Alien Conquest

by Carter, Sadie

  Pinky? He knew who she spoke of, though.

  “Damaged ship. Won’t be able to follow.”

  “That’s good. So he’s no longer a danger?” she asked worriedly.

  “Don’t know he tracked us. Or what he wants.”

  “Oh right. Yeah. About that. I might have some idea of what he is talking about.”

  15

  She tensed as she held out the medallion, she’d kind-of, sort-of stolen from Pinky.

  Okay. So there was no sort-of stolen about it. She’d most definitely stolen it. But in her defense, he was a jerk.

  “Are you going to say something?”

  “You stole this.”

  “I prefer to see it as procurement.”

  “You stole it.”

  “He was dicking you around and being a jerk. And, well, I might have a little bit of a thing for pretty, shiny things. Do you think this is what he is trying to get back?”

  Stupid question, Georgie. Of course it is.

  “You steal other things?”

  Hm. She couldn’t work out what that note was in his voice? Anger? Disappointment?

  “There’s not a lot of things that a homeless, uneducated teenager can do to earn credits. So I fell in with a gang and they taught me a few things.”

  “Gang?”

  “It was more like a group of unruly teenagers who liked to push the rules. But I had to make myself useful. Turns out I have a skill for picking up things that maybe I don’t own. But, in my defense, I only ever take things from people who are jerks. I never take from anyone who can’t afford it. That guy was an ass. We both knew he was trying to rip you off.”

  Actually, she wasn’t certain since she knew nothing about spaceships, but she was good at reading body language. And it had seemed Zandar thought that he had been.

  “You no steal anymore.”

  She sighed. “Look, I’d like to promise you that, big guy, but we need credits, right? And I haven’t got many more left. I have got a few things I could sell, though.”

  “No stealing.”

  “Look, you make it sound like I enjoy stealing. . .” Okay, maybe she needed to change her tack because there was a part of her that did like the thrill. “It’s the only thing I’m good at. How else will I help add to the kitty?”

  “Kitty?”

  “It’s a fund that we both contribute to in order to take care of expenses.”

  “I take care of you!” he roared.

  She clapped her hands over her ears. Unfortunately, she forgot one hand still held the medallion and she very nearly knocked herself out. That thing was solid.

  She slipped in back into the secret pocket in her sleeve where it remained safely hidden.

  “Okay, it seems I might have touched on a sore spot.” She rubbed at her ears. “Can I please make a request that you only roar when I am at least two feet away? Think you burst an ear drum.”

  “You are injured? You need regen chamber?”

  “No, no,” she said hastily. “I was exaggerating.”

  “You do that often,” he grumbled.

  “Yes, another one of my talents.”

  “Some these talents not really talents.”

  “You catch on quick, big guy.”

  “How you never get caught?” he asked.

  She puffed out her chest. “’Cause I’m that good.”

  He snorted.

  “Hey! Was that a derisive noise? How come you don’t believe me? I stole that medallion, didn’t I?”

  “And we were followed. Attacked.”

  “All right, so I was unlucky this time. But how was I to know he was going to follow us? How is he following us? You think he’s got some kind of tracker on the medallion?”

  “Maybe. Likely. Throw out airhole.”

  “What? No way! This thing has to be worth a fortune. We’re not just throwing it away. This could get us plenty of credits.”

  “Too dangerous.”

  “We’re not throwing it away.”

  “Yes.”

  “No.”

  “Yes.”

  “Urgh, you are so freaking stubborn. How come you won’t just listen to me? And is this our first official fight as a mated couple? Do we need to mark the occasion?”

  “Mark the occasion?”

  “Yeah, with make-up sex. Once you’ve come to your senses and agreed to sell the medallion, not throw it out of an airhole.”

  He sighed. She was getting used to that sound by now.

  “Too dangerous.”

  “You said his ship is damaged, so who knows how long it will take him to get it fixed or get another one. Then he has to catch up to us. There’s plenty of time to land, get to a market, and trade this thing. Even if we just get a few credits, it’s better than nothing.”

  She looked over at the little robot-looking creature who’d already cleaned up her vomit. That thing was amazing. She bet they would get some credits for it too. But having it around was worth more than money and she had other things she could sell.

  A deep groan this time. “Fine. I sell.”

  “I’m going to go with you. I don’t want you to get swindled.”

  “I not get swindled.”

  “Sure thing, Goliath. After we sell it, we can come home and have make-up sex.”

  “Best thing you say all day.”

  “Typical male, offer them sex and everything else is forgotten.”

  “Not forgotten,” he growled. “You no steal anymore.”

  “Fine. Fine, I won’t steal anymore. Not unless I really have to.”

  His growl filled the room.

  She was getting used to that sound.

  * * *

  “I can’t believe he made me stay behind, Noodle,” she said to her friend as she paced back and forth in the dining area. Zandar had refused to allow her to go to the market to barter off the medallion.

  “Noodle? Where are you?” She was certain that monkey had been here before. Where had he gone? “Noodle?”

  Shoot. Had he gone with Zandar? Had she seen him since Zandar left?

  Crap. Crap. Crap.

