by Rachel Clark
Claimed 2
Claimed by Aliens: Dria-coldar’s Dilemma
Felicity Hogan has been denying her love for Chris Watts for most of her life, but when he barges into her workplace and hustles her out of there, claiming she’s in danger, she has no idea what life might bring next. But aliens running from the government sure wasn’t it.
Daku, Naith, and Ben watched their dria-coldar, Reyne, murdered in front of their eyes. If Chris hadn’t been there to help, it was likely none of them would still be alive. But when the same men start tracking down everyone Chris knew, there’s no way they can leave Felicity defenseless.
Yet, even as they scramble to keep their family together, an interplanetary conspiracy starts to unravel around them, bringing danger to their doorstep.
Can Daku, Chris, Naith, Ben, and Felicity convince Reyne’s domineering brother, Zed, that a Jernodrian family pod doesn’t need to be traditional to work before the humans trying to capture them kill Zed, too?
Genre: Contemporary, Ménage a Trois/Quatre, Science Fiction
Length: 34,257 words
CLAIMED BY ALIENS
Dria-coldar's Dilemma
Claimed 2
Rachel Clark
LOVEXTREME
Siren Publishing, Inc.
www.SirenPublishing.com
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A SIREN PUBLISHING BOOK
IMPRINT: LoveXtreme
Claimed by Aliens: Dria-coldar's Dilemma
Copyright © 2013 by Rachel Clark
E-book ISBN: 978-1-62740-697-0
First E-book Publication: November 2013
Cover design by Harris Channing
All art and logo copyright © 2013 by Siren Publishing, Inc.
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Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright Page
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
About the Author
CLAIMED BY ALIENS:
DRIA-COLDAR’S DILEMMA
Claimed 2
RACHEL CLARK
Copyright © 2013
Prologue
Mason Riggs was just doing his job.
Already the government agency he worked for had several reports of humans disappearing without a trace, their supposed movements unable to be proven as the paper trail ended. Every single report included references to a group of four men who arrived from places unknown, seduced a couple of humans—male or female, it didn’t seem to matter to them—and then left for destinations they never reached.
It was Ryan’s job to protect people, and despite the outrageous rumors at the agency that the four men might be alien—as in little-green-men from outer space—in origin, he was determined to see them caught. Once they had the men in custody they’d be able to uncover whatever it was they were hiding and hopefully be able to dismantle what was most likely a human trafficking syndicate. Just because the victims seemed to leave willingly, it didn’t mean they weren’t in need of rescuing.
Right now Mason sat in the front seat of his vehicle watching the main entrance of the building a woman named Chloe Frost worked in. They’d been monitoring her and her roommate for quite some time, fairly certain that they were the syndicate’s next targets. It seemed by the movements of the past three weeks that they’d been absolutely right. Chloe had resigned her job and Kyle had stopped working weeks ago. They could both disappear off their radar any day now. If the agency was going to ensure their safety, Mason and his teammates had to move immediately.
He was surprised to notice the two agents, who’d gone inside to collect Chloe, leave the building empty handed. Obviously something was wrong. He stepped out of his car, stood up, and quickly swept his gaze around the parking lot. He was still trying to figure out what was happening when he spotted the vehicle of one of their targets parked not far from him. He closed the door of his own car and casually headed toward the parked truck.
The sudden explosion threw him backward even as flames engulfed him.
The landing was damn hard, but it was the lack of pain that frightened him the most. Surely burns of that magnitude should hurt like hell. It wasn’t until several of his coworkers reached him and one offered him a hand up that he realized he wasn’t burned at all.
“You are one lucky bastard,” the man said jovially as he helped Mason to his feet. “Another second and you might have been close enough to be charred remains.”
Mason nodded slowly as he glanced back at the now flaming wreckage of the vehicle he’d been near. He wasn’t just lucky. Hell, there was no way he should have survived. He’d been less than two feet away when the windows had exploded, showering everything with glass, but he didn’t have a cut or scratch or even—he checked in a car’s side mirror to be certain—a singed hair on
his head.
Whatever the hell had saved him, it hadn’t been dumb luck.
