Alien Invasion: A Warrior Prince Romance (The Tourin Legacy - Part 1) (2 page)

I look back toward the main street one last
time. The Ardak landers have a luminescent glow, lighting up the
area for miles. A young woman runs past the building, screaming,
until one of the overgrown cats hits her from behind with an energy
blast. Too late.

Just as I slam the cargo door shut, I hear a
battle cry from the street out front. I haven’t been in battle on
this world, but that cry is damn near universal. I turn to see a
fierce warrioress sprint down the road in the opposite direction of
the last, leaving a trail of dust behind her. She’s chased by a
helmetless Ardak, her swords flashing. I jog to the front of the
building, just to see what she’ll do.

She darts into and among the screaming horde
of people, heading for the Ardak lander. A high, springing kick
worthy of any of the high jumpers on my planet knocks the weapon
from another feline soldier in front of her.

A few months ago, I would have joined her.
She doesn’t yet realize it’s pointless.

Her valor is a fearsome thing to behold. Her
own people offer no help, crying and screaming as they run
heedlessly down the street in all directions.

She fights her way through the crowd with
her two flashing swords, dodging past others who make her battle
more difficult in their efforts to flee. She kicks the lander
pilot, who tries to grasp her as she springs by him. But Ardaks are
notoriously slow with their metal exoskeletons. Slow, but damn near
impossible to injure through the suit unless you’re close enough to
get the helmet off. Which is one of the main reasons the cowards
use the toxin to kill their enemies.

But the warrioress fights with the fury of
three Ou’lin zintars—feral, fierce, jumping, spinning, kicking,
punching, even biting the ear of the Ardak that lost its helmet.
Her double short swords flash quicker than the eye can follow.

Unconsciously, my hand goes to the hilt of
my sword.
Help the female.
She’s reached the lander, but
three Ardaks have surrounded her. She’s taken care of their
weapons, but she can’t pierce their metal exoskeleton armor. It’s
only a matter of time before they take her bare-handed.

Are you really this much of a bastard,
Juordin? You will let this woman die right before your eyes? Where
is your honor?

Shit.

I growl and draw my sword, running forward
and springing into the fray. I behead the first Ardak with no
helmet, surprising him from behind. His feline yowl is cut off
quickly, but not before it raises all the hair on my arms.

The warrioress glances at me and, for a
moment, I catch a glimpse of wide, green eyes. Recognition punches
me in the gut with the force of a Saturnian hurricane as I see her
up close for the first time.

My mate.

Blood rushes through my veins, and the
mating marks on my chest start to burn. Disbelief wars with
urgency.
How is it possible that I found my mate on this
barbarian planet? Protect her—get her out of here!

The need to protect her begins to drive me
more than the need to kill the Ardaks. We continue fighting the
three cats encased in metal exoskeletons, but I follow her
movements more closely now. She’s agile, beautiful. Small, yet
lithe and strong. Quick on her feet. Her midnight black hair hangs
almost to her waist and swirls around her as she battles.

Against my will, I take a few moments to
admire her. My mate is a little warrioress. She would make any
Tuorian warrior a fine wife. I would be happy to take her back to
my planet, to claim her as my own, to introduce her to my
people.

Except I have to defeat these bastards
first.

I had thought it impossible to hate them any
more than I already do. I was wrong.

Unseeing, brutal fury courses through my
veins.

I spring onto the second Ardak, pressing the
release button on its helmet and beheading it in almost one motion.
I jump off him and turn. She’s fighting the last one, but I see two
more running down the street toward us.

Get her out of here.

I jump between her and the last Ardak,
kicking it so hard it falls onto the ground. “Get to my lander in
the alley,” I shout over my shoulder, gesturing at it with one arm.
I jump onto the Ardak, straddling its chest, to release the helmet
and behead it.

But just then a scream pierces the air, and
I know instinctively it’s her.

I turn just in time to watch her fall. It
happens as if in slow motion. Her eyes open wide, her arms flail to
the sides, and the force of the energy beam lifts her off her feet.
She seems to almost fly for a moment, arcing through the air
gracefully backward until she hits the dirt road.

