The Alien Bounty Hunters Complete Series: Books 1-8

by Mills, Michele

  Kroga immediately disconnected his safety line from the space junk he’d been cutting and began jetting back to the facility. “My mate? Tell me what she thinks is wrong. Melachine is on the bridge on our section. How would a human living on the other side of the Swirl know about the whereabouts of my Bride?”

  “Megan and your Bride have become friends. They were speaking together a few minutes ago.”

  “They were?” Ugh. Of course, those two were friends. Megan had given Melachine the kittens. He should’ve assumed those females would continue communicating and his Bride would consider this so normal, she wouldn’t think to tell him. She’d always loved chatting with other beings. Melachine made friends easily. It was her superpower.

  “Wyric,” a female voice cried out in the background, “Tell Kroga I’m sorry.” And then a heavily pregnant, colorless human female appeared on the screen next to Wyric. “Kroga,” she gasped, sounding out of breath. “I’m so sorry. I love Melachine. I didn’t mean to…”

  His jaw clenched and his stomach soured. “What happened to my Bride?” He slammed his palm against the mechanism to open the outboard tunnel, eager to check on his mate.

  “Wyric said he should be the one to call you because of stupid Xylan formalities, but Kroga, I need you to go check on Melachine right now. She and I were talking earlier and then she suddenly grabbed her head and I swear it looked like she was about to pass out. And then the vid cut out. And she’s not answering my calls. I need to know if she’s okay.”

  “Computer, contact Melachine,” he clipped.

  There was a moment of quiet. “No response,” the computer answered.

  Kroga cursed as he entered the tunnel and waited impatiently for the unit to close and pressurize. “She’s not responding. I’m moving as fast as I can.”

  “Hurry,” Megan urged. “I was talking to her, retelling her about how there were other Xylan here in the Swirl. I was just trying to be a good friend. I had no idea that anything I said could cause her memories to come back and cause her pain.”

  He began stripping off his equipment and tossing down his tools. “You know of her amnesia?”

  “Yes, yes of course I do, she told me all about it. That’s why I gave her the kittens, to comfort her. It must be terrible to live like that, not remembering your past and the people you care about. That’s what I’m worried happened, that her memories have returned because I started to talk about my three Xylan brothers-in-law. She stood and put her hands to her head and looked like she was in pain. And she wouldn’t answer me, and then the vid went out. She cut me off. I don’t know what that means. Maybe she’s fine and it was an accident, but maybe she’s hurt. Can you please go check and call me back to let me know what you found?”

  Red lights confirmed the tunnel’s pressurizing cycle was complete. He cut off the vid to section thirteen and raced to the bridge on his own section.

  Melachine wasn’t in pain anymore, but she was overwhelmed by the flood of information. It was all there now, easily accessible and overwhelming. She sat heavily in the chair, tears streaming down her face.

  Kroga had betrayed her.

  Kroga…was an evil, treasonous criminal mastermind?

  Holy gods.

  She stood, feeling sick, and blindly stumbled across the room and slammed her claw on the panel for the door to the bridge. Just this once she was going to break the rules because she needed her kittens, desperately. The door opened and she sprinted for the mess hall. Jasper and Abby were asleep in their cat beds. She scooped the two sleeping kittens up, one in each arm, and ran back with them to the bridge. She closed and locked the door behind her and sank back into her seat, with the kittens in her lap, crying into their fur.

  The two cats licked at her claws, comforting her as she cried.

  The console continued to blink with a message alert; Megan was trying to reach her, but Melachine couldn’t respond. All she could do was cry.

  The enormity of Kroga’s betrayal was too much.

  She hadn’t seen him for fourteen years, her best friend, her mate, the love of her life, the father of her children.

  She remembered how it had all started, the day she’d been stunned as Imperial soldiers had stormed into their quarters on the space station in order to arrest him for treason.

