Alien Paladin's Woman: SciFi Alien-Human Military Suspense Romance (21 page)

The precious, world-changing stones were left to lie in the blood of their fallen enemy as he lifted Audrey into his arms. Under his fingers, her pulse was very weak and her eyes were open in horror, seeing nothing.

When he almost slipped on something in the blood, he looked down. The silvery bracelet lay there, coated in blood, discarded. It was then that Tieran realized what had happened.

She had risked her life to save his.

Again.

Cradling her in his arms, he rushed through the station, stepping over carnage and destruction. His heart beat twice as fast. The love of his life was in his arms, struggling to hold onto the slivers of her existence.

She was still there, he knew that,
felt
that. Still fighting. He had to get to a ship, to a healer. Anyone who could help.

“We’re not done yet, Audrey,” he whispered, shouldering his way into one of the smaller bays, hoping to find a ship there. “We can’t be.”

D
arkness swirled around her
. Distantly, somewhere, she heard Tieran’s voice, talking to her. Her body jostled as she was moved.

Her body ached as if it had been burned all over. Her hands were on fire, every inch of where she had come in contact with the lifestone raw and bleeding. The second she could focus even slightly on the source of the pain, it was like she was transported back into the moment she’d laid hands on the stone.

She spasmed in Tieran’s arms.

No. Not this again!... But… I have to remember. I have to hold onto it…

She gave into the memory, fading fast in her mind as it was.

With the touch, she had been thrust back to the beginning, but it was so much more. Though the stone in her hand had been bigger than the one she'd taken from the Jorcossi, Audrey wasn't the same either.

All the days and weeks of torment had taught her how to handle the pain, how to push through the sense of losing herself. It had threatened to overtake her immediately, as did the Fearless, but she stood strong.

The pain had been incredible, searing, mind-breaking. But she couldn’t let go. In that moment, she had seen everything so clearly, the future sprawled out for her.

The galaxy was such a huge place. Somewhere, out there, she could see more lifestones. She saw a girl, a young woman rather, almost as young as her, with big green eyes and long red hair that flowed around her.

Another Terran, reaching for the glowing mineral she'd found at the bottom of some large, dark ocean. Audrey could feel the flash of connection between her and the lifestone.

For a moment, it seemed to Audrey that the girl saw her too.

And there was more.

The lifestones were all over the galaxy, pulsing quietly, gently, with unknown and untamed power, all hidden. Merely seeing it almost destroyed Audrey, but she held on, her mind fraying. At the back of her mind, the image of Tieran shone more brightly than anything else, keeping her attached to the real world.

All those images flashed through her mind in a moment that was so short it barely existed.

And then she had seen the Fearless, felt the hunger that was as old as the galaxy, always wanting more. It was insatiable and it cared for nothing but itself.

The Fearless had felt her too and for a moment, Audrey lost control. Right then, Tieran's blade had cut into their shared vision. She had screamed and so did the Fearless.

Her mind was spinning, fearing that she had been wrong after all, that there really existed a connection between her and the monster and Tieran was going to kill them both.

Yet it wasn't so.

Her vision cleared again and as life left the Fearless, Audrey had seen her chance.

The Fearless were so strong and so invincible, because the universe knew practically nothing about them. But she had been linked to the one before her. And it was dying, weak. She had no choice. The fate of the galaxy might as well had been laid out in front of her.

Audrey had closed her eyes and went in, pressing into the Fearless’ subconscious as it had forced into hers.

She had felt the Fearless' surprise and wondered if that was how she had felt to the Fearless when the monster took a hold of her mind, shuffling around in her head like it was an open book.

As Tieran's blade had cut deeper and the Fearless' world started to fade to black, it had no more strength to keep her out. She scrambled around, searching for anything with a meaning as her body grew weaker, holding on to the lifestone.

The mines below Verien had glowed, distracting her, and it had been like walking through fog until the truth struck her.