I leap up from the dead Ardak, reaching her
in three steps. I sweep her up into my arms, grabbing her swords,
cradling her as carefully as I’m able. I’ve been conditioned since
birth to guard my mate’s life more carefully than I guard my own.
I’m in the lander in seconds, the little woman across my lap,
lifting off to the dismayed yowls of the other Ardaks.

I set my lander on course to dock with the
ship, knowing the Ardak ships won’t be concerned with a tiny lander
leaving the atmosphere. In fact, they prefer the people to flee.
Fewer dead to burn in the cleanup.

The lander is usually much faster on
liftoff, but it’s loaded down with cargo at the moment. As precious
as it is, I wish I had an eject button to get rid of it.
Hang
on, little one, we’re almost there.

My hands shake with adrenaline, anger, and
terror as I brush the hair back from her face with one hand.
Please be all right.
There are burn marks on her stomach
from the energy blast. I clutch her to my chest. There’s nothing I
can do for her here—the healing bunk is on my ship.

The lander docks automatically, and then I’m
through the door, sprinting through the bay with my mate cradled to
my chest. The healing bunk is already powered up as I’d intended to
use it myself after I’d retrieved my cargo.

I lay her unconscious body on my healing
bunk, straightening her limbs carefully and arranging her hair
around her face. The back of my mind is screaming at me not to do
this. There’s only one charge left, and if I use it on her, I’ll
live a few months less. But she’s my mate. There’s no acceptable
alternative.

As the glass slowly closes over her, sealing
her in so the energy can course through her body, I’m struck anew
by her beauty. Her lips are as ripe and red as Tuorian berries in
season. Her skin is pale and smooth, her physique extremely strong
for one her size. And though she is tiny compared to women on
Tuorin, her curves are lush and I know they will fill my hands
beautifully. When the time comes.

I press my forehead to the glass of the
healing bunk, as if by will alone I can make her survive. I have
faith in my healing bunk for most things. But that energy blast was
strong.

Oh gods.

I’ve been waiting thirty-six Tuorian years
to find her. The one who will bring light to my world, my other
half, my bride. My heart soars with elation.

But in the next moment I’m awash with fury,
regret a bitter taste in my mouth.
Of course
I would find
her now. And on a backwater planet that doesn’t even have planes
yet. She’s going to get a surprise when she finds out aliens exist.
A big one.

I want to smile, but I just can’t.

Sometimes life is so unfair.

Because as much as I want to enjoy getting
to know my mate, to join with her forever, I can’t.

I have only six months left to be with
her.

I wake in a strange glass container.
But
this glass is too smooth. Clear. Not the glass from Lla’ei.
Immediately, my heart begins to pound. What if those cat creatures
imprisoned me? My hands go to the glass, pounding as hard as I can,
trying to break it.

I sense movement above my head, and the
glass retracts.

Not waiting for it to retract all the way, I
jump out of the case.

Wait! Wasn’t I hit with one of those
blasts?
I look down at myself.
I seem okay.

I see two instruments in front of me and
grab them from the table on my way to the floor, spinning to face
my incarcerator.

It’s him.
The warrior with the
stunning purple eyes who helped me fight the cat creatures. He’s
tall, obviously of another race. Perhaps one to the East. His long,
brown hair with golden highlights falls in waves down his chest and
back, and he moves toward me with the masculine grace and fluidity
of a trained warrior.

He’s considerably less dressed than when I
last saw him. His white shirt is undone and I can see strange
markings on his chest. Brown leather pants disappear into high
boots, their design intricate. He wears a long sword, the sheath
also leather. Muscles flex in his jaw as his piercing purple eyes
pin me with the strength of his gaze. He gestures at the
instruments in my hands. “There is no need for those.”

Something about him draws me and I almost
want to drop my guard. But, beautiful as he is, I still don’t know
him. “Prove it.”

He leans against the wall, the corners of
his lips quirking upward in a smile. “And just how am I supposed to
do that?”

“Perhaps by taking me home?”

