The Alien Bounty Hunters Complete Series: Books 1-8

by Mills, Michele

  Kia looked over to see her neighbor, Mrs. Xiong, gesturing frantically from her hiding spot behind a column. The small woman was obviously annoyed—dark eyes hard and her lips a thin line. Well, let her be annoyed. Kia knew at least half of the people in the crowd. And most of them, including Mrs. Xiong, were on her shit list. During the recent religious turmoil between unigod and multigod they’d all been less than obliging. Not a speck of honor to be found. Kia had been born and raised among these people but when the going got tough, they got going. Not many had risen to the occasion. During these last few months loyalties had been tested on New Earth and friends had turned on friends. It hadn’t been pretty.

  Kia ignored Mrs. Xiong and powered forward, catching up with the warrior. She tried again to communicate. “My name is Kia. I see that you’re busy, but do you think I might be able to ask you a few questions later? I’ve been working toward my own Bounty Hunter license. I’d love to get a few tips on how it’s done.”

  The Bounty Hunter paused in his great stride and tilted his wide shoulders to stare directly down at her. Her breath caught in her throat and her stomach swooped pleasantly. By the gods, he was handsome. Handsome in a harsh, take-no-prisoners, I’ll-eat-you-alive-for-breakfast kinda way, but still…blindingly handsome.

  She fisted her hands and willed herself to not tremble as she stared at all that was him: seven feet of muscled, shiny-armored warrior.

  “Leave human,” he said in deep, husky, pleasantly accented English. “You do not want to associate with a Xylan warrior. Humans and Xylan are not allies. We are not compatible. I am warning you, stay away. Nothing good will come from this.”

  And with that prophetic announcement, he turned his back to her and kept striding forward, dragging his target over dirty cobblestones.

  She trailed behind.

  2

  A human was squawking at him.

  Kayzon glanced back and noted the female who had the audacity to speak was a half-color. Most of the humans in the vicinity were either strangely colorless or Margol. On his home world of Chronos, a Margol, or half-color, was a distinction no Xylan envied.

  And yet…yet this female who trailed him was not unpleasant.

  Humans had no ridges on their face, their features freakishly flat and smooth, with small teeth. And on average they were short. He easily towered above all of them in the marketplace. Some humans were of nearly royal pigment, but the rest were a range of low pigment options. Humans were odd with so many shades of skin tone. Why would they have evolved so differently? He suddenly felt curious as to the state of their home planet. What kind of environment would have created this range of pigment?

  The female human who’d matched his stride was smaller than most. Black, straight hair went to her shoulders and shined in the morning light like a swath of smooth fabric. He frowned. Why would he notice her hair? She was human. Her kind wasn’t a Xylan ally, nor did she know proper etiquette. All species knew not to approach a Xylan warrior except with deference.

  He paused to growl at her, to warn her away. And yet she continued to follow his path.

  When she’d spoken he’d glanced at her face, at her lips, and saw a small, enticing gap between her two front teeth. Her voice was husky, almost masculine.

  He exhaled and refocused on his mission. He plowed ahead. Kayzon was close to the edge of the marketplace now. He could see the street he needed to cross and the edge of the canyon beyond where he’d hidden his ship. Soon he’d be off this doomed planet and his mission complete. He’d write a mission report, alerting the Bounty Hunter Guild and the Xylan High Command to the presence and location of this hidden world the Hurlians were holding hostage. And he would be done with it. His obligations and his honor complete.

  A shadow passed overhead.

  The human female cursed behind him.

  Suddenly the mood of the crowd around him shifted. Humans cried out, pointed at the sky and shouted warnings to each other; they rushed away and pulled children into their arms, adults sprinting. Everyone was running and screaming.

  “Oh fuck!” the female shouted as she stepped forward. “Hurlians.”

  He looked up. Hovercrafts were dropping soldiers into the crowds. Kayzon immediately recognized their distinctive red armor.

  “Sometimes they show up to capture a bunch of us and take us gods knows where,” the female yelled over the commotion. “Whoever is in their path is snatched for their fucked-up experiments. Those who are taken never return.”

