Maid for the Beast

by Grace Goodwin

  I whipped my head around to look at Braun. He wasn’t with the show? Why? Was it because of me? What was going on? The police officers spoke over our heads as if we weren’t even present.

  “Alien or not, we’ll have to take him in for questioning.”

  “I don’t think he’ll fit in the back of our squad car,” the woman said.

  “Shit,” the other muttered, slowly shaking his head.

  “I’ll call the Interstellar Brides Program’s testing center. They deal with aliens all the time.”

  I was panicked, the sight of Kevin’s glassy eyes making me wince every time I glanced in his direction. He’d done this to himself, but I still felt badly for him. He wasn’t a nice guy, but he didn’t deserve to die. Not like this.

  A tear dripped onto my cheek, and I used my shoulder to brush it away. Braun watched me.

  “He is not worth your tears, Angela. He would have hurt you again and again,” he murmured.

  “I know.”

  Braun’s gaze softened, and there was that look I was growing to depend on. Maybe even to love. “Your heart is too gentle.”

  “I can’t help it.”

  He nodded. “You are a healer. I am a warrior. I will protect you if you allow me.”

  I nodded. Yes. I wanted that. I wanted him. Even with a dead man outside my apartment, handcuffs on my wrists, and two police officers looking at me like I was suspect, I felt safe. Thanks to an alien.

  Life was weird and wonderful and full of surprises.

  “Homicide is five minutes out.”

  “Good.” The older officer looked down at us. “You two don’t move. Got it?”

  Neither of us said a word, but I leaned in close to Braun, and when he wrapped an arm around me, even the police didn’t dare order him to stop.

  11

  Braun

  They requested something called a paddy wagon to collect me. I had no idea what it meant, but it was a vehicle large enough to transport me from Angela’s apartment to the police station. Angela had been taken away first by the original pair of law enforcement officers. Since one was a female, I’d been reassured for her safety, although my beast was not happy she’d been restrained and removed from my sight.

  I’d growled in fury but forced my beast down. I would be of no help to her if my beast took over.

  I had no idea the rules on Earth about situations like this. The human had tripped and fallen of his own accord. An accident. I would ensure Angela remained innocent of any wrongdoing. It was my fault he’d retreated from her apartment. I’d allowed my beast to come out and lost control, even just a little.

  The human, Kevin, had hurt her in the past. Not physically but emotionally. He’d stolen from her. Stolen from her brave grandfather. And then when I returned to claim her, he’d been in the act of stealing from her again.

  Angela was too small and kindhearted to be a threat to a human like that, but he’d been afraid of me. I didn’t like bullies, and I would protect my mate at all costs.

  It seemed that the cost was now quite high as she was being questioned and held separate from me.

  They’d placed me in a cell, not sure what to do with me. I’d kept my beast controlled, as usual, and offered them no reason to feel threatened. Without handcuffs, there was no way for them to ensure I wouldn’t do anything dangerous in an interrogation room. Thus, the cell. If they knew the bars were like sticks that I could snap with nothing more than a twist of my wrists, they would not have left me unsupervised.

  There was nothing on Earth that could cage my beast. Nothing capable of stopping him.

  Except Angela Kaur.

  I had no clock, no way to know how much time had passed while I’d been in custody. There were no windows in this cold, sterile facility. It was a weak reminder of the prison cell on Atlan I would be in if I didn’t get my cuffs on Angela’s wrists soon. I could not do so from within these walls, and I could not do it without Angela’s consent.

  Thank the gods I still had her mating cuffs in my pocket, else my beast would be tearing this building apart to acquire them—and my mate.

  Where the fuck was she?

  No one had spoken to me. No one had questioned me. No one responded when I requested to see my mate. I knew nothing about what was happening outside the walls of this cell. My beast wanted to tear the bars down and find Angela, crouch over her like a clawed creature and kill anyone and everything that dared approach. But I was not a beast. I was an Atlan warlord, a male who had fought tooth and nail to keep my honor intact. I would not lose that battle now that I had found my mate.

  I would not repeat my father’s mistakes.

