Alien Conquest

by Carter, Sadie

  Zandar set her down on the toilet. She gaped up at him as he just stood there, staring down at her.

  And she was right, her feet didn’t even touch the floor as she sat there.

  “Zandar!”

  “Yes?”

  “Get out!”

  He blinked then turned and strode out of the bathroom.

  Thank God.

  By the time she’d peed and managed to operate that hand washer and dryer, she was feeling somewhat better. Or at least she told herself she was. Things looked even better when she stepped back into the dining area and the smell of food wafted out.

  Was there a better sight than a half-naked gorgeous man preparing food for you? If there was, she didn’t know what it was.

  He heard her enter the room behind him and turned to study her.

  “So, uh, did I faint again? Seriously, what is with that? I never faint.”

  He studied her features. His mate. His.

  “Zandar? What’s the matter? You’re looking at me weird. Is it because I passed out? I’m really sorry about that. It wasn’t you, seriously. The sex was amazeballs. I just must have been really tired or something.”

  “What?”

  “Shit. I didn’t do anything embarrassing in my sleep, did I? Like talk or snore or fart. Oh crap, did I?”

  “No.”

  “Okay, whew. So, if I didn’t embarrass myself horribly, why are you staring at me like I’ve grown a third eye or something? If I have food on my face, I’m going to be seriously pissed that you didn’t tell me earlier.”

  “No food.”

  “Then what is it? Is it my hair? I know I didn’t get out all the blue goo. Is it eating my hair? Oh God, I’m going to be bald, aren’t I?”

  He did not understand her obsession with her hair. But he did understand that he needed to stop her from panicking.

  “You my mate.”

  She had to have heard him wrong.

  “I’m sorry, I heard you wrong. I thought you just said I was your mate.” She started to laugh then noticed his serious look.

  She swallowed. “You’re. . .you’re not serious. You don’t actually mean that, right?”

  “Why say if not mean it?”

  “Right. Of course, you wouldn’t. Silly me.” Zandar was not known for his sense of humor. And that wasn’t really a funny joke.

  “But how? I mean, just because we had sex?”

  “Joining forms mating bond with our fated mate.” He tilted his head to one side. “You not know this?”

  “I’m starting to think that there is a lot I don’t know.”

  “This is true.” He nodded. “How you survive until now?”

  “With great difficulty,” she said dryly. Dude had no idea. “The recruiters told us next to nothing about Zerconian matings. Just that you guys don’t have very many females. That you only mate once and that you need to touch your mate to know them.”

  “They left out much.” He frowned. “I not know much human matings.” He rubbed his head. “Memories gone.”

  “How come? Did you get hit on the head?” she asked curiously. She’d rather focus on his missing memories than the fact that she was his mate.

  Because holy. Shit. Balls.

  “Many hits,” he replied. “But think not why missing.”

  Okay, that made a lot of sense. “Then why are they missing? What happened to you? How much do you remember?”

  He scowled at her. But it was just the two lines and not the red eyes with the tick, so she still felt safe. Then again, maybe she was pushing so hard because she didn’t want to ask the questions she really should.

  “Cannot remember most life before Arans enslaved me.”

  That might have been the longest sentence he’d ever said. And it shocked her speechless.

  “You were a slave?”

  14

  He winced at her voice as it reached a high pitch.

  “Yes. They imprison me. Make fight.”

  “They kept you prisoner and made you fight? What? Where? How? Who the hell could imprison you? Is that. . .is that how you got those scars on your back?”

  He fingered the scar on his face. “Yes. Whipped me when displeased them. Found me injured.” It was not a time he liked to think about. “Escaped in riot.”

  She ran her hand over her face. “Holy shit. Do you remember anything from before you were taken by them?”

  “Very little.”

  “So you were injured and then enslaved, and made to fight for. . .?”

  “Money. Arans place bets favorite slave fighters.”

