Alien Shifter Force: A SciFi Alien Shifter Romance

by Maya Kane

  “What is it?” Kate said slowly, growing uneasy when she saw the look that passed between Redon and the other Dreon.

  “Kate stay here.”

  Her mouth fell open. “What? I stay while you get others? No. danger.”

  He shook his head. “No. Redon attack now. Safe here.” He reached over and stroked her cheek. “Then mate.”

  Kate swallowed hard. Much as she’d like to, she couldn’t afford to get distracted by the delicious sensations that Redon’s touch set off in her body.

  “No, Redon,” she said fiercely, hands on hips. “No. you danger. First fly then weapons.”

  He had to realize the danger, she thought desperately. This hadn’t been part of the plan. If she had known the Dreon would want to attack straight off the bat then she never would have suggested that they split into three teams. She knew it made sense, but how the hell could they coordinate without the help of Aron and Athena?

  Sighing, she reached for his huge hand and clasped it in both of hers. “No. Redon fly, Kate attack. Faster. Safe.”

  That was the only logical strategy she could think of. It would be risky, but then what wasn’t these days? She opened her mouth to explain her plan to him, but clamped it shut again.

  “Goddamn it, why didn’t I pay more attention when we learned this shit? I’d be able to tell him exactly what I think we should do.”

  Redon looked at her quizzically. His brows furrowed even deeper when he saw her bend and begin to draw in the dirt at her feet. She stared up at him, imploring him to understand.

  Shaking her head, she began to draw figures in the grainy dirt. It was cakey, unlike the desert sands. It must have rained recently. She was thankful for that—it meant the mud was softer and easier to write in.

  “Okay,” she said, pointing to the figures. “This is us. And this… this is the alien ship. This one’s me.” she pointed to herself and started another drawing that she hoped was a passible impression of her sitting on Redon’s back. She drew a dotted line to indicate their fight path.

  “Understand?” she asked in Uniton.

  “Yes,” Redon said hesitantly.

  “Okay.” She resumed her drawing, this time depicting herself over the alien ship, throwing a missile. She ran back to the stash of weapons she had taken off to rest her back and retrieved the thing that would be the key to this entire mission. They key to their lives, even.

  A cluster grenade.

  They had spent hours in the Dreon ship listening to Athena translate Aron’s explanations of the weapons. They hadn’t expected to do anything like this, but in the circumstances, the cluster grenade was perfect—if she could target it exactly right.

  She held it up. The Dreon murmured their understanding.

  With shaking hands, Kate picked up the harness that might just be the last thing she ever sat in. she eased her helmet over her head and nodded gravely.

  “Ready?” she asked.

  “Ready,” Redon said in a fierce voice that sent a shiver running all the way down her spine.

  Chapter 21

  Redon gritted his teeth. They were all waiting for him and he had already agreed to Kate’s plan. It made sense—he knew that. His idea had been for him and his Dreon to fly close to the ship and then open fire from the ground. It was the only thing they could do when they weren’t equipped with weapons that their Drayon could use. But this?

  It made more sense to attack them from the air, but it was a lot riskier. With this plan, Kate wouldn’t be safely out of sight. No, she’d be front and center, without the armored skin that kept Drayon safe in combat. They had evolved to fight. Kate? Her skin was soft and vulnerable—he knew that from experience.

  But her eyes bored into him now and he knew there was no way she’d ever relent. And they had no choice but to attack now.

  It was all wrong. He had expected to find an entire army of aliens. Instead, there was one ship. That had set off all kinds of alarm bells in his mind. Only a highly advanced enemy could invade another planet like these ones had. He was sure now that it was the Collective—he couldn’t think of anybody else who had the sophisticated technology to build a warship capable of bringing an entire planet to its knees.

  He would have preferred an army to that one ship. Why? Because he was used to tactical fighting. He knew how living beings’ minds worked. This thing was different. For all he knew, this ship had defenses they had never even heard of. And he knew something else—whatever it was more than certainly knew they were out there.

