Alien Insertion: An Alien Warrior Romance (The Tuorin Legacy Book 4) Read online

  His enthusiasm gives me hope. A plan B. “Let me know if I can assist you.”

  He hums for a moment, staring at the blinking lights as if I hadn’t spoken, but then abruptly stops.

  Solim shakes his head. “You have no idea how incredible it is to meet someone who has actually used plant cures. And you’re right here to question!”

  His childlike enthusiasm is contagious, and I smile at him. “Ask me anything you want, I’m at your disposal.”

  He nods and turns back to his work. I turn away, feeling a rush of satisfaction. The malworm may destroy the Ardaks, but now we might also have some hope of finding a cure.

  I see one of the blond warriors—Juordin’s cousin—entering a room at the end of the hall. Never one to be shy, I follow him. The door to the room is open, and he looks up when I enter. I can see he has a bunch of strange devices. “What are you doing?”

  “Making sure these explosives work. We want to use them to destroy the leftover toxin distributors on your world once we’ve killed the cats.” He pauses and his glowing green gaze pierces mine. “And I’m very interested in who you are.”

  “I’m Ande’ie.” I hold out my hand to shake.

  Unexpectedly, he takes my hand and kisses it. “And I’m Corin.”

  At first I’m taken aback. But then he waggles his eyebrows and I realize he’s only teasing. He’s not as outspoken as his brother, but has the same sense of humor. Just as I thought. Breaking hearts with every breath. “I’m Juordin’s…mate.” Let’s just make that clear from the beginning.

  “Yes, you are.” He eyes me up and down. “Juordin’s done well for himself.”

  I think of Juordin’s purple eyes, his hard kisses, and soft touches. His valor. “So have I.”

  “That you have,” he agrees, turning serious. “My cousin is a good man. He’s always been the honorable one. The one to do his duty when the rest of us wanted to play. He’ll care for you well.”

  “As I will care for him.” My voice is strong and certain. I’m not a weak female who needs a warrior to take care of her. I’ve been raised to care for myself.

  Corin’s eyebrows lift slightly, but he says nothing.

  I look at the devices in his hands. “I’ve seen explosives before, but they were nothing like these.”

  “You’re from Lla’ei, right?” he questions.

  At my answering nod, he continues. “Your explosive technology isn’t as advanced as these. Yet. But they are based upon the same principles.”

  “I see. I believe you were talking about toxin distributors? What are those?”

  His eyes go back to the explosives. “The things that throw the red toxin up into the sky.”

  “Oh. But I thought Juordin said you couldn’t blow them up, or more dust would come out.”

  “Well, the toxin has already been thrown into the air. We just don’t want to leave their devices behind. The technology is too advanced for your people…it might be used unwisely.”

  Shouldn’t it be our choice? I’ll have to speak to Juordin about it. “Well, if you’re going to use those on my planet, maybe I should know how they work.”

  He laughs. “Yes, Princess.”

  Corin begins to show me, and I ask hundreds of questions about how they work.

  Sometime later, he sits back, his eyebrows knitted. “You know, you picked this up far too quickly. I’m not sure Juordin would be happy about me showing you how to make explosives.”

  I shake my head. “He hasn’t been worried about me learning new things. He’s only worried about me actually fighting the cats.”

  His brows rose. “I would be, too, if you were my mate.”

  I allow my lips to quirk up into a smile. Many of the women on my world can fight just as well as the men. They would eat these warriors for breakfast. “I’ll have to introduce you to Serendipit’ie sometime.”

  His green eyes take on a gleam. “Is she single?”

  “Yes. She is.” And she’s going to lead you on a merry chase.

  Corin stands, picking up the explosives and putting them in a box.

  “Where are you taking those?”

  “Follow me.” We head into a tiny room filled with cabinets along one wall, next to the cargo bay. He opens one of the cabinets and places the box inside.

  “What’s this?” I ask, pointing at a square glass panel in the other wall.

