Table of Contents
Lokos: Albaterra Mates Book 4
Prologue
Lokos
Celine
Badass Luke
Make Your Own Story
Khrel
Lena
Also by Ashley L. Hunt
About the Author
Lokos: Albaterra Mates Book 4
A Scifi Alien Romance
Ashley L. Hunt
Copyright © 2017 by Ashley L. Hunt
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
For My Loyal And New Fans!
Firstly, I would like to thank you so much for downloading this book. I am truly honoured by this!
This is the 4th Complete story in the “Albaterra Mates” series. This can be read as a standalone but you will enjoy the full experience when you will read the other as well!
Rex - Albaterra Mates 1
Duke - Albaterra Mates 2
Dane - Albaterra Mates 3
Lokos - Albaterra Mates 4
Next Stories are coming up:
Khrel - Albaterra Mates 5
Zuran - Albaterra Mates 6
Venan - Albaterra Mates 7
I have also Included a special sneak peak from Albaterra Mates 5, Khrel, that you will not find anywhere else!
Fasten your seatbelt and let’s travel to a new world!
Contents
Prologue
1. Lokos
2. Celine
3. Lokos
4. Celine
5. Lokos
6. Celine
7. Lokos
8. Celine
9. Lokos
10. Celine
11. Lokos
12. Celine
13. Lokos
14. Celine
15. Lokos
16. Celine
17. Lokos
18. Celine
19. Lokos
20. Celine
21. Lokos
22. Celine
23. Lokos
24. Celine
25. Lokos
26. Celine
27. Lokos
28. Celine
29. Lokos
30. Celine
Badass Luke
Make Your Own Story
Khrel
1. Khrel
2. Lena
Also by Ashley L. Hunt
About the Author
Prologue
A year has passed since the peace treaty ended the war between humans and A’li-uud, thus beginning the Age of the Sun. Indifferent co-existence has since become a friendly alliance between the two races. Albaterra and its blue-skinned alien natives host nearly a thousand human colonists while three-hundred A’li-uud reside on Earth as advisors, political representatives, and trade merchants. The Elder Council and the Board of Universal Exploration and Operations work closely together to establish cooperative travel routes and negotiate resource shares, as well as ensure continued satisfaction with the alliance on both sides.
But the renaissance will be short-lived. A storm is brewing, and a new threat looms in the shadows…
1
Lokos
Large, white eyes bore into me like stakes, piercing my soul and burrowing deep into my mind. I didn’t blink. My body was crouched low to the ground, knees bent, and feet spread wide in a catlike stance. My fingers were splayed across iced snow as if they were claws. I shifted my weight from one foot to the other and kept my gaze fixed on the opponent before me. I was prepared for the fight.
He struck first, springing into the air with agile grace. His wiry form twisted as he descended, and his fist crashed into my temple, blurring my vision slightly. I flattened my chest to the ground to avoid the second blow and rolled head-over-heels between his legs until I was righted again. His sheet of pearlescent hair twirled out around him as he spun to face me, but I had the advantage. My hand was around his throat before he could react, and I threw him to the ground like a piece of cloth.
It wasn’t over so easily. He curved into a graceful arc, leveraging his weight on the back of his shoulders and vaulting up onto his feet. A low growl rolled from his throat, which I matched with one of my own, and we began circling one another, eyes locked and muscles flexed. This time, I lunged first. I leaped forward and plunged my fist toward his jaw, but he dodged the attack and swooped low to catch me by the knees. I felt his arm hook around my legs and wrench, and I was thrown onto my back to the brick of snow beneath me. All breath rocketed from my lungs, leaving me gasping, but I rolled to the side in time to avoid his next onslaught. His knees cracked against the unyielding ice, and he roared in pain.
I hopped upright and swiveled to launch myself at him. My movements were quick and seamless, allowing me to curl my arm around his neck and press the crease of my elbow into the thick of his throat. His arms shot up, his fingers embedding into my mane, and he slammed my forehead into his skull, but I held tight. I felt his nails raking my scalp, tearing at my flesh and follicles. My eyes swam as I secured my free arm over my other and tightened my vise, and I heard his breath becoming shaggier and shallower with each passing second.
Suddenly, a shadow flooded over us, drowning us in dimmed light. I whipped my head around to see a pale-skinned and limber someone approaching, and, in my moment of vulnerability, he jerked my head down again. This time, it was enough to jar me into releasing him. He scrambled away on his hands and knees, and then we were eye-to-eye once more. We stared at each other, hackles raised and teeth bared. Then, without warning, I relaxed and straightened up.
“Good,” I said approvingly. “Very good.”
The warrior lowered his defenses, though his shoulders remained tense. “Thank you, Chief.”
“Your strike is strong and fairly polished, but we need to further develop your defensive skills,” I told him. “For now, you may return to the barracks. I will pass my assessment to your headman.”
