Alien Paladin's Woman: SciFi Alien-Human Military Suspense Romance (10 page)

T
he truth was immediately
clear to Tieran.

Looking at Audrey, facing the newest setback with stoic calm, he knew he couldn't – wouldn't – let anything bad happen to her. It seemed to be a more difficult task with every second that passed, but that was nothing more than a problem for him to figure out.

The Fearless was coming for them and it had its sights set on Audrey, as well as the treasure buried under the ice of Verien. Stopping him was the most important thing in the world now. Both for righteous reasons, and for more personal ones.

Palians believed in preserving life, but Audrey's had become something more than that to him. The little Terran, braver than most people he'd met, was quickly turning into an essential part of his life that he couldn't lose.

Protect her. Protect Verien. Kill the Fearless.

Tieran's goals were very simple. The only thing he asked of fate was not to make him choose between his duty and her.

"Alert the other commanders," he ordered the crew. "Tell everyone to make full haste for Verien. If we fail, protecting the planet is the first priority."

Moving on, he turned to the pilot while Audrey watched him silently. He kept waiting for her to ask them to run, protest in any way against charging right at the enemy. But there was only trust in her green eyes, strength unlike any he'd met before.

Even after knowing and experiencing firsthand what they were up against, Audrey refused to back down.

Tieran finally knew why paladins were discouraged from being emotional, from building connections with the people they were sworn to protect.

He wanted,
needed
, Audrey to live. With every moment, he was more certain he'd do anything to save her.

"Prepare to meet the enemy," he instructed the pilot firmly. "Keep us on course. We will make a stand. With luck, the Fearless will take the bait and we can stop it right here before it ever sets foot on Verien."

"We are using her as bait?" another paladin asked, his eyes unbelieving. "Commander, she should be far from here. Let her take the shuttle back to Verien. She could set up the defense there while we –"

"No."

It was Audrey who'd spoken, but then again Tieran had known she would. Despite the fact he very much agreed with the paladin, he knew she was needed there. He would make sure she was safe.

"I'm not going anywhere," Audrey said.

"Governor," the paladin, Geroy, insisted. "You—"

"I don't know what it is with you paladins," she continued, making Tieran grin silently, loving her temper. "Perhaps you're right and you have some higher authority from the Union's council, but that doesn't apply to
me
. I will stay right here."

The reckless paladin was opening his mouth again, but Tieran had had enough of him.

"Stand down," he ordered and the tone of his voice brooked no argument. "She is right and you should know that yourself. You saw what happened. The lifestone the Fearless has is connected to the rest of it. If she leaves, it will follow and we will have to give chase again. Right now, we have the advantage of not being fooled by the Jorcossi host’s trick."

The paladin still wasn't satisfied. Tieran knew Geroy and his utter commitment to saving everyone. It was an admirable quality, but it made him hard to deal with at times like that.

"We are putting a civilian in danger," Geroy said. "It's not even death that threatens her. The Fearless will literally eat her flesh."

Tieran's eyes flickered to Audrey, but to his surprise as well as the rest, she was smiling.

"I'm not a civilian," she said with finality. "Verien is my world. I will help the commander in any way that I can."

To prevent any more arguments, Tieran cut in.

"You heard the governor. Don't forget. Just because we've promised to do everything in our power to protect the galaxy, it doesn't mean someone else can't contribute if they want to. Remove yourself from the bridge."

The paladin went, nodding his apology to Audrey, but Tieran knew he wasn't alone in the opinion.

Above all, paladins were bred to be practical. There were many reasons why they preferred to fight alone. Other warriors were too boorish and civilians, well, they got in the way. Tieran couldn't deny that truth. Audrey would be a great help with identifying the Fearless, but she would need protection.

He didn't plan to make it anyone else's problem but his. He also didn't trust anyone else with Audrey's life.

"Tieran," she was saying. "Can I talk to you?"

Her meaning was obvious enough.
Away from the bridge
.