The Fearless wasn't a Jorcossi, not truly. It had taken on some similarities in this phase of evolution, but it was another species, similar but not the same.

It didn't split, it didn't connect with any other Fearless. It
was
the entire species.

The Fearless was a reincarnation.

That
was why there had never been more than one sighting at one time.

That
was how it always knew and adapted to its previous failures, because they had been its own.

That
was the reason so much time passed between each appearance.

It needed time to grow and strengthen.

With that, she had felt the Fearless die. A light went out in her mind, signaling the disappearance of the link they'd shared, but the rest of the lifestone was still there.

And the strange Terran girl, surfacing the dark ocean and lying half-dead on a boat, shaken and confused, she was there too. Audrey felt a kindred spirit through that vastness of space, strong and determined.

She had felt a tear slide down her cheek, wondering if she would ever see Tieran again as darkness came to envelope her like it had the Fearless, when another light came to be.

Nothing more than a spark, really, but unmistakable in its viciousness.

The next Fearless.

* * *

A
fter that
, for the longest time, there was nothing. Trying to hold onto the memory exhausted her and she felt nothing.

Audrey seemed to be floating in nothingness until she began to sense herself again. Not only her body, but her mind as well. At some point, the fact of her existence itself had been under question, and then she was back.

She opened her eyes, only to see Tieran right there, by her side where he belonged.

The look in his eyes was incredible. Nothing about her experience in the empty darkness had told Audrey so much about how close she'd come to dying than his expression. The relief, the sheer joy of seeing her alive that she saw in Tieran was the best feeling ever.

"I love you," she whispered, making sure that if those were the only words she spoke, they were the right ones.

He kissed her as an answer, pulling her into his arms. Her body protested, but Audrey herself did not. She wrapped her hands around him, kissing him back so passionately it hurt.

Then again, the process of breathing was fairly painful at the moment, so it wasn’t much of a statement.

"I love you too," Tieran said, smiling a true and honest smile.

Audrey looked around. She was in the med bay of her station and people were buzzing around her. By the looks of the med bay, all set up and working at full capacity, she had to assume that she’d been out for quite a while.

"What happened?" she asked at once. "The Fearless? The station? Verien? The mines?"

Questions poured out of her mouth, each word weaker than the previous, but Tieran made her stop, gently pressing a finger to her lips.

"Everything is alright," he said, and his eyes were bright when he said that. "Absolutely everything."

Audrey couldn't have stopped herself from smiling even if she'd wanted to. Even though it hurt. There was something about his insistence that made her infinitely glad even before she heard it.

"All the ships have returned," Tieran told her. "The station is still standing and so is Verien. There is a lot of restoring to do and the mines have to be reopened, but it's over. We won. And Audrey…"

She looked at him, feeling like she never wanted to take her eyes from him ever again. Her hand had slipped into his, holding on to it. She didn't even want to think how many times they could have lost each other.

"You have been commended by the Galactic Union. Both of us, in fact. We've been made the official guardians of Verien, the newest world of the Union. We're staying. This is our home now."

It took a moment for the impact of those words to reach her. Then Audrey understood and her mouth dropped open.

"The Palians…" she said. "They're not going to reassign you. We get to be together."

Tieran smiled and Audrey's heart skipped a beat. After all the danger, she considered it a possibility she was going to die of happiness.

Or trying to breathe. Either or.

"Yes," the paladin said, kissing her gently. "I've spoken to my superiors. They think it's a fair prize for what we've done and will do in the future, supplying the galaxy with the lifestones."

Audrey felt like there was no air in her lungs to express what she felt, knowing that they were given a chance to stay together when it was all that she wanted. A chance to build something that was truly hers – Verien – and to do it with the man she loved.

She kissed him again, smiling against his lips, happier than she'd ever been.

She hadn't forgotten anything. All her visions, everything she had seen was still there. Yet she took a moment to enjoy being with Tieran.

They could be together now. With that promise, she would face anything else in the galaxy.