“Thank you, Chief,” he said again, inclining his head respectfully toward me before exiting the arena.
I turned to address the bringer of the shadow and saw it was Silah, my Chief Regent. He watched me scale the arena railing with a small smirk on his thin mouth and a sparkle in his ivory eyes.
“I was watching you,” he said with a hint of aggravating amusement in his tone. “It pains me to say so, Lokos, but I think you may be losing your touch. Heddek could have had you several times over if he had recognized the opportunities.”
“We were training. I would have no warriors if I killed them all in the drill,” I replied dismissively.
I began walking, my boots crunching the chunks of ice that littered the stone path into flakes. Silah fell into step beside me. “I was sent to tell you the next group of colonists is due to arrive shortly. The ship has been sighted in orbit, and they are preparing to breach the boundaries of the atmosphere. Dane has asked we be onsite for the landing.”
“Elder De’inde,” I corrected, throwing a sharp glance in his direction.
Silah frowned. “I apologize. It has been difficult to adjust to Dane becoming Elder and you Chief.”
“You have had a year to adjust, Silah. Even if you fail to address me properly, I insist you demonstrate due respect to our Elder,” I said sternly.
“I will do better in the future, Chief,” he countered, the smirk back on his face.
The path came to a fork, and we simultaneously swerved to the left
. While Silah was brawny and built, I was lithe and lean, but our strides were matched and our footfalls synchronized to echo a single pair of steps off the steep mountain faces surrounding us. If not for the snow, it would have sounded as though we were traversing a wide, open expanse, but the wintery blanket beneath us and the thick clusters of conifers decorating the landscape instead provided a rather cozy series of reverberations.
We continued in silence until we reached the clearing designated as the landing zone. Once there, we took point behind two particularly large trees with needles as long as my palm for safety and prepared to witness the ship’s incoming.
“I assume the Fifth Ward has been readied for the new arrivals?” I asked absently, my gaze fixed on the clearing’s centermost region.
“Yes,” Silah replied. He tugged several needles from a shimmering green sprig dangling near his cheek. “And the Colonist Headquarters finished construction yesterday.”
“Good.” I peered through the canopy of peaks above me, squinting through the blinding white sunlight for any sign of the ship. “General Morgan has been no less difficult despite the finished Headquarters, I presume.”
“Not in the least,” he said sourly.
“Perhaps the newcomers will change his attitude.”
Silah snorted. “I doubt it. Although, he has been going on about finally having some women of his own kind around. As if we need the likes of him breeding.”
I opened my mouth to reply with an equally sarcastic comment when a dark, hazy dot pierced the smooth, turquoise heavens. Lifting a hand to shield my eyes, I watched it grow from the size of a speck to a fingernail, but its details remained unidentifiable. Silah glanced upward as well, and we awaited the ship’s descent to the clearing together without further exchange.
All at once, a brilliant orange glow burst out from around the craft and blossomed across the aqua welkin. There was a moment in which the ship seemed to freeze in midair, simply hanging motionlessly, and then it started to fall. With each passing second, it gathered more and more speed until it was careening toward us like an arrow to prey, and my heart jolted as my impending peril dawned on me.
“Move!” I shouted, seizing Silah’s arm and yanking him forward.
A high-pitched tinny filled the air, growing louder until it was a painful, incessant shriek in my ears. I heard the bass notes of roaring flames beneath the screech as Silah and I sprinted through the thicket of trees. Compared to the noise of the hurtling ship, our pounding footsteps were inaudible, and I was barely aware of my hoarse heaving breaths.
Then, there was a great blast, and I was thrown off my feet completely.
2
Celine
I couldn’t breathe.
The sight before me was so gorgeous, so intense, so vividly ethereal, that I was unable to move. My nose was squashed against the thick pane of reinforced glass with my fingers splayed in a reptilian pose, but I didn’t care. I drank in the vision like it was water and I was a woman dying of thirst.
Rich cerulean buttered the surface of a massive orb, painted with strokes of animated lavender flourishes. The planet seemed as smooth as the glass against which my face was pressed, but I could see the ridged outlines of snow-capped mountain ranges and the divots of broad seas that textured the surface. I was riveted by the vibrant emerald landmasses, splintered with golden-sanded deserts and mahogany rock formations, and I was unable to tear my eyes from the way the entire sphere seemed to gleam in the aura of the alabaster sun it orbited. As if all that wasn’t perfect enough, the planet was set against black, endless space pinpricked with scattered clusters of stars. I was captivated.
My reverie was broken as a tall, tanned, toned blonde appeared by my side. She glanced out the window before nudging my arm with her elbow. “Celine,” she said in a low, uncertain voice. “What are you doing?”
I flicked my gaze to her. “It’s so beautiful, Donna. I never could’ve imagined it would be this beautiful,” I answered, turning back to the dreamlike scene.
