Dazzled by the Alien Daredevil: An Alien Abduction Romance (The Kurians Book 5)

by Ashlyn Hawkes

  The plane takes off, and a cadet in charge over us gives us a few more orders before opening the back of the plane. As much as I want to be one of the first ones off, I’m not. Diego is, though. Of course. Right after him is a redhead. Wonder if she’ll be his fuck buddy tonight.

  Greg motions for me to go before him, but I wave him ahead and then jump after him. I tuck and roll as I land to minimize injury to my feet or ankles, and I uncouple my straps so that the parachute is off, but I still have the pack on my back.

  The obstacle course isn’t that bad at all, and even though I wasn’t in the first wave, I don’t doubt that I could race through and be one of the first ones done, but I help a few of the stragglers. It is a timed mission after all, and I notice that Diego and the redhead don’t seem to care about that at all. Whatever. They can do what they want, but the point of this training exercise is to join the military to do assignments for real. I can tolerate having someone breathe down my neck if it means that down the road, I can have more freedom to do daring escapades that are truly life-or-death.

  Finally, we're all through the obstacle course, which included a scaling rock wall with hardly any finger- and toe-holds, a long swim, a barbed-wire tunnel to crawl through, and much more.

  There, tied to a tree, is a woman. She's clearly acting, crying out for us to save her, and the monster? Is just another cadet, but one who means business because we can't use lethal force on him, but he's already smashing the butt of his rifle against Diego's temple. With a loud crack, Diego goes down hard.

  Wow. Nice. Not that I wanted Diego to get hurt, but this might actually prove a challenge.

  Instead of rushing ahead, I watch as the others charge toward the cadet. Eventually, he’s disarmed, but he’s proficient in martial arts, and he’s still taking guys out left and right. Our numbers are dwindling, and that’s when I notice it.

  A lupus bear.

  A lupus bear isn’t like any old bear. They’re a new kind of bear that only started to appear shortly after the Grots arrived. Scientists think that the bears must have eaten something they shouldn’t have or been exposed to something alien. Why only bears were affected, they couldn’t say, but lupus bears are savage. They’re vicious, and there are towns that hire hunters to slay lupus bears for a high reward just to keep the town safe. I might’ve taken on such a job before. Yes, I had been successful.

  Lupus bears aren't just savage, though. They attack without provocation. Patches of their skin are clear as fur doesn't cover every inch of their bodies, and their paws are double the size of a normal bear's. Their claws are strong enough to slice through bone, and they've been known to eat their victims.

  This one is at least seven feet tall, and I know we aren’t supposed to kill on this mission, but no one else is paying the lupus bear any mind, and it’s heading straight for the tied up woman. She’s nothing more than a delicious snack waiting for him to devour her, and I won’t have that.

  I race over to a nearby boulder and line up my shot. It’s a good thing they allowed us to bring weapons with us even if we aren’t supposed to kill anything. Maybe they knew the lupus bear was in the area. Maybe this is some kind of test.

  Even if it’s not a test, I can’t allow her to die because of some rule during a training exercise.

  My finger pulls the trigger. The lupus bear roars as the shot hits its flank, and the others around me who aren’t unconscious all gasp and scramble around. It’s total anarchy, but I calmly line up and fire off two more shots in quick succession. One hits the lupus bear in the forehead, the other in its chest. The bear staggers, falls down with a massive thump, and tries to get back up again. I’m ready to shoot again, but it slowly stops moving.

  Greg makes his way behind the cadet, puts him in a chokehold, and knocks him out. Others race forward to retrieve the woman, and the plane swings back around. We climb a rope ladder up to the plane and are charted back to the building where we had been given the assignment.

  The general congratulates us on a job well done. She goes up to each of us and tells us what we did right and wrong, giving us marks or not. The amount of time she rips into Diego makes me smirk. He has a bruise on his temple, and he seems a bit out of it. The guy doesn’t say a word in his defense.

