Alien Intent (Captured by Aliens Book 3) (4 page)

The gun
was definitely intimidating.

Jasmine swallowed
hard and ripped her gaze up. Black hair streaked with silver curled on his
forehead and teased the collar of his dark grey uniform.  His big chin jutted
from a square jawline like carved stone.  Through his swarthy skin, new beard
growth peppered his jawline with the appearance of bluish black. Even that was
cut into a precise line along his face, like some metrosexual trying to look
ruggedly sexy. She didn’t think he was trying to look sexy for her though.

Was he
trying to intimidate her for standing so close?  Then she remembered she’d
walked up on him.  And she was still in a towel, dripping on the floor.  What
she should have done was taken his gun and held his ass hostage until she could
find a ride back to Earth. Fuck the stupidity of such an impulsive act.

Why
couldn’t
he be butt ugly
? she thought.

His chin
begged a good punch, but looked hard enough to split her knuckles if she dared
try.  More than that, he was a good six or eight inches taller than she was and
probably eighty pounds heavier.  Hell, it could be a hundred pounds for all she
knew, because underneath his uniform, she could tell he carried enough muscle
to wrestle a bull to the ground.  He didn’t need that gun because his bulging
forearms and biceps were weapons of mass destruction. If he hid any fat under
his clothes, she’d be surprised.  No, this guy was a beast.

She
choked back a chuckle at her own joke. Laughing at her own thoughts was usually
enough to convince others she was a lunatic and hearing voices. He stood so
rigid and straight she had the craziest urge to poke his stomach to see if it
was as hard as she thought it was. Maybe she was crazy and just now starting to
realize it…

“What do
you want?” she demanded, forcing her bravado to the surface. “Can’t you see I
need to get dressed? Or do you people not worry about privacy?”

He
looked down at her and she could see him working to keep a frown off his face. 
“I am Captain Dar Tagnon at your service.  Princess Adrienne personally
assigned me to guard and guide you until you’ve been mated.”

The word
‘mated’ made her skin crawl.  She crossed her arms over her chest, keeping her
towel tucked tightly across her breasts. Her hair dripped cold water down her
back.  “What’s that supposed to mean?  Am I in danger? Should I be worried?”

His
neutral expression dipped into a frown.  “No.”

“And I’m
just supposed to take your word for this?  The word of someone who paid for me
and hundreds of other women?”

“If it
was my money, I wouldn’t have spent it on you or any of the others,” he said
tightly.

“So
you’re not interested in women?” she asked.

His
black brows slanted in a deeper frown.  “I’m not interested in owning a woman. 
You or any other.”

“So we
are
slaves?” Jasmine said.

Dar
scrubbed a hand over his face.  “You are deliberately twisting my words.  Are
all females as troublesome as you are?”

“Only
those taken against their will.  And held captive.”

“But you
are free to move about.  Do as you wish.”

“As long
as I choose a mate or husband though, right? And keep a guard stuck to my butt?”
she said, watching as his face turned red.

He took
a long breath.  Some of the redness dissipated from his skin. “Princess
Adrienne said she saw a lot of herself in you…whatever that means.  I am not
happy about this either.” He paused. “I realize I have no name for the thorn in
my side.”

Jasmine
couldn’t help but chuckle.  Her soft laugh made him redden again. “Jasmine Gray—prickling
and irritating is what I do best.  Well, you can shove off. I don’t need you to
guard me while I’m naked anyway.  What do you think I’m going to do?  Who’s
going to come in here to mess with me besides you?”

“Anything
is possible.”

She
pointed at his wide, muscular chest.  “You are the last person I want around
me. You tranquilized me like I’m an animal. I heard your orders. That’s not
something you just get over like that,” she said, snapping her fingers.

“I
couldn’t allow you to run away,” Dar said, holding up his hands as if
surrendering.

“So I
am
a prisoner!  That’s an admission if I’ve ever heard one.”

Dar
looked miserable and uncomfortable.  He breathed a heavy sigh. “You are not. 
And I am…sorry for everything that has befallen you up to this point.  My
apologies.  Is that what you wanted to hear?”

“It’s a
start.”  She actually felt a twinge of guilt running circles around him.  He
was lacking in his social skills department—or maybe he was just that unused to
being around a woman and trying to pacify one.  She’d been known to have a
viper’s tongue—one reason why she thought she had a hard time staying in a
relationship.  Not everyone got her sense of humor.  She didn’t torture those
weaker than herself, but big, lug-headed men were fair game in her book.

She
hadn’t formed a plan of what she wanted to do, but alienating her ‘guard’
probably wasn’t a wise move.  She needed to back off enough to assess her
situation. As much as she wanted to continue the bitchfest, she decided to give
him a break.  “You were just doing your job, right?”

He
nodded slowly, giving her a wary look.  “You are correct.”

