“You must go, brother,” he said. “I will not have you die.”
“Yes, Fierce One,” I replied, a slight grin playing on my face.
“We are approaching Albaterra, Captain.”
It was strange to hear myself referred to as “Captain” rather than as “Elder” or “Fierce One,” but I found myself enjoying the lesser responsibilities of the title. Dane had informed the warriors of our power exchange before we’d left Earth. There had been confusion and many questions, but Dane had allowed me to explain to them in my own time.
Leaving my brother behind had been a gut-wrenching decision, but one I knew had to be made. We hugged goodbye, and I watched him from the large command center window as we ascended into the air. He stood in the middle of the desert, a lone being amidst a vast expanse. Then, for the first time, I saw him turn his face up to the sky and disappear into nothingness.
I hadn’t told Emily yet about turning over my Elderhood to Dane, but I knew I needed to before we landed on Albaterra. She was already going to be overwhelmed by the new surroundings, unfamiliar culture, and—for all intents and purposes—entirely unknown race. I didn’t want to add to her imminent stress.
Walking through the corridor, slowly as I was still tender, I went to the room in which Emily had been staying. She was sitting on the bed looking fidgety, and her face lit up the moment she saw me.
“Hi!” she exclaimed. She jumped up and wrapped her arms around me carefully, making sure not to put pressure on my injured chest and stomach.
“Hello,” I greeted her, relishing the feeling of her skin against mine. “You must be quite bored. I apologize.”
“I’m not bored,” she said with a kiss on my cheek. “I’m just…nervous.”
“Why are you nervous?” I asked, guiding her back down to sit on the bed and taking a seat next to her.
She took in a breath and answered a little sheepishly, “I don’t really know what to expect, I guess. I moved around America a lot, but I never imagined moving to a new planet. Not only that, but I’m also moving to a new planet as the girlfriend of an alien leader.”
“Actually, on Albaterra, you’re the alien,” I pointed out with a slightly teasing smile. She giggled slightly. “Other than that, though, your reasons for nervousness are non-existent.”
“What do you mean?” she asked, lifting her brows curiously.
It was my turn to take a breath. For some reason, I felt flutters in my stomach as I prepared to say the words craving to come out of my mouth. “I am no longer an Elder,” I confessed. Her eyes widened. “I relinquished my position to Dane before we left Earth.”
“Why?” she asked in awe.
“I felt very strongly about an Elder needing to be on the mission, which was why I went along at all. For me to return to Albaterra would leave the warriors without one.” I met her gaze, then, and added softly, “And my priorities have changed.”
She looked at me through her long lashes. “How so?”
“I wish only to be with you, Emily,” I murmured, grazing her cheekbone with the knuckle of my index finger. “Not as my girlfriend, but as my wife.”
Her lips parted, and she stared at me. I desperately wanted her to respond right away, but I didn’t want to rush her, so I remained silent as I waited for her reply. Bit by bit, her eyes widened until I was practically swimming in her orbs. Then, in a whisper as sweet as a song, she asked, “Are you asking me to marry you?”
I nodded. “Yes,” I whispered back.
A beat of quiet passed between us, and then, the next thing I knew, she was kissing me. Her lips fell against mine and pulled me into her until I tasted nothing but love and passion. My arms involuntarily circled around her waist to tug her body against me, and I cradled the back of her head in the palm of one of my hands.
“The answer is yes,” she said, her lips brushing against mine as she spoke.
I pulled back to look at her, and she smiled up at me with confident delight. Without realizing it, my mouth split into an ear-to-ear grin of utter happiness. Emily wrapped her arms around my neck again, and, through the window over her shoulder, I saw Albaterra growing nearer and nearer.
I was home. I was with the woman I loved, the woman who was going to be my wife, and I was home.
THE END
Interested in more Albaterra Mates?
Bonus Sneak Peek
Dane
Albaterra Mates 3
Just flip one more page to read it!
