Page 25 of Chased By the Alien Mercenary
“Yes, welcome to the crew, Lyra. You can’t imagine how happy all of us are to have you.” That came from the other woman. We’d reached them now, and smoothly, everyone boarded the shuttle, settling into familiar places and guarding the hatch so we humans could enter first. Solear thumped down into a seat without putting me down, holding me tightly in his lap. That made greeting these women awkward, but I did not care. I was not leaving his side for anything. I was fine with being carried around by him as much as he wanted, for now. Solear knew I was thinking that because he rumbled a satisfied sound deep in his throat and nestled me closer, nuzzling at my hair.
The captain also welcomed me aboard, but then he moved away from the second woman to talk at the front of the shuttle. Aramon was in the pilot’s seat, and the gargoyle guy was next to him, his big hands on the navigational computer. He wasn’t plugged in with a wire like my mate had been, but perhaps that wasn’t necessary simply to fly up to the ship in orbit. That’s where I assumed we were headed.
“I am Manyin, but you can call me Mandy,” the new woman said. She was small of stature, but she had a presence so confident that she seemed bigger. Or maybe it was just the bigroundness of her heavily pregnant belly and the obvious glow that came with it. Of Asian ethnicity, she had beautiful, almond-shaped eyes and a cap of shiny black hair that just brushed her shoulders. Her accent was odd; I couldn’t place it. It did not have the distinct UAR tones I was used to almost everywhere in the Alpha Quadrant I’d gone. Come to think of it, Evie sounded exotic too, but she had such a well-modulated and practiced speaking voice that I hadn’t immediately noticed.
“Hello, Mandy. I’m Lyra,” I said, and then, after a short pause, “I’m Solear’s mate.” That made her smile, and I could tell I was being stared at with more than a little curiosity from the guys inside the shuttle, but nobody said anything. Mandy smiled warmly, though, and she repeated what the captain had already told me before: that I was incredibly welcome aboard theVarakartoom.
Then the ship began to lift off, and while everyone else was sitting, neither the captain nor Mandy was. She stood in front of me, hands on her hips as she gave me the greeting spiel. His long tail uncurled as he braced himself against the pilot’s seat, sliding around her body to hold her. She did not bat an eye; she just kept smiling like nothing was amiss, like she hadn’t just been snatched up like a python wanted to snack on her. “This is my mate and the captain of the Varakartoom, Asmoded. I believe you’ve already spoken?” Well, that explained it.
Chapter 22
Lyra
Boarding the ship after a smooth and successful landing in their hangar bay was like the curtain falling on the crazy chapter of my life down on that planet. I hoped I’d never have to visit that place again, no matter how idyllic it looked in daylight. Stepping into the pristine, though rather dark, bay was like leaving all of that behind and starting on the next chapter of my life. That felt good. Especially since Solear still held one of my hands in his, anchoring me to him both physically and mentally. I was not alone; I had him, and whatever came our way, we’d face it together.
“Yes, we will,” he agreed, smiling in my head just for me. He snarled at the large gargoyle guy when his wing passed close to us at the same time, and that just made me happy. I’d captured the heart of my beastly alien, but he was still a little feral and wild, and that just seemed right—like I hadn’t changed the heart of him, but he’d melted around me.
If I’d thought arriving on the ship and being truly safe was the big change, then the visit to the med bay… it was like getting a makeover. The ship’s doctor was the most unexpected alien of all—tentacles instead of legs, many of them—but the upper body was much like those Aderians from the planet below. He had a closed third eye on his forehead, though, which was a very intriguing mystery. He gave me nutrients, healed my scrapes and bruises, and afterward, I felt reborn. Of course, all he did was nod at Solear and hover the tissue regenerator over his backfor a brief moment. I had to be satisfied that was all my mate needed to stay healthy.
The doctor also insisted on giving me implants that would allow me to read the alien scripts out here. I was all for that, but it surprised me that he’d do that kind of elective surgery—minor as it was—so soon. His mysterious smile and Solear’s one-word endorsement that I should made me lie back for it, though. I’d never had ocular implants, but it didn’t take the doctor more than a minute to take care of the very non-invasive procedure. When I blinked afterward, it was instantly clear that more had changed than just the fact that I could now read the fluid, odd script on the medical monitor next to the bed.
