Boarded: Alien Romance Read online

  She felt her eyes go wide as saucers. What the hell? This behavior was not common among this species. They didn’t fight over spoils. All things were brought to the leader and divided according to rank.

  Before the other two Zairs could draw their Ragnars, the attacker slew them both.

  He hurried to her and she tried to stand but slipped in the congealing mess under her body. Her breath came in short, sharp gasps. As he knelt next to her, she slashed at him.

  The blade narrowly missed his throat since he bent back in the fluid way the Zair could. He shifted a step back and sheathed his blades. “Liaison, they said you were dead. That they caught you on the way to the rendezvous with your rescue.”

  She stopped her feeble assault mid-swing. “What? Do I know you?”

  “Sadie, it’s me.” He twisted a massive shoulder to show the marks on his spine protrusions. “I helped you escape on Zairan.”

  “Koche. I remember now.” The engineer symbols mixed with his name were tattooed along the protrusions. The names of his mate and children followed. “What are you doing on a warship?”

  “What are you doing on a Denobola freighter?”

  “You told me once, engineers build and create, not kill and destroy.”

  “Things have changed since the warrior clan claimed your execution.” The delicate fingers of one of his small hand wiped a splatter of blood from her chin. Six pointed tusks grew from his elongated snout to form a star over his mouth. They moved and clicked as he spoke.

  Terrifying and alien, most citizens’ nightmare, yet she knew this particular Zair well. He’d risked his life and those of his family to help her. It was for Zair like him, a member of the Freedom Advocates, that she went to Zairan and brought a treaty.

  She touched him in turn where a tusk grew out his snout. “Not for the better, I take it.”

  “No, the warrior clans have grown stronger. They take those of us from other livelihoods as they want. Force us to work and fight for them.”

  “I made things worse for you.”

  “No, you opened our eyes. The resistance is still alive but we have no voice in the central world government. Not since you left. I have to get word to them that you’re safe.” He spread out his tusks in an alarming fashion as he chuckled, “Well, relatively safe. I need to get you out of here.”

  Suddenly his large hands pinned her to the floor while his smaller ones tore at her jumpsuit.

  “Stop! What are you doing?” Her heart drummed a panicked beat.

  “This is going to hurt.”

  “No, stop, please—.” Screams tore from her throat over and over as pain arched her back. They left her throat raw and dry. She accessed her CHIP to block out as much of the pain as possible.

  Koche had yanked the two crossbow bolts from her hip.

  If the Zair didn’t know of her presence yet, they knew now. The thought floated across her consciousness like a bubble over water. Koche touched her. Delicate fingers probed the injury, then applied pressure.

  “I don’t see signs of poisons. They missed the bones and joint. Just a flesh wound.” He sounded far away. “Hey, are you listening to me?” He shook her. “We have to go.”

  She blinked. It still hurt, but at a tolerable level. With some assistance from Koche, she stood and leaned on one of his strong arms. The red suit she wore was covered in blood, both human red and Zair black. Her suit bore a rip from her waist to her knee on the left side and a tidy bandage covered her injury.

  She touched it. “Nice work.” Her voice was hoarse.

  “I’m a field medic now.” He led her to the last shuttle. “The Ragnar training we picked up has come in handy of late. I have to admit, I don’t know how I’m going to get you back to Central Station alive.” Two of the tusks rubbed together in thought. “Unless I fight our captain, but chances are he’ll slaughter me.”

  “It’s more than you deserve, traitor.” The Zair, who had charged through the doorway and she’d hamstrung, crawled closer.

  Koche pulled his blade from its sheath and decapitated the heckler without hesitation. “I can’t let anything happen to you, Liaison.” He turned from the body to gaze at her. “Promise me, if I help you escape again, you’ll return to Central Station. Give my people a voice.”

  “I swear it.” She grasped his forearm and squeezed with all her might. “I never stopped.”

  “Then why haven’t you come back?”

  “My superiors don’t take the attempted murder of a Liaison lightly. They would rather destroy your world.”

