Alien General's Beloved: SciFi Alien Romance (Brion Brides) (6 page)

"So they say."

"You—"

Lana never got to finish her sentence before the man grabbed her and pulled her into the shadows of the hallway. A second later, a patrol emerged from behind a corner, three warriors with the same cold look in their eyes. Lana found herself pressed tightly against the man from the shadows, whose name she didn't even know. It felt like her heart was trying to beat out of her chest.

She hoped it was the fear of getting caught in the part of a ship she had no business in, rather than lust. The body inches from her was strong and firm, obvious even through layers of armor. Lana had to suppress the desire to run her hands over his muscled arms, resisting by reminding herself that she was compromising the safety of her friends.

They stood still, the long moment stretching.

"This is where the sounds were coming from," one of the patrol said. "A man and a woman."

The voice and the way the Brions spoke unsettled Lana. There was an odd undercurrent of simple disinterest there. She could well imagine those voices spoke of their own deaths as impassively as if they were discussing breakfast. Even now, searching for her, they sounded almost bored.

A part of her felt sorry for them. Only the man she was currently practically embracing seemed to still be sane.

"The woman was Captain Cormac," another replied, making Lana wince.

Her warrior—she couldn't think of him in any other way, though something about the man made her feel safe after the initial fright—looked down at her. There was a question in his eyes, but Lana didn't know what to say. She'd fucked up.

"The man..." the first man was saying again, sounding puzzled.

It was the first true emotion Lana had heard from any of them. She thought it was like they were walking around in a dream, speaking in that hollow voice, not completely awake. When they mentioned the man next to her, for the first time the voices sounded alive.

"It was a Brion's voice," the second finished. "But all wrong."

Now her warrior tensed up too.

"There's someone here that shouldn't be. I think—" one of the warriors got to say.

Lana had been so entranced by his presence that she yelped when he dashed past her, out into the open. The captain barely registered the speed with which he drew his gigantic battle spear. The patrol seemed to move in slow motion compared to him, although they were Brion warriors too.

His cuts seemed to pierce air itself, lightning-fast and bloody. Lana's eyes went wide, seeing the precise artwork of death. Like a blade himself, the warrior first slashed at the patrolmen's wrists, where their communications devices lay.
That
Lana could understand; he couldn't have them call for aid. But the next ones targeted their mouths. Easily keeping all three in line, an unstoppable blur in the middle of them, her warrior cut long gashes across their faces.

Killing took time, Lana knew. He was trying to silence them. What could they have said? The fear rose in her heart anew. Who
was
that man and how was he making three Brion warriors look little better than children with sticks?

Blood was flowing down from the cold warriors' faces, but their eyes were finally alight. Lana watched the lone warrior dodge between their blades, cast in haunting red light, while the valor squares on the others remained dead. The floor was dirty with blood and teeth and broken bone. The smell was nauseating and the captain couldn't understand for the life of her how the Brions could keep fighting with their jaws hanging only by skin.

Satisfied that no word would ever leave their mouths, her warrior slowed down. Lana could see his movements again, almost lazy now that he'd achieved his first goal. He kept moving, trying to hold each of the other three spears in sight, but the fight was already over. Lana saw the hesitance in the others, the pain in their motions. One by one, they attacked their lone opponent and one by one they died.

In less than a minute, all three lay dead on the ground, in a pool of their blood. The victor was standing over them, unharmed, not even out of breath.

Lana agreed with the dead warriors. There was something wrong with this new one. All her crew couldn't bring down
one
Brion—they'd tried—and this man killed three like it was nothing.

Could he really do it?
Lana thought.
Could he kill Worgen?

She stepped out of the shadows, picking her way between blood and the three corpses.

"I wish you hadn't seen that," the warrior said, sheathing the spear. "Brion fights are never pretty. I had to make sure they didn't say anything about us."

That I can understand, yes.

"And the thing they were going to say about you?" she asked with sudden courage.

The man looked at her, for once without the cocky grin.

"The less you know about me, the better," he finally said. "If something goes wrong, if you are questioned about me...it's better if you really don't know. Brions can tell these things."

"I don't even know your name," Lana said.

"You shouldn't know that either."

Lana sighed. "Don't give me that mysterious crap," she said, "how do you expect me to trust you?"

He laughed.

"That is fair," he allowed. "You can call me Corden."

"Like that general?"

"Pure coincidence. It's a common name. Now, what do you suppose we do with these bodies?"

That snapped Lana back to reality, not in a pleasant way.

Good question. How do I explain three dead Brions?

"We have to get rid of them," she said, "in a way that would damage the bodies so they couldn't be examined."

The warrior nodded, a smirk on his lips.

"Very good," he said. "Anything nearby that could do that?"

"The engine room is nearby. We can leave the bodies there and I could create a small explosion."

Together, they moved the three dead Brions. Or Corden did. Lana led the way and kept an eye out. She did her best to clean up the mess the fight had left, mopping up the blood with her jacket. Lana knew that later she'd have to send someone she trusted to do a better job, but it did for now. After a few minutes of walking she noticed that the warrior was going without her guidance and his senses were surely better than hers.

"You know, you could at least pretend not to know my ship better than I do," Lana said, but for some reason she couldn't get mad at the man.

There was something about his presence that made her feel like things were going to be all right. Rationally speaking, they were terrible. Worgen did not forgive attacks on his men and once he found that three of them had died on her ship, there was no way of knowing what he might do. But Lana felt calm. When Corden laughed at her halfhearted accusation, it made the captain smile too.

Terrible time to develop a crush
, she reminded herself.
Couldn't possibly be worse. Stop that.