  Which meant they needed to act now—they couldn’t risk falling into a trap where the enemy followed them back to base and vaporized the whole lot of them.

  “Redon. Now,” Kate said evenly.

  Her voice was more high-pitched than usual, confirming to him what he had known already. She was terrified.

  “Stay, Kate.” They would figure out a different way to do this.

  She shook her head resolutely. “No.”

  He was out of time and he knew it. If they stayed there arguing any longer, they risked being vaporized before they even knew what had hit them. The only real factor they had in their favor was the element of surprise—and soon they might not even have that.

  Redon reached for her, pulling her to him and brushing his lips against hers. “Later we mate.”

  She nodded, blinking back the tears that had appeared in her eyes. “Yes. Mate. Life.”

  He smiled, filled with a new resolve. Those aliens shot down his ship. He wouldn’t allow them to deprive him of time with the other he had so recently found. He turned his back and closed his eyes, calling his Drayon to the fore.

  And then everything was calm. Well, focused anyway. Rage throbbed through his veins. His Drayon mind was focused on one thing and one thing only. That ship. He listened intently, tuning in to a faint humming sound that could only have come from it.

  Kate tapped his shoulder—the sign they’d agreed would mean she was ready. He felt a lurch in his stomach—something that was alien to him in his Drayon form. He couldn’t dwell on it for long.

  His wings itched to fly. He took a running leap and spread them out, surging into the air. Eren took off too. Although Kate was the key to this operation, they had decided that Eren and Melen would flank them as they mounted the attack. It was riskier to stay together, but they didn’t know what to expect. If there were smaller ships on board the craft, then Eren and Melen might be able to swat them out of the way.

  Redon flew and flew, conscious of Kate wriggling on his back. She spurred him on, making him go even faster.

  Soon they were closer to the alien craft than they ever had been before. The strange buzzing sound grew louder all of a sudden and seemed to surround them. On his back, Kate stiffened. Anticipating an attack, he veered to the side as much as he could without knocking her off or frightening her into a state that might prevent her from deploying the weapon.

  He looped around, flying toward the ship again. Even his Drayon knew it was strange that the invaders had not fought back yet. He swooped again, turning at a sharp angle before doubling back toward the ship.

  He gave a fierce roar and Kate tapped his shoulder. It was time.

  As they neared the center of the alien ship, a beam of light burst from it so suddenly that Redon was thrown backward by the force. He wheeled around frantically, searching the air underneath him for Kate. He couldn’t see her anywhere. He spun around, heart racing in a way it never had before. His Dreon began to surface, causing him to panic even more.

  She was nowhere to be seen. Had they vaporized her like they’d done to the other humans? He fought his Dreon back—this was no time to switch. He wouldn’t be able to do anything to save her if he changed now.

  Eren and Melen regrouped behind them, backs loaded with weapons but Kate was nowhere to be seen. He flew lower, scanning the ground for her. There was nothing but gleaming alien ship.

  And then something tapped against the rough skin on his shoulders. When he realized
she was still clinging to his back, he felt giddy with relief.

  At first he didn’t register her voice, but it got louder and louder until he couldn’t hear anything else.

  “Now, Redon. Now. Get me over it.”

  Chapter 22

  Kate swallowed and tried to regain her composure. The blast from the alien ship had rattled her—if they’d been a half second closer it would have caught them in its force. The worst part was not knowing what it was—there was nothing but blue sky above the ship since they had avoided the ray, so she had no idea of the damage it could cause.

  Now is not the time to worry about what it could have done to us, she told herself.

  Beneath her, Redon was acting strangely, twisting and turning through the air. Her stomach plummeted even more despite her attempts to stay calm.

  “Are you hurt?” she whispered, leaning forward as much as the harness would allow and stroking his back. She made a mental note to thank Zalon if they made it back alive—it had saved her life when the alien weapon had blasted Redon backward.

