Her Alien Captor: A Sci-Fi Alien Romance (Alien Pirates Of Cania Book 1)

by Zara Zenia

  There was one problem Melody could see, though. The exit.

  Their back door they used to come in would surely be heavily guarded at this point. If Nor had a lick of sense in him, all the exits would be heavily guarded. They’d gotten what they came for, and now they wanted out.

  Well, Melody still wanted to kill the bastard, but with Devron in the shape he was in, needing immediate medical attention, she couldn’t afford a diversion. He couldn’t afford it.

  Killing Nor would have to wait for another day, unfortunately. She didn’t expect he’d be the one guarding the exits himself, too much of a chicken to actually put himself at risk. He preferred subservience all around him, people who couldn’t fight back, those bound to do his sick, twisted bidding.

  The alarms never stopped, but Melody had long since learned to tune them out, though everyone’s voice was beginning to get hoarse from shouting over the cacophony. Lezin was arguing with Rayhan about which exit would make for the best route based on where it emptied. Melody had no idea what either of them were talking about since they were speaking in some kind of security-guy code.

  “It doesn’t matter which exit we choose if they catch us before we reach it,” Sina hissed at the arguing men, stepping between them without a hint of fear. She was indomitable. Unflinching.

  Melody wasn’t sure she’d be as confident when they looked like they were getting ready to throw down. She’d always thought it smarter to keep her head down and out of fights that didn’t concern her.

  “Fine, your way, then,” Rayhan conceded.

  “No way,” said Naela. “We’re taking Ray’s route. You might trust this guy, but how do we know he’s not leading us right into an ambush?”

  “Because the ambush is here,” Devron groaned, looking past the group down a dimly-lit hall. Melody looked too, first one way, then the other.

  He was right. They were closing in from all sides.

  “Intruders, surrender now or be killed,” came a voice from the hall.

  Rayhan shook his head, face grim. “It’s the same fate either way,” he said, low enough for them alone in the pause between alarm wails. “We have to shoot our way out. Lezin’s exit is nearer.”

  Naela’s expression changed, too, mouth a firm line as she nodded stiffly. Then, she turned to face Melody and Gaddis. “Get Devron out. That’s what we’re here for. If something happens to one of us—”

  “I will not abandon my mate,” Gaddis said, bristling.

  “To the rest of us,” Naela amended, “just keep going.”

  Melody’s throat tightened, tears pricking at her eyes.

  For the first time on a job like this, she actually cared about the people here with her. She didn’t want to see anything happen to any of them. She wanted a happy ending for everyone, including herself.

  What would that even look like for her, though?

  She had no time to ponder it now as the group exchanged a solemn look, each reaching for their blasters simultaneously. Melody could tell that Devron wanted to argue with his mother over her decree, but he was hardly able to keep standing on his own, let alone muster up a cogent argument. His eyes were unfocused and drifting closed, his head lolling as exhaustion or unconsciousness threatened to take him.

  It was going to be a chore enough to get him out. There was no way she could worry about the others. Naela was right.

  She hated agreeing with her.

  “See you on the other side,” Melody said, swallowing thickly.

  “Intruders, surrender now or—”

  “Be killed, we heard you the first time,” Rayhan said, whirling around with lightning speed, his blaster firing off round after round of white-hot plasma, the air sizzling with the energy.

  In the distance, guards dropped to the ground, heaps where there had just been men.

  Then all chaos broke loose.

  Blaster shots ricocheted and sizzled all around as Melody tried to haul Devron away from the line of fire. It was nearly impossible to shoot and support him.

  “Come here,” Devron said, pulling her into him as he backed into a tight corner. He dragged her body up against his, one arm around her protectively as he used her and the wall for stability, raising his blaster arm.

  Under normal circumstances, Melody might flip out about the familiar way he encircled her waist or how close he pressed their bodies together in this narrow crevice. But it wasn’t normal circumstances when Devron was involved. Even though they were facing death—and he was practically halfway there—she couldn’t help the shiver that thrilled through her when she felt his strong, muscular body molding to hers.