  He withdrew from her. “Can they?”

  “Probably, but such a decision can’t be made quickly. However, your warrior class’ recent behavior will make it easier for them to agree.”

  Koche glanced around the room and wrung his smaller hands while the huge ones hung at his side.

  “Koche, you have to come back with me to Central Station. Present your case to the assembly. I’ll stand by you as Liaison. They need to see a Zairan not bent on bloodshed.”

  “I only wish all my people deserved your dedication.”

  “Our people have more in common then you think. One day I will tell you what humans did to their Liaison when he first came. Without his determination, we would have eventually destroyed any chance to be part of Central Worlds.”

  He glanced up at the ceiling. “Where is Glitch?”

  “Excellent question.” She thumped him on the shoulder. They should have been here by now. “It’s with some of the Denobola crew trying to destroy this freighter. The shuttle is their only way off, so we’re not taking it without them.”

  She linked with her POD and checked on their status. They had changed position in the cargo bay and led the Zair on a chase through the maze of bins. Her vision hovered over Nual’s broad shoulders as he kept pace with the swift crew. Glitch explained that Nual had ordered it to lock down the area and keep more Zair from entering. No one could get in but neither could they get out.

  A message for her blinked on her CHIP, a recording made by Nual. She opened it.

  “Don’t wait for us. Take the last shuttle. Maol asks for you to watch over his family.” He sighed, a frown furrowing his forehead. “If only we’d had more time.”

  She knew his last statement was not about blowing the ship to bits but about them personally. He wanted her to abandon them.

  Never.

  The guilt would eat her alive. They’d made her do that on Zairan. Never again. She wouldn’t be able to get past asking herself, what if? She ground her teeth and tried to figure out her next move. How could she get in and out of the Cargo Bay without drawing more enemy attention?

  Glitch uploaded the Traveler schematics into her internal processor. The unexpected intrusion made her vision swim. Technically, she did ask a question. Now she had to figure out Glitch’s answer.

  Koche steadied her. “Are you ill?”

  “No, I’m processing more data than I’m used to. Give me a moment.”

  Images of the ship’s blueprints opened in her mind. She scrolled through them until she found the cargo bay. What did Glitch want to show her? The pictures magnified as she examined it.

  Air ducts! Of course, she could use these. One of them tunneled a short distance from one of the surrounding corridors. She eyed Koche. It would be a tight fit for him and Nual, but she’d grease them both down and slide them through if she had to.

  “The others are trapped. We need to help them.”

  “I am at your command.” Her Zair engineer-turned-field-medic gathered the crossbow from his dead companion.

  Her course plotted, Sadie led him to a stairwell and down deep into the belly of the ship where she found the entrance to the air shaft they needed.

  She leaned heavily on Koche’s strong arm. Her left hip burned with pain, and the bandage darkened with fresh blood. She grimaced. The bleeding would get worse when she crawled into the tunnel.

  Metal squealing grated on her nerves and made her shiver. Koche to
re the vent cover off with one large hand.

  “We’re supposed to be quiet, as in covert.”

  “Sorry.” He set it softly by the wall.

  Through Glitch, she watched Nual lure Zair around a bin corner into a trap of claws and teeth. She gave a silent cheer and pumped her arm.

  “Follow me. We’re missing all the action,” she said.

  She ducked and crawled, pushing the increased pain to the back of her mind. Her CHIP built a block to keep it there.

  With his shoulders crammed together, Koche shoved himself into the tunnel and followed behind her.

  The route to the cargo bay was not direct. Without the blueprints in her internal processor, she’d be lost.

  On the fourth turn Koche touched her ankle. “I don’t like confined spaces. How much longer?”

  “One more corner. Hang in there.” She didn’t like the ducts either. The fact she was willing to squeeze in them for Nual spoke volumes. Something she couldn’t acknowledge yet. A vent grate appeared around the corner. She could hear distant Denobola roars of fighting.

