Maid For An Alien Prince: A SciFi Alien Romance (Intergalactic Exchange Program Book 1)

by Roxie Ray

  “Research,” I said simply.

  “Clearly.” Father stepped into the aisle and picked his way carefully among the books I’d strewn everywhere. “The librarian is going to have a fit when she sees the mess you’ve made. I heard you’d been in here all morning, but I had to see it with my own eyes to believe it. I came as soon as I was done with my meetings. What could possibly have you so intrigued that you’ve abandoned your work the entire morning?”

  He was more amused than reprimanding. My mother was always telling me I worked too hard. Perhaps he felt the same. But he was right about it being unusual for me to take a morning off from work. As the IEP’s assistant director from Hollander, I could take whatever liberties with my schedule I wanted, but I rarely did.

  I sighed and pushed to my feet. “Actually, I’m not exactly sure what I’m looking for. Maybe you could give me some guidance.”

  “Of course,” he said, inclining his head slightly. “What can I help you with?”

  Where did I begin? I supposed the best place was the beginning.

  “Yesterday when I went to my meeting at Novis, the strangest thing happened. There was a woman—a human woman—who was there to auction a service contract. I saw her standing there, and the most peculiar feeling came over me.” I went on to tell him about the odd pull in my stomach, the tightness in my chest, the irrepressible urge to bring her back to Hollander with me. His face was carefully blank as he listened, but his eyes grew wider and wider as I continued my story of how I intercepted her contract before her auction could take place and how I purchased it myself.

  “I used my position for my own selfish desires,” I admitted. “And I’m not even sure why. I don’t know what came over me. All I knew was that I couldn’t leave without her on my ship.”

  “And she’s here now?”

  I nodded. “Dina is showing her the ropes.”

  “And this…feeling you had yesterday. The strange sensation. Has it gone away?”

  “No. If anything, it’s gotten worse.” I looked at him, not bothering to hide my worry. “Do you think I need to see a medic?”

  Despite his best efforts, I could see the shock on my father’s face at all I’d revealed. But he simply asked, “Will you describe the symptoms once more?”

  I did as he requested, and when I was finished, Father had dropped all pretenses of trying to maintain an unfazed expression. In fact, if I had to describe it, I’d say he looked downright awestruck.

  “What?” I demanded. “What is it? Do you know what’s going on?”

  “I have my suspicions,” he murmured mysteriously, then turned to peruse the bookshelves. I wanted to press him to tell me what they were, but I knew my father well enough to know he would only tell me when he was good and ready.

  Impatience burned through my veins, making me restless and jittery, but finally he selected an old, dusty volume and gestured for me to follow him. He led me to a reading alcove just beyond the stacks and took a seat. I sat opposite him and drummed my fingers on the ancient, carved wood table as I waited.

  Father flipped through the pages, careful not to touch them any more than was necessary. This was an old book indeed. Finally, he stopped and tapped the page, then scanned it and nodded before turning the book to face me.

  “Read this.”

  I glanced up at him, noting the light in his eyes, the swirling silver that meant he was barely containing his excitement, then back to the passage in the book.

  It was handwritten, the ink faded with age, and at the top was the heading Mating Gene.

  I frowned, glancing at him once more before reading the entry. It briefly described an ancient mating gene that had been known amongst many alien races but had become dormant in centuries past. I skimmed it one, twice, but still didn’t understand what this had to do with me.

  “What does this mean?” It wasn’t very clear, the few facts describing this gene made it seem as if it were well known. But I’d never heard of it.

  “Centuries ago”—my father folded his hands on the table between us—“long before the IEP was even a hint of a thought, humans from Earth were abducted by many different alien species all across the universe.”

  “Abducted?” Was he joking? That sounded so…uncivilized. Only the most barbaric species continued to practice abduction—and were punished severely if they were discovered.

