Claimed by the Alien: A Scifi Alien Romance (Fated Mates of the Titan Empire Book 6)

by Tammy Walsh

  It was a new start for us and our life together. But it was only the start. There was still a great deal of fighting to be done.

  So long as we had love and the emperor in our hearts, we would emerge victorious.

  Fiath brought his lips to mine again. He had never tasted so good.

  The Titan emperor.

  Their emperor.

  My emperor.

  Fiath

  The battle was won.

  It was short and came at great cost. But our peace and freedom were won thanks to the men and women who sacrificed their lives. We would forever remember them and forever be grateful.

  Not only did they give us the means to free ourselves, but allowed me to send a message to the rest of the empire. I inspired everyone to keep on fighting, to never give up, and believe that there was always hope.

  And then began the war.

  Within hours, news of Titan victories across the empire surfaced. A single Titan had overpowered the Changelings who’d threatened his wife and children in the restaurant they earned their living.

  A small coastal village on Theyros threw their Changeling oppressors back into the sea and soon after, the rest of the planet rejoiced and followed suit.

  A powerful conglomeration of rich businessmen on Arcturon Prime used their power and influence to imprison their Changeling overlords one by one until the rest were forced to flee to avoid the same fate.

  With one heroic act after another, the Titans of the empire took back what was rightfully theirs.

  Their homes.

  The Changelings were on the run, scattered throughout the galaxy, with no backup plan. We informed our allies that should they come across any Changelings, they should be shunned, disbelieved, and never trusted.

  If any other alien species took them in or sheltered them, they would never do business with any Titan ever again. We were the most powerful trading nation in the galaxy, and our allies knew which side their bread was buttered.

  Wherever the Changelings went, they found hostile partners and doors slammed in their faces. Their days were at an end.

  I would never allow them to treat another species the way they had treated us. And we were a rich and powerful species. What would they do to someone far less powerful?

  Slak disappeared the moment he left the defense control room in the palace. Perhaps he’d taken another secret passageway, one even I wasn’t aware of, but either way, he was now gone. Still, I felt uneasy with him out there, hatching his plans and running his spindly fingers through his long white beard.

  I dispatched a special unit of trackers to comb the heavens, discover his location, and bring him to me.

  So far, they had been thwarted.

  No one had seen a ship take off after the Changelings ran with their tails between their legs. It meant the traitor could still be out there somewhere. I wouldn’t fully relax until he was locked safely away behind bars.

  I received many messages of thanks for sending my message of support to the empire. I had never sent a letter personally before and they appreciated it greatly.

  It was Hazel’s idea.

  I smiled at the thought of her and everything we had achieved together. The empire would not be the way it now was if it wasn’t for her. I dreaded to think what my life would be like without her.

  I would likely still be in the hospital, dead and dying after the initial Changeling attack, or else drowned in the river or dead from the frost in the forest.

  I was nothing without her.

  With Slak gone, I was left with a gang of rotten advisors. I knew they must have played some part in Slak’s traitorous plans but none would ever admit to it. Their undoing turned out to be their own natures.

  They were quick to blame every other member of the council. The best part was, they each had evidence on the others in case such as occasion transpired and they needed collateral to play against the other members.

  Through their deceit and dishonesty, they provided enough evidence for them all to be convicted and sent to jail.

  I stripped them of their position, rank, and titles and gave them to the Titan chieftains instead. Qi wasn’t happy with the promotion as it didn’t involve cracking skulls or destroying their enemies.

  He changed his mind when I told him he could crack skulls—only with laws instead of cudgels. He was much happier after that.

  I was surprised to find Hazel interested in taking up one of the positions herself. Health advisor caught her eye.

  I was unsure at first, as it was highly unusual for a female—and a non-Titan—to take up the position.

  But she insisted.

  She could be very… persuasive when she wanted to be.

  The senior doctors and nurses weren’t happy with her being appointed until they discovered she was a nurse and she had a very close connection to me. No doubt they had heard a rumor, something Hazel hadn’t realized yet.

  But she would discover it very soon. In fact, I intended on telling her tonight.

  It was a week after the Changelings’ defeat that I took her to one side and suggested we take a break and enjoy a nice meal in the evening.

  “I have some ideas I want to share with you about the health situation in the empire too,” she said.

  I couldn’t believe someone so beautiful could be so smart. She never stopped thinking and was up late into the night reading books on our history and physiology. She pumped me for funds that would go to the honest and hardworking doctors and nurses in the empire.

  She pumped me very often.

  And she pumped very hard.

  We ate our meal on the balcony of the apartment we shared in the upper reaches of the second tallest tower. Hazel decided my usual rooms on the other side of the palace—which were still being rebuilt—didn’t have the best views.

  I had no preference.

  So long as I was with her, I didn’t care.