“And now
you’re here to do anything I want?  At my service, you said,” Jasmine stated,
feeling a gleeful smile creep onto her face.

“Princess
Adrienne asked that I escort you to her personal garden for a talk—when you are
ready.”

She
quirked an eyebrow. “Interesting.”

***

Two
stoic-faced guards allowed Jasmine inside the open air garden. High walls kept
the noise of the city beyond to a minimum, but she couldn’t detect the typical
sounds of a large, bustling city like she was accustomed to hearing. Adrienne
sat on a carved stone bench, twirling a bright orange flower in her fingers.
When she saw Jasmine she smiled and patted the seat beside her.

“Come,
have a seat. I wanted to have a talk with you,” Adrienne said.

Jasmine
did as she bid, feeling out of place in spite of the fact that the woman was an
Earthling like her.

“I know
how you feel about being taken from Earth. It’s miserable. But there are a lot
of opportunities for happiness here. It’s a small planet, under rule by one
king instead of multiple nations and factions. There is virtually no war, and
we, as women, are desperately needed.”

Jasmine
remained silent, waiting for the bomb to drop.

“The
Grays are very good at selecting women with no ties to Earth. Nothing to keep
them from choosing this planet as a new home—no children, no parents or
siblings, except sisters that can go too. In general, that is.”

Jasmine
stiffened. “How would they even know that?”

Adrienne
shrugged. “They’re capable of space travel, telepathy, and god only knows what
else. My assumption is finding out everything about an intended target is
child’s play to them.”

“So
what? Why tell me this?”

Adrienne
stuck the flower in her hair and offered another to Jasmine. The orange blossom
reminded her of honeysuckle, a softly sweet scent she used to smell in the
springtime as a child playing in her backyard. Those days were over. With her
parents gone, she had nothing to return to. The only people she cared about
were stuck here with her. She’d thought it was bad luck, but it seemed they’d
been selected for this from the start. She and Samara had met Cyndy in a grief
support group—the loss of loved ones had bound them tightly together, and she
felt more exploited than ever before. Not soothed in the slightest.

“I want
you to give this place a chance. I know you’re probably still piss—er—seething
inside.” She cleared her throat. “I’m still trying to get the hang of this
Princess thang.”

“Yes,”
Jasmine said quietly, feeling emptier now more than anything else.

“You’ll
have a special tour of the land. I’ll see to it. No objections.”

Jasmine
shrugged, staring into the blossom she held. “I feel I’ve become your pet
project. What makes me so special?”

“Maybe
it’s the fight I see in your eyes.” Adrienne wrapped an arm around her
shoulders. “But so much more than that! You have no idea how much I’ve needed
to be around women like myself. I hope with time we can become friends. All of
us. My husband says I need courtly ladies.”

Jasmine
snorted. “That’s about the furthest from me you can get.”

Adrienne
waved her objection away. “I said the same damn thing.”

“You
will do whatever it takes to make this woman happy, is that understood, Captain
Tagnon?” Princess Adrienne said coolly as her lips twitched with repressed
amusement at his predicament.

Dar
attempted, albeit barely, to keep his temper in check.  He liked his head on
his shoulders, and arguing with the princess could get him a shave closer than
he liked. With his hands clasped behind his back, Prince Zeta and his wife
could not see the white of his clenched knuckles.

He
inhaled a deep breath through his nostrils before trusting himself to speak
without inflection of anger.  “Forgive my…impudence, your highness.  You wish
me to indulge this woman’s every whim and allow her to go on a patrol with me?”
Dar said in as even a tone as he could muster.  Inside, his blood boiled with
resentment.

Zeta
eyed him steadily. “We require more than that from you.”

“More
than a tour?” Dar said, feeling confused.

Dezek
Zeta nodded. “The king has communicated with me about the possibility of
opening a corridor in the space between our world and Earth. It would
facilitate faster travel and allow us to go to their planet directly to procure
mates. The gateway has been unusable to us for many generations—a remnant from
the Old Ones. We’ve never needed it before. Never considered it until now, with
dissension turning the tide against the new king.”

The
announcement hit Dar’s gut like a well-aimed punch. Opening the corridor was a
desperate act—one that they all knew. “Why tell me this, your highness?”

“I think
you understand the implications. If the Earth-women were to know how quickly
and easily they could possibly return to their home world, what reason would
they have for staying here?”

“I’m not
sure I understand what you mean,” Dar said in a measured voice. Behind him, the
doors beckoned escape.

A slow
smile spread across the prince’s face. “The women must be engaged. You will do
what it takes to make this woman happy and keep her from even considering ever
returning to Earth.”

Dar
realized he was gaping at the prince and princess. He wanted to know if they
were drunk—maybe he needed a glass of that wine. Impudence at this point would
only dig his grave that much deeper. “I have no experience with these things.”

