Page 2 of Betrothed to the Alien Mercenary

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Evie

I was in a daze as I stepped out of the shuttle and into the brightly lit hangar bay of this new ship. Theronix was at my side, limping weakly and severely diminished in size. Out of Evadne’s escort of two dozen, only the two of us had survived, and I thought that survival still remained highly debatable. This was a mercenary vessel, and I recognized the black carapace armor that each male wore in a heartbeat: mercenaries of the Varakartoom, the most notorious outfit in the entire Zeta Quadrant. Information on them had been part of the regular threat screenings I’d received as a key component of Evadne’s security detail.

Theronix was too weak to fully comprehend what was going on around him, having been starved for most of our countless weeks kept in that cold cell. I’d been fed each time I’d been forced to serve the crimelord, or sit and look pretty while he conducted meetings. That last time, I had feared I’d end up dinner for the blue-furred Hoxiam; he’d been so freaking mad. But things had taken a surprising turn when his foot soldiers escorted us to the hold.

It could be that the mercenaries had taken us so they could sell us for a tidy profit, but when I saw that there were two human women happily greeting each other, I felt the first pang of hope. Surely two women of my own species wouldn’t stand for slavery? I didn’t have much time to contemplate that because, at that moment, my eyes landed on a very loudly speaking Asrai male. Something happened when our gazes connected that I couldn’t explain.

My stomach swooped, though that could simply be hunger. The tingle lower in my abdomen couldn’t be mistaken for anything but desire. I kept a fierce lid on the emotions, the way I’d been trained by my Xurtal teachers, not allowing anything I felt to be visible on my face. However, in my chest, my heart was pounding.

This Asrai was accompanied by a twin, a common occurrence in their species. Their tall, red-skinned frames resembled Xurtal males, but that's where the similarities ended. This particular specimen was tall and muscular, his physique perfectly outlined by tightly fitting black armor. From his bulging thighs to his sculpted abdomen and heavy pecs, nothing was left to the imagination.

His face was covered with the eerie, skull-like markings that all males of their species bore. They made it appear as though he had a skull for a face, with white markings outlining his eye sockets, covering his bald head, and accentuating the sharp jut of his cheekbones and jaw. In those deep sockets, his red eyes glowed scarlet—a sight I would have once found intimidating but had long since grown accustomed to. All Xurtal had red eyes, so it had become a familiar sight. Even my own reflection in the mirror revealed a pair of red eyes, tinted by a sleek, semi-permanent pair of contacts. While I could remove them if I so desired, I had the option to wear them indefinitely, as they were virtually undetectable.

I thought I saw desire spark in that ghoulish face—for me—because there was no mistaking the direction of his gaze. It warmed me to the bone, pushing away the pervasive, strength-sapping coldness from the crimelord’s ship. The spell, however, broke when the Asrai’s twin lunged for me, and the two males suddenly clashed in a wave of unrivaled violence.

That male did not desire me; he desired Evadne. That fight should remind me to keep my distance; it was like watching two feral dogs fight over a bone. They growled, hissed, and fought with their claws as they clashed, blood spurting from cuts. They were not holding back, despite being twins—or maybe because of it. They fought to inflict maximum harm, inciting panic and fear in the hearts of all the slaves deboarding the shuttle with me. It even roused Theronix at my side, and he threw out a restraining arm in front of me, as if that would protect me.

It was the horde of mercenaries in black armor, leaping on top of the fighting pair, that brought order back to the chaos. I stared at their efficiency in breaking up fights, certain they had a lot of practice at it. In less than a minute, it was over: one male was knocked out and dragged off, the other pinned to the floor by a Rummicaron cradling a large, portable laser cannon. “Enough, Aramon!” he snapped, his growl sounding vicious. “Blazing suns! Stand down.”

The male he had pinned went from being a wild, bucking creature to lying still beneath the larger alien. Then, he twisted his gleaming white head and aimed his red, glowing eyes in my direction. My belly swooped wildly, plunging all the way to my toes; even my damn nipples tingled under his gaze. Only my years of training kept my face blank as I weathered that wave of intense feeling. So his name was Aramon? I’d need to make sure to avoid him.

“This way,” a green-skinned mercenary with leafy hair said to me, jerking my gaze away from the pinned Asrai. I allowed myself to be led further down the gangplank to where the mercenaries were performing quick medical checks and handing out jumpsuits. Theronix stumbled after me, and the green Viridara male quickly ducked beneath his arm to guide the last member of Evadne’s guard to the nearest medic.

It felt strange to be separated from him, even if it was only for as long as it took to get scanned for any contagions. I eagerly shrugged the offered jumpsuit over the remnants of my stained flight suit, then waited as the mercenaries took longer to treat the Xurtal warrior. They were very professional and objective. I wouldn’t say kind, but definitely very used to dealing with a situation like this one. That surprised me, because none of my reading material on the notorious mercenary crew had mentioned humanitarian missions.

When I resumed my place at Theronix’s side a little later so I could help him walk to the med bay, I felt eyes on me. I’d been very conscious of the Asrai’s location the entire time and made myself keep my back to him, but that gaze burned, and I twitched, glancing over my shoulder. Our eyes met, and just like before, I felt that look. It scorched like flames, marking me deep inside beneath my skin where nobody could see. It took my breath away.