  When she gets to me, though, she scowls. "You did commendable during your jump, and you are a team player. The obstacle course… Yes. You did that well, but the instructions were very plain and clear. You were not—"

  “The lupus bear—”

  “I don’t care,” the general snaps.

  “He would’ve eaten her!”

  “She knew the risk when she signed up.”

  I gape at her. “Are you serious? No one wants to be eaten—”

  “I didn’t say she wanted to be eaten, but if that had happened—”

  “And if the lupus bear would’ve gone after us, after the cadet, we should’ve just let that happen?” I cannot believe what I’m hearing.

  “That lupus bear broke out of one of our facilities—”

  “So, what, you’re experimenting on it? How do we know that the Grots and their tech created them? Maybe they’re a lab experiment gone wrong.” I cross my arms and lift my chin.

  “Are you trying to find fault with—”

  “I find fault with an organization that is willing to let others die because they couldn’t keep their experiment under lock and key,” I say through gritted teeth. “Why didn’t one of your people send out a group to fetch the monster and bring it back to the lab?”

  “We were having the place canvassed—”

  "You watched the entire experiment. You knew our every move. You had to realize that the lupus bear was making its way to us." I shake my head. "It was a test, a deadly one. You wanted to see if we were willing to listen to your orders without fail, even if that meant that innocent people would die. That's sick and twisted!"

  “I was just going to issue you a warning but still commend you to join the ops. Now, you may go.” She turns her back to me.

  I don’t move.

  The general whirls back around. “You’re released, Isabella Rivera. Leave now, or else I will have you escorted from the premises. Do I make myself clear?”

  “Yeah, fuck you too,” I snap, and I storm out of there.

  Fuck her and the lupus bear she rides on.

  3

  Strol

  It’s been two days since the stampede and flood, and after that initial shouting match with my father, he hasn’t spoken to me since. Imagine my surprise when he sends Sarah my way.

  “Father wants to talk to you,” she tells me.

  I'm staring off at the rising sun. Normally, I'm not awake at this hour, but I have to admit that I'm more than a little bothered by what happened. The buildings… I walked through the wreckage last night, as much as the builders would allow. Apparently, my father had ordered them to not let me help. I don't understand him at all, but worse, I don't understand myself. Yes, Sarah dared me to do it, but I didn't have to listen. I wanted to do it. No one forces me to do anything, but the consequences… Mom always says that actions have consequences, that responsibilities require owning up to the consequences, and then Father always returns that I'll never be responsible then.

  Yet, he’s not letting me help to correct my mistake, so he’s keeping me from my consequences. He’s the one not letting me be responsible.

  Not that I’m a builder. I would probably just get in the way and make the recovery take that much longer. The people have been dispersed, away from their houses and objects, and it’s all on me. They don’t know when they’ll be able to move back into their homes, and at least one building was completely leveled. Who knows about the structural integrity of the others?

  “I don’t want to talk to him,” I grumble.

  “I don’t think you have a choice in the matter.” She bites her lower lip. “Strol, I’m sorry about all of this.”

  I ignore that and ask, “How did he even know I’m awake?
”

  “I told him you are.”

  “Why did you do that?”

  “Because I was trying to see—”

  “I don’t need Father’s pet to put a good word in for me,” I snap.

  "Strol, shut your ovian mouth, and listen to me."

  I narrow my eyes and finally look over at her for the first time since she approached me.

  “I’m sorry. I didn’t intend for this to happen.”

  “I didn’t either, but…” I grin recklessly. “I’m just sorry that we never did get to try the raw meat.”

  Her eyes widen, and she laughs. “Maybe one day.”

  “Not bloody likely,” I grumble. “Father’s more liable to eat me raw. Skin me alive. Kill me.”

  “He won’t kill you,” she protests. “He’ll yell. You’ll yell back. You’ll both get over it eventually. That’s what always happens.”

  “Not this time. Father’s never been this ovian furious with me before.”

  “I… I know,” she murmurs helplessly.

