Her Alien Protector

by Siren Allen

  “I recognize that symbol on the bottom. That’s Saturn’s symbol. Damn it, this is King Stonar’s doing.”

  “Why were your males in league with Saturn’s ruler?”

  “The bastard must’ve paid them a lot of currency to get them on board with this. Then again, they probably did it because they’d rather be led by a male instead of a female.”

  “Why should the sex of the ruler matter? As long as they are just and fair, their sex is of no importance.” A frown creased Raynor’s brow.

  He didn’t know how good it felt for her to hear him say that. “You’re right,” she told him. “But some males don’t feel that way.”

  “Well some males are fools. Come, we now know who we’re fighting. Let’s go save your people.”

  Was it weird that she wasn’t impressed by roses or jewelry, yet, was completely turned on by Raynor suggesting they go fight? Probably, but that didn’t change how she felt.

  “Let’s go,” she told him, not offended at all that he led the way. He was a warrior used to being in charge, not a male who thought a females’ place was behind him, or underneath him. Before they made it to the door, Raynor stopped, shoving her behind him.

  This, she wouldn’t be able to get used to. “What is it?” She asked, trying to peer over his shoulder which was impossible since the male was built like a mountain.

  “Someone is coming.”

  Shit. Lark reached into her pocket pulling out her weapon. The footsteps grew closer. Raynor crouched, his low growl filling the air. The room seemed to be humming, vibrating due to the power he was emitting.

  Lark leaned to the side for a better view of the doorway. When the intruder entered the office, Raynor lunged forward. Lark raised her weapon and fired, sending a bullet through Raynor’s shoulder seconds before he could rip Ana’s throat out.

  Chapter Fifteen

  “Raynor, stop, it’s Ana.”

  He turned on her, eyes swirling. The look on his face pierced her soul. It was a mixture of agony and betrayal. Shit. She hadn’t wanted to shoot him. It had all happened so fast.

  She’d had her gun raised, poised to shoot whoever stepped foot into her office. When she saw that it was Ana, all she could think of was stopping Raynor before he could destroy her friend. Of course Raynor wouldn’t see it that way.

  He stared down at his shoulder. Smoke rose from the hole in his uniform. He would have to change. If the dome collapsed the vicious solar flares would destroy the rest of his suit.

  “You need a new suit,” Lark told him.

  His angry gaze pierced her. “What I need is a new mate.”

  Lark gasped, shocked by the venom in his words. There was no time to reply, Ana was calling her name.

  “Lark, is it safe to enter?”

  Feelings hurt, Lark blinked back tears. After clearing her throat she responded. “Yes, Raynor thought you were one of our enemies.”

  “Understood.” Ana raised her hands in the air. “I’m not armed.” She stared warily at Raynor as she entered the room. Moving cautiously, eyes still on the vampire, she made her way over to Lark. Once she reached Lark, she embraced her tightly.

  Lark returned the hug, staring at Raynor over Ana’s shoulder. If looks could kill. But what was she supposed to do, not hug her friend? There was no telling what Ana had been through.

  “I’m so happy to see you.” Ana pulled away from her. “Have you seen what’s going on out there? Stars, I thought you were dead.”

  Before Lark could say that she had indeed witnessed what was taking place, Ana gripped her by the sides of her face and pulled her in for a kiss. Though she didn’t pull away from the embrace, Lark felt absolutely nothing.

  The usual desire that rose within her when Ana touched her was gone. The only thing she could think of was Raynor. And how doing this was wrong on so many levels, levels she wasn’t yet ready to explore.

  A growl rose within the air. “If you want to live you will release her this moment, demon.” Raynor’s deep voice washed over her. Lark quickly pushed Ana away.

  Confusion registered in Ana’s eyes. “What is going on here?” She stared from Lark to Raynor then back to Lark. “Lark, has he kidnapped you?”

  Raynor stepped forward. Lark raised her hand, “Raynor please, give me a moment alone with her.”

  “We don’t have a moment. Or have you forgotten that your world in under attack?”

  “I haven’t forgotten.”

  “Then step away from the female and come with me.”