The engine room was blessedly empty. After Worgen had ordered the murder of her male crew members, the ship was understaffed, especially there. Since the ship was sailing peacefully in the
Abysmal
's wake, there was no need to man the engine room. Lana was grateful for that. She went around the rooms, searching for a suitable place and finally found a way to stage the accident required. It would look like the Brions poked something they shouldn't have and there was an explosion, after which the room decompressed itself.

She and Corden waited outside as she triggered the reaction. The explosion shook the entire ship; Lana could feel it shake under her feet. They hurried away before anyone came to check up on the engine.

***

Panting, Lana closed the door of her quarters behind her. Once more, Corden looked like running had been no physical exertion at all. He walked around in her modest rooms, studying them with amused curiosity.

A thought went through Lana's mind.

"If you've been
here
too before—" she warned, but the warrior shook his head.

"No," he assured her. "Although I appreciate being invited."

"This is for the sake of hiding you," Lana said firmly, although her body was giving her a few more good reasons.

Corden gave her a knowing smile, but said nothing. They waited. Lana's comm link beeped almost immediately, reports of the explosion and the bodies being relayed to her. She ordered repair crews and told the bridge to alert General Worgen. The Brion patrols had a straight link to the warship and one of them was always on the bridge.

"It's better if I tell him," she said, her heart in her throat. "That way it doesn't look like I'm guilty."

"I don't think it matters with a man like that," Corden said, and his voice was very dark.

He looked serious, speaking of the general. Lana wanted to ask about it, but the comm informed her that Worgen was already on his way to her. Since the Brions had destroyed all communications systems capable of calling for help, traveling between the ships was the only way to talk. At least the comms were still intact ship-wise. And of course the
Abysmal
could broadcast what it wanted to the fleet surrounding it.

"I have to go," Lana said, hesitating. "Don't leave. I'll be back and then we can figure out what to do."

The warrior said nothing about that and Lana left with a heavy heart. The ugly rumors had proved to be true. Worgen was killing everyone he didn't find useful. In the case of women, everyone he didn't think worthy of him. She'd seen a few ships try to run and be destroyed by the
Abysmal
's guns almost instantly. Even jumping to hyperspace didn't help.

It seemed the Brion warship had a way of sensing the warp core firing up and the ship was blasted apart before they could jump. The sheer mindlessness of it took Lana's breath away, but at least finally there was a way for them to fight back. Maybe. All she had to do was make sure she lived to see that fight.

The bay was almost empty, this time. To spare her crew at least that much, Lana had ordered that when the general was aboard, no one remained in the bay but her. Worgen didn't seem to mind. He didn't even seem to notice. The cold, ruthless eyes looked upon the world like an inventory. Everything was either useful or it was not and the people he didn't value were no better than furniture. He certainly discarded them without remorse.

He only spared Palians, for some reason. Lana had tried to pry the reason from Fraly, but the man only shook his head, refusing to comment. The captain was forced to assume it was because of the Palians' skill and intelligence, making them very valued mechanics.

Worgen was waiting for her, as imposing as the first time she'd seen him.

Death seemed to be like an aura around him. As soon as Lana stepped into his presence, the cold dread that she'd be killed settled over her. The general had that effect on almost everyone, she'd noticed. Away from him, it was possible to discuss him, maybe even plot against him. But right before that passionless, black gaze... all hope died.

The general waited in silence as Lana approached. The words tasted ashen on her tongue, but she kept her head high.

"There has been an accident, General," she said, hearing her voice shake, unable to stop her hands from doing the same. "A patrol unit ventured into the engine room. I'm not aware why and I know very little of what happened. There was an explosion and all three were killed."

Worgen's eyes were like bottomless pits of despair, with no light and no warmth.

"That is a lie," he said.

Lana's blood turned to ice. She'd hoped the plan was good enough to fool Worgen at least for a while, but Corden was right. Brions knew when they were being lied to.

"Do you want to try that again before I kill you?" Worgen asked.

CHAPTER SIX

Corden

He followed Lana through the halls of the
Raptor
, a curious concern beating in his heart.

The gorgeous captain had an effect on him unlike anything else he'd ever experienced. There had been women in his life, but they were all fleeting memories now. Brions bonded for life—the sacred union between the
gesha
and the
gerion
was more important to them than anything else. Before that, they mostly "practiced" with people they liked, often after the heat of battle, but formed no connection with them.

Lana was different. He hadn't even touched her properly, but already she had a stronger hold over him than any woman he'd been with. The sound of her voice, the body that begged to be touched, it was all driving him insane. Just the sight of her alone made his cock stir, rubbing painfully hard against his pants.

Before, when he'd held her in his arms, it had taken all of his self-control not to take her like her body clearly wished. It was an unknown sensation for Corden, but he only wanted more of it. And the more he thought about her, the worse his concern got. Something eternal and invincible compelled him to follow, had compelled him to tell her his real name.

He wouldn't let Lana face Worgen alone, not after what they'd done. Or more specifically, what he had done. He should have been more careful.

And he was playing with fire again. The danger Lana was in made him careless, a word he had never associated with himself. Coming so close to Worgen was a terrible idea. The other general's senses were bound to be as good as his, possibly even better, since he'd had more time to train himself. Even absence of sound gave clues to those who were listening.

Corden edged as close as he could, masking the sound of his footsteps with the noise of the bay. The engine rumbled beneath his feet, the machinery in the bay still running. There were plenty of distractions for him to cover his approach, but Corden never trusted in luck.

Lana's explanation was good. She had almost mastered that old trick of first believing your own lie and only then telling it. But there were subtle hints that Corden noticed that gave her away. Worgen noticed them too. How could he not?