  He nodded sagely, his brows knitting together. “Yes, son. This was a time before we knew much about humans or their planet. There was no program under which their time and effort could be purchased under a contract that was mutually agreeable to both parties. But abductions became quite widespread because certain human females possessed what came to be known as a mating gene.

  “Something about these particular females would trigger a reaction in an alien male that would set off a chain of primal emotions—a burning need to possess the female, to claim her as a mate, and to breed.”

  My eyebrows flew up at that. “You mean like the men on planet Raider?” They, like on several planets that were shockingly short on females, purchased human contracts for the sole purpose of breeding and keeping their species from extinction, but I hadn’t realized the inhabitants of those planets had abducted them in the past.

  Father nodded. “But that was a dark time in which the breeding wasn’t always by consent, unlike the way the IEP operates today. But that’s beside the point.”

  “Was it always humans who trigged this ‘mating gene?’” I had a sneaking suspicion of where he was going with this.

  “Yes. Something about human DNA triggered a corresponding biological response in alien males. Perhaps because they are able to survive on other planets. Perhaps because the human race is more primitive, and the future of their species relies upon mating. I’m not entirely sure of the specifics.”

  “Why am I just now hearing about this?” I demanded. “How do you know about it and I don’t?”

  “I’m sure you would have learned of it at some point. But there was no reason to believe this mating gene still existed. As it says”— he gestured to the book —“it was believed to have gone dormant.”

  Then I asked the burning question, the one I almost didn’t want to hear the answer to. But I had to know.

  “Do you believe that’s what’s happening to me?”

  A long pause, then a solemn nod. “I do.”

  My breath left me in a rush, and I leaned back in my chair, scrubbing my hands over my face. I had no idea what to do with this. It was the last thing I’d expected to discover.

  “Are you certain?” I had to ask.

  “Well, I can’t be certain at this point. It hasn’t happened in centuries. Everyone believed that over time the gene had been diluted, or perhaps bred out once abductions were outlawed. Hence why no one in living memory has experienced it.”

  He pulled the book back to his side of the table and began to read more, reading out loud the passages that detailed the symptoms of a triggered gene.

  I sat there, stunned into silence, trying to wrap my head around everything he was saying. It seemed impossible. Crazy. Unbelievable.

  A dormant mating gene? Something I’d never heard of but was now apparently affecting me. Even though I was having a hard time processing it, I couldn’t deny that my symptoms were exactly the same as described in the book.

  I took a deep breath, leaning forward once more. “What am I supposed to do about it?”

  My father stared at me for a long, drawn-out moment. “That’s something I can’t tell you. It’s something you have to figure out for yourself.”

  With that, he pushed the book back toward me and stood. “I’ll leave you for now.”

  I couldn’t argue with that. I’d kept him long enough from his duties. Plus, I really needed some space to process.

  He rested a hand briefly on my shoulder as he passed, then he exited silently, leaving me with my whirling thoughts.

  How was this possible? Brittany had triggered this? Brittany,
who despised me. Brittany, who was a judgmental, self-righteous woman. Brittany, who I didn’t even like. Hell, I’d been contemplating the possibility of sending her back just that morning.

  She was supposed to be my mate, or whatever nonsense my father seemed to believe? No, he had to be wrong. There had to be something else that caused me to feel so strangely.

  I glanced at the book once more, then slammed it shut and hurried to put it back on the shelf it had come from as if that would erase everything I’d just learned. I would continue researching and find some other explanation because I most definitely couldn’t see myself mated to Brittany. Not today, not tomorrow, not ever.

  6

  Brittany

  I don’t know why I was so surprised that Dina was a human, but I wasn’t complaining. It was nice to have someone I felt comfortable talking to. It made me feel like less of an outsider, though I saw plenty of humans yesterday as we’d disembarked Niall’s ship and made the journey to his home.

  Dina had a grandmotherly air about her, even though she didn’t look like one. In fact, she said she was fifty-four, but I would have placed her firmly in her forties. She was generous and kind and had gone out of her way all morning to show me around, although I was certain she had plenty of other work she could have been doing.