"Come," she said resolutely, pulling back and getting up. "We need to go."

Her body protested wildly.

If I managed to face down the damn Fearless, I can take a few steps.

Tieran smiled, helping her stand from the med bay bed.

"You should rest," he said. "I thought you would be up and about as soon as you opened your eyes, but I hoped perhaps my news would keep you in bed with me for a while at least."

Audrey held his gaze seriously.

"We will," she said. "I promise. I will not get up from our bed for a week if that's what you want, but right now, we need to go to the Galactic Union. The council first, then your people. Then the Brions, I think."

He stared at her, immediately serious again.

"This is not over," Audrey continued. "I have a lot to say to the council and then we have a chance to end this, once and for all. I know how to wipe out the Fearless."

Her voice was running out, but she managed to whisper out the words.

Tieran's eyebrows shot up and Audrey held back a pleased chuckle – she didn’t have the breath to spare -, seeing him so shocked. But then he smiled again, the look in his eyes so loving it took her breath away.

"Very well, Governor Price," he said. "Let us go and save the galaxy. Again."

H
e was constantly amazed
by the turns his life had taken.

When Tieran had been assigned to Verien, his greatest hope had been to find the lifestone. Get that done, then move on to the next mission. Never stop contributing to the galaxy, never take a moment for himself. That was all the satisfaction he could have wished for, and all he really wanted.

But that was then and this was now.

When he'd met Audrey, everything had changed forever. She became the most important thing in his life.

And then the little Terran had told him she knew how to wipe out a creature that had threatened the galaxy as long as anyone could remember. In one fell swoop, she’d made him capable of doing everything he’d always desired – helping the galaxy – as well as keeping that which he wanted for himself as well – her.

All in all, Tieran felt like life was being pretty damn good to him.

As Audrey had suggested, they took their fastest ship and headed back to the center of the Galactic Union. Neither of them spoke of it out loud, but Tieran was certain that they didn't much like it there.

Both of them wanted to go back to Verien, their home. But first, they had a job to do.

The council admitted them as soon as they'd landed. The news they carried was too important to delay them with anything.

To make things even easier, the Palians were leading the council that year.

They made their case and explained their plan. Or, more like, Tieran had stood by Audrey’s side as she relayed everything she knew, and what she and he had come up with that should be done next. It was immediately approved and the Brions were called into action. Of course, the news itself did not make anyone happy.

Learning that the mythical monster that they had all hoped to never see again would just keep coming back and truly was, as it seemed, impossible to slay, was a bitter pill to swallow. But the Galactic Union had seen plenty of nightmares lately and where there was a will and a way to move on, the Union would not stand in its way.

Especially not when led by the Palians.

Another matter entirely was how the Fearless had learned of the stone to begin with, how it had known to send the Jorcossi in its place to guard the locations and to be ready when the stores were uncovered. Several other Jorcossi had been discovered on operations similar to Verien, trying to make their hasty exit after news of the Fearless’ death came out. They were luckily captured and vanquished without too much bloodshed.

It all still meant that there was someone within the ranks of the Palians who must have given out information about the search and the planets involved. The Galactic Union vowed to find the traitor and to conduct a thorough cleansing in the management of the lifestone project.

Tieran, however, felt that it would come down to a warrior like himself to one day deal with the traitor. He hoped the day would come soon.

As they left Ilotra, the council's fortress moon, Audrey was beaming. He loved seeing her like that, enjoying doing something good. It endeared her to him even more, although he didn't honestly think that was possible.

General Braen answered their call and announced that he and the
Benevolent
were making top speed to get things started. He assured them the Brions were taking the matter very seriously – and that all of his brothers were undoubtedly jealous of them singling him out.

Tieran said nothing about that, just smiled a little. Brions were a complicated species, but the power of their generals could not be denied. If they put their minds to something, so it would be.

Sort of like the paladins. Just less controlled in their approach. More fervor, less logic.

