Alien Conquest

by Carter, Sadie

  He studied her assessingly. Her skin color looked a little better but not much. And she looked like she had not eaten much in a long, long time. He would need to ensure she ate more. She needed to be looked after better.

  She is not yours to look after.

  No. But he owed her a life debt. She had come for him. Helped him to escape. She had nearly been harmed because she had tried to tell the captain that she had been with him when he supposedly attacked another female.

  He had been suspicious of her when she first came out of that vent, but it seemed she spoke the truth. He owed her. He must take care of her. Whether she liked it or not. She could be very argumentative and did not obey orders well. He would need to work on that also.

  Motion sick. It must be a fragile human thing.

  “What is that noise? We’re not under attack, are we?” She grimaced as she stared into the container she had just thrown up in. He pressed a button to have it retract and self-clean.

  Under attack? If they were under attack, did she not think he would be paying more attention?

  “Communication. From ship.”

  She bit her lip. “They want to talk to us?”

  “Yes.” He studied the map of the closest planets. They were far enough from the transporter that they were little threat now. The transporter was large and slow and it had been mostly stagnant. It would take a while to get up enough power to follow them at any speed.

  Where should they land? Brangun? He had heard of the planet before. It was large and had many ports. But if the humans sent an alert to the planet, then it was likely they would be arrested upon arrival. Diclac. He had not heard of that planet. He brought up some information. It was largely lawless. Dangerous. Not a good choice with a human female. Especially as females were considered subservient. Like slaves.

  No, taking Georgie there with her loud mouth and inability to obey even simple commands would be a disaster.

  But he might not have much choice. There were not many habitable planets out here.

  “Are you going to answer their call?” she asked.

  “No.”

  “Okay. Do you think you could turn off the ringing, though?” she winced. “It’s hurting my ears.”

  Human ears were obviously inferior. He turned down the noise. He would need to learn how to care for her. She was very delicate and fragile.

  “Is there a bathroom?” she asked.

  “Yes. Back.”

  He nodded and she got up and stumbled her way to the back. Poor female. She was so scared, she could not even walk properly.

  Definitely far too fragile for him. But he would care for her as best he could until he got her somewhere safe.

  8

  “Come on, Georgie. You’re not going to let a bit of motion sickness get the best of you, right?” she muttered to herself as she splashed herself with some cool water. She stared at herself in the mirror. She didn’t recognize the girl staring back.

  This girl looked delicate.

  “I’m not delicate. I’m a freaking badass.”

  Right. A badass who vomited because she couldn’t handle a bit of movement. Way to prove to the big, bad Zerconian in there that she could take care of herself. He’d looked at her with pity. Pity!

  If there was one thing she hated, it was being pitied. She’d always taken care of herself. That wasn’t going to change just because she was in the middle of nowhere in a tiny freaking emergency pod with some huge alien. Who she didn’t know.

  But who has done nothing but protect you.

  And smack her ass. But she was trying to get past that. She’d work out a suitable punishment later. She took one breath. Then another.

  All right. So this wasn’t exactly where she’d imagined she’d be twenty-four hours ago. She could deal. She was nothing if not flexible.

  First things first. She needed to figure out where they were going and what they were going to do. Deep breath in. Then out. At least the nausea had stopped. Not that there was anything else left in her stomach to throw up.

  Her tummy gurgled as she made her way back to her seat.

  “Are they chasing us?” she asked Zandar.

  He grunted.

  She sighed. “What does that mean? Is it one grunt for no? Two for yes? You need to come with some sort of key that lets me understand you. Are all Zerconian males as uncommunicative as you?”

  “All human females talk much as you?” he countered.

  Ooh. That was almost a full sentence. He turned to glare at her.

  She shrugged. “Some talk less. Some talk more. How else am I supposed to find anything out? There’s not a lot of people I can ask.” She gestured around the emergency pod.

  “They no follow. Too slow.”

  “Oh. Well, that’s good. I guess.”

  “Zerconian ships could have,” he admitted. “Also track this pod. Why we moved fast.”

  “It’s why we went so fast? To outrun them? To get somewhere quickly to get rid of this pod because it can be tracked?”

  He nodded.

  A shiver tried to work its way over her skin, but she wrapped her arms around herself. “But why would you want to outrun them? Shouldn’t you want to go to your people? Don’t you trust them? Does this have something to do with that Zerconian guy who was visiting you before I sprang you from prison?”

  “Sprang me?”

  Really? That was what he focused on?

  “Do you not trust your people?”

  “Trust no one.”

  She frowned. “But don’t you have friends, family, a home there?”

  His shoulders tightened. “You sleep.”

  She blinked at the sudden change in subject. All right, obviously he didn’t want to talk about his family. . .or lack thereof? She could relate. Wasn’t like there was anyone on Earth who would miss her. And she didn’t have any reason to trust anyone on the transporter right now. It seemed they’d been in on some conspiracy against Zandar.

  “Why would Elise have lied about you attacking her?”

  He just grunted. She took that to mean he didn’t know. She guessed she was coming to understand alpha male.

