Free Read Novels Online Home

Alien's Mate: A Sci Fi Alien Romance (Abducted Brides Book 1) by Harper Star (14)

Fourteen

It’s two days after Vax and I had our… bonding, and things have been great since then. Vax has nearly got the ship ready for our departure, and Loola and I have been busy at work helping to fix the damage from the Horkax invasion. I’m walking with Loola and Vax one night in the gardens of the high council when we cross pass with the white-haired Riga that chairs the council.

“Ah, I was wondering when we might bump into each other again,” the Riga woman says as we all come to a stop to talk. The great dome of the Riga mothership is slowly beginning another revolution away from the sun, and a cosmic evening light has settled over the great city.

“Piper has been busy helping me to repair the destruction in the outer city, Lady Bonnix.”

The elder Riga raises her brows slightly and nods. “And you, Argonian, how is your ship coming along? I trust you are nearly ready to depart?”

I look at Vax, feeling my heart sink a little. When the ship is up and ready we’ll be blasting into hyperspace once more, putting even more distance between ourselves and earth. I look up at the alien sun above us and wonder if I’ll ever see home again. Vax nods at her question. “That’s right. The directive was to get as far from earth as possible. Once Piper and I are one million light years clear of the Horkax we will find somewhere to settle down and start anew.”

We’ve never really talked about it past that. It’s always just been assumed that I want to go. Don’t get me wrong, I like Vax, a lot, and things are going really well between us at the moment, but I’m not sure I can stomach the thought of never seeing earth again.

“Is there any message from Raka?” I ask hopefully. “Any news of the Horkax and earth?”

Bonnix shakes her head. “Alas no, but do not take it as a bad sign. Argonians measure their words carefully. Raka might only call when it is necessary. The Horkax will attack again, but that attack might not come for several months, maybe even years.”

“Or he’s received the message and doesn’t want to repair our alliance,” Vax suggests.

“Well, yes,” Bonnix says regretfully. “That is an option too of course. Tell me, Piper Denzel. Do you miss earth? I sense a sadness in your eyes.”

Everyone looks at me and I feel my cheeks flush slightly with heat. “Well… yeah. It’s my home planet. Of course, I miss it.”

“You still want to go back?” Vax asks, almost sounding surprised.

“I just feel like I have an obligation to help. It doesn’t feel right staying here, knowing what happened. Couldn’t we just check—”

“No,” Vax interjects. “It’s not safe. There’s no telling what presence the Horkax have in the solar system. There’s been nothing but radio silence from Argonia in the last few weeks. For all we know everything is already gone.”

“Vax is right, Piper,” Loola says. “I know it’s hard, but it’s not safe to go back until we understand what it’s like there. The Horkax might be waiting with a trap. You’re Argonia’s last chance for survival. Vax’s leaders seemed pretty clear with their directives. Get far away. Survive. It’s for the good of the race.”

“I guess I just feel a little selfish,” I say anxiously. “Shouldn’t we help them?” It’s a massive weight to shoulder, but it is how I feel.

“What’s more selfish?” Bonnix says. “Leaving your home forever to guarantee the survival of two races, or going back out of curiosity and ruining it all?”

I’m stunned by Bonnix’s boldness, but I have to admit she’s got a point. The conversation lightens up from there, but I’m let pondering her point over the next few days. It keeps spinning round in my head, refusing to let up.

The next time I broach the subject is back on Vax’s ship a few days later. I enter his room after another long day in the fields with Loola, and Vax spins around to look at me in surprise. He has a black folder of some sort in his hands, and quickly shoves it behind his back. “Piper! Vutaz! I thought the door was locked!”

I stand there momentarily, wondering if I just caught my alien boyfriend whacking it to porn. His trousers are on, so it’s probably not that. Something is fishy though. “Vax… what’s going on?”

“Nothing,” he says. “Did you want something?”

I walk into the room and take a seat on the bed. Vax turns as I walk across the floor, keeping his back away from me. Whatever he’s hiding I don’t really care right now. Leaving has been on my mind all day and I want to talk to him about it. I want to let him know how I feel.

“I’ve been thinking about us leaving. Lately, I’ve been thinking about it a lot.”

“Oh…” Worry sparks in his blue eyes. “You don’t want to leave.”

“Actually, it’s the opposite. I think leaving is a good idea. Our conversation with Bonnix and Loola got me thinking the other day. Leaving might not be the easiest thing, but it is the right thing to do. I’m ready to go whenever you are. I think this is right for us.”

Vax’s face lights up at my words. “Piper… this is amazing! We can start preparing things at once for our departure. Monroe! Monroe! Where is that damned robot!”

And just like that I sign the okay on journeying across the universe, possibly to never see earth again. In the last few days on Riga our routines change little. I carry on helping Loola with the restoration of the outer towns, and she even takes me up into space for combat training. Flying a fighter ship is never something I could have done back on earth, but since my body reacted to the Aquigen and stasis shot, reacting to things at breakneck speed almost seems like second nature.

