Irresistible: A SciFi Alien Mail Order Bride Romance (TerraMates Book 9) (25 page)

* * *

M
y childhood home was a small
, humble structure in the middle of the desert. What it lacked in size, it made up for in personality. My parents were not minimalists. They adored color. They covered the cracks in the wall with my father's vibrant paintings. The curtains were lemon-colored, matching a lemon tree my youngest brother, Daniel, had somehow succeeded in growing, despite the desert heat. Our house had a life.

Now it was abandoned, and it illustrated my worst fears. The war had caught up with my family. I still didn't know where they were, but it was not here. Their fate was unknown.

Weary from my travels, I climbed the short steps up the porch and entered my house. It was intact and everything was in its place, but it was an empty shell. Every one of my footsteps that echoed down the hall was another crack in my heart, reminding me of everything I had lost because of the Surtu invasion.

I went to my room and sat on my bed, which creaked beneath my weight. It remained my room while I resided on the Fortuna. My parents kept all of our rooms in the same condition as when we were children, even those of my older brothers who had long ago left to earn their way in the world. It was my parents' way of ensuring we always had a family to come back to, and a place to call our own.

Burying my head in the green leaves of my white comforter, I began to cry. As Commander of the Fortuna, I had to be strong. As Nightshade, I had to be ruthless. But back in my home, I was just Terra again. I cried, for everyone and everything I had known. I continued to cry until I fell asleep, and even then tears continued to fall.

* * *

A
noise startled me
. I woke up and didn't remember where I was; I immediately shifted to alert mode. A new sun rose low in the sky, casting shadows across my room. All the shadows were still except for one that crossed my door. I was not alone in the house anymore.

I grabbed a fighting stick I played with as a child, and I waited breathlessly behind my bedroom door until the intruder moved back up the hall. Using the skills of an assassin taught to me by Bellona, I silently opened the door and followed the shadow's path, which led out onto the porch. I did not go outside. Instead, I peeked through the cracks of the front door.

It was a man, and he was Surtu. His tall stature and elfin eyes told me as much. Dark gold streaks reflected in the sunlight off his hair, which matched the golden brown of his eyes. He was handsome, in an unassuming sort of way. His looks weren't intimidating like Jidden, but he was still hot.

Too bad I have to kill you, I thought.

Without a blaster, my only weapons were my fighting stick and the element of surprise. I braced myself, then charged out of the house at him, holding my rod high. He was fast. He rolled off the porch onto the ground, evading my blow. I tried again, jumping high and positioning myself midair to bash him. I thought I had him until he met me as I landed with his arm out. He grabbed my stick from me and used it to pin me to the ground.

"I'm not here to hurt you," he rumbled.

"Too bad, because I'm going to hurt you," I bit back, even though I was defenseless beneath his weight.

"Who are you?" he demanded. "What are you doing here?"

"That's for me to ask. This is my home."

As soon as I said it, I wished I could take it back. Terra, you idiot, I scolded myself. Inadvertently, I had revealed my identity to the intruder.

"You're Terra Lynch?" he asked, stunned.

I felt his hold on the stick slacken. It was my opportunity. Acting quickly, I rolled out from under him. He still had my weapon, but at least I was free to escape. I began to run.

"Wait!" he called. "I know your brother, Daniel. We've been fighting as part of the resistance together."

I stopped. His revelation was like hitting a brick wall. I knew he could be lying, but even if it was a lie, I had to know the truth. "You know Daniel?" I asked.

"Yes. Very well. My name is Kylu."

"Why are you here, but my brother isn't?"

"Your brother..." he began to explain, but a glider suddenly passed over us. "Damn!" he shouted. "Come here, quick."

Listening to the orders of a stranger went against my instincts, but I obliged, giving Kylu my trust in exchange for more information. "We can hide in the house," I suggested when I was next to him.

"There's no use. They would have already seen your glider parked out here. They'll turn around and land."

"Then what do we do?"

"We wait until they come. Then we'll act."

As Kylu predicted, the glider circled back and landed. Two soldiers marched out, their blasters drawn as they scanned the area. Soon they would see us standing on the porch.

When the moment came, Kylu took me in his arms and kissed me. I didn't resist, realizing at once it was part of a ruse to convince the soldiers we were lovers in hiding and not part of the resistance.

"Hands up," a soldier shouted.

Smiling, Kylu broke our kiss and raised his hands. I followed his lead. "Hey, gentlemen." He greeted them casually like they were friends. "My little kitten and I were just looking for some alone time, if you know what I mean."

The soldier wasn't impressed. "It's against the law to mate outside a light bond."

"We haven't mated. Not yet. But there are other things a Surtu man can do to drive a human woman wild." Kylu dropped his arms, but the soldier fired a warning shot at his feet.

"Don't move. We know who you are. Captain Fore is looking for you."

* * *

P
art 3
: Lust

TERRA

We had our hands pointed straight up in the air. Two Surtu soldiers had their blasters pointed at us, ready to shoot if we did anything suspicious. Kylu grinned broadly. Did he find being in danger amusing? It made me want to take one of the blasters from the soldiers and blow his little smile away. There was nothing funny about our situation.

