by Mina Carter
Alien Warrior’s Secret
Warriors of the Lathar
Mina Carter
New York Times & USA TODAY Bestselling Author
Copyright © 2019 by Mina Carter
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Also by Mina Carter
About the Author
1
She was so screwed.
Miranda Rivers, Randy to her friends and colleagues, closed her eyes as the door slid shut behind her. Okay. More than screwed. Thanks to her bloody temper, her career was fucked more than a prostitute on Tek-four.
Opening her eyes, she forced herself to put one foot in front of the other as she made her way back to her bunk. None of the crew she passed in the corridors would look her in the eye as she walked. She didn’t blame them. They wouldn’t want to risk being associated with her.
The fight in the mess was pretty much ship-wide knowledge by now, as was the fact she’d busted Captain Graham’s nose. The asshole had deserved it, though. There wasn’t a woman on the ship he hadn’t propositioned in some way, shape or form… but since his brother was some big-shmuck politician back on Earth, no one said a word.
It had pissed her off before young Kelly from the quartermaster’s office had been shipped off home all hush-hush after she’d been sent to get him to sign some requisitions. So when he’d groped Randy during poker night and tried to shove his tongue down her throat, she’d lost it and slammed the asshole’s face into a table, busting his nose. More than busting it. She’d spread it all over his face. And then she’d kneed him in the balls for good measure.
It had made her a living legend on the ship and landed her in front of a disciplinary hearing.
She reached her barracks, relieved to find them empty. Her throat tight, she pulled her duffel from under the bunk and started to empty her locker. She’d been ordered back to Earth on the evening transport. If she was still aboard after 1800, there was a cell in the brig with her name on it.
She hadn’t been kicked out of the service, not exactly, but she was done aboard the battleships. She’d been lucky not to get a discharge for conduct unbecoming. As it was, her record was full of black marks that meant the most she’d get were cargo runs to the lunar and mars colonies.
“Fucking idiot,” she hissed to herself, dashing at her eyes before the tears stabbing hot needles into the backs of them could fall. So much dust in these barracks. It always set her off. Why couldn’t she have just pushed Graham off and fled?
Annoyed with herself, she finished packing in short, economical movements and then changed her dress uniform for off-duty fatigues. She’d just finished lacing her boots when a figure appeared in the doorway. Looking up, she couldn’t even muster a little excitement at the sight of Major Ryan, universally acknowledged by all the women on the ship as the best-looking guy aboard, standing there.
“Rivers, right?” His gaze flicked to her empty locker and the duffel on the bunk. “Listen. Sorry to hear about that shit with Graham. He’s a wanker. They’re shipping you out over it?”
She nodded, grabbing her bag and hefting it over her shoulder before walking toward him in the doorway. “Apparently slamming a captain’s face into a dining table is frowned upon. Who knew?”
Ryan’s lips quirked. “Indeed. I hear you nailed him in the bollocks too. Good for you.”
His head tilted a little as he studied her. Before she could ask if she had something on her nose, he spoke again. “Any chance you’d be up for flying a little mission with me?”
She blinked to conceal her surprise.
“I’m grounded, sir?” she reminded him as if the duffel over her shoulder wasn’t clue enough. “Shipping back to Earth on the transport this evening.”
He waved dismissively. “Yeah, I know. Don’t worry about that. If this mission goes well, I can guarantee you all charges will be dropped. And I’ll have you moved to my wing.”
Randy’s mouth dropped open and she was tempted to look around to see if anyone was about to leap out of a locker with a vid-recorder. After a couple of seconds she snapped her jaw shut.
“You’re not joking.” The statement dropped into silence. No one could blame her for thinking he was. Being offered a way out of her current predicament… more, being offered a place on Ryan’s wing by the heartthrob himself, only the elite flight wing aboard… was the stuff of fantasy and daydream. Perhaps that was it. She’d made it to the transport back to Earth and had gone to sleep. This was all a dream.
But fuck it. If this was a dream, it sure the hell beat going home. “I’m in.”
Ryan’s lips quirked at the corners. “Don’t you want to know what the mission is?”
She snorted. “No offense, sir, but if it gets me in the pilot’s seat again, I don’t much give a fuck what mission you want me to fly.”
The quirk became a grin and he nodded. “I knew I liked you. Come along then, Rivers.”
Of all the missions Randy had expected Major Ryan to want her to fly, a combat mission to board the lead alien warship had not been it. Combat patrols to check out the enemy’s firing capabilities, or recon patrols on the edge of the system to check long-range sensors for more ships arriving, yes. Maybe even dropping to the dark side of Talax Prime to link up with the rumored Special Forces base there.
But no.
She was looking out the front view screen at the armor-plated hull of an alien ship. It was black, sleek and looked as dangerous as fuck. It was as dangerous as fuck. She couldn’t think of a more dangerous place to be in the whole damn universe than sneaking aboard a Latharian ship.