  Pacing the small cell offered no outlet for my frustrations. I was at my limit when it came to controlling my beast. I’d never felt this out of control, this wild. I tugged at my hair, tried to move to bleed off the energy that was slowly growing in my chest like a storm’s wind gathering speed. My beast was at the edge. I was at the brink.

  How dare they keep my mate from me! Leave me with no answers as to her safety. Her welfare. I was a warlord with mating fever who needed to see his mate now. NOW!

  Just as I was about to rip the bars from the walls, heavy footfalls came down the corridor, and Governor Maxim from The Colony appeared. With him was a female wearing the Interstellar Brides Program uniform. Ah, I recognized her from my initial arrival on Earth.

  “I will not leave her,” I muttered, guessing what might be to come.

  “Easy,” Maxim said, his hand up, as if that would stop my beast.

  “Explain and explain quickly, Governor, or my beast will be set free to find my mate in this building.”

  He glanced at the female, then back my way.

  “Shit, this is going to be bad.” He sighed. I didn’t like anything about his words, his tone, his stance. His presence.

  The female, Warden Egara, spoke. “Warlord Braun, some say you have broken the laws of the state of Florida and of the United States. As you are not a citizen of Earth, you are outside the jurisdiction of their laws. Therefore the judge presiding over your case has determined that to solve this issue quickly you are to be banished from the planet and will be deported to The Colony immediately.”

  “Where is my mate? She will come with me,” I replied through gritted teeth. I gripped the bars, ready to snap them if need be to get to her. I had no issue with leaving Earth behind. None. Their laws and the males who abused their females, those of Kevin’s ilk, could go fuck themselves. The faster Angela and I were off this primitive planet, the better.

  “Angela Kaur is still being questioned,” the female said. “As acting warden in this area for the Interstellar Brides Program, I am the official liaison between the Coalition, the human police, and Governor Maxim. The humans do not want a spectacle involving an alien and neither does Prime Nial.”

  “Fuck. The prime knows about this?” Gods be damned, I was in more trouble than I had imagined. Prime Nial was the leader of the entire Coalition of Planets, the commander of the Coalition Fleet, and the final word on everything. His command was fucking law as far as the Fleet was concerned. And The Colony fell under his jurisdiction as we were all veterans who had fought in the Hive war. We weren’t relieved of our duties and sent to our homeworlds. Technically I was still under Prime Nial’s direct command.

  “He does. And he does not wish for this incident to cause any problems with the Brides Program. If human females believe—even wrongly—that one of our males committed murder, the volunteer numbers will decrease and many warriors will suffer without their bride.”

  “Where is my mate?” I repeated. I had to leave. Quickly. I could not doom my fighting brothers to life without a mate because of the asshole human Kevin. “I will leave, but I will not leave my mate behind.”

  She kept her gaze on mine, not fearing the growl in my words. “She is not under arrest. She is being questioned as to the events of last night and will be released soon.”

  “Soon is not good enough.
She is my mate,” I said, stating the obvious. “No harm can come to her.”

  “No harm will come to your mate; however the events of last night have caused quite a mess. The person who was killed was not an unknown male. He was the son of a prominent state politician.”

  I gave a negligent shrug. “A grown man is not the responsibility of his parents.”

  She offered a nod. “That is true. In most cases. But the dead man’s father, Colin Barrister, has a lot of both money and power. He is not happy.”

  “His son died in a tragic accident. I sympathize with his loss. It is a tragedy. But the man was illegally within Angela Kaur’s quarters and stealing from her. From what she has shared, this is not the first time he has acted with such shame. If he had not been stealing her things, he would not be dead.”

  “That is all true. From what the police are gathering, he has… had a gambling problem.”

  “And other issues,” I added. Now was not the time to lecture this stern-faced female on how a male of honor treated and cared for his mate, or any female for that matter.

  “Yes. However, Colin Barrister has no intention of making his son’s issues, or how he died, known to the world. They are going to bury the story, Braun, on the condition that you are not here to contradict them.”

  I narrowed my eyes. “What does that mean?”

