuck! I was just getting used to having these three men in my mind, and now they’re so faint it’s impossible to tell more than the slightest emotion from them.

  I used to be able to know where they were at all times - now even their location is just a blur to me.

  Suddenly, pain flares through the Bond. Something so horrific that it overcomes the mute my triad placed on their auras. I feel it, and gasp.

  Kreos is wounded. Badly.

  Next comes a wave of fear and despair from Riff. They’re all alone out there, fighting an endless army.

  I sink to the floor, tears filling my eyes. Kreos and Riff almost got out. They almost chose me over this life of crime, violence and the ever-present shadow of death.

  Now, nothing can save them – least of all me.

  Agony rolls over me. Kreos is in brutal pain – and then it stops.

  Kreos is gone.

  His aura disappears from my mind, completely. My heart breaks and I fall to the floor, tears filling my eyes. I’d felt the gentleness of him beneath that brutal exterior. I’d known his true self, behind those terrifying tattoos and scars. I’d known the real him – if only for a moment – and now I’ve lost him.

  I fight so hard to feel him one last time. I push against the shadows and mist he’s put between us, ripping at the veil between our two beings…

  …and suddenly I’m there.

  I close my eyes and see through Kreos’ vision. Pain washes over every aspect of being – an incredible, indescribable agony – but I fight through it to keep my sanity just long enough to help him.

  I… I can see him. I can see through him. I can see what Kreos sees.

  His eyes are open, but his mind is out. There’s a throbbing pain in his temple. I realize Kreos has been hit so hard on the head he’s completely knocked out…

  …but alive.

  We’re in an office building. Blood is dripping from my – his – chest, but the wound doesn’t look fatal. It hurts like hell, but I do everything I can to push back the agony.

  I look around me. I can see… everything.

  To the right of me, Daran punches the head clean off a massive, beastly Toad – the enormous, warty creatures that are the scum of the universe. Riff is laying on the ground to my right, picking himself up, bullet wounds visible on his chest. He’s tough as hell, and the wounds don’t seem to stop him.

  “Get up. Get up, Kreos, get up!”

  I think the thought, but Kreos makes no sound, laying knocked out on the floor. Blood is dripping from his chest from a long gash. Next to him is the steel of a medieval battle-axe. I can’t make his eyes focus, and everything in the room is blurry...

  A Bullfrog – the enormous, hulking elites of the Toad species – jumps in front of him. I watch in terror as the huge bulk of the slimy, dripping monster looms above Kreos – holding a spear with a vicious, barbed tip. The Bullfrog raises the spear up high in the air, and I wonder if the moment it pierces Kreos’ chest, his death will kill me as well…

  …instead, I press every ounce of my will into trying to grab the axe.

  Kreos’ arm suddenly snaps out, as if I’m controlling it.

  He grabs the steel hilt and swings – gashing the stomach of the Bullfrog open. The Bullfrog falls back, writhing on the floor, clutching at his entrails as they spill from his gaping belly.

  I will Kreos’ legs to work, and he stands up.

  It’s like I’m… like I’m controlling him. I’m in a body that must weigh three times as much as my own – or more. I’m in a body that stands a head above my own frame. It’s like I’m piloting some monstrous, muscular robot.

  I’ve never fought before, and I’m panting with fear in the middle of a battle.

  How… How am I doing this?

  There’s no time to think. I dive to the side to avoid gunshots and swing my axe. I watch in both horror and fascination as Kreos – no, me – takes the head clean off a Toad; sending it spinning across the room with a fountain of blood.

  And then, suddenly, Kreos wakes up – and I’m thrown out of his mind.

  I wake up, gasping on the floor of the escape pod. Reality distorts around me, as if my brain is no longer used to looking out of my own eyes. I feel so dizzy, and slip in and out of blackness.

  Time stops existing – or maybe I do.

  Finally, my vision clears. My head pounds like the worst hangover I’ve ever had…

  …and yet the three auras of the Aurelians blossom in my mind.

  They’re back!

  I shake my head, and try to take in my own surroundings.

  Through the viewing portal of my escape pod is the massive bulk of a space station…

  …I think. Unless I’m hallucinating.

  Victory!

  I suddenly feel it flowing through the Bond. Whatever odds Daran, Kreos and Riff were up against, they… They managed to succeed.

  For a moment, I’m triumphant…

  …and then I throw up, as a wave of nausea overtakes me.

  Those three men must have waded through a literal sea of enemies to get their vengeance. They succumbed to their darkest natures to win a war.

  “Get out of my head!” I yell, to no one in particular, trying to force their auras out of my consciousness. As I do so, the escape pod finally docks with the space station.

  I lie on the floor, clutching my head. I don’t know what the three Aurelians had to do to win their war, but I realize with horror that I can’t change them – I can never change them.

  I’d thought I’d seen the real versions of them all – of Kreos’ hidden tenderness, and Riff’s secret pain, and Daran’s desperate quest for belonging…

  …in reality, though, their true selves are revealed to have been warriors who will stop at nothing to conquer their enemies.

  Even at the cost of their fated mate – the obsession of their species.

  The doors of my escape pod hiss open and a tall man with a tattoo running down his neck stands before me. He’s built, and there’s a pistol holstered at his belt.

  Shit!

  Before I can even look for an escape route, he greets me. “Petra?”

  I nod dumbly.

  “I’ve been tasked to bring you to a shuttle to Kinata 5A,” the man explains. “This is your on
ly option.”

  Fine. I… I need to get away from these men.

  “Good. Lead the way,” I say, and he looks surprised. This stranger looks like he was expecting more of an argument from me.

  But I have no more fight left in me. I need…

  …I need to go.

  I can still feel Daran inside of me. His rage is finally spent, and yet there is always more growing. I know in my heart that even though Daran has killed the man who assassinated his father, it’s not enough.

  Perhaps being cloned from burnt DNA has cursed him forever. The only time he found peace was in our love-making. Each time we were together, the sense of peace increased in my mind.

  I need to get them out – all of them. I need to get those three Aurelians out of my head so I can live my life and forget them.

  I shake my head and focus on my current situation. The tattooed henchman is leading me through the huge hallways of this space station.

  It’s immense – an entire city floating in space. We pass by markets and shops, and it’s shocking that there’s an entire ecosystem of people living, working, and dying on this artificial settlement, a million miles away from the closest real sun, or air.

  The henchman takes me to a massive hanger bay, where a transport ship looms over us. We pass a long line of travelers and walk to a separate entrance where a single Toad sits.

  I try not to judge the massive, slimy creature that looks down at us.

  “Tickets,” growls the Toad, his jowls wobbling as he talks. The henchman scans two tickets and we walk past.

  I realize I’m in the first-class section of this transport ship. The henchman opens a side door in the hallway and reveals a private cabin with two beds, a door that must lead to a personal toilet, and a small table bolted to the ground. Private rooms in a transport ship like this cost a fortune – although apparently Daran and his triad can afford it.