  “It just makes no sense. And then for one of the guards to attack me because I tried to tell the captain that I was with you at the time. That means the captain was probably in on it, right? But why?”

  This time nothing. She sighed.

  Exhaustion was making her feel shaky. Or maybe that was lack of food and her vomiting spell.

  “What’s the plan?”

  “You. Sleep.” He climbed out of the seat and pressed a button on the side of her chair. It moved, laying her flat. She let out a startled cry, immediately embarrassed at herself.

  Jeez, get it together, Georgie.

  He reached up for something above her and his top rode up, displaying the bottom of his stomach. She swallowed, her mouth dry.

  Holy hotness. He was ripped. Seriously. Her entire body flushed with heat, her skin feeling itchy. She shifted around on the bed as something soft landed over top of her.

  A blanket.

  While she’d been ogling him like a beast in heat, he’d been thinking about her comfort.

  She yawned as he tucked the blanket around her. “Maybe you’re not so bad. I mean, you’re kind of bossy and a bit overprotective. Stubborn, definitely stubborn. You need to learn to use your words, cause the grunting is kind of annoying.”

  She yawned again. “And that spanking thing is a no-no. Not ever happening again. You’re not what I was thinking of when I hopped on the transporter. I mean, I wasn’t really thinking I’d find a Zerconian mate, and you’re not my mate, obviously.”

  Her eyes drifted shut as she grinned. “That’s crazy, right? You and me as mates? If I did have a mate, he’d be the sort to dote on me, you know? Feed me grapes and massage my feet. Obviously, you’re more the spank the little woman’s ass if she misbehaves sort. Which is so not for me, since I’ve never been one to follow the rules. So, you know, we�
��d be a terrible match as mates. But I guess as a partner in this craziness, you’re okay.”

  * * *

  She awoke with a stretch, frowning at how sore she was.

  Damn it, sleeping on the ground was getting old fast. Except this place didn’t smell like the old abandoned warehouse she’d taken to squatting in. And she was warm. Unbelievably warm.

  And was she moving?

  She opened her eyes and screamed as a big, rugged face filled her vision. The person was leaning right over her. She reached on instinct, thrusting her fist into his face with a thud.

  “Get away from me, you perverted asshole!” she screamed.

  He snapped his head back, shock filling his face.

  “Nose! Throat!” She attempted to punch his throat, but he captured her hand in his, holding it steady. Well, that was no fair. She never got to the “Guts! Nuts!” part of the equation. Even after all these years, the self-defense lessons one of her better foster mothers had sent her to still filled her memory.

  “Female.”

  The low, growly voice snapped her back into reality. She glanced around. Shit. She was in an emergency pod, headed God knows where with this arrogant, stubborn alien.

  Right.

  So. Attacking him was probably not her best idea, since he was all that stood between her and possible death.

  Although with the way he was scowling at her right now, she wouldn’t be surprised if he was planning to be the cause of that probable death. Yeah, right now, he looked like he wouldn’t mind wrapping his hands around her throat and strangling her.

  “Morning, Zandar,” she said cheerfully as she sat up and attempted to extract her hand from his. Why did it feel so good to touch him? So right?

  He just continued to frown at her, but he did let her hand slip free.

  “Sorry about, um, attacking you and stuff. You just gave me a fright. Why were you leaning over me like that?” He hadn’t been staring at her like that while she slept the whole time, right? Of course not, Georgie.

  “You cried out.”

  “Oh. I had a nightmare?” She didn’t remember it if she had, but it wasn’t a surprise really.

  “Sorry,” she said again with a wince. “Hope I didn’t wake you up.”

  “Why yell ‘nose, throat’?” he asked

  “Oh, well, it’s left over from these self-defense lessons one of my foster moms sent me to. I mean, I don’t know why I thought of that automatically. It’s not like I haven’t got other fighting skills.”

  “Fighting skills?” he asked skeptically.

  She reached into her boot and grabbed her knife, twirling it in the air. “More like knife skills, I guess you’d say. Most guys are bigger than me. My skills with this put things on a more even playing field.”

  “Even playing field?”

  “This here evens up the fight.” She held up her knife

  His eyes filled with ire, flashing red. Uh-oh, way to make the big guy mad, Georgie. What had she said? It was probably to do with the way she’d just attacked him.

  Play nice with the big alien.

  “Even the fight?”

  “Yep.” She put the knife away. “I was still half-asleep and thought you were attacking me, which is why I must have reverted to those self-defense lessons Janice insisted on. They used to get us to line up and practice punching a guy in his soft spots. Nose! Throat! Guts! Nuts!”

  She stretched. “We should be glad I didn’t reach for my knife. Wouldn’t want to carve you up.”

  He made a scoffing noise, but she just rolled her eyes. She was used to people underestimating her.

  “Foster mom?” he asked.

  “Oh, Janice, yeah. She was definitely one of the better ones. Not many of them cared about my safety. A few actually cared about me. Most of them were apathetic. You know, they didn’t care, but they also didn’t hurt me.”

  “Hurt you?” he asked in a quiet voice, sitting in a chair across from her. “Who?”

