10 Things Aliens Hate About You (Alienn, Arkansas Book 4)

by Fiona Roarke

  “Depends on what you expect me to do.”

  “I expected you to be under my thrall. Quiet, obedient, pleasant.”

  Valene snorted at the word obedient, but shrugged. “I won’t make a scene only because I don’t want you to hurt anyone else.”

  “Good. I believe you. Now, let’s go. We’ve got a stop to make along the way that will likely take much longer than I intended.”

  Valene resisted the urge to ask where they were going. As long as she wasn’t ensconced in the car’s trunk, she’d figure it out soon enough anyway.

  The couple on the sofa never once looked up from the loud war movie.

  “Are they going to be okay?”

  “They’ll be fine.”

  “Who are they?”

  Indigo paused as if considering whether to share, then shrugged. “Daphne’s parents. This is their place. I couldn’t stay in Alienn, of course.”

  Of course. Valene looked around at the luxurious home. She didn’t know Daphne Charlene came from money. She’d always heard about her aw shucks, I was always so poor past and her subsequent short-term vault to success in the restaurant business.

  She owned Skeeter Bite’s most popular place to eat. The formerly historic building had been completely revamped from a rundown dry goods store into Critter’s Café. Valene had never eaten there, but lots of folks said it was very good.

  Maybe her success had provided her parents with a nicer home in their retirement. Daphne Charlene’s character went up a notch in Valene’s mind.

  Indigo led her up a short set of stairs from the finished basement into the garage, accessed from the hallway next to an elegant and top-notch gourmet kitchen. Nice.

  As they stood next to a very expensive and new-looking silver SUV, Indigo removed the cuffs from behind Valene’s back and promptly zip-tied one arm to the passenger seat hand grab. So annoying. The pungent new car scent rushed into her lungs as he got into the driver’s seat.

  He pushed the button on a remote and a garage door opened behind them. Without any difficulty or hesitation, he wheeled the vehicle backward out of the garage, clicked the remote to close the door and drove down a long driveway bordered by very tall trees.

  “Earth is amazing. I certainly understand why this backwater colony planet is so popular.”

  Valene didn’t comment. She just looked out the window, trying to be ready for anything.

  “Is that why you don’t want to marry that Wyatt guy and leave?”

  She whipped her head around so fast it was a wonder she didn’t hurt herself. “How do you know about that?”

  Indigo gave her a superior smile. “Daphne shared quite a lot about you and him and how she wished you would drop dead so she could have him. I also heard about the sheriff’s heartfelt proposal. The one you turned down in something called a biker bar, whatever that is. Daphne was particularly upset about that. But if it were me, I’d never want to leave here even for love.”

  The notch up Valene had given Daphne Charlene for how she treated her elderly parents fell back down again in light of the fact the woman wanted her to drop dead so she could have Wyatt. She turned back to her window view. “Doesn’t matter why.”

  “He’s human. You’re not. If you married a human, you’d both have to go to Alpha-Prime. I’m trying to be on your side. I’m saying I understand why you’d never want to leave here.”

  Valene mentally rolled her eyes. “That’s not why I turned him down.”

  “Oh? Why not then? Enlighten me.”

  She shrugged, unwilling to share her reasons with this man. “What difference does it make?”

  “I like learning things about people.”

  Valene decided to get along. “It’s because Wyatt wouldn’t be able to tell his family. He’d just disappear and they’d never know what happened to him.” If one arm hadn’t been tied above her head, Valene would have crossed her arms and pouted.

  “Interesting.”

  “Whatever.”

  “I mean, that’s very civil of you, taking into consideration his family’s feelings and pain in spite of your obvious affection for your human.”

  Indigo didn’t say anything else. He seemed to be mulling over her decisions as they drove. They traveled along the main road to downtown Old Coot, Arkansas. If Old Coot’s sheriff, Hunter Valero, saw her, he’d likely wonder why she was riding along with someone other than Wyatt. Would he stop them? Maybe.

  Valene watched for Wyatt’s best friend as they went from one end of town to the other, and tried to think of a clever plan to let him know she was in trouble. They didn’t see a single other vehicle on the road. They finally turned onto a smaller street filled on either side with houses.

