The Alien Bounty Hunters Complete Series: Books 1-8

by Mills, Michele

  The pod was small, barely enough room for her to fit in, like a reclining chair with a bunch of equipment around it. She sat down and the tiny area came to life.

  “Escape pod activated,” the computer droned. “Please command destination.”

  “Earth. Now,” Rebecca barked out, scared shitless.

  “Affirmative,” the pod rumbled. Belts crossed over her and strapped her in, and suddenly she was blasting off into space, the roar of the thrusters deafening, the force pressing her back against the seat, leaving her gasping for breath and trying to remain conscious. The curved window in front of her allowed her to see the vastness of space and the edge of the light gray ship she was trying to escape.

  “Oh God, please let this work,” she whimpered.

  “Computer?” Rayzor waited a beat. Nothing. “Computer, give me the location of Rebecca of One.” The computer remained unresponsive. The hatch he had originally entered through had sealed shut remotely when the lights had gone out. That fucker Joyzal had planned well. Rayzor was turning into a Dagoban beast minute by minute. His heart thundering, saliva dripping from his fangs. He had no idea where his Bride was. She could be hurt; she could be in danger, and he had no way to reach her.

  His nostrils flared and his claws scratched against the metal siding. “Joyzal!” he roared into the dark space. “The next time I see you will be your last.”

  He took a calming breath, sat up and felt in his belt for his tools and flicked on a portable light. The laser-tool would work well. He grunted and got to work cutting out a section of frame. The cutting was slow, the metal was thick, and he had to recut with the laser many times to get a clean break, but finally, he was able to kick out a square escape hole and hop onto the floor of the bridge.

  He took another breath and tried again. “Computer, give me the location of Rebecca of One.”

  “Rebecca of One is entering the escape pod.”

  He exhaled. “Oh, fuck, no.”

  Rayzor sprinted down one hall, then the next, and made it to the escape pod in time to feel and hear the rumble of the engine as it detached from the ship.

  “Escape pod jettisoned.”

  He fell to his knees. His back bowed. “No!” he roared. Why, why would she leave? Why would she risk her life and the life of their offspring? “Computer, what is the escape pod’s destination?”

  “The escape pod is directed toward Earth.”

  “Will the escape pod reach Earth with the humanoid still alive?”

  “This is highly unlikely.”

  Rayzor leapt off the ground and pounded back to the bridge. “Computer, show the location of the escape pod relative to the ship and the planet Earth.”

  A holo-map formed, clearly marking the area of space they were working in and the locations of the ship and the pod. “The escape pod is two klicks from the ship.”

  He stared at the map closely and drew in a breath. There was a dark obstruction in the path of the pod, but he wasn’t sure what it was. “Are there any obstacles in the escape pod’s path on its course to Earth?”

  “Yes,” the computer confirmed. “An asteroid belt is in the direct path of the escape pod.” Sweat broke out on Rayzor’s ridges. He studied the map again. The obstruction was too wide, too large for her to possibly avoid. His Bride was about to be pulverized by an asteroid belt. Her small escape pod would be crushed and she would die instantly. He’d only known her for two days and she was carrying his offspring. Rayzor roared again, pounding his fist on the console.

  He lifted his chin. He could not let his line die. There had to be a way to save them.

  Rayzor sat behind the command center and took control of the ship. He switched from autopilot to manual and immediately increased speed to intercept the escape pod. How had she thought she could escape? Pods were fast, but his ship was faster. Maybe if he had been in a regular space cruiser for a cruise line and not in his ship she would have had a chance, but not in this situation.

  “Computer, update, how close is the escape pod to the asteroid belt?”

  “Asteroid belt is five minutes away.”

  “How close are we to the escape pod?”

  “Solaris ship is six minutes away from intercept with the escape pod.”

  “Dammit.” How could he make up that time?

  Rebecca soon realized her escape plan wasn’t all that great.