  “Oh that. That’s a different kind of explosive device. One the ship would use to self-destruct.” He opens the door carefully. “It might be small, but this bomb is the most powerful one we’ve created as a people. It’s meant to be used when the ship self-destructs, and it will take out any enemy ships in the area, as well.”

  I reach for it, but he stops me.

  “Don’t touch it, but you can see that the wiring on the right is pretty much the same as the ones we were just looking it. It’s only the inside that’s different.”

  “What different about it?”

  “This one is macronuclear.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “It means it could explode a small planet.”

  “You carry something like that on your ships?”

  He shrugs. “Well, you never know what you’re going to run into when traveling in space. Who knows? If I ran into one of the big Ardak ships, I’d probably consider it.”

  3

  Ande’ie

  I wake up, my heart pounding. I was back in the caves, but this time, my swords were missing. And Juordin lays at my feet, dead, the toxin indicator on his shoulder still in the red.

  The bed is empty, but I know where he is. I find him in the captain’s chair, staring out at the stars in the distance. I want to touch him. I yearn for him. His tongue in my mouth, his hands on my body.

  I put my hands on his shoulders, finding them tense. Years of training and fighting has taught me how to soothe tense or injured muscles, so I begin to rub them. “You should come to bed, my warrior.”

  “I don’t feel much like sleeping.”

  “Neither do I.”

  His purple gaze meets mine and he turns to face me, his hands running up the backs of my thighs under my skirt. “You want me?”

  I nod. Just his gaze makes me feel hot, but now it’s something…more. I burn for him. This morning I saw that the skin on my stomach and chest has started to redden slightly—early signs of mating marks. But they don’t make me nervous. They make me want him more.

  He takes my hand, leading me out of the bridge, to the stairs at the end of the hall, and up the ladder to our loft. We climb the metal steps in silence, and he shuts the secret door in the floor behind us. He turns to me, wrapping his arms around my lower back.

  I kiss him, long and slow, running my fingers through his long, wavy hair. I love how his brown-and-gold hair contrasts with mine. It’s fire, wood and coal. A tiger’s eye and obsidian. I push him back on the bed, climbing over him. I deepen the kiss, rubbing his tongue with mine, rubbing against him.

  His hands cup my hips, run up my back, down over the curves of my ass to my thighs. I wiggle as he smooths up my skirt and runs his hands lightly over my panties. When he strokes me through the thin material, I shiver. He rubs a smooth circle around it and I press back into his hand.

  He teases me over the top of my panties for a few endless moments, and when his fingers finally slide beneath the fabric I cry out against his mouth. My skin is becoming more sensitive, enhanced by the now-familiar burn I feel after kissing him.

  I move down his body, undoing his leather pants, opening them to find him within. I close my fingers around his thick length, loving the way it jumps in my hand. His hands go up to his head and he hides his face as I tease him, groaning.

  I lean down, kissing the tip of him, then letting my lips slide down slowly over him, exploring with my lips and tongue. His hips jut up toward me, and I look up to see his hands fisting on his forehead. I slide upward, and when I slide down the next time with suction, his hands fly to my head. “St
op, Ande. I can’t take it.”

  He comes up swiftly, rolling me over on the bed, slipping his pants all the way off. Lying beside me, he runs his fingers through my hair, stroking my cheek for a moment. “You are so beautiful. You make me burn.”

  “I think it’s your saliva…the mating thing,” I whisper.

  “That mating thing only happens with you, my love,’’ he whispers back. He unlaces my corset, his fingers reverent. Raising my undershirt, he helps me remove it, then takes a nipple into his mouth.

  I arch my back, crying out as a wave of heat rips through me. My core grows hotter. Wetter.

  I’m on fire. I burn. Only for him. His mouth on my skin. His hard body above me. His purple gaze on my face.

  It’s just the saliva, a cynical voice whispers in the back of my mind. You haven’t known each other long enough.

  But searching my heart, I don’t think it is. With everything in me, I believe that he loves me.

