Ranger Knox (Shifter Nation: Werebears Of Acadia Book 1)

by Meg Ripley

  Jenna felt his words hit her like fists, and she fought the urge to let her pain and anger show. “Oh, I see,” she said bitterly. “You really were coming on to me back there. Putting the moves on me so I’d be all loosened up for your…your love muscle, is that it?”

  Leo’s mask of anger slipped. “Love muscle?”

  “And then we got interrupted, so you’re just done with me,” Jenna said. “I get it. Maybe I’m just trash to you, too.”

  She turned and started to move away, but a hand on her arm stopped her. Jenna raised her right fist, ready to punch Leo again, but his golden-flecked eyes were wide and appeasing. He held a finger to his lips and pointed down an alley, where a gray door was set into a stone wall.

  Jenna started to speak, but he hushed her again and pulled her quickly toward the door, keeping his steps silent on the gravel. Jenna hadn’t even noticed when they got into the Yazulian inhabited side of Luna’s barracks since everyone now had the same metal-stone hybrid buildings, but the gravel was always a dead giveaway.

  Leo pressed his hand to the door, and it blinked red before disappearing entirely. Jenna opened her mouth in shock, and by the time she’d gasped in surprise, she was already behind the barrier. She spun around as Leo pulled her into the room, and she could see out for a second—the half mile of gravel they covered before synthetic soil took over and the human barracks stood against the brilliant sky—then the door shimmered back into reality, becoming a barely discernible part of the frame.

  “Wow,” Jenna breathed. She turned to look at Leo and saw that he was grinning, enjoying her reaction to his high-tech entry way. “I’ve never seen a Yazulian door that worked that way. How long have you guys had this tech?”

  “As long as you guys have,” Leo said. He walked over to a plain black couch in the middle of the room and plopped onto it, gesturing for her to sit beside him. “There’s a fridge behind you, by the way. You haven’t eaten, and there’s some stuff you can have.”

  Jenna’s stomach was growling, but she couldn’t stop taking in the rest of the room. It wasn’t as plain as other barracks—it was in the wrong place, for one; they shouldn’t have reached Yazulian living space for three or four miles, but here was Leo’s room right at the edge of their territory and the humans’. It was also bigger than most single rooms, and it looked like it had been an office or even a storage room before; there was a door opposite the entrance that looked rather like a closet, and there were slim outlets everywhere. A bed was on the left side of the room about twenty feet from the couch, and a table took up the space to her right. She wandered over to the fridge and opened it, finally selecting a pre-wrapped sandwich and a cool canister of water before sitting at a rickety chair at the lonely table.

  “Are you still repulsed by me, or is it okay if I join you?” Leo was trying to keep his voice light, but Jenna could hear the hurt there, and she swore at herself.

  “No, it’s fine; I’m sorry.” Jenna pressed her hands over her eyes, feeling wear all of a sudden. “I just want to know what’s going on.”

  When she dropped her hands, Leo was standing next to the table, looking at her with a cautious expression. “What do you mean?”

  Jenna threw her hands up in exasperation. “You keep saying I’m ignorant of things, and you’re right. I am ignorant. I was blind to Lizzie’s love for Victor, I was blind to Victor’s love for her, I was blind to all the anger and despair I still had inside of me…and I’m blind to what’s really happening in this war, apparently.” She raised her steely eyes to his, forcing herself to meet the little spots of golden flame in eyes. “I used to think I knew everything. I don’t even know the first thing about myself. What else don’t I know about the world I live in?”

  Leo sighed, and relief settled into his features. He sat in the chair next to hers and folded his hands together. “Okay. Now you’re ready to know.”

  Jenna’s heart skipped a beat. “Know what?”

  He paused, and she almost wanted that pause to last forever; here in the pause, at least, she was relieved and not angry or hurt—neither of them were, in fact. Here, anything could be at the other end of that pause, even something wonderful, no matter how unlikely that could be. She was exhilarated and afraid all at once, but she was also faced with the terrifying knowledge that she was powerless to stop the progression of time; maybe that was why she suddenly lunged forward and kissed him.

