by Tana Stone
At that moment, the door burst open, and a slim woman with long, brown hair rushed in, followed by a woman at least a foot taller, with blue hair, and a short man who reminded Katie of a small ringmaster in his fuchsia suit. They were all talking at once, and the blue-haired lady was fluttering her hands.
“I’m so sorry we’re late,” the brown-haired woman said. “We were supposed to be here when you woke up.”
“To ease the transition,” the blue-haired lady said, holding out a hand. “I’m Reina, your liaison.” She glanced over at Zayn and smiled. “I see you two have already met.”
“Not really,” Katie said. “I still don’t know where I am, or what he’s doing here.”
“Well, isn’t this perfect?” the short man said. “I told you, we should’ve taken her to the director.”
“No way,” Brown Hair said. “When I met the director, she freaked me out. I told you, this way would be better.”
“I still prefer the game show,” Reina said. “It was much more festive.”
Brown Hair rolled her eyes. “It was archaic.”
“She doesn’t know?” Zayn closed the distance between them in a few long strides.
“Know what?” Katie asked, feeling her confusion quickly being replaced with impatience. “Are you all with a magazine or a website?”
“Don’t be silly,” the colorfully dressed man said. “I’m Serge, your wedding planner.”
“I’m sorry, what?” Katie looked from face to face, but none of them broke into a laugh as if it was a joke.
“I still say the game show did it better,” mumbled Reina.
“Why do I need a wedding planner?” Katie asked. “My boyfriend just dumped me and stole all my stuff. I think you’ve got the wrong girl.”
“Your name is Katie Bishop, right?” The woman with long hair asked, glancing down at a tablet and scrolling across with one finger.
“Yes,” Katie said. “But I think I’d know if I was engaged.”
“You’d think, wouldn’t you?” Serge drawled, as he looked her up and down and began to circle her.
Katie looked back at the woman with the tablet and something clicked in the back of her brain. “You’re Mandy Talbot.” She snapped her fingers and pointed. “You disappeared.” She put her hands on her hips and glared at Mandy. “You’re the reason my life is ruined.”
Mandy smiled at her. “I know. That’s why they I insisted they bring you up here. I knew you’d be the perfect tribute bride. It sure beats staying on Earth and being framed for my disappearance, am I right?”
“Tribute what?” Katie asked, bewildered. “And what does that mean, ‘staying on Earth’?”
“A tribute bride for the Drexian warriors,” Mandy replied. “Let me explain. See, it all started about thirty years ago when Earth was about to be invaded by these really bad aliens called the Kronock. Disgusting creatures and nothing like the Drexians, who are also aliens but are extremely hot, FYI. The Drexians made a deal to protect us, and in return, Earth agreed to give them women to marry.” She put a hand on Katie’s arm and leaned in. “The Drexians ran out of women, or couldn’t produce more, or something. So ever since then, they’ve been bringing Earth women up to this space station called the Boat for their warriors to marry.”
Katie stared at her. “So what you’re telling me is you went insane and ran off, right? And now you’ve kidnapped me, and concocted a crazy plot with these…” She waved a hand in the air. “People.”
Mandy laughed. “I know it’s a lot to take in. I felt the same way you did, at first. As a matter of fact, I was a lot less pleasant than you are. The long and short of it is that once you’re picked to be a tribute bride, there’s no going back. Can you imagine the chaos that would be caused if women returned to Earth and told everyone about the aliens who wanted to invade us, and the big, gorgeous aliens who are protecting us?”
“So you’re telling me I’m one of these tribute brides?” Katie asked.
“That’s right.” Reina clapped her hands together. “You are matched with him.” She pointed to Zayn, who’d walked to the edge of the balcony and was leaning on the wooden railing. “Isn’t it exciting?”
Zayn turned around and looked at her again, his brows pressed together. Unless she’d lost her touch reading people, he wasn’t any happier about this than she was.