  His jaw clenched. This was no kind of life to live. Fucking Hurlians. He pulled out his blaster. The tiny human female pulled out a small blaster of her own. He raised his ridges. This was unexpected.

  “Go!” she shouted at him over the screaming of the crowd. “No one can fight them off. They have impenetrable armor, and their fire power is greater than ours. They probably won’t take you because you’re not human. Take your target and get out now. Go back to your ship and leave while you can. I’ll cover you.”

  He snorted. This fragile human would cover him? And the idea that the Hurlians were stronger than him with greater fire power…it was nonsensical.

  A red-armored form dropped to the ground nearby. The Hurlian was carrying a blaster in one hand and a magnetic net in the other. “Go!” she shouted again and stepped in front of him, firing her blaster at the soldier.

  Damn, his emergency transporter beacon was attached to his suit, but it was single-use only. He couldn’t take both his target and himself at the same time. His ship was hidden in the canyon on the edge of the city, the shield making it invisible to the humans. He couldn’t make it in time before the fighting overtook him. Fuck. And he couldn’t leave this female behind to fight his battle. He removed his beacon and attached it to the target, coded it and watched as THX690 wavered and disappeared.

  “Target’s arrival confirmed on ship,” his computer quietly updated in his earpiece.

  Kayzon stood and reassessed the situation. Three red-armored Hurlians approached warily, their visors glinting in the morning light. They spaced out around him, trying to coordinate their attack. Kayzon grunted. Behind them he could see an Earth female and her small, screaming child being dragged up to the Hurlian ship by another soldier attached to a line.

  Kidnapping of humans would not be happening on his watch. Not while there was life left in him.

  He was a warrior of an ancient line of distinguished warriors.

  He was multigod.

  He was honor.

  Kayzon threw his head back and roared a deafening challenge.

  He fired a blast to the chest of the nearest soldier and swung around and felled the other with an elbow that shattered the soldier’s face plate. Kayzon grunted as another Hurlian blasted him in the back.

  “Absorption complete,” the computer stated as the Hunter suit took the fire and kept going. The Hurlians were no match against his advanced Bounty Hunter armor. He plowed forward, taking another Hurlian with a blaster shot to the shoulder. Another blast cut the line that was lifting the female and her child. When they fell back he caught them both and set them gently on the ground.

  He placed the child in the arms of the terrified female. “Run,” he ordered.

  Then he swung around, trying to locate the tiny human. His two hearts beat violently. Had she been taken? No. He spotted her. She was nearby. Two Hurlians rushed at the female, each of them holding a net. It was clear their intent was capture.

  He watched as she tried to fire her blaster and it didn’t work. A look of disgust flashed across her face. She threw her weapon to the ground and picked up a large pot that was on display in a stall. The first Hurlian lifted an arm to toss the net over her. She knocked it aside with the pot and performed a maneuver that required amazing flexibility and hand-eye coordination, one he could never perform with his dense body structure—she did a cartwheel and ended up before another soldier. The small female caught the soldier by surprise, leapt up and kicked the Hurlian in the chin. The soldier
hit the ground and stayed down.

  This tiny human was fierce and much stronger than he had first assumed.

  But there were more soldiers, too many for her to handle alone. Kayzon rushed forward. She grabbed one soldier by the chest and kicked another to the ground from under the first Hurlian’s arm. One male grabbed her by the hair. Another held her arms in restraint. More were surrounding them both. There was a wall of Hurlians between him and the human female.

  Kayzon fought harder, snarling, raging over the fact that they dared touch the small human. They must die. Two soldiers were carrying her struggling form. They both stepped onto a platform that was raising them up to the hovercraft. Kayzon tossed out a Xylan detonator, taking care of the group of soldiers on the ground. The blast rocked the ground behind him as he raced to the female. She fought for her life on the lifting platform and had both hands free.

  “Human!” he shouted.