  “You are to be deported immediately,” Maxim stated, breaking his silence at last. His tone said there would be no argument.

  I turned my gaze to him. “I have done nothing.”

  “A human is dead. You were involved.”

  “As I said, Angela Kaur has done nothing except deal with a dishonorable man who stole from her.”

  She nodded. “Yes. I know. The police know. She will be free within a few hours.”

  I nodded. “Good. I shall wait for her.”

  “That cannot occur.”

  “What?” I gripped the bars, and they started to bend.

  “Once the news is broken, there is to be a fourteen-day lockdown on all transport to and from Earth,” Warden Egara said. “I will work with Coalition diplomats and local politicians, including Colin Barrister, to get this issue worked out to everyone’s satisfaction.”

  “No.” No. I didn’t care what the warden said. I did not care what Governor Maxim said. And neither did my beast. Angela was mine. We would not leave her here.

  “This is now an interplanetary diplomatic issue and all non-Earth citizens are being transported from the planet,” Maxim added. “In order to maintain relations with the Coalition planets, you must leave here immediately. You will transport directly from this cell.”

  “No. Where is Angela?”

  Before I could understand what Maxim was doing, he moved toward the bars and slapped a transport beacon onto my chest.

  I looked down at it, and my beast raged. Broke free. I wrenched the bars and tugged, needing to get to my mate, but the bars disappeared. They were gone and so was I.

  From one second to the next, I was no longer on Earth but on a transport pad on The Colony.

  “Mate. Now,” I roared at Maxim.

  He stepped back but didn’t flee. He stood and faced me. “No. Calm your beast, Warlord.”

  “No.” I was breathing hard, my fists clenched. I stormed down the steps and over to the controls.

  “As Warden Egara said, all transport codes to Earth have been locked,” Maxim said. “There is no way to get to the planet until Prime Nial and the human government come to an agreement.

  I spun around, glared.

  “You are banished from Earth. Listen, Braun. Listen.”

  I tried to calm, but it was impossible. My mate wasn’t just somewhere else in the building, but light-years away. Alone. With armed police officers surrounding her and no mate to protect her.

  My beast roared, and I felt something I had not felt in years. I transformed, right there at the transport station. I kept the beast from smashing the control panel into pieces. Barely. That was our only way back to Angela.

  “Mate!” I bellowed.

  “Get Surnen down here,” Maxim ordered. “Now.”

  The tech fled.

  “The situation would be harmful to the entire Coalition if word of a human murder spread,” he said, trying to appease me.

  “Innocent.”

  He nodded. “I know. But that politician asshole is angry. Mourning. He wants to blame someone other than his own son. He has enough power to do this. It’ll work out. Prime Nial has tasked his best ambassador with helping us. Lord Niklas Lorvar will do everything he can. He was recently mated to a human female as well. If anyone will understand your plight, it will be him. I’ve been told he is working closely with his Earth contacts to reopen transport channels. It won’t be long, Braun. Just don’t lose control. You know what will happen if you lose control. Angela will be lost to you forever.”

  Gods damned. Fuck. He was right, and the beast knew it. Even with the beast’s acquiescence, I struggled to return to my normal form. After long minutes I could speak. “So, I am trapped here. And she is unprotected.” I couldn’t get to Earth. I couldn’t get to my mate. The beast stirred, and had it not been for the cuffs around my wrists, I would not have been able to control him. Even with the cuffs, it was the beast who said her name. “Angela.”

  “She is fine. Safe. No repercussions will come from this upon her person. From what I understand, Kevin Barrister was found unresponsive in his bed. A seizure.”

  I didn’t know what that was, but it was a lie. I didn’t give a shit how the human government twisted the situation as long as Angela was safe.

  “Mate.”

  “There is nothing to be done.”

  “Get her here.” I pointed to the transport pad.

  “She doesn’t have your cuffs. There is no protocol.”

  I reached down and touched the cuffs hidden in my pocket, the solid strand still affixed to my belt. Had it only been a few hours ago that I’d gone to her apartment to claim her? And now I was on another fucking planet without her. Alone. She was alone.