Without a word, he walked past her and out of the suite. Well, there was her answer.
Chapter Five
Zayn stomped along the wooden pathway leading away from the suite. They hadn’t told her. Hadn’t explained anything to her. It was clear the human had no desire to take a mate. Much less him.
He fisted his hands by his side. She was too pretty and delicate anyway, with her smooth skin and soft curves. And he’d never seen hair the color of flame before. Her wondered what the mass of curls felt like, and imagined running his fingers through them, then gave his head a rough shake. She wouldn’t want his callused hands touching her, and she definitely wouldn’t want to be matched with someone like him. A disgraced warrior.
Not to mention, she’d already complained about being walked out on by another man. Zayn knew that as a soldier the chances he’d have to do the same were pretty high. He’d have to leave her to go on missions, and there was always a chance he wouldn’t return. He hated the thought of abandoning anyone, or being responsible for anyone else’s loss. He knew loss, understood loss, and would not be the reason for this female to experience any more of it.
He took the inclinator to the top floor, and found his way to the officers’ club. He’d been in the warriors-only bar a few times during his short stay on the station, but it never ceased to impress him. Unlike most of the station, which was bright and white with lots of breathtaking, holographic vistas, this bar relied on nothing but a wide wall of high, curved windows looking out into space. Even though several warriors stood along the bar and others sat together at tables, the conversation was merely a low hum, interspersed with the sound of clinking glasses.
Zayn let his eyes adjust to the lower lighting and dark furniture, the only illumination coming from the artificial candles placed on each small, square table, and spaced down the length of the polished, black-lacquer bar. After being held in a dank cell, this club actually felt more comfortable to him than the wide skies and open-tented suite of the holographic environment he’d just come from. The Safari Wing, he reminded himself.
Zayn knew the space station had an entire division devoted to creating the holographic worlds for the tribute brides, but he’d never imagined something as elaborate as the one he’d been sent to. He assumed the environment was taken from a place on Earth, but he found it hard to imagine something as beautiful as that being real. The Drexian home world had been all but decimated generations ago, which was one of the reasons his people had taken to space and become such successful warriors. They’d learned to fight and defend themselves after their planet was ruined by invaders. Vowing never to lose anything again, the Drexians became known throughout the galaxy as fierce and fearless fighters.
Zayn considered himself one of these fearless warriors. Then why did he feel so afraid when he thought about taking a mate? He scraped a hand through his hair and gazed out the window.
“What’s your poison?” the bartender called out.
Zayn turned and walked to the bar. Maybe a drink would help. He recognized the heavyset man with light-green skin as an Allurian; one of the species the Drexians had saved from the Kronock. In his time aboard the station, he’d noticed a number of aliens from rescued civilizations.
“A Cressidian gin.” Zayn allowed himself a small smile when the bartender pushed the glass of pale-pink liquid toward him. It had been a long time since he’d tasted good Cressidian gin. He took a drink and felt the burn all the way down to his stomach.
“You look like you’ve got the weight of the galaxy on your shoulders,” the bartender said, as he wiped a cloth across the polished surface of the bar.
; Zayn shrugged. “Nothing I can’t handle.”
The bartender nodded. “We get a lot of mated warriors here. The human females are attractive, but from what I hear, it isn’t always easy.”
“It’s not that,” Zayn said. “I’ve barely spoken two words to her, but I know I shouldn’t be the one matched with her.”
“Any reason why not?”
He thought it should be obvious. The bartender could see his scars and must have heard about the warrior who’d returned without the rest of his team. “I don’t think I’d be good for anyone.”
The bartender didn’t respond.
“My last mission didn’t go so well. I lost people. I was the only one to come back.”
“Survivor’s guilt?” The bartender poured more gin into his glass. “That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be matched up.”
“My job is dangerous,” Zayn said. “There’s a good chance I’d make this human a widow. It’s not fair to her.” He didn’t say that it also wasn’t a loss he was willing to risk. The sight of her had stirred protective urges in him, as well as desire, and that scared him.