  A left turn, a right, another right—Valene lost track of direction in the maze of the housing division where each house looked very much like its neighbor’s. Valene went back to wishing Hunter had been out and about patrolling, but apparently he was otherwise occupied. Probably just as well, as she hadn’t come up with any plan to alert him that she was in trouble.

  Another turn to the right put them in a more upscale sub-division where the houses weren’t as cookie-cutter as the previous neighborhood.

  Indigo turned into the driveway of a very nice home with a three-car garage, a rarity in this area. He picked up a different remote and pushed a button. The middle garage door opened and he pulled the big SUV in like he did it every single day. He turned the vehicle off and got out, closing the garage door with the remote as he rounded the front bumper to her side of the vehicle.

  “Where are we?” Valene asked.

  “Don’t you already know?” He asked the question like he had a trick up his sleeve that she hadn’t figured out yet and was amused by her ignorance.

  “No idea.”

  “Well, it will be a surprise then.” He zip-tied her hands in front of her and pointed to the door leading into the house. When she didn’t move, he dragged her by her wrists toward it.

  Inside the house, there was a short hallway going only one way. Indigo pushed her back against the wall. “You should stay here,” he said, walking a couple of steps toward what looked like the entrance to the kitchen. “I can’t be responsible for your feelings if you follow me.” He grinned. What was he up to?

  Valene could see the corner of the refrigerator. His expression dared her to follow him. She lifted away from the wall, eyes narrowing, and wondered what he was up to.

  In the doorway, his back to her, Indigo stood stock still for a couple of seconds and then morphed before her eyes into the man she was in love with, Wyatt.

  From the top of his head to the crisply pressed sheriff’s uniform he always wore to his well-worn dark brown boots. She gaped.

  How did Indigo do that? How was he an Alpha shapeshifter? How had he turned into Wyatt?

  Indigo grinned at her with Wyatt’s sweet mouth as she stared at him in horror, suddenly realizing the scope of his incredible powers. No wonder he’d been able to escape from any prison anywhere.

  “Daphne,” he called out using Wyatt’s voice. “Where are you, darlin’? It’s me, Wyatt.”

  Valene’s mouth dropped open in utter shock.

  What fresh space potato hell is this?

  “Wyatt?” Daphne Charlene’s very surprised voice came from the kitchen. Indigo-Wyatt disappeared into the kitchen.

  Valene moved slowly forward, unable to stop herself from walking to the doorway to see what he planned to do.

  Indigo-Wyatt winked at Valene and then kissed a happily shocked Daphne Charlene passionately on the mouth.

  <^> <^> <^>

  Road Trip to Suspicion, Minnesota

  Dixie Lou dug up the address of the dead woman she planned to visit before leaving home—well, alleged dead woman. This would be an epic journey and exciting mission to discover why Constance Brickwood had faked her death. She couldn’t wait to get the juicy details.

  She plugged the Minnesota address into the fancy navigation system of the ve
hicle she’d borrowed from her boyfriend, Ed, gathered a few supplies and hit the road with Miss Penny.

  “How long will it take us to get there?” her friend asked as they passed the final Maxwell the Martian billboard on the northbound road out of Alienn.

  “A day and a half, if we hit it hard. Two if we take our sweet time.”

  “Do you know how long we’ll be there?”

  “Not sure yet. We’ll have to figure it out as we go along. Why? Do you have an important appointment coming up or something? Do you have to be back in Alienn by a certain time?”

  “Oh no, not really. But Ellie Mae Foster is having her open house and garden party in two weeks, remember? You and I had decided to attend to see if she spent too much money redecorating her home to look like one of those crazy makeovers that no one in their right mind would ever want to live in.”

  “Ooh, that’s right. I forgot in all the excitement. We do not want to miss that. Let’s hit it hard and try to make it there in a day and a half. We’ll both take turns driving.” She pressed the gas pedal down, automatically looking around for any police vehicles that might catch her speeding.

  Dixie Lou smiled. She hadn’t talked her way out of a traffic ticket in quite a long time.