  She pushed the grate to get out, but it didn’t budge. The enclosed area wouldn’t allow her to turn around and use her feet. She should have had Koche go first and given him directions. No way were they going back to switch places. At least not all the way to the beginning.

  “It’s stuck. Back up to the intersection, and I can get out of your way so you can break it open.”

  He grunted but when she tried to go back she bumped into him. The duct shook and Koche bucked, bumping her forward in the process.

  “Hey!”

  “Liaison,” he panted. “My shoulders are stuck.” She felt him buck again.

  Stuck in tight quarters with a panicked Zair meant trouble. Friend or foe, their tusks and claws remained razor sharp and could tear metal. Let alone tender human flesh.

  She shrank into a corner and curled into a ball as her friend shrieked.

  The ear-piercing sound joined the squeal of metal. She glanced over her shoulder as much as possible. Gray, sweaty flesh filled her vision. A flash of pink tongue, then she got too squished to see. The sour smell of sweaty Zair scented the air until she couldn’t breathe anymore.

  Chapter Ten

  Sadie’s pulse pounded in her ears. Pressure of being crushed built. If she could breathe, she would have screamed. Something hard struck her head, and her lungs burned as they finally filled with air. She lay on her back and stared at the dull gray ceiling far above her.

  Koche crawled over her and blocked her view. “Did I hurt you?”

  Her hand struck out before she could think and slapped him across the muzzle. “Stupid egg sucker, you almost killed me.” She would never crawl through a tunnel with a neurotic Zair again.

  He rubbed his cheek and chuckled. “You’re all right.”

  She glared daggers at him and noticed the Koche-sized hole in the wall. He’d pushed both of them through it, sandwiching her between him and the wall. All her limbs moved, and they all hurt. She groaned as she sat up, and her wounded left hip screamed at the abuse. Her CHIP could only block so much pain. The fact she felt any meant she’d maxed it out, and her injury was getting worse.

  On unsteady feet, she stood. “Follow me, they’re this way.” She pointed down an alley between stacked bins.

  “How do you know where to go, Liaison?” Koche climbed to his clawed feet and adjusted his loose fitting pants.

  “My POD is sending a signal I can track.” She tapped the metal plate over her ear that housed her CHIP. It didn’t take long to locate the others. Four aisles down and one over, they encountered a scuffle. Zair surrounded the crew and Nual.

  Wooden staff in hand, her blue lover tripped and knocked down any who neared them to the waiting Denobola who killed each fighter. Fast and smooth, Nual twisted around his attackers. Sure strokes of an experienced warrior, he fought side by side with those not of his race and defended a family not his own.

  With the sound of a spring from the crossbow released by her ear, she felt a breeze through her short, dark curls. A bolt sped past too quick to see until embedded in the neck of a Zair. She glanced at Koche who reloaded his weapon, then noticed they’d drawn some attention.

  “Stand behind me, Liaison. Guard my back. You’re too injured to fight.”

  He sent bolt after bolt into his own people. Did he feel any guilt or remorse? The remaining Zair scattered between the bins pursued by the Denobola hot on the hunt.

  She pointed in the direction they ran. “Glitch, follow.” Someone had to keep an eye on them.

  Nual finished with the one he’d cornered, then turned on Koche. The staff spun in his skilled hands as he approached step by careful step. His once white wrap around his hips soiled with black blood and his own blue. He bore a new injury, a gash on his forearm.

  Koche stepped back and spread all four of his arms out from his body but did not let go of his crossbow.

  “Wait, Nual.” She stepped in between them. “He’s with me.”

  Her Zair friend set his smaller hands on her shoulders.

  She saw Nual’s eyes flare. He stopped and scowled at them. “An old lover, Liaison?”

  Koche’s hands tightened on her flesh. “How dare he?”

  Before she could speak, the crossbow swung and aimed at her Cyngi.

  Nual didn’t comprehend the grave insult he’d implied. The comment suggested Koche betrayed his life mate who he’d been with for as long as she’d known him. Unfortunately, the ambassador didn’t know what Koche was saying. What shocked her even more was Koche understood Patwa. Zair didn’t intermingle with other species. Why would they need to speak another language?