They hadn’t even been able to break through the hull like they normally would. Instead, they’d had to use the boarding cutters on a thinner section just inside a ventral vent. For what, she had no idea and really didn’t want to think about it. The leviathan’s engines were off at the moment, but if they went to their hyper-speed or whatever they called it, Randy and the Major were toast. There was no way they’d survive that.
“Any sign of them yet?” she asked over her shoulder.
Ryan was in position by the boarding hatch. Fully deployed, she could see the inside of the alien ship. Funnily, it looked almost exactly like the inside of any ship she’d ever been on—a dusty walkway with checker plate flooring and all manner of cables and pipes snaking along the walls and ceiling.
“Nothing yet.” He reset the rifle more comfortably against his shoulder, his gaze steady along the corridor. “Something’s wrong. They should be back by now.”
She flicked a glance over the screens in front of her. They’d managed to hook into the alien ship’s central system through an unshielded data access point. “No alarms showing, sir. I don’t think they even know we’re here.”
Even as she said it, though, a tendril of unease stroked icy fingertips down her spine. This had all been too easy— a combat mission to recover General Black, who was being held against her will… If a woman like Black, with her ferocious reputation, could be caught by the Lathar, what hope did they have? What if they were being shown what they wanted to see…
As soon as that thought registered, Ryan swore behind her.
“Fuck it, contact!” he called out, firing into the corridor. Energy bolts slammed into the walls of the corridor around him, followed by shouts in a
n alien language that she assumed were orders to surrender.
“Shit. There are too many of them,” Ryan hissed, ducking out of cover to return fire. “Can you disengage the boarding clamp?”
She spun in her seat to look at him, mouth agape. “The team’s not back, sir! We have to give them time.”
“They’re not coming back, Rivers!” Ryan yelled. “If they’re not back by now, they got caught. This is a deniable op. They knew the risks. Disengage the clamps and get us the fuck out of here!”
“Shitshitshit,” she murmured, her hands flying over the controls. Every second counted. It would take at least thirty seconds for the clamps to cycle and seal the breech, stopping the aliens or their weapons’ fire getting in. She triggered the release and turned to look, expecting the hiss of the clamps releasing and the hum of the motors cycling.
Nothing.
“Shit.”
She hit the control sequence again.
Still nothing.
Then, in front of her eyes, alien writing flowed over the screen. Horror filled her as her hands flew over the keyboard in front of her.
“Crap! Sir, they have control somehow. They’ve locked me out. Trying to break through…”
“No time!” Ryan yelled back. “Hide! NOW!”
Her jaw dropped as she spun on an ass cheek. “What?”
The major’s expression was grim as he exchanged fire with the aliens outside. “They are going to be in here in minutes, Rivers. Better they find just me than both of us. HIDE. NOW!”
She scrambled out of her seat at the barked order, looking wildly about the shuttle. It was a troop transport, without much in the way of hiding spaces. Her gaze dropped onto one of the ventilation grids under the seats. Her heart pounding in her throat, she dropped to the floor to yank it free. It was the work of a few seconds to wriggle into the small gap and pull it back into place. Sheltered in the darkness, she had a great view of Ryan’s feet as he continued to hold off the aliens.
For all of about ten seconds. There was a burst of energy fire and he gave out a pained cry, sliding to a sitting position, hand on his shoulder. Randy stifled her cry, tears in her eyes as she watched him slump down onto the deck plating, his eyes fluttering shut.
They’d killed her superior officer, and she was all alone on an enemy-held ship.
She was so screwed.
2
Humans completely amazed him at times. They were resourceful and tenacious, far more than some of his fellow warriors would like to admit.
Riis K’Vass stood in the middle of the human shuttle and looked about curiously. It was one of the ships the humans had used to board the Veral’vias with combat teams to try and kidnap the emperor. The plan had failed spectacularly. Not only because they’d all been caught in short order, but because the emperor hadn’t even been aboard the Veral’vias at the time.
But to land in the ventral exhaust vent and punch through the weaker shielding there? That took a draanth load of balls. He would have to find out which one of the prisoners was the pilot and shake the male’s hand. He was a male Riis would like to get to know.
Despite the differences in their species, and the fact that humanity were technologically eons behind their Lathar cousins, there were remarkable similarities in their shuttles. If he half closed his eyes he could almost imagine he was on a troop drop ship. If it was reduced in size. Humans, even the males, were on average a lot smaller than Lathar. The fact was borne out by the seats lined up along the metal walls and the small-sized harness straps. Riis wasn’t the biggest warrior out there, but even he would struggle to fit in even the largest set of straps.
He frowned, something pulling at the back of his mind, and he took the few steps back toward the cockpit where the pilot and co-pilot seats were. He reached them and his gaze dropped to the pilot’s harness. It was smaller than the others. A lot smaller.