Chapter One
It was the communication everyone dreads. The one that changes a family’s whole world.
Zed stared at the words over and over, somehow hoping that he’d misread what it meant. He’d missed his brother a lot over the past three cycles—they’d always been close, having been born into the same family pod on the same day—but he’d taken comfort in the knowledge that Reyne was following his dreams and building his family. As soon as he found and claimed suitable human podmates he was supposed to come home.
But that dream had been shattered in one cruel blow.
“Why are you up?” Zed’s lover asked as he sashayed into the main area of the apartment, his hair perfectly set, his glorious body barely covered under clothes chosen to accent his best assets. After a few moments he gave Zed a furious look, planted his hands on his hips, and glared stubbornly, apparently taking offense to Zed’s silence.
Zed opened his mouth to explain but no words came out.
“You’re cheating on me, aren’t you?” his lover yelled in a spectacular display of instant rage. “I knew I couldn’t fucking trust you. You’ve probably got a yala-coldar in every space-port.”
The hysterical rant faded into the background, Zed’s unclaimed yala-coldar’s behavior not truly unexpected. It was why Zed hadn’t claimed him yet. Why he’d hesitated. He’d always dreamed of finding a yala-coldar who would love and support him and the rest of their family, but the instinct to protect seemed to be missing in this one. Too bad the selfish, self-centered man came in such a pretty wrapping.
But as the screaming escalated to smashing stuff, it threw a lot of things into perspective.
Without Reyne, his brother’s family was vulnerable. The fact that they were still on Earth and unwilling to leave behind a human they knew made things even more dangerous. Zed had seen the communication reports about a group of Earthlings who seemed to be aware of the Jernodrian presence on their planet. He knew that staying to protect the human Reyne’s husbands had contact with was a noble idea, and something his brother probably would have wanted, but it made things even more dangerous for them all, especially Reyne’s yala-coldar. Until the human was claimed by a dria-coldar they couldn’t even leave the planet, and without Reyne that would never happen.
Zed had never thought of himself as the self-sacrificing type, but his brother’s family needed his help. They needed a dria-coldar to lead and protect them in the traditional way of a Jernodrian family. It was the right thing to do. He’d catch the next transport to Earth, help them to find a safe place for the human to live out his life, and then escort them home where they were safe.
Decision made, he turned his attention back to his current live-in lover.
The screaming and smashing had finally dissolved into fretful crying. Zed lifted the man into his arms and carried him back to the bed they’d been sharing. “I need to go,” he said in a calm, almost monotone voice.
“Back to your whores?” the man asked in a spiteful, hate-filled voice.
Zed ignored that, knowing from experience that his denials would do no good.
“I have to go to Earth to collect my brother’s family.”
“What? Is he a cheating liar, too?” the man asked in a tone that was practically snarled. Right at that moment Zed couldn’t remember any of the reasons why he’d stayed with this yala-coldar for so long. He shook his head, wondering why he hadn’t seen the truly ugly personality behind the man’s pretty face.
“I’ll be gone for several cycles, maybe longer, but even when I get home, I won’t be coming back.”
The abuse that followed him as he packed his belongings only reinforced that he was doing the right thing. He left the apartment without another word and with absolutely no regrets.
* * * *
Felicity Hogan glanced over to see her brother’s best friend loitering in the doorway. It was obvious that he didn’t fit in with the people currently wandering through the art gallery, but it was equally obvious that he didn’t really care.
Black jeans and a torn black T-shirt covered his slender, toned body, and a deep brooding expression covered his face. He had an air of mystery about him, the type of bad-boy image many women fell for. But not Felicity. She’d known Chris Watts his entire life.
She’d watched him grow from a skinny, underfed, unloved child into an angry teenager whose idea of a good time was to drink and raise hell. Over the years her parents had reached out to him, trying to give him a sense of belonging his own family had been unable to provide, but it had been her brother’s and parents’ unexpected deaths that had changed the frightened, angry boy into a dangerous-looking man.
Felicity wasn’t even sure what he did these days—and sometimes she figured she was better off not knowing—but without fail he checked in on her at least twice a week. And he always seemed to know when she needed a friend.
