Erun (Scifi Alien Romance) (The Ujal Book 4)

The Ujal: Erun

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty-one

Find the Author

Copyright

He’s an Ujal who knows he’ll never have a mate. She’s a human who doesn’t want to take another chance on love. One small child doesn’t give them a choice.

With her toddler in tow, Vanessa Walker travels to Tampa, Florida to begin her new job at Ujal Station Tau. Then problems arise—her daughter is ill, and a sexy, demanding, overwhelming, purple-scaled Ujal is determined to do whatever he can to save Tabitha. When they realize Tabby isn’t ill, she’s Ujal, plenty of people don’t want Vanessa raising her newly tail-sporting alien daughter. Ujal royalty may support her, but only one person—one Ujal male—makes her feel safe: Erun fa Arex.

Erun fa Arex earned his position through blood, sweat, and scales with a trident as his constant companion. On Earth, he is the captain of the principessa’s elite guard, a worthy Ujal warrior matched by few. On Ujal, he grew up as a child slave forced to fight for sport and others’ pleasure. Fighting left physical and mental scars while the master’s growth-hormone injections left him unable to father younglings.

Erun never considered mating and having a family of his own until he meets Vanessa and Tabitha. Now he realizes everything he rejected—a mate and family—is exactly what he desires. And he will fight to keep them… to the death.

Vanessa hadn’t recovered from the loss of her husband only to have her daughter die. She wanted the privilege of murdering the little pain in the butt for herself.

All it’d taken was one second, one quick glance at a passing male, a quickly whispered question because she was lost, and Tabby was off like a shot. The toddler ran as fast as her little legs could carry her and… right into the path of oncoming traffic. Her baby was going to be run down by a hovocar. Or, God save her, a hovobus.

Adrenaline flooded her body, her gaze focusing intently on her rapidly retreating child. Panic overcame her, blanketing her in a wave of fear that nearly sent her to her knees. Her heart pulsed a rapid rhythm that stole the air from her lungs. She ran as hard as she could, legs pumping. One shoe flew from her foot and the other soon followed but she didn’t care. Not when her last reason for living was so close to death.

“Tabby!” Nessa ignored the Ujal male who’d paused to answer her question and raced toward the street. She bolted, uncaring who she pushed out of the way as she made her mad dash toward her giggling child. “Tabitha!”

Tabby glanced at her, those legs still pumping, and she giggled. “Catch!”

“
No
.” Now wasn’t the time to play catch. Any time other than
now
would be great. She pushed hard, fought for air and demanded her body give up whatever strength it had left. Just let her get there. Just let her— A sob escaped her throat, the feet separating her from her child seeming like a great chasm.

A horn honked, the sound booming a symphony in her ears. A warning. A death toll that told her she was moments from losing what little joy she had in her life. “Tabby…”

A flash of black crossed her path and then a hovobus filled her vision as it raced past, its speed slicing through the air and sending her hair flying and clothes tearing at her body.

“
Nooo!
” She dropped to her knees, sob captured in her throat as grief consumed her. It overwhelmed her senses, tearing her down, drowning her in pain that clawed at her soul and tore at her heart. Losing her husband hadn’t been like this—half her heart disappearing beneath the twisted metal of a drunk driver’s car. No, this was worse. So much worse. She couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think, couldn’t…

A giggle—high-pitched and familiar—echoed through her mind, forcing her pain to burn hotter. “Tabby,” she cried, eyes filling with tears as the truth punched her in the face.

One distraction, one question, one wrong turn and—

“Momma!” Another giggle. That voice stealing into her agony and luring her back to the present. “Momma, play?”

The next laugh tinkled through the air, drawing her attention back to the street. To the tall man standing at the curb and… holding Tabby.

The tears she kept at bay spilled down her cheeks, her fear transforming into bone-deep relief that she’d been saved. “Tabitha.” Vanessa pushed to her feet and stumbled forward, arms outstretched for her child. “Baby…”

She didn’t look at the male who’d saved her daughter. She only had eyes for the blond haired, blue-eyed squirming bundle of joy and heartache. “Thank you.” Her fingers ghosted over one of her child’s chubby arms. “Thank you so—” Tabby was wrenched away and Vanessa glared at the stranger. “Thank you for saving her. Now, can I have my child?”

The man looked down at her, his sneer firmly in place. Any other time, any moment when he wasn’t holding her daughter who’d nearly been killed by a hovobus, she would have found him attractive. His body was heavily muscled, pure strength held in a very attractive package. His hair was near black with just a hint of… purple? Yes. A closer look at his eyes revealed they were deep purple as well. An Ujal male then. Well, alien or human, at the moment, he was the devil incarnate.

“You do not deserve such a gift. If you cannot keep her safe, she will be given to a female who can.”

Her eyes widened as his words hit home. “
Excuse me?
”

Not keep Tabby safe? She’d done nothing but worry and fret over her daughter from the moment she was placed in Vanessa’s care. She and her late husband were unable to conceive and Tabby was their little miracle. She
was
a gift and this male thought he could—

“You do not realize—”

“Give me back my baby. I admit that this was a close call—”

“You are neglectful.”

She refused to show him how close that accusation hit to home. Vanessa wasn’t neglectful, but she was unable to give Tabby the attention she deserved. She was a single parent working a new job and acclimating to a new city. Two years after her husband’s death and she still hadn’t gotten the hang of raising Tabitha alone.

The male grunted when she didn’t reply. “I will have the authorities—”

“The authorities won’t do anything,” she snapped. “I’m not a neglectful parent.”

“Remove the youngling from your care.”

“Tabitha is my child and you will pry her from my cold, dead fingers.”

That sneer turned into a threatening glare. “That shall be arranged.”