  She’d thought the pod would shoot back to Earth faster than Rayzor’s ship and she could outrun him, but the computer let her know this wasn’t going to happen at all. “Solaris ship is two klicks away.”

  Rebecca’s whole body tensed. “Klicks? What the hell are klicks? Wh-what does that even mean? Are you telling me Rayzor is following me already? That guy Joyzal said he’d slow down Rayzor.” She exhaled. “How soon until he gets here?”

  “Solaris ship will intercept in five minutes.” Holy shit. Five minutes? She’d barely been gone and he was already in pursuit, already about to catch up with her?

  “This has got to be the most fucking pathetic escape plan ever created.” She’d thought she was so smart, getting away from her crazy Blackbeard alien fake husband and making it back to Earth, although, really, if she made it back to Earth, what then? Would he have just kidnapped her all over again? How could she get away from someone so much bigger than her, so much stronger, with so many more resources?

  Tears welled in her eyes.

  “Asteroid belt intercept four minutes.”

  “Asteroid belt? No way. Are you kidding me?” Rebecca could suddenly see through her window dozens of jagged objects both big and small floating together in front of the escape pod, forming an impenetrable network. “I swear, what more could go wrong?”

  Why had she left the ship? Despite years of Syfy channel-watching, she didn't actually know anything about space travel. That was fiction, not fact. She wasn’t an astronaut. What made her think she was?

  She wiped at her eyes with her sleeve and sniffed. “Okay, enough whining,” she said out loud. “There’s got to be something I can do… Computer, reverse course.”

  “Course cannot be reversed. Escape pod has no maneuverability thrusting.”

  What the fuck? She took a deep breath. “Computer, shut down pod.”

  She could hear the engines silence as the escape pod shut down. Without the forward momentum, the pod immediately slowed to a crawl, now only drifting in space instead of racing back to Earth.

  Good. This was a step in the right direction. “How long until intercept with asteroid belt?”

  “Fifteen minutes.”

  Shoot. She was still going to hit it, just not as soon. “How long until intercept with—”

  She felt a rumbling.

  “Solaris ship has initiated the tractor beam and is recovering the escape pod,” the computer cheerfully announced.

  “Oh God,” Rebecca whispered. Out of the frying pan and into the fire.

  The pissed-off alien pried her from the escape pod as soon as it hissed open. He threw her over his shoulder as if she didn’t weigh a thing, and stomped off down the hallway.

  “What are you doing? Put me down,” she shouted, because shit, his massive shoulder banging into her stomach hurt like hell.

  “You’re going back to our room, and this time, I’m tying you to the bed.”

  Ice ran in her veins. Oh, fuck, he was going to open that cabinet and kill her slowly. She started pounding her fists against his back, which was as wide as a freaking football field. “Let me go!” she shrieked.

  “You’re staying in your room. You almost killed yourself.”

  He set her down so hard in front of their door, her teeth clicked. Rayzor palmed the entrance and the door swooshed open. He guided her inside with a firm hand against the small of her back, and the door closed behind them. She was suddenly very, very scared to be back where she’d started. She’d thought she was getting somewhere today and instead she was locked back up in her cell, with a killer.

  Rayzor moved close,
all seven feet of him, those intense eyes locked on her. His face was flushed and there was sweat beading on the ridges of his forehead. His hair was wild around his shoulders. He looked like hell. She backed up to the bunk, which pressed against her legs. “Why?” he asked, his face an authentic mask of confusion. “Why did you try to escape? Why is it so important for you to return to Earth? Your parents are dead. You have no siblings. Your line ends with you. You can restart your line with me; our lines will join.”

  Her eyes slid to the locked cabinet of death and back; her heart rattled in her chest. He was crazy. As in, she was certain he had an actual condition that needed treatment. “I can’t stay here with you.” She sucked in a breath. “Wait. How do you know all of that about me? How do you know my parents died and that I’m an only child? Did you check up on me?”

  “Of course I did. I’m a Bounty Hunter.”