  “Stop! I order a truce as Liaison. This is an interspecies misunderstanding.”

  Both males glared at each other. Bodies tense and hearts full of battle lust. Neither looked ready to back down.

  “You have friends among the Zair?”

  “Liaisons are expected to have friends among all species. Koche was one of the few who helped me survive on Zairan.”

  Nual glanced at the dead Zair around his feet with cross bolts in them, and he set the end of his staff on the floor. “You can take your hands off her now.”

  She shrugged off the little hands still clutching her shoulders. “We don’t have time for this. I can understand Koche’s reactions better than yours. This is why Liaisons ask for detailed data chips. I haven’t a clue why you’re acting so possessive.”

  At least he had the decency to look chagrinned about withholding information. “Without Glitch I can’t find my bin.”

  “I haven’t purged my data banks of its location. Follow me.” She limped away and refused their aide. She expected some hostility because of Koche’s race but not jealousy. Was it jealousy? Would Nual react this way if Maol touched her? At any other time, she’d have laughed her ass off. Not today.

  She noticed her blue warrior hovered close, between her and the Zair.

  He cradled her elbow within his hand. “You’re injured. Let me help you.”

  “So are you.” She pointed at his cut.

  “But my wounds have stopped bleeding, and I’m not slowing us down.”

  She touched her hip, and her hand came away with fresh blood.

  “Don’t be so stubborn, Sadie. Let me carry you so we can get to the bin faster.”

  Koche stepped forward. “Tell the ambassador that I am the least injured and should be the one to carry your weight.”

  It made sense to her. She cocked an eyebrow at Nual while relaying the message. He needed to trust her judgment if they were to have any kind of relationship, working or otherwise.

  “Very well.” He invited Koche to move in closer. As the Zair approached a thin blade appeared in Nual’s hand. It rested against Koche’s throat. “Nothing happens to her. Do you understand what I’m saying?”

  “She means more to my people than she can ever mean to yours, Cyngi.”

  But she knew the clicks and gr
unts were only noise to Nual. The petals on his head ruffled as he stepped closer, adding weight to the knife, as he waited for her to translate.

  “Enough.” She placed her hand on the one holding the weapon. “We’re not safe. It won’t be long before more Zair find their way in here. Let Koche help.”

  His clear blue eyes bore into hers. He yanked his hand out of her grasp and allowed Koche to pick her up in his large arms.

  The smaller ones carried the crossbow as they ran between the bins. An occasional roar or squeal sounded from far away as the Denobola and remaining Zair hunted each other.

  “Turn right.” She pointed at an alley. “It should be the last one on the left.”

  Nual punched the long security code and scanned his hand so the door slid open with a hiss.

  She signaled Koche to put her down and followed the Cyngi. The burn on his lower back looked worse than she’d thought. It must hurt like hell. She doubted she could run around with such an injury.

  The staff made a dull thunk as Nual set it down on the floor. He pulled the sunlight machine from its container and stabbed at the buttons. “You should have taken the shuttle. Now you’re stuck in here with us.”

  “Stuck? We’ll just go out the way Koche and I came in.”

  Lights blinked on the device. He glanced at her. “Then what? Carve a path through the Zair?”

  “If we have to.”

  His hand rested on a button. “Once I press this, we have thirty minutes to board the shuttle and fly to a safe distance.”

  She blinked and tried not to think about her throbbing hip. “Then we’d better run fast.”

  Sadness blanketed his face. There was so much she didn’t know about him; but he’d displayed honor, courage, and selflessness, these three rare traits all packaged in one beautiful alien. The rest was a bonus.

  She raced to him and pressed her lips to his. He still tasted and felt the same as before the attack, except the passion had turned into something more. It roared through her as they clung to each other knowing it may be the last time. When she pulled away, it caused her heartache. “How could you expect me to leave you behind?”