Alien Resistance (Zyrgin Warriors Book 4)

by Marie Dry

  “Do you expect me to allow them to kill me? To use you to kill me?”

  “I know you can’t just let it go, but do you have to kill them? And do you really need to cut off their heads?”

  “We rule Earth. They have to accept it or take the consequences. It is good for everyone if we maintain discipline.”

  “You realize I’m going to keep arguing about this until you listen to me. I will never accept you playing judge, jury, and executioner.”

  He pulled his lips away from his teeth in that god awful way that was supposed to be a smile. “Of this I have no doubt.”

  “Since we’re stuck here until your so-called rescue arrives, why don’t you explain to me exactly what a breeder is?”

  She didn’t like that word and she wanted to know exactly what was expected of a breeder. They should’ve had this conversation before. She’d been so focused on learning from him, she’d drifted into things she should’ve questioned.

  “A breeder belongs to a warrior who protects her and cares for her.”

  “Care in the sense of having emotions?”

  “Caring is in keeping her safe and fed and spend many hours in the sleeping place with her,” he said.

  “I’m going to have to clear up a few misconceptions about our relationship for you.” It didn’t matter what they thought a breeder was. She didn’t want to be called that. She didn’t need someone to care for her as if she was a pet. If he wouldn’t be her partner she’d move on.

  “A breeder belongs to a warrior and gives him small warriors.” He cocked his head in that curious gesture. “Many small warriors.”

  “Well, I decline the honor of giving you small warriors. I’m sure our species can’t produce offspring together, anyway.” She said a small prayer of thanks that she’d been on birth control for years now.

  He continued as if she hadn’t spoken. “You are my breeder, and I have the honor to kill anyone who threatens you. I will annihilate their bloodlines for daring to harm you.”

  Madison frantically shook her head. “Please, I don’t want you to kill any more innocent people because of me.”

  “This is not a choice. I protect you.”

  “Oh, I don’t think so. You’re not going to use me as an excuse to kill more of my people.”

  “I killed an Eduki for you and have my leader’s agreement, I presented you to my him. That gives me the right to protect you.”

  “Is that all you want, to protect me and have me breed children. What about emotion.”

  “I honor you above all others. You are my breeder, and you will comply with my actions.”

  “In your dreams.”

  “In your reality, you are mine Madison, we will do feelings if that will please you.”

  Madison tried to smile but it felt stiff and fake on her lips. Was he capable of normal emotions? What if she expected something from him that he simply couldn’t give her?

  They sat in silence for a long time. The evening got colder and Madison snuggled closer to him, in spite of being mad at him. The thought that she was mad at him for something he might not be capable of scared her. She couldn’t bear it if he never loved her.

  “Madison?”

  “Yes, Viglar?”

  “Why is it so important for you to be a doctor? You are different from the others, you care about the patients more than getting paid.”

  Madison stared into the fire. She’d never talked about it since that day, her family knew why she wanted to be a doctor, why she worked so hard. Even they never talked about it. Suddenly she wanted to tell him. To share her guilt and shame with someone else. Her family had tried, at first, but she’d gone into hysterics and then didn’t speak for months. Maybe if she talked about it, the ghost of the past would allow her some rest. She stared into the flames, at the two little girls skipping and playing in the swamp, believing life was good and would remain so.

  “When I turned eight, we heard there was a big alligator in the swamp. Even then, the swamp was drying out and gators had been hunted for food and other things, until they weren’t seen anymore.” She pulled her jacket closer around her. “I made my sister Ana come with me. I was going to see the gator and impress my friends at school with my bravery the next day.”

  “You were not scared?”

  She shrugged. “A little, but more curious. The danger it represented didn’t feel real to me. We were arguing, pushing each other around, and I pushed her. And instead of pushing back, she--she sort of stumbled. I tried to grab her, but she fell. I remember one moment we were playing and the next she lay there with sticks coming out of her stomach.” Madison hugged herself and inched closer to Viglar. He tightened his arm around her.

  “She fell on a dried tree stump that had turned to stone through the centuries.” She stared at the flames. For a moment, she thought she saw Ana’s face. The way she looked before, before her face became twisted with fear and pain. “At first, all I could think was how mad my mamma was going to be that she got her dress all bloodied.” She swallowed and stared into the flames, lost in the smell of rot that hung thick in the swamp clotting up her nose, choking her. Of knowing it was her fault, if she hadn’t pushed her sister back, she never would’ve fallen.

  “What happened next?”

  She looked around, abruptly pulled back to the present. Grateful to be gone from that terrible day. “I didn’t know what to do. I was afraid to leave her alone and go and get my parents, and she kept screaming with the terrible pain, begging me to help her to make the pain go away, to get the sticks out of her stomach.”

  Madison shuddered, she could smell the swamp, the blood, hear Ana’s screams echoing around her. “I tried to pull her off the sticks, but she screamed so bad, and blood started bubbling from her mouth, and I knew, in the movies, when blood comes out of people’s mouths, they died.” She shivered and he pulled her close to him. “She died in my arms, and I promised her, I said I would learn what to do to help her. That I’d never again be so stupid and helpless. Then I ran to find my parents and I got lost. I knew the swamps like the back of my hand and I got lost.”