Why did I leave my blaster in the glider, I thought, irritated with myself. I was more than irritated. I wouldn't let the soldiers see it, but I was scared.

Not long ago, I had been a slave to Captain Fore and forced to serve him. He would beat me regularly, or have one of his men do it. He lashed out his frustrations on me.

I had helped the women of the Fortuna escape him. It meant three hundred fewer reluctant brides for the Surtu men to use for bearing children. It had also been a personal humiliation for the Fleet Captain, chipping away at his prestige.

He couldn't kill me. The law of his people forbade it. He had sentenced me with what he considered an equal humiliation – enslavement.

But I had gotten away, hiding in a cargo box bound for Earth. Since since then, he had put a price on my head. He was too busy with the war to hunt me himself, so he had the entire Surtu military doing his dirty work for him, like dogs digging for a bone.

And now I was caught. My only ally was a smiling buffoon. It did not matter that Kylu was a handsome buffoon, the golden streaks in his brown hair reflecting brightly against the harsh desert sun. His good looks would not save me from a future of enslavement, nor would it save him from the death he deserved for betraying his people.

I did not know Kylu well. He was Surtu, but he claimed to know my brother Daniel. I had given him my trust temporarily in exchange for information. I didn't regret yet - finding Daniel was important to me. I would probably have second thoughts as soon as the soldiers handed me back to Captain Fore.

"You know what happens next," one of the soldiers said. His black uniform was a contrast against the desert landscape. "You're coming with us."

I would rather die, I seethed inwardly. I opened my mouth to say it, but Kylu cut me off.

"Finders keepers," he said. He seemed almost cheerful, and he held his arms out, offering himself to the soldiers. "I won't argue against a free lift."

"Kylu, stop messing around," I hissed.

His nonchalance made me uneasy. Only fools persuaded the devil to dance, and I was no fool. I hadn't given up hope of escape. I parked my glider around the back of the house. If I could get us there before being shot, I might be able to pilot us away. There would be a chase afterwards; the soldiers had a glider themselves. Being pursued was preferable to surrender.

Taking Kylu up on his offer, the pair of soldiers stepped forward. One continued to point his blaster at us as the other snapped a set of Surtu handcuffs around Kylu's wrists. They looked like a weightless prism. It might have been a trick of the light, but I was sure it had twice the strength of any Earthly metal.

I was tempted to run while they were distracted with Kylu. My need to learn more about Daniel and the fate of the rest of my family outweighed my desire to escape.

If Kylu was being taken prisoner, so was I.

"Great job," I chastened, my arms still high in the air. "I never should have let you kiss me."

The grin didn't leave his face. "It was worth it."

The soldier closest to me turned my way. "Did he hurt you?" he asked, full of concern.

I was bewildered. It was against Surtu law to kill a woman. They needed us for the survival of their race. There was no rule about how a soldier could treat a woman.

Surtu soldiers weren't exactly known for their courtesy.

"What does it matter to you?"

He trained his blaster back on Kylu. "I want to know if this scum needs a beating when we take him back to headquarters."

Headquarters. As far as I knew, the headquarters of the Surtu military was the Fortuna. After our escape, they made it their command center. During the war, it made strategic sense because the Fortuna was the space station furthest from Earth.

Now that the Surtu had captured a significant amount of territory on Earth, I wasn't sure where their headquarters was located. I prayed it was on the ground. If I was going somewhere on foot, I had a better chance of escaping Captain Fore a second time.

"He didn't touch me. And neither will you."

The soldier looked disgusted. "Of course I won't." Seeing my confusion, he explained further. "We work for the network. We're Surtu soldiers who are helping humans avoid capture as the resistance continues to fight. We're the good guys."

"I know what the network is," I said coldly.

"Then why do you look like you're going to murder me?"

I lifted my head towards Kylu. "Because he claims to be part of the network too."

"Actually, I said I was fighting as part of the resistance," Kylu corrected.

The soldier laughed. "Whatever he says, it's better not to trust him."

I tried to make sense of what was happening. The actions of the soldiers spoke volumes. They made no attempt to restrain me like Kylu, but I wanted to believe Kylu. He had information that could lead me to my brother, and he wasn't the one holding the blaster.

I knew from past experience that the Surtu were not above playing mind games. I just didn't know whose mind game this was.

I dropped my hands, my guard up, giving no indication of believing any of them. "And why should I trust you?"

"You can," Kylu answered for them. "They are who they say they are."

I breathed in, my rage instantly swelling as my fear of being taken to Captain Fore disappeared. "Which means you are not. You lied to me."

Kylu didn't lose a bit of his confidence. "Not quite, cupcake, but you'll see." With his hands still tightly bound, he took a step towards the glider. "We heading to the rodeo or not?"

The soldier beside Kylu grabbed his arm but looked at me. "What about her?" he asked his partner.

"What about me?" I demanded.

"The desert isn't a place for a woman to be roaming on her own. We can provide you with a ride."

Imitating Gallia's strength, I picked up my fighting stick and stood tall, hoping to look defiant. My dark auburn hair blazed like a shadow against the sun, and I wore the leather leggings and a black sleeveless tunic of warriors past. "Do I look like I need rescuing?"

Kylu whistled, but the soldier with the blaster wasn't impressed. "There's no point playing heroine when–"