  She’d fiercely stood by him, originally horrified at this conspiracy to frame Kroga with a crime he obviously hadn’t committed. There was no way Kroga would commit treason, she was certain of his innocence. She knew this male inside and out; they were bonded. He wouldn’t betray her or their offspring, or their species. He was a male of honor. Kroga continued to deny the allegations and claimed he had no idea what was happening or why. And she’d believed every word he said.

  But then proof had materialized. A holo vid with a truth lock seal showing Kroga meeting with the Hurlians and selling state secrets to the enemy had surfaced and then she’d discovered along with everyone else that her mate really was a traitor. He’d given information to the Hurlians that sparked the Cordovian War, the costliest war in this era. So many brave Xylan had needlessly died in that battle and it was all Kroga’s fault. Without his insider information the Xylan would’ve easily won, but because of Kroga’s intelligence the Hurlians were able to overwhelm their fleet.

  All Xylan hated Kroga with a fiery passion for his part in causing them to lose honor in front of the Hurlians. Xylan were known for decisively winning battles, not barely winning and losing half of their fleet in the process. School children were taught that Kroga of Seventy-Five was the traitor who incited the Cordovian War and caused the massive death count.

  It had been the worst day of her life. Everything had shattered. Kroga had begun behaving differently by then, as if he were a changed warrior. The male she’d known was gone and in his place was a curt, robotic male. What had happened to her mate? The male she had honored and admired? The male who was the father of her offspring.

  After Kroga’s sentencing, her whole line had been banished. She and Rayzor and Kayzon were treated as if they were also traitors, even though they’d had no idea of Kroga’s treachery. But according to the Xylan honor code, the immediate line was always responsible for the dishonor of their warriors, so Melachine and her offspring were sentenced along with Kroga, receiving the most severe punishment allowed by the Scales of Xylan Law: lifetime disbursement and banishment from Chronos.

  Her immediate line was outlawed from seeing or speaking to each other ever again for the rest of their lives. She wasn’t given time to say goodbye to her sons. Imperial soldiers arrived to take them away as she’d fallen to the floor in tears. Kayzon had only been fifteen years old. She never forgot the look of wild fear in his eyes as strangers grabbed his arms and dragged him from his home, forcing her son to leave all his belongings behind. She’d been left alone, in her quarters without her mate or her sons and with no way to contact them or find out about their whereabouts ever again. That was it, the last day she had seen either Kayzon or Rayzor. And the next day she’d been kicked off the space station. And that was that.

  She was officially removed from House Ulmath, her extended line. They were not allowed to help her, under the Scales of Xylan Law anyone on Chronos who helped a banished citizen was themselves banished. Melachine and her immediate line were expunged from the birth records of House Ulmath.

  At first, she wandered alone in the four sectors, using the small amount of currency she’d been allowed to take with her to quietly purchase living quarters on a Margol mining station, the only place that would take a disgraced Xylan of royal pigment. She stayed alone in her quarters there, often considering whether to live or die. Why continue if she couldn’t see her offspring or her extended line ever again? If her mate was forever torn from her and he wasn’t even the male she’d once known. Everyone she’d ever known or loved was gone forever.

  All of the pain of that time came rushing back, tenfold. She remembered it vividly now, as if it happened yesterday. And she conti
nued to cry with the kittens mewing in her lap. These last three moon cycles as she’d lived in isolation, without any memory of her past, she’d thought she’d never had children, but this was untrue. She had two beautiful adult sons who were scattered to the ends of the fours sectors.

  And Kroga knew all of this. He didn’t have amnesia. Every time he’d brushed off her questions about her past, he’d known. He’d captured her off the cargo bay of that Bounty Hunter ship, and had taken her here. He’d hidden her on the edge of the universe so he could have her for himself. The asshole.

  Kroga was the reason why she and her sons had suffered for so long. He was the reason Kayzon had a scar down one side of his face and a horrific cybernetic eye embedded into his brain. Kroga was the reason why so many Xylan had died a needless death at the hands of the Hurlians. This male that she’d been sleeping with and mating with, laughing and eating with, working alongside—he was a murderer and a traitor.