  She locked eyes with his, her face a mask of pure desperation. He leapt up, his suit and New Earth’s gravity giving him more force than any human. His feet pounded on the metal platform. He grabbed one of her hands while pulling out his blaster and shooting the soldiers who held the human. Then he fell backwards. He had the female in his grip and she was falling with him. This was all that mattered. The Hurlian hovercraft continued to rise and lift off. Kayzon pulled the human into his arms and twisted as they fell, making sure they landed with his Hunter suit taking the brunt of the fall.

  They hit the ground. The air blew out of his chest. Pain radiated throughout his body. He caught his breath and immediately checked the female for injury. She was stunned but unhurt. He lay still, letting his hearts cease their frantic pace.

  The area around them grew quiet. The crowd had dispersed. The Hurlians retreated. It was just the two of them, the wind whipping his long dreads and her black strands around her smooth face. She stared at him with those human, wide-set, sparkling black eyes. Her skin was Margol, but her eyes and her hair were royal. He found it most pleasing.

  She blinked. “You saved me,” she whispered.

  They were face to face on the ground; their bodies pressed together, his arm still around her. He held her small hand with the extra appendage in his bare claw, pressed against his armored chest.

  Skin to skin.

  And then he felt a surge of power at that point of contact. Palm to holy palm. A rush of pure adrenaline. Like a machine long dead suddenly sputtering back to life.

  Surprise and fear raced through Kayzon’s mind.

  What was this? What was happening?

  His cock was hard under his armor, and his blood boiled with lust. This was wholly unexpected.

  He’d grabbed her hand to save her, not to test mating compatibility.

  He cursed.

  This human was his Bride?

  He’d accidentally tested mating compatibility. Most Xylans wanted a mate, they waited their whole lives for such a thing to happen. But he did not. Kayzon knew the consequences of such a union for a warrior removed from the mating database, and they weren’t pleasant.

  The Xylan High Command would send a judge. They would be all up his ass.

  Goddamn, fucking hell. Why had the Gods sent this female in his path?

  Palm to holy palm…

  Her face was smooth, without ridges. Her lips soft and inviting. But she wasn’t of his species. How could he have found his Bride here on New Earth, among the humans? It was impossible. He’d only meant to pull her down from the ship and bring her to safety. It was purely accidental that both of their hands had been uncovered at the time. Were they even breeding compatible? His hard cock throbbed within his armor, proving his body thought it was possible.

  There were no more Hurlians. Red-armored bodies were strewn on the ground. No ships hovered above. The other humans had backed off. It was just Kayzon and his Bride, on the ground. Together. She remained quiet, staring at him intently. Her eyes drifted, and she was starting at his…lips, obvious hunger in her gaze.

  Oh hell, there was no denying his own hunger, his desperation for her. It rocked within his body like blasts of thunder. His hearts boomed in his chest. Blood rushed through his veins like ribbons of fire. He took great gulps of air, trying to calm his raging hormones.

  His Bride.

  My Be’Ih.

  She continued to stare back, wide eyed, not moving. She took in great gulps of air, her chest rising and falling. He was surprised at this. She should be terrified of him. She was human and little. But she wasn’t weak. His tiny human Bride had courage. She had fought off the Hurlians with grit and determination.

  She shouldn’t be with him. He was a beast. Not a fit mate for any female. He should leave her alone. Walk away and let this human live her life, unchained to an unfit Xylan warrior. But he could not resist. Could not. Hormones flooded his body and left little room for logic. Only primitive urges remained.

  Xylans did not breed or have any sexual urges until the moment they met their mate. A male might never meet his mate, or he could meet his Bride soon after coming of age. It was a gamble. But unlike most Xylan, Kayzon was not looking for a Bride. Normally, this would be the momentous moment of a warrior’s life, that moment when he’d been blessed with his mate and the start of his line. But the gift echoed hollow in his hearts. He had expected to be the last of his line. To live and die a virgin, never knowing the joys of family and offspring. He’d accepted this consequence. His joy came from his work and his prayer. His life was simple and uncomplicated.