  Zandar didn’t have a communicator, so she couldn’t reach him. After refueling this ship, the next thing they needed to purchase was some communicators, because she hated not being able to reach him.

  Anxiety bubbled in her stomach. Where was Zandar? Where was Noodle? How much time had passed?

  She couldn’t believe he’d left her here. Didn’t he know how much trouble she could get into on her own?

  “Right. What sort of trouble can you get into when you don’t even know how to leave this ship, Georgie?” she muttered to herself.

  She sat, putting her elbow on the bench and resting her forehead in her hand. This whole situation sucked. She didn’t like that Zandar was basically on the run from her stupid people and his own. Surely his brother would believe him when he told him that he hadn’t attacked Elise. She wished she had some idea of what was going on. But she had no way to get in contact with Zandar’s brother, even if that was a good idea.

  Which it might not be, considering she very rarely had good ideas.

  A noise sounded and she sat up nervously. What was that? Was someone boarding the ship? What if the sasquatch had a way of tracking his ship? Shit. Why hadn’t she thought of that? She made a mental note to ask Zandar when he got back.

  Once she took care of whoever was invading the ship.

  She grabbed out a knife and crept into the passageway as a big shadow appeared down the end of the hallway.

  “Stay there, buttlicker, unless you want a knife to the heart.”

  “Trouble?”

  She heaved a sigh of relief. And suddenly, her heart was racing and the world spun a little. Way to scare yourself, Georgie.

  “Georgie? Are you well? What happened?”

  “Nothing.” She waved her hand. “Just my overactive imagination. I’m fine. Nothing to see here. Go about your business.”

  “What business? Trouble?
”

  He stepped forward and she kind of just slumped into his arms, trusting him to catch her.

  “Sorry,” she muttered. “Thought someone was creeping on board and I was going to have to take them down with my awesome knife-throwing skills. I’m actually not that great at knife-throwing, though. I’m better at the up close and personal stuff.”

  “You were scared?”

  “Well, I know it’s a rare occurrence. I mean, not much scares me really; must just be that mating bond or something affecting me,” she bluffed.

  “You were scared we get caught escaping.”

  “Anyone would be scared under those circumstances,” she scoffed.

  “You scared when thought I cut your hair.”

  “It’s my hair!”

  “Scared spiders in hair.”

  “Have you ever had a spider in your hair? Well, I haven’t either, but I bet it’s damn near terrifying. All those legs.” She shuddered. “It’s unnatural.”

  “You scared blue goo.”

  “I didn’t know what it was. It bubbled. Goo shouldn’t bubble. Anyway, can we stop with the picking on Georgie stuff? Did you sell it?”

  “Yep.”

  “Yay! Did you get lots of credits?”

  “Enough.”

  “Okay, enough already; you’re going into way too much detail. I can hardly keep up,” she told him.

  “I am?” He looked puzzled.

  “Zandar, focus.”

  “I need focus?” He raised an eyebrow as he stared down at her. What was he trying to imply? That she was scatter-brained?

  Fair call. But she wasn’t losing focus on this. “How many credits?”

  “Thousand.”

  “A thousand? That’s all?” Disappointment filled her.

  “And refueled tank and supplies. Being delivered.”

  “Guess that’s okay.” She thought she could have done better, but they were on a time crunch.

  “Leaving soon as arrive.”

  “Hey, where’s Noodle?” She looked around him, trying to spot the monkey.

  “With you,” Zandar stated.

  “No, he’s not here. I thought he was with you!” Worry filled her. “Noodle? Noodle, where are you? What if he escaped? What if he’s missing? We need to find him!”

  * * *

  They should have left this planet already. Instead, he was searching for a creature who was probably long gone. He should just pick up his mate and carry her to the ship. Then he looked over at her face, saw the tears and worry, and he sighed. She had not had an easy life. She had very little. This creature meant something to her.

  Then he saw her eyes widen. She pointed at something over his shoulder and suddenly something furry landed on his face. He reached up to pull it off when his mate barreled into him.

  “Noodle! Come here!”

  It was the monkey? The furry thing was removed from his face and he spat out some fur that had gotten into his mouth.

  Disgusting.

  “Where have you been, you naughty little monkey,” Georgie scolded. “You were meant to stay with me.”

  He glared at the furry beast. “We go now. Come! Waste enough time.”

  “Don’t worry about him, Noodle. He just needs some dinner.”

  “Need no monkey,” he muttered. He grasped hold of Georgie’s wrist and tugged her along, not trusting either her or the monkey to follow him.

  The monkey sat on Georgie’s shoulder and blew his tongue out at Zandar.

  Zandar chose to ignore it. It was just an animal. Then it moved so its butt was waggling in Zandar’s direction.

  “Georgie,” he growled.

  “What? Oh, Noodle, that’s naughty. Bad Noodle for mooning Zandar. Come on now, let’s just get you out of the firing line.”

  She must have seen the growing ire on Zandar’s face because she hurried quickly onto the ship. Maybe he should have thrown that little beast out an airhole.

  The idea put a smile on his face.