  “How long were you lost?”

  “A night, but what did that matter. Because of me Ana died.”

  “That was when you decided to be a doctor.”

  She shook her head. “No, even when I was little, doctors were scarce. We lived in the back of beyond and never had any doctors, so it wasn’t a concept I knew. When my youngest brother was born, my mother had complications and the midwife saved her and the baby.” She smiled up at him. “She was amazing. That’s when I knew I had to learn medicine. I didn’t want to be a midwife, I wanted to treat wounds and difficult illnesses. The midwife told me about being able to be a doctor. From that day, I worked really hard to learn as much as I could so that I would be accepted into medical school.” She clenched her fists until her fingers ached. “I have to learn enough to save people who are injured or sick.”

  Gently he opened her fingers and massaged her hand. “It is impossible to save everyone.”

  She tried to clench her hands again, but he pushed her fingers open and continued to massage her hands. “I will give it a damn good try.”

  “That is why you came to my office, even when you feared me. You want to keep your promise to your sister.”

  “Yes.”

  “I will help you keep your promise.”

  “You will?”

  “I will teach you as much as your primitive human brain can absorb.”

  She shook her head. “I so appreciate your honest opinion. I would like to continue to learn from you. In my unique primitive way of course.”

  “You are welcome. It is time for us to sleep.”

  He checked the perimeter he’d set around the camp and on either side of the shuttle. Madison watched him, still feeling trapped in the past. She’d hoped if she talked about it, Ana’s ghost would let her have peace. Would be satisfied that she became a doctor and helped people. But Madison still sme
lled the swamp and heard her sister beg her to help her.

  Viglar came, pulled her up, and steered her inside the domed tent. It seemed solid and she touched the wall. It was hard metal. “How do you get it to be so small and then expand it this big?”

  “Superior Zyrgin technology.”

  She rolled her eyes, fell down on the mattress, and then winced. It was like landing on rock.

  “I will obtain a soft bed for you to keep in the shuttle,” he said.

  “That’s very kind of you, but I’m hoping this is the last time we crash a shuttle.” Though he might convince her to take her camping sometime. His gadgets made camping easy. If it wasn’t for the man tied up behind the shuttle, she could’ve enjoyed the experience.

  He stepped out of his boots and she sat up and stared at his big feet. She’d never noticed him do that before. “How do you manage that?”

  He opened his mouth and she held up a hand. “If you say superior Zyrgin technology, I will scream and scream until your eardrums burst.”

  He got onto the bed next to her without saying anything and drew her into his arms. He leaned down to kiss her, but she pushed against his chest.

  “We can’t, not with that poor man around and listening to us.” Though she wanted to lose herself in his intense lovemaking. She needed it.

  “He cannot hear anything that happens inside here.”

  She stared at the door of the dome. It had sealed shut behind them, but how strong could this inflatable dome be? “What? That’s dangerous, anyone can sneak up on us and we’d be so busy swappin spit, we’d never hear them coming.”

  “I do not wish to swap spit.”

  Madison sighed. “It’s only a saying, it means kissing, you dope. What I meant is that we cannot have sex because we will be so focused on that that, we’d never hear anyone coming to murder us in this horrible hard bed.”

  “I have superior Zyrgin ears and will hear them coming from miles away, I also set up superior Zyrgin alarms miles back. I will know if anyone comes over land or by air.”

  “Oh, well, if it’s superior alarms, who am I to worry?”

  “Can we swap spit now?”

  She should’ve known her sarcasm would pass him by. “I suppose,” she said without grace. One more word about superior Zyrgin anything, and she’d scratch out his eyes.

  He kissed her and as usual when he kissed her, she forgot everything and lost herself in the pleasure. He stroked her hair and she stilled.

  “A word of warning, alien.”

  “I am not an alien, I am a Zyrgin.”

  “I don’t care, if I hear the words first knowing, or even get the feeling you’re going to torture me with sex, I’m running out of here and spending the night outside.” Actually, she’d be better off kicking him out and spending the night in here.

  “This is not the first time we do sex, why would I call it a first?”

  Madison moaned and slapped her head with her fist repeatedly until he took it in his and stopped her.

  “We will commence swapping spit now.” He suited action to words and kissed her until she barely knew her own name. He undressed her and, when she would’ve undressed him, got up and stepped out of his clothes in that same weird way he stepped out of his boots. She’d find out how he did it somehow. She poured everything she had into the kisses and caresses they exchanged. She needed the oblivion from her guilt and her duty mapped out for her.

  He kissed his way down her body and she stiffened. Even though her body was pulsing with pleasure, she grabbed his head. “Remember what I said about the first knowing.”

  “Human, this is not a first time.” He pulled away from her restraining hands and kissed his way down to her feet. She giggled and kicked when he tickled the soles of her feet with his tongue. He held her foot securely and then gave the other foot the same treatment.

  He moved up and used all the knowledge he’d gained during that first knowing to find all her pleasure spots and drive her wild. She touched his muscled chest, enjoying the feel of the rippling muscles under his warm skin. “I will do a first knowing on you, then I will know all your--”

  He slammed her down hard on the mattress and loomed over her. “I am a warrior, not a breeder.” Pure menace stared down at her, the temperature in the room dropped several degrees.