  Chapter Fifteen

  <^> <^> <^>

  Wyatt found a perfect location to set up his gun stand at the bauxite pit’s lovers’ lane. There was a strategically located picnic table inside the edge of the woods just out of sight to anyone driving by. One end was half buried in the dirt after the area flooded a few years back, moving the wooden table from the eating area by a pavilion and depositing it here. No one had bothered to dig it up and move it back.

  The angle and location were perfect for him to flatten onto his stomach across the length of it and rest his alien purple goo splatter gun barrel between two chipped plank ends of the tabletop’s edge.

  Looking through the newly attached riflescope, he was in place to get a great shot at Mr. Flirty. He couldn’t wait. Through the line of trees at the edge of the road and across the shallow ditch, Diesel, Cam and Axel waited for the infamous Alpha criminal to come and trade Valene for whatever he wanted. Wyatt wasn’t completely sure what that was.

  They initially assumed it was the ID and the reverse Defender, although Wyatt didn’t expect them to hand over either of those items. Wyatt planned to take his shot before they ever got to the trading part. Once he saw Valene was safe and had a shot that wouldn’t come near her, he’d take it.

  The other interesting part of this ingenious and intricate criminal plot involved a bunch of gold ingots currently residing in five prisoner cryo-pods aboard the gulag ship. No one knew how Indigo—what a stupid name—planned to get all those stacked gold ingots out of the pods. Diesel reasoned that maybe the ingots were unrelated and completely separate from Indigo’s escape plan. Was a guard involved in this interesting turn of events? Was the gold something not included with the alleged genius criminal’s escape plans? Somehow Wyatt doubted it.

  More likely it was how Indigo planned to finance his whirlwind trip across Earth. They’d spent the whole evening shooting down various plans, but the only thing Wyatt cared about was getting Valene back safely.

  Diesel agreed, but he wanted to ensure Indigo was captured, knocked out and stuffed back into his cryo-pod headed out of the galaxy tomorrow morning as planned. Whatever it took.

  A car approached. In the earbud specially fixed for this meeting, he heard Diesel say, “Get ready, everyone.”

  Wyatt peered through his scope, trying to get a look at who was driving. As the vehicle got closer, he got a surprise.

  In his ear, someone said, “Is anyone else seeing what I’m seeing?”

  “I see her,” Wyatt said. “Daphne Charlene is driving and Valene is right beside her. I don’t see Indigo, but maybe he’s hunkered down in the back seat or stuffed in the trunk, waiting to make his move somewhere down the road.”

  The vehicle stopped and Daphne Charlene jumped out of the driver’s seat, rounding the front of the car to the passenger side where Valene remained seated.

  Wyatt was relieved to see her, but Valene’s expression looked dang near demonic. He’d never seen her display such a fierce frown. Daphne Charlene pulled Valene out of the car, forcing her to stumble to keep her balance. The frown worsened. Daphne Charlene pulled a gun out of her jacket pocket and pointed it at Valene’s side.

  “Don’t do anything stupid!” she said harshly, slamming the door closed with one foot. “I don’t want to accidentally kill your sister.”

  Daphne Charlene grabbed a still wobbly-footed Valene and put the gun barrel to her head.

  Wyatt focused his attention on Valene. He’d been grateful to see her alive when they drove in.

  He’d never seen such a harsh expression on her face, not even when she was at her angriest. Then again, the worst frown he’d ever seen before today had also been in the presence of Daphne Charlene.

  Valene’s hands were zip-tied in front of her. She scowled when the other woman pushed her toward Diesel, who waited ten feet away next to his large SUV.

  The love of Wyatt’s life fairly sneered as she was pushed along. He figured she had every right to. Not only was Daphne Charlene here, a crazed criminal had kidnapped her. She had a right to look her angriest.

  He looked around at the forest edge and along the path their vehicle had come from, searching for the third party in this exchange. Unfortunately, Wyatt didn’t have a target yet. Where was Indigo Smith?

  “I don’t see Indigo anywhere. He must be well hidden. Now what?” Wyatt whispered. “Want me to shoot Daphne Charlene?”

  Diesel shook his head slightly, not taking his eyes off Valene.

