by Lea Kirk
The unknown person behind her slid the cords from her wrists. She brought her hands around, shaking them and wiggling her fingers. Relief, relief, relief! She reached up, her tingling hands fumbling to find the edge of the hood, colliding with Captain’s. Together they shimmied the hood over her head.
Finally, freedom...oh. Sweat, blood, and body odor assailed her olfactory senses, and her stomach roiled in protest. Now the cheesy stink of the hood didn’t seem so bad.
Squinting to ease the throb in her head, she took in the grey metal monotony of the walls and floor surrounding her. The long, narrow room appeared to be made of a single piece of molded metal, curved where the walls met the floor. Is this really a slave cell, or an alien version of a tin can? A soft glow from the ceiling illuminated the space.
Her gaze took in a heavy-set man in a business suit lying on the floor nearby. Another man in some sort of graphite grey uniform knelt over the businessman’s foot, as though examining it. Huddled against a wall, an African-American woman sat with her arms and head resting on her drawn-up knees. Nearby, a dark-headed boy, who couldn’t be more than six years old, was being tended by a woman with midnight black hair.
Alex’s mouth dropped open. The woman appeared human in every way, except her skin was blue. She was an alien...a despicable alien. Not the same species as the invaders, but that hardly mattered. As of lunchtime today, all aliens had landed on her shit list.
“Alexandra, are you well?”
She turned back to Captain and met his deep sapphire gaze. Her breath hitched in her throat, and warmth spread through her chest. Familiar, and such a beautiful color. Unlike like her own boring brown.
But, holy crap, his skin is blue too! A hunk of cold lead settled in her heart. This could not be happening.
“No. No, no, no.” She pushed herself to her feet, and Captain rose with her. The room tilted, and she tottered sideways a couple of steps. Captain reached for her, but she jerked away from him, sucking air through her teeth with a hiss. “Don’t! Just, don’t touch me.”
Captain lowered his hands to his side.
“You...you’re an alien.” A hint of red heat curled to life deep inside, like the edge of a newspaper being lit for a campfire. How dare he trick her into thinking he was human!
He nodded slowly. “To you, yes.”
“Oh, God.” If she could put her fist through a wall, she would. Instead, she fixed him with a hard glare. “Do you have any idea how many people I watched die today? I don’t even know if my family is alive. My home, everything I ever knew, has been destroyed. Aliens did that.”
“We are not those aliens.”
Of course he’d say that, but how could she be sure? “We didn’t do anything to deserve this. Hell, we didn’t even know that there were other life forms in the galaxy before today.” Alex tightened her jaw, inhaling and exhaling through her teeth. “You called them Anferthians, but which Anferthian made this happen? Someone’s responsible for this attack, and you know who, right? Tell me who it was.” She would rip open their throat with her bare hands.
Captain’s brows furrowed above wary eyes, and he tilted his head to one side. An errant curl of snow-white hair shifted onto his forehead. High cheekbones accented his patrician nose, like an ancient Greek statue come to life. A lapis statue with at least a week’s worth of white beard.
“The responsibility is mine, Alexandra.”
She snapped her attention back to his eyes. He was the reason so many people were massacred today? Why her life had been upended like a derailed train car? Why she had no idea if her family was even alive? The dry twigs burst into flames, ready to consume everything in its path. Her vision narrowed on Captain’s face. This was his fault, he had owned it. That son of a…
Alex balled her right hand, pulled back her arm, and swung. Her fist slammed into one gorgeous blue eye. Captain’s neutral expression vanished, replaced with a look of astonishment as he staggered back a step.
Ow, ow, ow! She cradled her fist to her chest and rubbed her stinging knuckles. A pair of large hands grabbed her from behind and spun her around. Two ruddy-red eyebrows drawn together above a pair of grey eyes froze her in place. Anger seethed from this new blue alien. Uh, oh. She was toast.
He jerked her close, and her head snapped back. A jab of pain shot through her head like an ice pick, and a cry escaped her. She squeezed her eyes shut as tight as she could, waiting for the blow that was sure to come.
“Stand down, Commander Roble.” Behind her, Captain sounded calm, as though he hadn’t just taken a right hook to the eye.
“Alex!”
No way! Her eyes popped open. “Nicky?” She turned her head toward the familiar voice. Her brother’s anxious face blurred as tears flooded her eyes.
“Let her go,” Nicky snarled at Commander Angry Alien.
Angry Alien didn’t argue. He just let her crumple to the floor, then stepped away.
“Ass-wipe,” Nicky muttered as he crouched next to her.
What was her brother thinking going toe-to-toe with an alien built like a bouncer? At six-foot-one and eighteen years old, Nicky was pretty full of himself. They should have a chat about that before he got himself hurt.
No, nix that. She was four years older than him, and she’d just punched a guy as tall as her brother in the eye. A fact Nicky would probably point out if she went into lecture mode.
A gurgling noise came from the vicinity of her stomach. I’m going to feel so much better after I puke. She wrapped her arms around her middle and hunched forward. Nicky rubbed her back and crooned, but his words weren’t computing in her brain. He was alive, though. And if both of them had survived, then maybe there was hope for their parents.
Sweat dotted her upper lip. Stay calm, Alex. Don’t lose it. A pair of black boots moved into her field of vision.
“I may have deserved that,” Captain said. “I truly am sorrier than you can imagine for the horrors visited upon your people and your planet, and do hold myself accountable for failing to avert this tragedy.”
Tragedy? That had to be the understatement of the decade. Century. All time. She raised her throbbing head and gave him what she hoped was a nasty glare. He didn’t look too happy either, but that might have more to do with his already swelling eye than anything else.
“They’ve taken our planet away, haven’t they?” The potential answer to that question scared the crap out of her, but she needed to know how widespread the invasion was. Captain nodded.
No, not a tragedy. It was outright genocide. To top that off, she was imprisoned on an alien slave ship with a bunch of...other aliens. One of whom admitted he was somehow responsible for this slaughter. Now this day couldn’t get any worse.
Her stomach contracted and her body tensed, as though conspiring to prove her wrong. Oh, hell.
She threw up on his boots.
Continuing Reading Prophecy
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About the Author
USA Today Bestselling Author Lea Kirk loves to transport her readers to other worlds with her science fiction romance books. She’s the author of the award-winning Prophecy series. Her latest work in progress is her Silverstar Mates series, part of the Intergalactic Dating Agency series, and features older heroes and heroines. Why? Because sexy has no expiration date!
Ms. Kirk lives in California with her wonderful hubby of thirty years, their five kids (aka, the nerd herd), and a spoiled, yet adorable, pup.
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A
lso by LEA KIRK
Sci-fi romance
The Prophecy Series
Prophecy
Book One
Salvation
Book Two
Collision
Book Three
Prophecy Series Short Stories and Novellas
Blue Christmas
A Prophecy Series Holiday Novella
Space Ranger
A Prophecy Series Short Story
All of Me
A Prophecy Series Short Story
Skylar’s Gift
A Prophecy Series Novella
Silverstar Mates Series
(in recommended reading order)
Above the Storm
Wing and a Prayer
Trial by Fire
Paranormal Romance
Made for Her
Part of S. E. Smith’s, The Worlds of Magic, New Mexico
TRIAL BY FIRE
Copyright ©2020 by Heather Jarecki
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce, distribute, or transmit in any form or by any means. For information regarding subsidiary rights, please contact the Author.
Cover Design by Frauke Spanuth of CrocoDesigns
Developmental Edits by Sue Brown-Moore
Copy Edits by Laurel C. Kriegler
Formatting by Nina Pierce of Seaside Publishing
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.
First Edition
California, USA