Badass Luke
Private Bonus Story
Thank you for taking this journey to Albaterra world with me. The connection we formed during this book is something powerful and intimate that I will cherish forever.
If you would like to connect with me on a deeper, more personal level, I have prepared a sexual flirtatious secret bonus story that is designed to be a fantasy between you any my badass alien, Luke!
The story is called Luke, and you can get it for free by sending me an email with a link or screenshot of your review for this book. Make the subject of your email Badass Luke.
My email is [email protected]. I read every message and I look forward to receiving yours.
With Love
Ashley L. Hunt
Dane - Albaterra Mates 3
Bonus - Sneak Peek
PS. I just finished writing the third book of the Albaterra Mates series, Dane. Only Basic edits have been made, I have yet to get the final version back from the editor. However, I wanted to include this sneak peek for you. Please ignore any typos and mistake. Enjoy the raw, unfiltered sneak peek fresh of the press!
Ashley
1
Dane
If I’d blinked, I would have died.
The bullet whizzed past my ear as I jerked to the left, ruffling my fan of long, cream-white hair. A second bang of gunfire immediately followed the first, and I ducked. They were not aiming to maim. They were aiming to kill.
Five warriors dipped and spun around me in a dance of death. Their pale, blue-tinged skin was almost translucent beneath the golden glow of Earth-sun, and their ghostly-white eyes were fixed on the enemies before us. We were outnumbered. Twelve human soldiers advanced forward, pushing us back with streams of shots and sheer force. My A’li-uud kinfolk wielded swords and knives, but they were no offensive match for the lethal firearms and barrage of bullets the humans had. We had two options: fight until certain death or surrender.
A’li-uud did not surrender.
I wrenched my sword from the sheath on my hip. It was more of a scimitar than a sword with its thick, curved blade and hardy hilt, and it bathed me in brilliant fuchsia light as I lifted it over my head. The reddish-purple aura spread outward from the blade’s core in a display of raw beauty. Its masterfully-etched hilt weighed heavy in the palm to bless the holder with striking precision and deadly accuracy. The blade itself was made of lehran, a mineral blend of impenetrable strength found only at the center of my home planet Albaterra. The sword was a prize bequeathed only to those who were granted A’li-uud Elderhood—an honor I’d accepted a mere three months ago.
Another bullet rocketed toward me, careening toward the space between my eyes. I snapped the sword downward and heard a ping as the bullet ricocheted off the blade.
“What the hell is that?” one of the humans shouted. He was staring at my weapon in horror.
I breathed in a sharp breath of air and jumped. As I did, the wind caught my feet and tangled me within, and I was suddenly riding on the treads of the breeze. It was called wind travel, another gift solely allotted to Elders, and it allowed me to fly unseen at rapid speeds. I hurtled toward the squad of soldiers. They continued firing on my warriors, but their eyes darted all around in search of me, alarmed at my unexpected disappearance. I dropped into a nosedive with my scimitar held aloft. Sweeping over the heads of the humans, I sliced my blade cleanly through the barrel of the gun that had been targeting me. The soldier holding it froze for a fraction of a second. Under nor
mal circumstances, I would have killed him, but my goal was not to eliminate one of their numbers, which would cause them to become angry and panicked—it was to stop them shooting at my men long enough for us to gain the advantage. I used the soldier’s shocked immobility as a chance to incapacitate him and slammed the butt of my hilt into the back of his head. In a graceful bend, his frame arced backward to the ground, and he collapsed in a dead faint.
“Holy fuck!” the nearest comrade bellowed. He leapt away, crashing into a fellow soldier and stumbling over his heels.
The pops and bangs of gunfire slowed as the humans realized one of their number had been knocked unconscious by my unseen force. Well-trained and highly skilled in combat, my warriors seized the momentary lapse of concentration as an opportunity to regain control. From the skies, I watched the fierce A’li-uud rush forward to their opponents, shrieking war whoops and bringing their swords slashing down. The soldiers were forced to use their large, black firearms as shields. Relief prickled at the nape of my neck. We had the upper hand now. Nothing could stand up to the A’li-uud of Montemba in hand-to-hand battle.