  “Fuck them. I don’t like those twat cunts. Actually, I think that’s the same insult. Hate those twunts. Ooh yeah. I like that.”

  He just stared down at her in bafflement. What was happening?

  “Sorry. Not important. So they made you fight other prisoners and they placed bets on who would win?”

  “Yes. I win.”

  She ran her gaze over him, a note of appreciation and hunger in her eyes. “I can believe it. Then you escaped and stole a ship or something?”

  He nodded. “Ship damaged. Sent alert.”

  “And the human transporter answered. Brought you on board and then you were framed for an assault on a human female which would likely have resulted in your death.”

  He nodded.

  “Dude. You could write a book. That stuff just doesn’t happen to people. You’re a survivor. Like me.”

  He sat on the side of the bed. “You ate garbage.”

  Heat filled her face. He was not sure why. He reached up and cupped her cheek. “You are hot.”

  “Huh? What?”

  “Cheeks red.”

  “Oh, don’t worry about that.”

  “You hurt?”

  “What? From what? You know, sometimes having a conversation with you is very confusing.”

  She thought he was confusing? That thought almost made him smile.

  “Hurt from joining?” he clarified.

  “Oh. That.” Her cheeks flamed even redder. What ailed her?

  “Need medical attention?” He reached for her, lifting her up in arms. “Run fever.”

  “Wait, Zandar, wait!” She grabbed hold of the doorway as he stepped through it, bringing him to a halt.

  “Female. Let go.”

  “Uh-uh, no way. If we’re mates, I’m Georgie. Not female.”

  “You trouble,” he muttered.

  “It’s better than being called ‘female.’ A female could be anyone. I’m not just anyone!”

  No. She was not. She was his mate. To be treasured and protected above all others. To be cared for. Coddled. He had not done a good job so far and shame filled him. Even though he had only known she was his mate for an hour, he felt like a failure.

  He would do better.

  “I apologize.”

  “And it’s really rude to just keep calling me—wait, what did you say?”

  “I apologize. You mate. Not just female.”

  “Good, well, that’s good.”

  “Let go,” he demanded, nodding at her fingers.

  “Tell me where you’re taking me first. You have a bad habit of just picking me up and putting me where you want me.”

  “You have bad habit not staying there,” he grumbled back.

  “It’s a talent, babe.”

  “No babe. Mate.”

  She scrunched her nose and sighed. “Yeah, fair enough. I won’t call you babe if you don’t call me female. Where are we going?”

  “Fix you. Ill.”

  “I’m not ill.”

  “You hot.”

  “Why thank you. . .wait!” She slapped her hand against his chest as he moved down the corridor. “Ouch, you really have to lay off the workouts. Get a bit of fat on you or something to pad things so it doesn’t hurt when I slap you.”

  “Do not hit me.”

  “Well, that would be the logical thing to do, but I’m not very logical.”

  No, she was not.


  He stepped into the room with the regen machine and lay her inside.

  “Wait. Seriously. I’m not ill.”

  “Mate,” he said warningly.

  “I went red because I was embarrassed. About the whole garbage-eating thing.” She climbed off the regen machine as she spoke. “And then about the whole sore due to sex thing.”

  “Why embarrass you?”

  “Nobody wants to admit they were so desperate to eat that they scrounged in garbage to find some food.”

  Anger filled him at the thought. “No one look after you?”

  She shrugged. “I told you about my family. And after my sister died. . .” She trailed off.

  “Sister?”

  She sighed, rubbing her hand over her face. “Yeah, I had a sister, Annie. She was several years older than me. She used to take care of me when our mom was. . .well, hell, all the time. She did whatever she had to in order to make sure there was food to eat and we had a roof over our heads. Then one day, I came home from school and found her. . .found her dead on the floor of the living room. One of mom’s whacked-out asshole drug dealers killed her. That’s when I was taken into foster care.”

