Page 3 of The Alien Warlord's Fated Mate

With a normal human man, not an alien with biceps bigger than her thighs.

A low growl rumbled in the alien’s chest. “Mine,” he snarled, then he stalked toward her, his determined strides eating up the distance between them.

Mia’s legs trembled and she gulped. Oh, God. He’d said that toher. By the look on his face, he had only one thing on his mind, and it had nothing to do with pizza and long walks.

Kisses, oh yes, many, many kisses, but there’d be nothing shy about them, not with him. This male would devour her whole, if she let him. The thought sent a delicious shiver down her spine and her thigh muscles clenched together.

“Oh, fuck,” Leona said. “Run.”

Mia didn’t need to be told twice. She fled, her heart thudding in time to the rapid clicks of her heels.

Zoran Kerus stalked toward his assigned building’s entrance, quelching mild irritation at having to hunt down the females promised to his people in exchange for certain Xeruvian technologies. The piddling human bureaucrats he and the other warlords dealt with in the past few days had been all too willing to take. But when it came to giving, the humans were no better than sniveling thieves, skulking among the shadows.

Eirik Drakon, a fellow warlord, raised his left hand, flashing the wristcom affixed to his forearm. “Five of the target females work in this facility.”

Zoran nodded and checked his own wristcom to confirm. While Aklan Phyrz, the most diplomatic of the warlords, had been negotiating a treaty with the humans, Nyklan Zikri and Thorian Kael, two other warlords, had quietly sifted through human databases and genetic samples, searching for females of an appropriate age and status, aided by information given to them by an ally among the humans: Scientists to help them rebuild their species, females young enough to handle the rigors of life on Zephyria, unmated and childless, but fully capable of bearing and rearing young.

They’d selected as large a pool as they’d dared from among key scientific centers, then chosen this one not far from Earth’s largest ocean as a starting point. If the warlords succeeded in capturing every female on their list from this facility, they could return to Zephyria without having to risk a military response from the puny humans by raiding others.

On this trip, anyway.

Zoran yanked open the building’s glass door, nearly ripping it off its hinges. Humans gawked at him and Eirik. Zoran was of half a mind to bare his teeth at them, just to show them their place in the universe. Humans were weak little creatures, prey, good for little more than breeding, if Nyklan’s research proved true.

Xeruvian warlords, on the other hand, were predators, their bodies honed by decades of training and war.

Even as their species shrank to nearly unsustainable levels.

A dull, familiar ache gripped him, grief and guilt and longing. Once again Zoran cursed the disaster that had decimated his people, claiming the lives of his father and sister, and the virus that had nearly dealt the final blow when it killed off the remaining fertile females. Three years spent searching for a cure, for salvation, had led them here, to these pathetic little aliens, whose females might hold the key to saving the Xeruvian race.

Eirik stepped into the building beside Zoran and glanced around, his bright green eyes flaring dangerously. “Be afraid, littleklika,” the other warlord murmured.

Zoran grunted. He’d trained many years with Eirik and the other warlords who’d journeyed with them into the far reaches of the galaxy to negotiate for breeding females. They’d become fast friends long ago, though each headed different clans. When Zoran’s deceased sister’s mate Nyklan, one of the other warlords, stepped forward with his solution, Zoran had formulated a plan, one Eirik had endorsed by fang and claw. One by one, the other warlords had been swayed, only to journey here and have the humans betray them.

Zoran clicked his teeth together in amusement. As if denying a warlord his due could stop him from taking it. Words. Bah. Humans lacked the technology to deter them. Just look how easy it had been to insert the Xeruvian battle cruiser into the planet’s atmosphere and hide their landing from human warriors.

His amusement died. And these were the creatures Nyklan advised breeding with? How could they rebuild their strength with beings such as these?

Zoran glanced around at the crowd, noting the uneasy glances, the hunched shoulders. Good. They feared him. That might make this easier.

“We are looking for females,” he growled. “Surrender peacefully and you will not be harmed.”

Before his final word left his lips, the littleklikascattered, all but a handful who watched him and Eirik with wary expressions. Well, that hadn’t gone as planned. Now he’d have to chase the females down. At least that would burn off some of the restless energy eating at him. He hated being cooped up in a ship, and they’d been cooped up for entirely too long during the negotiations, only to be thwarted at every turn.

He allowed his gaze to roam over the humans who’d stayed, then swung back to a fragile female wearing a long white coat over a short skirt. A primal instinct roared to life within him and a low growl welled up.

Mine.

His cock hardened and a crimson rage filled his mind. If he’d been on Zephyria, surrounded by the jungles filling his homejutji, he would’ve thrown back his head and roared his triumph for all to hear, heedless of the danger. He felt that strong, that brave, that fierce. When he looked at the tiny female standing just out of his reach, his entire being coalesced into a singular thought.

Claim her.

At a word from one of the other females,hisfemale gasped and fled. A dark grin stretched his mouth, baring sharp fangs as he stalked after her. Good mate, letting him chase her, as was proper and right. This was one hunt he intended to enjoy.

The yellow-haired female that had sent his female running stepped into his path, her chin held at a defiant angle. “Leave her alone, you alien thug.”

Zoran flicked his wrist, activating the sedative hidden within his wristcom. “You will make a fine mate,klika.” But not for him.

Her eyes widened and she turned and fled as the other scientists had. Zoran caught her in two strides, subduing her easily despite a credible effort on her part to thwart him. Quickly, he released an aerosolized dose of sedative into her face. Her eyes rolled back in her head and she slumped against him.

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