“Not many Drexian warriors have desk jobs,” the bartender said. “Taking a mate is always a risk.”
Before Zayn could ask what an Allurian knew about human mates, the sound of loud footsteps caught his ears.
The short man in the wide-lapelled, fuchsia suit hurried toward him, stopping and putting his hands on his knees as he gasped for breath. “It would be much easier for me to plan these weddings if my brides and grooms would stop running off.”
Zayn’s mouth twitched up as he watched the man’s cheeks flush bright-red from exertion. “Sorry about that. I didn’t think she was interested in being a bride.”
“Well, you’re wrong.”
Zayn’s breath caught in his throat. “What do you mean? When I left she seemed pretty upset and confused.”
The man straightened his lapels. “It only took a little bit of convincing for Katie to realize what an honor it is to be a tribute bride. I’m happy to say she’s completely on board.”
What had they said to convince the Earthling? She hadn’t struck him as the type to go along with anything easily. “Are you sure?”
The question earned him a derisive snort. “Of course I’m sure. I’m taking her to select her wedding gown in the morning.” He spun on one platform-heeled foot. “I trust you won’t keep her up too late.”
Zayn’s cheeks stung. The thought of staying in the same room with the redheaded female made his mouth go dry and his cock swell. He was glad he stood in a dimly lit bar so no one could notice his arousal.
There was no way she wanted him, he thought, even if she’d agreed to the match. They must have given her a huge grekking incentive, and he wondered if it had anything to do with why he was matched in the first place. He didn’t think she was in on it, but for all he knew, she could be an amazing actress. He’d been trained to sniff out deception, and he knew there was something off about a tribute bride being offered to him as soon as he returned from his failed mission and being held by the Kronock. And there was definitely something odd about a female changing her mind so quickly.
Even if she wasn’t a spy, the thought of someone so pretty beside a scarred warrior like him didn’t make sense. She deserved a Drexian who hadn’t been tortured and marked by the enemy. One who hadn’t been captured and disgraced. He couldn’t reject the match, but he could resist the urge to mate with her, even though the thought of her made his pulse race. He couldn’t allow his mind to be clouded by a female until he knew what part she played in this deception.
He inhaled deeply. He’d withstood the Kronock’s torture. He could survive this. Zayn slammed back the rest of his gin and growled.
Chapter Six
“Again.” Katie crossed her arms and tapped a foot on the floor.
Mandy sighed and signaled Reina, who entered a series of commands into her tablet. The African-safari setting disappeared, and they were left standing in a white-paneled dome, with only the basic furniture remaining. “Like I explained before. The fantasy suites are mostly holographic. Once you go out the door, you’re in a holographic corridor that fits in with the setting and leads to other doors. Each suite is a self-contained holographic unit. There are six holographic wings on the station, and the rest of it is real.”
Katie narrowed her eyes. “And it can be flipped on and off at will?”
Mandy nodded to Reina, and the savannah returned along, with the grazing gazelles. “I’m telling you. The Drexians have some pretty impressive technology.” She winked. “As well as impressive other stuff.”
Serge rolled his eyes, while Katie ignored Mandy’s attempts to be buddy-buddy. She was still pissed that the socialite turned out to be perfectly fine, while Katie had been hounded by lawyers and press and accused of being behind the woman’s disappearance.
She studied the former socialite for a moment. From all appearances, she was telling the truth. At least, she thought she was. As crazy as it sounded, the alien space station story would explain a lot. Like why Reina had gray skin and incredibly long limbs and fingers, and why Serge had abnormally large, round eyes and hair that seemed to change color at the roots when he got flustered or upset. She’d already seen it go from purple to pink and back again twice.
“If you’re aliens, how can I understand you?” she asked Reina. “I know you can’t all speak English.”
Reina tapped a finger behind her ear. “A universal translator implant. They put it in when you were being transported from Earth, hon. You can understand what any alien says.”