Solear carried me from the med bay into what I’d previously thought was an entirely black and gloomy hallway. A hallway identical to any other we’d walked through to get here in the first place. Now, though, I stared in surprise at the beautiful colored lines that wove themselves along the walls. They were indicators of direction, I discovered when I focused on them. One color for the bridge, another for the hangars, one for the med bay, and different ones for all the various decks. “Oh, no wonder you guys wanted me to do this immediately. What a clever trick!” Solear just grinned, silent amusement radiating toward me.
Then he took me to his bunkroom, small crew sleeping quarters with two bunks on either side of the wall. A row of lockers at the back indicated eight possible occupants, if these guys slept in shifts, but all beds except one were made with military precision, unused. “When Aramon shared the bunkroom with us, I did not dream out loud. But now he bunks with Evie, and I kept waking my bunkmates.” Solear’s explanation tugged at my heartstrings. My poor guy. He must have felt so abandoned and alone!
The only decoration, the only sign of my mate’s personality inside the austere space, was a beautiful, hand-drawn map hanging over his bed. It was on thick parchment and clearly of a desert with a camp of some kind, each line contributing to a beautiful impression of the place. It might be a map in theory, but it was also a rendition of the place, the dunes of sand in rich reds and yellows, the colorful patterns on each of the tents in agonizing, minuscule detail. Whoever had made this was an artist, and that map looked cherished.
Solear drew me to the pile of black and gray things lying at the foot of his bed, his expression on his intense, marked face a little awkward.“The map is of where Aramon rescued Evie. Tass made it and gave it to me. Tass was… well, he was my first attempt at making friends.”He did not share these words explicitly with me, but I sensed his feelings of inadequacy at making friends. He wasn’t quite sure if he’d succeeded—he couldn’t even hold a conversation with the guy. Even telepathically, he seemed to think, he struggled with that. Then it became obvious that there was something else about that bothering him too, but he did not share it. I planned to circle back to that later. First, though, I wanted to shower, eat, and sleep for, like, a thousand years.
The pile of things at the foot of his bed turned out to be clothes, girl clothes, at that. Simple shirts and leggings, and, blessedly, also normal, modest underwear. Solear didn’t want to let me out of his sight when I asked for the shower, and the bathroom hidden at the back of the bunkroom was tiny. The two of us barely fit inside together, but we made it work. I was very happy to get the chance to truly look at the wound on his back, but like they’d all claimed, it really was superficial, a bit of an abrasion, but that was it. He really was fine.
It was an even tighter fit to roll into his bunk together, but so worth it. I slept like the dead, and for once, it appeared that Solear did too. When I woke, I did not recall being part of his dreams, and he was still sleeping when I blinked open my eyes. I couldn’t believe what had happened to me, but lying there, tucked against his chest—safe and warm—I couldn’t regret any of it, not when this was the result. Though I had not wanted to admit it or see it, I had been on the run all my life. Seeking a connection with someone, but never daring to expose myself for it. I’d hidden behind my camera, the way Solear had hidden behind his twin, but we were both done with that. Now we had each other, and the future had never seemed so bright, even if I had no clue what it held for me.
Then my guy blinked open his eyes, the scarlet light soft and warm and still a touch sleepy. His face had seemed so fearsome to me once, with the white markings that looked so much like a skull. A Day of the Dead kind of face paint, only his never washed off. It had grown on me, because that face now meant safety and love. I could see the handsome lines of his sharp cheekbones and defined jawline, and the whitish marks on his lips just made them seem lush and welcoming. Then he offered me the sweetest, most tentative smile, and my heart leaped in my chest. “I love you,” I whispered to him. He did not say it back to me aloud; he did not eventhinkit at me. But his feelings washed over me as he rolled us and claimed my mouth. Like a warm hug, I felt all the care, all the tenderness, and yes, all the love.
Mandy and Evie had invited me to a tour of the ship, but that could wait. I forgot all about it when Solear laid his claim, a rough growl beginning to rattle in the back of his throat. When his hand slid down to cup my breast beneath my thin shirt, I was gone. “Take me, mate,” I urged him, and that was allthe instruction he needed. His hands were rougher as he freed me from my new clothes, shaking as he parted my thighs and pressed his head between them. Okay, he could lick me first, fuck me later. I was onboard with that plan. “Yes!” I shouted, toes curling into the mattress as an orgasm crashed through me, hard and fast.