Which wasn’t always a bad thing.

All the while, the news of what had transpired on Verien was spreading to every corner of the Galactic Union. They couldn’t have contained it if they’d tried. Vanquishing the Fearless was worthy of a news cycle like no other.

In transit to the Brion general, Audrey and Tieran spent most of their time answering questions and looking for the strange girl in the dark ocean that Audrey had seen. Audrey's connection to her was very weak, since the girl in her vision had only brushed against the stone, but she could still sense her somewhere out there.

In the midst of all the madness, they finally had time for each other as well.

Audrey was keeping her promise not to come out of bed once their duties to the galaxy were done. Night after night, they spent more time with each other than sleeping.

He loved everything about her.

Audrey was simply stunning to him, every inch of her beckoning him to take more, to touch her, kiss her, caress her.

Tieran liked nothing better than to spread her open for him, to see her beautiful green eyes stare at him with unrestrained lust. Her supple, gorgeous body twisting and turning under his fingers and tongue as he tasted her deeply was the closest thing to heaven he could imagine.

“What is it?” Audrey asked, rousing Tieran from his contemplations.

She’d caught him staring at her as they were standing on the bridge, getting ever closer to the Brion vessel – one that would
not
mean immediate death, for once.

“Simply about what a stunning creature you are,” he said earnestly, a mild smile playing across his lips.

"You know, I think we're going to have a great second year on Verien," Audrey said, grinning. "What do you think?”

“I think we've got the keeping warm part down," Tieran agreed, grinning.

Now, if they could get this whole ‘saving the galaxy’ thing sorted, he could get back to worshipping every inch of the body of the woman he loved. He couldn’t wait.

* * *

G
eneral Braen
and the
Benevolent
met them at the agreed location.

Tieran watched as Audrey's eyes went wide, seeing the sheer enormity of the Brion battleships. They were nothing short of spectacular machines of war, rumored to be indestructible. If the Fearless had gotten hold of one of these, Tieran was more than certain he would no longer be here.

Small mercies.

As their fighter approached, Audrey smiled to him.

"So this guy has killed the Fearless before?" she asked.

"Yes," Tieran said, nodding. "And he is very excited at the prospect of fighting it one more time."

"He claimed that the other generals are jealous. Are they really that petty? Does it matter who deals with it as long as the Fearless never come back?"

Tieran shrugged solemnly, refusing to speak ill of their allies.

The
Yes
would have come too easily, after all.

"Brions are different from us. For them, personal achievement is the most important. They honor and respect each other's accomplishments and they will fight together, if need be. But they are very prideful."

"You don't think that will be a problem?" Audrey asked. "That he can't actually kill the Fearless, that it keeps coming back?"

"I honestly don't know," Tieran admitted. "With Brions, you never know until you see them."

They ventured into the Brion ship. For the occasion, Tieran had come in full regalia fitting his position as the commander of paladins. Audrey was dressed in a long white dress, wearing the symbols of the governor of Verien, her favored white fur cloak draped across her shoulders.

He thought they made for a nice couple. The guardians of Verien.

General Braen waited for them in a small lounge, apparently observing their ship on one of the screens as they entered. It had taken them a while to traverse the corridors, since Brions kept their ships very dark to get used to seeing in the absence of light.

As he turned to greet them, Tieran thought the general would be fine with what they asked of him.

The Brions had fifteen generals, every one of them unique. He didn't know much about Braen, one of the youngest of them, but before the man even opened his mouth, Tieran trusted him.

The general was tall like him, broad-shouldered and solemn. There was a clear spark of intelligence in his bright blue eyes, dark black hair falling carelessly over his face.

The Brion battle spear was strapped to his back. It was one of the most formidable weapons in the galaxy and undoubtedly the one that had cut down the Fearless' previous form.

His armor was intricate and heavy-looking, but Tieran knew that was deceptive. Brions were incredibly fast, all of their senses naturally better than those of most others. Their armor had to help them, not hinder them, as well.