  Her jaw clenched. That’s right. Basically, he was a cop, an edgy, barely legal cop who worked on the fringes of legality, but still cop-like with all the investigative cop skills and resources to use in order to stalk and kill women.

  Wonderful.

  She lifted her chin. Maybe…maybe if she kept him talking she could figure a way out of this and come out alive. “I want to go home, to Earth, where my people are. I can’t stay with you. You’ve kidnapped me.”

  “I didn’t kidnap you, I claimed you.”

  “No, you kidnapped me. And I need to go home.”

  He shook his head. “You need to trust me and understand that you are my Bride, my heart, the start of my line.”

  He sounded so sincere, which only pissed her off more. “Just stop. Stop. You don’t need to bother with all of that bullshit about how you care about me. I know the truth. I don’t trust you as far as I can throw you and I can’t even pick you up.”

  “Becca,” he said thickly. He lifted a clawed hand toward her cheek.

  She flinched.

  He dropped his hand. His eyes scanned her face. “Why are you frightened and you weren’t before? What happened?”

  “I saw…I found out about…” She swallowed hard. “Please don’t hurt me.”

  He sighed and lifted his hand to pinch the bridge of his nose. Rebecca was surprised to see such a human-like gesture from a Xylan. “What did you see?” he asked. “What do you think you found out about me?”

  Her eyes slid to the cabinet again. Bile rose in her throat.

  He looked between her and the object of her attention and swung around, took a few quick steps and banged open the door. She pressed her fingers against her mouth and whimpered.

  His lip curled. “This? You’re frightened of this?”

  She was literally having difficulty breathing. All she could think about was how to escape, how to hide from the horror in front of her. It was a wall of gleaming swords and things that sliced and punctured skin—all of them a shiny, metallic silver. She had no idea what most of them did, but they were very intricate and detailed in their deadly design, beautiful in the terrible way she supposed the tools for Egyptian mummification had been crafted.

  It scared the crap out of her.

  “Becca, these weapons are normal, an essential possession of all Xylans. These are ceremonial and found in every Xylan home, on every Xylan ship, no matter the size or make, no matter the mission. Each of these weapons performs a function in a specific ceremony. This one and this one.” Rayzor pointed to two swords in the middle of the display. “Are my private battle swords. I use them when I am contested, or when I do not have my blaster nearby, or for practice. This one—” He carefully pulled out a small curved blade that formed perfectly around his grip. “—is for the delicate work of a father cutting the life cord from his newly birthed offspring.” He placed the weapon back on its shelf. “All Xylans recognize these as the Cabul and are raised with the importance and the meaning of each weapon. Usually these are passed from line to line and prized, but mine are new. My main Cabul is at my home. This is my travel Cabul. All Xylans have this in their home. In time, you will learn the meaning of these in ceremonies yourself.”

  Rebecca sat heavily on the bunk. “No.” She shook her head. “No, Joyzal said you kept these because—”

  “Joyzal?” Rayzor snarled. “Joyzal said—” He let off a litany of what she assumed was cursing so dense and fast the translator couldn’t keep up, ending with, “I am going to slice that bastard’s stomach open and feed his innards to the cloven.”

  Holy shit.

  “You would believe Joyzal over the word of your mate?”

  She bit her lip.

  He closed the cabinet—the Cabul, he had called it—and stepped toward her. Her eyes widened. He wrapped his huge palm around her upper arm with a firm grip and pulled her up to a standing position. She lifted her chin in order to meet his furious gaze.

  “Becca, why are you fighting this? You are my mate. We performed the claiming ceremony. We are now the same line. You’re pregnant with our first offspring. Why do you insist this isn’t real?”

  “Because you’re still lying to me!” she shouted in his face. “Okay, let’s say I was tricked by Joyzal into running away. And maybe there is a perfectly good explanation for you having all of those—” She gestured behind him at the open cabinet. “—weapons, but the fact remains, I’m not pregnant. You’re just saying that as a way to keep me here. You won’t even scan me because you’re afraid of what it will show me—that I’m not pregnant.”