He nodded. She could have whatever she wanted of him.

They left, Tieran giving strict commands to be called when they got close enough to the enemies to make a stand.

Audrey was silent until she appeared to be satisfied they weren't overheard.

"Could you teach me to fight?" she asked bluntly.

He frowned. Tieran didn't know what to say, so in the Palian way, he told the truth.

"No."

Audrey glared at him. It wasn’t very effective.

"You could have put
that
a bit more diplomatically," she said. "Would it kill you to make up a nice lie about how I'm not dead weight to you in battle?"

Tieran’s brows furrowed deeper as he grew serious.

"That is not what I said," he replied, more harshly than he would have liked. "You are asking if I can teach you to fight the Fearless?"

"Yes. I need to know."

"I agree, but the answer is no."

Audrey's eyes were throwing daggers at him and a part of Tieran found that to be an incredible turn-on, but he wasn't joking.

"Okay," she almost hissed at him. "I've learned that with Palians, you can't be too specific. Are you saying you
won't
or you
can't
?"

"Both."

She kept surprising him.

He had to admit he didn't have much experience dealing with females, or Terrans. The women of his kind were mostly like him, at least as much as paladins were anything like the rest of their species.

The Palian women were pragmatic about things and never raised an argument where it wasn't essential, but that was fine. It was in their nature never to let important matters be swept under a rug.

Tieran had interacted with them the same way he did everything. He'd approached a female and made it clear what he wanted. Not one of them had ever denied him. Instead, he'd found the flame of desire burning in their eyes.

Terrans were more complicated. They added the emotional level to things, which Palians didn't do. The galaxy thought they were cold and perhaps they were. Being around Audrey surely proved how different the world seemed when observed with passion.

A conundrum.

His limited relations gave Tieran cause to expect anger from her, but Audrey burst out laughing.

"You know," she said. "If you were a Terran guy, I'd think you're trying to rile me up on purpose. But you don't do that, do you?"

"No," he admitted.

Audrey sighed, but the smile was still on her lips.

"Work with me here," she asked. "Stop giving me monosyllabic answers. Why not?"

He realized she'd been leading him to the fighting pit. If her wish was to face a mech, she had to be out of her mind.

"If you tried to fight one of our AIs, they'd cut your throat faster than I could turn them off."

Audrey seemed to consider that. From where he was standing, it looked like that option didn't bother her as much as he thought it should have. She truly was magnificent.

"Alright," Audrey said then, sounding like she'd already won. "Then you teach me. I'm sure you have some practice area that isn't manned by giant killing machines."

Being with her was simply incredibly easy, if at times maddening. Usually Tieran had to strain to make conversation with anyone who wasn't part of his crew. Even Pelar was difficult to relate to and she was a Palian. But when he was with Audrey, words came naturally.

Being a man of few words, it was something to be noted.

"If you don't want killing machines, I can't be there either," he said, enjoying the way her face lit up at that.

"I think you just made a joke," she said, disbelief plain in her voice.

For a moment, life was perfect. Just being there with her was everything Tieran needed. The way she shone in her easy joy was pure pleasure to watch. He never wanted it to end, but Audrey was relentless.

"Tieran," she said and her face turned serious again. "I saw that thing. I know you're worried about me, but please. My trainer Franco taught me, but he prepared me for out-of-control miners, not monsters."

"You can't even begin to comprehend them," he said. "Their speed. Their power."

"I can't," Audrey admitted. "That's why you have to tell me, show me. I know you'll do anything you can so that I wouldn't have to fight it myself, but just in case."

It made sense, Tieran knew that. He only wished he actually had something of consequence to teach her, something that could actually prepare her against one of those hulking nightmares.

"Very well," he said, moving to a console and entering his request.

Audrey was looking at him, shocked.

"I thought you said I couldn't fight one of those things and you are absolutely right," she hurried to say. "Did you—"

"Not a mech," Tieran said, walking on to the pit and motioning for her to follow, which she hesitantly did. "Hologram."