  And yet again, their sons were suffering through the pain of their parents disappearing from their lives because Kroga had shown up in the cargo bay of that Hunter ship and kidnapped her before their eyes.

  How could he not care about this?

  Was he still in contact with the Hurlians? Was he still their spy? She needed to protect herself from him, as well as her offspring and her species. Kroga could still harm all the Xylan she loved on Chronos, as well as the new friends she’d made in the fourteen years since her banishment. She knew her mother, father, sister and brother had been devastated over her immediate line’s banishment. She still missed them desperately.

  She had to get in touch with her sons and let them know where she was and that she needed their help. Hopefully they could capture Kroga before he hurt anyone else. But, how could she contact them without Kroga knowing? Wait, maybe she could use the same coded system she’d used to message Kayzon—using the Bounty Hunter Leaderboards. Could she do this again?

  But even so, how could they get there and help her? She had no idea. There were four hungry black holes to navigate to arrive. And the transporter on this facility was for industrial use only. This must be why Kroga had risked their lives to come here, because it was the only place where they wouldn’t be found.

  How could she get in touch with anyone?

  Her original profile on the Chronos Royal Pigment Network had long ago been deleted. This was why there’d been no information about her past for her to research in order to jog her memories and help alleviate the amnesia. Kroga and their two sons had similarly been expunged and deleted. There was nothing to research. But she now knew where she’d kept her life as Manager of Joyzal of Seventeen—she had a private profile on the Xylan Margol Network. Melachine leaned forward and tapped on a screen, opened XMN and entered her code…and there it was, her life post-banishment. All of her pics and vids, her contacts, her agenda, recipes, projects…everything. And there were two hundred unanswered messages. She scrolled through them—all of them were from friends wondering where she was and if she was okay. Vids from all of her sons and their Brides. All of them were terrified at her disappearance. They’d been trying to find her but couldn’t.

  There was a pounding on the portal to the bridge. “Melachine, let me in,” Kroga shouted. “Open the door.”

  5

  Melachine jumped, startled. Oh hell. Why was he here so soon? Kroga was supposed to be working outside of the facility.

  Anxiety and desperation caused her to sit up, and with no time to think. She placed her claws on the nearest screen, accessed the Leaderboards and sent a quick coded message to Kayzon that simply said: Help me, I’m in the Swirl.

  Then she stood on shaky legs, the cats jumping off her lap and onto the floor.

  “Open the door,” Kroga bellowed like a male in agony.

  She walked over and paused. He sounded very upset. In the past this would’ve hurt her hearts, hearing this pain in his voice, but today it only frightened her. She no longer knew the male who stood on the other side of this portal.

  Melachine took a deep breath and straightened her shoulders. She’d punched him in the face the last time she’d seen him. She could do so again. Her mind flashed to their makeshift Cabul and to the useful weapons therein.

  She had Xylan to defend.

  She lifted her chin and slammed her palm on the panel, ready to take on this suddenly unknown male.

  The door swished open.

  Kroga caught himself before he fell on top on her in his haste to rush inside. “Wh—Melachine?” He reached his claws out and grabbed her by the arms. “Are you okay?”

  “I’m fine,” she stated. The warmth of his tone and the weight of his claws washed over her, unnerving her with its masculine intensity. He was her mate and her body couldn’t help responding to his touch.

  “My Be’Ih. I was worried about you.”

  Oh gods. He was doing a very good job of fake caring. No wonder she’d been sucked into his lies these last three moon cycles. He played the part of loving mate well. He’d lied to her before, he was lying to her now. He was a traitor. An assassin. A murderer. This was not a male she wanted to be near. In fact, the thought of how often she’d had sex with this traitor, in every part of this facility, was making her sick. She took a deep breath, trying her best to act normal and not let on that she remembered everything. She couldn’t let this male have the upper claw. “Why were you worried? I’m in here working like I usually do.”