I twisted my body to swing up behind my warriors and plunged toward the ground. My boots slammed into muddy soil as I landed, and I heard a distinct squelching noise as I unstuck my soles from the muck and broke into a run. There were no longer shots cracking in the air. Instead, I heard just dull buzzing and my warriors’ cries in my ears. Those seemed to be the only things I could hear lately.
In four months on Earth, I had grown deaf to everything but my people.
As if to question just how unaware my senses were, a massive boom exploded through the air. Within the same second, a godawful, gut-wrenching wail stemmed from the horrified mouth of Ki’lok, one of my men. He grew rigid in a contorted shape of unnatural angles, and then he tripped back, falling face-up. I saw deep, rich, mahogany blood blooming from a small circle in his abdomen, and a thin dribble of the same color leaked from the corner of his mouth.
Immediately, grief so great it ached erupted from my belly. The A’li-uud were a close-knit race, and to see a warrior fall was a moment of wicked sorrow. As an Elder, however, I was bonded to my people like a mother to a child, physically connected at the soul. The very place from which Ki’lok bled seared on my own body as though I had been the one to be shot. My brother, Duke, who had been my predecessor as Elder for the Montemba tribe, had many years to practice control over his Elder abilities. But I was new. I hadn’t even gone through the Elderhood ceremony or mentorship. The pain of Ki’lok’s death was too great to bear, and rage surged through my veins as viscerally as adrenaline.
With a roar like an untamed beast, I sprang into the wind again. This time, I didn’t bother circling the soldiers to find the best vantage point. I torpedoed toward my warrior’s murderer with my sword outstretched. The tip of the blade slid through his sternum like a hot knife through butter, but I didn’t stop there. As I landed within inches before him, I jammed my hand further until the sword burst out of his back and the hilt was pressed against his chest. The soldier let out a choked gurgle, his eyes wide and stunned. I watched the light in his gaze dim until, a split second later, he was unseeing and unmoving.
There was an outcry of fury from the ten remaining humans. In slow motion, I saw those unhindered by my warriors turn their guns toward me. I was a vicious fighter in the worst of times, the personification of Death in the best, but my ability to deflect an onslaught of bullets from all sides was nothing short of a risky gamble with very poor odds. If I was going to go down, it wouldn’t be without a fight, but the fight would likely be futile. I was likely facing my last moments.
“No!”
The yell did not come from one of my A’li-uud kin, as I would have expected. It came from a tall, burly soldier near the back of the group. His scrubby, dusty-brown beard was so grizzled that I couldn’t see his mouth and didn’t realize it was he who’d spoken until the other soldiers turned to look at him.
For the first time since meeting the squad, there was no movement. My warriors—stunned by the man saving my life—looked to me for instruction.
“Wait,” I said tersely to my warriors, speaking in A’li-uud.
The human nearest me swung around, jerking the barrel of his gun at my nose. “What the hell did you just say?”
“Willard! Stand down!” ordered his bushy-bearded leader.
“Sir, he’s saying something to the others!” the soldier replied urgently. “I heard him doing that clicking thing!”
“I don’t care. Stand. Down.”
The unwavering firmness in the leader’s voice made it clear his word was law. Had he been A’li-uud rather than human, it would have been a trait admired amongst my tribe. As he was neither A’li-uud nor ally, however, I felt only edgy anticipation for his next command.
With a hateful glare at me and obvious resentment simmering beneath his skin, the soldier lowered his gun from my face and took a stiff step back. I held his gaze for a brief second before swiveling my eyes to the left. Lokos, my second-in-command, still had his sword raised and his chin tilted upward in haughty defiance of the unexpected peace. I narrowed my eyes slightly at him and jerked my head almost imperceptibly, indicating my desire for him to stay alert and strike at the first sign of aggression. He returned the gesture with one of his own.
“You!” The gruff, thickly-muscled man jabbed his finger toward me. “You’re in charge here?”