  She couldn’t help that she wanted him. And she was certain it wasn’t the Omega bond talking. It was him, the guy who’d gone through so much to try and give her a better life than what she ever would’ve had otherwise. The guy who nearly gave up everything for her.

  Though they were outnumbered, that wasn’t really a point against the group of intruders. As the guards closed in from all sides, they bottlenecked, lining up for the slaughter with nowhere to go. It was like shooting fish in a barrel, Melody thought, though she couldn’t help but feel sick about the carnage they left in their wake.

  Nor left them no choice.

  It was all his fault.

  A hiss sliced through the room, then a desperate wail unlike any Melody had ever heard.

  “Gaddis!” Sina cried, draping herself over her fallen mate. Melody’s heart stopped, time frozen for the moment. Gaddis lay perfectly still as Sina guarded his body, her face contorted into feral rage. One single claw twitched, then another, and Gaddis’s hand moved.

  Sina’s wailing ceased, but her fierce protection of him didn’t. She crouched like an angry gator, hissing with fangs exposed, claws slashing out at any of the foolish guards who dared to get close enough. In the close quarters, their blasters were hitting each other more than the enemies, so many of the guards tried other weapons, each of which Sina’s claws sliced through like warm butter.

  “We need to keep moving,” Melody said, seeing a break in the crowd where Sina was.

  Devron grunted as he pushed himself off from the wall, stumbling forward, a hand out for support. Melody at his side made him feel stronger already, but it wasn’t enough alone. He needed medical care. He needed it soon. He was trying not to show how much effort each step took, how heavy his legs felt as he lifted his foot to move forward again.

  He was sweating from the exertion, shaking and out of breath.

  Melody looked his way, a worried frown etched deep. “It’s not much farther,” she promised. If he didn’t know better, Devron would think she was worried about him.

  But she hated him.

  His death would free her, so why wouldn’t she wish for it?

  Why was she even on this rescue mission to begin with?

  Another cry came from behind them—Naela.

  Devron stiffened, turning to look back, his body already changing direction.

  “No,” Melody said, jerking him back. She wasn’t normally strong enough to push him around like that, but in his current state, he had no way to resist her. “You heard her. We have to keep going.”

  “That’s my mother,” he implored, but it did nothing to sway Melody. The significance of their relationship was lost on her, the orphan left to fend for herself.

  “Your mother wants you to live,” Melody argued, jerking on his arm as a bolt of plasma sizzled by close enough to scorch her arm.

  “Fuck,” she cursed, the exposed skin already blistering and bubbling.

  Devron frowned, some unreadable emotion in his eyes. He looked back again, and the only people coming behind them were Nor’s former guards, one clutching his side, limping, the other bleeding from a huge gash to the head. Another blast of plasma shot down the hall, narrowly avoiding them both.

  “Fine,” Devron growled, everything in him against leaving his loved ones behind. But they had to get out. If they were all captured, there’d be no hope f
or any of them.

  Finally, mercifully, they could see the exit. It was within reach. It was . . . locked.

  Melody whipped out her blaster and shot the lock, kicking the door open with a fierce grunt that was the sexiest thing Devron had ever seen. She looked around, trying to get her bearings, using the map of the inside that she memorized to try and make a map of the outside. They were in a shallow cave near the face of the mountain, and peering out from the mouth of the cave, it was easily a hundred feet down to the ground and the jungles where they were supposed to rendezvous with Mabav.

  “This way,” she told him, slipping out of the cave to the narrow ledge beyond. She couldn’t imagine what this exit was normally used for. Did Nor have gliders or something to launch from a cliff like this? It certainly wasn’t meant to be taken by foot.

  It was going to be a difficult trek down, even if they were both in peak shape. Even if they weren’t being pursued.

  She really didn’t want to break her neck after all of this.