  “Oh, some of the foster parents I lived with should never have been approved to have children, you know?” she said light-heartedly.

  “The ones who hurt you.” He looked like he was recalling her reaction to him the other night.

  She swallowed heavily then forced herself to shrug nonchalantly. “It’s old news, Goliath. Made me who I am today.”

  “Who?”

  “Tough. Strong. Feisty. A survivor.”

  “Your parents?”

  She shrugged. “Never met my dad. My mom didn’t care about me. She was a druggie. She used to leave me at home with my sister for days on end. One day, she just never came back. And I got sent into foster care.”

  “Sister?”

  “I need to use the bathroom,” she said. She didn’t talk about Annie. Not with anyone. That was her own private pain.

  “Wait.” He reached out and grabbed her hand. Another jolt ran through her. She paused, looking down at him and bracing herself for what he had to say.

  “Why you on transporter?”

  She shrugged and sent him a big, fake grin. “Why were any of the women on that transporter? To find our mate, of course.”

  He stared after her, confused. Find her mate? But had that transporter not been heading to Zerconia? Yes, the captain had assured him of that. That he could stay on the transporter until they docked in Zerconia. That was before he had been falsely accused of attacking a female. The captain had told him they had a treaty with Earth and that he was transporting goods to Zerconia.

  The goods could not be females, could they?

  He shook his head. His people would not be bartering for women. That would be completely wrong. But he realized now that he should have asked more questions. Of the captain. Of Alek, when he came to visit him. His distrust now meant he had few answers to these questions.

  The door to the bathroom opened and Georgie stepped back out. She looked pale, with dark smudges under her eyes. Her clothes were wrinkled, her dark hair messy. She had only been asleep an hour or so when a nightmare had obviously gotten hold of her. She had started whimpering, her limbs moving around. He had not been able to sit there and watch her.

  His nose still stung from her punch when she awoke. Not that there had been much power behind the punch. She was just a puny female, after all.

  A puny female who fought off a human guard, helped rescue you, and who carries around a sharp knife.

  He pushed that thought back. She walked down towards him and he felt his body heat. This strange reaction made no sense.

  “So, what’s the plan?” she asked, rubbing at her arms. “Is there no one back on Zerconia who would believe you? What about that guy who visited you? What did he say?”

  Alek. He had said they were friends, that he knew Zandar’s brother, Que. He had a vague memory of a brother, but he could not trust it. Trust any of them. Not with his safety and certainly not with hers. He’d been forced to board the human transporter because the only other option was his death.

  He shook his head. “No trust them. Not anyone.”

  She nodded understandingly. “I get it. After what just happened to you, I wouldn’t be big on trusting anyone either. Heck, I don’t trust anyone. People tend to suck.”

  “Suck what?”

  “Just in general. So I guess that means it’s just the two of us. Unless you’re planning on landing this pod somewhere and going our separate ways? I get it, if you are. No harm, no foul.”

  Go separate ways?

  He gaped at her. “You no leave me.”

  Even he had to blink at the fierceness in his voice. He had not meant to sound quite so territorial. But there was something about Georgie that brought out his protectiveness.

  “Um. You’re being a bit possessive there, Goliath. I get it. I’m a catch. Funny, smart, gorgeous.” She snorted, grinning at him. “That was sarcasm. I don’t think those things about myself. That would be kind of big-headed of me.”

  “Head not over big. You somewhat intelligent. Not bel
ieve you funny, though.”

  She touched her head. “Whew. Wouldn’t want my ego to blow out. I notice you didn’t say anything about my looks.”

  Because he should not find her beautiful. She was a debt. Nothing more. Something played over in his mind. He couldn’t let it go. “Transporter going to Zerconia.”

  “Yep, that’s right.” She frowned at him.

  “With human women?”

  “Ah, yeah. There’s been transporters going to Zerconia filled with human women for a while now. It’s like a dating app on steroids. But instead of filling in whether you want to find someone with a full head of hair, a house, and a cat called Lars, you instead head off into space in the hope of finding an alien mate so you get to live on a clean planet with little crime and a hunky guy to give you daily head rubs.”

  “Human women live on Zerconia.”

  “Yes. Where have you been? I mean, you are Zerconian, right?”

  “Yes,” he replied huffily.

  “You must have been under a rock for these past few years if you know nothing about this.”

  “Not under. In.”

  “What?” She gaped at him and he realized he had said too much. His past had nothing to do with her.

  But something else occurred to him. All the women on the transporter were there to find mates. Last night as she drifted off to sleep, she had been talking about finding a mate to give her foot rubs. He had not put much stock in her words, thinking she was dreaming. But. . .

  “You went on transporter to find mate?” His voice was nearly a roar. He didn’t know why that filled him with such fury, but it did.

  His Georgie finding a male to mate.

  No.

  Mine.

  Mine.

  Mine.

  She held up her hands, standing up and moving back. “Okay, calm down, Goliath. And how about you stop your eyes from going all red and glarey and get them back to that turquoise color from before, huh?”

  He had to take a deep breath then another. It was only the glimpse of fear on her face that allowed him to regain control. He would not harm her. Never.