“Wow! Great shot Piper!” Loola’s voice crackles through my ship’s dashboard as my ship tears through the Riga flight school course. The course is one giant three-dimensional maze that is built beneath the city. The obstacle course is probably bigger than most cities back on earth and is filled with targets and virtual enemies to dogfight with.

I have to admit the course is a blast. Loola informs me regularly that I’m ‘beasting’ the Riga tests that are put before me. Blasting ships out of the air and hitting targets while throwing my ship into tight spirals seems almost second nature to me now. On that final night before Vax and I are set to leave Loola takes us all out for an extravagant meal to say farewell. All the Riga we have befriended during our stay are here, even Phasma and Vyra, who I haven’t seen since we first arrived.

Vax and I return back to the ship later that night in high spirits. He’s finished preparing his ship for the next leg of our journey and I feel like I’ve matured in many ways since arriving at the Riga mothership. There’s an unspoken closeness between Vax and I now. We’re closer than ever, and it’s getting better every day.

“Why don’t you head upstairs to the bedroom?” Vax offers as he finishes plotting our course for tomorrow. “I’ll just be a few minutes more with these charts.”

“Sure,” I say as I plant a kiss on his forehead. “Don’t stay up too late. I don’t want to fall asleep waiting for you. You don’t want to miss our last chance to have sex on the Riga mothership do you…”

I make my way back to the bedroom, change into night clothes and throw myself down on the bed. It’s only then when I’m on my back staring up at the ceiling that I realized I saw something out the corner of my eye when entering the room. Standing up, I make my way back to the door and notice one of the sheer metal panels is loose from the wall. I pull the panel back and it opens to reveal a hidden compartment.

There, inside is a black folder. Was this what Vax tried to hide from me the other day?

I don’t want to pry, but something compels me to pick the folder up and open it. The first page falls open and I’m met with huge blocks of Argonian text. I flip the next page and there I see Vax’s photo. He’s dressed in a red boiler suit of some sort, and his arms are bound in chains.

“Monroe! Monroe!” I run over to the golden robot, who is hibernating in his station and wake him up. “Translate this for me! Tell me what it says!” I shove the folder into the robot’s hands and he reads the title on the first page.

“Yes ma’am: Argonian Galactic Penitentiary.” He flips the page to the photo of Vax. “Inmate number 555019. Corben Volo. Heed caution at all times. Inmate is violent and highly dangerous. Wanted for murder, identity theft and numerous other high-profile crimes.” Monroe pauses and looks up at me.

“Do you want me to go on ma’am?”

I stand there frozen. Monroe seems to accept my silence as a no. He closes the folder and carries it back across the room, hiding it once more. He comes back to me. “You knew about this?” I ask.

“Certainly. Is there a problem miss?”

The world feels like it’s falling apart. My legs go weak and I have to a take a seat on the bed. I look up at the artificial light coming through the marble archways at the back of Vax’s bedroom and feel sick. Was everything a lie here? “Yes Monroe… there’s a problem. I’ve spent the last few weeks falling in love with a hardened criminal.”

And now I was about to travel across the universe with him. My stomach turns to ice at the thought. My brain instantly goes into overdrive to plot some escape attempt when orange lights start flashing across the room. A klaxon is blaring somewhere in the distance. I look up at Monroe and see his eyes flashing orange. Christ. What now.

Vax, or should I say Corben, bursts through the door a second later, looking thoroughly panicked. “Piper, come quick, there’s a Horkax skirmish here. The Riga need our help!”

I’m on my feet and running alongside Vax before I can tell him to go fuck himself. We run wordlessly to the dock where the fighter ships are held. Vax climbs into a ship and takes off. I vault up the side of one and jump into the cockpit when I hear Bonnix’s voice from the court below.

“Oh no you don’t, you can’t go out there Piper Denzel! It’s too dangerous! Get back down here at once.”

I hit the button to slam the glass dome over my fighter ship and turn the ignition valve, putting my engines into thrust. Just try and stop me Bonnix. I’ve got a lot of fucking anger to dish out right now and a small Horkax skirmish sounds like the perfect place to do it. Try and stop me.

My ship bolts up toward the black square hole high above the flight deck and I burst into outer space. The void before me is a crisscross of bright laser fire. Hundreds of fighter ships spiral around each other in a violent combat that looks beautiful and terrifying. I gun the engines and set my targets on the first Horkax fighter I see, blowing it out the sky with a torrent of fuchsia laser fire that ignites the ship instantly.

I weave through a barrage of enemy shots and circle my ship back to the field to attack again. Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, and I’m fucking livid. I blast another three Horkax ships into neon pink fire and fly deeper into the assault.

These bastards are gonna pay for what they did to earth.