  His hand draws lazy circles on my stomach. The roughness of his fingers over the sensitive skin where my mating marks will be makes my muscles jump and goose bumps rise on my skin.

  His lips go between my breasts, kissing, licking over the swells of my breasts, suckling on my nipples, until my chest is hot and I’m tossing my head back and forth. My legs scissor and my inner muscles clench the emptiness inside, begging for him.

  His questing fingers move downward, unlacing my skirt and drawing it down my legs. My panties follow, then his hand slides back up to the inside of my thigh and covers my mound. He rubs my nub with the pad of his thumb and I can feel myself opening, inviting him in. Then he puts two long fingers inside me, sending streaks of fire through me as he begins to pump them slowly, his gaze intense as he watches my face.

  “Please,” I whisper, “I want you inside me.”

  He doesn’t make me wait, but comes over me, and I widen my legs to make room for him. He kisses the insides of my bent knees, his long hair cascading around us as he lowers onto his elbows, unerringly finding my entrance.

  We both gasp as he enters slowly, easing his way with a few short, slow thrusts that go ever deeper.

  My hips rise to meet his, our thrusts matching in pace. I pull him lower and my lips caress his neck, suckling on his earlobe, loving how he shivers.

  My pleasure rises with each fiery stroke, and before long he’s groaning. His thrusts become uncontrolled, taking me higher and higher. I’m whimpering, straining, trying to go faster, but at the same time trying to control it.

  But I can’t! He takes me over into a spiraling whirl of flashing lights behind my eyes.

  He’s only a few thrusts behind me, shuddering above me, moaning. He rolls to the side, his arms curling around me. “I love you, Ande,” he says softly into my hair.

  My eyes fill with tears, and I nod into his shoulder.

  Because I realize that this time, his tattoo has stayed in the red.

  4

  Ande’ie

  Juordin and I sit together on the bridge, captain and copilot. We’re only hours from Lla’ei, and Juordin has slowed our flight to go through the asteroid belt between us and my home. Funny to think I didn’t even know what an asteroid belt was a week ago.

  The closer we get to Lla’ei, the more restless I’m becoming. I’m almost sitting on the edge of my seat, wondering what hue the red tinge will be. I want to see my father—and my people—again. In my mind, I visualize the worst.

  Juordin looks tired, his tattoo indicator creeping ever farther into the red. I don’t want to think about him getting weaker.

  “Do you want to rest for a short while before we arrive?”

  His lips tighten at the corners. “No, dammit. I just want to kill these cat bastards.”

  “It’ll be soon enough,” I reassure him.

  He gives me a sad smile. “It’s strange how time can suddenly seem so precious when you know how little of it you have left.”

  My heart skips a beat. “Juordin, don’t talk like that.”

  He glances at his red tattoo, then back at me. “All right. But Ande…the time is getting close. And when it does….”

  A lump forms in my throat. I try to swallow, but I can’t. “I understand,” I whisper.

  And I do understand. He wants to face death like a man.

  But then his jaw goes slack. “My gods.” From the expression on his face, I don’t want to look out the viewscreen to see what’s ahead. But I know I must.

  I know instantly it’s an Ardak spaceship. It looks like an Ardak lander. The gray metal seems to suck all the light from the space around it. The only problem is that it’s a lot bigger than the Ardak landers. About a thousand times bigger.

  “Get the scientists. And my cousins,” he orders, going to sit in the captain’s chair.

  The urgency in his voice propels me and I nod and sprint toward the door. When I burst into the science room, Redonim and the other two scientists are watching vids and taking notes, each engrossed in their work. “Juordin needs you, please come quickly.”

  They all drop what they’re doing and I head back out into the hall to the next door. “Please come to the bridge. Quickly.”

  “What’s happening?” A gruff voice from behind me makes me makes me turn abruptly.

  Casin and Corin are standing in their doorway, along with another warrior. Actually, they are all trying to be in the doorway but it’s tight so they don’t quite fit.

  “Juordin is asking for the scientists and you two to meet on the bridge.”