  We took a seat at the dining table and a servant poured us each a glass of Titan wine. She’d grown accustomed to its flavor already, and it didn’t have the same effect on her as it did most alien species.

  Each time I looked at her, I worried the next words out of her mouth would be that she wanted to return home. Despite telling me she no longer loved her fiancé—in fact, that she never had—I still feared she might change her mind and decide to go back to her people.

  I didn’t mind if she chose to visit friends and family. I would even go with her. But I simply couldn’t bear the idea of losing her.

  It was just too painful.

  “I have something I want to ask you,” I said.

  I took a Healer’s Touch flower petal from my pocket and got to my knees before her. She seemed confused. I suppose she hadn’t learned about what a wedding proposal looked like in Titan culture yet.

  “A Titan is sworn to honor,” I said. “His heart knows only kindness. His blade defends the weak. His might upholds the helpless. His word speaks only truth. His wrath destroys the wicked.”

  She frowned, very confused.

  “That’s… very nice,” she said.

  “We call it the unbreakable pledge,” I said. “It’s what Titans say when they give the emperor their word that they’ll follow me no matter what. It’s a pledge they will keep or pay for breaking it with their lives. As the emperor, I’ve never said these words to anyone. And I hope I’ll never have to say them to anyone else ever again. They’re the words an emperor says when he proposes to his fated mate.”

  Tears began filling her eyes soon after I started.

  “Are you… Are you asking me…?” she said through halting words.

  “Hazel,” I said, “will you do me the honor of being my empress?”

  The word “empress” took her by surprise.

  I suppose it wasn’t every day someone asked you to rule over sixty billion Titans. Although she was touched, she took a moment to take a sip of her wine and then placed her hands on mine.

  She dropped down onto her knees
in front of me.

  I said, “You’ll ruin your dress—”

  “I don’t care about my dress,” she said. “Ever since we’ve met, I’ve dreamed you would ask me this question. I want nothing more than to be your wife.”

  “Excellent!” I said. “I’ll get the organizers to prepare the ceremony—”

  She held my hands and prevented me from standing. There was a look in her eye I couldn’t quite put my finger on.

  “Your proposal is… a little different from what I expected,” she said.

  Was she going to turn me down?

  My mouth turned dry.

  “Different how?” I said.

  “I never once, in all my daydreams, expected you to ask me to be your empress,” she said.

  “But I am the emperor. When you marry me, you’ll become the empress.”

  She pressed a finger to my lips.

  “I would marry you in a heartbeat,” she said. “My answer to you is yes. Yes, I will be yours. I have been since we first met. I will be your wife. But I will not be your empress.”

  Her response was… unexpected.

  “I’m not sure I understand,” I said. “After the war and the devastation, the people need something to cling to, something they can look forward to, something that will give them hope for a brighter future.”

  “I understand that, but I’m not sure… I don’t know if I can be the empress to so many people,” she said.

  Of all the responses I thought she might say, I never thought it would be this.

  “I love you,” she said. “But I don’t know if I can be the empress the empire needs. Back home, no one knows who I am. Here… everyone would know me.”

  I was taken aback. She loved me and would marry me, but couldn’t be the empress?

  What did that mean?

  She wanted to be with me but she didn’t want to be the empress. It wasn’t a situation I’d even considered before.

  I needed to give this some thought.

  “Are you mad at me?” Hazel said.

  “Never,” I said, taking her in my arms. “I could never be mad at you. It’s not an easy question to answer. It’s not about you and me. It’s about the two of us being leaders of hundreds of worlds.”

  “I might be ready one day,” she said hopefully.

  “But not right now.”

  “I’m a regular girl with no background in taking care of entire nations—”

  “You’re a nurse. You know how to take care of patients. Just think of every Titan as a patient in your hospital.”

  She threw back her head and laughed.

  “That’s a pretty big hospital,” she said.

  We stood up and held each other close. We kissed.

  “Are you sure it’s okay?” she said.

  “Of course. You will be my wife. There’s nothing else I can ask from you but that. It’s all I want. We’ll have to play down your role somehow, that’s all.”

  I smiled at her and squeezed her tight. I loved the feel of her, the heat and warmth of her skin.

  Her hand gripped my arm and she stayed my hands from grabbing her ass, which I always attempted every chance I got. But she never blocked me before. I didn’t understand why until the waiters came with our meals.

  “Leave the meals on the table,” I said. “My future wife and I need a moment.”

  The servants bowed and backed off the balcony. They didn’t turn their backs until they’d stepped off it.

  “Now I understand why it was surprising for you when I refused to follow your orders during the battle,” she said.

  “Oh?”

  “Because everyone always does exactly what you say.”

  I laughed.

  “Yes, usually,” I said. “Unless they want their heads cut off.”

  Hazel started.

  “What?” she said.

  “It’s an old law,” I said. “We don’t use it anymore.”

  “But you could if you wanted to.”

  “Sure. I’m the emperor. What I want, I get.”