  Maybe it was the fear that she was slipping down a terrible spiral of destruction that she couldn’t pull herself out of—a spiral so marked with defeat and desperation that the vibe was repelling everyone she knew. Maybe it was the suspicion that after this, nothing would ever be the same again, and Jenna desperately needed something to change after today. But as Leo’s hands stripped off his own clothes and peeled away her jumpsuit to slide against her skin for the first time, she knew the primary reason wasn’t any of these things. He lifted her and carried her to the bed, and he was so gentle while lowering himself over her lean body that she wondered how deep she had to go to see this softness all the time. His golden brown skin was illuminated so brightly that her paler peach-toned skin was shining, like the way moon glowed from the rays of the sun. He’s so beautiful, she thought, but she was too mesmerized to speak. She felt the hardness of him against her, hot and throbbing, and Jenna’s pulse started to pound in double time. She suddenly couldn’t stand the wait any longer. Her hands slipped along his muscled arms and the broad strength of his back, felt the resting energy of his body and the raw potential in his lusty eyes. Jenna shivered, and he smiled and lowered his face to hers.

  Leo kissed her, and the fullness of his lips surprised her; so did his tongue and its gentle, slow probing of her mouth. Her thighs were slick with juices as he pushed them apart with his strong hands, and Jenna closed her eyes when he pressed his long, golden member against her slick opening. She arched her back as his head slipped inside, crying out as the sharp pain quickly gave way to delicious pleasure.

  “You’re breathtaking,” he whispered in her ear, but she couldn’t respond; as he slid back and forth inside her, the pleasure from being filled so completely stole all thought from her mind, and she gasped instead, wrapping her long legs around his hips as he pulled himself out and rushed deep inside her again.

  “Leo!” Jenna moaned, pressing her face into his muscled chest as waves of pleasure shot through her body. She moved her slim hips upward against his eager strokes and started to pull on one of her nipples with her thumb and forefinger, sighing breathlessly at the sharp sensation.

  Leo moaned low in his throat and quickened his strokes, slamming his hips against hers as he drove his thick shaft deep inside her again and again. His hands reached behind her to cup her round ass, steadying her as he beat into her flesh with his and moaned deliriously. He was picking up speed with every stroke, and her round breasts were bouncing from the force of his thrusts. His gaze connected with hers and she felt her heart stop for a second before it kicked into overdrive; her walls started to clench around his shaft, and Jenna threw her head back, bucking her hips wildly against Leo’s passionate strokes as an orgasm ripped through her core.

  “Jenna!” Leo screamed, angling himself inside her. He was pounding against her g-spot, and the ecstasy was so intense that she couldn’t draw a deep breath. Leo was gasping as he emptied himself between her legs, twitching and rolling his hips weakly for a moment after he was spent. He gazed down at her, watching his long shaft disappear between her legs a few more times before he finally slowed to a stop. Then he pulled his head down and kissed her again, sighing happily before moving to lie beside her on the bed.

  Jenna stared at the ceiling, noting how different it looked from the cell, even though it was the same shade of gray. “Wow,” she said quietly.

  Leo laughed. “Why do I feel like you were more impressed by the door?”

  Jenna blushed and turned to him. “No, it’s not that…” she began, but she trailed off when she saw that he was joking.
She smiled, and it felt odd on her face—when was the last time she’d smiled like that?

  “You were wonderful,” she tried again. “And I’m sorry I interrupted you. But it felt so amazing that I’m wondering why I don’t feel like that more often.”

  “You don’t have sex?” Leo asked, his tone one of surprise.

  “I do sometimes,” Jenna said, blushing. “I’m 26, I’ve had boyfriends. I used to have casual sex with my friend Victor sometimes, and even with—” ‘my old commander,’ she started to say, but that hadn’t felt like sex with Victor. As matter of fact, Victor had been unlike anyone else she’d ever met, befriended, or lain with—until now. And their sex had been familiar and happy because of their strong friendship—and Jenna’s strong love, it turned out. But Victor didn’t love her; was that why sex with Leo had been different?