  Until this human female entered his life.

  He inhaled, and her arousal filled his lungs. He checked her reactions in his Hunter suit. Her temperature and rate of breathing. Her pupils were large. She was in her Breeding Cycle.

  Breeding Cycle? He cursed.

  His body throbbed with desire. The heat of mating hit him like a hammer.

  Resistance was futile.

  “I warned you,” he rasped. “I warned you to leave, that nothing good would come from this. Now it is too late.”

  She whimpered.

  He slammed his lips down on hers.

  She melted into his embrace.

  He’d never kissed a female before and had no idea how this was done. He’d seen other mated pairs kiss and had always wondered if this would ever happen in his lifespan. Wondered if it was as good as it looked.

  It was.

  One image after another flashed through his brain, a chain of sexual positions he wanted to perform with this female. His Bride. His head was exploding with the download of lust, hormones and primitive urges that was driving his body onward. He grunted and slipped his tongue between her open teeth. She tasted exquisite.

  Her hands were in his hair, pulling tight. She was kissing him back like a Bride on fire.

  He cupped her head and tilted to the side and opened his mouth wider. Her teeth were smooth and erotic. Fuck. Everything about this female in his hands was a lust-filled zone of intense pleasure.

  By the Gods, how was he to be expected to resist a female in her Breeding Cycle? It was impossible.

  He pulled his head back and broke off the kiss. She let out a cry into his mouth.

  He sighed and rested his claws on either side of her face. “You are my Bride,” he intoned solemnly. “You feel the mating as strongly as I do, even though you are human. Because of this we will not wait. I will tranq you so you will not be uncomfortable while I prepare the claiming ceremony.”

  Her eyes widened as he took out his small tranq gun and pressed it against her shoulder. She slumped in his arms, and her eyes fluttered closed.

  He carefully lifted his sweet Bride and carried her back to his ship.

  3

  Kia woke up to the soft sound of water rushing, which was totally fucking bizzaro. She blinked, sat up slowly and looked all around, slack jawed.

  The air was misty and cool. There was green all over: green grass, green plants, green needles. Tree trunks rose up from the ground, huge and imposing. And w
ater seemed to be everywhere.

  This was impossible. How could she be in a…a forest? This certainly wasn’t New Earth. She’d seen pictures of ecosystems such as this but never thought to leave her world in order to experience one.

  Wow.

  Kia placed her hands on the damp grass she was sitting on and ran her fingers through it like plush fur. It was incomparable. A thin layer of decadent water clung to her palms and legs. There was so much water here it rubbed off on her body.

  Astonishing.

  And this place was so quiet. No sounds of the city—people yelling, vehicles moving. Just the peace of the wind blowing and the water rushing. The one moon above was a full, glowing milky white; stars glittered and huge beams of trees jutted into the dark sky.

  It was nice.

  Earth, the original planet humans came from centuries ago, had forests like this. But New Earth did not. New Earth was a planet-wide wasteland of semi-arid and desert climates with the added bonus of the constant struggle over broke-down water reclamation systems. Wet, wet places like this did not exist in Kia’s life. Or if they did, they’d been drained long ago to supply the humans.

  Kia looked around again. Where the hell was she?

  She put a hand to her forehead, expecting to find blood, but she found none. Her brow furrowed. That’s when she realized she was perfectly fine, which was surprising considering she’d been knocked to hell and back by Hurlians. But the Xylan, the Xylan she’d been following had…

  He’d saved her.

  She grinned.

  That Xylan warrior, whose name she didn’t even know, the one who’d initially treated her like a piece of trash under his foot, unworthy of a moment of his time, had kissed her. He’d suddenly come to her rescue when the Hurlians arrived to snatch their allotment of humans, and he’d pulled her back and caught her against his chest and kissed the hell outta her and…she’d enjoyed it. It had been epic. Literally one of the defining moments of her life.

  She reached a hand up to touch her lips, remembering the feel, the taste of him. Her stomach pleasantly swooped as she remembered his touch.