“I have
it on authority that you do, in fact, have the necessary skills for
such
things
,” Prince Zeta said as he drummed his fingers on the arm of his
chair. “The previous king’s harem was wont to talk of the dashing guard’s
exploits. It is a wonder you did not lose your head those many years ago. Only
their love sickness kept them from revealing their secret lover. King Anadaru
has said you’ve earned special rights to a bride of your own.”

Dar
swallowed hard. He wasn’t sure why he’d thought the past would never come back
to haunt him. Besides that, if he was being rewarded, shouldn’t he get to
choose which woman he wanted?

Princess
Adrienne smiled as if she could see the turmoil inside him, and took joy from
it.  Or perhaps that was only his vivid imagination.  “Do you expect to
encounter anything dangerous while riding?  I’ve been told the seventh division,
which you are in charge of, patrols the outskirts of the kingdom where there
are few, if any, living and working. It is nothing but forests and abandoned
mines and villages, am I correct?”

“You
are, your highness.” Dar’s eyelid twitched. He squinted his eye, attempting to
make the twitch stop.  It continued.  He’d thought to get away from that damn
woman by leaving on patrol duty, not be stuck with her in close proximity for
days.  “We’ve had no problems since the disbanding of the rebels and King
Fallon’s coronation.”

“Conceivably,
you could be alone together for a time, in relative peace?” Princess Adrienne
held his gaze, raising her chin.  The dark beauty was too perceptive, spirited,
and intelligent.  If she missed anything, he’d never heard of such.  It was no
wonder Dezec Zeta had wanted to take her to bride the instant he met her—the
glutton for punishment.  Dar couldn’t imagine having to fend off a woman like
her.  “So you are saying it is safe?  Now?” she said.

“Yes,”
he admitted reluctantly.

“Then I
see no reason for objections.  Do you, husband?” she asked, turning to Dezec.

Dezec
Zeta chuckled to himself before straightening his smile.  “I could see why the
captain here would have pause.  Indulge the woman.  Let her see her new home
world and perhaps that will help ease her into her newfound life.”

“And if
that does not take the fight out of her? I take it you require more than that?”

The
husband and wife exchanged glances and returned their gazes back to him.
“Seduce her, Captain Tagnon.”

Dar
gritted his teeth, feeling that resentment well inside him again. Beautiful she
might be, but he’d decided long ago that if he ever took a woman to wife and
bed, she would be a sweet, docile creature that would never dream of giving him
a fight. The dark beauty was nothing but trouble. “Is that an order, my prince?
Am I the only one being forced into this position?”

“That is
beyond your concern. Steps are being taken that you need not know.” Prince Zeta
leaned forward, all humor drained from his face. “You will do whatever it
takes. Is that understood?”

He
dragged a breath through his flared nostrils. “As you command, your
highnesses.  I must take my leave to prepare,” Dar said, bowing to them both
and backing from the room.

***

The
dragon didn’t look as big as she’d thought it was. It looked at her with
glimmering eyes, shifting its wings and making the feathers rustle softly in a
wind of its own making.

“Is it a
boy or a girl?” Jasmine asked, admiring the citrus scented creature. “Can it
breathe fire?”

Dar
laughed, giving her a quizzical look. “He is male. One of the few remaining
males on our planet. What would make you think something like that? The zhala
can expel an acid on their enemies—one reason they smell of fruit.”

She grimaced.
“Ew. Are they endangered or something?”

Dar
tightened the saddle belt. She’d watched as he’d placed the two-seated saddle
on the dragon’s back. He elbowed the beast’s side and the dragon exhaled so Dar
could tighten the belt an extra two notches. “Few exist in the wild. In the
past, they were hunted for their feathers, and their bones were believed to be
an aphrodisiac when ground up and eaten. We have only a dozen males here in the
stables. The females are kept at another location.  If the males smell the
females in heat they cannot be controlled.”

“That’s
sad,” she said, frowning and approaching the zhala. “Such a beautiful animal.
The feathers remind me of a peacock back home. Iridescent. Can I pet him?”

“Just
don’t put your fingers near his mouth. They tend to bite. Keep to the neck and
shoulders,” he said, moving to stand beside her. “He likes getting scratched on
the back of his head too.”

Jasmine
followed Dar’s lead, softly rubbing the dragon’s down-like feathers on his
neck. The texture was so soft, it was hard to stop. In its throat she heard a
soft purring sound that reminded her of a content cat. The dragon’s huge eyes
closed as its head drooped. Dar laughed. “Enough of that. You’ll put him to
sleep and we won’t be going anywhere. Are you ready to leave?”

She
shrugged. “I guess so. I just brought myself and a few clothes. I didn’t even
have anything to stick them into. I never thought I’d miss having a big grandma
purse, but I do.”