  Daphne Charlene said, “Whoever is out in the woods ready to shoot Indigo better just come out. He knows you set someone up. He won’t show himself until he feels safe.”

  Diesel made a slashing motion across his throat, signaling that Bubba and Luther—also hidden strategically out in the woods—were to come out. Both of them did, hands half in the air, guns slung loose over their shoulders.

  Wyatt stayed in place. He surveyed the area, looking for Indigo or any movement along the road or hidden in the woods along the roadway. Nothing.

  He went back to watching Valene. He could only see the back of her head. She stood five feet from Diesel. As soon as she was free, he planned to tell her he was ready and willing to do whatever it took, even move to an alien planet to ensure they spent the rest of their lives together.

  Valene’s back was rigid. She had the air of an innocent party forced to participate in something unseemly against her will. That was the truth.

  “Where is Wyatt?” Daphne Charlene asked, searching the area.

  “Wyatt?” Diesel cocked his head to one side. “Why would he be here?”

  Daphne Charlene jammed the gun into Valene’s temple and screamed at the top of her lungs, “Where is Wyatt?”

  “Where do you think he is?” Diesel asked.

  “I think he’s in the woods somewhere waiting to shoot Indigo. Make him come out.” She looked around the area, focused her attention briefly on the car they’d driven to the rendezvous in and then turned her sharp gaze back to Diesel.

  Wyatt saw Diesel’s defeated expression. “I’m on my way,” Wyatt whispered, noting Diesel looked only marginally relieved. He wasn’t going to exit the woods here. He’d circle around and enter the area behind Diesel.

  In his earpiece, he heard Diesel push out a long breath and say, “He’s on his way.”

  Wyatt slung his alien purple goo splatter gun over one shoulder and made his way silently through the woods. Even Bubba and Luther looked surprised when he appeared next to them, moving past their resolute, ready-to-fight postures.

  Wyatt crept in quietly behind Diesel and the assembled group, still in standard confrontation mode.

  Daphne Charlene smiled. “There you are, Wyatt.”

  Valene looked less happy to see him,
her gaze dropping to the ground between them, but she’d been through a lot and had a gun to her head. He understood her unease.

  “Where is Indigo Smith?” Diesel asked.

  “He’s close,” Daphne Charlene said, pushing the barrel of the gun into Valene’s head a little harder. Wyatt’s fists clenched and he had to forcibly open them. Relax.

  “Here’s what’s going to happen,” Daphne Charlene said, looking over one shoulder at the car they’d come in. “Wyatt, Valene and I are going to leave with what we came for and then—”

  “Not a chance,” Diesel interrupted her.

  “What?” Daphne Charlene looked stunned and perturbed.

  “We make the trade, Valene stays here and then you leave.”

  Daphne Charlene’s eyes narrowed. “Fine. Hand it over.”

  “Hand what over? The ID, the reverse Defender gun, what?”

  She looked smug. “Indigo said you wouldn’t be smart enough to figure out his genius plan.”

  “Which doesn’t help him, does it?” Diesel laughed. “What does Indigo Smith want in exchange for our sister?”

  “All he wants is the item he accidentally left behind in his cryo-pod before escaping.”

  Diesel reached into his pocket and pulled out a dark gunmetal-colored box. It was the size of a deck of playing cards, but twice as thick. Wyatt had no idea what the item was or how long the brothers Grey had been in possession of it. Maybe they were smart enough to figure out the criminal alien’s plan.

  Valene smiled at her brother. “I knew you’d find it, Diesel,” she said. The hard edge of her tone surprised Wyatt.

  He stared at her. She met his gaze, but lost the smile. Was she still upset with him? Usually, when she looked at him it was with some sort of awe-inspired gratitude, like she never expected to find someone to fall in love with and staring at him reminded her that they loved each other. Right now, not so much.

  Wyatt glanced at Daphne Charlene, who looked like she was about to have a meltdown. His other worry had to do with what she’d been telling Valene. Did she think he’d been with Daphne Charlene that night in the kitchen? He was almost afraid to find out. He’d have to work extra hard to ensure Valene knew that Daphne Charlene was a liar. Was now the time to clear things up? Probably not.