"Oh," Audrey said, relieved. "That's better."

He gave her a look that silenced her enthusiasm as the Fearless appeared from the ground. It was so tall it had to crouch for the entire image to fit inside the hall.

There was much less enthusiasm in Audrey's green eyes then there had been before. Tieran hated being the cause of that, but she had to come to fully appreciate what they were up against.

"This was the first one," he said, walking around the pit floor, forcing the image of the Fearless to move with them.

Its tail in particular kept getting in their way, long enough to wrap twice around the length of the entire room.

"Not the smallest, but easiest. You see, they learn. Somehow, they know how they are defeated. Not unlike a hive mind, but they're not connected in the same way. Our best guess is that their deaths are like a psychic image to the rest of their species, capable of echoing across the stars. So, they learn and for them, learning means adapting."

At the flick of his hand, the image changed. The next Fearless was a beast too, choosing to stay on all four legs, its gigantic mouth opened to let them see the sharp teeth still dripping with glowing blood.

"The second," Tieran said. "This one was harder. The first was just big. It had strength to spare, but no real tactics and in the end, it was nothing but a big target. A deadly target, but the killing method itself was simple. From there on out, it got worse."

The holograms kept changing around them. The Fearless changed, trying out different things. From bigger to smaller, from faster to more powerful, they kept adapting to match their killers.

When he banished the last image, Audrey still hadn't said a word. He turned to her, pulling the little Terran into his arms. She looked up at him, her eyes wide and alive.

"I'm not trying to scare you," he said. "I'm not saying this is futile. I only want you to be safe."

"I'm not scared," Audrey replied, smiling. "I know I should be. But I'm not. It's… because of you. And nothing you say can change my mind."

Tieran saw that she meant that. She really did.

Every other answer disappeared from his mind. He leaned down and captured her sweet lips, pressed them against his. Audrey kissed him back, passionate, yielding to his desire. They pulled each other closer, refusing to part before they had to catch a breath.

"Alright," he said. "You win."

Audrey's victorious smile was the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen.

They spent the next few hours sparring. It was a bizarre experience for Tieran. He had never fought with anyone that couldn't actually retaliate against his attacks, but Audrey took it all without complaint. She never complained, even when she'd clearly gotten hurt. He was holding back a lot and she must have known that, actually asking him not to give her a break.

Tieran did it anyway. For all her spirit, the little Terran was still so very fragile compared to him.

He taught her everything he could think of that might be useful. From dodging blows that came out of nowhere, to basic sound location, hearing the attacks coming from behind. He even showed her guns that had managed to damage the Fearless before, although they were notoriously resilient to firearms.

Only true steel and titanium cut them, which was why they had mostly been killed by species that favored handheld weapons.

The paladins were modeled after several of them. The glaives they used, for example, were reminiscent of the Brion battle spears.

Audrey was a fast learner. She lacked the easy advantages of being born a warrior, but she picked up everything that she could and paid attention to what he was saying.

All that time, Tieran found it more difficult by every second to resist her. He hadn't been actively looking for a female, but now that he'd met Audrey, she was everything he could have possibly wished for.

He was trying to teach her a move to get out of someone's grip when he found himself on top of Audrey, pinning her down. One moment, she was panting, focused on the task of getting free. In the next, her eyes were staring into his, filled with lust and fire.

She ground her hips against his, in no way by accident.

"I don't think I taught you that move," he said, his voice dropping so low it was barely audible.

"No," Audrey admitted, a mischievous smile on her lips. "This one is mine."

He didn't let her offer the invite twice. Tieran kissed her, holding her hands above her head, making her squirm and tremble beneath him. Out of his armor, her body under his was quickly driving him out of his mind. Not even the danger looming closer could take his mind off how good she felt like that. It only brought images of how good she would feel somewhere more private and comfortable.