by Celeste King
A Queen for the Alien Conquerer
Celeste King
Copyright © 2019 by Celeste King
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
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Contents
1. Maura
2. Galen
3. Maura
4. Galen
5. Maura
6. Galen
7. Maura
8. Galen
9. Maura
10. Galen
11. Maura
12. Galen
13. Maura
14. Galen
15. Maura
16. Galen
17. Maura
18. Galen
19. Maura
20. Maura
1
Maura
“Don’t be afraid to come at me,” I told the fifteen-year-old girl, who was very small for her age.
She took a deep breath and ran at me again, trying to take me down. I grabbed her by the waist and threw her to the ground.
I helped the girl up, hugged her, and looked around at everyone watching. “What else could I do to protect myself if someone is running at me to hurt me?”
One of the boys raised his hand. “You could sweep the person’s legs out from under them.”
“Show me,” I said, and I ran at him.
As I approached, he used my leverage to sweep my legs out from under me and I landed squarely on my butt.
Everyone clapped. “Very nice, Steven,” I praised him.
One of the little kids came running up. “Maura, Maura, people are coming in big black cars.”
“Quick guys, grab the rakes and stuff and get into the fields.”
All of the kids grabbed the tools and headed out into the fields. Those without tools, set about to pulling weeds in the garden that was next to the building. By the time that the cars arrived, everyone was busy working.
I looked around to make sure that everything looked normal. The government agencies and even the Universal Peacekeeping Organization (UPO) did not like the idea of people learning any kind of war or fighting tactics, even if it was focused on self-defense.
Taking a deep breath, I walked slowly over to where the cars were stopping. A visit from black, official looking vehicles was never good news, no matter what else was going on.
A man popped out of the first car. He was bald on top and had a fuzzy mess ringed around the edge of his head. He was wearing a blue suit and had a funky red bow tie with blue polka dots on it.
I rolled my eyes. This couldn’t be good. The stupid wide smile on his face and the fact that two women in miniskirts with cameras got out of the car with him, confirmed that this was not going to be great.
“Hi! I’m Jack from Pitch Perfect, the matchmaking specialists. You must be Maura.”
The heavy sigh and suspicion in my eyes told him exactly what I was feeling. “I am Maura. Why?” My tone wasn’t friendly.
By this time, a crowd of people had gathered behind me, looking at him with very unfriendly faces. We didn’t particularly care for outsiders. Not because we were unfriendly or mean, but because they generally meant trouble.
Jack took one look at the crowd behind me, and took a stop back. Then, he looked at all the government looking people that flanked him, and his confidence returned.
“We have the offer of a lifetime for you. We have a ball coming up where there will be eligible men for you to meet and dance with. These men are all rulers of their people and come with the highest qualifications.” He was talking fast, like a used car salesman who was trying to rush through all of the small print.
After he finished his spiel, he grinned widely, as though he expected me to enthusiastically agree to his offer and jump right into the car.
“Not just no, but hell no,” I said. I then turned to walk away.
“Before you say ‘no’, listen to our offer. Not only might you meet the man of your dreams, but we will provide you with clothing and a large stipend. Not only that, but we will provide your village with resources and a large grant of wealth they can use for food, clothing, shelter, and other needs.”
Jack obviously came prepared with an understanding of what my weakness was. My people are my weakness. He could see me weakening now.
“This deal is being overseen by the Universal Peacekeeping Organization, so you know that it cannot be broken.”
“Like we can trust them,” I muttered to myself.
Jack grinned like a starving wolf. “I’m sorry. I didn’t quite catch that, Maura. What did you say?”
I glared at him. “I said to deliver the good to my people first and then I will go with you.”
“We thought that you would see things our way,” Jack said with a gloating look on his face.
I really wanted nothing more in this world than to just slap that look right off of his face. However, I didn’t thing that would do anything but get me in a boatload of trouble, the last thing that I needed.
“Who is your second in command?” he asked.
I looked at my best friend, Sheila and nodded. She stepped forward, and said, “I am.”
Jack snapped his fingers at the people who were standing behind him. Instantly, they began to unload one of the SUVs they had brought. They stacked food supplies, medicine, and bolts of fabric off to one side. Then, they handed Sheila a sack that was filled with gold coins.
She opened the bag and examined them. She trusted the government and its people about as much as I did.
Feeling trapped, I went back to my home and packed the few belongings that I had into a burlap sack.
I hugged each of my students and whispered, “keep practicing” in their ears. They clung tightly to me, and it broke my heart that I had to leave them.
When I came out with my bag, Jack looked it up and down and sneered.