Katie touched a razor-thin scar behind her ear and swallowed hard, then looked at Mandy. “So, let’s say I believe you. Are you telling me that you left Earth, got hitched to an alien, and are now planning to stay here? Forever?”
“You don’t just ‘get hitched,’” Serge said, putting a hand to his chest. “You get to have the wedding of your dreams. A wedding only the wealthiest Earthlings could afford.”
“I’m not the kind of girl who grew up dreaming about being a bride,” Katie said. She didn’t say that she had grown up learning how to pick pockets and run long cons.
Serge frowned and muttered to himself, his roots going from purple to fuchsia once more.
Mandy sat down on the edge of the bed, pushing the sheer netting out of her way. “I know it sounds crazy, but I’m really happy here. I’m training to be a medic, which I could never do back in LA. Not with my family and reputation.”
Reina beamed at Mandy. “She’s come such a long way from those early temper tantrums.”
Mandy blushed. “I didn’t react as coolly as you are. I made a bit of a scene.” She shrugged. “But then I fell in love with Dorn and made some friends. Not everyone stays on the Boat. Some go to one of the Drexian colonies, and I’m planning to join my mate on his battleship. It helps that my life on Earth was basically going nowhere.” She tilted her head. “Are you sure my father’s been looking for me?”
“So sure that I was on my way out of LA just to get away from his lawyer and PI goons. He’s kept your disappearance in the news cycle for weeks.”
Mandy’s expression darkened. “Let me guess. He’s appeared on TV with my stepmother? Made impassioned pleas for my safe return? Talked about how crushed he is to lose me?”
“Yeah, pretty much,” Katie said. “How did you know?”
“Because my father is a publicity whore.” Mandy sighed. “He doesn’t care about me. Not really. He’s using me to stay relevant.”
“Well, he’s been pretty convincing. I won’t have anyone even pretending to miss me. No one will notice I’m gone except the old lady who lives below me and tells me to turn down my music.” Katie blinked away tears, as she realized the truth in what she said.
Literally no one would even know she was gone. It wasn’t like she had a regular job, or a boss to check in with. Her boyfriend was gone. She had almost no girlfriends, or close friends of any kind. You
had to let people in to be friends, and Katie had learned never to get close to anyone, unless they were a mark. Her father had drummed that into her well.
Mandy stood and grabbed both of her hands. “See? You’re the perfect tribute bride. None of us have close family or friends, and most of us are running from something—debt, bad boyfriends, cops.”
Katie raised an eyebrow. “Is this a mating service or a penal colony?”
Mandy laughed. “That’s a good one. You’re funny.”
Katie pulled away. “This holographic stuff is cool, but who’s to say we aren’t in some lab in Silicon Valley? This could all be some tech weirdo’s wet dream to get women in here so he and his dorky friends can pretend to be aliens looking for mates.”
Reina made a disapproving noise in the back of her throat, and Serge sucked in air so quickly Katie thought he might keel over.
“Did you see the warrior they’d paired you with?” Mandy asked. “Did Zayn look like a Silicon Valley geek to you?”
Katie had to admit that he hadn’t. Actually, he might have been the hottest guy she’d ever seen in real life, which was saying something considering the number of celebrities she’d chased down. She thought of his dark hair and shockingly blue eyes, not to mention how big and built he was. No, Mandy was right. He was no basement-dwelling computer dork. “I mean, no, but that doesn’t mean he’s from another species, either.”
“That’s because you didn’t see him without a shirt on,” Mandy said, grinning. “Drexians have bumps from the back of their neck all the way down their spine that heat up and harden when they get turned on.”
Serge made a few clucking noises, and Katie noticed Reina’s pale-gray cheeks become a patchwork of pink splotches. Suddenly, the idea of Zayn getting aroused made her own body warm. She hated how much she suddenly wanted to see the bumps down his spine. And touch them.