  “Do you have any questions?” she asked me as she finished showing me how the laundry machine worked. It was unlike anything I’d ever seen, and it cleaned clothes in record time.

  “Yeah, but not about the this.” I turned to face her and pulled my bottom lip between my teeth, not quite sure how to phrase my question.

  Dina cocked her head to the side, furrowing her brows. “Is something bothering you, dear?”

  “I wouldn’t say bothering…”

  She patted my shoulder and gave me an encouraging smile. “Ask away. You can trust old Dina to give it to you straight.”

  I laughed at that because I was certain she was right. “Okay. I guess I just wondered what you really think about working here. On Hollander… For the royal family. All of it.”

  I was having a hard time forming an opinion because as much as wanted to hate it here, Hollander was beautiful. As for the man I was working for… Well, Dina seemed to think pretty highly of him. Which totally flew in the face of my initial impressions.

  “Well, I love it, of course,” she said, as if she were shocked I was even asking. “Why else would I have chosen to stay on?”

  “Stay on?”

  Dina nodded. “I’ve been working on Hollander for over twenty years.”

  I raised my eyebrows. “Wow. I’ve never heard of someone having a contract that long. I thought they were all just for a year.”

  Dina threw her head back and laughed. “Oh, no, my contract was just for a year.”

  I frowned. “I’m afraid I don’t understand.”

  Dina linked her arm with mine and led me out of the laundry room and toward the kitchen. “I fell in love with the place almost immediately. Once my contract was up, I chose to stay.” She said it as if it were just that simple.

  “You didn’t want to go home?”

  “Hollander is my home. King Titus and Queen Merida have always been good to me. I didn’t have any family or anything back on Earth, and when my contract was up, they asked if I’d like to continue on as their personal housekeeper. I jumped at the chance. So no, I’m a free woman. I have permanent residency, and I get paid in Hollander currency. Other than being human, I feel like I’m practically a native.”

  I didn’t know what to say to that. The idea of staying on to work on an alien planet after my contract was up had never crossed my mind. But to each their own, I supposed.

  I said as much, and Dina laughed again. “I guess so.”

  “Do you ever think about returning to Earth?”

  “Heavens, no! I’ll probably work for the Holland family until I can’t any longer. I could have retired long ago, honestly, with all the money I’ve stashed away over the years. But I enjoy my work. The Hollands are wonderful people.”

  I didn’t respond to that. I didn’t think she’d appreciate my opinion of the eldest Holland son.

  “Okay,” Dina said, clapping her hands together as we entered the kitchen. “I’ve shown you where the cleaning supplies are, how to work most of the appliances and machinery, and familiarized you with Niall’s schedule. Now let’s talk about cooking. Do you cook?”

  I grimaced. Did cooking on a hotplate in a cracker-box of an apartment count? Probably not.

  “I don’t have a lot of experience with it,” I admitted. “I didn’t think that was part of the job description.”

  “Oh, it’s not. In fact, we have a chef up at the main palace. But it wouldn’t hurt for you to be familiar with some of Niall’s favorite meals and how to prepare them, just in case he wants to eat at home or if there’s the occasional circumstance when the chef is unavailable.”

  “Oh. Okay.” What else was I supposed to do, refuse to cook for the man who signed my paycheck?

  “We also have traded a good amount of foods with Earth over the years, so you should be able to find some familiar items at the market if you wish to make something you love or start missing familiar dishes.”

  Dina got to work, efficiently showing me how all the kitchen appliances worked and listing out Niall’s favorite things. I grabbed the Holopad she’d provided me with and tried to take as many notes as I could because there was no way I’d remember this later. Not with all the information I’d learned today.

  “Why don’t we actually make one of these meals? Nothing like a little hands-on training. Then we can eat it for lunch,” she said with a wink.