  Even so, there was no other way but to go for it. She started scrambling her way down the steep mountainside, picking the easiest path she could find while also trying to stay concealed. She had no doubt that Nor had cameras covering this area since it was so much more vulnerable to attack.

  Her foot slipped, and Melody went sliding down ass-first, panic jolting through her as he life flashed before her eyes. Then she rolled and stopped, wedged against a boulder. Devron hurried to get down to her as fast as he could, slipping and almost falling himself a couple of times.

  “Melody, are you all right?” he asked, a frown etched into his brow.

  From above, they heard others leaving the cave. They had no way of knowing whether they were friends or foes, so the pair made the quick choice to keep moving.

  “Are you hurt?” Devron asked softly as they continued down the jagged mountainside.

  “Look who’s talking,” she scoffed, still brushing small stones off her backside.

  “My state isn’t what I’m concerned about right now,” he said.

  “It should be.”

  She was as infuriating as ever, he had to give her that. But the distraction of arguing with her had helped them get through a pretty tricky part of the descent, and now they were practically on the ground.

  Devron could already feel the grass on his ankles when a thunderous sound erupted from the mountain, Egeon launching his terrestrial ship to hunt for them.

  Just great.

  It shouldn’t have been a surprise to anyone that Nor couldn’t take a loss and move on, but Melody and Devron both groaned as that ship launched.

  “Hurry,” she said, dragging him by the hand into the jungle. At least under the cover of trees, Nor’s ship would have a hell of a time finding them.

  But how were they going to find each other?

  34

  “That’s not good,” Devron grumbled under his breath, looking skyward as the trees rumbled with the passing of a fleet of small, speedy ships.

  “What could possibly be worse?” Melody asked, having a difficult time believing anything could be worse at this point. They’d made it out of Nor’s fortress, but they were alone—who knew where the rest of their group was—and they were still being chased, exposed, without a real plan.

  They’d never really counted on getting split up. Losing people, yeah, but leaving them behind?

  Melody resisted the urge to look back over her shoulder. It wouldn’t do her any good. She couldn’t see anything through the thick foliage of the jungle, which was good in some respects, she supposed. It meant others couldn’t see her, either.

  “Planetary security,” answered Naela with a sneer. Devron and Melody both whirled to see her emerging from the bushes. Devron winced and clutched his side, doubling over from the quick movement.

  “Come on,” Naela said, her frown deepening. “The lizards are over this way.”

  “Mom,” Devron grunted, taking a deep breath. “Don’t talk about them like that. They risked their lives for me.”

  Naela’s eyes hardened, but they were bright and shiny, something Melody couldn’t read in them.

  “She says she can patch you up,” his mother said.

  “What about the . . . security?” Melody asked, looking up and finding nothing but branches and leaves.

  “They’re gonna be looking for us whether or not Dev’s bandaged,” Naela said, slipping an arm around her son’s back to offer her support.

  Melody couldn’t really argue with the logic, but sitting still long enough to care for his wounds—especially this close to Nor’s headquarters—seemed like they were asking to be discovered.

  “Well, would you look at who showed up,” Naela said with a wry grin as they stepped through a thicket dense enough that saplings had to be bent to get through.

  “Lucky we found you,” said Rayhan from his seat on a rock near Gaddis. The other guy, Lezin, was there too.

  “Any news from Jorwon or Mabav?” Melody asked, throat tight. It was amazing that everyone was together again, mostly only nursing minor wounds despite the violence and chaos. There was no doubt that Devron was the worst of all of them, which seemed kind of a miracle in itself.

  Naela’s grim expression darkened further. “I don’t know about Jorwon, but there’s no reaching Mabav on the ship. It’s completely dark.”

  “If they’d captured Jorwon, we would’ve heard about it,” Rayhan said encouragingly, tapping the comm he’d stolen. “But Mabav . . . that could’ve been before we had this.”