He caught his breath.
The pilot was a female.
The one they’d caught in here had been a male. The rest of the combat team that had emerged from this vessel had been male. There had been only one female, in one of the other teams, which meant there was a female unaccounted for.
They’d monitored all three human vessels from the moment they’d left their own ships and snuck toward the Veral’vias, thinking themselves unseen, right the way through to watching the human teams board and make their way through the vessel. Corridors had been cleared so command could watch where they headed, what they intended to do.
And finally the traps had been sprung. All the humans were taken prisoner before teams had been dispatched to deal with the flight crews. Two per vessel. And only a male had been taken from this one. They’d assumed initially that the other one had been in the team captured, but that obviously wasn’t the case.
So where was the other one, the female?
He took a step back from the cockpit and swept his gaze over the interior of the vessel. She hadn’t left. The internal sensors would have picked her up and tracked her, which meant she was still aboard. But there was nowhere she could hide. No secondary section or cabin. No big storage bins.
His heart rate kicked up a little, what felt like the thrill of battle filling him. But it wasn’t that, not quite. It was the prospect of finding a female, he realized. Especially a human female. His experience with them was limited, but the ones he had met had been tiny and so beautiful any male would ache to possess them. He wanted one of his own. The only problem was he was so far down the pecking order he’d never be allowed near enough to any unattached females to claim one.
But if one was here, and he got to her first… He could claim her for his own before any other male even saw her.
“I know you’re in here,” he said aloud, switching to Terran. He sent a quick, silent prayer of thanks up to the ancestor gods that he’d started to study the language virtually as soon as humans had been discovered. “You can come out. I won’t hurt you. I can protect you.”
Silence was his only answer.
Fine. He hadn’t expected anything else. Human females weren’t stupid. They were highly intelligent and adaptable. Why would she believe him? She had no reason to. Yet.
“I’m Riis,” he continued talking as he extended his senses. Listening. Feeling the quality of the silence around him. The Lathar were masters of genetic manipulation, and his line had been modified many generations back for hunting in the forests of their home. If he stayed still enough, he could sense where his prey was… where it would be next.
Nothing. And then…
He turned his head just slightly, gaze fixing on a grid under one of the seats, and his brows snapped together. She couldn’t be under there. Could she? The space was absolutely tiny. Not even big enough for a child. Then he remembered how small some of the humans he’d seen were. Especially the females. They were almost child-sized.
Kneeling in front of the grate, he reached out and yanked it free. There was a stifled squeak from within the space beyond and a hint of movement. Triumph burst through his veins. She was in there.
“Hey… I’m not going to hurt you,” he said soothingly, keeping his voice low and nonthreatening. “You can come out. I promise you’ll be safe. I’ll protect you.”
There was no sound or movement for long seconds, and for a moment he wondered if he was going to have to take the whole seating assembly apart to get to her. He would if he had to. She couldn’t stay cramped up in there.
“You’re an alien. Why should I believe anything you say?”
The first sound of her voice, delicate and melodic, sent shivers down his spine. He had no idea what she looked like, but if her voice was anything to go by, she would be utterly beautiful.
His lips quirked as he answered, “Well. Technically, you’re the alien here. You’re on my ship. Remember?”
“No.” The response from the darkness under the seat was immediate. “You’re on mine actually. So you’re the alien.”
“Semantics. Your ship is
on my ship.” He couldn’t stop the smile spreading. The little female was intelligent as well, and not lacking in confidence. Not if she could argue from a position of weakness like this.
The silence stretched a little.
“You may have a point,” she conceded. “Why are you speaking English? Do you have some fancy translator or something, and you’re actually speaking alien but I hear it as English?”
He chuckled. “I’m speaking your language, little one. What’s your name?”
Silence. Stubborn little female.
“I’m Riis K’Vass.”
“You already said that.”
There was a hint of movement in the shadows under the seat and he scooted lower, trying to get a look at her. He got a hint of blonde hair and large eyes. He sucked a hard breath in. She was utterly beautiful.
Possessive need and heat hit him broadside like a missile volley. And she was his.
“Yeah. I did.” His voice was low and rough as he extended a hand. “How about you come on out and tell me yours. You can’t stay in there forever. You’re going to need to eat sometime.”
Randy had seen big men in her time, but the alien kneeling by the seat grid was huge. Like freakishly huge.
But he was also right. She couldn’t stay in here. One, she would need to eat and other stuff before too long and two, now he knew she was in here, she was done. There would be no sneaking out and escaping while the aliens weren’t looking. In fact, she was surprised he hadn’t had those big war machines they’d used on the Sentinel Five attack come in here and take the ship apart to get her out.
Instead, he’d told her to trust him and that he would protect her. She wanted to believe him. Something in his deep voice, the gentle way he’d spoken to her, pulled at something deep within her.