He inches closer to me, gesturing to the
metal instruments. “Is this really how you want to thank me for
saving your life?”

“Is that what I should be thanking you for?”
I hold them higher to hold him off. “You’re kidnapping me. I don’t
even know where I am.”

He gestures to the room. “Technically, the
word is abduction.”

“What?”

He looks like he’s laughing at me. “Never
mind. Do you look like you’re a prisoner here?”

I give the room a cursory glance. “Perhaps
not,” I concede. “But I can see that, despite the bunk and the
medical instruments, you’re no doctor.”

A wide smile splits his mouth and he throws
back his head and laughs. The deep sound seems to vibrate through
me, bringing warmth back to my soul. Then his smile turns
mysterious. “I could have left you to the Ardaks.”

“Ardaks—are those—the cat monsters?”

“Yes.” He nods in assent.

Whoever this man is, if he knows who they
are, he probably knows information we could use to defeat them. I
quickly rise and set down the instruments. “We need to return and
tell my father. We have to save the people of Pluria.”

The warrior shakes his head, his gaze not
quite meeting mine. “It isn’t just the people of Pluria who will
die. By this time tomorrow, the entire planet will be dying.”

Shock, then fear radiates through my being.
“The entire
planet?” That means my kingdom, too! “
We have to
do something! We have to warn them!”

“There’s nothing you can do,” he grates out.
“If you go back now, you will also be hit with the toxin. Then you
will die, just as surely as they will.”

“Go back? Where are we?”

“On my spaceship.”

“Your
spaceship?
” This day has gone
from unbelievable to impossible. For the first time, I look around
me. The walls are made of some kind of smooth, white surface I’ve
never seen before. The cabinets are a shiny metal. Lights blink off
and on in regular patterns on several square, black surfaces.

Definitely not from Lla’ei. That makes
him…an alien.

I raise the instruments, ready to kill him
this time. “Did you come with the cats?”

“No,” he mutters. “That was just damn bad
timing.”

I narrow my eyes at him. “I don’t believe
you.”

“Believe what you want. But I didn’t bring
them. I guarantee that I hate them more than you do. A lot
more.”

I search his face, but his gaze is direct.
There’s no hint of subterfuge. I relax just a bit. “I demand you
take me back to Lla’ei, to my people. You can run away as fast as
you want to after that.”

He opens his mouth, then closes it abruptly.
His hands curl into fists. “That isn’t going to happen.”

“I demand it,” I say, lifting my chin.

He shrugs. “Demand all you like. It still
isn’t going to happen.”

Is he really going to do nothing while my
people die?
An image of my home, reduced to a smoldering mass
of nothing, flashes in my mind. My parents, my younger brother.
Will they be fleeing the cat people just as I was?

“I’ll find a way to help them, with or
without you.”

To my frustration, he shrugs again. “I
seriously doubt that.”

Anger boils through me. I feel my skin heat
and my heart pounds in my ears.

Without thinking, I raise the metal
instruments and run at him. He doesn’t go for his sword, but meets
me bare-handed. At first I’m trying to cut him, but the truth is,
my heart isn’t in it. My movements are too slow and controlled.
If I kill him, I may never get back.
We wrestle and he
knocks the metal weapons from my hands.

Holding my wrists above my head, he throws
one of his strong legs over mine. The adrenaline coursing through
me, the vulnerability of being overpowered, and the closeness of
his face and his body to my own is disconcerting. I find myself out
of breath, and it isn’t from the tussle. I’ve rarely been so close
to another, except in battle.

And they usually died before they could kiss
me.

Before they could kiss me? What are you
thinking, Ande’ie? There’s an invasion going on and enormous metal
cat monsters are trying to take over your planet! Get your mind on
your duty to your people!

I struggle against him, trying to fight off
my attraction. “If you have a spaceship, where are you from?” I
demand angrily. For all I know, he brought those cat things with
him.

“Tuorin,” he answers calmly.

“So you’re an alien.” I spat the words in a
most undignified manner.
Father trained you better than this. If
he is an alien, maybe his people can help you.