He
looked her over. “Just get them and I’ll stick them in the packs. We’ll be gone
a few days.” Dar packed her few belongings and climbed up in the saddle. He
held his hand out for her to take and lifted her effortlessly up so she could
settle behind him in the padded seat. Her feet barely touched the stirrups and
there was no belt to lock her in place. Before she had a chance to ask him
about securing herself from falling, Dar clicked the reins and the zhala spread
his wings and launched into the air through the wide open space in the center
of the stable.

Jasmine’s
stomach dropped as the ground fell away and the air rushed past her skin. She
screamed and threw her arms around Dar’s waist, clinging to him as the city
shrank beneath them. “You did that on purpose,” she gasped against his back.

He
laughed at her, putting his hand on top of her entwined, clenched fingers. “Is
this your first time flying?”

“On a
dragon? Yes. Where’s the seat belt on this fucking thing?”

Dar
laughed again—heartier this time. She was too terrified to be offended by his
amusement at her expense. “This isn’t an airship,” he said.

“Feels
close enough to me,” she ground out. Her teeth began to chatter. She pressed
tighter against his body, shielding herself from as much of the wind as she
could. Already she felt frozen.

He
pulled the reins again and the dragon swung to the left, dipping down and
coasting above the trees. The scent of the sea pulled her out of terror-mode
and she sat up enough to see rocky bluffs battered by ocean waves. The air was
warmer, allowing her to enjoy herself for the first time as they flew along the
jagged coastline and left the city far behind.

They
traveled in silence for a while. To her, it was strange that there wasn’t more
civilization. The trees swallowed the land in verdant green. “Why is it so desolate?”
she asked, watching the treetops rustle beneath the dragon’s wings.

“The
virus claimed a lot of lives, as did the rebellion. We found it easier to
relocate in only a few cities. Much of the planet is abandoned and overrun by
wildlife. Without advanced technology, nature is reclaiming her territory.”

“Why
don’t you use cars and spaceships?”

“The old
king was adamant against destroying our planet with technology—if it didn’t
breathe, eat or bleed, he didn’t trust it with his life. I’m not so sure that
it was distrust, but more that he wanted to control us easier, since we do have
some advances in certain places. The miners and farmers had it the worst. The
cities were filled with the over-privileged. Things have changed with the new
king, but not fast enough. We need women to replace the older generations. We
lack the manpower to open new mines with richer ore. It feels like our planet
is doomed no matter what we do,” he said. He pulled the reins and guided them
further inland, toward the mountains.

He
didn’t have to say it, but she understood—without women, their race was dying.
The realization made her sad in a way she would never admit aloud.

The
dragon followed a wide river that flowed like bubbling turquoise over white
rocks. Mist from the churning water drifted, feeling cool and damp on her skin
as they passed through. Ahead she could see an abandoned brick road grown over
with ferns and cracked by evergreens. A white haze covered the lush green
mountaintops, and flowing down the peaks was a veiled waterfall. An arched
stone bridge passed over the river.

“This
used to lead to a mining village. With the old kings, our destinies were chosen
for us. The new king changed that, but many think freedom has come too late to
save us,” Dar said.

The road
carved into the mountains, forming an artificial valley. Crumbling bricks
covered by moss and clinging vines formed a channel leading to a large black
maw in the mountain. Seeing the pitch black hole grow in size as they neared
sent a chill of forewarning down Jasmine’s spine. Closing in, she could see the
ground directly in front of the entrance had been disturbed. Dar said nothing
as he pulled on the reins and guided his beast to land.

Here the
green moss was smeared and the vines had been shredded all around. Dar
dismounted the dragon, holding up his arms to catch her as she followed suit.
His hands didn’t linger on her waist, but she continued to feel the imprint of
them against her flesh long after he’d released her. She shook her head, trying
to clear it as she trailed him to the mine’s entrance. The walls stood a good
twenty feet tall, leaving them in shadows despite the sun shining overhead.

“What is
it?” she asked. Behind them, the dragon huffed and flapped his wings. A glance
back showed her the animal sniffing the air. Dar didn’t seem to notice as he
examined the broken vines.

“Someone
has been here since my last rounds,” he said, pulling a small pistol-sized gun
from his utility belt.

Alarm
threaded through her. “I’ll wait by the zhala,” she said. He nodded and moved
forward slowly. She turned and headed back to their ride, but the dragon
continued to flap his wings, looking as disturbed as she felt. She stopped,
leery of approaching on her own with the clearly agitated dragon. He snorted, clawing
at the ground. His legs tensed and he launched into the air with a great gust
of wind from his wings. Jasmine stumbled backward, yelling and throwing up her
hands as dust and debris showered her.

Behind
her, she heard Dar shouting. He rushed past, trying to call the dragon back,
but the beast was gone.

He
whirled on a booted heel. “Why did you let him go? Why didn’t you stop him?” he
demanded, giving her an angry look.