  “Megan called me. She told me to come here and check on you. She said you two were talking and you suddenly looked sick and put your head down. And then the vid cut off and you weren’t responding to her call. She was so alarmed she called me to have me come and check on you.”

  Oh. Megan, of course. Dammit. She’d been so upset she’d forgotten to respond to her friend. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to cut her off and worry her. But as you can see, I’m fine.”

  “What happened? Were you hurt? Are you sick?”

  “I…I…” Oh shoot, she hadn’t had time to think of an excuse yet. And she’d never been one of those Xylan who had a quick come back…

  “Megan said she thought your memories might’ve returned,” he offered.

  Melachine stiffened. She dug her claws into her palms, forcing herself to lie to her mate, even though lying was against the first tenet of the honor code. “No, no memories have returned. I wish. I still don’t remember anything.”

  Then he moved in close, his scent filling her lungs. Oh hell. Even though she hated this male, he was still her mate and her body instantly responded to him. Those lips. His sharp fangs. The flashing claws and his hard abs… Her mind was rejecting him, but her body said yes, yes, yes.

  “Be’Ih. Look at me.”

  She shook her head.

  He placed a claw under her chin and gently forced her head up. She looked into his magnetic hazel eyes.

  “What is wrong? You are not acting the same. I need to know that you are okay. I cannot continue with my diurnal if you are sick or upset in any way. My whole life is centered on your health and happiness. You know that, don’t you?”

  Her health and happiness?

  She wanted to claw herself out of his arms and beat his lying ass to the ground. But Kroga held the upper claw here, literally. She had no way out…and she needed to gain information from him. Why was he doing this? Was he going to continue his treachery? Could she possibly stop him from hurting someone else? She could find out what his next plans were and turn him in to the High Command or the Bounty Hunters. He would be more valuable to them alive than dead because the information they could glean from him could save lives.

  “I know that you care for me,” she responded, doing her best to keep her voice even and her eyes on his.

  He gazed at her intently for what seemed to be an eternity, and then finally gave a curt nod of approval. He leaned in and gently kissed her lips. And again, her body betrayed her, because his touch sent a wave of pleasant warmth across her skin.

  How was
she going to continue hiding the return of her memories from him? But she had to, if he knew, what would he do to her? Would he kill her? Was he planning to use her for something bigger? She had no idea of Kroga’s plans, but she had to find out fast.

  Holy fuck, she couldn’t get away from him. He had her isolated out here. He’d taken her from that cargo bay on the Hunter ship and out here, to the Swirl. The more she thought about it, the more she realized it was actually a brilliant plan. Neither of her two biological sons, or her adoptive son, could find her here. It would seem to them as if she’d disappeared.

  Had he purposely caused her amnesia? Her hearts began racing and her throat tightened. She had to continue pretending nothing was wrong.

  His Bride was hiding something from him.

  Kroga’s eyes roamed over her beloved features. Her eyes were wild and her face lacking pigment. She shifted on her feet, clenching and unclenching her claws. He thought she might have some of her memories back. Partially. Maybe some. Maybe all? He didn’t know because she was hiding her true feelings from him.

  The whole reason why he hadn’t tried to fully talk to her about their past was because the story of what had happened was so enormous, he knew she’d never believe him. And to make matters more difficult she suffered from amnesia and spotty short-term memory. Because of her amnesia she didn’t remember any of their past, so it would be nothing but a strange story to her. Her brain had been reset to the time after they’d first mated. She didn’t remember their offspring or their banishment.

  Also, his Bride was unwell. She was physically strong, but her brain was still fragile and in repair mode. Each time they’d tried to fully speak of the past, it had brought on a coma. This had happened three different times. And each time he’d been terrified that he was going to lose her. Although he desperately wanted to hear all she knew of their sons, he was unable to ask. Prodding Melachine for information was dangerous for her health.