Not
could
be arranged, but
shall
be arranged. As if taking another’s life was so simple and easy. The snap of fingers—
the squeal of breaks and shattering of glass
—and a person’s life was gone.

Adrenaline once again consumed her. This wasn’t fight or flight, her mind didn’t recognize him as a threat she should run from. No, it was full on fight. No one—
no one
—would take Tabitha from her. She stepped closer to him, tears gone, rage resting on her face. “Give me back my baby or I’ll—”

“I’ve got fifty credits on Nessa. Sorry, Erun.” The feminine voice was both familiar and welcome. If the large Ujal wouldn’t listen to her, he sure as hell would listen to the principessa of his race.

“Momma is Eena!” That was followed a few other high-pitched baby babbles from Theresa, Rina’s eight-month-year-old daughter. “Momma Eesa.”

Vanessa turned toward the voice and saw her best friend gliding toward their small group, baby firmly on her hip and guards hovering around her in an impenetrable wall of masculine protection. “Hey, little Miss Tabby. What happened?”

Rina’s soft question had her daughter launching into a story that began with a butterfly and ended in a tumble across the asphalt with “da man.”

Da man
who wouldn’t return her child to her arms.

“Rina—”

“Principessa Zeret,”
da man
immediately countered Vanessa.

She wasn’t going to scratch out his eyes like a wild cat, even if everything inside her urged her to take him down and snatch her daughter back from his asshole clutches. “
Rina
,” Vanessa glared at him. “Do you know this man?”

“They prefer
male,
” her friend corrected.

That had her glaring at her friend. “And I’d prefer to have my kid away from the Purple People Eater, but apparently we all aren’t getting what we want today, are we?”

The guard to Rina’s left snorted, earning him a glare from
da man
.

“Thame,” Erun snapped and all teasing immediately fled the
male’s
face. Now that he was done being a party pooper, Erun focused on the principessa once more. “She neglected her child therefore she no longer has the privilege of caring for the youngling.”

The fear may have fled her body, continuing to diminish with her friend’s appearance, but now anger took its place. “Who the hell do you think you are?”

“Hell, hell, hell…” She hated that Tabby seemed to always pick up curse words.

“Little ears,” Rina murmured.

“Yes, thank you for the reminder. Her screaming hell at the top of her lungs went over my head,” she drawled.

“Respect,” Erun snapped.

“Respect? How about respecting a mother’s right to comfort her child?”

Tabby wiggled in his embrace and she recognized those movements. Her daughter wasn’t going to tolerate being held much longer. She wanted down and when Tabby wanted something… She let it be known. Loudly.

Erun shrugged. “You have no right to her. She is not your child.”

The words rang in her head, bouncing around her skull while he ripped out her heart with those few words.

She is not your child
.

All of the air in her lungs fled in a great whoosh, her greatest fear voiced by this stranger—this Ujal. Ever since her husband’s death, she’d waited for someone to realize she was a fraud; a single mother with an adopted toddler. She waited for them to realize that Tabitha might be better off with a family that included a father.

“Give her the child,” Rina’s voice was firm and unbending, a tone she’d never heard from her best friend.

“Principessa…” Erun tried to plead his case, but the principessa wasn’t going to relent.

“Immediately, Captain fa Arex.”

Erun’s lips tightened into a firm, white line, but he did ease Tabby from his body. Vanessa extended her arms, reaching for her daughter, and that was all Tabitha needed. She launched herself from the Ujal male—pulling a grunt from him—and she caught the toddler with ease. Tabitha laughed and squirmed, her adventures with a hovobus seeming to have been forgotten in favor of Rina and baby Theresa.

“Eena, I play wif Eesa?” Tabby wiggled in her arms, but Vanessa held her fast. “Peese?”

Rina smiled, but Nessa didn’t miss the tension that filled her body. “Let’s get you two inside the station, little miss.” Rina met her stare. “Vanessa, come stand beside me. Now.”

Unease crawled up Vanessa’s spine and for the first time, she let her gaze wander from the few people standing before her to the rest of the gathered crowd.

And crowd was a very apt description. A ring of bodies encircled them, a few Ujal peppered within the group, but mostly humans closing in on them. The murmurs crept toward her, objections to the way Erun had spoken to her and having to be ordered to hand over a mother’s child. Who did the Ujal think they were to take a baby from a human? Accidents happened. Ujal didn’t have any right to touch a human kid…

She eased toward her best friend, Rina stepping to the right to give her space. The guards altered their positioning, ensuring she and Tabby were protected as well.

“You don’t have to go with the likes of them,” one woman called out.

“Next thing you know they’ll be experimenting on that baby of yours. Save yourself,” another warned.

“Just wait ‘til the government hears about this. Ujal stealing women and children…” That was a tall, thin male near the edge of the circle, his priest’s collar a black and white beacon that drew her eye.

Erun’s attention also drifted over the mass of people and finally his gaze landed on her, Rina, and their children. “It is time to go. Thame, cover our departure. Shon, replace him.”

The males shifted position without questioning Erun and within moments the guards pushed them forward, male bodies surrounding them. Erun parted the group of humans and Ujal, his body and presence demanding they step aside.

Their group moved along the path to UST—Ujal Station Tau—the land-based home for Ujal in the Tampa area and the counterpart to the underwater city of Tau. Each guard remained vigilant, their tension vibrating through the air and Tabby reacted to the unease. She fussed in Vanessa’s arms, whining and squirming in a way she knew well. Tabitha had always been sensitive to others’ emotions and her reactions had only gotten worse with their move. The feelings swirling around them were about to become a one-way ticket to a three-year-old’s meltdown. How would Mr. Purple take
that
?