  “We can’t just leave her.”

  “She’s not coming with us. Does she not have an escape pod?”

  Lark turned to Ana. “Why didn’t you escape in your pod?”

  Tears welled within Ana’s eyes. “How could I leave you here? I needed to make sure you were okay.”

  Damn. “Thank you Ana.”

  “Lark.”

  She didn’t miss the warning in Raynor’s voice. She didn’t stare in his direction, instead she kept her attention on Ana.

  “We’ll get you back to your room and into your escape pod. Yours is programmed to return to Uranus, right?”

  Ana nodded. “And what will you do, stay here and fight, alongside him? I thought you didn’t trust him.”

  There was that growl again. Lark prayed things didn’t get out of hand. “He saved my life Ana. He could’ve killed me, or escaped. He didn’t.”

  “So you trust him now?”

  “Yes.”

  “Okay, then I trust him also.”

  “I don’t desire your trust, female.”

  Ana looked to Lark, fear in her bright eyes.

  “It’s okay Ana. Raynor is a little upset right now.”

  “Why?” Ana asked.

  “Because,” Raynor stepped forward and once again he shoved Lark behind him. She rolled her eyes. “Lark is my mate. And if anyone touches her or looks like they want to touch her, they will meet a quick end.”

  This alpha male attitude was really starting to get on her nerves. Standing on her tiptoes she stared over his shoulder at Ana, and found her friend backing up into the corner. This had to stop now.

  Lark stepped around Raynor. Standing in front of him she stared him down. “What the hell is wrong with you? Can’t you see she’s shaken up?”

  “All I see is your former lover getting close to you once more.”

  “Former, Ana isn’t my former anything. She’s my current lover.”

  He flinched as if she’d struck him. She felt Ana’s hand on her shoulder. “Lark, be careful.”

  “Yes, Lark,” Raynor stepped closer to her. “Be careful. Your next words could get your ex lover killed.”

  How dare he? “Is that a threat?”

  “No, sweet Lark. That’s a fact.”

  “Well let me give you some facts. I was warming to the idea of you and I. I wasn’t totally on board with it, but I was closer than when I first laid eyes on you. But now I see you’re just like all the other males I’ve met. How dare you threaten a female, someone weaker than you? After all we’ve been through this day, you should want to protect her. You know what my enemies are capable of. You’ve seen how they’re willing to treat us females. Yet, you treat her no differently.”

  “There’s a difference.”

  “No, there isn’t.” Lark stared over her shoulder at Ana. “Ana, grab the duffle bag. We’re leaving.”

  “If you think I am going to let you leave with her, you’re out of your mind.”

  Lark raised her gun, trained it on Raynor. “If you think I need your permission, you’re out of your mind.”

  Before he could reach for her, she pulled the trigger, sending a bullet through his chest. It wasn’t wooden so it wouldn’t kill him, but it would slow him down. Unfortunately all it did was cause him to stagger back.

  “Don’t do this mate.”

  “You’re giving me no choice.” Lark’s voice shook with unshed tears. He took a step forward, hand clutching his wound. “Please stop,
Raynor.” Tears spilled down her cheeks.

  “You’re choosing another over me.”

  “I’m trying to help everyone. You’re the one making me choose.”

  “I won’t let you leave with her.” He staggered in their direction. “She will die for the rift she’s creating between us.”

  Lark shook her head. “Raynor, please.”

  “Aim for the head,” Ana shouted as Raynor rushed in their direction.

  He was getting closer. Lark didn’t want to kill him. Yet, the look in his eyes screamed him or Ana. One of them had to go. Lark pulled the trigger. Raynor dropped to his knees. Blood pooled from his head wound then dripped down his face. She closed her eyes when he slumped to the floor. What the fuck had she just done?

  “We need to leave,” Ana yelled.

  Lark opened her eyes to find Ana running toward the duffle bag. Her friend lifted the heavy bag and slung it over her shoulder like it weighed nothing. Lark stared down at Raynor. His eyes were closed, chest no longer rising and falling.

  “He can’t die from this, can he?”