“You won’t be needing that. We’ll get you a bunch of new clothes. You won’t be needing those rags anymore.”
I shot daggers at him with my eyes. Unable to keep the contempt and dislike out of my voice, I said, “These are mine. They are my clothes and they are my things. I’ll be keeping them. If you don’t like that, then you can take your stuff back and I’ll stay here.”
With amusement lacing his voice, he answered, “Fine. Keep your things. Let’s go.”
With tears in my eyes, I climbed in the car. I didn’t dare look back.
2
Galen
On the trip back to his home, after engaging in a battle with some of the renegade alien groups, I was looking forward to going home and relaxing. It has been a long time since I was able to do that. The cutthroat band of aliens have been terrorizing the people on many of the different planets. I had been out battling them for the better part of the year, and a week ago, my warriors and I found the leader. We took him to the UPO so they could hand out justice, as were my orders.
However, just as we were about to enter the atmosphere above my home region, I was summoned to the capital by the king of the Nirqoi race. Not only was I stupid enough to ignore a summons from the monarch of my people, he was my friend and mentor, and he was getting older.
I knew he would not summon me if it wasn’t important.
When I arrived, I bowed to my friend, who told me to rise. He looked like he had aged fifty years in the year since I had seen him last.
“Galen, my friend. You have done well.”
“Thank you,
My Lord.”
“Not only are you a valiant warrior, but you are a great man. You are sensible, intelligent, and just.”
I didn’t interrupt him. Instead, I stood, patiently waiting for him to get to his point.
“As a reward for your services and in honor of your positive attributes, I have appointed you to be chieftain of your region.”
“Thank you, Your Highness.”
He held up his hand. “I also have named you to be my heir. Upon my death, you will become king of the Nirqoi.”
I wasn’t expecting this. My jaw dropped open in surprise, and I was speechless.
Finally, however, I was able to gain my wits. “Thank you, Your Highness.”
“No, thank you. You have proven, many times, that you are worthy to be king.”
“Hopefully, it won’t be anytime soon. I would like to have you around.”
I would like to be around.
The king invited me to stay a couple of nights with him. It turns out that he had more than just making me his heir to talk about.
The next morning, he informed that that I need a woman, especially since I am going to be a leader.
I nodded, feeling lucky that they are scarce on the planet, since the majority of the babies born on the planet are male. Eventually, I would need to find a wife, but I didn’t feel like I was ready right now.
However, it seemed that the king had a solution for that, as well. He introduced Jack, the head of a matching service on Earth called Pitch Perfect. Jack was accompanied by members of the UPO.
“You are going to be king someday. We have a way to help you find the perfect mate. We would like for you to attend a ball on Earth. Several eligible women will be attending. Surely, among one of them, will be one who is suitable.
I really didn’t want to go. I knew in my soul that my fated mate was out there and eventually I would find her. However, I felt as though I could not say now, with the king looking at me expectantly.
“What if none of the women are suitable?”
“Then you come home and wait for Miss Perfect to walk into your life,” Jack answered smoothly. “However, if you do find a woman who suits you, then we ask for the privilege of accompanying you on your first date and recording it, to air on the universal telecom.”
I didn’t see any way out of this. Trapped, I said, “Fine.”
The king knew I wasn’t happy. He put his hand on my shoulder and said, “What do you have to lose?”
“I don’t know. We’ll see.”
I was able to catch a few more days rest at the king’s palace before I had to head to Earth for this ball.
When I walked in, I noticed that five of my friends, who are also kings of their races, were there. Something in the back of my mind wondered what the UPO and Pitch Perfect were up to. However, I decided to make the best of the situation.
I wasn’t the only one who felt a bit uneasy. The other guys also thought that something might be going on.
On the other hand, we might just be jaded because we have spent so much time battling the enemy. This could be nothing more than a publicity stunt on the part of the company. They could have been trying to prove to everyone else on the universe that if the company could find perfect mates for six monarchs, then they could find the perfect mates for anyone.
There were a lot of women attending the ball. My buddies and I pretty much ignored everyone. However, there was one woman who just happened to capture my attention, when I was scanning the room, looking for danger.
She wasn’t very tall, but she held herself stately and erect. Although she was dressed in a beautiful gown, with jewels, high heels, and had her make-up, hair, and nails done, I knew instinctively that this was not who she really was.
There was just something about her. I wasn’t sure what it was, but it was magnetic. A voice in my soul told me that I needed to meet her.
I alerted the other five kings, who turned and looked at the group of women. Instantly, each of them was interested. They also found women among the group who piqued their interest.