  We got to work making some type of soup I’d never heard of. After a few minutes, I gathered up my courage to ask a few more questions—the ones I really wanted answers for.

  “How old is the prince?”

  Dina didn’t even glance my way as she said, “Thirty-six.”

  I waited a few minutes more before posing my next one. “And what exactly does he do that keeps him so busy? Other than being a prince.” I didn’t even know what all of that entailed.

  Dina cut her eyes toward me then. “He’s an assistant director for the IEP. An ambassador of sorts, as he represents planet Hollander. And yes, he does have duties as well. As the crown prince, he will one day ascend the throne and rule over the entire planet. So I guess you could say he stays quite busy.”

  I took all of that in. He would one day be the king? That was kind of crazy, and I had a hard time wrapping my head around the fact that I was working for a future king. It seemed so surreal.

  “He’s quite handsome, wouldn’t you say?” Dina asked with a smirk, her eyes fully trained on me now.

  I shrugged it off, hoping she didn’t notice the faint blush creeping over my cheeks. “I’ve never really thought about aliens being handsome.” I cleared my throat and focused intently on the vegetables I was chopping. “But I suppose he’s decent looking.”

  Dina laughed, a knowing sparkle in her eyes, and my blush intensified. Oh, god, how embarrassing. My thoughts immediately went back to yesterday when he’d been in my cabin on the ship, his strong arms on full display, those tattoos, the ridges of his muscles straining against his clothing. And those eyes…

  I cleared my throat again and sucked in a deep breath. No, I absolutely did not find my boss insanely attractive. No way, no how. And maybe if I kept telling myself that enough, I’d start to believe it.

  Luckily, Dina didn’t push the matter. Instead, she dove into giving me the details about the rest of the royal family—the king and queen and Niall’s brothers, Soren and Aiken.

  “You’ll meet them soon enough, I suppose. If Niall decides not to keep you all to himself.” She laughed, as if she were joking, but I didn’t quite catch on, and then she went right on again, going into detail about how wonderful and kind Niall was, how he was her favorite of all the Holland princes.

  I wasn’t sure if I coul
d trust everything she said, though. She was a sweet and kind woman, but what if she was only saying such things because she worked for the royal family? I certainly hadn’t had a great impression of Niall so far.

  “He really is a good man,” Dina said as she took the vegetables I’d chopped and added them to a flavored broth. “One of the good ones, truly. In fact, he has more than his fair share of women—human and Hollander both—who have their eye on him.”

  “Hmm,” I said noncommittally. “I guess being a prince will do that.”

  Dina laughed again. “Oh, no, my dear. I have a feeling it would be the same whether he was a prince or a pauper. Just give it a little time and you’ll see why he’s such a catch.”

  Luckily, she dropped it after that, and we finished up the soup without incident. It didn’t seem too hard to prepare, and I felt fairly confident I’d be able to reproduce the recipe if Niall ever needed me to make a meal. After we ate lunch, she said she must get back to her duties, and left me with a list of things to get started on, on my own.

  As I worked on the laundry and the general housekeeping chores, I thought back over what she said. So Niall was an assistant director for the IEP. Dina had said it with such pride, like it was quite the honor.

  But honestly, it didn’t help improve my opinion of him at all. The IEP had lied to me—tricked me, really—and sent me to a planet I hadn’t chosen. One that wasn’t even on my radar. The program was definitely on my shit list—along with all the people that ran it.

  I worked until it was nearly dark outside. Just as I was about to call it a day and go take a shower, the front door opened with a bang, startling me and nearly causing me to drop the stack of laundry I’d just folded.

  I turned to see Niall striding into the hall. I couldn’t make out his expression because the entryway was so dark, but I could see his tension in the way he held his shoulders. As he strode closer, I finally got a glimpse of his face, and I was shocked to see that he looked flustered. So far, he’d always appeared completely in control. Right now, not so much.