  “Turnaround is fair play. Wouldn’t you like me to caress every inch of you, learn all your pleasure spots, and then use it to bring you ecstasy?”

  She could see his pride warring with a male desperate for her to bring him to ecstasy.

  “No,” he said and lowered his mouth to her neck.

  Madison smiled and kissed the bald head so close to her lips. She’d wear him down and get her first knowing. And boy would she torture him.

  As if he had to prove he was a warrior and in charge in his bed, he made love to her until she begged him to come inside her. “Finish it, please, Viglar, before I go out of my mind.”

  At last he pushed deep inside her and, watching her with that hot devil’s gaze, set a rhythm that took them both to heaven. When she came to herself, she lay next to him on her side facing him. As usual he lay on his back, his eyes closed. She placed a hand on his arm and snuggled down to sleep.

  “Don’t turn over, alien, your heavy ass will crush me.”

  “Go to sleep, human.”

  Viglar lay staring at the shuttle’s ceiling. More humans were coming, but it would take them the whole night. They’d made sure if the so-called resistance had hover crafts that it would not work in this area. He would have liked to see their faces when they realized the only way they could approach what they thought was a fallen shuttle was on foot.

  Zacar had expected the resistance to try something like this for a while now. Madison told Rachel everything, but everyone at the hospital knew he and Madison went to the shelter. He was still sure Rachel was working with the resistance. When Madison realized how her friend used her, she would be unhappy. The moment the inferior human bomb hit the shuttle, he’d contacted Zacar who’d decided that they needed to draw out as many of the resistance to the remote location where he made the shuttle appear to go down.

  He could defend Madison against the humans and, if the situation became dangerous for her, Zacar was nearby. Still Viglar didn’t like her to be this close to danger. That woumber already shot at the window to get to her.

  He remembered what the human had called her. “What did he mean by ‘inbred,’ human?”

  “What?” Madison asked sleepily.

  He repeated the question. He liked the way she looked when she was almost asleep.

  “Oh, most people have brown hair. People like me with red hair are presumed to have inbred to keep themselves pure. To tell you the truth, I have my suspicions about some of my ancestors.”

  She snuggled closer and fell asleep. Viglar held her and thought about the coming battle.

  Chapter 16

  “Madison, wake.”

  A really big fly landed on her cheek and then moved to her neck. It had to be massive because it shook her. She was too sleepy to care about the size of the thing.

  Madison batted at the large fly shaking her. “G’way, fly.”

  “Open your eyes, Madison.”

  “Stop talking. Flies don’t talk,” she mumbled and snuggled deeper into the covers. Just a few more minutes, then she’d get up and get ready for work.

  “Human, I am not a fly.”

  Madison rubbed her eyes and sat up. “Oh, it’s you. I dreamed a huge fly kept landing on me, and it talked in your voice.”

  He put a hand on her forehead and checked her eyes. Madison pushed him away and looked around uneasily. They were safe in his magic tent, but danger hung thick in the air. It was as if nature held its breath. Nothing moved.

  “Are more of the resistance on their way?”

  “Yes.” He did that thing with his teeth that she suspected was supposed to be a smile. “I will protect you.”

  If that was supposed t
o be a reassuring smile, he didn’t quite get it right. It might send the people coming for them running, though.

  Madison got up, washed up with the water he provided, and quickly dressed. He even had fresh clothes for her. She went outside and looked around, but all she saw was vegetation and dust.

  “I don’t see anything, are you sure?”

  “I can hear them approach with my superior Zyrgin ears.”

  Madison rolled her eyes, but he ignored it and held up a silver device with moving dots. “With this, I can see them coming.”

  Madison put her hands over his and squinted down at the silver screen. Red dots formed a circle on the screen. “How do you know the dots are resistance fighters? And which dots are us?”

  “Red dots mean humans.”

  “Oh.” Now she saw the silver and red dot in the middle of the circle. “We’re surrounded.”

  He cupped her cheek in his rough palm and, bending down, kissed her. “I will protect you. They will never harm you.”

  “Do you believe I could have planted the tracking device that helped the resistance bomb us?” Logically, she knew he had to be suspicious, but she wanted him to believe her unconditionally.

  “I will always protect you, even if you try to plant a bomb under The Zyrgin.” He stared down at her. “But do not do that. He is not killed that easily, and I might die trying to protect you, and that will leave you defenceless.”

  Madison smiled and cupped his rough leathery cheek, stroked him with her thumb. “I promise faithfully to never plant a bomb under The Zyrgin.”

  He nodded and they both looked down at the red dots moving inward in a circle.

  Madison tightened her grip on Viglar’s hand holding the device. His calm assurance that he could protect her helped, but there were so many dots. “There’s so many of them.”

  As they watched the number of red dots grew and grew. He’d never be able to kill that many. She said a quick prayer that Zacar was on his way with a few shuttle’s worth of warriors.

  “What color dot will the Zyrgins be? The ones that are coming to rescue us.” Please let them be on their way and almost here.