  * * *

  She didn’t like the smile on Zandar’s face. He looked far too amused for someone who had been really pissed off a few minutes’ prior. She decided it might just be a good idea to get Noodle out of his sight. She took the monkey to her room, telling him to stay before she made her way down to the cockpit and buckled in. “Where to now?”

  “Carin.”

  “Carin? That better be a planet and not a woman.”

  He raised an eyebrow at her, then they started lifting off the ground. She hated this part. She closed her eyes against the feel of the motion.

  Nope. That made things worse.

  “Planet.”

  “What are we going to do there?”

  “Earn credits.”

  “How?”

  “Keep eyes out window,” he stated.

  “What?”

  “Look out window. Next place get you pills.”

  “That could be good. I like pills. Pills are the best.”

  “Just breathe. Worst over.”

  “East for you to say.” She placed a hand over her rolling stomach. But the nausea had eased. “Okay, so how are we earning credits?”

  “Not us. Me.”

  How did she manage to find such a Neanderthal? “Fine. How are you going to earn credits?”

  “By fighting.”

  16

  “Fighting? How will fighting get you credits?” She didn’t like the sound of that. At all.

  “Betting.”

  “Are you saying you’re going to earn credits by entering an underground fight?”

  “Not under the ground.”

  “I don’t mean physically underground. I mean. . .like. . .against the law.”

  “Not always against law. Although more credits if is.”

  “Zandar! Don’t be deliberately obtuse!” She glared at him with exasperation.

  All right, she could tell by the look on his face that he wasn’t being deliberately obtuse.

  “Zandar, those things are dangerous! You could get hurt!”

  He gave her an incredulous look.

  “All right, so you know that. But. . .I don’t. . .look, we have a few credits now. We’re not desperate. In fact, I have more stuff we can sell from my stash. Wait here.” They were currently in the dining area of the ship. She raced into the bedroom, aware of him following her. She’d placed her stash under the mattress, mainly to stop Noodle from finding it. She opened the small bag and pulled out a shiny gold bracelet, the ring she’d taken from Fred, and a pair of earrings.

  “Where you get this?” he asked.

  “Oh, right, well. . .” She hadn’t thought about having to explain herself. “I took this bracelet from one of my foster moms. The one who tried to pimp me out to the number of men who visited her. She was paid to take care of me and there was never even food in the house and I had to wear hand-me-downs from the other kids who’d been there before me. They were threadbare and cold during winter. So the night she sold me to one of those jerks, I ran off and started living on the streets. A few months later, I went back and took this.” She risked a glance at him, hoping he wouldn’t look too horrified.

  The frown lines were back. Uh-oh. Was he that mad at her?

  “She deserved that. And more.” Oh. He was angry at her foster mom.

  “Yeah, she was a real bitch. These earrings were actually something I won in a game of dice. Of course, I nearly had them stolen back from me when the loser tried to jump me in an alleyway. But that’s where my knife skills came in handy. I didn’t kill him or anything.”

  Crap. Now his eyes were red and there was a tic next to his right eye. “You were attacked?”

  “Yes. But I’m okay, see?” She stood and held her arms out to show she was fine.

  “Ring?” He pointed at the ring.

  She swallowed. That was the hardest to explain. “That I got from Fred.”

  Okay, now he was sucking all the oxygen from the room with his fury. “Male gave you this.”

&nb
sp; Oh, he thought she’d been given it by a guy?

  “No, no,” she said quickly. “Fred is a girl. It’s not her real name. I don’t know what her real name is. But Fred suited her. She was a bitch. I actually intended to give it back. . . Well, it doesn’t matter anymore as I’ll probably never see her again. But we can sell all of this. There’s no need for you to enter some underground fight and get hurt. Why don’t we just find a nice planet to settle down on? We’ll get ourselves a little house. We can become farmers. Grow stuff. I don’t know what we’d grow since I once killed a cactus, but I’m sure we can figure it out.”

  “We not farmers.”

  “But what are we going to do? Where will we go?”

  She hadn’t realized until she voiced those questions how much it was worrying her. Not that she’d ever had much of a plan in her life. She’d always sort of gone with the flow. But now that she had a mate and a monkey to look after, responsibility was weighing her down.

  “Mate, breathe. Breathe.”

  She gasped in a breath, opening her eyes to find she was sitting on the bed, Zandar crouching in front of her, her hands in his.

  “Breathe. Slow. Calm.”

  “I’m not having a panic attack,” she reassured him. “I don’t have panic attacks. I’m just feeling a little stressed. A lot has happened in a short time. I’m on the run. I stole some creep’s favorite medallion and now he’s stalking us. I got mated. I became a monkey mama.”

  “Monkey mama?”

  “Focus, Zandar! That’s not what’s important right now!”

  He ran his thumbs over the back of her hands. “It will all be good, mate.”

  “Will it?”

  “Yes. I make it so.”

  “Doesn’t all this responsibility get too much? Become too much?”

  “Years I had no one who mine.” He stared down at their interlinked hands. “No one care for. It not too much. It good.”

  That was actually one of the sweetest things anyone had ever said to her. Her breathing slowed, her stomach stopped bubbling, and she gave him a nod.