Page 5 of Protected By the Alien Warmachine

Somewhere during that, my mind shut down, and I fell into the darkness.

4

KAL’VA

Ilay beside the female, watching her sleep and marveling at my fortune. I’d lain in my crypt for Makers alone knew how long, on the edge of death, and when I woke, I woke toher.To Tal’ia.

She was an intruder, yes, but she had broken nothing, harmed nothing, and did not try to force her way through to the Makers who I hoped still lay dreaming at the tomb’s heart. I would guard their souls from those who would plunder them, not from respectful and kind hands like hers.

No, Tal’ia was mine now, mine to protect. She lay there, fitting perfectly against me, her wonderful curves pressing against my skin. I gazed down at her, delighting in the strangeness of her body. She was not from any species I recognized, which meant either her homeworld was very far away or enough time had passed for a fresh generation of sapients to reach the stars. Either way, I was grateful for the opportunity to meet her.

Though ‘meet’ seemed a weak word for what we’d done. My cock twitched at the memory of our mating, crystals thrumming with anticipation of another. I stroked my hand down Tal’ia’s back, wondering how much she could take. As fragile as shelooked, she’d embraced all that I’d offered. Would that miracle repeat itself?

I lifted her face to mine for a kiss, her eyes fluttering open as our lips met. Her warm body shifted against mine, drawing me closer, and her soft, hungry moan left no doubt about what she wanted.

“Hey, Talia?” The voice called from the broken gap in the roof of my crypt, a nervous edge to it. It continued with incomprehensible sounds, and I raised my arm, instinct demanding I kill whatever creature dared interrupt us.

But Tal’ia moved faster. In an instant, she put herself between me and the hole. My arm’s crystals blazed with lethal energies, but she stood firm, green eyes blazing, naked and small and fierce. Her words still meant nothing to me, but her intent was clear. I would need to kill her to get to whoever had spoken.

Or…it would be trivial to move her out of my way. Strength and speed were on my side. I would not need to hurt her to slay my target. Still, I paused. Tal’ia stood firm, choosing to put her life on the line. Ignoring her wishes would make an enemy of her, and I could not bear that thought.

The killing energies dissipated as I lowered my arm. Tal’ia watched me, brow furrowed and muscles tense. I would have to earn her trust. All it would cost was time. After waiting uncounted thousands of years, that did not concern me. I sat on my hands, trying to communicate that I would not act.

Tal’ia backed away, still watching me with narrowed eyes, but when I made no move to follow, she relaxed slowly. She exchanged words with the speaker above before clambering up the rope ladder and out of my crypt.

I had to force myself to stay still instead of charging to her rescue. Wary of offending my mate, I made myself pause and pay attention instead. The voices above held no anger. Instead, theyspoke as friends, as allies. I listened, trying to learn about the strange world I’d woken in.

5

TALIA

The worst thing was Jules’s knowing grin. Okay, no, the worst was that I was standing in front of her naked, blushing, hair in disarray, but I ignored that. If I didn’t, I’d die of embarrassment.

“So, you survived your encounter with an Ancient, and established friendly relations?” Her eyes sparkled. “A pity the encounter ruined your gear, but that still sounds like a coup.”

“I, uh, what did you…?” My question trailed off. I didn’t really want to know what she’d seen. Jules, of course, only grinned wider and raised an eyebrow, making me wait for her to say something or for the ground to swallow me. I wasn’t sure which I’d prefer.

“Nothing,” she said after I’d waited approximately ten thousand years. “Nothing at all. I mean, obviously we sent a drone in to check on you, but in the rush,someonemust have fucked with the visual settings and we couldn’t see a thing.”

Oh, thank god.My legs trembled and Jules had her arms around me in an instant, steadying me. As she did so, she whispered into my ear. “Of course, Iheardquite a bit. You were very enthusiastic.”

In that moment, I wasn’t sure whether I wanted to die, kill her, or both. Instead of murder-suicide, I settled for groaning. “I’m never going to hear the end of this, am I?”

“What are friends for?” She stood back, checked that I was supporting my own weight, and let go. “You know you’re going to be talking about this for the rest of your life, right? It’s just something you’ll need to get used to, because unless you become a hermit on an island somewhere, people are going to be bugging you about your ‘first contact experience’ forever. You kinda made history.”

My heart fell and cheeks burned. “I honestly hadn’t thought that far ahead.”

“I figured as much. You were distracted, after all.” She reached into a bag at her feet and pulled out a fresh jumpsuit for me. “That’s why I’m here alone. I had to hold off Waterman with a baseball bat and threats to fill his boots with scorpions. You need a chance to adjust before he buries you under his questions and tries to figure out how he can take the credit.”

Stuffing myself into the jumpsuit with unseemly haste, I snorted a laugh at that. “Thanks, Jules. I owe you one.”

“Which puts me, what, thirteen favors up?” Her grin flashed again. “Just you wait till I cash them all in.”

Sighing dramatically, I looked up at the ceiling and declared, “I am doomed.”

Jules was smug,but she was also right. The rest of the expedition swarmed us as soon as we made it back up into the more explored layers. To be fair, most of them wanted tocheck I was okay, which I appreciated. Others, though, started interrogating me as soon as they saw me. Dr. Waterman had no compunctions about quizzing me for details about my sex life.

What followed was the most painfully embarrassing week of my life. First, I had to record everything that happened between me and Kal’va. In minute detail. It left me feeling like I was in the running for a ‘most pornographic research paper’ award.

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