Tieran could admit that he had been a bit concerned, thinking the general would be a brute like some of his brothers were, but his first opinion was a good one. He had even considered going after the newest incarnation of the Fearless himself if the general disappointed him.

Now, he thought it wouldn't be necessary.

"General," he said.

"Commander. Governor," Braen replied, his voice deep and firm, like a man born to give commands.

"Is that the spear?" Tieran asked before the general could go further. "The one you killed the Fearless with."

"Yes," Braen said, the corners of his mouth tugging upwards in a slight smile.

“Is that the glaive you killed yours with?” the man asked back.

“It is,” Tieran nodded, sparing a glance at the weapon in his hand.

"Imagine my disappointment when my brothers heard I hadn't even killed the damn thing, not truly," Braen continued with a smirk.

"You're one of less than twenty to ever accomplish vanquishing one of its forms," Audrey argued.

The general nodded.

"I know. I don't think anything less of what I did, but unfortunately not all of my brother generals appreciate that. Have no fear, Miss Price. I don't care either way. I am very grateful to you both for what you've done. Our Elders are too. They asked me to personally thank you for cracking open a mystery that's been with us since anyone in the galaxy can remember. Some Elders can rest much easier now."

"That is good," Tieran said. "We wanted to talk to you in person before you embark on your quest. To make sure—"

The general cut in, but he did it surprisingly politely for a Brion. Most of them would have thrown the spear. Braen simply raised his hand with a slight smile.

"I know what you've come to say," he said. "We Brions have a reputation, after all. Don't worry. I understand. I can't kill the Fearless. I need to trap it."

"Yes," Audrey cut in and her voice was laden with relief. "Thank you. I'm honestly amazed by how many people in the galaxy don't understand that."

"They are afraid." The general shrugged. "Whenever something dangerous exists, it inspires fear. I heard some want me to drop the creature in a star, hoping it burns up so completely it will not be reborn. What do you think?"

"I think its complete crap," Audrey replied, looking very embarrassed in the next moment, her cheeks lit with a blush.

Braen, however, merely laughed.

"I agree," the general said. "That is why I ask you to trust me. I understand what's at stake.”

“We thought you would, General,” Tieran nodded. “We must track down the Fearless, preferably before it can consume lifestones again, for it now knows the power they hold, as it has felt it. Then, we must trap it so it can never roam free again.”

Braen and Tieran eyed one another for a moment, a wry smirk appearing on both men’s expressions.

Nothing like a little bit of the impossible to get a day going.

“Understood. Now, the girl. Where is the girl? Have you found her?"

"Not yet," Tieran said. "We are looking for her. The whole galaxy is looking."

"So are we," Braen admitted. "Thank you, Miss Price, for providing us with a direction. Unfortunately the section you pointed to is almost entirely comprised of worlds with dark oceans, Terran presence and possible lifestone reservoirs. I don't know what drives you there."

Tieran saw Audrey smile apologetically.

"I don't either," she admitted. "I wish I could be of more use, but my connection to her is very weak, even if I take off the shielding device."

"I will find her," Braen said as though it wasn't a question at all. "Have you brought me a device for her too?"

Tieran handed it over, tucked into a small pouch. A part of him ached to go along, but Brions worked best alone and even his superiors agreed that it was time to let the general take over. He and Audrey had done their part, now they had the equally important task to protect Verien in case Braen failed.

Too much paladin and Terran blood had already been spilled. If he was needed, he would be the first one to volunteer, but for now, it was best given to others who knew what they were facing as well as he did.

But he would be ready if that day ever came when the galaxy called on him again.

"Good luck," Audrey said as they were leaving at the end of the meeting, making sure they had told the general everything they could think of.

Braen smiled.

"Thank you," he said. "Unnecessary, Miss Price, but welcome."

Later, back on their own vessel, as they watched the huge Brion ship grow smaller in the distance, Audrey chuckled.