  We hurry back to the bridge.

  “Gods, what is that?” Corin asks, aghast. The Ardak ship lies just on the other side of the asteroid belt, huge and ominous.

  I’d thought the asteroid belt was bad enough—even now I can see the huge rocks flying past at immense speeds in front of us.

  Juordin stands to face the crowd. “I think we all know what it is.”

  “What?” I ask, looking between everyone, confused.

  “An Ardak mother ship,” Casin whispers. “But we’ve never seen one that big before.”

  Juordin turns to Redonim. “If we put the malworm on that ship, will it work?”

  Redonim turns to the two women on his team. They whisper for a moment, then he says, “We honestly don’t know.”

  One of the women looks at him, then steps forward. “We don’t know for sure…but it could be better than inserting it into an exoskeleton or a lander. A lot better.”

  “Why?” Juordin asks.

  She looks at Redonim for a second, then answers, “Well, the malworm will only spread to those devices that have a connection to it. While a lander would only connect to certain teams, we can probably assume the mother ship has a connection to every cat in the vicinity.” The scientist swallows, staring out the viewscreen at the large ship.

  “I need to make a quick decision. Do we proceed to the planet, or try to install the malworm in this massive ship?”

  “We don’t even know if we can. Their technology is ahead of ours and it’s…different.” Redonim answers. “It could be shielded. They could have automatic countermeasures that will detect and destroy us.”

  “Then the best chance we have is to go into the asteroid belt and get as close as we can before attempting to land on it.” Casin says.

  “Land on it?” Redonim asks incredulously.

  “Well, it’s the only way we’re going to get inside.” Casin answers.

  “I don’t have time for a lengthy debate. Final arguments,” Juordin orders.

  “There are so many we could die trying to get into a ship that big,” Redonim says, “I can’t even list them all.”

  “We’re all going to die anyway.” Corin counters, speaking for the first time. “And it’s our chance to get the most cats possible. I say we do it.”

  Juordin seems surprised, but he nods. “I will do as Redonim suggests and use the asteroid belt to get us as close as possible. Then we will land on the ship and enter to plant the malworm.” His gaze falls
on each of them. “Go back to your quarters and strap yourselves in. At least if it’s our last, this is going to be one hell of a ride.”

  He sits back down in the captain’s chair, and I strap in beside him.

  He holds out his hand to me. I take it, gazing into his face. “In case we do die, I want you to know…”

  I hold up a hand to stop him.

  He closes his mouth, looking at me.

  “Now we have to live…so you can finish your sentence.”

  Surprisingly, he laughs. “I’ve never tried that strategy before. Let’s hope it works.”

  He presses a button and a strange kind of handle pops up.

  “What is that?”

  “Manual control. Hang on tight, Princess. Here we go.”

  With those final words, he steers the ship straight into the asteroid belt.

  Suddenly, rocks that are much too large are flying around us in a chaotic mess. Some are the size of mountains, others much smaller. Each on its own path, they barely miss each other, or collide and break into smaller chunks that fly off into unpredictable directions.

  I grip the handles of the seat so tightly that my knuckles turn white.

  Juordin pilots the ship with breathtaking skill, weaving between the rocks as we get ever closer to the Ardak ship.

  A rock flies in the wrong direction, coming forward over the top of us. At just the last moment, it impacts us, the thud sounding deep and painful. I hear the unmistakable sound of cracking.

  Looking up, I see splintered cracks appearing in the ceiling.

  Another bump from the back of the ship and red lights start to blink on the glass in front of us.

  How much more can we take?

  “It’s all right, sweetheart, this ship can take a lot more than this.”

  I can’t take my eyes off the rocks in front of us. “Did I ask that aloud?”

  “No.” He weaves around another enormous rock. “I could feel you thinking it.”

  Another bump to the right of the ship and he curses. “Almost there. Hang on, baby.”

  I don’t know if he’s talking to me, or the Helios, but I can’t believe I’m actually relieved to be closing in on the Ardak ship.