I stared at him warily and did not respond.
He snickered, but there wasn’t a hint of a smile on his meaty face. “Don’t act like you don’t understand me, alien. I know you freaks speak English. I know a hell of a lot more about you than you think.”
Lokos made a low growling noise in the back of his throat, and I knew it was out of anger for the human’s disrespectful approach to me. New or not, I was an Elder, and A’li-uud culture dictated that Elders receive the highest level of respect at all times. There were some who failed to uphold the tradition, but Lokos was not one of them.
“Yes,” I said. My voice sounded louder than I’d intended, carrying over the ambient sounds of breeze and rustling trees. The pleasant, serene atmosphere of the abandoned small town we’d found ourselves in seemed like the ultimate contradiction to the dense tension between us and the humans, but I nonetheless felt the blood pumping in my ears wane as the pain of Ki’lok’s death finally ebbed to a dull ache. “I am an Elder.”
The leader nodded once, a sharp snap of his head. “Great.” He waved a finger in the air, turning away from me. “Round’em up, boys.”
2
Roxanne
Flames licked the walls like an orgy from hell, leaving black tongue-prints in their wake. The very floor beneath my feet shook as ceiling beams snapped overhead. Dust and debris clouded the air and burned my eyes, but I forced myself to keep them open. I had to find her.
“Becky!” I screamed. My voice was hoarse from the smoke and too gritty to be heard over the blistering sounds of destruction. “BECKY!”
I no longer recognized the room I stood in. Where there once hung photos of smiling sisters on a carousel, eating ice cream, and holding up diplomas now were great char marks and deep cracks that burst in all directions like webs. The couch where I’d watched sitcoms on weeknights with my father had been reduced to kindling. My mother’s knitting basket was tipped over, and thin burn lines where sparks had caught loose yarn ends patterned the carpet like trails of gunpowder. The home I’d grown up in was crumbling around me.
“Becky, answer me!” I shrieked. My feet started moving of their own accord, sprinting from the living room to the narrow hallway. Clumps of hair clung to my sweaty forehead as I swiveled my head from side to side as I passed each bedroom. When I reached the last, my heart leapt into my throat, and I had to grab the doorframe to stop myself from collapsing right there.
The cherry-red bedroom, Becky’s color of choice when she’d been in the midst of her teenage rebellion, was almost entir
ely engulfed in fire. Smoke poured thick and opaque out of the open window and over my head. Lying on the bed, body bent in sleep, was Becky. The flames kissed her cheeks, which, along with the rest of her, had been reduced to flaky cinders. She was less than a corpse. She was ash.
With swimming eyes, I took one last look at my little sister. Then, I dropped to my knees and let the flames take me too.
“Is it locked?”
The chipper, slightly timid voice jerked me from my unpleasant musings. I looked up to see Madeleine, my assistant, standing beside me. She held a Styrofoam cup in her hand, from which dreamy steam billowed in tempting wisps. Following my gaze to the cup, she extended it to me.
“Sorry,” she said, her mouth tightening anxiously with the apology. “I didn’t mean to interrupt whatever you were thinking about. It’s just…well, you’ve been standing there for a couple minutes.”
I glanced down and realized I was in front of my office door. My hand was poised on the handle like I’d been about to open it.
“That’s okay,” I reassured her. She immediately looked relieved, and I offered her a small smile. “I was in my own little world. I need to wake up, I guess.”
“This will help.” She held out the cup to me a little more with an insistent expression on her face. I took it gratefully and finally turned the door handle.
My office was exactly as I’d left it the evening before: cluttered with papers and reeking of cheap, watery coffee. As I entered, my pumps made soft scuffing sounds on the navy nylon carpet, and Madeleine followed with scuffing of her own. I discovered there was nowhere to put my cup once I rounded my desk, so I balanced it precariously atop an off-kilter stack of files and bent down to log into my computer.
Duke: A Paranormal Scifi Alien Romance: Albaterra Mates Book 2 Page 11