“I was picturing a grungy gray kind of place, myself,” she admitted. “Like the moon.”
“Well, you were way, way off,” I murmured.
“Yeah,” she said, slightly disinterested. “Did you hear the captain’s announcement? We’re supposed to strap in.”
I nodded. “I just can’t stop looking.”
Donna wrapped her fingers around my upper arm and tugged. “Too bad. If you don’t strap in, you’ll explode on the ceiling and never see anything again, beautiful or otherwise. Come on.”
I was reluctant to obey, but I knew she was right and allowed her to lead me away from the window. We walked side-by-side from the deserted observatory into the equally deserted corridor at a rather accelerated pace. I could feel Donna’s anxiety about potentially finding ourselves unrestrained when the ship moved in for landing, but I didn’t share her fear.
“I still feel like this is a dream sometimes,” I told her as we strode down the narrow hall. “It’s surreal to be here.”
“What, aboard a spaceship bound for an alien planet?” she asked teasingly.
“Yeah,” I replied, still serious and musing. “I mean, who imagines their life turning out this way?”
“You know, there’s going to be a ton of men there,” Donna said. Her cheeks were pink with excitement, her eyes glittering. “And they’re all military. The last four colonist drops were just to establish a militant human force. We’re the first civilians to be sent to Albaterra. Do you realize what that means?”
I crooked a brow at her as we rounded into our designated launch pod. The other six crewmembers assigned to the pod were already in their seats, strapped and belted within an inch of their lives. The two chairs at the rear meant for Donna and me were empty and waiting. “That there’s a lot of B.O. and bad manners to look forward to?” I quipped, winding my way through the others to my allotted place.
She began looping the bands of her sturdy harness over her feminine figure. “It means testosterone,” she hissed delightedly. “Lots and lots of testosterone. Some of these guys haven’t seen a human woman in a year.”
I grinned, mirroring her actions with my own harness and straps. “That’s pretty much what I said.”
“That’s fine, make your jokes,” Donna dismissed carelessly. She clicked a belt into place between her thighs. “We’ll see how funny you think it is when you’re completely helpless to the sheer sexuality oozing everywhere. They’re like walking aphrodisiacs.”
“No, I think you mean we’re the walking aphrodisiacs. Or, at least, you are.”
Donna gave me a look that clearly expressed her annoyance at my comment. “Please.”
“I’m serious!” I insisted, snapping my last piece into place and settling back into the ergonomic chair. “You’re a personal trainer, for God’s sake. Blonde and tall and leggy. You’re basically California Barbie. Plus, you can kick the crap out of anyone who pisses you off. What’s not to love?”
“I know all that. I meant that you need to give yourself more credit.” I heard her wriggling in her seat, trying to get comfortable, but I kept my head pressed back against the headrest in preparation for landing. “You’ve got the kind of ass that makes guys sweat more than any workout I can put them through. And you’ve got those innocent doe-eyes men love so much. Besides, you’re a nutritionist, which means you know how to stay healthy without losing your rack. I went from a solid C-cup to a low B when I started training, you know.”
Her displeasure in her chest size was evident in her voice, but I couldn’t stop myself from laughing. Donna was a character, and I adored her for it. When I’d accepted a position at Last Stop Fitness in Baltimore after graduating with my shiny new degree, Donna had been the first person I’d met. Three years later, we were the best of friends. It had been thanks to her, in fact, that I had found myself onboard the Conquest now, preparing to begin a life as a human colonist on a planet in another galaxy filled with aliens that, frankly, terrified me.
She’d bounded into my office one day and demanded I pull up NASA’s website. They were requesting volunteers of various qualifications to become the next colonists to venture into the depths of space and take up residence on the A’li-uud planet of Albaterra. One of the requests was for a nutritionist to help develop suitable diets from the alien resources. Twenty minutes later, I was filling out the online form for additional information with Donna leaning over my shoulder.
There was a crackling sound overhead as the intercom turned on, and the captain’s voice boomed through the recessed speaker. If I weren't practically immobile from the number of restraints I’d had to put on myself, it would have been easy to imagine I was on an airplane.
“Ladies and gentlemen, we are about to commence our descent into Albaterra. Please be aware the atmosphere is noticeably denser than Earth’s. It’s likely we’ll suffer some turbulence. Additionally, we will be landing in the kingdom of Montemba, which is a snowy region. It’s possible we will encounter blizzard-like conditions, which could increase any turbulence we experience. Please ensure you’re properly strapped in according to NASA standards for the safety of yourselves and those around you. We will reach ground in approximately four minutes. Thank you.”
I twisted my head without lifting it from the headrest to glance once more at Donna. Her fingers were curled around her armrests so tightly her knuckles were white, and I could see the muscles in her forearms repeatedly flexing with nerves. I rolled my head back into place and closed my eyes.
Lokos: A Scifi Alien Romance: Albaterra Mates Book 4 Page 1