  “I honestly think that if someone had died, that he would have had me killed.”

  “No, Strol. Never. Father wouldn’t ever do that.”

  “Father doesn’t love me. It would be no sweat off his back if I were killed.”

  “No. You’re wrong.”

  “I’m not, and I’m sure this little talk with him will prove it.”

  I follow Sarah to the centuricmobile. The driver waiting inside takes us to the building where the overlord’s office is the topmost floor. Only the best for the overlord. Whatever he wants, he gets.

  Except for an obedient son.

  The office door is open once I climb the stairs. I go to knock on the door to announce my arrival when I spy Mom sitting at the table next to Father. He’s standing. The man hardly ever sits, but he isn’t staring outside the window. No, he’s glowering at me.

  Despite myself, I gulp and enter the room. Sarah and I argued on the ride over. I didn’t want her to be here for this, but she’s my twin, and she’s just as stubborn as I am.

  She, however, listens to Father more than I do. She does everything he asks of her, but she also does try to push the limits too, just not as much as I do. As a result, she’s better able to cover her tracks than I am.

  I clear my throat and move to stand behind a chair at the large table. “Father. Mom.” I nod to them and wait for the overlord to tell me to sit.

  Instead, his gaze shifts back to the door.

  "Sarah, you may stay, but do keep your mouth shut because this does not concern you."

  “Yes, Father,” she says dutifully.

  The moment her fingers touch the back of a chair, Father waves a hand. "You can sit."

  She pulls out her chair and sits.

  But when I go to do the same, Father barks, “Stand.”

  “Yes, Overlord Nestrol,” I say evenly.

  His nostrils flare. “Yes, that’s right,” he says coolly. “I am here as your overlord, not your father. You should be grateful for that because if I—”

  Mom clears her throat.

  Father’s gaze softens as it always does when he looks at her, and I’m grateful she’s here.

  “Strol, you think yourself a daredevil. You act as if you can do whatever you want, and that is simply not the case. Not anymore. You’ve caused enough trouble and endangered far too many lives with your shenanigans.”

  I can’t help grinning.

  "You're an ovian bastard," the overlord says.

  I lift my chin. “I don’t deny it, but can you, for one second, think—”

  “How dare you ask me to think when you haven’t thought once your entire life? You need to think, to act, to do better. You aren’t cut out to be the overlord once I’m gone. I’m going to have to live forever, aren’t I? Under your rule, the Kurians would all die out!”

  “I never asked to be overlord,” I snap.

  “Is that why you act out? Because you want me to pick someone else to be overlord?”

  “I don’t understand why you get to designate one of your offspring to be overlord after you,” Mom cuts in. “I thought it wasn’t a matter of blood.”

  The overlord huffs. “No, it’s never been by blood. No overlord has ever died during their sleep or from natural causes. It’s always been through violent means.”

  “Why then would anyone in their right mind want to be overlord?” I ask.

  It’s precisely the wrong thing to say. Sarah winces, and Mom just shakes her head, but I can’t help it. Father’s violent. I know that. He killed to become the overlord, and he’s killed since, has had others killed. I mean, they killed off every last Grot.

  If I had been overlord, would I have done the same? Or would I have imprisoned them? I don’t know. I honestly don’t know.

  There's no denying it. The world is a dangerous place. While I understand that, I don't know about killing so many. Wiping out an entire species… Yes, the Grots had been evil, but so many lives…

  Then again, I almost killed because of a dare and foolishness, so I have no right to judge.

  “I killed to become the overlord, yes,” Father says. “I would do it again if I had to. There’s nothing I won’t do for the safety of the Novans and the Kurians, and right now, there’s nothing you can do that will make me believe that you are capable of keeping that simple mandate.”

  “What does that mean entirely?” I ask stiffly.

  “That means I’m ready to ship you off.”

  “To where?”

  “Any planet but this one,” the overlord says through gritted teeth.