  But Leo doesn’t love you, she reminded herself. She looked at him, and he was gazing at her steadily, unashamed of his staring. He smiled easily, and her heart did an odd tumble in her chest; he made her feel giddy, but this wasn’t love yet. So, what was it? Why did he feel so right to her?

  It struck her then; it was because they were both carrying flame from the same burning branch—they were made from the same fury and resolve that made soft skin into scar tissue and turned sweet ciders into bitter brews. They were the same sort of person. Jenna lifted her eyes to his.

  “What did you decide I was ready to know?” she asked.

  Leo sat up and nodded, pulling his shirt from the floor to put it on again. He tossed her jumpsuit to her, and they both got dressed to sit on the couch again. The silence made Jenna nervous, and she pulled on her shoulder length curls as he gathered his thoughts and drew a breath to speak again, this time sitting much closer to her than before.

  Leo started to speak. “This war that’s happening isn’t real. It never was. It was always a front. My people approached humankind about their aggressive colonization attempts, not once, but three times; the third time was after a rogue branch of humans destroyed a sacred structure on a planet we’ve owned for centuries in a bid to gain ownership over it. They went unpunished, and when we demanded justice, we received none. Then we tried to break alliance, and were punished. That is when the war began, and it has finally been winding down. There was no coup, no attempt by the Yazulians to wrest power from Earth and take your soil. It was the other way around.”

  Jenna shook her head. “I don’t believe you.”

  Leo sighed. “I thought you wouldn’t. May I?” he raised his hand toward her head, but she moved away.

  “What are you doing?”

  “I can share knowledge with you,” Leo said, narrowing his eyes. “You didn’t learn this about us?”

  Jenna’s cheeks flamed red. “No, I…I didn’t learn that. They hardly taught us anything.” I wonder why that was? chimed a small voice in her head. Jenna squashed it, but her heart started racing nonetheless. “Okay,” she said nervously. “Share your knowledge.”

  Leo stretched his hand toward her forehead and placed his warm hands on her skin for the second time that day. A surge of electricity shimmered through her body, but it was nothing like the Gray Men’s prod—it was joyous, pleasant, light. Suddenly she was seeing a series of moving images, and sound cut in sharply, sharpening until she saw she was looking at a video. Then bile rose in her throat when she realized what it was: news clips of humans discussing the first strikes against Yazul, taken at a low angle that showed it was most likely from a spy cam. Six humans sat around a table wearing wrinkled suits, eyes glazed over from lack of sleep but listening intently to a slim man standing at the center of the room, shouting about putting Yazulians down in their place. More clips followed, but Jenna didn’t need to see more; she pulled away from Leo’s hand, gasping in psychic pain far greater than she’d ever been burdened with. How could we have let this happen? she thought, and then: there’s your answer. We let this happen.

  Jenna’s stomach soured with anxiety. “So…we’re the bad guys?”

  Leo swallowed, hard, as if he were fighting an urge to be sick. “I’m afraid so.”

  Why shouldn’t he be? said a small voice in her head. It sounds like Manifest Destiny 2.0. You are the real monster.

  “Your people are fixing it,” Leo said. “I’ll give them that. But they’re doing nothing to fix our image, and I’m afraid they won’t.”

  “They will,” Jenna said through gritted teeth. “They will if I have to make them.”

  Leo pressed a hand to her shoulder and squeezed it. “I was hoping you would say that.”

  Jenna looked at him sharply. “What do you mean?”

  “There’s a small faction of humans and a large percentage of Yazulians who want to push to bring back the original treaty,” Leo said, and his eyes glinted with excitement. “We want to be equal in every way. We don’t object to humans expanding—just doing it this way. There’s plenty of space for both of us, and we can share it all.”

  “That didn’t work the first time,” Jenna said anxiously. “Why would it work this time?”

  “This time we have more voices and more visibility,” Leo answered. “We already share space with you on Luna. If humans and Yazulians push for this on peaceful ground, we can start building the right path. I know it.”