  He didn’t seem aware of her. Kate bit her lip, trying not to panic. They hadn’t discussed this; hadn’t discussed what to do if he was injured mid-flight. She looked around frantically and saw that Eren and Melen were fine; hovering around them awaiting further direction. She signaled desperately to them but they barely seemed aware of her.

  Redon was flying erratically, head jerking in all directions in a way she had never seen before.

  And then it dawned on her.

  “Redon,” she screamed. “It’s okay. The harness worked.”

  He didn’t react—nor should he have. Even in Dreon form he couldn’t understand English. Of course his Drayon would have no clue what she was saying.

  There was only one thing she could do. She leaned forward and began to tap on his back. When she wanted to signal him by hitting his shoulder, she’d learned she needed to slap him as hard as she could in order for him to even feel it.

  She hated doing it, but she increased the pressure more and more until she was hitting him almost as hard as she could.

  Finally, he seemed to calm. He focused on his flight path and rose in the air. Kate was on high-alert again. He was flying in the direction of the trees again.

  “No, Redon,” she screamed. “We don’t have much time.”

  He didn’t react.

  “Now, Redon,” she screamed, hitting his back again. “Now. Get me over it.”

  She didn’t know what that ray was, but she had no desire to get in its path. She had no clue who these aliens were, but she knew enough about weapons to know that something like that beam took a lot of energy. The sooner they could get over it, the less likely it would be to regenerate. As it was, several seconds had passed since it last shot out of the ship. For all Kate knew, it was ready to be activated again.

  She took a deep breath as Redon changed course. It was a risk they were going to have to take.

  ***

  It was the only part of the ship that hadn’t seemed impenetrable. When they’d flow past it the first time, Kate had noticed the circular opening straight away. She hadn’t been able to see what was inside, but it looked like thousands of smaller cells, several stories high. She wondered what it was—a base of some kind? Or a transport ship. It was the size of a small shopping mall.

  But she knew that opening was key. If she could fire the grenade in there, it would burst apart and shoot smaller missiles into every open corner of the ship. Otherwise, they’d have to hit the outside of the ship and risk several of the clusters bouncing off and exploding a safe distance away from the aliens. By that time, the enemy would have shot them out of the air or simply vaporized them.

  She ground her teeth. She wasn’t going to risk that—even if it meant risking her life to hit the target.

  As they got closer she had a chance to test that theory—the blue beam shot into the air again, startling Kate as much as it had the first time. They were only twenty feet or so from the edge of it, close enough to see the shimmering heat haze it produced.

  “No,” she screamed in Uniton as soon as the pulsating ray disappeared. “Now, Redon. Now.”

  He flew straight for the opening. Kate’s mouth went dry, but she gripped the cluster grenade as tightly as she could until her fingers hurt.

  And then they were approaching the spot where the ray had activated. In that moment, Kate’s only thought was ‘what if it’s activated by a motion sensor?’ But there was no time to hesitate and no alternative even if she had decided to hold off. She needed to try.

  Fifteen feet.

  Kate swallowed, wondering how long it took the ray to recharge. The ridges of the grenade were cutting into her palm. She was dimly aware of them.

  Ten feet.

  The strange humming sound got louder. It seemed to surround them. She stared ahead.

  Five feet.

  Kate leaned over to her left, preparing to cast her weapon. The opening itself was only about six feet across, so accuracy was key, especially at the speed they were going. She fought the strong instinct to close her eyes, knowing it was pointless—if that… thing was going to vaporize her, it was going to do it regardless of whether she could see it happening.

  “Now!”

  As they reached the opening, adrenaline flooded Kate’s body. It was now or never. It felt so simple. She opened her hand and watched in slow motion as the grenade fell out of her grip and dropped into the ship. She craned her neck as they flew away, sure she had seen the clusters break off and spread out. But she knew she couldn’t have—they were too small and they had already put so much distance between them.