  She sat there and waited for him to say something. Instead, he shocked her by pulling her close and hugging her tight. She wrapped her arms around him and they just stood there for a while. She never talked about Annie. She wasn’t sure why she’d told him, except it felt right for him to know.

  Suddenly, he picked her up and carried her back into the eating area. He sat on a stool with her on his lap. He didn’t seem the affectionate type. But here he was, cuddling her to make her feel better.

  “Sorry about sister.”

  “Me too. She was the only person who ever really cared about me.”

  “I care,” he told her.

  “Thanks. I care about you too.” And she did. Which made this scary. Because caring about someone meant you risked losing them.

  Be brave, Georgie. If he really is your mate, then you won’t have to be alone anymore.

  And even if she hadn’t thought she would find her mate, deep down, she’d still held some sort of hope. Hope that someone might choose her. Want her. And now, Zandar did. Something filled her with warmth. Comfort. It was almost like a soft buzz inside her.

  “What’s that?” she asked.

  “What?”

  “Something feels different. Like. . .like we’re connected somehow. And you’re filling me with warmth.”

  “Mate bond.”

  “A mate bond? Really? What is that?”

  He gave her a look then shook his head. “You really know nothing.”

  “No need to point it out. That’s just rude. And I know plenty of stuff back on Earth. It’s just out there that I’m a little, umm, unknowledgeable. We’re really mates?”

  “Yes. Bond has formed. You my mate.”

  “Holy. Crap. Guess that explains why I’ve been so drawn to you.”

  He grunted and picked up some of the food he’d prepared, holding it up to her mouth.

  “Wh-what are you doing?” she asked breathlessly.

  “Feeding you.”

  “I can. . .I can feed myself. Been doing it a while now. It’s actually one of my better skills.”

  He just stared down at her; the food close to her lips. Right. She opened her lips and he slipped the food inside. Wasn’t half bad.

  “I’m hoping you’ve checked this isn’t poisonous for humans,” she said after another bite. “It wouldn’t exactly be romantic for me to spend all my time on the toilet during our honeymoon.”

  And that wasn’t weird to say or anything. Shit. She was mated to this big, scary-looking dude who fought off sasquatches, who wouldn’t eat until she was full, and who held her so tenderly.

  “It is not poisonous. Honeymoon?”

  “It’s a holiday that humans go on after they get married. If they can afford it. Most people can’t and there’s not many places to go for a holiday that aren’t overrun with people and pollution.”

  “Marriage? Human mating?”

  “Uh, sort of. We don’t mate with just one person. You can marry and get separated from that person to marry someone else.”

  He scowled at that. “We not separate.”

  “Yeah. I know that much.” She waved away the mouthful he held up. “I’m full. You eat.” She knew from past experience that it was a mistake to eat too much.

  “You need eat more. Thin.”

  “Years of food deprivation won’t be fixed with one meal, Zandar.”

  “I no like you hungry.”

  “I have a feeling I won’t be going hungry again,” she said easily.

  The darkness in his face lightened, arrogance filling it. “No.”

  “This mating bond, what exactly does it mean?” She tried to climb off his lap so he had both hands to eat with, but he held her tight.

  All right then, she wasn’t going to complain. She kind of liked sitting here. Noodle jumped onto the table and stole a piece of food from the plate. Then he blew a raspberry at Zandar, who just sighed.

  “Binds us together. With another Zerconian would feel emotions. Thoughts. Not sure with a human.”

  “Really? Wow.” She tapped her fingers against the table. “So you can’t hear my thoughts right now?”

  Give me a foot massage. Give me a foot massage.

  “No,” he replied, eyeing her suspiciously. “But it weak.”

  “Weak? Why?”

  He shrugged, looking slightly worried. “Not sure.”

  “You know, I’m not the only one who doesn’t know a lot.”

  He scowled, opening his mouth just as an alarm went off. The ship rocked to the side.

  “What’s that?” she cried.

  “Under attack.”