But two months ago he’d disappeared without a trace.
As much as she wanted to race over and hug the man close or berate him for disappearing on her—she’d make up her mind when she got there—she was at work and she needed this damn job. He tilted his head toward her office at the back of the gallery in a clear indication that he wanted to talk. She nodded, held her finger up to signal she needed one minute, and quickly turned back to the client she’d been dealing with.
It took way longer than one minute, but he was leaning against her desk when she got there, his ankles and arms crossed, the very picture of relaxed alpha male. She knew enough about him to know it was a carefully created façade. Well mostly. The guy was alpha through and through but he was rarely relaxed.
“Hey, beautiful,” he said with a wide smile and a quick hug. “Ready to run away with me yet?”
Felicity rolled her eyes at his teasing. Ever since her brother’s death six years ago Chris had been offering to help her out, or help her run away, whatever she preferred. It was nice that he cared, but she’d always taken it the way it was meant—as a bit of fun. She was four years older than him and despite the fact that she was now twenty-nine and he twenty-five she couldn’t quite release the image of Chris as her kid-brother’s best friend. Her friends had all told her she was crazy not to fall for him—he was a decent guy under the bad-boy image—but she didn’t want to risk losing the closest relationship she had just for a bit of slap and tickle.
Besides, he was bisexual, often dating both sexes at the same time, and she, uptight college graduate, prim gallery worker, and dreamer of a traditional marriage that he usually teased her of being, didn’t like to share.
“Where have you been?”
He grinned broadly and winked suggestively. “Around,” he said casually.
“Well next time you decide to go wandering, do me a favor and call once in a while.”
“How about I promise just to take you with me next time?”
She smiled and shook her head, but glanced anxiously at her watch, very aware that she was on borrowed time. “Chris, I have a gallery to run and I’m in the middle of an invite-only exhibition. Can we maybe catch up another day?”
Chris winced, but he shook his head, and for a moment seemed more serious than she’d ever known him to be.
“Sorry, sweet cheeks, but this can’t wait. I have a situation brewing and it would be safer for you to leave town for a while.”
She laughed softly, surprised he’d been able to say something like that without wearing his usual teasing smile.
“Unfortunately, Flick,” he said, using the nickname she’d thought she’d left back in her childhood, “I really must insist. I need to know you’re safe.”
She shook her head again, her stomach feeling hollow when his expression didn’t change.
“H–How would your situation affect me? We’re just friends.”
“No, Felicity, we’re much more than that and you know it.” He moved to stand right in front of her. “I’
m sorry, baby, but they know it, too.”
“Who are ‘they’?” she asked, still uncertain how seriously she should take this conversation. Chris and her brother, Troy, had taken extraordinary teenage delight in playing pranks on her when they’d been growing up.
He moved suddenly, almost slamming her against her desk, putting himself between her and the entry as her office door opened. He relaxed slightly when he seemed to recognize the new arrival.
“Sorry, babe,” the man said as he stepped into the room, “we just ran out of time.”
“They’re here?” Chris asked as he pulled a handgun from the back of his jeans. “Damn it. I thought we’d have more time.”
“We knew they’d make the connection sooner or later, but the important thing is we got here first.”
“Is Dak—”
“He’s in place,” the new man said, quickly cutting off whatever question Chris had been about to ask. “We should be able to walk out the front door without being seen, but we need to be prepared for anything.”
“Sorry, Flick,” Chris said as he wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her close. “I’ll explain everything once we get you to safety.”
“You better,” she said, reaching for her handbag. Hell, if this was the type of prank he and Troy had played when they were younger, she would be furious. She was going to lose her job for walking out in the middle of an exhibition.
She squeaked in confusion and then outrage when Chris grabbed her handbag, tipped the contents onto her desk, and started pawing through the pile. He separated out her cell phone, her tablet, her e-reader—hell, no wonder her shoulder hurt after carrying that bag all day—her car keys and then started going through her wallet. He pulled out every credit card and her driver’s license and quickly slid them into a flat steel box that he then pushed back into his jeans pocket.