  “I don’t think so.” Ana grabbed her hand. “But he will be one pissed off vampire when he awakens. We need to go.”

  Ana tugged on her arm, pulling her from the room. Lark kept her eyes on Raynor. What the hell had she done? She’d shot her mate in the head. There could be no future for them now. Who was she kidding?

  There had never been a future for them.

  ***

  What had she done?

  Her mind was still in a fog. She was moving, but only because Ana was pulling her in the right direction. Her thoughts were back in her office, where Raynor was still sprawled out across her floor. She’d shot him. After he saved her life and helped her to her office.

  She’d shot him.

  She’d done it to protect Ana. This mating thing was causing Raynor to not think clearly. Surely he wouldn’t have wanted to kill her friend if he wasn’t bonded to Lark. Raynor wasn’t like that.

  Or was he?

  Truth was, she didn’t know him. But she knew Ana. And there was no way she was going to let her friend die because of her. Long ago she’d lost a friend because of dumb choices that Lark had made.

  Her friend had paid the ultimate price for Lark’s mistake. She couldn’t allow that to happen again. I did the right thing, Lark told herself, glad she’d gotten a look at another side of Raynor before she’d fallen completely in love with him.

  Being partially in love didn’t count. Sure he’d flown across the galaxy to meet her, sure he’d pretended to be a prisoner just to get to know her. Sure he’d saved her life and her innocence and agreed to be patient with her.

  Damn it. His good outweighed his bad by a very long shot. But did hers? She’d tried to force him to be enhanced. She locked him in a prison cell. Her guard had tried to rape him, forcing him to kill him. Then as a thanks for saving her life, she’d shot him.

  Hell no, her good didn’t outweigh her bad. She wasn’t worthy of a mate. She’d known she wasn’t and now she’d proven to both of them she wasn’t. Her heart ached. It was a pain she’d never felt before, a pain she had brought on herself.

  Forcing her thoughts away from him, she turned her attention to the task at hand. She needed to worry about surviving and helping her people. Raynor was a vampire. He could help himself. He would awaken and realize he was better off without her.

  Stars, she hoped he didn’t awaken with revenge on his mind and set out to kill anyone in his path. Lark needed to find some wood bullets and fast. Pain erupted once more in her chest at the thought of ending Raynor’s life. Could she do it, if she had to?

  “We’re here,” Ana announced.

  Lark stared around her. She hadn’t been paying attention to the direction Ana had been steering her.

  “The loading dock? Why are we on the loading dock?”

  “Follow me.”

  Lark followed Ana across what used to be a well organized dock. “Look at this mess,” Lark muttered, her voice low as sorrow filled her. She couldn’t bring herself to look at the guards that were on the ground.

  Instead she focused on her mangled crafts. Now they would never fly. Ana tugged her hand harder. “Come on,” she said, stepping over bodies like they were trash in the road.

  “Ana, we should stop and see if we can help any of them.”

  “We can’t.” Her voice no longer sounded fearful or worried as it had when they were in Lark’s office. Now she sounded cold, uncaring.

  “We have to try.” Lark stopped and jerked her hand away from her friend. “We have to try to help them.”

  Ana faced her. Her expression was hard as she sighed, clearly frustrated. “They’re dead,” she said, straightening the strap of the duffle bag on her shoulder. “We can’t help them.”

  “Some of them may be alive. We…”

  “None of them are alive.”

  “How do you know that?”

  “Because I killed them.”

  Lark had to repeat Ana’s statement in her head twice before the words finally sunk it. “You killed them. YOU killed them?”

  “Yes, and I’ll kill you if you don’t come on.”

  “You bitch,” Lark lunged for Ana but stopped when Ana raised her weapon.

  “I don’t want to, but I will shoot you, Lark.”

  Lark raised her gun. “Likewise, bitch.”

  Ana smiled. “I’m going to miss your catty comebacks. It’s a shame I’m not allowed to keep you. My mate and I would never get tired of sharing you.”

  “Your mate?”

  “Yes.”

  “You never told me you had a mate.” Damn it, she’d slept with someone else’s mate.