  Jenna was silent. She studied Leo’s face, moved by the passion in his words and the fierce determination in his eyes. Only days ago, she’d hated him—and wouldn’t have objected to killing him, in fact—and now she was sitting with her leg pressed against his, even holding his hand again without even noticing. Leo was smiling without a trace of fear or apprehension—how could he be so confident? It reminded her of Victor, who was always trying to protect everyone around him by never showing his fear. But Leo didn’t think she needed protection; he didn’t seem to find her weak at all.

  Jenna nodded. “Okay. I’ll help.”

  ****

  Three months later, Luna looked like a different place. The war wasn’t over, but Yazulians were officially acknowledged as Earth’s partners in the insurgency against the remaining rebel forces. More than half of the forces were back at their home planets, and it was all thanks to Leo’s faction of determined Yazulians, and Jenna’s leadership of the humans. Now that so many barracks weren’t needed, the space was being transitioned into a joint city—the very first of its kind.

  Jenna herself had spoken at the meeting in favor of it being built, and she was astounded at how fast everything was moving. Gray Men were everywhere during the transition, but fights were uncommon after the first week, and the atmosphere relaxed. Jenna noticed some of the Gray Men seemed to glow softly through their clothing; when she asked Leo about it, he explained that Yazulian’s weren’t allowed to be Gray Men before, due to their status as war criminals.

  “What?” Jenna was dumbfounded, but she kept reminded herself that there was still much she didn’t know. Every day she learned something new; more Yazulian words, cuisine customs on their home planet, even variations of the diverse music they had throughout their cultures. She sampled desserts and stews, meat pies and rubbery plants that were bitter or sweet depending on how you cooked them. Her favorite thing to learn had been Leo’s Second Name: Lilliya, a name than indicated his homeland stretched next to shimmering waters, a green land pressing against the sky to hold back the sun.

  Jenna had laughed, and when she told him the definition of Horizon, he laughed, too.

  The biggest thing she learned was how quickly she could fall in love, and how different it should be from what she’d felt before. It was painless and wild, but still deep and passionate and everything she’d ever wanted from another person. That this person happened to be a Yazulian was no longer a concern for her; as her duties changed and she and Leo grew more in love, her only concern began to be how much longer she could keep dreaming before she had to wake up.

  The Yazulian barracks were being repainted to resemble their home world structures, all done in metallic shades of
every color imaginable: gleaming white, shimmering apple green, slick cherry red, polished gold, and even a glistening onyx that Jenna was particularly fond of. Some of the humans were following suit, and some were shipping back to Earth—but, most surprisingly, many humans were moving into the new Yazulian barracks in order to make new homes with their lovers.

  “I had no idea we had this many inter-species relationships!” Jenna told Leo excitedly one day. Her brigade had been transitioned to ground duty, so she was one of the humans who moved in with their partner. They’d gotten a larger bed and better furniture, and the space looked cozy and warm, even with its cool stone walls. “Did you?”

  Leo smiled and averted his eyes. “Well…”

  Jenna gasped. “You did! How did this never come up before?”

  He shrugged sheepishly and slid one arm around her waist, stealing one of the berries from her sundae. “I guess none of the Yazulians or humans were comfortable with you knowing. I’ve known other Yazulians who dated humans. It’s secret, but not unheard of.” He noticed her expression and started to back-peddle. “But, uh…I’m sure lots of people didn’t know. I’m sure that—”

  “Leo, it’s fine,” Jenna said, and she smiled to show him she meant it. “I’m just glad I know now. I spent a long time letting myself be this…hateful person who didn’t believe they were worthy of love. But that changed when I met you.” Tears threatened to spill over her lashes, but for once, they were happy ones. “I’m a new person now, with an opportunity to create this brand new history. You made that happen.”

  “Only because you made that happen,” Leo said, gesturing outside.

  “We did that together,” Jenna insisted, snuggling against him.

  She heard the smile in his voice as he spoke. “Yeah, we did,” he said bashfully. “I guess we make a pretty good team.”

  THE END

  Chosen Alien Bride