  “Mabav? Jorwon?” Devron asked, eyes wide. “What in the blazing stars were they doing involved in this? They’re miners.”

  “They weren’t going to abandon you,” Naela scoffed. “You’re family.”

  “Some family. Look where they’re at now,” he countered.

  “We don’t know where they are,” Melody butted in. Suddenly, everyone was looking at her and she didn’t know what to say. She just didn’t think this was a great time to be arguing.

  She sighed, shaking her head. “Look, I’m upset about it too. But we don’t know anything. We have to hope for the best and work with what we do know in the meantime. Nor’s still after us, and Devron needs medical attention.”

  “Melody’s right,” Sina said, pushing through the others to get closer to Devron. “You are in no shape to be a fugitive,” she scolded him as she escorted him to a pad of woven leaves they’d worked on while Naela searched them out.

  “What a vote of confidence,” Devron grumbled, allowing himself to be coaxed down. He winced and groaned, hissed and gasped—and that was before she even started to touch him.

  Nor had certainly done a number on him, and it made Melody more determined than ever to be through with him and his bullshit. He didn’t get to just keep expanding his circle of victims, terrorizing more and more innocents for his amusement.

  Hell, no. Melody couldn’t abide.

  “We’re not safe anywhere as long as the PSF is patrolling the planet for us,” Rayhan said, using a pocket knife to scrape dried blood from under his fingernails. “We have to get off-world.”

  He said it very matter-of-factly, without leaving any room for argument.

  “How do you propose we do that?” asked Gaddis, his sharp, slitted eyes surveying the surrounding jungle constantly. He’d been wounded in the battle, but his thick hide had shielded him from the worst of the plasma bolt. He was sore from the impact of it, but not enough to let it hinder his responsibility.

  “In a ship, clearly,” said Rayhan. Lezin frowned but remained silent.

  “Mabav had our ship. We’re not going to get another without getting back to Selithi territory—”

  “Our resources are not yours to claim,” Sina said testily, cutting Naela off. “Do not mistake our friendship with Devron as naive philanthropy.”

  “Okay,” said Naela, equally testy after the admonishment. “Then we have no prospect of a ship. My miner can’t do sub-orbital, so we’d need a
shuttle to it even if it could move, but it’s anchored,” she said to Melody, seeming to sense the next question on her mind.

  “Damn, that stings,” Devron hissed, his face paler than usual, damp with sweat. Melody’s chest tightened with the pull to go to him and offer comfort.

  In front of everyone, though?

  What she felt for him was still confusing—and upsetting, frankly—and she wasn’t sure she had the courage to act on it with witnesses. It would be much harder to act like it hadn’t happened at all if she had an audience.

  So as much as it pained her to do so, Melody let him suffer alone.

  “I don’t have proper tools,” Sina said impatiently. “You would be much more comfortable if I did.”

  “Comfort’s relative,” Devron said. “As long as I live.”

  “You will,” Sina said with a firm nod. “Canians are remarkably resilient to internal injuries.”

  Melody breathed a little sigh of relief for a worry dashed she didn’t know she had. The thought of Devron dying now after all the work they’d put into getting him out hadn’t even occurred to her. It was impossible to think about.

  She trusted Sina’s expertise. If she said Devron would survive his injuries, then Melody knew he would. As long as something else didn’t kill him first.

  “Well, the answer seems pretty obvious to me,” Melody said, folding her arms, feeling smugly satisfied with herself for thinking of something Naela apparently hadn’t.

  “Oh, really, Omega?” she sneered, making Melody’s skin prickle. What the hell was wrong with this woman? Why did she have such an issue with Melody? It wasn’t like Melody asked for any of this to happen. And the fact that she wasn’t the one eager for Devron’s death when that would end her bond to him should have counted for something. But not to Naela, apparently.

  Melody couldn’t worry about that. If she let Devron’s mom get under her skin, then there’d be no room left for all the other problems they needed to tackle.