We decided that we would approach the women one at a time so that we wouldn’t overwhelm them. After all, we were all at least seven feet tall. The women were a lot small than us.
Since I first noticed them, I told the others that I would go first. For the first time in my life, I felt shy. I wasn’t there to conquer her – at least in the war sense.
The closer I got to her, the stronger the pull was. As I walked toward her, a strange feeling came over me, as though my body chemistry was completely rearranging itself.
Was it possible that this dark-haired beauty was my fated mate?
3
Maura
I felt ridiculous. I had never worn one of those “little black dresses” before.
In reality, it wasn’t really a “little” black dress. It was a floor length black dress that had a slit up to my knee. It sheathed my body in such a way that it accented the contours of my body.
My face had tons of make-up and my hair had been combed, teased, sprayed and done up in such a way that I thought I was wearing a wig.
Then, these shoes. I couldn’t figure out who in their right mind would really wear three inch heels on purpose.
Talk about false advertising. If I did happen to find someone here I thought that I could stand for more than five minutes, he would wonder what happened to that woman he thought he was getting, when I showed up in denim pants and a flannel shirt, which was my usual uniform.
I hid in the corner and surveyed the room, wondering how I was going to get through the night without dying of boredom or awkwardness. Finally, I spotted a couple of other women who looked just as uncomfortable as I felt.
They smiled at me tentatively as I made my way over to them.
“I’m Maura. You guys look like the only people here that I could stand to be with without banging my head in the wall.”
One of them, a beautiful woman with chocolate brown skin and liquid brown eyes laughed. “I’m Samaria. We actually were just saying the same thing. We all just kind of gravitated toward each other. Like we were long lost sisters and felt a connection.”
“Can I connect too? Otherwise, I can slink back to the corner from whence I came,” I joked.
They welcomed me with open arms, so to speak, and introduced themselves: Graciela, Sara, Nina, and Ryver.
I felt an instant connection with these other women, as though they really were my sisters, and we had just found each other.
Gradually, the conversation turned toward our recruitment. Our stories were very similar. Jack showed up, looking every bit a shady scammer who was out to con us out of our very last piece of bread. We all felt as though we had been strong-armed into participating.
The good news was that if we didn’t find anybody we thought was interesting, we could just go home again and we got to keep whatever it was that we were promised.
Ryver was the one who brought up what the rest of us were thinking. Why were we chosen. After comparing notes, we figured out that none of us had wealth, nor were we from what would be considered important families.
Samaria said, “I’m pretty sure that the UPO had something to do with this, and that we are pawns in some scheme.”
The rest of us agreed, although we couldn’t for the life of us figure it out.
Sara was the first person to notice the tall man with blue, iridescent skin and long silver hair. His shirt was unbuttoned to the waist, and the tie he had been supplied with hung down from either side of the collar. It seems that this gorgeous male creature had grown tired of being confined in his dress up clothes.
His body was magnificent. His chest was large and hard, his six pack clearly defined. The bulges of his arm muscles were clearly visible through the tightness of his white short. It was the body that girls only dreamed of touching and holding. And this man was heading our way.
The group of men he had been standing with were also watching us. I felt as though they w
ere eagles and we were the field mice about to be pounced on.
I was enthralled watching this godlike man approach us. At the last minute, I thought to check to make sure my mouth wasn’t hanging open and I wasn’t drooling all over myself.
Looking over at the other women, I noticed that their attention had been captured as well. However, it was this hunk who they were focused on. The men on the other side of the room had them spellbound. I was afraid that they were going to start floating through the air toward them, like the characters in the old cartoons did.
The blue man approached me. He held out his hand, and I could see that his eyes were exquisite silver in color, with a bright blue pupil in the center of each one.
“I’m Galen. Would you care to dance,” he asked in a deep voice that sent tingles up and down my spine.
I looked behind me to see if he was talking to someone else. Then, I looked back at him, wondering if he seriously wanted to dance with me.
My actions seemed to amuse him, as his lips curved up into a very sexy smile.
“I am talking to you, beautiful woman in the black dress, right in front of me,” he laughed.
At least the man has a sense of humor.
I held out my hand. “I’m Maura.”
Looking over at my companions, who were practically licking their chops, as though they were ravenous and saw their first dinner in a long time in sight.
“I guess my friends are preoccupied, so I would love to dance with you.”
He looked at the other five women, and smirk. Then, he whisked me onto the dance floor with a flourish.
His voice was the sexiest I had ever heard. I could listen to that man list the ingredients on a medicine bottle.