He was upright, standing unrestrained beside the Rummicaron, unbothered by the bleeding scratch on his cheek or the furrows on the side of his neck. A frenetic energy surrounded him as he bounced on the toes of his black combat boots, his hands moving rapidly in the air while he talked to the larger alien.

Rummicaron looked to me like sharks on two legs, with a fin rising from their back and a head with a giant maw. They suppressed their emotions, which made them cool and detached killing machines. This one was no exception, and he was cradling a big portable laser cannon in his arms. I realized that if I had to pick whom I’d end up stuck in an elevator with, I’d take the shark, and thinking that felt oddly like betrayal.

The Asrai male, Aramon, had his eyes locked on me. Despite appearing to hold a conversation with his crewmate, his gaze never blinked or wavered. He was fixated on me. That was going to spell nothing but trouble, and it wasn’t evenmehe cared about. All he saw was Evadne, the carefully cultivated facade I maintained as the perfect body double for the Xurtal princess.

When I guided Theronix out of the hangar bay after the rest of the sorry, bedraggled crowd of slaves, I felt how the Asrai’s stare intensified. That red gaze had turned into a fierce glare, and I felt his anger burn even fiercer than his desire for me had. I couldn’t stop myself from looking again, and then wished I hadn’t. No, that anger wasn’t for me, he was glaring at Theronix. He was jealous.

Chapter 2

Evie

I paced across the ready room with my hands tucked behind my back. My cloth slippers made a soft noise against the deck, and I missed my boots. There was nothing more satisfying than clomping rudely around the room with sharp heels and steel toes when I was riled. It was one of the things that Evadne and our endless line of teachers had tried to train out of me, and it was the one thing I had held onto with all my heart. I’d just learned to do it when nobody was watching—nobody that mattered, anyway.

Theronix sat in a chair at the long conference table, his hands placed on the metal surface in front of him, his posture ramrod straight. Ever the soldier. Two weeks aboard the Varakartoom had managed to greatly improve his health, but he was still working hard to regain the muscle mass he’d lost. Today, we arrived at Rakesh, a planet on the outskirts of the Kertinillian Empire, and it had taken us weeks in the wrong direction if I wanted to fulfill my promise to Evadne.

The truth was, if I could run away from it all, I would. I didn’t want to impersonate a Xurtal princess; I never wanted any of this. Evadne was my friend, but she was also my employer—my boss—and she never let me forget it. Nor did Theronix let me forget what my place was now. “You have to keep your word,” he said firmly. His red eyes glittered with hints of gold that betrayed the passion he felt for this subject. A subject we’d already discussed a dozen times over the past two weeks.

I rolled a shoulder and glared when he started to open his mouth to berate me for my very un-princess-like behavior. “I know,” I said. “The fate of the entire Xurtal Kingdom depends on it.” But I was not Xurtal, and I didn’t really fancy putting my life on the line any more than I had already been forced to do. Nothing had ever been my choice since the moment I’d been rescued by the Xurtal military and brought to their planet. I’d only been seven at the time, scared out of my mind. Truthfully, nothing had changed; I was still scared out of my mind.

The only difference was that I was older, with more knowledge and more survival skills than I had ever dreamed of having. Right now, I knew I could take down Theronix with my hands tied behind my back, but that didn’t really feel like a fair achievement. The warrior was still recovering from his ordeal, and I’d suffered far less during our captivity than any of the others in our entourage. Two weeks and a few booster shots from the mercenaries' very odd doctor had perked me back up in no time.

“I’m not going to break my vow.” I had already decided that. No matter how I looked at it, Evadne had been good to me, kind, and yes a friend. I owed it to her to see this through; I owed my life to the Xurtal Kingdom. It wouldn’t feel right to back down and let this mission fail without even trying, but I was quaking in my boots thinking about it. This mission was time-sensitive, and we were so very far away from where we needed to be.

Theronix had gone behind my back and spoken to the mercenary captain. In a few minutes, they were going to call the Xurtal Empire and discuss options. Theronix wanted me to pretend to be the princess in that talk, and I wanted to come clean. I couldn’t lie to the king of Xurtal and pretend to be his dead daughter. I couldn’t believe that Evadne’s head guard was even proposing it, but he was convinced that while we needed to hire these mercenaries, we couldn’t trust them. Thus, the ruse had to be kept at all costs.

I knew I’d fall in line with his wishes, because what options did I have? But it sucked, and I wanted to escape this room and run away from all of it. Instead, I took a deep breath, straightened my shoulders, and sat down at the head of the table as regally as I could. Every inch of me settled into the role I’d played since the time I was eight: the princess, the consummate elite and diplomat. Having shared every lesson Evadne had received growing up, and then a whole slew more—including martial arts and weapons training—it felt as simple as breathing.

My hands had only just settled demurely in my lap when the door to the ready room opened, revealing the bridge beyond it. The captain was a huge, black-scaled Naga with an impressive scowl, and he halted in surprise when he discovered that I was inhischair at the head of the table. It was the only chair someone of Evadne’s status would have taken, so that’s where I sat, but I felt his narrow-eyed, golden glare all the way down to my toes. The real princess would have taken that in stride, shrugged it off, but I already felt like such an impostor that it made my heart skip an anxious beat.

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