  “He’s my mate of convenience. You know us Uranians, we have such a hard time finding a True Mate. You may have heard of him, Prince Orius Stonar.”

  What. The. Fuck. “King Stonar’s son?” The Prince of Saturn. And Saturn’s symbol had been on the crafts that bombed their dome.

  “I see you have heard of him. You’ll get to meet him soon,” Ana smirked.

  Voices rose up from their left. Ana stared over her shoulder and smiled. “There is my love now.”

  Lark didn’t look, she acted. She pulled the trigger, aiming for the head. She was surprised when her gun fell from her hands. She glanced down. Blood coated her fingers. She’d been shot.

  “Grab her now,” a deep voice ordered.

  Lark looked up to find males in both Venusian and Saturn uniforms rushing in her direction.

  “That bitch shot me.”

  Her eyes flew to Ana who was clutching her shoulder. Damn it, she’d missed, aim thrown off from being shot herself. Lark bent to reach for her gun. Another bullet landed in her shoulder. Fuck it, she had to go. She took off running as bullets whizzed past her. Pain erupted in her side. She knew she was hit again. She didn’t stop.

  “Don’t kill her you idiots,” the deep voice shouted. Lark assumed he was Prince Orius. “My father wants her alive.”

  Yep, that’s exactly who it was. Lark grasped her side and dodged between cargo crates as the bullets continued to fly. So much for not killing her. Another bullet tore through her leg.

  Her body hit the floor. She tried to move, tried to pull herself up. She couldn’t. Her whole body was going numb. They’d used a tranq gun on her. Shit. The numbing sensation crept up her body.

  Unable to move, Lark lay there, waiting for Saturn’s Prince to capture her. She didn’t expect her mate to save her this time. In fact, she wouldn’t be surprised if he offered to finish her off for them.

  In truth, she deserved it.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Opening your eyes shouldn’t hurt so badly.

  Raynor forced his lids open and stared up at the ceiling. She’d shot him. His mate had sent a bullet into his skull, knocking him out for only the stars knew how long. He sat up. The movement caused the bullets that his body had pushed out of him to fall away.

  He stared down a
t the three shells. Three. His female had shot him three times. Stars, he wasn’t one to cry, but the pain from her betrayal was bringing tears to his eyes. It hurt worst than her bullets.

  She chose another over him. Raynor pushed himself to his feet. The wounds in his chest and shoulder had already healed. The one in his skull was going to take longer. He needed blood.

  The holes in his suit were a problem. He strode over to the storage unit, stumbling twice before he made it to his destination. Once there, he gripped the top of the unit for support.

  His head was spinning. Fuck, she’d shot him in the one place that could truly throw him off. He stood there, panting, waiting for the room to stop spinning. When he could see straight once more, he removed his current garment and changed into another.

  He picked up a pair of gloves and slid them on. Helmets lined the top shelf of the unit. He grabbed one and shoved it on. Damn it. The pounding in his head grew stronger. Through the clear eye bracket of the helmet he perused the bottom shelf of the unit.

  All of the guns were gone. No problem. He didn’t need Venusian made weapons. Raynor stalked from the room. Though the smell of blood and death beat against his senses, he was able to pinpoint the exact location of his mate.

  Raynor sniffed. She was wounded. He took off running, vampire speed, to save her ass again. The darkness inside of him was just as torn about this decision as he was. They knew they had to save her.

  She was their mate, their responsibility. But now, after all she’d done, they were almost willing to allow the insanity that plagued their kind when unmated for too many years to take hold of them.

  At least then, one of their brethren would put them out of their misery and they wouldn’t have to spend eternity pining over a woman who’d chosen another over them. A new scent pounded his senses.

  Raynor slowed down, almost to the exit that led to the outer layer of the buildings. Ogres. He could smell their filth. He pulled open the doors that led to the outer layer. Shit. The dome was cracked.

  Zigzags now decorated the protective barrier. Five pairs of eyes turned in his direction as he took in the scene. Five ogres were feasting on bloodied bodies, Lark’s people. He shouldn’t care. She didn’t care for him.