He rose over me then, eyes on fire, beautiful cock straining between us. I loved the gleam of metal from all his piercings as he slid inside of me, and I loved the friction each bump brought even more. We were together, mind and body, and that made the pleasure intense, too much. He came with me in just a few deep thrusts, our pleasure crashing together. A tidal wave, a combustion of passion. It couldn’t have been more perfect when he held me tight, curled us together afterward, and, with a soft rumble, rocked us back to sleep.
***
Solear
I had brought Lyra to Evie and Mandy and discovered that Harper was there too. It felt very odd to leave her in their care, because leaving her had meant abandoning her unprotected before. This time, she couldn’t be safer, so I had to try, but I still struggled to calm my breathing just outside the door for several minutes. Aramon would say I was doing the right thing—I knew that—but panic still filled me at the thought of leaving. Still, Lyra had looked excited to speak with them and get the “lay of the land,” as she’d called it. I needed to give her this.
“Harper is a journalist! She’s excited about writing an article on the meteor storm I shot pictures of! And about the raid onthe mansion—we’re going to collaborate!”Lyra’s excited words burst across my mind, eager, like she simply couldn’t wait to share this with me, to make me part of it, even when I wasn’t there. She didn’t know I was still by the door, that I hadn’t made it across the hallway to Tas’s greenroom like I said I would. That foray of telepathy, initiated by her, unknotted something inside my chest. She wanted me to be part of her visit, even when I wasn’t there, and that check-in let me know she was okay.
“That sounds amazing, mate,”I found myself saying.“Don’t give her ideas for her series of mercenary interviews. She’s gonna insist on pictures for those now…”Talk about giving her ideas. I knew I’d planted it in her mind now, and I could sense her excitement as she leaped to share this with Harper and the other females. She loved taking pictures, so I wasn’t going to regret the idea. If it made her happy, I’d sit for as many pictures as she wanted. And it also made her happy to know that I was okay, so I forced my shoulders away from the wall and walked into Tass’s domain.
Tass’s domain also meant Nelly, and that had been bothering me of late, but she was hiding between plants when I first entered, so I did not see her. Tass was jovial as always when he greeted me, but he did not try to have a conversation, and his Iridese did not flare along his temples, indicating he felt threatened like he once always used to. I tried to see that as a sign that he liked my company, even if all I could manage was to squat at his side and watch in fascination as he grew plants with the special powers he had. It was soothing to see, and all the green made me feel like I was outside, free to go wherever I wanted. This was a good place, and Tass was a good male.
When he nudged a small shovel in my direction, he didn’t need to explain out loud what he wanted. I began digging evenly spaced holes for the plants he was replanting from the nursery he kept in his quarters with his mate. This was a task I’d done before, and it was surprisingly nice to do. Then Nelly crawled out from beneath a flowering bush nearby, and I froze, fighting the instinctive desire to growl and scare her off. I owed it to my friend not to do that. She was tiny—no threat—but it was hard all the same.
Tass had watched these interactions before but had never said anything. This time, however, he cocked his head and sighed. “Nelly, staring is rude. Don’t you know that by now? If you want to give him something, show it.” Give me something? What? My thighs ached from how tightly my muscles had clenched. Was I really worried about interacting with a mute plant girl the size of my boot? Breathing deeply, I managed to reel back the growl that wanted to build in my chest, and it helped ease me even more when I felt a soft brush of Lyra’s mind against mine, querying if I was okay. Yeah, I could do this. Aramon also tried to butt in, like usual, but I didn’t want to lean on either of them. I needed to do this on my own.
Sinking to my knees made me less threatening, and Nelly danced across the dirt, coming a little closer. She was so pink and fragile that I couldn’t believe Tass felt comfortable picking her up. I was certain I’d crush her by accident if I tried. Luckily, I didn’t have to try. All I needed to do was look at her tiny hand as she held out an orange and red flower to me, curled in a delicate circlet no bigger than the tip of my little finger. I opened my hand slowly, forcing my claws to retract, and held it out to her. She smiled at me then, and the soft brush of her tiny handsagainst my fingertips felt...well, it felt nice. She was soft, sweet, unthreatening.
“Nelly has been wanting to be your friend—like you are mine—for a while now,” Tass commented with a laugh. “But she thought you wouldn’t want that. I told her she was wrong.” There was a hint of steel in his voice then, warning me that I’d better agree to be the tiny plant girl’s friend—or else. And that… that made me feel so good inside, it was almost as good as thinking of Lyra’s sweet smile.