  Redon turned when they were a safe distance away, and retraced their earlier path so they could keep the ship in their sights.

  Nothing’s happening, Kate thought desperately.

  It felt like hours had passed since they had flown over the ship, yet it was still as eerily quiet as ever.

  “Come on,” Kate muttered, starting to believe the worst.

  What if it hadn’t worked? What were they going to do? In a matter of minutes, those aliens would be out of their ship and hunting them down. It had all been for nothing. Kate leaned forward and stroked Redon’s back, wishing with all her heart that she could have had the opportunity to spend more time with him. She was glad of the time they’d had together, but it wasn’t enough.

  “I want to be your life mate,” she whispered. “I want it more than anything. When I said I’d done it for the planet I was lying. I only said it so you’d get off my back about staying behind on the ship.”

  Her eyes filled with tears as she saw several small doors open at the base of the alien ship.

  “I’m glad I refused to stay behind. I couldn’t stand to hear the news that you didn’t make it.”

  It killed her that he was like this. If he’d been in Dreon form, they would have been able to communicate. Maybe not in words, but with touch and looks and that strange force that bound them together. Kate squeezed her eyes closed.

  Within seconds, they were blasted backward by a force that was far more powerful than the aliens’ beam.

  Kate gripped Redon’s neck. At first, she’d thought the aliens had attacked. In her panic, it took her several moments to register the huge inferno beneath them. The sleek alien ship was invisible, hidden by plumes of flames. Kate could feel the heat on her skin even through the thick covering of her Dreon spacesuit. She blinked, unable to believe what she was seeing.

  Is it over?

  She stared at the blaze, almost waiting for alien ships to burst forth from it. But nothing did. They watched it until the glow had almost disappeared, Redon hovering in the sky with Eren and Meren alongside them. Finally, they flew closer.

  The strange humming sound was gone now—as had the blue glow that had shone out from underneath the ship. Kate only really noticed it when it was no longer there. All that remained was a blackened hub.

  Kate stared inside as they passed near
the opening—just outside the perimeter of the ray. It all seemed dead. There was no terrifying ray this time. Just silence. And something that made her heart stop for just a moment.

  “What’s that?” she muttered, wondering at the tiny blinking blue light that shone out from somewhere in the wreckage.

  But then it was gone. She shook her head, wondering if she had imagined it. Suddenly exhausted, she tapped Redon’s shoulder. It was time to go home and figure out who in the hell these aliens were and just how much damage they had caused. It was time to rebuild.

  Chapter 23

  Kate was staring at him, impatience written all over her lovely features.

  Redon smiled. They had done it. He recalled the images of the devastated spaceship that were burned into his mind. He stepped forward and swept her into his arms.

  It is done.

  He didn’t know exactly how long they’d been gone, but the earth sun was beginning to sink low in the sky. He couldn’t wait to see Zalon and Aron and tell them what had happened. He wondered if they were back yet—they had flown further afield, but even then it wouldn’t have taken them as long as Redon and Kate’s revised mission to destroy the alien craft.

  He smiled and squeezed her tight, causing her to groan and push against him. He looked down into her eyes. Usually she tried to make him understand by using her limited Uniton, but this time her blue eyes just stared back at him.

  “You’re tired,” he crooned in Dreon, stroking the soft skin of her cheeks.

  And it was no surprise. If it hadn’t been for her, they would most likely have had to engage in ground combat with the enemy. It wasn’t that Redon wasn’t adept at fighting, but he appreciated that her way had been faster, cleaner and more successful. They had all gotten away unscathed.

  He hadn’t wanted to thrust her into the path of danger, but he couldn’t have been more proud. She had swallowed her fear and gone ahead with the mission, even though she’d been shaking like a leaf before they departed. It was she who had destroyed the alien base. He couldn’t wait to announce it to the others. He also couldn’t wait to take her in his arms and finish what they’d started.