  “Father, that’s too much!” Sarah says. She slaps her hands onto the table and jumps to her feet. “The only reason why Strol—”

  “I know. You told me already. The dare. You can act like such a strong, capable, intelligent Kurian at times, but only when you are separated from your twin. Your brother needs to go away for our sake and for yours.”

  “But I—”

  “You did nothing. You did not force Strol to do anything.”

  “He shouldn’t be banished!” Sarah cries. “No one died.”

  “Not this time, no, but I will not wait until that happens to act,” the overlord says calmly.

  “Mom, please. Talk to Father,” Sarah pleads.

  “She won’t,” I say.

  Mom sighs and shakes her head. “Maybe your father is right. Maybe going to Earth will help you.”

  “How is that punishment?” Sarah asks. “Force him to be a builder, to fix what he ruined. Make him be a farmer, a herder, anything, but don’t send him off!”

  “It’s all right, Sarah,” I say evenly. “Whatever the overlord wants, he gets. He wants me gone, so I’ll go.”

  Sarah blinks back tears. She storms out of there. I just stand there, accepting my fate, having no idea what the future has in store for me.

  As it turns out, the future holds immediate plans for me. The overlord wastes no time, and within thirty minutes, I’m off on a ship bound for Earth. I opt for the deep sleep. I don’t’ want to make small talk with the pilot. When I come to, I don’t feel restorative like I should. I just feel empty.

  Lost.

  Lonely.

  I’ve never felt lonely before. Sarah’s always been there. Yes, we fight and bicker, but we love each other. We’re each other’s best friends.

  Now, I have to face Earth without her.

  She asked if it would be punishment considering I’ll have relative freedom here. Well, already, I’m feeling the brunt of it.

  I stroll through the ship to the door and realize something isn’t quite right. The ramp isn’t unrolled. The door isn’t open.

  Confused, I head to the cockpit.

  “We’re flying yet?” I ask.

  "We'll be there in five minutes." The pilot grins. He's a young one. I can't remember his name. "You woke a little early, it seems."

  I grunt and stare out the wide window. A mountain looks ahead, and there’s something s
mall moving up it.

  The ship starts to turn away.

  “Turn back,” I order. “Go toward the mountain some.”

  “Strol, I’m to—”

  “A moment or two won’t hurt.”

  The pilot hesitates but then complies, and I can see more details of the form. A woman. She’s climbing the tall mountain. It’s so tall she’s been at it for a long while, hours at least. It will probably take her a few days to reach the top.

  “Land at the base of the mountain,” I order.

  “I… I don’t know if I can. There’s no clear spot that I can see,” the pilot says.

  I shrug. “Get down as low as you can. I can jump.”

  “Not if it’s too high.”

  “The blame won’t rest on your shoulders,” I assure him.

  “The overlord said you were to be dropped off at a specific location, and—”

  “Give me the coordinates. I’ll go there once I’m done exploring a bit.”

  “But—”

  “You can do as the overlord says, be his little puppet, but I’m going to come to this mountain anyhow, so you can help me or not.”

  “You’re a terrible person,” the pilot grumbles.

  I laugh. “Then take me to the spot Father dictated.”

  “I don’t want to get involved. Please.”

  “I understand. Forget I said anything.”

  The pilot rubs his forehead. “I guess it isn’t that big of a deal.”

  “No.” I put a hand on his shoulder. “Land where you’re supposed to. I don’t want to risk you getting in trouble for me.”

  “Are you sure?”

  I nod grimly. Father wants me to go to a certain place. It’s probably military or government run. He’s going to have people here spy on me for him. Not going to happen. I’m not a child. I might have been sent to Earth as punishment, but I’m going to do what I want.

  Father’s shadow doesn’t reach here.

  But it does reach the ship, so I let the pilot do what he’s supposed to. He lands, and I get off.

  A vehicle is heading this way, but I ignore it, and I hightail it toward the mountain. Who knows if that woman will still be there or not by the time I arrive, but either way, mountain climbing looks like fun. And fun is precisely how I want to start my time here on Earth.