  His features turned into a dark thundercloud. Rebecca felt the blood drain from her face. He let go of her arm. “I don’t lie,” he answered in a cold tone. “Do not insult my honor by claiming otherwise.” He turned and palmed the lock to the door, causing it to swish open. “Follow me,” he grated.

  Without waiting, he left the room and was gone.

  Rebecca stood blinking for a moment and then hurried after him. He strode down the hall and turned left and palmed another door, and suddenly they were in what had to be the small medical bay.

  “Computer,” Rayzor said, his eyes hard and his voice flat. “Perform a complete medical scan of Rebecca of One and provide results.”

  He gestured to a large, comfortable reclining chair for her to sit in, so she did. The equipment began to cover her. She couldn’t help the frightened look she gave him.

  “Don’t worry,” he murmured, and took her hand. “It is painless and quick, a simple scan.”

  Rebecca nodded and sank into the chair, allowing the computer to pass a wand over her. Rayzor stood next to her, and she tightened her grip on his hand. It really was amazing, so high tech, like nothing they had on Earth. The scan was quickly finished. The computer rattled off her blood pressure, her blood type, she discovered she was clean of all sexually transmitted diseases (no shit), and apparently she’d been predisposed for diabetes, but the computer had already corrected that. Rebecca met Rayzor’s hard gaze, waiting to hear the final results that would prove she was right, because there was just no way… “Rebecca of One is pregnant,” the computer concluded.

  “What?” she gasped.

  Rayzor grunted and let go of her hand. “Repeat last result,” he commanded.

  “Rebecca of One is pregnant.”

  “But,” she sputtered, “how is that possible? He is Xylan and I’m human. We aren’t even the same species.”

  “Human and Xylan are biologically compatible for procreation,” the computer announced.

  Rayzor crossed his massive arms over his chest and lifted his chin, giving her an arrogant look.

  Her jaw clenched. Asshole.

  Wait. How could the computer know she was pregnant this soon? They’d had sex for the first time two days ago. “Computer,” Rebecca asked. “How many months does a Xylan mother gestate her baby?”

  “A Xylan female’s gestation period is the equivalent of six Earth months.”

  Rebecca’s jaw dropped open. “Fuck,” she whispered. That was fast.

  “How long does an Earthling mother carry her off
spring?” Rayzor asked the computer.

  “Nine Xylan equivalent moon cycles.”

  Rebecca swallowed against the lump in her throat. “Computer,” she asked. “Because I am a human carrying a Xylan offspring, how long is my gestation period?”

  “Seven Earth months.”

  “Oh.” She placed a hand on her still-flat stomach. Two months earlier than normal.

  “Computer, show a visual of the offspring,” Rayzor commanded.

  A vid screen blinked to life in front of them. She could hear a steady heartbeat and the swishing of blood through heart chambers. On the screen was her child, a tiny formless peanut connected with an umbilical cord. It was beautiful. She reached out and clasped her husband’s big, clawed hand.

  Tears formed in her eyes. Wow. She really was pregnant. She looked over at Rayzor and met his steady gaze. She was carrying his child.

  Oh, shit. This changed everything.

  7

  Rayzor took his Bride from the medical bay onto the bridge.

  He’d taken her small hand in his as they walked, and she allowed it. He could see her mind was busy grappling with the enormity of what she’d learned in the last few minutes.

  This was good, she had much to process.

  He also had more to show her.

  He knew this transition was hard for Becca and he needed to be patient. He’d lived his whole life knowing one day he would meet his Bride and their connection would be instant. All Xylans were raised knowing this could happen any moment after their initiation into adulthood. He knew when he found his Bride, she would be perfect for him, a match biologically and temperamentally. Very few mated pairs ever parted. In ancient times, mental illness could cause living pairs to separate, but now, because medical science could cure the mind, there was no reason mated pairs couldn’t have long, healthy lives together.