  Of course they were. Because she couldn’t go twenty-four hours without someone trying to kill her. This space travel was way more dangerous than the recruiters had made out.

  Zandar raced to the cockpit and brought up a view of the surrounding area. A ship a similar size to theirs was fast approaching. He set the hyper speed boosters to start then grabbed the controls, dropping their ship down to escape another blast of fire.

  “What the hell? Who is attacking us? Why?” Georgie cried out.

  He could not look her way. Seeing fear on her face would distract him. Noodle let out a cry.

  “I know, Noodle, it’s totally rude of them to attack when we’re on our honeymoon.”

  “Belt on.”

  It was strange; they didn’t seem to be shooting directly at them. These were warning shots. A buzz came through. The other ship was sending through a communication.

  He allowed the message through; the hyper speed was nearly ready. Surprise filled him as a familiar face appeared in hologram.

  “Wow, it’s the unicorn from the bar,” Georgie said.

  The image flickered. “You have something that belongs to me. You have one minute to surrender and then return my property.”

  He heard Georgie suck in a breath and knew she had to be terrified. He had no idea what the other creature was talking about. This wasn’t his ship and they hadn’t taken anything from him.

  “We have nothing of yours.” He turned off the hologram then turned the ship’s blasters on them, firing. It hit one of their engines. There, that should incapacitate them. If they were lucky, they would make it to a nearby planet with just one engine.

  He quickly hit the hyper speed button. They would get away quickly, but they would also burn through fuel at a fast rate, which meant he needed to find a planet closer than the one he’d intended to land on.

  “What. . .what’s going on?”

  He glanced back at Georgie to see she was looking rather green. Stars. He lunged for something to give her, but was too late. She managed to lean to the side to vomit, Noodle letting out a squawk as he barely avoided the mess.

  Stars. He would never get her to gain weight if she kept vomiting her meals back up.


  “Sorry. . .sorry,” she sobbed.

  “It fine, mate.” He should have warned her first. “Hyper speed. Make you sick.”

  “I’m beginning to think everything about space travel makes me sick. Oh man, I’ll go find something to clean this up.”

  “No, trouble. Stay in seat. Autocleaner get.” Already the little bot was cleaning up the mess.

  The mess would soon be gone and he could block out the smell in the meantime. He’d blocked out worse.

  What he could not stand was the look of misery on her face. He undid his belt then hers and pulled her onto his lap, securing his safety harness back over both of them. He tucked her face into his neck.

  “Ew, you shouldn’t want me this close until I brush my teeth. I’m sure I have vomit breath. No one wants to have vomit breath on their honeymoon. That’s just gross. And not conducive to honeymoon sex.”

  “There is much joining on honeymoons?” he asked.

  “Yep, that’s basically all you do. Fuck and eat. Maybe sleep a little. Then fuck again.”

  “Human custom to like.”

  He could feel her smile against his skin. He rubbed his hand up and down her back. “Relax, mate. We land few hours.”

  He decided to head to a different planet he knew had an underground fight scene. Not as big as his original choice, but it would provide him with enough credits to refuel.

  He pondered what the creature had meant when he said that he had something of his. And how had he found them?

  “Do you miss Zerconia?”

  How could he miss what he could not remember? And yet, strangely, he did miss it.

  “I have brother.” He didn’t know why he told her. But he seemed to just blurt things out around her. He was starting to believe it was part of her curse. An affliction.

  He did not tell her this.

  “You do? But I thought you didn’t remember anything?”

  “Alek tell me.”

  “Oh, the Zerconian guy who came to visit you? But wouldn’t you like to see him? Surely he’d believe you? What’s his name?”

  “Que. I have brief memories of him.” But not enough to trust him.

  “Christ, this is a mess. What are we going to do then? We can’t just travel around forever on this ship. We need to refuel soon, right? Does hyper speed use a lot of fuel? How do you know that Pinky isn’t following us?”