  “She is my mate. Change protocol.”

  “I have no power. No jurisdiction over this. I’m sorry, Warlord.” He ran a hand over the back of his head. “I sent you there to find your mate, and now this has happened. I will do everything in my power to get you back to Earth to claim your mate, but until the transport ban has been lifted, I can do nothing.”

  I gripped the edge of the transport control station and yanked, ripping it from the floor. Sparks flew. My beast raged. Howled. So much for control.

  We had other transport pads. They could fix this one.

  And it was either kill the transport controls or take on a fully integrated Prillon warrior that I really didn't want to hurt. Maxim was more than my governor; he was my friend.

  “Don’t make me stun you, Warlord.”

  I whipped my head around at his words to glare at my leader, my hands holding the metal table. I was away from my mate with no ability to return to her. What would she think? Was she well? Safe?

  He pulled his weapon from his thigh holster. I hadn’t even noticed he’d had it on Earth.

  “No mate. Shoot me.” I couldn’t get to my female, my mate, to protect her. The pain was agonizing, my fear for her mounting with every second, straining my control over my beast. “Do it, before I lose control.”

  “Damn you, Braun.” Maxim was not amused.

  That made two of us. I tossed the control panel across the room, and then, with one well-aimed shot by the governor of The Colony, the world went black.

  12

  Angela

  I was exhausted. Overwhelmed. I could barely function let alone think straight. Kevin had broken in and tried to steal my things. He’d come from a rich, prominent family. He hadn’t needed to steal the money I’d been saving for Gramps. Or so I’d thought. But I’d learned the more powerful and famous a parent, the more they were likely to lie to hide their flaws.

  Colin Barri
ster was a prominent businessman and politician in the area. Kevin’s father. He’d been charming and suave and wore designer suits and shoes that would probably cost me more than a month’s salary to pay for. I’d only met Mr. Barrister once, and he’d been as perfectly fake as his spray tan. I was sure he had no idea what my name was, even after Kevin introduced us at a holiday party. He’d nodded, feigned interest for all of a few seconds, and moved on to speak to a senator or millionaire or something.

  The vision had haunted me because that was when I’d seen the vulnerability on Kevin’s face. The only time I’d seen that raw wound on display. Kevin had been nearly thirty and still trying to please the unpleasable parent. That look had bought Kevin an extra three weeks of pity dating, or at least that’s how I preferred to think of it. He’d been sad and alone and lost. And I had a penchant for trying to heal broken things.

  But not anymore. I was done with broken men. Broken aliens. Broken laws. I was tired of being surrounded by broken things.

  I’d had no idea if Kevin’s dad knew of his son’s gambling debt, but obviously Kevin had been desperate enough to be stealing from me. Kevin had appeared to have more than enough money of his own, but he’d finally told me his income was tied to an allowance. Money his dad monitored.

  That only made him more entitled than ever. Given anything he ever wanted, but supervised, had made him both lazy and paranoid that his disapproving father was going to take everything away. I was ashamed of myself for being sucked into his lavish lifestyle, which had been fake and empty, but I’d dumped his ass in the end. One more loser to add to the stack.

  Until Braun, I’d not had the best of luck dating. But then, I hadn’t chosen Braun; he’d chosen me. When I closed my eyes, I could still hear his deep, growly voice saying mine.

  I couldn’t wait to see him again. They’d told me at the station that Braun had been taken by a female named Warden Egara and another alien from The Colony. So I was waiting. My calls to the Interstellar Brides Processing Center had not been returned. No one would tell me a damn thing other than to confirm he had been transported. Kevin was dead because he’d stooped to stealing a fucking Crock-Pot and TV. I’d been pulled back into his sloppy life once again. Even though he was dead, he was still screwing with me and now Braun, too. Stupid Kevin had messed things up for both of us. But it had to work out. I just needed to be patient. Braun said I was his. He would come for me. Maybe the alien police had to question him, too? Maybe that’s what was taking so long for him to come for me? Or maybe he had tried, and I wasn’t home?