  I scooped her up in my arms and carried her through the billowing net curtain and into our apartment. I placed her gently on the silk sheets.

  I kissed her firmly on the lips. She met my passion with her own. I raised her hands above her head and ran my hands down her body, pinning her hands above so she couldn’t resist me.

  By the look in her eyes, there wasn’t much chance of that.

  I kissed her cheek and down her throat and neck. I nibbled at her soft skin.

  Delicious.

  “There’s going to be a problem with the wedding,” Hazel said.

  “Mm?” I said.

  “I don’t just want your friends and family to be there. I want some of mine too.”

  I reached the bodice of her dress and pulled at the strings holding it together with my teeth.

  “I’ll send a ship to pick them up,” I said.

  “That’s the problem,” she said. “I don’t know where they are.”

  I pulled back and looked at her. How could she not know where her friends were?

  Then it struck me.

  “You’re talking about your friends that were abducted,” I said.

  “I have no idea where they were taken. They were on the same smuggling ship as me but they disappeared.”

  “I’m sure I can find them.”

  “You can?”

  “Sure. I’m the emperor of the most powerful species in the galaxy. There’s nothing I can’t get if I want it. Speaking of which…”

  I pressed my face into her succulent breasts and slipped my hands inside her dress. Soon, she would be my wife, and the lovemaking would be even sweeter.

  I pushed the problem of her not wanting to be the empress from my mind. The issue would resolve itself.

  She was going to be the empress whether she wanted it or not. That was how the empire was going to see her. It just might take her a little time to get used to it, that’s all.

  I was sure that with enough time and experience, she could do a wonderful job. She was that kind of person. There was no stopping her when she got her teeth into something.

  And right now, there was something I very much wanted to sink my teeth into…

  Hazel

  I bent over the card and used an italic pen. It had to be specially made for me. There was a Titan in town who was a master metal worker. He was used to developing jewelry for the rich and powerful—including the emperor himself—and said he could create the kind of pen I was looking for. He asked for no designs or specifics and I left his store doubtful he could make what I wanted.

  Within three hours, a servant delivered what the Titan had made for me.

  I couldn’t believe it.

  The craftsmanship was incredible. It was a long pen and thin around the grip for my hand as it was smaller than the average Titan’s. I inserted the ink capsule. It slid inside without catching on the sides. It was without a doubt the best pen I’d ever had.

  I used it to write messages inside the cards. They were all identical. I had decided to make the invitations myself, but when I saw how many guests would be attending our wedding, I quickly backed out of that idea.

  There would be thousands of guests. And that wasn’t including their plus ones!

  Instead, I decided to only make my friends’ invitations. I handed the finished cards to the messenger, who bowed and backed toward the exit before turning his back on me.

  I swear, I would never get used to that. I was the same old me. I didn’t have any special birthright like Fiath. I wasn’t a noble. I didn’t come with titles or power or land.

  Maybe that was why I was a little hesitant about becoming the empress.

  Empress!

  Fiath was my dream guy. He looked the way I liked. He talked the way I liked. He fucked the way I liked…

  But did I want to be the empress to a vast empire, an alien race that until a couple of weeks ago, I had no clue even existed?

  No, I
didn’t.

  I wanted a small, quiet, and happy life.

  With Fiath.

  But there was no way for me to have that with him being the emperor.

  I sighed and tidied up the materials I used to make the invitations. I guess I was going to have to get used to it.

  It could have been worse. Being handed unlimited power in the galaxy wasn’t exactly a hardship.

  I smiled at the thought of my friends receiving their invitations.

  After I told Fiath about them, he immediately leaped into action and got “his people” to work on locating them. They asked me about the last place I’d seen them and where I thought they might be now.

  I had no idea. They were out there in the galaxy somewhere.

  It took just a few hours for the investigator to come back with verification that he’d managed to locate one of my friends.

  Sirena.

  I couldn’t believe it. How could they have found her so quickly?

  “She didn’t exactly make it difficult,” the tracker said. “She’s living with Lord Taw and they’re very happy together.”

  Lord Taw lived on one of the classier, more well-to-do planets. Typical of Sirena. She always had liked to keep a step above the rest of us when it came to the greasy social ladder.

  Except this time. I mean, there was no one more senior than the emperor, was there?

  It took two more days before the next friend was found. And they didn’t find just one, but three!

  I started to cry when I heard the briefs about their stories and what’d happened to them. They’d each found love—with a Titan, no less!—and although they’d had their hardships along the way, they were now very happy.

  Alice turned out to be the hardest to find. When her location was finally discovered, it came as no surprise to me at all. She was the only one of us that’d managed to find their way back to Earth.

  She lived there on a large farm with her own Titan—yet again!—and they were very happy.

  I got to work finishing off the invitations right away and had them complete within a day.

  I was so excited, I could hardly sit still.